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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the
+Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+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: Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II
+       (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order
+       of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+       Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the
+       Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the
+       Austrian Navy.
+
+Author: Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+Release Date: January 1, 2012 [EBook #38462]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL II ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Henry Gardiner and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file made from scans of public domain material at
+Austrian Literature Online.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been replicated
+faithfully except as shown in the List Of Corrections at the end of the
+text. Words in italics are indicated like _this_. Footnotes are located
+near the end of each chapter. [oe] represents the oe ligature.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                               NARRATIVE
+                                OF THE
+                      Circumnavigation of the Globe
+                         BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE
+                                 NOVARA,
+
+                (COMMODORE B. VON WULLERSTORF-URBAIR,)
+           _Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government_,
+
+                    IN THE YEARS 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+
+         UNDER THE IMMEDIATE AUSPICES OF HIS I. AND R. HIGHNESS
+                   THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN,
+                COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.
+
+                                   BY
+                           DR. KARL SCHERZER,
+
+  MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA," ETC.
+
+                                VOL. II.
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+                                LONDON:
+                      _SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO._,
+                   66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE.
+                                  1862.
+
+                 [THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
+
+
+                    JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+                          THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.
+
+    Historical details respecting this Archipelago.--Arrival at
+    Kar-Nicobar.--Communication with the Aborigines.--Village of
+    Sáoui and "Captain John."--Meet with two white men.--Journey to
+    the south side of the Island.--Village of Komios.--Forest
+    Scenery.--Batte-Malve.--Tillangschong.--Arrival and stay at
+    Nangkauri Harbour.--Village of Itoe.--Peak Mongkata on Kamorta.--
+    Villages of Enuang and Malacca.--Tripjet, the first settlement
+    of the Moravian Brothers.--Ulàla Cove.--Voyage through the
+    Archipelago.--The Island of Treis.--Pulo Miù.--Pandanus Forest.--
+    St. George's Channel.--Island of Kondul.--Departure for the
+    northern coast of Great Nicobar.--Mangrove Swamp.--Malay
+    traders.--Remarks upon the natives of Great Nicobar.--Disaster
+    to a boat dispatched to make Geodetical observations.--Visit to
+    the Southern Bay of Great Nicobar.--General results obtained
+    during the stay of the Expedition in this Archipelago.--
+    Nautical, Climatic, and Geognostic observations.--Vegetation.--
+    Animal Life.--Ethnography.--Prospects of this group of Islands
+    in the way of settlement and cultivation.--Voyage to the Straits
+    of Malacca.--Arrival at Singapore.                                   1
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XI.
+
+                               SINGAPORE.
+
+    Position of the Island.--Its previous history.--Sir Stamford
+    Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British
+    Government free to all sea-faring nations.--The Island becomes
+    part of the Crown property of England.--Extraordinary
+    development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.--Our
+    stay shortened in consequence of the severity of the cholera.--
+    Description of the city.--Tigers.--Gambir.--The Betel
+    plantations.--Inhabitants.--Chinese and European labour.--
+    Climate.--Diamond merchants.--Preparation of Pearl Sago.--Opium
+    farms.--Opium manufacture.--Opium-smokers.--Intellectual
+    activity.--Journalism.--Logan's "Journal of the Indian
+    Archipelago."--School for Malay children.--Judicial procedure.--
+    Visit to the penal settlement for coloured criminals.--A Chinese
+    provision-merchant at business and at home.--Fatal accident on
+    board.--Departure from Singapore.--Difficulty in passing through
+    Gaspar Straits.--Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.--Death
+    of one of the ship's boys.--First burial at sea.--Sea-snakes.--
+    Arrival in the Roads of Batavia.                                   137
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+                                 JAVA.
+
+    Old and New Batavia.--Splendid reception.--Scientific
+    societies.--Public institutions.--Natives.--A Malay embassy.--
+    Excursion into the interior.--Buitenzorg.--The Botanic Garden.--
+    The Negro.--Prince Aquasie Boachi.--Pondok-Gedeh.--The infirmary
+    at Gadok, and Dr. Bernstein.--Megamendoeng.--Javanese villages.--
+    Tjipannas.--Ascent of Pangerango.--Forest scenery.--Javanese
+    resting-houses or Pasanggrahans.--Night and morning on the
+    summit of the volcano.--Visit to Gunung Gedeh.--The plantations
+    of Peruvian bark-trees in Tjipodas.--Their actual condition.--
+    Conjectures as to the future.--Voyage to Bandong.--Spots where
+    edible swallows' nests are found.--Hospitable reception by a
+    Javanese prince.--Visit to Dr. Junghuhn in Lembang.--Coffee
+    cultivation.--Decay in value of the coffee bean of Java.--
+    Professor Vriese and the coffee planters of Java.--Free trade
+    and monopoly.--Compulsory and free labour.--Ascent of the
+    volcano of Tangkuban Prahu.--Poison Crater and King's Crater.--A
+    geological excursion to a portion of the Preanger Regency.--
+    Native fête given by the Javanese Regent of Tjiangoer.--A day at
+    the Governor-general's country-seat at Buitenzorg.--Return to
+    Batavia.--Ball given by the military club in honour of the
+    Novara.--Raden Saleh, a Javanese artist.--Barracks and prisons.--
+    Meester Cornelis.--French opera.--Constant changes among the
+    European society.--Aims of the colonial government.--Departure
+    from Batavia.--Pleasant voyage.--An English ship with Chinese
+    Coolies.--Bay of Manila.--Arrival in Cavite harbour.               180
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                                 MANILA.
+
+    Historical notes relating to the Philippines.--From Cavite to
+    Manila.--The river Pasig.--First impressions of the city.--Its
+    inhabitants.--Tagales and Negritoes.--Preponderating influence
+    of monks.--Visit to the four chief monasteries.--Conversation
+    with an Augustine Monk.--Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
+    chiefly in use in Manila.--Reception by the Governor-general of
+    the Philippines.--Monument in honour of Magelhaens.--The
+    "Calzada."--Cock-fighting.--"Fiestas Reales."--Causes of
+    the languid trade with Europe hitherto.--Visit to the
+    Cigar-manufactories.--Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
+    Havanna.--Abáca, or Manila hemp.--Excursion to the "Laguna de
+    Bay."--A row on the river Pasig.--The village of Patero.--
+    Wild-duck breeding.--Sail on the Lagoon.--Plans for
+    canalization.--Arrival at Los Baños.--Canoe-trip on the
+    "enchanted sea."--Alligators.--Kalong Bats.--Gobernador and
+    Gobernadorcillo.--The Poll-tax.--A hunt in the swamps of
+    Calamba.--Padre Lorenzo.--Return to Manila.--The "Pebete."--The
+    military Library.--The civil and military Hospital.--
+    Ecclesiastical processions.--Ave Maria.--Tagalian merriness.--
+    Condiman.--Lunatic Asylum.--Gigantic serpent thirty-two years
+    old.--Departure.--Chinese pilots.--First glimpse of the coasts
+    of the Celestial Empire.--The Lemmas Channel.--Arrival in
+    Hong-kong Harbour.                                                 281
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                               HONG-KONG.
+
+    Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or Hong-kong.--
+    Disagreeables.--Public character.--The Comprador, or
+    "factotum."--A Chinese fortune-teller.--Curiosity-stalls.--The
+    To-stone.--Pictures on so-called "rice-paper."--Canton English.--
+    Notices on the Chinese language and mode of writing.--
+    Manufacture of ink.--Hospitality of German missionaries.--The
+    custom of exposing and murdering female children.--Method of
+    dwarfing the female foot.--Sir John Bowring.--Branch Institute
+    of the Royal Asiatic Society.--An ecclesiastical dignitary on
+    the study of natural sciences.--The Chinese in the East Indies.--
+    Green indigo or Lu-Kao.--Kind reception by German countrymen.--
+    Anthropometrical measurements.--Ramble to Little Hong-kong.--
+    Excursion to Canton on board H.M. gun-boat _Algerine_.--A day at
+    the English head-quarters.--The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.--Visit to
+    the Portuguese settlement of Macao.--Herr von Carlowitz.--
+    Camoens' Grotto.--Church for Protestants.--Pagoda Makok.--Dr.
+    Kane.--Present position of the colony.--Slave-trade revived
+    under the name of Chinese emigration.--Excursions round Macao.--
+    The Isthmus.--Chinese graves.--Praya Granite.--A Chinese
+    physician.--Singing stones.--Departure.--Gutzlaff's Island.--
+    Voyage up the Yang-tse-Kiang.--Wusung.--Arrival at Shanghai.       355
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XV.
+
+                                SHANGHAI.
+
+    A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.--Book-stalls.--Public
+    Baths.--Chinese Pawnbrokers.--Foundling hospital.--The Hall of
+    Universal Benevolence.--Sacrificial Hall of Medical Faculty.--
+    City prison.--Temple of the Goddess of the Sea.--Chinese
+    taverns.--Tea-garden.--Temple of Buddha.--Temple of Confucius.--
+    Taouist convent.--Chinese nuns.--An apothecary's store, and what
+    is sold therein.--Public schools.--Christian places of worship.--
+    Native industry.--Cenotaphs to the memory of beneficent
+    females.--A Chinese patrician family.--The villas of the foreign
+    merchants.--Activity of the London Missionary Society.--Dr.
+    Hobson.--Chinese medical works.--Leprosy.--The American
+    Missionary Society.--Dr. Bridgman.--Main-tze tribe.--Mission
+    schools for Chinese boys and girls.--The North China branch of
+    the Royal Asiatic Society.--Meeting in honour of the Members of
+    the _Novara_ Expedition.--Mons. de Montigny.--Baron Gros.--
+    Interview with the Táu-Tái, or chief Chinese official of the
+    city.--The Jesuit mission at Sikkawéi.--The Pagoda of Long-Sáh.--
+    A Chinese dinner.--Serenade by the German singing-club.--The
+    Germans in China.--Influence of the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and
+    Pekin upon commerce.--Silk.--Tea.--The Chinese sugar-cane.--
+    Various species of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of
+    paper.--The varnish tree.--The tallow tree.--The wax-tree.--
+    Mosquito tobacco.--Articles of import.--Opium.--The Tai-ping
+    rebels.--Departure from Shanghai.--A typhoon in the China sea.--
+    Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.          416
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI.
+
+                        THE ISLAND OF PUYNIPET.
+
+    Native boats in sight.--A pilot comes on board--Communications
+    of a white settler.--Another pilot.--Fruitless attempts to tack
+    for the island.--Roankiddi Harbour.--Extreme difficulty in
+    effecting a landing with the boats.--Settlement of Réi.--Dr.
+    Cook.--Stroll through the forest.--Excursions up the Roankiddi
+    River.--American missionaries.--Visit from the king of the
+    Roankiddi tribe.--Kawa as a beverage.--Interior of the royal
+    abode.--The Queen.--Mode of living, habits and customs of the
+    natives.--Their religion and mode of worship.--Their festivals
+    and dances.--Ancient monumental records and their probable
+    origin.--Importance of these in both a historical and geological
+    point of view.--Return on board.--Suspicious conduct of the
+    white settler.--An asylum for contented delinquents.--Under
+    weigh for Australia.--Belt of calms.--Simpson Island.--"It must
+    be a ghost!"--Bradley Reef.--A Comet.--The Solomon Islands.--
+    Rencontre with the natives of Malaýta.--In sight of Sikayana.      551
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+                     THE CORAL ISLAND OF SIKAYANA.
+
+    Natives on board.--Good prospects of fresh provisions.--An
+    interment on board.--A night scene.--Visit to the Island
+    Group.--Fáole.--Trip ashore to Sikayana.--Narrative of an
+    English sailor.--Cruelty of merchantmen in the South Sea
+    Islands.--Tradition as to the origin of the inhabitants of
+    Sikayana.--A king.--Barter.--Religion of the natives.--Trepang.--
+    Method of preparing this sea-slug for the Chinese market.--
+    Dictionary of the native language.--Under sail.--Ile de
+    Contrariété.--Stormy weather.--Spring a leak.--Bampton Reef.--
+    Smoky Cape.--Arrival in Port Jackson, the harbour of Sydney.       601
+
+
+
+
+                        LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                VOL. II.
+
+
+                                                                PAGE
+
+      1. A Landscape in the Nicobar Islands                        1
+
+      2. A Forest Scene in Singapore                             137
+
+      3. A Chinese Counting Board                                170
+
+      4. Javanese Weapons                                        180
+
+      5. The Seal of Union of the Brotherhood
+           of the Heavens and the Earth                          197
+
+      6. Javanese Bee-hive                                       213
+
+      7. View from the Battlements at Manila                     281
+
+      8. Life in Hong-kong                                       355
+
+      9. Flower Boat on the Wusung at Shanghai                   416
+
+      10. Distant View of the Island of Puynipet                 551
+
+      11. Barrier Reef and Atoll of Sikayana                     601
+
+
+            [Illustration: A Landscape in the Nicobar Islands.]
+
+
+
+
+                                   X.
+
+                          The Nicobar Islands.
+
+             Stay from 23rd February to 26th March, 1858.
+
+    Historical details respecting this Archipelago.--Arrival at
+    Kar-Nicobar.--Communication with the Aborigines.--Village of
+    Sáoui and "Captain John."--Meet with two white men.--Journey to
+    the south side of the island.--Village of Komios.--Forest
+    Scenery.--Batte-Malve.--Tillangschong.--Arrival and stay at
+    Nangkauri Harbour.--Village of Itoe.--Peak Mongkata on Kamorta.--
+    Villages of Enuang and Malacca.--Tripjet, the first settlement
+    of the Moravian Brothers.--Ulàla Cove.--Voyage through the
+    Archipelago.--The Island of Treis.--Pulo Milù--Pandanus Forest.--
+    St. George's Channel.--Island of Kondul.--Departure for the
+    northern coast of Great Nicobar.--Mangrove Swamp.--Malay
+    traders.--Remarks upon the natives of Great Nicobar.--Disaster
+    to a boat dispatched to make Geodetical observations.--Visit to
+    the Southern Bay of Great Nicobar.--General results obtained
+    during the stay of the Expedition in this Archipelago.--
+    Nautical, Climatic, and Geognostic observations.--Vegetation.--
+    Animal Life.--Ethnography.--Prospects of this group of Islands
+    in the way of settlement and cultivation.--Voyage to the Straits
+    of Malacca.--Arrival at Singapore.
+
+
+The earliest visitants of whom we have any certain information to this
+cluster of islands (situated in the Bay of Bengal, between 6° 50' and 9°
+10' N., and 93° and 94° E.), appear to have been Arabian traders, who, on
+their voyages to Southern China, landed on these islands, then known as
+Megabalu and Legabalu, on the first occasion in 851, and on the second in
+877 of the Christian era. Abu-Zeyd-Hassan, one of these adventurers, gave
+a circumstantial account of these voyages, which has been translated into
+French, and published by Eusebius Renaudot.[1]
+
+After the Cape of Good Hope was doubled in 1497, the Nicobars were chiefly
+frequented by voyagers in East Indian seas, but without any such visits
+having in the least contributed to enlarge our information respecting a
+group so important by geographical position.
+
+In 1602, Captain Lancaster, commander of an English ship, passed ten days
+on the Nicobars, during which he hardly visited the southern islands,
+Great and Little Nicobar, but kept to the small island of Sombrero, of the
+northern cluster, now called Bampoka. He there found trees of such
+circumference and height, as would serve for the construction of the
+largest ships. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, Koeping, a
+Swede, made his appearance at the Nicobars. Happening to be on board a
+Dutch vessel, which touched in 1647 at one of the islands, he thought he
+perceived among the inhabitants certain men furnished with caudal
+appendages, whereas it was their peculiar clothing, which consists of a
+long narrow piece of woven stuff, wound round the body and then left to
+hang loosely, which gave rise to such a report. With the arrival in Indian
+waters of Dampier, that daring but most trustworthy of navigators, the
+information respecting these islands first becomes more definite. He
+landed in the north-western Bay of the largest of these, to which he
+assigned the latitude 7° 30' N., and gave a most extensive narrative of
+his adventurous career from the moment he abandoned the corsair-craft he
+had brought from Europe to seek for assistance on the Nicobars, to the
+period when, after braving a tremendous storm in a canoe, along with seven
+of his companions in misfortune he landed half dead on the northernmost
+point of Sumatra about 1706.
+
+In 1708, Captain Owen, another English shipmaster, paid an involuntary
+visit to this Archipelago, his ship having been stranded on the
+uninhabited island of Tillangschong, whence he escaped with his crew to
+the islands Ning and Souri, only four miles to the westward, apparently
+what is now known as Nangkauri. For the first time history now records an
+outrage of which the natives were guilty towards the strangers.
+
+It would appear that the captain, after having experienced an exceedingly
+friendly reception, laid down his knife, upon which one of the islanders,
+very possibly out of curiosity, laid hold of it, pushed the owner aside,
+and ultimately possessed himself of the knife. On the following day, as
+Owen was taking his mid-day meal under a tree, he was set upon and killed
+by several of the natives, who shot him down with their arrows; on the
+other hand the crew, consisting of sixteen persons, were furnished with
+canoes and provisions, so that without experiencing any further
+ill-treatment they were so fortunate as to reach Junkseilan.
+
+The first essay towards a settlement of the Nicobar Islands was made by
+the Jesuits in 1711, upon the most northerly island of the group,
+Kar-Nicobar. They succumbed however to the noxious influences of the
+climate, and the few neophytes speedily sank back into heathendom.
+
+The second attempt at colonization by Europeans took place in 1756, when
+Lieutenant Tanck, a Dane, after taking possession of the entire group in
+the name of his sovereign, the King of Denmark, named the islands
+"_Frederiks Oerne_" (Frederick Islands), and founded the first colony on
+the northern side of Great Nicobar, or Sambellong. In the year 1760 this
+was transferred by the followers of Tanck to the island of Kamorta, but
+here too after a short time the experiment failed, owing to the
+unhealthiness of the climate.
+
+In 1766, fourteen Moravian Brethren were settled on Nangkauri, with the
+view of extending the influence of the Danish East India Company. The want
+of information respecting the necessary conditions under which this colony
+was called into existence, was in all probability the cause of its speedy
+declension. Within less than two decades the majority of these settlers
+had fallen under the baneful influence of the climate.
+
+On 1st April, 1778, the Austrian vessel _Joseph and Theresa_, commanded
+by Captain Bennet, landed on the N.E. side of Kar-Nicobar, or New Denmark.
+This vessel had been commissioned by the Imperial Government to select, in
+the name of H.M. Joseph II., Austrian plantations and commercial stations
+on the farther side of the Cape of Good Hope. Of this remarkable
+expedition nothing more has been handed down to us than is related by
+excellent Nicolas Fontana, who accompanied the expedition as surgeon, in
+his book of travels, which was published at Leipzig in 1782.[2]
+
+Neither the libraries nor the archives of the empire seem capable of
+furnishing more definite information respecting this interesting
+undertaking. However, on the other hand, through the kind offices of
+H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian with the Government of H.M. the
+King of the Belgians, there have been found in the Royal Archives at
+Brussels several highly important documents, bearing upon this expedition,
+of which M. Gachard, keeper of the State Archives in that country, had the
+kindness to furnish us with copies; and while we propose in the following
+remarks to avail ourselves of the most interesting data, the more
+particular consideration of this circumstance, so interesting in the
+history of the development of our trade, will be deferred till the
+appearance of the commercial section of the Novara publications.
+
+A Dutchman, named William Bolts, formerly in the service of the British
+East India Company, in the year 1774 made to Count Belgiojoso, at that
+period Ambassador in London of the Empress Maria Theresa, proposals for
+direct commercial intercourse between the Netherlands and Trieste and
+Persia, the East Indies, China, and Africa, with the object of supplying
+the harbours of the Austrian dominions with the products of India and
+China, without the costly intervention of other countries. This
+proposition having been brought under the notice of the Imperial
+Chancellor, Prince Kaunitz, at Vienna, was so cordially received by that
+minister, that Bolts received an invitation to present himself at the
+Empress's palace, in order to develope his plans more fully in person in
+that august presence. Bolts arrived in Vienna in April, 1775, and very
+shortly afterwards was invested by the Empress with all the requisite
+privileges for facilitating the prosecution of his great project. The
+imperial officials at Trieste were entrusted with the equipment and arming
+of the vessel, the supreme military council were required to provide the
+necessary pay for the soldiers and subaltern officers, and Bolts by
+special commission was formally empowered in the name of the Empress
+Queen, as also in that of her successors upon the throne, to take
+possession of all the territories which he might succeed in getting ceded
+by the princes of India, for the behoof of such of Her Imperial Majesty's
+subjects as should purpose trading with the Indies.
+
+It was the wish of the Government that the first expedition should take
+its departure from Trieste; Bolts however opposed this, for the reason
+that his vessel must take part of its lading from London, but declared
+himself prepared to make the most strenuous efforts to found a mercantile
+house in Trieste, and to take such precautions as should result in the
+second and all future expeditions being dispatched from Trieste.
+
+Bolts hereupon first proceeded to Amsterdam with his newly acquired
+privileges, and thence to London, as yet without being more fortunate in
+his attempt to set on foot the proposed association in the one locality
+than in the other. At last, at Antwerp in the Netherlands, he succeeded in
+interesting in his project a certain Baron von Proli, and two merchants,
+by the name of Borrekens and Nägeles, and with these three persons he
+entered into a contract of association, on 20th Sept. 1775. At the same
+time a fund of £90,000 was raised for the armament of a second trading
+vessel to the East Indies and China, and out of the same amount to
+establish a mercantile house in Trieste.
+
+In possession of £25,000 sterling, which he had procured from his
+associates, Bolts proceeded to London, where he purchased a vessel, which
+he named the _Joseph and Theresa_, put a portion of her cargo on board,
+and on 14th March, 1776, set sail thence for Leghorn. Here certain
+articles were to be taken on board, which the Government had promised to
+have ready, and which consisted of copper, iron, steel, and tools. Before
+Bolts left harbour on his voyage to the Indies he was invested by the
+Empress with the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in their service, and for the
+better prosecution of his objects was provided by the State Chancery with
+comprehensive powers,[3] and a pass for barbarous countries, called a
+"_Scontrino_."[4] The Empress at the same time provided the daring
+adventurer with letters of introduction under her own hand to the Emperor
+of China, the "King" of Persia, and the Indian satraps whose dominions he
+was to visit.
+
+Baron Proli, one of the chief partners, went first of all to Vienna, and
+thence to Leghorn, and concluded an agreement with Bolts to dispatch a
+ship to the Indies in each of the years 1777, 1778, 1779, the cargoes of
+which should be worth at least £30,000 each, while Bolts, on his part,
+engaged to remain in the Indies three and a half years from the day of his
+departure, there to found factories, and to lay out to the best advantage
+the money realized by the sale of the merchandise consigned to him. The
+Empress Maria Theresa rewarded Proli for services already rendered, as
+also for those which he undertook to perform in the establishment of
+trading-exchanges in Trieste and Bruges, for the support of the oversea
+commerce of the Austrian and Belgian provinces, by raising him to the
+dignity of Count.
+
+The ship _Joseph and Theresa_, bound for the east coast of Africa, as also
+for the shores of Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal, set sail from Leghorn
+in September, 1776, with a crew of 155 men. Unfavourable winds compelled
+Bolts to make the Brazilian coast, in order to take in fresh stores.
+Thence he lay a course for Delagoa Bay, on the S.E. coast of Africa,
+opposite the island of Madagascar, on which, on 30th March, 1777, he was
+so unfortunate as to get stranded, when he was compelled to start a
+portion of his cargo overboard. Bolts, however, turned to excellent
+account his stay on this coast, having purchased from two African kings,
+named Mohaar Capell, and Chibauraan Matola, a site of ground on both banks
+of the river Masoûmo, and, at a total expenditure of 126,267 florins
+(about £12,600), in which was included the cost of constructing the
+necessary vessels, founded a factory, for whose protection he also erected
+two small forts, which he furnished with cannon, and named after his two
+illustrious patrons, Joseph and Theresa.
+
+After a more protracted stay on the coast of Malabar, where he purchased
+from the Nabob, the celebrated Hyder Ali Khan, a number of plots of
+ground in the vicinity of Mangalore, Carwar, and Balliapatam, the very
+centre of the pepper trade, and erected a factory at an expense of 28,074
+florins (£2800), this enterprising man set sail for the Coromandel Coast
+and the Bay of Bengal, and about the commencement of 1778 visited the
+Nicobar Islands, in order there also to found a factory. Unfortunately, of
+this visit there nowhere survive any detailed particulars, and the only
+document extant under Bolts' hand, which can throw any light on the
+subject, is a statement of the expenditure incurred in erecting a fort on
+the Nicobars, which, together with the purchase of a _goëlette_, and a
+snow, or two-masted vessel, for the coasting trade between Madras, Pegu,
+and the group of islands, amounted to 47,659 fl. 48 kr. (about £4760).
+
+At the close of 1780 Bolts returned to Europe, and in May, 1781, cast
+anchor in the harbour of Leghorn. His exertions and his speculation had
+not been attended with the success anticipated, and despite fresh
+assistance afforded by the Austrian Government to the Association, which
+at first seemed to promise a more auspicious future for the undertaking,
+yet the political complications of the period, and especially the sudden,
+totally unlooked-for rupture of peace between France, England, and
+Holland, ere long entailed utter ruin on the trading company, which, in
+the year 1785, found itself compelled to stop payment.[5] Bolts died at
+Paris in April, 1808, in utter destitution, and Michaud, in his
+_Biographie Universelle_, dedicated an article to this hardy and
+enterprising, rather than shrewd and prudent, adventurer.[6]
+
+About two years after the appearance of the Austrian ship in the Nicobar
+Archipelago, the Danes endeavoured to found there a missionary station of
+Moravian Brothers. Towards the close of 1778 the missionaries, Hänsel and
+Wangemann, sailed from Tranquebar to Nangkauri, where they arrived in
+January, 1779. In 1787 the mission at Nangkauri was once more abandoned,
+when the only surviving Moravian Brother returned to Tranquebar, and
+shortly after to Europe.
+
+In 1795 an Englishman, Major Symes, touched at Kar-Nicobar, while on his
+voyage as Envoy to Ava and Burmah. His observations there may be found in
+the second volume of "Asiatic Researches," p. 344, in an article entitled
+"Description of Carnicobar."
+
+In 1831, Denmark once more made an attempt to colonize, by means of a
+missionary enterprise, the group formerly known as New Denmark, and
+occasionally as Frederick Islands. Pastor Rosen landed in August of that
+year on the island of Kamorta, and first set up his establishment on the
+so-called Frederick Hill, then on the adjoining Mongkata Hill; somewhat
+later on the island of Trinkut, and lastly on the shore immediately
+beneath the Mongkata Hill. In December, 1834, after about a four years'
+stay, Pastor Rosen left the islands, and in 1839 published, at Copenhagen,
+his own experiences and personal observations, under the title:
+"_Erindringen om mit Ophold paa de Nikobariske Oerne_" (Recollections of
+my Residence on the Nicobar Islands).
+
+In 1835, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Straits of Malacca dispatched to
+Kar-Nicobar two French missionaries, the Fathers Chopard and Borie. But
+after a certain lapse of time, during which their missionary efforts gave
+promise of the most pleasing results, and when they had lived about a year
+on the island, the pious work fell through, owing to the credulity and
+prejudices of the natives, to whom the two missionaries were represented
+by the crew of a ship from the adjacent shores of the continent as English
+spies, whose object probably was to ascertain the products of the country,
+which thereupon would speedily be annexed by the English Government. The
+missionaries had to flee, and Borie expired in the arms of his companion
+before he could get off the island. Chopard afterwards, in the year 1849,
+published his adventures in this group of islands in the "Asiatic Journal
+of the Indian Archipelago," under the title, "_A few Particulars
+respecting the Nicobar Islands._"
+
+In March, 1845, Mr. Mackey, Danish Consul in Calcutta, set on foot a
+small expedition to the Nicobar Archipelago. That gentleman hoped to find
+amongst the southern islands strata of coal, and made a voyage thither in
+prosecution of that object, on board the schooner _Espiègle_, commanded by
+an Englishman named Lewis, and accompanied by two Danes, Mr. Busch, the
+sole commander of the expedition, and a certain Mr. Lowert. By the end of
+May the adventurers were once more in Calcutta. With the exception of a
+few lumps they had not found coal-beds on any part of the island, while
+they lacked the physical strength requisite for founding the agricultural
+colony, which it had been intended to set on foot at the same time. The
+scientific results of this voyage are comprised in a small _brochure_, "H.
+Busch's Journal of a Cruise amongst the Nicobar Islands," (Calcutta,
+1845).
+
+A further scientific exploration of the Nicobar group was made by the
+naturalists attached to the Danish corvette _Galatea_ in the course of
+their voyage round the world in the years 1845-7. A thorough examination
+of the Nicobars was one of the chief objects of the expedition set on foot
+under the auspices of the Danish Government. On the 25th January, 1846, at
+Nangkauri, Captain Steen Bille took formal possession of this group of
+islands in the name of H.M. the King of Denmark. Two natives, father and
+son, named respectively Luha and Angre, the former resident in Malacca,
+and the latter in Enuang, were on that occasion installed as chief
+magistrates; each being at the same time provided with a staff bearing the
+cypher of Christian VIII., and instructed, by means of a document drawn
+up in the English and Danish languages, on the subject of their duties,
+which consisted principally in hoisting the Danish Standard on the arrival
+of foreign ships in the harbour of Nangkauri.[7]
+
+After the decease of Christian VIII., the Danish Government, in
+consequence of the violent political agitations of the period, did not
+show itself disposed to make practical use of their possession of the
+Nicobar Islands by any lasting colonization, but on the contrary in the
+year 1848 dispatched the royal corvette _Valkyrien_ to the Archipelago, to
+bring away the flag and bâtons.[8]
+
+In consequence of this, according to "Thornton's Gazetteer of India," the
+chiefs of the island of Kar-Nicobar hoisted the English flag, and through
+certain English merchants resident in Moulmein, expressed a wish to be
+permitted to place themselves under the protection of the British Crown.
+This information, however, seems to be inaccurate, in so far as it
+professes to describe the conduct of the native chiefs. The inhabitants,
+it is true, hoist any flag given to them, because they are fond of
+imitating European customs, and by so doing believe they secure themselves
+against the pretensions of other nations; but there is nothing they so
+much dread as a regular occupation of the islands, and on every appearance
+of a war-ship are forthwith filled with alarm lest they should be about to
+be deprived of their liberty, and--their cocoa-nuts. Indeed they have a
+saying widely diffused among them, probably through the craft of some
+smart chiefs, that whenever a European should settle among them all the
+cocoa-nuts will drop from the trees, and they will thus see themselves
+deprived for ever of their most important means of subsistence. It is, on
+the contrary, more probable that the English ship captains, who trade with
+these islands in order the better to secure their highly profitable trade
+in cocoa-nuts, made some propositions to the East Indian Government to
+take possession of this important group, by a similar procedure as that by
+which the Andaman islands were annexed somewhat later.
+
+Since the unsuccessful attempt at the end of last century to extend
+Austrian commerce with the Indies and the coast of Africa, by founding a
+few colonies in those places, no vessel sailing under the Austrian flag
+had again visited the Nicobar Islands, and accordingly, on the dispatch of
+an Imperial ship-of-war to those waters, it was naturally wished that she
+should on her voyage to China visit this group, on whose shores the
+Austrian flag had once been unfurled as a symbol of possession. On this
+occasion, however, the object was rather scientific than political. It was
+intended, so far as the time allotted for visiting these islands and the
+appliances at hand admitted, to undertake inquiries as to the most
+important geodetical points, together with astronomical, magnetic, and
+meteorological observations, and at the same time to make investigations
+and collections of the various objects of natural science, and thus to
+complete as it were the valuable labours carried out in 1846 by the Danish
+Expedition to the Nicobar Islands. The following pages are simply limited
+to giving a popular narrative of our own stay on this interesting island
+group, while more circumstantial information of the various scientific
+results obtained there will be deferred till the appearance of the special
+works being drawn up by the members, each in his own special section.
+
+On 25th February, at 10 A.M., the naturalists, accompanied by the officers
+in charge of the scientific apparatus, and the midshipmen, after very
+considerable difficulty, succeeded in effecting a landing on the island of
+Kar-Nicobar, in a bay protected by a coral reef (by observation 9° 14' 8''
+N., and 92° 44' 46'' E.), between the villages of Moose and Sáoui. At this
+point the surf beats incessantly over the huge reefs of coral upon a waste
+of gleaming white sand, which stretches in graceful curves from one point
+of rock to that next adjoining. The few fruits which have been thrown up,
+or been carried hither, probably from some distant shore, have struck root
+in this coral sand, and a coronal of luxuriant palms, with their slim
+stems, and loaded with thousands of nuts, serves as food for man.
+
+In the vicinity of the spot where we disembarked was anchored a barque
+from Moulmein, with a Malay crew, the majority of whom were tattooed on
+the thigh with extraordinary skill. They had been for a considerable
+period taking in a cargo of cocoa-nuts, which the natives had been
+exchanging against various merchandise. About thirty dusky natives, almost
+entirely naked, and for the most part without any head covering beyond the
+splendid raven locks which hung down over their shoulders, some carrying
+in their hands cutlasses, others long wooden lances tipped with bone,
+stood near the beach, and while we were yet a little distance off, called
+out to us in broken English, and with visible anxiety, "Good friend? No
+fear!" apparently anxious, in the first place, to have confirmation from
+us that we were really "good friends," and that they had nothing to dread,
+before they ventured quite close to us. When they were no more than twenty
+paces distant, they suddenly came to a halt, upon which some of their
+number, who appeared to be chiefs, gave their spears and cutlasses to
+those around, and advanced to us with a tolerably friendly air, at the
+same time stretching out their hands by way of salutation. They were for
+the most part large, well-proportioned men, of a dark bronze colour of
+skin.
+
+The most disagreeable feature is the mouth, which, in consequence of the
+loathsome custom of incessantly chewing the betel-nut, seems to have
+become utterly distorted in shape. In a few cases this filthy habit had
+resulted in such deformity among the teeth, that these were barely visible
+between the thick swollen lips, like a malignant tumour! The apparel of
+the natives is pretty universally entirely primitive, consisting of
+nothing but a long very narrow strip of dark blue linen, which they wind
+round the body, bringing it from the front between the legs backwards,
+when it is made fast to the girdle, and the ends left to hang loosely
+down. Some of the natives make a very singular use of the different
+articles of old clothes which they receive in exchange from the ship
+captains, or have had given as a present, as they appear now in a black
+hat, now in a coat or a shirt, without a vestige of other clothing!
+
+Almost every native we saw brought to us a soiled, crumpled-up
+testimonial, setting forth his good character, and his honesty in the
+cocoa-nut trade, which he had received from various ship captains, who
+bartered their merchandise for ripe cocoa-nuts, which they afterwards sold
+in the East Indies or Ceylon at an immense profit. The greater number of
+these testimonials were written in English; we found only one in German
+from the skipper of a Bremen ship, and one in Dutch. In these certificates
+are set forth the objects best worth enquiring for, as also a statement of
+the articles bartered in the course of exchange for cocoa-nuts, a practice
+which is not alone of the utmost utility for those who may afterwards
+visit the islands for purposes of commerce, but also throw a most
+interesting light upon the evidences of civilization among the natives.[9]
+
+These testimonials also frequently contain very humorous remarks about the
+unsuspecting natives, who assuredly would be less eager in producing them
+if they were acquainted with the contents. One of the earliest to extend
+to us the hand of welcome was a native who called himself Captain Dickson,
+a handsome, slim, dark brown figure, with very long, fine, glossy hair
+hanging over his shoulders, and neatly gathered together with a bark
+ribbon. In the document presented to us, which was dated 15th January,
+and bore the signature of the captain of the ship _Arracan_, there was
+written beneath, "Dickson, though a shabby-looking fellow, is a man of
+substance." In a second testimonial, it was said of a native: "He will do
+honour to England when she comes!" a remark which leaves plainly apparent
+the hope of the ship captain that these islands will speedily be occupied
+by the English. These certificates likewise contain a variety of important
+hints, especially with reference to the method of dealing with the
+natives, the most commodious anchorage, the difficulty encountered in
+landing, &c.[10]
+
+Thus the most cursory communication with the natives convinced us that
+they must already have repeatedly done business with English ship
+captains, who had imparted to them a slight knowledge of the English
+language, and a few of the simpler principles of humanity and religion.
+When we gave them to understand that we visited them as friends, they
+replied in their broken English: "Not merely friends--brothers! all
+brothers! all only one father and one mother!" Hereupon each proceeded to
+light one of the cigars that had been presented to them, while, for want
+of any other receptacle, they secreted the remainder in the wide holes
+transpiercing the lobes of the ears, after which they with the most frank
+munificence, and in token of their hospitality, pulled a number of young
+cocoa-nuts from the tree, and gave us their fluid contents to drink. Very
+singular was the method in which this was effected. They tie their feet
+together by the ankles with a loop of the same bast, or bark rope, which,
+when employed in fastening their long black locks, usually forms such a
+picturesque frontlet, and then clamber with the agility of cats to the
+summit of the palm, throw to the bottom the separated fruit, and slide
+swiftly down to the ground again. Holding in one hand a tolerably heavy
+young nut, in the other a sharp cutlass, they proceed at one sure blow to
+open the nut, in such manner that a small orifice is made, through which
+the refreshing liquid contents can be conveniently quaffed. When this has
+been evacuated the nut is usually split in half, in which form it serves
+as a most nutritious food for the fowls and hogs. Despite their
+hospitality, there was perceptible in all of them great anxiety, and the
+upshot of all their conversation always resolved itself into the
+stereotyped questions, "What did we really require? whether we wished to
+purchase cocoa-nuts, and would soon be leaving?"
+
+Great and natural as our desire was to penetrate from the shore, thickly
+covered with its belt of cocoa-nut palms, into the rather flat interior,
+and thus obtain a nearer view of the hive-shaped, basket-formed huts which
+were visible under the forest trees, we judged it much the better course
+to endeavour first of all to make the natives more confiding, and for that
+purpose invited them to accompany us on board. Eight of their number were
+finally induced to follow us, and came alongside in their elegant canoes,
+formed of the wood of the _Calophyllum inophyllum_, one of the most
+splendid trees of the primeval forest of the islands. As soon as we
+reached the frigate, only a single one, Captain Dickson, could be induced
+to clamber up of the man-ropes; the rest did not venture to leave their
+canoes, and one, who called himself Captain Charlie, a short, lank little
+fellow of boyish appearance, who for all apparel wore a dirty cloth cap on
+his head, trembled with terror through his whole frame when he saw our big
+guns. Captain Dickson, too, did not seem to feel himself altogether
+comfortable while on board, and although there was much to excite his
+curiosity, he soon longed to get out of the large ship, back again into
+his own frail skiff. Quite peculiar was the impression made upon him by a
+pair of live cows; such large animals he gave us to understand were not
+found upon his island.
+
+Meanwhile a number of natives had approached the frigate in their canoes,
+bringing swine, fowls, plantains, yams, and eggs in hollowed-out cocoa-nut
+shells, which they offered as presents, but at the same time inquired what
+we intended giving them in return. They greatly wished for biscuit,
+brandy, medicines, clothes, but above all else for black hats, which most
+probably results from their having occasionally seen the captains of
+English ships wearing round hats, whence they now seem to imagine that
+such a head-gear is the insignia of captain's rank, or of a chief.
+
+Their knowledge of money was confined to Rupees, which they discriminated
+into two sorts, viz. the ordinary East Indian coin, and the English
+sixpenny-piece, which they called "small Rupees," covering with them, by
+way of ornament, the ends of the small bits of bamboo which they usually
+wear through the hole that transpierces the greatly distended lobe of the
+ear.
+
+Of the two Catholic missionaries, Borie and Chopard, who in 1835 had
+remained a short time on the island, not one of the natives could give us
+any particulars; and likewise of the Danish corvette _Galatea_, which
+visited the group in 1846, they had but a dim remembrance, and even this
+of a far from complimentary character; the poor people having been
+overwhelmed with the apprehensions that their island was about to be taken
+possession of, and themselves exposed to a lingering death by hunger.
+"Danish bad people," they exclaimed, "wanted to take our island. Suppose I
+could come to your island and take it? Not good! no good people!"
+
+We returned on shore with the natives, who, in consequence of their
+friendly reception on board, had already become somewhat more tranquil and
+trustful. Tents were now pitched, the astronomical and geodetical
+instruments, together with the barometer and thermometer, were adjusted,
+the tide-gauge fixed at the most suitable point, and the island traversed
+in all directions for scientific purposes, so far at least as the density
+of the forest and the mistrust of the natives would permit.
+
+On the very same day we visited the Cove of Sáoui, on which is situated
+the village of the same name, whose chief is called "Captain John." This
+worthy had received by way of present an old cast-off blue uniform frock,
+and was now making strenuous exertions to squeeze his all too little
+flexible limbs into this tight thick cloth coat, and to button it, despite
+the tropical heat, round his naked body up to the very throat. He was
+anxious it should not be reported of him that he did not sufficiently
+value the distinction awarded him, or did not comprehend how to make a
+proper use of it. Unlike the rest of his compatriots, Captain John also
+wore shoes and pants, and in consequence openly claimed to belong to the
+privileged classes. He was surrounded by a considerable number of natives,
+who presented themselves to us, as Captain Morgan, Captain Douglas, Dr.
+Crisp, Lord Nelson, Lord Byron, Lord Wellington, and so forth, having been
+indebted to the singular whimsies of some English captains, who thought it
+a good joke to confer on these filthy brown people the illustrious names
+of the hereditary and intellectual aristocracy of Great Britain.
+
+Captain John accompanied us along the coast to his own domicile by an
+exceedingly difficult and sunny path, having designedly concealed from us
+the existence of a much more commodious track through the forest to the
+village, which contains only seven houses. These are erected in a broad
+open space, and in consequence of the great humidity of the soil during
+the wet season, consist of eight or ten poles, from six to eight feet in
+height, so that a man can easily pass under them. They comprise but one
+large apartment, into which access is obtained by a neatly-carved ladder
+of bamboo-reed, which during the night, or when the occupants leave the
+hut, is usually taken away, so that, without using locks or bolts, it is
+pretty difficult to get in. The flooring is constructed of bamboo planks,
+bound together with Rotang (_Calamus Rotang_), in such a manner that the
+air from beneath can circulate freely through, and, in a similar way, the
+neat basket-work of the hive-shaped structure is vaulted. A dense straw
+thatch serves as well to keep out the sun's rays as the rain. The internal
+arrangements are very simple. In the rear is a sort of fire-place, a low
+block of wood hollowed out, and the cavity filled with sand and stones,
+upon which is placed a variety of utensils of clay, imported from the
+adjoining island of Chowry, the only island of the entire Archipelago
+where any industry is carried on. From the beams of the roof are suspended
+hollowed-out cocoa-nuts, strung together in pairs, and serving as water
+jars, as also elegantly plaited baskets and the few possessions of the
+family, and, lastly, some fruits, betel-leaves, and tobacco, as offerings
+to the Eewees, or evil spirits, in the event of their paying a visit, and
+having an appetite for such fare. Further forward, opposite the entrance
+of the hut, there are stuck on the side walls, as evidences of special
+prosperity, numerous cutlasses, spears, javelins, and paddles. Besides,
+there are laid on the floor plaited straw-mats, which, rolled up during
+the day, are stretched out at night and, together with a small wooden
+stool for a pillow, serve as couches on which to repose. The hut might
+furnish sleeping quarters for about ten men. As, moreover, all the cookery
+is carried on therein, and there is no means of ventilating from above,
+the interior is completely saturated with smoke, and all articles are soon
+begrimed with smoke and soot. The natives, however, apparently take no
+precautions to get rid of the smoke, because it contributes to keep them
+free of a far more subtle foe, the mosquito, who, especially during the
+rainy season, becomes a formidable torment for their naked bodies.
+
+In the shady space beneath the hut, which sometimes serves as a
+workshop,--if one may venture so to designate the industry of the
+inhabitants of the Nicobars generally,--Captain John had suspended upon a
+transverse beam a sort of swing, in which he occasionally rocked himself,
+much to his own delight, while for his guests was provided a wooden
+arm-chair, which had evidently come into his possession in the course of
+some barter with the captain of a merchant vessel.
+
+The old chief spoke with marked predilection of the captain of the barque
+_Rochester_ of London, a gentleman named Green, who, by his humane and
+strictly conscientious dealings with the natives, seemed to stand in high
+respect, and afforded a striking example of what beneficial influence is
+exercised by individual English ship captains over the wild races with
+whom they come in contact in the way of trade, and how much they have it
+in their power to make their nation respected in all parts of the globe.
+We venture to assert that these English merchantmen, during their cursory
+visits, have done more towards paving the way for civilizing the Nicobars
+than the Danish and French missionaries during their residence of years.
+Not a single native understands one word of Danish or French, but almost
+every one speaks English, sufficient, at all events, to make himself
+understood in that language. The talkative old fellow next held forth an
+English Bible, which had been carefully stowed away on one of the
+cross-beams of his hut, and of which, as he told us, he had been made a
+present by Captain Green, on that gentleman's last visit. "This is my
+Jesus Christ," said Captain John, full of unquestioning faith in the
+marvellous power of Holy Writ:--"when I feel ill, I lay this little book
+under my head, and I get well again!" The worthy fellow could neither read
+nor, so far as we could perceive, did he precisely comprehend what was
+printed in the book, yet he seemed instinctively to feel that it was of no
+ordinary purport, and accordingly held his present in high honour, as a
+sort of talisman, whose power and efficacy one might confide in, without
+his being able precisely to account for such a belief. We turned over the
+leaves of the little volume, which had been issued by the renowned,
+wide-spread, and beneficent London Bible Society, and found on the
+fly-leaf some English verses in Green's handwriting, and some encomiums
+upon the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar, "The most virtuous people that
+Captain Green had fallen in with during eight and thirty years'
+sea-faring;" closing with the remark, "What a pity they have no
+missionary!"
+
+In truth, the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar are among the most perfect of
+human-kind. In their commerce with us they showed themselves to be
+child-like and ignorant, yet virtuous, trustworthy people, without
+ambition or the thirst of knowledge, but also without jealousy or envy. If
+ever any breach between themselves and the Europeans has been pushed the
+length of violence, such has pretty certainly resulted rather from their
+being in a measure suddenly incited to self-defence than from any open
+predisposition to mischief. When we inquired of one of the natives in what
+manner breach of faith is punished on the island, he replied with the
+utmost _naïveté_;--"We never have such--we are all good;--but in your
+country there must be many evil men, else what for would you require so
+many guns?"
+
+In company with some of the natives we had proceeded upon a stroll through
+the magnificent cocoa forest along the beach, in the course of which we
+reached several huts scattered at random through the thicket, the
+inhabitants of which received us in the most cordial manner. Their wives
+and children however had all retired in a body, and during our entire stay
+never once made their appearance. Indeed the natives, in the hope of
+hastening our departure, pretended that their families had in their panic
+fled into the forest, and must starve of hunger if we should remain long,
+and so prevent them from returning to their usual abodes. This however was
+but a hoax. The natives knew well enough where their families were
+lurking, and provided them with food and drink. This extreme shyness of
+the female portion of the population arises apparently from the
+incivilities of which the sailors of the merchant vessels were guilty
+towards the natives, whose moral feelings and delicacy of mind,
+considering their low state of civilization, becomes doubly extraordinary.
+
+An attempt to penetrate deeper into the interior of the island was baffled
+through the obstacles which are interposed by the unchecked luxuriance of
+tropical nature. The vegetation grows densely down to the very sea, which
+is separated from the rich foliage above only by rocky reefs and narrow
+dunes of sand, washed by the furious surf. A broad belt of _Rhizophoræ_,
+gigantic _Barringtonias_, _Pandanus_, _Areca_, and cocoa-palms, encircles
+the island, to which succeeds a somewhat higher land grown with dense
+grass and interspersed with groups of trees, from which, lastly, spring a
+few thickly-wooded peaks of about 150 to 200 feet in height. Through this
+girdle it requires the most violent efforts to force one's way, while, on
+the other hand, it is wholly impossible, owing to the dense tangle of
+climbing plants and bamboo, to advance further into the forest over the
+grass flat, unless a path be previously cleared with hedge-knives, which,
+even could more time be devoted, would call for immense exertion. Our
+researches therefore were necessarily confined for the most part to the
+coast region.
+
+After several hours of strolling about, collecting and examining as we
+went on, the naturalists found themselves collected once more on the open
+space facing Captain John's hut, where meanwhile a pig had been roasted by
+our sailors in the open air, which we had purchased for three shillings of
+our corpulent friend Dr. Crisp. The natives had at first protested against
+this improvised hearthstone, being apprehensive lest the fire should reach
+their huts, the roofs of which are thatched with dried palm-leaves. "It is
+as inflammable as gunpowder," remarked the old chief in an anxious tone,
+when our people had with great want of foresight lighted the fire too near
+the buildings. Captain John and his kindred did not need to be invited
+twice to partake of our meal, at which they proved themselves excellent
+trenchermen. The inhabitants of these islands generally eat vegetables
+only, the use of meat being for the most part restricted to festive
+occasions. The use of salt is as yet unknown to them. They only use
+sea-water for the purpose of seething their pigs and hens, by which
+process the flesh gets a slight flavour of salt. During our luncheon,
+which had made the natives yet more confiding than ever, we found an
+opportunity of hearing something about the various festivals of the
+Nicobar islanders.
+
+When a native falls down from a tree, or is bitten by a snake, or is
+otherwise wounded or dies, the Nicobarians forthwith discontinue all work,
+and institute a fast, which they term Uraka. With the commencement of the
+S.W. monsoons or rainy season (when the wind comes from "yonder," quoth
+Dr. Crisp, and pointed with his finger to the southward), the inhabitants
+of Kar-Nicobar hold their chief festival, which lasts fourteen days, and
+is called Oïlere.
+
+They have a similar festival at the end of the damp season, or N.E.
+monsoon, to which the pigs, which play quite a conspicuous part in it,
+impart an entirely peculiar character. Several weeks before the
+commencement of this _fête_, a large number of these unclean but useful
+animals are confined in small stalls, whence they are released on the
+feast-day, and set loose in a well-fenced space, where they are teased and
+pricked with lances by all the courageous, or rather mischievous, youth of
+the island. The Nicobarians seem to attach special importance to the swine
+being driven wild, and themselves engaged in a regular struggle with the
+infuriated animal, in the course of which severe wounds are by no means of
+rare occurrence. We ourselves saw several young natives, who a few days
+previously had been severely injured in a similar contest with some
+enraged pigs. When this anything but æsthetic spectacle has lasted some
+time, the pigs are killed, roasted on the fire, and devoured by the
+combatants and spectators.
+
+A not less strange and even more barbarous festival is that which is held
+about the same time as the one just mentioned. This consists in exhuming
+the bones of all those who have died during the year elapsed since the
+last N.E. monsoon, and have been interred in a sort of cemetery called
+"_Cuyucupa_."[11] They next bring these bones into a hut, seat themselves
+in a circle around the ghastly mementos, and shriek and howl as at the day
+on which the relation died. While this scene of lamentation is going on, a
+lighted cigar is usually stuck into the bony mouth of the grisly skull,
+after which the latter is consigned to the grave again. The rest of the
+bones however are either thrown into the deep sea or hid far in the
+forest, while at the same moment, as a farther evidence of sorrow, a
+number of cocoa-palms are cut down, and their fruit scattered to the
+winds. By such symbols they apparently wish to express their overwhelming
+grief, their weariness of existence, and their indifference to the most
+valued gifts of nature, so that they would even deprive themselves of the
+most universally necessary of the means of subsistence--were it not that,
+owing to the readiness with which the sea-shore palm is propagated, the
+nuts thus scattered at random, in all the indifference to sublunary
+considerations incidental to a paroxysm of grief, speedily strike root,
+and after a few years lift up their heads again in the forest, at once
+ornamental and nutritious.
+
+At all these festivals the natives assemble in the various villages, and
+at these seasons spend days and weeks with each other. Earlier visitors to
+Kar-Nicobar estimate the number of villages on the island at about six or
+seven only. The natives on the other hand gave us the names of the
+following thirteen: Arrong (or Arrow), Sáoui, Moose, Lapáte, Kinmai,
+Tapóimai, Chukchuitche, Kiukiuka, Tamalu, Páka, Malacca, Komios, and
+Kankéna, which all together would hardly number much above 100 huts, and
+about 800 or 900 inhabitants.
+
+Southward of our anchorage we fell in with a small stream, which near its
+embouchure on the beach was lost in a sand-bank. Some of the members of
+the Expedition explored it in a very small flat-bottomed boat, a Venetian
+gondola, which was transported across the bar in order to admit of its
+being sculled up the river. At first it was found to be about 2-1/2 feet
+deep, by about 12 to 14 yards in width; the general direction of its very
+sinuous course being towards E.S.E. All around the forest presented a
+scene to which perhaps only the fantastic whimsicality of certain
+theatrical forest sceneries might furnish a dim resemblance. Along the
+steep bank of the river rose to a height of nearly 100 feet the slender
+Nibong palm, adorned with blossoms and clusters of fruit, and close
+adjoining the graceful Catechu palm. Gigantic forest trees, with thick
+squat trunks, extended their shady masses of foliage far over the stream;
+screw-pines towering up from the scaffold-like arrangement of their
+numerous roots, were reflected from the glassy bosom of the water; clumps
+of bamboo, absolutely alive with butterflies; nymph-like aquatic plants,
+mossy green banks, and tree-ferns with indescribably graceful corollæ, all
+combined here to form a landscape of the most enchanting richness, in the
+water, on the shore, and in the air. Suspended over the whole scene,
+partly in leaf, partly in bloom, a gigantic garland of climbing and
+creeping plants, in living cords of every variety of thickness, rose in a
+lofty arch above the limpid element, interlaced and girt round with
+thousands of blooming and flourishing parasites! Then, too, from amid the
+mysterious gloom started forth the strangest voices and cries, without our
+being able to descry the animals themselves. In the water, which was
+perfectly sweet to the taste, swarmed multitudes of fish of from one to
+four inches in length. After rowing about one nautical mile and a half up
+the stream, some rapids and rocks prevented our further progress, the
+stream itself being but twelve feet wide. A little further to the east
+occurs a similar small river, which however had even less water, and at
+its mouth is yet more sanded up and inaccessible than that above
+described.
+
+After we had lain for six days at anchor on the N.W. coast of Kar-Nicobar,
+and were once more casting about how to make out our long-desired
+excursion through its almost impermeable forests, we suddenly perceived in
+the distance upon the beach two men in European dress, with muskets upon
+their shoulders, who, conducted by some absolutely naked natives, speedily
+approached us. One, a fine-looking, well-formed young man of about 20,
+addressed us in French, saying he was supercargo of the Sardinian brig
+_Giovannina_ of Singapore, and was occupied in taking in a cargo of
+cocoa-nuts upon the southern shore of the island. The natives had been so
+unsettled by the arrival of a war-ship, that they loudly affirmed a pirate
+ship had made its appearance, which would rob and destroy them all;
+whereupon the most anxious of their number entreated the few whites who
+fortunately happened to be among them to start immediately for the north
+side of the island, where the Colossus lay at anchor, so as at all events
+to ascertain what was to be their fate. In the course of the conversation
+which sprung up between ourselves and the two strangers, we found that the
+supercargo was a Frenchman, born at St. Denis in the island of Bourbon,
+and was named Auguste Tigard, while his companion was a Sardinian. They
+were both singularly pale and embarrassed on first falling in with us,
+apparently from surprise and delight at finding themselves so unexpectedly
+in the society of white men at so solitary a spot; ere long however they
+felt themselves more at their ease, visited the frigate, were provided
+with clothes, medicines, and wine, and at a later period were of much use
+to us in our intercourse with the natives. Tigard remarked that the
+sugar-cane, which at present grows wild on the island, could, judging by
+his own personal experience, be very profitably grown for the production
+of sugar, as also that tobacco, cotton, and rice thrive in the most
+conspicuous manner.
+
+At present the cocoa-palm is the sole plant which is cultivated by the
+natives of Kar-Nicobar. It supplies them with all they require for food
+and lodging, for house-furniture, or for commerce with foreign peoples.
+The stem of this slender column, from 60 to 100 feet in height, by about
+2-1/2 in thickness, with its heavy green thatch of leaves, is very porous
+and slight looking, but is yet stiff and strong enough to furnish
+cross-beams, laths, and masts for huts and boats. The fibres of the bark
+and of the nut-shells (known in commerce as _Coir_) supply cordage and
+line; the immense fan-shaped leaf (3 feet wide by 12 to 14 in length) of
+the coronal serves as a covering for the roof, as also for plaited work
+and baskets. The juice of the nut, shaped like an egg, yet somewhat
+triangular, and about the size of the human head, prevents the native from
+feeling even in the slightest degree the absence of available spring
+water, and is the sole beverage which invigorates and refreshes the
+wayfarer through these forest solitudes. Frequently did we experience a
+glow of thankfulness to all-bounteous Nature, as often as some hospitable
+native handed to us for our refreshment, exhausted and thirsty as we were
+after our fatiguing wanderings, a green cocoa-nut, that vegetable spring
+of the tropical forest.[12] The kernel of the ripe nut, thoroughly dried
+and pressed, gives forth a strong, clear, tasteless oil, which is used by
+the natives for anointing their skin and hair, and at the same time forms
+so important an article in European commerce, that above 5,000,000 ripe
+cocoa-nuts are annually exported through foreign mercantile houses in
+exchange for European fabrics. The hard shell of the cocoa-nut is the sole
+drinking cup of the Nicobar islanders, and the cooling, refreshing juice,
+which is extracted by an incision in the sheath of the palm-blossom before
+the latter has expanded, is the sole fermented beverage of which they make
+use. When brought into a state of fermentation it possesses similar
+intoxicating effects with the Chicha of the American Indian. Here, as
+among other half-savage races, we had occasion to remark, that the chief
+food of the aborigines is also made available for supplying them with
+their favourite liquid stimulant, and just as the native of India effects
+this purpose with rice, the African from the Yucca, or the Yam, the
+South-Sea Islander with the Kawa, and the Mexican with the Maize or the
+Agave, so the inhabitant of the Nicobars avails himself of the cocoa-nut
+at once for the supply of the first necessities of his existence, and the
+excitement of his brain by artificial stimulant.
+
+On 27th February, towards evening, after a stay of seven days on the north
+side of Kar-Nicobar, which had been spent in scientific operations of the
+most varied nature, we again set sail, and next morning cast anchor on the
+south side of the same island, close to the village of Komios. The
+current, which at this point sets to the E.S.E., runs about three miles an
+hour, so long as the flood-tide continues, but as soon as the ebb-tide
+sets in, it chops round, and runs with greatly diminished velocity. The
+landings on the south side, which, on leaving the northern promontory,
+shows a much richer vegetation, are somewhat difficult to discover, since
+at almost all points reefs and coral banks project from the shore far into
+the sea, so that after doubling the cape it is necessary to stop short a
+pretty considerable distance from the land.
+
+While we were coasting along the eastern shore we could perceive through
+the telescope, at the village of Lapáte, consisting of some eight or ten
+huts, a great number of women and children, who were rushing to and fro
+among the huts in the utmost confusion, till suddenly all disappeared in
+the forest. These were evidently fugitives from the north side, who were
+now once more betaking themselves to the forest, accompanied by the native
+females of the east and south sides, when they saw the dreaded floating
+giant approaching them. A beach of dazzling white coral sand, sprinkled
+over with thousands of living mussels, low melancholy-looking mangrove
+swamps, and a superb forest of trees with lofty stems, through which lay a
+beaten footpath, was all that the flat shore offered to our view. The
+Frenchman already mentioned had indeed apprized the inhabitants of our
+arrival, and had endeavoured to explain to them our friendly intention,
+but it was in vain,--the greater portion of the population had taken to
+flight, and only dogs and armed men were left behind. Here also we could
+not see a single woman. However, we were informed by M. Tigard, who lived
+several weeks in the village of Kankéna, and had been treated by the
+natives as one of themselves, that the Nicobar women have their hair cut
+quite short, and simply wind round their dusky bodies, all smeared with
+oil, a piece of white or red calico at the loins. They are generally ugly,
+but strictly virtuous, and regard the Europeans as an inferior race, as
+compared with their native lords.
+
+As we were making for the land in what is called Komios Bay, near the
+village of the same name (situate according to our observations in 9° 37'
+32'' N. Lat. and 92° 43' 42'' E. Long.), a number of stalwart natives
+approached us from the forest, one of whom, who called himself Captain
+Wilkinson, proved to be the most intelligent and graceful of their number.
+He was extremely eager to give us a lot of information respecting the more
+southerly islands of the Nicobar Archipelago, with which the inhabitants
+of the southern coast appear to carry on more extensive commerce than
+those on the northern shore. During the N.E. monsoons, canoes occasionally
+start hence for the islands of Teressa, Bampoka, and Chowry. Wilkinson
+himself once visited these islands in the barque _Cecilia_ of Moulmein,
+with the view of fetching cocoa-nuts. The natives of Teressa, however,
+showed such determined hostility to the captain of the vessel, that
+Wilkinson advised him to abandon the island without further delay, ere the
+intended shipment of cocoa-nuts was completed.
+
+Another English captain, named Iselwood, seems once to have carried over
+some natives of Teressa to Kar-Nicobar, and afterwards taken them back
+again. There does not exist, however, any regular commercial intercourse
+between Kar-Nicobar and the remaining islands of the Archipelago. The
+boats of the natives are much too small, and unsuitable to admit of their
+undertaking voyages to any distance, unless for some very important
+purpose, such, for instance, as bringing pottery ware from the island of
+Chowry, or Chowra, where alone in the Archipelago that manufacture is
+carried on.
+
+The Frenchman, Tigard, affirmed that the natives constantly spoke of
+another race of men inhabiting the interior, who have but one eye in the
+middle of the forehead, who possess no fixed habitation, but pass the
+night among the trees like wild beasts, and subsist upon fruits and roots
+dug up in the forest. This superstition meets with the more ready
+acceptance among the natives, as not one of them has ever penetrated into
+the interior. All their villages lie along the shore, as far as the tract
+of coral sand reaches and the cocoa-nut is thriving. Here the frugal
+native finds all that is necessary to satisfy his very limited
+requirements. The cocoa-palm and the screw-pine (_Pandanus
+odoratissima_), whose fruit forms his chief article of food, as also the
+betel shrub and the Areca palm, which furnish their cherished masticatory,
+grow here, and the coral sand, which can be worked into the most excellent
+lime for building purposes, is only used by them for the purpose of
+obtaining that ingredient so prejudicial to the teeth, which serves to
+impart to the betel the proper relish.
+
+From a passing observation of Wilkinson's we gathered that occasionally,
+during the S.W. monsoons, earthquakes are experienced at Kar-Nicobar, and
+this volcanic indication is yet more strongly marked on the adjoining
+island of Bampoka. Despite the almost stifling heat, which raised the
+column of mercury to 99° in the shade, some of the members of the
+expedition endeavoured to penetrate, with indescribable toil, into the
+swampy forest tract along the shore, and eventually succeeded in bringing
+back several objects which, though few in number, were of the utmost
+importance, and well repaid their labour. Among the animals knocked over,
+there was a gigantic bat, or flying Maki (_Pterops_), the native name of
+which is _Daiahm_.
+
+A foot-track led direct through the forest, cutting off the southern
+corner of the island towards the western side. The natives had in vain
+endeavoured, with their customary importunities, to deter us from
+following this path, assuring us that we should land ourselves in the
+thick of the jungle, which was full of poisonous serpents. However,
+nothing would serve us but to penetrate for once a little deeper into the
+forest. A youthful native, of the most elegant and symmetrical
+proportions, followed us at a long interval, but disappeared finally in
+the woods. We wandered along in deep shadow between lofty colossal banyan
+trees with hundreds of stems, and trunks interlaced with enormous branches
+of ivy, from whose summits hung down lianas of all sizes and dimensions,
+by which one might have clambered to the top as though by a rope, between
+trees with smooth and glossy, or scarred and rugged, bark, which were
+thickly overgrown with parasitical plants. Enormous crabs, with fiery red
+claws, and bodies of the most lovely blue-black, fled before us to their
+lurking-places in the depth of the forest. On right and left amid the
+parched foliage was heard the rustling of lizards, and from the summits of
+the imposing forest trees resounded the musical hum of swarms of _cicadæ_,
+while green and rose-coloured parrots flew shrieking from branch to
+branch, and from the boughs and tendrils was heard the call of the Mania,
+or the cooing, murmuring love-note of the great Nicobar wood-pigeon.
+Gradually the noise of the surf became once more audible, like distant
+thunder, just where a few cocoa-nut palms and screw-pines mingled with the
+laurel trees around. We had reached the beach again.
+
+The same day, towards 4 P.M., the frigate quitted the south coast of
+Kar-Nicobar, and steered in a S.S.E. direction towards the little island
+of Batte-Malve, about twenty-one miles distant, in the neighbourhood of
+which we kept beating about the whole of the following day, without being
+able, in consequence of a stiff breeze and strong contrary current, to
+approach it sufficiently near for a boat to get to land, and thus enable
+us to make a more complete examination. Batte-Malve is a small, entirely
+uninhabited island, some two miles in length, and seems to be of a
+quadrangular form; the upper portion is thickly wooded; the highest
+elevation being from 150 to 200 feet. Towards the N.W. the island becomes
+somewhat flattened when approaching the coast, whereas on the west side,
+as also on the S. and S.E. shores, the rocks descend perpendicularly into
+the sea. According to our observations, instituted on the spot, there is
+in the longitude, as we ascertained it, when compared with that assigned
+by the officers of the Galatea, a discrepancy of ten nautical miles.
+
+Early on the morning of the 3rd of March, while still to the N.W. of
+Batte-Malve, but steering a S.E. course, the islands of Teressa, Chowry,
+and Bampoka became visible at a distance of from eight to ten nautical
+miles. From the main-mast-head we could also descry further to the
+eastward the island of Tillangschong, to which we were now proceeding.
+
+Next morning we found ourselves close in with its N.E. promontory. Both
+wind and weather were highly favourable, the look-out man was stationed
+upon the fore-top, the lead line on being hove overboard with forty
+fathoms found no bottom, and the water had the deep blue colour of the
+open ocean. We were therefore able to approach the shore fearlessly, and
+accordingly stood in till we were barely 100 feet distant from the steep
+octagonal-shaped cliff, which rises like a bastion at the north extremity
+of the island. We now edged off with the frigate and ran under the lee of
+the land, coasting along the west side from north to south, never above
+150 or 200 feet distant from the shore; so close, in short, that, standing
+on the deck, it seemed almost possible to stretch out the hand and touch
+the beetling shore-cliffs, every stone and shrub being perfectly
+distinguishable. Only a narrow rocky belt overhanging the surf appeared
+barren of vegetation, the entire island with that exception being covered
+with dense forest to the very summits, from 400 to 600 feet in height, of
+the steep, projecting, knob-like eminences. It was a delightful,
+never-to-be-forgotten sail along this rock-bound coast, the romantic
+beauties of which passed before us like green dissolving views. The sea
+was so smooth and peaceful that we seemed to be sailing on a mill-pond. At
+last we opened a small sandy cove, in which we perceived a few cocoa-nut
+palms directly opposite. Here the lead promised us good holding ground,
+and the anchor was accordingly let go.
+
+One of the side-boats conveyed to land the officers entrusted with the
+astronomical operations, as also the naturalists. Only with the utmost
+difficulty was it possible to make way through the surf, and get under the
+lee of a reef, whence it was requisite to make a spring to get ashore. At
+the spot at which we landed (named by us Morrock's Cove, and according to
+observation in 8° 32' 30'' N. and 93° 34' 10'' E.) the island was almost
+exclusively clothed with trees and brushwood. Only close to the shore did
+any cocoa-nut palms present themselves to the view. Although quite
+uninhabited at the period of our visit, it was evident, by the traces of
+abandoned fire-places, split cocoa-nuts, and so forth, that human beings
+occasionally make this island their abode, albeit the assertion repeated
+by several writers, that Tillangschong is the Siberia of Nicobar
+criminals, can only be set down to travellers' tales, or some utter
+misapprehension of the meaning of the natives. It would seem that the
+residents in Chowra and Bampoka come to this island from time to time, for
+the purpose of collecting cocoa-nuts, and the fruit of the _pandanus_. By
+dint of strenuous exertion we made our way along river-courses, which
+during the rainy season must rush down as most violent torrents, through a
+thick plantation of screw-pines, into the forest proper, which was
+overgrown with the most majestic representatives of tropical vegetation.
+To the botanist presented itself a great variety of interesting plants and
+timber; to the lovers of sport numerous descriptions of birds, and more
+especially pigeons, in such quantities that the various messes on board
+ship were amply provided with them.
+
+Sundown saw us returned on board, when the anchor was once more weighed.
+During the night we got so close in with the north side of the island
+that, on the following morning, a boat well-manned and carefully equipped
+was detached with one of the officers, who was instructed to round the
+northernmost promontory, in order to examine the northern and eastern
+sides of the island, and rejoin us on its southern shore. One of the
+zoologists, conceiving this minor expedition would furnish him with an
+excellent opportunity for examining some of the lower orders of marine
+life, attached himself to it. The frigate now put about, and coasted down
+the west side southwards. Seen from a distance the vegetation seemed quite
+of a European character. The eminences varied in elevation from 250 to 300
+feet. Judging from the direction of the foliage on the trees, the S.W.
+monsoon seems to commit great ravages. Everywhere along the coast, but
+more especially on the south side, serpentine cropped out--giving little
+promise of fertility. At many spots the cocoa-palms disappeared entirely;
+a circumstance which must ever interfere materially with the settlement of
+this island by a people to whom the most profuse natural treasures are
+worthless and unknown, beyond wealth in cocoa-nuts.
+
+Near the southern point we were suddenly alarmed at noticing an alteration
+in the colour of the sea, which led us to suspect the proximity of a
+sand-bank. Nevertheless a boat, lowered to try for soundings, found no
+bottom at 45 fathoms. In fact, the water was found to be transfused with
+an enormous mass of _crustaceæ_, and small brownish filaments of 1/48 to
+1/12 of an inch in length, occasionally collected into a knot, which
+rendered it cloudy and muddy, and at once explained a phenomenon at first
+sight so unexpected. Towards 5 P.M. we passed the southern point of the
+island, and somewhat later discovered a well-sheltered anchorage on the
+S.E. side of the island.
+
+Considerable anxiety was felt as the sun went down, since the boat that
+had been dispatched not only had not rejoined us but was not yet even
+visible. As soon as darkness had fairly set in, blue lights were burnt on
+board the frigate, of which the third was at last responded to by the crew
+of the boat, which had been provided with port-fires for such a
+contingency. It seemed to be steering for the frigate. Hour after hour,
+however, flew by without its approaching us, and the rest of our signals
+remained unanswered. Thus morning broke, and still no boat was visible.
+
+At length, about 7.30 A.M., the anxiously expected little wanderer hove in
+sight at a little distance, and half an hour later she came alongside all
+safe. The projected operations had been only partially successful, owing
+to the extreme difficulty in making a landing. Surprised by nightfall, it
+was no longer practicable to make out the ten nautical miles at least they
+were still distant from the frigate, and the scanty crew consequently saw
+nothing for it but to anchor close in with the shore, and await the light
+of dawn in the boat. The cause of our later blue lights not being
+answered, was partly the want of a sufficient supply of signal lights,
+part having been already expended, and the rest having got damp.
+
+We now steered for Nangkauri harbour. Full in view lay the north shore of
+the island of Kamorta, and, as we glided smoothly thither over the glassy
+sea, it loomed gradually nearer; an island of flat-topped hills, which,
+despite its rank vegetation, had a park-like aspect, consequent on the
+alternations of forest and grass-slopes with the white coral beach,
+crowned with cocoa-palms. Gradually the island of Tringkut came into view,
+singularly level, and abounding in cocoa-palms and edible sea-slugs
+(Trepang), lying directly facing the entrance of the harbour-like channel,
+between Kamorta and Nangkauri. Our course, on which we were being
+propelled on a beautiful evening by a gentle soft wind which wafted us
+slowly but surely forwards, was indeed entrancingly delicious. Directly
+ahead lay the low strand of Tringkut, shimmering whitely under the dark
+green canopy of foliage, while the long swell, breaking on the coral reefs
+like glancing walls of foam, sunk away in the distance into the smooth
+mirror-like sea, which rose and fell almost imperceptibly, as though
+peacefully breathing. On the left lay Nangkauri, with its forests. On both
+sides of Kamorta and Nangkauri, huts and villages were visible sprinkled
+along the shore, from which numerous natives put off in their canoes to
+the frigate, but presently lay on their oars at a respectful distance, and
+followed us like a sort of squadron of observation. On the right was
+visible in mid-channel between Tringkut and Kamorta the solitary rocky
+island of Tillangschong; the shores of all these islands, and indeed the
+whole horizon, being lit up with a gorgeous Fata Morgana. The extreme
+southernmost cliffs of Tillangschong seemed to be suspended entirely in
+the air. The corners, at which jutted out the coast-lines of Tringkut and
+Kamorta, seen along the horizon of the ocean resembled wedge-shaped
+incisions into the domain of the atmosphere; while the tips of the waves,
+lashed into foam as they broke upon them, seemed as if dancing in the air.
+The canoes of the natives were reflected upside down, till the figures
+seated in them were so enormously lengthened that one could almost fancy
+they were gigantic 'genii' disporting on the surface of the sea.
+
+As we were sailing along in front of the village of Malacca into the
+splendid harbour, and just as the lead had almost a moment before marked
+23 fathoms, the look-out man suddenly descried a shoal. Notwithstanding
+the man[oe]uvres that were at once put in execution, it was found
+impossible to get entirely clear, and the frigate grounded forward of the
+beam on the port-side. Although it was ebb-tide, yet deep water was
+observable both ahead and astern, and accordingly an effort was made, by
+running out the guns and laying out a spring for the frigate to haul upon,
+to get the ship once more afloat, which accordingly speedily proved
+successful, so that by sundown we were enabled to anchor in good holding
+ground, opposite the village of Itoe, in the island of Nangkauri.
+
+Here we lay in a calm, tranquil sheet of water, such as we had not fallen
+in with throughout our voyage hitherto, surrounded by dense forest, from
+which were heard distinctly, on board ship, the disagreeable shrill sound
+of innumerable crickets, and the deep coo of the great Nicobar
+wood-pigeon. Except for these, the most profound stillness reigned. There
+was not the smallest movement either in sea or sky. Although on our
+excursion to Kar-Nicobar we had to endure great heat, it was here that for
+the first time we experienced in all its discomfort the oppressive,
+relaxing sultriness of the tropical atmosphere, when saturated with
+vapour. The thermometer stood pretty regularly at 84° to 86° Fahr., nor
+was it possible to find any relief by plunging into the water, which was
+if anything even warmer than the air. Hemmed in on all sides, and with the
+welcome beneficent sea-breeze frequently ceasing to blow for a week
+together, it was speedily pronounced a riddle, impossible to be solved,
+how this harbour came to be once and again selected by German and Danish
+Missionaries for the purposes of colonization, unless the key to the
+mystery be found in its secure situation, the exquisite beauty of the
+mountain landscape, and the numerous clear spots around.
+
+The very morning after our arrival we set out on a small reconnoitring
+excursion to examine the ground, in order to decide, among so many objects
+claiming our attention at once, what, considering the brief time at our
+disposal, we might hope to undertake successfully, and what must once for
+all be abandoned. Our first visit was to the village of Itoe, which lay
+directly opposite our frigate's anchorage. The natives had all fled into
+the forest, only their dogs having remained behind, who saluted us with a
+tremendous howl. The huts, six or eight in number, had a poor, miserable
+appearance, and were built close to a cocoa forest, so that there was not
+the slightest space to move about in between the huts, the forest, and
+the luxuriant underwood, so that free circulation of air was entirely
+prevented. In front of the village a number of Bamboo poles, with large
+bunches of ribbons waving about from their upper end, were stuck into the
+water, for the purpose of frightening away the evil spirit or Eewee, and
+driving him into the sea! In the interior of these few huts built of
+stakes, and of much inferior construction to those in Kar-Nicobar, was a
+large number of rudely cut figures of all possible sizes, and every
+variety of position, suspended by strings, and supplying the most
+unmistakeable evidence of the superstitions of the natives. We had never
+seen these kinds of charms against the evil spirit at Kar-Nicobar, nor had
+even heard them spoken of. Quite close to the huts was the place of
+interment. At one grave, apparently quite lately used, a large pole was
+erected, which was adorned with innumerable white and blue stripes waving
+in the wind, and from which had also been suspended axes, piles, bars,
+nails, and other tools and implements of labour of the deceased, so that
+the whole scene much more resembled a rag-shop than a grave heap.
+
+From Itoe we proceeded to the peak of Monghata, on the island of Kamorta,
+lying just opposite Nangkauri. It was here that, in 1831, Pastor Rosen
+wished to found the projected settlement. He could hardly have selected a
+more unsuitable site, since all around is either dense forest or mangrove
+swamp. The spots that had been cleared are now overgrown with _Saccharum
+Konigii_ (Lalang grass), of the height of a man, which usually follows
+here upon spots that have been once cultivated and are afterwards
+abandoned, and which, if once taken root, can only with the utmost
+difficulty be eradicated. From this peak, barely 200 feet in height, it is
+practicable to descend by a small footpath to the cove of Ulàla, whose
+shores are entirely overrun with dense impassable mangrove swamp, and
+accordingly present a most dreary, gloomy aspect.
+
+Our next excursion was to the village of Enuang or Enong, where lay at
+anchor, under the British flag, two Malay prahus from Pulo Penang, manned
+by Malay crews, and taking in cargoes of ripe cocoa-nuts, edible birds'
+nests, and sea-slugs, or Trepang. The captain of one of these prahus and
+the greater number of the crew were laid up with fever. The supercargo, a
+Chinese named Owi-Bing-Hong, spoke English fluently, and was of the utmost
+service to us in our communications with the natives. Enuang is larger
+than Itoe, and has about a dozen huts, but these are one and all
+half-ruinous, very filthy, and utterly neglected. In all the huts we found
+numbers of figures, cut in white wood in the very rudest style in various
+postures, mostly with a threatening, combative expression, intended to
+drive away the evil spirit, of whom the natives seem to stand in great
+dread; for it is the universal practice of these islanders to ascribe
+whatever happens to them to the influence of an evil spirit, and probably
+also the appearance of the _Novara_ in the harbour of Nangkauri was laid
+to the account of the ill intentions of an Eewee. One constantly sees
+fruit, tobacco, or betel-leaves, prepared with pearl-lime, strewed in
+small portions at various spots in the interiors of the huts, or suspended
+on the bamboo ladders by which they are entered, the object being to
+propitiate the Eewee in the event of his being hungry on his arrival! In
+one of the abandoned huts we discovered a figure resembling a cat, rudely
+carved in wood, before which the natives had placed tobacco and
+cocoa-nuts; almost all these figures were besmeared with soot, and daubed
+with some red pigment, and their abdomens hung with long pendent dried
+palm-leaves.
+
+Not one of the natives at Enuang understood English. Only a couple of old
+men spoke a few words of Portuguese, of which they were not a little
+conceited. The Portuguese, in the 17th and 18th centuries, seem to have
+been the first European nations that had any commercial dealings with the
+Nicobar islanders. A number of words of their language, all referring to
+objects of civilization, and but little corrupted from the Portuguese,
+such for instance as "pang" (for _pan_, the Portuguese for bread),
+"zapato" (shoe), "cuchillo" (knife), and so forth, are evidences of this.
+The natives here seemed to us yet more hideous than those of Kar-Nicobar,
+especially as the everlasting betel-chewing had disfigured their mouths in
+the most shocking manner. It is however incorrect to allege, as has been
+the case hitherto, that they avail themselves of a particular substance
+with which to discolour the teeth, and which it was supposed induced this
+frightful distortion of the mouth; it is unquestionably only the abuse of
+the betel (consisting of Areca-nut, betel-leaves, and coral chalk) which
+causes these disgusting disfigurements. At this settlement also the women
+and children had disappeared. Only one native woman, married to a Malay
+from Pulo Penang, who was at the moment officiating as cook on board one
+of the prahus lying at anchor in the bay, had the courage to present
+herself before us. She was, according to the custom of the Malays, dressed
+in silk, but bore on her body all the disagreeable traces of her Nicobar
+origin. She showed no reluctance to talk with us, and, in her somewhat
+scanty toilette, was the one solitary native woman with whom we found an
+opportunity of communicating during our entire stay at the various
+islands.
+
+From Enuang we visited the first settlement of the Moravian Brothers,
+lying on the small neck of land between Enuang and Malacca, where
+apparently the amiable Father Hänsel seems to have lived, for whose
+interesting memoir, narrating his many years' residence upon the Nicobar
+Islands, we were indebted to the kindness of Dr. Rosen of the Moravian
+Mission at Genaadendal in South Africa.[13] At present all is once more
+thick majestic forest; a marvellous leafy dome, like a green pantheon,
+encircles and overshadows the scene of the once benevolent activity of the
+devoted missionary. Only a ruined well and a few brick fragments of what
+was the oven, lying about, remain to show that a dwelling once stood
+here. At the well there were a variety of beautiful flowers growing
+between the stones. The place is still called, as then, Tripjet, or the
+"Habitation of the Friends." Here in quick succession most of the Brethren
+died, (no fewer than eleven out of the thirteen,) upon which the mission
+was transferred to the opposite island of Kamorta, first of all to the
+clearing at Kalaha, and ultimately to Kamút. But all these sites were as
+ill-selected as the first. An abode located between swamp and forest, of
+which latter only a space of barely 1000 feet in circumference was
+cleared, could not but prove fatal in a very short space of time to the
+unfortunate colonists. At the village of Enuang too it would seem to be
+that the last attempt at founding a settlement was made in 1835 by the two
+French missionaries; at least we were informed by several natives, who
+seemed to be at present about 34 to 36 years of age, that they were
+themselves but boys when the last missionaries lived at Nangkauri. They
+also further recollected that the gigantic cocoa-palms, which at present
+skirt the forest, were at that time quite small saplings, and the only
+vegetation between the beach and the mission house. At present enormous
+roots are stretching over the foundations of the earlier settlement. The
+natives who accompanied us spoke with warm feeling of the missionaries,
+and seemed to regret their departure. Many professed themselves with much
+earnestness to be Christians, but they were so only in name. According to
+what they reported, many natives must at that period have been baptized
+in the islands of Chowra and Bampoka.
+
+During this visit to Enuang and Malacca, it had been one of the objects
+aimed at by the members of the Expedition to draw up a small vocabulary of
+the language of the natives, when it speedily appeared that, despite the
+proximity of the two islands, the dialects used by the inhabitants were
+entirely different. Even for trees and plants, for the feathered
+inhabitants of the forests, as well as domestic animals, the inhabitants
+of the central groups of islands have different names. The cocoa-palm and
+its noble fruit, the betel and its ingredients, are here known by entirely
+different names. The accurate transcription of each individual word into
+German as pronounced by the native was hard work. It took us two days to
+make a vocabulary of one hundred words! And even this slight success would
+have been impossible but for our serviceable Chinese friend, Bing-Hong,
+who had gone to school for two years at Pulo Penang, and could read and
+write English with tolerable readiness and accuracy. The distortion of
+their mouths is one main reason why the natives pronounce the greater
+number of their words almost unintelligibly; it is more a lisping mutter
+than a language. Hence, apparently, their ability to follow out the
+concatenation of ideas is so slightly developed, that it is only with much
+difficulty they can be made to comprehend the particular subject
+respecting which the information was wanted. For example, if it was wished
+to know the word in their language which expressed "_blue_," and in order
+to make more intelligible what was required, a variety of objects of a
+blue colour were pointed out, they almost invariably named the object
+itself, and not the colour. Or again, one wanted to know what they called
+"_leaf_" in their language, and indicated the leaf of a tree standing
+near; the native, however, replies by giving the name of the tree
+_itself_, instead of the word expressing leaf. It seems to us not
+unimportant to call attention to this circumstance, in order more
+completely to lay before the reader the great and manifold obstacles which
+present themselves in drawing up vocabularies of the languages of
+half-savage races, and thus more readily secure indulgence for the
+discrepancies which are frequently to be met with in such works.[14]
+
+Bing-Hong invited us to pay him a visit on board his vessel, which had
+already been lying for several months at anchor in Nangkauri harbour,
+taking in a cargo of ripe cocoa-nuts, of which a _Picul_, or 133-1/3
+pounds, is worth in the Pulo Penang market 5-1/2 American dollars (£1
+3_s._ sterling). This hospitable Chinese informed us it was at the period
+of our visit the least unhealthy season in Nangkauri harbour: that as soon
+as the S.W. monsoon sets in, all foreign ships hurry away, through dread
+of the illnesses that follow in its track. However, feverish attacks are
+of daily occurrence throughout the year. Of the thirteen men who formed
+the crew of the barque, ten were laid up with fever. The disorderly habits
+of life, however, of foreign visitors are much more to blame for these
+frequent attacks of disease than the unhealthiness of the climate.
+Constantly they are guilty of excesses in diet and general negligence of
+health, bathing during the utmost heat of the day without any covering to
+the head, exposing themselves to the burning rays of the noonday sun,
+drinking for the most part nothing but the fluid contents of the unripe
+cocoa-nut, eating quantities of juicy fruits, the constant use of which
+acts injuriously on the systems of strangers, and sleeping on the damp
+soil under the open air, exposed to all the noxious influences of the
+atmosphere of a tropical forest without the slightest shelter. Bing-Hong
+showed us the dried edible nests of the _Hirundo esculenta_ (in Malay
+_Salang_, in Nicobar _Hegái_), and presented us with a small packet of
+about thirty nests. When properly dried, seventy-two of these tiny nests
+weigh one catty, or 1-1/4 lb., and they are sold at two rupees (4_s._) for
+three of the inferior sort. The best quality is far more expensive. We
+caused some of these Chinese dainties to be prepared exactly as prescribed
+by Bing-Hong, that is to say, they were boiled for one hour in hot water,
+but we found the gelatinous mass quite tasteless, and, in fact, resembling
+dissolved gum. The swallow which constructs these edible nests does not
+however seem to be a regular visitant of the Nicobar Islands, and the
+profits on this article of commerce, which is of such importance in Java
+and the rest of the Sunda Islands, are here scarcely worth naming.
+
+It has been long disputed whence this industrious little warbler obtains
+the material for his nest, and it was in all probability the circumstance
+that it was generally believed to consist of particles of sea-weed,
+fish-roe, and marine animalculæ of the _medusa_ class, which secured for
+these nests such a celebrity among Chinese gourmands. A German naturalist,
+Professor Troschel of Bonn, affirms however, on the strength of an
+analysis of these nests, that the notion hitherto prevalent as to the
+component parts of these nests is entirely erroneous, as they consist of
+nothing else than a thick, glutinous slime, secreted from the salivary
+glands, which, at the period when the Indian swallow builds its nest,
+swell out into large whitish masses. This slime, which is susceptible of
+being drawn out in long filaments from the bill of the animal, is quite
+analogous to gum Arabic. Whenever the bird is desirous of constructing its
+nest, it causes this salivary substance, which at that period is copiously
+secreted, to adhere to the crags, till its elegant nest is finished.
+
+One of the days during which the frigate lay in Nangkauri harbour, the
+geologist of the Expedition made an excursion in a native canoe along the
+coasts of Kamorta and Tringkut, as these islands at the points where the
+shores are precipitous furnish the only possible geognostic facilities,
+the forest or the thick covering of vegetation in the interior of the
+island quite concealing the geological conformation. Our Chinese friend
+Bing-Hong aforesaid accompanied him in the capacity of interpreter. When
+the geologist had got some distance from the frigate, he found that the
+natives had not abandoned their villages, and to this one alone of our
+fellow-travellers, manned and rowed along by natives, did some of the
+women become visible. They were as tall as the men, and quite as loathsome
+in appearance, the mouth similarly disfigured by betel-chewing, but the
+hair cut short. Around the body they wore a petticoat of red or blue
+cloth, reaching from the loins to the knee.
+
+Another excursion was made to Ulàla Cove, distant about four nautical
+miles from our anchorage on the W. side of the island of Kamorta, on which
+occasion our Venetian gondola, specially constructed for similar
+expeditions, was pressed into the service. The entrance to the cove is
+about 3/4 of a mile in breadth, after which it expands in an easterly
+direction with varying width, at the same time sending off arms in every
+direction. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant and plentiful, and
+along the swampy shore consists mainly of mangrove bushes, which at most
+points make it almost impracticable to disembark, and impart to the entire
+bay a dreary, desolate appearance. At the few villages scattered along the
+shore, most of the natives had taken to flight. On this occasion, however,
+it was not child-like terror that had driven them away, but an evil
+conscience, for among the other inhabitants this bay enjoys the sad
+reputation of having on various occasions massacred the crews of small
+vessels, after having plundered them of everything. So strong is this
+feeling that the natives of the rest of the Nicobar group, according to
+their own report, refuse to have anything to do with this ferocious set,
+and could not by any means be induced to accompany us in their canoes as
+far as Ulàla Cove.
+
+The frigate lay five days in Nangkauri harbour, until the soundings and
+general survey of this large bay with its numerous branches had been
+completed, when, on the morning of the 11th March, she sailed, with a
+fresh breeze from N.W., through the western entrance, which is scarcely a
+hundred fathoms wide, by fourteen in depth, and is marked by two rocky
+pinnacles. Directly opposite lies the island of Katchal, thickly wooded to
+the water-edge, and stretching out long and low, without any marked
+elevation above sea-level. We now sailed in between these islands of
+Katchal and Kamorta in a northerly direction towards the islands of
+Teressa and Bampoka. On the W. side of Kamorta a number of villages were
+visible; on the N.W. we perceived at several spots natural meadows, while
+hereabouts the land gradually culminated into the highest point of the
+island,--a conical hill, rising not very far from the shore, almost
+entirely without trees, except where near the summit a number of bushes
+and shrubs nestled in a sort of hollow. Three days were now lost in
+unsuccessful attempts to make head-way against wind and tide, so that for
+four mortal days we were tossed about in full view of Bampoka, Teressa,
+and Chowra, never indeed above twenty miles distant, yet utterly unable to
+make any one of them. As the time at our disposal for visiting these was
+exhausted in consequence of this unexpected difficulty, we were, very much
+to our regret, compelled to forego the satisfaction of setting foot on
+either of these islands, which, especially Chowra, would have presented a
+rare opportunity of examining the effect upon tropical races of men of an
+excess of population. That rather barren island possesses, it seems, more
+inhabitants than it has the means of subsisting, and appears to be the
+only spot of the entire Nicobar group where the natives follow industrial
+avocations. All manner of pottery ware comes from Chowra, so that it would
+almost seem as though the lamentable spectacle of a superabundant
+population had given the natives the first impulse towards active
+industry.
+
+In the island of Teressa the Austrian Expedition had a more special
+interest, in so far as it is by no means improbable that the adventurous
+Bolts, who in 1778 visited the Nicobar Archipelago in the Austrian ship
+_Joseph and Theresa_, named this island, as he already had done in the
+case of a fort on the coast of Africa, after the renowned Austrian
+Empress, which, corrupted by the native dialect, had been gradually
+transformed into Teressa or Terassa.
+
+At sunrise on the 17th March there loomed on the horizon in a S.E.
+direction, first the island of Meroe, then the two small islands of Treis
+and Track, and lastly the long mountain-chain of Little Nicobar, with the
+beautiful island of Pulo Milù. The breeze was light, and a current of a
+velocity of five miles an hour, which ran rushing and seething like a
+mill-race through the calm sea, so completely checked our progress that
+the anchor had to be let go. This procured us the very unexpected pleasure
+of visiting these two small wooded islands. Owing to the heavy surf, we
+only succeeded in effecting a landing by the assistance of some natives,
+whom we happened to fall in with in their canoes off these all but
+uninhabited islets. Treis is a veritable pigeon island, full of the most
+various and beautiful species of that bird; nevertheless we could only
+procure a single specimen of the exceedingly elegant Nicobar dove. Here
+too it was that the geologist found the first traces of brown coal, which
+however did not present itself in layers suitable for domestic use.
+
+The same afternoon, with the turn of the tide the current set in our
+favour, and towards 10 P.M. we reached the roadstead protected to the
+eastward by the northernmost point of Little Nicobar, to the westward by
+the island of Pulo Milù, and southward by the mainland of Little Nicobar
+itself. It is not very large, but it has excellent holding ground, and
+would be available at all seasons as a harbour of refuge for vessels. As
+most of the villages of Little Nicobar lie on the N.W. and S. sides of the
+island, and were with difficulty accessible from our anchorage, it was
+thought preferable to select the small but beautiful island of Pulo Milù
+for our visit. Already, while we were lying at anchor in front of the
+island of Treis, a few natives had come on board the frigate, and had
+shown much confidence. They possessed all the characteristics of the
+residents of Nangkauri, and they also spoke, with but slight variations,
+the same idiom. Only for certain objects, and those, singular to say,
+articles of the very first necessity, such as cocoa-nut trees, palms,
+screw-pines, and the like, did they employ different expressions.
+
+The island of Pulo Milù, with its variety of forest-vegetation, and its
+charming woodland-scenery, displays all the beauty and all the marvels of
+the tropics. The screw-pine (of the family of _Pandaneæ_), that peculiar
+tree which imparts to the forests of Asia a character so different from
+those of America, is seen here in exceptional size and majesty. Nowhere
+have we met with this marvellous tree growing in such luxuriance as on
+Pulo Milù, where it appears in such quantities as to resemble a forest,
+and leaves an impression of such lonely wildness as makes one almost
+imagine it a remnant of some earlier period of our earth. Wondering at the
+capricious vagaries of nature, the traveller contemplates these
+extraordinary trees, which have leaves arranged in spiral order like the
+dragon trees, trunks like those of palms, boughs like those trees
+presenting the ordinary characteristics of foliage, fruit-cones like the
+_conifer[oe]_, and yet have nothing in common with all these plants, so
+that they form a family by themselves. On Pulo Milù we saw some of these
+trees with slim smooth stems 40 or 50 feet in height, which are nourished
+by and supported upon a pile of roots of 10 to 12 feet high, resembling a
+neatly-finished conical piece of wicker-work, composed of spindle-shaped
+staves. Many of these roots do not reach the soil, and in this undeveloped
+state these atmospheric roots assume the most peculiar shapes. Higher up
+the same formation is repeated among the branches, from which depend
+beautiful massy fruit-cones, a foot and a half in length, by one in
+thickness, which, when ripe, are of a splendid orange hue.
+
+The screw-pine is not cultivated in the Nicobar Islands; it grows wild in
+the utmost luxuriance, and, after the cocoa-nut, is for the natives the
+most important plant that furnishes them with subsistence. The immense
+fruit-cones borne by this tree consist of several single wedge-shaped
+fruits, which when raw are uneatable, but boiled in water, and subjected
+to pressure, give out a sort of mealy mass, the "Melori" of the
+Portuguese, and called by the natives "Laróhm," which is also occasionally
+used with the fleshy interior of the ripe fruit, and forms the daily bread
+of the islanders. The flavour of the mass thus prepared strongly resembles
+that of apple-marmalade, and is by no means unpalatable to Europeans. The
+woody, brush-like fibres of the fruit which remain behind, after the mealy
+contents have been squeezed out, are made use of by the natives as natural
+brooms and brushes, while the dried leaves of the Pandanus serve instead
+of paper to surround their cigarettes.
+
+At Pulo Milù, as is yet more markedly the case among the southernmost
+islands, the cocoa-palm does not grow so luxuriantly as on Kar-Nicobar,
+and to this circumstance may be chiefly ascribed the fact that the
+natives are not so liberal as at the last-named island. The Swedish
+naturalist, Dr. Rink, who has so largely and valuably added to our stock
+of information respecting the Nicobar group, resided here for a
+considerable time with some forty Chinese labourers, and, with a view to
+ultimate colonization, had caused to be cut through the forest several
+paths, by means of which this island has been rendered much more permeable
+than any other in the Archipelago. The selection was an extremely happy
+one, and had the projected colonization of the island been carried into
+effect, very different results would have been obtained than those of poor
+Dr. Rosen in Nangkauri Harbour. Next to Kar-Nicobar, it has been clearly
+decided that Pulo Milù is the most suitable spot for a first settlement,
+in the event of any European power or any capitalist undertaking to solve
+the problem of colonizing this Archipelago.
+
+In the cove at which we landed five huts stand upon the beach, much
+similar to those at Nangkauri, and like them having before them a number
+of lofty singularly ornamented poles emerging from the water, called by
+the natives Handschúop, and intended to keep Davy Jones at a respectful
+distance from the village,--not unlike the scarecrow with which we at home
+seek to frighten from the ripening corn the rapacious troop of feathered
+epicures. These banners for scaring away the Eewees are erected within the
+sea limit by the Manluéna, or exorcist, who in these islands, like the
+medicine-man of the Red Indian of America, or the Ach-Itz of the Indian
+races among the highlands of Guatemala, exercises the utmost influence
+over all the affairs of life. Here, as elsewhere, most of the natives had
+disappeared on our approach. We found but five men, who were all at least
+partially clad; some wore shirts, trowsers, and caps; another had
+enveloped his person in an immense, and by no means over-clean, piece of
+linen. One of this number, who acted as our guide through the island, and
+called himself "John Bull," was not a regular resident in Pulo Milù, but
+in Lesser-Nicobar, and had only come over to the island for the purpose of
+constructing canoes of trunks of trees hollowed out. He spoke English with
+tolerable fluency, and displayed quite child-like satisfaction, as often
+as any English word, no matter what, was recalled to his recollection,
+which had slipped his memory from want of practice. John Bull soon became
+very insinuating, and expressed a wish to accompany us to Great Nicobar,
+where, as he assured us, at Hinkvala, one of the villages on the southern
+shore, he had several relatives, among others one named "London," who
+could be of the utmost service to us. For his kind offices we promised him
+a present, upon which he asked with the most naïve simplicity: "You not
+talk lie?" from which we may conjecture that not every promise made to him
+by a stranger was duly fulfilled. The huts of the natives were constructed
+of beams, exactly like those in the central island; and the internal
+arrangements were precisely identical. Here also are figures sculptured
+in wood, Eewee-charms, which especially are found in the interiors of the
+houses in such numbers and in such quaint costumes, that one is almost
+tempted to imagine the inhabitants of these huts must be proprietors of
+some Marionette-theatre. We also found here various objects carved in soft
+wood, among others a large serpent, a tortoise, and several droll figures,
+as also a seven-holed flute of bamboo-reed, the model for which had
+evidently been supplied by some of the Malay sailors from Pulo Penang.
+
+The same evening we weighed anchor, and shaped our course along the
+eastern shore of Lesser-Nicobar, which is thickly covered with swamp and
+forest. On the morning of 19th March, we were abreast of the island of
+Montial in St. George's Channel, and by evening had anchored on the
+northern side of Great Nicobar, S.E. of the island of Kondul, which also
+lies in the Channel. Already before sunrise the boats were lowered and
+everything got in readiness for a visit to the small but delightful island
+of Kondul, which, though on the N.W. side so lofty and rocky as to be
+almost inaccessible, presents on its E. side a tolerably secure
+landing-place, situated according to our observations in 7° 12' 17'' N.
+and 93° 39' 57'' E. Here we found a number of huts, but not one single
+native was visible. We now endeavoured, by following up a torrent bed, to
+climb to the highest point of the island, which has an elevation of 350 to
+400 feet. In this we only succeeded after most severe exertion,
+occasionally having to avail ourselves at the steepest parts of the ascent
+of the gigantic roots of trees, or of the climbing plants that hung
+suspended like natural ropes, by means of which we swung ourselves among
+the huge blocks of rock, till we could gain a secure footing. Instead,
+however, of finding, as we had hoped, a small _plateau_ at the summit, or
+at all events discovering some less difficult path by which to descend, we
+were sorely disconcerted, on arriving thoroughly exhausted on the top, at
+finding the rock descended so sheer and precipitous on the other side that
+it was impossible to make one step further. However, we found here a
+delicious refreshing breeze. With pleasure indescribable, our gaze
+wandered to the island of Great Nicobar and the islet of Cabra, lying
+immediately opposite us, their green luxuriant shores bathed on all sides
+by the azure ripple of the ocean. Although no rain had fallen for more
+than six months, the vegetation was on the whole wonderfully fresh and
+abundant, the forest lovely and majestic as on "the first day of
+Creation!"
+
+We found ourselves compelled to retrace our steps by the same break-neck
+path by which we had ascended the peak. On the shore we encountered some
+of the natives, whose curiosity had got the better of their apprehensions,
+and who now slunk out of the forest, to discover what was our peculiar
+object in landing on the island. Among their number was a native doctor,
+and Eewee exorciser; he was however in no way distinguishable from the
+rest of his brethren, unless by the inordinate length of his hair, which
+flowed down far below his shoulders. One of the members of the Commission,
+desirous of getting at the treatment pursued by these sly knaves when
+they go to work with their poor credulous dupes of patients, promised this
+dusky disciple of Æsculapius a present, if he would cure him by his own
+method, and affected to have an intolerably severe pain in the left arm.
+The Manluéna displayed his treatment with a vengeance; he laid hold of the
+supposed sufferer by the arm, which he pinched and punched, till there was
+not a spot that had not received his attentions, while during the entire
+process he now screamed aloud, now whistled, now blew vigorously upon the
+bare skin, as though endeavouring to expel the Evil Spirit. According to
+the belief of these poor people, every bodily pain is nothing other than a
+demon magically introduced into the system through the evil influence of
+an Eewee. The Manluéna commenced to pinch the arm from above, performing
+this anything but agreeable manipulation with his hands lubricated with
+cocoa-nut oil, from above downwards, the object being to drive out the
+Eewee from the arm by the finger points! Although the doctor had not used
+his patient very tenderly, he nevertheless in the opinion of the natives
+had not appeared to put forth all his powers, and had made use of far
+fewer noises and contortions than had been usual with him when one of
+themselves was undergoing treatment. Moreover his original confidence
+seemed to fail him in his anxiety lest some mischance should befall him in
+case this attempt at a cure should miscarry, and accordingly he speedily
+made off, after he had been complimented with a few threepenny bits for
+his trouble, nor did he again make his appearance the whole day.
+
+Some of the members of the Expedition had resolved to ramble quite round
+the island; the circumference of which is little if at all more than eight
+English miles. At early morning they had started with their guns and
+botanical boxes on their shoulders full of the most buoyant expectation of
+securing an ample store of curiosities, starting from the east coast and
+thence to the north side of the island; and towards sunset they made their
+appearance at the south side, foot-sore and nearly exhausted. In the
+ardour of the chase and of collecting "specimens," they had plunged so
+deep into the forest, thereby losing all trace of the direction by which
+they had entered, that as the sun was already beginning to descend, they
+had no alternative but to hew a path with their hatchets through the
+thickest of the forest, so as to reach the beach once more. At times
+hanging by creepers, at others swimming at various spots where the rocks
+dipped perpendicularly into the sea, they at length arrived at the spot
+where we were re-embarking, hungry, thirsty, and in a state of such
+extreme exhaustion that we at first were really apprehensive for their
+lives. Singularly enough these severe hardships were followed by no evil
+consequences to any one of the party, though the recollection of them will
+surely not fade out of their memory for the rest of their lives.
+
+The 21st March, being a Sunday, was duly observed, and was kept as a
+much-needed day of rest, no boat going to shore. Towards noon a pretty
+smart shower of rain fell, the first for six months. Several of the
+natives came off in their canoes, and brought fowls, eggs, cocoa-nuts, and
+various other fruits, as also monkeys and parrots. Rupees, English
+shillings and sixpences, were evidently not unknown to them, as they
+greatly preferred these in exchange to mere toys and showy articles.
+
+On the 22nd we made an excursion to a bay on the island of Great Nicobar
+or Sambelong. All that portion of the coast lying opposite our anchorage
+was quite uninhabited, evidently in consequence of the entire absence at
+this point of the cocoa-palm, whereas on the west coast there are several
+good-sized villages. Unfortunately, however, these lay at far too great a
+distance from the frigate to permit of an excursion being made thither. As
+our boat, after an hour's rowing, approached the little bay, we perceived
+at the mouth of a small creek the singular spectacle of a dead mangrove
+forest. Some great storm had apparently thrown up a sand-drive here, so as
+to cut off the supply of sea-water even at full tide. As the mangrove only
+flourishes in salt or brackish water, it had thus been deprived of its
+vital element, and the trees had accordingly perished in the fresh water.
+But the lofty stems still stood, withered and blighted, a ghastly garden
+of death amidst delicious green peaks covered with forest. As the sun
+rose, a white vapour lay like a winding-sheet over the dead swamp: one
+felt the uncomfortable sensation of being in a place where miasmata were
+poisoning the air, while the soil was generating death. The rigid
+skeletons of these trees recall to the recollection of the stranger, who
+stands marvelling at the all-powerful energies of Nature to create and
+destroy in these regions, how many corpses of his fellow-Europeans are
+mouldering beneath the damp soil of this island! Fortunately the river has
+once more broken through the bar, and given access to the sea-water, so
+that beneath the dead forest a fresh green vegetation was fast springing
+up.
+
+The crew of a Malay prahu from Penang had selected this dull spot for a
+regular settlement, in order to collect ripe cocoa-nuts, and Trepang, the
+edible sea-slug (_Holothuria_) already mentioned, the latter for the
+Chinese market. These people occupied a large wooden shed, and were
+provisioned for a somewhat long stay. Except this shed there was not one
+single hut here, all around being nothing but dense forest and swamp; but
+some natives of the island of Kondul came over in their canoes to trade
+hens and eggs with us. The Malay vessels which visit these islands almost
+all come hither from Penang, about the beginning of the N.E. monsoon, and
+remain during the whole of the dry season, so as to take in a full cargo
+of the various natural produce of the island. They bring for barter fine
+Chinese tobacco, calico, knives, axes, hatchets, cutlasses, clothes, and
+black round hats. In former years they also imported the betel shrub into
+Great Nicobar for propagation; where, in fact, it has been planted, and
+has since then increased to such an extent that its importation is no
+longer remunerative. With the commencement of the S.W. monsoons and the
+rainy season, the Malay traders with their profitable cargoes make their
+way back to Penang, and the other places along the coast of the peninsula
+of Malacca. Thanks to the presence of these people, the members of the
+Expedition were enabled to compare the Nicobar idiom with that of the
+Malays, and could thus ascertain the exceeding discrepancies between these
+two languages.[15] These merchants ordinarily bring with them a few
+individuals who have a slight knowledge of the Nicobar language, as the
+Malay tongue is not understood anywhere in this archipelago.
+
+One of the Malay seamen, named Tschingi, from Penang, whose caste was
+indicated by the long stripes of a bluish green colour painted upon his
+dark brown forehead, peculiar to the Hindu god Siva, told us that he
+recollected being employed as a boy in the service of Pastor Rosen on the
+island of Kamorta, with whom he remained till his return to Europe. He
+spoke with much admiration of that estimable and thoroughly deserving
+gentleman, and remarked that many Chinese and other settlers had
+accompanied him to Kamorta, all of whom speedily succumbed to the fever.
+
+The native known as John Bull, who had followed us hither from Pulo Milù,
+made his appearance at the bay, accompanied by some of his kindred, and
+brought us some provisions. He seemed firmly to believe that in the
+interior of the island of Sambelong, in its southern part, there existed
+some wild inhabitants of a different race, Baju-oal-Tschùa (or junglemen,
+as he called them), who lived entirely in the woods, in small huts
+erected upon the banks of the streams, and were so timid that they took to
+flight so soon as any one endeavoured to approach them. He also told us
+that in the S. and S.W. sides of Sambelong there were eleven villages:
+viz. Hinkóata, Changanhéi, Hinháha, Haenganglóeh, Kanálla, Taéingha,
+Dayák, Kanchingtong, Dagoák, Hinláwua, and Kalémma.
+
+In the course of the day, not only was a highly successful onslaught made
+on the denizens of the woodland, but even the fishes in bay were not
+exempted from our attentions;--a net, which was flung over the side and
+retained there barely half an hour, being hauled ashore with upwards of a
+hundred weight of small fish. Of this the entire ship's company partook,
+and sufficient was left over for the next day. Our quarry in the swamps
+and forest consisted of snipes, of a splendidly plumed Maina bird
+(_Gracula Indica_), eagles, and apes; unfortunately a number of the
+animals shot were lost by their retreating into the thicket, where they
+could not be recovered.
+
+On the morning of the 23rd of March the frigate again made sail and
+steered along the west coast of Great Nicobar, while two boats' crews were
+despatched with the requisite instruments to examine this quite unexplored
+coast. This plan, however, proved only half successful. The tremendous
+surf, into which the long swell setting in from the S.W. is broken
+hereabouts, hurled the larger boat upon the beach with such violence that
+it was capsized, by which a great portion of her freight was utterly lost,
+and her crew could only escape to shore by swimming. The smaller, or
+jolly-boat, returned to the ship with two of her crew to fetch assistance
+for these woe-begone wights. One of the latter, who coolly spoke of the
+accident as a "_piccola disgrazietta_,"[16] with the same breath informed
+us that almost all the instruments, note-books, and implements of the
+chase which had been taken on board, were irretrievably gone. Another
+quarter-boat was despatched to bring off our shipwrecked companions, who
+meanwhile remained on the shore in anything but enviable plight, soaked to
+the skin, hungry and thirsty, and busily employed in fishing up some few
+of the articles that had been overturned into the water. At last both
+boats got safely back in company about midnight, but under such
+circumstances that it was out of the question to think of prosecuting the
+examination that had been commenced. We now lay a course for the southern
+bay of Great Nicobar, where, shortly after 9 P.M. of the 24th March, we
+cast anchor near the little stream called "Galatea" by the Danish
+expedition. The midshipman intrusted with the commission of selecting the
+most suitable spot to disembark, returned after several hours' absence,
+with the little consolatory intelligence, that along the entire reach of
+coast which he had examined, there was but one solitary spot at which it
+was possible to land without danger from a boat of European construction.
+In the course of the day we received numbers of natives on board; among
+the rest, one man still young, with immense spectacles, which undoubtedly
+were worn much more for personal adornment than for use. They brought off
+for sale a few apes, parrots, hens, swine, cocoa-nuts, as also some rosin,
+tortoise-shell, amber, and a few large eggs of a species of wood-pigeon,
+called by the natives Mekéni, of which unfortunately we did not succeed in
+seeing a single specimen, despite our utmost exertions.
+
+The following morning, 26th March, amid occasional premonitory symptoms of
+the approach of the rainy season, the naturalists and some officers
+endeavoured to effect a landing at a place where alone it seemed possible
+for the broad, clumsy boats of our western waters. In this we succeeded.
+Again we were able, although drenched to the skin, to set foot on Nicobar
+soil. It was for the last time we did so. Not a single vestige could be
+discerned along the beach of any human habitations:--all was thick
+tropical forest, fringed with enormous _Barringtoni[oe] Gigante[oe]_,
+which in all their primeval weirdness flung their branches over the water,
+interlaced in wild confusion. After half an hour's wandering along the hot
+beach, we came unexpectedly, at a point somewhat south of our point of
+disembarkation, upon a couple of wretched disconsolate-looking huts. Not a
+human being was visible,--only a pair of hens and a pig, which were
+parading about untended; the bamboo poles, which usually figure in front
+of the native huts, had been carried away. However, in their absence it
+did not cost us much trouble to penetrate into the interior. A few weapons
+of war or the chase, a number of hollowed-out perfumed cocoa-nut shells
+suspended above the fire-place, a pair of elegantly plaited baskets, a
+boat's sail made of pandanus leaves, some straw mats, and a couple of
+marvellously finished figures, formed the very miscellaneous inventory of
+this Nicobar household. The figures (cut in wood) and a very
+neatly-executed basket attracted to themselves our special attention as
+interesting specimens of the industry and taste of the natives of Nicobar.
+We could not resist possessing ourselves of these, at the same time
+leaving in recompense a quantity of shining six-penny pieces, fully twenty
+times the utmost possible value of what had been taken away, depositing
+them in one of the baskets which was suspended in a conspicuous position
+in the middle of the hut.
+
+Adjoining this hamlet was a forest of cocoa-palms. We penetrated into it,
+and suddenly found ourselves, to our great astonishment, on the track of a
+well-worn footpath, which was probably, with the exception of the paths in
+Great Nicobar and Pulo Milù, in better condition than any other we had
+hitherto encountered in the Nicobar Islands. What more natural than to
+suppose that a path so well worn must necessarily lead to an important
+settlement? It passed first through an extensive and splendid
+palm-plantation, and afterwards through a very beautiful clump of leafy
+trees, fringing a little brook, whose channel, it being then the end of
+the dry season, was quite dried up. Frequently we were obliged to clamber
+over steep blocks of rock, with footsteps hewn in them by the hand of man,
+for facilitating the passage, and at last, after a scramble of several
+hours, highly interesting, but exceedingly fatiguing, we reached a cleared
+spot on the sea-beach, but without being able to discern the remotest
+trace of any human habitations. On the contrary, it seemed to admit of no
+doubt that this path, as also some spots that had been cleared, were
+nothing but the preparations for an intended settlement, which can only be
+successfully carried out here where the cocoa-palm and screw-pine have
+first struck root. Some of the sailors, who accompanied us as porters and
+escort, went forward as far as the extreme point of the bay, but there
+also they found no trace of any human abode. After a brief rest we
+returned by the same track, to the spot at which we had disembarked, where
+we were joined by some of the officers, who, more fortunate than
+ourselves, had encountered some of the natives, and had even seen them in
+their dwellings. They spoke of the interiors of the huts they visited as
+being quite as wretched as those on the other islands, only the
+inhabitants did not seem so shy or timorous. Far from this, they had
+regaled our lucky companions with palm-wine, and had accompanied them till
+they fell in with us. With this visit ended the thirty-second day of our
+stay in the Nicobar Archipelago, only one half of that period having been
+spent on land, the rest having been occupied in beating about against
+unfavourable winds.
+
+Before, however, we take our departure from this most interesting group of
+islands, _en route_ for the Sunda Islands and China, we shall be excused
+for briefly recapitulating the main results of our observations and
+investigations, while referring the reader for a more detailed
+specification of our labours to the various special divisions yet to
+appear.
+
+The Nicobar Islands, situated right in the most important highway of
+commerce, which is destined to acquire yet greater importance, so soon as
+the projected opening of the Suez Canal has been carried out, and
+extending in their general direction from S.S.E. to N.N.W., seem like an
+extension of the main central mountain-chain of Sumatra, which is
+prolonged yet further to the northward through the Andaman group, and in
+its crescent-shaped arrangement, with the convexity towards the westward,
+corresponds with Cape Negrais in the peninsula of Malacca. If from this
+Archipelago, as a centre, a circle be described of about 1200 nautical
+miles of radius, it will include the most important commercial cities of
+India, as well as Ceylon, the majority of the Sunda Islands, and Cochin
+China. The winds usually prevalent here greatly facilitate the passage of
+vessels from the adjoining islands and coasts of _terra firma_, and
+proportionately enhance the importance of this Archipelago.
+
+With but few exceptions, the shores of the whole group of islands consist
+of coral sand, or are fringed with coral banks, which latter extend
+seaward to a depth of thirty fathoms. In like manner almost all the bays
+seem to be edged with coral reefs, if indeed they are not actually studded
+with them. The promontories frequently present cliffs both above and below
+the level of the ocean, extending a couple of miles into the sea, which,
+what with the occasional rapid currents and light breezes, are not always
+very easily weathered. The prevailing winds are the two monsoons, the N.E.
+in the months of November, December, January, February, and March, the
+S.W. in May, June, July, August, and September. During the months of April
+and October, there are variable winds and calms, extending more or less
+into the adjoining months. The currents vary in direction with the
+passages between the islands, and depend upon the ebb and flow of the
+tide, varying in force and direction with the tidal phenomena. Ordinarily
+these make themselves felt during the making of the tide from S.W. to
+N.E., and in a contrary direction during the ebb.
+
+Due south of Kar-Nicobar, we found while lying at anchor a current running
+3-1/2 miles an hour, two days after the full moon; north of Little
+Nicobar, near the small island of Treis, where the current compelled us to
+anchor, its velocity, as we experienced two days after new moon, is as
+high as 4-1/2 miles an hour. These observations refer to a period when the
+velocity of the current was at its maximum. In light winds, and when near
+the coast, one must always let go the anchor, or at least lay out a kedge,
+the latter however being barely sufficient at several spots immediately
+after the full or the new moon. According to observations made during five
+days about the period of full moon, the course of tide at Kar-Nicobar may
+be assumed at 9h. 40m., and the difference in height between ebb and flood
+at five feet.
+
+In these waters, and in a still more marked degree in the latitude of
+Sumatra, occurs a belt within which the wave-currents form what is known
+to English navigators as "The Ripples." The sea here is ranged
+zone-fashion, so to speak, as though in fact in a state of ebullition, and
+makes a considerable noise, yet without there being anything to indicate
+an increased strength of current; since, on the contrary, we found when
+reaching these tracts, that the velocity of current was if anything rather
+diminished. We conceive this phenomenon may be attributed to the agitation
+caused by partial tidal currents, crossing each others' course, and
+occasionally even running counter to each other, as also to certain
+special conditions of ocean temperature at varying depths. The changes of
+the tides at points of the coast, proportionally speaking so near each
+other, are so widely different in point of time, and the height reached by
+the waves is so little uniform, that any such phenomenon as the above must
+naturally make itself perceptible at the surface in the open sea.
+
+While the change of tide at Kar-Nicobar takes place every 9h. 40m., that
+of Cape Diamond in Sumatra is laid down in the English chart at 12h., and
+on the sand-banks in the Straits of Malacca at only 5h. 30m. The
+difference in elevation assigned exhibits a similar discrepancy in the
+estimates; that for Kar-Nicobar being stated at five feet, that for Cape
+Diamond at 10 feet, and on the sand-banks already mentioned at 15 feet.
+The hurricanes of the Bay of Bengal never visit the Nicobars; they seem to
+originate part in or about the Andaman Islands, part from the west coast
+of Sumatra, proceeding in the former case towards the northern portions of
+the gulf, and in the latter towards the Coromandel coast and Ceylon.
+
+During the S.W. monsoon, in which occurs the rainy season, frequent
+thunder-storms and even gales of wind occur, especially in the vicinity of
+Great Nicobar. The dry N.E. monsoon again brings fine weather, but
+sometimes blows with considerable strength.
+
+Kar-Nicobar has no regular harbour, but presents on its north side a
+spacious land-locked bay nearly rectangular, the holding ground of which
+is a coral sand of from 10 to 16 fathoms, and is thoroughly sheltered to
+the S.W. and N.E. During the N.E. monsoon it is advisable to lie somewhat
+closer in with the northern promontory of the island. At this season it is
+difficult to find any spot at which small boats can disembark. However,
+near the northern point it is possible to reach the shore in a small cove,
+the western boundary of which presents an open space of coral sand, where
+it is possible to lie to in deep water with even a good-sized boat. The
+village of Sáoui, which gives its name to the roadstead, is not readily
+accessible during the N.E. monsoon in consequence of the surf, but the
+very next indentation of the coast facing eastwards, which is protected
+seaward by a coral reef, offers a well-sheltered point of disembarkation,
+where the boats can be beached on the smooth coral sand, and thereafter
+drawn up high and dry.
+
+During the N.E. monsoon it is also practicable to avail oneself of the bay
+on the S. side of Kar-Nicobar, or to anchor anywhere along the W. side of
+the island, but such anchorages possess no other protection than is
+afforded by long points of land projecting far into the ocean, and usually
+protracted by coral reefs.
+
+Both in the bay of Sáoui, and on the south side of Kar-Nicobar, are found
+small brooks, which run with water even during the dry season. It is
+difficult however to water hereabouts, because these rivulets are blocked
+up with sand-bars, not to speak of the obstacles interposed to the landing
+of boats, by the tremendous surf and the low swampy shore at most periods
+of the year. In cases of extreme necessity, however, the little rivulet
+called the Areca might with some difficulty be made available.
+
+Chowra, Kamorta, and Bampoka, have no regular anchorages; a vessel must be
+content to ride to leeward of that coast, which will act as a shelter
+against whichever monsoon happens to be blowing. Disembarkation by means
+of boats is extremely difficult, and it is much better to make use of a
+native canoe, which, after transporting the visitor through the surf to
+the land, can be more easily drawn up on the beach.
+
+Tillangschong possesses a beautiful harbour on the S. side, which however
+is open to the S.E., but during the greater part of the year affords an
+excellent anchorage. The most southerly point has numerous cliffs and
+needles of rock where it projects into the sea, but it is possible to
+approach within a few fathoms of the southernmost of these with vessels
+of any size.
+
+On the west side of the island, at the spot where its two halves may be
+said to blend, the northernmost rugged, the more southerly flat, a pretty
+good anchorage will be found, which seems to be sheltered towards the S.W.
+by several solitary projecting rocks. Generally speaking, but more
+especially to the N. and E., this island presents a steep precipitous
+shore, so that, with the exception here and there of a few solitary rocks,
+close in to the shore, there is nothing but clear deep water around almost
+the entire island to within about 10 fathoms of the land.
+
+The harbour of Nangkauri is rather roomy, but of very unequal though for
+the most part considerable depth; the soundings in its midst giving
+between 20 and 30 fathoms. The promontories are all more or less
+low-lying, and thickly beset with coral reefs, and caution is the more
+necessary, since it is far from unusual after working in from 20 to 16
+fathoms, to find the water shoal suddenly to four or even three fathoms.
+The anchorage formed by the two islands of Kamorta and Nangkauri has two
+entrances, from the east and from the west, the navigation of which by
+large ships demands the utmost vigilance. The western entrance is barely a
+cable's length in width, while the island of Nangkauri has hardly any
+fair-way for vessels along its exterior coast-line. In consequence of the
+two islands trending towards each other at that point, the harbour near
+its middle is greatly narrowed, so that there may almost be said to be
+two harbours. In either of them a vessel is quite safe, being in fact so
+thoroughly sheltered from all winds that the heat is occasionally
+overpowering.
+
+On the west side of Kamorta, six or seven miles north of the western
+entrance of the harbour, will be found a large sheet of water, called
+Ulàla Bay, in the first half of which there is excellent anchorage; but
+the vapours emanating from the abundant mangrove swamps render residence
+here extremely unhealthy. As Ulàla Cove runs for the most part parallel
+with Nangkauri Harbour, and is separated from the latter only by a range
+of low eminences, the near proximity of these mangrove swamps likewise
+imparts their baleful influence to the air of Nangkauri Harbour. There is
+absolutely no water here fit for drinking.
+
+Katchal has large bays on both its west and its east sides, but they are
+almost entirely silted up with coral sand. The channel between Katchal and
+Kamorta is clear. Here we made short tacks in passing through, approaching
+the shores on either side within half a mile.
+
+Little Nicobar has a good harbour on the north side, formed by the island
+of Pulo Milù and the N. coast of Little Nicobar, which is bent almost at a
+right angle. This anchorage is accessible in all winds, and is well
+sheltered, but a considerable portion adjoining the shore of Little
+Nicobar is rendered useless by banks of coral.
+
+Notwithstanding the most careful examination of this part of the coast,
+we could not discover the spot, which in the Danish charts is marked as
+furnishing water fit for drinking, but perceived nothing save mangrove
+swamps, with numerous water-courses filled with brackish water, the two
+largest of which we navigated in our gondola as far as was practicable.
+
+The island of Kondul in St. George's Channel forms another very fair
+anchorage; and similarly on the N. side of Great Nicobar, one finds
+several suitable bays, the most easterly of which, called Ganges Harbour,
+is fringed with coral banks, rendering it proportionately difficult of
+access. The anchorage of Kondul may be selected for one reason, namely,
+that it is land-locked towards both N.E. and S.W., besides having the
+additional advantage of being airy, and distant from the mangrove swamps,
+whereas in the bays on the N. coast of Great Nicobar these are of immense
+extent. One of these mangrove swamps in the central cove was traversed by
+one of the naturalists, the result of which was that he found a river
+debouching into the sea through the very heart of the swamp, which,
+however, so long as the sea-water could find entrance, was not of course
+drinkable.
+
+On the west side of Great Nicobar, along the whole length of which we
+sailed, but which we could not visit more carefully, owing to want of time
+and the heavy S.W. swell of the ocean, several other promontories and
+coves are apparently available as harbours, and moreover may be supposed
+to be the embouchures of rivers. At the south point of Great Nicobar there
+is a large bay, which however being quite exposed from S.W. to S.E. must
+be anything but a safe anchorage during the S.W. monsoon. During the
+prevalence of the N.E. monsoon it seems tolerably well suited for an
+anchorage, if the eastern promontory be kept S.E. by S., and the anchor be
+cast in soundings of from 10 to 13 fathoms. Landing, however, is at all
+times a matter of difficulty, as the surf is very boisterous and the swell
+of the sea pretty heavy. Its most remote point is the mouth of the river
+Galatea, which, however, is closed by a sand-bar, and for that reason
+cannot be easily reached. This bay, owing to its configuration, is
+excessively hot and sweltering, and with reference to its salubrity cannot
+be recommended as a suitable abode.
+
+The climate of the Archipelago, though tropical, is not nevertheless to be
+ranked among the hottest, in consequence of its insular position, and of
+the whole of the islands being thickly clothed with forest. Hence the
+quantity of rain, which, as has been seen, is sufficient to keep the
+rivers full even in the dry season. According to the meteorological
+observations made on these islands by various observers at different
+periods of the year, the average temperature does not exceed 77° Fahr.,
+much about the temperature of the fluid found in the fresh unripe
+cocoa-nut. But during the months of April and October respectively, at
+which period calms prevail in these islands, the maximum temperature of
+86° to 88° Fahr. is reached.
+
+Considering the violence with which rain falls, and that the dry season of
+the N.E. monsoon from November to March, and the damp season of the S.W.
+monsoon from April to October, are by no means so sharply defined on these
+islands as on the adjoining coasts of the mainland, the quantity of annual
+rainfall must be enormous. At certain times it is not much less than 100
+or even 150 inches, and yet it probably is not so high as that presented
+by other localities, which experience the regular changes of the monsoons,
+as for instance, in the Straits of Malacca, where the annual rainfall is
+208 inches, or Mahableshwur south of Bombay, where it amounts to no less
+than 254 inches! March is the dryest month in the year. During the whole
+of the month, which we spent on the islands or in their immediate
+vicinity, we only had three sharp thunder-storms. These become more
+frequent and severe during April, until about May or June the S.W. monsoon
+sets in and envelopes the islands in rain-clouds. Where some special
+physical configuration of the soil does not admit of the rapid carrying
+off of the redundant deluge of rain, the island must necessarily be
+unusually well off for water. Of the correctness of this theory we were
+enabled thoroughly to satisfy ourselves, since the close of the dry season
+is necessarily unfavourable to there being any water remaining in the
+streams and brooks; notwithstanding which even the smallest of the
+islands, Pulo Milù and Kondul, although their rivulets had ceased to flow,
+possessed a sufficient supply of sweet drinkable water among the numerous
+basin-shaped pools that occur in the beds of the various streams. From the
+forest-covered slopes of Tillangschong also, small streams of fresh water
+are continually trickling. The insignificant brooks and rivers of the
+large well-wooded islands lying further to the south of Great and Little
+Nicobar, are in like manner kept full the whole year by the blessed
+abundance of the watery element. On the other hand, the northern islands,
+so far at least as the marl-formation extends, seem to be but scantily
+supplied with water, especially on Kamorta, Nangkauri, Tringkut, and
+apparently Teressa and Bampoka as well. All the small streams on the two
+first-named islands, which fall into the Nangkauri harbour, were found to
+be very nearly dried up.
+
+The principal beverage of the natives of these islands is the fluid
+contents of the unripe cocoa-nut, while it should seem that they fetch the
+water required for house purposes from the pools of sweet water, which
+they find scattered here and there among the river-courses. Springs we saw
+none, with the exception of the old ruined one of the Moravian Brethren
+near the village of Malacca on the island of Nangkauri. Kar-Nicobar,
+although likewise belonging to the same marl-formation as the
+before-mentioned islands, has nevertheless no lack of drinkable water,
+since the expanse of land raised from eight to twelve feet above the level
+of the ocean constitutes the site of those singular springs, the sweet
+water in which rises and falls with the ebb and flow of the tide. The
+explanation of this singular phenomenon must not be sought for in the
+filtration of the sea-water by the coral rock, but is simply due to the
+rain-water, being the lighter, floating upon the surface of the
+sea-water, which is heavier, while the porous coral rock prevents the
+complete intermixture of the salt and fresh water. In the villages of
+Moose and Sáoui on Kar-Nicobar we saw several such cisterns, which always
+had eight or ten feet good fresh water. Of rivers, properly so called, we
+found but two, one falling into the northern Bay of Kar-Nicobar, the other
+at the southern point of Great Nicobar. The former, which from the
+luxuriant growth of the cabbage tree along its banks we named
+"Areca-river," is navigable for flat-boats for about two miles from its
+mouth, at which point further progress is arrested by some small rapids.
+Here the water is quite sweet, holding but a very little chalk in
+solution.
+
+We found no mineral waters or warm springs. The hardened marl deposits of
+Nangkauri harbour we perceived however to be encased in a crust an inch
+thick of sulphate of magnesia, and fine silk-like glistening fibres; this
+results from the clay-marl containing sulphate of magnesia, so that very
+possibly by digging cistern-shaped cavities, a bitter saline solution
+might be obtained similar to that at present obtained under similar
+circumstances at Billin in Bohemia.
+
+In consequence of the extraordinarily rich vegetation, the dampness of the
+soil, and the numerous mangrove swamps all along the coast, the climate,
+as may readily be conceived, is at present anything but salubrious. During
+the changes of the monsoons especially, a fever breaks out of so malignant
+a type that it is very frequently fatal to Europeans.
+
+But, so long as dense forest, creeping plants, and swamps encumber the
+soil, there can be no country within the tropics favourable to the health
+of man, and all immigrants or other persons who make a sufficiently long
+stay in such localities, prepare themselves for being visited by maladies
+of the most formidable nature, among which fever and dysentery play the
+most conspicuous part.
+
+Similar conditions are occasionally met with in certain parts of Europe
+where swamp and uncultivated land are exposed to the influences of a high
+temperature, of which examples enough are furnished in the malaria of
+Italy, and the marsh fever of the lagoons of Venice and along the coasts
+of Istria. And if such visitations make less impression upon us in Europe,
+it is not that there is little danger, but simply because, as habit is
+second nature, the regularity of their return has ceased to attract
+attention.
+
+This is precisely what the English have experienced in the East Indies, it
+is what the German emigrant is now going through on the banks of the
+Mississippi and Ohio, in Brazil and in Peru, until the forests are cleared
+and rendered productive, until, in short, advancing cultivation has
+dispelled those miasmata, which are inevitably developed amid the
+undisturbed voluptuousness of nature.
+
+When at certain seasons of the year the vital principles of millions upon
+millions of organisms begin to be active, they throw off oxygen into the
+atmosphere, replacing it by absorbing carbonic acid; while, on the other
+hand, different organisms, in conformity with known chemical laws, are
+destroyed under similar conditions, and, under the influence of the
+atmosphere co-operating with humidity, ferment and become decomposed. From
+all which processes result products of emanation, which, caught up into
+the atmosphere and whirled away by the wind, become in their turn the
+means of nutriment and fertilization to other plants, thus imparting to
+tropical vegetation that marvellous rankness and super-abundance so fatal
+to the human frame. But the conditions which produce this tendency in the
+atmosphere to generate fever are not peculiar to certain localities, or
+strictly confined to these; they can be averted, and with them the vapours
+so prejudicial to health may be removed. We have but to raise up a barrier
+against that mighty all-devouring process of life and vegetation, which
+imperils our own conditions of existence, we have but to withdraw from the
+powerful agencies of chemical action the substances undergoing
+decomposition, to constrain the waters of heaven to follow certain
+definite directions, to drain every swamp, to clear the forest, to sweep
+away the dense underwood in order that the wind may wander unchecked over
+the now fertilized soil, and a wondrous alteration will take place in the
+climatic conditions of the Nicobar Islands. Of what may be achieved under
+such circumstances by energy and perseverance, the island of Penang, some
+350 nautical miles distant, furnishes the most striking example, which
+within a very few decades has, by dint of the progressive clearing and
+cultivation of the soil, been converted from a den of fever and malaria,
+a spot shunned by all men as a residence, into one of the most healthy
+localities in the East, so much so indeed that it has been made a resort
+for invalids!
+
+Seduced by the attractive beauty of the harbour of Nangkauri, the various
+attempts at founding a settlement have almost without exception been
+confined to that site. Upon a more close examination however of the
+precise spot selected for these settlements, it becomes at once apparent
+that they were for the most part pitched upon the neck of land which
+divides the land-locked ill-ventilated harbour of Nangkauri from the Bay
+of Ulàla, surrounded as it is on all sides by thick mangrove swamps.
+
+On such a site did the settlers erect their huts, and there, often at but
+a short interval after their arrival, did they find their grave; and if a
+very few of their number resisted the deadly influence of the miasmatic
+vapours, if even they were able for several years to drag along a
+miserable existence in such a scene, these can only be regarded as
+striking examples of an unusual vigour of constitution. It is true that
+most of these missionaries who founded settlements here were by no means
+properly housed and fed, which in such a climate is a matter of absolute
+prime necessity for the preservation of health. Often when already
+attacked with fever they toiled, spade in hand, delving the ground amid
+the exhausting heat of a tropical day in order to secure the means of
+subsistence, or gathered shell-fish along the beach, or hunted for
+reptiles or birds through the swamps and forest, in order to provide
+themselves, by the sale of these natural curiosities in Europe, with the
+means of existence in those distant regions. Not without feelings of the
+keenest emotion and deepest sympathy is it possible to peruse the
+description given by one of these missionaries, Father Hänsel, of his mode
+of life on the island of Nangkauri, where he lived for seven years amidst
+the greatest privations and hardships. "On my frequent excursions along
+the sea-coast," says the noble, high-souled missionary, "it sometimes
+happened that I was benighted, and I could not with convenience return to
+our dwelling; but I was never at a loss for a bed. The greater part of the
+beach consists of a remarkably fine white sand, which above high-water
+mark is perfectly clean and dry. Into this I dug with ease a hole large
+enough to contain my body, forming a mound as a pillow for my head; I then
+lay down, and by collecting the sand over me buried myself in it up to the
+neck. My faithful dog always laid across my body, ready to give the alarm
+in case of disturbance from any quarter. However, I was under no
+apprehensions from wild animals; crocodiles and caimans never haunt the
+open coast, but keep in creeks and lagoons; and there are no other
+ravenous beasts on the island. The only annoyance I suffered, was from the
+nocturnal perambulations of an immense variety of crabs of all sizes, the
+crackling noise of whose armour would sometimes keep me awake. But they
+were well watched by my dog, and if any one ventured to approach too near,
+he was sure to be suddenly seized and thrown to a more respectful
+distance. Or if a crab of a more tremendous appearance would deter my dog
+from exposing his nose to its claws, he would bark and frighten it away,
+by which however I was sometimes more seriously alarmed than the occasion
+required. Many a comfortable night's rest have I had in these sepulchral
+dormitories when the nights were clear and dry, and the heavens spangled
+with stars."[17]
+
+After such a description, one cannot but feel astonished that any of these
+men, jealous for the faith, should have been able to linger on for years
+in such a plight, and assuredly no one will refuse to these heroes of
+Christianity their meed of the deepest admiration and gratitude, which
+they merit none the less that their labours among these natives were
+almost entirely unattended by any permanent good results.
+
+It seems specially worthy of remark that the crew of the Austrian ship
+_Joseph and Theresa_, which spent as much as five months here, and that
+too during the rainy season (April to September), almost entirely escaped
+fever. This fact sufficiently proves that the rainy season is by no means
+the most unhealthy, but that the periods of transition from the dry to the
+wet season, and _vice versâ_, must be considered as invariably
+prejudicial. At these times light variable winds alternate with
+thunder-showers, after which there is usually experienced great heat by
+solar radiation, which at once liberates the noxious emanations of the
+humid soil. Further on, during the actual rainy season, when the heavens
+are almost continually veiled, and the condition of the atmosphere and the
+soil is alike one of complete saturation, this phenomenon appears much
+less marked, and becomes in a corresponding degree less dangerous to human
+organization.
+
+We are also of opinion that the time from the end of March to the end of
+April, as also the months of September and October, are the most
+insalubrious parts of the year, although on the Nicobars a man may be
+struck down with fever at any season, so soon as those precautions have
+been neglected, which are so necessary to observe in the uncultivated
+regions of the tropics. An instance on this point is furnished in the case
+of the crew of the Danish corvette _Galatea_. Of thirty individuals
+engaged in an exploring expedition up what is known as the Galatea river,
+in the southern Bay of Great Nicobar, and caught one night in a
+thunder-storm, which compelled them to remain in the forest wringing wet,
+no fewer than twenty-one fell ill of fever, which ultimately proved fatal
+in four cases.
+
+So far as our own experience goes, the state of health on board the
+frigate during a stay of thirty-two days was highly satisfactory. During
+that entire period, out of 350 men only six took ill with fever, which
+number, however, at a later period during our passage to the straits of
+Malacca, was increased to 21. Singular to say, those of the ship's
+company, who during our stay had _never set foot_ on the Nicobar Islands,
+furnished the largest contingent of cases of fever, while of both officers
+and naturalists, who spent the whole day together among the swamps and the
+forest, and were exposed to all manner of fatigue, only three got upon the
+sick list. On the whole, however, even the few severer cases made an
+excellent recovery, and by the time we had anchored in the harbour of
+Singapore, all the fever patients were once more either quite well, or in
+a fair way towards convalescence.
+
+As the examination of this Archipelago was, in consequence of the all but
+impenetrable forests, confined to the narrow strip of land along the
+shore, we had almost said to the region of cocoa-palms exclusively, its
+various geognostic features were very inadequately, yet withal
+approximately, ascertained. If we admit that a covering of vegetation of
+the utmost variety and primeval luxuriance, untouched by the hand of man,
+and entirely unreclaimed by cultivation, may be considered as the
+expressive feature by which an estimate could be arrived at of the
+different geognostic conditions of soil beneath, we may succeed in our
+attempt from the characteristics of this primeval vegetation, to come to
+some definite conclusion as to the quality and the greater or lesser
+productiveness of the ground. According to this method of computing, it
+would seem that,
+
+I. The forest, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, includes 70/100
+of the entire surface of the island:--the soil being limestone, rich in
+alkalies, spungy, with clay-sand, and exceedingly fertile.
+
+II. On the other hand, the grass vegetation proper may be set down at
+15/100 of the surface: a barren, clay soil.
+
+III. The cocoa forest may be estimated at 5/100 of the entire area; upon a
+fruitful soil of coral conglomerate, coral sand, and dried alluvium.
+
+IV. In like manner the screw-pine forests cover 5/100 of the entire
+insular surface, the soil marshy but well suited for cultivation, with
+fresh-water bogs, and moist fresh-water alluvium.
+
+V. Lastly, the mangrove forest in like manner may be roughly estimated at
+5/100 of the superficial area, and is a swampy soil, unfitted for
+cultivation, consisting of salt-water marshes, and alluvium, moistened by
+salt-water.
+
+The entire superficial area of the islands may be computed at about 627
+square miles. Reckoning only 7/10 therefore of the surface as consisting
+of soil suitable for culture, which may undoubtedly be assumed as a fair
+approximation, we have a surface of 439 square miles capable of being made
+productive. But even the very ground now exclusively covered with grass,
+might be made productive with a more numerous population and a
+corresponding improvement in cultivation, so that these islands, now the
+abode of about 5000 savages, could easily support in comfort a population
+of over 100,000 industrious men.
+
+At present the chief product of the islands is the cocoa-nut palm, which
+grows for the most part on the sea-shore, so far as the coral sand
+reaches. Within the same limits is the existence of the inhabitants
+confined, destitute as they are of industry or the capacity to cultivate
+the soil. This invaluable plant seldom extends far into the interior, and
+from this circumstance was named by a celebrated German traveller and
+botanist, Martius, the "Sea-shore palm." It is, however, as yet undecided
+whether the cocoa-palm is indigenous to the Nicobar Islands, or whether,
+cast on these shores by the waves, it has, by virtue of its well-known
+property of putting forth shoots even in salt-water, gradually propagated
+itself without any assistance from man.
+
+It is said that the profit realized by those engaged in the trade in these
+nuts, amounts to from 20 to 40 per cent., and could greatly be increased,
+if, as for example in Ceylon, oil-presses were erected, by means of which
+the expense of transporting the heavy bulky loads of nuts would be
+economised, the oil being exported direct. On the more northerly islands
+the cocoa forest embraces proportionately a far larger area, those more to
+the south being much less abundantly supplied, especially Greater Nicobar,
+where there is hardly any. Accordingly the more northerly islands are much
+the more densely peopled, and the cocoa-palms are there subdivided as
+property, while on the southern islands they seem to be freely enjoyed in
+common.
+
+Next in importance to the cocoa-nut palm, as a means of subsistence to
+the inhabitants, is the _Pandanus Melori_, of the family of the Pandaneæ,
+the fruit of which (Melori or Caldevia of the Portuguese, the Laróhm of
+the natives) supplies the place of rice and Indian corn, neither of which
+are grown on the island, owing to the ignorance of the islanders of the
+principles of cultivation, although the nature of the soil seems eminently
+suited to the production of both. From the huge fruit of this Pandanus, a
+species of bread is prepared, very similar to apple-marmalade, which is
+eaten by the natives along with the soft white kernel of the ripe
+cocoa-nut. The leaves are prepared as mats of every sort and description,
+and are occasionally used for the manufacture of sails.
+
+The Bread-fruit tree (_Podocarpus incisa_), which furnishes such excellent
+nutriment, that, according to Cook,[18] three trees suffice to support a
+man during eight months, is found on the islands in single individuals,
+and we never happened to see its fruit used by the natives. The plantain
+too seemed but sparingly planted, although the elegant leafy green canopy
+of this the most important and nutritious plant, after the cocoa-nut,
+requires but little care in cultivation. The sugar-cane, the muscat-nut
+tree (_Myristia Moschatea_), and the _Cardamum Elettaria_,[19] grow and
+flourish on most of the islands, and orange and lemon trees of the most
+stupendous proportions may be met with, growing wild in the immediate
+vicinity of the native dwellings.
+
+Of tubers we only found the yam growing in considerable quantities, but it
+seems to be cultivated by the natives more as an article of exchange with
+the ships visiting the islands, than for their own use. So far however as
+we could ascertain the capabilities of the soil, the Jucca (_Jakopha
+Manihot_), the sweet potato (the _Camote_ of the Spanish colonies), and
+other American tuberous roots, might flourish here at least as well as on
+the hot damp coasts of the western continent.
+
+The number of plants collected by our botanists throughout this group of
+islands, amounts to 280 different species; however by a more thorough
+exploration of the Archipelago, the _Phanerogamous_ species may be
+increased one half in number.
+
+There are also two plants, which, although they cannot be included among
+the vegetable products suited for the sustenance of man, must nevertheless
+be taken into account as contributing in an important degree to the
+subsistence of the natives. These are the Areca palm, and the Betel shrub.
+
+The nut of the _Areca Cateehu_, and the green leaf of the _Piper Betle_,
+constitute as already mentioned, together with coral lime, the chief
+ingredients of _Betel_, that singular salivatory compound, which has
+become a prime luxury for the inhabitants of the Indies, and the adjacent
+islands. The Areca palm, with its graceful straight stem and elegant tuft
+of leaves, is indigenous to the entire group, and is found in considerable
+quantities. With the enormous demand for it as a salivatory, as also as an
+article of medicine, it might, had the natives the slightest turn for
+cultivation, yield a large profit as an article of commerce. The Betel
+shrub is also found in large quantities in these islands, and needs but
+little looking after.
+
+The wealth of the forest in ornamental timber, and wood fit for building
+purposes, is so great that, if carefully surveyed and judiciously thinned,
+they would not only furnish the settler with cleared soil suitable for
+cultivation, but would likewise permit an immense profit to be
+realized.[20]
+
+The Nicobar Islands had been recommended by a learned member of the
+Society of Physicians of Vienna, as a special subject of inquiry as to
+whether this group were not by position, conditions of soil, and climate,
+particularly suitable for the cultivation of the Peruvian bark tree, whose
+importance for medical purposes is daily increasing. So far as our brief
+stay admitted, we did not lose sight of this object, but the practical
+observations we made in the course of our voyage led us to conclusions
+widely different from those which, representing the quinquina tree as in
+danger of being extirpated on its native soil, South America, by the
+carelessness of the Indians, regarded its transplantation into other
+countries as a question of the utmost importance for the interests of the
+human race. The China tree, very far from becoming extinct, is carefully
+cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The bark is systematically
+cropped in most of these localities, and consequently there is no occasion
+to anticipate any considerable increase in price, or failure in the supply
+of this precious drug. We shall have an opportunity, when describing our
+stay at Java and at the west coast of America, to revert at length to this
+question, and shall have only to add the remark, that the great expense of
+such an attempt, and the extraordinary watchfulness and care which must be
+bestowed on the China tree for a number of years before the slightest
+profit can be derived from it, seem alone to render hopeless such an
+undertaking as its introduction in the Nicobar Islands, even were the
+climatic conditions better suited to such an experiment than we have
+reason to believe that they are.
+
+As for the zoology of these islands, it seems to be much less developed,
+whether as regards numbers, or size, than might be expected, considering
+the luxuriance of the vegetation. The forests are by their very nature
+poor in living denizens, the majority of these consisting of various
+species of birds. In like manner the sea is but little productive, and the
+nets which we cast over the ship's side at Kar-Nicobar, Pulo Milù, and
+Ganges Harbour, like the hook and line, brought up but few specimens, and
+those hardly deserving of notice. The natives have no nets of any sort,
+their mode of fishing consisting simply of raising a succession of weirs,
+in which they can harpoon or take their prey.
+
+Of domestic animals we saw only swine, hens, dogs, and cats, all of which
+live upon cocoa-nut. The dog, a smooth-haired cur of a light
+brownish-yellow colour, with pointed ears, is a sad coward, and his bark
+rather resembles a prolonged howl. The cats and the hens are exactly like
+those of Europe. Cattle for draught or the dairy, are as yet entirely
+unknown to the natives; yet they might easily be introduced from the
+adjoining shores of India. The zebra breed especially, already
+acclimatized in the tropics, would be of conspicuous utility as beasts of
+draught, supposing any attempt made at cultivation of the soil.
+
+Judging by the experiments made at Pulo Milù, the introduction of goats
+and sheep could only be accomplished with much difficulty. On the other
+hand all manner of poultry would be found to thrive in these islands.
+
+In passing from this very cursory consideration of the natural history of
+these islands[21] to the race of man who inhabit them, we find ourselves
+confronted with a people, who, on account of the primitive manner in which
+they live, attract our interest in the highest degree. The natives of the
+Nicobar group, whose entire number may be estimated at from 5000 to 6000
+souls, are, as we have already remarked, large and well formed, the skin
+of a dark brown, bronze-like hue, and owing to the prevailing custom of
+anointing their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, usually presenting a glancing
+appearance, and emitting a peculiar odour. This inunction is apparently
+intended to obviate superabundant perspiration, as also any skin diseases,
+just as the Indian races west of the Mississippi are accustomed to protect
+their naked bodies against the direct influences of the cold, by rubbing
+in the fat of animals. The practice of daubing the face does not seem to
+be so extensively resorted to, as previous descriptions of the Nicobar
+islanders had led us to believe. We saw only one solitary native, at the
+village of Malacca in the island of Nangkauri, who had painted his
+forehead and cheeks with the red pigment obtained from the seeds of the
+_Bixa Orellana_ (the well-known Annatto dye). Instances of tattooing we
+never fell in with, nor do these islanders seem to have any desire to
+imitate the beautiful, sometimes absolutely artistic, designs punctured on
+the hands and feet of the Malays and Burmese who occasionally visit them.
+Moles and blotches on the breast and arms are of frequent occurrence. The
+forehead of the Nicobar islander is slightly rounded, and in many cases
+may even be said to be well formed, but it falls away somewhat suddenly;
+the face is usually broad, and if we except the rather prominent zygomatic
+process, approaches the oval type; the hinder portion of the head is flat
+and seems as though crushed inwards, a circumstance of which Fontana, in
+his well-known journal already mentioned, takes special notice, and which
+deserves the more attention, that we think we are in a position, by means
+of actual measurement, and inquiries made on the spot, to say with
+certainty that this modification of the normal form of the skull is not
+natural to this race, but is artificially produced. We especially rely
+upon the circumstance, that among the natives of Nangkauri and others of
+the islands, the custom prevails of pressing quite flat the head of the
+newly-born infant, probably in conformity with Nicobar laws of taste and
+beauty: in order to make the result more certain, they keep continually
+repeating this experiment by a variety of different means during a
+considerable time. The nose is of ordinary dimensions, but is always of
+unusual breadth, and coarse of outline; we found a few individuals with
+noses of exorbitant length. Owing to the incredible extent to which the
+disgusting practice of chewing the betel-nut is carried, their mouth,
+naturally large, is hideously distorted. On the island of Treis we saw an
+aged native, whose tongue, in consequence of the incessant betel-chewing,
+had been attacked in a similar manner as his teeth. The chin is for the
+most part without any marked characteristic, and is usually rather
+retreating. The maxillary bones are broad and projecting, and the zygoma
+has a rather bold curve. The ears are small, but the flaps on the other
+hand are so broad, that when pierced they are ornamented with a piece of
+bamboo an inch thick.
+
+Some of the natives make use of this broad aperture to store away cigars.
+The thin eye-brows do not curve over the whole of the superior arch of the
+eye. The hair for the most part is beautiful, thick, black, and soft, in
+many instances depending low on both sides. The beard is universally very
+thin, and instances of mustachios or goatees are very rarely encountered.
+However a beard does not seem to be classed among those objects which add
+to the Nicobar ideal of beauty. At least, as often as they found an
+opportunity of seizing a pair of scissors from our dressing-cases, we used
+always to see the natives eagerly setting about extirpating the few hairs,
+which despite all their endeavours would persist in appearing upon the
+upper lip on either side of the mouth. The expression of their face is
+grave, tranquil, and rather _insouciant_. We never saw in their features
+any expression of emotion, such for instance as might have been imparted
+by delight at having obtained some coveted object, not even when they had
+manifested the utmost eagerness to possess it. The only excitement which
+their ordinarily impassive countenances were however many a time called on
+to indicate, took the form of an expression of pain and anxiety, as often
+as they saw a number of strangers make a descent upon their islands. The
+singularly marked similarity of feature in each and every individual, may
+safely be ascribed to the similarity of condition universally prevalent,
+to the small scope given to the play of their affections, and to the
+frequent intermarriage, which must necessarily be the case where, as in
+these islands, a couple of hundred human beings form the whole population
+of an island, and where intercommunication with the adjoining islands is
+so confined.
+
+The assertion by Fontana, that the natives never cut their nails, but on
+the other hand shave off their eye-brows, we have never found confirmed in
+any of the islands we visited, although very possibly some few
+individuals, certainly so far as we could find very scanty in number, may
+ape the customs of their Malay and Chinese visitors, by letting their
+nails grow. Of cripples, or at all events of individuals stunted in their
+growth, we saw but two, the first case being that of a native of
+Kar-Nicobar, who in consequence of a dislocation of the _radius_ at the
+wrist joint was entirely powerless of the left arm; while the second, a
+sort of dwarf, who was likewise an inhabitant of that island, presented a
+well-marked corpulence in the extremities, and fingers so swelled up and
+short, that he was known among his neighbours by the nickname of
+_Kiutakuntí_ (short finger).
+
+Hitherto the natives seem to have escaped the ravages of syphilitic
+diseases. As to any instances of visitations of virulent though temporary
+epidemics, we could not get any information of such having occurred; they
+have however in their language a word (Mallók) for the small-pox, of the
+existence of which we had convinced ourselves by personal demonstration
+in the case of a Malay, whose face was frightfully disfigured by the marks
+of this appalling disease.
+
+Although in a climate the annual average of which is 81° Fahr., clothes
+are all but unnecessary, the natives nevertheless manifest an
+extraordinary passion for European clothing, and when it seemed
+impracticable by any other means to elicit an expression of pleasure on
+their calm, indifferent, emotionless countenances, it was always possible
+to succeed by presenting them with a shirt, a coat, or a black silk round
+hat. As however the natives have seldom been presented with more than one
+such article at a time, and many a year is apt to elapse ere he gets
+another, by which he might succeed in gradually completing his dress, the
+Nicobarian makes his appearance before strangers attired in the most
+extraordinary fashion, almost entirely naked, sometimes with only a black
+hat on his head, or pluming himself on being spruced up in a frock coat
+(but without shirt, stockings, or head-gear), which on the plump naked
+brown skin of this child of nature has far more the appearance of a
+straight-waistcoat than a comfortable article of dress.
+
+The natives show infinitely more vanity in the selection of a piece of
+clothing, than calculation as to its real necessity or suitability. A
+large low-crowned white hat with broad rim, which we presented to one
+native, gained not the slightest approval, although both in form and
+colour it was far better suited to protecting the wearer against the rays
+of the tropical sun than a high, narrow-brimmed, fashionable black silk
+hat, to the possession of which the natives of Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri
+attach quite an inordinate value. For such an article, in the course of
+barter, they offer 1600 ripe cocoa-nuts, while for a long piece of wide
+dark-coloured muslin, in which they are wont to envelope their dead, they
+will give only 1200 such fruits. But the most characteristic head-gear of
+the Nicobarians is a bandeau made of dried leaves of the cocoa-nut palm,
+which gives them quite a picturesque appearance. We saw but few ornaments
+worn, such as necklaces, bracelets, &c., only one or two of the younger
+men having their hands and their necks adorned with massive rings of
+silver and iron wire.
+
+The dwellings of the natives are usually round, beehive-shaped huts,
+resting on a number of stakes of from six to eight feet in height. Simple
+as is the construction of these huts, it nevertheless, especially on the
+island of Kar-Nicobar, possesses a certain degree of ornament, we might
+almost say elegance, while the thatching of dried palm-leaves, as also the
+beams and the walls constructed of reeds (_Calamus Rotang_), are a branch
+of industry which would do honour even to civilized races of the world.
+The natives usually cower or squat on the ground, or seat themselves upon
+some cocoa-nut that has chanced to fall, while at night, stretched out
+upon the flowers shed by the Areca palm, and with their heads elevated by
+a piece of hard wood, they find anywhere a sufficiently comfortable couch.
+
+The means of subsistence of the Nicobar islanders are anything but
+abundant. As they are utterly ignorant of cultivation, they are entirely
+indebted for the very first necessaries of life to the provision which a
+bountiful nature has supplied to them, without the assistance of man's
+labour. Their chief articles of food are the cocoa-nut and the pandanus
+fruit. As with the natives of India, so among the natives of the Nicobar
+group, the cocoa-palm is applied to the most various purposes, although it
+would be difficult to make it fulfil all the ninety and nine useful
+purposes which the Hindoo proverb assigns to this noble individual of the
+royal race of palms. The cocoa-palm likewise constitutes the chief article
+of export of the entire group, while the profit from the Trepang (Biche de
+Mar of the English, a sort of cockle), edible swallows' nests,
+tortoise-shell, amber, and so forth, is of the highest importance in the
+interchange of commerce.
+
+The betel shrub (_Piper Betle_), next to the cocoa-nut and pandanus fruit,
+one of the most important necessities of the inhabitants of these islands,
+is not indigenous, but has been introduced hither from the peninsula of
+Malacca, and formed for a long time an article of commerce and exchange.
+At present this creeper, which spreads with hardly any particular care, is
+found in such quantities that only a small proportion of the leafy produce
+can be consumed by the sparse population. It was always incomprehensible
+to us in what could consist the great charm of betel-chewing, that a habit
+so loathsome should be so extensively practised by the very lowest slaves
+of the princes of India, by poor as well as rich, nay, should fling its
+chains, as it actually does, even over women and children. A lucky chance,
+however, threw in our way a Sanscrit poem (_Hytopedesa_) which celebrates
+as follows the thirteen cardinal virtues of the betel-leaf:--"Betel is
+pungent, bitter, aromatic, sweet, alkaline, astringent, a carminative, a
+dispeller of phlegm, a vermifuge, a sweetener of the breath, an ornament
+of the mouth, a remover of impurities, and a kindler of the flame of love!
+O friend! these thirteen properties of betel are hard to be met with, even
+in heaven!"[22]
+
+It would be an inquiry of considerable interest to trace the influence
+which the incessant betel-chewing exercises over the longevity of the
+inhabitants, and the changes caused in the masticatory organs, which are
+so constantly exposed to these pernicious practices.
+
+That which most deeply struck us throughout the Nicobars, was the
+frightful decomposition of the teeth, whereas in other betel-chewing races
+these were stained only of the same deep crimson as the lips and the gums.
+We at first ascribed this difference to some variation in the mixture of
+the ingredients, but we repeatedly perceived afterwards that the betel
+used on the Nicobar group consisted of nothing else than a small piece of
+Areca-nut, which, sprinkled with a little chalk, was enveloped in a green
+aromatic betel-leaf, and so was popped into the mouth. The Hindoos, on
+the other hand, add to these ingredients, which they always carry about
+with them in elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly
+called _Terra Japonica_, because it was long supposed to be a mineral
+product) made out of the pith of the _Acacia Catechu_, a species of
+Mimosa; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory composition a species
+of resin obtained from the _Melaleuca Cajeputi_, as also a little tobacco.
+
+The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth and lips of
+the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only to some difference in
+the proportions of the ingredients used, very probably to the use of a
+larger quantity of coral lime. What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians
+have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive
+substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by
+personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves,
+nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.
+
+In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the
+inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world.
+They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but
+they age with uncommon rapidity. Of about 100 natives with whom during our
+stay on the various islands we were in communication, hardly one was above
+forty, and the majority may be roughly estimated at from twenty to thirty.
+If, moreover, we set it down as improbable that all the aged men should
+have taken to flight like the women and children, it should seem that
+these natives never attain a very extended duration of life.
+
+Of the therapeutic powers of various plants that are found in their
+forests, the natives have but little knowledge. All that they have ever
+had of drugs have been almost entirely supplied from Europe by captains of
+English vessels. Although they attach the most extravagant importance to
+the possession of these, these medicines are, if anything, more
+prejudicial than beneficial to them, as they of course understand nothing
+of their use, and often apply them in the most absurd manner. It seems
+that once some ship captain in order to get quit of their importunities
+made over to them all the articles he could most conveniently spare, such
+as castor-oil, Epsom salts, spirit of camphor, turpentine, peppermint, eau
+de Cologne, &c. &c., and ever since they pester each visitor for medicine!
+A native once urgently begged us to give him a little spirit of
+turpentine; on our asking him to what purpose he wished to apply it, he
+answered that he wanted to rub himself with it, and take a few drops
+internally, because he believed it was an excellent preservative against
+ague and pain in the chest!
+
+The maladies with which the natives are most commonly afflicted, are
+intermittent fever, phthisis, and rheumatism. In some cases we remarked
+_Elephantiasis Arabica_ (the Juzam of Arab writers), called by the
+Nicobarians _Kelloidy_, attacking the bones, and several different forms
+of cuticular eruption. The severity of these diseases must be ascribed
+less to the insalubrity of the climate than to the unwholesome mode of
+existence of the natives. Can we feel surprised that naked men, who do not
+inhabit the more favourably situated spots ventilated by regular winds,
+but live on the swampy coast, in the sandy bays that are fringed with a
+forest belt, where they can grow their cocoa-palms with the least labour
+to themselves, who leave their bodies exposed now to the violence of
+tropical rains, now to the fiery rays of a tropical sun, and whose food
+consists almost exclusively of cocoa-nuts and the fruit of the
+_pandanus_,--can we wonder that they should be in an especial degree
+subject to disease? It is a mistake to suppose that the food of
+inhabitants of the tropics is that assigned by Nature herself, and
+therefore the most beneficial and suitable. For, despite all theory, which
+for residents in the tropics chiefly prescribes substances with plenty of
+carbon and nitrogen as the proper articles of food, we see Europeans, more
+especially Englishmen, in the hottest climate in the world, with a
+thermometer that rarely falls below 86° Fahr., devouring, just as in a
+more northern climate, strong soups, gigantic beef-steaks, and mutton
+cutlets to any extent, contemptuously turning up their noses at mere
+vegetable diet, and barely touching marmalade or sweetmeats; yet there
+they are blooming in the best of health, far better even than that of the
+natives. Indeed, it is a fact full of interest, and confirmed by
+observations carried on for years, that in the Presidency of Madras, for
+example, the Hindoos and Mahmudas, so widely different in their customs
+and mode of life, were much more seriously attacked by fever than the
+Europeans resident there, in such entirely different conditions of climate
+than they were accustomed to. On the other hand, so far as regards
+sanitary measures, that portion of the aboriginal population presents the
+most favourable results which is most intimately allied to the Europeans,
+and applies in its own case the precepts of modern civilization.
+
+So soon as the natives are attacked by fever with any severity, they
+rapidly succumb. However, we have never heard tell of any of that
+barbarous inhumanity which any medicine-man, whose treatment is
+unsuccessful, is said to experience at the hands of the relatives and
+friends of the patient, which indeed is all the more improbable as, were
+such really the case, considering the small advantages and scrimp fees
+likely to be picked up by a smart medicine-man among such an impoverished
+race, there would hardly be met with one Manluéna in the entire group! The
+head-mark of a doctor in the southern islands is his unusually long
+floating hair. On our inquiring of a native what qualifications were
+requisite in order to become a doctor, he replied with the most charming
+naïveté: "One must be the son of a doctor!" From this reply we may gather
+that in the Nicobar Islands medical skill and knowledge of the healing art
+are confined to certain families! We afterwards found this information
+confirmed, upon our discovering that the youthful Manluéna of Great
+Nicobar, who so severely kneaded and twisted the arm of one of the
+associates of the Expedition, was the son of an aged doctor of the island
+of Kondul, and owed his reputation solely to the circumstance of his
+kindred. Besides cases of sickness, the advice, the adroitness, and the
+zeal of the Manluéna are held in special repute for the driving out of the
+evil spirit or _Eewees_, by which, as already mentioned, the inhabitants
+of the Nicobar Islands believe themselves to be incessantly surrounded.
+
+Of idols proper, such as barbarous tribes construct and honour, and to
+whom they dedicate temples, they have none; nor have they any object in
+nature, as, for instance, a lofty tree, a huge rock or a hill, to which
+they attach a certain charm, like some of the Central American tribes.
+They have not even a word for the Divine idea in their language, nor for
+Godhead, nor for any Beneficent Principle or Being, and the rudely carved
+figures, which are found set up in all sorts of comical postures within
+their huts, are intended to serve no higher purpose, than to frighten away
+those evil spirits which even the Manluéna has been unable to see, though
+he sets himself forward as able to hold converse with them.
+
+The notion of a Being, whose wisdom and whose love rule the world, is
+quite as foreign to their minds as the conception of a spiritual life in
+the future after death. We repeatedly asked one of their most intelligent
+leaders, who also spoke a little English, whether he believed he should
+ever again recognize his dead friends and relatives? But he replied
+invariably with a cold, indifferent, "Never, never!" All that we told them
+of the privileges of a believing Christian, of a Divine Being, of the
+belief in a future state of existence after death, served only to fill
+them with astonishment, but they seemed ready enough to listen to such
+subjects. What little they had heard upon these truths from missionaries
+and ship captains, appeared however to have left them with very confused
+notions.
+
+From all that came under our notice, the mode of life of these islanders
+is singularly uniform and indolent, its most important events consisting
+probably of the alterations necessary by the interchange of the seasons.
+They know of no other method of computing time than the change of the moon
+and of the monsoons. At the beginning of the wet season or S.W. monsoon,
+and at the corresponding period of the dry season or N.E. monsoon, there
+are certain festivals, which somewhat resemble the "sowing feasts" and
+"harvest homes" of the American aboriginal stocks. They have however no
+appointed day of rest, corresponding to the sabbath of the Christian
+Church, nor indeed do they need such, seeing that in their mode of life
+every day is a holiday! They have no measure for time, nor indeed for
+anything else: not a single native could give us any idea of his own age,
+nor could count above 20.[23] Time has for them not the slightest value:
+the watchword "_Time is money!_" which first given by England, is at
+present resounding throughout the world, falls voiceless and ineffectual
+on their insensible ears. Their reckoning of time is as limited as their
+capacity for recollecting by-gone occurrences. The presence of Christian
+missionaries at various periods, as also the visit of the Danish corvette
+_Galatea_ in 1847, had already almost entirely disappeared from their
+memory. Only among a very few of their numbers have some of the names
+clung to the recollection, such as _Galatea_, and _Steene Bille_ (which
+they pronounced _Piller_).
+
+We could not find anything that bore the least resemblance to any settled
+form of government, to any distribution upon fixed principles of the
+possessions of the general community, to any recognition of individual
+right, to any tribunal for settling quarrels, &c. &c. They recognize the
+relations of family and of property; on the other hand, the power of the
+captain, one of whom the greater number of villages has each for itself,
+and whom they call _Mah_ or _Umiáha_ (old), extends no further than giving
+him the right to be the first to trade with such foreign ships as make
+their appearance, and to inaugurate the barter-system. Indeed this very
+institution of captainship, although much liked by the natives, does not
+at all seem as though it were part of their own system, but to date from
+the period when English merchant vessels began to visit these islands
+regularly.
+
+As to the social life of the natives, their family relations, and so
+forth, we could get such scanty and uncertain data to go upon, what with
+the cursory visits we paid to the various islands, and considering the
+women and children had everywhere fled, while the men regarded us simply
+as intruders, that we do not venture to publish any special information
+upon this point. Be it however permitted to express our opinion, that,
+judging by the tendency to a decent style of dress and the extreme
+elegance of the decorations of the canoes and the huts of the islanders of
+Kar-Nicobar, as contrasted with the destitution, nakedness, and wretched
+condition of the natives of the southern islands of the group,
+civilization seems to be advancing from north to south with slow but sure
+steps. And it will probably interest the philologist to be informed that
+both in Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri, the most important settlement bears the
+same name, Malacca, as the chief city on the adjoining Malay peninsula. As
+the natives in this delicious _far niente_ existence live exclusively upon
+the precious gifts of an all-bountiful Nature, which provides them at once
+with food and drink, one naturally finds among them few implements of
+labour, indeed only such as are indispensably necessary in erecting their
+huts, in preparing their canoes, and in enabling them readily to open the
+cocoa-nuts. And even these tools, as, for instance, hatchets, cutlasses,
+files, &c., were first procured through intercourse with civilization.
+
+Their weapons consist merely of lances or javelins with points of iron or
+hardened wood, by the number of which, it is presumed, the wealth of a
+Nicobar islander is estimated. A cross-bow, which we saw in the possession
+of a native of Kar-Nicobar, although made on the island, was manifestly of
+European design originally, and merely an imitation.
+
+Of musical instruments we did not find a single specimen in Kar-Nicobar,
+whereas on the southern islands there is a six, sometimes a seven-holed
+flute in use, made of bamboo-cane, which, as we afterwards discovered, had
+been brought hither by the Malays; and also a kind of guitar about two or
+three feet in length, hollowed out, and with sound-holes in the side, and
+made of thick bamboo and reed strings. On the whole, however, the
+Nicobarians seem to be much too apathetic and indifferent a race to have
+any special predilection for music, singing, or dancing. Accordingly at
+their monsoon festivals and other holiday-times, their notion of dancing
+is limited to hopping round in a circle with arms entwined, while they at
+the same time keep up a listless humming noise.
+
+In the case of such a race, which has no civilization or industry of its
+own, it is out of the question to speak of their having any regular
+industrial occupation in the strict sense of the word. The particular and
+to them most beneficent plant, which supplies them at once with enough to
+eat and to drink, at the same time brings them, very reluctantly, into
+contact with civilization, and will yet become a main agent in introducing
+a knowledge of those necessities and acquaintance with those articles
+which are the product of a higher grade of civilization alone. The ripe
+nuts of the cocoa-palm constitute the chief article of export of the
+Nicobar Islands, and, what is even more important, supply the stimulus,
+which already arouses the native to a certain degree of activity, although
+most of the nuts that are put on ship-board are collected not by the
+natives, but by the crews of the Malay vessels. All other articles of
+export, such as _Biche de mar_, edible birds' nests, tortoise-shell,
+amber, &c., are of very inferior importance, and are only taken as
+by-freight. According to published documents the northern islands can
+supply 10,000,000 cocoa-nuts, of which however, at present, not much more
+than 5,000,000, to wit, 3,000,000 from Kar-Nicobar alone, and 2,000,000
+from the rest of the islands, are exported in all. As this fruit is
+one-sixth of the price it bears on the coasts of Bengal, the concourse of
+English and Malay vessels, especially from Pulo Penang, increases every
+year.[24] The trade is carried on by way of barter instead of money
+payments, although silver is highly valued too; for here also, despite all
+that is reported of the inordinate longing of the Nicobar natives for
+tobacco, glass beads, and such like rubbish, the truth of the adage is
+fully borne out that "Money is the most _universal merchandise_." Of
+silver coins, the natives are only acquainted with rupees, Spanish
+dollars, and English threepenny pieces, which latter they call "small
+rupees." Gold is as yet unknown among the southern islands, and therefore
+is valueless in the eyes of the natives.
+
+So long as the relations of the natives with foreign nations were
+exclusively confined to barter with some couple of dozen English and Malay
+vessels, which latter visited the islands with the N.E. monsoon and left
+with the S.W. monsoon, thus making but one voyage in the course of the
+year, the natives of the various islands kept up among themselves quite a
+frequent and regular communication. This favourable trait was undoubtedly
+owing in great measure to the defectiveness of their otherwise very
+elegant, but small, slight-built canoes, which are but ill adapted for
+voyaging to any remote distance.
+
+Respecting that other swarthy, crisp-haired, savage race, widely different
+from that inhabiting the coasts of Nicobar, which, according to a legend,
+dwells in the forests of Great Nicobar, and lives upon snakes, vermin,
+roots, and leaves of plants, and in the Nicobar idiom called
+_Baju-oal-Tschùa_, we could only add to our stock of information by
+recitals that obviously pertained to the domain of Fable-land. When,
+however, we remember that not a single traveller or author who has
+indulged such gossiping, nay, that not even the natives who tell such
+stories of them, have ever seen one of this race, we shall be excused for
+suggesting in reply to the numberless conjectures afloat respecting these
+mysterious inhabitants, that the alleged denizens of the interior of Great
+Nicobar are neither a widely different race of men from the coast-natives,
+nor yet an offshoot of the crisp-haired swarthy race of Papuas from New
+Guinea, but that, dispossessed and degraded by a conjuncture of various
+hostile influences, they hold, with respect to the inhabitants of the
+sea-board, a similar position to that occupied by the Bushmen of
+Namaqualand to the Hottentots of Cape Colony.
+
+In the circumstances in which the inhabitants of this group of islands at
+present find themselves, without traditions, without proverbs, without
+songs, without monuments, and especially without any characteristic
+peculiarity in their habits and customs which could possibly throw a ray
+of light upon the obscurity of their origin, it is a bold undertaking to
+express any decided opinion as to the derivation and genealogy of this
+people. By far the most probable theory, as is also admitted by Dr. Rink,
+who visited these islands with the Danish Expedition, would represent them
+as an offshoot from the north-westerly boundary of the Malay race, as a
+people which, while possessing much in common with the Indo-Chinese stock,
+nevertheless in its physical characteristics seems to hold a middle rank
+between the Malay and the Burmese.
+
+Considering the study _of language_ as a most important and reliable
+source of information, the members of the Expedition made it their main
+object to draw up, in conformity with what is known as Gallatin's method,
+so extensively used by all American and English travellers, a vocabulary
+of about 200 words in both languages, viz. that used by the inhabitants of
+Nicobar, and that (widely different in all respects except the numerals)
+in use among the natives of the more southern islands. As a Malay barque
+from Pulo Penang was lying at anchor during our stay on the northern
+shores of Great Nicobar, so favourable an opportunity was of course made
+use of to prepare a similar vocabulary of the Malay idiom spoken at that
+port, which will give the philologist the advantage of being able to judge
+for himself as to the similarity existing between these two idioms, and
+thence, by analogy, between the two races, and discriminate whether those
+scholars, such as Vatu, come nearer the truth who maintain that the
+Nicobar language is of Malay derivation with an admixture of foreign
+words, principally European, or those other students of philology who, as
+for instance Adelung, hold that the idiom used by these islanders is
+identical with some of the languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula.
+
+At the same time the ethnographer of the Expedition had endeavoured to
+ascertain by means of a new system of measurements of the human frame,
+drawn up by himself in concert with Dr. Edward Schwarz, one of the
+physicians of the Expedition, and with the co-operation and assistance of
+the latter, various data, such as, when applied to the various races
+inhabiting the earth, might justify many new and striking conclusions, and
+ultimately result in definitely fixing the relation, resemblance, or
+physical dissimilarity of the various races of man. Such a plan makes it
+much more easy by means of figures, those most undeniable evidences of the
+results of investigations, to get speedily and accurately at the required
+results, than by all the most specious theories laid down in the less
+certain domain of philosophic speculation.
+
+These measurements, applied at three chief regions of the body, namely,
+the head, the trunk, and the upper and lower extremities, are intended to
+be scientifically discussed in a special memoir,[25] and we accordingly
+confine ourselves here to remarking that the various points of
+measurements were not only determined in an anthropological point of view,
+but that among the 68 different categories, into which these measurements
+are naturally distributed, there occur some which supply many curious
+points of inquiry, as also considerable assistance not merely to national
+economics, the result of the light thrown upon the subject of the average
+of muscular strength of the various races as found by the dynamometer, but
+also to the graphic art, with respect to a more accurate acquaintance with
+the human skeleton as well as the entire figure.
+
+In like manner we never omitted to collect some of the hair of the head
+from as many as possible of the various individuals measured, since the
+laborious researches of Peter Brown of Philadelphia on the human hair,
+have elevated it into a very remarkable means of tracing the origin of the
+various disparities of race.
+
+It must also be considered as an especial boon for the science of
+comparative anatomy, as well as universal ethnography, that we succeeded
+in bringing away with us from the Nicobar Islands the skulls of two of the
+natives.
+
+Lastly, a small collection of twenty-three subjects of ethnographical
+inquiry, collected from the various islands, will be found useful, partly
+as illustrating the information already obtained, partly as affording
+evidence of the amount of culture of the inhabitants of the Nicobar
+Archipelago.
+
+We are still called upon to answer the question already propounded,
+whether the Nicobar Islands are suited as the site of a colony, and
+whether the numerous attempts already made in this direction did not
+probably fall through for other reasons than those of climate.
+
+According to inquiries instituted by the members of the Austrian
+Expedition, this insular group, by its geographical position in one of the
+very chiefest commercial routes of the world, and by the richness and
+abundance of the products of its soil, offers sufficient points of
+attraction to interest any leading commercial or maritime power, in
+securing possession of it. With regard to any colonization or cultivation
+of the soil by free European immigrants, there is as little to be said as
+of almost any other islands in the tropics. In order to make such spots
+aids to the extension of civilization, the utmost certainty of rule is
+imperatively necessary, such as was instituted with such marvellous
+results by England in Pulo Penang, Singapore, Sydney, &c. The climate of
+the Nicobars is very far from being so deadly, that mere residence upon
+them must speedily prove fatal to Europeans, and it will undoubtedly be
+signally ameliorated by a partial clearing of the forests, cultivation of
+the soil, channelling of the rivers, and drainage of the swamps. All such
+works however must be executed by Malay or Indian labourers, under the
+superintendence of Europeans. From what we have learned by personal
+observation of the surprising influence which the transportation system
+has exercised in Australia upon the cultivation and development of the
+soil, as also upon the social condition of the convicts themselves, we do
+not hesitate, despite the distrust of experiments of such a nature which
+prevails in certain philosophic circles of Europe, to express our opinion,
+that with a little prudence and forbearance convict labourers in abundance
+could be imported, who would be at once better off, more contented, and
+more disposed to do honour to their man's estate than as at present
+confined at home in their dreary prison cells.[26]
+
+If the various experiments hitherto made have all fallen through, the
+"effect defective" undoubtedly arises from the deficiency of means
+requisite for such an undertaking, and in the limited number of men,
+merely humanly speaking, who were engaged in such enterprises. The mere
+prime cost of clearing and cultivation, so as to enable them to anticipate
+a good return for their labour, must be set down as at the lowest
+computation between £100,000 and £150,000; the number of labourers
+employed in the undertaking at from 300 to 400; of whom all skilled
+artisans, such as carpenters, joiners, locksmiths, blacksmiths,
+bricklayers, masons, &c., must accompany the settlers from Europe.
+
+The sums expended for the first outlay must not however be set down as
+entirely thrown away, since the fertility of the islands in those
+colonial products that are most valuable, and the enormous quantity of
+cocoa-nut palms, must, under the impulse of cultivation and industrious
+habits, speedily make returns in countless tides of prosperity. So far as
+regards the aboriginal population, of whom there are not above 5000 or
+6000 on all the islands, they would experience but little annoyance from
+the carrying out of such an enterprise. In fact, morally and materially
+they could only gain from the introduction of a foreign element. At
+present they are confined to the narrow belt of shore, where grows the
+cocoa-palm, their sole support. The interior of the island, so prolific in
+natural wealth of the most varied description, and which would become
+infinitely more valuable under a proper development of its capabilities,
+is utterly unknown and valueless to the native.
+
+Once a settlement were fairly set a-going on the above-mentioned
+principles, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Archipelago would be placed
+under the tutelage of European civilization, and in their transactions
+would no longer be exposed to the knavery and caprices of ships' captains.
+It would be necessary to watch over the natives as over minors, so as not
+alone to secure for them material benefits, but by liberal sympathetic
+treatment as the groundwork of their education, gradually to establish
+that faith whose introduction hitherto, despite numerous praiseworthy
+endeavours in the past as well as the present century, has been doomed to
+be unsuccessful through a variety of extraneous circumstances. Moreover,
+the Nicobar Archipelago would be a most convenient central station whence
+to impart the blessings of Christianity to the pagans of the adjoining
+groups of islands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MEMORANDUM
+
+Relating to those points of the Nicobar Archipelago whose geographical
+position was ascertained by the _Novara_ Expedition.
+
+  +--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
+  |   PLACE OF   | Latitude North. | Longitude East  |
+  | OBSERVATION. |                 | from Greenwich. |
+  +--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
+  | Sáui Cove    |   9° 14'  8''   |  92° 44' 46''   |
+  | Komios       |   9   7  32     |  92  43  42     |
+  | Morrock Bay  |   8  32  30     |  93  34  10     |
+  | Kauláha      |   8   2  10     |  93  29  40     |
+  | Kondul       |   7  12  17     |  93  39  57     |
+  | Galatea Cove |   6  48  26     |  93  49  51     |
+  +--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
+
+A very careful measurement, made at the point of observation in Sáui, of
+the Moon's distance from Jupiter, gave 6 h. 11 min. 2 sec., or 92° 45'
+30'' East.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Our voyage from the south side of Great Nicobar to Singapore occupied
+twenty days. This time the fine weather seemed to have entirely abandoned
+us. Day and night, at almost all hours and from all parts of the sky, we
+encountered severe thunder-storms, with water-spouts, lightning, thunder,
+and the most tremendous rain-squalls. We could thoroughly realize that we
+were in the tropics at the beginning of the rainy season. One day during
+the prevalence of one of those floods, five tons during the first half
+hour, and in the course of an hour and a half eight tons, or 32,000 pints
+of water, were collected by the sailors in buckets and other similar
+utensils. These storms came now from the coast of Sumatra, now from the
+Malay peninsula, or yet again from the Straits of Malacca, and gave our
+jolly tars not a moment of repose. These tempests alternated with calms
+accompanied by a most oppressive sweltering hot temperature, and if by
+chance a breeze sprang up, it was sure to come out of the straits dead
+against us, and, coupled with the strong contrary current, fairly arrested
+our progress. Thus tacking about for 14 days between the north shore of
+Sumatra and Junk-Ceylon, we made as much way in that time as a fast
+steamer would have done in as many hours, and it was but poor consolation
+to us that several ships close to us, perhaps six or eight, shared the
+same adverse destiny.
+
+An incident of a very singular nature suddenly gave us all plenty of
+excitement. As our deeply respected chaplain was sitting reading one
+evening in his cabin, he became sensible of a peculiar pressure on his
+foot; the servant being called, made his appearance with a candle, and on
+examining the floor was horror-struck at perceiving a pretty large
+sea-snake (_Chorsydrus fasciatus_), coiled round the foot of the priest.
+In the same instant this gentleman instinctively rid himself of the
+poisonous reptile by a vigorous kick, while the various persons who
+hurried to the spot were resolved they would secure this dangerous
+assailant dead or alive. Within the narrow limits of a ship's state-room,
+a campaign is speedily brought to a close. His snakeship was forthwith
+routed out of his asylum, and hacked into more pieces than was exactly
+agreeable to the zoologists, who had been extremely anxious, and even
+expected, to preserve this now doubly interesting reptile almost uninjured
+in spirits of wine. It was a tolerably large specimen, one inch thick, and
+about three feet long, and had apparently either wriggled up the cable, or
+had been washed on board by a wave through the open sky-light of the
+cabin.
+
+At length on the 9th of April wind and weather changed, and, in company
+with the entire squadron of companions in misfortune, we sailed gaily into
+the Straits of Malacca, with all sail set, and dead before the wind. On
+the 11th of April, early in the morning, we found Pulo Penang (also called
+Areca, or Prince of Wales' Island) lying broad on our port beam. Its
+chains of forest-clad mountains, gloomy, and overcast with dense masses of
+cloud, prevented our realizing the charms of this possession of England,
+such as they have been described by all who have visited it.
+
+On the 12th of April we steered between the Sambelongs, or Nine Islands,
+and the island of Djara, and caught a glimpse of the lofty well-wooded
+mountains of the kingdom of Perah. The channel through these straits is
+becoming more and more contracted owing to the _débouche_ at this point of
+the river Perah. Shallow sand-banks and small rocky islands impede the
+navigation, and it is a common precaution for ships to cast anchor at the
+least approach of foul weather, an operation which is the more readily set
+about that the water is nowhere above twenty fathoms, but good holding
+ground throughout the straits. Moreover, the charts of these regions are
+thoroughly reliable and accurate, while at the most dangerous spot, where
+a sand-bank with only one fathom of water over it lies right in the tracks
+of vessels, a light-ship is moored, which we passed on the 13th of April,
+and continued our voyage through the night in perfect safety.
+
+On the morning of the 14th April, the hill of Ophir (called also Ledang or
+Pudang), 5700 feet high, lay fair before us. We now found ourselves
+opposite the town of Malacca. The channel at this point approaches so
+close to the mainland, that we could easily distinguish churches and
+houses, and the frigate exchanged signals with the neighbouring semaphore.
+
+Malacca, once the Malay capital, has at present altogether lost its former
+importance, and of the three English colonies in the Straits of Malacca,
+usually known as the _Straits Settlements_, is the least important in
+either a political or a commercial sense. The entire region was, until
+within these few years, in most evil repute for the atrocious piracies
+perpetrated here. Natives used to lie in wait in small canoes filled with
+merchandise of all sorts, with which they boarded the passing ships, and
+while these were supplying themselves with fruit and fresh provisions, the
+former were spying the number of crew, as also the means of defence of the
+unfortunate vessel; after which it usually happened, that during the night
+the more defenceless of them, while becalmed or lying at anchor, would be
+attacked by an overwhelming force of pirates and ruthlessly plundered.
+Captain Steen Bille relates, that even so late as 1846, he loaded his
+cannon with shot, and maintained extra vigilance during the night.
+
+We now sped along, still favoured by the wind, during the ensuing night,
+and on the morning of the 15th April had the satisfaction of reaching the
+entrance of the bay of Singapore, without once having to lie at anchor in
+the straits. The landscape that lay outstretched before us was
+splendid,--lofty wooded islands on the coast of Sumatra, and a whole
+archipelago of islets lay around us, in the channels between which prahus
+were sailing about, while Chinese junks, full-rigged ships and barques,
+were working in or out as the case might be, all intimating the proximity
+of a great mart of commerce. Equally fortunate as in the straits was our
+passage through the labyrinth of islands, through which a vessel must wind
+in order to reach Singapore. And this roadstead itself, what a contrast it
+presented to the lovely beach of the Nicobar Islands! Here were thousands
+of ships of all sizes and rigs, and the flags of nearly all sea-faring
+nations in the world. We found at anchor the English frigate _Amethyst_,
+and the screw corvette _Niger_; and having warped ourselves into their
+vicinity, by 2 P.M. we had cast anchor in 13 fathoms water. Almost
+immediately afterwards an officer came off from the _Amethyst_ to welcome
+us, and to impart to us the unpleasant intelligence that cholera had been
+raging in the city for some weeks past, and had also committed great havoc
+among the shipping in harbour. Even the captain and one of the crew of an
+English merchantman had succumbed but a few hours previously to this fell
+scourge, and the vessel had her flag half-mast high as a signal of
+mourning. This information at once deranged all our plans and projects
+with respect to Singapore, and had we not been compelled to victual here,
+we should at once have set sail. However, under the circumstances there
+was nothing to do but to spend five or six days at Singapore, and this
+breathing-space we availed ourselves of to obtain as much information as
+possible both by eye and ear touching this very remarkable colony, and its
+not less interesting inhabitants.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Anciennes rélations des Indes et de la Chine de deux voyageurs
+Mahométans, qui y allèrent dans le IXème siècle. Traduit de l'Arabe avec
+des remarques par Eus. Renaudot. Paris, chez Coignard, 1718. 8vo.
+
+[2] Journal of the Voyage of the I.R. Ship _Joseph and Theresa_ to the new
+Austrian plantations in Asia and Africa, by Nicolas Fontana, ship-surgeon
+to Mr. Brambilla, body physician to the Emperor, assistant surgeon in the
+army. Translated from the Italian MS. by Joseph-Eyerle. Dessau and
+Leipzig,--"_Buch-handlung der Gelehrten._"
+
+[3] "I have drawn up these documents," writes Prince Kaunitz, in a state
+paper addressed to the Empress, dated 27th March, 1776, "in such manner as
+to advance the objects of your Majesty in establishing commercial
+intercourse between Austria and the Indies, without incurring disagreeable
+results, which might accrue from the conferring of unrestricted
+authority."
+
+[4] A piece of parchment, cut out of a book in zig-zag fashion, which in
+former times was necessary in all commerce with barbarians, the captains
+of privateers, when unable to read, being enabled, by comparing the
+torn-out leaf (_scontrino_) with the counterfoil, which it was customary
+to give to all trading persons, to determine to what nationality the
+vessel belonged.
+
+[5] A few years previous, in 1782, a certain C. F. von Brocktroff, of
+Kiel, had addressed a memorial to the Emperor Joseph II., in the course of
+which he warmly advocated the annexation, settlement, and reclamation of
+the Nicobar Islands, and, on the strength of fifteen years' experience in
+the East Indies, promised immense profits to the Austrian-German trade by
+this method of procedure. This interesting treatise will be found among
+the Government Archives at Vienna, and will be published in full in
+another section.
+
+[6] Bolts had several times come before the public as an author. In 1771
+he issued in London a work in two volumes 4to, entitled, "Considerations
+on Indian Affairs," which was also translated into French. Further, he
+published a "_Recueil des pièces authentiques rélatives aux affaires de la
+ci-devant société Impériale-Asiatique de Trieste, gérées à Anvers_," which
+appeared in 4to (116 pages) at Paris, in 1787.
+
+[7] The results of this voyage of discovery are embodied partly in a work
+in two volumes: "Steen Bille's account of the voyage of the corvette
+_Galatea_, round the world" (Copenhagen, Leipzig, 1852), partly in a
+Geographical sketch of the Nicobar Islands, with special remarks upon
+Geology, by Dr. H. Rink (Copenhagen, 1847): there will be likewise found
+in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, under the heading
+"Nicobar Islands," and at p. 261 of the third volume of the "Journal of
+the Indian Archipelago," under the title "Sketches at the Nicobars," a
+variety of valuable contributions to our stock of knowledge respecting
+this island group. In addition, Mr. A. E. Zhishmann, Professor in the
+Imperial Royal Academy of Commerce and Navigation at Trieste, published,
+in anticipation of the projected visit of the _Novara_ to this
+Archipelago, a valuable historico-geographical sketch, entitled, "The
+Nicobar Islands" (Trieste, Printing Office of the Austrian Lloyds, 1857),
+which appeared at the same time in the Transactions of the Imp. Roy.
+Geographical Society for 1857.
+
+[8] Vide, "Indian Political Dispatches," of 1st February, 1848: also the
+"Hamburger Correspondent," of 30th August, 1848, and "Friend of India,"
+for 1853, p. 455.
+
+[9] Thus, for example, we find on the island of Kar-Nicobar the following
+specimens of barter:--
+
+         For                            Pair of ripe cocoa-nuts.
+
+  a sort of hunting-knife or
+      cutlass, worth about $1-1/2                  300
+  a small knife-blade                              100
+  six table knife-blades                           300
+  an American knife                                 50
+  a hatchet                                        300
+  a musket                                         500
+  a double-barrelled gun                          2500
+  a large spoon                                    150
+  thirty feet of silver-wire                      2500
+  a small cask of rum                             2500
+  a flask of arrack                                 10
+  three "sticks" of (negro-heads) tobacco          100
+  a flask of castor-oil                             50
+  a cabin lamp                                     500
+  a sack of rice                                   300
+  a piece of blue calico (about 6 to 8 ells)       100
+  a neck-cloth                                     100
+
+Epsom salts, turpentine, spirit of camphor, eau-de-Cologne, and
+peppermint, are also much-prized articles of barter, and bring a large
+profit, being exchanged for old clothes, salt meat, onions, and biscuit.
+
+[10] Thus, for instance, there occurred in one of these documents:--"In
+the village of Aurong, or Arrow, the best anchorage is opposite Capt.
+Marshall's hut, in from 13 to 15 fathoms water. At many points the coast
+is so dangerous, that one ship lost two of her men, who were endeavouring
+to land in a boat." In another certificate it was announced that the
+barque _Batavia_ of Rotterdam, freighted with rice, of 442 tons burthen,
+while on her voyage from Rangoon to Europe, was wrecked in Danson's
+passage, 7th April, 1857, and her crew was very hospitably treated by the
+natives of Kar-Nicobar. Almost every one of these certificates concludes
+with the remark that whoever wishes to be on friendly terms with the
+natives must play no pranks with their women, nor shoot their fowls or
+hogs in the forest.
+
+[11] This place of interment is situated close to a small village on the
+north-east side of the island, where the graves are visible in the shape
+of a number of round stakes sunk about three or four feet into the earth,
+which are adorned with all sorts of variegated cloths and ribbons.
+
+[12] It is customary to call the liquid contents of the green, unripe
+cocoa-nut by the name of _cocoa-nut milk_; but it is rather a clear,
+delightfully palatable water, which neither in colour nor taste at all
+resembles milk. This is obtained or pressed from the white, sweet, rather
+hard kernel, which is itself extraordinarily nutritive, and forms the
+daily food of the inhabitants. For an entire month, during which we could
+procure neither cows' nor goats' milk, we experimented on the use of the
+fluid obtained from the ripe cocoa-nut in our tea and coffee, and found it
+so excellent that we hardly felt the privation of animal milk.
+
+[13] See Vol. I., p. 240.
+
+[14] This vocabulary, which probably will not be found altogether
+valueless for the purposes of comparative philology, as also for the
+assistance of future travellers, will appear at the end of this volume as
+an Appendix.
+
+[15] See Appendix.
+
+[16] Most of the Austrian sailors are from the Adriatic coast, and
+accordingly speak an Italian patois.
+
+[17] "Letters on the Nicobar Islands, etc. Addressed by the Rev. I.
+Gottfried Hänsel, the only surviving missionary, to the Rev. C. J.
+Latrobe. London, 1812." We are indebted for these rare pamphlets to the
+kindness of Dr. Rosen of the community of the Moravian Brethren at
+Genaadendal in South Africa, and do not think, despite its deep interest
+in the history of missions, that it has ever been translated into another
+language. Brown in his "History of Missions" has made a few brief extracts
+from it.
+
+[18] "If an inhabitant of the South Sea Islands have planted during his
+life but ten bread-fruit trees," says Cook, "he has fulfilled his duties
+towards his own and his grand-children as fully and effectually as the
+denizen of our rougher clime, who during his life-long endures the
+severity of winter, and exhausts his energies in the heats of summer, in
+order to provide his household with bread, and to save up some trifle for
+his family to inherit."
+
+[19] From the Malabar word Elettári. This is the common seed so well known
+in the pharmacopeia in the form of a carminative tincture, and is usually
+known as Alpinia Cardamomia.
+
+[20] With respect to the resemblance if not indeed identity of the
+vegetation of the Nicobar Archipelago, with that of the surrounding
+islands, and the mainland, we beg to refer here to the excellent work of
+an Austrian naturalist, the learned Dr. Helfer, who, stricken in the
+flower of his days by the poisoned arrow of a native of the Andaman
+Islands, fell a victim to his zeal for travel. To the Imperial Royal
+Geographical Society of Vienna, science is indebted for the German edition
+of this important information, under the title of the Published and
+Unpublished Works of Dr. J. W. Helfer upon the Tenasserm Provinces, the
+Mergins Archipelago, and the Andaman Islands, in the third volume of its
+Proceedings for 1859.
+
+[21] An extensive description of the zoology of these islands is reserved
+for the zoological part of the Novara publications, published at the
+expense of the Austrian government, at the Imperial Printing-office in
+Vienna.
+
+[22] The Tagali maidens of Luzon regard it as a special proof of the
+honourable intentions and eagerness of passion of their admirers, if these
+latter take the betel quid from their mouths!
+
+[23] We did fall in with some few individuals on these islands who by dint
+of much exertion could count as high as 100.
+
+[24] At Pulo Penang the _picul_ of ripe cocoa-nuts, 300, is worth 5-1/2
+dollars.
+
+[25] "On measurements as a diagnostic means for distinguishing the human
+races, being a systematic plan established and investigated by Dr. Karl
+Scherzer and Dr. Edward Schwarz, for the purpose of taking measurements on
+individuals of different races, during the voyage of H. I. M.'s frigate
+_Novara_ round the world." Vide Proceedings of the I.R. Geographical
+Society of Vienna, vol. II. of 1859, p. 11.
+
+[26] In the Sydney chapter the reader will find the Transportation
+question pretty fully discussed.
+
+
+               [Illustration: A Forest Scene in Singapore.]
+
+
+
+
+                                   XI.
+
+                               Singapore.
+
+                  Stay from 15th to 21st April, 1858.
+
+    Position of the Island.--Its previous history.--Sir Stamford
+    Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British
+    Government free to all sea-faring nations.--The Island becomes
+    part of the Crown property of England.--Extraordinary
+    development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.--Our stay
+    shortened in consequence of the severity of the cholera.--
+    Description of the city.--Tigers.--Gambir.--The Betel
+    plantations.--Inhabitants.--Chinese and European labour.--
+    Climate.--Diamond merchants.--Preparation of Pearl Sago.--Opium
+    farms.--Opium manufacture.--Opium-smokers.--Intellectual
+    activity.--Journalism.--Logan's "Journal of the Indian
+    Archipelago."--School for Malay children.--Judicial procedure.--
+    Visit to the penal settlement for coloured criminals.--A Chinese
+    provision-merchant at business and at home.--Fatal accident on
+    board.--Departure from Singapore.--Difficulty in passing through
+    Caspar Straits.--Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.--Death
+    of one of the ship's boys.--First burial at sea.--Sea-snakes.--
+    Arrival in the Roads of Batavia.
+
+
+The island of Singapore or Singhapura[27] is situated at the southernmost
+point of the peninsula of Malacca, from which it is only separated by a
+strait nowhere above a mile in breadth. It is about 29-1/3 statute miles
+in length from east to west, by 16-3/5 in breadth from north to south. The
+superficial area of the island is estimated at 206 square geographical
+miles, which will make it about one half larger than the Isle of Wight.
+
+Up to the year 1819, Singapore was a howling wilderness, and the only
+settlement upon its shores was a couple of wretched Malay fishermen's
+huts; a lurking-place for the pirates, who at that period made it
+dangerous to navigate those waters. After the rendition of the Dutch
+colonies in the Indian Archipelago, which it will be remembered were the
+property of England throughout the great continental war up to the year
+1814, Sir Stamford Raffles, the former Governor of Java, was intrusted
+with the office of founding on it, as the most suitable spot in all the
+Malay seas, a free emporium where the general trade in those seas of all
+the sea-faring nations of the world might be concentrated and exchanged.
+England had further in view to leave not a single foot to stand on to the
+Dutch, whose interests in those seas clashed with her own, to obtain an
+emporium in which to collect all the more important products of the
+Archipelago for exchange against the teas and silks of China; and, lastly,
+to procure for the reception and repairs of the ships of war and
+merchantmen, a suitable harbour, such as, being in the vicinity of the
+teak-growing countries, would also have the advantage of supplying timber
+for her ships at any period when there might be in England a deficient
+supply of oak.
+
+Sir Stamford, having previously examined several other localities,
+ultimately selected Singapore, and on 6th February, 1819, the English flag
+was hoisted on this solitary island, thus unsuspectedly inaugurating the
+beginning of a new era for the sea-faring world! At last, in 1824, came
+the Treaty of Cerum, by which Holland withdrew her pretensions in favour
+of England, and Singapore became an inalienable possession of the British
+Crown for a sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars paid over to its previous owner
+the Sultan of Djohore, together with a life-rent of 24,000 dollars
+annually payable to the same Malay chief. The slaves on the island were
+set at liberty, slavery was entirely abolished, and Singapore proclaimed a
+Free Port. The importance of Singapore as a site for a colony had already
+been pointed out and justified a century since by Captain Alexander
+Hamilton, who visited these seas at the beginning of the 18th century, and
+in a work entitled "A New Account of the East Indies," describes most
+circumstantially his stay at Djohore in 1703 on his voyage to China. In
+that work Hamilton narrates how the Sultan of Djohore wished to make him a
+present of the island, and how he declined this proposal with the remark
+that this island could be of no use to a private man, but would be
+eminently suitable for a colony and an emporium of trade,[28] because the
+winds were at all seasons favourable for egress from and entrance into
+these waters on every side. A hundred years later, the choice of Sir
+Stamford Raffles, to whom this relation of Hamilton seems to have been
+entirely unknown, fell upon the same locality, thus testifying alike to
+the eligibility of its position, and to the wise forecast of the founder
+of this British settlement.
+
+Before the arrival of the Europeans in India round the Cape of Good Hope,
+towards the commencement of the 16th century, the trade of these countries
+was exclusively confined to the Arabs and Hindoos, who acted as a medium
+between the far East and Europe. Every island in the Archipelago, in
+proportion to the abundance and value of its vegetable produce and its
+foreign intercourse, had one or more harbours, at which the products of
+the surrounding districts and islands were gathered and heaped up until
+the monsoon permitted the arrival of the merchant vessels from the West.
+At the beginning of the fine season, Arabs and Indians entered these
+harbours in their ships, and brought Indian and other manufactures and
+merchandise, which they were in the habit of exchanging for gold, gum,
+spices, tortoise-shell, rosin, jewels, and such like. Acheen in the north
+of Sumatra, Bantam in Java, Goa in Celebes, Bruni in Borneo, and Malacca
+in the peninsula of the same name, were the most important of these depôts
+for merchandise and centres of trade. At present the importance of all
+these places has faded into history, whereas Singapore, from its
+singularly favourable geographical position, and the liberality of its
+political institutions, has made such a stride, as is entirely without
+parallel in the history of the world's trade. From a desolate haunt of
+piratical foes, the island has been converted into a flourishing emporium;
+about 1000 foreign vessels, and fully 3000 Malay prahus and Chinese junks,
+flit backwards and forwards annually with all sorts of merchandise and
+produce, while the value of the goods annually exchanged here amounts to
+about £11,000,000. Such is the change that has come over the old
+unhealthy, ill-omened Malay pirate abode: thanks to a clearly defined Free
+Trade policy! If a doubt should still obtrude itself as to these brilliant
+results of the utmost freedom and absence of restriction upon trade, it
+must give way before the spectacle presented to the view of the astonished
+beholder in the harbour of Singapore, the Alexandria of the 19th century!
+
+Unfortunately, however, our stay in this harbour, so interesting in a
+scientific as well as in a commercial point of view, was sensibly
+curtailed by the prevalence of such exceedingly unfavourable conditions of
+the public health. Hardly had we cast anchor ere an officer of the English
+frigate _Amethyst_ came on board to salute, and to inform us that for
+several weeks past the cholera had been ravaging the city, especially what
+is known as the Chinese quarter. In another war-ship then in the harbour,
+the screw corvette _Niger_, several of the crew had already succumbed to
+the pestilence; and even in our own immediate neighbourhood was anchored a
+ship with flag half-mast high, a melancholy signal that the angel of death
+was once more seeking victims. Our original plan of passing several weeks
+at Singapore had of course to be abandoned, and we determined at once to
+get under weigh, so soon as the ship had been re-victualled and sundry
+other matters of imperative necessity carefully looked to. Meanwhile the
+naturalist corps landed, and proceeded to see and examine as much as they
+possibly could.
+
+The town of Singapore, situated at the southern extremity of the island of
+the same name, is divided by the river Singapore, on whose banks it is
+built, into two parts, in the northernmost of which are the churches, the
+law courts, the residences of the European settlers, and a little further
+away the native dwellings, as also the Kampong-Klam or Bugis quarter, so
+called from the number of Bugis from Celebes who congregate there to do
+business; while on the south bank of the river, only a few feet above the
+level of the sea, are the warehouses and offices of the various European
+and Chinese merchants. Still farther to the southward and in another small
+cove, called New Harbour, are the buildings and docks of the Peninsular
+and Oriental Steam-Ship Company.
+
+Behind the city are visible three hills of inconsiderable height, called
+Pearl Hill, Government Hill, and Sophia Hill. The middle one, on which
+stands Government House, rises on the left bank of the river, about half a
+mile from the sea-shore, to a height of about 156 feet above sea-level. On
+Pearl Hill, which commands the Chinese and mercantile quarters of the
+town, a citadel has been constructed. The environs of the town on every
+side consist of a rolling sweep of hilly country, diversified in outline
+by about 70 different eminences varying in height from 60 to 170 feet,
+crowned with the elegant villas of the European merchants or government
+officials, or the residences of wealthy Chinese or Malays. The loftiest
+point is Bukit Turiah or Tin Hill, lying about the centre of the island,
+and 519 feet in height. Although accessible in a few hours from the city,
+it is very rarely made the scene of any excursions, in consequence of the
+forests which encircle it having for long been frequented by great numbers
+of tigers. These animals, eager for prey, cross from the mainland by
+swimming the narrow strait, hardly more than half a nautical mile in
+width, which separates it from the island. Dr. Logan, the excellent editor
+of the Singapore Free Press, assured us that till within the last six or
+seven years, 360 natives had annually been carried off by the tigers! Even
+at present, over 100 persons a year are killed in the forest by the tigers
+that prowl there. Shortly before our arrival, in the month of March, four
+persons had perished by these voracious animals. For an explanation of
+such horrible occurrences, we must consider the heedlessness of the
+natives, and the peculiar conditions affecting the mode of agriculture
+followed on the island. The soil of Singapore is not sufficiently fertile
+to make the cultivation of land a customary occupation. Even for
+rice-growing it is found to be unsuitable, so that the greater part of
+that chief staple of subsistence has to be imported from the neighbouring
+islands. So far as the island has been cleared, viz. to a distance of
+about five miles round the city, attempts have been made to plant nutmeg,
+clove, and fruit-trees. But the majority of the natives busy themselves
+with sowing the Gambir and Betel shrubs in the jungle, the leaves of which
+are readily disposed of at a good profit among the betel-chewing
+inhabitants of the Indian Archipelago for an ingredient of their beloved
+masticatory. The mode of cultivating these, however, is very peculiar. As
+Gambir speedily exhausts the soil in which it is planted, and renders it
+quite barren, the cultivators find themselves compelled to advance as
+though by a sort of perpetual emigration. They hew their way into the
+jungle, where they plant the Gambir (_Nauclea Gambir_),[29] the withered
+branches and leaves of which, after it has served their purpose, are used
+as manure for the _next_ shrub planted, the Betel (_Piper methysticum_).
+After a short time the soil becomes unsuited for this also, and needs
+several years' rest before it can again be made to produce any crop.
+
+In the prosecution of this thriftless cultivation the natives are
+compelled to penetrate deeper and deeper into the forest, in order to
+clear away with the axe spots of virgin soil for the planting of the
+Gambir. They frequently pass months at a time in the jungle, and with the
+carelessness characteristic of all southern races, constantly allow
+themselves to be surprised by wild beasts. Government, however, does not
+neglect publishing ordinances, by which as far as possible to discourage
+these formidable invaders. They have offered a reward of 50 dollars for
+every tiger killed. So soon as the track of a tiger has been struck, the
+natives usually dig a pit fifteen or twenty feet deep, which they cover
+slightly with grass and brushwood, and fasten close by a goat, a dog, or
+some other living creature. As soon as the tiger, eager for his prey,
+seeks to seize the poor animal, the brushwood gives way under him and he
+falls into the pit, where he is speedily finished with muskets.
+
+The entire population of the island amounts to about 100,000 souls, of
+which the greater number, say 60,000, inhabit the town itself or the
+surrounding villages. One meets here with a singular mixture of races,
+Europeans, Malays, Chinese, Klings (as the natives of the Coromandel coast
+are called), Arabs, Armenians, Parsees (Fire-worshippers), Bengalees,
+Burmese, Siamese, Bugis (from Celebes), Javanese, and from time to time
+visitors from every corner of the Archipelago. Of these the Europeans,
+although exercising far the largest and most preponderating influence upon
+the trade of the place, are much the weakest in point of numbers, the
+entire community not exceeding 300 or 400 on the whole island. On the
+other hand, the Chinese out-number all the rest, and are still constantly
+on the increase. Every year, as the N.E. monsoon sets in, in December and
+January, vast swarms of Chinese flock hither, fleeing from the poverty and
+distress of their native land. There are individuals, who make a regular
+trade of importing into Singapore coolies from China and the Coromandel
+coast. At the port of embarkation, each coolie engages with the captain,
+to serve one year after his arrival in Singapore with a European or native
+master, and to repay the cost of his passage out of his monthly wages. He
+usually receives at first 3 dollars a month (about 12_s._ 6_d._), out of
+which he lays aside 1-1/2 dol., and so gradually pays off his indebtedness
+to the ship captain. The passage-money, which a few years back was only
+about 10 or 12 Rs. (£1 to £1 4_s._), is at present as high as 20 Rs., or
+£2. After the first year his earnings may amount to about 4 or 5 dols. a
+month. If, however, the coolie have repaid his debt, he is free, and may
+either earn a very good wage as a servant, or start in any business for
+himself. The facilities for earning money are so great here for men of
+industry and steadiness, that a few years' stay suffices to convert these
+naked, filthy, hang-dog looking wretches into clean well-to-do workmen,
+and some of them even attain a certain status in the community, as
+planters and merchants. Many a Chinese, who is now an important and
+wealthy man, possessed not a farthing when he landed on the hospitable
+shore of the English colony. The number of Chinese resident in Singapore
+is estimated at 60,000, or nearly two-thirds of the entire population of
+the island.
+
+We need not feel surprised therefore to find that the long-tailed children
+of the Flowery Land living in Singapore have begun to develope a certain
+taste for luxury. They already boast a theatre of their own, a wooden
+booth, like a gigantic dolls' house, in which actors from China yell out
+their "sing-song," while the auditory, penned in within a
+carefully-locked court-yard, chant a vociferous accompaniment to this
+somewhat monotonous exhibition. Moreover, Singapore possesses a Chinese
+temple of such splendour, that one would hardly find its match in the
+Flowery Land itself. This is called the Telloh-Ayer, situated in the
+street of the same name, and is decorated with handsome carvings,
+innumerable mysterious inscriptions, and grotesque figures of stone and
+wood. The Chinese who conducted us all round were exceedingly friendly,
+and when, at parting, we slid a few pieces of silver into their hands as a
+recompense for their trouble, they gave vent to their feelings in repeated
+chin-chins, a mode of greeting which corresponds to the Salaam of the
+Mahometan races.
+
+Many of the Chinese of Singapore belong to secret societies (Hóes), the
+members of which seem banded together for both good and bad objects and
+for mutual protection. Their rules are so strict, and their slightest
+infraction is so fearfully punished, that hardly an instance has ever been
+known of an associate having been denounced or proved a traitor. In the
+British possessions, where the government attaches no sort of importance
+to these associations, and suffers them to pass unmolested so long as the
+laws of the country are not violated, these societies are unimportant, and
+are productive of no evil consequences; but in the Dutch East Indies,
+where the government has always kept their subjects in a state of
+tutelage, and is in a marked degree adverse to the Chinese settled in
+their colonies, these secret societies assume a far more dangerous
+character, and murders on purely political grounds are far from
+infrequent.
+
+The natives proper of Singapore are Malays, and their language is that
+most in use for general intercourse and trade. But as open-air labourers
+they are far inferior to the Chinese, who are much more enduring, more
+contented, and more sociable. In this connection the following comparative
+statement, prepared a few years since by W. J. Thompson, Esq., government
+engineer in Singapore, of the relative values of English and Chinese
+labour, will be found of much interest. To build a wall in England
+containing 306 cubic feet would, according to Mr. Thompson's estimate,
+employ one bricklayer and one ordinary labourer 4-44/100 days, the former
+receiving 5_s._ 6_d._ per day, the latter 3_s._ 6_d._, the total expense
+amounting to 30_s._ In Singapore a similar piece of work, executed by
+Chinese labourers, would require 8-54/100 days, and the daily wage would
+amount to 2_s._ 9-3/5_d._ for the bricklayer and 1_s._ 7-3/5_d._ for his
+assistant, the total expense amounting to 37_s._ 6_d._ Thus, English
+labour shows an economy over Chinese in the proportion of 52 to 100 in
+time, and of 4 to 5 in actual expense. The following is also interesting
+by way of confirmation. It had been resolved to fill up a swamp in
+Singapore, the material for which was at hand at either extremity. The
+swamp was 1200 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 21 feet wide. The contract was
+allotted to the Chinese, and completed in 326 working days, at 13 cents or
+11-1/2_d._ a day. An English, or indeed any other European labourer,
+would have completed the same in 187 days, so that here also English or
+European labour in general is more valuable than Chinese or any other
+Asiatic labour in the proportion of 100 to 57.
+
+These results must not however be held to indicate that the Chinese
+labourer possesses less physical strength than the European, nor must we
+leave out of view this element in the calculation, that the one executes
+his work in a temperate, the other in an excessively hot climate, to which
+European labourers speedily succumb, or at all events lose their powers
+and their strength in a very marked degree. Indeed it seems to decide the
+question in favour of the Chinese over the European labourer, that the
+former can work without taking any heed for his health in even the most
+variable temperatures. These instructive comparisons seem to be in so far
+especially valuable and useful, wherever it is projected to carry out
+certain undertakings, the cost of which may be estimated, due reference
+being had to the well-ascertained expense of constructing similar works in
+Europe.
+
+Next to the Chinese, the Klings, or natives of the Coromandel coast, are
+in the greatest request as boatmen, coachmen, pedlars, porters, and
+house-servants, by Europeans as well as by their own successful
+fellow-countrymen. From their habits of extreme sobriety, they speedily
+save money, and generally return home, although a certain number continue
+permanent settlers in Singapore. The Armenians resident here are the most
+like the European mercantile community; the Arabs are the descendants of
+those Mahometan priests and merchants whom the Portuguese found here when
+they first visited this quarter of the globe, and are recruited from time
+to time, but on the whole rarely, by fresh arrivals from their mother
+country.
+
+One very marked peculiarity of the population of Singapore is the enormous
+disparity between the numbers of the sexes. The proportion of females to
+males is as one to seven. The most probable explanation of this phenomenon
+is the circumstance that hitherto the emigration of females from China has
+been entirely prohibited, and consequently almost all the Chinese
+residents, who constitute by far the majority of the whole population, are
+unmarried. Among them the proportion of females to males is as one to
+thirteen.
+
+The health of Singapore is not always so bad as at the period of our
+visit; indeed, judging by perquisitions made for the purpose, the climate
+may rather be regarded as salubrious, particularly since the immediate
+vicinity of the town has been so extensively cleared. The outbreak of
+cholera was entirely new, and on that account an all the more appalling
+visitation. The temperature is tolerably equal throughout the year.
+Observations carried on uninterruptedly during five years give an average
+of 81° 3. Fahr. for the hottest month (May), and of 79° 5. Fahr. for the
+coldest (January). Once only during the five years (in June) did the
+thermometer attain a height of 87° 2. Fahr. and once only in January did
+it fall as low as 74° 8. Fahr. By comparing the present range of
+temperature with that of thirty years since, it appears that since the
+foundation of the settlement it has gained three degrees in temperature, a
+phenomenon which may be ascribed to the increase of buildings, and to the
+large clearings for a distance of five miles round the town, and perhaps
+also to the spot itself where these observations were made being exposed.
+
+There is no regular rainy season in Singapore. Rain falls every month
+throughout the year, the heaviest falls occurring in August and December.
+According to observations carried on during four years, the annual
+rainfall averaged 93 inches. The tolerably regular distribution of the
+rain throughout the year imparts to the vegetation a freshness that makes
+the change of seasons pass almost unheeded.
+
+In Singapore as elsewhere the members of the _Novara_ Expedition
+experienced from all classes of society the most cordial and hospitable
+reception. Every one bestirred himself to point out to us everything that
+was worth knowing, or that the city could present of interest or deserving
+special attention. After a cursory stroll through the most frequented
+streets, with their dense crowds of people, which sufficiently proved to
+us that trade was in fact the chief occupation of the inhabitants, we
+turned our attention to the shops of some of the Mahometan merchants, when
+our eyes were dazzled with all the most various products of India.
+
+In one of these we were shown some exceedingly valuable diamonds from
+Borneo, one of which weighed 17 carats, and was worth £4000 sterling,
+while another of 19 carats, but less pure and brilliant, was for sale for
+£2000. The seller, a Mahometan, himself wore on his finger a diamond-ring
+which our companion estimated at £1000. In the stores of several other
+merchants we saw the Malay servants sitting cross-legged on the bare floor
+of the porch, with huge heaps of Spanish dollars before them, which they
+were busy counting. The Spanish or Mexican dollar is here almost the only
+medium of exchange, payments being made all but exclusively in that
+currency, whereas gold, even English, is but sparingly used, and then with
+ill-concealed reluctance! The utter want of any other recognized medium of
+exchange than silver makes all extensive money transactions exceedingly
+onerous, owing to the expense of transmitting the precious metals, in
+consequence of which any one wishing to pay in a certain sum of a few
+thousand dollars in cash, must employ a convoy for the purpose of
+transporting the money![30]
+
+Although, as already remarked, the chief business of the island is purely
+commercial, and although, ordinarily speaking, every branch of industry
+merges in that predominant occupation, there is yet one manufacture in
+Singapore which calls for most special notice. This consists in the
+preparation of pearl, or white sago, from the raw state, which is brought
+from the N.E. coast of Sumatra, and the N.W. coast of Borneo. Almost the
+whole of the sago of commerce is prepared here, and all but exclusively by
+Chinese labour. Sago is chiefly obtained from the pith of several species
+of palm, but more particularly from the _Sagus Rumphii_ and the _Sagus
+Laevii_, both of which are rather limited in their area of cultivation,
+and are not, like the cosmopolitan cocoa-nut palm, found in every quarter
+of the tropical zone, both in the Old and New World, but are indigenous to
+the Indian Archipelago alone. The trunk of the sago-palm, when felled, is
+a cylinder of about 20 inches in diameter, and from 15 to 20 feet in
+length, which, when the woody fibres have been separated, contains about
+700 lbs of clear fine fecula. One may form some conception of its
+extraordinary productiveness on learning that three sago-palms contain as
+much nutritious matter as an acre of land grown with wheat! One piece of
+ground of the extent of an English acre planted with sago-palms
+occasionally yields 313,000 lbs of sago, or as much food as 163 acres of
+wheat. The sago however is neither as palatable nor as nutritious as it is
+productive, and nowhere, where rice is in common use, will it be displaced
+by this article of food. We visited the largest sago manufacture in
+Singapore, in which the sago, as it comes in the raw state from Borneo and
+Sumatra, is washed and roasted, when it becomes the pearl sago of
+commerce. The quantity thus prepared annually amounts to about 100,000
+cwt.
+
+Singapore was also the first place where we found an opportunity of
+becoming acquainted with opium-smokers, and of observing the noxious
+effects of this custom, which was forced upon the Chinese for the purpose
+of compelling commercial relations. Although in almost every street in
+Singapore there are houses in which opium is sold and can be smoked (the
+so-called "Licensed opium shops"), there is, in order to keep more control
+over it, only one single place where the opium is prepared for smoking
+from the raw material, called by the English the "Opium farm," from which
+all retail dealers must purchase their supplies of stock.
+
+Before describing our visit to this curious factory we shall indulge in a
+few observations upon a plant whose intoxicating, poisonous milky sap
+produces such singular effects upon the human system. The poppy (_papaver
+somniferum_), is chiefly grown in Hindostan in the districts of Benares,
+Patna, and Malwa. Its cultivation is exceedingly arduous, and very
+precarious, since the tender young plants require constant care and
+attention in the way of repeated watering, as well as weeding and turning
+up the soil, besides which there is the ever-present danger of its
+destruction by insects, or its loss through storm, or hail, or untimely
+rains. The plant blooms in the month of February, and three months later
+the seed is ripe. The incision into the capsule however is made three or
+four weeks earlier, so soon, in short, as it is covered with a fine white
+mealy dust. The instrument employed in this operation has three prongs
+with very sharp points, with which the plant is carefully scratched. Each
+plant is thus tapped for three consecutive days, the operation beginning
+with the first warm beams of the morning sun; the milky sap is scraped off
+in the cool of the next morning, and on the fourth morning each plant is
+again tried as to whether it still exudes sap, but usually it proves to
+have been exhausted. The juice as scraped off in its coagulated form, is
+put into a cask along with linseed oil, in order not to get too quickly
+dry, and then is made by hand-kneading into round flat cakes, of about
+four pounds' weight, and about five inches in diameter, which, enveloped
+in poppy and tobacco leaves, are spread out to dry in earthen dishes, till
+ready for purposes of commerce. In this stage the opium is packed in boxes
+of ten cakes or about 40 lbs, and thus passes from the hands of the grower
+or the speculator at certain fixed prices into those of the agents of the
+East India Company. The very anxious and precarious cultivation of the
+poppy must prove far less remunerative to the proprietor of the land than
+the much easier task of raising tobacco or sugar-cane, and it is only the
+long-established but most impoverishing system of payments in advance,
+pursued by the agents of the East India Company, that keeps the Hindoos
+engaged in opium cultivation.[31]
+
+At the opium farm in Singapore we saw this same coagulated juice, as
+obtained from the poppy, converted into opium suitable for smoking, which
+is called _chandú_, the process consisting in its being exposed to the
+action of heat in large semicircular brass pans, strained through filters,
+and once more exposed to a low heat, until it finally coagulates into a
+consistency strongly resembling treacle or syrup. The whole manipulation
+occupies from four to five days. A cattie or ball of this thickened
+poppy-juice costs the manufacturer about 20 dols. From ten such balls of
+the raw sap, or about 40 lbs, which is the usual weight of each "chest,"
+as imported from Hindostan, 216 "tiles" or about 18 lbs of opium are
+obtained upon an average. We saw the Chinese dealer place in one of the
+scales a Spanish dollar, instead of a regular weight, and measure off a
+corresponding weight of opium in the other, A _Chí_, weighing about 1/16
+oz., the ordinary quantity consumed by an opium-smoker, costs 17-1/2
+cents, or nine-pence. The duty levied upon this manufacture gives the
+government a revenue of £3000 a month, for the exclusive right of
+preparing opium fit for smoking, _chandú_, for consumption on the island.
+
+As often as the apparatus is called into activity, the Chinese employed in
+the preparation of the opium, in pursuance of what seems with them a
+regular custom at the commencement of any spell of work, commit to the
+flames, after repeating a certain set of formulas of prayer, a number of
+octavo-sized leaves (_Tschni-tschni-sóa_) of paper printed upon one side
+only, and occasionally provided in very large quantities: on these fabrics
+of the roughest material are printed sometimes prayers in Chinese,
+sometimes all kinds of drawings, intended to express the wishes of those
+making the offering, and which ordinarily represent in very sketchy
+outline those objects which they pray their deities to bestow on them. In
+thus burning, in a copper vessel specially prepared for the purpose, not
+unlike the baptismal font in a Christian church, these small slips of
+paper, the Chinese operative believes that his petition ascends to heaven
+as smoke, and so comes under the cognizance of his protecting gods.
+Similarly in all temples and pagodas, large quantities may be found stored
+away of these paper intercessors with the Chinese gods, intended for the
+use of believers, or rather of those who make profession of faith.
+
+The workmen of the opium farm have a part of their wages paid in opium.
+The greater number are themselves opium-smokers, and thus are all the more
+surely attached to the manufacture. We saw a number of these fellows lying
+stretched out on straw mats, in wretched filthy-looking dens of rooms,
+with blue curtains barely concealing them from view, and the spirit-lamp
+placed conveniently near to enable them from time to time to heat the
+_chandú_, the smoke of which they inhale through a peculiarly constructed
+pipe (_Yeu-tsiang_). The quantity of opium taken up at each dip by the
+instrument used, a three-cornered, flat-headed sort of needle specially
+adapted for the purpose, is about the size of a pea. The practised
+opium-smoker holds his breath for a considerable time, and passes the
+smoke through the nostrils. The taste of the half-fluid juice of the
+poppy is sweetish and oily, but the odour of the _chandú_ when heated,
+which one of the workmen addicted to smoking insisted on our regarding as
+one of the most valuable of perfumes, is so disagreeable as almost to
+cause nausea. We saw numbers of smokers, athwart the filthy gossamer-like
+curtains, utterly stupefied, and lying carelessly stretched out on the
+hard bedsteads, the pipe fallen out of their hands, and the lamp on the
+table in front of their couch extinguished. They, however, did not want
+the curtain for the purpose of preventing their being disturbed in the
+luxurious enjoyment of their beatific dreams; for they continued in a
+state resembling death itself, from which hardly anything could possibly
+rouse them so long as the effects of the poisonous drug lasted. Others of
+the smokers were so affected by it as to have utterly lost their senses,
+and seemed on the whole entirely indifferent to all that was passing
+around them. One of the workmen, who was in a high state of excitement,
+and was uncommonly talkative, informed us however that he had to smoke
+about one shilling's worth of opium ere he could feel its effect, that
+there was nothing more annoying or insupportable than mere partial
+stupefaction, when one had no more money wherewith to buy opium so as to
+be able to get into a proper state of somnolence. The entire system at
+such times gets into a frightful state of irritation; there is severe
+headache, a sensation of pressure on the stomach, nausea, in a word all
+the ill-effects of the use of opium, without any of its more agreeable
+sensations. The state of intoxication and drowsiness usually lasts from
+forty to sixty minutes, when consciousness gradually returns, without any
+ill-effects being experienced at the moment from the inhalation of the
+poison.
+
+In Singapore, where comparatively high wages are paid, and the Chinese
+population is the most numerous, the annual consumption of opium amounts
+to about 330 grains per head. In the Island of Java, where, in consequence
+of certain limits prescribed by government, the Chinese element amounts to
+but 1/100th of the entire population, the consumption is hardly forty
+grains per head. Even in China, where this perilous narcotic is consumed
+in such enormous quantities, the amount sold only indicates 140 grains for
+each smoker, which however is chiefly attributable to the poverty of the
+populace, by whom this luxury is unattainable. Unfortunately we could get
+no reliable information as to the number of opium-smokers, and the
+quantity of opium consumed, in Singapore. Mr. Allen, a North American
+missionary, estimates the number of persons who surrender themselves to
+this practice throughout the Chinese Empire, at from 4-5,000,000, who
+annually consume about 50,000 chests of opium. The quantity consumed by
+each smoker daily varies in an extraordinary degree. At first the beginner
+cannot inhale above two or three grains at a time, but gradually, as he
+becomes habituated, the dose increases, till the confirmed smokers
+consume as much as 100 grains daily!! Many Chinese spend two-thirds of
+their earnings in the purchase of this drug, which has become for them a
+necessity of life.
+
+The practice of eating opium in the form of pills, which prevails in every
+Mahometan country in the East, and has in a special degree been readily
+adopted by the disciples of the Koran, in consequence of the prohibition
+of wine, would seem, judging by the researches of physicians, to be much
+less injurious and much slower in affecting the human system than smoking
+the opium, or otherwise bringing it directly in contact with the lungs,
+while the effects of the former practice is likewise different.
+
+We shall have an opportunity, when describing our stay in Chinese waters,
+to revert to this most remarkable and most profitable, but at the same
+time most iniquitous, monopoly of the (late) East India Company, which
+crushes millions of human beings in the most appalling and hopeless of all
+slaveries, and against the continuance of which the Chinese government has
+repeatedly but ineffectually set its face. The words of the
+idol-worshipping Emperor of China, when in 1840 he was solicited to
+convert the importation of opium into a source of revenue to the state,
+were worthy of a Christian monarch: "It is true," said the Chinese ruler,
+"I cannot hinder the importation of this subtle poison; infamous men in
+the lust for gain will out of covetousness or sensuality set at nought the
+fulfilment of my wishes;--but they shall never induce me to enrich myself
+by the vices and the wretchedness of my people!"
+
+Despite the very small proportion of Europeans resident in Singapore, and
+that almost the entire time of those few seems to be absorbed in business,
+there is nevertheless considerable intellectual activity. Several
+newspapers in the English language, among which the "Singapore Free
+Press," edited by Mr. A. Logan, occupies the foremost rank, supply
+information as to all that is worth knowing in every part of the East
+Indies, while the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," which has been for
+many years so ably and carefully conducted by the well-known and
+widely-famous J. H. Logan (brother of the editor of the "Press"), is a
+veritable mine of information for the naturalist, who wishes to make the
+history of the Indian Archipelago and its inhabitants the object of his
+study. It contains exceedingly useful data for extending our knowledge of
+these very remarkable countries, susceptible as they are of such
+extraordinary development.
+
+The colony also boasts a Museum of Natural History adjoining a library
+with several thousand volumes, and a reading-room, copiously supplied with
+newspapers and periodicals, the whole forming what is called the
+"Singapore Institution." This enterprise was founded by shares of 40
+dollars each, and is supported by an annual subscription of 24 dollars by
+each member, which confers the privilege of using the well-selected
+library of books, and a great number of English and French papers and
+periodicals. The small ethnographic collection consists chiefly of
+specimens from Borneo, Sumatra, and the adjoining islands.
+
+Among the educational institutions most deserving of attention and
+recognition must be specially noticed the school for the instruction of
+Malay boys and girls, under the management and preceptorship of that most
+deserving missionary, Mr. B. P. Keasberry, who has pursued a career of
+useful activity in this Archipelago during thirty years past. The parents
+of the children taken in here have to contribute to their support, and to
+leave them there for at least ten years, under the affectionate spiritual
+care of the missionary, and must not remove them till after the expiry of
+that period. This condition was rendered necessary by the fickleness of
+the Malay nature, which otherwise would frequently withdraw the children
+from the supervision of the missionary at the very moment when they were
+beginning to become amenable to the influences of instruction in
+Christianity and civilization. The Institution is supported partly by
+voluntary contributions, partly by the profits of a printing business, in
+which, however, hardly anything is printed except educational and
+religious works in the Malay language. Mr. Keasberry was so kind as to
+present us with a small collection of the works thus published during the
+past year, comprising among others a dictionary of the English and Malay
+languages, the New Testament, a volume of Natural History, a Manual of
+Geography, a Universal History, a Biblical History, and numerous
+educational works in Malay for the use of the pupils.
+
+In the course of a visit we paid to the Police Court we had the pleasure
+of becoming acquainted with Mr. Windsor Carl, the well-known author of
+numerous valuable works relating to the Indian Archipelago and the Papuan
+Negroes, a gentleman whose career in life has been of the strangest, at
+present holding the position of magistrate in Singapore, where his great
+experience and his thorough acquaintance with the Malay language must be
+of the utmost service to government. The audience assembled in the Court
+room, in which only causes under 50 Rs. are tried, consisted for the most
+part of Chinese. Almost all the officials, clerks, inspectors, and
+policemen were coloured. In one month 414 causes came on for trial, of
+which 315 were disposed of by the imposition on the culprits of fines
+amounting in the aggregate to 5975 Rs., but of this sum only 5105 Rs. were
+realized. The largest number of sentences are passed in March, because the
+Chinese celebrate the New Year on the first day of that month, and
+accordingly the largest number of cases of assault, &c., occur at that
+period. The police _employés_ registered in that period above 100 cases of
+transgressions of the law. The New Year is however, as must be remembered,
+the solitary festival which John Chinaman takes out of his appointed work,
+since recognizing as they do neither Sunday nor feast-day they continue
+hard at work for all the rest of the year. The majority of decisions refer
+to prohibited games; and whoever knows the inextinguishable love of the
+Chinese populace for spending their time in gambling, will readily
+comprehend how in a single year there occurred above 2000 cases in which
+the law was violated. While we were in the justice-room, a paper was
+handed in to the presiding magistrate, in which an English sailor, at that
+moment in hospital, urgently requested that he might leave the same,
+inasmuch as he felt no longer sure of his life, owing to the numbers daily
+brought thither to die of cholera. In fact the hospital, and the
+localities adjacent, seemed to be the spots most seriously visited by the
+pestilence, so that the prayer of the petitioner to be removed from that
+neighbourhood was not altogether unfounded.
+
+One highly interesting establishment, deserving of universal imitation, is
+the penal colony for criminals sentenced to transportation for life from
+all parts of India, and known as "The Convict Settlement." In order to
+comprehend the object and tendency of this institution, it seems necessary
+to premise certain remarks upon the political relation of Singapore to
+India at large. Singapore in conjunction with the colony of Malacca, which
+gives its name to the entire peninsula, and the island of Penang,
+including the district of Wellesley, form that range of British
+settlements in the Straits of Malacca which is usually known to the
+English as "The Straits Settlements." Up to quite a recent date, these
+colonies, founded almost exclusively in the interests of British commerce,
+were under the authority of the Indian government, and were in fact
+controlled from Calcutta. To the Directors of the East India Company,
+however, these settlements, of whose future destiny the mother country has
+hitherto taken but little heed, notwithstanding their enormous political
+and commercial importance, appeared to be specially adapted as a place for
+maintaining common criminals, as also the more dangerous class of
+political offenders, and accordingly converted these settlements into
+penal colonies for the Indies, of which that of Singapore is the most
+important.
+
+The director of this institution, Captain McNair, had the kindness to
+accompany the members of the Novara expedition through the extensive
+buildings, for the most part only one storey high, but well adapted for
+this purpose, and to furnish us with much information on the various
+particulars and special matters of interest relating to the establishment.
+Ever since the year 1854, the wretched, confined, wooden huts thatched
+with straw, in which up to that period the unfortunate criminals were
+confined, have been removed, and in their stead lofty, airy, good-sized
+apartments have been substituted. At the period of our visit in April
+1858, there were over 2000 transported for life, and 245 sentenced to
+various terms of from five to ten years, confined here. All the public
+buildings of the island, churches, hospitals, barracks, works in the
+streets, sometimes constructions of a most expensive nature, were executed
+throughout by criminals. After sixteen years' good conduct, the prisoner
+was entitled to a "ticket of leave," authorising him to settle within the
+jurisdiction of the island as a free colonist, coupled with the condition
+of presenting himself once a month before the superintendent of the
+settlement. In case of bad conduct, or failure, or irregularity in
+fulfilling such stipulations, these concessions are revoked. All the
+overseers of the convict settlement, who receive monthly pay at the rate
+of from one to two dollars, are prisoners who have already given proof of
+their desire to return to a better mode of life, and it is well worth
+remark, that the 2000 convicts, consisting for the most part of the very
+dregs of the various Indian races, and condemned for grave crimes to
+perpetual imprisonment, are under the charge of a single white turnkey,
+and by him maintained in perfect order and propriety of demeanour. Besides
+this one official there is only a small detachment of Indian soldiers,
+from twelve to fifteen in number, stationed at the settlement as a measure
+of precaution. The best evidence of the excellent system on which this
+institution is administered, will be found in the published reports of its
+health, from which it appears that of the 2000 there confined, there were
+but forty sick at the very period when the cholera was committing such
+terrific ravages in the town among the poorer classes, and the change of
+the monsoon had been accompanied by great sickness and general
+unhealthiness. The convicts go to work at six every morning, and return to
+the barracks about 4 P.M., the rest of the day being spent in preparing
+their victuals, consisting of rice, vegetables, cayenne-pepper, and fruit.
+As most of those confined are Hindoos and profess Brahminism, they bathe
+several times a day, in a large tank filled with excellent water. This
+wise religious custom must in such a sultry climate conduce in a marked
+degree to the preservation of their health, by its beneficial and
+refreshing action upon the frame.
+
+Some of the convicts are also employed in manufacturing cordage, ropes,
+twine, &c., of the fibres of the wild plantain (_Musa textilis_), the
+Ramé-shrub (_Boehmeria nivea_), and the wild pine-apple (_Bromelia Ananas_
+or _Ananassa Sativa_). All these textures are of excellent quality, and
+possess all the best properties of Russian hemp-fabrics, at a considerable
+reduction of cost.
+
+In the dormitories the convicts are not classified by nationalities as
+during the labours of the day, but according to the nature of the offences
+for which they are incarcerated, so that in one division all the thieves
+are together, in another all the homicides, in a third all those convicted
+of arson, &c. Although from a psychological point of view much might be
+urged against the judiciousness of such a system, yet, as we were
+informed, this method of confinement by classification of offences
+exercises no prejudicial effect upon the moral amelioration of the
+convicts, but on the contrary most encouraging results have been observed
+to arise from its operation. Among others we were told of a Hindoo from
+the Malabar coast, a convict for life, who after sixteen years'
+confinement received permission to settle on the island as a free
+colonist. By industry, ability, and some fortunate speculations, this man
+in the course of years acquired a large fortune. He now felt an intense
+yearning to revisit his own home, and expressed his willingness to present
+a large portion of his newly acquired wealth for such a permission. But
+the law was explicit upon this point. Only a free pardon from the
+Governor-general of India can as a rule avail to make such an exception,
+which is of but rare occurrence. This he actually succeeded in obtaining
+after repeated supplications, and this "fortunate unfortunate" was at last
+permitted to return to his longed-for home. It is worth noting that of the
+2245 prisoners, only fifty are of the female sex, chiefly Hindoo women
+from Bengal. Among those imprisoned while we were there, we remarked three
+white men, who had been sentenced to several months' confinement for
+riotous conduct and drunkenness. Surrounded as they were by these bronzed
+half-savage Hindoo offenders, these men made a doubly painful impression
+upon Europeans.
+
+As the prevalence of disease in the town and harbour made it especially
+desirable that we should as speedily as possible change our quarters, in
+order not to be surprised by a visit on board from a guest so formidable,
+we made all possible efforts to complete with the utmost dispatch the
+revictualling of the ship, and transact whatever other business was
+necessary. For this purpose we were recommended in several quarters to
+employ a Chinese merchant, whose name is already favourably mentioned by
+Commodore Wilks on the occasion of his visiting Singapore in 1842. This
+was Whampoa, a ship-chandler, who indeed in similar departments of trade
+carries on by no means insignificant competition with the long-established
+English firms. His business is unquestionably the most extensive in this
+line in Singapore, and furnishes a striking example of what Chinese
+industry, economy, and perseverance are capable of. Immense quantities of
+provisions and ship-stores are accumulated in his extensive warehouses, so
+that he can supply orders to any extent in an incredibly short space of
+time. Within two days, Whampoa had completely victualled the ship for six
+months, besides supplying her from the adjoining stream with 100 tons of
+good water, which was brought alongside in boats specially constructed for
+the purpose, and thence pumped through hose into the iron water-tanks in
+the hold, an operation which in any European port would have taken thrice
+the time required here. Moreover all the articles supplied by Whampoa were
+of the best quality, and proportionally moderate in price. He employs none
+but Chinese, with long tails, and black silk apparel. All the books are
+kept in the Chinese language, and even the additions and subtractions are
+not made in the European method, but by the Chinese _counting_ board, that
+is, by shifting a number of wooden beads or rings, which run in different
+rows, and have a variety of values. This reckoning-board consists of an
+oblong frame, divided in its length by a partition into unequal divisions,
+in the larger of which are hung five, in the smaller two, beads upon metal
+cross wires. Each wire with the seven beads running upon it constitutes a
+single row, and in each such row, a single bead of the smaller division is
+equal in value to the five corresponding beads in the larger compartment;
+while, just as in the Russian reckoning-board, each row represents a
+value tenfold greater or less with reference to the two arms adjoining it
+on either side. On the Chinese board the number of cross wires is not
+always the same, but depends upon the extent of the calculations intended
+to be made upon it.[32]
+
+                [Illustration: A Chinese Counting Board.]
+
+Accordingly when a Chinese wishes to make a calculation upon his
+reckoning-board, he lays it crosswise before him, with the large
+compartment next himself, pushes the beads of the two divisions to the
+edge of the frame, whence, as the process of calculation may require, he
+shifts them into the middle against the partition-wire, or pushes them
+back again. In the former case the beads are said to "count on the
+board," in the latter to be "off the board." Consequently, in order to
+have 1, 2, 3, and 4 "counting," a corresponding number of beads in the
+larger compartment must be pushed away from himself till they reach the
+partition; to mark 5, he similarly draws towards himself a bead in the
+smaller compartment, and as 6, 7, 8, and 9 are formed by the addition of 5
+and 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively, these will be marked by adding one bead
+from the lesser compartment to the requisite number of beads in the
+greater. The tens are indicated by the beads of the next wire to the left;
+the hundreds by the next again to that, &c.
+
+Within his own house, Whampoa lives entirely in the European fashion.
+Plentifully blessed with this world's goods, he displays a degree of
+luxury such as we are unaccustomed to see save in the most elevated
+circles of society. One of his properties, which is several miles in
+circumference, has a spacious, elegantly furnished mansion with a splendid
+colonnade, a beautiful flower-garden, and a perfect menagery of useful
+domestic animals. Within the house all the arrangements are European, with
+the exception of the oval doors, communicating between the great saloon
+and the antechambers, which are pushed into the wall on either side, and
+have a very surprising effect. In the evening, especially when the saloon
+is illuminated, if a person passes through this oval entrance, the effect
+is as of a life-size portrait set in a golden frame. It would not be a bad
+idea to introduce this Chinese form of door-way into our European
+residences and country-seats, and it is assuredly not the only improvement
+in the decorative art which we could borrow with advantage from the
+Chinese. Whampoa's own favourite habitation is about four miles outside
+the town, and presents a curious admixture of European comfort and taste
+with Chinese notions of ornament. In the saloons, adorned with a quantity
+of neat fancy ornaments, are suspended from the walls verses and proverbs
+of the most renowned Chinese poets, all written on long elegantly
+illustrated rolls of paper. Our host also showed us a variety of objects
+which had been presented to him by foreign ship captains, officers of the
+navy, and even singers, as the late Mrs. Catherine Hayes Bushnell, whom he
+had shown much attention to. A banquet, to which we were invited by this
+hospitable Chinese to meet a number of the most prominent commercial
+magnates of the colony, was served entirely in the European style. The
+viands were cooked by a Chinese cook, in the English and French styles,
+only the dessert came part from Japan, part from China, and consisted of a
+variety of fruits, which were utterly unknown to the eye and the palate of
+the European guests. Our Chinese host seemed quite at home in doing the
+honours. Although outwardly a Chinese of the most orthodox stamp, with
+shaven head, (except the long tail reaching almost to the earth,) and his
+body robed in a black silken stuff, he drank to each of his guests in good
+old English style, and seemed as little afraid of Sherry as of Champagne.
+Indeed, we even had toasts, in the course of which this Chinese friend to
+foreigners remarked in English, that any amelioration of the present
+critical condition of his native land, can only be effected by the
+progressive influence of the British government. Whampoa is in all
+probability the first Chinese who has sent his son to Europe.
+
+On the very last day of our stay in Singapore, a melancholy accident
+occurred on board. One of our sailors named Rossi, while unbending a sail
+for the purpose of repair, fell from the fore-yard on the forecastle,
+where he lay insensible, and died a few hours afterwards. Latterly
+repeated instances had occurred at short intervals, of the sailors, while
+working at various elevations, losing hold and falling on deck, but none
+of these had had such a tragical result as the present, and a few slight
+injuries was all the penalty the sufferers received for their
+carelessness. Singularly enough, such accidents mostly occur to the able
+seamen, because that class usually feel themselves as secure while resting
+on the foot-ropes, and working among the masts and sails, as on the ground
+itself, and from their carelessness come much more frequently to grief,
+than their comrades less experienced in man[oe]uvring among the cordage.
+Rossi was reverently committed to the earth in the Catholic burying-ground
+of Singapore, and arrangements were at the same time made for the erection
+of a small grave-stone over his distant resting-place, informing the
+visitors to this "Court of Peace," that below reposes a member of the
+_Novara_ Expedition, who had lost his life in the discharge of his duties.
+
+As we were now at the season of the change of monsoon, at which period the
+always difficult navigation of the narrow seas between Singapore and
+Batavia demands an unusual degree of carefulness, in consequence of
+frequent squalls, we engaged a pilot, who for a stipulated sum of 175
+dollars was to convoy us to the next station on our voyage. Captain
+Burrows, as our pilot was named, had the reputation of being a specially
+competent, thoroughly trustworthy person, who for a long period had
+navigated these waters in his own ship, and, as we were informed, had,
+owing to some unfortunate speculations, been compelled to become a pilot
+of other vessels, after having for years sailed in command of his own
+ship. He had already come on board with his traps, but, as wind and tide
+were both unfavourable, he obtained permission to return to shore till
+sunset. This however the pilot did not do, and on the following morning,
+finding he did not come off despite our signals, we set sail without him
+about 9 A.M. with favourable wind and tide. No one could account for the
+default of a pilot so strongly recommended on all hands, particularly as
+all his baggage had remained on board, and must now of course make the
+voyage to Batavia. For a moment we conjectured that he had immediately on
+landing been seized by the dread distemper, only it seemed improbable we
+should not have been informed of such a catastrophe. And in fact it
+afterwards appeared that his having missed us was entirely due to his own
+inattention.
+
+We at first had intended to pass through the narrow strait of Rhio,[33] by
+which the route is materially shortened, but as the squally weather had
+fairly set in, while the breeze had crept round to the S.E., and the tide
+set strong to the northwards, we abandoned this plan, and decided on
+sailing through the channel between Horsburgh light-house and Bintang, so
+as to pass to the eastward of this island as far as Graspar Straits, which
+however we only reached the following day, owing to light fitful breezes
+from the northwards. So soon as we entered Gaspar Straits we found the
+sea, which is here of no great depth, never exceeding 25 fathoms, partly
+covered with trunks of trees and sea-weed, while the water had lost its
+transparency and was of a dirty green colour.
+
+At 10 A.M. of the 25th April, we crossed the equator for the third time,
+and the same day about 11 P.M. were in sight of the rocky island of Tothy,
+a rain-squall from the N.E. blowing at the time. We passed between this
+island and the dangerous because invisible Vega Rock, just below the
+surface of the sea, and found ourselves in an archipelago of islands and
+shoals requiring the utmost vigilance in navigating ships of large size.
+But the moon, "the seaman's friend," shone brightly at night, and the
+well-known transparency of the air in tropical countries enabled us even
+during the hours of darkness to make out with perfect distinctness islands
+lying 25 to 30 miles distant, so that we were by these means, coupled with
+occasional casts of the lead, enabled on every occasion to make out with
+sufficient exactness at what point we had arrived. We were so lucky as to
+have never once throughout this intricate navigation been compelled to
+cast anchor (as is so frequently the case here), and thus succeeded in
+overhauling in Gaspar Straits more than one merchantman, that was a far
+better sailer than the _Novara_.
+
+On 30th April in 2° 48' S., and 107° 16' E., we celebrated the anniversary
+of our departure from Trieste, with hearts filled with gratitude to the
+illustrious projector of an expedition devoted to such lofty aims.
+
+Although during our stay in Singapore the cholera had not alone carried
+off its victims in the town, but also in the harbour, especially in the
+screw corvette _Niger_, anchored in our immediate vicinity, which lost at
+the rate of about a man daily till she changed her moorings, and
+ultimately had to put to sea (which under such circumstances gives hope
+from the very first for a change for the better in the requisite sanitary
+conditions for restoring to health), yet the crew of the _Novara_ seemed
+destined to escape the slightest evil effects from our six days' stay in
+this plague-stricken harbour. But the result did not justify these
+expectations. Five days after our departure from Singapore, just as we
+were entering Gaspar Straits, one of the ship's boys fell ill with all
+the symptoms of the Asiatic pestilence, and two days after the man
+appointed to attend him was similarly seized. Every necessary precaution
+was taken, the crew were kept as much as possible on deck, the band played
+frequently, in order to keep up cheerfulness, and thus by great good
+fortune the malady was confined to the two individuals seized. The
+attendant ere long recovered, but the lad, after the choleraic symptoms
+had subsided, gradually fell into a typhoid state, under which, despite
+the utmost medical skill, he succumbed on the afternoon of May 4th. Owing
+to the rapidity with which decomposition sets in in organic structures in
+these hot latitudes, it was at once arranged that the body should be
+committed to the deep the same evening. It was the first occasion
+throughout the voyage that we had to perform this sad but most impressive
+ceremony. The officers and crew mustered on the deck. The body wrapped in
+an ensign lay upon a platform, close to the man-ropes on the starboard
+side. The chaplain prayed over the corpse of one so young, about to rest
+in the bosom of ocean far from friends and family, after which there was a
+dull hollow sound; the sea had got his prey, the waves closed with sullen
+glee over their booty,--and all was over!
+
+In the course of the passage we also celebrated a funeral service on board
+for Austria's great, never-to-be-forgotten commander, Field-marshal
+Radetzky, of whose death we had shortly before been apprized. As far as
+circumstances admitted, everything was done to celebrate this solemn duty
+in a befitting manner.
+
+Several times during this part of our voyage, owing to the slight depth,
+averaging only 14 fathoms, of the Gaspar Strait, we observed sea-snakes
+basking on the surface of the sea, and letting the waves roll them lazily
+forward, several of which, about four feet long, were caught in a common
+insect-net.
+
+At last, on the afternoon of May 5, we anchored in the roads of Batavia,
+in 6-1/2 fathoms, mud bottom. The aspect of the roads, especially in bad
+weather, is rather melancholy, the coast being low and swampy, and densely
+covered with mangrove-bushes, through which glittered a portion of the
+red-tiled roofs of the lower ancient city of Batavia, now abandoned on
+account of its insalubrity. Under a more cheerful sky the country round
+would of course assume a more agreeable and even imposing appearance, when
+the outline of the gigantic volcanoes of Java come into view in the
+background, with their heavenward towering peaks, partly covered with
+snow, permitting us to form some faint conception of the prodigality of
+Nature in this, the most beautiful island of the Malay Archipelago.
+
+In the roads of Batavia we found much less bustle and animation than one
+could anticipate, considering the favourable situation and immense
+importance of the place. A short distance from us lay the Dutch frigate
+_Palembang_, carrying the flag of a Vice-admiral, and the steam-corvette
+_Gröningen_, besides which we counted some sixty foreign merchantmen, and
+over a hundred native boats and coasting vessels. This rather small
+evidence of commercial activity is the more noticeable when one has just
+come from the free port of Singapore, where several hundred ships are
+always lying at anchor, sporting the flags of every sea-faring nation,
+without taking account of the almost innumerable Chinese and Malay
+coasters, trading between Singapore and the other islands of the Sunda
+Archipelago. Moreover, there are here no small boats plying to and fro,
+because the communications between the city and the roadstead being over a
+space requiring an hour and a half to traverse, the transit is necessarily
+dear, and remains therefore confined within as small limits as possible.
+For a small boat with two rowers from the roads to the landing-place the
+charge is from four to five florins (6_s._ 8_d._ to 8_s._ 4_d._), and
+3-1/2 florins (5_s._ 10_d._) more for a vehicle to transport them to the
+town. For this reason no artisans, trades-people, or washerwomen will come
+off to where the shipping is at anchor, to take orders--every commission
+of whatever nature must be executed in the city itself. Here we lay at
+anchor, an Austrian frigate, surely a most unwonted visitant, from the
+afternoon till the following morning without one single boat coming off to
+visit us!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[27] City of Lions, from Singha, the Sanscrit for Lion, a title of Indian
+princes, which we again meet with in Singhala, the kingdom of Lions, as
+Ceylon is called in ancient records and histories.
+
+[28] Captain Alexander Hamilton's "New Account of the East Indies,
+1688-1723." Edinburgh, 1727. 8vo, Vol. II., p. 63.
+
+[29] From this shrub is prepared the drug _Kino_, once much used in the
+Pharmacop[oe]ia, but now displaced by _catechu_.
+
+[30] A similar system prevails to this day throughout Hindostan, where the
+necessity for convoy of specie forms one of the most important items of
+expense in the maintenance of local police, outlying military stations,
+&c. And unfortunately such a policy reacts upon the respect of the natives
+for British rule, for seeing that even the government requires such
+convoys, they naturally presume that government feels itself insecure, and
+hence refuse to co-operate in the development of Indian resources.
+
+[31] The net produce of an acre of land grown with poppy amounts to about
+20 or 30 rupees, producing about 30 lbs of opium. The oil extracted from
+the seed-vessels of the plant gives a return of from 2 to 3 rupees per
+acre.
+
+[32] Among the valuable contributions of the Russian Embassy to Pekin,
+respecting China, its people, its religion, its political institutions,
+its social peculiarities, &c., there is one long and very copious treatise
+upon the Chinese reckoning-board, and the method of using it. See the
+German translation of the work by Dr. Karl Abel, and F. T. Mecklenburg.
+Berlin, F. Heinicke, 1856, vol. i. p. 295.
+
+[33] The Rhio group of islands is about 50 miles S.E. of Singapore, the
+most important of which is Bintang, with a town of the same name.
+
+
+                   [Illustration: Javanese Weapons.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII.
+
+                                  Java.
+
+                   Stay from 5th to 29th May, 1858.
+
+    Old and New Batavia.--Splendid reception.--Scientific
+    societies.--Public institutions.--Natives.--A Malay embassy.--
+    Excursion into the interior.--Buitenzorg.--The Botanic Garden.--
+    The Negro.--Prince Aquasie Boachi.--Pondok-Gedeh.--The infirmary
+    at Gadok, and Dr. Bernstein.--Megamendoeng.--Javanese villages.--
+    Tjipannas.--Ascent of Pangerango.--Forest scenery.--Javanese
+    resting-houses or Pasanggrahans.--Night and morning on the
+    summit of the volcano.--Visit to Gunung Gedeh.--The plantations
+    of Peruvian bark-trees in Tjipodas.--Their actual condition.--
+    Conjectures as to the future.--Voyage to Bandong.--Spots where
+    edible swallows'-nests are found.--Hospitable reception by a
+    Javanese prince.--Visit to Dr. Junghuhn in Lembang.--Coffee
+    cultivation.--Decay in value of the coffee bean of Java.--
+    Professor Vriese and the coffee planters of Java.--Free trade
+    and monopoly.--Compulsory and free labour.--Ascent of the
+    volcano of Tangkuban Prahu.--Poison Crater and King's Crater.--A
+    geological excursion to a portion of the Preanger Regency.--
+    Native fête given by the Javanese Regent of Tjiangoer.--A day at
+    the Governor-general's country-seat at Buitenzorg.--Return to
+    Batavia.--Ball given by the military club in honour of the
+    _Novara_.--Raden Saleh, a Javanese artist.--Barracks and
+    prisons.--Meester Cornelis.--French opera.--Constant changes
+    among the European society.--Aims of the colonial government.--
+    Departure from Batavia.--Pleasant voyage.--An English ship with
+    Chinese Coolies.--Bay of Manila.--Arrival in Cavite harbour.
+
+
+In order to get from the roadstead of Batavia to the "Stad Herberg," the
+sole landing-place for boats, distant some miles from the open sea, it is
+necessary to steer for some distance up the canal-like channel of the
+Tjiliwoeng (pronounced _Chili-wung_) River. Old Batavia (Jacatra), built
+by the Dutch in 1619, on an extremely swampy and most unhealthy spot, is
+at present entirely abandoned by the white population, and the numerous
+handsome edifices still standing there are now only used as warehouses,
+counting-houses, and offices generally. Where in days of yore a hundred
+thousand human beings bustled to and fro, there are at present dwelling
+but a couple of thousand wretched, poverty-stricken Portuguese and
+Javanese. The Dutch in selecting such a site undoubtedly took their own
+Amsterdam for a model, and the houses were accordingly built as close as
+possible to each other, and several storeys high, a mode of building
+eminently unsuited to a tropical climate, and accordingly adding another
+element of insalubrity. The thick fog, which every evening at sundown
+spreads over the city, situate as it is hardly above the level of the sea,
+is not only very injurious to Europeans, but proves quite frequently
+fatal, so that by 5 P.M. old Batavia assumes the appearance of a city of
+the dead, and a regular emigration takes place in waggons, on horseback,
+or on foot, to the more elevated and therefore more healthy parts of the
+town, to Ryswick, Molenvliet, Weltevreden, &c., where during the last
+twenty years an entirely new and very elegant settlement has sprung up.
+Handsome villas rise amid the blooming fragrant gardens, and everything is
+arranged in accordance with the requirements of a tropical climate; and
+of an evening, when the low verandahs and beautifully furnished
+drawing-rooms of these airy, well-ventilated mansions are profusely lit
+up, and filled with a gaily-dressed social circle, while numbers of
+equipages, carrying torches, flit through the wide streets, the whole
+scene has quite a fairyland appearance. The gloom without makes the
+dazzling brightness within-doors still more marked, and renders the law a
+perfect boon, by which no native, so soon as it becomes dark, is permitted
+to walk through the streets unless he carries a lighted torch (_obor_).
+Owing to the distance intervening between each house, Batavia, although
+numbering only 70,000 inhabitants, apparently covers a larger area than
+Paris, and as the wealthy classes are concentrated in the upper quarters
+of the town, just as they are in the West End of London, it is there that
+one may see all that Batavia has to show of luxury, comfort, and elegance.
+The old haughty, aristocratic capital of the Netherland Indies, whose
+beauty once obtained for her the title of "Queen of the East," is found
+here in more than pristine freshness, and not alone in wealth and
+splendour, but even in social stiffness and pedantic etiquette, vies with
+the most ultra-refined centres of fashion in Europe.
+
+The _Novara_ had long been expected in Batavia, and months beforehand
+orders had been issued by the Governor-general to all the Dutch colonies
+in the East Indies, for the courteous reception of the Expedition, and
+energetically assisting its members. A German merchant from Celebes, whom
+we happened to meet the day of our arrival, informed us that in Macassar
+the entire population had been for several months past looking for the
+arrival of the foreign man-of-war, and those on the look-out at the
+signal-station, as often as a large ship made its appearance on the
+horizon, were continually hoping that it might prove to be the
+long-expected visitor.
+
+All that the resources of a mighty and generous power, such as is that of
+Holland in Java, could furnish to make our short stay at the island as
+agreeable and instructive as possible was exhibited on the most lavish
+scale, and all that could be done to promote our objects in view by men of
+science, of which Java possesses a considerable number, and even some of
+European celebrity, was offered with the most praiseworthy alacrity.
+Several eminent scholars and naturalists, headed by the renowned
+ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who shortly before had been decorated with an
+Austrian order of merit for his valuable contributions to our knowledge of
+the natural history of the Sunda Islands, did the honours, so to speak,
+for the members of the scientific commission, of whom they became the
+constant companions.
+
+The very day we landed we visited the Museum, in the company of our new
+friends, where we found an extremely interesting and most valuable
+collection, principally of ethnographic objects. Here we saw idols of the
+palmy days of Buddhism, made of bronze and silver, beautifully carved,
+which came from the interior of Java, as also from Sumatra and the Engano
+Islands; clothes of the bark of trees, garments of fish-scales, of a
+species of _Scarus_ (probably _Scarus Schlosserii_), head-gear, armlets,
+and necklaces of the teeth of men and wild animals, richly adorned
+"creeses" or Malay daggers, lances and arrows of bamboo, whose iron heads
+were poisoned by a wash of arsenic mixed with lemon-juice; a great variety
+of musical instruments, among which were specimens of the well-known and
+singular _Gamelang_, which consists of a row of bells of all sizes and
+tones, which are struck with slender pieces of bamboo, and makes a regular
+orchestra of bells. There was also a very singular-looking collection of
+parasols, which as used by the natives are emblems of rank, and of which
+there are no less than thirty different kinds. Any one may carry a simple
+green, or blue, or black parasol, but those with gold thread or gold
+tassels are only permitted to be used by persons of a certain social
+standing, so that one may always know the social position of a Javanese by
+the parasol he carries, just as among the Chinese, rank is indicated by
+the number of peacock feathers, and the colour of the button on the
+bonnet. The higher the rank, the broader is the gilded fringe, so that the
+parasol of a Javanese prince of the highest rank is all gold together, and
+when fully expanded consists of three parasols, one above the other, which
+open by one and the same movement. Most of these parasols, prepared from
+the leaves of the screw-pine, are imported hither from China.
+
+In one of the rooms is a statue of Durga, one of the goddesses of the old
+Hindoo mythology, moulded in metal, a present from the Sultan of
+Surakarta in the centre of Java to one of the former governors of the
+island, who presented this fine specimen of native art to the Museum. A
+large number of Javanese and Sunda MSS., written on palm-leaves, have been
+placed by, and at the expense of, the government in the hands of Dr.
+Friedrich, a German philologist, to be deciphered and translated. In the
+same apartment we saw a large number of trachytes, with very beautiful
+sculptures and inscriptions, as also several figures from the island of
+Bali, quite modern in aspect, carved in wood and coarsely painted,
+representing some beautiful female figures; other hideous caricatures,
+which are used by the natives as decorations of their household altar, but
+without any religious significance being attached to them. The fact that
+these sculptures are no longer, as formerly, executed in stone, but are
+carved in wood, may be held to evidence the decay of this branch of art. A
+rather considerable craniological collection, comprising some 60 heads of
+the various types of races inhabiting the Malay Archipelago and the
+adjoining continent, was in the most handsome manner presented to the
+Expedition, and must, considering the many difficulties which stand in the
+way of our acquiring correct scientific knowledge of this interesting
+question, especially among races inhabiting uncivilized countries, be
+regarded as an exceedingly valuable addition to our collections of objects
+of natural history at home.
+
+The Ethnographic Museum and the library attached are, however, only
+branches thrown out by the indefatigable activity of the oldest
+scientific society in Java, the _Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en
+Wetenschappen_, which, founded in 1778 by the Europeans then resident in
+Batavia, has since that period published some thirty volumes of valuable
+statistics of the various objects of which it takes cognizance, and is in
+correspondence with upwards of 150 learned societies. Since 1852 there has
+also appeared under the auspices of this Society, conducted by three
+members of the direction, Dr. Bleeker, Mr. Netscher, and Mr. Munnich, a
+monthly journal of Indian History, as also of physical and ethnographic
+statistics (the "_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal Land en Volkenkunde_"),
+of which seven volumes have already appeared, published in 8vo. Not less
+valuable, especially in the interests of natural science, is the
+Association known as the "_Natuurkundige Vereeniging_," which has been in
+existence since 1850, and, under the superintendence of that indefatigably
+active scholar Dr. Bleeker, has within that period published a
+considerable number of most interesting memoirs, while the Society for the
+advancement of Medical Science (_Vereeniging tot Bevordering der
+Geneeskundige Wetenschappen in Nederlandsch Indie_), under the guidance of
+the distinguished Dr. G. Wassink, has given to the world through its
+annual publications a large variety of experiences and observations on the
+study of Medicine.[34] All these scientific institutions are the more
+deserving of commendation, when we reflect that there are but 6000
+emigrants from Holland, scattered abroad throughout the Netherland
+Indies, of whom only some 3000 are in Batavia, and that the white
+population is for the most part constantly changing. It is obvious this
+latter condition must have this prejudicial effect, that the various
+branches of scientific inquiry cannot always enjoy a uniform degree of
+attention, and that the task of maintaining them in a proper degree of
+efficiency must depend almost exclusively upon the continuance in office
+and constant attention of individuals. Owing to this frequency of change
+the active prosecution of scientific inquiry has undergone marked
+fluctuations in Batavia, and while occasionally it was at the lowest ebb,
+so to speak, at another time, as happily was the case at the period of our
+visit, it presents, in the convergence of numerous powerful minds devoted
+to the pursuit of knowledge, the imposing spectacle of a strong set of
+public opinion towards intellectual enjoyment and cultivation.
+
+Accompanied by Dr. Bleeker the members of the Expedition visited several
+of the most interesting of the public institutions, the establishment of
+which reflects the greatest honour on the government, as well as the
+public-spirited individuals who projected them. The Military and Civil
+Hospital at Tjiliwoeng, or Great River, does not indeed present the
+palace-like appearance of the Misericordia Hospital at Rio, but the small
+neat buildings, one storey high, scattered among beautiful flower-gardens,
+and occupying a flat space of great extent, are kept scrupulously clean,
+and are arranged with great comfort. Six physicians are on duty here, and
+the most exemplary care and attention are bestowed on patients. Officers
+and public servants who fall sick have, in particular, large, light, airy,
+elegantly furnished apartments; other patients are received into lofty,
+well-ventilated, spacious halls, usually holding from 50 to 60 beds.
+Altogether the hospital can accommodate 600 patients. The most common
+diseases are dysentery, intermittent fever, and heart and liver
+complaints. Here we saw numerous cases of _Beri-Beri_ (the Barbiers of
+English medical writers), that singular, usually incurable disease which
+begins with intermittent fever, and generally ends with paralysis of the
+spinal chord. In the year 1857, of 500 patients at Batavia no fewer than
+348 were attacked with this frightful complaint, of whom 249 died within a
+brief space. In the medical section of the _Novara_ publications will be
+found a complete account of this most interesting malady, which
+fortunately is very limited in its ravages, and hitherto has been almost
+exclusively confined to the natives.
+
+In one of the wards we were shown a Dutch sailor labouring under an
+asthmatic attack, whose hands and feet had been shockingly mutilated in
+1846 by pirates in the Straits of Malacca. We also found among the
+patients several German sailors and soldiers, whose transports of joy were
+unmistakeable on hearing once more the sound of their native language, and
+at the opportunity of conversing with a fellow-countryman.
+
+The heavy expense of building in Batavia, and the anxious vigilance
+exercised over those of the community who are sick, will best be
+understood from the fact that one single new ward, making up from 60 to 80
+beds, cost the government about 60,000 guilders (£5000). One of the
+buildings, at a little distance from the rest, is set apart for female
+invalids, as also for lunatics and sick prisoners. Attached to this
+hospital is a school of midwifery for the instruction of native women in
+obstetrics, which at the period of our visit was attended by sixteen women
+from various islands in the Malay Archipelago, and which, in a land where
+the birth of a child is accompanied by so many superstitious and hideous
+ceremonies, cannot fail to be followed by most beneficial results.
+
+One very important and useful establishment is the Javanese medical school
+(_Geneeskundige School voor Inlanders_), which, founded in 1851 by Mr.
+Bosch, at that period chief of the medical staff, is intended to supply
+the sons of the more prominent natives of Java and the adjacent islands
+with a thorough training in and acquaintance with the art of medicine as
+practised in Europe. Government defrays the travelling expenses of these
+youths, as also all expenses of maintenance and education. Among the
+four-and-twenty scholars here, we saw sons of native princes of Java,
+Palembang, Celebes, Amboina, Ceram, Sumatra, and Borneo, who intended
+following up the profession; and it is worthy of remark that two natives
+of Menado in the island of Celebes of the savage cannibal race of the
+Alfuras, were pointed out to us as among the most apt and docile of the
+scholars! Those of the students who are Christians, are clothed in the
+dress of Europeans, the rest, chiefly Mahométans, wear Oriental attire.
+Instruction is imparted in Malay, since as a rule not one of the students
+on entering the college understands a word of Dutch. For the same reason
+the books usually employed in instruction cannot be made use of, while,
+owing to the poverty of the Malay language, any translation into it must
+be fraught with difficulty. All technical names are therefore converted
+into Latin. The course of instruction is carried on the first year in the
+class-room, the second by the bed-side of the patient, or the dead body.
+After strict and thorough examination each pupil receives a diploma as a
+"Doctor--Java," besides a monthly salary of from £2 2_s._ to £2 10_s._,
+and an outfit of the most important drugs and surgical instruments. By
+this system some fifty young men have already returned to their homes as
+physicians and government officials, and thus greatly contribute to the
+extension of European civilization.
+
+In the chief streets of Batavia the stranger comes upon some small open
+watch-houses, or rather huts, consisting simply of four poles and a roof
+of palm thatch, in which is suspended a long, slender piece of wood
+(_Tong-tong_), which is used for three different objects. The Javanese who
+in this little hut is watching over the property and personal safety of
+the inhabitants, strikes the _Tong-tong_ with a sort of drum-stick, in
+order to announce the hours of the night, or to give notice of the
+outbreak of a fire, or in case of any one _running a-muck_. This singular
+phenomenon, in which a Malay with open knife or drawn dagger rushes madly
+through the streets, and seeks to kill every one he encounters, occurs
+perhaps a dozen times a year. The first murder is very probably
+intentional, the offspring of hate or revenge, but that once accomplished,
+the murderer, usually under the influence of opium, runs recklessly
+forward through the streets, with the wild cry of "Amok"--"Amok"
+(Kill!--Kill!), knocking down and stabbing whoever he encounters. As one
+can only approach the miscreant at the peril of one's life, there is kept
+in these watch-houses a peculiarly constructed weapon of long wooden
+staves, and shaped at the upper end not unlike a hay-fork, with which the
+desperate wretch can be seized. The various methods in which the Tong-tong
+is struck at once conveys notice as to which one of the three
+announcements conveyed by the instrument it is the watchman's object to
+make.
+
+The natives, although they divide themselves into the Java and Sunda
+nations, belong nevertheless to the same race, viz. the Malay, and are
+readily recognizable by their short thickset form, round face, wide mouth,
+short narrow nose, small black eyes, by their brown complexion, verging on
+yellow, and their luxuriant but always rough and coarse hair. As to their
+moral characteristics, the Javanese are a mild, easily contented,
+temperate, simple, industrious people. The principal occupation of the
+10,000,000 inhabitants of Java and Madura, is agriculture, which with
+them is at least equally, if not in a much higher degree, understood by
+them than by any other Asiatic community, with the exception of the
+Chinese. This is apparent from the neatness and careful cultivation of
+their fields, the excellent condition of their farm-stock, the careful
+observance of seed-time and harvest, and above all by their regular
+irrigation of the soil. When Java first became known to Europeans, the
+chief produce of the island consisted of rice, leguminous vegetables,
+indigo, and cotton. Intercourse with Europe has superadded to these two
+American products, maize and tobacco, and one African, coffee.[35] The
+Javanese have even less time for the mechanical arts than for agricultural
+pursuits, yet in the construction of boats and dwelling-houses, as also in
+making agricultural implements, shields and weapons of war, they have more
+aptitude than the majority of the people of the Malay Archipelago.[36] The
+only other stuff, except cotton, of which they make clothing is silk,
+chiefly the raw, coarse, Chinese silk; all endeavours to naturalize the
+silk production in these islands having failed hitherto.
+
+In addition to the ordinary language used for communication and every-day
+purposes there are in Java two special idioms,--Javanese in the centre and
+east of the island, and Sunda in the west of the island. The small river
+Losari in the province of Cheribon on the north side of the island
+indicates the boundary line of the two languages. Owing to the
+circumstance that both the idioms are used in Cheribon, many writers have
+deduced thence the origin of the name of that province, which signifies in
+Javanese "mingled," or mixed. The Javanese tongue, which of the two is far
+the more highly cultivated, has been a written language for untold ages,
+and its alphabet is universally used among the Sunda groups as well as in
+the adjoining Malay groups. Various inscriptions in stone and brass carry
+us back in the history of Java to the 12th century, and it would almost
+seem that the Javanese at that period had already attained the same degree
+of civilization as when four centuries later the Europeans for the first
+time landed on their soil.
+
+Of the original Javanese language there are three dialects,--the language
+of the populace (Ngoko), or low Javanese, the ceremonial language (Kromo),
+known as high Javanese, and the old mystical dialect, or _Kawi_.
+
+Javanese has borrowed a number of words from Sanscrit, Arabic, and
+Telingu, especially since the introduction of religion and commerce.
+
+One of the most important events in the history of the Javanese was their
+conversion to Brahmanism, and still later to Mahometanism. The precise
+period at which the first of these took place seems to be as yet quite
+uncertain, but this much is known, that from the 13th to the 15th century
+Brahmanism prevailed in Java. The conversion of the Javanese to Islam,
+whose religion is at present professed by the great majority of the
+inhabitants,[37] took place in 1478 under the ruler of Salivana, after
+Arabian, Persian, Malay, and Mahometan Hindoos had since the year 1358
+vainly endeavoured to introduce that faith.[38]
+
+In addition to the native population there is also a large number of
+foreign settlers in Java, of whom the Chinese constitute far the largest
+contingent. Their number is above 140,000, and would be much greater were
+their attempts at colonization not kept down by numerous limitations, and
+heavy taxes and imposts. The Chinese, who in more than one respect may be
+regarded as the Jews of India, are only admitted by the Indian Government
+at certain points of the coast, and in many of the Regencies must not
+transgress those limits. Although they are extraordinarily industrious,
+ingenious, and well suited for hard labour, yet the government is of
+opinion that their unchecked intercourse with the natives would inevitably
+prove prejudicial to the latter, who are plundered by the Chinese in every
+possible manner. Their main, indeed sole, object is to make money, and at
+all public auctions it is they who chiefly buy at a small price, and
+directly afterwards succeed in getting off their purchases at an enormous
+advance. One can purchase of these Chinese dealers at prices almost
+unheard of for cheapness, but quality and lasting capabilities are not
+guaranteed. A German writer compares the Kampong or Chinese quarter to a
+Polish country town on a fair day. Every house and store is crammed with
+all manner of useless trash, and everywhere there is the utmost bustle.
+The most various articles are exposed for sale in each magazine. Here too
+are found the Chinese theatrical booths, in which at various hours
+throughout the day Chinese comedians, richly dressed in Chinese fashion,
+perform Chinese plays, which are applauded by a numerous ragged auditory,
+collected in the open space in front!
+
+Each Chinese colony, or _Kampong_, has a chief, appointed by government,
+with the title of lieutenant, captain, or major, available within the
+limits of the Kampong, but which, it is needless to say, confers no
+military privileges. Those of the Chinese residing in Java belong to
+mutual societies, whose members assist each other, and which have not
+merely humanitarian, but also political tendencies.
+
+We are in possession of the affiliation-ticket of a member of the native
+Chinese society of Hoei, or Tuité-Huy (Brotherhood of the Heavens and the
+Earth), printed on a fabric of reddish cotton, which bears 91 various
+written characters, for the following translation of which, as also for
+the accompanying particulars respecting the objects of this very
+remarkable society, we are indebted to the kindness of the renowned
+Chinese scholar, Professor J. Neumann of Munich:--
+
+"The Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth frankly declares that it
+considers itself called on by the Supreme Being to put an end to the
+frightful contrast between wealth and poverty. In its view the possessors
+of earthly power and wealth have come into this world under the same
+ceremonies, and leave it in the same manner, as their defrauded brothers,
+the poor and oppressed. The Supreme Being never willed that millions
+should be held in slavery by a few thousands. Father Heaven and Mother
+Earth have never conferred on the few thousands the right to swallow up
+the property of millions of their brethren for the mere satiating their
+own luxury. To the rich and powerful their fortunes were never bestowed by
+the Supreme Being as an exceptional right; it consists rather in the
+labour and the 'sweat of the brow' of the millions of their oppressed
+brethren. The sun with his beaming face, the earth with her treasures of
+wealth, the universe with all its joys, are boons common to all, and must
+be seized from the grasp of the few thousands for the satisfaction of the
+necessities of the naked millions. The world must ultimately be purged of
+all oppression and woe; this must be initiated in brotherly unity, must
+be steadily followed up with mind and hand, and must be completed. The
+good seed of this brotherhood must not be stifled beneath noxious weeds,
+rather is it our duty to root up these noxious weeds, that overshadow all
+things, to the benefit and advancement of the good seed. The problem, be
+it frankly confessed, is a mighty and a difficult one, but let each man
+bethink him, that there is no victory, no redemption without storm and
+strife. Until the great majority of the dwellers of all the cities of each
+province have taken the oath of fidelity, each man may continue outwardly
+to obey the mandarins, and ingratiate himself with the police by presents.
+Ill-timed demonstrations will injure the plan. So soon as the majority of
+the inhabitants in each city and province has acceded to the bond of our
+union, the old monarchy must fall to the ground, and we shall be able to
+found the new reign upon the ruins of the old. Millions of grateful
+brethren shall honour the founders of our brotherhood after they shall
+have gone to the grave, mindful of the mighty benefit they have
+conferred;--the redemption from chains and bondage of a ruined social
+system."
+
+[Illustration: The Seal of Union of the Brotherhood of the Heavens and the
+Earth.]
+
+The seal of union of this Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth is
+engraved with numerous hieroglyphics, and many-cornered in its inner
+circumference, emblematic of the supreme states of felicity, according to
+Chinese notions, viz. wisdom, justice, posterity, honour, and riches.
+These five states of felicity correspond to their five elements, earth,
+wood, water, metal, fire, whose symbols figure at the corner of the seal.
+Immediately below are seen certain other engraved emblems, indicating
+mighty undaunted leaders, ancient heroes of China, who are standing
+closely together with unshaken front. Then follow a number of proverbs,
+partly of symbolic significance, and in rhythmical sayings, such as:--
+
+                In close array the ranks of heroes stand,
+                Obedient to the master-mind's command.
+
+One tie unites the old and the young brethren; in order of battle old and
+young are intermingled. Each man stands ready to obey the smallest signal
+of his immediate commander. As the swollen mountain torrent spreads itself
+over the level ground, innumerable bands of these pour forth on all sides:
+
+                   Mingle brown, and white, and red,
+                   And strike till ev'ry foe lie dead.
+
+The by-laws of this secret society are so strict that there is hardly an
+example on record of a member incurring a denunciation, or being guilty of
+treason. In consequence of the cloud of mystery which envelopes these
+societies, they are the more dangerous, because unassailable by the
+government. And accordingly, all precautions hitherto taken for
+suppressing these secret societies of the Chinese population have proved
+unavailing. Secret societies however are anything but forbidden under
+Dutch rule in Java,--on the contrary, it is rather _bon ton_ to belong to
+some one of the lodges of freemasonry existent out there.
+
+Before setting out on our excursion into the interior of Java, we had an
+opportunity of being present at the festivities which it is customary to
+get up on the occasion of the reception of an embassy from one of the
+native princes. On the present occasion it was the ministers of the Kings
+of the Island of Lombok,[39] eastward of Java, who had to deliver on
+behalf of their illustrious masters letters for H. E. the Governor-general
+of the Dutch East Indies. During the whole of their stay they were
+maintained at the expense of government in the house of a specially
+appointed master of the ceremonies, a native of the Island of Borneo, and
+nephew of the Sultan of Pontianab, whose official position imposes upon
+him the duty of showing all that is worth seeing in the city to these
+occasional illustrious Malay guests. Both ministers were accompanied
+everywhere by a Malay dolmetsch, although they spoke Javanese with the
+utmost fluency, in addition to their mother tongue.
+
+On the day of the reception they made their appearance in ceremonial
+dress, and in gala "turn-outs," at the government palace, where they were
+presented to the Governor-general by the Resident of Batavia, the highest
+authority in the city. The master of the ceremonies took charge of the
+letters of the Kings of Lombok, as also of two immense spears, at least
+twelve feet long, each richly gilt and gaily bedecked with yellow
+tissue,[40] which were presented by the ambassadors as presents from the
+Kings of Lombok to the Governor-general. It is however strictly forbidden
+to the Dutch employés to accept any presents of the most trifling nature,
+and even in cases such as the present, where the refusal of the gifts
+would be an insult to the donor, all such must be sold for the benefit of
+the treasury, or at least a corresponding amount must be returned by the
+receiver out of the state treasury. Accordingly, it is the custom to
+recompense all presents made by the various regents with others of far
+greater value.[41]
+
+At the entrance to the palace a guard of honour of European soldiers was
+drawn up in full uniform, between whose ranks the ambassadors were ushered
+into the hall of reception. One of the attendants now held a large
+rich-looking, highly-gilt parasol above the letter of the Kings of Lombok,
+which was borne along by the master of the ceremonies on a silver waiter.
+A similar mark of distinction was conferred on the two ambassadors and the
+resident. The Governor-general in full official uniform, and surrounded by
+a number of government officials, received the embassy on a platform,
+where he sat on a beautifully covered gilt chair, canopied with costly
+tapestry. The elder of the two ambassadors, having been introduced by the
+resident, thereupon proceeded to say that he was charged to present the
+homage of his master to the Dutch Government, and to remit a letter. On a
+formal sign by the Governor-general, the government interpreter, Mr.
+Nitscher, took the letter off the silver waiter, at which moment a salute
+of nine cannon-shot was fired in the garden behind the palace, to announce
+to the people outdoors the moment at which the king's letter had been
+received. The letter, enveloped in yellow silk, and written in Malay with
+Arabic characters, was thereupon opened by the government interpreter, and
+read with a loud voice, after which it was translated into Dutch. In a
+similar manner the reply of the Governor-general was translated for the
+two ambassadors into the Malay language.
+
+At last, after these stiff and wearisome formalities had been gone
+through, the ambassadors were invited to occupy chairs that had been
+specially prepared for them next the Governor-general, when a short
+exchange took place of civilities and commonplace phrases, until the
+Governor-general gave the signal for breaking up, by rising from his seat.
+The ambassadors were thereupon ushered forth in the same ceremonious
+manner in which they had entered.
+
+The occasion of the present embassy was a dispute with the Sultan of
+Sumbawa, in which the Kings of Lombok invoked the mediation of the Dutch
+Government. The Sultan of Sumbawa had in fact refused to restore two
+subjects of the Kings of Lombok who had fled to Sumbawa. But for the
+preponderating influence of the Dutch Government the two disputants would
+long before have resorted to war.
+
+On the 13th May we set forth in two large and very comfortable coaches for
+Buitenzorg (signifying in Dutch "on the farther side of sorrow"), the
+usual residence of the Governor-general, who only comes to Batavia on
+certain days in the month to give audiences. He had not alone invited the
+members of the Expedition to visit the Preanger Regencies as guests of the
+government, and caused arrangements to be made for their ascending with as
+little trouble as possible the volcanic peak of Gunung Pangerango (10,194
+feet), but likewise detached one of his adjutants, M. de Kock, and Dr.
+Bleeker, both well acquainted with the natural history of the country, to
+accompany us upon this excursion. Messengers were sent in advance, to
+announce our approach at each station, so as to secure us a comfortable
+and courteous reception wherever we wished to pass a few hours, or to take
+a night's rest.
+
+Buitenzorg is distant from the capital 39 paals or Javanese miles,[42]
+which distance, thanks to the excellence of the roads and the horses in
+Java, is traversed in about three hours, two "loopers," or runners, as is
+the custom here, as elsewhere in the East, accompanying each coach, who
+are incessantly on and off the waggon, yelling and cracking their long
+whips at the horses to keep them to their speed. About every five paals,
+or 4-3/4 miles (English), the cattle and the runners are changed, so that
+an unvarying speed is attained. All along the roads stretches the
+telegraphic wire, which unites Batavia in one direction with Angier (75
+miles) and Surabaya (543 miles).[43] The wood of which each post is
+constructed is the _Kapok_ tree, a species of _Gossypium_, or cotton tree,
+and here for the first time we saw the slender, tightly-strained wires
+suspended on the stem of a luxuriant green tree. Thus, if the experiment
+succeeds, the elsewhere naked, dead telegraph-poles will here be made at
+once useful and productive, as each post that supports the wire will
+produce a small quantity of cotton.
+
+Buitenzorg possesses one of the finest and most extensive botanical
+gardens in the world. It was laid out as far back as 1817, during the
+vice-royalty of Baron van Capellen. The distribution of the various orders
+is contrived equally to assist and promote the instruction of the general
+observer, and to accustom the naturalist to the phenomena of Eastern
+vegetation. Each order of plants has its own area. The various species of
+palms are the most extensively represented, and there is scarcely one of
+the genus, whether ornamental or useful, found in the Netherland Indies
+or Australia, of which a representative is not to be found here. The
+superintendence of this garden has been intrusted to that indefatigable
+_hortulanus_, Mr. J. C. Teijsmann, who in his department assisted to the
+utmost the objects of the _Novara_ Expedition. He not only presented us
+with duplicates of all the more valuable plants in his very extensive
+collection, but also with valuable seeds. By such kind co-operation we
+found ourselves provided with some twenty various species of fibrous
+plants, amongst others the well-known Ramé-shrub (_Boehmeria utilis_), and
+that useful species of wild plantain, the _Musa textilis_ (from the leaves
+of which is manufactured Manila hemp), as also twenty-four different
+species of rice. Of these latter two were of special interest, one needing
+no watering, but flourishing best in mountainous, dry soil, the other
+being chiefly used by the natives for the preparation of a dye.
+
+Mr. Teijsmann has the great merit of having been the first to introduce
+into Java the cultivation of the valuable and costly Vanilla plant
+(_Vanilla planifolia_), by using artificial means of fructification, after
+all the many expensive experiments previously made had failed, because the
+insect which effects the fructification of the plant in its original
+climate, the West Indies, is not found in Java. At present the yield is so
+great, that not alone does Mr. Teijsmann annually secure and send to
+market several hundredweights of this aromatic pod, but several other
+landowners have applied themselves to the laying out of Vanilla
+plantations. The fruit, from six to ten inches in length, by three to five
+lines in width, of a dark brown colour, flexible, and somewhat unctuous to
+the touch, requires about five months to ripen. They are carefully dried,
+first in the shade and afterwards in the sun, and are then packed away in
+bundles in air-tight metal cases. One hundred pounds of fresh pods yield
+about one pound of the Vanilla of commerce. Formerly the value of a pound
+of Vanilla was as high as £6 sterling, but it is at present sold at about
+£4.
+
+In the beautifully situated Hotel Bellevue, where we lived while at
+Buitenzorg, we chanced to become acquainted with a curious individual, a
+young negro named Aquasie Boachi, son of an African prince of Coomassie,
+the chief city of the kingdom of Ashantee on the Gold Coast,[44] who,
+while a child of nine years, had been sent by the colonial government to
+Europe, in order to be educated in Germany. It was the intention to make
+apparent what early education and instruction can do for the negro, and
+how the present low state of the black race is principally attributable to
+their oppression hitherto, and to the limited application, in their case,
+of European civilization. The experiment proved most satisfactory. Aquasie
+Boachi speaks German, English, Dutch, and French quite fluently, and holds
+a diploma, as mining engineer, from the mining academy of Freiberg in
+Saxony. He is a pupil of the celebrated Professor Bernhard Cotta, whom he
+still remembers with affection and gratitude. As Aquasie had become a
+Christian he could not, save at the risk of his life, return to his
+heathenish native land, to the bosom of his own family. The Dutch
+Government accordingly, regarding him in the light of a victim to
+philanthropical experiments, at present pays the young miner out of the
+state funds about £400 per ann., and occasionally employs him on mining
+researches. Aquasie had resolved to settle for life in Germany, where, as
+he told us, he felt himself thoroughly at home, but the climate did not
+agree with him, upon which he returned to Java, and had since occupied
+himself in coffee-culture.
+
+From the terrace of the hotel one enjoys a magnificent prospect bounded by
+the mountains around. On the right rises a lofty peak, whose summit-cone
+has been cloven into three pinnacles, the Gunung Salak 7204 feet
+(English), an extinct volcano, from which, however, in 1699 issued immense
+volumes of sand and mud, accompanied by columns of flames, tremendous
+bellowings, and convulsions of the soil. The torrent of liquid mud hurried
+along trunks of trees, carcasses of animals, tame as well as wild,
+crocodiles and fish, and, still preserving its character of a mud torrent,
+rushed into the sea near Batavia, stopping up the mouths of several rivers
+and brooks. Since then this colossal hill, torn to its innermost core by
+this fearful eruption, has remained silent, and peaceful fields,
+alternating with luxuriant forest, stretch upwards to the very flanks of
+its once dreaded summit. To the left of Gunung Salak, and in appearance
+and elevation far more imposing, stands out the Gedee Range. Its highest
+point is the tapering regular cone of Gunung Pangerango, still further to
+the left of which rises, almost equal in height, the bare rocky wall of
+the still active crater of Gunung Gedeh, from the abyss of which there
+occasionally issued light clouds of vapour. But this exquisite landscape
+unveils itself to the ravished view of the beholder only during the early
+hours of morning. By 10 A.M. thin vapours have gathered round those lofty
+summits, which gradually accumulate as noon approaches, until by 3 P.M.
+there is almost invariably a dense mass of clouds resting over the entire
+range, which very frequently dissolve with fearful violence in the shape
+of tremendous tropical thunder-storms. The annual rainfall at Buitenzorg
+would seem to be higher than at any other spot on the face of the earth.
+During some years it occasionally attains the depth of 200 inches
+(English), which is far beyond the utmost known in Central or Southern
+America.[45]
+
+The evening we spent at the residence of M. Van de Groote, inspector of
+the tin-mines of Banka and Borneo, who was of very great use to the
+geologist of the Expedition, and at whose hospitable house we met a number
+of personages of distinction.
+
+On the following morning (14th May), before prosecuting our journey, we
+made an excursion to the neighbouring Batoetoelis (pronounced
+Batootoolis), as a number of trachytic rocks are called, to which young
+Javanese wives, who wish to become mothers, ascribe the most marvellous
+virtues. The inscriptions hewn on the stones have been deciphered by the
+German philologist, Dr. Friedrich. There is also shown a stone with a
+depression like a human foot, which tradition asserts to be the footstep
+of a native prophet, who is supposed to have stood thereon at a time when
+the mass was not yet solid and hardened. There evidently is some
+association of ideas similar to that of the Cingalese respecting Adam's
+Peak, but without the poetic colouring of the latter.
+
+From Buitenzorg we went to Tjipannas,[46] a country-seat of the
+Governor-general, at the foot of Pangerango. The road from Buitenzorg to
+Tjipannas is part of the great post-road from Batavia to Surabaya, which
+just at this point traverses the mountain pass of Mengamendoeng, 4925
+feet high, an outlier of the Gedeh range. It passes at first through
+richly-cultivated properties, with splendid rice-crops, and a little
+further on through coffee plantations, after which comes uninhabited
+wilderness, when the road becomes so steep that a pair of buffalos are
+harnessed in front of the horses of each carriage. _En route_ we visited
+at Pondok-Gedeh the beautiful property of the family of Van den Bosch,
+whose founder greatly distinguished himself in promoting the agricultural
+prosperity of the island, while Governor-general of the colony, 1830-33.
+In the extensive gardens here we saw several large species of _Vanilla_
+and _Cactus_ (_Nopal_), the latter of which are devoted to the propagation
+and gathering of the diminutive cochineal insect, from which is procured
+such a valuable dye. In 1826, a pair of this very fecund insect were
+brought from Spain to Java, and at present[47] there are in Pondok-Gedeh
+alone 500,000 plants, from which between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds of
+cochineal are obtained annually, while other gardens of Nopal of equal
+size occur elsewhere throughout the island. We were also filled with
+astonishment at the variety and richness of the brushwood and forest
+trees, which the European is accustomed to see only as diminutive, tender
+specimens, the rare plants of a hot-house! Under the influence of a
+tropical climate, and a fruitful soil, the tea plant, the nutmeg, the
+cinnamon, the sugar-cane, the coffee bean, and the indigo, all flourish
+in wildest profusion, and the various warehouses are as crammed with the
+splendid produce of these valuable colonial staples as our northern
+granaries are with the necessaries of subsistence in the shape of dried
+fruits.[48]
+
+Quite close to Pondok-Gedeh, amid the majestic mountain scenery of Gadok,
+is the _maison de Santé_ of Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, which enjoys a
+well-earned reputation under the management of Dr. Bernstein, a German
+physician and naturalist. Invalid residents of the coast, when recovering
+from climatic diseases, make a point of hurrying to this institution, in
+order to benefit by the keen, bracing mountain air. Dr. Bernstein is, as
+far as his professional engagements will admit, at once a zealous
+collector, and a skilful preparer, who has already made some very
+beautiful collections, and who, if he stay here any length of time, will
+be in a position to enrich considerably the museums of natural history in
+Europe, with numerous rare and valuable specimens.
+
+Just at the summit of the pass of Megamendoeng (dark cloud), begin the
+Preanger Regencies. This pass moreover forms a boundary line between the
+Malay language, chiefly used for commercial transactions along the coast,
+and that of Sunda, the difference between which two idioms, as regards the
+uninformed stranger is only so far important, that in asking a native for
+a light for his cigar, he must now say "Sono," instead of "Api," as
+hitherto, always supposing that he is a smoker, a qualification which
+rarely fails to appertain to the inhabitants of the Dutch East Indies.
+
+Here, in a wooden building open on all sides, and commanding an exquisite
+panoramic view, we partook of a _déjeuner à la fourchette_, prepared quite
+in the European style, after which, amidst a drenching thunder-plump, we
+pursued our course to Tjipannas, which lies about 1000 feet below the
+level of the pass.
+
+At every village we passed, the authorities, as is the custom of the
+country, provided us with an escort. Thus we almost constantly had some 20
+or 30 persons riding behind our carriages. The poor people had indued
+themselves in their best apparel, and looked very pretty in their varied
+fantastic attire. Even the rain, which still continued to descend in
+torrents, did not prevent them from following us, in order to do justice
+to the requirements of Javanese etiquette. So too, every one whom we met
+on the road assumed a respectful attitude, resting on the knees in a
+half-kneeling position, and cowering down in the road with folded hands,
+till our vehicle had rolled by. All the villages we saw had a very neat,
+clean, cheerful appearance. The houses of the Javanese (with the exception
+of those of the native authorities) are as a rule built entirely of
+bamboo, part being of wicker-work, part of the cane placed either side by
+side, or above each other, the whole roofed in with palm-leaves, or
+Allang grass (_Imperata Allang_), or narrow shingles of cut bamboo, and
+with a flooring raised two or three feet above the level of the soil. The
+beautiful yellow wicker-work is usually stained in alternate squares of so
+black a colour that the walls of a Javanese hut resemble nothing so much
+as a gigantic draught-board. Under the eaves of the dwelling, which
+project five or six feet, and is supported in front upon poles, so that
+there is a sort of verandah beneath, are suspended cages with various
+feathered inhabitants, which the Javanese cherish with much tenderness, or
+else a very peculiarly constructed bee-hive, consisting of a bamboo-cane,
+six or nine inches thick by three or four feet in length, which is split
+through the centre, hollowed out, and fastened together again on the upper
+side.
+
+Through a small orifice left in front, this artificial cavity is within a
+week or two peopled with a swarm of tiny stingless bees (_Meliporia
+minuta_) which in the wild state inhabit the holes and cavities of the
+calcareous cliffs, and provide the Javanese with honey and wax. The latter
+product is blackish, slimy, and adhesive, and is employed in the
+delineation of the beautifully coloured figures in the gowns (_Sarongs_)
+of the native women.
+
+                  [Illustration: Javanese Bee-hive.]
+
+At the station of Tjianjawar, we were saluted, while changing horses, by a
+Javanese chief, from Tjiangoer, named Radben Rangga Padma Negara, who,
+despite the tremendous tropical rains, accompanied us on horseback in his
+rich uniform, overlaid with gold lace, as far as Tjipannas, where we were
+received by two government officials, and welcomed with the utmost
+cordiality. Here it was arranged we were to pass the night, so as, early
+the following morning, to make the ascent of Gunung Pangerango. We also
+found awaiting us a letter from Dr. Junghuhn, the renowned geologist and
+writer on the natural history of Java, who for years has resided about a
+day's journey from Tjipannas, at Lembang, at the foot of Tankuban-Prahu,
+and has latterly been engaged by government to superintend the china-plant
+cultivation. Dr. Junghuhn had come to meet us as far as Tjipodas, where
+the first attempts at cultivation of the china plant were being made with
+roots imported from South America, but, owing to a press of important
+business, was compelled to return to his own station before we reached the
+Preanger Regencies. This estimable German gentleman urgently besought us,
+by letter, to visit him in his forest abode, and painted in the most
+glowing colours the wonders of Nature, and the interest in a scientific
+point of view of his mighty mountain neighbour. At the same time he sent
+over his learned assistant, Dr. de Vrij, to welcome in his name the
+Austrian travellers, to explain to them in all their detail the
+Cinchona-plantations at the foot of Pangerango, and to enlighten them as
+to the present condition and prospects of this very important branch of
+cultivation.
+
+On the morning of 15th May we set off on horseback for the Pangerango,
+which was covered with dense vapours, which wholly concealed it from view,
+and rather damped our hopes of enjoying a fine view from the summit. A
+path for horses has been made to the very top, and although at certain
+points this passes over exceedingly steep ground, yet the Javanese horses
+climb with such safety and dogged perseverance, even in the most dangerous
+spots, that one may leave these small but powerful animals to choose their
+way, with as much confidence as in the case of that most sure-footed of
+animals, the mule of South America. Our cavalcade consisted of thirty
+riders, while an immense number of natives took on themselves the duties
+of an honorary body-guard. The forests, usually so lonely, were now alive
+with hundreds of men, busy transporting our horses, provisions, couches,
+tables, and stores, which were all to be conveyed to the highest peak of
+the mountain, where we intended to spend the evening. After we had
+attained a considerable distance from Tjipannas, constantly ascending till
+we were about 4000 feet above it, we found the flanks of the mountain
+quite free of wood. The traveller sees a few villages scattered at random,
+and rides over grass pasturages, on which are feeding troops of buffalos,
+alternating with plantations of tobacco or coffee. But at the very point
+where the forest gradually begins, where gigantic trees have been left
+standing like so many sentinels, there it is that the amazed European
+falls in with most luxuriant beds of artichokes and strawberries, and is
+welcomed on this distant soil by all the well-known fruits of his remote
+home. The path leads past Tjipodas, into a deep narrow valley, overgrown
+with the most luxuriant vegetation, and thence through a forest of
+indescribable majesty, filled with the straight, tapering, pillar-shaped
+trunks, 80 to 100 feet in height, of the imposing Rasamala
+(_Liquidambar-Altingiana_), and a thoroughly tropical underwood of wild
+_Musaceæ_, and splendid tree-ferns, till finally the broad plateau-shaped
+Tjiburum (red-water) is reached. Here at an elevation of 5100 feet we
+found some Pasanggrahans, or resting-houses, erected by government for the
+shelter and accommodation of all travellers through these mountain
+solitudes, who may happen to be surprised by night, or inclement weather.
+Such hostelries are found everywhere in the interior of Java, especially
+in those districts where they are most likely to be needed by European
+travellers, or by government employés, during their frequent tours of
+inspection, in which they occasionally undergo severe privations. At
+Tjiburum, lying far above the regions inhabited by man, there is a small
+nursery of useful plants of colder climes, bearing ample testimony to the
+indefatigable activity of Mr. Teijsmann of Buitenzorg, to whom the
+community is moreover chiefly indebted for the laying out of the entire
+road to the summit of the mountain. As there was every indication of a
+severe storm coming on, and as we hoped by pressing forward to get to our
+goal before it should burst, we halted here only long enough to change
+horses. This done we again resumed the ascent, much refreshed by the
+delay, which imparted renewed vigour to climb the steep zig-zag pathway,
+which now led through a gloomy, silent forest, whence not a sound issued
+except the _blowing_ of our cattle, as they breasted the steep, and far
+below us the hollow roar of the mountain brook, which swept through the
+valley beneath. We then found ourselves approaching nearer and nearer to
+some resounding torrent, which went on increasing, till to our amazement
+we suddenly perceived amid the keen cool mountain breezes a smoking
+cascade of hot water!! (_Tji-olok_, or Sulphur spring). This warm spring,
+with a temperature of 113° Fahr., which even at its source forms a
+tolerable-sized brook, issues with much spluttering from a trachytic rock
+close by the way-side, and rushes, brawling and foaming, down a narrow
+defile, overgrown with splendid tree-ferns, and which is crossed by means
+of a slight rustic bridge. Scarcely is it possible to conceive a richer
+landscape, recalling as it were the primeval days of earth in all the
+luxuriance of Nature in the flush of youth, than this forest of
+tree-ferns, enveloped in clouds of warm vapour, which rise from this
+volcanic spring, close alongside of a clear, cold mountain torrent, which
+just here leaps into the same chasm! This hot spring thus early indicates
+the presence of volcanic fires, which is further evidenced by a tract of
+volcanic débris, over which it is necessary to clamber, and which has been
+ejected by the destructive energies of the neighbouring active crater of
+Gedeh, from which the subterranean forces usually throw up, not red-hot
+lava-streams, but from time to time tremendous stone and mud currents,
+which, rushing down the steep flanks of the mountain, overrun and destroy
+everything around.
+
+About 10 A.M. we reached Kandang Badak, or the spot where rhinoceroses
+assemble, which is the second station, 7200 feet above sea-level. Solitary
+specimens of the formidable animals which have given their name to this
+place are still met with here; but a troop of some hundred men,
+accompanied by almost as many horses, must necessarily make such a din in
+the usually solitary forest, as at once to account for our being unable by
+personal observation to speak as to whether it deserves the name it has
+received. The rhinoceros, despite his immense size, is a shy, timid
+animal, who flees before man, and only attacks him when fairly compelled
+to do so in self-defence. The Pasanggrahan erected at this spot has
+several times already been burnt down by red-hot stones ejected from
+Gedeh. Here the path divides, one branch leading to the still active
+crater of Gedeh, which can only be reached on foot, the other leading to
+the summit of Pangerango. For the second time we changed horses, and now
+had the last bit of the way before us--the steep, almost precipitous, cone
+of Pangerango. It was enveloped in thick clouds, and it was only by the
+short windings of the path we could realize that we were riding up an
+isolated cone of regular form, the slope of which was between 25 and 30
+degrees. The cool air of these elevated regions now began to make itself
+felt, while our sensations bodily testified to the northern character of
+the vegetation around us. The tree-ferns indeed continued to grow up to
+the very highest point, but long ere reaching the summit they ceased to be
+found among the gigantic forest-pillars of the _Liquid-ambar_, but grew
+between dwarfish, knotted, stunted trees, whose trunks were overrun with a
+bright green moss, while from the branches hung festoons of greyish-green
+beard-moss (_Tillandsia usnioides_), greatly resembling hair. The trees,
+instead of stretching out their brown limbs to the air and light above,
+left them to droop sullenly to the ground, turning themselves, as though
+in pain, away from the rude wind which swept through their branches, and,
+as it were, seeking for warmth and sustenance from mother Earth alone. All
+the plants here showed a tendency to become creepers, as also to a
+circumscribed growth and extent of foliage, as well as uniformity of
+species. By 3 P.M. the whole party, including a rear-guard of irregular
+naturalists and sharp-shooters, had finally reached the summit of the
+mountain. When Dr. Junghuhn, the first man who trod this solitude, made
+the earliest ascent of this mountain in 1839, he found not a trace of a
+human step, and had painfully to make his way by rhinoceros-paths, beneath
+a thick overhanging canopy of leaves, and through dense underwood. Thus he
+finally succeeded in forcing a passage through the forest, till he emerged
+upon a naked patch in the middle of the peak, where a rhinoceros was
+lying in the middle of the stream, while another was browsing on the edge
+of the forest: they fled snorting away on beholding him. How different was
+what we now witnessed on the same spot!
+
+The flat space on the summit, somewhat concave in shape, and sinking
+gradually away, the deepest part being towards the S.W., whence issues the
+highest spring in Java, now resembled the bivouac of a detachment of
+troops. Everywhere were men and horses, with cheerful blazing fires for
+cooking and warming, while immediately adjoining a strawberry garden
+filled with delicious fruit, rose a hut for shelter against wind and
+weather, in which we found a surprising degree of comfort. Tables, chairs,
+beds, excellent provisions and drinkables, were ready for us at an
+elevation of more than 9000 feet above the level of the sea, so that there
+was nothing wanting which could in any way contribute to our comfort. Even
+the necessary warmth was supplied by a huge iron stove, constantly kept
+supplied with fresh fuel by a Javanese servant, cowering on the ground.
+This was the more necessary that our systems, accustomed of late to
+tropical temperature, were unusually susceptible to this sudden and
+extreme change. In the morning when we left Tjipannas the thermometer even
+at that early hour marked 70°, while the mercury had now sunk to 48°.22
+Fahr. The longings we so often expressed, during a sojourn for months
+together on the bosom of the ocean, amid the moist, sultry strata of the
+lower atmosphere, in an almost unvarying Turkish-bath-like temperature of
+86°, of being once more re-invigorated by a little cold, were now being
+gratified to the letter.
+
+Unfortunately our anticipated enjoyment of the view from the summit was
+entirely frustrated by rain and cloud: we could hardly see anything a
+hundred yards distant, and the only idea we could form of the gigantic
+mountains and splendid hill-scenery that we knew surrounded us on all
+hands, had to be derived chiefly from the topographical charts we found in
+the hut. It was only during the occasional fleeting glimpses, when the
+S.E. trade-wind of the upper atmosphere, generally the chief ruler of
+these lofty regions, and almost always accompanied by a pure, blue sky,
+overpowered the N.W. trade (which blew from beneath; and, trending upwards
+along the cleft in the western side of the crater of Mondolawangi,
+continually enveloped anew in clouds the summit of the Pangerango), that
+it was permitted us to descry, now here, now there, small stretches of the
+country lying spread out at our feet, or to perceive closer at hand the
+inner slope of the crater of Gedeh, lying exposed to our wondering vision.
+We did what we could to secure a few thermometrical and barometrical
+observations, as also to shoot, to geologize, to botanize; and many a
+valuable discovery was made ere night set in and compelled us to seek
+shelter against the raw, cold night air, in the Pasanggrahan, which had
+been so carefully fitted up for our accommodation. On the summit we found
+quite an accumulation of various elegant little plants, which recalled to
+us the Alpine districts of our own land, one of which, first discovered
+by Junghuhn, and named by him _Primula Imperialis_,[49] is one of the
+loveliest flowers in Nature, and which has never yet been found in any
+other part of the globe; while in the brushwood around we heard the cooing
+of a bird of the thrush species (_Turdus fumidus_), which, with the
+exception of a small, very elegant little fellow, somewhat resembling the
+willow-wren, was the sole representative of the feathered tribe in these
+elevated regions.
+
+All our hopes were now directed towards the ensuing morning, which it was
+hoped would bring us better weather. By five in the morning every one was
+on foot, watching with anxious look the advent of the star of day. But
+alas! ere long all was once more enveloped for us in a dense but fine
+vapour, and the thermometer indicated only 47°.33 Fahr.
+
+About fifty feet higher than the two huts for shelter erected on the
+plateau rises a trigonometrical pole, which, visible from a great
+distance, serves as a land-mark for the government surveyors during their
+labours in this neighbourhood. Any clear morning, when the sky is free
+from clouds, one must enjoy from this free, airy out-look a splendid
+distant view over a large portion of the Preanger Regency. As for
+ourselves our panorama continued to be lamentably circumscribed, and all
+we could do was, to watch for those fleeting moments during which the
+clouds lifted and gave us a brief yet comprehensive glimpse of the
+wondrous natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.
+
+Pangerango, 9326 Paris, or 9940 English, feet in height, is the loftiest
+of the extinct volcanic cones of Java, rising on the eastern slope of an
+enormous crater-gulf, likewise extinct. Close in the vicinity, not above a
+mile distant to the S.E., and communicating with it by the ridge of Pasce
+Alang, 7000 (Paris) feet in height, rises another volcanic peak, Gunung
+Gedeh, of almost precisely identical height (9323 Paris, or 9937 English,
+feet). Its summit has fallen in, and from amid the débris on the floor of
+this ruined crater rises a second cone far less in height, but in full
+activity, with a deep crater, which is the true fiery gorge of the still
+active Gedeh. Towards 7 A.M. the clouds dispersed for a considerable
+space, when directly opposite us we saw the beautifully regular cone of
+Gedeh, with its perpendicular precipitous crater-wall, some 600 or 700
+feet high. So near, indeed, did it appear to the eye that we could almost
+fancy it possible to throw a stone from the one summit to the other, so
+that it should fall exactly into the crater, from amid whose rents and
+cavities thick volumes of smoke were bursting forth at several points.
+
+By 10 A.M. our caravan was once more under weigh on our return to
+Tjipannas. The geologist of the Expedition, however, accompanied by Dr.
+Vrij and one of the government employés, set off upon a rather dangerous
+adventure, viz. the ascent of the Gedeh. Of this interesting excursion,
+Dr. Hochstetter gives the following interesting details:--
+
+"A short distance before reaching the station of Kandung Badak, the path
+leaves the road by which we had come thus far. Here we had to clamber
+upwards as best we might, by a narrow path densely overgrown, and
+evidently but rarely traversed, till presently we emerged from the forest
+upon a tract of loose stone and scoriæ, which, sparsely covered with low
+bushes and grass, forms the upper portion of the peak of Gedeh. A strong
+odour of sulphuretted hydrogen greeted us here, issuing from a Solfatara,
+which nestled under the true crater in a deep savage cleft of rock. Hot
+sulphureous and watery vapours were emitted from among the dark crannies
+of the rock, the upper edges of which were coloured yellow with pure
+sulphur: with much difficulty we still pressed on, and finally reached the
+edge of the ruined crater. What a contrast presented itself here in the
+view before us and the landscape behind!
+
+"Behind we could see from base to summit clear and unbroken the beautiful
+luxuriantly-green well-wooded peak of Pangerango, on whose highest point
+stood out near and distinct the trigonometrical pole, or land-mark, while
+from the forest was heard an occasional musket-shot, sure sign that the
+company of travellers from the ship were on their way down. On the other
+hand, when we cast our eyes forward we saw but dismal desolate groups of
+grey rock, around the lofty amphitheatre-shaped rock wall of the
+broken-down lip of a crater, regularly constructed of pillar-like masses
+of trachyte, each sundered from the column immediately adjoining, beneath
+which was the smoking cone of the active region of the crater, a bare heap
+of stone and scoriæ, of the utmost variety of colour. Stretching from the
+vast abyss of the crater-ruins, on whose bald slope is situated the cone
+of the new eruption, there is visible at intervals on either side, far
+down, until indeed it is lost in the dark gloom of the forest, a bare
+rocky ravine, full of stones and débris, which the active vent of the
+crater has from time to time vomited forth. We had on the previous day
+passed the lower extremity of this stream while riding to Pangerango.
+
+"But we were not yet at the goal of our wanderings. We still had to climb
+from this point, and afterwards to scramble up to the summit of the active
+cone. This, however, proved to be much more easy than we had thought when
+looking at it from below, and we arrived without any disaster at the
+summit.
+
+"Here then we were standing upon the edge of a yawning crater, in full
+activity! Not a single step forward was it possible for us to make. In
+front of us lay a funnel-shaped slope, 250 feet in depth, the floor of
+which was covered with mud, in which stood frequent pools of boiling water
+of a yellow tinge. The Javanese who accompanied us stated that they had
+never before seen it so quiet, the crater having always been quite full
+of steam and vapour. On the present occasion the steam only escaped in
+small volumes through a few fissures in the sides of the inverted cone,
+and more particularly from the cracks and crevices on the exterior of the
+cone of scoriæ. We could perceive only water, steam, mud, and
+sharp-cornered fragments of rock, the débris and rubbish formed by the
+disintegration of the rocky masses thrown up by the crater, but not a
+trace, not a vestige, of any molten stream of lava, heaped up by the
+present crater of Gedeh. The whole history of the activity of this volcano
+may be compared to the explosions of a vapour cauldron in the interior of
+the earth, which has been heated by the masses of old trachytic lava
+currents in an incandescent state, but not yet thoroughly cooled, whose
+eruptions formed the principal means of erecting the volcanic cone.
+Repeatedly up to our own times has the mountain thrown up water, mud, and
+stones, together with fine powdered sand and volcanic ashes, which have
+travelled as far as Batavia, as also masses of melted stone cemented by
+liquefied sand, while marvellous volumes of flame were visible to an
+immense distance; but at no period within the memory of man has the Gedeh
+poured forth the hot liquid lava, or thrown up into the air melted
+volcanic matter. We must regard it as in its last stage, as about to
+become extinct, like all the other volcanoes of Java. It is the last
+reaction of the internal fires against the atmosphere penetrating from
+without. Even the most active volcanoes of Java, such as Gunung Guntur and
+Gunung Lamengan eject only masses of liquefied rock and scoriæ, cemented
+by the heat, but the regular lava currents have never been observed."
+
+While Dr. Hochstetter was occupied with this excursion to the active
+crater of Gedeh, the remaining members of the Expedition had reached
+Tjipodas at the foot of this fire-mountain, where, at an elevation of 4400
+feet above sea-level, and at an annual average temperature of 63°.5 Fahr.,
+the first attempts were made to acclimatize in Java the valuable quinquina
+tree (_Cinchona sp._).
+
+Although for twenty years past the introduction into Java of the
+cultivation of the quinquina tree, the bark of which is of such
+superlative importance for suffering humanity, had been repeatedly tried,
+this praiseworthy intention was only successfully carried into effect in
+1852, through the purchase of a specimen of _Cinchona Calisaya_ from the
+_Jardin des Plantes_ at Paris by the then colonial minister of the kingdom
+of the Netherlands, M. Pahud, afterwards Governor-general of the Dutch
+East Indies. M. Pahud had the plant brought to Leyden with the utmost
+care, whence it was conveyed to Rotterdam for shipment to Batavia.
+Immediately on its arrival this plant, the progenitor of all that have
+been grown since, was placed in what is called the Governor-general's
+strawberry garden in Tjipodas, where it was protected by a bamboo shed
+from rain and sun, and at the time of our visit was 16 feet high. Dr.
+Hasskarl, widely renowned as a botanist, was, on the recommendation of Dr.
+Junghuhn, who had himself been urgently requested to undertake the duty,
+entrusted with a mission to Peru, whence he was to bring back offshoots,
+and germinating seeds, of the various species of Cinchona from which
+quinine is obtainable. Two years later, a Dutch man-of-war was specially
+despatched to Callao, the harbour of Lima, to convey Hasskarl with his
+valuable booty. That gentleman accordingly brought away with him four
+well-rooted young trees, and the seeds of four species of Cinchona,[50]
+but only the saplings gave promise of success, whereas the greater part of
+the seeds, on being sown, were lost. M. Hasskarl has had the reproach cast
+upon him, that during his expensive residence of two years' duration in
+Peru, he should have collected such few data of the higher and lower
+limits of vegetation of the China plant, and the conditions of soil and
+mountain temperature under which it best flourishes, of the general
+influence exercised on it by storm and humidity, as also upon the annual
+quantity of rain it requires, whether a shady or sunny place of growth be
+best adapted to it, the period of flowering and fructification, the
+alterations which may be rendered necessary by its habits of growth at
+various points, as to what are its natural enemies, and how far its
+alkaloid properties are affected by the greater or less elevation above
+the sea of the spot in which it is growing, &c., &c. Nay, some persons
+went so far as to allege that the botanist had never seen one single
+China plantation, and had never personally selected either the plants or
+the seed, but had made arrangements for being supplied with the specimens
+he brought by means of the native bark-collectors (_Cascarilleros_). As
+though still further to enhance the public discontent with Hasskarl, and
+the failure of his expensive mission, fate unhappily willed that his wife,
+who was said to be bringing with her his papers and memoranda of his stay
+in Peru, was lost, together with the vessel which, after several years'
+separation from her husband, was about restoring her to his arms, in
+consequence of which many questions relating to the cultivation of the
+China plant in northern and southern Peru remained unanswered! Hasskarl
+ere long returned to Europe "for his health," and the superintendence of
+the China cultivation was in June, 1858, committed to Dr. Junghuhn, in
+whose careful charge it now is, and has taken a start which leaves no room
+to doubt its ultimate and permanent success.
+
+In October, 1856, there were in Tjipodas 105 China trees of 2 feet 6
+inches high (41 of _C. Calisaya_, 64 of _C. Condanimea_). On 31st October,
+1857, there were only 95 about 4 feet 11-1/2 inches in height, all in
+flourishing condition, while 10 had died. The cause of this lamentable
+phenomenon could not long escape the piercing glance of Junghuhn. The
+first tender shoots had been planted in a Tufa soil, the fertile covering
+of which barely exceeded 6 to 9 inches in thickness, and were surrounded
+by roots and stumps of immense forest trees that had been cut down, which
+of course prevented anything like expansion, and, in a word, completely
+stifled their growth.
+
+In the case of the earlier plants, there was far too little attention paid
+to the requisite amount of shade. The timber had been entirely cleared
+away, and the young plants were consequently exposed during the whole day
+to the fierce heat of the tropics. Unless people were prepared to see the
+whole plantation go to ruin it was necessary at once to take protecting
+measures against it. Junghuhn was a man fit for any emergency, as he had
+already shown on the banks of his native Rhine, when the very cells of
+Ehrenbreitstein, with which a chivalric adventure had made him acquainted
+in his youth, had for once been found too narrow to hold him. So in
+Tjipodas, the man of resources was able at once to devise a remedy. With
+incredible toil, and the most fostering care and attention, nearly all the
+trees were, without detriment to one single twig, transplanted from a soil
+so little congenial to them to the adjoining Rasamala-wood, in which the
+proud, slight _Liquid-ambar Altingiana_ imparts its own peculiar character
+to the primeval forest, where they were transferred to spots partly
+shaded, which had already been prepared for their special reception, the
+sites having been surrounded with trenches to carry off the superfluous
+water. In October, 1857, some of the trees had already attained a height
+of 14-1/2 feet; by 31st March of the following year they were already
+15-1/2 feet, while their stems were 3.44 inches thick. Many of the trees
+planted near the forest had within three months grown from 9 to 21
+inches, while the few that remained on their old site had only gained 9 or
+10 inches in height, a fact which seemed incontestably to prove that the
+new site was the better adapted to them. In June, 1857, the first blossom
+had made its appearance on one of the _Condanimea_, but it was not till
+May, 1858, that the majority of the trees were in full bloom, or that the
+ripening fruit began to make its appearance. When all the fruits ripen,
+Dr. Junghuhn told us he was in hopes he would secure 80,000 fruit, which,
+as each fruit contains about 40 seeds, would provide him with 3,200,000
+seedlings. It is not indeed a question merely of ripe and at the same time
+fertilized seeds, but chiefly whether the bark of this plant contains in
+the land of its adoption, and under different conditions, that costly
+alkaloid quinine, which seems daily to become more indispensable in the
+science of medicine.
+
+Despite the most anxious solicitude there had long been remarked in
+Tjipodas a gradual decay of some of the shoots, but it was only a few days
+before our arrival that after a most minute zealous inquiry the cause of
+this phenomenon was discovered. A minute insect, scarcely 1/25 of an inch
+in length, of the _Bostrichus_ species, proved to be the foe of these
+plants. The holes which are burrowed by this insect, are drilled quite
+through the wood of the stem and branches into the very pith, in which it
+finally stops and lays its eggs. The Cinchona trees thus bored through are
+irremediably ruined, but there is always the hope that, as the roots
+remain sound, they may afterwards put forth new shoots. However, the
+appearance of this insect does not seem to be the primary cause of the
+disease of the trees,--on the contrary, disease is the cause of the
+appearance of the insect. If the other trees prove to be successfully
+reared, the insect will disappear, since it was convincingly proved by one
+of our zoologists that it had not come to the country with the Cinchona
+seeds and plants, but was undoubtedly indigenous to Java.
+
+Altogether there were, in May, 1858, upon the whole island three quinquina
+plantations, which have been specially established with a view to the
+solution of certain questions of climate at various elevations, and are
+situated in the following localities:--
+
+1. In Tjipodas at the foot of Gunung Gedeh (4400 to 4800 feet above
+sea-level), in a beautiful Liquid-ambar forest, and containing 80 plants.
+
+2. In Bengalenzong, on the declivities of the Malabar Range (4000 to 7000
+feet in height), in the midst of a considerable oak forest (_Quercus
+fagifolia_), containing 600 plants.
+
+3. South of Besuki on the Ajang Range (about 6800 feet above sea-level),
+in a plantation[51] containing 21 plants, to which Dr. Junghuhn gave the
+name of Wono Djampie, i. e. Forest of medicines.
+
+The Dutch Government has spared neither trouble nor expense, and has made
+considerable sacrifices, to bring over the quinquina plant from its native
+country, where it was believed to be threatened with utter destruction, to
+Java, there to be acclimatized. The chances in favour of an adequate
+return are very great, and the attainment of this object has been secured
+within certain limits. Of all the tropical regions we visited, the Island
+of Java seems by its natural advantages to be the best capable of
+affording to the tree which produces the febrifuge bark, so invaluable a
+boon of nature to suffering humanity, a second home, amid the magnificent
+scenery of its mountain ranges.
+
+However, the wide-spread idea that the China plant is exposed to utter
+extinction in its native land of Peru has proved to be quite unfounded. We
+shall revert to this subject when we come to treat of our visit to the
+western coast of South America, and shall take pains to solve at least
+some portion of the question in dispute, as to certain necessary
+conditions being requisite to be observed in the case of the quinquina
+plant in its original home, the investigation of which, the superintendent
+of the quinquina tree culture in Java, Dr. Franz Junghuhn, so earnestly
+commended to the attention of the scientific members of the _Novara_
+Expedition.
+
+However, our interest was not confined to these China-tree plantations;
+our attention was riveted by the marvellous Rasamala (Liquid-ambar) forest
+in which we now found ourselves, while those fond of the chase were not
+less amazed and gratified, at bringing down a splendid specimen of what
+is known as the Kalong or Roussette Bat (_Pteropus vulgaris_). These
+singular nocturnal animals hang in enormous quantities throughout the
+entire day from the branches of the trees, amid the profoundest stillness,
+till evening sets in and dismisses them to their nightly evolutions. They
+are then visible flying through the air like gigantic bats, or flying
+foxes.
+
+While riding back to Tjipannas we remarked amid the smiling rice fields
+several poles with hangings of various kinds, resembling those erected on
+the shore in front of their huts by the superstitious natives of the
+Nicobar Islands, in order to keep his Satanic Majesty at a distance. The
+natives call these poles Tundang-Setan (talisman against the devil), and
+believe they can by their aid frighten away the evil spirits, while they
+are gathering the crop from their rice fields.
+
+From Tjipodas the excursionists proceeded to Tjiangoer,[52] the present
+capital of the Preanger Regency, containing about 15,000 inhabitants,
+where some days were to be spent in excursions, collections, hunting, and
+other amusements, after which we were compelled by the limited time
+available to return to Buitenzorg and Batavia. Two members of the
+Expedition, Drs. Hochstetter and Scherzer, penetrated a little further
+into the interior, with the purpose of paying a visit to Dr. Junghuhn, to
+whose researches in the Natural History of Java we are so much indebted.
+The following few pages are devoted to an account of this interesting
+excursion.
+
+Towards 5 P.M. we arrived at Tjiangoer, in company with Dr. de Vrij and M.
+Vollenhoven, and immediately set out on our journey to Bandong, so as to
+reach the same evening that neat little town, whose singularly favourable
+position, almost exactly in the centre of the Regency, makes it a
+dangerous rival to Tjiangoer as the seat of government. _En route_ we
+passed Tjisokan, a small village, most of whose inhabitants are engaged in
+procuring edible swallows'-nests, which are found in great quantities at a
+chalk mountain about twelve miles distant, known as Radjamandula.[53] The
+spots at which the edible nests of the _Hirundo esculenta_ are found are
+anything but grottoes peculiar to this product, as is usually alleged, but
+steep, almost inaccessible, cliffs, crannies, and fissures in the rock, in
+which the swallows build their nests, and which can only be reached by the
+utmost exertion, frequently accompanied by danger to life. They are met
+with partly upon the south coast, close above the raging surf, partly deep
+in the interior, about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, distant
+several hundred English miles from the nearest part of the sea-shore; and
+while the inhabitants of Karangbólong have to scale the almost
+perpendicular coast-wall by means of ladders[54] of Rotang (_Calamus
+Rotang_) and Bamboo, ere they can reach the entrance of the cavern, the
+natives of Bandong, on the contrary, are compelled to climb up to a yet
+greater elevation among the precipices and rocks, ere they are able to
+reach the openings that lead to the various hollows.
+
+While the birds are breeding, or if they have their young, which happens
+four times each year, one half remain in the cavities, and both males and
+females take their turns in sitting to brood, every six hours. Each nest
+is inhabited by a pair of swallows, so that if 1000 nests are found in a
+cave, they are inhabited by 2000 grown swallows (half male, half female).
+The fecundity of this bird is so great, that, although the nests are
+gathered four times a year, and that somewhere about a million of their
+progeny is at each plucking wasted or destroyed by the collectors, they
+never seem to diminish. The six caves at Bandong give yearly about 14,000
+nests, that at Karangbólong about 500,000: one hundred nests weigh about
+one _catty_ (1-1/4 lb.), and one hundred catties (125 lbs.) make one
+_picul_.[55] For each picul of these nests, which they look upon as a
+special delicacy, the Chinese pay from 4000 to 5000 guilders (£350 to
+£420). The nest-gatherers are apparently a special class, whose occupation
+is handed down from father to son.
+
+Close to the village of Tjisokan, a very elegant wooden bridge,
+constructed on the American system, but entirely erected out of the
+resources of the colony, has been thrown over the Tjisokan river. The
+roads, although broad and kept in excellent order, nevertheless lead
+occasionally over hills so steep, that to descend them in a heavy
+carriage, especially considering the rapidity with which the Javanese
+drive, is exceedingly uncomfortable, and even dangerous, although the
+wheels are in such cases provided with a solid "_sabot_," and where this
+seems likely to prove inadequate, a number of natives hang on to the
+wheels behind, who for a small gratuity control the rate of descent by
+means of ropes.
+
+At last, about midnight, shortly before which we passed the river
+Tji-Tarum by a ferry, we reached Bandong, and on gaining the residence of
+the Javanese Regent, Raden Adipati Wira Nata Kusuma (spelt by the Dutch
+_Koesoema_, but pronounced as spelt in the text), were received,
+notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, in the most hospitable and
+friendly manner. Here we found everything, even to the minutest detail,
+managed in the European fashion; and no guest would imagine that he was in
+the house of one of the Mahometan princes of Java, were he not reminded of
+the fact by the rich Oriental costume of his host and his family, as also
+by the Javanese domestics, bearing elegant richly-adorned Siri, or
+betel-boxes, of gold or silver, and invariably tendering their services to
+their masters in a stooping posture, or rather sliding after them upon
+their knees. For the Javanese, too, greatly affect the leaf of the betel,
+mingled with powdered areca-nut, powdered coral, or pearl chalk, and
+Gambir (_Nauclea Gambir_); however, this mixture is not chewed, but
+placed between the lips and the front teeth, where it is barely kept long
+enough to admit of the saliva collecting in the mouth of a blood-red
+colour, which they spit out, the poor in their huts into cocoa-nut shells,
+the wealthier classes into copper vessels, but princes and rich people
+into golden spittoons. Even the ladies have given way to this custom, and
+the native belles make use occasionally of this filthy juice in order to
+keep importunate admirers at a distance!
+
+Supper, which, in anticipation of our arrival, had been made ready for us,
+was served entirely in the European mode, and our Mahometan host went so
+far in his assimilation to Western ideas as to overcome certain religious
+scruples, and himself join us at table. As we sat round the board long
+after midnight the Assistant Resident of the district made his appearance,
+M. Visscher van Gaasbeek, a Hanoverian by birth, who however has lived
+twenty-five years in this country, and immediately placed himself entirely
+at our disposal. We now proceeded to chalk out our plan of operations for
+the ensuing day, and the Regent gave orders in advance to have in
+readiness his own coach and several saddle-horses for an excursion to
+Lembang, the residence of M. Junghuhn. Before we separated, the Regent,
+with whom unfortunately we could only communicate through a Malay
+interpreter, with much condescension produced out of a leathern case his
+own elegantly-engraved _carte-de-visite_, and expressed his desire to
+exchange with ourselves. The Javanese princes seem to attach especial
+importance to anticipating the Europeans in good-breeding, and
+forestalling the desires and wishes of strangers. At last, towards 2 A.M.,
+we went to rest, and despite the fatigue of the previous day, were by 5
+A.M. seated in the carriage of the Regent, _en route_ to the residence of
+Dr. Junghuhn. We drove the two first posts, about 10 _paals_, when we
+exchanged that mode of conveyance for our horses, which in less than an
+hour brought us to Lembang, situated about 4000 feet above sea-level, in
+an almost European climate. Standing alone close to this village is the
+beautiful dwelling of Junghuhn, at the foot of the volcano Tangkuban
+Prahu, and surrounded on all sides by beautifully-laid-out gardens, in
+which, cut off from the scientific world, he lives with his family.
+Everything around gives to the stranger a thoroughly home-feeling; in
+every countenance is visible content, in every glance the most heart-felt
+cheerfulness.
+
+Franz Junghuhn, a German by birth, from the district of Mansfeld in the
+Harz-mountains, saw many years hard service as a military surgeon in the
+service of the Dutch Government, and at present holds the appointments of
+Inspector of Scientific Explorations, and Director of the entire
+China-tree cultivation of the Island of Java, with ample means for the
+solution of this problem. This indefatigable naturalist (of whom there is
+an excellent engraving at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew), to whom
+science is indebted for the most comprehensive information relating to
+Java, has himself ascended 45 different volcanic peaks, and that at a
+period when there were no bridle-roads leading to their foot, but only
+those singular zig-zag paths which the rhinoceros has worn for himself, in
+order to browse at his leisure and undisturbed on the roots and rich grass
+of these lofty pastures. His imposing exterior and expression of
+countenance all betoken the indefatigable perseverance and gigantic
+powers, both physical and intellectual, which find expression in his
+incomparable work upon Java, and his great chart of that island.
+
+The renowned _savant_ received us like old friends, with the most
+delightful fervent hospitality, related to us his very latest experiments
+and observations with respect to the cultivation of the quinquina plant,
+and presented us with his last work,[56] to which he seemed exclusively to
+devote his entire activity. For our own part, we in return promised Dr.
+Junghuhn to make most special inquiries upon the subject during the period
+of our stay in the native country of the Cinchona, and to endeavour to be
+able to answer to the questions we were charged with; as by so doing we
+hoped to repay in some degree our tribute of gratitude, for the countless
+instances of personal interest and attention which had been shown us by
+the scientific gentlemen in Java, as well as by all the government
+officials.
+
+Adjoining Junghuhn's dwelling, a large proportion of the coffee beans
+raised in the Preanger district are prepared for the European market. The
+Government has farmed the process to one M. Phlippan, and first deals with
+the beans when, packed in sacks, they are ready for exportation. The
+entire coffee crop of the environs of Bandong, averaging about 80,000
+piculs (or 10,000,000 lbs.), is conveyed annually over the hills to
+Lembang, where the fleshy berries are first shelled and made ready. For
+this purpose they use the Brazilian or moist mode of treatment, by which
+process, however, according to the opinion of connoisseurs in coffee
+beans, much of their flavour must be lost. But, instead of attributing the
+well-marked decrease of flavour of the Java coffee bean to this mode of
+preparation,[57] others are disposed to find the cause of this
+deterioration in degeneration of the coffee-shrub itself, and accordingly
+the Dutch Government sent out to Java the well-known botanist Professor
+Vriese (with appointments[58] which must appear almost fabulous to a
+German botanist), in order to determine upon scientific data the cause of
+the falling off of the coffee bean. The sending out to Java a Professor of
+the University of Leyden, who had never before been in the Dutch East
+Indies, in order to enlighten the practical coffee planters, already on
+the spot, as to the deterioration of that plant, made anything but a
+favourable impression. Some bitter wags, indeed, of whom there is no lack
+in Java, any more than of Punches or Charivari at home, said that the
+mission of Professor Vriese was as singular as if a native Javanese had
+been despatched to Holland in order to teach the farmers there how to make
+_cheese_.
+
+Nevertheless, the solution of this question of the degeneracy of the
+coffee is of the very highest importance to the country, as it produces
+annually about 800,000 piculs (100,000,000 lbs.) coffee beans,[59] and as
+its climate and soil are eminently suitable for a far more extended
+development of that branch of cultivation, which was first introduced from
+Mocha into Java, about 1718, by the then Governor, Hendrik
+Zwoardecroon.[60] The entire coffee crop must be delivered by the coffee
+planters to the Government at a fixed price, and while paying in the
+interior 3-1/2 guilders (5_s._ 10_d._) per picul (125 lbs.), it fetches in
+Batavia, where the people are far more heavily taxed, 9 guilders (15_s._)
+per picul. The Netherlands Trading Company (_Nederlandsche
+Handels-Maatschappy_), which possesses the sole right of shipment, pays
+the Dutch Government from 28 to 30 guilders (46_s._ 8_d._ to 50_s._) per
+picul of coffee, which it sells in the European market for its own
+account. How thoroughly such a monopoly must check the growth of trade and
+commerce may be best seen in the stagnation of haughty old Batavia, as
+compared with the youthful, flourishing free port of Singapore. The Dutch
+Government has, however, within the last few years taken a stride in the
+direction of liberalism, and has thrown open a portion of the products of
+the Island (as, for example, sugar, the whole of which Government itself
+had hitherto sent to Holland) to public auction on the spot; and it is
+hoped this system may ultimately be extended to other colonial products,
+especially coffee, and that a little later, not alone Batavia, Samarang,
+and Soerabaya may be declared free, but that all the harbours may be
+thrown open to free trade. With this question of free interchange of
+commodities is intimately bound up that of compulsory labour, which
+consists in the natives of the interior being compelled to work for the
+Government at certain fixed rates. In all districts where the Government
+owns coffee or other plantations, the cultivation of these must be
+attended to by the natives of the nearest villages, for a remuneration
+fixed by the Government. The coolies or porters must, for the fixed price
+of 2-1/2 or 3 doits per paal, carry goods or do service as runners or
+messengers, while free labour is at least four times as dear. A party,
+strongly supported at home, has arisen in Java, advocating the doing away
+with compulsory labour throughout the island, but, owing to the many
+important interests imperilled by such a policy, it has been very
+generally repudiated. It is impossible in Java to broach the topic of
+doing away with compulsory servitude without inaugurating an envenomed
+discussion. For this question concerns many planters and Government
+officials not less closely than that of the abolition of slavery does the
+planters of the southern States of America. On this point we have heard
+such widely different opinions pronounced by experienced, thoughtful,
+impartial men, that we are the less disposed to express, on the occasion
+of so short a visit as ours, any decided sentiments, since such would have
+probably been entirely changed, or at all events modified, if we had lived
+all our lives among the natives, and had become better acquainted with
+their customs and peculiarities of character.
+
+It is believed--such at least is the general impression--that in a land so
+favoured by Nature as Java there is but little to be hoped for from free
+labour, as the requirements of the natives are very limited, and easily
+satisfied. Abandoned to his own impulses of activity, the Javanese would
+only work sufficiently to supply what was necessary for his mere
+subsistence, or would only perform any extra duties so long as the
+imposition of regular labour does not set itself in direct antagonism with
+his docile, gentle disposition. The manners and customs of the country,
+the condition of the populace relative to their princes and chiefs, are
+favourable to the condition of forced labour, in which they have been
+confirmed by their Dutch conquerors, thus rendering it less perceptible
+and intolerable. It is patent to all that since the introduction in 1830
+by General Van den Bosch of the Culture system, or system of compulsory
+labour, the internal state of the colony has enormously benefited,[61] and
+the revenues of the Government increased in a most extraordinary degree.
+In fact, what is known as the _Batig Stal_, or balance of the colonial
+administration for the past year (1859), gave a total of 41,000,000
+guilders (£3,416,000). But the pecuniary profits which the State Treasury
+wrings from the labour of its subjects are, unfortunately (as was amply
+proved in the South American colonies during the days of Spanish
+ascendency), not always a correct standard of the prosperity of a country
+or of the felicity of its inhabitants.
+
+In company of Dr. Vrij the geologist of our Expedition ascended from
+Lembang the volcano of Tangkuban Prahu, whence, following an excellent
+route of travel drawn up by Dr. Junghuhn, he was enabled to visit all the
+more important points of geological interest in the Preanger Regency. Of
+these two highly interesting excursions, which derived an additional charm
+from the cordial hospitality of the Javanese princes, we borrow from Dr.
+Hochstetter's memoranda the following particulars:--
+
+"On the northern side of the table-land of Bandong, which is a veritable
+garden of Eden, hemmed in by roaring volcanic mountains, there rises a
+mountain-chain 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and 4000 above the
+lofty plateau of Bandong. In this range three peaks are conspicuous. The
+native, accustomed to indicate each majestic natural feature of his lovely
+native land by some name which gives a clear idea of its peculiar
+character, or expresses the emotion it makes upon his senses, has named
+the easternmost truncated conical peak Gunung Tungul (7800 feet), that is,
+the Broken Stump or Tree, and affirms that the long central ridge of
+Tangkuban Prahu (6427 feet), or the Inverted Boat, was formed by the
+overturned trunk of the tree, while the third very serrated peak, the
+Buranguang (5690 feet), or Boughs of the Tree, forms the crown of the tree
+with its branches and twigs. Only the long central ridge, the actual hill,
+though its shape would not readily lead us to suppose so, is at this day
+an active volcano. Its crater is one of the most extraordinary spectacles
+in the volcanic system of Java. Formerly it was necessary to follow in the
+tracks of the rhinoceroses up the sides of this mountain, and the ascent
+was not indeed without danger, since it occasionally happened that the
+traveller, while treading some of these funnel-shaped, narrow, tremendous
+defiles, unexpectedly found himself at some sudden turn face to face with
+one of these gigantic animals, and that, with a precipice on one hand and
+a wall of rock on the other, there was no visible means of escaping. Under
+such circumstances there was nothing for it but to fight for life and
+death, until the stronger marched over the corpse of the weaker. At
+present an excellent bridle-path leads from Lembang to the summit of the
+mountain, for the construction of which the community is indebted to Dr.
+Junghuhn.
+
+"On the morning of 18th May we set out from Lembang for the summit of
+Tangkuban Prahu, in company with Dr. de Vrij. The Regent of Bandong had
+sent us capital horses of the pure Macassar race, and, followed by a crowd
+of well-disciplined Sundanese, we at length after a two hours' ride stood
+at the edge of the crater.
+
+"Dense clouds of vapour filled the abyss below, from which at a
+considerable depth and in various directions issued the most appalling
+sounds, as though hundreds of steam engines were sobbing at work far
+beneath us, or like the broken sound of water falling in spray from a
+great height upon the rocks. Some dead trees standing on the brink of the
+abyss had a blackened appearance as though they had been charred, which we
+ascribed to the sulphureous vapours, that must be evolved with most
+destructive power when the crater is in full activity. Into this hideous
+abyss we now prepared to descend, by a narrow, steep ledge of the rock,
+which gradually lost itself among the vapour between two perpendicular,
+precipitous walls. We followed the Javanese, who were scrambling down
+before us, having ourselves given orders to be conducted if possible to
+the bottom of the crater, and therefore continued on as best we could,
+confident that those people had already often descended into the depths to
+get themselves sulphur.
+
+"Fortunately the vapours dispersed during our arduous clamber, and there
+at one view lay plain before us the fearful chasm from its floor to the
+rim running round it. With amazement and surprise, we perceived that the
+ledge on which we stood was but a narrow central ridge, separating two
+deep nearly circular volcanic cauldrons, which were both surrounded by a
+lofty ellipse-shaped crater-wall! There was also a singular double or twin
+crater. In both cavities, right and left, white clouds of steam rose
+hissing and sputtering to the height of the rim. In the left-hand or
+western crater, which the natives called _Kawah Upas_, or the Poison
+Crater, we perceived in the midst of the smoking _solfataras_ a tranquil
+pool of water of a sulphur-yellow hue, while the lofty internal slopes of
+the crater, nearly 1000 feet high, were densely covered with brushwood,
+down almost to the bottom. Very different was the eastern crater, _Kawah
+Ratu_, or King's Crater; its floor seemed to consist of dried mud, from
+the clefts and springs in which steam and sulphureous vapours were
+constantly bursting impetuously forth. The wall of this crater, not above
+500 or 600 feet high, was naked and bare to the very summit. At the first
+glance one could almost fancy he gazed on an expanse of snow amid a green
+forest, so bleached and greyish-white did everything look, owing to the
+rocks being pulverized and changed by the vapours which continually issued
+from the soil. Above these white desolate masses of rock were
+distinguishable the blackened, charred, knotted stems of bushes and trunks
+of trees, the relics of the vegetation formerly here, tokens of the last
+eruption in 1846, in which this King's Crater threw up boiling mud,
+impregnated with sulphur, besides sand and stones, till throughout an
+extended area the green forests on every side were killed or desolated.
+Already however the rich green of the fern, and the _Thibaudia_ (not
+unlike our own whortleberry), is seen shooting up amidst the bare stones,
+in close proximity to the blackened trees and shrubs, charred and altered
+by the action of the sulphureous vapours and the soil, impregnated as it
+is with sulphur.
+
+"Continuing to scramble forward, we reached in safety the floor of the
+Poison Crater, and had to observe the greatest vigilance, for the entire
+ground around the boiling lake in the crater to the steep walls consists
+of nothing but smoking solfataras, or a dense crust of sulphur, full of
+holes and fissures, over the cooled surface of which the traveller walks,
+constantly in danger of breaking through, not indeed into a fathomless
+abyss, but into boiling hot, bitter water, in which we would counsel no
+one to take a foot-bath. If the crust be broken off, there are seen
+shining beneath the most exquisite lustrous crystals of sulphur. This
+sulphur, which is exhibited here piled up in immense masses like small
+hills, is the same as that which occasionally entices the Javanese into
+these appalling abysses. The most powerful solfatara, which lies exactly
+in the middle ridge, and like a geyser throws up to a height apparently of
+one or two feet a column of boiling water, consisting in part of sulphur,
+is for that reason unapproachable by man.
+
+"From the Poison Crater we climbed over into the King's Crater. The hard
+masses of rubbish thrown out during the last eruption afforded firm
+footing here, until we got near the sputtering solfataras, when the hot
+yielding mud made further progress impracticable.
+
+"The visit to these two craters, which change features from year to year,
+furnished much material for observation. It was long past noon when we
+retraced our steps upwards along the precipitous path by which we had
+descended. Ere long we found ourselves once more on the summit, protected
+from the sun's vertical rays by the grateful shelter of the hut which
+Junghuhn had erected here, and from which we could take in at one glance,
+in all its vast proportions, the entire abyss, with its two smoking
+craters in all their horrid sublimity. The oval of the exterior rim
+measures not less than 6000 feet in length by 3000 in breadth, and from
+the upper wall the descent sheer into the abyss is not less than 800 feet
+perpendicular.
+
+"This was the last crater which we had an opportunity of visiting while
+in Java--our further peregrinations being directed towards the schistose
+formation abounding in petrifactions, which is found in the S.W. mountain
+range of the table-land of Bandong.
+
+"On the evening of the 18th, after we had returned from Tangkuban Prahu,
+we left Lembang, still in the company of Dr. de Vrij, who sacrificed his
+own convenience to accompany us throughout our interesting tour, and
+returned to Bandong.
+
+"Junghuhn had sketched out a second _carte de voyage_, which he had sent
+to the Resident of Bandong, with a request that this gentleman would make
+all necessary preparations to enable the projected excursion to be made in
+the shortest possible time, and for our comfort while on the road. We thus
+found everything prepared beforehand, and, after passing a most agreeable
+evening with the Resident and the Regent of Bandong, the latter of whom
+caused his dancing-girls to execute in our presence some of their most
+characteristic national dances, we were enabled to start early the
+following morning to prosecute our journey further among the mountains.
+
+"Gratitude to M. Visscher, the Assistant Resident, and to Raden Adipata
+Wira Nata Kusuma, the Regent of Bandong,[62] makes it an imperative duty
+that we should make the most ample acknowledgment for the great pains
+taken by both those gentlemen to enable us, without losing time consulting
+about other cares, to devote our entire attention to scientific
+examination. Indeed, the whole arrangements of this trip may be held to
+indicate what the Dutch Government is able to attain by the astute policy
+of leaving the executive power entirely in the hands of the native chiefs,
+and with what admirable exactness the despotic orders of these two united
+powers are carried into execution.
+
+"The brother of the Regent of Bandong, a truly chivalrous soul, but
+imperious and full of aristocratic hauteur in his deportment towards the
+peasantry, was our companion and guard of honour. All our material
+requirements had been cared for by the Regent in the most luxurious
+profusion. Four servants and a special cook, together with a number of
+coolies, were sent in advance to our next designated resting-place,
+sometimes in the heart of a forest, or upon a hill, or in a narrow defile,
+so that on our arrival we found our table already set for us. On these
+occasions, when there was no Pasanggrahan or comfortable hut at hand for
+our mid-day siesta, or for our accommodation at night, we found an elegant
+hut of bamboo and palm-leaves (of which materials the Javanese construct
+a thousand articles of every-day use) newly erected, and containing
+dining-room, sleeping-apartment, and bath-room. In order to travel with as
+much celerity as possible, our riding horses were changed three or four
+times a day. The fresh animals were everywhere ready for us to mount. At
+those points where petrifactions were likely to be found collected
+together natives would be sent forward, and that not by twos and threes,
+but by dozens and twenties, who were charged to dig and collect together
+whatever was found, so that all we had to do was to select what we
+required, when we found we had a splendid collection without trouble or
+loss of time. Even on roads seldom frequented, in outlying districts among
+the mountains, we found everything arranged anew, and we do not exaggerate
+when we say that between forty and fifty small bridges and narrow stiles
+made of bamboo and with bamboo balustrades must have been constructed
+solely to make this path passable. But still more particularly we had
+occasion to remark, that when it was necessary to descend into the
+defiles, which would naturally be of special interest to a geologist on
+account of their explanations of the phenomena of nature, fresh paths had
+been made, and all obstacles presented by the rocky soil overcome by means
+of steps cut in the rock or bamboo ladders! And all this had been planned
+and executed after the Regent had been informed of the day fixed for our
+departure from Bandong on our projected tour.
+
+"No fewer than thirty-eight mounted Sundanese, all gaily dressed in their
+national costume, being in fact the chiefs and magistrates of the
+district, had attached themselves to us with all their retinue, besides a
+number of porters to attend upon the cavalcade, by all of whom we were
+cordially welcomed. Towards evening we entered amid music and dancing into
+the village, which it had been arranged was to be our quarters for the
+night, and amid more music, and a general gathering of the population, we
+once more, in the grey dawn of the next morning, mounted our horses. Such
+is the mode of travel in Java when a Junghuhn prescribes the route, when a
+Dutch Government official issues the requisite orders, and when a native
+Regent carries them out.
+
+"On the 19th May we set off in an easterly direction from Bandong for the
+river Tji-Tarum. Our object was to explore the beautiful natural defile
+which is presented by the deep chasm which forms the bed of that stream,
+where it has forced a passage in a northerly direction through a
+round-backed range of green-stone and porphyritic mountains which spring
+from the table-land of Bandong, forming in this part of its course the
+beautiful water-falls of Tjuruk-Kapek, Tjuruk-Lanong, and Tjuruk-Djombong.
+In close proximity to the very oldest volcanic formations of Java, one
+sees here, laid bare by the river, lofty walls of the latest fresh-water
+strata of the plateau of Bandong. We now rode through the porphyritic
+ridge to the rocky cone of Batu-Susun, on the flank of the Gunung Bulut,
+formed of vast columns of a sort of porphyritic green-stone, and the same
+evening reached Tjililui, the chief town of the district named Rongga,
+owing to its richness in petrifactions. Not greater was our surprise at
+our exceedingly hospitable reception, than at beholding, as we sat down to
+our evening meal in the Pasanggrahan where we were stopping, a huge table
+drawn forth, loaded with petrifactions and geological specimens, which the
+Wedanah had collected, and which, classified according to a chart of the
+district which he had himself prepared, he now placed at our disposal. The
+name of this spirited Sundanese is Mas Djaja Bradja, Wedanah of Tjililui.
+
+"On the 20th we inspected the spot itself where these are found. By
+daybreak we were _en route_ for the chalk-kilns of Liotji Tjangkang, where
+a coral bank, abounding in petrifactions, lies full in view from the
+summit of an adjoining eminence. Hence we directed our steps in a S.E.
+direction, getting deeper into the mountains, in the neighbourhood of
+Gonnong Gatu, renowned for the numbers of tigers which range the immense
+wilderness of _allang_ grass (_Imperata Allang_), which now forms the
+covering of these mountains, utterly denuded as they are of their original
+vegetation, and in which they find plenty of prey among the stags, wild
+boars, and buffaloes. Hunting however was not our object, but the
+succession of chasms, 100 feet deep, worn through the soft pumice and
+trachytic tufas by the action of the Tji-Lanang and its little tributary
+streams. First we had to scramble down to the confluence of the Tji-Burial
+and the Tji-Tangkil, where, in close proximity to the dykes of trachyte,
+several well-preserved _conchylia_ were found amid the rubbish that had
+been detached from the sides of this cavity, which are composed of a sort
+of muddy tufa. After riding at full speed through a thinly-inhabited
+mountain district, in order to avoid an impending thunder-storm, we
+luckily reached the little mountain village of Gunung-Alu, lying on the
+Tji-Dadass, at the foot of a mountain ridge, which forms the water-shed
+between the northern and southern coasts of Java.
+
+"On 21st May we set off for the valley of the Tji-Lanang, which stretches
+beneath the steep sandstone acclivities of the Gunung Sela, another spot
+where petrifactions are exceedingly abundant, and where the remains of the
+fossils may be observed in the position they originally occupied, imbedded
+in the strata of mud and sandstone. A species of fossil resin is also
+frequently found there, in juxtaposition with other beautiful fossils.
+From this point we followed the valley of the Tji-Lanang in a northerly
+direction, and on quitting it we came upon a little traversed road leading
+to the valley of the Tji-Tjamotha, at the calcareous-brecciose rocks of
+Batu-Kakapa, and still further on reached the mountainous village of
+Tji-Jabang, whence we descended once more to the river Tji-Tarum, which at
+this point passes through a narrow cleft in the rock, more than a thousand
+feet deep, forming thus the grandest waterfall in Java, as it breaks
+through the western barrier range of the plateau of Bandong, consisting
+of porphyritic green-stone, trachytic-basalt, and perpendicular cliffs of
+chalk. Below this, after a series of splendid cascades, it becomes a
+navigable stream, flowing gently over the terrace of Radjamandala.
+
+"The majestic scale of the natural scenery of Java is seen fully developed
+in these savage, awful rocky defiles, shaded by primeval forest, and
+haunted by every description of wild animal. There are three points of
+special interest, Tjukang-Raon, Tjuruk-Almion, and Sangjang-Holut, at any
+of which one may study in the very bowels of the earth the geognostical
+structure of the Lanang chain, where the river has burst through. These
+points lie quite near to each other on the edge of the stream which here
+frets in its channel, hemmed closely by the rocks, but in order to reach
+any one of them it is always necessary to retrace one's steps to the
+village of Tji-jabang, on the plateau of the mountain, and thence scramble
+down and up again the precipitous rocky wall in height from 1000 to 1600
+feet! One can readily believe what Junghuhn writes in 1854, that 'although
+Tjurak-Almion' (dust or vapour fall) 'is the grandest waterfall in Java,
+no European had, as yet, visited the spot but himself.' It was here
+especially that we had occasion to notice what pains the natives had taken
+to render the various localities more accessible. We found fresh-hewn
+steps, ladders, and Rotang ropes, and thus we were enabled, so to speak,
+to tread in the footsteps of Junghuhn.
+
+"On the 21st we could only visit the Tjuruk-Baon, where the Tji-Tarum,
+raging along in its entire volume, is compelled to pass through a gate of
+rock not above 12 feet wide. A frail-looking bamboo ladder, with Rotang
+ropes suspended on either side at a dizzy elevation above, leads down the
+perpendicular walls of this stone portal.
+
+"On the morning of the 22nd we visited Tjuruk-Almion, the finest waterfall
+of the Tji-Tarum, which is here precipitated over a precipice of
+green-stone forty feet in height, and thence, after passing the steep
+basaltic chain of Gunung-Lanang, we descended from a height of 2653 Paris
+feet, into the deepest part (990 Paris feet above sea-level) of the chasm
+formed by volcanic eruption in the mountain Sangjang-Holut, where close to
+the steep broken rim, and in juxtaposition to the tertiary formations on
+the level of Radjamandala, the perpendicular sandstone banks of the river
+leave a passage only 10 feet in width.
+
+"The same day we reached the little village of Gua, at the foot of the
+northern side of Gunung Nungnang, an enormous mass of limestone, whose
+steep sides form a portion of the extensive limestone barrier, which
+bounds the table-land of Radjamandala to the southward. Gunung Nungnang is
+traversed by fissures and clefts from top to bottom, in which the Salangan
+swallow builds edible nests, which the natives gather for the Regent, not
+without peril to life.
+
+"On the 23rd May we carefully explored Sangjang Tji-Koro, a
+limestone-hill, through which one arm of the Tji-Tarum, after it has
+burst through the barrier-ridge, flows in a subterranean channel;
+interesting in a geological point of view, because at this point we find
+the very same limestone rocks which in an upright position form the
+structure of the hill, lying horizontally on the flat plain of
+Radjamandala, on the opposite bank of this brook. At Radjamandala we once
+more struck the main road, and found our travelling chaise ready, which
+conveyed us to Tjiandjur, and thence back to Batavia."
+
+While the geologist of our Expedition was occupied in the excursion above
+described, the commodore and his companions witnessed a most interesting
+spectacle in an ethnographical point of view. The Javanese Regent of
+Tjiandjur prepared a great fête, to which all the populace were invited,
+in the great hall of the palace, where a variety of entertainments, games,
+and dramatic representations took place. Here, as at Bandong, the interior
+of the house was entirely furnished in the European fashion, and only the
+ear-splitting, deafening tones of the gamelong,[63] the stout, bustling
+female house-keeper, who, richly apparelled and wearing yellow
+unmentionables, did the honours with a somewhat waddling gait, and the
+Oriental dress of the Regent, behind whom a couple of Javanese servants,
+crouched on their hams, carrying a neatly-carved silver box of exquisite
+workmanship, containing the ingredients for the betel, recalled to our
+recollection that we were in Java, in the residence of a native prince.
+The stiff, troublesome formalities of the Dutch were outdone by those of
+the Javanese: nay, so great is the observance of etiquette by these
+people, that even the nearest relatives of the house are fain to take up
+their place in the verandah or colonnade which runs round the house, but
+do not dare venture into the saloon itself. In this latter, besides the
+Regent and his consort, there were only the European guests invited, while
+the people thronged the doors and windows as spectators of what was going
+on. The fête began with some very monotonous, infinitely tedious dances
+executed by the _Bayadères_. In the choreographic art, despite the
+important part which dancing plays in their religious worship, the
+Javanese, like all the other populations of Asia, lag far behind the
+natives of the north. True, the dance with them has a widely different
+meaning, compared with that which we attach to it, who waltz and polka
+away in joyous, frolicsome mood, whereas the Asiatics, the Malay and the
+Hindoo, also dance during seasons of grief and anguish; with them dancing
+is nothing but a mode of expressing their feelings, whether these be grave
+or gay, joyous or sad. And so deeply is this custom implanted among the
+coloured races, that we have ourselves seen in Costa Rica Indian parents,
+who had been converted to Christianity, dancing before the dead body of
+their child, which was about being committed to consecrated earth.[64]
+
+The figures of the dance performed by the Javanese dancing-girls were
+nothing but a series of very slow rigid movements of advance and retreat,
+in the course of which they went through all sorts of attitudes and
+contortions with their hands and fingers. We were informed that these
+dancers were representing four sisters who were searching for their lost
+mother, and by their various postures and figuring hoped to obtain her
+again from the deity. This exhibition was succeeded by a war-dance,
+performed by eight maidens clothed as warriors, which however scarcely
+differed from the former, and was not less tedious. These dancers all
+appeared in extremely elegant richly-appointed dresses, which
+unfortunately only made the ugliness of their features more disagreeably
+conspicuous. Amid all these representations the deep boom of the gamelong
+almost unceasingly resounded in our ears, being struck, evidently for the
+purpose of stunning the senses, by a crowd of Javanese cowering on the
+ground with their feet crossed beneath them, while from without there fell
+on our ear the tunes of a brass band, especially noticeable by its
+overpowering penetrating sound. About 10 P.M. a number of rockets and
+fire-wheels were let off, and a disorderly crowd of maskers, on horse and
+foot, to the great delight of the assembled populace, made their
+appearance and marched about a dozen times round the great room. The chief
+honours of the entire procession were reserved for a transparent serpent,
+at least 20 feet long, which was borne along in the air by six or eight
+youths, who imitated with surprising address the wriggling motions of that
+lithe reptile.
+
+To a European observer, however, what was going on in one corner of the
+great room seemed far more extraordinary and surprising. A number of
+native fanatics were standing here round a heap of red-hot coals and
+ashes, before which a Mahometan priest, holding in his hand a small open
+book, was murmuring a prayer, accompanied by doleful cries and
+unintelligible groans. Several natives sprang barefooted into the fire,
+and turned about several times in its midst. The priest also, singing and
+praying the while, skipped upon the red-hot floor, apparently with the
+intention of inciting the by-standers to yet further exertions. The whole
+exhibition bore the character of being a form of religious expiation,
+although it was carried on amid all the noise and fun of a popular
+festival.
+
+A still more painful impression was made by several Javanese, who placed
+iron circlets set with fine sharp points on the cheeks, forehead, and
+eyes, and thus accoutred, twisted their bodies about in every conceivable
+direction, as though they were striving all they could to drill deep into
+their flesh with this heavy iron instrument. The leading idea contemplated
+in this rude fearsome exhibition, seems, however, to have been simply to
+amuse a circle of curious spectators, and gain their applause.
+
+The Javanese Regent, Radhen Adhipati Aria Kusuma Ningrat, who gave this
+fête, a tall, robust man, of about fifty years of age, is held in high
+esteem by the inhabitants of his district, not alone for his political
+worth, but also for his intellectual qualities. He is an author and a
+poet, and availed himself of the opportunity to present to the foreign
+guests his last poem, an epic.
+
+Early on the morning of the 17th the entire company of travellers set out
+from Tjiandjur on their return to Batavia by the Java road, by which they
+had come. The naturalists, too, did not leave the capital of the Preanger
+Residency without substantial tokens of amity, since a medical gentleman
+settled there, Dr. I. Ch. Ploem, presented them with a number of
+interesting specimens, botanical and zoological, and not alone enriched
+their collections in natural history with many new objects, but also
+promised in future to maintain an active interchange of objects of
+scientific interest with the museum of the Empire-city on the Danube.
+
+The journey back to Buitenzorg, despite a tremendous thunder-storm,
+accompanied by such a shower as is only encountered in the tropics, was
+nevertheless pretty quickly got over, and even one trifling adventure
+which was encountered on the way--in the course of which one of the
+travelling carriages fell into a ditch on one side of the road, near
+Megamendung, in consequence of which the coachman and attendants were
+somewhat injured by their sudden precipitation from the box--had no more
+serious ulterior consequences than that we had to get out of the carriage
+for a short space under a deluge of rain, so as to admit of its being more
+readily put into running order again. Despite the inclemency of the
+weather we were on this occasion accompanied on horseback by the
+magistrates of the villages through which we passed, and although many of
+these were shivering and chattering with the wet and cold, they were
+nevertheless inexorable in assisting to send us forward, and though not
+required to do so, accompanied us to our next station, where their place
+was supplied by others not less attentive.
+
+While still on the road, the commodore and several members of the
+Expedition received an invitation from the Governor-general to stop at his
+summer residence of Buitenzorg, and to make it for some days their
+resting-place. It was unfortunate, that this display of hospitality was
+somewhat weakened in cordiality by a too rigid observance of those minor
+matters of etiquette, which his Excellency seemed to think he could not
+afford to dispense with even in his quiet, unostentatious country-seat.
+The stringent observance of such unbending measured ceremony is the more
+remarkable, in the case of a man who has raised himself from an obscure
+grade of citizenship to this lofty post, and who does not even indulge in
+that lavish expense or profuse luxury, which would at least be in harmony
+with the ceremonial usages with which he surrounds himself. M. Van Pahud
+came to Batavia about twenty years before, as a school-master, and ere
+long, having become an employé in the civil service, secured through his
+administrative capacity, and restless activity, the confidence and
+sympathies of the Government, was somewhat later appointed Colonial
+Minister in Holland, and finally, in 1856, Governor-general of the Dutch
+East Indies. The introduction of the _quinquina_ plant from Peru and its
+present extension throughout Java, are his chief claims to recognition.
+
+As M. Van Pahud is a widower, the honours of his mansion were performed by
+his daughter, a lady in delicate health, who a few years previously had
+the distressing trial of beholding her husband, who filled one of the most
+important posts as Resident at a Regency in the interior, cut down before
+her eyes by a Malay!
+
+We spent a couple of days in this charming retreat of Buitenzorg, whose
+botanical garden ever unfolded fresh beauties, and had the pleasure on
+this, as on the occasion of our first visit, to make several most
+agreeable acquaintances. A deep interest attaches to our visit to Madame
+Hartmann, the widow of a former Resident in Borneo, who possesses a small
+but every way remarkable collection of ethnographic objects illustrative
+of that island, and who not alone had the thoughtful courtesy to show us
+all these treasures of natural history, but even presented us with a
+considerable portion of them. The writer of this account felt himself in
+an especial degree under obligation to this excellent lady for a number of
+skeletons of the various races of men inhabiting that island, which it
+would have been exceedingly difficult to procure otherwise. There existed
+but one object in this anthropological collection with which Madame
+Hartmann would not part: this was the skull of a Chinaman, who, during the
+fearful insurrection of these emigrants in Borneo in 1819, made a
+murderous onslaught on her husband, whose servants fortunately succeeded
+in rendering timely aid by cutting the miscreant down.
+
+Early on 20th May we quitted Buitenzorg. On the same morning two criminals
+accused of murder and robbery were brought thither. Although the
+punishment of death is only inflicted in cases of extreme atrocity, yet we
+were informed that in the capital scarcely a month passes without the
+infliction of this last penalty.
+
+On our return to Batavia we once more found ourselves the objects of that
+charming hospitality, to which we are indebted for the memory of many most
+agreeable hours.
+
+There was one gentleman in particular, a German countryman, Colonel Von
+Schierbrand, who has lived nearly thirty years in Java, and at present
+holds the high position of head of the Engineer department and President
+of the Topographical Institute, who most hospitably entertained the
+voyagers of the _Novara_ in his elegant, comfortable dwelling, and
+arranged a variety of amusements and agreeable receptions.[65] Among
+these, the gentlemen who took part in it will long have a special
+recollection of a hunting party, which, owing to the great interest taken
+by all classes of the community near the seat of action, abounding in
+antelopes and wild hogs, became ultimately a regular ovation and popular
+festival. At various points arches covered with leaves were erected, flags
+fluttered to the breeze on every side, and all along our path the
+inhabitants, gaily attired, formed a dense array lining the road; while
+the evening was whiled away in the elegantly furnished mansion of a
+Chinese, the Mayor of his district, by Javanese dancing-girls, who
+performed a variety of national dances to the monotonous, lugubrious sound
+of the gamelong and other musical instruments, after which there was a
+comedy, the whole winding up with Chinese fire-works on the grandest
+scale.
+
+Another splendid entertainment was got up in honour of the _Novara_
+Expedition by the military "Concordia" society, in their large, handsome
+assembly-room in Weltevreden. The dancing-hall was tastefully fitted up,
+adorned with blue and green hangings and parti-coloured flags, while over
+the entrance was suspended a portrait of our Emperor. In the background of
+the saloon there was set up in front of a transparency an elegant boat,
+with an Austrian flag at the gaff, and carrying a cannon crowned with
+flowers and nautical emblems, all artistically designed and executed. The
+stewards all wore red and white ribbons round their dress, while the rich
+attire of the ladies consisted principally of stuffs in the Austrian
+colours. When the commander of the Expedition entered the saloon with his
+staff, the band struck up the Austrian National Hymn. The whole festivity
+went off most agreeably, and the majority of the company, which numbered
+about 800 guests, kept it up till daybreak. Both Dutch and Austrian
+officers vied with each other in making this a truly fraternal feast.
+Still as the band played on, there seemed no end to the fun and frolic,
+and one pair of joyous spirits suddenly bethought them of the droll idea
+of hauling the cannon "with all its honours thick upon it" through the
+apartment, with a not less frolicsome comrade sitting astride it, singing
+and shouting! Unluckily, during this peregrination one of the Dutch
+officers fell under the wheel, and had his thigh broken near the knee. The
+unfortunate had to be conveyed to the hospital forthwith, where for weeks
+he could ruminate upon the consequences of a moment's misplaced revelry.
+This gentleman, singularly enough, had just retired home and gone to bed,
+when a couple of his comrades insisted on his accompanying them, amid much
+cheering and noise, back to the apartment, where the accident happened to
+him!
+
+One remarkable character in Batavia, whose acquaintance we only made
+during the latter days of our stay, is Raden Saleh, a Javanese of high
+birth, and princely descent, who, born in 1816 at Djokjokarta in the
+interior of the island, was at the expense of the Dutch Government brought
+to Europe when a boy of 14, where he lived for a long time at the Hague,
+and afterwards in Dresden and Paris, turning his attention chiefly to
+painting, and who, after 23 years' absence, had returned to Java shortly
+before our arrival. Raden Saleh, who speaks and writes several European
+languages with fluency, draws a not inconsiderable sum yearly from the
+Colonial Government, by way of remuneration for pictures which he is from
+time to time commissioned to paint for Government House. At the period of
+our visit the artist was busy engaged in executing for the King of Holland
+a large oil-painting, representing a stag-hunt on the plain of Mundschul,
+in the Preanger Regency, at the foot of the Malabar range. The
+composition, the landscape, the aerial perspective, the attitudes and
+grouping of the mounted huntsmen, gave evidence of uncommon talent, which
+unfortunately, however, has not been cultivated to that extent as to
+enable him to stamp all his performances with the impress of artistic
+perfection. Raden Saleh cherishes a warm feeling for Germany, which even
+his placid, delightful residence among the Eden-like landscapes of his own
+native land has not been able to weaken. "I owe so much to Germany," he
+would say to us; "my thoughts and my feelings ever revert to Germany!" It
+seemed that in his case, as in that of the young negro prince, Aquasie
+Boachi, of the Gold Coast, considerations of health were the main reason
+for his return to the Dutch East Indies.
+
+The last days of our stay at Batavia we devoted to an inspection of
+various public institutions. First of all we carefully examined the
+barracks, which present several points of special interest. Major Smits
+was so kind as to accompany us over the extensive grounds, in which were
+at the time some 800 men. The soldiers are all volunteers, and consist of
+about 250 whites, and 600 of the various coloured races of the Malay
+Archipelago. The white troops sleep in beds, the coloured upon wooden
+settles covered with mosquito-nets. Each soldier is allowed to have his
+wife beside him, and it is affirmed that this extraordinary practice tends
+to make them more orderly and regular, by accustoming them more speedily
+to life in the barrack, which thus becomes for them a sort of small town!
+The women for their part prove highly serviceable as cooks, washerwomen,
+vendors of edibles, &c., and manage a sort of small market for each
+company, where the soldier can find everything he may require for
+satisfying his usually very moderate wants.
+
+Major Smits ordered a number of the soldiers, representatives of the most
+important Malay types, to be submitted to a series of anthropometrical
+measurements, and made a present to the Expedition of a number of objects
+of ethnographical interest.
+
+In company with Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, an ardent and amiable companion,
+we visited the various prisons, and the Loar-Badang,[66] of evil repute,
+which will be discussed in the medical section of the _Novara_
+publications.
+
+The prisons of Batavia stand in much need of reform, especially as regards
+construction, management, and treatment. The humane sentiments that
+characterize our century, have more care even for a robber or murderer
+than to load him with chains, and make him still more dangerous to
+society, by lengthened confinement within the thick lofty walls of a
+prison. There are two categories, into which all criminals in Java are
+divided, those who during the entire term of their sentence are to remain
+within the prison, and those who during the day are employed outside the
+prison on the public works, most of whom wear an iron ring round their
+neck, or chains on their hands or feet, whence they are usually termed
+"chain-gang" prisoners.
+
+In the city Bridewell, where the criminals serve their sentences in cells,
+there is room for 200, and at the time of our visit there were 70 male and
+two female prisoners in confinement. The disagreeable impression made at
+finding such an establishment located in an exceedingly unhealthy site, is
+anything but diminished when the visitor perceives that it consists mainly
+of a large number of narrow corridors and high walls running parallel
+with each other at short distances, between which the prisoners, in
+divisions of from six to ten, are confined in small cells, two
+occasionally inhabiting the same cell. Those condemned to imprisonment for
+debt are shut up in a special compartment, apart from the common run of
+criminals, but in respect of accommodation and general treatment are in no
+respect better off than the latter. The law permits the incarceration of a
+debtor for three years, but the creditor is compelled to pay 10 guilders a
+month (£10 per annum), to defray the cost of his maintenance. It is
+illustrative of the Chinese character, and its speculative propensities,
+that hardly any of that nation are to be found on the criminal side,
+whereas they furnish the longest quota of those imprisoned for debt. We
+saw one Javanese woman, who of her own free will submitted to be
+imprisoned with her husband who had been condemned to several years'
+incarceration, although she could only communicate with him in the
+presence of witnesses, and had to live in an entirely different part of
+the building.
+
+In the prison where the "chain-gangers" were confined, there were 170
+prisoners.[67] Owing to the circumstance that those committed in Batavia
+are draughted off to the prisons in the interior, while those sentenced in
+the provinces are sent to fulfil their sentences in the prisons of
+Batavia, the stranger encounters in these latter numerous peculiar types
+of natives from the various districts of Java and the adjoining islands,
+and this rare opportunity was made use of by myself and Dr. Schwarz to
+obtain some corporeal measurements of individuals presenting the
+characteristics of their respective races, as had already been done in the
+barracks.
+
+Dr. Toussaint presented the Expedition with several pathological
+preparations, as also with one curiosity rather of historical than
+scientific interest, namely, the skull of a man, found a few years before
+in the maw of a shark which had been picked up dead at sea!
+
+A very singular impression was left on us by a visit we paid to "Meester
+Cornelis," a sort of bazaar in the outskirts of Batavia, where a singular
+phase of life may be seen nightly in full activity. On a wide open square
+are a large number of booths, in which are sold all sorts of eatables and
+drinkables, while there is at the same time no lack of dancing-girls,
+Javanese musicians, opium-dens, gambling "hells," and other
+breeding-places of human depravity. The majority of its frequenters are
+Chinese, who spend here in the most extravagant manner what they have
+earned during the day. They especially affect the filthy little closets,
+where for a couple of doits (a halfpenny English) they can lie stretched
+out in a pitiable state of stupefaction, the result of opium-smoking, but
+are likewise by no means backward in patronizing the gambling booths. A
+group of these half-naked children of the Celestial Empire, seated in a
+circle on the ground amid the flare of torches and lamps, each holding in
+his lean hand a pair of greasy, well-worn cards, and with a little heap of
+copper or silver pieces spread out before him, following the chances of
+the game with a wild eagerness that makes him utterly heedless of what is
+passing around him, presents a spectacle of such powerful interest, that
+the beholder, especially if a foreigner, likes to remain amid a scene so
+peculiar, despite its repulsiveness. The most melancholy consideration
+perhaps of all is that this form of dissipation seems by no means
+indigenous to Java, but was first introduced with many other forms of vice
+under the influence of foreign civilization.
+
+For the observant traveller, a visit to such so-called "places of
+amusement" possesses a far deeper interest than theatres or operas, which
+one may see and hear among the various settlements in this Archipelago.
+Such wandering companies, even those which are as highly remunerated as
+the "troupes" who minister to the æsthetic tastes of the wealthy
+inhabitants of the countries beyond sea,[68] or rather to an indispensable
+fashion, must awaken among European visitors melancholy reminiscences of
+vanished triumphs of art. Thus Batavia, during our stay, could boast a
+French operatic company. The theatre, lofty and airy, though of but one
+storey, without either boxes or gallery, had far more the appearance of a
+concert-room than a regular theatre. The rather heavy cost was defrayed by
+lotteries, which were set on foot by the Colonial Government from time to
+time for the behoof of the funds of the theatre. Several of the
+"cantatrices" carry on simultaneously with their engagements a lucrative
+business in French articles for the toilette, while the men-singers give
+instruction in vocalization, by which they not merely eke out their
+living, but contribute handsomely to the annoyance of their next-door
+neighbours.
+
+There is but little sociability in Batavia. The people live in a
+thoroughly retired manner, each usually receiving only a small circle of
+friends in his own house. On this point, as on many others, our _own_
+experience is _directly contrary_ to the actual state of matters, seeing
+that during our entire stay one invitation followed on the heels of
+another;--but those who live here for years together, even under the most
+favourable auspices, have repeatedly assured us that life in Batavia is
+unsociable and tedious.
+
+This is the misfortune of all countries "beyond sea," where Europeans do
+not settle permanently, but flock thither with the intention, after a
+certain number of years of industry and activity, of returning home with a
+fortune made by their own personal exertions. We see this in Brazil, in
+the West Indies, in the Western coast of South America; in a word, in all
+tropical or sub-tropical countries where, on account of climatic
+considerations, the greater part of the European population is changed
+every ten years, and is recruited by fresh arrivals from Europe. How out
+of place, accordingly, does social or intellectual life appear in such
+countries, as compared with the colonies settled in temperate climates, in
+North America, at the Cape, in Australia, in New Zealand, in all of which
+the immigrant population is of a fixed character, building up for
+themselves a second home, and clinging with love and gratitude to the soil
+that gives them sustenance, and on which their sons will grow up, under
+the invigorating influences of free institutions, into free, prosperous,
+self-relying men!
+
+Even in Batavia the majority of the European residents change every eight
+or ten years; instances such as that of Colonel von Schierbrand, of men
+who during 30 years have never once left the island, never yet seen a
+railroad, being of rare occurrence.
+
+Of the numerous friends whom we were so fortunate as to make during our
+stay in Java, and to whom such heart-felt thanks are due for their
+hospitality and the warm interest they took in the objects of our
+Expedition,[69] many have since left the island for ever, and by their
+return to Europe left many a lamentable vacancy.[70] The more deserving
+of acknowledgment is the constant endeavour of the present Colonial
+Government to attract to itself fresh intelligence, and so not alone
+stimulate the scientific activity of the present, but also provide for the
+filling up of the various posts by properly qualified persons. The
+magnificent and expensive works which have been published of late years in
+Java by men of science, are the splendid fruit of that noble-minded
+support, and it is much to be regretted that the Government does not
+extend this liberality to their _political_ system,--that despite the
+glorious example in their own immediate neighbourhood of the results of
+English Free Trade, Government still cramps the energies of the colony
+with monopolies and privileges, and thereby checks the development of a
+country, which, alike by its position and its manifold natural advantages,
+bids fair to be one of the wealthiest and most prosperous countries in the
+world.
+
+At seven A.M. on the 29th May, the _Novara_ weighed anchor in the roads of
+Batavia, after a stay of 23 days. Our next visit was to be paid to the
+Philippine Archipelago,--to the flourishing island of Luzon, or rather to
+Manila, the most important settlement in the entire group. This was the
+pleasantest trip throughout the whole voyage. The distance, some 1800
+nautical miles, was achieved in 17 days, with delightful weather, and
+balmy south-west monsoons.[71] By the 14th June we were in sight of the
+coast of Luzon, and on the following day we ran on before the freshening
+monsoon into the broad, beautiful gulf of Manila. As we passed between the
+rock La Monja (the Nun) and "El Corregidor," or Governor's Island, which
+lie right in the channel, we met the _Cleopatra_, a large English
+screw-steamer, which had a freight of 1150 Chinese, who were to be
+imported into the Havanna as so-called "free" labourers. These poor
+wretches came from Amoy, and, as we afterwards learned, had been put on
+board so scantily provided, and so little cared for by the authorities,
+that thus early, during the voyage from Amoy to Manila, only 700 miles,
+eleven of these "passengers" had died, and the captain found himself
+compelled to bear up for the nearest harbour in consequence of a sort of
+malignant fever having broken out on board, so virulent that there were
+deaths occurring almost every day. We shall treat more particularly of
+this hideous trade in men, which is chiefly carried on by the Portuguese,
+when describing our visit to Macao.
+
+The Bay of Manila is a beautiful land-locked basin, of such splendid
+proportions that when we had passed Governor's Island the city of Manila
+was still below the horizon. We anchored on the afternoon of 18th June in
+the harbour of Cavite (seven nautical miles south of Manila), because
+during the S.W. monsoon this harbour is more sheltered, and therefore
+safer for ships, than the shallow open roadstead of the capital. Cavite,
+which boasts a fort, an arsenal, a dockyard, and a cigar manufactory, lies
+on a low, narrow tongue of land projecting into the bay. Whoever may have
+first set foot at Cavite, on the soil of the Island of Luzon, so renowned
+for its natural magnificence of scenery, must involuntarily feel that his
+anticipations have been sorely disappointed; he will with all possible
+diligence make the best of his way from the glaring white sands and black
+walls of the fortress here to Manila, the next object of our hopes. A
+small screw plies daily between Cavite and the last-named city, and this
+vessel also conveyed the Expeditionists from Cavite to the capital of the
+Philippine Archipelago.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] Several copies of these various publications of the different
+scientific societies of Java were presented to the Expedition by the
+members of these learned bodies.
+
+[35] Still the chief article of cultivation is rice, which constitutes
+almost the sole bread-stuff of the Javanese. Crauford in his admirably
+digested dictionary of the Indian Archipelago calculates that the annual
+rice crop is about 500,000,000 lbs., and that each individual consumes
+annually one quarter, or 480 lbs.!
+
+[36] For some extremely beautiful and costly weapons used by the Malay
+races we are especially indebted to Mr. J. Netscher, one of the directors
+of the Society of Arts and Sciences, a profound scholar in the various
+idioms spoken in Java, and who on the same occasion enriched our
+collections with some of his own valuable numismatic specimens and
+philological researches, and to this day neglects no opportunity of
+advancing the special objects of our Expedition.
+
+[37] Only two of the various races of Java have remained constant to the
+belief of their fathers, and still honour, some of them Buddha, some
+Brahma. Among these are the Badawis, who constitute all that remain of a
+once mighty race at the east end of the island, among the hills of Kendang
+in the Residency of Bandang, on the Tenggers, also at the east of the
+island in the Residency of Passeruwan, the former numbering 1500, the
+latter about 4000 souls.
+
+[38] Garsick, the Grisse of modern days, was the first spot where these
+jealous sectaries settled about the year 1374, and the two Arabic sheikhs
+Dulla and Moellana are usually cited by later historians as the
+introducers of the Mahometan worship into Java.
+
+[39] There are at present two kings reigning on the Island of Lombok: Ratù
+Agong Agong Suedé Carang-assem, and Ratù Agong Agong Madé Carang-assem.
+These had submitted under special treaties to the Dutch Government, whose
+vassals they now are.
+
+[40] Yellow is the royal colour of the Ruler of Lombok. According to the
+prevalent custom, no one but the king and members of his family is
+permitted to use that colour in their dress or ornaments.
+
+[41] This peculiarity of Eastern manners is universally prevalent wherever
+Oriental nations have come in contact with Europeans. It is of course as
+entirely unlike the genuine hospitality of the rude Bedouin or Tartar as
+it is possible to imagine, and seems to belong to an early and very
+imperfect notion of true refinement. Traces of it will be found in all
+countries, even in Europe, and in its original form of making a present in
+the expectation of receiving something more valuable in return, which lies
+at the bottom of all this pseudo-generosity. The astuteness of the Scotch
+Highlanders, themselves a race remarkably free from such meannesses, has
+hitched the system into a pithy proverb, the sense of which is to "send a
+hen's egg in order to get a goose's in exchange."
+
+[42] 73.75 paals (posts) are equal to one degree of the equator, whence
+one paal = within a small fraction of 4943 feet 6 inches. This method of
+indicating land-measure originated in the circumstance that on every road
+intersecting Java from west to east, the respective distances from the
+three chief places, Batavia, Samarang, and Surabaya, are marked up upon
+wooden "paale" or posts.
+
+[43] As yet there are no railroads on the island. But a company has been
+formed with the intention of uniting the more important and productive
+districts of the island, an enterprise which will extend to about 1000
+miles (English), and will cost about £8,500,000.
+
+[44] It is well known that Holland in former days recruited her black
+regiments of the Netherland Indies by men from the Gold Coast, and in fact
+had set on foot a sort of traffic in men with the king of Ashantee.
+
+[45] Dr. Junghuhn, in his admirable work upon Java, describes the rainy
+season--which usually has fairly set in by the month of January, when the
+westerly and north-westerly winds are driving the rain-clouds before
+them--in the following spirited language:--"The floods stream from the
+clouds often for four-and-twenty hours at a stretch without the slightest
+interruption, and with such violence that the noise of the plash of the
+falling element drowns the voices of the inhabitants, compelled as they
+are to keep to their houses. Every brook and river overflows its banks,
+covering with a tide of muddy brown water the alluvial soil wrested from
+the bed of ocean, while the frogs croak incessantly day and night, and the
+lizards and snakes emerge from their holes, and creep into every corner of
+the dwellings of every man; all through the hours of darkness is heard the
+loud thousand-voiced hum of insects, of myriads of mosquitoes, till it is
+hardly possible to find a dry place throughout the house. The hot, sultry
+air is saturated with moisture, so that everything becomes damp, in
+consequence of the fine particles of the rain-vapour penetrating into the
+inmost corners of the house."
+
+[46] Pronounced _Chipannas_ (hot stream), from _Tji_, water, and _Pannas_,
+hot. _Tji_ is always pronounced like _chi_, and _oe_ like _oo_.
+
+[47] One can form some idea of the enormous fecundity of this insect, if
+we mention that it takes 200,000 in a dried state to make one pound of the
+cochineal of commerce.
+
+[48] Two Vanilla plants, imported in 1841 from the Botanical Garden of
+Leyden, remained barren for nine years, till recourse was at last had to
+the system of artificial fructification, upon which these plants increased
+so rapidly that the plants at present under cultivation at Pondok-Gedeh
+amount to 700,000!
+
+[49] Now named _Cankrienia Chrysantha_. The plant most characteristic of
+this region was the _gnaphalium arboreum_.
+
+[50] These four species were _Cinchona Calisaya_, _C. Condanimea_, _C.
+Lanceolata_, and _C. Ovata_.
+
+[51] According to our latest advices from Java, which extend to November,
+1860, there are at present in the Preanger Regency upwards of 100,000
+China plants in the very best order, so that this valuable commodity not
+only may be regarded as fully naturalized in that island, but the Dutch
+Government even complied with the request of the British Government for a
+certain number of seedlings for introduction into India.
+
+[52] Pronounce _Tschipodas_ and _Tschangschoor_ (Sweet Water)
+respectively.
+
+[53] Called in the Sunda dialect Gunung Masigit, or Hill of the Mosque, in
+consequence of the chalk, of which it is composed, being broken into
+pinnacles of remarkable uniformity, and strongly resembling the appearance
+presented by the minarets of a mosque.
+
+[54] As these edible swallows'-nests form a very important article of
+commerce among the Colonial products, and their collection provides the
+means of subsistence to a considerable section of the population of Java,
+we shall follow here the description given by Dr. Junghuhn, in his truly
+classic Monograph upon Java, in which (Book I. p. 468) he speaks as
+follows respecting the marvellous abodes selected by this species of
+swallow, and the perils dared by the native in obtaining their nests. "In
+Karangbólong, a portion of the entrance to the holes where the swallows
+breed is on a level with the surface of the water, and at times covered by
+the sea. In one of these cavities, the Gua Gedé, the edge of the
+coast-wall rises 80 Paris feet above low water, in a concave form, so that
+it actually overhangs; however, at an elevation of about 25 feet there
+occurs a projection, which the Rotang-ladder reaches by being suspended
+perpendicularly. The ladder is made by two side ropes of reed, which every
+inch-and-a-half, or two inches, are bound to each other by cross-bars of
+wood. The roof of the entrance to the cave is only 10 feet above the sea,
+which even at ebb-tide washes the flow throughout its extent, while at
+flood-tide the mouth of the cave is entirely closed by the sweep of the
+rollers. Only during ebb-tide therefore, and with perfectly smooth water,
+is it possible for any one to penetrate into the interior. Even then this
+would be impossible, were not the rocky vault, or roof of the cavern,
+pierced through, eaten away, and corroded into innumerable holes. By the
+projecting angles of these holes it is that the strongest and most daring
+gatherer who first makes his way in, has to hold on, while he attaches to
+them ropes made of Rotang, which thus hang from the roof to a length of
+four or five feet. At their lower extremities other Rotang ropes are
+securely fastened crosswise, thus running, rather more horizontally,
+parallel with the roof, so that they form a hanging bridge as it were
+along the whole length of the roof. The roof is about 100 feet wide, and
+from the entrance at the south to the deepest recess in the north end, the
+cave is about 150 feet in length. Although only 10 feet high at the
+entrance, the roof becomes gradually more and more lofty as the cavern
+retreats, till at the farthest extremity it is about 20 to 25 feet above
+the sea-level. Before any one of the nest-hunters proceeds to erect his
+ladder, and again before proceeding to climb up upon it in such fearful
+proximity to the thundering swell, a solemn prayer is proffered to the
+goddess or queen of the sea-coast, whose blessing is invoked. At this
+place she bears the name of _Njaï-Ratu-Segor-Kidul_, or sometimes
+_Ratu-Loro-Djunggrang_, and has dedicated to her in the village of
+Karangbólong a temple, which is kept scrupulously clean. Occasionally the
+gatherers make also a solemn sacrifice at the tomb of _Serot_, who,
+according to a Javanese legend, is revered as the first discoverer of the
+bird-nest caves." (The meaning of the above Javanese words is as follows:
+_Njaï_, the title of honour of a female, corresponding to our
+"Madame:"--_Ratu_, Queen:--_Segoro_, ocean:--_Kidul_, south:--_Lero_,
+maiden:--_Djunggrang_ is a surname.) Compare "Java, its physical Features,
+Vegetation, and internal Structure," by Franz Junghuhn. Leipsig, Arnold,
+1842.
+
+[55] The picul varies in weight between 125 and 133-1/3 pounds.
+
+[56] Toestand der aangeweekete Kinabomen op het eiland Java in het laatst
+der Maand Julij, en het begni van Augustus, 1857. Kort beschreven door F.
+Junghuhn, 116 pp.
+
+[57] At all events, among the planters up the country the opinion prevails
+that the coffee beans prepared by the native population on what is called
+the parching method are of far finer and more durable quality than those
+prepared by the former process.
+
+[58] Professor Vriese, besides having all expenses paid, drew a salary of
+£1000 per annum, besides 10 guilders (16_s._ 8_d._) a day for every day
+passed by him in the interior of the island while engaged in its
+explorations.
+
+[59] The commercial and statistical particulars of Java, for which we are
+mainly indebted to the kindness of Mr. Fraser, the Austrian Consul in
+Batavia, will be specially considered in a different part of the work.
+
+[60] The Javanese agriculturist, especially the coffee planter, is sadly
+tormented by three kinds of grass, which Dr. Junghuhn has named the
+Javanese Trinity, and which are invariably found with the coffee
+plant--_Erichthitas Valerianifolia_ (which was introduced from Mocha with
+the coffee-shrub, and was never before known in Java), _Agerahun
+Conisoïdes_, and _Bideus Sundaica_. The civet-cat, too (called _Luah_ in
+Javanese, Jjáruh in the Sunda language), does great damage to the coffee
+plantations, just as the crop is being collected. It eats only the fleshy
+part of the brown berry, the beans, at least according to what the
+Javanese say, actually gaining a flavour by the process to which they are
+subjected in the maw of the animal!
+
+[61] In 1859 the most important of the colonial products, grown for
+account of the Government, presented the following quantities:--
+
+  Coffee                      piculs 727,000 (of 125 lbs. each)
+  Sugar                         "    901,000.
+  Indigo                                                    558,800 lbs.
+  Cassia                                                    256,000  "
+  Cochineal (a failure in the crops owing to incessant rains) 6,700  "
+  Tea                                                     2,057,400  "
+  Pepper                                                     45,000  "
+
+The duties on imports and exports for that year in the islands of Java and
+Madura alone amounted to 7,440,579 guilders, or £620,048.
+
+N.B. The picul of 125 lbs. = 136 lbs. 10 ounces avoirdupois.
+
+[62] Since this was written a number of the Dutch officials and _savans_
+at Java, who showed so many civilities to the Austrian travellers, were
+decorated by our Government with Austrian orders, among whom was also the
+Raden Adipata Wira Nata Kusuma, the first native Javanese Regent ever
+decorated by a foreign power. The prince was extremely delighted when he
+was informed of it, and said he longed for the hour when the imperial
+decoration was to arrive that he might put it on and wear it. Singularly
+enough the presents and letters of acknowledgment sent to the Dutch
+Government in the Hague for remittance, were not forwarded direct by the
+mail steamer, but as customary by sailing vessels, so that they only
+arrived six months after they were presented!
+
+[63] A genuine Javanese musical instrument, consisting of a number of
+bells all differently tuned, which are struck with two small
+bamboo-sticks.
+
+[64] Die Republic Costa Rica, in Central-America, mit besonderer
+Berücksichtigung der Naturverhältnisse, und der frage der deutschen
+Answanderung und Colonisation. Reisestudien und Reiseskizzen aus den
+Jahren 1853 und 1854. Von Dr. M. Wagner and Dr. Karl Scherzer. Leipzig,
+Arnold'sche Buchhandlung. 1856. S. 196-197.
+
+[65] Colonel Von Schierbrand, to whom natural science is already under
+deep obligations for acquiring a variety of valuable objects, is
+constantly and indefatigably endeavouring, both as a friend of knowledge
+and a zealous sportsman, to procure, sometimes by personal exertion,
+sometimes by employing natives engaged at his own expense, a series of
+rare geological specimens. He appears to be, like so many other of our
+excellent friends in Java, a living contradiction to the proverb, "Out of
+sight, out of mind," as he has since the return of the Expedition already
+sent over as presents to the museums of our native country, valuable
+selections of curious objects of natural history from the Indian
+Archipelago.
+
+[66] The Loar-Badang (Public Market) is an immense building, a sort of
+brothel on a large scale, kept by a Frenchman, who pays a handsome annual
+sum to Government for the privilege of his infamous traffic. Here, among
+others, are some 40 or 50 wretched outcasts, whom he sends off in boats
+every evening to the merchantmen in the port, for the accommodation of
+their crews!!!
+
+[67] According to official return, the number of criminals, in the year
+1857, convicted in the islands of Java and Madura, was 3864, of whom 198
+were females and 955 were sentenced to the chain-gang. In the year 1857
+alone, 2525 coloured criminals were sentenced to hard labour, with or
+without chains. The number of convictions in the Dutch East Indies,
+exclusive of Java and Madura, amounted in the same year to 4430.
+
+[68] Thus the "Prima donna" receives for tragic opera 1500 guilders
+(£125), and for comic opera 1800 guilders (£150) per month during the
+season. The "troupe" is usually engaged for a year and a half or two years
+together.
+
+[69] Of these we cannot refrain from mentioning Dr. Van den Broek, who
+shortly before our arrival had returned from Japan, where he had resided
+seven years as physician and Government agent. Dr. Van den Broek, who is
+at present engaged in the editing a dictionary of the Dutch and Japanese
+languages, presented us with a botanical work in Japanese with numerous
+woodcuts, and at the same time was so exceedingly kind as to present us
+with a small vocabulary of the Court and the popular dialects used in
+Japan.
+
+[70] Among scientific circles in Batavia the recent departure of the
+renowned ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who intends to settle in Holland or
+Germany, will be the more appreciated, that this resolve will be regarded
+by his numerous European friends as a satisfactory assurance that the
+valuable materials relating to natural history which he has collected will
+ere long make their appearance in a suitable form.
+
+[71] Voyagers between Batavia and Manila must not, however, always expect
+to make so rapid a voyage. In Manila we fell in with a ship captain, who
+had left Batavia in April, and, owing to the prevalence of calms and
+contrary winds, had been 59 days on the passage!
+
+
+           [Illustration: View from the Battlements at Manila.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIII.
+
+                                 Manila.
+
+                  Stay from 15th to 25th June, 1858.
+
+    Historical notes relating to the Philippines.--From Cavite to
+    Manila.--The river Pasig.--First impressions of the city.--Its
+    inhabitants.--Tagales and Negritoes.--Preponderating influence
+    of Monks.--Visit to the four chief monasteries.--Conversation
+    with an Augustine Monk.--Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
+    chiefly in use in Manila.--Reception by the Governor-general of
+    the Philippines.--Monument in honour of Magelhaens.--The
+    "Calzada."--Cock-fighting.--"Fiestas Reales."--Causes of the
+    languid trade with Europe hitherto.--Visit to the
+    Cigar-manufactories.--Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
+    Havanna.--Abáca, or Manila hemp.--Excursion to the "Laguna de
+    Bay."--A row on the river Pasig.--The village of Patero.--
+    Wild-duck breeding.--Sail on the Lagoon.--Plans for
+    canalization.--Arrival at Los Baños.--Canoe-trip on the
+    "enchanted sea."--Alligators.--Kalong Bats.--Gobernador and
+    Gobernadorcillo.--The Poll-tax.--A hunt in the swamps of
+    Calamba.--Padre Lorenzo.--Return to Manila.--The "Pebete."--The
+    military Library.--The civil and military Hospital.--
+    Ecclesiastical processions.--Ave Maria.--Tagalian merriness.--
+    Condiman.--Lunatic Asylum.--Gigantic serpent thirty-two years
+    old.--Departure.--Chinese pilots.--First glimpse of the coasts
+    of the Celestial Empire.--The Lemmas Channel.--Arrival in
+    Hong-kong Harbour.
+
+
+Luzon, or Manila, the largest and most important island, politically
+speaking, of the Philippine Archipelago, is the sole possession of the
+Spanish Crown which was visited by the _Novara_ during her numerous
+traverses and diagonal tracks on her voyage round the world. As we had
+hitherto come into contact for the most part with the Anglo-Saxon race and
+its colonies, it was naturally doubly interesting to have an opportunity
+of becoming likewise acquainted with the results of civilization and
+colonization as exemplified by what are called the Romaic or Latin
+branches of the great Caucasian family, and by personal examination to
+satisfy ourselves in what fashion the Castilians have succeeded in
+identifying their own advantages with those of the natives of these
+islands. True it is, that the history of the earlier Spanish dependencies
+is by no means calculated to heighten our regard for the wisdom and
+mildness of the colonial policy of Spain, or to give a particularly
+favourable impression of the political and social condition of the
+Philippine Islands. A state, whose power at the commencement of the
+present century was still beaming in all its lustre, who has lost the
+fairest and most fertile lands on the face of the earth, which it had
+possessed for above three hundred years, without the slightest attempt to
+defend them, whose Government, through its inflexible adherence to
+obsolete forms and ordinances, after the dizzy pre-eminence of ruling the
+world has dwindled into a power of the third class,--leaves nothing to
+hope that any part of its organization should have remained intact, that
+the canker in its political and social proclivities, which so suddenly and
+so disastrously brought about the downfal of one of the mightiest and
+most extended empires in the world, should not likewise have made its
+appearance in the Philippines. However, it is precisely these
+considerations which make the contrast between the colonies founded by the
+Anglo-Saxon race in remote regions of the globe, and those of the Spanish,
+Portuguese, Dutch, and so forth, so valuable and instructive, although a
+rigid analysis of the causes which have conduced to the present condition
+of the majority of the countries conquered and ruled by races of Latin
+origin, must necessarily impress the unprejudiced inquirer in a sense
+little flattering to these latter, namely, that the history of every
+quarter of the globe would have assumed an entirely different aspect had
+these countries been first discovered and colonized by the Anglo-Saxon
+race, with its watchwords of freedom and religious toleration, instead of
+the Spaniard or Portuguese, with tyranny and fanaticism inscribed on its
+banners.
+
+The Archipelago of the Philippines comprises those numerous islands and
+islets between the parallels of 5° and 21° N., and which are scattered
+between the North Pacific Ocean on the east and the Chinese Sea on the
+west. The entire group, which, according to the Spanish account, consists
+of not fewer than 408 islands, extends over 16° of latitude by 9° of
+longitude, covering a superficial area of 91,000 square miles, or about
+the dimensions of England, Ireland, and Wales, exclusive of Scotland. Only
+two islands however of the whole cluster are of considerable dimensions,
+viz. Luzon, or Manila, which is about the same size as Galicia, Moravia,
+and Silesia taken together, and Mindanão, which, in superficial area, is
+about equal to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.
+
+As in size, so in fertility, natural advantages, and commerce, Luzon is
+the most important island in the Archipelago, as it is likewise one of the
+most delightful spots in the tropics. The climate is adapted to the
+cultivation of all the plants and various forms of vegetation alike of the
+torrid and the temperate zones. On the coast the thermometer never falls
+below 71°.6 Fahr., nor rises above 95° Fahr. In the highland valley of
+Banjanao, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, albeit not above 36 miles
+distant from Manila, the thermometer frequently descends as low as 44°.6
+Fahr. The highest register of the thermometer is during the rainy
+months,[72] from May to September; but we were assured over and over again
+that in Manila the heat is very equably distributed over the entire year,
+and never attains such a high degree as many summer days in Madrid. The
+most valuable and most extensively used plants of the tropical and
+sub-tropical zones, suck as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas, maize,
+tobacco, and rice, flourish here. The forests abound in all the most
+valuable descriptions of cabinet-wood, but the narrow-minded illiberality
+that has always characterized the colonial policy of Spain, the
+numberless restrictions to which her commerce is subjected, do not admit
+of that magnificent development of which this insular cluster, so
+abounding in natural wealth, would be susceptible under a more free-souled
+rule. The Spaniards have conquered and have subjugated the islands,
+fanatical monks have what they call Christianized the people, but, during
+the three hundred years that the Castilian has held the supremacy here,
+little if anything has been done for the prosperity and development of the
+country, or the intellectual and moral advancement of the people.
+
+The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magelhaens and Pigafetta on the
+17th March, 1521, nearly twenty-nine years after the discovery of America
+by Columbus, and two years after the conquest of Mexico by Fernando
+Cortez. In consonance with the religious customs of that age, the group
+was named by Magelhaens "The Archipelago of St. Lazarus," because the day
+on which it was discovered corresponded with the fête-day of that saint in
+the calendar. But the discovery did not imply the conquest of the
+Archipelago. Four expeditions were dispatched at various intervals,
+without their succeeding in subduing the natives. The solitary result
+obtained thence was, that the commander of the fourth expedition, that of
+1542, Don Ruy Lopez de Villalobos by name, changed the Scriptural name of
+the Archipelago for that by which it is at present known, in honour of the
+prince of Asturias (then 15 years old), afterwards Philip II.
+
+It was not till a fifth expedition had started in 1565, forty-one years
+after the first discovery of the Archipelago by Magelhaens, that the
+conquest was finally completed. The leader of this was Miguel Lopez de
+Legaspi, a man noways inferior to a Cortez or a Pizarro in venturesomeness
+of spirit, inflexible perseverance, and brilliant courage, and in humanity
+far exceeding either. His squadron consisted of five ships, and his entire
+force, including soldiers and mariners, was but 400 men.
+
+On 21st November, 1564, Legaspi sailed from Port Natividad in Spain, and
+on 16th February, 1565, hove in sight of the Philippines. The hardy
+navigator was accompanied by a number of Augustinian monks, who in the
+subsequent subjugation of the islands proved far more serviceable than his
+soldiers. The superior of these monks, Fray Andres de Urdañeta, a very
+remarkable man, had commanded a ship in the first expedition, and had
+afterwards been admitted into the order of St. Augustine.
+
+Four years after their arrival at the Philippines, and after they had
+subdued the native inhabitants of the fertile islands of Cebu and Panay,
+Legaspi first discovered Luzon, and there in the year 1571 founded the
+city of Manila. Since this first conquest the Spaniards have by no means
+been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of this smiling cluster of
+islands. Not alone the Portuguese and the Dutch bestirred themselves at
+various intervals to drive the Spaniards out of the Archipelago, but the
+English likewise, in 1762, towards the close of the Seven Years' War,
+invaded these settlements.[73]
+
+The area conquered, however, did not extend further inland than to a
+distance of ten miles from the walls of the city, and after an occupation
+of ten months, Manila was restored to the Crown of Spain by the Peace of
+Paris, 1763. Since that memorable period, the Philippine group has
+remained uninterruptedly under the dominion of the Spaniards, and has up
+to the present day been a faithful dependent of the Royal House of
+Castile. In fact, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico, the
+Philippine and Marianne Archipelagoes are the sole colonies that Spain
+still retains of her once so enormous possessions in the distant portions
+of the globe, although in Manila even in our own day, as will be more
+fully detailed presently, despite her honourable distinction of "_La
+Siempre real ciudad_" (The Ever Loyal city), there is no lack of
+discontent, and the generally prevailing "loyal tranquillity" is, none the
+less, boding many serious perils for the Spanish supremacy.
+
+The most striking peculiarity of the natural configuration of Luzon[74]
+is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsulas, a northern, which
+comprises the larger portion, and a southern, smaller island; the former
+named Luzon by the Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire
+island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and its
+greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it is little more than
+thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the Caraballos mountains traverse
+Luzon from north to south, and sends off spurs in various directions,
+which impart an exceeding hilly aspect to the entire island.
+
+The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions; Costa, Contra-Costa,
+and Centro, corresponding pretty nearly with the western side, the eastern
+side, and the interior of the island, and formerly indicating in what
+order these different sections of the country had been subjected to the
+Spanish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces and 12
+districts.
+
+Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipelago, and the
+oldest European settlement in this region of the globe, lies at the mouth
+of a small but rather rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of
+about 30 miles, draws off to the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake
+(_Laguna de Bay_). In consequence of a not very conveniently situated
+mole, the Pasig is forming a bar close to its own embouchure, which makes
+it somewhat dangerous for boats to attempt an entrance in bad weather.
+Ships, however, can anchor about 1-1/2 miles below the fortified walls of
+the city, which, though impregnable to the attack of a native force, would
+probably be found powerless to repel a European force attacking from
+seaward.
+
+The members of the Scientific Commission started from Cavite, where the
+frigate lay at anchor, in the small steamer which plies daily to the
+capital, which, when beheld from a distance, with its gloomy, lofty,
+defiant fortifications, and its dense clusters of monastic buildings and
+church towers, gives the impression rather of some great Catholic Mission
+than a place of commerce. In the roads there were not above 16 ships lying
+at anchor, whereas we counted 165 in Singapore, a disproportion which,
+considering the favourable site of Manila and its wealth in all manner of
+valuable produce, can only be accounted for by the pressure of political
+and administrative regulations, which weigh like a mountain upon trade and
+commerce.
+
+On pulling up the river from its mouth, where it is about 300 feet wide,
+we find ourselves in the vicinity of the light-house, in front of a dense
+mass of the inevitable filthy bamboo huts, which being inhabited by the
+very poorest section of the population, increase the dismal, gloomy
+impression left by the first view of the city. We land in the
+neighbourhood of the harbour-master's office, and have to pick our steps
+through a dirty quarter of the town in order to reach the focus of public
+activity.
+
+The river Pasig divides Manila Proper from its sister city of Binondo. Two
+handsome bridges, one an old-fashioned stone one, the other a modern
+suspension bridge of imposing dimensions, form the communication between
+the two cities. Manila, situate on the southern or left bank, and enclosed
+on all sides with ditches and fortifications, has all the peculiar
+features of a Spanish town of the ancient type. It consists of eight
+straight, narrow streets, all running in one direction. Within these are
+most of the public buildings; the Governor-general's Palace and that of
+the Archbishop, the Municipality, the Supreme Courts, the Cathedral, the
+Arsenal, the Barracks. Profound silence reigns in the grass-grown streets,
+between the gloomy masses of stone, of which at least one-third are Church
+property. There is no evidence anywhere of joyous life or social progress,
+and the variegated, charming flower-garden, lately laid out in the square
+in front of the Cathedral, stands out like a solitary gay picture, amid
+austere, sombre, historical paintings of vanished might and faded
+splendour. Within the walls of this melancholy old city only Spaniards and
+their descendants may dwell, all other races being excluded from this
+privilege. The number of inhabitants within the fortifications does not
+probably exceed 10,000 souls.
+
+On the other hand, Binondo, on the northern or right bank of the river, is
+the true business city and head-quarters of trade. Here Europeans,
+Chinese, Malays, and their endless intermixtures of blood, amounting in
+all to more than 140,000 souls, reside in the most perfect harmony with
+each other; here are all the warehouses, shops, and manufactories; here
+prevails from morning till night a perpetual whirl of busy, cheerful
+crowds circulating through the streets, of which that called the Escolta
+is the most frequented, as it is the handsomest and most attractive. The
+houses, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are usually one storey
+high, enclosing large courts (_patios_), and very frequently with a sort
+of terrace on the roof. The interiors of the houses have an unusually
+spacious appearance, owing to their almost universally having but little
+furniture, in many cases simply a number of chairs ranged along the walls.
+But the most singular aspect of these houses is to be found in the
+windows, the panes of most of them being made, not of glass, but of the
+shell of a species of oyster (_Placuna Placenta_), ground down to the
+requisite thinness! The subdued light which is thus obtained is
+exceedingly grateful, and these mussel-shells have been found to be
+cheaper and more lasting than panes of glass, which, in a country so
+frequently visited by earthquakes and hurricanes, could only be replaced
+when injured at an immense expense. The streets are rather narrow, so much
+so that linen awnings are stretched across the streets from one row of
+shops to that opposite, thus securing to the foot-passenger the
+inestimable boon of being able during the hottest hours of the day to
+traverse almost every street in Binondo under shade.
+
+That which the stranger understands by the emphatic word "comfort" is only
+to be found in the houses of European residents, and is not obtainable by
+money. The two hotels lately started to levy, unchallenged, Californian
+prices for even the most moderate requirements, and so far as cleanliness
+and orderliness are concerned, lag far behind the commonest country inn in
+North America or the British colonies.[75]
+
+Despite the various races that meet the stranger's gaze, Manila has,
+beyond any other colony in the East, the appearance of a European town.
+One remarks here, that the colonists are more completely amalgamated with
+the natives, and that with the religion these latter have also adopted a
+considerable proportion of the customs of Europeans.
+
+Among the populace of Manila belonging to the coloured races, that most
+prevalent in the capital is the Tagal, or Tagalag, on whose territory the
+Spaniards founded their first settlement. The obscurity that envelopes
+their origin has never been dispelled, although some of the older
+religious writers thought they found on Borneo and other islands of the
+Sunda Archipelago some traces of their stock. They were confirmed in this
+impression by the fact, that in the most cultivated dialects and idioms
+of the Tagal is to be found an unusually great number of Malay and
+Javanese words. The majority of the plants cultivated here, such as rice,
+sugar-cane, yam, indigo, cocoa-palm, as also all domestic animals, many of
+the metals, and even the digits used in enumeration, are, although greatly
+corrupted, directly traceable to the corresponding words or names in
+Malay. Moreover, there is a tradition very prevalent throughout Luzon,
+that the Spaniards, at their first arrival in this Archipelago, found
+certain Bornese officials here, who were levying taxes and tithes for the
+Rajahs resident in that island.
+
+Next in number to the Tagals rank the Chinese with their descendants, and
+to these succeed the Spaniards, with their offspring born in the country,
+who amount together to barely 5000, or about a 28th of the whole
+population of the capital; of Spaniards of pure descent, there are not
+above 300 in Manila.[76]
+
+Besides the Tagal there is in this Archipelago yet another race, the
+_Negritos_, who only inhabit the mountain districts of the islands of
+Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Mindanão, and are estimated at about
+25,000 souls. These Negritos del Monte, or Negrillos, also called Aeta,
+Aigta, Ite, Inapta, and Igorote, are small in physical conformation as
+compared with their African congeners. The characteristic features of the
+negro are less strongly marked, the colour of their skin and their
+complexion are both less black. For this reason old Spanish authors speak
+of them as "_menos negro y menos feo_" (less negro-like and less hideous).
+Owing to their small stature, which does not average above 4 feet 8 inches
+English, they have received the appellation of Negritos (diminutive
+Negroes). By Spanish writers upon the Philippines they have been described
+as a still existent branch of the lowest type of humanity, without fixed
+dwellings, without regular employment, eking out a bare subsistence on
+roots and wild fruits, and such animals as they could bring down with the
+bow and arrow, their only weapon. Through the kind offices of Mr. Grahame,
+we had an opportunity of gratifying our curiosity to see an individual of
+this singular race of Negritos. This was a girl of about 12 or 14 years of
+age, of dwarf-like figure, with woolly hair, broad nostrils, but without
+the dark skin and wide everted lips which characterize the negro type.
+This pleasing-looking, symmetrically formed girl had been brought up in
+the house of a Spaniard, apparently with the pious object of rescuing her
+soul from heathenism. The poor little Negrilla hardly understood her own
+mother tongue, besides a very little Tagal, so that we had considerable
+difficulty in understanding each other. The received opinion that the
+Negrillos and the Igorotes are of a distinct race, but having some
+affinity with the Papuans of New Guinea, seems to us for many reasons very
+problematical. We are as yet far too little acquainted with the races
+inhabiting the most inaccessible parts of the island, to be able to
+pronounce a correct opinion upon such a point. The probabilities are not
+less that the Negritos and Igorotes stand in the same relation to the
+dwellers on the coast as the Bushmen to the Hottentots, the Weddahs to the
+Cingalese, or the savages of Sambalong to the natives of the rest of the
+Nicobars.
+
+The Spanish language is only available in Manila and the vicinity;--a few
+miles in the interior, even in places which hold almost daily
+communication with Manila, Tagal is much more commonly used. At present
+Tagal is written and printed exclusively in the Roman character. While in
+Manila, we never once saw a book or MS. in which the ancient character had
+been used. Even the oldest printed matter, such as, for instance, a Tagal
+grammar, published in Manila in 1610, contains only a few samples of the
+native alphabet, while as to its original arrangement, as also the form of
+the numerals, the utmost uncertainty prevails. The entire alphabet, which,
+including the three vowels, consists of but 17 letters, comprises the
+following characters:
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Each of the italicized character groups below
+designate the Roman equivalent to a Tagal character. The Tagal character
+can not be rendered here. It is available in the .html version of this
+book.]
+
+                                 Vowels.
+
+               _a_      _e_ and _i_      _o_  and  _u_
+
+                               Consonants.
+
+          _ba_     _ca_     _da_ a. _ra_     _ga_     _ñga_
+
+          _ha_     _la_     _ma_     _na_     _pa_ a. _fa_
+
+                   _sa_     _ta_     _va_     _ya_
+
+A dot _above_ the character changes the vowel sound _a_ of the original
+consonants into _e_ and _i_.
+
+  _be_   _ke_   _de_ a. _re_   _ge_   _ñge_   _he_   _le_   _me_   _ne_
+
+                      [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+  _bi_   _ki_   _di_ a. _ri_   _gi_   _ñgi_   _hi_   _li_   _mi_   _ni_
+
+              _pe_ a. _fe_   _se_   _te_   _ve_   _ye_
+
+                      [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+              _pi_ a. _fi_   _si_   _ti_   _vi_   _yi_
+
+A dot _below_ the character changes the vowel sound _a_ of the original
+consonant into _o_ and _u_.
+
+  _bo_   _co_   _do_ a. _ro_   _go_   _ñgo_   _ho_   _lo_   _mo_   _no_
+
+                      [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+  _bu_   _cu_   _du_ a. _ru_   _gu_   _ñgu_   _hu_   _lu_   _mu_   _nu_
+
+                _po_ a. _fo_  _so_   _to_   _vo_   _yo_
+
+                       [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+                _pu_ a. _fu_  _su_   _tu_   _vu_   _yu_
+
+From the foregoing characters it would appear that _a_ and _o_, as also
+_e_ and _i_, _da_ and _ra_, _pa_ and _fa_, had each but one and the same
+character.[77]--Besides the Tagal, five other different idioms are used by
+the civilized races of Luzon, namely, Bisaya, Pangasinana (the same as
+Ilocano), Tbanác (same as Cagayana), Bicol, and Pampanya.
+
+The Tagals are a small race, of a clear yellow complexion, and,
+notwithstanding their broad flat noses and thick lips, are by no means of
+unpleasing appearance. The hair of the head is rigid, bristly, and black;
+the beard very sparse. They all wear European clothes more or less,
+although the fashion in which they wear them is quite peculiar and
+ludicrously odd. Not merely do the lower orders and servants wear the
+shirt ironed perfectly smooth and unwrinkled, instead of a coat, above
+their continuations, but the Tagal dandy prides himself on his
+well-lacquered boots, his white stockings, his new Paris silk hat worn
+with a jaunty cock to one side, and above all his carefully plaited
+resplendent white shirt, as he struts through the streets of Manila,
+cigaret in his mouth, and swinging an elegant little cane! The women wear,
+like the Javanese women, the "Sarong," a parti-coloured striped cotton
+dress, rolled round the loins, and a close-fitting very short jacket, so
+short indeed that between it and the gown a space about an inch wide
+intervenes through which the naked body is visible, while the fine
+transparent gauze-like stuff of which the jacket is made is much better
+calculated to show off than to conceal their attractions. This universal
+fashion of dress is the more surprising, as the various orders of monks
+exercise in all other respects an almost despotic control over the
+natives, and as it is much more attributable to their influence than to
+that of the secular authorities that the speech, manners, and customs of
+old Castile have taken firm and extensive root in the Philippines. It
+seems, however, unjust to compare this group of islands, as has been done
+by modern writers, on account of the all-pervading influence of the
+Spanish element, with a province of Spain, in contradistinction to the
+colonies of other nations, where the Europeans have always been regarded
+by the natives as the lords of a conquered country. The English in India,
+Ceylon, and New Zealand, and the Dutch in Java, all appear to have a much
+firmer and more secure footing than the Spaniards, despite their having
+mingled with the people. How little can be effected by forced amalgamation
+of speech and manners, is best illustrated by the late separation of
+Central and Southern America from the Spanish rule, although in most of
+these countries the majority of the people speak only Spanish, and are
+governed entirely in accordance with Spanish customs. Much better founded
+seems to us the observation that it was less the sword than the cross of
+Spain which brought the Philippines under the throne of Castile, and that
+the natives have become Spanish Christians, without being Spanish
+subjects. The entire Archipelago is nothing but one rich church domain, a
+safe retreat for the legion of Spanish monks, who are able to lord it here
+with unrestrained power. There is a Governor-general of the Philippines
+only so long as it pleases the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan
+friars; and if ever an insurrection breaks out in the Archipelago,
+designed to shake off the Spanish yoke, there will be more than one monk
+to head the movement.
+
+In a country where the cloister and its denizens interfere so arbitrarily
+in all the concerns of life, and impart to the capital itself, as indeed
+to the entire Archipelago, a character entirely peculiar to itself,
+religious establishments and their zealous occupants call for special
+consideration, and the reader need assuredly feel no surprise that we
+should begin the narrative of our visit to the capital of the Philippines
+by a description of its monasteries. In Manila these unfortunately are
+not, as they were in the middle ages, the nurseries of culture and
+civilization, of science and art, but rather give the impression of being
+simply huge establishments for the maintenance of zealous souls, weary of
+life, who wish to close their days of labour in tranquil contemplation,
+exempt from all anxiety.
+
+The four orders of monks to whose hands are confided the entire spiritual
+and very much of the secular well-being of the inhabitants of the
+Philippines, are the Augustines (_Agustinos Calzados_--sandalled friars),
+the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the barefoot Augustinian mendicants
+(_Agustinos descalzados_ or _Recoletos_).
+
+The monastery of the Bare-Foot Friars, lying close to the wall of the
+fortifications, consists of a number of spacious buildings, some of which
+date from the 17th century. Everything here tells of former power and
+splendour. From the billiard-room and parlour on the first storey, the eye
+is charmed by a marvellous landscape commanding the Bay of Manila and the
+mountains that surround it. How delightful must it be in the evening
+twilight to pace these airy chambers in the society of congenial souls,
+and, while the brow is fanned by the cool sea-breeze, to give free scope
+to the reins of fancy, as it swept far away over the Bay of Manila! For
+what privations must not such a source of pure exquisite enjoyment
+indemnify the ascetic brethren of the cloister! That spiritual meditation
+and converse however do not form the sole topics discussed in these
+departments, was abundantly evidenced by the hints let fall by several of
+the monks who conducted us through the various corridors and apartments,
+and who were constantly indulging in visions of Carlist supremacy and a
+return of the halcyon days of monasticism. On our remarking that so far as
+worldly consideration was concerned, the cloister enjoyed far more cordial
+support in Manila than either in Spain or Cuba, one of the Augustinians
+who was accompanying us, a tall commanding figure, attired in the plain
+garb of the order, replied: "The Government knows that it has need of us,
+that it could not get on a day without us, therefore it leaves us in
+peace, and places no impediments in our path as in Spain."[78] And he was
+right. Whensoever the monks lift the finger, Spain has ceased to rule in
+the Philippines. The spiritual reins have ever bridled the secular
+authority, and such a state of things is the severest impediment to the
+development of the country and its intellectual growth.
+
+Of the various monastic orders resident in Manila the Augustinians are by
+far the best educated. They have made the various dialects of the native
+races their study far more deeply than the other orders. The "_Flora de
+las Filipinas_," the _only_ botanical work which has ever been published
+in the Spanish language, treating of this interesting Archipelago, was
+compiled by an Augustinian monk, Fray Manuel Blanco.[79]
+
+The number of monks resident in the monastery of Manila when we were there
+was 48, but there was room enough for three times as many. Altogether
+there were of the Augustinian order 58 monasteries and parishes in the
+island of Luzon, extending from one end of the island to the other. In the
+entire Archipelago there are, according to public documents, 145
+Augustinian monks, whose authority extends over 14 provinces and 153
+villages, numbering 1,615,051 souls.[80]
+
+The monastery of the Dominicans is kept clean and comfortable, and its
+wide spacious apartments leave a less vivid impression of decay and human
+indifference than the majority of the monastic edifices. Here also the
+lofty, light chambers in the upper storeys command a magnificent prospect.
+The Prior, Padre Vellinchon, received the Austrian travellers with much
+cordiality, and conducted them in person round all the apartments of the
+very extensive building. He spoke Latin pretty fluently, and without the
+peculiar Spanish accent, besides possessing a slight acquaintance with
+French; and was somewhat better informed upon European matters than his
+spiritual _confrères_. The library of the order is not kept in the
+convent, but in one of the buildings of the University of St. Thomas also
+used by the Dominicans, but it is quite unimportant, whether as regards
+the number of works it contains or their scientific value.
+
+The spiritual jurisdiction of the Dominicans extends over eight provinces
+of the Archipelago, including 76 villages, with in all 427,593 souls,
+whose eternal interests are watched over by 76 brethren of the order.[81]
+
+A Dominican friar, Joaquin Fonseca, is president of the permanent
+commission of Censorship of Books, consisting in all of nine members, five
+of whom are nominated by Government and four by the Archbishop of
+Manila.[82] We had the pleasure of being made acquainted with Fray
+Joaquin Fonseca, who also holds the appointment of Professor of Theology
+in the University of St. Thomas, and were presented by him with a copy of
+an imperfect epic poem composed in Spanish, which had for subject the
+history of the island of Luzon and its inhabitants.[83] Of this
+interesting fragment we shall publish a translation in another place.
+
+Just as we were leaving the Dominican monastery, its worthy Prior begged
+our acceptance, by way of souvenir of our visit, of a copy of Dante's
+Divina Commedia in the original text, and a dictionary of the Ybanác, one
+of the idioms most extensively used throughout the Archipelago.
+
+The monastery of the Franciscans presents no other feature of interest,
+than in so far as it is an emblem of the melancholy spiritual decay in
+which the members of this order at present find themselves in Manila. The
+dirt and untidiness which were not merely apparent in the various
+apartments, but which were even but too obvious in the external appearance
+of the brothers of the order, make a most disagreeable impression; for
+poverty and necessity, these two cardinal principles of the mendicant
+orders, are by no means incompatible with cleanliness and neatness.
+
+The Franciscans possess 16 missions in 14 of the provinces, comprising
+159 villages and 749,804 inhabitants.[84] The spiritual instruction of
+these is intrusted to 184 brethren of the order, 74 priests, and 43
+_Clerigos Interinos_ (occasional preachers).
+
+The monastery of the _Recoletos_, or Reformed Augustinians, offers a not
+less impressive prospect than that of the Franciscans. Here, too, the
+occupants permit to appear a careless indifference utterly destructive of
+the value of their ghostly ministration. As we entered, the brethren of
+the order had finished their mid-day repast. Some of the monks were still
+sitting in a dirty, gloomy verandah round a table on which was spread a
+table-cloth stained with food and drink, while in front of each stood a
+half-empty wineglass. A lay brother announced us, upon which one of the
+monks rose to bid us welcome. From his rather jovial appearance, and the
+suspicious colour of his nose, we presumed he was the cellarer, and were
+not a little surprised when, in the course of conversation, he announced
+that it was the Prior himself who was speaking with us.
+
+We had the utmost difficulty in making the brethren, whose information was
+of a most limited extent, comprehend from what country we came. The
+circumstance that the original German name _Oesterreich_ is pronounced
+Austria in Spanish, puzzled still more hopelessly the comprehension of
+the monks, whose geographical knowledge did not seem to extend much
+beyond the sphere of their vision. At first they confounded Austria with
+Australia, and fancied we must have come direct from the fifth quarter of
+the globe, but when the _Novara_ voyagers, proud of their Fatherland,
+refused to permit this opinion to pass current, and gave a more clear
+explanation, one of the younger monks thought he had at last found out our
+_habitat_, and evidently priding himself on having solved the riddle, gave
+his less ingenious brethren to understand that we came, not from
+Australia, but from Asturias, and were consequently fellow-countrymen! The
+limited intelligence of the Franciscan mistook Austria for Asturias, and
+made of the Austrian Empire a Spanish province! Lest the hypothesis should
+suggest itself to the reader, that this confusion of foreign empires with
+domestic provinces might possibly have originated in our not being
+acquainted with the language of the country, it is necessary that we
+should inform him that one member of the Expedition was thoroughly versed
+in Spanish, so as to be able to maintain fluent conversation, and that he
+was perfectly comprehended upon all other topics. Just as little must it
+be supposed that the above anecdote is but an ill-natured imputation, or
+the expression of a long-vanished national jealousy, or anything else than
+a proof of the present state of education among the present occupants of
+the monasteries of Manila.
+
+The Recoletos watch over the spiritual weal of 567,416[85] children
+belonging to parishes in the various islands of the Archipelago, and
+number 127 brethren.
+
+In each monastery there is what is called a _Procuracion_, where the
+various printed books published by the order (almost exclusively
+dictionaries and grammars of the native languages and dialects) are sold
+for the behoof of the funds of the monastery. The members of our
+Expedition exerted themselves to form a very complete collection of all
+such publications; and while thus engaged they also succeeded in getting
+several MS. treatises on language.[86] Works and memoirs on the history of
+the island and the state of its inhabitants are scarcely met with in the
+wretchedly deficient libraries of the monasteries, which consist of not
+more than 500 or 600 volumes, mostly works of theology and philosophy.
+Whatever of valuable literary material may once have belonged to these
+institutions has apparently been removed to Spain, whose libraries have
+also gradually absorbed the literary treasures of the monasteries of
+Central and Southern America.
+
+Besides the monasteries, Government Square (Plaza de Gobierno), in the
+inner portion of the city, possesses some little interest for strangers.
+It has the shape of a large oblong, surrounded on each of its four sides
+by the palace of the Governor-general, that of the archbishop, the
+cathedral, and the law offices, with a well-kept garden-plot in the
+centre, in which is a handsome statue of Charles IV., the whole strongly
+recalling the principal square in the Havanna. The cathedral is equally as
+remarkable for the clumsiness of its exterior as for the profusion of
+perishable gold and silver within. The first edifice was erected by
+Legaspi, the conqueror of Luzon, in 1571, and was composed of bamboo-cane
+thatched with palm-leaves. The present temple was built in 1654 during the
+papacy of Innocent X., after several previous buildings had been
+destroyed, some by fire, others by earthquake. The palace of the
+Captain-general is an extensive but very simple building, with long wide
+corridors internally, but which can make no pretensions to architectural
+magnificence externally. In one of its saloons our Commodore and his
+companions were received by the Captain-general of the Philippines, Don
+Fernando Narzagaray, who had held this elevated post since 1857. Formerly
+Governor of the island of Porto Rico, in the West Indies, Don Fernando
+was, in consequence of his openly avowed Carlist proclivities, sent into
+honourable exile to the Philippines, and by a lucky chance is at present
+once more invested with the dignity of one of the highest officials of
+Queen Isabel II. of Spain. This gentleman received the voyagers of the
+_Novara_ with the proverbial lofty courtesy of the Spaniards, yet not
+without suffering to appear in his address a certain embarrassment and
+hesitation, which however may have been due to his not being sufficiently
+acquainted with any other tongue than the Spanish, to enable him to use it
+in giving fluent expression to his thoughts. The conversation turned
+chiefly upon the scene of our latest visit, Java. Notwithstanding the not
+very formidable distance, and the constant communication existing between
+the two islands, the Captain-general seemed to have but a very vague
+conception of the political and social condition of Java, and framed his
+questions as though they related to some remote island, in some entirely
+different section of the globe, rather than an island in all but immediate
+vicinity. As we prepared to return to our vehicles, Don Fernando made use
+of the usual unmeaning compliment "_Usted[87] sabe que mi casa es à la
+disposicion de Usted!_" (You know you may consider my house as entirely at
+your disposal):[88] it would rather have astonished him though, had his
+visitors taken him at his word!
+
+Passports, which are absolutely necessary in Manila to make the very
+shortest excursion into the interior, are given with the utmost alacrity
+to strangers, without any one thenceforward paying the slightest attention
+to enabling any expedition to carry out its objects. This cold, utterly
+indifferent treatment was doubly felt by travellers fresh from Batavia,
+where they had been overwhelmed with every sort of attention.
+
+In the office of the Captain-general we saw several large sheets of
+printed matter in columns, suspended on the walls, which we presumed were
+the annual statistics of the commerce of the Archipelago, and accordingly
+requested one of the officials to provide us with one. It was only when
+unfolding a little later the documents which had been so readily given to
+us that we discovered our error, and became aware that these tables
+printed with such care and elegance did not in any way refer to what we
+had supposed, but were the statistics of the various monasteries, and
+their inhabitant brethren throughout the Philippines. We had far greater
+trouble and difficulty ere we could get at the particulars of the natural
+productions and state of trade of Manila.
+
+When the visitor passes through the St. Domingo gate to the suburb of
+Binondo, on the N.E. side of the inner city, we traverse what is called
+the Isthmus, a narrow strip of meadow-land, surrounded by water on both
+sides, on which has been erected within these few years a simple monument
+in honour of Magelhaens, the discoverer of the Philippines, who, wounded
+by a native with a poisoned arrow, breathed his last, 15th April, 1521, on
+the small island of Mactan, lying opposite Cebu. A Doric column of black
+marble, 76 feet high, with inscriptions engraven on the four sides of the
+pedestal, lifts its head here since 1854,[89] and is altogether a more
+appropriate monument than that which the Spaniards erected at Havanna to
+the greatest navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus, to whom they owe
+all their after power and greatness, on the spot where his ashes reposed
+for many a long year in the cathedral before they were conveyed back to
+Spain. A poor insignificant votive tablet, built into a recess near the
+altar, is all that intimates that there once reposed there for a season
+the mortal remains of the man who, to use the words of a German poet,
+"bestowed on the world another world."[90]
+
+On this isthmus are situated the most delightful pleasure grounds in
+Manila; the esplanade, with its simple, shady walks, and benches on which
+to repose, and further on, nearer the sea on the left bank of the river,
+the "Calzada" dam (causeway). Hither every evening comes the gay world of
+Manila, in long rows of carriages, to be fanned by the delicious cool
+sea-breeze. Arrived at the farther extremity of the promenade, the
+coachman, resplendent in gorgeous livery and large shining top-boots, for
+he does not drive from the box but rides postilion, is usually ordered to
+stop, and the gentlemen leave the carriage in order to chat with the
+ladies in the surrounding vehicles, just as we accost our fair friends in
+the theatre, and pay our visits in the boxes. For in Manila there are
+neither theatres nor concert-rooms, and the public promenade is therefore
+the only rendezvous of the "beau monde."
+
+Unfortunately we reached Manila in the height of the rainy season, when
+even the attractiveness of nature can only be guessed at by occasional
+glimpses, and the delightful outdoor life which enlivens the streets and
+the front porch of the private residences of the inhabitants, is utterly
+arrested. Here, as in Batavia, the tropical rains fall with a violence of
+which a native of the northern climates, who has never lived in the
+tropics, and knows only the rainfall of his own country, can hardly form
+any conception. In July, 1857, it rained here for fourteen days
+uninterruptedly, so that the Pasig overflowed its banks, and people were
+ferried about the streets of Manila, as in the city of Lagoons, by means
+of small boats, called here _bancas_. This inundation was converted into a
+merry-making, and visits were paid on all sides in elegant little boats.
+
+The one sole amusement with which even the rainy season cannot interfere,
+is cock-fighting. So soon as the bad weather has fairly set in, universal
+recourse is had to this, the most popular of amusements, whose cruel,
+murderous issue is strangely in contrast with the mild, soft, timid
+character of the natives. These "_Gallos_," as they are called, are a
+monopoly of Government, that is to say, they can only be held with their
+permission, and upon payment of a fee for such license. The revenue which
+Government derives from this anything but civilized amusement is very
+considerable,[91] and the fee paid by the owners of the cocks and the
+spectators is at any rate the least objectionable part of the spectacle,
+for far larger sums are lost in the betting. What cards and hazard are for
+_blasée_ Europe, cock-fighting is for the simple native of Manila. Such is
+their passionate excitement, that several days elapse before their
+ordinary apathy subsides into its state of chronic contentment. It is
+singular that, with the exception of the Spaniards and the mixed race
+founded by them in various distant parts of the world, there is not now
+one single civilized nation that can find any pleasure in such brutal
+amusements as cock-fights and bull-fights.
+
+The scene of action is a small building, built of bamboo, and thatched
+with palm-leaves, in the interior of which the benches for the spectators
+rise behind each other in form of an amphitheatre, while the arena, or
+pit, is filled with the owners of cocks and betting-men, until the signal
+for the commencement of the combat is given. Each owner caresses or
+incites once more his champion, or to prove his courage flings him against
+one of the other cocks. At last the spectators have decided to back one or
+the other of the cocks, red or white, the flat comb or the round comb; the
+bets are "on," and the "spur," a sharp-pointed weapon above two inches in
+length, and provided with a sheath, is firmly attached to the right foot.
+Then the two cocks are simultaneously swung against each other, and a few
+feathers are plucked from their necks to excite their fury. The bell in
+the hand of the director gives the signal for the commencement of the
+"main." The spectators retire from the "pit," the sheaths are taken off
+the trenchant spurs, and the encounter commences. Most marvellous is the
+eagerness for the fray, the dogged valour, which these two knightly
+antagonists display to the very last gasp; how even wounded, bleeding, and
+sorely fatigued, they will not give up the contest! Occasionally it
+happens that neither of the combatants is hailed the victor. The
+extraordinary keen, sharp "spur" sometimes wounds both warriors with
+terrible severity, till with severed limbs, and bleeding from every pore,
+both lie dead on the field of battle.[92]
+
+Very comical is the method hit upon in those places of amusements to
+supply the places of the return tickets in use amongst ourselves, and at
+the same time render it impossible for any different person to make use of
+them. When a native wishes to leave the apartment with the intention of
+returning he has his naked fore arm, near the wrist, stamped as he goes
+out with a black die, which secures his re-admission, and at the same time
+obviates all anxiety as to his losing his return ticket! On his return
+this mark is easily wiped out.
+
+During our stay occurred the "_Fiestas Reales_," or royal fêtes, which
+were given by the Colonial Government in honour of the birth of an heir to
+the Spanish throne, Don Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias. The little
+heir-apparent had, in fact, seen the light in the month of November
+preceding, at Madrid, but when the news reached the Philippines it was
+Lent; respect for the tenets of the Catholic Church deferred the
+festivities, and afterwards the various fire-works, triumphal arches,
+illuminations, &c., took so long a preparation that the month of June and
+the rainy season were again at hand before the fête could be held, which
+owing to the latter circumstance fell through, and excited hardly any
+interest. That intelligence should be so many months in arriving at the
+Philippines is due less to their great distance, than to the little care
+taken by Government to promote the public interests. Until 1857, all
+letters to Europe were for the most part dispatched by sailing vessels, so
+that letters remained four or five months on the way, and owing to the
+uncertainties of the length of passage made by the various vessels, it was
+constantly happening that the last letters sent came to hand before those
+dispatched several weeks earlier. This irregularity and uncertainty
+weighed so heavily upon commerce, that since March, 1858, there has been
+established regular communication by steam between Manila and Europe, the
+epistolary matter from Europe, for the residents throughout the
+Archipelago, being conveyed by a Spanish steamer from Hong-kong, which is
+distant only 600 miles, while all letters for Europe are conveyed to the
+latter port in time for the mails of the 1st and 15th of each month,
+whence they are forwarded together with the English correspondence viâ
+Singapore and Suez.
+
+On the other hand there is up to this moment no regular communication with
+any of the adjacent islands in the Archipelago, even the Government only
+availing itself of such sailing vessels as private adventurers may from
+time to time charter. When any change of officials takes place, the new
+appointment must often remain vacant for months till the occupant reach
+his post; indeed, during our stay in Manila we witnessed a case in which
+the consort of the Governor of the Marianne Archipelago had been vainly
+waiting for months for an opportunity to return to her husband.[93] Some
+foreign merchants settled at Manila had made an offer to the Government,
+in consideration of a fixed subsidy, to establish regular communication
+between the various islands of the Archipelago, and to keep it on foot by
+means of five steam vessels. But the Colonial Government did not see its
+way to giving the company a larger subsidy than 43,000 Spanish piasters
+(£6763 at par), and thus the whole plan once more fell through, the
+carrying out of which would so greatly tend to the development of these
+islands.
+
+Notwithstanding the fertility of the islands in all manner of natural
+wealth, there are at present but three products of the soil which are
+exported in anything like large quantities to the European and North
+American markets, and which thus give this group any importance in the
+eyes of the commercial world, viz. tobacco, Abáca, or Manila hemp, and
+sugar. The amount of all other articles exported, such as coffee, indigo,
+Sapan wood (_Cæsalpinia sapan_), straw-plait,[94] hides and skins of
+animals, &c., is proportionately but small. We visited the great
+manufactories of Binondo, as also that of Arroceros, where _cigarillos_,
+or paper-covered cigarettes, are exclusively manufactured. The former
+gives employment to about 8000 work-people, mostly women. In the long
+workshops, where it is common to see 800 females sitting at work on low
+wooden benches in front of a narrow table, there prevails a most
+disagreeable deafening hubbub. Some are busy moistening the leaves, and
+cutting off the requisite lengths, or are sorting the fragments and
+smaller pieces, of which inferior cigars will be made; others hold in
+their right hand a flat smoothed stone, with which they keep continually
+pounding each single leaf, in order to make these more susceptible of
+being rolled up. This drumming noise, and the cries of several hundreds of
+workwomen, who, on the appearance of foreign visitors, handle their
+implements of stone with yet more energy, apparently out of sheer
+wantonness, the strong odour of the tobacco, and the disagreeable
+exhalations from the bodies of so many human beings shut up together in
+one close apartment, in a tropical temperature, have such an unpleasant,
+uncomfortable effect that one hastens to exchange the damp sultry vapours
+of the workshops for the fresh air without.
+
+In the _Cigarillo_ manufactory about 2000 workmen find employment. Here
+also there is felt in the workshops the same clammy, sultry atmosphere. A
+workman can make about 150 packages of 25 cigarettes, or 3750, per diem,
+for which he is paid four reals[95] (1_s._ 7_d._ English). Most
+extraordinary is the rapidity, bordering almost upon the magical, with
+which the cigarillos are counted, divided into packages, bound up, and
+stamped. The unpractised vision of the visitor is hardly able to follow
+the celerity of motion of the workman's hands and fingers.
+
+Besides the two factories already mentioned, there is yet a third
+cigarillo manufactory in Cavite, which employs 4000, and a fourth in
+Malabon, employing 5000, workwomen. The quantities annually produced by
+these various manufactories amount to about 1,200,000,000 cigarillos. If
+we deduct the numerous holidays of the Church, on which no work is done,
+we shall find that about 5,000,000 must be made daily. Government buys up
+each year from the planters the entire crop of tobacco at a fixed price,
+and exports it partly in leaf, but for the most part in cigars, the right
+to manufacture which no one possesses but the Government. The monopoly of
+tobacco was, after great difficulties had been encountered, first
+introduced into the Philippines in 1787 by Don José Basco, the then
+Governor-general.
+
+The greater part of the cigars are shipped to the East Indies, the islands
+of the Malay Archipelago, and North America, only a small quantity in
+proportion coming to Europe for sale.
+
+The principal tobacco-growing districts of the island of Luzon are Cagayan
+and Bisayx, in which on an average 180,000 cwt. of tobacco are grown
+annually; of these about 80,000 cwt. are sent annually in the leaf to
+Spain, while the surplus are worked up into cigars in Luzon itself, sold
+at auction (_al martillo_) every month, and knocked down to the highest
+bidder. The average price is 8 to 10 dollars per 1000 _Costados_. There is
+but one species of tobacco grown in Manila, and the size of the leaf is
+the sole element that regulates the value. The Manila tobacco is a very
+strong narcotic; there is, notwithstanding the prevailing opinion in
+Europe, no opium mingled with it; one end being simply dipped in rice
+juice to glue it together. Indeed, the enormous cost of that liquid drug,
+which plays so important a part in the history of the Chinese empire,
+would alone prevent its being used. As cigars are greatly in request by
+both sexes in Manila, and it is necessary first to provide for the supply
+of the country itself, it occasionally happens that the stocks are not
+sufficiently large at once to supply all demands for exportation. Except
+during the public sales by auction, no one is permitted to buy of
+Government more than 1000 cigars at once, a regulation most vicious in
+principle and useless in practice, as persons who wish to possess larger
+quantities of cigars have simply to send round to any number of persons in
+the tobacco trade, in order to provide themselves with what they require.
+We ourselves experienced how any one, who was desirous of buying 45,000
+cigars, sent 45 different individuals to the bonded magazine, from which
+each brought 1000 cigars without any further interference.
+
+Although altogether more tobacco is raised on the island of Luzon than in
+Cuba, yet the exportation from the former is far less in quantity, for the
+reason already commented upon, that a large portion of the tobacco so
+grown is consumed in the country itself. Luzon provides 1/10th, and Cuba
+1/12th of the entire production of tobacco on the earth, which amounts to
+4,000,000 cwt.[96] There are indeed two countries which produce a far
+larger quantity of tobacco than either Luzon or Cuba,[97] but in no other
+country does the tobacco leaf attain such superior quality, owing to
+favourable climate and congenial soil, as in the Spanish possessions
+already named.
+
+Another chief product of the Philippines, which first found its way into
+the markets of the world from these islands, is what is called Manila
+hemp. This, however, is not the common hemp plant (_Cannabis sativa_), but
+is procured from the fibres of the "_Musa textilis_," a species of
+banana, and is called by the Tagals _abáca_. The plant comes in great
+quantities from almost every one of the Philippines, from Luzon to
+Mindanão, so that the area over which it extends stretches between the
+equator and 20° N. This seems, however, to be the most northerly limit of
+vegetation of the _Musa textilis_, and consequently it is out of question
+to attempt to introduce into Europe the cultivation of this most useful
+plant, which, ere it can be profitably grown, requires a temperature of
+77° Fahr. The stem of this _musacea_ grows in the Philippines to a height
+of from 9 to 12 feet, by about 6 inches in thickness, its leaves being of
+an exceedingly dark green colour, 8 feet in length by 1-1/2 feet in width.
+The fruit is smaller, and neither so yellow nor so palatable as that of
+the common banana. To procure the hemp, the trunk, so soon as the fleshy
+bulbous fruit makes its appearance, is stripped of its splendid leaves,
+which serve as fodder for the oxen, and is left about three days to
+ferment. It is then peeled off in pieces, which by the application of a
+corresponding pressure are drawn between two knives, not too sharp, in
+order to separate the hemp, which now begins to be visible, from the bast,
+which, owing to the fermentation, has become rather brittle. This process
+is continued until the hemp is sufficiently cleaned to admit of its being
+spread out and dried in the sun. A skilful workman may make extract from 8
+to 10 feet of hemp a day. There are 450,000 cwt. of hemp produced
+annually, of the value of £520,000, the greater part of which is sent to
+the United States of North America, while from 30,000 to 60,000 cwt. is
+manufactured into rigging for ships in the country itself, at the splendid
+factory of Messrs. Russell and Sturgis, an American firm, by whom it is
+exported to Singapore, Australia, and China. This raw material, as well as
+the various products manufactured from it, has a magnificent future
+opening to it, and will ere long compete advantageously with English and
+Russian hemp in the European markets. The principal objection as yet made
+to the use of the Manila hemp for rigging, viz. its contracting in wet
+weather, can easily be obviated by more careful treatment of the fibres in
+the process of manufacture. On the other hand, in strength and elasticity
+the abáca surpasses its rival, as has been proved by repeated experiments,
+especially over common European, and even Russian, hemp.[98] Messrs.
+Russell and Sturgis have, it is true, monopolized the hemp product of the
+entire Archipelago, but under their fostering care it must sensibly
+increase and become perceptibly improved. From the leaves of _Musa
+textilis_, like those of all other species of the banana tribe, very
+excellent paper can be made, and by the increasing cultivation of the
+_musaceæ_ in the tropics, two main objects could be attained, viz.
+providing a plentiful subsistence for the natives, and extending and
+cheapening the medium that mainly contributes to widen the circle of
+knowledge of mankind.[99]
+
+Next to _Musa textilis_, the Ramé-shrub (_Boehmeria tenacissima_)
+especially deserves the attention of business men. The fibre of this
+member of the _urticaceæ_, which unites extraordinary toughness with much
+beauty and fineness, is stronger and more durable than that of Russian
+hemp, and with careful preparation would make into finer thread than the
+very expensive material which is used in Europe at the present day for
+making the world-famous Brussels point-lace. The variety of purposes to
+which this useful plant may be applied has hitherto been less fully
+recognized than those of the Manila hemp. In Europe the _Boehmeria
+tenacissima_ is but found in botanical gardens, or herbariums, and as yet
+not the slightest use is made of it for industrial purposes. And yet the
+introduction on a large scale of Manila hemp and Ramé fibre into the
+European markets in place of Russian hemp, would have more than merely a
+commercial and industrial importance![100]
+
+We may also notice in this connection another description of fabrics made
+from fibrous material, which, though but little known beyond the limits of
+the Archipelago, seems to us to deserve to be more extensively known, and,
+it would seem, may be most profitably taken up. These are the delicate
+almost transparent tissues prepared from the fibres of one of the
+_Bromeliaceæ_ (_ananassa sativa_), which are used by the natives for
+ornamental shirts, _chemisettes_, and necklaces, and are known in commerce
+by the names of _Piña_ or grass-cloths.[101] The threads of these textures
+are so thin, that they can only be woven in apartments where there is not
+the slightest breath of air. The natives contrive to weave them into the
+most beautiful designs, and were they submitted to some chemical process
+which should impart to the web a clearer colour, less of a dirty yellow,
+the world of taste would be enriched by the addition of one of the most
+exquisite materials that could be presented to adorn the graceful form of
+woman, and while seeming to conceal her charms, would but render them more
+conspicuously attractive.
+
+Although the rainy season, during which we visited Manila, was but little
+inviting for excursions, we yet could not resist the temptation to make an
+excursion to the celebrated _Laguna de Bay_, a short distance in the
+interior. Mr. J. Steffan, consul for Bremen, a Swiss by birth, and a
+partner in one of the most eminent mercantile houses in Manila (Jenny and
+Co.), who from the moment the Austrian expeditionaries set foot in the
+Philippines manifested to them the most delightful hospitality, was on
+this occasion also our companion and cicerone. Two other foreigners, an
+English artist and a merchant from Amsterdam, joined our party. The
+first-named had lived for long on the island, and had already visited all
+its most accessible spots, whence he had returned with some very accurate
+sketches; the latter had been sent out by his firm to Manila, in 1857,
+when the price of sugar had fallen, for the purpose of purchasing, at the
+price to which he was limited, a large quantity of that important article
+of colonial produce. By the time, however, he had reached the capital of
+the Philippines, the value of the sugar had already, in consequence of a
+favourable crop, exceeded the limit assigned him, and has since then
+advanced 300 per cent. Still the Amsterdam agent held on, awaiting a fall,
+and meanwhile did his best to wile away his time of exile by feasting his
+eyes with all the various beauties of the island.
+
+On a grey, dreary morning we found ourselves pulling up the Pasig in small
+covered boats, till we reached the Lagune, where a larger craft was
+awaiting us, to take the entire company of pilgrims on board and transport
+them to the opposite shore of this inland lake, as far as Los Baños. In
+clear sunny weather a row in a _banca_ upon the river Pasig, the aorta of
+Manila, which forms the communication between the city and the Lagune,
+together with all the various settlements along the shores of that
+internal sea, must be exceedingly pleasant. The banks of the river,
+indeed, are flat and unsightly, but the vegetation rejoices in a
+marvellous profusion of the most beautiful forms and colours. The
+_Bambusaceæ_ are the chief ornament of the shores, on which there are but
+few palms to be seen, while the banana, the sugar-cane, or the rice-plant
+are only exceptionally met with at certain points. The delicate-leaved
+bamboo accordingly presents hereabouts an elegance and variety of form,
+which at first sight seems to mark out its individual representatives as
+belonging to so many different families of plants. Wherever the subjacent
+rock is visible along the banks it presents beds of an ashen-grey
+pumice-stone, which constitutes the chief building material of Manila. On
+the shores of the river, near the city, are situate the various factories
+and iron-foundries, above which are the residences of the wealthy
+Mestizoes and foreign settlers, as also the country-seat of the
+Governor-general, whence, still ascending the stream, are Tagal villages
+of wretched cane huts, grouped round stately churches and parsonages,
+which peep picturesquely through lovely groves of bamboo.
+
+There are three modes of boating on the Pasig and through the Lagune,
+namely, the _banca_, consisting of a large trunk of a tree hollowed out
+and covered with an awning of bamboo; the _lorcha_ or _falúa_ (corruption
+of felucca), large, comfortable, but exceedingly clumsy row-boats, which,
+particularly during the rainy season when there is a heavy sea running,
+are those chiefly used in this navigation; and finally, the _casco_, which
+is of equal breadth at either end, and has more the appearance of a raft.
+The last-named is principally made use of for the transport of heavy
+merchandise, and is in especial favour with the natives, for the reason
+that it is practicable to hoist sail upon it as well as to row. On the
+Lagune there is also found yet a fourth kind of boat, the Paráho, the
+principle of which, as well as the name, has obviously been borrowed from
+the Malay _Prahu_, which it closely resembles in form and mode of
+steering.
+
+On the Pasig there is a constant and amazing tide of human activity.
+Numberless boats pass and repass, some bound for the city, to supply it
+with provisions and other necessary articles, even to drinking-water,
+which has to be shipped in casks at a considerable distance, others
+returning with all sorts of purchases made in Manila, for the supply of
+the various residents on the shores of the Lagune with the necessaries of
+life. On this voyage we got a sight of numbers of grackles (_Pastor
+Rosen_), the well-known grasshopper-destroyer, which, about five years
+before, had been introduced from China at considerable expense, with the
+view of extirpating this formidable locust. But since these birds, to kill
+which is punishable by imprisonment, have become acclimatized, they seem
+to have lost all relish for grasshoppers, sitting quiet and unmoved on the
+trees and roofs of the houses, while swarms of locusts are disporting
+under their very eyes. Apparently the number of these destructive insects
+is less great in China than in Manila, where these voracious wanderers
+often appear in dense swarms, which, in the shape of black clouds,
+absolutely obscure the daylight! Probably, too, their means of sustenance
+is much more limited in China than in the Philippines, where these birds,
+being in fact treated as tame animals, and fairly domesticated, find
+frequent opportunities of satisfying their hunger otherwise.
+
+At the village of Patero (from _Pato_, duck), which is situated five miles
+from the capital on the left bank, the inhabitants are mainly employed in
+breeding ducks. In front of each hut, and near the river, there is a large
+area fenced in, where these birds can bask in the sun or bathe at
+pleasure. The floor of the little poultry house is carefully cleaned every
+morning with river-water, and the ground dug up and plentifully filled
+daily with shell-fish for the use of the ducks, which the natives bring in
+their small canoes from the sea, where they thrive by millions in the mud.
+The spectacle of the gently-sloping assembling-places of these cackling
+denizens of the watery element, and the clamours with which we were
+saluted, strongly recalled to us the penguins of the Island of St. Paul.
+In Patero millions of ducks are annually reared as articles of trade, as
+the Tagalese look upon the half-hatched eggs and the new-born chickens as
+special dainties.
+
+The natives whom we met on the way all wore large round hats, made of
+plaited straw or bamboo, white hose, and above these the invariable shirt,
+a custom so singular, that it is but very gradually the eye of the
+foreigner becomes reconciled to it. The farther we got from the capital
+the more the use of Spanish seemed to diminish, till at the Lagune the
+natives only speak Tagal and Bisay.
+
+Our original intention had been to row up in _bancas_ as far as the
+entrance to the Lagune, where it had been arranged that the _lorcha_,
+which had started from Manila a day or two before, was to await our
+arrival. But when little more than half way beyond the village of Pasig we
+overtook the great clumsy concern, and it was forthwith resolved to remove
+into it bag and baggage, not forgetting the "provant," and endeavour to
+make ourselves as comfortable as we could for a few days and nights.
+
+As it was perfectly calm, and the _lorcha_ had to be poled along, we were
+a considerable time before reaching the entrance to the Lagune, where the
+industrious natives had erected a variety of nets and other fishing
+apparatus of very peculiar nature. The banks of the Lagune are for some
+distance from the shore thickly studded with thousands of what are called
+_coráls_, or fish-runs, and a special pilot is required to enable the
+_lorcha_ to thread this labyrinth of fishing apparatus of every
+conceivable form, so as to reach the open water. Singularly enough, it is
+for the most part the Tagalese women who manipulate the fishing
+instruments, while the men, as we were told, sit in the house and
+embroider. Near the entrance is stationed a sort of guardship. A Tagalese
+overseer overhauled our passports, turned them over in his hands two or
+three times with much official importance, and then returned them to us.
+The worthy officer of the law was obviously ignorant of the art of
+reading, but for that very reason he looked doubly massy, for fear of
+exposing his weak side to the Europeans.
+
+The Lagune de Bay is a fresh-water lake of such dimensions, that even on
+a clear day it is impossible, from the entrance, to see the coast on the
+further side, much less, of course, in the wretched rainy weather which
+stuck by us throughout our trip. Nevertheless, it is far inferior in size
+to the great lakes of North America. Its greatest breadth is little more
+than 30 miles.[102] All around the fertile shores of this charming lake
+nestle little villages, and the daily intercourse with the capital is so
+extensive that a steam-boat company would pay well. While on the one hand
+the Colonial Government objects to the expense of entering upon an
+undertaking so important for developing the general trade, engineers, on
+the other hand, have for the last 14 years been busily engaged projecting
+the immense work of connecting the Lagune with the ocean by means of a
+canal, in such manner as would enable ships approaching Luzon from the
+southwards to reach Manila easily, and with great saving in time, instead
+of having to sail all round the island. This short cut through the tongue
+of land would, it may well be supposed, be in other respects of
+incalculable benefit for the country, for the shipping and for trade
+generally, especially were the execution of this splendid project to be
+carried out hand in hand with a liberal policy, that should shake off that
+despotism which at present weighs like a mountain upon every sort of
+intellectual and political activity. Let Manila be declared a free port,
+let the ships of all mercantile nations visit unrestrictedly the various
+harbours of the Archipelago, and Spain will under such relaxations reap
+far more profit than from her present retrograde colonial policy, which
+can only result in permanent discontent and impoverishment. A thoroughly
+unprejudiced Spanish statesman might make most valuable observations by a
+brief visit to the neighbouring colony of Singapore, that marvellous
+British settlement, which, owing to a commercial policy conceived in the
+free, liberal spirit that characterizes the 19th century, has sprung up
+from a nest of pirates into the most flourishing and the wealthiest
+emporium in the entire Malay Archipelago. The situation of Manila, as also
+its numerous natural advantages and resources, would soon make it a rival
+to Singapore. But of what avail are the choicest treasures of nature, if
+the mind be wanting which can turn them to their proper use, and elicit
+their real value?
+
+The continued bad weather compelled us to pass the night most
+uncomfortably on board the _lorcha_; however, the morning after our
+departure from Manila we arrived at the village of Los Baños on the
+southern shore of the Lagune, where we were most courteously received by
+Padre Lorenzo, a Tagalese (only the monks being of Spanish blood, whereas
+among the secular clergy there are numbers of coloured persons). The
+parsonage, formerly an hospital, is an extensive edifice, with covered
+terraces, from whence the visitor enjoys the most splendid views of the
+neighbouring hills, as also over the village. Here we were rejoined by
+those members of the Expedition who, there not being room for all on board
+the _lorcha_, had made out the voyage to Los Baños in a small boat. The
+Government officer of the village of Pasig was so kind as to provide for
+our exploration of the lake a well-appointed, thoroughly armed and
+equipped war-galley; by no means a superfluous precaution when making an
+excursion upon the lake, as it has not unfrequently happened that
+unprotected strangers have returned to Manila robbed of everything.
+
+We had great difficulty in making our kind Father Lorenzo, whose
+wanderings had been rather limited, comprehend from what country we came,
+and to what nation we belonged. The natives of Luzon for the most part
+believe that all mankind consists of but two nations, Spaniards and
+English; the former they regard as their own masters, while the political
+and commercial power of the latter impress them with more terror than
+sympathy, and this feeling is still further deepened by that spiritual
+teaching, which makes everything seem to their untutored minds of the most
+terrible criminality, which does not strictly accord with Roman
+Catholicism.
+
+Los Baños (the baths), so named on account of the numerous hot springs,
+whose source is close at hand at the foot of the now extinct volcanic cone
+of Maquilui, thickly wooded to its very summit, was so far back as the end
+of the 16th century a place of resort for invalids, who hoped here to find
+a cure for their various maladies. In the interests of suffering
+humanity, the Franciscans of those days, then in the height of their
+influence, built over the baths a sort of hut, and a hospital dedicated to
+"_Nuestra Señora de las Aguas santas de Maynit_" (our Lady of the Holy
+waters of Maynit, the latter name expressing _hot_ in Tagal). Although at
+present in a very forlorn and dilapidated condition, there is still in
+existence, quite near to the edge of the Lake, an apartment enclosed
+within a wall, within which there boils up from a considerable depth a
+spring of hot water of a temperature of 186°.8 Fahr.; which is
+occasionally used, both by natives and foreigners, as a vapour bath,
+although these _Thermæ_ are more used to scald poultry than for their
+original purpose of curing disease. The entire neighbourhood is volcanic.
+Behind Maquilui, which is about 3400 feet high, lies, surrounded by a deep
+lake, the active crater of the renowned volcano of Taal, while to one side
+of the first-named mountain rises in the blue distance, to a height of
+from 6000 to 7000 feet, the gigantic mass of the Majayjay[103] range, a
+volcanic system long since extinct. An oppressive sultriness in the
+atmosphere, such as we had never before experienced, and a drenching
+thunder-storm, put a complete stopper on our projected excursion to make a
+closer acquaintance with the hills. Somewhat of the terrific heat
+experienced here, may, with much justice, be attributed to the great
+number of almost boiling springs which issue from the foot of the
+Maquilui, so that even on entirely clear days, when the mountain-top is
+quite free of clouds, the country about Los Baños seems enveloped in an
+atmosphere of mist.
+
+The main object and ever-memorable result of our excursion was the _Laguna
+Encantada_ (or Enchanted Lake,--the _Socol_ of the Tagalese), distant not
+much more than a mile from Los Baños. Volcanic agency and tropical beauty
+have combined to prepare here one of the most singular and mysterious
+phenomena that the eye of man may ever behold. Although this small lake is
+only separated by a low hill from the larger basin, yet the approach to it
+is extremely troublesome and arduous. It is necessary here and there to
+use one's hands, in order to creep through the brushwood along the steep
+wall of rock, till the shore of the lake is at last reached. Even the very
+"dug-outs," in which the lake is to be navigated, have to be transported
+over this lonely inhospitable hill. As the Lagune enjoys the unenviable
+reputation of being the haunt of numbers of ravenous crocodiles, which
+have on several occasions overturned the light canoes navigating it at the
+time, and without further ceremony devoured their crews, the natives had
+learned to take the precaution of binding two or three canoes close
+together with bamboos and cords, in order to diminish the risk of being
+overturned while boating on this dreary haunt of "caymano."
+
+While the natives were getting ready this handsome specimen of a craft, we
+stood on the shore, every one absorbed in gazing at this singular natural
+picture. Calm and mysterious-looking the lake lay before us, a circular
+basin, of a deep green from innumerable almost microscopic water plants,
+unfathomable, if we may trust common report, and enclosed by a crater-like
+wall of lava-blocks. All along the shore grew the tropical forest;
+gigantic primeval trunks, wildly festooned with wondrously luxuriant
+creepers, raised their towering crests, their splendid coronets of leaves
+reflected in the calm mirror below, and casting the lake in every corner
+into a dusky, shadowy obscurity of outline. From the topmost branches of
+the trees were suspended huge brown, indistinct-looking fruits. There was
+death-like silence all around. Only at fitful intervals might be
+distinguished the note of a bird, or the muttered growl of distant
+thunder. We now got into our canoes and rowed silently over the waters of
+the lake. As though to add to the interest of the adventure, it came on to
+rain pretty heavily. Some of the party followed the very practical custom
+of the natives, who forthwith divested themselves of their clothing, and
+left the rain to beat upon their naked bodies, while they put their
+dresses under the seats of the boat to prevent their being soaked.
+Fortunately the alligators at no time made their appearance in such
+numbers as the tales of the natives had led us to anticipate. We saw but
+one of these monsters, apparently about 15 feet long, who however speedily
+dived out of our sight.[104] Our guides maintained it would be advisable
+to take a dog with us, whose howl would have aroused the alligators and
+brought them up to the surface in hope as of prey. Indeed people
+frequently sacrifice dogs in order to entice these rapacious monsters from
+their haunts for the purpose of hunting them.
+
+If however disappointed in this spectacle, we were recompensed by another
+not less peculiar. For hardly had a shot been fired at one of the
+water-fowls which were skimming to and fro over the lake, than at once
+tree and thicket seemed filled with life. Birds of all kinds, screaming
+and whirring, fluttered about or dashed wildly against each other on every
+side. Thousands that had been sitting on the beach concealed in the deep
+shade, wood-pigeons and legions of gigantic bats, which had been suddenly
+frightened out of their listless repose, now flew about directly before
+the murderous fowling-pieces. The singular-looking fruits which seemed to
+be so strangely dependent from the trees, were transformed into Kalong
+bats (_Pteropus edulis_), and flew about in immense flocks that obscured
+the light of day, directly over our heads, hastily seeking a shelter in
+the forest, which should hide them from the gaze of the sportsmen.
+Probably we should have brought down some of these singular animals, had
+not our fowling-pieces, owing to the incessant pour of rain, got so
+thoroughly out of order that we had to content ourselves with getting a
+very few specimens for our zoological collection.
+
+On returning to the parsonage from this interesting excursion, we found
+the _Alcalde Mayor_, who had come to Los Baños from the adjacent small
+town of Santa Cruz, to welcome the foreigners, and be of service to them.
+The _Alcalde Mayor_, or _Gobernador_, is the highest official, the chief
+both of administration and justice in the province, a sort of prefect,
+under whom are the _Gobernadorcillos_, or departmental administrators,
+beneath whom again the Cabezas,[105] or parish justices, form yet a lower
+grade. The chief duties of these native officials consist in seeing that
+the proper amount of tribute or head-money is duly collected. This impost
+is divided into three parts: the duty for defraying the State expenses
+amounting to five reals, that for supporting the Church amounts to three
+reals, and that for the wants of the community amounting to one real, so
+that the whole taxation levied upon each individual liable is about nine
+reals (4_s._ 9_d._ English). In addition to the natives, the Chinese
+resident in Manila and the half-breed Chinese are subject to a poll-tax,
+the pure Chinese being rated according to their social position and the
+nature of their calling. They pay on the average about 17 dollars, or
+about 15 times as much as the native. The poll-tax of the Chinese Mestizo
+amounts to 18 reals, or about twice as much as that on the native. All
+males are liable to be rated for the poll-tax, as also all females when
+married, or when they have attained the age of 25. Those exempted from
+the poll-tax are all Spaniards and their half-caste children, all foreign
+residents except the Chinese, as also all natives above 60, and a few
+native families, whose ancestors had performed certain services for the
+Spaniards at the period of the conquest; and, lastly, all native
+authorities during their tenure of office (usually six years).[106]
+
+The morning after our excursion to the Enchanted Lake, a hunt of
+water-fowl was organized among the swamps surrounding Calamba, which
+furnished us with plenty of sport, as well as important scientific
+results, in which it would have been yet more productive, had it not been
+suddenly brought to a close by the acute illness of one of the canoe-men.
+As some cases of cholera had occurred during the few days immediately
+preceding, it seemed to be only a wise precaution to exercise some little
+prudence on the present occasion. Strange to say, however, the man
+attacked, despite his sickness, rowed resolutely till the party reached
+Los Baños, during all which period he showed the most lively interest in
+the hunt, constantly calling our attention to birds which his keen eye
+detected at a distance, or which were moving softly over the water without
+being observed.
+
+Meanwhile one of the zoologists was busy at the parsonage, making
+preparations of the most interesting specimens procured. Padre Lorenzo
+could hardly believe his eyes when he beheld the naturalist engaged in
+such a bloody business, apparently on precisely the most agreeable spot of
+the whole terrace, and performing the various dissections requisite upon
+the dead bodies of some couple of dozen of birds. In whatever direction
+one turned in the apartment, the eye encountered nothing but birds of
+variegated plumage, gigantic Kalong bats, monkeys, or else barrels filled
+with spirits of wine, in which were preserved snakes, fish, and other
+small inhabitants of the deep. The poor padre, accustomed to peaceful
+meditation and full of simplicity, appeared quite convinced he must have
+sinned grievously that such a visitation should have overtaken him, as
+that this horde of foreigners should have disturbed the repose of his
+peaceful asylum with such appalling practices. The youths of the village,
+encouraged by the promise of remuneration, busied themselves with yet
+further increasing our zoological collection, and made their appearance,
+breathless with running, each with some still more curious and important
+object to show to the strange gentleman, who found such interest in snakes
+and insects, that he even paid money down for them!
+
+Padre Lorenzo, however, was ere long rid of his singular guests, with whom
+he could even not get upon an intelligible footing. On the same day on
+which the hunt among the swamps of Calamba took place in the morning, the
+Expeditionary party returned from Los Baños, and by way of recompense to
+the obliging padre for the discomfort inflicted, they presented him with
+some provisions and some bottles of claret, which filled the worthy
+gentleman with delight, and seemed completely to reconcile him to the
+"Estranjeros." Some of the members of our Expedition also visited the two
+villages of Jalla-jalla and Binangonan, lying close to the shore of the
+lake, places of great interest in a geographical sense, while the
+remainder of the party returned to Manila in the same way they had come.
+Unfortunately throughout the entire distance the rain fell worse than
+ever. It never ceased pouring in deluges, so that for hours together we
+could not get upon deck, but had to remain below in the small bleak,
+comfortless cabin. Here there was nothing for it but to wile away the time
+as best we might. We talked "_de omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis_," we
+laughed, we sang, and we--SMOKED, a habit, be it remarked incidentally, so
+constant and universal here, that the _Pebete_ with its glowing top is
+constantly circulating from hand to hand. This is a sort of tinder in the
+shape of small thin rods, a cubit long, which is prepared in China from a
+mixture of fine dried sawdust, fir, and clay, and forms a by no means
+insignificant article of commerce, the greater part coming from
+Macao.[107] A chest of eight cubic feet, filled with _Pebete_ or
+"joss-sticks," as the English call this tinder, the use of which pervades
+the entire Malay Archipelago as far as Madras, costs from 10_s._ to 16_s._
+6_d._ sterling.
+
+By 11 P.M. we had got back to Manila. The weather had cleared up somewhat,
+the rain had ceased, and the city and environs were gay with the gleam of
+innumerable variegated lamps, intended to represent the illuminations
+expressive of the joy of the people at the birth of a prince of the
+Asturias. This did not however continue long; the enthusiasm that was
+finding vent through the glitter of the lamps was drowned in another
+deluge of rain, and as the exhibition had now lasted for several nights in
+succession, people at last had got weary of the trouble of constantly
+relighting them; the gaudy triumphal arches were decomposed into their
+constituent atoms--rough boards, wooden pegs, nails, and filthy little
+oil-lamps.
+
+The continuance of the wet weather put more distant excursions out of the
+question. We had to content ourselves with having seen all that was really
+worth seeing in the city and environs during our limited stay.
+
+Many additional visits were paid to the interior of the city, to the fort,
+to the monasteries, and the various public institutions. Of these latter,
+two call for a more particular notice: the "_Biblioteca Militar_," and the
+immense hospital of San Juan de Dios, under the charge of the Charitable
+Friars.
+
+The attraction of the Military Library, which is situated in one portion
+of the cloister of the Jesuits which had been almost entirely
+destroyed[108] by a former earthquake, consisted far less in its
+bibliographic treasures, than in a small collection of objects
+illustrative of natural history, of which the first beginning had been
+made but a few months before our arrival. It deserves the more notice that
+it was not the project of a professed naturalist, but solely of an
+"aficimado," or friend to scientific inquiry, Colonel Miguel Creus.
+Although very deficient, still the bare experiment has paved the way to a
+better and more complete collection, which at present comprises, besides
+about 100 species of birds and a few mammalia, a number of objects
+illustrative of ethnography, geological specimens, and the various
+manufactures and natural products of the Archipelago (among which are 37
+species of rice). Considering the natural resources of this Archipelago,
+(some of which, especially the Conchylia,[109] far surpass in richness of
+colour, beauty, and gracefulness of form anything that has yet been met
+with in any part of the globe,) the inauguration of this small collection
+may yet prove the foundation of one of the most magnificent and marvellous
+museums of natural history, provided the laudable intention of the
+founder receive adequate support; and the work, commenced as a labour of
+love, be continued and promoted with energy and perseverance.[110]
+
+The great Civil Hospital, to which Dr. Fullerton, a Scotchman settled in
+Manila, was so kind as to accompany us, is a very extensive range of
+buildings, with large airy rooms, but so unclean and ill-kept, that it is
+no wonder if the report be true, that many natives in bad health prefer to
+run the chance of death without, to being brought to this infirmary.
+Indeed most of the rooms are empty and unoccupied, there being in the
+whole building but 30 confined to their beds, which in a city of not less
+than 130,000 souls, with but _one_ hospital, is at all events a remarkable
+phenomenon. Every year on St. John's day the brethren of the order give a
+fête, when all the different rooms are scoured, swept, and garnished, and
+the sick in the hospital are present at the festivities, and, unrestricted
+by considerations of diet, are regaled with food and wine to their heart's
+content. This is likewise the period at which the hospital is most
+extensively patronized, and not only by those actually sick, but far more
+by those who qualify for a residence in the hospital by a too great
+devotion to the plentiful viands provided on St. John's day. When the
+English were in possession of Manila during the Seven Years' War, this
+range of buildings was used as a barrack, for which reason the church was
+considered as desecrated for 90 years, and only in 1857 consecrated once
+more as a temple of God.
+
+There is also in the _Calle de Hospicio_ a Military Hospital, somewhat
+better kept, and not like the former under the charge of a brotherhood,
+but of a medical staff. Unfortunately the arrangements here leave very
+much to be desired. The rooms, insufficiently ventilated, are in the
+immediate vicinity of the kitchen, the smoke and odours from which cannot
+but be very prejudicial to the patients. In the various wards there were
+about 150 to 200 sick, whose lot called for redoubled sympathy,
+considering the little attention paid them.
+
+Unfortunately no opportunity presented itself during our stay at Manila of
+witnessing any of those processions of the Church, which are necessarily
+so frequent in the course of the year. This was the more to be regretted,
+as we were told of many peculiarities of these costly processions. Here
+apparently, as in the earlier dependencies of Spain, in Central and
+Southern America, the Roman Catholic ritual has become mingled in the most
+extraordinary manner with ceremonies borrowed from paganism. The earliest
+Spanish missionaries were especially prone to believe that by retaining
+some of the former ceremonies they would facilitate the work of
+conversion, and increase the number of neophytes. They saw no scandal in
+the native, attired sometimes as a giant twelve feet high, sometimes as a
+Malay warrior, sometimes as an aboriginal savage, fantastically painted,
+and accoutred with bow and arrow, in a word, in all sorts of masquerading
+costume, frolicking in the very midst of the sacred procession, and
+performing all manner of buffoonery in front of the life-sized and
+gaily-adorned images of saints; but appeared rather to contemplate with
+pleasure that these wild beings, who had resisted the Spaniards on their
+first arrival on the island, were now subjected to the Holy Church, and
+rejoiced in her service! There are also numbers of natives dressed up as
+animals, and girls gaily decorated with flowers and in robes of spotless
+white, as also a fantastically-attired jester, who from time to time gives
+national dances and sings national songs, to the best of his ability, all
+in one long procession, accompanied by monks singing chorals and carrying
+wax tapers, while a promiscuous crowd of the faithful bring up the rear.
+
+The sight of such processions have anything but an edifying influence upon
+a European, but on the mind of the masses they seem to make a deep
+impression, and for weeks after, when smoking a cigarette in the privacy
+of the family circle, they will talk of the splendour of such solemnities,
+and the motley episodes that accompanied it. If it were admissible to
+judge of the religious mind of a people by their outward observances, the
+Tagalese would be the most devout race in the world. Wherever the natives
+come in contact with the Church, they put on an extraordinary stern and
+reverential deportment, and even in the most trivial matters the great
+influence of the priesthood upon the masses becomes abundantly apparent.
+This is the most conspicuous every evening as the clock tolls for the Ave
+Maria. The tones work like enchantment upon the people at whatever
+distance they may be audible, and for a few moments a profound silence
+succeeds to the noise and bustle. The labourer and the promenader, the
+ladies and gentlemen of the upper ranks in their elegant carriages, as
+well as the poor Tagale returning homeward from his hard day's work, and
+driving his laden mule before him, are for the space of an instant awed by
+the solemn sounds. All vehicles stop suddenly short, the gentlemen and
+servants uncover their heads, the restless masses stand as though nailed
+to the ground, and then sink gradually on their knees in prayer, their
+heads bared and their cigars extinguished; no one would venture to break
+in upon the universal stillness so long as the bell continues to toll. But
+as soon as it is silent, each jumps to his feet, and proceeds on again,
+believing he may now in safety give way to his frolicsomeness and pursue
+his pleasures.
+
+Life in Manila during the dry season was described to us as exceedingly
+agreeable and gay. Then almost every evening joyous groups thread the city
+singing and joking, while from every hut resounds some snatch of melody
+accompanied by the guitar. We had a slight foretaste of the joviality
+which must prevail in Manila during the delicious summer evenings from the
+joyous disposition manifested by the various Tagal families, even during
+the wet season, when the almost incessant rain, and the swampy state of
+the streets, compelled the natives to remain crowded in the narrow rooms
+of their poor little huts. In St. Miguel, a hamlet in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Manila, with a number of country-seats of wealthy
+foreigners and natives, we repeatedly heard the sweet plaintive notes of
+the native women singing Tagal ditties, which for pathos and thrilling
+tenderness surpassed all we had hitherto heard or read of the talents of
+the coloured races for song and melody. We shall be able in the Appendix
+to give the notes of a very characteristic melody, the words of which form
+a very favourite popular song (Condiman), which we ultimately succeeded in
+taking down through the kindness of Señor Balthasar Girandier of Manila.
+
+It was at San Miguel that we had not alone the most agreeable, but also
+the most melancholy, experience of our entire stay in the capital of the
+Philippines. On an island opposite the handsome, beautifully situate
+residence of our hospitable friend Mr. Steffan, the Bremen Consul, is the
+Poorhouse, in which the insane as well as the sick are confined together,
+the whole being, like all the other humane institutions of Manila, under
+the superintendence of an ecclesiastic, in the present case a Mestizo. It
+appeared there was no proper or regular medical attendance. Without
+assistance, or any one responsible for their proper care, these miserable
+beings, left in an indescribably desolate and neglected condition, cower
+down upon the bare stone floor in the damp, filthy rooms, staring vacantly
+before them, or slink about among the cool corridors, murmuring
+unintelligibly to themselves. The padre, habituated to such a state of
+matters, seems never to give it a moment's thought, but rather to make it
+his amusement to conduct strangers through the dismal, horrible wards,
+where at each step one encounters some fresh form of misery. We felt most
+pity at the sight of a female, whose features and whole appearance spoke
+of a happier lot in by-gone days. It seemed a mystery crying aloud for
+reparation, that this unhappy being, an orphan, worthy of all compassion,
+should for a slight attack of melancholy be liable to be sent to the
+asylum for the insane by her unscrupulous relations, that they might with
+the greater security possess themselves of her property. So deep and so
+permanent was the impression made by this melancholy spectacle, that even
+now, after the lapse of years of varied experience, since our visit to the
+lunatic asylum of Manila, the ill-fated being, with her wan yet striking
+features, her large, melancholy black eyes, and her wavy, shining black
+hair, her dress neglected and half torn into pieces, stands out life-like
+before us, as an embodiment of misery.
+
+Early on the day on which we bade adieu to Manila we found an opportunity
+of seeing a live boa-constrictor, said to be 48 feet long and seven
+inches thick, at the house of a secular ecclesiastic in the suburb of
+Santa Cruz. This gigantic reptile had been confined for 32 years in a
+large wooden cage, where it had enjoyed such a carefully tended existence
+that it had fairly outlived the good padre, and was now for sale by his
+heirs. The indolent animal, constantly lying almost motionless among the
+sand, is fed only once in every four weeks, when it is usually presented
+with a young pig.
+
+On the 24th of June the members of our Expedition went on board the small
+steamer plying to Cavite, where lay the frigate, on board which all
+necessary preparations had been made. Now, on the eve of departure, almost
+every one of our number mourned the disappointment of cherished
+expectations. The inclemency of the weather had not alone precluded our
+undertaking the more distant excursions which would have repaid our
+researches in the natural history of the islands, but had even interposed
+serious obstacles to our wanderings in the immediate neighbourhood;
+moreover, up to the very moment of our departure the Government manifested
+the utmost indifference to the objects of the Expedition, while even the
+educated portion of the Spanish residents never took the slightest notice.
+The more reason therefore is it, under such circumstances, that we should
+not be unmindful of the few, such as Messrs. Steffan, Schmidt, Wegener,
+Wood, Fullerton, Fonseca, Girandier, and Creus, who, with warm interest in
+our plans, furnished us with new material relating to the Philippines and
+their inhabitants, and left us with the agreeable prospect of a permanent
+exchange of literary and scientific labours.
+
+At one A.M. of the 25th June we weighed anchor in the harbour of Cavite,
+on our voyage to the Empire of China. The land breeze, which sets in
+regularly every night, carried us clear out of the Bay of Manila, but in
+the open sea outside we found, contrary to expectation, instead of the
+S.W. monsoon, light variable winds and calms, which materially interfered
+with our progress. At last, when we were about mid-way across the China
+Sea, we fell in with the long-looked for S.W. wind, which speedily wafted
+us to the next station we were to visit, the British colony of Hong-kong,
+or Victoria. With favourable winds the voyage from Manila to Hong-kong, a
+distance of about 700 nautical miles, is four or five days' sail; owing to
+the constant contrary winds we were double that time.
+
+Already, before we came in sight of land, a Chinese fishing vessel had put
+a pilot on board in the shape of a long-tailed son of the Celestial
+Empire, who jabbered English in a fashion to set the hair on end, and was
+lost in wonder at our flag, which he had never before seen. We afterwards
+found that the dialect used by our pilot was what is called
+Canton-English, such as is spoken by all Chinese who have dealings with
+the British, and consisting exclusively of a most ludicrous distortion of
+the commonest English phrases.
+
+About noon on the 4th July we sighted the Chinese coast; and before
+sundown we had passed the Lemmas islands, and found ourselves in the
+island-studded, many-bayed archipelago at the mouth of the Canton River,
+where the English have selected Hong-kong, with its admirable harbour, for
+the site of their colony. Thousands of fishing-boats covered the surface
+of the ocean all around us, always sailing parallel with each other, in
+fact, quite a fleet of fishermen, who, on a favourable opportunity, add a
+little buccaneering, and have numerous secure retreats among the thousands
+of coves all around, so that even up to the present day they can carry on
+almost unpunished their piratical attempts upon their own
+fellow-countrymen, as well as upon foreigners ignorant of their danger. It
+was the first time we had seen in any numbers the Chinese Junk, with its
+strange-looking rigging. On most of these small but clumsy vessels there
+was cut or painted on either side of the forecastle a huge eye, as though
+the crew were anxious to increase the power of vision of their vessel, so
+that it might more readily pick its way through the numerous dangerous
+reefs and coral banks. On the other hand the superstitious sea-faring
+Chinese sometimes veil and cover up the eyes of their vessels, in order
+that they should not behold certain strange things passing by, as, for
+instance, a dead body, or an approaching thunder-storm, and not be
+frightened by them.[111]
+
+The nearer we approached the coast, the more was our gaze rivetted by a
+landscape of the most imposing character, and now not owing to the
+altitude of the hills (for the highest peak is only 3000 feet), but to the
+grandeur of their form and their contour. Here are sharp, needle-shaped
+pinnacles, their steep rocky cones reminding one of the Sugar Loaf at Rio,
+and then round shoulders of hills, and far-extending ranges, penetrated by
+deep defiles, all nearly perpendicular, and without any extent of level
+land, and rising sheer out of the sea. These mountain ranges are almost
+entirely naked, or covered only with a scanty grass or bush vegetation: no
+tree, no forest hides the majestic groups of rocks and stones, and when
+the setting sun picked out with dark, well-defined shadows the sharp
+outline of the granite rock, it was as though there lay before us a "bit"
+of the Swiss Alps, bathed in the sea as far as the limit of
+forest-vegetation, and our sailors contemplated with redoubled enjoyment a
+scene which reminded them of their native Dalmatia.
+
+As the night was dark, with neither moonlight nor light-house (of which
+latter there is unfortunately an utter lack here), we could not venture to
+wind our way through the narrow channel into the harbour of Hong-kong, on
+the north side of the island, and we anchored therefore about 9 P.M. on
+the west side, in the Lemmas Channel; and with the first beams of the sun,
+on the morning of the 5th July, we stood in to the enchanting harbour of
+Hong-kong. Where the previous day we could descry from seaward hardly any
+traces of human activity in the hills and rocks along the coast, so that
+the land seemed desolate and deserted, there now smiled upon us, as we
+doubled Green Island, the city of Victoria, rising amphitheatre-like; and,
+lying invitingly before us, its harbour, all alive with numbers of stately
+ships and steamers, looking like an inland lake,--in fact, entirely
+land-locked. Several old ships of the line, which the English use as
+hospitals and coal depôts, filled the background, among which was the
+Royal Charlotte, 130 guns, the first three-decker that has passed the
+Equator.
+
+At 10 A.M. we cast anchor directly opposite the town; and amid the flags
+of England, America, France, Holland, and Russia, there now flaunted
+proudly forth the flag of Austria!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[72] In Manila the minimum annual rainfall is 84 inches, the maximum 102
+inches.
+
+[73] The expedition sailed from Madras with about 2300 men; the squadron
+consisted of 13 ships of war and transports. The English landed without
+any opposition, laid siege to Manila, stormed and captured the city proper
+within ten days after their arrival. The Citadel capitulated; the
+Governor, an Archbishop, binding himself to pay a contribution of
+4,000,000 dollars (£833,000), in order to save the city from being sacked.
+This expedition was always looked on by the Spaniards of the Philippines
+as a very rash adventure, which by no means tended to diminish the
+national antipathy to the English race, although after such freebooting
+expeditions as have within these last two years been witnessed on the part
+of civilized states in law-abiding Europe, this invasion by an army of
+declared enemies must be viewed in an entirely different light.
+
+[74] Spanish writers, treating of the Philippines, derive this name from
+"Losong," which in the native language means the wooden mortar in which
+the rice, which forms the chief subsistence of the inhabitants, is shelled
+and pounded. The first strangers who came to this island, and found in
+every hut one of these very peculiar clumsy-looking implements, spoke of
+the newly discovered island as "Isle de los Losenes" (island of wooden
+mortars), whence in process of time it became transformed into Luzon.
+
+[75] One of these hotels, the Hotel Français, was, at the time of our
+visit, kept by a Frenchman named Dubosse, a man of a most adventurous
+disposition, who afterwards accompanied the French army to China as a
+mess-man, and was one of the victims seized by Sang-ko-lin-sin's soldiers,
+near Pekin, in September, 1860, who met with such a horrible fate. The
+other inn, the Hotel Fernando, kept by a North American, is yet more
+filthy and noisy than the first-named, since, being situated on the
+harbour, it serves for a rendezvous for the various ships' captains. In
+neither of these is the charge less than 4 to 5 Spanish dollars a day, or
+about £1 sterling.
+
+[76] The Stranger's Guide to the Philippines (_Guia de Forasteros_) for
+the year 1859 gives the names of 61 commercial houses established by
+Spaniards in Manila. Besides these, there are in the capital of the
+Philippines, seven English, three North American, two French, one German,
+and two Swiss trading firms.
+
+[77] We borrow this alphabet from the valuable work of Baron von Hügel,
+entitled the Pacific Ocean and the Spanish Colonies of the Indian
+Archipelago (Vienna, printed at the Imperial Press, 1860), and believe the
+reader will the more gratefully welcome it that only a small number of
+copies of Baron von Hügel's interesting journal were printed in manuscript
+for private circulation.
+
+[78] This opinion of our Augustinian guide is not shared out there. An
+Austrian traveller, as widely renowned as highly cultivated, Baron Von
+Hügel, relates, in his Diary already alluded to, the following singular
+revelations by a friar in Manila: "The Philippine Islands belong to the
+Augustine monks; in Manila, Don Pasquale (the then Governor) or another
+may ruffle it and talk large,--in the interior we are the true masters.
+Tell me where you want to go and everything shall be laid open for you!...
+Police in the interior? It is laughable to hear of such an idea! As if
+such were possible! and I should be glad to make the acquaintance of that
+official who would venture to ask even the simple question of who any man
+is, who is under the protection of our order!... Should you like to ascend
+the Majayjay, the highest hill in the interior? An Augustinian friar shall
+accompany you thither. Should you care to make an excursion to the Lagoons
+and thence proceed to the Pacific Ocean? An Augustinian friar shall be
+your guide. Have you a hankering to visit the forests of Ilocos, northward
+from Manila, or to sail down the great river Lanatin? An Augustinian shall
+arrange all that for you. In one word, say what you wish to do!"
+
+[79] Fray Manuel Blanco, whose portrait, the size of life, but by no means
+artistically executed, adorns one of the corridors, was born 24th
+November, 1778, at Navianos, in the province of Zamora in Spain, and died
+in the convent of Manila 1st April, 1845.
+
+[80] Of these there were in 1857, 373,569 liable to taxation. Within the
+same year there were 85,629 persons baptized, 16,768 married, and 49,999
+buried with the rites of the Church.
+
+[81] In 1857 there were baptized in these 76 villages 21,604 children,
+4512 couples were united in wedlock, and 12,002 were buried.
+
+[82] In the entire Archipelago there is but _one_ newspaper, "El Boletin
+Oficial," published under the auspices of Government, and which treats
+much more of religious than of political topics. There are but two
+printing and publishing houses in Manila, one of which is in the hands of
+the Dominicans, and prints almost exclusively Prayer-books and religious
+works.
+
+[83] This historical poem is entitled "_Luzonia, ò sea Los Genios del
+Pasig_."
+
+[84] Of this number of souls there were in 1857, 188,509 amenable to
+taxation, while during the year there occurred 31,285 births, 21,029
+deaths, and 5713 marriages.
+
+[85] In 1857, the order baptized 23,227, joined in marriage 4830 couples,
+and buried 15,627.
+
+[86] The printed works obtained in the various monasteries of Manila
+consist of dictionaries and small grammars of the Togala, Bisaya, Ilocana,
+Tbanác, Bicol, and Pampangu dialects. The MSS. embrace vocabularies of the
+Igorotes and Ilongotes languages of Luzon, as also the idiom used by the
+natives of the Marianne Archipelago, together with a short treatise on the
+Marianne group written in Spanish by a missionary. All these works will be
+thoroughly and exhaustively treated of in the ethnological portion, where
+also the manuscripts will be published.
+
+[87] _Usted_--contraction for "_Vuestra Merced_" (your Grace).
+
+[88] The fair speeches and amiable phrases of the Spaniards lose all their
+value when one finds upon nearer acquaintance with this courteous nation,
+that the heart and the feelings take no part therein. There is nothing
+which a Spaniard will not offer to a stranger--but it is always on the
+clear understanding that the latter will with equal politeness refuse the
+proffer. We on one occasion, however, saw a Yankee take these professions
+at their apparent value, and by so doing put his Spanish host to no small
+confusion. The Spaniard wore a very costly diamond breast-pin, for which
+the American could not find words sufficient to express his admiration. To
+his exclamations of delight, the Spaniard kept repeating his nauseous "_à
+la disposicion de Usted_," till at last the American fairly took the pin
+out of the Spaniard's scarf and transferred it to his own. The latter felt
+so ashamed and dumbfounded that he could not utter a word. The following
+day the American, who had only taken it by way of joke, returned the
+costly bauble to the agonized Spaniard, but took occasion in so doing to
+remark that he now knew what was meant by Spanish courtesy.
+
+[89] On the island of Mactan (10° 20' N., 124° 10' E.) there was also
+erected on the promontory of Sugaño, a monument to the memory of
+Magelhaens, and the happy idea was entertained of making it also into a
+light-house, to warn ships of the danger in approaching the immense
+numbers of reefs that are found here.
+
+[90] V. Heinrich Heine's "Romanzero."
+
+[91] It was estimated, we were told, at from $35,000 to $40,000 annually.
+
+[92] Cock-fighting has been so long disused in England, that to most
+persons it only lingers as a grim tradition, mainly authenticated by
+Hogarth's well-known painting. The degrading associations which a
+cock-fight generated are sufficiently well illustrated by the prince of
+pictorial satirists. The "betting-ring" still brings together in England
+the same intermingling of grades of society, and consequent utter
+disruption of all social respect, but with all its faults it never has,
+nor can have, the same brutalizing effects of cock-fighting, which are
+instanced by the following anecdote, extracted from the _Gentleman's
+Magazine_ for April, 1789, and which may even now be found to repay
+perusal:--"Died at Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq., a young man of large
+fortune, ... who if he had his foibles, had also his merits (!) that far
+outweighed them. Mr. Ardesoif was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a
+favourite cock, upon which he won many very profitable matches. The last
+bet he laid upon this cock, he lost; which so enraged him that he had the
+bird tied to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of
+the miserable animal were so affecting that some gentlemen who were
+present attempted to interfere, at which Mr. Ardesoif was so enraged that
+he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared that he
+would kill the first man that interfered, but in the midst of his
+asseveration he fell dead upon the spot! Such we are assured were the
+circumstances attending the death of this great pillar of humanity!"
+
+[93] This unhappy lady died a melancholy death, having, what rarely occurs
+among Spanish women, committed suicide at her hotel by swallowing Prussic
+acid. It was rumoured that an unhappy attachment led to this fatal
+resolve.
+
+[94] Of these straw-plait manufactories the cigar-holders are especially
+noticeable for their fine texture and elegance. These are usually sold at
+very high prices; some of the more elegant of these fetching from 40 to 50
+dollars (£8 to £10). Straw mats and hats, not inferior in fineness of
+texture to those of Panama, are made here of palm fibre, and form a not
+unimportant article of exportation.
+
+[95] 8 reals = 1 Spanish piastre = 3_s._ 1-3/4_d._ at par; hence 1 real =
+4.71875_d._ English.
+
+[96] Owing to the universal interest felt in tobacco, the use of which has
+spread over the globe, till it has become a necessary of life to the
+civilized man as well as the half-savage races of mankind, we subjoin by
+way of completing the information above attained, the following remarks
+upon the tobacco culture in other possessions of Spain, extracted from an
+unpublished journal, kept by a member of the Expedition, during a visit
+previously paid to the West Indies.
+
+"The best sites for growing tobacco in Cuba lie to the westward of the
+capital in what is called the _Vuelta abajo_, between Rio Hondo and San
+Juan de Martinez, and is about ten English miles in circumference; the
+tobacco grown on the _Vuelta arriba_ is usually of inferior quality. In
+1856 there were in Cuba 10,000 plantations or _Vegas_, with a superficial
+area of 8000 _Caballerias_, (about 414 square miles, 1 Caballeria being
+equal to 160,371,041 English square yards, or 33,134 acres), cultivated by
+from 14,000 to 16,000 negro slaves. The total value of the capital
+employed in this branch of culture (including manual labour, building
+utensils, draught animals, &c.) may be estimated at 13,000,000 piasters
+(£2,730,000), and the average weight of tobacco produced at a million and
+a half _arrobas_, or 37,500,000 lbs. annually. Of this quantity 400,000
+_arrobas_, or 10,000,000 lbs., are consumed in Cuba itself, while the rest
+is exported partly in the leaf, partly in the manufactured state. One
+_Caballeria_ of ground can produce on the average about 360 _arrobas_, or
+9000 lbs., of which however only 1/20th will be of superior quality.
+
+"A '_vega_' usually consists of three _Caballerias_, which are in regular
+succession devoted to the tobacco cultivation, so that while two are
+devoted to maize and other vegetables for human subsistence, only the
+remaining third is under tobacco. The season for sowing is in October or
+November, and the crop is got in in January or February. On one
+_Caballeria_ there are usually found under favourable circumstances
+500,000 plants or _Matas_. Hence it results, that as the tobacco culture
+of Cuba extends over 8000 _Caballerias_, there are throughout the island
+4,000,000,000 plants. Each plant has from 8 to 10 suitable leaves. They
+are collected together in bundles, called _manojos_ (handfuls), of from
+120 to 130 leaves each, and 80 _manojos_ make one _tercio_, or 150 lbs. of
+tobacco. One _manojo_ weighs about 1-1/4 lbs., and when prepared
+makes into about 400 cigars. There are in Cuba altogether 600
+cigar-manufactories, of which above 400 are in the capital alone. A
+workman can make about 150 cigars a day; the rate of pay is about 10
+Spanish piasters or _duros_ for 1000. The manufacture of cigars gives
+employment to about 20,000 workmen, chiefly males. Under the designation
+of _Tabagueros_, they constitute almost an exclusive class, and owing to
+their improvidence are usually in wretched plight. In Cuba (as in Luzon)
+there is but one species of tobacco raised, but more attention seems to be
+paid to its cultivation in the former island. The leaves are sorted in
+Cuba according to colour and 'vein' (_venas_), and their quality fixed
+accordingly. In commerce there are three sorts, viz.--
+
+  No. I. 42 to 45 Spanish piasters (£6 15_s._ to £7 5_s._) per 1000.
+     II. 32         "       "      (£5)                          "
+    III. 28         "       "      (£4 10_s._)                   "
+
+The number of cigars annually exported from the Havanna averages from
+200,000,000 to 250,000,000, without including the _ramos_, or tobacco
+exported in the leaf. The cedar-tree (_Cedrela odorata_), of which the
+cigar-boxes are chiefly made, is occasionally prejudicial to the contents,
+in consequence of the slight dampness still remaining in the wood bringing
+out white spots of decay upon the tips of the cigars."
+
+[97] The United States of North America produce above 200,000 cwt., or
+more than one half the whole supply. The annual consumption of tobacco by
+the individual is in the United States 3-1/2 lbs., in England 1 lb. and
+1/2 oz., in France 1 lb. 1-1/2 oz., and in Germany 2 lbs.
+
+[98] The experiments made at Fort St. George near Madras in July, 1850,
+with lines and rigging made of abáca and European hemp, with the view of
+testing their respective availability, gave the following interesting
+results: a rope of Manila hemp, 12 feet long, 3-1/4 inches in
+circumference, and weighing 28-11/16 oz., required a strain of 4460 lbs.
+to break it: on the other hand a rope of English hemp of similar
+dimensions, weighing 39 oz., broke with a strain of only 3885 lbs. A
+second smaller rope of Manila hemp, 1-3/4 inches thick, and 9-1/2 oz.
+weight, also 12 feet in length, required 1490 lbs. to break it, while an
+exactly similar cord of English and Russian hemp, weighing 13 oz. per
+fathom, broke with 1184 lbs., so that in the first instance the abáca line
+was 13 per cent., and in the second nearly 22 per cent. stronger than
+ropes of similar size of European hemp.
+
+[99] Compare with Forbes Royle's valuable treatise upon Manila hemp,
+entitled "The Fibrous Plants of India fitted for cordage, clothing, and
+paper." London, 1855.
+
+[100] The best Manila hemp is worth from 4-1/2 to 6 dollars per Spanish
+_picul_=140 lbs. Cordage made by steam power of the various dimensions,
+from half to one inch thick, sells at 25, and from one to five inches
+thick, at 10, piasters per _picul_.
+
+[101] The fabrics known by the name of _Sinamay_ are on the other hand
+made of the fibres of the _Musa textilis_. They are of less gossamer
+tissue, but almost transparent, and far more durable than the fabrics made
+from the Piña.
+
+[102] According to Buzeta the Lagoon is 36 Spanish leagues in
+circumference, by an average depth of 15 to 16 _brazos_ (fathoms). While
+thirteen rivers of various dimensions flow into the lake, the Pasig alone
+issues from it, to carry off its waters to the sea.
+
+[103] Pronounce Mahayhay.
+
+[104] The size attained by the alligator or cayman in the Laguna de Bay
+borders on the incredible. Baron Von Hügel, in his work already referred
+to, tells of a French settler in _Jalla-Jalla_ (pronounce Halla-Halla),
+who assured him that he had once killed an alligator, whose head alone
+weighed 250 lbs., while the body was 10 feet in circumference! It lay
+buried in the sluice at the mouth of a river, and it proved so difficult
+to get it brought to land and cut up, that only the head was severed by
+way of trophy, and brought home to his house.
+
+[105] Cabeza, the head, whence it is further applied to express "chief,"
+or "chieftain."
+
+[106] Another description of tax is the compulsory labour exacted from the
+natives, which is expended in the construction of roads and bridges,
+transmission of mail matter, transport of military baggage, luggage of
+travellers, &c. &c.
+
+[107] These joss-sticks, by the Chinese called "shi-shin-hiang," burn,
+when lighted, so slowly and regularly, that the Chinese often use them to
+mark the divisions of time.
+
+[108] The church was utterly ruined, and a large portion of the buildings
+are similarly in a most desolate, neglected condition. A hope was however
+expressed that in the following year, 1859, members of the Society of
+Jesus would come from Europe to settle in the Philippines, who would
+include among their other labours that of rebuilding their own cloister.
+
+[109] The graceful elegance of the Conchylia brought from Manila is so
+remarkable that an English ship captain, who, without a special knowledge
+of the matter, brought on speculation a freight of mussels from the
+Philippines to Europe, not only made by their sale an enormous profit, but
+even attained in consequence to a certain degree of celebrity in the
+scientific world!
+
+[110] Unfortunately the students of Natural Science have met with but
+little encouragement or support from Government, and many parts of the
+interior still remain a sealed book to them, or are only accessible under
+great difficulties. The deficiency of definite information respecting the
+island attracts foreign naturalists thither, and of late there have been
+exploring it, M. M. Feodor Jagor of Berlin, Dr. Karl Semper of Hamburg,
+and La Porte of Paris, all intent on matters connected with the natural
+history of this Archipelago, but the majority of such visitants come back
+discontented and thoroughly undeceived to land, where all activity of
+scientific inquiry is allowed reluctantly, and regarded by the Government
+and the priests with an envious eye.
+
+[111] A Chinese sailor, on being asked why his vessel had an eye painted
+on its bulwark, replied in Canton-English, "Suppose no hab eye, how can
+see?"
+
+
+                   [Illustration: Life in Hong-kong.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV.
+
+                               Hong-kong.
+
+             Duration of Stay from 5th to 18th July, 1858.
+
+    Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or Hong-kong.--
+    Disagreeables.--Public character.--The Comprador, or
+    "fac-totum."--A Chinese fortune-teller.--Curiosity-stalls.--The
+    To-stone.--Pictures on so-called rice-paper.--Canton-English.--
+    Notices on the Chinese language and mode of writing.--
+    Manufacture of ink.--Hospitality of German missionaries.--The
+    custom of exposing and murdering female children.--Method of
+    dwarfing the female foot.--Sir John Bowring.--Branch Institute
+    of the Royal Asiatic Society.--An ecclesiastical dignitary on
+    the study of natural sciences.--The Chinese in the East Indies.--
+    Green indigo or Lu-Kao.--Kind reception by German countrymen.--
+    Anthropometrical measurements.--Ramble to Little Hong-kong.--
+    Excursion to Canton on board H.M. gun-boat Algerine.--A day at
+    the English head-quarters.--The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.--Visit to
+    the Portuguese settlement of Macao.--Herr von Carlowitz.--
+    Camoens' Grotto.--Church for Protestants.--Pagoda Makok.--Dr.
+    Kane.--Present position of the colony.--Slave-trade revived
+    under the name of Chinese emigration.--Excursions round Macao.--
+    The Isthmus.--Chinese graves.--Praya Granite.--A Chinese
+    physician.--Singing stones.--Departure.--Gutzlaff's Island.--
+    Voyage to the Yang-tse-Kiang.--Wusung.--Arrival at Shanghai.
+
+
+Victoria, the name by which the settlement situate on the north side of
+the island of Hong-kong is known in official documents, strongly recalls
+another renowned British possession, Gibraltar. A mere uninviting granite
+rock of about 9 miles in length, 8 in breadth, and 26 in circumference,
+Hong-kong, situate as it is at the mouth of the Canton River, is one of
+the best harbours in the Chinese Empire. Owing to the barren, treeless
+surface, which consists for the most part of chains of hills, the highest
+point of which is 1825 feet above sea-level, with narrow valleys between,
+and a small extent of level ground around the bay, hardly a twentieth part
+of its surface is adapted to agriculture. The modern cheerful town,
+thoroughly European in character, has within these few years rapidly
+attained large dimensions, and its numerous palatial structures speak
+volumes for the wealth and prosperity of the residents. The buildings of
+the colony rise terrace-like one above another, and extend in rows all
+along the steep slope of the granite, for a distance of nearly three
+miles. Besides the population inhabiting the town, many thousand Chinese
+of the very lowest class with their wives and children live here in small
+boats year after year, so that the total population of the island amounts
+to about 80,000 souls.
+
+Twenty years back Hong-kong was but an insignificant place. Only since the
+peace of Nangking in 1842, which shook to its foundation the exclusive
+system till then prevalent, and among other important advantages secured
+the island of Hong-kong to the English, besides bringing into the
+community of nations the huge unwieldy empire with its 400,000,000,
+occupying 78 degrees of longitude and 38 of latitude, has it been
+developed into the most important business centre of China. It became an
+emporium for all European manufactures, as well as for all produce from
+the interior, which is shipped hence to the various marts of the world.
+Unfortunately the period at which the flag of the great Mandjing, or
+Double Eagle, as the Chinese call Austria, was for the first time unfurled
+on the shores of the Celestial Kingdom proved most unsuitable for
+scientific observation. While in the interior a variety of circumstances
+seriously threatened the stability of the throne of the reigning dynasty,
+the flames of war were once more breaking out along the coast also, and
+adding to the confusion and distress of the Chinese diplomatists. In the
+present war the English were for the first time in these waters fighting
+side by side with the French, while the Russians and North Americans were
+cautiously maintaining an observant, but none the less on that account
+menacing attitude. The hatred and animosity of the Chinese populace,
+stirred up by their own authorities, was continually goaded to increasing
+fury with each new victory of the "red-haired barbarians." The Chinese
+bakers in Hong-kong had devised the cruel expedient of poisoning the bread
+purchased by the English, and thus avenging themselves on the foe more
+fatally and more certainly than by Chinese weapons. Even while walking in
+the neighbourhood one's life was not safe, and even the usually not very
+easily terrified Englishman was now begirt with "revolvers," when he rode
+forth of an afternoon with his wife, or was taken in a sedan-chair to a
+friend's house of an evening.
+
+Shortly before our arrival, the captain of a merchantman, while taking a
+walk outside the city, was set upon by some Chinese, robbed, and so
+severely maltreated that he expired of the injuries he received. So too
+the clerk of a mercantile house had been picked up just outside the city
+weltering in his blood and pierced with a number of wounds from a dagger,
+the murderer in this case also evading detection. An attempt was even made
+against the life of the Governor, Sir John Bowring, which was only
+frustrated through the vigilance of the sentinel, who discharged his piece
+at the scoundrels just as, favoured by night, they were stealing over the
+walls of the Government-house, with the view of creeping through the
+garden as far as Sir John's cabinet.
+
+Even in the most ordinary domestic matters might be traced the same
+relentless hostility on the part of the Chinese, and the state of affairs
+was becoming every day more intolerable to the European residents. All the
+domestic servants at Hong-kong are Chinese, who come hither from the
+nearest provinces of the mainland, in order to benefit by the rate of
+wages paid by the "foreign barbarian." The Chinese officials, vying with
+each other in every possible method of showing their implacable hatred to
+the strangers and to embitter their life in China, now issued an order to
+all the Chinese resident in Hong-kong to quit the island and return to
+their native country. This ordinance would assuredly have been disregarded
+by most of the resident Chinese of the Middle Empire, had not any
+violation of the Imperial rescripts been visited with such appalling
+consequences. For by the Draconic laws of the Empire, the family of the
+criminal expiate his offence, should he take to flight and get beyond the
+reach of the arm of Chinese justice. For any such absentee from justice,
+some other member of the family is substituted, who may be still on the
+spot; as for instance, the father, mother, or brother, who is punished
+exactly as though he had in person been guilty of the crime or
+misdemeanour. With such terrific means of repressing disobedience
+impending over him, no Chinese would venture to set at defiance the orders
+of the Mandarins; and accordingly, during the summer of 1858, 10,000
+Chinese returned home at once; others, who did not dare to return, but
+could not endure that the ruthless doom should be executed upon their
+relatives, committed suicide. The position of European ladies in Hong-kong
+became anything but enviable, as they had at a moment's notice to take up
+the pot-ladle for themselves, and get through the various fatiguing
+details of their households with what skill they could. Moreover there was
+good ground for apprehension that the Mandarins might cut off all
+communications with the neighbouring provinces, which move, as the greater
+part of the every-day necessaries of life are supplied from the mainland,
+might have exposed the population of Hong-kong to the severest straits.
+
+Under these circumstances any more remote excursions, or visits to the
+adjacent mainland, were of course impossible. We had to confine our
+investigations to the island itself, there to collect what memoranda we
+could, and see as much of the island and its inhabitants as the shortness
+of our stay and the prevailing disorders might admit.
+
+Life in Hong-kong has already a strong leaven of western civilization.
+Only in the narrowest streets does the visitor come upon examples of the
+genuine Chinese type. Most of the natives even inhabit houses built in the
+European style, so that one feels as though in a European city inhabited
+by a Chinese population, the latter having however greatly altered from
+its originality. Only very few types of Chinese popular life are met with
+in this English colony. Of these characters the most interesting and
+unique is the _Comprador_ (_Mai-pau_), a sort of factotum, whom no
+household can dispense with, and whose importance only those can
+adequately do justice to who have lived some time in the country. The
+Comprador, or _shroff_, is the soul, the good or evil genius, of the
+house: he sees to all sorts of purchases, manages the domestic economy,
+and maintains order and discipline in the house and household. The entire
+domestic control is exclusively lodged in his hands, to that extent that
+even the master and mistress of the house may not, without consulting the
+Comprador, dismiss one of the servants or engage a new one. For all that
+goes on, the latter is responsible. He has to answer for the honesty of
+the servants, and must replace anything that may have gone amissing from
+the house inventory. If the family leave their house for any time, the
+Comprador is informed of the place where the most valuable articles are
+deposited, where they are more likely to be found in proper order on their
+return than by any other device. Even during the late war, in which the
+feeling of the Chinese to the Europeans was anything but friendly, the
+Comprador held to his fidelity, and was as useful as ever. In view of the
+actual state of matters, a traveller must feel no little astonishment at
+beholding the doors and windows of the private dwelling-houses everywhere
+wide open, and valuable articles lying exposed in the various apartments.
+As however the Comprador himself must get a number of bails to become
+responsible for him, and as the post is a very profitable one, it follows
+that there are but few cases of dishonesty in this singular profession. It
+is especially remarkable that few of the populace seem to be as hostile to
+the strangers as the Mandarins, and all the numerous annoyances inflicted
+on the latter are invariably to be traced to the intrigues of the Chinese
+authorities. How else would it be possible for a couple of hundred
+Europeans to rule a colony in which are 80,000 Chinese, and which moreover
+is dependent upon the mainland for the very first necessities of life?
+
+The Comprador receives for all his services and attentions no higher pay
+than from 12 to 15 dollars a month, besides support for himself and
+family. This however is not his sole income, as every tradesman must give
+the Comprador a per-centage upon everything, even the most insignificant
+article that enters the house, and this custom even extends to any
+purchases made by a Chinese in the warehouses of the foreign merchant.
+
+Another "public character," whom one frequently meets in the lower parts
+of the city in the public streets of the Chinese quarter, is the
+"soothsayer." On a small table before him stands an open draught-board
+with a number of squares, on which are inscribed a variety of proverbs and
+oracular sayings. In each square is a grain of rice, and quite close to
+the board is a bird-cage with a tame canary. Presently some good-humoured
+gaping rustic comes up, who wishes to learn his destiny, upon which the
+soothsayer suffers the canary to hop out of his cage upon one of the
+squares, and pick up a grain of rice _ad libitum_. The sentences and
+interpretations, which are inscribed on each square from which the canary
+snaps up his food serve for a reply and decision to the curious
+questioner, who hands over a small _honorarium_. The apparatus is simple
+and ingenious, but the proverbs are excessively silly, and recall much
+less the land of Confucius than the dream-books of certain countries
+standing high in European civilization.
+
+The stores which seem most to attract the attention of a stranger are the
+"Curiosity-shops," in which are heaped up those innumerable articles of
+Chinese industry and Chinese taste which are so characteristic of the
+country and its inhabitants. Here the eye rests upon objects of the most
+bizarre shapes, which in material design and execution are totally unlike
+anything the European sees elsewhere; workmanship in wood and stone, that
+illustrates in a remarkable manner the extraordinary patience of the
+artisan, such as drinking-cups, barrels, frames, cut all in one piece, and
+beautifully carved, elegant fancy articles of horn, stone,
+mother-of-pearl, ivory, roots of trees, metal, or wood, vases and dishes,
+statuettes in copper and clay, woven portraits, embroidery, &c. &c.
+
+Among all these various manufactures, one especially remarks those
+prepared from a leek-green, slimy-feeling stone (nephrite), which is in
+much request among the Chinese, and is highly valued. The Chinese name,
+Yo, from which in all probability is derived the French name _Jade_, does
+not indicate however a peculiar species, but is used for all sorts of
+carved stone-work and gems, while the most valuable one is called by the
+Chinese the "mutton-fat" stone. The articles prepared of what is named
+steatite, or soap-stone, are largely used in commerce, but are of very
+small value, and usually cut only in very clumsy figures.
+
+But these manufactures make much less impression upon the stranger than
+the beautiful pictures of the Chinese artists upon rice-paper, a peculiar
+branch of art, cultivated by the Chinese alone, and which as yet has never
+been successfully imitated in any other country. The most exquisite
+specimens of these are sent to Canton, but among the Chinese in Hong-kong
+we saw several beautiful works in this style of painting. The common
+designation of rice-paper has led to the erroneous idea that the substance
+of which these pictures are made is manufactured from the leaves of the
+rice-plant, whereas it is prepared from the pith of an entirely different
+plant (_Aralia papyrifera_), which grows in Funan and Tukun. The marrow is
+steeped for some time in water, after which it is split by means of very
+keen sharp knives into thin leaves, which are then subjected to gentle
+pressure. The largest are about a foot square, and are reserved almost
+exclusively for pictures, the shreds and inferior sorts alone being used
+for the manufacture of artificial flowers. We saw portraits of the Emperor
+and Empress, of the rebel leader, Tai-ping, of the notorious Yeh,
+ex-governor of Canton, and other well-known or conspicuous personages.
+Latterly there has sprung up a strong tendency among the Chinese artists
+to daguerreotypes and photographs in miniature upon ivory; and in the
+_ateliers_ of Hong-kong a number of artists were engaged in this, at
+present the most profitable branch of Chinese artistic skill.
+
+In all these shops the medium of trade is what is called Canton-English,
+less a dialect than a confused jargon of English and Chinese words,
+consisting of concessions made on either side to the grammar and idiom of
+the other, so as the more readily to comprehend each other. A few Spanish
+and Portuguese words have also crept in, recalling the former relations of
+these countries with China. All English words ending in _e_ mute have in
+this gibberish an _i_ attached to them, as also all other words whatever.
+Thus they say _timi_, _housi_, _pieci_, _coachi_, _cooki_, &c. &c. There
+are certain Chinese, especially in Canton, who pick up a living by
+initiating young country folks, who are about entering service in English
+mercantile houses, in this singular language. Curious and unpleasant as
+this Chinese English dialect sounds in the ears of strangers, it is found
+greatly to facilitate intercourse with the Chinese, in consequence of the
+immense difficulties attending the study of Chinese, so that most
+Europeans find it far more comfortable to master this jargon, which is not
+without some influence on the spread of English in the chief commercial
+cities, than to occupy themselves with mastering Chinese. The language
+spoken by the sons of the "middle kingdom" consists of 450 monosyllabic
+sounds, which by various delicate differences in accentuation may increase
+to about 1600. The slight, and to unaccustomed ears almost inappreciable,
+shades of aspiration and accentuation, are the main difficulty in the way
+of foreigners desirous of learning the Chinese language.
+
+To learn the written characters is equally arduous, and requires not less
+time and perseverance; for this does not consist of a number of letters,
+the varying arrangement of which constitutes words, but of 40,000 more or
+less complicated signs, each of which expresses a whole word. They are
+rude forms, representing most imperfectly ideas and material objects;[112]
+however, the knowledge of 4000 to 6000 such signs, with their various
+significations, suffices to understand most of the common Chinese books.
+These singular hieroglyphics are not written horizontally but vertically.
+Moreover, the Chinese begin from the right side, so that, directly the
+reverse of the European custom, the title of a Chinese book is found on
+the first page, the leaf furthest to the right hand. Long ago, the
+Chinese, like most other Asiatic nations at the present day, wrote with
+metal _styli_ upon split leaves of bamboo. Ever since the third century
+before Christ, however, when the art was invented of making paper from the
+rind of the mulberry tree and the bamboo-cane, and preparing pin-soot,
+glair, musk, glue, Indian ink[113] (méh), and other substances, the
+pencil has taken the place of the graver. The hieroglyphics now made on
+paper are softer, more elegant, and in distinctness of outline admit
+greater varieties of form. Most of the Chinese whom we saw engaged in
+writing formed the most complicated characters with great celerity and
+ease upon the thin paper, and without the firm strokes losing anything of
+their neatness and clearness of outline.
+
+Among the various scientific objects recommended as important objects of
+inquiry to the members of the Expedition, during their visit to China, by
+the renowned sinologue Dr. Pfitzmaier, was the obtaining of rare Chinese
+books, and the elucidation of certain ethnographic and linguistic
+questions. Whatever was achieved by us in throwing light upon these
+matters is due in great measure to the cordial reception with which we
+were received by men of science resident at Hong-kong. Especially we would
+name in this respect Dr. M. Lobscheid, a German by birth, a missionary and
+inspector of schools, who, thoroughly conversant with the Chinese
+language, exerted himself to the utmost in forwarding the objects of the
+scientific corps, besides assisting us in the purchase of a variety of the
+most valuable Chinese works, and giving us much interesting information
+respecting the country and the inhabitants. Dr. Lobscheid himself has a
+well-selected, valuable, and extensive library of rare Chinese works on
+geography, natural science, history, philology, and numismatics, and
+presented a number of valuable gifts to the Expedition. One of his
+colleagues, Dr. Ph. Winnes, also a German, and a missionary from the
+Mission Society of Bâle, compiled for us a list of words of the Hakka
+dialect, as spoken in the interior of the province of Quang-Tung, hitherto
+so little known philologically. It is indeed astonishing what English, and
+German, and American missionaries have effected as publicists, during the
+short period they have been resident here. The educational and religious
+works published in Chinese at the expense of the various religious
+societies form already quite a respectable literature of themselves,
+although the Chinese language puts as many obstacles in the way of mere
+Christian civilization as in that of the propagation of the Evangile
+itself. Most of the missionaries consider any attempt to substitute Romish
+for Chinese characters as being quite vain. The indistinctness of Chinese
+signs has already been fruitful of much controversy among the missionaries
+themselves. Thus, for example, those engaged in promulgating the Christian
+faith are not as yet agreed by what Chinese word the God of Christianity
+may best be indicated. The Roman Catholic missionaries write _Tientschù_
+(the Highest of all things); the English and German Protestants use the
+sign _Schang-Ti_ (the Most High); the American Protestants make use of the
+word _Schin_ (Spirit). These varieties of opinion as to the mode of
+expressing the idea of "God," have given rise to a vast number of
+publications, which however have unfortunately tended rather to envenom
+the dispute than smooth the way to a common understanding.
+
+Conspicuous, however, as are the services of the missionaries in the
+publication and diffusion of useful and moral books in the Chinese
+language, their direct efforts have, on the other hand, been attended with
+but limited results hitherto, and although it is always laid down as an
+axiom in the books and manifestoes of the Tai-Ping insurgents, that the
+doctrines of Christianity, as deduced from the writings of the Missionary
+Societies, are the leading principle of the movement, yet, as set forth
+and promulgated by the insurgent chiefs, they cannot be said to deserve
+recognition by any known form of Christianity.
+
+As in their religion, so in their mode of life, and their national
+customs, the Chinese remain stiff-necked and obstinate, and in this
+direction also Christianity is in but few cases capable of mitigating
+their frequently barbarous customs. Children in China are constantly
+exposed in large numbers, and that not owing to poverty, but from
+indifference to the female children. One Chinese woman who at present
+professes Christianity, and is a member of the Bâle missionary community,
+has herself killed eight female children whom she had herself carried in
+her womb! Dr. Lobscheid informed us that he was personally cognizant of
+one case, where a Chinese mother-in-law, irritated at the birth of a
+female child, murdered it before its mother's eyes, almost immediately
+after it had come into the world, and this in a rather well-to-do family!
+Young mothers often lay their children down in the open field, or on the
+sea-beach, watching anxiously if any one takes it away, or till a wave
+mercifully sweeps it off. One such infant, accidentally found by some of
+the crew of the English frigate _Nankin_, and tended with all the
+tender-heartedness of Jack when he finds an object of compassion, is at
+present in the German Mission House at Hong-kong, and was baptized in the
+cathedral by the chaplain of the frigate, who gave her the name of
+Victoria Nankin. Other mothers endeavour to choke the new-born girl with
+moistened ashes, which, not unfrequently with caressing hand, they lay
+upon the mouth of the little unconscious innocent. Male children, on the
+other hand, even such as are crippled or deformed, are very seldom, indeed
+quite exceptionally, exposed or put to death. In proportion to the harsh
+treatment which the female offspring experience, is the pride and anxious
+carefulness which wait on the male children. Indeed the Chinese are very
+much in the habit of having several wives, simply because by so doing they
+of course have a better chance of a number of male offspring, and it very
+frequently happens that the lawful wife of a Chinaman, if she has
+continued any length of time childless, will even seek out and bring to
+her husband a concubine by whom he may have heirs, that is, _sons_.[114]
+In such cases the two wives usually continue on the best of terms, which
+cannot be said of those instances where the second or third wife is
+introduced into the family by the husband, without the intervention of his
+wife. According to the old Chinese law, the man had to be thirty, the
+woman twenty, before marriage. At present marriages, as a rule, are made
+between sixteen and twenty years of age. It may be assumed that one in
+every fifteen Chinese has more than one wife; the first, usually known as
+"number one," is generally taken from inclination, whereas the rest are
+usually bought, the price varying, according to their youth and beauty,
+from 100 to 600 dollars. This custom gives rise to quite a peculiar trade.
+Chinese women make a practice of purchasing for themselves from the poorer
+classes such of the female children as are of good health and well formed,
+whom they bring up with great care, with the view of selling them, when
+grown up, to the wealthy Chinese, and even sometimes to--European
+residents.[115] The custom of child-murder is most prevalent in the coast
+districts of the province of Fo-kien, so that latterly there was a
+positive scarcity of women, and marriageable girls had to be imported from
+the northern part of the province. The prevalence of this custom of
+child-murder in these localities is to be ascribed to the enormous
+migration of the male population to Siam, to the islands of the Malay
+Archipelago, and other points. These emigrants supply the labour market in
+foreign countries, and but seldom return to their families. Numerous
+placards and pamphlets, pointing out the enormity of child-murder, and
+dissuading from its commission, are printed annually, partly at the cost
+of philanthropists, partly at that of the Chinese Government, and widely
+diffused, yet without producing any diminution in the practice of this
+appalling custom.
+
+The custom of distorting the feet of the better class of women at the
+period of their birth, seems to have arisen from the jealousy of the
+husbands, who in thus preventing the possibility of gadding about, think
+they have secured an additional guarantee for the fidelity and chastity of
+their wives. However, one occasionally hears the first introduction of
+this singular and cruel custom ascribed to a Chinese empress having once
+been born with such distortion of the feet, and that in consequence it not
+only became the fashion among the females of the higher class in those
+days, out of pure obsequiousness, to imitate by artificial means a
+disfiguration accidentally arising from a freak of Nature, but even to
+recognize it as a necessary concomitant of the Chinese ideal of beauty.
+
+The Governor of Hong-kong, Sir John Bowring, a distinguished _savant_, who
+received the members of the Expedition with the utmost consideration,
+invited them to his house and endeavoured to bring them into personal
+communication with those residents in the colony most interested in
+scientific pursuits, so that each one of us could consult with the
+gentleman best able to advise him in his own department, and thus attain
+in the shortest time the most satisfactory results. Sir John, moreover, as
+President of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, admitted the
+members of the Expedition to the honours of an extraordinary session. He
+welcomed the Austrian naturalists in the heartiest manner, and expressed
+the most flattering anticipations from their visit. Very deserving of
+remark was the speech made on this occasion by the Lord Bishop of
+Hong-kong. In his capacity of a dignitary of the Church, he too bade us
+welcome in the warmest manner, and expressed his conviction that
+Christianity had nothing to fear, but only to hope, from the study of
+natural sciences! What would certain ultramontanists, had they been
+present, have replied to this remark of a high ecclesiastical
+dignitary?--they who consider government impossible without restricting
+the study of the natural sciences!
+
+Among the various subjects discussed at this meeting were several of great
+interest, which sufficiently evidenced what a thorough disposition to
+mental activity the English show, even in a place where material interests
+are necessarily the main objects of attention, and where they, moreover,
+are continually exposed to great personal danger.
+
+One of the communications received by the Society was a memoir by Mr. W.
+Alabaster, who had accompanied ex-governor Yeh to Calcutta as interpreter,
+treating of the Chinese population there, and its influence on the state
+of society. The memoir contained the very remarkable statement that the
+Chinese colony in Calcutta, which in 1858 counted little more than 500
+souls, had not alone monopolized several employments, such as shoemakers,
+tailors, &c., but had, even when thousands of miles distant from home,
+jealously maintained several of their customs and rites intact. This
+Chinese community, so inconsiderable in point of mere numbers, already
+possesses its own temple, its own priests, and its own teachers, who guard
+any Chinese immigrants from the perils of proselytism; it has founded a
+special association, whose object it is to transmit to their native land
+the bodies of such as die abroad, while their luxury is beginning to
+develope itself to the extent of ordering from China at considerable
+expense troops of actors, so as even at this distance to provide
+themselves with the national amusement of a genuine Sing-Song. This
+peculiarity is of great importance, inasmuch as the emigration from China
+is ever assuming more extended dimensions, and already embraces several
+portions of the world. We find Chinese scattered throughout Eastern Asia,
+in Australia, in California, in Peru, in Brazil, in the West Indies, and,
+what is very astonishing they thrive and prosper at most places they
+visit, despite the not very humane treatment they receive, and the
+wretched, desolate state in which they leave their homes. This enormous
+emigration of the sons of the Flowery Land seems destined to be of immense
+importance, and to be fraught with momentous influence upon the future of
+the other Asiatic populations, whom the Chinese greatly excel in capacity
+for work, mechanical dexterity, and dogged perseverance. Even the
+religious movement gives the Chinese certain advantages over all other
+nations of the Asiatic type of civilization. The Hindoo, like the
+Catholic, has numbers of festivals, which greatly diminish the number of
+his actual working days; the daily ceremonies prescribed by Brahminism
+further curtail the most precious hours of labour; his exclusively
+vegetarian food not alone prevents the proper development of his muscular
+power, but also by its ostentatiously morbid delicacy, brings him
+constantly into collision with the social order of a Christian household.
+The Chinese, on the other hand, keeps but one holiday-time, the beginning
+of the new year, which he celebrates for fourteen days without
+intermission. But the remaining 11-1/2 months of the year are for him but
+one long day of work. Moreover, the Chinese has no fastidious notions
+about his food. He eats pork, and drinks wine, and prefers fat meat to
+meagre fruit diet, thoroughly unrestrained by any considerations as to
+whether such a mode of life accords with the institutes of Brahma and
+Menu, or the teaching of Confucius. Their sobriety, their capacity, their
+industry, their frugal mode of life, and their numbers, all seem to
+indicate the Chinese as destined to play an important part, not alone in
+the development of the Oriental nations, but also in the history of
+mankind. They are, as a German philosopher has profoundly remarked, the
+Greeks and Romans of Eastern Asia, and they will, if once hurried onwards
+by the great tide of Christian civilization, perform such feats as to
+fill even the nations of the old world with wonder and amazement.
+
+Another communication, made during the same meeting of this meritorious
+branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong-kong, related to that singular
+plant, which has within the last few years excited so much attention in
+industrial circles throughout Europe under the name of "Green dye," or
+"Vert Chinois." Notwithstanding the experiments hitherto made with this
+valuable dye, and the excellent use which has been made of it, more
+especially by the Chamber of Commerce at Lyons, the first in Europe to
+make application of the new colour, there was yet much to be learned
+respecting the mode of raising and manufacturing it, in order to render
+its employment entirely practicable. The elegant pamphlet of the Lyons
+Chamber of Commerce[116] had just arrived from Europe, and led to a
+variety of interesting investigations. Nothing was known in Hong-kong
+respecting the plant beyond what was already contained in Robert Fortune's
+excellent work and Rondot's treatise. Somewhat later, we were furnished
+with more accurate and circumstantial information respecting the Lu-Kao,
+the well-known "Green dye" of the English (a species of _Rhamnus_ or
+buckthorn), which we shall here transcribe pretty fully.[117]
+
+Lu-Kao is grown chiefly in the northern provinces, extensive plantations
+of this valuable plant existing in the country around Foo-Chow and the
+environs of the city of Haening. The valuable green dye matter is
+obtained, however, from the rind, not of one but of two species _Rhamnus_,
+of which the "yellow" grows on the flats, the "white" on the high-grounds
+in a wild state. The preparation of the substance, which does not differ
+much in appearance from common indigo, is exceedingly primitive. Both
+plants are boiled for a considerable time in iron kettles, the yellow
+deposit or _residuum_ being suffered to remain undisturbed for several
+days. Transferred thence into earthen vessels, a piece of cotton cloth is
+steeped into it five or six times, after which the adherent dye is wrung
+out, and exposed a second time to the process of boiling in iron pans. The
+next step in the manipulation consists in permitting the dye stuff, which
+now has much more consistence, to be soaked up by some pieces of cotton,
+when it is once more washed, sprinkled upon thin paper, and, lastly,
+exposed for some time to the sun.
+
+The Chinese have as yet only used the dye for colouring cloths of coarse
+texture; all attempts hitherto to apply it to silks, &c., have proved
+fruitless. But the great development of chemical science in Europe
+justifies us in expecting that a method will ere long be devised for
+fixing this beautiful, durable light green tint, which does not alter even
+in candlelight, upon fabrics of fine smooth texture, and thus greatly
+enhance its value in the industrial arts. The Lu-Kao has from time
+immemorial been used by the Chinese in watercolour paintings, but its use
+in industrial processes only dates from about 20 years back. The very
+price charged for the small quantities hitherto brought from China, is by
+no means natural, but seems to have been artificially forced up by
+speculation, apparently in consequence of an unusual demand. In Foo-Chow
+the price of one Catti, about 1-3/4 lbs., is 20 _Taels_, or about £6
+10_s._ Were the production of this dye stuff really so expensive, we may
+be sure it would not be made use of by the Chinese for their ordinary
+stuffs, nor could these be sold as cheap as they are. We have found our
+opinion confirmed by competent observers in various parts of China, that
+this valuable product is susceptible of being acclimatized in Europe, and
+of being cultivated with profit, especially in those places where,
+together with favourable conditions of temperature and soil, the wages of
+labour are not too high.
+
+Like the English authorities and Government officials, our German
+fellow-countrymen, resident in Hong-kong, did not fail to exercise their
+hospitality for the benefit of the associates of the Expedition, and we
+cannot sufficiently express our obligations to the Austrian Consul, Mr. G.
+Wiener, and the Prussian vice-consul, Mr. Gustav Oberbeck, for their
+delicate attention. The latter presented the Expedition with a number of
+articles interesting as illustrating the advances of civilization, which
+he had obtained during the siege of Canton, in Dec. 1857, and of which the
+greater part have since been deposited at the Imperial Cabinet of
+Antiquities at Vienna.
+
+Through the kindness and interest of Dr. Harland (since deceased),
+surgeon-in-chief of the colony, some of the members of the Expedition were
+enabled to make corporeal measurements in the great prison, the inmates of
+which come from the most various parts of the empire, as well as in the
+hospital, upon a number of individuals of either sex, all "fair specimens
+of the Chinese race," as Dr. Harland assured them, the results of which
+will be found in the anthropological section of the _Novara_ publications.
+
+Before the frigate left Hong-kong, despite the insecurity of public
+affairs, several excursions were made to the south side of the island, to
+Canton, and to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, which proved as
+interesting as they were satisfactory.
+
+In the course of their peregrinations about the mountains on the island,
+as far as the fishing village on the south side of the island, known as
+Little Hong-kong (sweet-waters), the naturalists of the Expedition were
+accompanied by Dr. Hance, the botanist, and the missionary, Dr. Lobscheid,
+both thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language. Little as the pretty
+name of this small settlement, founded so far back as 1668, is applicable
+to the entire island, it yet corresponds well, and is eminently suitable,
+to the smiling valley, entirely shut in by lofty rocks, in which lies
+wretched Little Hong-kong. A beautiful wood filled with tufts of flowers,
+forming for the labours of the botanist a rich supply of the most splendid
+plants, and refreshed by copious springs of water from the mountains,
+constitute a lovely landscape. Above the limit of vegetation of the
+foliage trees, are seen on the slopes of the mountain groups of pines,
+while the level ground at the bottom of the valley is laid out in smiling
+rice fields. The miserable inhabitants of the village, which looks
+gloomily out from among the trees, are not safe from the predatory
+onslaughts of ferocious pirates, even among the recesses of the valley.
+The streets of the village, hidden between trees, are uncommonly narrow,
+so that two men can scarcely pass each other, and the huts are all placed
+on purpose close against each other, in order, we were told, to be able
+more easily to admit of defence. Our rambles were rewarded with an
+abundant collection of specimens, and were particularly instructive in a
+geognostical point of view, as satisfying us that the island does not
+consist entirely of granite, but that a large proportion of the mountain
+is porphyritic.
+
+Another excursion was made by the Commodore and some of his staff as far
+as Canton. The Commandant of the station, Commodore Stewart, had for this
+purpose placed the gun-boat _Algerine_ at our disposal. The distance from
+Hong-kong to Canton is about 87 nautical miles (100 statute miles), and
+the voyage took full eleven hours, viz. from 6.30 A.M. to 5.30 P.M.
+
+Canton, the third capital of the Chinese Empire, and its most flourishing
+commercial city, which but a short time before had numbered about
+1,000,000 inhabitants, was at this period a desolate, almost entirely
+abandoned mass of houses, half in ruins, half burnt. The stately European
+factories, which had adorned the banks of the river up to the walls of the
+Chinese city, were heaps of ashes. The floating town upon the river
+itself, the renowned flower-boats of Canton, with their marvellous
+splendour and their luxurious beauty, had entirely disappeared, leaving no
+trace. Whoever had anything to lose had fled the country. English
+sentinels patrolled the walls and occupied the streets of the interior of
+the city, and only the very poorest of the mob remained behind, watching
+every opportunity of getting the "head-money," which the Mandarins of the
+province of Kuang-Tung had offered for every head of a "barbarian" brought
+in. "The state of matters in Canton gets worse and worse every day," said
+the latest issue of the Hong-kong journals. Since the Americans and
+Russians had concluded private treaties with the Imperial Government, and
+the English and French allied fleet had gone north to the Gulf of
+Pe-Cheli, to treat at Tien-Tsin with the Imperial commissioners, the
+Chinese of Canton had been plucking up courage. They conceived the allies
+to be isolated; the Russians and the Americans they held to be hostile to
+them. The Mandarins and Imperial commissioners launched proclamations by
+the dozen at the "foreign devils,"[118] set on foot organized Guerilla
+bands, which were called "Braves," who every night discharged rockets
+into the city, murdered and pillaged, and kept the allied troops, who were
+only 3500 strong (800 of whom were in hospital) almost continually on the
+alert.
+
+When the gun-boat _Algerine_ arrived off Canton, the Commodore, although
+it was late in the evening, was accompanied by a military escort to the
+head-quarters of General Straubenzee, commander of the allied troops. A
+stillness as of a grave-yard reigned throughout the city, and not a light
+was to be seen. By 10.30 P.M. the Commodore reached the post, and was
+most hospitably received by the General. The head-quarters were situated
+on a hillock commanding the city, surrounded by the numerous buildings of
+a country-seat or _Yamun_, which had been the property of the father of
+Governor Yeh, who had acquired such notoriety during the recent warlike
+troubles. The ostentatious splendour of the apartments, the splendid ebony
+carved work, gave such an idea of the magnificence, the luxury, the
+gorgeousness of the Chinese princes, as can only be paralleled by what we
+read of the palaces of the emperors of ancient Rome. Yeh himself had by
+this time been removed from the political scene, and was a state prisoner
+in Calcutta, where he lived in more than monastic seclusion. To judge by
+his portrait, which was for sale in all the print-shops of Hong-kong, Yeh
+was a fine-looking man with energetic features, and an expression full of
+intellect, and, so far as his physical appearance went, seemed to take
+after his father, who in his ninety-second year was still tasting joys of
+paternity. In his own country, even among the Europeans, Yeh enjoys the
+reputation of being not only an able diplomatist, but a man of varied
+information as well. While at Hong-kong we were shown some large
+anatomical woodcuts, which Yeh had himself borrowed from a European work
+on anatomy, and published at his own cost on an enlarged scale,
+accompanied by a preface from his pen.[119]
+
+Even more extensive and elegant in its outward aspect than that of Yeh,
+was the palace of the Tartar general Pihkwei, now employed for barracks
+and the officers of the English and French commissariat, while a much less
+pretentious building had been assigned to the Tartar general for his
+present residence.
+
+The Commodore had reached head-quarters and was sitting at the tea-table
+with General Straubenzee, when an alarm of fire was heard. The "Braves"
+had fired a house close by in the hope, it should seem, that the flames
+would catch the barracks as well as the powder depôt, or at all events
+compel the English to withdraw their troops from the post, and give an
+opportunity for inflicting some loss on them. Fortunately, however, what
+had been set on fire burned quite out, without fulfilling the
+anticipations of the "Braves."
+
+In the course of a stroll, which our Commodore took with the General
+somewhat later in the night, they perceived that the Chinese kept up a
+continual flight of rockets against the sentries and buildings of the
+post, from a small eminence not two hundred yards distant, which was
+provided with ramparts and cannon, and the Austrian guests greatly
+marvelled that no energetic steps were taken to obviate the disorders
+produced by these guerilla bands of Chinese, who every night with their
+incendiarism and fire-balls kept the city, the head-quarters, and the
+pickets in constant alarm, seeing that their inactivity only tended to
+animate the courage of the Chinese, while in such harassing service,
+unattended as it was with any results, their own forces, already very much
+reduced, were proportionately weakened.
+
+The morning after their arrival the Austrian officers, accompanied by the
+English commissioner Mr. Parkes, whose imprisonment near Pekin has since
+made his name widely and universally known, paid a visit to the sole
+Chinese authority still remaining in the town, the Tartar General and
+Mandarin, Pi-Kwei. An immense crowd had assembled in the streets through
+which the foreigners wended their way, and their reception by the Tartar
+General was accompanied by all the ceremonial of Chinese etiquette: three
+howitzer salvo-shots, and ear-splitting Chinese music, the General's
+body-guard, disarmed, drawn up on the staircase, the General himself,
+wearing his Mandarin cap on his head, nodding and laughing more or less to
+the foreigners presented, according to their higher or lower rank. The
+Commodore was provided with a raised seat. In the course of conversation,
+during which Mr. Parkes kindly acted as interpreter, tea was served.
+Pi-Kwei inquired as to the objects of the Expedition, and asked the names
+of the officers, which, owing to the symbolic nature of Chinese writing,
+could not be done but after much difficulty. Pi-Kwei, a man of colossal
+proportions, behaved and spoke like a lamb in presence of the small
+physically insignificant-looking Mr. Parkes. Like the regents appointed by
+the Dutch Government in Java, he was nothing more than the agent to carry
+out the orders of the English.
+
+Our departure was not less ceremonious and noisy than our reception: a
+number of fire-balls were let off in front of the building, the noise of
+which gave much more the impression of an infernal machine than a salute.
+The rest of the day the officers spent in reconnoitring various parts of
+the city, as far as circumstances admitted, and all returned in the
+evening to Hong-kong in the same gun-boat which had conveyed them to
+Canton.
+
+While we were lying at anchor in Hong-kong, an extra sheet of the "_North
+China Herald_," published at Shanghai, brought intelligence of a treaty of
+peace having been signed at Tien-Tsin, by Lord Elgin, on the part of
+England, and the Imperial Commissioners, and that it had been dispatched
+to Pekin for the purpose of being ratified by the imperial autograph. This
+treaty, which contained 56 clauses, invested England with far more
+extensive rights than she had hitherto possessed. Especially it was
+stipulated that an English ambassador should reside in a palace at Pekin,
+and be accorded all the honours due to his rank, and that the Christian
+religion should be professed and taught without any restrictions. British
+subjects, provided with passes from their own consuls, to be countersigned
+by the local Chinese authorities, were to be permitted to traverse the
+empire in every direction on business or pleasure; the navigation of the
+Yang-tse-Kiang, or Blue River, was also declared free; and in addition to
+the five harbours already opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of
+Nankin, the English were now to be at liberty to trade with New-Chwang,
+Tang-Char, Tai-Wan (on the island of Formosa), Chau-Chow, and Kiung-Chow
+(in Hainan), to settle in any of these, to buy and sell house property,
+as also to erect churches and hospitals, and lay out cemeteries. Chinese
+subjects guilty of crimes or offences against the English, to be punished
+by the native authorities in conformity with the law of the land. English
+subjects, on the other hand, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the
+British authorities, in similar circumstances, and treated according to
+British law. All official communications on the part of the English
+authorities to be drawn up in English for presentation to the Chinese
+Government, and although, for the present, accompanied by a translation,
+shall in the event of uncertainty be construed according to the text of
+the English original. Article L provides that the symbol [Chinese
+character(s)] (Barbarian) shall be discontinued in all official documents,
+whether in the capital or the provinces, and the term "English" or
+"English Government" be substituted. On the other hand, the Treaty of
+Tien-Tsin is silent on the subject of the opium trade, the main point in
+dispute, the prime cause of the various wars hitherto broken out! There
+was mention made of a revision of the tariff only. Obviously the British
+plenipotentiaries thought they would more readily attain their object if
+they endeavoured to get this difficult question solved in some less
+conspicuous manner. The opium merchants, as well as their antagonists the
+London philanthropists, seemed equally dissatisfied that the opium matter
+was still left a "pending question." On the whole, however, this was one
+of the most marked diplomatic peculiarities of the Treaty of Tien-Tsin.
+Instead of rousing anew the passions of the Chinese, and, by wringing such
+an open and public concession from that Government, weakening still more
+the hold of the Emperor over his own people, and, whatever their
+professions of amity, rendering the authorities yet more hostile and
+rancorous against the foreigners, the wily English ambassador preferred
+quietly to include opium amongst the other articles of import under the
+revised tariff, and thus convert it into a common article of import.
+Accordingly, opium, like cotton, hides, and stockfish, may now be imported
+at a fixed duty of 30 _taels_ (£8 15_s._) per _picul_ of 100 _catties_
+(133-1/2 lbs.).
+
+The events of which China was the scene shortly after the signature of the
+treaty, the hostilities of the troops in the Taku forts, the desperate
+resistance which was made to the advance of the British ambassador, when
+the latter, agreeably to the stipulations in the new treaty, was preparing
+to travel to Pekin, all combine to prove that, in their professions of
+peace and friendliness, the Chinese were not in earnest.
+
+Since that period an army of 20,000 Europeans has dictated a peace to
+400,000,000 Asiatics, and their till then deemed impregnable capital; and
+on 24th October, 1860, Lord Elgin countersigned a new treaty, which,
+together with the clauses contained in the previous Treaty of Tien-Tsin
+drawn up two years before, provides for the permanent residence of a
+British ambassador in the capital of the Chinese Empire, as also for a war
+indemnity of 8,000,000 _taels_ (£2,333,333); throws open the harbour of
+Tien-Tsin to foreign commerce, permits Chinese subjects to emigrate,
+without any restrictions, to any part of the British colonies, and to take
+service there; assigns to Great Britain a portion of the district of
+Kow-loang or Cow-loon on the mainland opposite Hong-kong; and, finally,
+ordains that the original treaty, and all the various additional articles,
+shall be published by placard in every part of the Empire. Never before
+had the Middle Kingdom sustained such a humiliation. True, during the rule
+of the former dynasty, Tao-Kwang (Light of Reason), an end was put to a
+system that had endured for a thousand years, but conditions such as those
+that had been imposed by the western nations in the treaties of Tien-Tsin
+and Pekin, were altogether unheard of in the history of China, and afford
+convincing proof of its weakness and approaching downfal, the more so, as
+the late Emperor Hien-fung was a jealous upholder of the old Asiatic
+doctrines and state craft. Only the utmost necessity and unceasing
+pressure could have induced him to lower his arms before the barbarians of
+the west, and to endure that an enemy should have dictated conditions of
+peace in his own capital, hitherto inaccessible to foreign nations.
+English, French, and American ships of war hold possession of the most
+important forts of China. In several provinces of the interior, a rebel
+emperor has set up his camp, while on the banks of the Amoor, on the north
+of the Empire, Russia is building fortresses, and acting as if she were
+quite at home in that region. But all these phenomena, however divergent
+the interests, may at present point to one stupendous result,--rousing
+the immense Chinese Empire from its thousand years' lethargy, and forcing
+the natives who populate it to follow in the great onward career of
+civilization, which in our days is rushing with the rapidity of a tempest
+through the world!
+
+While the Commodore and some of his staff were proceeding to Canton in the
+gun-boat, the naturalists made an excursion to the Portuguese settlement
+of Macao, about 35 miles distant from Hong-kong, with which there is
+bi-weekly communication by an English steamer. Usually this voyage
+occupies from four to five hours, but the _Sir Charles Forbes_ was a small
+slow-going tub, and as our departure was delayed several hours in
+consequence of a large shipment of chests of opium, for which it was hoped
+a better price would be obtained at Macao, and as we had on our way
+thither to contend with rain, squalls, and contrary winds, it was dark ere
+we reached Macao.
+
+We were not a little taken aback at finding several of the passengers
+armed with revolvers. However, these seemingly superfluous precautions
+against danger in a pleasure sail of a few hours were well founded. Not
+long before, it had happened that the European passengers to Macao had
+been assailed by the Chinese on board, and all murdered in cold blood! the
+Chinese had stealthily watched for the moment when the captain and
+passengers were at table in the confined cabin of the little craft, took
+possession of the vessel, and murdered every European on board. The
+captain and some of the passengers sprang overboard to save their lives,
+but only one man, an Englishman, succeeded in effecting his escape, and
+giving intelligence of this terrible affair. After they had possessed
+themselves of a considerable booty, the pirates set the vessel on fire,
+and set at nought all efforts to bring them to punishment by escaping into
+the interior of the country.
+
+The arrangements for paying passage-money, expenses, &c., are apt to
+strike a stranger as singular. Gold is absolutely out of use, and the
+current coins, such as Mexican dollars, and copper money, or cash, are too
+bulky to admit of their being lugged about to pay large amounts. In order
+to provide for the expenses of a pleasure party of a couple of days it
+would be necessary to take a large bag, which there was the further danger
+might disappear somewhere without hands. An excellent arrangement has
+accordingly been introduced, by which each passenger pays his fare and
+other expenses, by means of a check on any one of the mercantile houses in
+Macao or Hong-kong, which is filled up with the entire amount for
+collection by the controller, and is cashed on his return. This custom is
+also a remarkable example of mutual confidence in public life, even if it
+be explained by the fact that the majority of the passengers are well
+known, and that China has as yet only been frequented by well-off
+foreigners.
+
+The passage from Hong-kong to Macao is not entirely devoid of interest.
+The course of the steamer lies at first among narrow canals, between
+lofty granite rocks: so soon as she emerges from these, the muddy
+disturbed colour of the water indicates that she is now crossing the mouth
+of the Canton River proper. Stately ships are seen passing up or down,
+while junks and fishing-boats are plying on every side. The majestic
+conical peak, 3000 feet high, of the island of Lantao, and the Castle Peak
+scarred with a deep furrow from top to bottom, on the mainland of the
+province of Quang-tong directly opposite, form the background. The
+regularity of the conical shape in these peaks, which seems to point to
+their being of volcanic origin, renders it probable that they are either
+granite or porphyritic in structure. The mouth of the Canton River is so
+wide, that the opposing shores only gradually become visible, the wide
+expanse of water, extending on every side till lost in the horizon, giving
+the traveller the impression that he is on the open sea.
+
+Already, before the houses of Macao could be very easily made out, we
+passed the merchant ships lying in the roads, which cannot approach within
+from six to eight nautical miles. The small thoroughly land-locked "inner
+harbour," as it is called, lying on the other side of the narrow tongue of
+land on which Macao is situate, is only accessible for small vessels and
+Chinese junks, which visit it in large numbers.
+
+The first view of the city of Macao is not less charming than that of
+Victoria. The long ranges of houses are picturesquely grouped around the
+numerous little hills surmounted by forts, which form the greater part of
+the isthmus; while the beautiful Praya Grande, where palaces and imposing
+mansions are disposed in long array close along the shore, in order to get
+the benefit of the refreshing sea-breezes, makes a deep and lasting
+impression upon the stranger. Churches with lofty double towers shooting
+into the air, and the vast dome of the Jesuit College, at once single the
+city out as Catholic, and impart to its external aspect a strong contrast
+with the adjoining English colony.
+
+Macao is a favourite resort of the foreigners settled in Hong-kong for
+change of air, which in these latitudes seems to be even more necessary
+than in Europe. So long as Canton was the chief seat of the European
+traders, the Portuguese settlement was used by them as a summer residence
+for their families, whither they could themselves occasionally retire from
+the bustle of Canton, and the attendant insecurity of life, to spend a few
+days of calm enjoyment with their families. On account of the alarms of
+war of the previous year, most of the Canton merchants had come down to
+Hong-kong and Macao to settle, in consequence of which the latter town has
+an unusually lively appearance, while its trade, which had previously been
+in a rather languishing condition, has materially improved.
+
+When the steamer makes its appearance in the roads of Macao, it is
+immediately surrounded by an innumerable swarm of what are called
+Tanka-boats, mostly propelled by women, who with yells and shrieks bid for
+the privilege of conveying the passengers to shore. As there is no
+suitable landing-place on the eastern side of the roads, the traveller is
+conveyed to the shore through the lash of the waves in a small
+cockle-shaped boat, just as at Madeira or Madras, and equally
+uncomfortably; but although the boat and the mode in which it is navigated
+are anything but calculated to inspire confidence, such a thing as an
+accident is of rare occurrence.
+
+The naturalists of the _Novara_ found an exceedingly friendly and hearty
+reception at the beautiful residence of the Russian Consul, M. Von
+Carlowitz, who shortly before had come from Canton to settle in Macao,
+with his excellent wife, a very beautiful lady of Altenburg in Germany,
+there to await the upshot of the war.
+
+Our first visit the following morning--a bright and beautiful Sabbath
+morning--was to the renowned Camoens Grotto, situated in a large
+well-wooded park, partly covered with primeval forest, the property of a
+Portuguese family of the name of Marquez. All around there reigned utter,
+almost sacred silence. Here it was that Camoens, banished from his native
+land, wrote his Lusiad. The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its
+majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its
+huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic
+fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths,
+its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though
+destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his
+destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt his spirit roused amid
+this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,--"Things
+unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!" In an ill-contrived niche in the
+substructure of the grotto is a bust, in terra-cotta, of the great poet,
+with the inscription, "Louis de Camoens, born 1524, died 1579." On the
+broad marble pedestal whereon stands this bust, which savours but little
+of artistic taste, various verses from the Lusiad have been engraved with
+an iron stylus.[120] Formerly this grotto must have had a much more
+agreeable appearance, but the present proprietor thought to beautify it by
+making an addition to it, which has resulted in its having almost entirely
+lost its original character. From one point within the grotto, called the
+observatory, and traditionally used as such by Camoens, there is a
+beautiful peep over the inner harbour, with its throng of busy human ants.
+Quite close to this singular abode for a poet, is the meeting-house of an
+evangelical Christian community, numbering about 200 souls, with a
+cemetery attached, which, with its handsome stone monuments and
+beautifully laid-out gardens, constitutes one of the most interesting
+places of outdoor resort in the colony.
+
+The most extensive and important edifice in the settlement of Macao,
+founded in 1563 by the Portuguese, on a peninsula of the same name, about
+five square miles in extent, is the Pagoda of Makok and its different
+temples, situate on the slope of a hill between picturesque groups of
+granite rocks, studded with gigantic Chinese inscriptions and splendid
+clumps of trees. At the entrance of this retreat for the gods, is a large
+fantastically-adorned Buddhist temple, surrounded by a large number of
+apartments, in which reside the priests, and where they carry on their
+household duties, and prepare tapers and sycee-paper for the worship of
+their deities, and where are also a few private altars to divinities,
+whose influence and protection the Chinese ladies of doubtful reputation
+do not, it seems, venture publicly to invoke.
+
+Steps cut in the granite rock conduct to the highest point, about 200 feet
+above sea-level, on which there is likewise a temple. At the time of our
+visit, a number of Buddhist priests in long yellow plaited garments were
+ascending to the summit, preceded by flute-players, there to perform their
+devotions. On their return they distributed among the poor Chinese
+congregated in the chief apartment of the temple, a large quantity of
+fruit and other eatables.
+
+While at Macao we visited one of the most respected of the foreigners
+settled there, Dr. Kane, an English physician, who has for years resided
+in the colony. This gentleman was so kind as to present us with the head
+of a statue from the renowned nine-storied or Flower Pagoda (Hwa-tah) near
+Canton, which during a visit he paid to that half-ruined edifice in March,
+1857, he had found lying on the ground, a fragment from a sandstone figure
+on the seventh story, representing a pupil of Buddha. This Pagoda, 160
+feet high, was constructed upwards of a thousand years since, which must
+accordingly be the age of the relic in question.
+
+The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of
+whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other
+foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula. The chief
+article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into
+the interior in large quantities. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is
+too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to
+admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the
+Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. Portugal derives
+but little profit from her colonies, and it is only national pride that
+will not hear of this possession, which is more a burden than a source of
+aid to the mother country, being disposed of by way of sale to either the
+English or the North Americans. However, the maintenance of this colony
+costs the Portuguese home Government but little, as the colonists support
+the chief expenses themselves. Thus the pay of the Governor, who receives
+£1260 per annum, as also that of the military force of about 400 men, and
+of a small ship stationed in the harbour, are all defrayed by the
+colonists.
+
+Macao is at present the chief point for the shipment of Chinese labourers
+or coolies to the West Indies. There are above 10,000 Chinese annually
+whom hunger and want drive to sell themselves virtually as slaves to the
+traders in human flesh, to drag out a miserable existence far from home.
+They are chiefly sent from Macao to the Havanna. We visited the house in
+which these pitiable objects are confined till the departure of the ship;
+we saw the haggard, reckless look of these wretched beings, who, despite
+the dreadful fate that awaits them, hire themselves out to Portuguese and
+Spanish kidnappers. In return for a free passage to Havanna, they bind
+themselves to work for eight years after their arrival with whatever
+master is found for them at four dollars a month,[121] a rate of wage very
+much lower than that paid to the labourer of the country, or even to the
+manumitted slave. This immense difference however does not accrue so much
+to the West India planter as to the speculators who are engaged in the
+importation of Chinese, for each of whom a large premium is paid. The
+voyage, which usually lasts from four to five months and costs about £70 a
+head, is chiefly carried on in French, Portuguese, and--alas! that it
+should be so--English and German ships. What sufferings the unhappy
+emigrants are exposed to during the voyage, appears from the fact that a
+number of them not unfrequently jump overboard, to seek a refuge from
+their misery under the waves. Cases have been known in which, owing to
+hard fare and mismanagement, 38 per cent. of the emigrants have died on
+the passage![122]
+
+The society which takes charge of this trade in exporting men is known as
+the _Colonisadora_, and has its head-quarters in the Havanna. Each Chinese
+must before leaving Macao subscribe a contract which is for the exclusive
+benefit of the society, and by which the poor emigrants explicitly
+renounce all the advantage they might derive from certain paragraphs in
+the Spanish Emigration Act, passed in 1854, which bear upon the
+interpretation of such contracts. As it is usually only the very poorest,
+most shiftless, and most ignorant class that emigrates, the contract is
+enforced without the smallest scruple, and if afterwards the emigrant in
+the foreign country becomes aware of the privations and oppression he has
+to submit to in comparison with other workers, the obligations he has
+entered into are made use of to invoke the protection of the Spanish
+authorities.[123] The fact however that these latter secretly favour the
+objections of the colonization society, sufficiently proves that the
+interests of a social class and the extension of the labour market in the
+island are considered by them as of far higher importance than the good of
+mankind.
+
+To the English Government is due the credit of having initiated an
+energetic protest against this trade in human beings, and of having taken
+such steps as tend to mitigate the evil consequences which cannot but
+result from such a system of deportation. Its representative at the
+Havanna, Mr. Crawford, was the first and indeed only individual who
+ventured to make representations to the Spanish Government as to the
+little humanity shown for these poor Chinese emigrants, and to draw public
+attention to the system.[124] Under a humane and well-managed
+administration of the emigration system in China, it might prove of
+immense service to those countries which are eager to absorb labour, as,
+owing to the super-abundance of labour in China, a far larger supply as
+well as a much higher class of labourers might be procured.
+
+M. de Carlowitz was so kind as to accompany us in our various rambles to
+the more interesting sights and points of view, and more especially when
+we were busied "doing" the "lines" of the city. On an eminence in the
+suburbs, about 200 feet high, is what is known as Monte fort, garrisoned
+by 150 men, whence there is a charming panorama, and the eye catches sight
+of the Chinese village of Whang-hia, at the period of our visit most
+hostilely disposed, and where on July 3rd, 1844, the first treaty of
+peace, friendship, and commerce, was drawn up and signed between China and
+the United States. Another hill, about 300 feet high, at the outer
+extremity of the peninsula, on which many years ago the Portuguese had
+erected a fort, of which only the foundations can now be traced, commands
+the tongue of land on which stands the city, as well as all the eastern
+portion of the island, and amply repays the trouble of ascent. On the road
+thither, by which the communication with the mainland of China is mainly
+carried on, we came upon the corpse of a coolie, which had apparently lain
+for several days in the very middle of the road. A part of the head and
+the right hand had been already stripped of the flesh by the
+carrion-crows, and enormous swarms of insects had fastened on the upper
+portions of the naked horribly swollen dead body. The miserable being had
+obviously fallen a victim to want and destitution. His strength seemed to
+have failed him while he was earning his miserable subsistence, as two
+empty broken panniers were lying close beside him. Crowds of people were
+passing daily, men, women, children, even Portuguese taking their
+customary promenade on foot or on horseback, without any person giving
+himself the least trouble to remove the shocking spectacle. Even the
+representations of the foreign consuls seem to have but little influence
+on the Portuguese authorities in these matters, and it appears that it is
+by no means an infrequent occurrence to see dead bodies lying about. A
+hardly less sickening spectacle was presented on the slope of the hill,
+where were erected a couple of dozen of small, wretched, filthy huts of
+palm-straw, which served for the reception of a number of sick and lepers,
+who, shunned and abandoned by all the world, were sinking in their misery
+into the grave. Leprosy is regarded by the Chinese as a punishment for
+secret sins, and those visited with it are accordingly deprived of all
+assistance or attention. Very probably this coolie, whose body we thus saw
+lying on the road, was one of those unfortunates who were here digging, as
+it were, their own graves.
+
+The isthmus which unites the Portuguese settlement on the peninsula with
+the mainland, is barely a quarter of a mile in length by 500 feet in
+breadth. Formerly there was a wall built right across the centre of this
+tongue of land, which marked the limit of the colony. Here Chinese
+sentinels used to march to and fro to protect the Flowery Kingdom. This,
+however, did not prevent the "_Macaoistas_," as the inhabitants of Macao
+are accustomed to call themselves, from making frequent excursions and
+pic-nic parties to the mainland and the adjacent Chinese villages. On 22nd
+August, 1848, however, when the then governor of Macao, Dom Joâo Maria
+Ferreira do Amaral, while riding along the narrow part of the isthmus, was
+set upon by a couple of armed Chinese, torn from his horse, and beheaded,
+his skull and hand being carried off by the murderers, the Portuguese
+pulled down the wall and destroyed the adjoining Chinese fort, so that not
+a vestige of either now remains. The government of Macao insisted on the
+murderers being delivered up, as also on the restitution of the head and
+hand of the victim, but after the lapse of a year the authorities received
+an official notification that the murderers had been discovered, and on
+confession of the crime had been executed at Shunteh. The head and hand of
+the unhappy Amaral were delivered to the Portuguese officials by two
+Chinese commissioners, and solemnly interred with the other remains. In
+the course of the correspondence with reference to this matter[125]
+between the Chinese and Portuguese authorities, it appeared that, owing to
+certain stringent regulations he had laid down, Governor Amaral had long
+been marked out for destruction by the Chinese population of Macao. The
+chief complaint against him was that he had profaned the graves of their
+ancestors in the suburbs of Macao, and had constructed new streets right
+through them. Every attack of illness, every unlucky speculation, every
+unexpected mischance, which happened to any of the Chinese residents in
+Macao, was ascribed to the vengeance of those spirits, whose repose had
+been so wantonly violated for such an insignificant purpose. The Chinese
+have no regular cemeteries for their dead. They inter them anywhere about
+the township, simply marking the spot with a stone or an inscription. At
+the new-year's festival these graves are adorned in the most gaudy manner,
+none, not even of the poorest, being neglected in this respect. This pious
+feeling for the dead is in singular and rude contrast with the
+indifference with which the Chinese regard the misfortunes of their
+neighbours, and the cruelty with which mothers expose their new-born
+children, or even leave them to die.
+
+The trade between Macao and the mainland is very active: in the quarter of
+an hour that we were upon the isthmus there passed at least 60 men loaded
+with goods or provisions, moving to and fro to the settlement. Among these
+there were also sedan-chairmen, conveying back to the neighbouring
+villages such of the better class of Chinese as had been doing business in
+the city. The effect of warlike rumours from Canton and the Pei-ho had
+meanwhile become apparent among the European population of Macao. The
+insecurity of life and property increased daily. No one could venture to
+go a mile or two beyond the city. Even a beautiful pic-nic house, erected
+by the foreigners on "Green Island," close by the town, whither during
+peaceful times frequent excursions were made by European residents with
+their families, had been for months empty and gutted.
+
+The Praya Grande, or rather the shady promenade, at its eastern extremity
+serves as a rendezvous for the gay world, and on Sundays, when a band of
+music plays here, one can scarcely pass through the crowd.
+
+The Portuguese, who even in their native country are not a handsome race,
+lose still more in their physical qualities by the unscrupulous manner in
+which they cross with the native races. This circumstance makes the
+contrast still more apparent of simple, graceful, pale ladies of the
+Anglo-Saxon race, who now and then appear between the ugly dark natives.
+In the evening, towards sunset, these lovely creatures make their
+appearance in their sedan or other chairs in the Campo San Francisco,
+there to enjoy the cool evening sea-breezes. A great number of sedan
+porters halt here with their precious burdens, and elegantly-attired
+cavaliers saunter about, striving by amiable phrases and flattering
+remarks to elicit a smile. While these vehicles form the commonest mode of
+conveyance, we also saw there but few saddle-horses, and only one single
+carriage, the property of a rich brownish native, baronized for the amount
+of 40,000 dollars, and who thought by this means to display his taste,
+his luxury, and his nobility!
+
+We had heard so much of certain wonderful singing stones, on a large
+island opposite the inner part of the harbour, that several of our party
+made an excursion thither. Neither natives nor indeed Europeans could give
+us any explanation of this singular phenomenon, but all hold that the
+stones must contain metal in some certain proportion, while electricity
+and magnetism would do the rest. The naturalists were accompanied to this
+mysterious spot by M. Von Carlowitz, Dr. Kane, and a Chinese physician,
+Dr. Wong-fun. The estimable and highly-educated Wong-fun had graduated as
+Doctor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and had afterwards
+enlarged his experience by practising some time in the United States,
+since which he had practised the healing art with great success upon his
+own countrymen. A European in intelligence and education, he was still a
+Chinese in external appearance, and wore, as formerly, a long tail.
+Probably Wong-fun adhered to this ancient custom in order the more readily
+to indoctrinate his fellow-countrymen with European ideas.
+
+Some small Tanka-boats, in which, as already mentioned, only two persons
+can be accommodated at once, and which are exclusively managed by women,
+conveyed our party over the bosom of the inner harbour to the opposite
+shore. We then proceeded through a beautiful valley, covered with rice
+fields, and traversed in its entire extent by a mountain torrent, which
+is dammed off, and drives a number of Chinese mills with the small
+water-courses. In the background of this valley lies the mysterious spot.
+The marvel itself presently became visible in a large expanse of syenite
+rock, greatly resembling that in the Oderwald of Hesse. Some of these have
+been tilted on the others, and the hard syenite resounds when struck with
+a hammer, just as a block of marble or basalt vibrates when struck, with a
+bell-like sound. These musical blocks therefore are but little
+interesting, unless that the Chinese make use of them to sculpture the
+figures of lions and tigers to adorn the entrances of their temples.
+
+After a stay of two days in Macao, the naturalists returned to Hong-kong,
+where they had to devote the little time that would elapse ere the frigate
+sailed to sorting and packing the collections, and arranging for their
+transmission: for the manipulation of packing is, as Humboldt well
+remarked, as important as actual science in such undertakings. That
+naturalist confers but a small boon on science, whose only care is to
+collect, but who takes no pains to preserve, the fruits of his labour, by
+an exact indication of the place where found, and such special particulars
+as may prevent mistakes, and by carefully guarding against damage to the
+objects about to be sent, while on their way.
+
+The kind reception and hospitality of our new friends in Hong-kong
+remained undiminished to the very last moment of our stay. We were fairly
+overwhelmed with attentions of all sorts, each apparently striving to
+make us forget the unfavourable circumstances under which we visited the
+Empire of China.
+
+The steamer _Hong-kong_, early on the morning of 18th July, towed us out
+through the narrow Eastern Straits, the Ly-e-num Pass, and the
+Ta-thong-wun Channel, into the open sea. As we passed alongside the
+English frigate _Nankin_, carrying the broad pendant of the amiable and
+excellent Commodore Stewart, our band played "God save the Queen," while
+the English ensign was dipped, by way of parting salute. A little further
+on the Chinese Comprador, who had supplied the _Novara_ with provisions
+daily during her stay, had stationed himself in his boat to give us a
+parting farewell with a roar of gong-gong, while innumerable rockets
+whizzed and exploded in the air.
+
+We found a tolerably high sea outside, but a fine fresh S.W. breeze, under
+which we rapidly increased our distance from the shore. In like manner as
+when we entered, we had now in getting out to thread our way among
+thousands of fishing-boats sailing about in couples, which cruise about to
+a distance of even 50 and 60 miles to sea. The steamer which towed us
+through the narrow Eastern Channel, and had us just four hours and twenty
+minutes in tow, charged the amount of 300 dollars (£63), so that each
+minute of towing cost rather over one dollar. After making a tack towards
+Lemma Island, in order to avoid the dangerous Nine-pin rock, the wind
+sprung up from E.S.E., so that we were enabled to lie our proper course,
+and by sundown had cleared _Piedra bianca_.
+
+With fine weather and a fresh S.W. monsoon our voyage was so speedy, that
+by 2nd July we were in the latitude of Formosa, but without being able to
+distinguish the high land, either on the Chinese coast or on that island,
+and by 23rd July we were off the Saddle Islands, at the mouth of the
+Yang-tse-Kiang.
+
+Just as we reached this, the door, as it were, through which we had to
+enter, the weather chose to change with the utmost suddenness. Calms and
+contrary winds, coupled with the powerful current of the mighty river,
+sweeping through the islands, prevented our further advance, and on the
+24th we had to cast anchor near the easternmost Saddle Island. Close to us
+on every side were numbers of other ships equally unfortunate with
+ourselves, while the spectacle of the steamers, pursuing their course
+without feeling any obstruction, filled us with envy. We had taken a
+Chinese pilot on board, and by 25th July were in sight of Gutzlaff, a
+small islet of rock 210 feet high, the best land-mark of the "Son of
+Ocean," and just before sunset anchored off the outer bar. We now had fair
+breezes, and without further obstacles passed over the bar in from 30 to
+33 feet water, which in bad weather, however, is exceedingly dangerous. We
+were still out of sight of land; even the islands we had already passed
+sank below the horizon, and still there was nothing visible but an
+unbroken expanse of yellowish-red water, which reflected with the utmost
+brilliancy the rays of the sun. A light-ship moored to a sand-bank, and a
+wreck on another sand-bank, are, after leaving Gutzlaff Island, the sole
+land-marks by which the pilot can hope to keep the channel, which is only
+from one to two miles wide in this vast shoreless river estuary. Indeed
+the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang is regarded as one of the most
+difficult feats for a large ship. With favourable wind and weather, the
+_Novara_ cleared without accident the 47 miles between the bar and the
+place where the Wusung falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and on the evening
+of the 26th July dropped anchor in front of Wusung. The navigation
+presented little that was interesting, yet each man involuntarily felt a
+thrill as he reflected that he was sailing in the current of the longest
+river in China, whose source lies thousands of miles inland at Khukkunor,
+among the Mangolians.
+
+As we neared Wusung, signs of life began to be visible on the river
+itself; tall three-masters were passing, bound in or out, and scores of
+Chinese junks with their peculiar rig and build. Far above the light-ship
+the shore first became visible, low, flat, scarcely above the level of the
+river, but green and fertile. A Pagoda of the well-known form of the
+Porcelain tower of Nankin and a few lofty trees enable the pilot to take
+the bearings of the channel at this point. Only the land on the left is
+actual mainland, the shore on the right being the coast of the island of
+Tsuning, lying at the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Wusung, this
+southern arm of the Yang-tse-Kiang, as formed by the above-named island,
+is about six and a half nautical miles in width, and a little higher up is
+further narrowed by Bush Island to a width of four miles.
+
+The first inhabited spot at the junction of the Wusung and Yang-tse-Kiang
+is the wretched filthy village of Wusung, which owes its importance solely
+and exclusively to the opium boats, which the merchants of Hong-kong and
+Shanghai used to station here in the stream, in order more readily to sell
+and deliver to the Chinese that forbidden article. Thus the natives took
+on themselves the responsibility of opium smuggling, while the foreign
+merchants became thereby involved in a conflict with the Chinese
+Government. The opium sold per month from the ships stationed at Wusung
+amounts to from 2500 to 2800 chests, in value about 500 _taels_ (£150) per
+chest (£375,000 to £420,000).
+
+The mouth of the Wusung is the entrance to Shanghai, which lies about 12
+miles up the Wusung or Shanghai river, but in consequence of a mud-bank is
+only accessible to large ships at spring-tide. Nankin lies up the
+Yang-tse-Kiang 180 miles from Shanghai, the channel being so deep that
+even a frigate may sail close up under its walls. Six hundred miles
+distant from the embouchure of the Wusung lie the three immense cities of
+Wu-chang, Hang-iang, and Shan-Keu, containing 8,000,000 inhabitants, the
+central point of the internal commerce of China; and about 400 miles
+further up are the first rapids of the Yang-tse-Kiang, which completely
+prevent all further navigation. Up to this point the mighty river, like
+the Mississippi, the Rhine, or the Danube, may be navigated by river
+steamers, without the slightest danger or difficulty. What an enormous
+trade, what a tremendous development, will ere long be witnessed here, so
+soon as, in accordance with the stipulations of the Tien-Tsin and Pekin
+treaties, English ships, freighted with goods and necessaries of all
+sorts, shall steam up this most splendid of rivers and its tributaries,
+and the inhabitants of the far interior shall become acquainted with the
+products of European industry, and in exchange shall export to Europe
+innumerable articles of new and valuable trade. For it is the greatest
+service of the merchant that he not alone opens new channels of commerce,
+and by increased exportation of the fabrics of his native land tends to
+build up his power, but that he civilizes foreign nations, and enriches
+science and industry with innumerable fresh acquisitions.
+
+The larger ships usually lie at anchor at the little Chinese village of
+Wusung on the river of that name, just where it falls into the
+Yang-tse-Kiang, and here accordingly, owing to the hostilities, we found
+upwards of twenty ships of war of various nationalities at anchor. Among
+others the powerful American steam-ship _Minnesota_, and the French
+frigates _Audacieuse_ and _Nemesis_, an imposing spectacle in these
+distant regions, and to which the half-ruined Chinese fort on the tongue
+of land between the Wusung and the Yang-tse-Kiang, with its couple of
+wretched cannon, presented a tragi-comic contrast. Numbers of Chinese
+boats, from the smallest cloth-awning _sampan_ propelled by one man with a
+paddle to the large junk with fifteen masts, and sentences painted along
+the bends, were cruising in every direction. Ere long a Comprador found
+his way on board, who according to custom undertook to provide the frigate
+with everything she required.
+
+Commodore Wüllerstorff purposed proceeding with the frigate to Shanghai;
+but as it would be necessary to wait for a fair wind, or else to engage
+another steam-tug, implying a delay of several days, the naturalists were
+permitted to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the
+Comprador's boat to proceed at once to Shanghai, which voyage we were two
+hours and a half in performing.
+
+While the number of European merchantmen that we passed, some lying at
+anchor in front of Wusung, others sailing up or down stream, was quite
+surprising, yet the sight of the river at Shanghai far surpassed all
+expectation. Here, close packed together in a channel rather narrower than
+elsewhere, was drawn up tier after tier of shipping, a quite impervious
+forest of masts, athwart which at intervals the large warehouses of the
+European merchants indistinctly loomed, lining the banks on either side.
+The newspaper lists at the time of our visit gave the names of no less
+than 102 large American and European merchantmen in the Shanghai River, in
+addition to which there were upwards of a thousand native junks lying in
+the stream with their short crooked masts, the most convincing evidence of
+the commercial importance which this place has attained within the short
+space of time that has elapsed since by the Treaty of Nankin in 1842
+foreign factories were authorized to be erected here.
+
+On the shore the flags of the Consulates of the more important sea-faring
+nations fluttered gaily in the breeze from lofty flag-staffs on the top of
+the imposing buildings. Hardly had we landed ere we were surrounded by an
+ungainly crowd of Chinese coolies, who with their bamboo staves began such
+a serious battle among themselves for the right of carrying our baggage,
+that it was only by the interposition of the police that several were not
+left on the spot severely wounded.
+
+The intelligence that there was in Shanghai not a single house of
+entertainment, such as we understand by the name of "hotel" in Europe, was
+the less agreeable, as the dwellings of the resident Europeans, where,
+under ordinary circumstances, strangers are received with the utmost
+hospitality, happened at present to be occupied by the officers of the
+numerous war-ships, as well as by members of the two embassies. The only
+place where we could be received was what is known as the Union Hotel, a
+den in the fullest sense of the word, in which we passed one of the most
+uncomfortable nights we ever remember. Myriads of mosquitoes, the true
+blood-thirsty "gallinipper," loud-shouting drunken seamen, dogs howling,
+intolerable heat, which not even a tremendous thunder-storm that broke
+forth during the night could assuage,--such were some of the amenities of
+our reception, which, despite our exhaustion, utterly precluded sleep.
+With unspeakable longing we watched for the dawn of the morning, and,
+thanks to the hospitality of our new friends, we were in the course of the
+day fortunate enough to be released from this hideous abode.
+
+The _Novara_ did not remain long behind us. A few days later, on 29th
+July, she sailed gallantly up in an hour and a half, from Wusung, on the
+top of a spring-tide, and with favourable breezes, and on reaching
+Shanghai was welcomed with pride and delight by the German residents
+here--the first ship-of-war of a first-class German power that had ever
+been seen in the river Wusung.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[112] The analysis of these hieroglyphics, by which abstract ideas are
+sought to be expressed, is extremely interesting. Thus a heart with the
+badge of slavery over it represents "anger;" a hand, and the sign for the
+middle, signifies an "historian," because it is his duty not to lean to
+either side; by the sign of uprightness and motion is represented
+"government," because it must always observe probity in the transaction of
+affairs; to indicate the idea of a "friend" two pearls are represented
+side by side, because friendship is as rare as two pearls, exactly
+resembling each other! The well-known French missionary Huc, in his
+valuable work on the Chinese Empire, gives a variety of most interesting
+particulars respecting the Chinese language.
+
+[113] A very abstruse treatise upon the preparation of the Chinese ink is
+contained in the important labours of the Russian Embassy at Pekin,
+relating to China, published in German by Dr. Abel and Mecklenburg,
+Berlin, F. Heinike, 1858, vol. ii. p. 481. The information is borrowed
+from a small treatise which was written in 1398 by a certain
+Scheu-zsi-Sun, who had been for thirty years engaged in the fabrication of
+the India ink. The author therein mentions how, after he had tried every
+known method, and every substance usually employed, without attaining any
+result, he at last put them all on one side, mingling only pin-soot with
+glue together, and diluting this mixture with but hot water, again kneaded
+it thoroughly, and thus succeeded in getting an ink "black and lustrous as
+a child's eyes." According to another method, India ink is prepared,
+besides pin-soot and lime, of a sort of tincture, consisting of the
+following various pigments,--pomegranate-rind, sandal-wood, sulphate of
+iron and copper, gamboge, cinnobar, dragon's-blood, gold-leaf, musk, and
+glair. This tint is said to be remarkable for preventing the glue from
+getting spoiled by age, or the colour changing, and may be thus kept for
+any length of time. 1/2 lb. of glue and 1/4 lb. of this colouring matter
+are the proportions for one pound of pin-soot. However, only a very small
+portion of the different materials used seems to possess the power
+ascribed to them, and many are used out of mere prejudice, and not at all
+to the advantage of the ink prepared.
+
+[114] This custom is of remote antiquity in Oriental countries, as witness
+the circumstances attending the birth of Ishmael, and also of several of
+the children of Israel.
+
+[115] Many European residents at Hong-kong and Shanghai have Chinese
+mistresses _bought_ in this way, who are bound to live with them only so
+long as their masters choose.
+
+[116] The title of this work is:--"_Notices sur le vert de Chine et de la
+teinture en vert chez les Chinois, par Natalis Rondot, imprimé aux frais
+de la Chambre de Commerce de Lyon, à Paris, 1858._"
+
+[117] The Chinese of Shanghai called the plant _Li-lu-schu_, and the
+substance obtained from it _Gah-schik_.
+
+[118] We give the following translation of one of these proclamations:
+"Listen, O listen, ye detestable barbarians! We, patriots and honourable
+subjects of the reigning dynasty, wish to hold up a mirror to you, that ye
+may see what ye are doing, and what like you are! Only in speech, and in
+no other respect, do ye differ from wild beasts! We have understanding, we
+observe laws and commandments; but you are blind and dumb, and will not
+receive advice. You must--there is nothing else for it--you _must_ be cut
+off to the very last man!... Since you first came to the MIDDLE KINGDOM,
+you have done all that you can to destroy us; you have shot at us from
+your ships; you have poisoned us with opium, you have erected devils'
+houses (churches) within the walls of the city! Nay more, in order to hold
+your horse-races, you have profaned graves, and not suffered the dead to
+rest in peace! Insatiable as sharks, greedy as a set of silk-worms upon a
+mulberry tree, the more you get the more you want. Even our most trifling
+profit you have taken to yourselves. Now, however, the cup is full, Heaven
+in its wrath has decreed your destruction,--our people shall cut you off
+with divine weapons of fire. Hearken now, O people, to the four following
+rules for the extermination of the barbarians: All barbarians must be
+beheaded, that our reproach may be removed, and our Middle Kingdom be no
+longer insulted. So runs the order of the leader!--To none other shall any
+disaster happen, no one shall be molested. Whoever strikes back, shall
+himself be struck.... The day of vengeance shall be secretly appointed. We
+shall circumvent the barbarians with treachery, we shall fall on them
+unawares, and destroy them. Natives who are in the habit of attending
+their schools, or of serving them, or of trading with them, must leave
+them and return to their old pursuits. If they remain, then the subjects
+of the exceedingly beneficent dynasty as well as the barbarians, the
+diamonds and the hailstones, shall be destroyed together.... After the
+destruction of these hideous hordes, their possessions shall be
+distributed among those who have distinguished themselves on the day of
+battle. So runs the order of the leader!"
+
+[119] Yeh, as is well known, has since died in imprisonment at Calcutta.
+
+[120] In front, Canto X. v. 25; XII. vv. 79-80. On the back, Canto VI. vv.
+95, 131, and Canto VIII. v. 42.
+
+[121] Even these four dollars sustain a reduction during the first year,
+since the emigrant must for the first year pay one dollar a month to
+defray necessaries, partly provisions, partly clothes, supplied to him to
+the amount of $12, before his departure.
+
+[122] J. F. Crawford, Esq., British Consul-General at the Havanna, in an
+official document respecting the number of Chinese imported in the course
+of one year into Havanna proves that in the case of the Peruvian ship
+_Cora_, 117 out of 292 coolies perished owing to bad water. In one single
+year (1857) 63 ships, of 43,933 tons, cleared from Chinese ports for the
+Havanna, with 23,928 Chinese labourers, of whom 3842, or above 16 per
+cent., died during the voyage.
+
+[123] We give in the Appendix the original text of one of these contracts,
+which the Chinese emigrants have to sign preparatory to their going on
+ship-board, together with a translation, and shall leave the reader to
+judge whether those are very far wrong who denounce the system as but
+another form of slave-trade.
+
+[124] The cruelty and injustice with which the poor Chinese emigrants are
+treated, have repeatedly had the most appalling consequences. The "_China
+Overland Trade Report_," published at Hong-kong, under date 28th February,
+1861, gives the particulars of one such tragedy, which had shortly before
+occurred on board of one of these emigrant ships. On 22nd February, the
+American ship _Leonidas_ sailed from Canton for the Havanna with a number
+of coolies on board. Near what is known as the Macao passage, a tremendous
+noise was suddenly heard in the between-decks. Two of the mates, on
+descending to inquire into the cause of the disturbance, were attacked
+with knives and severely wounded. Meanwhile some of the coolies had
+overpowered the captain and his wife, and had inflicted on them several
+dangerous wounds. However, the crew ultimately succeeded in driving all
+the coolies into the hold, though not till after the 29th had been passed
+in constant fighting. In their desperation they sought to set fire to the
+ship, by preparing a regular pyre of combustibles, to which they set fire.
+Ere long, however, the smoke became so intolerable in the hold, that they
+themselves speedily made every effort to extinguish the fire. The ship
+returned to Canton. Out of 250 coolies, 94 were dead, of whom some were
+shot, some were drowned, some suffocated. Singular to say the French
+man-of-war _Durance_ refused to render any assistance. Other accounts
+speak in the highest terms of the efforts of a German missionary to put a
+stop to this practice of kidnapping, dignified by the name of emigration,
+it having not unfrequently happened that young Chinese were openly carried
+off to Macao, and there as openly sold. This is the more readily credible,
+inasmuch as the Chinese are most desperate gamblers, and after they have
+lost all they possess, think nothing of staking their personal liberty.
+Thus, a short time since, the son of respectable parents in Sunon was sold
+by the Emigration Society at Macao for 40 dols., and it was only by the
+most unremitting efforts of the German missionary already mentioned that
+the wretched lad was re-purchased for £60, and thus escaped a terrible
+destiny. Two other Chinese were shipped at the same time, the bargain in
+their case being recognized.
+
+[125] See "Chinese Repository," vol. x., of October, 1849.
+
+
+          [Illustration: Flower Boat on the Wusung at Shanghai.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XV.
+
+                              Shanghai.
+
+         Duration of Stay from 25th July to 11th August, 1858.
+
+    A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.--Book-stalls.--Public
+    Baths.--Chinese Pawnbrokers.--Foundling hospital.--The Hall of
+    Universal Benevolence.--Sacrificial Hall of Medical Faculty.--
+    City prison.--Temple of the Goddess of the Sea.--Chinese
+    taverns.--Tea-garden.--Temple of Buddha.--Temple of Confucius.--
+    Taouist convent.--Chinese nuns.--An apothecary's store, and what
+    is sold therein.--Public schools.--Christian places of worship.--
+    Native industry.--Cenotaphs to the memory of beneficent
+    females.--A Chinese patrician family.--The villas of the foreign
+    merchants.--Activity of the London Missionary Society.--Dr.
+    Hobson.--Chinese medical works.--Leprosy.--The American
+    Missionary Society.--Dr. Bridgman.--Main-tze tribe.--Mission
+    schools for Chinese boys and girls.--The North China branch of
+    the Royal Asiatic Society.--Meeting in honour of the Members of
+    the _Novara_ Expedition.--Mons. de Montigny.--Baron Gros.--
+    Interview with the Táu-Tái, or chief Chinese official of the
+    city.--The Jesuit mission at Sikkawéi.--The Pagoda of Long-Sáh.--
+    A Chinese dinner.--Serenade by the German singing-club.--The
+    Germans in China.--Influence of the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and
+    Pekin upon commerce.--Silk.--Tea.--The Chinese sugar-cane.--
+    Various species of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of
+    paper.--The varnish tree.--The tallow tree.--The wax-tree.--
+    Mosquito tobacco.--Articles of import.--Opium.--The Tai-ping
+    rebels.--Departure from Shanghai.--A typhoon in the China sea.--
+    Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.
+
+
+Shanghai, or Shanghai-Hein (the city near the sea), is divided into the
+Chinese city proper, enclosed within walls twenty-four feet in height,
+and the foreign quarter, which has been laid out beyond the walls since
+the year 1843, and is as much distinguished by elegance as by comfort. Old
+Shanghai, only accessible by three of the six gates with which it is
+furnished, contains 250,000 inhabitants in a superficial area of nine Li,
+or about two and one-third English miles, and, including the population of
+neighbouring towns, who are constantly flocking to and fro, about 400,000.
+The streets are filthy and singularly narrow, so much so that occasionally
+it is difficult for two men to pass each other, the small cross streets
+vividly recalling Venice, or the "lanes" of London. It is with difficulty,
+and only by a constant succession of cries and hearty buffets, that the
+bearers of merchandise can force their way through these intricate
+passages, and find their way to their destination. The houses, for the
+most part one and two storeys in height, usually consist of shops on the
+ground-floor, each with a flaming superscription in gigantic characters,
+which, the better to arrest the curiosity of the passers-by, is generally
+hung diagonally across the narrow street. The living throng, which
+throughout the entire day surges to and fro here, is so immense and so
+various that it leaves upon a stranger an impression even deeper than that
+made by the crowds and bustle of Piccadilly or Regent Street, on a fine
+day in the height of "the season." The grotesqueness and filth of almost
+everything that meets the eye rather adds to the singularity of the
+spectacle, and while the visitor on the one hand speedily finds ample
+justification for extricating himself from the din and confusion, he
+nevertheless encounters at every step some new object of attraction and
+absorbing interest.
+
+Entering the city through the east gate, on whose walls, by way of example
+to the multitude, are suspended in sacks and wicker-work numerous skulls
+of rebels and murderers, on whom justice has been done, we find ourselves
+in China street, one of the principal streets of Shanghai, and in which
+are most of the best class of native shops. It is however no wider or
+cleaner than the other streets of the city, and might be termed a "lane"
+with far more propriety than a street. We were conveyed within the lofty,
+gloomy "enceinte" of the walls in the sedan-chair of the country, after
+which, under the guidance of Mr. Muirhead, an English missionary, who in
+the kindest manner had offered to be our _cicerone_, we proceeded to
+stroll through the town.
+
+Close to the east gate we entered a book-stall, in which were heaped up
+immense piles of stitched books. A number of Chinese in white nankeen
+jackets, their foreheads smooth shaved, and each with a "tail" behind
+dependent to the heels, started forward to inquire the strangers' wants,
+and minister to them. Our inquiries however were by no means merely
+dictated by the desire to gratify a silly curiosity. A learned countryman,
+Dr. Pfizmaier, one of the profoundest of Chinese scholars, had intrusted
+us with a list of fourteen rare Chinese books, the purchase of which
+seemed to us specially desirable, and we accordingly made every exertion,
+with the assistance of our companion, himself well acquainted with
+Chinese, to crown our search with success. With one exception we succeeded
+in purchasing the entire catalogue, and therewith gladly brought to an end
+our wearisome stay of upwards of an hour in the close steaming book-shop,
+exposed the while to a more than tropical temperature.
+
+Chinese authors are, it must be allowed, terribly prolix in the treatment
+of their subjects, and instances are by no means uncommon in China of
+works, especially those of an historical nature, extending to from forty
+to fifty volumes! Thus, for example, the "Seventeen Historical classics"
+consists of 337 parts:--"Mingschintschuen" (History of the most renowned
+ministers and statesmen), of thirty volumes:--"Singpu" (Lives of
+remarkable persons), of 122 parts:--the "Encyclopedia of Matuanlin," with
+its additions, even reaches the immense number of six hundred
+volumes!![126] Books are generally far from expensive in China; for a few
+dollars, comparatively, one may, owing to the cheapness of labour and of
+cost of production, purchase quite a large supply of ordinary literature.
+
+Adjoining this book-shop is a public bath establishment, where for 16
+copper cash[127] (rather less than 1_d._ sterling), one may get a vapour
+bath, while six cash more are paid for keeping custody of the habiliments.
+The bath is far from being elegant or comfortable, but when one reflects
+on such extraordinary cheapness, it seems as though the very utmost had
+been attained. It consists of a large apartment, filled with steam, which
+is from time to time renewed, by dashing hot water upon stones, maintained
+at a high temperature, while ranged in readiness all round are a number of
+tubs of cold water for cooling the bather. In one of these establishments
+about thirty persons may bathe at once, and as John Chinaman, despite his
+filthy manners, is passably clean about the body, as testified by the
+pains he is at with his head and hands, these places are as extensively
+patronized as they are greatly needed.
+
+Our next stoppage was at a pawnbroker's, an institution which, to all
+appearance, has been far longer in vogue in China than in Europe, and is
+made great use of by the wealthy as well as the poorer classes. In the
+Celestial Kingdom, the same custom prevails as with us of pawning the
+winter habiliments in summer, and summer apparel in winter; and this not
+so much for the sake of the money borrowed upon them, as to have them kept
+in safety and carefully preserved, especially in the case of costly furs.
+In China the usual advance is of one half the value, upon a very low
+computation of the article pledged, for which the monthly charge is ten
+cash per 500, or twenty-four per cent. per annum. Whatever has not been
+redeemed at the end of three years, or of which the interest has not been
+paid, is put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder, the
+proceeds going to the benefit of the establishment. The utmost per-centage
+allowed by law is three per cent. a month; but it must not exceed two per
+cent. in winter, in order that the poor may be enabled to redeem the
+articles pledged. The broker gives a ticket for the articles pledged,
+which have a definite value, and may be sold in the street. Thieves find
+these establishments very handy for disposing of their plunder, as they
+deface or destroy the pawn-ticket so as to prevent the rightful owner from
+regaining possession of the stolen articles. When a pawnbroker sustains
+any loss through theft, or the outbreak of fire on his premises, he must
+make good to his customers the value of the destroyed articles that had
+been left with him as pledges. If, however, the fire has broken out in the
+house of a neighbour, he is only bound to pay one half of the loss he may
+sustain. The establishment is managed by fifty individuals, whom the
+concourse of people flocking in to pledge or redeem property keeps in
+constant activity.
+
+Considering the notorious and openly avowed indifference everywhere
+manifested throughout China for the poor, the sick, and the unfortunate,
+the number of charitable institutions to be found in all parts of China is
+very surprising, all which, as has lately been proved, do not owe their
+origin to the introduction of Christianity, but had been in a flourishing
+condition for a long time previously. Thus in several of the streets of
+Shanghai, we came upon hospitals for children and foundlings ([Chinese
+character(s)]), of the latter of which the one we visited was founded by
+voluntary contribution so far back as 1710. This humane institution has a
+landed property of about 30 acres, by the produce of which, as well as
+frequent public collections, it is supported. In 1783, this orphan
+hospital was amalgamated with an asylum for old and decrepit persons, and
+others incapacitated for labour, and one wealthy Chinese gentleman
+provided 3000 taels[128] for this praiseworthy object, but somewhat later
+this joint plan was abandoned, and the Orphan Asylum remains to this day
+self-supporting, while the poor, the sick, and the aged are relieved every
+month at the Custom-house out of funds specially set apart.
+
+At the period of our visit we found thirty infants in the building, who
+had been deposited by their mothers in a basket suspended in a recess at
+the entrance. After the new-born child has been deposited, a signal is
+given with a bamboo-stick, after which the receptacle is turned inwards
+and the innocent without delay taken charge of. Each child has its own
+wet-nurse or attendant.
+
+The building is lofty, roomy, and passably clean, but the children, one
+and all without exception, have a sickly appearance, and seem to suffer
+much from eruptions and affections of the eye. There was not one child
+above two years of age. It is worth recording that every one of these
+children was of the female sex; their male offspring, even when
+illegitimate, the mothers seem much less disposed to part from. It
+frequently happens, moreover, owing to the low considerations in which the
+female sex are held, that even legitimate children of that sex are
+occasionally committed to the silent receptacle of the foundling's basket.
+
+We inquired of one of the overseers what was the destiny of these unhappy
+children when they grew up, but could get no satisfactory reply. We were
+informed that they were occasionally adopted as children by those who had
+no family. But more extended inquiries leave us rather inclined to believe
+that these poor waifs of humanity constitute a not inconsiderable
+contingent to that unhappy class of beings who, carefully brought up,
+clothed, and fed by speculative foster-mothers, are at a suitable age sold
+for concubines to the well-to-do Chinese.
+
+One very remarkable charitable institution, for which there is no
+parallel in Europe, is the Tûng-jin-tang ([Chinese character(s)]) or Hall
+of United Benevolence, founded by a number of philanthropists in 1804, for
+the interment of the poor. This establishment, through its legacies,
+donations, and voluntary contributions, speedily became so wealthy that it
+has been enabled to take up, in addition to its original business, other
+objects of a not less humane nature. It pensions poor widows of
+respectable families with 700 cash (about £1 8_s._) per month; it presents
+persons above 60 years of age, if sickly and unable to work, with 600 cash
+(about £1 4_s._) a month, and provides, free of charge, wooden coffins, as
+also digging implements, for those who are too poor to inter their dead
+relatives. Another humane occupation of the society is the interment of
+coffins containing dead bodies, which used to be exposed on the bare
+ground in various parts of the city. Finally, it was the intention of the
+founder of this charitable institution, so soon as the money should
+permit, to erect schools for the poor, to provide warm clothing in winter
+for the helpless, as also to buy up animals destined for the
+slaughter-house, and set them at liberty again.
+
+The proceedings connected with the direction of the institution are
+transacted in public, and the managers for the time being are bound to
+furnish for each year a detailed report[129] of the management. This
+humane institution has since its foundation undergone many reforms, and
+at the period of our visit was confining its sphere of usefulness to three
+main objects: 1st, The pensioning aged and broken-down persons of both
+sexes, with 600 cash a month. These however were not supplied with the
+money, but were for the most part taken into the house itself, or at least
+supported through it. 2nd, The dispensing free of charge of various
+so-called universal medicines, for headache, stomach-complaints, fever,
+diarrh[oe]a, spasms during the unhealthy season (June to October). On the
+3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, 23rd, and 28th of each month (that is, on every date
+ending with a 3 or an 8), during the continuance of the sultry, damp,
+unhealthy season there was also provided for the sick and poor, gratis,
+advice from Chinese physicians in the great hall. 3rd, The furnishing
+coffins for the interment of those who died without means, or on payment
+in part by families not altogether penniless. In one of these extensive
+magazines we saw a coffin bearing the number 1084, which was just coming
+into requisition. During 36 months 1000 coffins and upwards had been
+supplied to poor families for the interment of their dead! As we were
+leaving the building, we remarked in the principal apartment a large
+quantity of paper, partly written upon, partly in shreds, all heaped up.
+On inquiry as to the object of this collection, we were informed that it
+was for no industrial purpose, but solely to be ascribed to the profound
+respect the Chinese have for every sort of writing. They regard written
+leaves as positively holy, and are particularly careful that no written
+paper shall chance to fall into improper hands, that might make a wrong
+use of it. For this reason the society pays for every pound of old waste
+paper which the poor of Shanghai pick up in the street and bring to the
+Institution three copper cash, and when the pile has attained a sufficient
+height it is set on fire at a particular season.
+
+Built in close proximity to this "Hall of United Benevolence" is the
+sanctuary of the medical profession, or, as Mr. Muirhead translated for
+our benefit the gigantic Chinese inscription over the portal, "the
+sacrificial hall of the medical faculty." This is a temple erected at the
+expense of the nation to a celebrated Chinese physician, whose stature, in
+an easy, erect attitude, cut in wood the size of life and richly gilt, is
+erected upon a platform somewhat resembling an altar. Part of the drapery
+consists of gigantic leaves, while his folded hands clasp a lotos-flower.
+In front of the image is placed the inscription: "The shrine of the spirit
+of the King of Medicine." Above the idol are the following words in
+Chinese, cut in the stone and gilt, "The divine husbandman and sacred
+ruler!" and thereafter, "For all ages the instructive teacher."
+
+This renowned physician had, it seems, instituted many experiments on
+himself with new healing remedies, and according to popular belief had
+attained to an exact knowledge of all that was going on in the human
+frame, so that he could point out the seat of the malady by simply placing
+a piece of common window-glass upon the pit of the patient's stomach, and
+looking into it!
+
+Adjoining this College of Health is the city prison, or Tschi-hin, in
+which, when we saw it, were confined about 100 prisoners in the various
+wards. In that set apart for the worst class of criminals, we saw about
+40, heavily shackled and manacled. Three of these were confined in low
+wooden cages, about three feet in height and width, and four feet in
+length, and fastened to each other by iron chains running through. These
+men also wore iron rings on their feet. One of these unfortunates was
+sentenced to 70, and each of the other two to 60, days of such durance,
+without being suffered for one moment to come out from the cage, which was
+placed on the ground, and like a hen-roost, was provided with perches
+running through it, so as to interfere still further with freedom of
+movement. Their food consisted of rice and vegetables. According to their
+own showing, these three were sentenced to this terrible punishment in
+consequence of some affray, but we had reason to believe that some more
+serious matter was the real cause of their having this penalty inflicted
+on them. We gave the unhappy wretches a few pieces of silver. Each hastily
+secured the donation in a corner of his cage, and seemed in his forlorn
+condition doubly sensible of the value of a metal whose influence,
+especially in China, is so powerful, so all-pervading, and so infallible.
+
+One very peculiar institution is the Wei-kwan, a sort of Council Chamber,
+situated on the N.E. side of the city between the walls and the river, in
+which all matters in dispute between mercantile men are adjusted, and in
+conjunction with which is a temple in honour of the goddess of the seas
+(Tien-Mú). In the centre of the council-room is a large elegantly-shaped
+iron pan (Schang-Lú), in which the merchants and seamen frequenting the
+hall burn slips of paper, on which are written the wishes of those making
+their offerings. Also money, fruit, &c., are here sacrificed, and Chinese
+mariners, whose "junks" have come unscathed through a storm, or have been
+preserved, make their thank-offerings in the shape of elegant little
+models of their ships, which are placed in various parts of the building.
+This hall was founded in 1270 by the Sung dynasty, on a site where certain
+Chinese believed they had observed that the tumultuous tide of the Whampoa
+river gradually lost its violence, as it approached the spot, a phenomenon
+which to them seemed of marvellous significance. Under the Yuen and Múi
+dynasties the temple was repeatedly plundered and burnt to the ground, but
+was rebuilt through the influence of a Tao-priest. In 1735, an imperial
+edict ordered the observance of certain religious ceremonies from time to
+time, an example which has been followed to the present day.
+
+Directly facing the goddess of the sea (called also Kwan-Yin, Queen of
+Heaven),[130] who is represented by a life-size figure placed at the
+bottom of the apartment, a large stage is erected, on which Chinese dramas
+are represented for their entertainment from 10 o'clock in the morning
+till nightfall.
+
+In one part of the immense pile of buildings there are also provided
+dwellings for such Chinese merchants as visit Shanghai from the interior
+of the kingdom, and have neither friends nor relatives in the city with
+whom they can take up their residence, for public taverns are in China
+only frequented by the very lowest classes. We entered one of these
+Chinese hotels, which we had come upon during our ramble, and inspected
+the eating-rooms and bed-rooms, which are usually situated on the first
+floor. The usual charge is from 100 to 140 cash a day for board (4_d._ to
+6_d._), and from 20 to 40 cash for lodging (1_d._ to 2_d._). The gloomy,
+filthy, cavernous aspect of each room makes even a moment's stay
+intolerable. The victuals supplied consist chiefly of rice, vegetables,
+and fish. In the interior, board and lodging in these taverns is very much
+cheaper, and the well-known and highly meritorious English missionary Dr.
+Medhurst, who, in 1845, traversed, in the dress of a Chinese, a large
+portion of the silk and tea districts, relates that the customary charge
+for supper, bed, and breakfast next morning altogether amounted to 80 cash
+only, or about 3-3/8_d._![131] In the streets of Shanghai, the
+eating-houses are greatly out-numbered by the tea-houses, where one gets a
+cup of tea for 6 cash (1/4_d._). These, like our own cafés, are laid out
+with little tables, stools, and benches. As soon as a guest enters and
+takes his seat, a Chinese attendant brings a cup, throws into it the
+proper quantity of tea-leaves, and pours boiling water upon it. After the
+lapse of a few minutes the hot light yellow liquid is hastily swallowed,
+but avoiding the leaves which are swimming on the surface, and usually
+serve for a second or even a third infusion. These tea-houses are crowded
+with visitors throughout the day, who sometimes transact business here
+over a cup of tea and a pipe of oiled tobacco, sometimes resort hither to
+wile the time listlessly away.
+
+The chief place of amusement, however, of the native population of
+Shanghai is the Tea-Garden (Tschin-Huang-Mian), or temple of the Emperor,
+which contains numerous gardens laid out in Chinese fashion, and booths of
+all sorts, besides the attractions of jugglers, singers, actors,
+soothsayers, musicians, and mountebanks, all driving their respective
+avocations. The whole scene is eminently characteristic of the
+grotesqueness of Chinese taste. Artificial canals and tanks filled with
+green stagnant water, redolent of miasmatic effluvia, amid which the Lotos
+opens its lovely white blossoms, quantities of zig-zag bridges with
+beautifully carved balustrades, islands with artificially constructed
+rocks and grottoes, subterranean passages, flags of all shapes and sizes,
+bearing the most bombastic inscriptions--such are the chief attractions of
+a Chinese People's Garden, every large town boasting one such, erected at
+the expense of the State, in which from early morning till late in the
+evening a vast crowd of human beings is incessantly surging to and fro,
+intent on pleasure, dissipation, or profit. The rabble, however, have not
+access to every part of the Tea-Garden, a certain portion being set apart
+for the recreation of the chief officials of the city (Táu-Tái). This
+portion, shut off by a lofty wall, is elegantly laid out, and is made
+attractive with all manner of dwarf trees nursed with great care and
+expense, besides the usual grottoes, artificial hills and precipices,
+pavilions, &c. Hither the head magistrate occasionally resorts to pass the
+warmest hours of the day, and dozes away undisturbed by the cares of his
+onerous responsibilities. All the public gardens of China present almost
+the identical features of the one we visited; a park without artificial
+islands and wooden bridges, without canals (in lieu of paths), without
+pools of stagnant water thickly covered with the broad leaves of the
+_Nelumbium_, would, in the eyes of a Chinese, be deprived of its chief
+pleasure and its greatest attraction.
+
+Close to the Tea-Garden is the largest Buddhist Temple within the city
+walls, in which throughout the day the over-credulous Chinese kneel before
+their idols, and with many reverences murmur their set formulas of
+prayers. Like everything else in China, even religious observances are
+regarded from the most practical point of view. They think they have done
+enough when they have gone through a certain round of outward ceremonies.
+The condition of most of the temples, the utter neglect of some, and the
+various employments of others, indicate that the Chinese either has no
+sense of the sanctity attaching to such places of devotion, or else
+attaches but little value to the act itself. The men rarely enter the
+temples. It is only the women who, to satisfy the cravings of the heart,
+have recourse to invoking the Deity. Frequently one sees a worshipper
+approach the attendant sitting in the porch of the temple, in order to get
+their horoscope calculated by him for a few cash. For this purpose she
+shakes with eager devotion a box of bamboo-cane filled with thin wands,
+until one of these wands springs out. The words inscribed on each wand
+furnish the oracle-expounder with an infallible sign, by which, after
+consulting one of the books of Chinese wisdom spread out before him, he is
+enabled to pronounce the answer of the divinity to the prayers preferred
+by the poor dupe. The most prolific source of revenue of the temple and
+its ministrants, consists, however, in the sale of the gold and silver
+tissue paper,[132] which plays so important a part in the worship of the
+Chinese, and owing to their zealous and frequent use are heaped up in
+immense piles, for consumption by fire in a gigantic furnace.
+
+Much more edifying than the interior of the great Buddhist temple with its
+troops of swag-bellied idols in their parti-coloured apparel, some with a
+good-humoured leer, others sulkily scowling on the beholder, is the
+appearance of the temple of Confucius[133] in a remote quarter of the
+city. In this extensive building, at once elegant and simple, and with
+numerous halls and corridors, the scholars undergo their examination for
+the service of the state; here the Government officials at stated seasons
+perform certain religious ceremonies, and here all the _literati_ assemble
+for the discussion of grave questions of debate. The main hall has its
+red-tinted walls covered with Chinese and Tartar inscriptions, all of
+which refer to Confucius, his doctrines and his wisdom. At intervals, a
+number of tablets let into the wall inform the visitor that this edifice
+is devoted to the instruction of the virtuous, and the cultivation of the
+endowments. At the same time every person who passes this in a sedan-chair
+or on horseback, whether an official or one of the people, is compelled
+to quit his vehicle and traverse the consecrated space on foot. Over the
+entrance to the right is written: "His virtue is comparable to Heaven and
+Earth;" and above the door to the left we read, "His teachings comprise
+all the wisdom of ancient and modern days." Behind the temple is a smaller
+edifice, dedicated to the five progenitors of Confucius. The temple itself
+is similarly surrounded with various apartments, all, as their bombastic
+inscriptions announce, devoted to the honour and advancement of knowledge.
+One of these chambers is dedicated to the god of Literature, another to
+the guardian spirit of Science. The latter is curiously represented as a
+figure holding in one hand a _stylus_, in the other a lump of silver,
+emblematic, we presume, of "man through wisdom attaining unto riches."
+
+In every city throughout China there is, as well as a tea-garden, a temple
+in honour of the great teacher Kong-fu-tse, whose knowledge and whose
+moral system, 2400 years after his mortal pilgrimage, instruct and gladden
+not merely his own countrymen, but all admirers throughout the world of
+what is noble and virtuous.
+
+Among the various monasteries of the city, we visited one of the Taouists,
+called the Du-Kung or Great Mirror (probably of Virtue), where strangers
+provided with introductions are received and entertained at 150 cash
+(6_d._ per diem). This cloister, whose sole inhabitants are some five or
+six Chinese monks, is situated close to the wall, and forms one of the
+best points whence to obtain a view of the entire city.
+
+The Taouists, who follow the Tao, the "way of knowledge," and arrogate to
+themselves a more profound insight into the mysterious powers of nature,
+as well as more special acquaintance with and definite powers over good
+and evil spirits, are disciples of the doctrines of Lao-tse,[134] and are
+extensively scattered throughout the country, although at present, in
+consequence of their losing themselves deeper and deeper in a slothful,
+sensual mode of existence, their proselytism is proceeding at a much
+slower ratio than formerly. It is purely accidental that there is
+immediately adjoining the Taoui monastery a convent known as that of the
+"White nuns," a small one-storey building, kept however singularly neat
+and clean. Here we saw six Buddhist nuns, with close-shaven heads and in
+long white dresses, which gave them quite a masculine aspect. They
+received us with much courtesy, and escorted us round the various
+apartments with considerable _empressement_. They were mostly widows, who
+pass their lives here in calm retrospective contemplation, and occupy
+themselves with preparing little articles for the Buddhist ritual, such as
+censers, tapers, printed sacrificial papers, &c., with which apparently
+they contrive to support themselves. These associations (Ni-koo) were
+usually founded by legacies and donations by pious Chinese, and are
+exceedingly useful as providing an asylum for poor, helpless women, weary
+of life. Many widows withdraw into these abodes of peace, there to pass
+the rest of their lives, free from the tumult of the world, in the
+exercise of devotion and of works of neighbourly love and charity.
+Nevertheless, if we are to believe common report, works of piety are not
+the only objects occasionally pursued in these Buddhist convents, and the
+web of intrigue and amorous adventure, of which they have frequently been
+the scene, has not a little tended to lower the estimate in which these
+religious societies are held, and even threatens to cut short their
+existence. A people of such a materialistic mode of life, and such
+ant-like industry, as the Chinese, who rarely know what it is to have one
+holiday in the entire year, must involuntarily look with argus-like eye on
+all religious communities, which pass their time in luxurious ease and
+exemption from care, without in any way advancing the well-being of their
+fellow-creatures by either mental or physical labour.
+
+In the course of our peregrinations through the streets of Shanghai we
+also came upon the shop of a Chinese apothecary (Yak-Tien), which
+externally bears a considerable resemblance to a similar establishment in
+Europe, but widely differs in respect of details. The Chinese Materia
+Medica is especially abundant in patent medicines, the use and application
+of which, it must be allowed, is frequently of the most extraordinary
+nature.
+
+According to the latest researches of Dr. Hobson, of whose important
+services in the diffusion of European medical science in China we shall
+have much to say in a future page, we are acquainted with 442 drugs from
+among the three great kingdoms of Nature, which must be kept in every
+well-stocked Chinese drug-store, of which 314 belong to the botanical, 78
+to the animal, and 50 to the mineral world. We shall, however, in this
+place only indicate those of which Chinese physicians avail themselves
+most frequently in the preparation of their medicines, such, for example,
+as birds' nests, dried red-spotted lizard, the fresh tips of stags'
+antlers, the shell of the tortoise, dogs' flesh, bones of animals,
+preparations from various parts of the human body, whale-bone,
+oyster-shells, skins of snakes, shark's maw and fin, tendons of deer and
+buffalo, dried silk-worms, their larvæ and excrement, bamboo shavings, the
+bear's gall, preparations from human _fæces_, scraped rhinoceros and
+antelope horn, rabbit dung, cuttle-fish bone, dried varnish, dried leeches
+and earthworms, red marble, refuse of ivory, preparations from toads,
+petrifactions, old copper money,[135] snow-water,[136] human milk,[137]
+&c. &c.
+
+These pharmaceutics are brought from various parts of China, as well as
+from Japan, Siam, and the Straits of Malacca, and constitute an important
+and profitable branch of commerce. Many of them are sold at the druggist's
+in the raw state, when they are used as sympathetic remedies, amulets, or
+generally for external use. The Chinese druggists sell their medicaments
+for the most part in the form of powders or pills. These latter are
+usually made up in a capsule of bees-wax for greater facility of
+administration, so that the dose as it comes from the shop resembles
+those small wax-cakes used by house-wives for waxing their thread. One
+such cake contains four or six pills, called _Tzi-páu-tan_, or very costly
+pills, which are used as a sort of universal specific against fevers,
+affections of the digestive organs, headaches, &c. &c.
+
+The most valuable and costly article in the Chinese pharmacop[oe]ia is,
+however, the Ginseng (_Panax Ginseng_, or _Panax Quinquefolia_), which is
+chiefly found in Mantchooria and the deserts to the north of the peninsula
+of Corea. The circumstance that the Ginseng is still a monopoly of the
+Chinese Government, only a few privileged individuals being annually
+permitted to purchase a certain quantity for its weight in pure gold, has
+much more to do with its efficacy as a panacea than the benefits conferred
+by its curative powers. The roots are about the size and thickness of a
+man's little finger, and break short off when bent. When cleaned they are
+transparent, and of a dark amber colour.
+
+Of the Ginseng there are three qualities sold in the Chinese drug-stores.
+One leang or ounce of the best (the largest and finest) costs 50 dollars,
+of the medium quality five dollars, and of the most inferior quality one
+dollar. The Ginseng root is also found in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
+Canada, and is thence exported to China, but the Chinese prefer that of
+their native forests, even though these are very much dearer, and there is
+hardly any difference to remark between them. As the plant is only found
+in the wild state, and obstinately resists all attempts to cultivate it,
+its collection among the forests of North America is attended with great
+hardship and expense, and whereas in former years the profit realized on
+this article of commerce by English and American merchantmen amounted to
+from 500 to 600 per cent., it is now reduced to a very moderate
+proportion.
+
+A more general subject of interest is presented by the shops where is sold
+the porcelain-ware, the manufacture of which dates from a very remote
+period of Chinese history, and was already a flourishing trade at the
+commencement of our historic epoch. Indeed we may reasonably assume,
+notwithstanding the beautiful specimens of the art which from time to time
+are brought to light, that this special branch of industry is at present
+in a state of decline, while of many kinds of porcelain manufacture no
+examples can now be shown, as the secret of their manipulation has
+perished. What usually interests Europeans in these shops is what is known
+as "crackle" porcelain,[138] the upper surface of which everywhere
+presents broken lines, so that the entire vessel appears as though it
+consisted of numbers of small pieces cemented to each other, the whole
+having very much the appearance of Mosaic. But this description also is no
+longer manufactured of the first quality in the present day. Antique
+porcelain is of extraordinary value, but specimens of modern manufacture,
+such as small figures, mannikins, &c., are very cheap, and are much the
+same as those imported to Europe.
+
+One marked partiality of the Chinese is their fondness for suspending
+grasshoppers in small elegant baskets of bamboo strips, or twisted wire,
+in which, whatever the season or the weather, these little captives keep
+up a constant pleasant chirping. This custom is of great antiquity, and
+while one even now finds among the populace of the present day some of
+these chirpers thus carefully tended, there once was a time when the
+grasshopper was the object of universal adoration, and enjoyed all the
+honours of Fashion. They were indebted for this singular good fortune,
+according to the abbé Grosier,[139] to a poor scholar under the Thang
+dynasty, in the 7th century of our era, who to relieve his poverty fell
+upon the singular expedient of trading in these insects. He went into the
+country, selected the most beautiful insects he could find, constructed
+elegant little cages for them, and returning to the city offered them for
+sale in the most frequented streets of Tschang-gan. The idea was novel,
+and the wealthy upper classes speedily found a charm in having the music
+of the fields thus transplanted into their houses. The Empress, the
+Queens, the ladies of the Palace, in a word, every one was eager to
+possess these songsters of the meadow. There was actually an enactment
+passed for the supply of the Imperial Palace with the requisite number of
+these insects. The fashion rose to a perfect mania--the little Zirperu was
+encountered at every corner--it was taken out whenever a call was
+paid--the whole city resounded with its shrill cry. The fine arts, and
+every branch of industry, felt its impulse. There was no textile fabric,
+no embroidery, no design, no vessel, on which it did not conspicuously
+figure. It was represented in metal and in jewellery, and no handsome lady
+thought her toilette complete, unless she sported a grasshopper among her
+hair. This mania has died out in China, but the buzz of the insect still
+continues to furnish matter of amusement for the populace and children of
+all classes, and they are still caught in large quantities, and exposed
+for sale in the streets. Singular to say, all ancient and modern writers,
+if we are to judge by their delineations, describe these insects as
+_cicadæ_, whereas it was shown and proved by the researches of one of the
+zoologists of the Expedition, that the insect is no _cicada_, but a
+species of grasshopper (_Decticus_), which, so far as appears, has never
+hitherto been described. Very probably the circumstance that the noise
+made by each of these insects is very similar, gave circulation to this
+error of upwards of a thousand years' standing, whence people would
+without further examination take it for granted that the insect confined
+in the cage belonged to that species whose place in natural history, and
+whose special musical qualifications, mankind had so long been familiar
+with. One of these grasshoppers was kept for months in such a cage on
+board our ship, and chirped away lustily, fair weather or foul, even when
+confined in a close cupboard. On the other hand, some _cicadæ_, with
+which similar experiments were made, lived only two or three days in
+captivity. None sang, unless when teased, or when a number more were
+introduced into the vessel, thereby incommoding them, and none took
+nourishment. It was obvious that the _cicadæ_ possessed none of those
+characteristics which would enable them to be kept in captivity as pets,
+whereas, on the other hand, the grasshoppers and crickets were especially
+adapted for that purpose.
+
+We were anxious to visit a variety of other interesting places, ere
+quitting the sultry, gloomy Chinese city on our return to the more genial
+European quarter. But evening was already setting in, and after sunset the
+gates of the city are closed, and neither Chinese nor European can after
+that hour obtain access to the city. Whoever is belated must find shelter
+for the night in the house of some hospitable friend, until with the first
+break of morning the gates are re-opened, communication is restored with
+the foreign quarter, and the previous day's scene of bustle is renewed.
+
+The next object which excited our interest was a Chinese school. Ascending
+a wooden staircase, we enter a room, quite empty but for a table and
+stools, in which a haggard woe-begone Chinese, with long tail and rod in
+hand, is walking to and fro, while at a table some dozen of boys of from
+eight to twelve are engaged in reading. Their loud accents may be heard
+down in the street outside. The cost of the schools for the people is
+chiefly defrayed by voluntary subscriptions, foundations, &c. &c. The
+children of the middle classes pay for nine months' instruction, three
+Spanish dollars. Many teachers have more than a hundred scholars, and thus
+earn about 1000 dollars per annum. These, it is true, are exceptions, but
+teaching as a profession seems on the whole to be fully better remunerated
+in China than in European countries. There it is in much higher
+estimation, and receives better recompense. The wealthy Chinese usually
+engage private tutors for their children, who, as among ourselves, usually
+form part of the family. Elementary education is almost universal
+throughout China. There are but few Chinese who are not at least able to
+read and write. One very gratifying instance of the prevailing religious
+toleration, well worthy of example in the Christian states of Europe, is
+the presence of Protestant and Catholic places of worship in the midst of
+Buddhist temples, and other edifices dedicated to heathen worship. The
+American Episcopal church, erected in 1850, at the expense of a wealthy
+merchant and ship-owner of Boston named Appleton, at a cost of 6000
+dollars, already numbers eighty converts. It is an extremely simple yet
+neat-looking place of worship, quite in the style of the chapels in the
+Western portion of the American Union, and has in connection with it a
+school numbering about forty native scholars. Every Sunday morning at ten,
+a sermon is preached, which is attended by most of the foreign community.
+Far grander and more imposing in plan and fittings is the Catholic
+cathedral of Tong-Kadú, confessedly the finest place of Christian worship
+throughout China. The construction of this building was commenced by
+voluntary subscription in 1846, and completed in 1852, the total cost
+amounting to 230,000 _leangs_, or about £65,000. Within there is a large
+organ, constructed by one of the lay brothers of bamboo pipes, whose
+saddening yet inspiring notes, heard in the festivals of the Church,
+invite the Christian community far and wide to devotion and instruction.
+At present this cathedral is under the charge of a bishop of the Order of
+the Jesuits.
+
+Our road from the Chinese city to the European quarter led us past an
+establishment which bore interesting testimony to the industrial activity
+of the Chinese. It is an oil factory worked exclusively by natives, and
+giving employment to about 400 workmen, besides 80 draught oxen. The oil
+is extracted from indigenous beans, and is so copious, that 1400 _catties_
+(1750 lbs.) of oil are procured daily, which is worth 74 _cash_ per
+_catty_ (about 3-3/4_d._ per lb.), and is used both for cooking and for
+light. The residuary oil-cake, after expression of the oily matter, is
+used as manure.[140] A workman may earn at this description of labour from
+100 to 200 _cash_ a day (4_d._ to 8_d._).
+
+As we left the manufactory, and were bending our stops towards the little
+Eastern gate, our gaze was suddenly attracted by a spacious and elegant
+mansion, evidently the property of a well-to-do Chinese. This, as we were
+informed by our companion, proved to be the residence of the Wuong family,
+which ranks among the five oldest and most distinguished families in
+Shanghai. There is to be seen in the neighbourhood a small stone memorial
+shaped like a mausoleum, which, with the Emperor's permission, was erected
+by the inhabitants of the district in which she lived, to commemorate the
+benevolence and philanthropic exertions of the mother of Wuong. The custom
+of honouring ladies distinguished by their virtues and benevolence, by the
+erection of temples, cenotaphs, &c., is by no means unusual in China, and
+is in marvellous contrast to the almost slavish treatment which the female
+sex usually meets with. Nevertheless, in the city and environs of Shanghai
+alone there are ninety such triumphal arches and memorials to as many
+exemplary and philanthropic ladies. The majority of these were married,
+and some had attained a very great age, one having died at 104 years, and
+another at 115 years of age![141]
+
+In the house of Wuong, who stands in high repute among the Europeans as a
+merchant and ship-owner, we were received with the most gratifying
+hospitality. As soon as we entered the house, an attendant immediately
+presented tea in small cups, which, in conformity with the usages of the
+country, had to be swallowed in all its native bitterness without
+admixture of sugar or milk. Immediately after an old nurse made her
+appearance, and struck up with our excellent conductor, Mr. Syles, who
+seemed to be everywhere welcomed by the Chinese, and was well acquainted
+with the family, a long conversation upon the most diverse subjects. At
+length the master of the house himself made his appearance, a dignified,
+stately man, arrayed in a light elegant grey silk frock, but in deportment
+and externals not differing in the very least from his Chinese attendants,
+and himself conducted us round the house. He seemed to feel pleasure in
+the opportunity of baring to the view of a stranger the very penetralia
+of his beautiful abode. We wandered through numerous apartments simply
+yet elegantly furnished, with various antechambers and corridors, among
+which were interspersed little plots laid out with dwarf plantations,
+artistically-designed grottoes, and "rookeries." In one of the rooms was a
+"punkah," an article of furniture rarely met with in a Chinese household.
+On reaching the library or study, our host bade us be seated, while he
+again ordered tea to be served. This small but pretty apartment was
+covered all round with inscriptions in Chinese (chiefly maxims from
+Confucius), which, written on rolls of white paper, were suspended on the
+walls. While sipping our tea, and engrossed in conversation, an attendant
+appeared with somewhat thick cloths, steeped in hot water, with which to
+wipe our faces and hands. The evaporation of the moisture lowers the
+temperature of the skin, and has so refreshing an effect, that one cannot
+but feel surprised that this custom is not more extensively patronized in
+hot countries, or put in practice by ourselves during our hot sultry
+summers.
+
+With respect to ourselves, what appeared most to interest our Chinese host
+in his silken attire was our apparel. He felt over and over again the
+black alpaca coat, which was worn by one of the members of our Expedition,
+and remarked, "these Western races are truly marvellous people; they wear
+far more clothes than we do, yet they perspire less." And thereupon Wuong
+mopped his face twice with the towel, which in the mean time the attendant
+had again dipped in the hot water, and thoroughly wrung out. As we were
+taking our departure, our courteous host accompanied us to the threshold.
+
+In the portico were a number of wooden tables lacquered with red varnish,
+on which were inscribed in large golden letters of the Chinese character
+the titles of honour of the family of Wuong, which on festive occasions
+were drawn in front of the head of the family as he sat on his sofa.
+
+After this ramble through the Chinese town, we returned to the "Strangers'
+Quarter," where we came upon a widely different mode of life. Here
+everything is arranged upon the European model, and the attention is only
+diverted by those minor accessories, in which the climatic conditions have
+necessitated some variation. The houses are universally lofty, roomy, and
+agreeable, usually surrounded by a garden, and many of them present an
+almost palace-like aspect. More even than to the merchants in Broadway is
+the designation of "merchant princes" applicable to the foreign merchants
+of China and the East Indies, for it is among them beyond any other class
+on the globe, that there prevails a luxury almost princely in its
+magnificence. In such a place as Shanghai, which can present to the
+educated foreigner such a meagre equivalent for his numerous intellectual
+privations, each man endeavours in the readiest possible way to render his
+material existence as comfortable and agreeable as he possibly can. This
+leading principle one sees illustrated and carried out in practice in the
+splendid designs of their residences, and the exquisite refinement and
+comfort of their internal arrangements, as well as in the scrupulous
+attention paid to the cellar and the "cuisine."
+
+On the ground-floors are the counting-house and stores, on the first floor
+the drawing-room, the dining-room, and the sleeping-apartments. All these
+various chambers are decorated with as much attention to comfort as good
+taste, and almost every single article bears on it the solid,
+unmistakeable impress of its English origin. Even into the most minute
+details all the genuine comfort of an English drawing-room is introduced,
+increased even, if that be possible, by the adoption of a few customs
+peculiar to the peoples of Asia, such as mats of fragrant materials placed
+before the doors and windows, Punkahs, which, kept in motion by Chinese
+servants, keep up a constant current of fresh air, while through the
+verandah, or the open glass casement, where the family sit swinging to and
+fro in an American rocking-chair, a delicious cool breeze blows in the
+mornings and evenings. A well-appointed numerous household is constantly
+hovering around, eagerly intent to anticipate the slightest wish of their
+employers. Probably in no part of the world are there more intelligent or
+punctual servants than the Chinese. They get through the utmost variety of
+work with consummate tact, method, and facility. Everything is done
+rapidly and noiselessly, and one is served with the utmost regularity,
+without being pestered with too much attention.
+
+The members of the _Novara_ Expedition experienced in Shanghai the most
+hearty hospitality. Even the presence of the various embassies, and the
+momentous nature of the operations of which the Gulf of Petcheli was the
+scene, proved no barrier to a most flattering reception being accorded to
+this the first maritime Expedition of a German power. Foreigners of the
+most widely divergent races and standing,--consuls, missionaries,
+merchants, naturalists, journalists,--each in his own way vied with the
+rest in ministering to our comfort, and in aiding us in the prosecution of
+our objects.
+
+One of the most distinguished of the physicians and missionaries of the
+London Missionary Society, Dr. B. Hobson, who since 1838 has resided at
+Canton in the honourable capacity of a "medical missionary,"[142] and who,
+a few months before our arrival, had, in consequence of the outbreak of
+hostilities, removed to Shanghai, was so kind as to furnish us, out of his
+own rich treasures of Chinese lore, with much valuable information, and
+acquainted us with the various objects aimed at by the praiseworthy
+activity of the London Board of Missions. This body by no means confines
+its operations to the diffusion of tracts and works relating to
+Christianity published in the Chinese language, but combines
+simultaneously with that sphere of action the excellent idea of
+ministering to the physical necessities of the poor and sick Chinese, and
+of helping them in their need. While able, eloquent Dr. Muirhead presides
+over the missionary schools, and the not less zealous Mr. Wylie
+superintends the printing of the books, our highly-educated friend Dr.
+Hobson takes charge of the hospital, the cost of which is defrayed partly
+by the Missionary Society, partly by the European community.
+
+The building itself is rather small and unpretending, and can at most
+accommodate only thirty patients. But it was erected chiefly for those
+cases which in England it is customary to classify in the general category
+of "accidents," injuries, that is, sustained unexpectedly, or in a riot,
+&c. &c. Every day between twelve and one o'clock a consultation is held,
+and treatment provided gratuitously. Hither flock hundreds of invalids, to
+avail themselves of this benevolent arrangement, and while Dr. Hobson is
+busy giving orders and dispensing drugs in his small apartment, a native
+convert in the waiting-room is preaching the Living Word to those who come
+for advice.
+
+We passed an entire hour in the dispensary, not merely for the purpose of
+witnessing the various descriptions of cases, mostly of a surgical nature,
+but also to catch many an instructive remark from the lips of Dr. Hobson.
+Thus he remarked, as the result of a medical practice of more than sixteen
+years, that the Chinese are uncommonly soon affected by the use of mercury
+and quinine. A very small dose of either of these drugs very speedily
+shows a marked effect. Oddly enough, quinine, as a tonic and febrifuge, is
+unknown in the Chinese pharmacop[oe]ia, and is almost exclusively
+prescribed for the cure of the opium-smoking form of mania.
+
+In China, a physician is treated with great distinction, and is usually
+designated as szí-yaý (the honourable teacher). Of late years cholera
+(tschan-kan-tschúi, literally "the contracting of the tendons") and
+small-pox had committed fearful ravages among the populace, and the
+appalling havoc committed by the latter-named disease gave occasion for
+the publication by the English missionaries of a short treatise translated
+into Chinese, on the importance of vaccination. Among children especially
+the mortality caused by this fell scourge was very great, and the
+instances of _leucoma_ and loss of sight resulting from the disease appear
+to have been very numerous.
+
+Dr. Hobson, who in 1851 had published a volume of Physiology in the Canton
+dialect, has also completed a handbook of Practical Surgery, with 400
+woodcuts, and, like the preceding, had had it printed by native workmen.
+Even the drawings were drawn on the wood and cut by native artists after
+English originals. Many of the scientific phrases contained in these works
+must have required to be entirely reconstructed, or else expressed by a
+circumlocution. Dr. Hobson intended to follow up these two splendid
+undertakings with a fresh work upon Pharmacology, as also a treatise upon
+the diseases of women and children, both, like their predecessors, to be
+in the Canton dialect, as that most universally used.
+
+The Chinese, however, possess themselves a pretty comprehensive medical
+literature, whence we may infer that from the earliest times they paid
+special attention to the science of medicine. According to a Chinese
+tradition, the Emperor Schi-nung, 3200 years before our era, collected a
+"Materia Medica," and 570 years later, the Emperor Hwang-té is said to
+have written a work with the title "Sonwán" (open questions in medicine).
+The celebrated work, "the Doctrine of the Pulse," by Wang-shu-fo, was
+written in the reign of Tsche-Hwang-té (the book-burner), about 510 B.C. A
+second edition of this work was published in the reign of Kang-he, in the
+year 1693 of our era. About A.D. 229 the Chinese physician Tschang-kae-pin
+wrote the first Chinese work which, in addition to the theory of medicine,
+also contained prescriptions. The great "_Materia Medica_" of China was
+compiled by Li-tschi-kan, and was published by his son during the reign of
+Wan-Leih, about A.D. 1600. The most important medical work in Chinese is
+the E-tsang-kin-ksen, or "the Golden Mirror of Medical Authors," collated
+by Imperial authority from the best works of earlier native authors,
+especially from the "Nan-king," and the writings of Dr. Tschang-kae-pin.
+This was published in 1743 (the seventh year of the reign of Keen-lung),
+and consists of thirty-two volumes 8vo, with upwards of 400 woodcuts.[143]
+
+The information furnished us by Dr. Hobson with reference to the terrible
+forms of leprosy in China are of so much interest, general as well as
+special, that we believe we shall not transcend the scope of this work, if
+we give in these pages the valuable data upon the subject in all their
+completeness.
+
+The Chinese consider leprosy as the most appalling of diseases, since,
+while resisting all means of cure itself, it attacks others, and they
+accordingly avoid in the greatest terror all those who are smitten with
+it. Like the people whom Moses brought out, the Chinese regard leprosy as
+a direct consequence of impiety, an expiation for sin committed. For this
+reason those afflicted with leprosy are rarely regarded with pity. No hand
+of sympathy is stretched forth to give aid, no heart feels itself impelled
+to alleviate their hopeless condition, and thus the most wretched of all
+are in the eyes of the masses simply objects of disgust and of horror.
+Leprosy is called Lae in Chinese. In the Imperial dictionary of Kang-he
+Lae, is described as a very evil kind of disease, which breaks out upon
+the skin in the form of blotches and pustules. Gutzlaff and others
+acquainted with Chinese make use however of the words Ma-fung to express
+leprosy, which is also used by native writers to indicate the disease.
+
+The Chinese physicians consider leprosy as a subtle, penetrating,
+poisonous effluvium which has infected the blood. They profess to
+recognize 36 different kinds of leprosy, among which they enumerate every
+form and variety of Lichen, Scabies, Psoriasis, and Syphilis. Common as
+the disease is in Southern China, it is unknown in the North; its area of
+manifestation seems to be confined within the tropics. It is, however,
+related of many Chinese in good circumstances, that when attacked by
+leprosy they have removed to Pekin, where after a two years' residence
+they have lost all trace of the infection, which, however, broke out anew
+immediately on their return to the South.
+
+Leprosy does not seem by its physical effects to shorten life. There are
+in China numbers of aged people attacked with this disease, and in the
+Lazar-house at Canton there is still living an old leper upwards of
+eighty, who has long found an asylum in that hospital as an incurable.
+Suicide is not uncommon among those thus sorely smitten, when they usually
+poison themselves with an over-dose of opium, hang themselves, or drown
+themselves, for death, they say, makes them once more clean. Although the
+Chinese believe in the hereditary transmission of leprosy, they
+nevertheless think that the disease becomes of a milder type in the third
+generation, and entirely disappears in the fourth. Marriages never take
+place with the offspring of leprous parents or grand-parents, but on the
+other hand the lepers and their children intermarry among themselves. A
+leper however of the fourth generation would only ally himself with a girl
+of the same degree of exemption. The children of such a union would be
+considered sound and free from leprosy, and would no longer be excluded in
+any way from social rights.
+
+But the Chinese believe leprosy not alone hereditary, but also infectious
+through the very slightest contact. Hence the father abandons his own
+child; the children flee from their parents: they will not eat and drink
+with them, will not sit in their company, will not use the chairs which
+have been sat upon by the leper, until at least the surrounding atmosphere
+has been fumigated with a torch. Even the law declares leprosy to be a
+contagious disease. A wealthy leper durst not venture to leave his own
+room, where he is excluded from all communication with the outer world,
+without exposing himself to the danger of being arrested by the police,
+and mulcted in a heavy fine, or else sent to what is called the Leper
+village near Canton, an abode of human woe and misery, which even the
+leprous regard with horror.[144]
+
+As the Chinese physicians regard leprosy as a taint of the blood, and in
+their treatment adopt Hahnemann's principle of _similia similibus
+curantur_, they prescribe by way of remedies the most repulsive and
+disgusting substances which they can select from their _Materia Medica_,
+such as the saliva of the toad, beetles, snakes, worms, scorpions,
+centipedes, &c. &c.
+
+Dr. Hobson considers leprosy, when once fully developed, to be incurable.
+Such remedies as arsenic, salts, acids, in short alteratives, occasionally
+prove efficacious at an early stage of the malady, as also Iodine baths,
+and mercurial friction. External remedies however are usually found to be
+unavailing in reaching the root of the disorder, its seat lying deeper
+than an ordinary affection of the skin.
+
+Of late years the seeds of the Tschaul or Tscharul Mugra (one of the order
+of _Flacourtiaceæ_), have been administered for leprosy by several English
+physicians in India, and certainly, in some instances, with such results
+that the most sanguine hopes were entertained of its efficacy in all cases
+of leprosy. Dr. Hobson informed us that Dr. Mouatt, of the Medical
+College, Calcutta, who was the first to discover the remarkable properties
+of this plant, sent him, when he was at Canton, a considerable quantity of
+these seeds for the purpose of experimenting with them.[145] They were
+ground into a coarse powder, and in that state administered twice a day
+at considerable intervals in doses of about 60 grains, the external sores
+being at the same time rubbed with the oil pressed out of the seeds. The
+cure must be persevered in without interruption for six months, and must
+be from time to time aided by saline purgatives. The first symptom of
+improvement shows itself in an abatement of the prominence and redness of
+the eruption, and the appearance of white scales all round it. This remedy
+has long been known to the Chinese, but those who are acquainted with the
+active curative principle contained in the seeds of the Tscharul Mugra,
+keep the secret to themselves in their own interest.[146] Dr. Hobson
+assured us that he had cured two cases of leprosy taken early, and in a
+very mild form, by the administration of these seeds, and had seen several
+greatly improved by their use; but this experienced physician is, like
+others, distrustful of the efficacy of the seeds of Tscharul Mugra in
+cases of fully developed leprosy, which, according to his view, is
+pre-eminently a taint of the blood,--a poison which can never again be
+eradicated from the system. In cases of scrofula, these seeds have been
+found serviceable.
+
+Like their brethren of the London Missionary Association, the various
+missions of the United States of North America display the most
+praiseworthy zeal and activity of co-operation upon every question.
+
+That eminent philanthropist, Dr. Bridgman, who had, for more than a
+quarter of a century, been an active and highly esteemed missionary, was
+in 1858 at the head of the American Episcopal Mission, and was one of the
+oldest, as also among the most highly respected, denizens of the little
+foreign settlement. This meritorious citizen died at Shanghai, on the 29th
+of November, 1861, after having spent upwards of thirty years in China in
+the promotion of the Christian faith and the advancement of knowledge,
+deeply lamented by foreigners, as well as by the Chinese, who always found
+him their true and confident friend. This gentleman had the kindness to
+assemble under his simple but kindly roof the various members of his
+mission, who are no less useful in increasing our acquaintance with the
+Chinese language and literature than in diffusing the blessings of the
+gospel, thus furnishing the members of the _Novara_ Expedition with an
+opportunity of personal intercourse with these gentlemen. We here became
+acquainted with Mr. Wells Williams, so highly esteemed and so widely known
+for his profound historical and philological works[147] respecting China,
+as also with Messrs. Syle, Aichison, Macy, Jones, and Blodgett,
+missionaries distinguished for their extensive acquirements in Chinese;
+and in the course of this agreeable and interesting intercourse were so
+fortunate as to obtain information respecting a variety of topics, many of
+them suggested by Dr. Pfitzmaier, and recommended by him to our
+investigation. On most of these topics accurate intelligence was in the
+course of our voyage transmitted to the Imperial Academy of Sciences; of
+the remainder elaborate and comprehensive particulars are reserved for the
+scientific publications of the Expedition.
+
+We may, however, more closely investigate here one topic of universal
+interest, namely, the latest researches respecting the very remarkable,
+little known, half-savage tribe, known as the Miáu-Tze.
+
+These extraordinary human beings are usually encountered in the provinces
+of Kwei-chan, Yun-nán, Szechuen, Húnán, Kwang-si, and the western part of
+Kwang-tung. The wild tribes of the island of Formosa belong, on the
+contrary, to an entirely different race. In the Imperial Dictionary of
+Kang-hi, the sign [Chinese character(s)], _miáu_ (a compound of the words
+"flower" and "meadow"), signifies "germinating seeds," "blades of grass
+springing from the seed-vessels." The sign [Chinese character(s)], _tsz_,
+on the other hand, is that usually employed to express son, or descendant.
+In accordance with this explanation, the Chinese also seem to consider the
+Miáu-tze as children of the soil, as aborigines, or indigenous inhabitants
+of the country. In their descriptions of this singular people they divide
+them into "Sang" and "Schuh." _Sang_, ordinarily used when speaking of
+fruit, signifies "green, unripe,"--_schuh_ again means "ripe," or, when
+speaking of food, the former signifies "raw," the latter "thoroughly
+cooked." By these means they discriminate them into the savage independent
+"green" Miáu-tze, and the subjugated more civilized "ripe" Miáu-tze. The
+subjection and civilization of these latter are however as yet very
+problematical. As in days long gone by, so up to the present hour, the
+Miáu-tze are restless and troublesome neighbours to the Chinese. Dr.
+Bridgman has lately translated into English the sketches made by a Chinese
+scholar upon the Miáu-tze, during his travels in the province of
+Kwei-chan, by which he has added greatly to our stock of information
+respecting those "children of the soil;" the work consists of two volumes
+in 8vo, containing about 82 sketches or delineations. Each of these fills
+one page, the handwriting being condensed or expanded according to the
+amount of the contents, while that opposite contains an illustration
+elucidatory of the text. This very rare work divides the Miáu-tze into 82
+tribes according to their customs, more or less savage, very few of whom
+possess any trace of a written language, recording the most important
+events simply by certain marks on a stick, or by what are called
+"tallies," and subsisting upon wild fruit, fish, and the flesh of wild
+animals. They usually go about barefooted, are very scantily clad, lead a
+life full of privation and hardship, and in all their troubles have
+recourse to the invocation of the evil spirits. Only very few of their
+race follow agriculture, or any branch of industry, or worship Buddha in
+their festivals.[148] Some of these however seem to be more or less
+crossed with Chinese blood, as, for example, the Tsche-Tsai-Miáu, in the
+district of Kutschan, whither the rebel Má-sán-pái formerly fled with 600
+of his followers, when his attempt, under his feudal leader, Mu-san-Kwei,
+to overthrow the reigning dynasty, failed of success. Many of these
+fugitives formed connections with the native women, and their descendants
+are now known by the name of the six hundred savage Miáu families.
+
+Adjoining Dr. Bridgman's residence, is a school maintained at the expense
+of the mission, in which twenty-four Chinese girls are during five years
+instructed in reading and writing their mother tongue, in arithmetic, and
+in the rudiments of Christianity, after which they are provided with a
+small portion and married to Chinese Christians of good character.
+Selected under the idea that very favourable results may be anticipated,
+if the various subjects in which the scholars are instructed are imparted
+to them in their native language, English is entirely omitted. Interesting
+and extraordinary, however, as it is to hear American ladies imparting
+instruction in the Chinese language, this method of teaching has many
+drawbacks, and the mission itself and society in general would derive far
+more advantage, if these poor females should be instructed in English,
+thus widening the horizon of their knowledge.
+
+In the boys' school, also supported by the mission, another method of
+teaching is in use. The children learn an epistle first in Chinese,
+afterwards in English, when they are called upon to translate the Chinese
+into English. Thus we heard one lad rehearse the Book of Ruth, first in
+Chinese, and then in English. He was then examined in English upon the
+meaning of certain passages, when he replied with great accuracy in the
+same language. Education in these schools is mainly intrusted to ladies.
+Two of these, Miss Jones and Miss Conover, displayed remarkable
+attainments in Chinese, besides their really marvellous store of
+information. None of the teachers are married, while none of the wives of
+the missionaries interfere with the school, but employ themselves in
+superintending the education of their own children. We found forty Chinese
+boys receiving their education at the expense of the mission, whose
+parents have to sign a written engagement that they will not withdraw
+their children from the institution for a period of ten years, in fact,
+till the completion of their education. This precaution is absolutely
+necessary, owing to the fickle nature of the Chinese, else it would be a
+by no means rare occurrence for the parents to insist on the child
+returning home, possibly just at the critical moment when the beneficent
+influence of Christian culture is beginning to spring up in the soul. On
+the whole, this mission has splendid results to show. We saw one scholar,
+who at present forms one of the staff of teachers, and speaks and writes
+English absolutely better than his native language. Another young Chinese,
+sent out at the expense of the mission, spent eight years at Yale College
+in Massachusetts, and at present earns his maintenance by translating
+English documents into Chinese and _vice versâ_, for the mercantile houses
+of the place.
+
+Dr. Bridgman is at once founder and president of the first scientific
+association in Shanghai, the "North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
+Society," including among its members almost all the foreigners resident
+in Shanghai, who assemble regularly every winter for intellectual and
+literary recreation, and publish from time to time in a periodical of
+their own, details of the efforts, adventures, and experiences of their
+colleagues in promoting the objects of the association.
+
+An extraordinary meeting was held in honour of the _Novara_ voyagers, at
+which about forty persons were present. The President, Dr. Bridgman,
+welcomed our commander and his subordinates with a few cordial remarks,
+which was responded to by Commodore Wüllerstorff, after which the writer
+of these lines had the honour to deliver in English a brief address,
+touching on the chief aims of the Expedition and its scientific objects,
+stating that its chief purpose was less the promotion of purely scientific
+knowledge, than by ample, long-continued practice to provide material of
+suitable quality for our youthful budding navy, to unfurl the standard of
+Austria in localities where it had never before been seen, to effect
+treaties of commerce with foreign nations, to knit the various capitals
+which we should visit in our cruise by the tie of science, to open
+correspondence with their various institutes, and to make collections,
+chiefly of those objects of natural history, the acquisition of which,
+owing to their great value or the difficulty of transport, is almost
+impossible to the single traveller. The hearty reception which had been
+accorded the Expedition in Shanghai rendered it doubly incumbent on us to
+explain the various purposes we had in view, and the original points of
+inquiry to which we were restricted by the track definitely assigned to
+us, as also to account for the shortness of our stay in each port, and the
+fact that our prescribed route led us sometimes to visit places either
+politically or nautically well known.
+
+After the close of this short lecture, several of those present rose to
+speak, amongst others the United States Plenipotentiary, Mr. Reed, who
+expressed his sincere pleasure at having been privileged during his stay
+in China to meet with the commander of an Austrian frigate engaged with
+his gallant companions in so grand a mission.
+
+Mr. Reed spoke in high terms of the scientific exertions being made by
+Germany, and recalled in animated terms the splendid services of A. von
+Humboldt, whom the news of the death of Washington (14th Dec. 1799) found
+already occupied in scientific research in the primeval forests of South
+America, and who still (August, 1858) continued to display such marvellous
+intellectual activity.
+
+Besides Mr. Reed, we also made the personal acquaintance of the French
+Plenipotentiary, Baron Gros; the ambassadors of England and Russia were
+already gone, the former to Japan, the latter to the Amur. We were
+introduced to Baron Gros at the house of M. de Montigny, the French
+Consul, who during a residence of many years in China has occupied himself
+not alone with upholding the prestige and influence of "_la grande
+nation_," but has also rendered conspicuous services to science and
+agriculture. To him is due the credit of having in 1847 dispatched to
+Europe the first seeds of what is called the Chinese sugar-cane (_Sorghum
+saccharatum_), and of having introduced to agriculturists that remarkable
+species of grass, with which, in consequence of its many useful qualities,
+hundreds of thousands of acres have since that period been planted in
+various parts of the globe. M. de Montigny distinguished the members of
+our Expedition in every way, and presented them with numerous specimens of
+seeds from Northern China.[149]
+
+The visit paid to Baron Gros by two of the naturalists left by no means an
+agreeable impression. The French ambassador is a tall, commanding,
+powerfully-built man, about fifty years of age, with a full, round,
+beardless face covered with freckles, and hair of a light colour. He
+seemed pleased to speak of himself and his connections, and repeatedly
+proclaimed himself an admirer of German men of science, who was in
+correspondence with M. von Humboldt. "You know," quoth the Baron,
+apparently desirous of explaining his meaning, "he that wrote the Kosmos."
+The two members of our Expedition coloured up; to pronounce the name of
+Humboldt to German men of science, and deem it necessary to state his
+literary claims, was sufficiently embarrassing. One of them endeavoured to
+turn the conversation to the gulf of Petchi-li, whence Baron Gros had just
+returned after the ratification of the treaty of peace. He showed them a
+hasty sketch of a portion of the great wall of China, to which he had paid
+a visit when in the gulf of Petchi-li, and had made the sketch on the
+spot. The natives with whom he came in contact during his stay in the
+North he described as destitute and poor to an extraordinary degree, but
+anything but hostile to foreigners. They asked for with eagerness and
+seized with avidity the entrails of animals which the sailors were about
+to throw away; on empty bottles being thrown overboard, they swam a
+considerable distance to rescue them. With respect to the political events
+in the Pei-ho and Tien-Tsin, his Excellency, whether out of diplomatic
+reserve or for other reasons we do not know, preserved profound
+silence.[150]
+
+A variety of circumstances, however, may have contributed to make the
+Baron less susceptible to every other thing than his everlasting "I."
+Baron Gros had in fact been subjected to the very great inconvenience of
+the Propellor _Audacieuse_, which had been brought from France, having
+suddenly become unseaworthy, so that he had to abandon her. She was making
+from 100 to 140 tons of water per diem, and there was nothing for it but
+to have the vessel taken with all speed to the docks at Whampoa for
+repairs, while the envoy had to return to Europe by another opportunity.
+Moreover, the Baron had been attacked by a disorder of common occurrence
+in hot countries, namely, a furuncle, which is exceedingly painful, and
+obstinately resists every remedy. Whoever is of a constitution liable to
+such attacks is never free from them till he gains a colder climate. In
+the case of the unfortunate Baron, these went on continually increasing,
+and on one of his compatriots being asked in society what was the cause of
+the absence of the French ambassador, replied with an arch look, "_le
+pauvre baron a quatre-vingt cloux_." In fact, the annoyance caused by this
+malady is redoubled by the little sympathy accorded to those afflicted
+with it, who are only rallied or laughed at.
+
+Another personage who, at the period of our stay in Shanghai, attained a
+rather unenviable notoriety by his strange conduct, and did but little to
+raise the reputation of France in these latitudes, was the Marquis de
+Chassiron. By his marriage with one of the Princesses Murat (since dead),
+he was allied to the Emperor of the French, whom he occasionally spoke of
+in an off-hand way as "mon neveu, l'Empereur." Meagre, wizen,
+spindle-shanked, and ringletted, in coloured check pantaloons, blue
+frock, open-work cravat of Gros de Naples, and dancing-master's pumps,
+resembling much more a second-rate Paris dandy than a diplomatist, it
+seemed as though he must have been dispatched to this out-of-the-way part
+of the world for quite other than a diplomatic object, although he took
+great pains to spread the report that he had been appointed the successor
+of Baron Gros in the Embassy.
+
+One day the Commodore and some members of the Expedition received an
+invitation from the kind and hospitable English Consul, Mr. Brook
+Robertson, to be present at a reception at the Consulate of the Táu-Tái,
+or highest Chinese official of the city.[151]
+
+We the more readily congratulated ourselves on this invitation, as, owing
+to the sudden departure of the Táu-Tái, we missed the opportunity of
+paying him a visit in his own palace in the city. Punctually at the
+appointed hour, 2 P.M., a formal procession was seen approaching the
+buildings of the English Consulate. In front were carried numerous titles
+and insignia, then the Táu-Tái in a large and handsome sedan-chair, and
+finally a noisy "following," in the shape of a rabble of servants. Mr.
+Robertson received the Táu-Tái at the threshold of his house, and greeted
+him with the customary Tschin-Tschin, moving the hands closely folded a
+few times over the breast.
+
+All present kept the head covered, making in like manner a few
+Tschin-tschins, and then accompanied the visitor to the reception-room, in
+which were five stools, the seat of honour being on the left. As soon as
+the Táu-Tái was seated, the rest took their seats, and a proposition was
+made in consequence of the truly tropical heat, contrary to Chinese
+notions of courtesy, to divest one's self of one's head-gear. The
+Mandarin, at all events, seemed as little loth to lay aside his
+funnel-shaped straw-cap, with its blue button and peacock's feather, as
+the Europeans present to doff their uniform caps.
+
+The presentation of the commander and the author of this narrative by Mr.
+Meadows, who acted as interpreter, gave the Táu-Tái an opportunity of
+inquiring of the English Consul whether our frigate had been at the gulf
+of Petcheli. Mr. Robertson replied that the _Novara_ was the first
+war-ship of a German power which had ever visited the Yang-tse-Kiang and
+Wusung rivers, and that the frigate was bound on a voyage of scientific
+discovery. This led to a running fire of questions and answers, during the
+course of which two attendants were engaged alternately in filling a small
+pipe with tobacco, which they handed to the Táu-Tái. The latter drew a few
+puffs, permitted the smoke to escape through his nostrils, after which
+his pipe was again replenished with a small supply of tobacco.
+
+We next had an example of the custom, already mentioned, of wiping the
+face with a hot damp towel, one of the attendants dipping a rather thick
+piece of linen cloth in a tub of hot water, which was then wrung out, when
+the cloth was presented to the Mandarin, who, without in any way
+interrupting the conversation, from time to time wiped the perspiration
+from his brow.
+
+The Táu-Tái had a well-made, handsome figure, pleasing, rather
+intelligent, features, a round, smooth, delicate face, without any trace
+of beard, eyes as usual drawn up at the outer corner, small elegant hands,
+and beautifully tapered fingers, with very long nails. His dress was very
+simple; he wore, for the sake of coolness, a shirt made of thin bamboo
+shoots, with a long, yellowish, loose surcoat, white drawers, and, instead
+of the usual Chinese shoe with its high cork soles, or white thick
+gaiters, he wore light shoes of European make. His head was covered with a
+cone-shaped straw-hat of very fine texture, with a red tassel and blue
+knot in the midst, and a dark green peacock's feather, extending
+horizontally backwards.
+
+Business over, a table was covered, and the Táu-Tái invited to partake.
+According to the Chinese custom, only confectionery, preserves, and fruit
+were handed round. The liquids consisted of sherry, liqueurs, Chinese wine
+or Samschoo (made from rice and imbibed from cups in lieu of glasses), and
+green and almond tea. The Mandarin drank to all present, and seemed to
+take more to sherry and Maraschino than to his own native drinks. The slim
+liqueur bottle, with its neat gilt label and the thick cork stopper,
+seemed especially to attract his attention.
+
+After a few commonplace observations, the Táu-Tái once more turned the
+conversation upon Austria, and remarked he had never before heard of that
+power. Mr. Meadows endeavoured to prompt the memory of the Chinese
+official, produced Muirhead's universal geography translated into Chinese,
+turned up therein the section relating to Austria, and handed the book to
+the Táu-Tái, who had the entire passage read to him by one of his
+attendants, that he might "get up" the country from which the strangers
+had come who were seated on his left and right hands.
+
+The inquisitiveness of every Chinese now displayed itself in a series of
+inquiries as to the principal products and articles of export of the
+Empire, and he expressed a hope he should ere long see more of the
+"Austrian Mandarins" in Shanghai. The _Novara_ travellers on their side
+with a patriotic pride, readily pardonable under the circumstances,
+endeavoured through the medium of the Government interpreter to leave the
+best possible impression of their native country upon the mind of the
+Táu-Tái, by giving a glowing description of the Austrian Empire, its
+natural advantages, and its people. Of numbers the worthy man seemed to
+have no definite idea, for the remark that the Empire contained (1st
+August, 1858) very nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants seemed greatly to
+astonish him, although this is probably barely one-tenth of the population
+of the Chinese Empire.[152]
+
+Just as the Táu-Tái was preparing to set out on his return, a tremendous
+tumult was suddenly heard in the street. It seemed like a popular
+insurrection, and servants were forthwith sent out to ascertain the cause
+of this unexpected shindy, who came back presently with the intelligence
+that an English sailor had struck a coolie of the suite a blow on the face
+with his fist, so violent that he was seriously injured, and was bleeding
+profusely. The Táu-Tái made his appearance on the portico. As soon as the
+injured man saw his master approaching, he flung himself before him
+imploring aid, and exhibiting his face streaming with blood, and the wound
+gaping open. The Táu-Tái ordered the man to rise, and delivered him to the
+Chinese police. Occasionally when a Chinese receives a wound in a quarrel
+of this nature he will abstain from wiping off the blood-stains from his
+face for weeks together, finding, it should seem, some satisfaction in
+being able to exhibit them. This done, the procession resumed its march.
+In front strode a man who from time to time administered a sounding thwack
+to the gong, after which he rushed through the streets bawling like a
+Stentor, that the people might crowd on one side and leave the Táu-Tái
+space to pass unobstructed. The rear was brought up with police,
+catch-poles with long bamboo poles, and the executioner with his axe--the
+never-failing attendant on such occasions,--who accompanies it, however,
+only as a sort of allegorical personage, to impress upon the yelling
+crowds around the consequences of disobedience, and of rebellion against
+constituted authority.
+
+The only important excursion we made from Shanghai was to the Jesuit
+Mission of Sikkawéi, twelve miles distant. Our excellent host, Mr. James
+Hogg, of the well-known firm of Lindsay and Co.,[153] and Consul for the
+Hanse towns, to whose great kindness we are deeply indebted, was so kind
+as to order his pretty little yacht _Flirt_ to be got ready for our
+accommodation, and we set off, accompanied by the heroic Mr. Gray, of the
+American house of Russell and Co., who lost one foot while fighting
+against the Tai-ping rebels before the very gates of Shanghai. As the
+Europeans are in the habit of using these pleasure-boats as residences
+during their visit to the interior, so as not to be dependent upon the
+somewhat uncertain hospitality of the Chinese, they are provided with
+every accessory to comfort, being fitted with a neat cabin, a small
+library, boudoir, berth-cabin, &c. They usually carry an immense spread of
+canvas, and during calms are propelled like the native boats with one big
+oar from the stern, which serves at the same time as a rudder. The sail up
+the Wusung, in which upwards of a hundred sail of merchantmen, and above a
+thousand junks, were lying at anchor, was very interesting. Many of the
+junks lying off the Catholic cathedral of Tonka-dú displayed a flag with a
+white cross on a black ground, in token of the religious faith of the
+crew. Here also we saw for the first time some Siamese ships, built in
+Siam, for the most part on European models. Of these we counted eleven. By
+way of ensign, they had an elephant rather nicely drawn, sometimes on a
+red, sometimes on a blue field, according to the fancy or the taste of the
+owner. These vessels have Siamese crews and English captains, and are
+armed with ten or twelve cannon, so that his Siamese Majesty can at a
+moment's notice use his little fleet of merchantmen for warlike purposes.
+
+The channel, 200 or 300 fathoms wide, which unites the Wusung with the
+internal network of small rivers, is called the Wuang-Po, a designation
+which some authorities assume to be the name of its constructor, while
+others maintain that it is derived from _wong_, yellow, and applies to the
+colour of the water, just as Whampoa, near Canton, signifies the yellow
+anchorage. Nothing has so much contributed to that immense activity of
+commerce, which we marvel at among the Chinese, as their vast canal
+system, the introduction of which was pursued with such energy in the 7th
+century.[154] The innumerable artificial canals, with which the whole
+north of China is intersected, and which by their admirably planned system
+of arrangement unite all the lakes and navigable rivers of the Empire with
+each other, make it possible to voyage through every province of the
+Empire without having once to leave the boat. They atone for the great
+want of good roads, and even make the absence of railroads less
+perceptible in a country where the value of labour is so unprecedentedly
+low.
+
+As soon as we leave Shanghai behind, with its immense commercial fleet,
+the scenery beyond becomes tame. The banks on either side are low, and far
+as the eye can reach not a single hill is to be seen, not even a rising
+slope--nothing but a flat alluvial soil, every inch of which seems
+diligently tilled, or otherwise made useful.
+
+After we had sailed several miles in the _Flirt_ we came to a branch of
+the great canal, where we shifted into a smaller but not less elegant
+boat, the property of Mr. Gray, which drew less water, and in which we
+were to reach the Jesuit mission. At this season, however, owing to the
+lowness of the water, navigation was only continued with great difficulty,
+and notwithstanding the astonishing dexterity with which our worthy Lau-tú
+(the old chief) conned our craft through the sharp bends of the river, we
+were at last compelled to halt, and perform the rest of the distance,
+about two miles, on foot.
+
+We now found ourselves strolling through fields planted with rice and
+cotton, through cabbage and vegetable gardens, occasionally even over
+graves, which rose in mounds here and there along our path. Sometimes in
+the distance we could descry small villages and solitary farm-houses.
+
+In Sikkawéi we found about twenty Jesuits, French and Italians, all of
+genuine Chinese appearance, with heads half-shaved, long queues stretching
+to the ground, loose yellow clothes, and velvet shoes with thick cork
+soles. This had a striking, almost theatrical effect. We were ushered into
+the reception-room, and there offered refreshment. The conversation soon
+became brisk, which added to the singularity of the scene, as the seeming
+Chinese, sitting in a circle round the table, and smoking perfumed tobacco
+out of small long-stemmed pipes, began, in fluent French or liquid
+Italian, to discuss Paris, Naples, Vienna, or politics and art.
+
+This Mission is supported by the Propaganda of Rome, as also by voluntary
+contributions. About 80 pupils, chiefly children of poor parents, are
+instructed in the Chinese language and literature, in reading, writing,
+arithmetic, and drawing, and in the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith; on
+the other hand, little anxiety is manifested for their instruction in
+French or English, or in providing them with any practical mechanical
+instruction. In this mode of education the main object seems to be to
+enable the students more readily to reach the highest offices in the state
+by imparting to them a thorough grounding in Chinese literature, and by
+these means to ensure for them religious influence and protection.
+Accordingly, strenuous efforts are made to increase the number of
+scholars, and in order to facilitate this aim, as in the case of the
+Indians of Central and Southern America, their observance of various
+heathen rites is connived at, as, for example, the worship of their
+ancestors, the ceremonies at the death of a relation, &c. &c.
+
+One branch of art, in which some of the scholars have, owing to their
+having naturally a turn for it, attained considerable proficiency, is
+wood-engraving. In the church attached to the Mission are shown a number
+of altar-ornaments, chiefly figures very beautifully carved in wood, the
+work of a Jesuit of Spanish extraction, whose talent and enthusiasm seem
+to have laid the foundation of this school of image-carvers. In what is
+called the model-room are numbers of figures and busts designed by the
+practised hand of the brother alluded to. Here too are some heads of the
+Saviour, very beautifully executed in clay by the Chinese scholars, as
+also Madonnas, busts of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Emperor
+Napoleon III. These are doubly extraordinary, when we remember the slight
+instruction and very scanty assistance bestowed on them while in course of
+execution; their actual value however is small, for at present, as none of
+the Jesuits in the Mission have any very decided taste for the art,
+instruction in it has almost entirely ceased.
+
+The achievements of the present members of the Society of Jesus, in China,
+suffer greatly, measured by the standard of what was accomplished by their
+renowned brethren in previous centuries; one looks in vain for the high
+attainments, the self-sacrificing zeal, the practical talents of other
+times, and Sikkawéi, with its present spiritual occupants, cannot leave a
+very pleasing impression on any unprejudiced Catholic. There is an utter
+lack of all those qualities which once formed the renown and the title to
+admiration of the Jesuits in China. One looks for, but fails to find, a
+library corresponding to the dignity of the Mission, or mathematical or
+medical instruments, or a chemical laboratory: in lieu of these there seem
+to prevail a deficiency of Christian toleration for these unmistakeable
+adjuncts of true education and enlightenment. At all events, we judged as
+much from a remark made by the brother who accompanied us round the
+building, who spoke some words in Chinese to the gaping crowd of
+long-tailed scholars, who kept pressing upon us, and then turning to us,
+observed in French,--"I have informed our pupils that our present guests
+are Roman Catholics, and therefore _true_ Christians, because we
+occasionally have English visitors at the Mission, and they are heretics."
+Apparently the intolerant padre was reckoning without his host, for there
+were several Protestants among the party!
+
+Throughout the province of Kaing-su there are at present 80,000 Chinese
+Catholics, that is to say, who profess Catholicism, though having but a
+very superficial idea of its spirit and its reality.
+
+In returning to our boat we availed ourselves of the mode of conveyance in
+most common use in China, the sedan-chair, or couch. The ordinary
+sedan-chair differs little in exterior form and interior arrangement from
+those still occasionally used in some of the out-of-the-way, old-fashioned
+towns, both of Germany and England. Owing to the extreme cheapness of
+labour, the least well-to-do classes of Chinese are able to avail
+themselves of these convenient conveyances, the use of which is doubly
+agreeable in such a hot climate. Indeed, long journeys are very frequently
+made by this mode of transport. As a rule, the sedan-bearers get over from
+twenty to twenty-five miles per diem, charging for that distance one
+dollar, in addition to their food, consisting of tea, rice, vegetables,
+and cakes. Baggage and merchandise of all sorts are conveyed by coolies,
+each carrying with ease 110 _catties_, equal to 146 lbs. With such a
+burthen he will trudge over lofty mountain passes, and without much effort
+will cover thirteen miles a day. If special dispatch is required, the
+burthen must be reduced one-half, when the coolie, keeping at the trot,
+will get over double the distance in one day; what is gained in speed
+being lost in power.
+
+On our return to Shanghai, we visited the celebrated six-storied Pagoda,
+Long-Sáh, which is traditionally said to have been erected about A.D. 250,
+during the period of the Three Empires. Of all the Pagodas hitherto known,
+not even excepting the well-known specimen at Canton, it is the best
+preserved, and forms one massive, wide quadrangular tower, about 150 feet
+high, arranged in six stories, one of which has running around it a richly
+carved balcony. The pyramidal roof has turned-up angles, to which are
+suspended bells, which when agitated by the wind give forth their music.
+From the highest story, to which access is obtained by a stone staircase,
+there is a rather agreeable, pretty extensive view over the country, and
+its cultivated surface, stretching away till, at 200 miles from Shanghai,
+to the north and north-west, rises a range of mountains, of which of
+course not a glimpse is to be seen hence, the prospect in this direction
+having no defined limit. This panoramic view gives an excellent idea of
+the characteristics of a Chinese landscape, the various methods of
+cultivation, the situation of the valleys, and, above all, the ceaseless
+tide of traffic, as evidenced by the almost innumerable artificial
+water-channels which intersect the country in every direction. Quite close
+to the Pagoda is a Buddha temple, the well-known Lûng-hwó, erected A.D.
+230. Of the seventy Buddhist and Taouist temples of the province this is
+the largest and most beautiful. The rear of the edifice is adorned with
+countless figures, sometimes of colossal dimensions, in wood, plaster, and
+porcelain, richly carved and gilt. There is also a female statue among
+these Chinese saints, the attitude strongly suggestive of a Madonna.
+
+This temple is plainly in connection with the Pagoda, and the various
+small chambers behind it seem to have been destined for the accommodation
+of priests and devout pilgrims. According to an old Chinese tradition this
+temple owes its erection to the following circumstance:--a queen from the
+south, who had anchored her boat one night in the Whampoa Channel near
+Wusung, suddenly beheld a light shoot up amid the tall grass, and rise
+towards heaven, in consequence of which she gave orders for a temple to be
+built on the site.
+
+One of the most interesting episodes of our stay at Shanghai consisted in
+a genuine Chinese banquet, given by a wealthy native merchant, named
+Ta-ki, a warm friend of all foreigners, in honour of the Austrian
+Expedition. The huge invitation cards, written, according to the usual
+practice of the country, in Chinese characters upon blood-red paper, and
+folded in envelopes of the same brilliant hue, were sent round to the
+residences of the guests some days beforehand.
+
+At 8 P.M. the feast began. Ta-ki's house, like those of all the wealthy
+Chinese, is surrounded by a massive wall, six or seven feet in height, and
+painted white. After passing through a narrow gateway, the visitor finds
+himself at once in the usual apartments. These were adorned for the
+occasion with large coloured lanterns, which despite their numbers shed a
+mild and most agreeable light.[155] Along the walls, which were richly
+gilt, hung quantities of sententious native maxims, written with Indian
+ink, sometimes in Chinese characters, sometimes in Tartar, on white or
+yellow rolls of paper. The greatest attention appeared to have been paid
+to the preparation of the reception-room, whose form was a rather narrow
+oblong, in which at the far end was erected a platform, where a strolling
+company acted Chinese theatricals. The musicians sat on the stage. The
+company belonged to one of those innumerable wandering troops which are
+engaged for a day or two now by the community, now by wealthy Mandarins,
+to give some theatrical representations, which it seems must in China
+form the accompaniment of every important event, whether joyous or
+sorrowful.
+
+At those performances which are given in public, the multitude is admitted
+gratis, and of this privilege they avail themselves to the utmost. Each
+man selects the best seat for himself, on the street, in a tree, or on a
+roof. Mandarins, however, and rich private individuals have their own
+little stage scenes in the interior of their usually spacious mansions, in
+which from time to time they have theatrical representations for the
+amusement of a small circle of friends. Some Mandarins even go the length
+of having their own players, who receive regular annual pay, and form part
+of the household.
+
+Notwithstanding the very extensive collections of Chinese plays, with
+several of which the learned classes of Europe have been made acquainted
+by the valuable labours of Julien, Bazin, Remusat, and others, there are
+but a very few of true literary value. The plot of most of them is
+exceedingly simple, the actors themselves specify the characters they are
+to play; between each scene there is usually a lack of connection, and
+frequently the most telling scenes and situations are marred by the most
+arrant trash, or the coarsest jests. Only a very small number of these
+rise above the level of the buffoonery of former ages, and judging by the
+accounts given by travellers, who have been present at such entertainments
+in even the large cities, including Pekin itself, the dramatic art would
+as yet seem to be in its infancy in China.[156] The company which was
+assembled in the hospitable mansion of Ta-ki, to do honour to the members
+of the _Novara_ Expedition, was not calculated to impress them favourably
+with the scope of the Chinese drama. The piece appointed consisted of
+events in the ancient history of China, for which Chinese dramatic poets
+have a special predilection, owing to the abundance of material from which
+to choose, although the multitude seem to have but little sympathy with
+it. Even our host, who spoke the Canton-English, as it is called, could
+give us but little explanation or enlightenment as to the plot, and
+contented himself with repeatedly remarking that the piece related to
+"old, old times!"
+
+Notwithstanding the universal custom, according to which women are not
+permitted to enter a theatre, so that even the female characters have to
+be played by men dressed to represent the part, the majority of the
+present troupe were girls of from 14 to 20 years of age, who, stained red
+or white, and elegantly arrayed, appeared mostly in Mandarin dresses on
+the stage. The most outrageously absurd of the scenes were those most in
+favour with the numerous domestics who, besides the invited guests, formed
+the audience. Thus, there was a roar of laughter when a nurse entered with
+a child in her arms, which had the face of an old soldier, with grey
+beard, whiskers, and moustachios. They sang a long, rather melancholious
+ditty, and then retired, without there appearing to be the slightest
+connection between this and the following scene. We noted the evident
+predilection of the Chinese actors for a high-pitched falsetto tone of
+voice when speaking, which, by the way, must render their assumption of
+female parts much more easy, and on the present occasion they probably
+were desirous of giving us a specimen of their skill in this
+accomplishment. The music on such occasions is, if possible, even more
+discordant and monotonous than the delivery, and is not confined to merely
+accompanying the couplets, but continues to play during the intervals till
+the ear is utterly wearied.
+
+At the close of each act a large board covered with a red cloth was
+brought on the stage and placed beneath the feet of the actors; on this
+the steward of the house placed a present for the troupe about four
+dollars' worth of copper _cash_, which was forthwith carried away. This
+was apparently the only intimation to most of the spectators that a piece
+was ended, and a fresh one about to begin.
+
+After these theatrical representations had lasted about an hour and a half
+a long pause ensued. One longed to escape outside into the fresh air, to
+get rid of the wearying sensation of the performances, and the stifling
+heat which prevailed in the room. The guests were at liberty to walk
+without obstruction through the various apartments of the extensive
+residence, and accordingly stumbled upon rooms which are usually, as it
+were, hermetically sealed to a foreigner, viz. the apartments of the
+women. Ta-ki carried his hospitality even this length, and presented us to
+his wives, as also to his grey-haired mother, seventy years old, for whom
+he showed the utmost love and respect. Ta-ki's wives, four or five in
+number, had "assisted" at the theatrical performances, each seated on
+elevated seats expressly prepared for them, and behaved with the greatest
+courtesy and ease of manner. They seemed not to have the slightest thought
+of showing off, or of tittering or joking with the strangers. All were
+attired in silk, and most tastefully decorated with jewels; all had the
+usual painfully distorted small feet, which greatly interfered with their
+powers of locomotion. They did not attend at the banquet, but had their
+food served in the private apartments.
+
+For supper the quondam theatre was converted into a banqueting-hall. But
+there was no long wide table set out as in Europe, only small
+four-cornered tables covered with red cloth, at each of which three
+Europeans and one Chinese took their seats; the duty of the latter being
+to do the honours to his companions in the name of the host, who took his
+seat beside the Commodore, and to minister to their comfort.
+
+As it was the object to give us the most accurate idea possible of a
+genuine Chinese repast, everything was eliminated which could in any way
+interfere with the design, and we had accordingly to begin with dessert
+and conclude with the soup, as also to convey the various descriptions of
+food to our mouths with thin strips of ivory ("chop-sticks"), instead of
+knives and forks.
+
+The peculiarity of Chinese usages, so directly opposed to those of Europe,
+became likewise strikingly apparent in the course of the meal. And as in
+China the mark of courtesy is to keep the head covered instead of removing
+the hat, so the place of honour is on the left hand; the ancestors are
+ennobled instead of the descendants (which is at once more sensible and
+more economical); the characters in writing run from right to left instead
+of the reverse; the mourning colour is white instead of black; the natives
+carefully extirpate every sign of a beard, instead of cherishing it as a
+symbol of mature, dignified manhood; thus also meals begin with the food
+with which we terminate ours, confectionery and fruit. When we were all
+seated, each table was forthwith covered with a profusion of the most
+varied dishes on beautiful plates of stained porcelain, and while we were
+still engaged in attempting to discover the mysterious ingredients of
+these, the Chinese who was doing the honours at our table was exerting
+himself to select and lay before us the most dainty morsels of each dish.
+In performing this part of his functions he thought only to act with more
+care and attention, in drawing each of the twain chop-sticks between his
+own lips and withdrawing them before he fished up a fresh piece and laid
+it on our plate! The dexterity with which all Chinese use these
+chop-sticks, which are usually made of ivory, ebony, or bamboo, borders
+on the marvellous. In their hands, held between their fingers, they become
+like a pair of pincers, with which they can pick up the smallest objects,
+and can eat rice-grains, beans, or peas as easily as they can separate the
+flakes of a fish from its skin, or remove the shell of a hard-boiled egg.
+
+As to the ingredients of the dishes presented, we must frankly avow that
+by far the greater number were utterly unknown to us, for the Chinese
+cuisine, oddly enough, sets great store on making the materials
+unrecognizable, and altering their natural flavour by various recipes and
+culinary mysteries. According to the inquiries which we made of our
+carver, our host seemed so anxious to fulfil to the letter his promise to
+give us a real Chinese repast, that he had resolved on not sparing us a
+single one of the rarer dainties of Chinese epicures. Thus we not only had
+swallows' nests, lapwings' eggs, and steamed frogs, but also roasted
+silk-worms, shark-fins, stag and buffalo tendons, biche-de-mar, bamboo
+roots, sea-weed, half-fledged chickens, and various other natural
+delicacies. The table was supplied at least three times with fresh
+delicacies, and we believe we do not exaggerate when we estimate the
+number of different dishes at not less than half a hundred. Meat of all
+sorts was at a discount, and was served up in small morsels ready
+carved;[157] on the other hand, rice and vegetables were presented in
+every imaginable form. During the meal one young girl, who had played a
+part in the dramas, was incessantly occupied with filling for each guest a
+very small cup with a warm beverage distilled from millet, thus carrying
+out the code of Chinese civility, that the cup should never be suffered to
+be empty, and therefore, that however little has once been drunk it must
+forthwith be replenished. Of the juice of the grape the Chinese make no
+use, although there are many districts in the country which are eminently
+adapted to the growth of the vine. All the native drinks consist of
+nothing but poor-flavoured, highly-perfumed drinks, chiefly distilled from
+millet and rice, and known by the general name of Samshoo, although this
+name is solely applicable to that obtained from rice, which somewhat
+resembles arrack. After the meal is over there are no spirits presented,
+but only tea, usually the common green tea, or else a tea prepared from
+almonds. The Chinese are, on the whole, a very temperate people, and even
+their passion for smoking opium is rather a vice among the masses of the
+coast provinces and the large towns, than of the interior of the kingdom.
+During the banquet, as well as after it, there were further theatrical
+exhibitions, but the guests, who had been sufficiently wearied with the
+first of these, preferred to retire quietly to their own residences, and,
+seated in a rocking-chair on the delicious verandah, to recall all the
+peculiarities of the entertainment at which they had been present.
+
+The rites of hospitality to strangers were not, however, limited in
+fulfilment to Ta-ki, since the various consuls settled at Shanghai, as
+well as several of the English, American, and German merchants, invited
+the members of the Expedition to dinner-parties given in their honour,
+each vying with the rest in refined courtesy. An especially pleasant
+memory attaches to one indication of this feeling, the spontaneous
+offering of a number of Germans to our commander and his associates. We
+were sitting in the house of Mr. James Hogg, the Hanseatic Consul, when
+from the garden there suddenly arose a serenade of men's voices, singing
+German melodies. Surprised and deeply affected, the entire company rose
+from table and strolled into the garden, but the serenaders were concealed
+behind a group of trees, and as they withdrew, singing, the last cadence
+of a thrilling patriotic song was heard melting in the distance!
+
+The Germans already constitute a by no means inconsiderable portion of the
+foreign community of China, and it is painful to observe what slender
+encouragement and support their energy and industry have as yet met with
+from the various governments of Germany. The number of Bremen ships which
+visited the harbour of Shanghai has of late years equalled that of the
+United States, and would be very greatly increased if the German
+mercantile community and the home-shippers to the Chinese market could
+depend upon protection such as the English and French can rely upon. The
+German States, such, for instance, as the Hanseatic Towns, Prussia,
+Oldenburg, have indeed unsalaried Consuls here, but the shrewd, material
+Chinese people require something more than an empty intercession--they
+require to be convinced by an unmistakeable physical ability to back these
+representatives. Many a crying injustice, which the helpless German
+merchants and ship captains have to put up with without hope of redress in
+the various ports of China, would not and dare not occur if but a single
+German ship-of-war were stationed in Chinese waters. What the effect is,
+under similar circumstances, of even one single small boat was well
+illustrated by Mr. Alcock, formerly the English Consul at Shanghai,[158]
+who with a small English brig blocked the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, and
+did not suffer one single "junk" of the many hundreds stationed in the
+river to put to sea under threat of firing into them until the Chinese
+Government had paid attention to his demands, and surrendered for trial by
+an English tribunal the murderers of an English missionary. The bare
+menace of closing the river sufficed to secure the Consul in his rights,
+and he speedily saw his various demands complied with. Only a month or two
+later a Bremen captain sustained such severe losses through the wilful act
+of the Chinese Government that he had to sell his ship, the energetic
+protest of his Consul to the native authorities meeting no other
+attention than an insulting chuckle over the powerlessness of the German
+empire.
+
+In consequence of the Treaty of Pekin securing to Europeans the
+unobstructed navigation of all canals and rivers throughout the Celestial
+Empire, the trade with China is becoming so rapidly developed, that some
+remedy of this sort is imperatively needed,--if German commerce and
+industry would avoid receiving a serious check, if she would not be
+supplanted by other and more fortunate nations, in the endeavour to avail
+herself of the great alteration for the better in the facilities for trade
+in China.
+
+The activity and energy of the English in opening up new outlets for their
+native manufactures were here astonishingly visible. Hardly are the
+ratifications of peace exchanged, opening the most important rivers and
+harbours of the Empire to free commerce with the subjects of England, ere
+the country has been surveyed and explored in every direction. A number of
+English merchants ascended the Yang-tse-kiang as far as Hang-kow[159]
+(mouth of trade), a city containing several millions of inhabitants,
+which, in consequence of its extraordinarily advantageous site, has
+already been described by Huc as the chief emporium of the 18 Provinces,
+and whence all the foreign trade radiates into the interior. Others
+undertook a land journey from Canton to Hang-kow; a third company ascended
+the Pei-ho and visited Tien-Tsin, while yet a fourth were contemplating
+the formidable undertaking of boating it up the Yang-tse-kiang from
+Shanghai to Hang-kow, whence they thought of penetrating viâ Thibet into
+British India.[160] Already information has been obtained from a variety
+of these excursions, which were undertaken specially in the interests of
+commerce, such as justify the most glowing expectations as to the trade
+with the Yang-tse-kiang and the Pei-ho.[161] Hang-kow promises to be a
+most important depôt for the exportation of tea, while Tien-Tsin promises
+to be not less important as an entrepôt for the importation of
+manufactures of every description. By the opening of these two additional
+harbours, Shanghai and Canton will fall off in their ratio of increase
+hitherto, but general commerce will on the whole receive a new impulse.
+
+To the merchant and shipper, the latest intelligence from China as to the
+enormous development of commerce and trade at numerous spots of the
+Central Empire, hitherto undisturbed by European civilization, must be
+positively astounding. It is a rich mine of the most valuable material,
+which the _China Overland Trade Report_ and the _North China Herald_
+presents to its readers, rendered doubly valuable through the influence
+of that Freedom of Speech, which makes every mercantile nation participate
+in the very latest information as to these experiments and their results.
+For, so far as concerns our present direct intercourse with China, a time
+must come, when more accurate notions will penetrate into even Austrian
+commercial circles as to the wants of a population, and the natural wealth
+of an empire, which embraces a superficial area of 3,000,000 square miles,
+with a population of 400,000,000 souls, and whose entire foreign commerce
+already amounts to £36,000,000, apart from the impulse which recent events
+must lend it.
+
+Notwithstanding the immense variety of natural products of the Chinese
+Empire, the chief articles of export hitherto have been tea and silk, and
+we shall therefore confine our attention to a few important particulars as
+to those two articles.
+
+The introduction of silk cultivation into China, one of the most ancient
+industrial pursuits of the Empire, is due, if we are to believe a native
+legend, to the consort of the Emperor Hwang-té, who reigned B.C. 2640. The
+first mention of the mulberry tree and of silk occurs in the
+Schoo-kiu,[162] "the Book of exalted solid learning--the Book of Books,"
+as it were, a collection of the most ancient historical annals of the
+Chinese Empire, which was compiled B.C. 484, by Confucius, from the
+memoranda of former writers of history, as well as from the information
+furnished by ancient monuments. Even empresses in those halcyon times did
+not deem it beneath their dignity to collect mulberry-leaves and feed the
+silk-worms, while various treatises were composed by imperial pens,
+respecting the cultivation of that most useful plant. The interest taken
+in silk-rearing by these the highest personages in the Empire, has
+remained unbroken to our own day, and quite recently a Chinese governor
+enriched the already copious literature upon this subject with a
+comprehensive work, written with the laudable object of stimulating the
+inhabitants of the silk-producing districts to a more extensive and
+improved system of silk cultivating.
+
+The two best species of mulberry, those which are best adapted for the
+consumption of the worm, are: "Loo" (_Morus alba_), with long leaves,
+little fruit, and firm roots, which flourishes chiefly in North China, and
+"King" (_Morus nigra_), with narrow leaves, more abundant fruit, and
+altogether a hardier plant, which grows chiefly in the South.
+
+According to old Chinese notions, there are eight different species of
+silk-worm, which spin their cocoons at various periods[163] of the year
+between April and November.
+
+The chief silk districts lie in the northern part of the province of
+Tsche-Kiang, and the principal silk marts are the following cities:
+Hoo-chow-foo, Hang-chow-foo, Keahing-fu, Nantsin, and Shoo-hing, which lie
+in a sort of semi-circle about 150 miles from Shanghai.
+
+The silk is not grown in China by wealthy landed proprietors, and "thrown"
+in huge establishments, but by millions of husbandmen, each of whom calls
+but a small patch of land his own, and plants it with mulberry trees,
+thus, like the bee, contributing his own share towards increasing the
+universal stock. During the season specially devoted to the silk-worm, old
+and young, lofty and lowly, throughout the silk districts, are busily and
+earnestly engaged night and day in tending the worms and winding off the
+silk. When the crop is being gathered in, the chief merchants send their
+agents to all parts of the chief silk districts, in order to collect and
+buy up these small quantities (varying greatly in value, as may be readily
+imagined), and depositing them in regularly assigned warehouses, where
+they can be sorted according to quality. This done, the silk is packed in
+bales of 80 _catties_, or about 106 lbs. weight, and conveyed to Shanghai
+for sale, where it is once more subjected in each mercantile house to the
+examination of the special "silk Inspectors," or "Testers," after passing
+through whose hands, it is sorted according to quality for shipment to
+Europe.
+
+Three distinct qualities of raw silk are known in commerce, viz. Tsatli
+[Chinese character(s)], Taysam [Chinese character(s)] (the big worm), and
+Yuen-whá, or Yuen-fa [Chinese character(s)] (the flower of the garden).
+These three leading descriptions are again subdivided into a great number
+of sorts, which are usually known by the name of the trader, or his "hong"
+(business).
+
+The annual production of silk in China is estimated to amount to from
+200,000 to 250,000 bales, or from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 pounds' weight.
+This, however, is a very superficial estimate; that silk cultivation,
+however, must be enormously developed in China is obvious, not alone from
+the immense home consumption of the article, but also from the
+circumstance that, notwithstanding the immense increase in exports during
+the last ten years, the price of silk has not merely remained stationary,
+but is on an average absolutely less than at a period when barely
+one-fourth of the quantity now exported found its way to England and
+France. The price of silk is usually reckoned in Taels,[164] on the
+estimate of a bale averaging 100 lbs. English. Between Shanghai and London
+the bale loses on the average three per cent. in weight. There is also
+usually an allowance made of 15 per cent. for cost of transport and
+incidental charges from Shanghai to any English port.
+
+On the average only one-fourth of the entire quantity of silk produced in
+China, or about 6,000,000 lbs., is exported annually, of which by far the
+largest quantity, perhaps as much as nine-tenths, goes to England and
+France. In 1843-44, the total export from all China was only 5100 bales.
+In 1859, the export of raw silk from Shanghai alone was 75,652 bales!
+
+Besides the raw silk there are annually exported from China a large
+quantity of silk-stuffs manufactured in China, crape shawls, &c. &c., to
+the value of from £400,000 to £500,000, the majority of which find a
+market in the United States.
+
+The social condition of the Chinese silk-spinner is not less deplorable
+and poverty-stricken than that of the workmen of Europe, who are similarly
+engaged in the preparation of this costly article of luxury. As in Lyons,
+in Spitalfields, or among the Silesian Mountains, the Chinese silk-weaver
+lives and dies in the most abject misery, and the delicate and beautiful
+fabrics of his loom are produced in a wretched hut of such mean
+dimensions, that he is sometimes compelled to dig a hole in the soil in
+order to find room for the treadle. However, the Chinese weaver appears in
+so far better off than the same handicraftsman in Europe, that he has less
+to dread from the severity of the climate, and can purchase more food,
+even though his remuneration be smaller, than the weaver can possibly do
+in Europe, owing to the much higher price of even the commonest
+necessities of life.
+
+The recent revolution in Chinese foreign relations will exercise a
+permanent influence on the silk culture of China, and, considering the
+exceedingly low rate of wages in that country, the time cannot be far
+distant, when one may purchase Chinese silk in Europe more cheaply than
+home-grown silk, when manufacturers will find it more profitable to
+purchase this most important raw material in China, than in Italy or the
+South of France. Acute business men in Hong-kong and Shanghai assured us
+that it only needed an impulse from without to increase the silk
+manufacture of China tenfold, and supply the annual demand for silk of the
+entire globe, which, if we are to believe encyclopedias and such like
+authorities, amounts to from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 lbs. What makes
+Chinese silk especially suitable for the European market is its possessing
+in great perfection the two chief qualities of substance and colour,
+while, on the other hand, it is inferior to that of Europe in the fineness
+and glossy feel of its fibre. In Europe the silk is wound off from a
+limited number of cocoons, whereas in China it is left to the discretion
+of the workman to spin it from few or many cocoons as he pleases. Hence
+results that inequality and unevenness in the texture of the thread, a
+defect which cannot possibly be remedied by after-manipulation, and which
+accordingly completely prevents its employment in the manufacture of the
+more costly fabrics. This drawback, which is the main reason why Chinese
+silk does not rule the European market, will however admit of being
+remedied without any difficulty, so soon as the silk districts become more
+easily accessible, by the introduction of European labour and machinery,
+when this valuable and costly product will gain materially both in
+fineness and suitability.
+
+Only a few years since German and Austrian merchants attached but a small
+value to Chinese silk as suited to our market, and it seemed to them a
+positive absurdity, when any one spoke, as we ourselves repeatedly have
+done from a profound conviction of its truth, of the future influence
+exercised over the silk markets of the world by the influence of this
+Chinese raw material. Now-a-days we hear that there is scarcely one single
+silk factory which can hold its ground, unless, in addition to French and
+Italian silk, it imports Chinese silk, while the demand for that material
+increases from year to year, and has very probably not yet attained the
+one-hundredth part of the development of which it is susceptible.
+
+Tea (_Châ_[165]) ranks next to silk among the articles which have raised
+the trade with China to such an importance. The cultivation of the tea
+plant is of far later date than that of the mulberry tree, and its leaves,
+although used by the Chinese as a curative from the third century of our
+era, only came into general use, as providing a universal drink, towards
+the end of the sixth century.[166] Statesmen and poets sounded the
+praises of the new beverage, and while the one employed this excellent and
+beneficial gift of nature to fill the treasury by the imposition of a tax,
+the others chanted the praise of the plant in their hymns and songs, and
+thus, probably without intending it, contributed to increase the revenue
+of the Government.
+
+"Tea," writes one of the older Chinese authors, "soothes the spirit,
+softens the heart, dispels languor, restores from fatigue, stimulates the
+intellect, and arouses from indolence; it makes the body lighter and more
+brisk, and quickens the faculty of observation."
+
+The tea plant first attracted the attention of Chinese naturalists in
+Wu-yi, or, as the English term it, the Bohea[167] district, which enjoys
+to this day a great reputation for the exquisite quality which grows on
+its hills.
+
+At present the cultivation of the tea plant extends northward as far as
+Tang-tschao, in the province of Shantung, southward as far as Canton and
+Kuang-si, and westward as far as the province of Yun-nán. As, moreover,
+the tea plant likewise abounds in Japan, the Corea, and the Loo-Choo
+Islands, as also in Chusan, Tonquin, and Cochin China, we may assume that
+it flourishes over about 28° of latitude and 30° of longitude, within
+which it can be cultivated without being affected by severe alternations
+of temperature. That part of North China, however, which lies between 27°
+and 33° N., seems on the whole to furnish the finest sorts,[168] where the
+mean annual temperature ranges between 61°.7 and 68°, and in which fine
+weather with a rise of temperature follows upon a heavy rainfall; the
+latter being as necessary for the speedy and luxuriant growth of the
+leaves, as the former is for eliciting their fragrance and other valuable
+qualities.
+
+To form an idea of the enormous amount of tea which is annually cultivated
+in China, it suffices to remark that, after deducting the immense quantity
+consumed, there are more than 70,000,000 lbs. exported annually.
+
+It is not our intention to give a disquisition upon the cultivation and
+preparation of the tea, the drying (_poey_), roasting (_tschóo_),
+perfuming and colouring of the leaves, in short, the long tedious process
+to which this valuable article of commerce is subjected from its
+collection on the fertile green slopes of the bush-covered hills of Bohea,
+till its arrival at the port of shipment in a form suited for exportation.
+We prefer here to confine our attention to a consideration of those
+experiments which have recently been made in China with respect to tea
+cultivation.
+
+There are of the tea plant an almost endless variety of qualities, but
+only two species, viz. _Thea viridis_ (green tea), and _Thea Bohea_,[169]
+and even these two have such few points of difference, that quite lately
+they were described by Fortune as one and the same species. Thus, too, it
+has been asserted in our own day that the green and black varieties of tea
+sold in Europe do not, as is universally supposed, belong to two different
+species of tea, but that the difference of colour, shape of leaf, flavour,
+&c., is exclusively due to varieties in the mode of preparing them for the
+market, and that the manufacturer is able to make from the leaves every
+description, black or green, which is required in commerce. Thus in the
+celebrated tea district of Ning-tschan, where in former days black tea was
+exclusively grown, there is now procured green tea from the same species
+of plant, apparently because its cultivation pays better, while the
+quality remains in its olden repute.
+
+The black tea, which constitutes four-fifths of the entire export to
+England, is grown of a particularly fine quality in the district of
+Kien-ning-foo in the province of Fo-kien, and is known to commerce by a
+variety of names, chiefly derived from the localities in which it is
+grown, or those of their proprietors. On the other hand, the green sort
+selected for exportation is chiefly met with on the slopes of the chain
+of hills between Che-kiang and Ngan-hwui. Besides those descriptions
+actually prepared on the spot where they grow, there are also an immense
+variety of teas manufactured in Canton from all sorts of black and green
+tea. The tea-growers of Canton are reputed to colour their green teas
+artificially, by sprinkling them with a mixture of Prussian blue and
+pulverized chalk, after which they subject them to a rolling motion for a
+considerable time in heated copper pans.[170]
+
+One most important element in tea cultivation is the method adopted to
+impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrance, which it does not possess
+in the natural state. This process of "scenting," as it is called, which
+is practised exclusively for the foreign market, is termed by the Chinese
+_Hwa-hiang_. The flowers which are used for imparting this fragrance, and
+the growth of which, like the invisible fields of odoriferous herbs near
+Cannes, in the South of France, forms a most important branch of
+cultivation near Canton, are chiefly _Jasminum sambac_, _Jasminum
+paniculatum_, _Aglaia odorata_, _Olea fragrans_, _Sardenia florida_,
+orange-blossom, and roses. The method of "scenting" consists simply in
+placing a definite quantity of the flower-blossoms, varying according to
+the strength or feebleness of the odour, in juxtaposition with about 100
+lbs. of dried tea-leaves, where they are suffered to remain from 24 to 48
+hours. Thus 40 lbs. of orange-blossom, 50 lbs. of Jasmin, 100 lbs. of
+_Aglaia odorata_, are reckoned the equivalent respectively of 100 lbs. of
+tea-leaves. The extraordinary costliness of these fragrant blossoms[171]
+has caused a very general suspicion to prevail, that the leaves thus
+"scented" are afterwards adulterated with large quantities of the common
+teas. And as it is an ascertained fact that 60 lbs. of such tea can impart
+a similar fragrance to 100 lbs. additional by merely mixing the two
+together, without any apparent diminution of fragrance, it seems more than
+probable that similar admixtures, very possibly in a still more profitable
+proportion, are being silently carried on every day in the warehouses of
+the tea districts.
+
+Since the suppression of the East India Company's monopoly, and the
+opening of the Five Ports, tea has somewhat fallen in price, but has in
+consequence gained in far greater ratio in respect of quantity shipped.
+The value of a picul of tea is at present about 18 or 20 taels (£5 12_s._
+6_d._ to £6 5_s._), so that the pound costs 1_s._ 1_d._ to 1_s._ 2_d._
+Notwithstanding the unexampled cheapness of hand labour (60 to 70 cash, or
+2-1/2_d._ to 3_d._, per diem), it is not possible to procure _good tea_
+below this limit, although the various descriptions vary extraordinarily
+in price according to their quality and the districts they come from. The
+lower classes in the tea districts purchase for themselves the raw
+unprepared leaves just as they are plucked, for about 1_d._ per pound,
+and as it takes about 4 lbs. of the fresh leaves to make 1 lb. of dry
+leaves, it may be calculated that the tea, as drunk by this class, must
+cost from 4_d._ to 5_d._ per lb. Moreover, it is customary to add some of
+the less costly descriptions, more especially in districts at some little
+distance where the tea plant is cultivated.
+
+The first historical document referring to the introduction into England
+of tea as a beverage, is an Act of Parliament in the year 1660 (the year
+of the Restoration). At that period China tea cost sixty shillings the
+pound, which of course limited its use to a very narrow circle. At present
+there are 30,000,000 lbs. imported into England[172] annually, or more
+than one half of the entire export from the Central Empire, the consumer
+in London paying about 3_s._ per pound on the average.
+
+Of late years attempts have been made to cultivate the tea plant at the
+foot of the Himalayas, in Java, and in the United States. In Hindústan,
+whither only a few years ago that well-known and enlightened gentleman,
+Mr. Robert Fortune, dispatched 24,000 plants, selected from among the
+finest tea districts, the experiment has already proved successful, and
+even remunerative. The cost of growing is about 10-1/2_d._ per lb. for
+one description, which fetches 2_s._ per lb. in the London market. That
+grown in Java has hitherto been viewed with disfavour in Europe, but in a
+few years more it must make its way. The result of the experiments in the
+United States we have yet to learn. Mr. Fortune, who was intrusted by the
+Patent Office at Washington with superintending the introduction of the
+tea cultivation into the Southern States, and who in virtue of many years'
+scientific researches in China may be regarded as an authority upon this
+subject, is of opinion that the possibility of cultivating tea in the
+United States does not admit of a doubt, since the plant not only
+successfully resists frosts, but even, in a measure, benefits by them, it
+being a well-known fact that it flourishes better in the northern than the
+southern climates of China. It is questionable, however, whether its
+cultivation can prove remunerative in a country where labour is still so
+exceptionally high. Will the tea plant repay the immense cost of
+cultivation, and compete successfully with the product of China? The next
+few years will settle this question, if it be not choked by this unholy
+fratricidal war, which is raging within the freest and most glorious
+confederacy of modern times.
+
+We enjoyed the good "fortune" while at Shanghai of becoming personally
+acquainted with Mr. Fortune, and of gathering these valuable particulars
+from the very lips of that distinguished naturalist and traveller. While
+reserving for consideration elsewhere the subject of various little known,
+but most important, articles of export from the vast Empire of China, we
+cannot refrain from indulging in a few remarks upon some useful products
+of that country, which seem to us of more than merely commercial
+importance. Among these we shall notice first one of the most valuable
+rewards bestowed by Nature on human industry, the so-called Chinese
+sugar-cane (_Sorghum_, or _Holcus saccharatus_), which deserves the
+earnest attention of all European proprietors of land, as it grows in its
+native country quite in the northern districts, in fact in latitudes where
+the ordinary cane (_Saccharum officinale_) no longer flourishes; because
+frost and cold are much more conducive to its growth than the opposite
+extreme, so that it would seem to be specially adapted for cultivation in
+Southern Europe.
+
+The first attempt to cultivate this cane in Europe was made, if we are
+rightly informed, at the Hyères islands by Count David de Beauregard, from
+seeds which M. de Montigny had sent home to the Geographical Society of
+Paris, while other attempts were made at the same time in various parts of
+France by the _Société d' Acclimatisation_. The results surpassed the most
+sanguine expectations. From the stem there was obtained a juice from which
+sugar and alcohol, syrup and brandy, can be easily made. The abundant
+leaves, five or six feet long, furnished a considerable quantity of cattle
+with most nutritive food; the seeds were used as food for poultry, and
+were even substituted with advantage for barley in the provender supplied
+to horses, so that the experiment at once repaid its cost, while in
+addition to the foregoing, the flour obtained from the seeds was found to
+furnish a highly nutritive, wholesome article of diet for man. Dr. Adrian
+Sicard, to whom the agricultural world is indebted for a very exhaustive
+analysis of the Chinese sugar-cane, has established, by conclusive
+researches, that its leaves are also specially adapted for the manufacture
+of paper, as well as for various colours or dye stuffs. As to the
+remunerative value of the _Sorgho_, it is more than 230 per cent. more
+productive than beet-root, which in France produces on the average 2160
+kilogrammes per hectare, while the _Sorgho_ makes a return of 5000
+kilogrammes.
+
+The mode of cultivating this useful plant differs in no respect, as we
+repeatedly had occasion to observe, from that of maize or Indian corn. The
+season for sowing varies with the temperature of the country, between the
+months April and July. The seed when sown in the beginning of April will
+be ripe about the middle of August, or in 135 days, while that sown in
+mid-July will not be ripe before the end of November, or about 140 days.
+In France the experiment has been made of bathing the seeds in tepid water
+for periods varying from 24 to 48 hours before sowing, which resulted in a
+much more speedy bringing forward of the plant. In like manner experiments
+were made of sowing the seeds with and without their husk, the result of
+which was that the former took 15 days, and the latter only 10 days to
+sprout. It is recommended to plant the seeds in furrows sufficiently
+separated from each other according to the conditions of soil and
+irrigation, so far as is possible.
+
+The period of germination of the _Sorgho_ is rather long, but once that
+period is passed, the most favourable results are sure to follow, even
+should the most unusual alternations of temperature ensue, provided the
+thermometer does not descend below 27°.5 Fahr. The _Sorgho_ requires about
+five months to attain its full ripeness, when it is usually of a
+pale-yellow colour, streaked with red. It is occasionally subject to
+different maladies, some of which attack the root, others the pith. In
+like manner the larvæ of certain noxious insects have been remarked on
+occasional specimens. But the origin of all these drawbacks has been as
+yet far too little inquired into, and they are of too rare occurrence to
+permit of any definite information respecting them being as yet available.
+
+On the whole, the cultivation of the _Sorgho_ may be regarded as eminently
+successful in the South of France, as well as in Pennsylvania, U. S.
+(which has a much severer climate than Venetia, Dalmatia, or the lower
+course of the Danube). Very probably we may also succeed in naturalizing
+the _Sorgho_ in suitable parts of Austria, and introducing there the
+cultivation on a commensurate scale[173] of a plant, which bids fair not
+merely to prove far more profitable in cultivation than any other member
+of the vegetable kingdom in any part of the earth, but at the same time
+seems destined at no distant period to be the means of supplying the
+civilized world with one of its most vitally necessary articles of food,
+by means of free white labour, without the assistance of slavery![174]
+
+Another plant, which it seems likely might be advantageously introduced
+into the southern districts of Europe, is the _Mo-chok_, one of the most
+graceful kinds of bamboo found in the forests of China, which grows in
+greatest luxuriance on the limestone slopes of the province of
+Tschi-Kiang, in a climate ranging between 90°.5 in summer, and 20°.3
+(Fahr.) in winter. The erect, smooth, elegant stem shoots up to a height
+of from 60 to 80 feet. The lower part of the tree is usually free from
+branches, which usually begin to spring from the trunk about 20 feet from
+the ground, and are very delicately leaved. These and two other species,
+the _Long-sin-chok_ and the _Hu-chok_, are used in the manufacture of
+sieves, baskets, furniture, &c., while the tender shoots form a most
+nutritious and delicately flavoured vegetable. The stem of the plant is
+moreover available for the manufacture of paper.[175]
+
+Writing paper is manufactured from it as well as packing paper, and one
+very coarse quality is mingled with the mortar by the Chinese masons. Mr.
+Fortune has introduced the Mo-chok into China, where, especially in the
+north-west provinces, it promises to come on well upon the slopes of the
+Himalaya.
+
+Of the other plants which grow in China, which are not indeed suited for
+transplanting to a colder climate, yet merit attention on account of
+their produce, we shall briefly notice the varnish tree, the tallow tree,
+and the wax shrub.
+
+The varnish tree (_Vernix vernicia_), a sort of sumach, which grows in
+greatest luxuriance in the provinces of Kiang-si, Chi-kiang, and Szechuen,
+furnishes that varnish which, partly in a semi-fluid, partly in a dry
+state, comes to market in whitish cakes, and is worth, according to
+quality and demand, from 40 to 100 dollars per picul of 133 lbs. In the
+preparation of this lacquer, the reputation of which has extended over the
+globe, 6-2/3 lbs. varnish, 13-1/2 lbs. water, 41-2/3 lbs. nut-oil, 16-2/3
+lbs. of pigs' gall, and 33-1/3 lbs. of vinegar, are mixed together till
+the whole assumes the consistence and appearance of a shining black paste.
+The fact that many Chinese lacquered wares, especially those prepared in
+Foo-chow, vie with the renowned manufactures of Japan in beauty and
+lustre, leaves room to suspect that the Chinese workmen have received some
+instruction from their Japanese fellow-craftsmen.
+
+Vegetable tallow (_Schulah_, or _Schu-káu_, tree fat) is obtained from the
+_Stillingia sebifera_, the so-called tallow tree, and, judging by the
+experiments made with it, promises under an extended system of cultivation
+to become a tolerably profitable article of export. The tallow tree
+flourishes throughout the southern provinces, but is chiefly found in the
+island of Chusan and the coasts adjacent. The tallowy substance procured
+from the seeds, which externally resemble nuts, is sold in cakes of from
+90 to 130 lbs. at from 7 to 12 dollars.
+
+Vegetable or tree wax (_peh-lah_) is a waxy substance, which the _coccus
+pela_ or _flata limitata_ deposits, apparently as a protection to its
+eggs, on a sort of ash tree, on whose twigs and boughs it is deposited
+like snow-flakes. It is gathered after the first frost, and purified by
+melting it in a cloth held over hot water. Apparently the process is
+varied by dipping what has been collected in a silken sack into hot water.
+It melts at 81° Fahr., and in consequence of its unusual stiffness is much
+used for admixture with bees-wax and other descriptions of fats used in
+the manufacture of tapers. The candles hitherto made in England of this
+substance have commanded a large sale, and only the circumstance that as
+yet but a small quantity has found its way into commerce, prevents its
+being much more extensively cultivated. The price of _Peh-lah_ is rather
+high, as it fetches about £11 10_s._ per 133 lbs.
+
+Passing from the various natural products furnished for export by China to
+a consideration of those articles[176] of European industry, for which the
+Chinese market supplies an ample demand, we find that their number is
+considerable, while they represent a value of upwards of £5,000,000. In
+these pages, however, we propose to notice only that article which is the
+most profitable, and undoubtedly forms the chief staple of import in all
+the harbours opened to foreign commerce, viz. opium. Opium (_á-pièn_), the
+solidified sap of _Papaver somniferum_, was, as every one knows, up to
+quite a recent period, a monopoly of the Anglo-Indian Government, by whom
+it was cultivated under the superintendence of agents in the various
+provinces of Hindostan, and sold to the trade by public auction in large
+quantities at a time in the markets of Calcutta and Bombay. It seems to
+fulfil among the Chinese the function of the various spirituous liquors of
+Europe; at least every attempt to introduce among the Chinese a taste for
+ale, whisky, sherry, port, champagne, and claret, has hitherto entirely
+failed. Indeed there is probably no country of the globe where, in
+proportion to population, there is so little spirituous liquor introduced
+as into China, what is imported being almost exclusively for the
+consumption of foreigners. The Chinese is emphatically a born
+"tea-totaller," or friend of abstemiousness, for the native drinks,
+substitutes for wine, which are obtained chiefly from rice and millet, are
+only used on special occasions, and then only in small quantities. During
+our entire stay in Chinese waters, we never saw one single Chinese drunk,
+and heard in every quarter that any such cases are rare and quite
+exceptional. On the other hand, the consumption of opium is continually
+increasing, and the quantity of solidified poppy-juice annually imported
+amounts to from 75,000 to 80,000 chests, which at current rates represent
+a value of from £7,500,000 to £10,000,000. There are four descriptions of
+opium that come to the Chinese market, viz. Benares (_Ku-ni_), Patna
+(_Kung-ni_), Malwa (_Peh-pi_), and Turkish (_Kiu-ni_ or golden dung). Of
+these the Patna and Benares are reckoned of finer quality, and
+consequently are more sought after, than that imported from Malwa, but
+both descriptions are preferred by the Chinese to the Turkish, and even to
+that produced at home.[177]
+
+The custom of opium-smoking is of comparatively modern introduction among
+the Chinese. It was about the commencement of the 18th century,[178] that
+the practice of mingling opium with tobacco as an antidote against
+toothache, headache, and pains in the body first began to prevail. Chinese
+sailors and merchantmen, returning from the islands of the Bornese
+Archipelago, had learned from the natives to inhale it as an anæsthetic,
+which, depriving them of all activity, brought the most delightful visions
+before their eyes. It is unquestionably the prohibition of wine to the
+believers in the Koran which first directed their attention to this
+narcotic substance, which the Western Asiatics swallow in pills, the
+Hindoos chew, and the Chinese smoke. In 1750, there were imported into
+China from Turkey, Persia, and Bengal, chiefly by Portuguese merchants,
+some 200 to 250 chests according to official return (of 140 lbs. each),
+ostensibly for medical use. Nothing could be more welcome to the entire
+Empire than a means of passing the intervals of relaxation from the hurry
+of business, in a state of absolute exemption from all anxiety, rocked in
+the most delightful slumbers! In 1773 the East India Company sent a small
+portion of opium to China by way of speculation. Seven years later they
+founded an Opium Dépôt in Larke's Bay. In 1781 the Company sent 2800
+chests (of 140 lbs. each) at one single shipment to Canton, where it was
+purchased by a "Hong," or Association,[179] for trading purposes. The
+Company found itself compelled, however, to re-export a quantity, as at
+that period there was not in China a sufficient demand for such a supply.
+The first regular shipments began in 1798, when 4170 chests were sent to
+the account of the Association in China, and then sold at Rs. 415 (about
+£41 10_s._) per chest.[180] Since that period the import and consumption
+have been steadily increasing at a geometric ratio, and a table now before
+us, drawn up with great labour and industry by Dr. Medhurst, informs us
+that between 1798 and 1855 there were imported altogether 1,197,041 chests
+of opium from Bengal, which, after deducting all expenses of cultivation
+and shipment, represented a net gain to the East India Company of
+£67,851,853.[181]
+
+Relying on the splendid profits secured to the East India Company, and its
+colleagues settled in China, by the opium traffic, no one troubled himself
+in the slightest with the many protests of the Chinese Government, any
+more than the anathemas launched at opium dealers and opium-smokers by
+English missionaries and philanthropists. The dealers, growing richer day
+by day, contented themselves with laconic replies to the more virulent of
+their antagonists, to the effect that they were but supplying a want
+originating in a national custom, and that it was as futile to attempt to
+prevent the Chinese from smoking as to restrain Europeans from the use of
+spirituous liquors. Both when abused are productive of much evil, and even
+then opium was productive of far less destructive ravages on the human
+organism, and was never followed by such appalling catastrophes as those
+resulting from alcohol. The dark side of the opium traffic has since been
+so fully exposed, that but little more remains to be said, and although
+even the most sanguine persons have ceased to hope that the trade can
+ever be entirely suppressed, yet it is at least consolatory to know that,
+according to the best calculations, the number of opium smokers throughout
+China, in a population that is to say of 420,000,000, is not above
+4,000,000 to 5,000,000, and that an ordinary smoker does not on an average
+consume more than one mace or about one drachm[182] of opium, worth about
+90 cash, or 3-1/2_d._ The provisions of the new tariff, by which opium may
+be imported unrestrictedly on payment of a fixed duty of 30 taels (about
+£10) per chest when water-borne, and 20 taels (about £6 10_s._) when
+imported by land, must materially effect the opium trade as hitherto
+carried on, and may very possibly alter the views at present entertained
+by the Chinese Government with reference to this important article of
+commerce, in proportion as its treasury begins to be replenished by such a
+high rate of duty.
+
+Although for European readers the chief interest of China is to be found
+in its relations with foreign countries, we yet cannot take leave of it
+without a few remarks on the momentous political movement which has been
+on foot since 1849 in several provinces of China, and claims, in
+consequence of its peculiar religious nature, universal interest.
+
+Hung-sin-Tsuen, the originator and head of this rebellion, was born in
+1813, in a village near Canton, and while yet in his early youth was, in
+consequence of his precocity, removed from tending his father's flocks to
+be a scholar in the village, where he pursued his studies with such zeal,
+that a year later he took several degrees as a teacher. On one of his
+visits to Canton, he made the acquaintance of a Protestant missionary,
+with whom he long corresponded, and from whom he received a variety of
+tracts translated into Chinese, and books, by way of presents. In the
+course of a serious illness with which he was assailed about this period,
+he had numerous visions, and is said in his delirium to have insisted on
+being hailed Emperor of China. Gradually Hung and his friend and zealous
+adherent Fung-Yun-San became, through erroneous or wilful
+misinterpretation of the works of various missionary societies, the
+founders of a new creed, a sort of free, semi-Christian sect, which, as it
+could not long subsist without coming into collision with the reigning
+Government, very speedily assumed a political character. It is an
+indubitable fact that at first the religious movement was supported by the
+Protestant missionaries, and the views of its founders forwarded by every
+means in their power, with the object of using it to prepare the soil for
+the promulgation of Christianity. When about entering his forty-first
+year, Hung formed an alliance with American missionaries stationed at
+Canton, studied their books, after which he returned to the province of
+Kuang-si, where he published writings descriptive of the alleged
+manifestations of the Deity, gave himself forth as a poet,[183] and at
+the same time issued proclamations under the designation of the "Heavenly
+King." The severity with which the regular Government treated the
+insurgents, and all who consorted with them, only served to augment their
+ranks, to which the mysticism of their doctrine contributed in no small
+degree; for the credulous masses have in all lands the same love of the
+marvellous and unintelligible. Such a result only increased the courage,
+the energy, the arrogance of Hung. He no longer was content to announce
+himself as "the mouth through which God the Father, and Jesus the Elder
+Brother, declared their will;" he now proclaimed boldly the intention of
+himself and his followers to overthrow the unworthy Mantchoo dynasty, and
+raise to the throne a new native dynasty, that of the Tai-ping, or
+universal peace. Although stigmatized by the official _Pekin Gazette_ as
+"local banditti," they were nevertheless strong enough in March, 1852, to
+storm even such a populous city as Nankin, where they set up a
+provisional government, and have since fortified it as their
+head-quarters. At the time the Tai-ping rebellion first broke out, Yeh,
+the then Governor of Canton, thought he would readily be able to suppress
+it by the summary process of chopping off the heads of all who were
+supposed to be in correspondence with them, and thus had as many as 800
+executed daily.[184] It was no longer quite safe for a native to show
+himself in the streets of Canton, unless provided with a paper of
+identification. For this purpose, four-cornered pieces of a sort of white
+cotton fabric were worn, on which was printed a sign in red. These cotton
+strips served as countersigns for those friendly to the reigning dynasty,
+and were worn concealed from view, but so as to admit of being at once
+shown in case of need. Dr. Pfitzmaier, who has examined this sign, is of
+opinion that it is simply a union of the three signs [Chinese
+character(s)] which, so far as the two last are concerned, seem to have
+been compressed together and abbreviated, so that only the initiated could
+understand its significance. The learned sinologue is of opinion that this
+hieroglyphic, signifying "to offer hand and heart," or "to offer the
+original (own) heart," has nevertheless no meaning apart from the centre
+figure, which, however, is unusually distorted, so that the whole may
+also mean [Chinese character(s)] Kia-hoei, "to yield grace and
+benevolence," or may be applicable to him who wears it, "one who enjoys
+the all-embracing Imperial clemency."
+
+The religious direction of the Tai-ping movement, coupled with its
+apparent Christian tendencies, its results, and, above all, the last
+hostile proclamation of the Pekin Government against foreigners, roused
+the sympathies of both Europeans and Americans in favour of the
+insurgents; and in the English papers of Hong-kong and Shanghai, the
+policy was vigorously and repeatedly advocated of turning the insurrection
+to their own advantage; while in a religious point of view it was
+recommended to avail themselves of the favour shown to the Scriptures by
+the Christian sect of the Tai-ping, which was also so amicably disposed to
+foreigners, who at all events were more likely to prove a bulwark and
+support to English Protestantism than the deceitful, promise-breaking,
+idol-worshipping Mantchoos. Letters and communications, which from time to
+time were published on the visit of Protestant missionaries in the
+insurgent camp, were apt to propound the most favourable ideas about the
+insurgents and their strivings after religious truth, and to attach to
+their victories and successes the most glorious hopes with respect to the
+spreading of Christianity in China. Fortunately the English Government did
+not suffer its policy to be affected thereby, but continued to observe the
+strictest neutrality. Only in those cases where, owing to the advance of
+the rebels, the interests of British subjects or of universal commerce
+seemed to be endangered, communications were held with the "Heavenly King"
+or his ministers, or to protest against the injury and limitation of trade
+with the earnestness and depth of impression which Armstrong guns are apt
+to impart to diplomatic dispatches. Thus the insurgents were prohibited
+from approaching within 10 Li of the city of Hang-kow, by this measure
+protecting not alone their own property, but the entire city from pillage
+and destruction. During the last war the interests of the insurgents were
+kept entirely in the background, and during the stay of the _Novara_ at
+Shanghai, which had likewise been repeatedly threatened by the insurgents,
+we could gain but little enlightenment as to the nature and direction of
+the movement.
+
+However, since the Treaty of Pekin has thrown open the navigation of the
+most important rivers, and thus facilitated communication with the
+interior, there has been a better opportunity than hitherto for
+intercourse with the Tai-ping, as also for obtaining a clearer insight
+into its present condition, as well as the object and inevitable
+consequences of their tenets. People are beginning to consider it more
+calmly, and even the missionaries seem gradually abandoning the
+expectations they had formed, of finding in it a means of helping the
+cause of Christianity, albeit a former missionary, Rev. J. C. Roberts, who
+in 1847 had spent several months with Hung, is at the present moment a
+sort of minister of foreign affairs in the insurgents' camp at Nankin. The
+latest information respecting the Tai-ping enters so fully into the
+character of the whole movement, and so clearly develops its tendency,
+that no apology is needed for laying before the readers of every class a
+brief sketch of the more important and significant dogmas.
+
+The Tai-ping translations of the Old and New Testament, though in the
+whole tolerably correct, yet are in certain parts so imperfect that they
+implanted the most erroneous ideas in the head of the "Celestial King." He
+conceived his own visions and revelations as far more important, and of
+far higher authority, than those of Holy Writ. His mission, as he himself
+states it, is to be followed by a new revelation, accompanied by numerous
+miracles, and a third book will be given to the world, which is to
+supersede the Old and New Testaments, and be called the "_True_
+Testament." According to Hung, both God and Christ have appeared in the
+human form. Christ is not equal to the Father, that is solely God; he is
+also brought into connection with other redeemers, and has a wife and
+children in heaven.
+
+The Celestial King and his son form with God and Christ a Quaternity in
+Unity. The corporeal presence of the Celestial King is that of the
+Godhead, and in the distempered imagination of the Tai-ping the government
+now existing in Nankin is assuredly that of heaven itself!
+
+The Tai-ping suffer no one to preach against their creed, because that
+would be to diminish the authority of their chief, and damp the ardour of
+their hopes. In their various proclamations it is expressly declared that
+Hung-sin-Tsuen is the brother of the Saviour, the Son of God, without any
+other distinction than such as must exist between an elder and a younger
+brother. They maintain that there is a celestial mother as well as Father,
+a heavenly sister as well as a heavenly Brother, and that the recently
+defunct King of the West, Fung-yun-san, one of Hung's oldest adherents, is
+now married to the heavenly sister. They hold to the opinion that not one
+of such of their revelations as clash with the Old and New Testaments, can
+be decided by such ancient books of religion. Their revelations being the
+newest, are on that account the most entitled to belief.
+
+In a letter of greeting addressed by Hung to Roberts[185] the missionary,
+on the occasion of the arrival of the latter at Nankin, in October, 1860,
+Hung narrates his heavenly journey in 1837, the repeated miraculous
+interference of the Father and the Son in his favour, as also the
+revelations made to the Eastern King. He professes to have seen the Father
+and Christ, the heavenly mother and the heavenly sister. He is himself
+"the Way, the Truth, and the Life," just as Christ is. He warns Roberts
+repeatedly, that implicit belief in this is of the highest importance, as
+otherwise he can neither be useful in this world nor blest in the next.
+After such an exposition, Christian missionaries will scarcely be suffered
+in the insurgent's camp if they dare to preach against such errors, not to
+say blasphemies.
+
+There are but few religious ceremonies. The Tai-ping, indeed, call one
+day of the week the day of prayer, and it happens more through oversight
+than intention to be fixed upon the Saturday, but so far as external
+sanctity goes there seems to be no special attention paid to it. They buy,
+and sell, and delve just as on other days. On the previous night about ten
+o'clock two or three cannon-shot are fired to announce the approach of the
+hour of prayer, and that the day of worship is at hand. Every family is
+engaged for an hour in devotion and praise. All strangers who have been in
+communication with the Tai-ping in Nankin state that, even in the capital
+where he has been resident for seven years past, that dignitary does not
+observe the Sabbath in any way, either by preaching, prayer, or expounding
+of the Scripture; there are no exhortations or pious admonitions; they
+have neither church nor temple; their sole divine service consists in each
+one reciting in his own house English hymns, and repeating a few prayers,
+while divers offerings are made, such as tea, rice, and the flesh of slain
+animals. They offer their prayers kneeling, after which they close the
+proceedings by singing a hymn standing. An English missionary, who arrived
+at Nankin with the conviction that the insurgents were genuine sincere
+Christians, made, after a short stay, the following severe but just remark
+concerning them: "I found to my regret no trace of Christianity, but a
+system of the grossest idolatry substituted for it, and arrogating its
+name. Their notion of God is so distorted, that it is, if possible, still
+more erroneous than that entertained of the Supreme Being by other
+idol-worshipping Chinese. Their conception of the Redeemer, to whom they
+pay equal honours, is crude, and thoroughly material. Their prayers, far
+from giving the impression of a true reverence of God, have much more the
+appearance of an idolatrous mockery of sacred things!"
+
+An English merchant, who accompanied Sir Hope Grant on his reconnoitring
+excursion up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and spent a week in what used to be
+called Nankin, now the celestial capital of the Tai-ping, gives the
+following characteristic sketch of them: "The insurgents take no interest
+in and do not encourage trade, except in muskets and ammunition. To our
+representations how unwise it was to lay waste towns and villages, and
+shut out commerce, they promised, after peace was concluded, to erect
+schools and other similar institutions, and professed their willingness to
+promote trade, but 'for the present,' they went on, 'we must, before
+anything else, make the hills and the rivers subject to our power.' On the
+whole I found the condition of the rebels far better than I had expected.
+They are comfortably clothed and well fed. The population of Nankin
+consists exclusively of officials. No one not connected with the
+administration of the army is admitted within the gates of the city. The
+majority of the inhabitants, who number about 20,000, are prisoners and
+slaves from every part of the empire. Although employed in most arduous
+work, they get no pay, but are simply clothed and fed. I remarked an
+extraordinary number of beautiful young women in elegant silken stuffs
+from Sutschan. There were also prisoners of war from Sutschan and other
+places, who, however, were by no means inclined to lead a very Christian
+and moral life in the celestial capital. The city of Nankin, as well as
+its suburb, the beautiful ancient cemetery of the Ning dynasty, and the
+far-famed porcelain Pagoda, are all utterly destroyed; instead of the
+broad well-paved streets of former times the stranger has now to pick his
+steps through heaps of bricks and rubbish. The palaces of the kings of the
+Tai-ping dynasty are glaringly conspicuous among all these ruins. They
+must have been entirely rebuilt, for the old Yamuns and temples, like the
+whole of the Táu-Tái City, have been demolished utterly.
+
+"The rebel chief inhabits a large palace. His household consists of 300
+female attendants. He also, in virtue of his rank, has 68 wives supported
+for him. No one but the kings (of whom there are 11 or 12, but only two
+are resident in Nankin) is permitted to approach his sacred person.
+Probably Hung is little more than a mere puppet in the hands of his
+ministers. It is he who mainly keeps the rebellion on foot. Discipline is
+far better maintained among the long-haired insurgents than the imperial
+troops, and many of the younger soldiers have pleasing manners.
+
+"The kings or Wangs, on the other hand, seem exceedingly lazy and
+vicious, and when they make their appearance, with a theatrical attempt at
+assuming a dignified deportment, clad in the yellow costume of a
+mountebank, and with a tinsel crown upon their heads, they present a most
+ludicrous aspect. Not one of these so-called kings understands the
+Mandarin dialect, so widely diffused among the educated classes;--not one,
+except Hung himself and Kan-wang, has a better education than one of his
+coolies.[186] They have linguists at their elbow, who do their reading and
+writing for them.
+
+"The arms of the Tai-ping are very wretched, and the bare fact that they
+are able to make head against the Imperial troops, speak volumes for the
+utter helplessness and incapacity of the Imperial Government. I have not
+the slightest expectation that any advantage will accrue to civilization
+or Christianity from the religio-political movement of the Tai-ping. No
+Chinese will have anything to do with them. Their whole activity consists
+in burning, murdering, and devastating. They are universally detested by
+the people; even those inhabitants of the city who do not belong to the
+'Brotherhood' detest them. For eight years their head-quarters have been
+at Nankin, which they destroyed, nor have they as yet made the slightest
+attempt to rebuild it. Trade and industry are forbidden. Their taxes are
+three times higher than those of the regular Government. They take no
+measures to staunch the wounds which they have inflicted on the people,
+nor do they occupy it as though they had any permanent interest in the
+land. They take no pains to tap those slow but sure springs of revenue, or
+to increase the resources of the state. They lay themselves out to
+maintain themselves by plunder. Nothing in their organization gives hope
+for any amelioration of the present or consolidation of power in the
+future; there is nothing in the entire history of the Tai-ping to enlist
+sympathy or compel confidence in a movement which, under the mask of
+religious reform, conceals the most hateful self-interest and terrorism,
+and under the pretext of spreading peace amongst men, brandishes the
+scourge of destruction and desolation among the provinces through which it
+has passed."[187]
+
+On the 11th of August the _Novara_ quitted her anchorage off Shanghai, and
+with the steam-tug _Meteor_[188] fastened to her side availed herself of a
+spring-tide to make her way into the Yang-tse-Kiang. Off Wusung we awaited
+the arrival of the post, after receiving which we were on 14th August
+towed as far as Gutzlaff's Island. Here we had once more to lay to, owing
+to calms and currents, till at last on the 15th August a fresh breeze
+sprang up from the S.E., and enabled us to make an offing.
+
+The temperature had materially altered during the last few days. After a
+cycle of oppressive heat the weather had suddenly changed to severe
+squalls, with a marked fall in the barometric column. The thermometer,
+which while we were lying off Shanghai marked from 86° to 93°.2 Fahr., now
+indicated in the morning only 68° Fahr., and during the day never rose
+above 77° Fahr. The number of fever cases, which had reached the number of
+seventy, began gradually to fall off. Several cases of dysentery forthwith
+began to show symptoms of amendment.
+
+Considering the latitude we were in, and the season of the year, the
+barometer stood unusually high (30°.100), and although this might be
+attributable to the constant prevalence of easterly winds, we nevertheless
+knew we were approaching the period when the monsoon changes, and little
+reliance was to be placed on the steadiness of that from the S.E.
+Accordingly on the 17th the wind shifted round to N.E. by E., while our
+course was due S.E. This however rendered it necessary to tack, if we
+wished to pass to the northward of the Loo-Choo group, whereas we could
+run free and with a fair wind through the southern channel. The sun set
+behind a bank of dense clouds on the horizon. The western sky was tinged a
+deep red, and the stars shone out with uncommon brilliancy, but with a
+sort of trembling ray. The barometer fell slowly but steadily; the sea
+began to heave perceptibly. Our course was now changed to S.E. by S.
+
+The following morning the breeze freshened, and drew somewhat further aft;
+the sky was covered with clouds massed together, those to the N.E. of a
+very dark, almost black, colour. Wind and sea were now rising, the sky
+became more and more obscure, the barometer kept falling--there was every
+indication of the approach of heavy weather.
+
+The 18th August, the birthday of our Emperor, was duly celebrated far on
+the open ocean, in the middle of the China Sea. All was prepared for
+Divine worship, which was to be celebrated at 10 A.M. on the gun-deck, in
+presence of the staff and the entire crew. The Commodore had invited
+several gentlemen of the staff to dinner. On land no one thinks of
+consulting the elements, when such a festival is to be observed, nor do
+the guests waste many thoughts on wind, rain, and heavy seas, as they
+assemble in their comfortable chambers. At sea, on the other hand, the
+conditions are altered. Wind and weather are the masters here, whose
+behests the sea-farer must attend to. This was our case on this 18th of
+August.
+
+First, Divine service had to be dispensed with, because the sea became too
+heavy, rendering it necessary to close the port-holes in the gun-deck,
+where, as already mentioned, the service was to be performed. As the hour
+for the festival drew nigh, the elements gave unmistakeable evidence of
+their determined hostility; there was no room any longer to doubt that we
+were about to do battle with a regular Typhoon.[189] This species of
+storm, which is very customary at the change of the monsoons in August,
+September, and October, when the N.E. trade suddenly veers round and
+becomes the S.W. monsoon, is, like the tornado of the West Indies, the
+Pampero of the eastern coast of South America, and the hurricane of the
+Mauritius, a whirlwind of the most colossal proportions and most
+tremendous fury, by which the atmosphere is swept in a circle at an
+astonishing velocity around a central point more or less calm, which does
+not, however, remain stationary, but is continually progressing, and hence
+they are usually termed _cyclones_, or circular storms, to distinguish
+them from those other storms in which the wind moves in a straight line.
+It has been reserved for scientific investigation to explain the
+extraordinary regularity of the laws in obedience to which the masses of
+air, in the case of such storms occurring in the Southern hemisphere, move
+in the direction of the hands of a clock, whereas in the Northern
+hemisphere they are rotated in an opposite direction. In like manner, the
+direction of the centre round which the _cyclone_ is raging has been
+definitely ascertained, so that, provided with these data, it is not
+merely possible for the navigator to hold aloof from the dangerous
+central point of these circular storms, where the best and stoutest ship
+that ever floated must almost to a certainty be swallowed up, but even to
+avail himself of the wind to reach the edge of the _cyclone_ (the breadth
+of whose path is from 300 to 1000 miles), and thus make a rapid and
+prosperous passage. By mid-day the wind had increased to such an extent
+that we had to take in most of our sails, and reef the rest. The sea now
+rose, and many of its waves came thundering upon our decks. The vessel was
+tossed to and fro with such violence that everything which had not been
+made fast, or was attached to the vessel, began to lurch from side to
+side. Nevertheless, the invited guests sat down to table, made the seats
+and the table fast, and, such at least whom the violent rocking did not
+make sea-sick, partook of a pleasant and joyous meal. But even these
+precautions did not prevent numerous unpleasant accidents. One tremendous
+lurch of the ship, which took us unawares, suddenly set adrift a number of
+our mess, who rolled over and over each other upon that unstable floor,
+amid a hideous chaos of tumblers, bottles, plates, and crockery. Chairs
+and _fauteuils_ had their legs broken, everything breakable went into
+irretrievable smash, the convives escaping serious injury only by a
+marvel. Once more they took their seats at table, where only the bare
+cloth gave promise of security, and endeavoured to anchor themselves more
+firmly. When, at the conclusion of the meal, our Commodore gave the usual
+toast, and his guests emptied their glasses to the health of the reigning
+monarch, the band attempted to strike up the National Anthem, and a hearty
+cheer resounded above the groaning of the ship, the howling of the wind,
+and the sullen roar of the ever-increasing waves, as they lashed against
+the ship's sides.
+
+The sun went down behind clouds, as we went careering along under
+close-reefed main sail and storm stay-sail over a confused sea, running
+mountains high, and with huge heavy grey masses of cloud and mist close
+overhead; the barometer was still falling, and as night closed in the wind
+sung mournfully, yet with almost deafening noise, through the masts and
+rigging. The wind now shifted and sprung up from N.E. by N., which being
+an additional sign that the centre of the _cyclone_ was receding, we felt
+assured that we were on the right side to keep clear of it. By midnight
+the wind came still further round, till it stood steadily at N.E., when it
+acquired fresh strength, and blew a most violent hurricane. The centre of
+the _cyclone_ had once more altered its course, and begun to move in our
+direction.
+
+Our position at noon (27° 25' N. and 125° 23' E.) was the most
+unfavourable possible. We had a N.E. wind, and were in the N.E. section of
+the typhoon, whose centre, as is customary in these storms, was moving in
+a N.W. or W. direction, and therefore threatened the more readily to
+overtake us, that our course lay S.E. through the wide channel, which
+leads from the Chinese Sea into the open ocean between the Loo-Choo
+Islands and the Meiaco-sima group. There was now no other egress possible
+than by steering W. by S. to get away from the advancing centre of the
+whirlwind, on which course we would have to steer for the N. extremity of
+the Island of Formosa.
+
+The night of 18th and 19th of August was, in the fullest sense of the
+word, a night of storms. Towards midnight we once more set double-reefed
+foresail in order to lie our course of west by south. Had we calculated
+aright the course of the centre of the _cyclone_, the wind as we advanced
+should have drawn ahead, as we were now keeping it on our larboard beam.
+
+Daybreak of the 19th found us beneath a gloomy, angry-looking, cloudy grey
+canopy on every side, the clouds hanging quite low, till they seemed to
+brood upon the surface of the sea, now lashed into fury by the violence of
+the storm. The look-out could scarcely see a cable's length clear of the
+ship. Deluges of rain, lashes of spray, driven on board by the tremendous
+violence of the wind, enveloped us in a strange, half-mysterious
+obscurity. Towards the N.E. a compact bank of bluish grey clouds indicated
+the centre of the _cyclone_. The motion of the ship was so violent that
+one of her quarter-boats got filled with water, which at every lurch was
+washed upon the frigate's quarter-deck like a small cascade. Sometimes
+they became so full that they threatened to wrench the davits from their
+fastenings. The gun-deck was afloat with spray lashed on board with each
+pitch of the ship, while the foam flew high up upon the mast. The waves
+crossed each other in every direction, huge conical masses rising suddenly
+to a height of 25 or 30 feet, as far as one might guess, and then as
+suddenly subsiding. It was the genuine pyramidal sea of the true
+_cyclone_, of which vessels caught in these furious circular storms are
+even more apprehensive than the fury and strength of the hurricane.
+
+The wind, which now began to draw to the westward, indicated that thus far
+we had shaped a proper course, and that the course of the _cyclone_ lay
+towards the N.W. Under these circumstances it was deemed most prudent to
+make the Marianne Islands, and to avail ourselves even of the hurricane in
+order to perform a rapid voyage. We accordingly now laid our course to
+steer S.E. by S., through the centre of the channel south of the Loo-Choo
+Islands. Considering the width, 120 nautical miles, of this channel, there
+was reason to hope that, despite the errors in reckoning which were to be
+expected amid so many man[oe]uvres, and considering the impossibility of
+getting astronomical observations, and the influence of the sort of
+currents which those hurricanes usually set in motion for a short period,
+we might make our way through it in safety.
+
+The wind remained steadily in the N.W., and at first was on our port
+quarter. Towards noon, however, it came round to N.W. by W., so that we
+were now running dead before it. We now set double-reefed foresail so as
+to make quicker progress. Towards 6 P.M. the hurricane woke up to its full
+strength; squall followed squall, the universal covering of cloud in
+which the heavens seemed wrapped looked as though it reached to the very
+waters, and the air was quite filled with spray, till when standing at the
+ship's stern it was barely possible to distinguish the forecastle. The
+storm, sweeping along above the seething water, had a singular piercing,
+almost metallic, note, quite unlike the singing and whistling made among
+the sails and cordage. Staggering along under close-reefed fore and main
+sail, and double-reefed top-sail, the frigate pressed on through the thick
+night, going 14 miles an hour, through the strait between Loo-Choo and
+Meiaco-sima, out of the China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, whither she was
+being hurried along with such impetuous, irresistible violence by the
+wind, that not even the most experienced seaman could make head against
+it, but had, when passing from one part of the ship to the other, to warp
+himself along by means of a rope made fast fore and aft.[190] At 4 P.M.
+the barometer stood at its lowest (29°.302, the temperature at the same
+period being 66°.02 Fahr.), where it remained without sensible alteration
+for several hours. At last, towards 9 P.M., it began slowly to rise, the
+surest indication, and therefore most welcome one, that we were increasing
+our distance from the central point of the storm. About 11 P.M. the
+clouds suddenly lifted on S.S.E., the horizon began to widen; there was no
+longer a doubt that the worst was over.
+
+At dawn on the 20th the masts and cordage showed a thick incrustation of
+salt, thus giving unmistakable evidence of the great height to which the
+spray had been driven. The wind was now W.S.W., and the barometer had
+risen to 29°.5, so that we had now merely an ordinary gale to deal with,
+and might look upon the _cyclone_ as expended. Science had indicated the
+method of evading the centre of the circular storm, and even of making the
+very hurricane subservient to our ends in driving us along our destined
+course!
+
+At 8 A.M. the sun began to be visible by fits and starts, long enough,
+however, to permit us to make an occasional observation. According to this
+we were only one mile out of our position by dead-reckoning. During the 24
+hours, inclusive of the period during which we lay to, we had run 218
+miles in a general direction of S.E. by E. During the afternoon the sky
+cleared. The sea was still high, but the atmosphere gradually became
+clearer and more transparent, till by sundown even the large banks of
+clouds on the N.E. which continued to mark the centre of the _cyclone_ had
+entirely disappeared. The _Novara_ during this tremendous storm had proved
+herself a thorough sea-boat, nor was there any particular damage
+noticeable on the occasion of the careful inspection to which her sails,
+masts, and rigging were subjected, immediately that the weather became
+more favourable. Her masts and sails, which in such a warfare of the
+elements she might so readily have had carried away, were all found to be
+uninjured, and only a few plates of her copper sheeting had been loosened
+by the fury of the waves, while those still clinging to the ship had been
+rolled up like so much paper, by the tremendous pitching of the good ship.
+The quarter gallery too, which when the frigate was running before the
+wind was exposed to considerable danger, had sustained but little damage.
+Such unfortunately was not the case with a small menagerie of rare birds
+and monkeys, which had been placed in cages carefully covered with linen
+in this, ordinarily the most sheltered, part of the vessel. The covering
+had been torn away by the hurricane, and the wind had so tossed the poor
+things about, that all their feathers were knocked off, and they presented
+a most pitiable appearance. The quadrupeds too, whose cries and lowings
+during the storm had already testified to their misery, were found to have
+suffered severely. Two oxen and several sheep died on the 19th. All the
+surviving animals lost flesh terribly during 48 hours, while those that
+had been the wildest and most untameable were now quite tame and docile.
+
+An analysis of the phenomena observed during the continuation of the
+_cyclone_, shows that on the 18th it formed its vortex, being then about
+opposite the rather lofty and tolerable-sized island of Dkinawasmia of the
+Loo-Choo group, which must have occasioned an alteration in the direction
+of the wind. Owing in part to the influence of the N.E. trade, which
+enters the northern part of the China Sea, and at this season is gradually
+veering round till it completely displaces the S.W. monsoon, as also
+during the S.W. monsoon itself, which blows from Formosa on the south,
+there appears to exist to the northward of the latter-named island,
+favoured probably by its natural configuration and physical features, a
+well-defined space within which the barometer is always depressed, and in
+which the atmosphere in immediate contact with these N.E. and S.W. winds
+is compelled to assume a sort of whirling motion, like that of the hands
+of a clock, thus forming the germ as it were of a _cyclone_.
+
+So long as the S.W. wind was blowing strongly, the centre of the _cyclone_
+moved in an easterly direction, or in other words, in the direction of
+least resistance. But arrested in its advance by the various island
+groups, as also by the gradually increasing pressure of the S.E. and E.
+winds, the _cyclone_ must, in consequence of the obstacles opposed to its
+path, have swung round with a sort of whirl, which once more impressed
+upon it a N.W. direction to the coasts of China, there to expend itself,
+apparently in consequence of the ever-increasing pressure of the
+surrounding atmosphere. During forty-eight hours, namely from 6 P.M. of
+the 18th to the same hour on the 20th, we were within the range of the
+typhoon itself, and on the 19th were at the nearest point to its vortex;
+nevertheless, judging by our lowest barometrical reading, we must have
+been at least 100 miles distant from the centre. It was the first typhoon
+that visited Chinese waters in 1858, and had been predicted weeks before
+in the "North China Herald," while the Thousand Years Almanac of the
+Chinese calendar assigned its date for the 10th of August.
+
+Our course was now shaped for the Marianne Archipelago. For several days
+after the typhoon, the weather remained unsettled, and the swell was both
+heavy and broken, when on 26th August we came in sight of the island of
+Guam or Guaham, the most southerly of the Marianne group. In twelve days
+we had run 1860 miles, with the aid of the typhoon it is true, but there
+was the fact, the distance had been accomplished, and as to the How? Jack
+gives himself little concern, so long as he reaches his goal swiftly and
+in safety.
+
+On the morning of the 27th we stood into the Bay of Umáta, although it was
+very doubtful whether we should find a secure anchorage here, considering
+the S.W. wind that was blowing full into the roadstead, which is quite
+un-sheltered in that point of the compass. In fact, as we came nearer the
+land, we speedily became aware of the impracticability of anchoring here
+even in the best weather; while, on the other hand, it did not seem very
+advisable, owing to the difficulty of getting in, to make for the
+excellent harbour of San Louis de Apra, it being by no means easy, during
+the prevalence of the S.W. monsoons, for a large ship to beat out, so that
+they are occasionally detained there for several weeks. The order was
+accordingly given to luff up, so as to make tacks against the freshening
+west wind, out of this bay, studded as it is with numerous coral reefs.
+This proved to be a work of much time and trouble, ere we succeeded,
+after many hours of anxious care, in weathering the reef.
+
+The island of Guam, with its lofty green mountain-ridges, numberless
+valleys, and thickly-wooded glades, had a cheerful and friendly aspect,
+but seems but little cultivated. At Umáta, where we perceived a few
+houses, the Spanish flag was waving from a small fort adjoining the
+settlement, which had been hoisted on the approach of the frigate.
+
+On 30th August, in 149° 53' E., we reached the eastern limit of the S.W.
+monsoon, and--although not more than four days' sail from the object of
+our next visit, the island of Puynipet, had we met with favourable winds
+to waft us a little further--it was 15th September ere we came in sight of
+that lovely island, for, stormy and boisterous as the beginning of this
+section of our cruise had proved, not less annoying were the fickle calms,
+which kept us lying for weeks motionless, our sails idly flapping with the
+roll of the ship. It is a wretched depressing state of inactivity and
+discomfort, of which only those can form an idea who have been caught in a
+calm on the open ocean, on board of a sailing ship,--
+
+     "Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luftgeflüster; Wenn Meer und
+        Himmel schweigend sich umschlingen, Und fromm, fast wie zwei
+      betende Geschwister."
+
+Which may be freely translated as follows:
+
+              "When ocean smooths his wrinkled face,
+              And sea and sky in pray'rful silence bend,
+                As when, in mutual fond embrace,
+              Two loving sisters' vows on high ascend!"
+
+The original is by Nicolas Lenau.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[126] Compare Gutzlaff's "History of the Chinese Empire," published by K.
+Neumann; Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1847.
+
+[127] The copper cash is the sole currency in use, and consists of a
+mixture of copper, iron, and tin. Its value, reckoned by the string of
+100, is variable, and is calculated according to the proportional traffic
+in foreign merchandise. On the average, from 1250-1300 cash are about
+equal to $1.00 American, or 4_s._ 2_d._ English.
+
+[128] In Shanghai the medium of exchange in common use is not as at
+Hong-kong reckoned in dollars, but in taels, an imaginary currency of the
+value of about $1.33, so that 100 taels = $133-1/3, or about £27 15_s._
+Most accounts are rendered in taels, whence they are reduced into Mexican
+dollars, the only foreign silver that is current. When European merchants
+first came in contact with the children of the Flowery Land, the latter
+used to pay a sort of premium for American dollars, while for those
+bearing the effigies of Charles III. (known as the Karolus dollar), quite
+a special price was paid. Gradually, however, the value sank till, as
+already mentioned, 75 taels=$100. What has so often been reported of a
+special Shanghai dollar coinage is quite erroneous. There are neither gold
+nor silver coins struck in China, but solely of copper, and in some
+provinces of iron. The term Shanghai dollar is equivalent to tael, which,
+as already remarked, is, like the guinea in England, unknown to commerce.
+1 tael=5_s._ 7_d._ English, but in trade it is taken as 6_s._ It
+occasionally rises as high as 6_s._ 6_d._, when the proportion between the
+dollar and the tael is as 100 to 72.
+
+[129] An English translation of one of these reports will be found in the
+1845 number of Morrison's admirably edited, but now rather rarely met
+with, monthly periodical, "The Chinese Repository."
+
+[130] We occasionally saw the Queen of Heaven (Kwan-Yin) represented with
+a child in her arms, and have in our possession a piece of carved work
+representing such a group, which we purchased in a shop at Shanghai. This
+elegant figure seems to be a favourite deity with the Chinese, as it
+frequently adorns their little domestic altars, and is especially
+reverenced by the women who are desirous of the honours of maternity. The
+striking similarity between this exhibition and that of the Holy Virgin,
+as we see her represented in Catholic Churches, with the infant Jesus in
+her arms, must involuntarily suggest the idea that there has been an
+infusion of Catholicism intermingled here with the rites of Buddha. If the
+resemblance between the two is not accidental, it may readily be assumed
+that the same thing has occurred here as in the case of certain Christian
+legends, which the traveller encounters among various races, on whom the
+beams of Christian civilization have never been shed.
+
+[131] The price of each meal is as follows:--
+
+  1 bowl of rice,                                   12 cash (1/2 _d._)
+  1    "    vegetables,                              "  "   (1/2 _d._)
+  1 cup of tea,                                      6  "   (1/4 _d._)
+  Breakfast, consisting usually of rice,
+      vegetables, and tea,                          30  "   (1-1/4 _d._)
+  Bed, fire, and attendance,                        20  "   (7/8 _d._)
+
+[132] This sacrificial paper, coloured and written upon, is usually called
+"Joss" or "Sycee"-paper in Canton-English, because the prayers addressed
+to the Divinity are usually for riches and silver ingots (_Sycee_), which
+the suppliants hope to obtain by entreaty.
+
+[133] Properly spelt _Kong-fu-tséu_, from which the Europeans have
+constructed the Latinized name Confucius. _Kong-fu-tséu_ (sometimes also
+written _Kong-tse_) was born 550 B.C. in the city of Kio-siu-bien, in the
+modern province of Shantung.
+
+[134] Lao-tse (Lao-tseu), born B.C. 504, in the village of Knio-schin, in
+the kingdom of Thsu, held the post of keeper of the archives of the palace
+under the Tscheu dynasty. In his Book of Philosophy (Tao-te-king) the
+following remarkable words occur: "The rule of antiquity has been, not to
+shed light on the people, but to keep them in ignorance. A people that
+comprehends is difficult to govern. On this subject men say, Whoso governs
+a kingdom in knowledge, the same is the destroyer of that kingdom; whoso
+governs a kingdom assigning no reason, the same maintains that kingdom. In
+the family, in the school, children are brought up among idols. When they
+enter school in the morning they are taught to do honour to the image of
+Kong-tse. This custom must be forthwith dispensed with." (Compare J. R.
+Kaeuffer's History of Eastern Asia, for "Friends of the History of
+Mankind," Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1859, vol. ii. p. 64, and K. F. Neumann's
+Eastern Asiatic History, Leipzig, W. Engilmann, 1861, p. 129.)
+
+[135] Copper coins, struck by a ruler with whose reign any memorable
+occurrences are associated, command a high price as health-giving amulets.
+Some of these, those, for instance, of the Ming and Sing dynasties, have
+very special healing virtues attributed to them. The currency of
+Tsching-tá (1506-1522) are unfailing preservatives against the perils of
+pregnancy, and the illnesses consequent thereon. Others are held in great
+honour as prophylactics. The mode of application consists in the invalid
+dragging them by a cord over various parts of his body in a certain
+prescribed order.
+
+[136] The Chinese attribute the most marvellous healing powers to water,
+and accordingly apply it in a variety of forms, in numbers of maladies of
+the most dissimilar character. Water, cold, tepid, warm, and hot, as also
+snow and iced-water, figure among the list of medicaments, as do also
+rain-water, well and river-water, brackish water, dew, water from any eddy
+or whirlpool, or a stream, boiling water, and steam.
+
+[137] The Chinese women are for this reason anxious to keep their children
+at the breast for two or three years and even longer, partly by way of
+speculating upon their having a constant breast of milk, and in this
+singular manner make up for any deficiency of cow's milk, between the
+market demand and the actual supply. A Chinese who possesses five or six
+concubines in addition to his legitimate spouse, may thus boast of a
+regular dairy farm. As sailors on arriving in port are usually excessively
+fond of milk, which they drink in large quantities, we were not a little
+amazed on learning from a physician at Hong-kong the source whence in all
+probability had been derived the milk that was so plentifully supplied!
+
+[138] In German _Bruch-porzellan_, in French _porcelaine-craquelée_.
+
+[139] _Description générale de la Chine._
+
+[140] Not alone this oil-cake, but ground horns and bones, hair from the
+beard, and nail-parings, rust, ashes, and even human excrement are used as
+manure. And it is a singular fact that the price of the latter varies
+according to the race of men by whom it has been evacuated. The
+succulently nourished flesh-eating English and Americans are in this
+respect in far greater demand than the more sparely-fed cross-breeds;
+while the Chinese, subsisting almost exclusively upon fish and vegetables,
+are in respect to the value of their _fæces_ as manure, behind every other
+race inhabiting the country. The price of this manure varies with the
+quality from one dollar to three dollars the _picul_. This custom of
+collecting and disposing of human excrement for manure is much more
+extensively observed in the interior of the Empire than in the provinces
+along the coast. "If," writes M. Huc, the well-known missionary,--"if we
+were not aware to what perfection the denizens of the Celestial Empire
+have carried the art of manuring, one would be at a loss how to reconcile
+the fondness of John Chinaman for making money with the conveniences free
+of all charge which the proprietors of the soil everywhere erect for the
+comfort of travellers. There is not a city nor a village in which this is
+not universally the case. In the most crowded streets, or the most
+out-of-the-way abandoned spot, one frequently marvels to find these
+"cabinets" in cane-work, earth, or even masonry. One is almost tempted to
+believe he is in a country where the care to provide plenty of public
+latrines is pushed to the extreme. Utilization, however, furnishes a
+sufficient explanation of all these edifices."
+
+[141] In every part of this extensive empire, travellers encounter these
+national tributes to the memory of distinguished women, and Dr. Medhurst,
+as also Fortune and other authorities upon China, relate numerous
+instances of these remarkable memorials. One of these, an archway of
+stone, is spoken of by Medhurst as of singular beauty. It is half a mile
+from the city of Kwang-Tib, and was erected by the community of that
+region, with the approval of the Emperor, in honour of a lady of that
+city, of singular piety and benevolence. Over the portico are inscribed
+the words "Kin-sin-tsaé-tschung" (a golden and perfect heart precisely in
+the middle).
+
+[142] In the hospital, in what is called the western suburb of Canton,
+which was under the charge of Dr. Hobson from 1848 to 1858, the annual
+number of patients of both sexes under treatment averaged upwards of
+20,000. During the most unhealthy season (May and June) the number
+imploring assistance frequently amounted to from 3000 to 3400. In the
+dispensary there were, moreover, from 200 to 250 patients, who received
+medical advice three times a week, and were supplied with medicaments
+gratuitously.
+
+[143] We saw this huge work in the private library of the chief of the
+medical staff at Hong-kong, Dr. W. A. Harland, who had conceived the idea
+of publishing a more important work upon Chinese drugs, when death struck
+down this distinguished and most industrious gentleman while in the active
+discharge of his duties.
+
+[144] In the Leper village near Canton, which is under the superintendence
+of a Chinese physician, there are about 100 lepers of both sexes, each of
+whom receives about 20 cash (not quite one penny) daily for his support.
+The superintendents stated to Dr. Hobson, who repeatedly visited the
+village, as the result of their many years' experience and observations,
+that leprosy is not in every case transmitted from parents to children;
+that several wives of leprous persons have no trace whatever of the
+disease, but that these women in all probability belong to those of the
+third and fourth generation, who wholly escape. The Chinese overseers and
+attendants, however, can have had as little opportunity for remarking upon
+the breaking out of leprosy among the children of those whose parents were
+entirely exempt from it as they had of informing themselves with accuracy
+as to the various forms and rapid diffusion of the disease in the case of
+the one, or its mild type and gradual disappearance in the other.
+Perspiration or suppuration in the diseased parts are never remarked in
+these patients.
+
+[145] At the Refuge for the Destitute (_Monegu choultry_) at Madras, where
+Dr. Mudge was at the same time instituting experiments lasting over two
+years, exhibiting these same remedies in every form and shape of
+elephantiasis, to which cases a special ward had been set apart, rarely
+entertaining fewer than 100 patients, that gentleman found it to be
+perfectly inoperative, and he accordingly entirely ceased prescribing it.
+In lieu of the Tscharul Mugra, the Hindoos in cases of leprosy make use of
+what are known as the "Asiatic pills," consisting of arsenic, pepper, and
+the root of the _Asclepia gigantea_.
+
+[146] In an old Chinese medical work occurs the following remarks upon the
+plant: "Tae-fung-tzi. Taste, acrid and burning: imported from the South
+(this obviously alludes to the Straits of Malacca). Acts as an alterative
+on the blood, and is accordingly useful in cases of leprosy, when the
+blood is corrupted. The oil pressed from the seeds is also used as a
+remedy in ulcers, eruptions, and psoriasis, and for killing worms. This
+drug must be exhibited in the form of pills."
+
+[147] Geography, Statistics, and Natural History of the Chinese
+Empire--New York, 1847; Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese language--Canton,
+1856; Chinese Commercial Guide. Fourth edition--Canton, 1856.
+
+[148] In the figures of the Chinese original, which represents the
+Lo-háu-miáu or Buddhist aboriginal, Buddha is represented in a cavity of a
+rock. Two burning lamps are standing beside him, one on each side, and in
+front are two worshippers in devotional attitudes, while at a short
+distance one perceives a woman with a little child, who is approaching the
+divinity. The men wear fox-tails as ornaments to the head, and their long
+locks hang loose and dishevelled, far below the shoulders. Every year on
+the third day of the third moon, our Chinese traveller goes on to state,
+old and young, man, woman, and child, bring offerings of fruit to Buddha,
+and for that and the three next succeeding days, they sing and dance, and
+at the same time make offerings of all manner of _cooked_ food. From their
+custom of wearing a fox-tail on their heads, which was also common among
+the ancestors of the present Mantchoos, and that these wild tribes
+reverence the image of Buddha, Dr. Bridgman is disposed to class them
+amongst foreign nations.
+
+[149] Among these there were, besides a small quantity of Sorghum, several
+species of vegetables, which are suited for cultivation in temperate
+climates, such, for example, as Poussén, Pa-tsé, Pon-ta-tsé, with which
+since our return experiments have been instituted in various parts of the
+Austrian Empire. M. de Montigny has also since our return sent, quite
+lately, a large quantity of Chinese seeds by way of souvenir, and despite
+illness, is so much interested in forwarding the objects of the Imperial
+Expedition, that he was a short time ago decorated with an Austrian order.
+
+[150] We are however in a position to furnish an extract from the
+note-book of an English sailor, left in charge of the yacht of an English
+merchant at Shanghai, who accompanied the expedition of Lord Elgin to the
+Pei-ho as coxswain. Notwithstanding the occasional _naïve_ expressions
+made use of, it is a valuable narrative, such as may call up many strange
+reflections in the mind of the reader:--
+
+"1858. May 30th.--The river Pei-ho is about 150 yards wide at its mouth,
+and at dead low water varies from 1-1/2 to 4-1/2 fathoms in depth. On the
+bar, which is two miles wide, the difference between the ebb and the flood
+is from 9 to 10 feet. Easterly winds cause the highest tides. In the
+interior, near Tien-Tsin, the river is from 3 to 6 fathoms deep, and from
+50 to 100 fathoms wide. Countless villages stud the banks. The houses are
+built of clay or straw. The boys run about naked to an age of eight years.
+It is a very wretched population. The coolies plunge into the water after
+the empty bottles which are swimming about. They seem exceedingly willing
+to be serviceable to foreigners. At Tien-Tsin, ten and a half hours from
+the mouth of the river, the thermometer marks 89° Fahr. in the shade. Lord
+Elgin is living in a private house on shore. The interpreters live in a
+passenger-junk. Provisions are on the whole cheaper than at Shanghai. An
+immense number of natives keep crowding open-mouthed round the
+"barbarians" and their ship during the entire day, hundreds following us
+at every step. Almost all the shops are shut, through dread of the
+barbarians."
+
+"4th June.--Thermometer 95°. The people very willing to supply the
+strangers with water, tea, &c. The natives are on the average from five to
+five feet three and well-proportioned. Some of them are "tremendously"
+fat, with huge heads. Among the entire lot I could not see one single
+woman. The streets are narrow, filthy, and uneven. Saw several hand-carts,
+which were used to convey water from the river to the village. On each
+barrow there could be from six to eight buckets of water. There were also
+plenty of mules and donkeys, but very few horses."
+
+"June 18.--This day the Russian minister concluded his treaty. A Russian
+courier starts to-morrow for St. Petersburg with dispatches."
+
+"June 26th.--At 6 P.M. to-day the treaty with England was signed. Went in
+procession to the town. All the shipping dressed with flags, and manned
+yards. The festivities went off in the Yamun. Lord Elgin sat at the middle
+table, with a Mandarin on each side of him. I hear their names were
+Wa-schu-nau and Kwei-liang. The first-named is a strong, corpulent man of
+about 45; the latter is much older, and seemed very much dejected; he has
+however just recovered from sickness, which may account for it. After the
+ceremonies of signing and sealing had been gone through, they all partook
+of refreshments provided by the Mandarin. Lord Elgin proposed a toast to
+the health of the Emperor of China, and to the future friendship of the
+two nations, which was responded to by the Mandarins. Shortly after the
+assembly broke up, and we all marched home to the excellent music of the
+flag-ship's band and the bugles of the marines. The whole affair lasted
+about three hours and a half. It was full moon, and a splendid night.
+
+"June 27th.--This afternoon the treaty with the French was signed.
+Returned to their ships by torch-light, port-fires, &c. &c. Ki-ying, the
+Mandarin who assisted in bringing about the treaty, was sentenced to be
+decapitated, as he was blamed for opening the door to the barbarians, but
+he has since been pardoned."
+
+"July 3rd.--News came from Pekin that Ki-ying has committed suicide by
+cutting his throat."
+
+"July 4th.--Thermometer 96° on board, despite awnings and sprinkling the
+roof of the wheel-house with water!"
+
+"July 6th.--Left Tien-Tsin. After a long, tedious, and tiresome passage of
+15 days we reached Shanghai once more on 21st July, all well.
+
+"Price of provisions at Tien-Tsin, as contracted for on 28th May, for the
+supply of the English fleet:--
+
+  Oxen (average weight 4 piculs, or 533 lbs.), the carcase      $10
+  Sheep,                                         "                2
+  Hens,                                        per dozen          1
+  Geese and ducks,                               "                2
+  Eggs,                                        per thousand       3
+  Vegetables,                               picul=133-1/2 lbs.  1.50
+  Rice,                                          "                5
+  Sugar,                                         "                6
+  Yams,                                        per dozen          1
+  Pears,                                       per hundred        1
+  Apples,                                        "              1.50
+  Ice,                                         per lb.           16
+
+"All articles to be delivered of the best quality. The prices are reckoned
+in American dollars. Every morning a boat was sent off to the
+_Coromandel_, on board which the purchases took place."
+
+[151] The Táu-Tái, whose authority extends over the three prefectures of
+Soo-Chow, Sung-Kiang, and Tai-tsing in the north-east of the province of
+Kiang-ti, is under the governor of Soo-chow, and has resided at Shanghai
+ever since that port was thrown open to trade. His salary by law is only
+4000 _taels_ (£1445), but the various perquisites and emolument attached
+to it make his actual income about 365,000 _taels_ or £105,000 per annum;
+out of which he has, however, to defray all expenses of subordinates, &c.;
+so that the net annual income of this post is estimated at from 25,000 to
+30,000 _taels_ (£7000 to £8700). Besides the Táu-Tái there is only the
+Tschi-hien, a sort of magistrate who lives in Shanghai, and trades with
+the foreigners.
+
+[152] As another example of an interview with the highest class of Chinese
+officials, we must briefly describe one enjoyed by some of our Expedition
+with a Mandarin named Li-hoi-wan. He received them in a chamber of his
+house, in which were a few small tables and chairs, while at the other end
+was an elevated cushioned seat on which sate Li-hoi-wan, a large stout
+man. He wore a Mandarin hat, with a blue button, and a greyish blue coat
+reaching to the ground. He saluted the foreigners by folding his palms
+across his breast, invited them to be seated on the daïs beside him, and
+ordered cigars and tea to be brought. Afterwards sweetmeats of every
+description, confectionery, and fruit were served, as also Chinese wines,
+the latter, to judge by their flavour and their fragrance, seeming as
+though they must have hailed from a perfumery store rather than a wine
+cellar. Two days after the Chinese, with delicate courtesy, returned the
+visit at their quarters in the residence of M. Probst, the Consul for
+Oldenburg. Punctually at the appointed hour three far-resounding taps of
+the gong were heard, a foot-soldier of police presented a flaming red
+"_carte de viste_," bearing the name and titles of Li-hoi-wan, who
+forthwith was received by the travellers at the threshold, in compliance
+with Chinese customs. He was attired in heavy silk clothes, his fan in an
+elegantly worked sheath, a gold lever watch in his girdle, and was in
+excellent spirits. The hospitable host had, according to the custom of the
+country, prepared a chow-chow, or collation, at which, however, instead of
+Samschoo, champagne was the prevailing beverage. A few days later the
+Mandarin visited his newly acquired friends on board the frigate, and
+begged their acceptance of a variety of presents, such as silks, nuts,
+tea, dried fruits, and Chinese maxims and proverbs, written on long rolls
+of paper, that, as he naïvely expressed it, we might think of him "as a
+brother."
+
+[153] Mr. Hogg has since left that firm, and with his brother, Mr. Edward
+J. Hogg, has established the firm of Hogg Brothers, in Shanghai.
+
+[154] Under the Emperor Yang-ti of the Tsin dynasty, which filled the
+throne during the 6th century, more than 1600 miles of canals were partly
+constructed, partly rebuilt and repaired, the immense works being
+distributed among the soldiery and the inhabitants of the cities and
+villages. Each family was bound to furnish one man, between the ages of 15
+and 20, whom the Government only found in provisions. The soldiers, on
+whom devolved the heaviest portion of the work, received higher pay. Some
+of these canals, which were the making of the commerce of the interior,
+and thus were of the utmost service to the welfare of the Empire, were
+forty feet wide, and were planted on either bank with elms and willows.
+
+[155] These lanterns, often beautifully carved and otherwise adorned, are
+among the most characteristic furniture of a Chinese room. Into their
+manufacture enter not alone glass, horn, silk, paper, &c., but also the
+glutinous matter derived from a species of sea-tangle (_Gigartina
+tenax_--called by the Malays _Agar-Agar_), with which the paper employed
+in covering the sides of the lantern is fastened on. In the silk and paper
+manufactures too this omnipresent Agar-Agar paste plays so important a
+part, that above 500 piculs at $2 a picul, are annually imported from the
+Indian Archipelago.
+
+[156] Vide Huc's Chinese Empire, Vol. I.
+
+[157] The Chinese find it not less inexplicable that we use such
+murderous-looking instruments to divide and convey our food to our mouths,
+with which they think we must every moment be in danger of wounding our
+lips or putting our eyes out, than that we should remove the bones from
+the flesh, or crack the shells of nuts and almonds, both which operations
+seem to them excessively absurd. In fact, it is no mere bon-mot which
+represents a Chinese gazing in astonishment at Europeans playing
+billiards, or nine-pins, waltzing, or "polking," and remarking, with an
+ill-concealed assumption of superiority, that wealthy people ought to
+leave such fatiguing things to be done by their servants!!
+
+[158] Since the well-known minister and envoy to Japan.
+
+[159] Since sacked by the Tai-ping rebels.
+
+[160] Abandoned after a large part of the course of the Yang-tse had been
+explored. Lieutenant-Colonel Sarel published lately a most interesting and
+valuable pamphlet on this expedition, of which he was the leader, under
+the title, "Notes on the River Yang-tse-kiang from Hankow to Ping-Shan.
+Hong-kong, Printed at Noronka's office."
+
+[161] Report of the deputation, appointed by the British Chamber of
+Commerce in Shanghai, on the commercial capabilities of ports and places
+on the Yang-tse-kiang visited by the expedition under Vice-Admiral Sir
+James Hope, K.C.B., in February and March, 1861. Supplement to the China
+Overland Trade Report of 28th Feb. and 27th May, 1861, and Supplement to
+the Overland China Mail, No. 237 of 12th June, 1861.
+
+[162] According to Dr. W. H. Medhurst's translation of this rare work, for
+a copy of which, rescued from the last great conflagration at Canton, we
+are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Wylie, the portion especially
+referring to this runs as follows: "The mulberry ground having been
+supplied with silk-worms, the people descended from the hills and dwelt in
+the plains," (p. 91,) and further on, "their tribute baskets were filled
+with black silks and checkered sarsenets" (p. 96). See Ancient China,
+[Chinese character(s)] The Shookin, or the Historical Classic. Being the
+most ancient authentic Records of the Annals of the Chinese Empire.
+Illustrated by later commentators. Translated by Dr. W. H. Medhurst, Sen.
+Shanghai, 1846.
+
+[163] Thus Yuen-tschin in the third month (April of our calendar), Chay
+and Yuen in the fourth month (May), Gae-tschin in the fifth month (June),
+Sai in the sixth month (July), Han-tschin in the seventh month (August),
+Szé-tschan in the ninth month (October), and Haù in the tenth month
+(November).
+
+[164] The value of a tael, as already stated, varies from 6_s._ to 6_s._
+6_d._ It is estimated that a bale of silk, until it is shipped at Shanghai
+for England, has cost from £80 to £100 sterling.
+
+[165] The word _Châ_ is, however, used by the Chinese to designate not the
+tea plant alone, but every description of _Camelia_.
+
+[166] Arabian travellers who visited China in the 9th century, A.D. 850,
+speak thus early of tea, as of a beverage in universal use. According to
+Kämpfer tea was introduced from China into Japan about A.D. 519, by a
+native prince named Dæme, who, during his residence in China, had learned
+its invaluable properties. The Japanese, however, do not drink their tea
+as an infusion, but grind the leaves into powder, pour hot water upon
+them, and stir them with a bamboo-stick till they are thoroughly mingled
+together, when they swallow the decoction and the powder together, as is
+done with coffee in some parts of Asia.
+
+[167] The term "Bohea" is in fact only a corruption of the Chinese Wu-yi,
+which again is derived from Wu-i-kien, a well-known Chinese divinity.
+
+[168] In Java, where the tea plant has been cultivated for a series of
+years, the mountain region from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea, and with
+an average temperature of from 58°.1 to 73°.7, Fahr., has been found best
+adapted for the growth of the plant.
+
+[169] The first scientific arrangement of the tea plant according to dried
+specimens was made in 1753 by Linnæus, who in his _Species Plantarum_
+included among these one species, which he called _Thea Sinensis_. But by
+the time the second edition of his renowned work made its appearance in
+1762, Linnæus found himself compelled to make two species of it, and to
+assign them the names by which they are known to the present day. The
+first living tea plant was brought to Europe in October, 1763, by a ship
+captain named Ekeberg, and planted in the Botanic Garden of Upsala.
+
+[170] According to Fortune ("A Residence among the Chinese." London, 1857.
+Murray), the various sorts of tea have added to them from two to four
+spoonfuls of a mixture in which the plant _ma-ki-holy_ largely enters, as
+also indigo and pulverized _gypsum_, in order to increase the green tinge
+of the leaves.
+
+[171] A picul, 133-1/3 lbs., of these leaves costs on the average 15 to 18
+dollars, though it occasionally ranges as high as 30 dollars.
+
+[172] In the year 1859, the exports into England were 30,988,598 lbs.
+(viz. 22,292,702 lbs. black, and 8,695,896 lbs. green), out of a total
+export of 55,328,731 lbs. Within the same period 19,952,147 lbs. went to
+the United States, 1,879,584 lbs. to Australia; to Hong-kong, and other
+ports along the coast of China, 1,261,347 lbs.; to Montreal, 510,600 lbs.,
+and to the entire continent of Europe 736,455 lbs.
+
+[173] Some experiments on a small scale were made with the _Sorgho_ at
+Aquileia near Görz, by M. Karl Ritter, a well-known merchant and sugar
+refiner, of Trieste. We were shown samples of refined sugar, extracted
+from the _Sorgho_, which promised the best results. A large quantity of
+seeds which were sent a year ago to one of the members of the _Novara_
+Expedition by M. de Montigny, had been made use of to institute a series
+of experiments in cultivation, in those parts of the Empire, the climatic
+conditions of which promised to be most favourable for the growth of the
+_Sorgho_.
+
+[174] During our stay at Shanghai we also made inquiries as to an alleged
+new species of potato, concerning which there have been current for years
+such contradictory accounts in the European and American journals, that
+the foreign community of Shanghai was beset with inquiries from all parts
+of the world, begging for more accurate information as to this newly
+discovered tuber, which promised to supply a much-needed substitute for
+the apparently effete, worn-out, disease-smitten potato of Peru. No one,
+however, could furnish us with the slightest information on the subject,
+and ultimately it became apparent that the rumours hitherto current were
+founded on an erroneous impression. It would seem, according to the
+opinion of Mr. Fortune, that the rumour first arose from mistaking for a
+new sort of potato, the _Calladium esculentum_, which is quite commonly
+exposed for sale in the streets of Shanghai, and the small tubers of
+which, both in flavour and external appearance, resemble those of the
+potato, when, without taking the slightest further trouble to inquire into
+the matter, the pretended new discovery, fraught with such important
+results for the poorer classes, was duly trumpeted to the entire world. In
+no part of China hitherto accessible was there at the time of our visit
+any other description of potato in use than the common Peruvian. Officers
+of the English and American navies, who at the time of the first Peace of
+Tien-Tsin were eating potatoes in the Gulf of Petcheli, assured us that
+they were precisely identical with those that have so long been
+acclimatized in Europe. Of edible tubers there are at Shanghai, besides
+potatoes, the yam (_Dioscorea_ sp.) and the Yucca (_Jatropha_ sp.).
+
+[175] The following is the process as we observed it: the bamboo strips
+are first soaked for a considerable period in water, after which they are
+peeled, and again saturated with lime-water, until they are perfectly
+flexible. After this, they are converted, according to the method in use
+at that special locality, either by water power or hand labour, into a
+fluid of a pap-like viscosity, after which it is boiled till it has
+attained the requisite fineness and consistency for conversion into paper.
+
+[176] These consist chiefly of cotton and woollen goods of every
+description, steel cutlery, iron-ware, glass, clocks, watches, musical
+clocks, tin-ware, &c.
+
+[177] The quantity of home-grown opium, chiefly produced in the province
+of Yun-nán, cannot be accurately ascertained, as the returns are not made
+at certain points; but the quantity must fall far short of the amount
+imported from India.
+
+[178] According to MacCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, opium had been
+introduced into China and India by the commencement of the 16th century by
+Mahometan merchants, and it sounds like an apology when the learned and
+patriotic author, in treating of the part taken by England in the
+much-to-be-lamented traffic in this noxious drug, adds by way of
+palliation--"A century and a half before the English had _anything_
+whatever to do with its _cultivation_."--(Latest edition, p. 939.)
+
+[179] Only a certain number (originally twelve) of wealthy Chinese
+merchants, "Hong," were permitted by law to trade with foreigners at
+Canton. They had not only to account to Government for all duties and
+taxes, but were likewise responsible for the good behaviour of the
+strangers!
+
+[180] It is a coincidence worthy of notice, that simultaneously with the
+rise of the opium trade with China, the importation of slaves into America
+began to increase, and that European commerce in these two infamous
+traffics seemed to be ever increasing and gaining ground in Eastern Asia
+and in America! At the end of last century the number of slaves in the
+Southern States of the Union was little greater than that of opium-smokers
+in China: at present the number of the former is about 4,000,000, and the
+latter may be put at about the same figure; the latter, slaves of their
+own intemperate passions,--the former, of the covetousness and cold
+calculating selfishness of their masters. The opium question and the slave
+question--these two seem destined to be solved simultaneously!
+
+[181] A very similar result is arrived at by MacCulloch, who calculates
+that the Company cleared 7_s._ 6_d._ per lb. on opium, which they bought
+by their agents from the Bengal ryots at 3_s._ 6_d._ per pound, and
+retailed at 11_s._ per pound.
+
+[182] There are indeed smokers who smoke their two, four, five, and even
+eight drachms per diem, but these are solitary instances, while the very
+costliness of the article forbids the use of the narcotic to the great
+mass of the population, except in the very smallest quantities.
+
+[183] One poem of the Chinese Imperial Pretender, which is not included in
+Dr. Medhurst's collection of the writings published by the insurgent press
+at Nankin, and for a copy of which we have to thank Mr. Meadows,
+Government interpreter at Shanghai, has lately been translated by our
+learned countryman, Dr. Pfitzmaier. The splendidly got up binding of this
+little book is of a golden yellow on the title page, and red on the
+reverse; the river Yang-tse-kiang appears to pay homage to the Tai-ping,
+whose residence it surrounds. The title printed on the exterior of the
+wrapper runs as follows: "Imperial announcements in theses upon the words
+of the Heavenly Father, the Most High Ruler." The title within is: "Ten
+poems upon Supreme Felicity," although these so-called poems are simply
+strophes, never exceeding four verses of seven feet. The writing bears
+date the number _Kuei-hao_ (50), corresponding to A.D. 1853, the third
+year of the reign of the Heavenly King, Tai-ping. The whole production is,
+if that be possible, yet more bombastic, unintelligible, and stupid than
+Chinese poems usually are to Western readers.
+
+[184] Between February and September, 1855, there were executed in Canton
+70,000 persons all told. Many of the rebel leaders were, in conformity
+with the _penal laws_, hewed in numerous pieces while yet living; a
+certain Kausin in 108! See K. F. Neumann's History of Eastern Asia, from
+the first Chinese war to the Treaty of Pekin, 1840-1860. Leipzig,
+Engelmann, 1861.
+
+[185] We extract from the _London and China Telegraph_ of 31st March,
+1862, the following severe but just criticism on this gentleman, whose
+letter, which we also quote, shows him to be a person of but limited
+education:--"Even the Rev. J. Roberts, who, as our readers are aware, has
+lived with the rebels at Nankin, and has to his discredit defended their
+conduct in the strongest possible manner, has at length discovered that
+they are nothing better than robbers and murderers. This change of opinion
+in a man who on all occasions so confidently urged the claims of the
+Tai-pings, arose from a very simple cause:--he at length suffered,
+personally, from their barbarity. A servant to whom he was attached was
+killed before his eyes; and considering his life in danger, he fled to
+Shanghai, and wrote the following letter, dated 22nd January, 1862,
+reprobating the conduct of his former friends:--'From having been the
+religious teacher of Hung Sow-chuen in 1847, and hoping that
+good--religious, commercial, and political--would result to the nation
+from his elevation, I have hitherto been a friend to his revolutionary
+movement, sustaining it by word and deed, as far as a missionary
+consistently could, without vitiating his higher character as an
+ambassador of Christ. But after living among them fifteen months, and
+closely observing their proceedings--political, commercial, and
+religious--I have turned over entirely a new leaf, and am now as much
+opposed to them, for good reasons, I think, as I was ever in favour of
+them. Not that I have aught personally against Hung Sow-chuen, he has been
+exceedingly kind to me. But I believe him to be a crazy man, entirely
+unfit to rule, without any organized government, nor is he, with his
+coolie-kings, capable of organizing a government of equal benefit to the
+people of even the old Imperial Government. He is violent in his temper,
+and lets his wrath fall heavily upon his people, making a man or woman 'an
+offender for a word,' and ordering such instantly to be murdered without
+'judge or jury.' He is opposed to commerce, having had more than a dozen
+of his own people murdered since I have been here, for no other crime than
+trading in the city, and has promptly repelled every foreign effort to
+establish lawful commerce here among them, whether inside of the city or
+out. His religious toleration and multiplicity of chapels turn out to be a
+farce, of no avail in the spread of Christianity, worse than useless. It
+only amounts to a machinery for the promotion and spread of his own
+political religion, making himself equal with Jesus Christ, who, with God
+the Father, himself, and his own son constitute one Lord over all! Nor is
+any missionary, who will not believe in his divine appointment to this
+high equality, and promulgate his political religion accordingly, safe
+among these rebels, in life, servants, or property. He told me soon after
+I arrived that if I did not believe in him, I would perish, like the Jews
+did for not believing in the Saviour. But little did I then think that I
+should ever come so near it, by the sword of one of his own miscreants, in
+his own capital, as I did the other day. Kan-Wang, moved by his elder
+brother (literally a coolie at Hong-kong) and the devil, without the fear
+of God before his eyes, did, on Monday the 13th inst., come into the house
+in which I was living, then and there most wilfully, maliciously, and with
+malice aforethought, murder one of my servants with a large sword in his
+own hand in my presence, without a moment's warning or any just cause. And
+after having slain my poor harmless, helpless boy, he jumped on his head
+most fiend-like and stamped it with his foot; notwithstanding I besought
+him most entreatingly from the commencement of his murderous attack to
+spare my poor boy's life. And not only so, but he insulted me myself in
+every possible way he could think of, to provoke me to do or say something
+which would give him an apology, as I then thought and I think yet, to
+kill me, as well as my dear boy, whom I loved like a son. He stormed at
+me, seized the bench on which I sat with the violence of a madman, threw
+the dregs of a cup of tea in my face, seized hold of me personally, and
+shook me violently, struck me on my right cheek with his open hand; then,
+according to the instruction of my King for whom I am ambassador, I turned
+the other, and he struck me quite a sounder blow on my left cheek with his
+right hand, making my ear ring again; and then perceiving that he could
+not provoke me to offend him in word or deed, he seemed to get the more
+outrageous, and stormed at me like a dog, to be gone out of his presence.
+'If they will do these things in a green tree, what will they do in the
+dry?'--to a favourite of Teen Wang's, who can trust himself among them,
+either as a missionary or a merchant? I then despaired of missionary
+success among them, or any good coming out of the movement--religious,
+commercial, or political--and determined to leave them, which I did on
+Monday, Jan. 20th, 1862.' Mr. Roberts adds that Kan-Wang had refused to
+give up his clothes, books, and journals, and that he had been left in a
+state of destitution. Most persons will agree that he fully deserves any
+amount of suffering that may be inflicted on him. Mr. Roberts has done his
+utmost to delude Europeans as to the true character of the Tai-pings; he
+has kept back some facts, has falsified others, and has acted throughout
+in a manner utterly inconsistent with his assumed character of a Christian
+missionary. On such conduct no comment can be too severe."
+
+[186] Nankin accordingly is usually called now-a-days the "City of the
+Coolie-Kings."
+
+[187] Very similar are the reports made by the English who, in Dec. 1858,
+accompanied Lord Elgin on his voyage of discovery up the Kiang, and
+remained a considerable period among the Tai-ping. "The tenets of their
+religion," says Mr. Laurence Oliphant (vide Earl of Elgin's Mission to
+China and Japan, vol. ii. p. 463), "consist of a singular jumbling of
+Jewish ordinances, Christian theology, and Chinese philosophy. Like the
+Jews in the Old Testament they wage wars of extermination, they live like
+the worst professing Christians, and they believe like--Chinese."
+
+[188] The charges forwarded by the owners of the little _Meteor_ for
+towing, and which are calculated according to the draught of water of the
+ship towed, was as follows:--
+
+  +--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
+  |Itinerary or  |15 feet   |15 to     |17 to     |18 to     |19 ft. &   |
+  |vice versâ.   |and under.|17 feet.  |18 feet.  |19 feet.  |all beyond.|
+  +--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
+  |              |          |          |          |          |           |
+  |From Shanghai |300 taels,|350 taels,|450 taels,|450 taels,|500 taels, |
+  |to Gutzlaff's |or        |or        |or        |or        |or         |
+  |Island.       |£90.      |£105.     |£135.     |£135.     |£150.      |
+  |              |          |          |          |          |           |
+  |Shanghai to   |150 taels,|175 taels,|200 taels,|225 taels,|250 taels, |
+  |Wusung.       |or        |or        |or        |or        |or         |
+  |              |£45.      |£52 10_s._|£60.      |£62 10_s._|£75.       |
+  |              |          |          |          |          |           |
+  |From Wusung   |225 taels,|250 taels,|275 taels,|300 taels,|350 taels, |
+  |to Gutzlaff's |or        |or        |or        |or        |or         |
+  |Island.       |£62 10_s._|£75.      |£82 10_s._|£90.      |£105.      |
+  +--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
+
+[189] Typhoon, or _Teí-fun_, a strong wind. While some authors derive this
+word from the Arabic _Tufan_, a violent wind, others see in it the giant
+_Typhos_ of Greek mythology, who was begotten by Tartarus of Earth, and
+from whom proceeded all that was disastrous and destructive. Whoever has
+experienced a typhoon will most readily acquiesce in the latter
+derivation.
+
+[190] During this storm, we made the not uninteresting observation in a
+physiological point of view, that when the gale was at its worst, even the
+least hard-a-weather of us seemed quite free from sea-sickness, apparently
+the result of extreme excitement. For similar reasons, men who have been
+bitten by a snake, and who have had raw spirits administered as an
+antidote, seem able to take four or five times the quantity which they can
+on ordinary occasions.
+
+
+        [Illustration: Distant View of the Island of Puynipet.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVI.
+
+                       The Island of Puynipet.
+
+                        18th September, 1858.
+
+    Native boats in sight.--A pilot comes on board.--Communications
+    of a white settler.--Another pilot.--Fruitless attempts to tack
+    for the island.--Roankiddi Harbour.--Extreme difficulty in
+    effecting a landing with the boats.--Settlement of Réi.--Dr.
+    Cook.--Stroll through the forest.--Excursions up the Roankiddi
+    River.--American missionaries.--Visit from the king of the
+    Roankiddi tribe.--Kawa as a beverage.--Interior of the royal
+    abode.--The Queen.--Mode of living, habits and customs of the
+    natives.--Their religion and mode of worship.--Their festivals
+    and dances.--Ancient monumental records and their probable
+    origin.--Importance of these in both a historical and geological
+    point of view.--Return on board.--Suspicious conduct of the
+    white settler.--An asylum for contented delinquents.--Under
+    weigh for Australia.--Belt of calms.--Simpson Island.--"It must
+    be a ghost!"--Bradley Reef.--A Comet.--The Salmon Islands.--
+    Rencontre with the natives of Malaýta.--In sight of Sikayana.
+
+
+While yet, on 16th September, 1858, five or six knots distant from the
+island of Puynipet,[191] first discovered in 1828 by the Russian Admiral
+Lütke, and just as we found ourselves off what is called "Middle Harbour,"
+we remarked a boat of European construction making for the frigate. Two
+hours later it came alongside, with four natives and a white man, the
+latter of whom came on deck and offered his services to the Commodore as
+pilot. He proved to be a Yankee named Alexander Tellet, who had lived 20
+years on the island as smith and carpenter, to which he added the
+functions of pilot for the harbour in which he lived. Presently we were
+surrounded by a considerable number of natives in elegant canoes streaked
+with red, and formed of hollowed-out trunks of trees with outriggers,
+which have very peculiar scaffold-like supports, so that there is a kind
+of platform formed in the centre of the canoe, whereon the master usually
+seats himself, but which serves on occasion for festive meetings, and even
+for a small dance! The sails, made of mats, are triangular, the most acute
+angle being confined between two long bamboos, while a third serves as a
+mast, the whole capable of being shifted to either end of the boat by one
+of the crew, according to the direction of the wind. While some were doing
+what they could in their small boats to keep within the speed of the
+frigate, though we were going pretty fast, just as parasites make fast to
+the shark, others followed us a little distance, like dolphins, those
+faithful companions of ships, as far as the nearest harbour. With the
+exception of a short apron of cocoa-palm leaves, the natives were quite
+naked, and seemed pretty well made. On their heads they wore a sort of
+projecting pent-hat, also of palm-leaves, obviously intended to shield
+the eyes from the vertical rays of the sun, and in form most resembling
+those lamp shades which old men or youths with weak eyesight are with us
+in the habit of using to ward off the full glare of artificial light.
+Among the natives who favoured us with their escort, there were two who
+from their personal grace, their light colour of skin, and thoroughly
+European cast of features, especially attracted our attention. They were
+the sons of an Englishman named Hadley, who had been for many years
+resident on Mudock island, E. of Puynipet, where he supported himself by
+fishing and pilotage, and had married a native woman. Shortly before our
+arrival, Hadley had started with several hundred pounds of tortoise-shell
+for Hong-kong, whence he intended to sail for England. He had intrusted
+his two sons to the care of a European settler, who succeeded him as pilot
+on Mudock island. According to all appearance, however, Hadley had little
+intention of returning to this island, notwithstanding the family tie that
+should have bound him to it.
+
+As we were coasting along the west side of the island about 1 to 17 miles
+from the reefs, Tellet was overwhelmed with questions on every hand and on
+every possible subject, and among other subjects of information we
+presently found that the chief intercourse of foreign ships was carried on
+with Roankiddi or Lee Harbour, some 15 or 20 miles distant, and Metetemai
+or Foul-weather Harbour, which lies six or seven miles E. of Roankiddi.
+During the N.E. trade (November to April), from 50 to 60 American whalers
+put in to Puynipet to take in wood and water, and fresh provisions,
+chiefly yams, taro, sweet potato, poultry, and pigs. Many ships, moreover,
+bound from Sydney for China prefer at that season the voyage through the
+Pacific to passing round the south of Australia, and thence through the
+Straits of Sunda, or the yet more dangerous passage through Torres
+Straits, and usually make a tolerably fast run. Thus the Swedish corvette
+_Eugénie_, on her voyage round the globe, performed in November, 1852, the
+astonishing feat of making the passage from Sydney to Hong-kong, 5000
+miles, in the unprecedentedly short space of 37 days!
+
+The number of aborigines on this island, which is about 60 miles in
+circumference, was estimated by Tellet at about 2000. Formerly it was as
+many as 5000,[192] but the small-pox had since then committed fearful
+ravages among the population. The circumstances under which this frightful
+scourge was first introduced into Puynipet, throw considerable light upon
+the history of the spread of that disease, as well as much useful
+information upon the question of vaccination.
+
+In 1854, the English barque _Delta_ arrived at Roankiddi Harbour, with
+one of her crew ill with small-pox. The white settlers then on the island,
+who were well acquainted with the virulence of the disease, implored the
+native chief to forbid the captain's remaining, and insist on his putting
+to sea forthwith. The latter, however, seemed determined to leave the
+patient on the island. When he learned the hostile feeling of the
+population to himself and the crew, and found that they would neither take
+his sick man off his hands, nor supply himself and ship's company with
+provisions, he availed himself of the silence and obscurity of night to
+deposit the sick man on the shore with all his property, and at daybreak
+made off under full sail. Next morning the natives found the unfortunate
+wretch stretched suffering and utterly helpless on the strand, while the
+barque was no longer in sight. Hostility to the captain was now converted
+into sympathy with, and active compassion for, the sick man; a couch was
+prepared in an adjacent hut, and as much attention lavished on him as was
+possible under the circumstances; but his effects, consisting chiefly of
+linen and upper clothing, were speedily appropriated by the thievish
+natives. A few weeks later the small-pox broke out with frightful
+violence, and raged five months with undiminished severity all over the
+island. Almost every one of the natives was attacked, and of 5000
+inhabitants 3000 succumbed to the virulence of the epidemic. The sailor,
+however, with whom first originated this terrible fatality, completely
+recovered. His clothing, scattered through every part of the island, had
+no doubt essentially contributed to the speedy diffusion of the malady. Of
+the thirty white settlers, who had all been inoculated, only one was
+attacked, and he soon got well again. In August, 1854, the destroyer
+disappeared almost as suddenly as he came, and has since then spared
+Puynipet a second visit, but wherever one goes the traces of the disease
+are visible in the faces and on the bodies of the natives.
+
+While picking up this information, we were getting nearer and nearer to
+Roankiddi Harbour on the S.W. of the island, and Tellet now stated he
+could not undertake to conduct us further, as there resided a pilot in the
+harbour whom he was not unwilling to give a job to. Another boat was now
+approaching the frigate, which had on board the regular pilot of Roankiddi
+Harbour, a Virginia Negro, named Johnson. Our man Tellet now took his
+leave, and set out in his boat on his return to Middle Harbour. Many a
+longing glance did we cast at the spot, where for the first time we were
+to be privileged to examine the wonders of the coral beds of the South
+Sea. For Puynipet is one of the finest examples known of a lofty island of
+the great ocean regularly hemmed in by wall-like reefs, by far the
+majority of the other islands being mere low "atolls." Unfortunately the
+breeze was unsteady and very light; the sky looked so gloomy and
+threatening that we had to haul off again from the island, and steer to
+the S.E., so as not to approach the reef too closely during the night. In
+the morning we once more neared the island, under the influence of a
+gentle west wind, having run 15 miles out during the night. Gradually the
+small wooded or rocky islets hove in sight again, which, stretching
+northward from the great central mass, 2860 feet in height, surround the
+lofty island like a ring, inside of the wall-reef, which encompasses it at
+a distance of from one to two miles. We tacked about during the whole day
+with light variable winds from the west, and by evening had got
+sufficiently near our anchorage, that every one expected by a last tack to
+fetch it ere night set in, when the breeze suddenly shifted, died away,
+and once more compelled us to withdraw to a safe distance from the island,
+and pass the night under easy sail. At length, on 18th September, a fresh
+leading wind from the westward promised to carry us in without further
+delay.
+
+Right in front of us, and with not a cloud to interrupt the view, lay this
+extinct volcano of an island, densely covered with the most luxuriant
+verdure. Only at its N.E. corner there sprang suddenly into the air a
+naked, castellated rock, about 1000 feet high or so, cut off horizontally
+above, and with perpendicular sides, which we were informed was a small
+island (Dochokoits), separated by a narrow channel from the main island.
+Gradually, on either side of the isle, several rocky points became
+visible, which steadily increased in dimension, and began to stretch
+towards each other, till they looked like a row of pearls densely
+sprinkled in the air above the horizon; after which a number of thin,
+small, white clouds suddenly rose and disappeared above the dark blue
+surface of the sea, flickering here and there like flames. This was our
+first glimpse of the island-reef and the surf-beaten coral, seen under the
+influence of a mirage, when, as is very frequently the case in tropical
+climates, the temperature of the surface of the water, and consequently of
+the immediately adjacent strata of atmosphere, is higher than those next
+above. Having got within about a couple of miles, the dark points resolved
+themselves into verdant cocoa-groves, patches of which adorn the outermost
+reef, while the small clouds now proved to be the tumultuous lash of a
+tremendous blinding surf, on the reef which separated the rise and fall of
+the ocean outside from the smooth placid surface of the broad channel,
+which inside the ring-shaped coral reef forms those singular natural
+canals, on which the natives in their frail canoes can sail right round
+the island, sheltered from the violence of the waves, and which, at those
+places where there is sufficient depth, and a breach in the line of reef
+admits of ingress from without, affords for even large-sized ships a
+secure harbour, according to observation in 6° 47' N., 158° 13' 3'' E.
+
+We now endeavoured to enter between Nahlap Island on the west, covered
+with cocoa-palms and bread-fruit, and Sandy Island on the east, surrounded
+with a belt of raging foam, its coral masses clothed with low scanty
+brushwood. But almost immediately "Halt" was once more the order. In order
+to get into the harbour proper, which lay between two majestic banks of
+coral rising from the level of the sea like an elegantly hewn dock, we
+had to pass through a very narrow channel in the reef, barely 50 fathoms
+wide, which indeed was pretty plainly indicated by the colour of the
+smooth water, besides being well marked out by regular buoys, but winds in
+a direction first westerly and then northwards, and accordingly was
+inaccessible to us with a west wind blowing. There was no alternative but
+to let the anchor go among the naked coral rocks forming the sub-marine
+plateau over which we now lay. But anxiety for the safety of the ship did
+not admit of her being suffered to remain in circumstances so dangerous.
+While therefore the frigate once more made sail, a survey of the island
+and harbour was ordered by a boat expedition.
+
+About 9 A.M. the Commodore, accompanied by some of the scientific staff,
+set off for land in a slim, flat-floored, Venetian gondola, admirably
+adapted for such purposes. When we had passed the twin Nahlap Islands and
+Sandy Island, we found ourselves in a channel about 100 fathoms in length
+by not quite 80 in width, which led directly into the interior of this
+huge basin constructed exclusively by insects, and surrounded by a triple
+wall of coral, an unfathomable, mirror-like pool, in which a ship lies
+calm and motionless as though in a dock. A buoy at the S.W. angle of the
+channel indicates some sunken rocks. On the further side of the coral reef
+one perceives the low-lying group of the Ants' Islands, thickly covered
+with trees. Although our Venetian boat drew hardly any water, we
+nevertheless found great difficulty in advancing in proportion as we
+approached the shore. The fact too that it was ebb-tide served to increase
+the obstacles that beset our progress. Every moment the gondola touched
+upon sand-bank or rock. The utmost caution had therefore to be exercised,
+as we steered for some huts which were visible under the cocoa-palms quite
+close to the shore. Following the deeper more navigable channels, we
+reached the mouth of a river running from N.E., the low swampy soil on
+either side being covered with dense mangrove bushes, but all our efforts
+to push through the thickets so as to reach the huts proved unavailing,
+while the whole soil seemed to be beset with the stumps of the mangrove,
+like so many sharp stakes. After pushing a short distance up this mangrove
+channel, from which on either side smaller channels diverged, we retraced
+our steps, as there was no appearance of the scene changing, nor any
+appearance of human habitation, and endeavoured to reach the land near the
+huts already mentioned, by some of the deeper channels. Just then a white
+settler came to our assistance, who, standing on the shore, indicated to
+us by manual signs the clue out of this labyrinth of coral, and enabled us
+by a less shallow channel to reach one of the few points at which a
+landing is practicable. For at almost every point of the shore the
+mangroves, by the tenacity of their roots, prevent, or at any rate impede,
+the approach of boats, the natives themselves being confined to the use of
+those few spots where rivers or other natural channels afford means of
+access. Close to the shore appeared three wooden huts thatched with
+bamboo and palm-leaves. This was a small colony of whites, whom a singular
+freak of destiny seemed to have cast away upon these islands, where they
+earned their subsistence as wood-cutters, smiths, fishermen, &c. They call
+their settlement Réi. The first hut we entered was inhabited by a
+Scotchman, who called himself "Dr. Cook," and practised as a physician. He
+had lived 26 years on the island. His dwelling consisted of three large
+apartments, which up to a certain height were shut off from each other by
+thin wooden walls, so that the air could circulate freely overhead
+throughout the entire length of the hut. Everything was neat and orderly:
+in the first room, which apparently was used as a surgery, stood a number
+of medicine bottles duly labelled, and crucibles, which at the very first
+glance revealed the avocation of the possessor. Cook, who seemed far past
+the half century, with pale, faded, expressionless features, and a long
+silver-grey beard, clothed in a coarse woollen jacket, and with the huge,
+broad-brimmed, worn-out straw-hat pulled low upon his wrinkled forehead,
+had quite caught the listless, motionless deportment of the natives.
+Nothing roused him, nothing surprised him; it took considerable time to
+elicit from him any reply to our questions. The other white settlers in
+the adjoining islands were not much more communicative; all showed in
+their conduct a certain embarrassment, which left little doubt that theirs
+had not been an altogether blameless life in former days. Most of them
+were surrounded by a number of native wives, who had covered their bodies
+with a powder of an intense yellow, prepared from the _Curcuma longa_,
+and wore merely a piece of calico round the loins, while splendid yellow
+blossoms set off the raven blackness of their long hair.
+
+We now followed up a narrow footpath, which led to a gently-sloping
+eminence behind the huts, and soon found ourselves surrounded by
+bread-fruit trees and banana, while from time to time a black basaltic
+rock cropped out from among the red, marl-like soil, and beautiful small
+lizards with sapphire-blue tails that shone with a metallic lustre, shot
+about with the velocity of an arrow among the stones. The prevailing
+formation, as in almost all the volcanic islands of the Pacific, is an
+amorphous basalt-lava, full of olivin and porphyry. On gaining the summit
+of the hill, we found there a solitary, wretched-looking hut. A dog, a few
+hens, and a phlegmatic native worn away to a shadow, whom the sudden
+appearance of a number of European strangers hardly seemed to rouse from
+his apathy, were the only living creatures visible. On our requesting to
+be furnished with a light, a wrinkled old hag crept out of the hut, and
+handed us a piece of lighted wood. The dusky old woman was presented with
+a cigar, which she forthwith lit, and proceeded to smoke with
+unmistakeable satisfaction. To our request for fresh cocoa-nuts with which
+to quench our thirst, the man, without moving from his place, shouted a
+few words in the direction of the forest, which was speedily replied to,
+when some young girls came forth giggling and romping, who brought us what
+we had asked for, fresh plucked from the slender cocoa-stem, as well as a
+sugar-cane, and some ginger (_Zingiber officinalis_); all these
+refreshments were handed us amid much hilarity by a lot of daughters of
+Eve, young, not the least shy, but by no means attractive, whom a present
+of two small mirrors in return sent away in a state of enthusiastic
+delight. On our return to Dr. Cook's hut on the shore, several natives had
+approached who bartered mussels and fresh fruit for tobacco, which they
+preferred to everything, besides a number of young females, who were
+retailing, from small bags hung round their persons, the different animals
+they had collected the same morning at ebb-tide among the coral reefs.
+
+One of the white settlers offered his services as guide, to pilot us up
+the Roankiddi river as far as a village of the natives about two miles
+inland, where the chief of the nation dwelt, and several American
+missionaries had formed a settlement. Before reaching the main stream,
+which is about 100 feet wide and is densely wooded on either side, we had
+to pass various small branches and canals, which appeared to be
+artificially constructed, and wind about in a succession of extraordinary
+meanderings beneath an elastic covering of conical mangrove roots. For
+about a mile inwards there was nothing but dreary, swampy, unlovely
+mangrove forest, after which the vegetation on either shore began to
+assume an unusually variegated but thoroughly tropical appearance. Palms,
+bread-fruit trees, pandanus trees, papayas, caladias, Barringtonias, were
+the chief representatives of this abounding forest flora. The animals on
+this island seem to be less numerous and less varied; there are no large
+ones at all. Of doves, as also of sand-pipers and parrots, we saw some
+very beautiful species, of which the fowling-pieces of our sportsmen
+furnished numerous specimens for our zoological collection. All along the
+bank of the river and around the hills lay scattered at will, under the
+shade of the most beautiful and abundant vegetation, the dwellings of the
+natives. Near where the pretty Roankiddi falls into the sea, rises on the
+left bank the handsome mission house built of wood, which serves the
+missionaries for school, church, and residence in one. Close by is a stone
+building, which serves as a larder. Unfortunately, the sole missionary,
+Mr. Sturges of Pennsylvania, was absent on a tour of inspection, and only
+his assistant (a native of the Sandwich Islands, who had received his
+education in the States) was at home with his family. A third missionary,
+also a native of the Sandwich Islands, lives at what is called
+Foul-weather Harbour, where he also occupies his time with meteorological
+observations.
+
+The mission, which has been in the island since 1851, is supported at
+considerable expense. A schooner, the property of the American Missionary
+Society, keeps up regular communication with the neighbouring islands and
+the Sandwich Islands, and supplies the missionaries with provisions and
+other necessaries. These industrious, energetic men have quite recently
+made experiments in planting several sorts of vegetables, as also tobacco
+and sugar-cane, nearer their houses, in the hope, if successful, of
+inciting the natives to similar exertions. The great resources at the
+disposal of the Protestant missionaries, and the circumstance that they
+attend to the temporal as well as the eternal weal of their dusky
+neophytes, exhausting their medical skill in illness, educating their
+children, ministering to their wants both by advice and co-operation, must
+be regarded as the main causes of the rapid spread of Protestantism
+throughout the races of the Pacific Ocean. We have seen missions, of which
+the schools, places of worship, and dwelling-houses, constructed of iron,
+were imported from the United States ready made, while the expenses of
+maintenance were defrayed by an annual grant of 20,000 dollars. What a
+gratifying contrast to the wretched appliances with which Catholic oversea
+missions are compelled to eke out a precarious existence!
+
+We landed at a spot where the Roankiddi promised to be navigable for
+vessels of a better class than the hollowed-out canoes of the natives, and
+for the remainder of the distance to the chief's residence we followed a
+footpath through the forest. Close to the landing-place is a large,
+hall-like building, which is used as an assembly-room by the natives on
+the occasion of their festivities. Around the interior of this are ranged
+couches stuffed with straw for families of rank, not unlike berths round a
+ship's cabin. The centre of the hall is set apart for slaves and servants,
+who during these rude réunions are busily employed preparing food and
+drink for strangers. As often as a meeting is deemed necessary,
+invitations are sent off to the various chiefs requesting their
+co-operation. On very important occasions these are intoned through a
+conk. As soon as all are assembled the king lays the subject-matter of the
+debate before them, when every one present is at liberty to express his
+opinion. Frequently these discussions become very animated, especially
+when the orators happen to have partaken too freely of Kawa, when only the
+interference of the less excited chiefs can prevent the disputants from
+coming to blows. When we saw it, there were in the hall of justice, as it
+might be termed, a number of huge, lengthy, but elegant canoes, painted
+red, which gave it rather the appearance of a shed than a festive hall.
+
+The footpath to the chief's residence led through a most beautiful
+tropical landscape. The estate of the Nannekin (as the natives designate a
+king in their own language) was laid out quite in the European fashion,
+and the entrance was indicated by a wooden gateway. The house itself, a
+lengthy oblong of wood and cane-work, with a roof of palm-leaves, and
+built upon a sort of platform of two or three courses of stone, and
+furnished in every part with numerous large apertures serving as windows,
+presented from without a very comfortable, even imposing appearance; but
+the interior was bare, ill-equipped, and sadly out of order. A row of
+wooden columns, irregularly cut, and partially covered with gay-coloured
+stuffs, running parallel with the thin exterior walls, formed a narrow
+passage, a closer view of which was, however, shut off by cotton hangings
+stretching across. The clothes and other property of the family hung here
+at random, suspended from pegs and lines all round the wide hall, and in
+the middle a hole had been excavated, which apparently was intended for a
+fire-place. Among the articles of furniture we specially noticed a large
+iron chest, with iron clampings, and a very singular-looking loom, on
+which a fabric was being woven in variegated colours. The chief was not at
+home, and had to be summoned, his timely absence affording an excellent
+opportunity for examining the environs of the palace a little more
+closely. In immediate proximity were a number of bread-fruit trees
+(_Dong-dong_), the fruit of which forms the staple diet of the natives,
+and has long been prepared by them in quite a unique manner.
+
+The bread-fruit, so soon as it is ripe, is stripped of its husk, and cut
+into small pieces. These the natives place in pits dug for the purpose
+about three feet deep, in which they are placed in layers carefully
+wrapped in banana leaves so as to prevent moisture reaching them. Thus
+prepared, the pits are filled up to within a few inches of the surface,
+covered with leaves, and weighted with heavy stones so distributed as to
+diffuse an equal pressure throughout. Thus each pit is both air and water
+tight. After a short time fermentation sets in, till the whole is
+converted into a substance resembling cheese. The original idea of thus
+storing the bread-fruit is said, according to tradition, to have been
+suggested to the natives by a violent hurricane having at a remote period
+levelled all the bread-fruit trees on the island, thus causing a great
+famine. The fruit thus treated continues fit for consumption for years,
+and, despite its sour taste and nauseous odour when exhumed, it is
+regarded by the natives as a most palatable and nutritive dish, when well
+kneaded, placed between two banana leaves, and baked between two hot
+stones. Besides the bread-fruit, the principal articles of food in use
+among the natives are cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, yams, pigeons, turtle, fish,
+and trepang, the sort of sea-cucumber of which we have already given a
+description, and which the natives eat in the raw state.
+
+They also eat taro (_Caladium esculentum_), a beautiful bulbous-rooted
+plant of the _Aroidea_ tribe, with its broad elegant leaves, which,
+together with wild ginger and turmeric (which is used sometimes for food,
+sometimes for anointing the person, or dyeing their dresses) and the plant
+they call Kawa (_Piper Methysticum_), grow in great profusion on the
+property of the Nannekin.
+
+As in all the South Sea Islands, the juice of the Kawa is used in Puynipet
+for distilling an intoxicating beverage, which indeed plays a conspicuous
+part in all their solemnities. But the mode of preparing it is somewhat
+better calculated to tempt the palate, since it is not, as elsewhere,
+first chewed by the women, but rubbed between two large stones, wetted,
+and then drawn off in cocoa-nut shells. The leading chief is entitled to
+the first shells of the prepared Kawa, or, if he is not present, the chief
+priest, who mutters a few prayers over it ere drinking it.
+
+The liquid, as thus procured from this species of pepper, is of a
+brownish-yellow colour, somewhat like that of coffee into which milk has
+been poured. The taste is sweet and agreeable, producing a glow in the
+stomach, and induces a sort of intoxication, widely different however from
+the form that alcoholic inebriations assume with us. Men in the habit of
+drinking Kawa neither stagger about, nor speak thick and loud, when under
+its influence. A sort of shiver affects the whole frame, and their gait
+becomes listless and slow, but they never lose consciousness. In its last
+stage, the person affected feels an extraordinary weakness in all his
+joints; headache and an irresistible inclination to go to sleep supervene,
+and a state of most complete repose becomes an absolute necessity.
+
+The custom of Kawa drinking is diffused over the whole of the islands of
+the Pacific. It even appears to have become a necessary of life among the
+natives of Polynesia, just as betel-chewing and palm-wine are to the
+Malays and Hindoos, opium-smoking and samchoo to the Chinese, chicha to
+the Mexican races, and coca to the South American Indians.
+
+In former times, on certain of the islands, the chiefs had regular
+watchers, whose duty it was to guard their monarchs from being disturbed
+when thus reposing. A dog which dared to bark, a cock that was venturesome
+enough to crow, were forthwith put to death. The too liberal or
+long-continued indulgence in Kawa seems to generate a peculiar cuticular
+disease. Inveterate Kawa drinkers seem haggard or melancholy, their eyes
+are sunk, their teeth of a bright yellow, their skin dry and chopped, and
+the whole body is covered with boils; but those in whom such sores heal up
+again, point with pride to the cicatrices that mark where they occurred.
+The more of these scars a Kawa drinker can show, the higher is his
+character. Besides producing unconsciousness, Kawa also induces
+exceedingly erotic dreams.
+
+According to the information which the white settlers gave us respecting
+the method of cultivation of the soil of Puynipet and its climate, it
+seems that sugar-cane, coffee, cotton, rice, tobacco, &c., would be
+certain to succeed. Sugar-cane is found even now in the wild state; and to
+a certain extent it forms an article of food of the natives, who suck the
+juice.
+
+The chief of Roankiddi is a handsome young man of lofty stature, strong
+frame, of dark brown almost bronze skin, and agreeable, winning
+expression. With the exception of the usual apron of palm-leaves, and a
+bright red belt, he was naked, and wore a green circlet on his fine,
+lustrous black hair, and a piece of sugar-cane in his right hand. His arms
+and legs were very neatly tattooed. He seemed quite to understand the use
+of a red Turkish fez with blue tassel, which we presented to him, and took
+from his head its own exceedingly picturesque covering. Having been
+apprized of the friendly nature of our visit, he begged us to enter his
+house, which was not so easy a process as it seems, since the only access
+was by one of the windows, about three feet from the ground. The Nannekin,
+however, set us the example, and we followed. He first invited us to sit
+upon European chairs, and ordered his pretty young wife to fetch us
+cocoa-nut milk. It was the first time we had ever tasted this drink of the
+natural man in the goblet of civilization! How differently did this
+invaluable drink taste, when quaffed from the fresh green shell, than in
+the artificial vessel of human manufacture! The natives of Puynipet did
+not, like those of Nicobar, show their dexterity in opening the young
+cocoa-nut by means of a slash. Here the husk is peeled off, and an opening
+bored with much trouble till the fluid contents gush out--a process so
+tedious, and manifesting so little ingenuity, that one would rather expect
+it to be adopted by a European, who for the first time in his life was
+opening a cocoa-nut, than from a child of the tropics. After the queen had
+presented with her dainty little hands the cocoa-nut drink to the foreign
+guests, she squatted herself smiling and laughing on the earth beside the
+monarch, occasionally hiding herself with much natural grace behind her
+youthful husband, when she could not restrain a burst of mirth at the
+interest with which we seemed to regard many of the objects in her simple
+household. Nothing surprised her more than that we should attach such
+value to some baskets, plaited work, boxes, &c., as to be willing to
+exchange articles of European make for them. Like all the other females
+we saw, the young queen wore nothing but a piece of yellow linen (_likú_),
+about five feet long, round her loins, which reached to her knees, and was
+attached by one extremity to the haunch. Her splendid black hair was
+adorned with a chaplet of yellow flowers, and her body, smeared with
+cocoa-nut oil, was plentifully besprinkled with turmeric (called by the
+natives _Kitschi-néang_). Her legs and forearms were beautifully tattooed.
+
+The gown, or rather apron, worn by the men is made of the fresh leaves of
+the cocoa-palm, which, bleached and cut into narrow strips, are fastened
+at the upper end with a string, and then adorned with numerous flaps of
+red cloth. This gown stretches from the hips to about the knees, and is
+about two feet long. To be in the fashion at Puynipet, a dandy must wear
+at least six of these round his body! The ladies of the island stain white
+calico with turmeric, yellow being apparently the favourite colour of the
+country. A bright-coloured light handkerchief usually covers the upper
+part of the body, and they adorn their long beautiful black tresses with
+the delicate flowers of the cocoa-palm. On high days the ladies wear red
+clothes hemmed with white calico. Such of the natives, however, as are
+converted to Christianity, appear in clothes made after the European
+fashion, although many a part of dress would still have to be remedied,
+ere a native of Puynipet or his better half would be presentable in a
+saloon.
+
+Men and women alike are tattooed from the loins to the ancles, and from
+the elbows to the wrist. This curious practice is performed on both sexes
+at from ten to twelve years of age by old women, with whom it is a regular
+profession. The blue colouring matter used is obtained from the abundant
+nut-like fruit of the _Aleurites triloba_, which they heat on the fire,
+and then peel off the hard crust which forms upon it. The operation is
+performed with the sharp point of a species of pine, or with a pointed
+instrument[193] made from fish-bone, which is placed upon the skin, when
+it is driven in with a slight blow, till the whole design comes out upon
+the body. Besides the turmeric already mentioned, we saw but one colouring
+stuff, dyeing red, which seemed to be obtained from _Bixa Orellana_, and
+is used by the natives to paint their canoes with.
+
+Many of the natives are subject to a very disgusting scaly eruption of the
+skin (_Ichthyosis_), but do not seem to feel any discomfort from it. Some
+travellers ascribe this to the immoderate use as an article of diet of raw
+uncooked fish. It is singular that this malady is found on all the islands
+near the equator, and was also found by Captain Cheyne among the Pellew
+Islanders. That shrewd observer once had on board for four months a native
+of Puynipet as servant, whose whole body was covered with this eruption,
+but who speedily lost every trace of it as soon as his chief diet was salt
+meat and vegetables. Beside this cuticular malady, the natives are
+greatly afflicted with scurvy and intermittent fever. Most of their
+infants too suffer from Yaws[194] (_Framboesia_), a disgusting eruption,
+called by the natives "_Keutsch_," which, however, disappears when the
+child has attained about its third or fourth year. The marks left by this
+malady when cicatrized might easily be mistaken for those of inoculation.
+
+The Nannekin, although the king of his tribe, nevertheless seemed on the
+whole to exercise but little influence over his subjects. Thus, for
+example, we were eye-witnesses of how he vainly attempted to induce two
+native boys to carry our bananas as far as our place of disembarkation. On
+the other hand, in all that concerned trading with foreigners he seemed to
+be thoroughly alive to his own interest. One native who was driving a
+bargain with us for something, was informed forthwith of the value which
+the Nannekin assigned to it.
+
+Money is as yet but little used at Puynipet as a medium of exchange, only
+the whites resident there and the chiefs take a few English and United
+States coins; and many a native would generally not part for a silver
+dollar from an object which he will readily give for a piece of chewing
+tobacco or a common knife. The most useful articles for barter are pieces
+of bright-coloured calico, red shirts, hatchets, knives, axes, straight
+swords, muskets, ammunition, biscuit, old clothes, and tobacco.[195]
+
+Of the latter article American Cavendish or negro-head in longish pieces
+is the most in repute. The Puynipetanese have no special fondness for
+cigars, nor do they use pipes, but only chew passionately tobacco. As they
+are unacquainted with the use of the Betel, their teeth are universally
+beautiful, and of a brilliant white.
+
+There are on the island five tribes, wholly independent of each
+other,--the Roankiddi, the Metelemia, the Nót, the Tchokoits, and the
+Awnak, none, however, numbering much above 1500 souls, the most numerous
+and important being the Roankiddi.
+
+Each king, we are told, has a minister whose power almost rivals his own.
+Next in rank to the minister are the nobles, who bear the following
+strange-sounding titles: Talk, Washy, Nane-by, Noatch, Shoe-Shabut, and
+Groen-wani; after these come such as are not of noble birth, but have
+earned them through illustrious deeds, and have been rewarded with
+estates. On the death of the king he is succeeded by whichever of his
+nobles has the title of Talk, the others rising one grade. The monarch
+has the right of freely disposing of his property. As a rule he leaves it
+to his sons, but if he have none he usually bequeaths it to the next
+sovereign. Between the monarch and his courtiers some quaint patriarchal
+customs prevail. Thus the first ripe bread-fruit is brought to the king.
+Whenever a chief uses a new turtle or fish net, the prey during a certain
+number of days is sent to the king. Another mark of the respect paid to
+the king, as also by all ranks to their superiors, is to be found in the
+custom for a native who meets another of higher rank in a canoe,--he
+cowers down in his own boat till the other has passed by, the two canoes
+approaching on the side opposite the outrigger, so that the person of
+superior condition may, if he see fit, satisfy himself of the identity of
+the other.
+
+The Awnaks and Tchokoits had, at the period of our visit, been at war with
+each other for six months, and it is significant of the ferocity and
+courage of both parties, that not a single combatant had thus far been
+wounded on either side! Their weapons are chiefly spears of hard wood, six
+feet long, the barb, instead of iron, being made of fish-bones, thorns, or
+ground mussel-shells, which they throw with great dexterity; also
+hatchets, long knives, and old muskets, obtained from the whale-fishers in
+return for yams and tortoise-shell. At present there are about 1500
+muskets in all on the island, and each native possesses at least one, some
+of the chiefs having as many as three, besides ample ammunition. Singular
+to say, these formidable auxiliaries are rarely called into play in any
+of their wars, the fatal effect of fire-arms having contributed not a
+little to the promotion of harmony and peace between the various tribes!
+Their warriors are selected from among the most powerful men of the tribe,
+and as a rule they behave with much consideration to the women and
+children, whom they almost always spare. When either party sues for peace,
+a neutral party is sent to the monarch of the opposite tribe with a few
+Kawa roots. If these are accepted, the struggle is considered over, and a
+succession of friendly visits are thereupon exchanged between the chiefs
+of the two tribes, which are usually followed up by festivities and much
+consumption of Kawa.
+
+As to the narratives of most earlier travellers that the island is
+inhabited by two entirely distinct races, the one yellow the other black,
+we could neither see nor hear of anything which would confirm such a
+statement. It seemed more probable that the diversity of skin and hair
+among the various tribes was exclusively caused by a variety of crosses,
+which are still frequent, and in former times must have been still more
+prevalent. The present population consists of whites, negroes, and
+yellow-coloured aborigines, who, as speaking a dialect allied to that of
+Polynesia, seem to belong to the Malay-Polynesian _stirps_. The present
+white settlers are English and North Americans; formerly they were chiefly
+Spanish and Portuguese who traded with the natives. Negro slaves and free
+blacks have also occasionally visited the island, or been left there for
+good and all. These considerations alone suffice to explain certain
+appearances among the natives, such as brown or yellow skins, with crisp
+woolly hair, and very full lips, without any more marked characteristics
+of the Ethiopian race. We noticed one native with woolly hair of a reddish
+hue, but otherwise of strongly-marked Malay features, and on inquiring
+into his ancestry, were informed in reply that his father was a Portuguese
+(negro understood), and his mother a native.
+
+The daughter of Doctor Cook, the Scotchman already mentioned, of whose
+union with a native woman of the island there was issue a handsome
+well-shaped _mestiza_ of a light yellow colour, strongly recalling the
+stately, elegant quadroons of New Orleans and St. Domingo, had
+intermarried with a full-blooded negro of the district of Columbia, U. S.,
+from which resulted a new and entirely dissimilar admixture. Their
+children had the face of the mother, with the woolly head of the father.
+
+At all events it may be laid down with some degree of certainty, that the
+aboriginal races, especially those inhabiting the Caroline Archipelago,
+are not of the Pelagian Mongols, nor are they an offshoot of the Mongolian
+race of the Asiatic continent, as Lesson maintained; also that Puynipet
+has not been peopled by the Papuan negroes; that the woolly crisp hair of
+so many of its inhabitants is mainly explained by the intimacy between the
+black crews of the whalers (it being well known that a large proportion of
+the crews of the American whalers are negroes), some 50 or 60 of which
+visit the island every year, and often remain for several weeks taking in
+provisions and other stores.
+
+Puynipet has been for some years past the chief rendezvous of the whalers
+in the Caroline Archipelago, because it is of all the islands the most
+accessible, has the best and safest harbours, and because fuel and water
+are procurable thence in unlimited quantities.
+
+The complexion of the natives is of a clear copper hue, and the average
+height of the males is 5 feet 8 in.; the women are much smaller than the
+men, with delicate features and flexible forms. The sons of the chiefs are
+usually well formed, and lighter in colour than the majority of the
+population, the consequence of their being less exposed to the weather,
+and in any part of the world would pass for elegant men. The nose is
+arched, the mouth wide with full lips and dazzling teeth. The flap of the
+ear is bored in both sexes, but is rarely much enlarged by artificial
+means. Both men and women have beautiful black hair, which they take great
+care of.
+
+The men have neither beard nor mustachios. They eradicate the hair so soon
+as it makes its appearance on the cheeks by means of mussel-shells, or two
+little pieces of tortoise-shell sharpened. The women are usually pretty,
+but as the girls marry very young they soon lose the freshness of youth.
+Their complexion is much fairer than that of the men. The cause of this is
+to be found in their wearing a sort of upper robe of calico; a large
+piece of stuff with a hole in the centre through which to put the head,
+which thus protects their bodies somewhat from the direct rays of the sun.
+
+The natives are said to be very temperate and methodical in their habits
+of life. They rise at daybreak, bathe in the river, take a little
+vegetable food, anoint their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, after which they
+sprinkle themselves plentifully with powdered turmeric. This done, they
+address themselves to some simple avocation, which they prosecute till
+noon, when they once more withdraw to their huts, bathe, and partake of
+another equally frugal repast. The rest of the day is spent in amusements
+and mutual visiting. Towards sunset they take a third meal, and as they
+have neither torches nor artificial light of any sort, they usually retire
+early to rest, unless fishing or dancing by moonlight.
+
+Much respect and consideration is paid to the weaker sex throughout the
+island, they not being put to any work which does not come within their
+regular sphere of duty. All outdoor work is done by the men, who build the
+huts and canoes, plant yams and Kawa, fish, transport the food from the
+plantation to the house, and even cook it.
+
+The women are chiefly occupied within-doors, in fishing, or cleaning the
+vegetables, most of their time being taken up with preparing head-dresses,
+weaving girdles, sewing together palm or pandanus leaves for clothes,
+plaiting elegant baskets, and looking after the house and children.
+
+Never at any time patterns of virtue and chastity, the importation of
+European trinkets and luxuries of all sorts has greatly increased the
+spread of immorality among the native women, who are actuated by an
+insatiate, irresistible craving to possess articles of European
+manufacture.
+
+When a native wishes to marry, he makes a present to the father of the
+girl he wishes to marry; if not returned, it is understood his addresses
+are accepted. Thereupon invitations are issued to a merry-making, with
+feast, and dance, and revel, after which the bridegroom conducts his bride
+to his dwelling. When she dies the widower marries her sister, the brother
+in like manner being required to marry his widowed sister-in-law in the
+case of the death of the husband, even though he may happen to be already
+married. Under certain circumstances a man is at liberty to divorce his
+wife and take another; a woman, on the other hand, enjoys no such
+privilege, unless she happen to be of higher rank. The chiefs usually have
+several wives, polygamy, as among the Mormons, being only limited by the
+means of providing subsistence. The women are of an unusually gossiping,
+talkative turn, they are quite incapable of keeping their own secrets, and
+many a delinquency is generally known at the very moment of its
+commission.
+
+The funeral ceremonies seem to have undergone some modification since the
+natives began to have intercourse with Europeans. In former times the dead
+were enveloped in straw mats, and kept for a considerable time in the
+huts: through the influence of the missionaries, apparently, they have
+adopted the European custom of interring their dead in certain special
+places. On the death of a chief or any exalted person, the female
+relatives of the deceased assemble to mourn for a specific period, and
+betray their sorrow by loud sobs and lamentations by day and dances by
+night. The connections of the deceased cut off their hair as a mark of
+their sorrow. All the goods and clothes of the defunct are carried away by
+whoever is nearest or first possesses himself of them, and this custom is
+so universal that objects thus obtained are thenceforth considered as
+lawful property.
+
+The natives usually pray to the spirits of their departed chiefs, whom
+they implore to grant them success in fishing, rich harvests in
+bread-fruit and yams, the arrival of numerous foreign ships with beautiful
+articles for barter, and a variety of similar matters. The priests of
+their idols profess to be able to read the future, and the natives place
+the most implicit confidence in these predictions. They believe that the
+priest is inspired with the spirit of a deceased chief, and that every
+word they utter when in this excited state is dictated by the departed.
+When any of these prophecies fail, as is often enough the case, the
+cunning priest pretends that another more powerful spirit has interfered,
+and forcibly prevented the accomplishment of what they had foretold.
+
+The religion of this primitive people is very simple. They have neither
+idols nor temple, and although they believe in a future state after death,
+they seem to have no religious customs or festivals of any sort. Their
+notion of a future state is under such circumstances exceedingly
+extraordinary.
+
+Their abode after death they believe to be surrounded by a colossal wall
+amid a fathomless abyss, in fact a sort of fortress. The only portal into
+this Elysian abode is guarded by an old woman, whose duty it is to hurl
+back into the yawning deep the shadows of the departed, who are compelled
+to spring upwards from the abyss. Such of the shadows as succeed in
+eluding the evil spirit and effecting an entrance are for ever happy; on
+the other hand, those whom the malicious female demon succeeds in
+precipitating into the abyss sink into the region of endless woe and
+torture.
+
+The native festivals, as a rule, take precedence of every other business,
+no matter how pressing. Every year the king visits the various villages
+and settlements of those of his tribe, at which period the chief
+festivities take place, the chiefs vieing with each other in entertaining
+him. Enormous quantities of yam and bread-fruit are on such occasions
+cooked two days previous, and Kawa is drunk to excess.
+
+Their dances are far from unbecoming, and are quite free from those
+lascivious gestures which are so often seen at the festivals of the other
+inhabitants of the South Sea. The dancers are usually unmarried lads and
+girls, who stand opposite each other in long rows. While keeping time with
+their feet to the music, they accompany the dance with graceful motions of
+the arms and upper part of the body. Occasionally they throw their arms
+out, snap their fingers, and then clap the hands together. Every movement
+is performed with extraordinary precision, and at the same moment by all
+the dancers. Their sole musical instrument is a small flute made of
+bamboo-cane, the notes of which they draw forth by inserting one end in
+the nostril and blowing gently, while their hands are busy fingering the
+holes in the usual way.
+
+Their drum is a piece of hollowed-out wood with the skin of a shark
+stretched over it, of the shape of a sand-glass. This is struck with the
+fingers of the right hand, the instrument being hung on the left side. The
+sound somewhat resembles the Tom-tom of the Hindoos. The drummer sits
+cross-legged on the ground, and accompanies the beat of the drum with
+apposite words.
+
+As to the monumental ruins of the interior of Puynipet which have never
+yet been visited and described by scientific travellers, we were informed
+that they consisted of nothing more than a large number of colossal
+rough-hewn blocks of basalt in the heart of the forest, near Metelenia
+harbour. The simplicity of the native, in the absence of all means of
+accounting for them naturally, sees in these the grand forms of the
+spirits of departed chiefs. Experienced travellers, on the other hand, are
+of opinion that in this primeval forest, where now only rocky débris lie
+scattered about, there once stood strong fortifications, such as indeed no
+savage people could have erected, and that the character of the ruins
+evidences a high state of civilization in those who erected them. Some of
+the blocks are 8 or 10 feet long, hexagonal, and must evidently have been
+brought from some other country, since, with the exception of these, there
+are no other stones of a similar description found in any part of the
+island. Streets are laid out at various points, and the whole settlement
+seems to have consisted of a range of strongly fortified dwellings.[196]
+
+These columns and blocks, however, possess a special interest not merely
+in the history of civilization, but of geology, as a part is at present
+under water, and can only be reached in canoes, a difficulty which cannot
+have been in existence at the period of their erection. What once were
+streets are now passages for canoes, and were the walls, built of massive
+basalt blocks, to be pulled up, the water would obtain access to the
+inclosed space. This has induced later geologists to refer this phenomenon
+to a sinking of the entire group, so that Puynipet is perhaps the only
+spot on the earth where Darwin's ingenious theory of the construction of
+perpendicular reefs and atolls being the result of a sinking of the soil
+on which the coral-animal had begun to erect his edifice, receives
+confirmation from the existence of the remains of man's handiwork within
+the historic period.
+
+As even the "oldest inhabitants" could give us not the slightest
+information as to these ruins, and their origin and history are plunged
+in the utmost obscurity, it seems not improbable that these stone masses
+were once the fortified retreat of pirates, and were built by Spanish
+corsairs 200 or 300 years back. This hypothesis receives confirmation in
+the fact that in 1838 or 1840, a small brass cannon was found on a hill in
+the interior, which was brought home as a curiosity by H.M.S. _Larne_.
+Occasionally, too, at various parts of the island clearings are found,
+some of which are several acres in extent. In one of these, still in
+existence near the harbour of Roankiddi, the traveller is shown an
+artificial mound of about 20 feet wide, 8 feet high, and a quarter of a
+mile long, which has obviously been thrown up as a defence, or else has
+been the place of interment for such as have fallen in a severe contest.
+
+This conjecture adopted, it follows that the present population is of
+quite recent introduction, and the rumour of a black race inhabiting the
+interior must necessarily be treated as a myth.
+
+While we were asking questions and getting up information, evening was
+beginning to draw on, and we could not remain longer on the island, as it
+was necessary to return on ship-board before nightfall, the frigate having
+meanwhile been kept cruising under easy sail, about three or four miles
+off the island. Another reason for our immediate departure was to be found
+in our narrow flat-bottomed craft, which in any sort of sea-way would have
+some difficulty in escaping swamping. Had the wind during our return
+voyage freshened ever so little, we should have found ourselves in a
+serious dilemma. Numbers of herons, white, black, and mottled, were
+fishing in the shallow water along the edge of the reefs, the sea-raven
+flew in vast flights among the lagoons, while high overhead the graceful
+frigate-bird swept along, every now and then darting rapidly down to
+secure his booty.
+
+One of the whites whom we employed as our guide in the island, accompanied
+us on board, and asked as his reward some tobacco and clothes, with which
+he departed much satisfied. In him, too, we observed a marked and quite
+peculiar shyness, especially when on board the frigate. He seemed as
+though he dreaded some avenging hand. His glance was timid, his gait and
+motions betrayed a sense of insecurity, and he might have readily been
+mistaken for some repentant sinner, who in consequence of some evil deed
+had fled from civilized society and sought out this distant asylum, where
+he had scarcely to fear any other persecution than that of his own
+conscience! Hardly any spot, indeed, can be named more suitable for thus
+expiating crime than this remote island, where the white man, face to face
+with nature in a new and unwonted aspect, and at the mercy of a savage
+people, often deprived for months of the consolations and support of
+civilization, finds in his solitude ample opportunity to reflect upon the
+enormity of his guilt, and to mourn over his own evil fortune.
+
+As the west wind, which still blew, effectually prevented the frigate
+from entering the harbour of Roankiddi, and there was no reason to hope
+for any speedy change, our original intention of spending several days
+there was abandoned, and the same evening we resumed our course for
+Australia.
+
+As our brief stay of barely five hours on the island of Puynipet
+necessarily led to our observations and remarks being of the most
+superficial nature, whereas the island has of late years begun to acquire
+an unusual importance both in a maritime and a commercial sense, we must
+content ourselves with referring the reader for a more detailed account to
+Captain Cheyne's admirable and comprehensive account of the island.
+
+"The Ant Islands (called also Fraser's Islands) lie in a S.W. direction
+from the harbour of Roankiddi, from which they are about 12 nautical miles
+distant.
+
+"They consist of a group of low coral islets covered with cocoa-palms and
+bread-fruit trees, and surrounded by a coral reef, which makes a lagoon in
+the centre. Between the two longer islands at the east end of the group
+there is a channel. The entire group from N.W. to S.E. measures seven
+miles in width, is only inhabited from May to September, during the period
+when the cuttle-fish are caught, and is the property of the chief of the
+Roankiddi tribe. However the islands are frequented at all seasons by the
+natives of Puynipet, who procure here cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit. The most
+north-easterly point lies in 6° 42' N., 158° 3' E.
+
+"Next the Ant Island is Pakeen, the sole adjoining island. It lies about
+22 miles W. of Tschokoits, its central point lying in 7° 10' N. and 157°
+43' E. It consists of five small coral islets, completely inclosed in a
+reef, which forms an inaccessible lagoon in the interior.
+
+"The entire group is about five miles in length from west to east, and
+from north to south three miles in width. The islands are very low, but
+produce an enormous quantity of cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit, while the
+lagoon abounds with excellent fish. The westernmost island is inhabited by
+about thirty persons in all, mainly of the family and attendants of the
+Chief of Puynipet, who claims proprietorship of the whole group. This
+scanty population is chiefly engaged in the construction of mats and
+canoe-sails made of the leaves of the _pandanus_. In fine weather the
+denizens of Pakeen are fond of running over to Puynipet to exchange their
+own products for tobacco and other foreign articles.
+
+"What are marked on the charts as Bottomless Group and St. Augustine's
+Islands have no existence. Pakeen and Ant's Islands are the same groups
+adjoining each other to the westward of Puynipet."
+
+Our progress now began to be very slow, and the equatorial zones with
+their vexatious calms, and variable light breezes alternating with violent
+squalls, became a sore trial for our patience. An unusual and most
+oppressive heat, from which we vainly sought shelter; tropical rains,
+which often fell in unbroken torrents for hours at a time, and obscured
+the daylight with clouds almost as suddenly at times as though there were
+an eclipse; a long heavy swell, which knocked the good ship about with an
+unceasing and most disagreeable motion, without nevertheless our being
+able to advance one single mile in the twenty-four hours; the depressing
+monotonous flapping and filling of the sails, which, with the rolling and
+pitching of the ship, now bellied out and then fell idly back against the
+masts and yards, straining the rigging and cordage, and keeping a constant
+indescribable but most irritating noise--such is a faint sketch of the
+miseries of voyagers caught by an equatorial calm in a sailing vessel! How
+one longs for a good hearty storm, if only to drive us out of this truly
+dismal plight! How in the monotony of such an existence does a quite
+insignificant circumstance at once assume the proportions of an important
+event! The most trifling incident on board, the most imperceptible object
+which becomes visible in either atmosphere or water, attracts universal
+attention, and gives rise to discussions by the hour. One day some one
+perceived a dark object floating in the distance; when the frigate got
+near this proved to be the trunk of a tree, almost 100 feet long, and
+though at best we could only have used it as firewood, a boat was
+forthwith manned and dispatched to tow it alongside. A few black
+Albatrosses suffered themselves to be hauled contentedly along upon the
+floating trunk, somewhat astonishing us by their being found so near the
+equator. Only by dint of considerable exertion was the huge unwieldy
+piece of wood brought on board, when the zoologists got a famous lesson in
+conchology, from the shell-fish that had fastened on it, and the sailors
+chuckled with delight at finding some occupation in cutting up the
+vegetable colossus into sizeable pieces.
+
+At 6.30 P.M. on the 29th Sept., we crossed the equator for the sixth time
+in 161° 57' E., and in the Southern hemisphere found we still had to
+contend with calms and contrary winds.
+
+             "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
+              Crept in this petty pace from day to day,"
+
+without our making any perceptible progress. When we had reached 4° 15'
+S., and 160° 24' E., a circumstance occurred to break the uniformity of
+our existence, as according to the charts we were using of the
+Hydrographic Institute of England for the year 1856,[197] we must have
+been quite close to some coral reefs, known as Simpson's Island. But
+although by our observations, after due allowance made for currents, we
+were, about 4 P.M. of the 5th October, off the N.W. extremity of the
+islands, there was no land of any sort visible on either side even from
+the royals, and we accordingly had to conjecture that Captain Simpson,
+after whom these islands were named, must have sighted one of the Le Maire
+or Tasman group, which lie 40 miles further to the west and 10 miles
+further to the north, and had, owing to false reckoning, imagined to have
+discovered a new cluster; for on the following day at 6 P.M., when by our
+course, which was south-easterly, the island ought to have lain W.N.W. ten
+miles distant, not a vestige of land could be descried from the deck, nor
+even from the mast-head, so that we felt positive the Simpson group were
+neither at the spot laid in the general chart of the English Admiralty,
+nor within ten miles of it in either an easterly or westerly
+direction.[198]
+
+A few days after this interlude, an incident of a very peculiar character
+took place, which excited universal attention, and more especially greatly
+exercised the souls of the superstitious. The occasion was nothing less
+than a dread whisper that there was a ghost on board. From time to time,
+in fact, dull rumbling sounds were said to be audible, which some
+professed to hear above them, others below, some in the fore part of the
+ship, others aft. It was a noise like the roll of thunder, or of
+cannon-balls that had got loose. The shot-racks were carefully examined,
+but everything there appeared to be in its usual order. The sound was
+repeated the following days, when there was hanging over us a sky as black
+and murky, accompanied by heavy pelts of rain, as though all the clouds
+of heaven were lavishing their contents upon us. All on board indulged in
+every possible hypothesis that could explain these sounds, and exhausted
+themselves in conjectures. Some maintained that one of the volcanoes of
+the Solomon group, in the vicinity of which we were at the time, was in a
+state of activity, and was the cause of these sub-marine thunders; but the
+sailors, sailor-like, insisted it was ghosts playing pranks, and the
+attendants refused any longer to remain in the cock-pit, alleging it was
+haunted! However, when a second examination was made of the shot-racks, it
+was found that no fewer than eighty thirty-pound iron shots had broken
+through the wooden bulk-head of the ordnance room, whence they had made
+their way into the bread-depôt, as it was called, and on its metal floor
+had produced the resonance peculiar to the impact of metal against metal.
+The mystery was at once solved in the most natural manner, and the
+"each-particular-hair-on-end" ghost stories which during the last few days
+had been flying from mouth to mouth, forthwith dropped. Thus might many a
+"marvel" prove to be the result of some very ordinary cause, if people
+would but take the trouble to examine its natural causes, instead of
+ascribing everything which they cannot understand or explain to some
+supernatural influence.
+
+At noon of the 7th October, in 6° 37' S., 161° 8' E., we were, according
+to chart, 12 miles distant from Bradley's Reef. But although both seamen
+and midshipmen were stationed at the mast-heads, in order the more
+readily to make it out with the advantage of such an elevation, there was
+not the slightest trace perceptible of rocks or shoals, and we sailed
+without obstruction over the very spot at which, according to the English
+charts, Bradley's Reef rises from the waves. This reef was discovered by
+Captain Hunter in May, 1791, two days after he had passed Stewart's Island
+(Sikayana), and is doubly dangerous in a climate where the sea rarely runs
+so high as to make it easily observed by the surf breaking over it.
+According to our observations, collated with those of Captain Cheyne,
+Bradley's Reef must lie in about 160° 48' E.[199]
+
+The same day about 7 P.M., when we were about 120 miles distant from the
+N.W. part of the Solomon group, there suddenly and altogether unexpectedly
+blazed forth in the western sky an immense and most brilliant comet, with
+a yellow, rather bright nucleus, and an enormous tail, sweeping over some
+15° or 20°. It was about 8° or 10° above the horizon when we observed it.
+
+This rare phenomenon, during the fourteen days it continued visible,
+presented a most excellent opportunity for astronomical observations. Upon
+the sailors, usually so superstitious, this splendid celestial visitor
+made a much less profound impression than we had anticipated. But few were
+apprehensive that the end of the world was at hand, while the majority
+seemed quietly to indulge the pleasing anticipation that the wine of the
+present year would be good and plentiful.
+
+At last, on the 8th of October, we sighted the Solomon Islands. Some reefs
+which were said to lie a little to the north, adjoining Ontong-Java, we
+looked for in vain in the positions assigned them on the charts. On the
+other hand we could see the lofty, forest-covered Carteret Island directly
+before us. Gower Island lay nearly due west, about four miles distant.
+This flat low island, which also is not quite accurately laid down on the
+English chart, appears to be about eight miles long, the highest point of
+its ridge not exceeding 180 feet above the sea. Its S.E. and N.W. points,
+upon which beats a furious surf, extend a full half mile into the sea. We
+could nowhere perceive any huts of natives. Nevertheless it is highly
+probable, if the island is inhabited at all, that the population would
+have settled on the W. side, which is more sheltered against wind and
+weather.
+
+From the hills on Carteret Island smoke was issuing at different points,
+but the natives did not put off in their boats, although on the afternoon
+of 8th October the frigate was becalmed off the land. When it was found
+that in consequence of the violence of the S.E. winds, which alternated
+with calms and N.E. squalls accompanied by rain, it would be impossible
+for us to pass through "Indispensable Straits," fringed as they are with
+coral reefs, it was resolved to range along the N.E. side of the entire
+chain of islands, so as to fetch the open passage between San Christoval
+(the most south-easterly of the Solomon Islands) and the Nitendi group. We
+thus had to beat with much difficulty against a S.E. wind and a strong
+current, so that we barely made 15 miles a day.
+
+On the 13th October, towards evening, we found ourselves about opposite
+the large mountainous island of Malaýta. This island presents fine
+richly-wooded mountain scenery, but without any traces of volcanic
+contours. The natives do not appear to dwell near the shore, but among the
+hills we could observe cleared spots and huts. Curiously enough the
+highest peak of the island, 3900 feet high, is named Kolowrat, a renowned
+Austrian name, although it could hardly have been an Austrian navigator
+who gave it to this mountain. Many others of these islands, however, have
+German names, though the majority indicate their discovery by the French
+navigators, Bougainville, Senville, and Dumont d'Urville, to whom the
+sea-faring world are indebted for their first acquaintance with this
+interesting group. During the afternoon a heavy blow came on from the
+S.S.E., upon which we put about and steered E. by S., but had hardly made
+the alteration, ere it came on to blow from N.N.E., with such fearful
+violence that the cross-jack-yard, which was already sprung, broke in two,
+and the sheet of the main try-sail gave way. It was the heaviest squall we
+encountered during the voyage. Fortunately the cross-jack-yard had as a
+precaution been firmly lashed, so that the two ends continued to hang in
+the air. Consequently what might have been a serious calamity was avoided,
+and the result of the accident was confined to the difficult task of
+disengaging the unwieldy shattered yard. Towards evening a heavy rain
+fell, and the wind went down. In the course of the profoundly calm night
+which followed, the current swept us so close in shore, that by morning we
+were not more than two or three miles distant. A few small boats with
+natives were about, which endeavoured to approach us, but only one of
+their number succeeded. These boats were not ordinary canoes, but
+regularly decked and deep-waisted boats, with high stem and stern, not
+unlike the boats in use at the Island of Madeira.
+
+The one which came alongside was manned by five brownish-black men,
+perfectly naked, with thick crisp hair resembling a wig, which seemed to
+be stained red with ochre. By way of special adornment, some wore in their
+side hair a yellowish-red tuft, something like a tassel, and apparently
+made of strips of stained bast. One wore a wild boar's tooth in the tip of
+the ear, two others had small cylinders neatly carved out of mussel-shells
+passed through the nostrils, as well as rings of the same material around
+the upper arm and below the knee. When the boat had got within about a
+pistol shot from us, one of the natives rose, and in clear strong tones
+shouted to us some unintelligible words, while at the same time he pointed
+towards the land with very eager, energetic gestures. He seemed desirous
+of inviting us to come on shore and visit the islands. At the close of
+his address there arose those peculiar reverberating shouts, such as one
+would have expected rather to hear among the Styrian Alps than from a
+Papuan of the Solomon Islands! Upon this the rest of his companions rose
+likewise, and waving in their long arms a piece of tortoise-shell, they
+kept shrieking Matté-Matté! for an indefinite period. Not one of them knew
+a single word of English, nor could we make ourselves intelligible even
+with a vocabulary of the dialects used in the adjoining islands. Although
+distant in a direct line N.W. only 60 miles from Stewart's Island and its
+inhabitants, they spoke an entirely different idiom, and were likewise
+distinguished widely from any of the latter in colour, make, and
+physiognomy. Notwithstanding a repeated and pressing invitation to come on
+board, they could not be induced to mount the frigate's side, even by the
+most tempting promises, nor even by presents of linen-stuffs, tobacco,
+articles of clothing, &c. They seemed to have had but little intercourse
+with vessels. At length, on our repeated signs, they slowly and shyly came
+so near that we could throw a rope on board. The most courageous of their
+number planted his foot on the side rope, but made no attempt to proceed
+one step further. But we were by this means at all events able to examine
+these singular beings more closely. They all had oval faces, and broad,
+flat, long noses. Two were full-grown men, of tall powerful frame, while
+the rest seemed not above from fourteen to sixteen years old. None of
+them were tattooed, but the practice of anointing the body and the want of
+cleanliness left many coloured marks upon the skin. One of the lads had a
+sort of scaly eruption all over his skin. Beyond the pieces of
+tortoise-shell already mentioned, and the ornaments they wore upon their
+bodies, they had absolutely nothing in their boats, not even fruit or
+other natural products. They rowed a considerable distance after empty
+bottles which were pitched into the sea, and one of them seemed to attach
+such importance to the possession of these, that he plunged into the water
+to swim after them, and thus secure them the more readily.
+
+Unfortunately our intercourse with these islanders of the Solomon group
+was confined to the little episode above related, and as a favourable
+breeze once more sprang up, we soon lost sight of these simple savages and
+their island. On this occasion the members of the Expedition were
+unanimously of opinion (which is not always the case in matters of
+personal impressions), that the inhabitants of Malaýta were the wildest,
+most uncivilized race of men we had as yet encountered in our voyaging to
+and fro round the globe.
+
+During the night numerous watch-fires were visible on the peaks of the
+island. Were they lit for the protection of the slumbering inhabitants
+against the cold and damp of the night, or were they alarm signals for the
+entire population of the island, warning them against dangers that menaced
+them? If any apprehensions were entertained by the natives of Malaýta
+that we had visited their shores with hostile intent, they must have been
+of short duration, for the same wind which prevented our making Port Adam,
+wafted us the following morning--it was the 16th October, 1858--in sight
+of Sikayana.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[191] Occasionally called Bonabe, Bonibet, Funopet (by the French,
+Ascension). It lies in 6° 58' N., and 158° 20' E., and, with the two low
+atolls adjacent of Andema and Paphenemo (called by the English Ant's
+Island and Pakeen respectively) were named by their discoverer, Admiral
+Lütke, the Senjawin group, after the name of his ship.
+
+[192] Captain Andrew Cheyne, of the English mercantile service, to whom
+the sea-faring world is indebted for a very complete and excellent account
+of the islands of the West Pacific, and who last visited Puynipet in 1846,
+reckoned the population of the island at that period at from 7000 to 8000.
+See a description of islands in the Western Pacific Ocean, North and South
+of the Equator, with sailing Directions, &c. p. 94. London, J. D. Potter.
+1852.--Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China and Japan.
+Compiled from the most Authentic Sources. By Andrew Cheyne, first Class
+Master, Mercantile Navy. p. 136. London, J. D. Potter. 1855.
+
+[193] The natives of the Engano Islands, to the west of Sumatra, use
+precisely similar instruments for the same purpose.
+
+[194] Yaws is a very common disease among the lower class of the western
+and eastern _coast_-population of England. It is unknown almost in
+Ireland, where the poorer classes rarely eat fish.
+
+[195] Captain Cheyne adds to the foregoing lists the following articles;
+fish-hooks, butcher's-knives, chisels, hand-saws, bill-hooks, planes,
+augers, piles, iron-pots, razors, needles, twine, drills, gay
+parti-coloured cotton cloths, cotton hose, woollen cloths, trinkets, glass
+beads, straw-hats, chests with lock, key, and handles, spirits. The
+equivalents as laid down by Captain Cheyne are as follows:--
+
+  12 hens               =  24 sticks of negro-head tobacco, or 4 ells
+  100 yams              =  10    "           "         "       of calico.
+  100 bread-fruit       =  10    "           "         "
+  100 cocoa-nuts        =  10    "           "         "
+  1 cluster of bananas  =   2    "           "         "
+
+[196] Similar ruins are described by Captain Cheyne as having been also
+found in the forests of Nálan (Strong Island) in the Caroline Archipelago,
+5° 21' 30'' N., 163° 0' 42'' E.
+
+[197] From 1st October, 1856, upon which were marked all the improvements
+known up to 1857.
+
+[198] Compare Captain Cheyne's sailing directions, p. 68: "Captain Simpson
+of Sydney reported to me in 1845, that a group of low coral islands,
+covered with cocoa-nut trees and inhabited, had been seen in 4° 52' S.,
+and 160° 12' E. This may probably be the same group seen by Captain
+Wellings in 1824, which is laid down in Mr. Arrowsmith's chart in latitude
+4° 29' S., 159° 28' E." It is matter of surprise in any case that
+considering the uncertainty which prevails as to the precise locality of
+the reef, its position on the English Admiralty Charts should not at least
+be marked _doubtful_.
+
+[199] A. Cheyne--Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China and
+Japan. London, 1855, page 68.
+
+
+         [Illustration: Barrier Reef and Atoll of Sikayana.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVII.
+
+                    The Coral Island of Sikayana.
+
+                         17th October, 1858.
+
+    Natives on board.--Good prospects of fresh provisions.--An
+    interment on board.--A night scene.--Visit to the Island Group.--
+    Fáole.--Voyage trip to Sikayana.--Narrative of an English
+    sailor.--Cruelty of merchantmen in the South Sea Islands.--
+    Tradition as to the origin of the inhabitants of Sikayana.--A
+    king.--Barter.--Religion of the natives.--Trepang.--Method of
+    preparing this sea-slug for the Chinese market.--Dictionary of
+    the native language.--Under sail.--Ile de Contrariété.--Stormy
+    weather.--Spring a leak.--Bampton Reef.--Smoky Cape.--Arrival in
+    Port Jackson, the harbour of Sydney.
+
+
+The short distance at which we found ourselves from Sikayana, called
+Stewart's Island by the English, as also the prospect of procuring there
+fresh provisions for the crew, among whom after 66 days' confinement on
+board ship, some symptoms of scurvy began to appear, determined our
+Commodore on spending a day there, and effecting a landing. Towards
+afternoon, when we were about four or five miles distant from the western
+island, two splendid large canoes approached the ship, in which were
+fifteen men stark naked, except for a piece of linen round their loins.
+They were all tall, robust, powerful men, five and a half to six feet
+high, some with long, others broad faces, all having long noses, of a
+light brown colour, and the greater number with glossy black hair. With
+the exception of one who had whiskers, they were beardless; almost all
+being tattooed from the elbow to the shoulder. They spoke broken English,
+and even had English names. We never saw among the savage races such
+finely built, well-proportioned, healthy-looking men, as these inhabitants
+of the coral reef of Sikayana. Their free, unaccustomed, familiar
+deportment was something surprising. But our astonishment reached its
+height when one of these apparently savage children of nature, happening
+to find on a table on the gun-deck a draught-board lying open, immediately
+challenged one of the by-standers to a game, which it seems he understood
+so well that he beat his antagonist two games out of three. We afterwards
+heard that the natives at Sikayana have learned draughts, as also an
+English game at cards known as "odd fourth," of which they seemed
+passionately fond, from some English sailors, who several years before had
+spent five months on these islands, preparing Trepang, or _biche-de-mar_,
+for the Chinese market, those sea-slugs having formerly been found here in
+large quantities.
+
+To our question whether they had fresh provisions for sale, and of what
+description, they replied that they possess on the island plenty of Taro,
+cocoa-nuts, bananas, pigs, and poultry, which they would willingly
+exchange for fish-hooks, tobacco, calico, gunpowder, ammunition, biscuit,
+playing-cards, and ornaments for their wives. For money they did not show
+the slightest desire, and of the value of gold they seemed to be utterly
+ignorant. They showed the utmost eagerness for playing-cards and trinkets.
+
+We now also learned that there was on the island one white settler, an
+English sailor. This man attempted to come off to the frigate in a small
+canoe, but owing to night setting in, he could not reach her. As these
+hearty people were taking their leave, we promised to pay them a visit
+early next morning, with which they seemed highly delighted.
+
+There still remained the same evening one mournful duty for those on board
+the _Novara_. During the afternoon one of our sailors had died after
+protracted sufferings consequent on dysentery, and we had now, for
+sanitary reasons, to commit his remains to the deep the very evening of
+his death. It was already dark when the officers and crew were mustered on
+deck, to pay the last honours to the departed. The captain gave the
+customary orders, the ship's bell tolled, the narrow plank, on which lay
+the body of the deceased sewn up in his hammock, was brought to the
+gangway, where an iron weight was attached to the body by the feet, and
+last of all the plank being tilted up, the heavy body plunged into the
+waves with a hollow splash, and the watery tomb closed over him.
+
+We looked down into the abyss and beheld myriads of stars reflected in
+all their lustre in the smooth mirror of the ocean; the deep, blue,
+unfathomable ocean appearing like a second firmament beneath our feet!
+Nothing in the gay scene around seemed out of harmony with the mournful
+act which the community of Christians on board the _Novara_ had been
+celebrating. Everything about us--the brightly glistening stars, the
+whispering ripple of the waves, the balmy atmosphere, all left an
+impression of a higher state of felicity and tranquil happiness, and
+seemed to remind us that everything in the universe, even the poor remains
+we had just committed to the waves, obeyed but one eternal, immutable law!
+
+On the morning of 17th October, three boats put off from the _Novara_ with
+some of the officers and all the naturalists of the Expedition, bound for
+Sikayana, between three and four miles distant, while the frigate cruised
+about in the vicinity.
+
+Stewart's Atoll (8° 22' S., 162° 58' E.) is a semi-lunar coral reef of
+about sixteen miles in circumference, with a deep lagoon in its centre,
+and five small wooded islands on the reef itself, which are visible from
+the deck of a ship about twelve miles away, and were first discovered by
+Captain Hunter, in May, 1791. These islands are named Sikayana, Fáole,
+Mandúiloto, Baréna, and Maduáwe, and are so overgrown with cocoa-nut
+palms, that they appear capable of supporting a population of about 1000
+souls (with the wants and requirements of men in the tropics).
+
+The two largest islands, Sikayana and Fáole, lie exactly at the sharp
+horns of the lune-shaped atoll. Here we again had an opportunity of
+observing the configuration of which all known atolls furnish examples,
+viz. that the islands found adjoining these reefs are almost invariably at
+the projecting extremities, where the surf rages on either side, and where
+consequently the conditions are most favourable for the heaping up of
+detached fragments of coral. The area of habitable dry land is to the
+extent of the reef in the proportion of 1 : 21. As may readily be assumed
+from the physical conditions of the islands, there is no drinkable water
+to be found upon them; the liquid contents of the cocoa-nut when fresh is
+almost the only beverage of the inhabitants, and hence the first thing the
+natives asked for when they came on board was for some "drinking-water,"
+since, except of course during the wet season, when they catch the
+rain-water, this is a rarity with them--we might almost say an article of
+luxury.
+
+Sikayana, the Big Island of the English, the most easterly and largest of
+the islands, is about 1 1/6th statute mile in length, and lies in 8° 22'
+24'' S., and 163° 1' E. The reef which surrounds the island sinks at
+certain points sheer downwards, so that a ship may in perfect safety
+approach within a cable's length. We had to sail for a considerable time
+along this line of reef, on which the sea beat with a thundering surf, ere
+we came to one of those spots on the N.W. side where it is practicable in
+a boat to pass the atoll reef into the tranquil lagoon, which it encloses.
+At all times, even in the calmest weather, a tremendous surf roars against
+the reef, and even this point is inaccessible when there is a fresh breeze
+blowing. Here we found some of the canoes of the natives awaiting our
+approach, who now, as though they had been on the look-out for our
+arrival, came off to us, some in their boats, others swimming, to inform
+us that, it being ebb-tide, the entry into the lagoon was not very easy,
+but that at high-water one could pass right over the reef, in even larger
+boats than ours. It was accordingly arranged that two of the boats should
+anchor outside the reef, and only one should be hauled inside the lagoon
+with a rope for our further use. But even this could not be managed until
+by removing all baggage and transhipping almost her entire crew, she had
+been made sufficiently light.
+
+The passage between the coral reefs and the lagoon is at high-water about
+three feet deep, but at lowest ebb it is barely a foot in depth, and three
+to four feet wide, and then the reef juts up at most points to such
+extent, that a skilled equilibrist may (although not to the advantage of
+his soles) easily reach the interior of the lagoon without wetting his
+shoes. As soon, however, as this narrow entrance, which is about 300 feet
+long, has been passed, the navigation becomes easier. The appearance of
+the reef was very peculiar. Corals of every description, _Astrææ_,
+_Mæandrinæ_, _Madriporæ_, form a sort of series of clusters of
+stone-bushes, among which beautifully mottled fish swim about, while
+starfish of an exquisite indigo blue, and mussels of the most
+extraordinary forms, people the ground.
+
+The atoll presents some very remarkable geological features. At its N.W.
+side, close to the reef and as it were growing to it, stand two singular
+vase-shaped rocks, from 8 to 10 feet in height. While their base is
+bathed by the sea, their upper portions, which are about 20 feet in
+diameter, present the spectacle of luxuriant grass, brushwood, and one or
+two fruit-bearing cocoa-nut palms, so that the two crags looked like two
+gigantic flower-pots attached to the reef. They seem to be all that
+remains of an island which Ocean had first thrown up, and was now busy
+wearing away.
+
+Another geological peculiarity is the occurrence of heaps of pumice-stone.
+These are found about the size of walnuts over the entire interior of the
+island of Fáole at those places which the swell of the waves cannot reach
+even in the stormiest weather, where they occur in such immense quantities
+(though there are no traces of them on the sand or shingle of the actual
+beach) that we may take for granted that the convulsion which brought them
+here must have occurred in times long gone by, the more so as this
+superposed pumice-stone exercises a marked and obvious influence upon the
+vegetation of the island. So far as its soil consists of heaps of
+fragments of coral and mussel-shells, the cocoa-nut palm reigns almost
+alone, whereas as soon as the pumice-stone region is reached, there begins
+an exceedingly luxuriant growth of lofty forest trees with huge trunks and
+umbrageous foliage, and an astonishingly abundant _flora_ of species
+apparently peculiar to these Atoll islands. The English naturalist Jukes,
+who accompanied Captain Blackwood on his survey of Torres Straits, found
+beds of pumice along the entire east and north coasts of Australia, over
+an extent of 2000 miles, and under numerous special conditions, but most
+frequently on flat grounds elevated about ten feet above high-water mark
+and more or less distant from the beach--never upon the beach itself. The
+occurrence of pumice in such vast quantities is of no slight interest in a
+geological point of view. It must have been some tremendous natural
+convulsions, an earthquake wave of enormous lateral dimensions, which
+threw up this pumice-stone, and deposited it throughout this entire region
+at the same height above high-water mark. Since this phenomenon occurred,
+the general level of the coasts and islands on which this deposit of
+pumice is found, can scarcely have undergone any considerable alteration,
+if one is not inclined to assume for the entire region a perfectly equal
+elevation or depression.
+
+The whole party of Excursionists had wandered along the reef to a spot at
+which we could embark once more, so as to row over to the next island,
+Fáole, which, however, the natives do not much frequent, except
+occasionally to collect cocoa-nuts and pandanus fruits. But as one main
+object had to be accomplished, namely, the supply of the ship with fresh
+provisions, which were not found here, some of the party went off to the
+principal settlement on the island of Sikayana, to barter some goods they
+had brought, against as much private supplies for themselves as could be
+conveniently conveyed to the boats and so taken on board.
+
+While the natives were paddling along in their elegant canoes, escorting
+us as far as Sikayana, we offered a seat in our boat to the only white man
+on the island, the English sailor already mentioned. This man was named
+John Davis, about forty years of age, a native of Greenwich, and was,
+according to his own story, left behind against his will by Captain Ross,
+a "sandal-wooder," who had visited this group in 1858. He stated he had
+just before been with Captain Ross at the Tonga Islands, where the captain
+sent two sailors on shore to fell sandal-wood. These men, however, got
+into a quarrel with the natives, who would not permit them to rob them of
+their property, in the course of which they lost their lives. The captain
+immediately proceeded to the islands himself with some of his crew well
+armed, attacked the unfortunate natives, shot five, and then sailed off.
+Davis had become obnoxious to the captain, because in consequence of
+over-work he had fallen ill with intermittent fever, and could not work,
+upon which his remorseless superior cast about how to get rid of the now
+useless seaman, and resolved to put him ashore by force on the next island
+which came in sight. What a fearful doom! To be abandoned, sick and
+helpless, on a lone island far from the highways of the world, where ships
+but seldom touched, and amid savages with whose tongue he was
+unacquainted! If even one were disposed to doubt the possibility of such
+inhuman cruelty, it would find mournful confirmation in many similar
+instances. To this charge the "sandal-wooders" are especially amenable,
+who visit the islands of the South Sea to collect the costly sandal-wood,
+and in the prosecution of their enterprise seem to go upon the exclusive
+principle that the coloured man has no property over the natural wealth
+of these islands, and has no right to resist the wishes of the white man!
+
+Commander Erskine of H.M.S. _Savannah_, mentions a case in which an
+English merchantman, engaged in the sandal-wood traffic, entered into an
+engagement to employ his whole crew in assisting one native tribe to
+overpower its neighbour, in return for which timely assistance certain
+places were pointed out where the coveted sandal-wood was found in great
+abundance. A battle took place, and a number of prisoners were carried on
+board the ship, of whom, during the passage to the sandal-wood-producing
+islands, several were in the presence of the European crew coolly
+slaughtered and eaten by their cannibal foes of the Fee-jee Islands!!
+
+Davis, whom the natives for distinction's sake called simply "the white
+man," could not expatiate enough on the cordiality and kind treatment he
+received from the poor inhabitants of Sikayana during his stay. Since
+April no ship had called at the island, or even been visible from it. He
+begged the favour of a passage to Sydney, which was readily accorded him
+on condition he would first repay all his obligations to the natives, and
+that on their side there should be no objections made to his leaving. On
+our arrival in Sydney we learned that Captain Ross, who had put Davis
+ashore at Sikayana, had been tried for another still greater atrocity; he
+had inflicted Lynch-law, by hanging some of the natives of New Caledonia
+at his yard-arm. Ross was somewhat later acquitted by the judges at
+Sydney, but public opinion reversed the verdict.
+
+After a row of an hour and a half we at last reached the island of
+Sikayana, having previously met three canoes, one of which was manned by
+twelve rowers, who now entered on a sort of regatta contest with us. These
+canoes, not more than a foot and a half wide, glide with uncommon velocity
+through the water, but despite their outriggers, they are not adapted for
+carrying much provisions. We found it quite easy to land at the place, and
+drew up our boat upon the sandy beach.
+
+The world of these islanders, the entire area of dry habitable land upon
+this coral reef, is about one-eighth of an English square mile; no stream,
+no mountain, no eminence adorns the island, the highest part of which is
+just sufficiently elevated to enable the winds and waves to heap up sand
+and débris; around it on every side is the boundless ocean, and its
+mineral wealth is reduced to one single mineral, carbonated chalk,
+deposited in the brine by thousands of millions of coral-animals. Hither
+too the ocean in some extraordinary cases wafts pumice and other stones
+lighter than water, which somewhat improve the soil, or occasionally
+stones are transported, entangled in the roots of floating trees, with
+which the denizens of this little place can grind the mussel-shells, of
+which they make all their tools, as well as knives and hatchets.
+
+The immense vegetable kingdom has but 20 or 30 representatives here, whose
+seeds have been transported hither by the sea from richer and more
+congenial soils, and thrown up by it upon the strand. Animals are still
+more scarce. A few sea-swallows and insects form the whole Fauna of the
+group. The sea furnishes the only supply of animal food, in the shape of
+fish, crabs, and shell-fish. One may well ask, what degree of moral or
+spiritual development can be attained by a race of men whose sphere of
+action is confined to a solitary coral reef! Yet the mode of existence of
+the inhabitants of Stewart's Islands is by no means of the most primitive
+or simple nature; through the occasional visits of ships they have
+obtained much, by which they have sensibly improved their condition. They
+now possess swine, poultry, and various tubers, which seem greatly to
+thrive on the island, and which they can now exchange for other articles
+of prime necessity.
+
+Sikayana is the only member of the group which is permanently inhabited,
+and that by a sincerely hospitable, most friendly race. Their origin is
+variously accounted for.
+
+Among the natives themselves there is a dim tradition that Captain Cook
+transported hither the first settlers. Another version is, that the first
+inhabitants came from South Island, 130 miles W. of Stewart's Islands, and
+that they were brought hither by whalers, which latter, when they no
+longer needed the services of these poor people, sought how most easily to
+get rid of them. At the same time several English and American sailors,
+who at various times have been left in these islands in consequence of
+sickness, want of further employment, love of adventure, or quarrels with
+their captains, must have largely contributed to the present quite
+peculiar mixture. The practice of leaving upon any suitable island such
+natives of the South Sea groups as may take service with English or
+American whalers, is very common, and sufficiently explains the mode of
+first settling many of these islands of Oceania.
+
+When Captain Cheyne, who has greatly contributed to our more intimate
+knowledge of the islands of the West Pacific, visited Sikayana in
+September, 1847, the population amounted to 48 men, 73 women, and 50
+children, who inhabited a small village lying on the lagoon at the eastern
+end of the island. Although eleven years had elapsed ere we visited this
+simple community, their numbers did not appear materially to have
+increased.
+
+Considering the powerful, healthy appearance of the natives, it should
+seem that we must ascribe this stagnation in amount of population less to
+the influence of climate, than to the ravages of the various diseases
+which are from time to time introduced by foreign ships. Thus we saw one
+woman whose whole body was deeply marked with small-pox, and presented a
+living example that the fell scourge of all uncivilized races is no longer
+unknown in Sikayana.
+
+At the landing-place we were received by the king of the island, a very
+aged man with grey hair and silver beard. He sat on the grass close to the
+shore under the shade of cocoa-nut palms, driving away with his hand the
+flies which were stinging his naked body. After a brief welcome he
+invited us to be seated beside him on Nature's own soft green carpet.
+
+The natives whom we met here were all tall handsome men, with good
+features, decidedly of a European cast. The hair was black, very crisp,
+but not the slightest appearance of being woolly. Many had shaved it till
+there only remained a long tail; most of them had their arms and legs
+tattooed, but wore no ear or nose ornaments like the Solomon Islanders.
+Round the loins they wore a sort of girdle, four or five inches wide, of
+strips of plants plaited by the women. In addition to this, most of them
+wore some piece of European clothing; drawers, old caps, but most commonly
+a sort of jacket without sleeves made of calico, which only covered the
+back and chest. Like the natives of the Nicobars, they showed great
+curiosity to learn our names, and kept repeating them over and over,
+apparently to impress them upon their memory. They had beyond a doubt
+taken their own names from sailors and ship captains, with whom they had
+once been in communication.
+
+Close to the shore, among some scattered palm-trees, stood a few wretched
+huts, compared with which the bee-hive huts of the Nicobar Islanders
+appear like palaces. They consisted of a roofing woven of cocoa-nut
+palm-leaves, planted upon the naked soil which serves as a floor, and
+closed in front and rear with mats of similar texture. The interior was no
+less poverty-stricken than the exterior. We could see no articles of
+furniture beyond a few baskets and battered boxes, in which the islanders
+stow away their small property.
+
+A crowd of eager expectants had gathered round the crates of merchandise
+which our sailors had brought on shore, and the barter began.
+
+The natives had swine, poultry, a few eggs, papayas, Taro, cocoa-nuts, and
+bananas to offer, while we had an assortment of knives, hatchets, saws,
+flints, fish-hooks, calico, linen, blue cloth, ribbons, linen-thread,
+needles, coarse tobacco, biscuit, red coral, glass beads, empty bottles,
+&c. &c.
+
+This commerce was something higher than a mere barter--it had also a
+psychological interest of its own. Useful goods and tools found a much
+less demand than baubles and objects of personal adornment; and for a
+string of glass beads only fit to hang round the neck of a wife, or to put
+as a bracelet upon the arm of some little dusky daughter, provisions
+enough were given away to have supported an entire family for days.
+
+Red and green seemed the colours most in demand, and the small beads were
+in far more request than the larger and heavier descriptions, even if
+these latter were more costly and neat. It seemed the women were not
+permitted to show themselves at market, which must have been a sore enough
+disappointment for many; but the men earnestly requested before closing
+with an offer to be permitted to carry off the coveted prizes, leaving
+their own articles of barter in pledge, apparently with the gallant
+attention of first of all obtaining the advice and consent of their
+better halves. Hence it frequently happened that the article first
+selected was exchanged for some other widely different, or the whole
+bargain given up.
+
+The women whom we afterwards saw in their huts were all tall and
+powerfully built, but very unattractive, the majority appearing
+prematurely old. The sole covering was a piece of gay-coloured calico
+tolerably wide, which they wore around their loins. Their lower limbs and
+faces were tattooed, the latter however with only a few cross-bars.
+
+The two hampers of assorted articles, which was our stock in trade, were
+ere long nearly emptied, and as the sailors would have found it hard work
+to bring off the provisions we had purchased in our small boat, it was
+agreed to break up our improvised exchange, and return to Fáole with our
+valuable cargo of fresh provisions.[200]
+
+While the barter was going on, the author of this narrative occupied
+himself with making some anthropometrical measurements, and at the same
+time noting down a few cursory remarks respecting these interesting
+people.
+
+The chief food of these islanders consists of fish, cocoa-nuts, taro, and
+the fruit of the pandanus (_dawa_); only at rare intervals do they taste
+pork or poultry. The rearing of pigs and poultry is chiefly carried on for
+the purpose of trading with foreign vessels, so as to obtain in return the
+products of a higher civilization. Their fish-nets are prepared from the
+rind of their trees. A few looms which they also possess have been given
+them by whale-fishers. The cincture round the loins, which is their sole
+article of apparel, is also prepared from the inner bark of the tree.
+
+When the king dies, the oldest member of the community is elected his
+successor. At their festivals they sing in a sort of monotonous drone, and
+blow at the same time through mussel-shells.
+
+When mourning for the dead, they stain their faces red with the seeds of
+the _Bixa orellana_, and wear a piece of white calico, shaped something
+like a capuchin's hood, which reaches down till it covers the shoulder.
+One native, who was wearing one of these head coverings, could not be
+induced to traffic, nor even to approach the place where our improvised
+market was being held, because, as he made us understand, one of his near
+relatives had lately died. Altogether the inhabitants of Sikayana struck
+us as a primitive, very moral, and honourable race, and it made us almost
+melancholy to think that these excellent people should be without the
+blessings of Christianity. To our great amazement, however, we learned
+that the natives themselves strenuously opposed the settlement in their
+midst of any missionaries of any Christian denomination,--"Because," said
+they, "all their Kai-kai (i. e. their food) would belong to the
+missionaries." This naïve reply reminds us of a similar remark on the part
+of the Quiche Indians, which we once overheard in the highlands of
+Guatemala, in whose language a missionary or priest is known as
+Ki-sol-re-le-ak-úch, which being interpreted means "devourer of all hens!"
+And just as among the Mormons every care is taken to keep certain
+professions out of their community, as, for instance, the physician, in
+order to prevent illness, or the lawyer, with the intent to keep away
+law-suits, thus in their simplicity the natives of Sikayana have fallen
+into the error of viewing the missionary, that moral physician, as only of
+importance or of necessity in those places where there are really
+spiritual and moral evils to cure!
+
+The liquors of Europe are as yet but little known to the inhabitants of
+Sikayana. In none of the huts could we discern any sort of spirituous
+fluids, nor was any offered to us. Even during the trading, amid the
+demands for every sort of article, no desire was expressed for them, not a
+question even was asked respecting them, whereas hitherto all the wild or
+semi-savage races with which we came in contact at once clamoured for
+"Brandy," and not seldom presented themselves in a riotous condition.
+That there is as yet no demand for spirits at Sikayana shows how little
+intercourse they can as yet have had with civilization. In former years
+this group was occasionally visited by American and English merchantmen,
+owing to the abundance of Trepang. Since the year 1845, however, when one
+American captain collected 250 Chinese piculs[201] (about 15 tons), and
+ten years later when Captain Cheyne in the course of nine months gathered
+265 piculs (about 16-3/4 tons), the business is no longer profitable and
+at present years sometimes slip by without a ship lying to off Sikayana.
+
+As these worm-like animals,[202] which in the dried state command, like
+the Salangan swallows' nests, a high price as a costly delicacy in China
+and Japan, form an important article of commerce and employ a considerable
+number of ships annually, we shall indulge in a few remarks on the very
+laborious operations of preparing the Trepang.
+
+Of the large number of varieties of Trepang which are found among the
+coral reefs of the Pacific, there are only ten suited to the Chinese
+market, which are accurately distinguished by their special names. As they
+fetch a price according to quality of from 6 to 35 dollars per picul, it
+is a matter of great importance to obtain the very highest qualities.
+
+The four species most in demand are known in China by the following
+names,--_Bangkolungan_, _Kiskisan_, _Talipan_, and _Munang_, each of which
+has a distinctive appearance, and is found at various depths on the coral
+reefs.
+
+_Bangkolungan_, when captured, is from 11 to 15 inches in length, of an
+oval form, brown on the back, white on the belly, incrusted with chalk,
+and with a row of papillæ or warts along the side. This species is hard,
+stiff, and possesses hardly any means of progression beyond expanding and
+contracting at will. They are found on the inner edge of the coral reef in
+coral-sandy ground, under water of from 2 to 10 fathoms, and are difficult
+to get at without diving. Kiskisan is from 6 to 12 inches long, oval, very
+black, smooth on the back, dark grey belly, and with a row of papillæ
+along its side. This description is found in shallow water near the
+highest portion of the reef, and on a bottom of coral and sand. _Talipan_
+varies in length from 9 inches to 2 feet, and is the most peculiar-looking
+of all the Trepang species. This sort is found in all parts of the reef,
+but chiefly in water of from 2 to 3 fathoms. It is of a dark red colour,
+and less bulky than either of the sorts already described. The back is
+covered with large red spots, which readily distinguish it from all other
+species. It is more flexible than the black sort, and more difficult to
+prepare. _Munang_ is oval, small, quite black, and rarely measures above
+eight inches in length. It has neither warts nor other excrescences, and
+is found in shallow water on the coral flats, and frequently also among
+the sea-tangle along the shore. It is this sort which the Americans
+usually catch at the Fee-jee Islands. In the Chinese markets, a picul of
+_Munang_ is worth 15 to 25 dollars. Besides these four principal species,
+there are a variety of less valuable descriptions, such as Zapatos-China,
+Lowlowan, Balati-blanco, Matan, Hangenan, and Zapatos-Grande.
+
+In order to prepare these four sorts of Trepang for commerce, they are
+first soaked in a large iron kettle for from 5 to 10 minutes in boiling
+water, and when thoroughly heated through, are taken out. The portion of
+the animal which is cut off, when well boiled, should be of an amber
+colour tinged with blue, and feel somewhat like Indian rubber.
+
+A certain degree of dexterity and practice are requisite for boiling
+Trepang to the proper point and afterwards drying it. While it becomes
+puffed out through too sudden an application of heat, and porous like
+sponge, too low a temperature or too short a time destroys it on the other
+hand, and in 24 hours it becomes quite tainted. Trepang dried in the sun
+is more valuable than that dried on the island, nor does the native ever
+care for those he dries over his wood fire. Probably the former mode of
+preparing it would not pay for a ship, since at least twenty days are
+necessary to dry Trepang in the sun, whereas over a wood fire the same
+end is attained in four days.
+
+On the whole, the precautions requisite properly to prepare Trepang are so
+manifold and require such an expenditure of time, that only those who for
+years have been exclusively devoted to the business can secure a
+successful result. Consequently the trade is exceedingly remunerative, and
+numbers of captains have within a very few years realized a competency and
+even affluence by preparing Trepang for the Chinese market.
+
+We employed our time, when sailing back to the island of Fáole, in
+finishing a small vocabulary of the language in use by the inhabitants of
+the Stewart Island group, which we accomplished with the last stroke of
+the oar that brought our heavily-laden boat back to Fáole, where the rest
+of our companions already anxiously awaited our return. We had occasion to
+remark with surprise the perseverance and readiness of comprehension of
+one native named Károsi, to whose assistance we are entirely indebted for
+the preparation of this vocabulary.
+
+After a stay of about four hours on the island, we returned to the ship
+about 4.30 P.M., and by sundown were again under weigh for Sydney.[203] If
+the inhabitants of the Solomon group were the most savage race of men we
+encountered throughout our cruise, these amiable Sikayanese left on us the
+impression of being the most moral and peacefully disposed race of
+aborigines that we became acquainted with, and even to this day the few
+fleeting but highly suggestive hours we spent with these primitive people
+are among the most singular, yet delightful, on which memory rests, when
+recalling the incidents of our circumnavigation.[204]
+
+A fresh breeze hurried us rapidly to the southward during the 18th, but we
+soon entered once more upon the region of squalls[205] and calms, and on
+19th and 20th October we were lying listlessly about 15 miles E., by
+chart, from Sesarga,[206] called also _Ile de Contrariété_ (9° 49' S.,
+162° 13' E.), condemned to inactivity to the northward of San Christoval.
+We could now satisfy ourselves that it is quite erroneous to identify this
+island with that seen by Pedro de Ortega in 1567, round in shape, and with
+a lofty volcano in its midst continually throwing up smoke and steam. _Ile
+de Contrariété_, as seen from the deck of our frigate, presented the
+appearance of a long wooded ridge, averaging about 800 feet in height,
+whereas some of the peaks of San Christoval, 3000 or 4000 feet in height,
+presented all the configuration peculiar to a volcanic island; this was
+especially the case with one remarkably regular cone of about 2000 feet in
+height, which rises quite close to Cape Surville. So that Burney's theory
+seems the most probable, that Ortega's Sesarga is no other than Mount
+Lammot, 8000 feet high, on Guadalcanar (9° 50' S., 160° 20' E.).
+
+At last, on 21st October, we succeeded in weathering Cape Surville. Thus
+the Solomon's group too were what seamen call "hull-down," and we might
+look forward to a speedy termination to this most tedious and unpropitious
+voyage. For a long month we had, while to the northward of the Solomon's
+Islands, vainly sighed for a fresh breeze, and now all at once the S.E.
+trade was blowing so strong that the ship could only lay her course to the
+southward under reduced sail, close-hauled, and had now to plunge
+laboriously through the heavy seas, which the stiff breeze was knocking
+up. On the 25th and 26th October it blew a regular storm from the S.E., we
+forging along under double-reefed square-sails, till it almost seemed that
+the end of our voyage was destined to be as stormy as its commencement
+"away in the China seas." The ship's timbers creaked and groaned, as
+though they would break into a thousand pieces, while the whistling and
+moaning of the wind, the raging and roaring of the sea, the tremendous
+crash of the waves against our bulwarks, left no peace night or day for
+the "non-effectives," as all passengers not regularly borne upon the
+ship's books are called on board a man-of-war. As though to increase the
+discomfort of their position, it happened that the frigate began to make
+water to such an extent, that in what was fortunately but a very small
+portion of the hold, the water rose to fifty inches within four hours! It
+was supposed that during the typhoon on the China sea, some of the copper
+plates had been wrenched off, and that the water was finding entrance
+through some leak in her outer timbers, but the most rigid examination
+failed to discover its whereabouts. At all events it must have been at or
+above the water line, as when the sea rose higher than usual, or the ship
+lurched much, the water was sure to gain. We were compelled consequently
+to vary from our original course by the open sea-way along the west coast
+of New Caledonia, and steer for the coral sea, thickly studded with
+reefs, which lies between New Caledonia and "Sandy Cape" on the shores of
+Australia, as by adopting this dangerous route we should at least have
+smoother water and more favourable winds. Meanwhile, every possible
+precaution was taken in handling the ship, so as not to increase the leak,
+and a sail was kept ready to be fothered from without over the leaky part
+in case of necessity.
+
+On 28th October we had expected to be in sight of the great
+horse-shoe-shaped Bampton Reef. But there was no surf discernible from the
+mast-head, only the change to smooth water, which we at once felt, proving
+that the reef really existed, and that we were to leeward of it. Its
+position is so variously laid down on the charts, that while by one chart
+we must have been upon the very reef itself, we were, according to a
+second, four miles, and, according to a third, fourteen miles to the
+eastward of it! The last-mentioned seemed to be the most correct, since at
+four miles the surf must have been visible, whereas it would be impossible
+to see it at fourteen miles.
+
+By 30th October we had passed the latitude of Sandy Cape, and could now
+steer direct for Sydney, the capital of the colony of New South Wales. The
+same day we also crossed the tropic of Capricorn. The temperature, which
+had been falling regularly ever since we left the Solomon Islands, in 28°
+S., was as low as 64°.4 Fahr., so that we found it advisable to resume our
+woollen clothing.
+
+Ten months we had now spent in the tropics, in the hottest seas of the
+globe, and we now felt, on a beautiful November morning in the southern
+tropics, as on a clear spring morning at home. On 4th November we had our
+first peep of the coast of Australia at Smoky Cape, a fresh easterly
+breeze filling our sails, as we bowled along at 10 knots an hour,
+constantly nearing the next station of our voyage. On the 5th, at 2 P.M.,
+the not very high land round Port Jackson came in sight, and we had not to
+alter her course by one spoke, so that our chronometer had given
+unmistakeable proof of its accuracy. The coast is for the most part rather
+flat and monotonous, but we soon recognized the entrance by North Cape,
+which rises sheer out of the water at the harbour mouth, where we also
+took a pilot on board. The light-house here, 420 feet above sea-level, had
+been visible from the deck of the frigate 15 miles away! During the whole
+voyage we had only seen one vessel, an American clipper off the Marianne
+Archipelago, and were greatly amazed to find not a single sail in the
+vicinity of the port. At last, just as we got abreast of the entrance, we
+saw a steamer and some small boats making for the land. At 6 P.M., after a
+voyage of 82 days, during which we had sailed 5930 miles, the anchor was
+let go in the magnificent harbour of Port Jackson, off Garden Island, to
+the N.E. of the city of Sydney. We had reached in safety the fifth quarter
+of the globe!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[200] As it is not uninteresting to know the course of exchange at
+Sikayana existing between the products of European industry and its native
+products, we subjoin a few of the most important equivalents:
+
+  For 5 lbs. tobacco                               one pig.
+   "  20 Steel fish-hooks                             "
+   "  5 Strings of red corals                         "
+   "  5 Strings of green and red glass beads          "
+   "  5 Packets of needles and thread                 "
+   "  10 Ells of calico                               "
+   "  5 Fish-hooks                                 ten eggs.
+   "  5 Fish-hooks                                 two hens.
+   "  10 Fish-hooks                                30 pieces of Taro.
+   "  2 Packets needles and threads                30 pieces of Taro.
+   "  1 Packet old playing-cards                   4 hens.
+
+[201] One Chinese picul = 133-1/2 lbs. English, whereas one Dutch picul =
+135-3/5 lbs. English.
+
+[202] Called Trepang by the Malays, _hái-schni_ by the Chinese, and
+_Biche-de-mar_ by both English and French. Of this _holothuria_ or
+sea-cucumber (_Holothuria edulis_), there are about 400 tons annually
+imported into China from the various islands of the Southern Ocean.
+
+[203] During our excursion, there were taken on board the frigate, which
+cruised to and fro in short tacks off the island, about 200 readings of
+the temperature, at depths of every 50 fathoms. It was also intended to
+experiment as to soundings, but the state of the weather prevented this,
+as there were continual squalls, and the threatening state of the weather
+did not admit of a boat being launched. However at a distance of half a
+mile from the reef, no bottom was found with 200 fathoms of line.
+
+[204] It is perhaps a duty to our gallant companions of every grade to
+vindicate the Expedition once more, and finally, from certain malignant
+calumnies which, upwards of a year after we had left Australian waters,
+were circulated in the columns of even respectable newspapers, accusing
+the crew of the _Novara_ of having been guilty of most scandalous excesses
+and wanton robbery while at Sikayana. It seems however needless to insist
+that not the slightest pretext for such infamous aspersions was furnished
+by any of the party who spent these few hours in Sikayana, of which we
+have sketched the details in the present chapter. But the fact that they
+could be circulated without its being possible to contradict them on
+official authority points to a serious defect in our diplomatic position
+abroad. True, that no respectable member of the community accredited the
+idle mischievous report; true that the leading inhabitants, English,
+American, and German, strenuously combated it on every possible occasion,
+and in every possible manner. Yet had Austria been a recognized power,
+instead of a friendly guest, it needs but little acquaintance with the
+etiquette of public and official life to know that the calumny must have
+been stifled in its birth, by the prompt action of those specially
+appointed to protect the fair fame of their country in these distant
+waters. Not till her flag floats regularly to the breeze in the most
+distant countries, instead of being that of a casual visitor, will
+Austria, and through her the entire German nation, receive that respect,
+and occupy that position among the family of nations, to which her
+intelligence, her energy, and her important influence upon the progress of
+civilization alike entitle her.
+
+[205] The quantity of rain that falls in these latitudes is something
+almost incredible. One single squall from the N.W. was accompanied by a
+rainfall of _three_ inches, in the course of _five hours_, whereas the
+_entire rainfall_ for the _year_ in London, for instance, is only 18.07
+inches.
+
+[206] The native name is Ulatúa.
+
+
+                            END OF VOL. II.
+
+
+                    JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+                          List of Modifications
+
+Transcriber's Note: Blank pages have been deleted. Captions indicated in
+the original publication's list of illustrations have been added to the
+illustrations themselves. Illustrations omitted from the list of
+illustrations have been added there. To these illustrations, new captions
+have been added. Illustrations may have been moved. The footnotes have
+been moved. We have rendered consistent on a per-word-pair basis the
+hyphenation or spacing of such pairs when repeated in the same grammatical
+context. We have corrected inconsistencies in the application of accents
+to the same word when repeated. The publisher's inadvertent omissions of
+punctuation have been corrected. Some wide tables have been re-formatted
+to narrower equivalents with some words replaced with commonly known
+abbreviations and possibly a key. Some ditto marks have been replaced with
+the words represented. The publisher's corrections listed at the end of
+Volume III have been applied. Duplicative front matter has been removed.
+Other changes were made as listed below:
+
+   23: the poor people having been over whelmed[overwhelmed]
+   62: first the island of Meroe, than[then] the two
+  193: Javanese was their conversion to Brahmaism[Brahmanism]
+  205: of which is manufactured Manilla[Manila] hemp)
+  205: the plant in its orginal[original] climate,
+  206: beautifully situated Hotel Belleuve[Bellevue],
+  226: such as Gunnug[Gunung] Guntur and Gunung
+  236: caves.["] (The meaning of the above Javanese words is
+  236: name of _Njai[Njaï]-Ratu-Segor-Kidul_,
+  270: Radhen[Raden] Saleh cherishes
+  281: Plans for canalization.--Arrival at Los Banos[Baños].
+  292: The two hotels lately started [to] levy,
+  301: was born 24th November, 1778, at Naviaños[Navianos],
+  320: Athough[although] altogether more tobacco
+  345: the church was considered as descerated[desecrated]
+  353: owing to the attitude[altitude] of the hills
+  418: and wicker[-]work numerous skulls of rebels
+  451: In the dispensary there were, morever[moreover],
+  508: impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrancy[fragrance],
+  529: clearly developes[develops] its tendency,
+  543: the centre of the _cylone[cyclone]_,
+  550: Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luft geflüster[Luftgeflüster]
+  550: Und fromm, fast wie zwei betende Geschwester[Geschwister].
+  617: with the seeds of the _Bixa ocellana[orellana]_,
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of
+the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
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+      Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Vol. 2, by Karl Scherzer.
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the
+Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+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: Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II
+       (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order
+              of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+              Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the
+              Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the
+              Austrian Navy.
+
+Author: Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+Release Date: January 1, 2012 [EBook #38462]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL II ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Henry Gardiner and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file made from scans of public domain material at
+Austrian Literature Online.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="center" style="width: 25em; margin: auto; border: solid 1px; padding: 1em;">
+Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been replicated faithfully except as listed
+<a href="#Changes" name="Start" id="Start">here</a>.
+</div>
+<!--001.png-->
+
+<h1 style="line-height: 2em;">NARRATIVE<br />
+<small>OF THE</small><br />
+Circumnavigation of the Globe<br />
+<small>BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE</small><br />
+NOVARA,</h1>
+
+<div class="c4">(COMMODORE B. VON WULLERSTORF-URBAIR,)<br />
+<i>Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government</i>,</div>
+
+<div class="c2" style="padding: 1.5em 0 2em 0;">IN THE YEARS 1857, 1858, &amp; 1859,</div>
+
+<div class="c4">UNDER THE IMMEDIATE AUSPICES OF HIS I. AND R. HIGHNESS
+THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN,
+COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.</div>
+
+<div class="c5">BY</div>
+<div class="c2">DR. KARL SCHERZER,</div>
+
+<div class="c5">MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA," ETC.</div>
+
+<div class="c1">VOL. II.</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 174px;">
+<img src="images/illu001.png" width="174" height="123" alt="Sans Changer" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="c4">
+LONDON:<br />
+<i>SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO.</i>,<br />
+66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE.<br />
+1862.</div>
+
+<div class="c5">[THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]</div>
+
+<!--002.png-->
+
+<div class="c5" style="padding-top: 2em;">
+JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--003.png-->
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="font-size: 0.9em;">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER X.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Historical details respecting this Archipelago.&mdash;Arrival at
+Kar-Nicobar.&mdash;Communication with the Aborigines.&mdash;Village of
+Sáoui and "Captain John."&mdash;Meet with two white men.&mdash;Journey to
+the south side of the Island.&mdash;Village of Komios.&mdash;Forest
+Scenery.&mdash;Batte-Malve.&mdash;Tillangschong.&mdash;Arrival and stay at
+Nangkauri Harbour.&mdash;Village of Itoe.&mdash;Peak Mongkata on
+Kamorta.&mdash;Villages of Enuang and Malacca.&mdash;Tripjet, the first
+settlement of the Moravian Brothers.&mdash;Ulàla Cove.&mdash;Voyage
+through the Archipelago.&mdash;The Island of Treis.&mdash;Pulo
+Miù.&mdash;Pandanus Forest.&mdash;St. George's Channel.&mdash;Island of
+Kondul.&mdash;Departure for the northern coast of Great
+Nicobar.&mdash;Mangrove Swamp.&mdash;Malay traders.&mdash;Remarks upon the
+natives of Great Nicobar.&mdash;Disaster to a boat dispatched to make
+Geodetical observations.&mdash;Visit to the Southern Bay of Great
+Nicobar.&mdash;General results obtained during the stay of the
+Expedition in this Archipelago.&mdash;Nautical, Climatic, and
+Geognostic observations.&mdash;Vegetation.&mdash;Animal
+Life.&mdash;Ethnography.&mdash;Prospects of this group of Islands in the
+way of settlement and cultivation.&mdash;Voyage to the Straits of
+Malacca.&mdash;Arrival at Singapore.</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">SINGAPORE.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Position of the Island.&mdash;Its previous history.&mdash;Sir Stamford
+Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British
+Government free to all sea-faring nations.&mdash;The Island becomes
+part of the Crown property of England.&mdash;Extraordinary
+development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.&mdash;Our stay
+shortened in consequence of the severity of the
+cholera.&mdash;Description of the city.&mdash;Tigers.&mdash;Gambir.&mdash;The Betel
+plantations.&mdash;Inhabitants.&mdash;Chinese and European
+labour.&mdash;Climate.&mdash;Diamond merchants.&mdash;Preparation of Pearl
+Sago.&mdash;Opium farms.&mdash;Opium
+manufacture.&mdash;Opium-smokers.&mdash;Intellectual
+activity.&mdash;Journalism.&mdash;Logan's "Journal of the Indian
+Archipelago."&mdash;School
+<!--004.png-->for Malay children.&mdash;Judicial
+procedure.&mdash;Visit to the penal settlement for coloured
+criminals.&mdash;A Chinese provision-merchant at business and at
+home.&mdash;Fatal accident on board.&mdash;Departure from
+Singapore.&mdash;Difficulty in passing through Gaspar
+Straits.&mdash;Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.&mdash;Death of one
+of the ship's boys.&mdash;First burial at sea.&mdash;Sea-snakes.&mdash;Arrival
+in the Roads of Batavia.</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">JAVA.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Old and New Batavia.&mdash;Splendid reception.&mdash;Scientific
+societies.&mdash;Public institutions.&mdash;Natives.&mdash;A Malay
+embassy.&mdash;Excursion into the interior.&mdash;Buitenzorg.&mdash;The Botanic
+Garden.&mdash;The Negro.&mdash;Prince Aquasie Boachi.&mdash;Pondok-Gedeh.&mdash;The
+infirmary at Gadok, and Dr. Bernstein.&mdash;Megamendoeng.&mdash;Javanese
+villages.&mdash;Tjipannas.&mdash;Ascent of Pangerango.&mdash;Forest
+scenery.&mdash;Javanese resting-houses or Pasanggrahans.&mdash;Night and
+morning on the summit of the volcano.&mdash;Visit to Gunung
+Gedeh.&mdash;The plantations of Peruvian bark-trees in
+Tjipodas.&mdash;Their actual condition.&mdash;Conjectures as to the
+future.&mdash;Voyage to Bandong.&mdash;Spots where edible swallows' nests
+are found.&mdash;Hospitable reception by a Javanese prince.&mdash;Visit to
+Dr. Junghuhn in Lembang.&mdash;Coffee cultivation.&mdash;Decay in value of
+the coffee bean of Java.&mdash;Professor Vriese and the coffee
+planters of Java.&mdash;Free trade and monopoly.&mdash;Compulsory and free
+labour.&mdash;Ascent of the volcano of Tangkuban Prahu.&mdash;Poison
+Crater and King's Crater.&mdash;A geological excursion to a portion
+of the Preanger Regency.&mdash;Native fête given by the Javanese
+Regent of Tjiangoer.&mdash;A day at the Governor-general's
+country-seat at Buitenzorg.&mdash;Return to Batavia.&mdash;Ball given by
+the military club in honour of the Novara.&mdash;Raden Saleh, a
+Javanese artist.&mdash;Barracks and prisons.&mdash;Meester
+Cornelis.&mdash;French opera.&mdash;Constant changes among the European
+society.&mdash;Aims of the colonial government.&mdash;Departure from
+Batavia.&mdash;Pleasant voyage.&mdash;An English ship with Chinese
+Coolies.&mdash;Bay of Manila.&mdash;Arrival in Cavite harbour.
+</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">MANILA.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Historical notes relating to the Philippines.&mdash;From Cavite to
+Manila.&mdash;The river Pasig.&mdash;First impressions of the city.&mdash;Its
+inhabitants.&mdash;Tagales and Negritoes.&mdash;Preponderating influence
+of monks.&mdash;Visit to the four chief monasteries.&mdash;Conversation
+with an Augustine Monk.&mdash;Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
+chiefly in use in Manila.&mdash;Reception by the Governor-general of
+<!--005.png-->the Philippines.&mdash;Monument in honour of Magelhaens.&mdash;The
+"Calzada."&mdash;Cock-fighting.&mdash;"Fiestas Reales."&mdash;Causes of the
+languid trade with Europe hitherto.&mdash;Visit to the
+Cigar-manufactories.&mdash;Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
+Havanna.&mdash;Abáca, or Manila hemp.&mdash;Excursion to the "Laguna de
+Bay."&mdash;A row on the river Pasig.&mdash;The village of
+Patero.&mdash;Wild-duck breeding.&mdash;Sail on the Lagoon.&mdash;Plans for
+canalization.&mdash;Arrival at Los Baños.&mdash;Canoe-trip on the
+"enchanted sea."&mdash;Alligators.&mdash;Kalong Bats.&mdash;Gobernador and
+Gobernadorcillo.&mdash;The Poll-tax.&mdash;A hunt in the swamps of
+Calamba.&mdash;Padre Lorenzo.&mdash;Return to Manila.&mdash;The "Pebete."&mdash;The
+military Library.&mdash;The civil and military
+Hospital.&mdash;Ecclesiastical processions.&mdash;Ave Maria.&mdash;Tagalian
+merriness.&mdash;Condiman.&mdash;Lunatic Asylum.&mdash;Gigantic serpent
+thirty-two years old.&mdash;Departure.&mdash;Chinese pilots.&mdash;First
+glimpse of the coasts of the Celestial Empire.&mdash;The Lemmas
+Channel.&mdash;Arrival in Hong-kong Harbour.
+</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">HONG-KONG.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or
+Hong-kong.&mdash;Disagreeables.&mdash;Public character.&mdash;The Comprador, or
+"factotum."&mdash;A Chinese fortune-teller.&mdash;Curiosity-stalls.&mdash;The
+To-stone.&mdash;Pictures on so-called "rice-paper."&mdash;Canton
+English.&mdash;Notices on the Chinese language and mode of
+writing.&mdash;Manufacture of ink.&mdash;Hospitality of German
+missionaries.&mdash;The custom of exposing and murdering female
+children.&mdash;Method of dwarfing the female foot.&mdash;Sir John
+Bowring.&mdash;Branch Institute of the Royal Asiatic Society.&mdash;An
+ecclesiastical dignitary on the study of natural sciences.&mdash;The
+Chinese in the East Indies.&mdash;Green indigo or Lu-Kao.&mdash;Kind
+reception by German countrymen.&mdash;Anthropometrical
+measurements.&mdash;Ramble to Little Hong-kong.&mdash;Excursion to Canton
+on board H.M. gun-boat <i>Algerine</i>.&mdash;A day at the English
+head-quarters.&mdash;The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.&mdash;Visit to the
+Portuguese settlement of Macao.&mdash;Herr von Carlowitz.&mdash;Camoens'
+Grotto.&mdash;Church for Protestants.&mdash;Pagoda Makok.&mdash;Dr.
+Kane.&mdash;Present position of the colony.&mdash;Slave-trade revived
+under the name of Chinese emigration.&mdash;Excursions round
+Macao.&mdash;The Isthmus.&mdash;Chinese graves.&mdash;Praya Granite.&mdash;A Chinese
+physician.&mdash;Singing stones.&mdash;Departure.&mdash;Gutzlaff's
+Island.&mdash;Voyage up the Yang-tse-Kiang.&mdash;Wusung.&mdash;Arrival at
+Shanghai.
+</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">SHANGHAI.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.&mdash;Book-stalls.&mdash;Public
+Baths.&mdash;Chinese Pawnbrokers.&mdash;Foundling hospital.&mdash;The Hall of
+Universal Benevolence.&mdash;<!--006.png-->Sacrificial Hall of Medical
+Faculty.&mdash;City prison.&mdash;Temple of the Goddess of the
+Sea.&mdash;Chinese taverns.&mdash;Tea-garden.&mdash;Temple of Buddha.&mdash;Temple
+of Confucius.&mdash;Taouist convent.&mdash;Chinese nuns.&mdash;An apothecary's
+store, and what is sold therein.&mdash;Public schools.&mdash;Christian
+places of worship.&mdash;Native industry.&mdash;Cenotaphs to the memory of
+beneficent females.&mdash;A Chinese patrician family.&mdash;The villas of
+the foreign merchants.&mdash;Activity of the London Missionary
+Society.&mdash;Dr. Hobson.&mdash;Chinese medical works.&mdash;Leprosy.&mdash;The
+American Missionary Society.&mdash;Dr. Bridgman.&mdash;Main-tze
+tribe.&mdash;Mission schools for Chinese boys and girls.&mdash;The North
+China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.&mdash;Meeting in honour of
+the Members of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition.&mdash;Mons. de
+Montigny.&mdash;Baron Gros.&mdash;Interview with the Táu-Tái, or chief
+Chinese official of the city.&mdash;The Jesuit mission at
+Sikkawéi.&mdash;The Pagoda of Long-Sáh.&mdash;A Chinese dinner.&mdash;Serenade
+by the German singing-club.&mdash;The Germans in China.&mdash;Influence of
+the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and Pekin upon
+commerce.&mdash;Silk.&mdash;Tea.&mdash;The Chinese sugar-cane.&mdash;Various species
+of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of paper.&mdash;The varnish
+tree.&mdash;The tallow tree.&mdash;The wax-tree.&mdash;Mosquito
+tobacco.&mdash;Articles of import.&mdash;Opium.&mdash;The Tai-ping
+rebels.&mdash;Departure from Shanghai.&mdash;A typhoon in the China
+sea.&mdash;Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.
+</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_416">416</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">THE ISLAND OF PUYNIPET.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Native boats in sight.&mdash;A pilot comes on board&mdash;Communications
+of a white settler.&mdash;Another pilot.&mdash;Fruitless attempts to tack
+for the island.&mdash;Roankiddi Harbour.&mdash;Extreme difficulty in
+effecting a landing with the boats.&mdash;Settlement of Réi.&mdash;Dr.
+Cook.&mdash;Stroll through the forest.&mdash;Excursions up the Roankiddi
+River.&mdash;American missionaries.&mdash;Visit from the king of the
+Roankiddi tribe.&mdash;Kawa as a beverage.&mdash;Interior of the royal
+abode.&mdash;The Queen.&mdash;Mode of living, habits and customs of the
+natives.&mdash;Their religion and mode of worship.&mdash;Their festivals
+and dances.&mdash;Ancient monumental records and their probable
+origin.&mdash;Importance of these in both a historical and geological
+point of view.&mdash;Return on board.&mdash;Suspicious conduct of the
+white settler.&mdash;An asylum for contented delinquents.&mdash;Under
+weigh for Australia.&mdash;Belt of calms.&mdash;Simpson Island.&mdash;"It must
+be a ghost!"&mdash;Bradley Reef.&mdash;A Comet.&mdash;The Solomon
+Islands.&mdash;Rencontre with the natives of Malaýta.&mdash;In sight of
+Sikayana.
+</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_551">551</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc2" colspan="2">THE CORAL ISLAND OF SIKAYANA.</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="toc3">
+Natives on board.&mdash;Good prospects of fresh provisions.&mdash;An
+interment on board.<!--007.png-->&mdash;A night scene.&mdash;Visit to the Island
+Group.&mdash;Fáole.&mdash;Trip ashore to Sikayana.&mdash;Narrative of an
+English sailor.&mdash;Cruelty of merchantmen in the South Sea
+Islands.&mdash;Tradition as to the origin of the inhabitants of
+Sikayana.&mdash;A king.&mdash;Barter.&mdash;Religion of the
+natives.&mdash;Trepang.&mdash;Method of preparing this sea-slug for the
+Chinese market.&mdash;Dictionary of the native language.&mdash;Under
+sail.&mdash;Ile de Contrariété.&mdash;Stormy weather.&mdash;Spring a
+leak.&mdash;Bampton Reef.&mdash;Smoky Cape.&mdash;Arrival in Port Jackson, the
+harbour of Sydney.
+</td>
+
+<td><a href="#Page_601">601</a></td></tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--009.png-->
+
+<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+<div class="c3">VOL. II.</div>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="right">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="font-size: 0.9em;">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">A Landscape in the Nicobar Islands</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">2.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">A Forest Scene in Singapore</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">3.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">A Chinese Counting Board</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">4.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">Javanese Weapons</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">5.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">The Seal of Union of the Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">6.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">Javanese Bee-hive</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">7.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">View from the Battlements at Manila</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">8.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">Life in Hong-kong</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">9.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">Flower Boat on the Wusung at Shanghai</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_416">416</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">10.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">Distant View of the Island of Puynipet</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_551">551</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">11.</td><td align="left" class="loi1">Barrier Reef and Atoll of Sikayana</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_601">601</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--011.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -350px;
+  width: 700px; height: 1068px; background-image: url('images/illu011.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu011" id="illu011"></a><a name="X" id="X"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top: -1em;">A Landscape in the Nicobar Islands.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 700px; height: 330px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 50px; margin-right: -178px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 50px; margin-left: -178px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 50px; margin-right: -200px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 50px; margin-left: -230px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 80px; margin-right: -270px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 180px; margin-left: -240px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 460px; margin-left: -260px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">X.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">The Nicobar Islands.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">Stay from 23rd February to 26th March, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+Historical details respecting this Archipelago.&mdash;Arrival at
+Kar-Nicobar.&mdash;Communication with the Aborigines.&mdash;Village of
+Sáoui and "Captain John."&mdash;Meet with two white men.&mdash;Journey to
+the south side of the island.&mdash;Village of Komios.&mdash;Forest
+Scenery.&mdash;Batte-Malve.&mdash;Tillangschong.&mdash;Arrival and stay at
+Nangkauri Harbour.&mdash;Village of Itoe.&mdash;Peak Mongkata on
+Kamorta.&mdash;Villages of Enuang and Malacca.&mdash;Tripjet, the first
+settlement of the Moravian Brothers.&mdash;Ulàla Cove.&mdash;Voyage
+through the Archipelago.&mdash;The Island of Treis.&mdash;Pulo
+Milù&mdash;Pandanus Forest.&mdash;St. George's Channel.&mdash;Island of
+Kondul.&mdash;Departure for the northern coast of Great
+Nicobar.&mdash;Mangrove Swamp.&mdash;Malay traders.&mdash;Remarks upon the
+natives of Great Nicobar.&mdash;Disaster to a boat dispatched to make
+Geodetical observations.&mdash;Visit to the Southern Bay of Great
+Nicobar.&mdash;General results obtained during the stay of the
+Expedition in this Archipelago.&mdash;Nautical, Climatic, and
+Geognostic observations.&mdash;Vegetation.&mdash;Animal
+Life.&mdash;Ethnography.&mdash;Prospects of this group of Islands in the
+way of settlement and cultivation.&mdash;Voyage to the Straits of
+Malacca.&mdash;Arrival at Singapore.
+</div>
+
+<p>The earliest visitants of whom we have any certain information to this
+cluster of islands (situated in the Bay of Bengal, between 6° 50&#8242; and 9°
+10&#8242; N., and 93° and 94° E.), appear to have been Arabian traders, who, on
+their
+<!--012.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span>voyages
+to Southern China, landed on these islands, then known as
+Megabalu and Legabalu, on the first occasion in 851, and on the second in
+877 of the Christian era. Abu-Zeyd-Hassan, one of these adventurers, gave
+a circumstantial account of these voyages, which has been translated into
+French, and published by Eusebius Renaudot.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>After the Cape of Good Hope was doubled in 1497, the Nicobars were chiefly
+frequented by voyagers in East Indian seas, but without any such visits
+having in the least contributed to enlarge our information respecting a
+group so important by geographical position.</p>
+
+<p>In 1602, Captain Lancaster, commander of an English ship, passed ten days
+on the Nicobars, during which he hardly visited the southern islands,
+Great and Little Nicobar, but kept to the small island of Sombrero, of the
+northern cluster, now called Bampoka. He there found trees of such
+circumference and height, as would serve for the construction of the
+largest ships. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, Koeping, a
+Swede, made his appearance at the Nicobars. Happening to be on board a
+Dutch vessel, which touched in 1647 at one of the islands, he thought he
+perceived among the inhabitants certain men furnished with caudal
+appendages, whereas it was their peculiar clothing, which consists of a
+long narrow piece of woven stuff, wound
+<!--013.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span>round
+the body and then left to
+hang loosely, which gave rise to such a report. With the arrival in Indian
+waters of Dampier, that daring but most trustworthy of navigators, the
+information respecting these islands first becomes more definite. He
+landed in the north-western Bay of the largest of these, to which he
+assigned the latitude 7° 30&#8242; N., and gave a most extensive narrative of
+his adventurous career from the moment he abandoned the corsair-craft he
+had brought from Europe to seek for assistance on the Nicobars, to the
+period when, after braving a tremendous storm in a canoe, along with seven
+of his companions in misfortune he landed half dead on the northernmost
+point of Sumatra about 1706.</p>
+
+<p>In 1708, Captain Owen, another English shipmaster, paid an involuntary
+visit to this Archipelago, his ship having been stranded on the
+uninhabited island of Tillangschong, whence he escaped with his crew to
+the islands Ning and Souri, only four miles to the westward, apparently
+what is now known as Nangkauri. For the first time history now records an
+outrage of which the natives were guilty towards the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>It would appear that the captain, after having experienced an exceedingly
+friendly reception, laid down his knife, upon which one of the islanders,
+very possibly out of curiosity, laid hold of it, pushed the owner aside,
+and ultimately possessed himself of the knife. On the following day, as
+Owen was taking his mid-day meal under a tree, he was set upon and killed
+by several of the natives, who shot him
+<!--014.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span>down
+with their arrows; on the
+other hand the crew, consisting of sixteen persons, were furnished with
+canoes and provisions, so that without experiencing any further
+ill-treatment they were so fortunate as to reach Junkseilan.</p>
+
+<p>The first essay towards a settlement of the Nicobar Islands was made by
+the Jesuits in 1711, upon the most northerly island of the group,
+Kar-Nicobar. They succumbed however to the noxious influences of the
+climate, and the few neophytes speedily sank back into heathendom.</p>
+
+<p>The second attempt at colonization by Europeans took place in 1756, when
+Lieutenant Tanck, a Dane, after taking possession of the entire group in
+the name of his sovereign, the King of Denmark, named the islands
+"<i>Frederiks Oerne</i>" (Frederick Islands), and founded the first colony on
+the northern side of Great Nicobar, or Sambellong. In the year 1760 this
+was transferred by the followers of Tanck to the island of Kamorta, but
+here too after a short time the experiment failed, owing to the
+unhealthiness of the climate.</p>
+
+<p>In 1766, fourteen Moravian Brethren were settled on Nangkauri, with the
+view of extending the influence of the Danish East India Company. The want
+of information respecting the necessary conditions under which this colony
+was called into existence, was in all probability the cause of its speedy
+declension. Within less than two decades the majority of these settlers
+had fallen under the baneful influence of the climate.</p>
+
+<p>On 1st April, 1778, the Austrian vessel <i>Joseph and</i>
+<!--015.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span><i>Theresa</i>,
+commanded
+by Captain Bennet, landed on the N.E. side of Kar-Nicobar, or New Denmark.
+This vessel had been commissioned by the Imperial Government to select, in
+the name of H.M. Joseph II., Austrian plantations and commercial stations
+on the farther side of the Cape of Good Hope. Of this remarkable
+expedition nothing more has been handed down to us than is related by
+excellent Nicolas Fontana, who accompanied the expedition as surgeon, in
+his book of travels, which was published at Leipzig in 1782.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>Neither the libraries nor the archives of the empire seem capable of
+furnishing more definite information respecting this interesting
+undertaking. However, on the other hand, through the kind offices of
+H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian with the Government of H.M. the
+King of the Belgians, there have been found in the Royal Archives at
+Brussels several highly important documents, bearing upon this expedition,
+of which M. Gachard, keeper of the State Archives in that country, had the
+kindness to furnish us with copies; and while we propose in the following
+remarks to avail ourselves of the most interesting data, the more
+particular consideration of this circumstance, so interesting in the
+history of the development of our trade, will be deferred till
+<!--016.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span>the
+appearance of the commercial section of the Novara publications.</p>
+
+<p>A Dutchman, named William Bolts, formerly in the service of the British
+East India Company, in the year 1774 made to Count Belgiojoso, at that
+period Ambassador in London of the Empress Maria Theresa, proposals for
+direct commercial intercourse between the Netherlands and Trieste and
+Persia, the East Indies, China, and Africa, with the object of supplying
+the harbours of the Austrian dominions with the products of India and
+China, without the costly intervention of other countries. This
+proposition having been brought under the notice of the Imperial
+Chancellor, Prince Kaunitz, at Vienna, was so cordially received by that
+minister, that Bolts received an invitation to present himself at the
+Empress's palace, in order to develope his plans more fully in person in
+that august presence. Bolts arrived in Vienna in April, 1775, and very
+shortly afterwards was invested by the Empress with all the requisite
+privileges for facilitating the prosecution of his great project. The
+imperial officials at Trieste were entrusted with the equipment and arming
+of the vessel, the supreme military council were required to provide the
+necessary pay for the soldiers and subaltern officers, and Bolts by
+special commission was formally empowered in the name of the Empress
+Queen, as also in that of her successors upon the throne, to take
+possession of all the territories which he might succeed in getting ceded
+by the princes of India, for
+<!--017.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span>the
+behoof of such of Her Imperial Majesty's
+subjects as should purpose trading with the Indies.</p>
+
+<p>It was the wish of the Government that the first expedition should take
+its departure from Trieste; Bolts however opposed this, for the reason
+that his vessel must take part of its lading from London, but declared
+himself prepared to make the most strenuous efforts to found a mercantile
+house in Trieste, and to take such precautions as should result in the
+second and all future expeditions being dispatched from Trieste.</p>
+
+<p>Bolts hereupon first proceeded to Amsterdam with his newly acquired
+privileges, and thence to London, as yet without being more fortunate in
+his attempt to set on foot the proposed association in the one locality
+than in the other. At last, at Antwerp in the Netherlands, he succeeded in
+interesting in his project a certain Baron von Proli, and two merchants,
+by the name of Borrekens and Nägeles, and with these three persons he
+entered into a contract of association, on 20th Sept. 1775. At the same
+time a fund of £90,000 was raised for the armament of a second trading
+vessel to the East Indies and China, and out of the same amount to
+establish a mercantile house in Trieste.</p>
+
+<p>In possession of £25,000 sterling, which he had procured from his
+associates, Bolts proceeded to London, where he purchased a vessel, which
+he named the <i>Joseph and Theresa</i>, put a portion of her cargo on board,
+and on 14th
+<!--018.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span>March,
+1776, set sail thence for Leghorn. Here certain
+articles were to be taken on board, which the Government had promised to
+have ready, and which consisted of copper, iron, steel, and tools. Before
+Bolts left harbour on his voyage to the Indies he was invested by the
+Empress with the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in their service, and for the
+better prosecution of his objects was provided by the State Chancery with
+comprehensive powers,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and a pass for barbarous countries, called a
+"<i>Scontrino</i>."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The Empress at the same time provided the daring
+adventurer with letters of introduction under her own hand to the Emperor
+of China, the "King" of Persia, and the Indian satraps whose dominions he
+was to visit.</p>
+
+<p>Baron Proli, one of the chief partners, went first of all to Vienna, and
+thence to Leghorn, and concluded an agreement with Bolts to dispatch a
+ship to the Indies in each of the years 1777, 1778, 1779, the cargoes of
+which should be worth at least £30,000 each, while Bolts, on his part,
+engaged to remain in the Indies three and a half years from the day of his
+departure, there to found factories, and to lay
+<!--019.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span>out
+to the best advantage
+the money realized by the sale of the merchandise consigned to him. The
+Empress Maria Theresa rewarded Proli for services already rendered, as
+also for those which he undertook to perform in the establishment of
+trading-exchanges in Trieste and Bruges, for the support of the oversea
+commerce of the Austrian and Belgian provinces, by raising him to the
+dignity of Count.</p>
+
+<p>The ship <i>Joseph and Theresa</i>, bound for the east coast of Africa, as also
+for the shores of Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal, set sail from Leghorn
+in September, 1776, with a crew of 155 men. Unfavourable winds compelled
+Bolts to make the Brazilian coast, in order to take in fresh stores.
+Thence he lay a course for Delagoa Bay, on the S.E. coast of Africa,
+opposite the island of Madagascar, on which, on 30th March, 1777, he was
+so unfortunate as to get stranded, when he was compelled to start a
+portion of his cargo overboard. Bolts, however, turned to excellent
+account his stay on this coast, having purchased from two African kings,
+named Mohaar Capell, and Chibauraan Matola, a site of ground on both banks
+of the river Masoûmo, and, at a total expenditure of 126,267 florins
+(about £12,600), in which was included the cost of constructing the
+necessary vessels, founded a factory, for whose protection he also erected
+two small forts, which he furnished with cannon, and named after his two
+illustrious patrons, Joseph and Theresa.</p>
+
+<p>After a more protracted stay on the coast of Malabar, where he purchased
+from the Nabob, the celebrated Hyder
+<!--020.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span>Ali
+Khan, a number of plots of
+ground in the vicinity of Mangalore, Carwar, and Balliapatam, the very
+centre of the pepper trade, and erected a factory at an expense of 28,074
+florins (£2800), this enterprising man set sail for the Coromandel Coast
+and the Bay of Bengal, and about the commencement of 1778 visited the
+Nicobar Islands, in order there also to found a factory. Unfortunately, of
+this visit there nowhere survive any detailed particulars, and the only
+document extant under Bolts' hand, which can throw any light on the
+subject, is a statement of the expenditure incurred in erecting a fort on
+the Nicobars, which, together with the purchase of a <i>goëlette</i>, and a
+snow, or two-masted vessel, for the coasting trade between Madras, Pegu,
+and the group of islands, amounted to 47,659 fl. 48 kr. (about £4760).</p>
+
+<p>At the close of 1780 Bolts returned to Europe, and in May, 1781, cast
+anchor in the harbour of Leghorn. His exertions and his speculation had
+not been attended with the success anticipated, and despite fresh
+assistance afforded by the Austrian Government to the Association, which
+at first seemed to promise a more auspicious future for the undertaking,
+yet the political complications of the period, and especially the sudden,
+totally unlooked-for rupture of peace between France, England, and
+Holland, ere long entailed utter ruin on the trading company, which, in
+the year 1785, found itself compelled to stop payment.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Bolts died at
+Paris in April, 1808, in
+<!--021.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span>utter
+destitution, and Michaud, in his
+<i>Biographie Universelle</i>, dedicated an article to this hardy and
+enterprising, rather than shrewd and prudent, adventurer.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>About two years after the appearance of the Austrian ship in the Nicobar
+Archipelago, the Danes endeavoured to found there a missionary station of
+Moravian Brothers. Towards the close of 1778 the missionaries, Hänsel and
+Wangemann, sailed from Tranquebar to Nangkauri, where they arrived in
+January, 1779. In 1787 the mission at Nangkauri was once more abandoned,
+when the only surviving Moravian Brother returned to Tranquebar, and
+shortly after to Europe.</p>
+
+<p>In 1795 an Englishman, Major Symes, touched at Kar-Nicobar, while on his
+voyage as Envoy to Ava and Burmah. His observations there may be found in
+the second volume of "Asiatic Researches," p. 344, in an article entitled
+"Description of Carnicobar."</p>
+
+<p>In 1831, Denmark once more made an attempt to colonize, by means of a
+missionary enterprise, the group formerly known as New Denmark, and
+occasionally as Frederick Islands. Pastor Rosen landed in August of that
+year on the
+<!--022.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span>island
+of Kamorta, and first set up his establishment on the
+so-called Frederick Hill, then on the adjoining Mongkata Hill; somewhat
+later on the island of Trinkut, and lastly on the shore immediately
+beneath the Mongkata Hill. In December, 1834, after about a four years'
+stay, Pastor Rosen left the islands, and in 1839 published, at Copenhagen,
+his own experiences and personal observations, under the title:
+"<i>Erindringen om mit Ophold paa de Nikobariske Oerne</i>" (Recollections of
+my Residence on the Nicobar Islands).</p>
+
+<p>In 1835, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Straits of Malacca dispatched to
+Kar-Nicobar two French missionaries, the Fathers Chopard and Borie. But
+after a certain lapse of time, during which their missionary efforts gave
+promise of the most pleasing results, and when they had lived about a year
+on the island, the pious work fell through, owing to the credulity and
+prejudices of the natives, to whom the two missionaries were represented
+by the crew of a ship from the adjacent shores of the continent as English
+spies, whose object probably was to ascertain the products of the country,
+which thereupon would speedily be annexed by the English Government. The
+missionaries had to flee, and Borie expired in the arms of his companion
+before he could get off the island. Chopard afterwards, in the year 1849,
+published his adventures in this group of islands in the "Asiatic Journal
+of the Indian Archipelago," under the title, "<i>A few Particulars
+respecting the Nicobar Islands.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1845, Mr. Mackey, Danish Consul in Calcutta,
+<!--023.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>set
+on foot a
+small expedition to the Nicobar Archipelago. That gentleman hoped to find
+amongst the southern islands strata of coal, and made a voyage thither in
+prosecution of that object, on board the schooner <i>Espiègle</i>, commanded by
+an Englishman named Lewis, and accompanied by two Danes, Mr. Busch, the
+sole commander of the expedition, and a certain Mr. Lowert. By the end of
+May the adventurers were once more in Calcutta. With the exception of a
+few lumps they had not found coal-beds on any part of the island, while
+they lacked the physical strength requisite for founding the agricultural
+colony, which it had been intended to set on foot at the same time. The
+scientific results of this voyage are comprised in a small <i>brochure</i>, "H.
+Busch's Journal of a Cruise amongst the Nicobar Islands," (Calcutta,
+1845).</p>
+
+<p>A further scientific exploration of the Nicobar group was made by the
+naturalists attached to the Danish corvette <i>Galatea</i> in the course of
+their voyage round the world in the years 1845-7. A thorough examination
+of the Nicobars was one of the chief objects of the expedition set on foot
+under the auspices of the Danish Government. On the 25th January, 1846, at
+Nangkauri, Captain Steen Bille took formal possession of this group of
+islands in the name of H.M. the King of Denmark. Two natives, father and
+son, named respectively Luha and Angre, the former resident in Malacca,
+and the latter in Enuang, were on that occasion installed as chief
+magistrates; each being at the same time provided with a staff bearing the
+cypher of Christian VIII.,
+<!--024.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span>and
+instructed, by means of a document drawn
+up in the English and Danish languages, on the subject of their duties,
+which consisted principally in hoisting the Danish Standard on the arrival
+of foreign ships in the harbour of Nangkauri.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>After the decease of Christian VIII., the Danish Government, in
+consequence of the violent political agitations of the period, did not
+show itself disposed to make practical use of their possession of the
+Nicobar Islands by any lasting colonization, but on the contrary in the
+year 1848 dispatched the royal corvette <i>Valkyrien</i> to the Archipelago, to
+bring away the flag and bâtons.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>In consequence of this, according to "Thornton's Gazetteer of India," the
+chiefs of the island of Kar-Nicobar hoisted the English flag, and through
+certain English merchants resident in Moulmein, expressed a wish to be
+permitted to
+<!--025.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>place
+themselves under the protection of the British Crown.
+This information, however, seems to be inaccurate, in so far as it
+professes to describe the conduct of the native chiefs. The inhabitants,
+it is true, hoist any flag given to them, because they are fond of
+imitating European customs, and by so doing believe they secure themselves
+against the pretensions of other nations; but there is nothing they so
+much dread as a regular occupation of the islands, and on every appearance
+of a war-ship are forthwith filled with alarm lest they should be about to
+be deprived of their liberty, and&mdash;their cocoa-nuts. Indeed they have a
+saying widely diffused among them, probably through the craft of some
+smart chiefs, that whenever a European should settle among them all the
+cocoa-nuts will drop from the trees, and they will thus see themselves
+deprived for ever of their most important means of subsistence. It is, on
+the contrary, more probable that the English ship captains, who trade with
+these islands in order the better to secure their highly profitable trade
+in cocoa-nuts, made some propositions to the East Indian Government to
+take possession of this important group, by a similar procedure as that by
+which the Andaman islands were annexed somewhat later.</p>
+
+<p>Since the unsuccessful attempt at the end of last century to extend
+Austrian commerce with the Indies and the coast of Africa, by founding a
+few colonies in those places, no vessel sailing under the Austrian flag
+had again visited the Nicobar Islands, and accordingly, on the dispatch of
+an
+<!--026.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span>Imperial
+ship-of-war to those waters, it was naturally wished that she
+should on her voyage to China visit this group, on whose shores the
+Austrian flag had once been unfurled as a symbol of possession. On this
+occasion, however, the object was rather scientific than political. It was
+intended, so far as the time allotted for visiting these islands and the
+appliances at hand admitted, to undertake inquiries as to the most
+important geodetical points, together with astronomical, magnetic, and
+meteorological observations, and at the same time to make investigations
+and collections of the various objects of natural science, and thus to
+complete as it were the valuable labours carried out in 1846 by the Danish
+Expedition to the Nicobar Islands. The following pages are simply limited
+to giving a popular narrative of our own stay on this interesting island
+group, while more circumstantial information of the various scientific
+results obtained there will be deferred till the appearance of the special
+works being drawn up by the members, each in his own special section.</p>
+
+<p>On 25th February, at 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span>, the naturalists, accompanied by the officers
+in charge of the scientific apparatus, and the midshipmen, after very
+considerable difficulty, succeeded in effecting a landing on the island of
+Kar-Nicobar, in a bay protected by a coral reef (by observation 9° 14&#8242; 8&#8243;
+N., and 92° 44&#8242; 46&#8243; E.), between the villages of Moose and Sáoui. At this
+point the surf beats incessantly over the huge reefs of coral upon a waste
+of gleaming white sand, which stretches in graceful curves from one point
+of rock to that next adjoining.
+<!--027.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span>The
+few fruits which have been thrown up,
+or been carried hither, probably from some distant shore, have struck root
+in this coral sand, and a coronal of luxuriant palms, with their slim
+stems, and loaded with thousands of nuts, serves as food for man.</p>
+
+<p>In the vicinity of the spot where we disembarked was anchored a barque
+from Moulmein, with a Malay crew, the majority of whom were tattooed on
+the thigh with extraordinary skill. They had been for a considerable
+period taking in a cargo of cocoa-nuts, which the natives had been
+exchanging against various merchandise. About thirty dusky natives, almost
+entirely naked, and for the most part without any head covering beyond the
+splendid raven locks which hung down over their shoulders, some carrying
+in their hands cutlasses, others long wooden lances tipped with bone,
+stood near the beach, and while we were yet a little distance off, called
+out to us in broken English, and with visible anxiety, "Good friend? No
+fear!" apparently anxious, in the first place, to have confirmation from
+us that we were really "good friends," and that they had nothing to dread,
+before they ventured quite close to us. When they were no more than twenty
+paces distant, they suddenly came to a halt, upon which some of their
+number, who appeared to be chiefs, gave their spears and cutlasses to
+those around, and advanced to us with a tolerably friendly air, at the
+same time stretching out their hands by way of salutation. They were for
+the most part large, well-proportioned men, of a dark bronze colour of
+skin.<!--028.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The most disagreeable feature is the mouth, which, in consequence of the
+loathsome custom of incessantly chewing the betel-nut, seems to have
+become utterly distorted in shape. In a few cases this filthy habit had
+resulted in such deformity among the teeth, that these were barely visible
+between the thick swollen lips, like a malignant tumour! The apparel of
+the natives is pretty universally entirely primitive, consisting of
+nothing but a long very narrow strip of dark blue linen, which they wind
+round the body, bringing it from the front between the legs backwards,
+when it is made fast to the girdle, and the ends left to hang loosely
+down. Some of the natives make a very singular use of the different
+articles of old clothes which they receive in exchange from the ship
+captains, or have had given as a present, as they appear now in a black
+hat, now in a coat or a shirt, without a vestige of other clothing!</p>
+
+<p>Almost every native we saw brought to us a soiled, crumpled-up
+testimonial, setting forth his good character, and his honesty in the
+cocoa-nut trade, which he had received from various ship captains, who
+bartered their merchandise for ripe cocoa-nuts, which they afterwards sold
+in the East Indies or Ceylon at an immense profit. The greater number of
+these testimonials were written in English; we found only one in German
+from the skipper of a Bremen ship, and one in Dutch. In these certificates
+are set forth the objects best worth enquiring for, as also a statement of
+the articles bartered in the course of exchange for cocoa-nuts, a practice
+<!--029.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>which
+is not alone of the utmost utility for those who may afterwards
+visit the islands for purposes of commerce, but also throw a most
+interesting light upon the evidences of civilization among the natives.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>These testimonials also frequently contain very humorous remarks about the
+unsuspecting natives, who assuredly would be less eager in producing them
+if they were acquainted with the contents. One of the earliest to extend
+to us the hand of welcome was a native who called himself Captain Dickson,
+a handsome, slim, dark brown figure, with very long, fine, glossy hair
+hanging over his shoulders, and neatly gathered together with a bark
+ribbon. In the document presented to
+<!--030.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span>us,
+which was dated 15th January,
+and bore the signature of the captain of the ship <i>Arracan</i>, there was
+written beneath, "Dickson, though a shabby-looking fellow, is a man of
+substance." In a second testimonial, it was said of a native: "He will do
+honour to England when she comes!" a remark which leaves plainly apparent
+the hope of the ship captain that these islands will speedily be occupied
+by the English. These certificates likewise contain a variety of important
+hints, especially with reference to the method of dealing with the
+natives, the most commodious anchorage, the difficulty encountered in
+landing, &amp;c.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus the most cursory communication with the natives convinced us that
+they must already have repeatedly done business with English ship
+captains, who had imparted to them a slight knowledge of the English
+language, and a few of the simpler principles of humanity and religion.
+When we gave them to understand that we visited them as friends, they
+replied in their broken English: "Not merely friends&mdash;brothers! all
+brothers! all only one father and one mother!" Hereupon each proceeded to
+light one of the cigars that had been presented
+<!--031.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span>to
+them, while, for want
+of any other receptacle, they secreted the remainder in the wide holes
+transpiercing the lobes of the ears, after which they with the most frank
+munificence, and in token of their hospitality, pulled a number of young
+cocoa-nuts from the tree, and gave us their fluid contents to drink. Very
+singular was the method in which this was effected. They tie their feet
+together by the ankles with a loop of the same bast, or bark rope, which,
+when employed in fastening their long black locks, usually forms such a
+picturesque frontlet, and then clamber with the agility of cats to the
+summit of the palm, throw to the bottom the separated fruit, and slide
+swiftly down to the ground again. Holding in one hand a tolerably heavy
+young nut, in the other a sharp cutlass, they proceed at one sure blow to
+open the nut, in such manner that a small orifice is made, through which
+the refreshing liquid contents can be conveniently quaffed. When this has
+been evacuated the nut is usually split in half, in which form it serves
+as a most nutritious food for the fowls and hogs. Despite their
+hospitality, there was perceptible in all of them great anxiety, and the
+upshot of all their conversation always resolved itself into the
+stereotyped questions, "What did we really require? whether we wished to
+purchase cocoa-nuts, and would soon be leaving?"</p>
+
+<p>Great and natural as our desire was to penetrate from the shore, thickly
+covered with its belt of cocoa-nut palms, into the rather flat interior,
+and thus obtain a nearer view of the hive-shaped, basket-formed huts which
+were visible under
+<!--032.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>the
+forest trees, we judged it much the better course
+to endeavour first of all to make the natives more confiding, and for that
+purpose invited them to accompany us on board. Eight of their number were
+finally induced to follow us, and came alongside in their elegant canoes,
+formed of the wood of the <i>Calophyllum inophyllum</i>, one of the most
+splendid trees of the primeval forest of the islands. As soon as we
+reached the frigate, only a single one, Captain Dickson, could be induced
+to clamber up of the man-ropes; the rest did not venture to leave their
+canoes, and one, who called himself Captain Charlie, a short, lank little
+fellow of boyish appearance, who for all apparel wore a dirty cloth cap on
+his head, trembled with terror through his whole frame when he saw our big
+guns. Captain Dickson, too, did not seem to feel himself altogether
+comfortable while on board, and although there was much to excite his
+curiosity, he soon longed to get out of the large ship, back again into
+his own frail skiff. Quite peculiar was the impression made upon him by a
+pair of live cows; such large animals he gave us to understand were not
+found upon his island.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile a number of natives had approached the frigate in their canoes,
+bringing swine, fowls, plantains, yams, and eggs in hollowed-out cocoa-nut
+shells, which they offered as presents, but at the same time inquired what
+we intended giving them in return. They greatly wished for biscuit,
+brandy, medicines, clothes, but above all else for black hats, which most
+probably results from their having occasionally
+<!--033.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span>seen
+the captains of
+English ships wearing round hats, whence they now seem to imagine that
+such a head-gear is the insignia of captain's rank, or of a chief.</p>
+
+<p>Their knowledge of money was confined to Rupees, which they discriminated
+into two sorts, viz. the ordinary East Indian coin, and the English
+sixpenny-piece, which they called "small Rupees," covering with them, by
+way of ornament, the ends of the small bits of bamboo which they usually
+wear through the hole that transpierces the greatly distended lobe of the
+ear.</p>
+
+<p>Of the two Catholic missionaries, Borie and Chopard, who in 1835 had
+remained a short time on the island, not one of the natives could give us
+any particulars; and likewise of the Danish corvette <i>Galatea</i>, which
+visited the group in 1846, they had but a dim remembrance, and even this
+of a far from complimentary character; the poor people having been
+overwhelmed with the apprehensions that their island was about to be taken
+possession of, and themselves exposed to a lingering death by hunger.
+"Danish bad people," they exclaimed, "wanted to take our island. Suppose I
+could come to your island and take it? Not good! no good people!"</p>
+
+<p>We returned on shore with the natives, who, in consequence of their
+friendly reception on board, had already become somewhat more tranquil and
+trustful. Tents were now pitched, the astronomical and geodetical
+instruments, together with the barometer and thermometer, were adjusted,
+the tide-gauge fixed at the most suitable point, and the island
+<!--034.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span>traversed
+in all directions for scientific purposes, so far at least as the density
+of the forest and the mistrust of the natives would permit.</p>
+
+<p>On the very same day we visited the Cove of Sáoui, on which is situated
+the village of the same name, whose chief is called "Captain John." This
+worthy had received by way of present an old cast-off blue uniform frock,
+and was now making strenuous exertions to squeeze his all too little
+flexible limbs into this tight thick cloth coat, and to button it, despite
+the tropical heat, round his naked body up to the very throat. He was
+anxious it should not be reported of him that he did not sufficiently
+value the distinction awarded him, or did not comprehend how to make a
+proper use of it. Unlike the rest of his compatriots, Captain John also
+wore shoes and pants, and in consequence openly claimed to belong to the
+privileged classes. He was surrounded by a considerable number of natives,
+who presented themselves to us, as Captain Morgan, Captain Douglas, Dr.
+Crisp, Lord Nelson, Lord Byron, Lord Wellington, and so forth, having been
+indebted to the singular whimsies of some English captains, who thought it
+a good joke to confer on these filthy brown people the illustrious names
+of the hereditary and intellectual aristocracy of Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>Captain John accompanied us along the coast to his own domicile by an
+exceedingly difficult and sunny path, having designedly concealed from us
+the existence of a much more commodious track through the forest to the
+village, which contains
+<!--035.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>only
+seven houses. These are erected in a broad
+open space, and in consequence of the great humidity of the soil during
+the wet season, consist of eight or ten poles, from six to eight feet in
+height, so that a man can easily pass under them. They comprise but one
+large apartment, into which access is obtained by a neatly-carved ladder
+of bamboo-reed, which during the night, or when the occupants leave the
+hut, is usually taken away, so that, without using locks or bolts, it is
+pretty difficult to get in. The flooring is constructed of bamboo planks,
+bound together with Rotang (<i>Calamus Rotang</i>), in such a manner that the
+air from beneath can circulate freely through, and, in a similar way, the
+neat basket-work of the hive-shaped structure is vaulted. A dense straw
+thatch serves as well to keep out the sun's rays as the rain. The internal
+arrangements are very simple. In the rear is a sort of fire-place, a low
+block of wood hollowed out, and the cavity filled with sand and stones,
+upon which is placed a variety of utensils of clay, imported from the
+adjoining island of Chowry, the only island of the entire Archipelago
+where any industry is carried on. From the beams of the roof are suspended
+hollowed-out cocoa-nuts, strung together in pairs, and serving as water
+jars, as also elegantly plaited baskets and the few possessions of the
+family, and, lastly, some fruits, betel-leaves, and tobacco, as offerings
+to the Eewees, or evil spirits, in the event of their paying a visit, and
+having an appetite for such fare. Further forward, opposite the entrance
+of the hut, there are stuck on the side
+<!--036.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>walls,
+as evidences of special
+prosperity, numerous cutlasses, spears, javelins, and paddles. Besides,
+there are laid on the floor plaited straw-mats, which, rolled up during
+the day, are stretched out at night and, together with a small wooden
+stool for a pillow, serve as couches on which to repose. The hut might
+furnish sleeping quarters for about ten men. As, moreover, all the cookery
+is carried on therein, and there is no means of ventilating from above,
+the interior is completely saturated with smoke, and all articles are soon
+begrimed with smoke and soot. The natives, however, apparently take no
+precautions to get rid of the smoke, because it contributes to keep them
+free of a far more subtle foe, the mosquito, who, especially during the
+rainy season, becomes a formidable torment for their naked bodies.</p>
+
+<p>In the shady space beneath the hut, which sometimes serves as a
+workshop,&mdash;if one may venture so to designate the industry of the
+inhabitants of the Nicobars generally,&mdash;Captain John had suspended upon a
+transverse beam a sort of swing, in which he occasionally rocked himself,
+much to his own delight, while for his guests was provided a wooden
+arm-chair, which had evidently come into his possession in the course of
+some barter with the captain of a merchant vessel.</p>
+
+<p>The old chief spoke with marked predilection of the captain of the barque
+<i>Rochester</i> of London, a gentleman named Green, who, by his humane and
+strictly conscientious dealings with the natives, seemed to stand in high
+respect, and afforded a striking example of what beneficial influence is
+exercised
+<!--037.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>by
+individual English ship captains over the wild races with
+whom they come in contact in the way of trade, and how much they have it
+in their power to make their nation respected in all parts of the globe.
+We venture to assert that these English merchantmen, during their cursory
+visits, have done more towards paving the way for civilizing the Nicobars
+than the Danish and French missionaries during their residence of years.
+Not a single native understands one word of Danish or French, but almost
+every one speaks English, sufficient, at all events, to make himself
+understood in that language. The talkative old fellow next held forth an
+English Bible, which had been carefully stowed away on one of the
+cross-beams of his hut, and of which, as he told us, he had been made a
+present by Captain Green, on that gentleman's last visit. "This is my
+Jesus Christ," said Captain John, full of unquestioning faith in the
+marvellous power of Holy Writ:&mdash;"when I feel ill, I lay this little book
+under my head, and I get well again!" The worthy fellow could neither read
+nor, so far as we could perceive, did he precisely comprehend what was
+printed in the book, yet he seemed instinctively to feel that it was of no
+ordinary purport, and accordingly held his present in high honour, as a
+sort of talisman, whose power and efficacy one might confide in, without
+his being able precisely to account for such a belief. We turned over the
+leaves of the little volume, which had been issued by the renowned,
+wide-spread, and beneficent London Bible Society, and found on the
+fly-leaf some English verses
+<!--038.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span>in
+Green's handwriting, and some encomiums
+upon the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar, "The most virtuous people that
+Captain Green had fallen in with during eight and thirty years'
+sea-faring;" closing with the remark, "What a pity they have no
+missionary!"</p>
+
+<p>In truth, the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar are among the most perfect of
+human-kind. In their commerce with us they showed themselves to be
+child-like and ignorant, yet virtuous, trustworthy people, without
+ambition or the thirst of knowledge, but also without jealousy or envy. If
+ever any breach between themselves and the Europeans has been pushed the
+length of violence, such has pretty certainly resulted rather from their
+being in a measure suddenly incited to self-defence than from any open
+predisposition to mischief. When we inquired of one of the natives in what
+manner breach of faith is punished on the island, he replied with the
+utmost <i>naïveté</i>;&mdash;"We never have such&mdash;we are all good;&mdash;but in your
+country there must be many evil men, else what for would you require so
+many guns?"</p>
+
+<p>In company with some of the natives we had proceeded upon a stroll through
+the magnificent cocoa forest along the beach, in the course of which we
+reached several huts scattered at random through the thicket, the
+inhabitants of which received us in the most cordial manner. Their wives
+and children however had all retired in a body, and during our entire stay
+never once made their appearance. Indeed the natives, in the hope of
+hastening our departure, pretended
+<!--039.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span>that
+their families had in their panic
+fled into the forest, and must starve of hunger if we should remain long,
+and so prevent them from returning to their usual abodes. This however was
+but a hoax. The natives knew well enough where their families were
+lurking, and provided them with food and drink. This extreme shyness of
+the female portion of the population arises apparently from the
+incivilities of which the sailors of the merchant vessels were guilty
+towards the natives, whose moral feelings and delicacy of mind,
+considering their low state of civilization, becomes doubly extraordinary.</p>
+
+<p>An attempt to penetrate deeper into the interior of the island was baffled
+through the obstacles which are interposed by the unchecked luxuriance of
+tropical nature. The vegetation grows densely down to the very sea, which
+is separated from the rich foliage above only by rocky reefs and narrow
+dunes of sand, washed by the furious surf. A broad belt of <i>Rhizophoræ</i>,
+gigantic <i>Barringtonias</i>, <i>Pandanus</i>, <i>Areca</i>, and cocoa-palms, encircles
+the island, to which succeeds a somewhat higher land grown with dense
+grass and interspersed with groups of trees, from which, lastly, spring a
+few thickly-wooded peaks of about 150 to 200 feet in height. Through this
+girdle it requires the most violent efforts to force one's way, while, on
+the other hand, it is wholly impossible, owing to the dense tangle of
+climbing plants and bamboo, to advance further into the forest over the
+grass flat, unless a path be previously cleared with hedge-knives,
+<!--040.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span>which,
+even could more time be devoted, would call for immense exertion. Our
+researches therefore were necessarily confined for the most part to the
+coast region.</p>
+
+<p>After several hours of strolling about, collecting and examining as we
+went on, the naturalists found themselves collected once more on the open
+space facing Captain John's hut, where meanwhile a pig had been roasted by
+our sailors in the open air, which we had purchased for three shillings of
+our corpulent friend Dr. Crisp. The natives had at first protested against
+this improvised hearthstone, being apprehensive lest the fire should reach
+their huts, the roofs of which are thatched with dried palm-leaves. "It is
+as inflammable as gunpowder," remarked the old chief in an anxious tone,
+when our people had with great want of foresight lighted the fire too near
+the buildings. Captain John and his kindred did not need to be invited
+twice to partake of our meal, at which they proved themselves excellent
+trenchermen. The inhabitants of these islands generally eat vegetables
+only, the use of meat being for the most part restricted to festive
+occasions. The use of salt is as yet unknown to them. They only use
+sea-water for the purpose of seething their pigs and hens, by which
+process the flesh gets a slight flavour of salt. During our luncheon,
+which had made the natives yet more confiding than ever, we found an
+opportunity of hearing something about the various festivals of the
+Nicobar islanders.</p>
+
+<p>When a native falls down from a tree, or is bitten by a
+<!--041.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span>snake,
+or is
+otherwise wounded or dies, the Nicobarians forthwith discontinue all work,
+and institute a fast, which they term Uraka. With the commencement of the
+S.W. monsoons or rainy season (when the wind comes from "yonder," quoth
+Dr. Crisp, and pointed with his finger to the southward), the inhabitants
+of Kar-Nicobar hold their chief festival, which lasts fourteen days, and
+is called Oïlere.</p>
+
+<p>They have a similar festival at the end of the damp season, or N.E.
+monsoon, to which the pigs, which play quite a conspicuous part in it,
+impart an entirely peculiar character. Several weeks before the
+commencement of this <i>fête</i>, a large number of these unclean but useful
+animals are confined in small stalls, whence they are released on the
+feast-day, and set loose in a well-fenced space, where they are teased and
+pricked with lances by all the courageous, or rather mischievous, youth of
+the island. The Nicobarians seem to attach special importance to the swine
+being driven wild, and themselves engaged in a regular struggle with the
+infuriated animal, in the course of which severe wounds are by no means of
+rare occurrence. We ourselves saw several young natives, who a few days
+previously had been severely injured in a similar contest with some
+enraged pigs. When this anything but æsthetic spectacle has lasted some
+time, the pigs are killed, roasted on the fire, and devoured by the
+combatants and spectators.</p>
+
+<p>A not less strange and even more barbarous festival is that which is held
+about the same time as the one just mentioned.
+<!--042.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>This
+consists in exhuming
+the bones of all those who have died during the year elapsed since the
+last N.E. monsoon, and have been interred in a sort of cemetery called
+"<i>Cuyucupa</i>."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> They next bring these bones into a hut, seat themselves
+in a circle around the ghastly mementos, and shriek and howl as at the day
+on which the relation died. While this scene of lamentation is going on, a
+lighted cigar is usually stuck into the bony mouth of the grisly skull,
+after which the latter is consigned to the grave again. The rest of the
+bones however are either thrown into the deep sea or hid far in the
+forest, while at the same moment, as a farther evidence of sorrow, a
+number of cocoa-palms are cut down, and their fruit scattered to the
+winds. By such symbols they apparently wish to express their overwhelming
+grief, their weariness of existence, and their indifference to the most
+valued gifts of nature, so that they would even deprive themselves of the
+most universally necessary of the means of subsistence&mdash;were it not that,
+owing to the readiness with which the sea-shore palm is propagated, the
+nuts thus scattered at random, in all the indifference to sublunary
+considerations incidental to a paroxysm of grief, speedily strike root,
+and after a few years lift up their heads again in the forest, at once
+ornamental and nutritious.</p>
+
+<!--043.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At all these festivals the natives assemble in the various villages, and
+at these seasons spend days and weeks with each other. Earlier visitors to
+Kar-Nicobar estimate the number of villages on the island at about six or
+seven only. The natives on the other hand gave us the names of the
+following thirteen: Arrong (or Arrow), Sáoui, Moose, Lapáte, Kinmai,
+Tapóimai, Chukchuitche, Kiukiuka, Tamalu, Páka, Malacca, Komios, and
+Kankéna, which all together would hardly number much above 100 huts, and
+about 800 or 900 inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>Southward of our anchorage we fell in with a small stream, which near its
+embouchure on the beach was lost in a sand-bank. Some of the members of
+the Expedition explored it in a very small flat-bottomed boat, a Venetian
+gondola, which was transported across the bar in order to admit of its
+being sculled up the river. At first it was found to be about 2&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> feet
+deep, by about 12 to 14 yards in width; the general direction of its very
+sinuous course being towards E.S.E. All around the forest presented a
+scene to which perhaps only the fantastic whimsicality of certain
+theatrical forest sceneries might furnish a dim resemblance. Along the
+steep bank of the river rose to a height of nearly 100 feet the slender
+Nibong palm, adorned with blossoms and clusters of fruit, and close
+adjoining the graceful Catechu palm. Gigantic forest trees, with thick
+squat trunks, extended their shady masses of foliage far over the stream;
+screw-pines towering up from the scaffold-like arrangement of their
+numerous roots, were reflected from
+<!--044.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span>the
+glassy bosom of the water; clumps
+of bamboo, absolutely alive with butterflies; nymph-like aquatic plants,
+mossy green banks, and tree-ferns with indescribably graceful corollæ, all
+combined here to form a landscape of the most enchanting richness, in the
+water, on the shore, and in the air. Suspended over the whole scene,
+partly in leaf, partly in bloom, a gigantic garland of climbing and
+creeping plants, in living cords of every variety of thickness, rose in a
+lofty arch above the limpid element, interlaced and girt round with
+thousands of blooming and flourishing parasites! Then, too, from amid the
+mysterious gloom started forth the strangest voices and cries, without our
+being able to descry the animals themselves. In the water, which was
+perfectly sweet to the taste, swarmed multitudes of fish of from one to
+four inches in length. After rowing about one nautical mile and a half up
+the stream, some rapids and rocks prevented our further progress, the
+stream itself being but twelve feet wide. A little further to the east
+occurs a similar small river, which however had even less water, and at
+its mouth is yet more sanded up and inaccessible than that above
+described.</p>
+
+<p>After we had lain for six days at anchor on the N.W. coast of Kar-Nicobar,
+and were once more casting about how to make out our long-desired
+excursion through its almost impermeable forests, we suddenly perceived in
+the distance upon the beach two men in European dress, with muskets
+<!--045.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span>upon
+their shoulders, who, conducted by some absolutely naked natives, speedily
+approached us. One, a fine-looking, well-formed young man of about 20,
+addressed us in French, saying he was supercargo of the Sardinian brig
+<i>Giovannina</i> of Singapore, and was occupied in taking in a cargo of
+cocoa-nuts upon the southern shore of the island. The natives had been so
+unsettled by the arrival of a war-ship, that they loudly affirmed a pirate
+ship had made its appearance, which would rob and destroy them all;
+whereupon the most anxious of their number entreated the few whites who
+fortunately happened to be among them to start immediately for the north
+side of the island, where the Colossus lay at anchor, so as at all events
+to ascertain what was to be their fate. In the course of the conversation
+which sprung up between ourselves and the two strangers, we found that the
+supercargo was a Frenchman, born at St. Denis in the island of Bourbon,
+and was named Auguste Tigard, while his companion was a Sardinian. They
+were both singularly pale and embarrassed on first falling in with us,
+apparently from surprise and delight at finding themselves so unexpectedly
+in the society of white men at so solitary a spot; ere long however they
+felt themselves more at their ease, visited the frigate, were provided
+with clothes, medicines, and wine, and at a later period were of much use
+to us in our intercourse with the natives. Tigard remarked that the
+sugar-cane, which at present grows wild on the island, could, judging by
+<!--046.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span>his
+own personal experience, be very profitably grown for the production
+of sugar, as also that tobacco, cotton, and rice thrive in the most
+conspicuous manner.</p>
+
+<p>At present the cocoa-palm is the sole plant which is cultivated by the
+natives of Kar-Nicobar. It supplies them with all they require for food
+and lodging, for house-furniture, or for commerce with foreign peoples.
+The stem of this slender column, from 60 to 100 feet in height, by about
+2&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> in thickness, with its heavy green thatch of leaves, is very porous
+and slight looking, but is yet stiff and strong enough to furnish
+cross-beams, laths, and masts for huts and boats. The fibres of the bark
+and of the nut-shells (known in commerce as <i>Coir</i>) supply cordage and
+line; the immense fan-shaped leaf (3 feet wide by 12 to 14 in length) of
+the coronal serves as a covering for the roof, as also for plaited work
+and baskets. The juice of the nut, shaped like an egg, yet somewhat
+triangular, and about the size of the human head, prevents the native from
+feeling even in the slightest degree the absence of available spring
+water, and is the sole beverage which invigorates and refreshes the
+wayfarer through these forest solitudes. Frequently did we experience a
+glow of thankfulness to all-bounteous Nature, as often as some hospitable
+native handed to us for our refreshment, exhausted and thirsty as we were
+after our fatiguing wanderings, a green cocoa-nut, that vegetable spring
+of the tropical forest.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The kernel of
+<!--047.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>the
+ripe nut, thoroughly dried
+and pressed, gives forth a strong, clear, tasteless oil, which is used by
+the natives for anointing their skin and hair, and at the same time forms
+so important an article in European commerce, that above 5,000,000 ripe
+cocoa-nuts are annually exported through foreign mercantile houses in
+exchange for European fabrics. The hard shell of the cocoa-nut is the sole
+drinking cup of the Nicobar islanders, and the cooling, refreshing juice,
+which is extracted by an incision in the sheath of the palm-blossom before
+the latter has expanded, is the sole fermented beverage of which they make
+use. When brought into a state of fermentation it possesses similar
+intoxicating effects with the Chicha of the American Indian. Here, as
+among other half-savage races, we had occasion to remark, that the chief
+food of the aborigines is also made available for supplying them with
+their favourite liquid stimulant, and just as the native of India effects
+this purpose with rice, the African from the Yucca, or the Yam, the
+South-Sea Islander with the Kawa, and the Mexican with the Maize or the
+Agave, so the inhabitant of the Nicobars avails himself of the cocoa-nut
+at once for the supply of the first necessities of his existence, and the
+excitement of his brain by artificial stimulant.</p>
+
+<!--048.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On 27th February, towards evening, after a stay of seven days on the north
+side of Kar-Nicobar, which had been spent in scientific operations of the
+most varied nature, we again set sail, and next morning cast anchor on the
+south side of the same island, close to the village of Komios. The
+current, which at this point sets to the E.S.E., runs about three miles an
+hour, so long as the flood-tide continues, but as soon as the ebb-tide
+sets in, it chops round, and runs with greatly diminished velocity. The
+landings on the south side, which, on leaving the northern promontory,
+shows a much richer vegetation, are somewhat difficult to discover, since
+at almost all points reefs and coral banks project from the shore far into
+the sea, so that after doubling the cape it is necessary to stop short a
+pretty considerable distance from the land.</p>
+
+<p>While we were coasting along the eastern shore we could perceive through
+the telescope, at the village of Lapáte, consisting of some eight or ten
+huts, a great number of women and children, who were rushing to and fro
+among the huts in the utmost confusion, till suddenly all disappeared in
+the forest. These were evidently fugitives from the north side, who were
+now once more betaking themselves to the forest, accompanied by the native
+females of the east and south sides, when they saw the dreaded floating
+giant approaching them. A beach of dazzling white coral sand, sprinkled
+over with thousands of living mussels, low melancholy-looking mangrove
+swamps, and a superb forest of trees with lofty stems, through which lay a
+beaten footpath, was all that the flat shore
+<!--049.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span>offered
+to our view. The
+Frenchman already mentioned had indeed apprized the inhabitants of our
+arrival, and had endeavoured to explain to them our friendly intention,
+but it was in vain,&mdash;the greater portion of the population had taken to
+flight, and only dogs and armed men were left behind. Here also we could
+not see a single woman. However, we were informed by M. Tigard, who lived
+several weeks in the village of Kankéna, and had been treated by the
+natives as one of themselves, that the Nicobar women have their hair cut
+quite short, and simply wind round their dusky bodies, all smeared with
+oil, a piece of white or red calico at the loins. They are generally ugly,
+but strictly virtuous, and regard the Europeans as an inferior race, as
+compared with their native lords.</p>
+
+<p>As we were making for the land in what is called Komios Bay, near the
+village of the same name (situate according to our observations in 9° 37&#8242;
+32&#8243; N. Lat. and 92° 43&#8242; 42&#8243; E. Long.), a number of stalwart natives
+approached us from the forest, one of whom, who called himself Captain
+Wilkinson, proved to be the most intelligent and graceful of their number.
+He was extremely eager to give us a lot of information respecting the more
+southerly islands of the Nicobar Archipelago, with which the inhabitants
+of the southern coast appear to carry on more extensive commerce than
+those on the northern shore. During the N.E. monsoons, canoes occasionally
+start hence for the islands of Teressa, Bampoka, and Chowry. Wilkinson
+himself once visited these islands in the barque
+<!--050.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span><i>Cecilia</i>
+of Moulmein,
+with the view of fetching cocoa-nuts. The natives of Teressa, however,
+showed such determined hostility to the captain of the vessel, that
+Wilkinson advised him to abandon the island without further delay, ere the
+intended shipment of cocoa-nuts was completed.</p>
+
+<p>Another English captain, named Iselwood, seems once to have carried over
+some natives of Teressa to Kar-Nicobar, and afterwards taken them back
+again. There does not exist, however, any regular commercial intercourse
+between Kar-Nicobar and the remaining islands of the Archipelago. The
+boats of the natives are much too small, and unsuitable to admit of their
+undertaking voyages to any distance, unless for some very important
+purpose, such, for instance, as bringing pottery ware from the island of
+Chowry, or Chowra, where alone in the Archipelago that manufacture is
+carried on.</p>
+
+<p>The Frenchman, Tigard, affirmed that the natives constantly spoke of
+another race of men inhabiting the interior, who have but one eye in the
+middle of the forehead, who possess no fixed habitation, but pass the
+night among the trees like wild beasts, and subsist upon fruits and roots
+dug up in the forest. This superstition meets with the more ready
+acceptance among the natives, as not one of them has ever penetrated into
+the interior. All their villages lie along the shore, as far as the tract
+of coral sand reaches and the cocoa-nut is thriving. Here the frugal
+native finds all that is necessary to satisfy his very limited
+requirements. The cocoa-palm and
+<!--051.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span>the
+screw-pine (<i>Pandanus
+odoratissima</i>), whose fruit forms his chief article of food, as also the
+betel shrub and the Areca palm, which furnish their cherished masticatory,
+grow here, and the coral sand, which can be worked into the most excellent
+lime for building purposes, is only used by them for the purpose of
+obtaining that ingredient so prejudicial to the teeth, which serves to
+impart to the betel the proper relish.</p>
+
+<p>From a passing observation of Wilkinson's we gathered that occasionally,
+during the S.W. monsoons, earthquakes are experienced at Kar-Nicobar, and
+this volcanic indication is yet more strongly marked on the adjoining
+island of Bampoka. Despite the almost stifling heat, which raised the
+column of mercury to 99° in the shade, some of the members of the
+expedition endeavoured to penetrate, with indescribable toil, into the
+swampy forest tract along the shore, and eventually succeeded in bringing
+back several objects which, though few in number, were of the utmost
+importance, and well repaid their labour. Among the animals knocked over,
+there was a gigantic bat, or flying Maki (<i>Pterops</i>), the native name of
+which is <i>Daiahm</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A foot-track led direct through the forest, cutting off the southern
+corner of the island towards the western side. The natives had in vain
+endeavoured, with their customary importunities, to deter us from
+following this path, assuring us that we should land ourselves in the
+thick of the jungle, which was full of poisonous serpents. However,
+nothing would serve us but to penetrate for once a little deeper into the
+<!--052.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>forest.
+A youthful native, of the most elegant and symmetrical
+proportions, followed us at a long interval, but disappeared finally in
+the woods. We wandered along in deep shadow between lofty colossal banyan
+trees with hundreds of stems, and trunks interlaced with enormous branches
+of ivy, from whose summits hung down lianas of all sizes and dimensions,
+by which one might have clambered to the top as though by a rope, between
+trees with smooth and glossy, or scarred and rugged, bark, which were
+thickly overgrown with parasitical plants. Enormous crabs, with fiery red
+claws, and bodies of the most lovely blue-black, fled before us to their
+lurking-places in the depth of the forest. On right and left amid the
+parched foliage was heard the rustling of lizards, and from the summits of
+the imposing forest trees resounded the musical hum of swarms of <i>cicadæ</i>,
+while green and rose-coloured parrots flew shrieking from branch to
+branch, and from the boughs and tendrils was heard the call of the Mania,
+or the cooing, murmuring love-note of the great Nicobar wood-pigeon.
+Gradually the noise of the surf became once more audible, like distant
+thunder, just where a few cocoa-nut palms and screw-pines mingled with the
+laurel trees around. We had reached the beach again.</p>
+
+<p>The same day, towards 4 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, the frigate quitted the south coast of
+Kar-Nicobar, and steered in a S.S.E. direction towards the little island
+of Batte-Malve, about twenty-one miles distant, in the neighbourhood of
+which we kept beating about the whole of the following day, without being
+able, in
+<!--053.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span>consequence
+of a stiff breeze and strong contrary current, to
+approach it sufficiently near for a boat to get to land, and thus enable
+us to make a more complete examination. Batte-Malve is a small, entirely
+uninhabited island, some two miles in length, and seems to be of a
+quadrangular form; the upper portion is thickly wooded; the highest
+elevation being from 150 to 200 feet. Towards the N.W. the island becomes
+somewhat flattened when approaching the coast, whereas on the west side,
+as also on the S. and S.E. shores, the rocks descend perpendicularly into
+the sea. According to our observations, instituted on the spot, there is
+in the longitude, as we ascertained it, when compared with that assigned
+by the officers of the Galatea, a discrepancy of ten nautical miles.</p>
+
+<p>Early on the morning of the 3rd of March, while still to the N.W. of
+Batte-Malve, but steering a S.E. course, the islands of Teressa, Chowry,
+and Bampoka became visible at a distance of from eight to ten nautical
+miles. From the main-mast-head we could also descry further to the
+eastward the island of Tillangschong, to which we were now proceeding.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning we found ourselves close in with its N.E. promontory. Both
+wind and weather were highly favourable, the look-out man was stationed
+upon the fore-top, the lead line on being hove overboard with forty
+fathoms found no bottom, and the water had the deep blue colour of the
+open ocean. We were therefore able to approach the shore fearlessly, and
+accordingly stood in till we were barely 100 feet distant
+<!--054.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span>from
+the steep
+octagonal-shaped cliff, which rises like a bastion at the north extremity
+of the island. We now edged off with the frigate and ran under the lee of
+the land, coasting along the west side from north to south, never above
+150 or 200 feet distant from the shore; so close, in short, that, standing
+on the deck, it seemed almost possible to stretch out the hand and touch
+the beetling shore-cliffs, every stone and shrub being perfectly
+distinguishable. Only a narrow rocky belt overhanging the surf appeared
+barren of vegetation, the entire island with that exception being covered
+with dense forest to the very summits, from 400 to 600 feet in height, of
+the steep, projecting, knob-like eminences. It was a delightful,
+never-to-be-forgotten sail along this rock-bound coast, the romantic
+beauties of which passed before us like green dissolving views. The sea
+was so smooth and peaceful that we seemed to be sailing on a mill-pond. At
+last we opened a small sandy cove, in which we perceived a few cocoa-nut
+palms directly opposite. Here the lead promised us good holding ground,
+and the anchor was accordingly let go.</p>
+
+<p>One of the side-boats conveyed to land the officers entrusted with the
+astronomical operations, as also the naturalists. Only with the utmost
+difficulty was it possible to make way through the surf, and get under the
+lee of a reef, whence it was requisite to make a spring to get ashore. At
+the spot at which we landed (named by us Morrock's Cove, and according to
+observation in 8° 32&#8242; 30&#8243; N. and 93° 34&#8242; 10&#8243; E.) the island was almost
+exclusively clothed with trees and brushwood. Only
+<!--055.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span>close
+to the shore did
+any cocoa-nut palms present themselves to the view. Although quite
+uninhabited at the period of our visit, it was evident, by the traces of
+abandoned fire-places, split cocoa-nuts, and so forth, that human beings
+occasionally make this island their abode, albeit the assertion repeated
+by several writers, that Tillangschong is the Siberia of Nicobar
+criminals, can only be set down to travellers' tales, or some utter
+misapprehension of the meaning of the natives. It would seem that the
+residents in Chowra and Bampoka come to this island from time to time, for
+the purpose of collecting cocoa-nuts, and the fruit of the <i>pandanus</i>. By
+dint of strenuous exertion we made our way along river-courses, which
+during the rainy season must rush down as most violent torrents, through a
+thick plantation of screw-pines, into the forest proper, which was
+overgrown with the most majestic representatives of tropical vegetation.
+To the botanist presented itself a great variety of interesting plants and
+timber; to the lovers of sport numerous descriptions of birds, and more
+especially pigeons, in such quantities that the various messes on board
+ship were amply provided with them.</p>
+
+<p>Sundown saw us returned on board, when the anchor was once more weighed.
+During the night we got so close in with the north side of the island
+that, on the following morning, a boat well-manned and carefully equipped
+was detached with one of the officers, who was instructed to round the
+northernmost promontory, in order to examine the northern and eastern
+sides of the island, and rejoin us on its
+<!--056.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span>southern
+shore. One of the
+zoologists, conceiving this minor expedition would furnish him with an
+excellent opportunity for examining some of the lower orders of marine
+life, attached himself to it. The frigate now put about, and coasted down
+the west side southwards. Seen from a distance the vegetation seemed quite
+of a European character. The eminences varied in elevation from 250 to 300
+feet. Judging from the direction of the foliage on the trees, the S.W.
+monsoon seems to commit great ravages. Everywhere along the coast, but
+more especially on the south side, serpentine cropped out&mdash;giving little
+promise of fertility. At many spots the cocoa-palms disappeared entirely;
+a circumstance which must ever interfere materially with the settlement of
+this island by a people to whom the most profuse natural treasures are
+worthless and unknown, beyond wealth in cocoa-nuts.</p>
+
+<p>Near the southern point we were suddenly alarmed at noticing an alteration
+in the colour of the sea, which led us to suspect the proximity of a
+sand-bank. Nevertheless a boat, lowered to try for soundings, found no
+bottom at 45 fathoms. In fact, the water was found to be transfused with
+an enormous mass of <i>crustaceæ</i>, and small brownish filaments of <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>48</sub> to
+<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>12</sub> of an inch in length, occasionally collected into a knot, which
+rendered it cloudy and muddy, and at once explained a phenomenon at first
+sight so unexpected. Towards 5 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> we passed the southern point of the
+island, and somewhat later discovered a well-sheltered anchorage on the
+S.E. side of the
+island.<!--057.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Considerable anxiety was felt as the sun went down, since the boat that
+had been dispatched not only had not rejoined us but was not yet even
+visible. As soon as darkness had fairly set in, blue lights were burnt on
+board the frigate, of which the third was at last responded to by the crew
+of the boat, which had been provided with port-fires for such a
+contingency. It seemed to be steering for the frigate. Hour after hour,
+however, flew by without its approaching us, and the rest of our signals
+remained unanswered. Thus morning broke, and still no boat was visible.</p>
+
+<p>At length, about 7.30 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span>, the anxiously expected little wanderer hove in
+sight at a little distance, and half an hour later she came alongside all
+safe. The projected operations had been only partially successful, owing
+to the extreme difficulty in making a landing. Surprised by nightfall, it
+was no longer practicable to make out the ten nautical miles at least they
+were still distant from the frigate, and the scanty crew consequently saw
+nothing for it but to anchor close in with the shore, and await the light
+of dawn in the boat. The cause of our later blue lights not being
+answered, was partly the want of a sufficient supply of signal lights,
+part having been already expended, and the rest having got damp.</p>
+
+<p>We now steered for Nangkauri harbour. Full in view lay the north shore of
+the island of Kamorta, and, as we glided smoothly thither over the glassy
+sea, it loomed gradually nearer; an island of flat-topped hills, which,
+despite its rank vegetation, had a park-like aspect, consequent on the
+alternations
+<!--058.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span>of
+forest and grass-slopes with the white coral beach,
+crowned with cocoa-palms. Gradually the island of Tringkut came into view,
+singularly level, and abounding in cocoa-palms and edible sea-slugs
+(Trepang), lying directly facing the entrance of the harbour-like channel,
+between Kamorta and Nangkauri. Our course, on which we were being
+propelled on a beautiful evening by a gentle soft wind which wafted us
+slowly but surely forwards, was indeed entrancingly delicious. Directly
+ahead lay the low strand of Tringkut, shimmering whitely under the dark
+green canopy of foliage, while the long swell, breaking on the coral reefs
+like glancing walls of foam, sunk away in the distance into the smooth
+mirror-like sea, which rose and fell almost imperceptibly, as though
+peacefully breathing. On the left lay Nangkauri, with its forests. On both
+sides of Kamorta and Nangkauri, huts and villages were visible sprinkled
+along the shore, from which numerous natives put off in their canoes to
+the frigate, but presently lay on their oars at a respectful distance, and
+followed us like a sort of squadron of observation. On the right was
+visible in mid-channel between Tringkut and Kamorta the solitary rocky
+island of Tillangschong; the shores of all these islands, and indeed the
+whole horizon, being lit up with a gorgeous Fata Morgana. The extreme
+southernmost cliffs of Tillangschong seemed to be suspended entirely in
+the air. The corners, at which jutted out the coast-lines of Tringkut and
+Kamorta, seen along the horizon of the ocean resembled wedge-shaped
+incisions into the domain
+<!--059.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>of
+the atmosphere; while the tips of the waves,
+lashed into foam as they broke upon them, seemed as if dancing in the air.
+The canoes of the natives were reflected upside down, till the figures
+seated in them were so enormously lengthened that one could almost fancy
+they were gigantic 'genii' disporting on the surface of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>As we were sailing along in front of the village of Malacca into the
+splendid harbour, and just as the lead had almost a moment before marked
+23 fathoms, the look-out man suddenly descried a shoal. Notwithstanding
+the man&oelig;uvres that were at once put in execution, it was found
+impossible to get entirely clear, and the frigate grounded forward of the
+beam on the port-side. Although it was ebb-tide, yet deep water was
+observable both ahead and astern, and accordingly an effort was made, by
+running out the guns and laying out a spring for the frigate to haul upon,
+to get the ship once more afloat, which accordingly speedily proved
+successful, so that by sundown we were enabled to anchor in good holding
+ground, opposite the village of Itoe, in the island of Nangkauri.</p>
+
+<p>Here we lay in a calm, tranquil sheet of water, such as we had not fallen
+in with throughout our voyage hitherto, surrounded by dense forest, from
+which were heard distinctly, on board ship, the disagreeable shrill sound
+of innumerable crickets, and the deep coo of the great Nicobar
+wood-pigeon. Except for these, the most profound stillness reigned. There
+was not the smallest movement either in sea
+<!--060.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span>or
+sky. Although on our
+excursion to Kar-Nicobar we had to endure great heat, it was here that for
+the first time we experienced in all its discomfort the oppressive,
+relaxing sultriness of the tropical atmosphere, when saturated with
+vapour. The thermometer stood pretty regularly at 84° to 86° Fahr., nor
+was it possible to find any relief by plunging into the water, which was
+if anything even warmer than the air. Hemmed in on all sides, and with the
+welcome beneficent sea-breeze frequently ceasing to blow for a week
+together, it was speedily pronounced a riddle, impossible to be solved,
+how this harbour came to be once and again selected by German and Danish
+Missionaries for the purposes of colonization, unless the key to the
+mystery be found in its secure situation, the exquisite beauty of the
+mountain landscape, and the numerous clear spots around.</p>
+
+<p>The very morning after our arrival we set out on a small reconnoitring
+excursion to examine the ground, in order to decide, among so many objects
+claiming our attention at once, what, considering the brief time at our
+disposal, we might hope to undertake successfully, and what must once for
+all be abandoned. Our first visit was to the village of Itoe, which lay
+directly opposite our frigate's anchorage. The natives had all fled into
+the forest, only their dogs having remained behind, who saluted us with a
+tremendous howl. The huts, six or eight in number, had a poor, miserable
+appearance, and were built close to a cocoa forest, so that there was not
+the slightest space to move about in between
+<!--061.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span>the
+huts, the forest, and
+the luxuriant underwood, so that free circulation of air was entirely
+prevented. In front of the village a number of Bamboo poles, with large
+bunches of ribbons waving about from their upper end, were stuck into the
+water, for the purpose of frightening away the evil spirit or Eewee, and
+driving him into the sea! In the interior of these few huts built of
+stakes, and of much inferior construction to those in Kar-Nicobar, was a
+large number of rudely cut figures of all possible sizes, and every
+variety of position, suspended by strings, and supplying the most
+unmistakeable evidence of the superstitions of the natives. We had never
+seen these kinds of charms against the evil spirit at Kar-Nicobar, nor had
+even heard them spoken of. Quite close to the huts was the place of
+interment. At one grave, apparently quite lately used, a large pole was
+erected, which was adorned with innumerable white and blue stripes waving
+in the wind, and from which had also been suspended axes, piles, bars,
+nails, and other tools and implements of labour of the deceased, so that
+the whole scene much more resembled a rag-shop than a grave heap.</p>
+
+<p>From Itoe we proceeded to the peak of Monghata, on the island of Kamorta,
+lying just opposite Nangkauri. It was here that, in 1831, Pastor Rosen
+wished to found the projected settlement. He could hardly have selected a
+more unsuitable site, since all around is either dense forest or mangrove
+swamp. The spots that had been cleared are now overgrown with <i>Saccharum
+Konigii</i> (Lalang grass), of the
+<!--062.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span>height
+of a man, which usually follows
+here upon spots that have been once cultivated and are afterwards
+abandoned, and which, if once taken root, can only with the utmost
+difficulty be eradicated. From this peak, barely 200 feet in height, it is
+practicable to descend by a small footpath to the cove of Ulàla, whose
+shores are entirely overrun with dense impassable mangrove swamp, and
+accordingly present a most dreary, gloomy aspect.</p>
+
+<p>Our next excursion was to the village of Enuang or Enong, where lay at
+anchor, under the British flag, two Malay prahus from Pulo Penang, manned
+by Malay crews, and taking in cargoes of ripe cocoa-nuts, edible birds'
+nests, and sea-slugs, or Trepang. The captain of one of these prahus and
+the greater number of the crew were laid up with fever. The supercargo, a
+Chinese named Owi-Bing-Hong, spoke English fluently, and was of the utmost
+service to us in our communications with the natives. Enuang is larger
+than Itoe, and has about a dozen huts, but these are one and all
+half-ruinous, very filthy, and utterly neglected. In all the huts we found
+numbers of figures, cut in white wood in the very rudest style in various
+postures, mostly with a threatening, combative expression, intended to
+drive away the evil spirit, of whom the natives seem to stand in great
+dread; for it is the universal practice of these islanders to ascribe
+whatever happens to them to the influence of an evil spirit, and probably
+also the appearance of the <i>Novara</i> in the harbour of Nangkauri was laid
+to the account of the ill intentions
+<!--063.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span>of
+an Eewee. One constantly sees
+fruit, tobacco, or betel-leaves, prepared with pearl-lime, strewed in
+small portions at various spots in the interiors of the huts, or suspended
+on the bamboo ladders by which they are entered, the object being to
+propitiate the Eewee in the event of his being hungry on his arrival! In
+one of the abandoned huts we discovered a figure resembling a cat, rudely
+carved in wood, before which the natives had placed tobacco and
+cocoa-nuts; almost all these figures were besmeared with soot, and daubed
+with some red pigment, and their abdomens hung with long pendent dried
+palm-leaves.</p>
+
+<p>Not one of the natives at Enuang understood English. Only a couple of old
+men spoke a few words of Portuguese, of which they were not a little
+conceited. The Portuguese, in the 17th and 18th centuries, seem to have
+been the first European nations that had any commercial dealings with the
+Nicobar islanders. A number of words of their language, all referring to
+objects of civilization, and but little corrupted from the Portuguese,
+such for instance as "pang" (for <i>pan</i>, the Portuguese for bread),
+"zapato" (shoe), "cuchillo" (knife), and so forth, are evidences of this.
+The natives here seemed to us yet more hideous than those of Kar-Nicobar,
+especially as the everlasting betel-chewing had disfigured their mouths in
+the most shocking manner. It is however incorrect to allege, as has been
+the case hitherto, that they avail themselves of a particular substance
+with which to discolour the teeth, and which it was supposed induced this
+frightful distortion
+<!--064.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span>of
+the mouth; it is unquestionably only the abuse of
+the betel (consisting of Areca-nut, betel-leaves, and coral chalk) which
+causes these disgusting disfigurements. At this settlement also the women
+and children had disappeared. Only one native woman, married to a Malay
+from Pulo Penang, who was at the moment officiating as cook on board one
+of the prahus lying at anchor in the bay, had the courage to present
+herself before us. She was, according to the custom of the Malays, dressed
+in silk, but bore on her body all the disagreeable traces of her Nicobar
+origin. She showed no reluctance to talk with us, and, in her somewhat
+scanty toilette, was the one solitary native woman with whom we found an
+opportunity of communicating during our entire stay at the various
+islands.</p>
+
+<p>From Enuang we visited the first settlement of the Moravian Brothers,
+lying on the small neck of land between Enuang and Malacca, where
+apparently the amiable Father Hänsel seems to have lived, for whose
+interesting memoir, narrating his many years' residence upon the Nicobar
+Islands, we were indebted to the kindness of Dr. Rosen of the Moravian
+Mission at Genaadendal in South Africa.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> At present all is once more
+thick majestic forest; a marvellous leafy dome, like a green pantheon,
+encircles and overshadows the scene of the once benevolent activity of the
+devoted missionary. Only a ruined well and a few brick fragments of what
+was the oven,
+<!--065.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>lying
+about, remain to show that a dwelling once stood
+here. At the well there were a variety of beautiful flowers growing
+between the stones. The place is still called, as then, Tripjet, or the
+"Habitation of the Friends." Here in quick succession most of the Brethren
+died, (no fewer than eleven out of the thirteen,) upon which the mission
+was transferred to the opposite island of Kamorta, first of all to the
+clearing at Kalaha, and ultimately to Kamút. But all these sites were as
+ill-selected as the first. An abode located between swamp and forest, of
+which latter only a space of barely 1000 feet in circumference was
+cleared, could not but prove fatal in a very short space of time to the
+unfortunate colonists. At the village of Enuang too it would seem to be
+that the last attempt at founding a settlement was made in 1835 by the two
+French missionaries; at least we were informed by several natives, who
+seemed to be at present about 34 to 36 years of age, that they were
+themselves but boys when the last missionaries lived at Nangkauri. They
+also further recollected that the gigantic cocoa-palms, which at present
+skirt the forest, were at that time quite small saplings, and the only
+vegetation between the beach and the mission house. At present enormous
+roots are stretching over the foundations of the earlier settlement. The
+natives who accompanied us spoke with warm feeling of the missionaries,
+and seemed to regret their departure. Many professed themselves with much
+earnestness to be Christians, but they were so only in name. According to
+what they reported, many natives must at that
+<!--066.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span>period
+have been baptized
+in the islands of Chowra and Bampoka.</p>
+
+<p>During this visit to Enuang and Malacca, it had been one of the objects
+aimed at by the members of the Expedition to draw up a small vocabulary of
+the language of the natives, when it speedily appeared that, despite the
+proximity of the two islands, the dialects used by the inhabitants were
+entirely different. Even for trees and plants, for the feathered
+inhabitants of the forests, as well as domestic animals, the inhabitants
+of the central groups of islands have different names. The cocoa-palm and
+its noble fruit, the betel and its ingredients, are here known by entirely
+different names. The accurate transcription of each individual word into
+German as pronounced by the native was hard work. It took us two days to
+make a vocabulary of one hundred words! And even this slight success would
+have been impossible but for our serviceable Chinese friend, Bing-Hong,
+who had gone to school for two years at Pulo Penang, and could read and
+write English with tolerable readiness and accuracy. The distortion of
+their mouths is one main reason why the natives pronounce the greater
+number of their words almost unintelligibly; it is more a lisping mutter
+than a language. Hence, apparently, their ability to follow out the
+concatenation of ideas is so slightly developed, that it is only with much
+difficulty they can be made to comprehend the particular subject
+respecting which the information was wanted. For example, if it was wished
+to know the word in their language which expressed
+<!--067.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span>"<i>blue</i>,"
+and in order
+to make more intelligible what was required, a variety of objects of a
+blue colour were pointed out, they almost invariably named the object
+itself, and not the colour. Or again, one wanted to know what they called
+"<i>leaf</i>" in their language, and indicated the leaf of a tree standing
+near; the native, however, replies by giving the name of the tree
+<i>itself</i>, instead of the word expressing leaf. It seems to us not
+unimportant to call attention to this circumstance, in order more
+completely to lay before the reader the great and manifold obstacles which
+present themselves in drawing up vocabularies of the languages of
+half-savage races, and thus more readily secure indulgence for the
+discrepancies which are frequently to be met with in such works.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Bing-Hong invited us to pay him a visit on board his vessel, which had
+already been lying for several months at anchor in Nangkauri harbour,
+taking in a cargo of ripe cocoa-nuts, of which a <i>Picul</i>, or 133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub>
+pounds, is worth in the Pulo Penang market 5&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> American dollars (£1
+3<i>s.</i> sterling). This hospitable Chinese informed us it was at the period
+of our visit the least unhealthy season in Nangkauri harbour: that as soon
+as the S.W. monsoon sets in, all foreign ships hurry away, through dread
+of the illnesses that follow in its track. However, feverish attacks are
+of daily occurrence throughout the
+<!--068.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span>year.
+Of the thirteen men who formed
+the crew of the barque, ten were laid up with fever. The disorderly habits
+of life, however, of foreign visitors are much more to blame for these
+frequent attacks of disease than the unhealthiness of the climate.
+Constantly they are guilty of excesses in diet and general negligence of
+health, bathing during the utmost heat of the day without any covering to
+the head, exposing themselves to the burning rays of the noonday sun,
+drinking for the most part nothing but the fluid contents of the unripe
+cocoa-nut, eating quantities of juicy fruits, the constant use of which
+acts injuriously on the systems of strangers, and sleeping on the damp
+soil under the open air, exposed to all the noxious influences of the
+atmosphere of a tropical forest without the slightest shelter. Bing-Hong
+showed us the dried edible nests of the <i>Hirundo esculenta</i> (in Malay
+<i>Salang</i>, in Nicobar <i>Hegái</i>), and presented us with a small packet of
+about thirty nests. When properly dried, seventy-two of these tiny nests
+weigh one catty, or 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> lb., and they are sold at two rupees (4<i>s.</i>) for
+three of the inferior sort. The best quality is far more expensive. We
+caused some of these Chinese dainties to be prepared exactly as prescribed
+by Bing-Hong, that is to say, they were boiled for one hour in hot water,
+but we found the gelatinous mass quite tasteless, and, in fact, resembling
+dissolved gum. The swallow which constructs these edible nests does not
+however seem to be a regular visitant of the Nicobar Islands, and the
+profits on this article of commerce, which is of such importance in Java
+and
+<!--069.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span>the
+rest of the Sunda Islands, are here scarcely worth naming.</p>
+
+<p>It has been long disputed whence this industrious little warbler obtains
+the material for his nest, and it was in all probability the circumstance
+that it was generally believed to consist of particles of sea-weed,
+fish-roe, and marine animalculæ of the <i>medusa</i> class, which secured for
+these nests such a celebrity among Chinese gourmands. A German naturalist,
+Professor Troschel of Bonn, affirms however, on the strength of an
+analysis of these nests, that the notion hitherto prevalent as to the
+component parts of these nests is entirely erroneous, as they consist of
+nothing else than a thick, glutinous slime, secreted from the salivary
+glands, which, at the period when the Indian swallow builds its nest,
+swell out into large whitish masses. This slime, which is susceptible of
+being drawn out in long filaments from the bill of the animal, is quite
+analogous to gum Arabic. Whenever the bird is desirous of constructing its
+nest, it causes this salivary substance, which at that period is copiously
+secreted, to adhere to the crags, till its elegant nest is finished.</p>
+
+<p>One of the days during which the frigate lay in Nangkauri harbour, the
+geologist of the Expedition made an excursion in a native canoe along the
+coasts of Kamorta and Tringkut, as these islands at the points where the
+shores are precipitous furnish the only possible geognostic facilities,
+the forest or the thick covering of vegetation in the interior of the
+island quite concealing the geological conformation. Our Chinese
+<!--070.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span>friend
+Bing-Hong aforesaid accompanied him in the capacity of interpreter. When
+the geologist had got some distance from the frigate, he found that the
+natives had not abandoned their villages, and to this one alone of our
+fellow-travellers, manned and rowed along by natives, did some of the
+women become visible. They were as tall as the men, and quite as loathsome
+in appearance, the mouth similarly disfigured by betel-chewing, but the
+hair cut short. Around the body they wore a petticoat of red or blue
+cloth, reaching from the loins to the knee.</p>
+
+<p>Another excursion was made to Ulàla Cove, distant about four nautical
+miles from our anchorage on the W. side of the island of Kamorta, on which
+occasion our Venetian gondola, specially constructed for similar
+expeditions, was pressed into the service. The entrance to the cove is
+about <sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> of a mile in breadth, after which it expands in an easterly
+direction with varying width, at the same time sending off arms in every
+direction. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant and plentiful, and
+along the swampy shore consists mainly of mangrove bushes, which at most
+points make it almost impracticable to disembark, and impart to the entire
+bay a dreary, desolate appearance. At the few villages scattered along the
+shore, most of the natives had taken to flight. On this occasion, however,
+it was not child-like terror that had driven them away, but an evil
+conscience, for among the other inhabitants this bay enjoys the sad
+reputation of having on various occasions massacred the crews of small
+vessels,
+<!--071.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span>after
+having plundered them of everything. So strong is this
+feeling that the natives of the rest of the Nicobar group, according to
+their own report, refuse to have anything to do with this ferocious set,
+and could not by any means be induced to accompany us in their canoes as
+far as Ulàla Cove.</p>
+
+<p>The frigate lay five days in Nangkauri harbour, until the soundings and
+general survey of this large bay with its numerous branches had been
+completed, when, on the morning of the 11th March, she sailed, with a
+fresh breeze from N.W., through the western entrance, which is scarcely a
+hundred fathoms wide, by fourteen in depth, and is marked by two rocky
+pinnacles. Directly opposite lies the island of Katchal, thickly wooded to
+the water-edge, and stretching out long and low, without any marked
+elevation above sea-level. We now sailed in between these islands of
+Katchal and Kamorta in a northerly direction towards the islands of
+Teressa and Bampoka. On the W. side of Kamorta a number of villages were
+visible; on the N.W. we perceived at several spots natural meadows, while
+hereabouts the land gradually culminated into the highest point of the
+island,&mdash;a conical hill, rising not very far from the shore, almost
+entirely without trees, except where near the summit a number of bushes
+and shrubs nestled in a sort of hollow. Three days were now lost in
+unsuccessful attempts to make head-way against wind and tide, so that for
+four mortal days we were tossed about in full view of Bampoka, Teressa,
+and Chowra, never indeed above twenty miles distant, yet utterly unable to
+<!--072.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span>make
+any one of them. As the time at our disposal for visiting these was
+exhausted in consequence of this unexpected difficulty, we were, very much
+to our regret, compelled to forego the satisfaction of setting foot on
+either of these islands, which, especially Chowra, would have presented a
+rare opportunity of examining the effect upon tropical races of men of an
+excess of population. That rather barren island possesses, it seems, more
+inhabitants than it has the means of subsisting, and appears to be the
+only spot of the entire Nicobar group where the natives follow industrial
+avocations. All manner of pottery ware comes from Chowra, so that it would
+almost seem as though the lamentable spectacle of a superabundant
+population had given the natives the first impulse towards active
+industry.</p>
+
+<p>In the island of Teressa the Austrian Expedition had a more special
+interest, in so far as it is by no means improbable that the adventurous
+Bolts, who in 1778 visited the Nicobar Archipelago in the Austrian ship
+<i>Joseph and Theresa</i>, named this island, as he already had done in the
+case of a fort on the coast of Africa, after the renowned Austrian
+Empress, which, corrupted by the native dialect, had been gradually
+transformed into Teressa or Terassa.</p>
+
+<p>At sunrise on the 17th March there loomed on the horizon in a S.E.
+direction, first the island of Meroe, then the two small islands of Treis
+and Track, and lastly the long mountain-chain of Little Nicobar, with the
+beautiful island of Pulo Milù. The breeze was light, and a current of a
+velocity
+<!--073.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span>of
+five miles an hour, which ran rushing and seething like a
+mill-race through the calm sea, so completely checked our progress that
+the anchor had to be let go. This procured us the very unexpected pleasure
+of visiting these two small wooded islands. Owing to the heavy surf, we
+only succeeded in effecting a landing by the assistance of some natives,
+whom we happened to fall in with in their canoes off these all but
+uninhabited islets. Treis is a veritable pigeon island, full of the most
+various and beautiful species of that bird; nevertheless we could only
+procure a single specimen of the exceedingly elegant Nicobar dove. Here
+too it was that the geologist found the first traces of brown coal, which
+however did not present itself in layers suitable for domestic use.</p>
+
+<p>The same afternoon, with the turn of the tide the current set in our
+favour, and towards 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> we reached the roadstead protected to the
+eastward by the northernmost point of Little Nicobar, to the westward by
+the island of Pulo Milù, and southward by the mainland of Little Nicobar
+itself. It is not very large, but it has excellent holding ground, and
+would be available at all seasons as a harbour of refuge for vessels. As
+most of the villages of Little Nicobar lie on the N.W. and S. sides of the
+island, and were with difficulty accessible from our anchorage, it was
+thought preferable to select the small but beautiful island of Pulo Milù
+for our visit. Already, while we were lying at anchor in front of the
+island of Treis, a few natives had come on board the
+<!--074.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span>frigate,
+and had
+shown much confidence. They possessed all the characteristics of the
+residents of Nangkauri, and they also spoke, with but slight variations,
+the same idiom. Only for certain objects, and those, singular to say,
+articles of the very first necessity, such as cocoa-nut trees, palms,
+screw-pines, and the like, did they employ different expressions.</p>
+
+<p>The island of Pulo Milù, with its variety of forest-vegetation, and its
+charming woodland-scenery, displays all the beauty and all the marvels of
+the tropics. The screw-pine (of the family of <i>Pandaneæ</i>), that peculiar
+tree which imparts to the forests of Asia a character so different from
+those of America, is seen here in exceptional size and majesty. Nowhere
+have we met with this marvellous tree growing in such luxuriance as on
+Pulo Milù, where it appears in such quantities as to resemble a forest,
+and leaves an impression of such lonely wildness as makes one almost
+imagine it a remnant of some earlier period of our earth. Wondering at the
+capricious vagaries of nature, the traveller contemplates these
+extraordinary trees, which have leaves arranged in spiral order like the
+dragon trees, trunks like those of palms, boughs like those trees
+presenting the ordinary characteristics of foliage, fruit-cones like the
+<i>conifer&oelig;</i>, and yet have nothing in common with all these plants, so
+that they form a family by themselves. On Pulo Milù we saw some of these
+trees with slim smooth stems 40 or 50 feet in height, which are nourished
+by and supported upon a pile of roots of 10 to 12 feet high, resembling a
+neatly-finished conical piece of wicker-work,
+<!--075.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span>composed
+of spindle-shaped
+staves. Many of these roots do not reach the soil, and in this undeveloped
+state these atmospheric roots assume the most peculiar shapes. Higher up
+the same formation is repeated among the branches, from which depend
+beautiful massy fruit-cones, a foot and a half in length, by one in
+thickness, which, when ripe, are of a splendid orange hue.</p>
+
+<p>The screw-pine is not cultivated in the Nicobar Islands; it grows wild in
+the utmost luxuriance, and, after the cocoa-nut, is for the natives the
+most important plant that furnishes them with subsistence. The immense
+fruit-cones borne by this tree consist of several single wedge-shaped
+fruits, which when raw are uneatable, but boiled in water, and subjected
+to pressure, give out a sort of mealy mass, the "Melori" of the
+Portuguese, and called by the natives "Laróhm," which is also occasionally
+used with the fleshy interior of the ripe fruit, and forms the daily bread
+of the islanders. The flavour of the mass thus prepared strongly resembles
+that of apple-marmalade, and is by no means unpalatable to Europeans. The
+woody, brush-like fibres of the fruit which remain behind, after the mealy
+contents have been squeezed out, are made use of by the natives as natural
+brooms and brushes, while the dried leaves of the Pandanus serve instead
+of paper to surround their cigarettes.</p>
+
+<p>At Pulo Milù, as is yet more markedly the case among the southernmost
+islands, the cocoa-palm does not grow so luxuriantly as on Kar-Nicobar,
+and to this circumstance may
+<!--076.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span>be
+chiefly ascribed the fact that the
+natives are not so liberal as at the last-named island. The Swedish
+naturalist, Dr. Rink, who has so largely and valuably added to our stock
+of information respecting the Nicobar group, resided here for a
+considerable time with some forty Chinese labourers, and, with a view to
+ultimate colonization, had caused to be cut through the forest several
+paths, by means of which this island has been rendered much more permeable
+than any other in the Archipelago. The selection was an extremely happy
+one, and had the projected colonization of the island been carried into
+effect, very different results would have been obtained than those of poor
+Dr. Rosen in Nangkauri Harbour. Next to Kar-Nicobar, it has been clearly
+decided that Pulo Milù is the most suitable spot for a first settlement,
+in the event of any European power or any capitalist undertaking to solve
+the problem of colonizing this Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>In the cove at which we landed five huts stand upon the beach, much
+similar to those at Nangkauri, and like them having before them a number
+of lofty singularly ornamented poles emerging from the water, called by
+the natives Handschúop, and intended to keep Davy Jones at a respectful
+distance from the village,&mdash;not unlike the scarecrow with which we at home
+seek to frighten from the ripening corn the rapacious troop of feathered
+epicures. These banners for scaring away the Eewees are erected within the
+sea limit by the Manluéna, or exorcist, who in these islands, like the
+<!--077.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span>medicine-man
+of the Red Indian of America, or the Ach-Itz of the Indian
+races among the highlands of Guatemala, exercises the utmost influence
+over all the affairs of life. Here, as elsewhere, most of the natives had
+disappeared on our approach. We found but five men, who were all at least
+partially clad; some wore shirts, trowsers, and caps; another had
+enveloped his person in an immense, and by no means over-clean, piece of
+linen. One of this number, who acted as our guide through the island, and
+called himself "John Bull," was not a regular resident in Pulo Milù, but
+in Lesser-Nicobar, and had only come over to the island for the purpose of
+constructing canoes of trunks of trees hollowed out. He spoke English with
+tolerable fluency, and displayed quite child-like satisfaction, as often
+as any English word, no matter what, was recalled to his recollection,
+which had slipped his memory from want of practice. John Bull soon became
+very insinuating, and expressed a wish to accompany us to Great Nicobar,
+where, as he assured us, at Hinkvala, one of the villages on the southern
+shore, he had several relatives, among others one named "London," who
+could be of the utmost service to us. For his kind offices we promised him
+a present, upon which he asked with the most naïve simplicity: "You not
+talk lie?" from which we may conjecture that not every promise made to him
+by a stranger was duly fulfilled. The huts of the natives were constructed
+of beams, exactly like those in the central island; and the internal
+arrangements were precisely identical. Here also
+<!--078.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span>are
+figures sculptured
+in wood, Eewee-charms, which especially are found in the interiors of the
+houses in such numbers and in such quaint costumes, that one is almost
+tempted to imagine the inhabitants of these huts must be proprietors of
+some Marionette-theatre. We also found here various objects carved in soft
+wood, among others a large serpent, a tortoise, and several droll figures,
+as also a seven-holed flute of bamboo-reed, the model for which had
+evidently been supplied by some of the Malay sailors from Pulo Penang.</p>
+
+<p>The same evening we weighed anchor, and shaped our course along the
+eastern shore of Lesser-Nicobar, which is thickly covered with swamp and
+forest. On the morning of 19th March, we were abreast of the island of
+Montial in St. George's Channel, and by evening had anchored on the
+northern side of Great Nicobar, S.E. of the island of Kondul, which also
+lies in the Channel. Already before sunrise the boats were lowered and
+everything got in readiness for a visit to the small but delightful island
+of Kondul, which, though on the N.W. side so lofty and rocky as to be
+almost inaccessible, presents on its E. side a tolerably secure
+landing-place, situated according to our observations in 7° 12&#8242; 17&#8243; N.
+and 93° 39&#8242; 57&#8243; E. Here we found a number of huts, but not one single
+native was visible. We now endeavoured, by following up a torrent bed, to
+climb to the highest point of the island, which has an elevation of 350 to
+400 feet. In this we only succeeded after most severe exertion,
+occasionally having to avail ourselves at the steepest parts of the ascent
+<!--079.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span>of
+the gigantic roots of trees, or of the climbing plants that hung
+suspended like natural ropes, by means of which we swung ourselves among
+the huge blocks of rock, till we could gain a secure footing. Instead,
+however, of finding, as we had hoped, a small <i>plateau</i> at the summit, or
+at all events discovering some less difficult path by which to descend, we
+were sorely disconcerted, on arriving thoroughly exhausted on the top, at
+finding the rock descended so sheer and precipitous on the other side that
+it was impossible to make one step further. However, we found here a
+delicious refreshing breeze. With pleasure indescribable, our gaze
+wandered to the island of Great Nicobar and the islet of Cabra, lying
+immediately opposite us, their green luxuriant shores bathed on all sides
+by the azure ripple of the ocean. Although no rain had fallen for more
+than six months, the vegetation was on the whole wonderfully fresh and
+abundant, the forest lovely and majestic as on "the first day of
+Creation!"</p>
+
+<p>We found ourselves compelled to retrace our steps by the same break-neck
+path by which we had ascended the peak. On the shore we encountered some
+of the natives, whose curiosity had got the better of their apprehensions,
+and who now slunk out of the forest, to discover what was our peculiar
+object in landing on the island. Among their number was a native doctor,
+and Eewee exorciser; he was however in no way distinguishable from the
+rest of his brethren, unless by the inordinate length of his hair, which
+flowed down far below his shoulders. One of the members of the Commission,
+<!--080.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span>desirous
+of getting at the treatment pursued by these sly knaves when
+they go to work with their poor credulous dupes of patients, promised this
+dusky disciple of Æsculapius a present, if he would cure him by his own
+method, and affected to have an intolerably severe pain in the left arm.
+The Manluéna displayed his treatment with a vengeance; he laid hold of the
+supposed sufferer by the arm, which he pinched and punched, till there was
+not a spot that had not received his attentions, while during the entire
+process he now screamed aloud, now whistled, now blew vigorously upon the
+bare skin, as though endeavouring to expel the Evil Spirit. According to
+the belief of these poor people, every bodily pain is nothing other than a
+demon magically introduced into the system through the evil influence of
+an Eewee. The Manluéna commenced to pinch the arm from above, performing
+this anything but agreeable manipulation with his hands lubricated with
+cocoa-nut oil, from above downwards, the object being to drive out the
+Eewee from the arm by the finger points! Although the doctor had not used
+his patient very tenderly, he nevertheless in the opinion of the natives
+had not appeared to put forth all his powers, and had made use of far
+fewer noises and contortions than had been usual with him when one of
+themselves was undergoing treatment. Moreover his original confidence
+seemed to fail him in his anxiety lest some mischance should befall him in
+case this attempt at a cure should miscarry, and accordingly he speedily
+made off, after he had been complimented with a
+<!--081.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span>few
+threepenny bits for
+his trouble, nor did he again make his appearance the whole day.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the members of the Expedition had resolved to ramble quite round
+the island; the circumference of which is little if at all more than eight
+English miles. At early morning they had started with their guns and
+botanical boxes on their shoulders full of the most buoyant expectation of
+securing an ample store of curiosities, starting from the east coast and
+thence to the north side of the island; and towards sunset they made their
+appearance at the south side, foot-sore and nearly exhausted. In the
+ardour of the chase and of collecting "specimens," they had plunged so
+deep into the forest, thereby losing all trace of the direction by which
+they had entered, that as the sun was already beginning to descend, they
+had no alternative but to hew a path with their hatchets through the
+thickest of the forest, so as to reach the beach once more. At times
+hanging by creepers, at others swimming at various spots where the rocks
+dipped perpendicularly into the sea, they at length arrived at the spot
+where we were re-embarking, hungry, thirsty, and in a state of such
+extreme exhaustion that we at first were really apprehensive for their
+lives. Singularly enough these severe hardships were followed by no evil
+consequences to any one of the party, though the recollection of them will
+surely not fade out of their memory for the rest of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>The 21st March, being a Sunday, was duly observed, and was kept as a
+much-needed day of rest, no boat going to shore. Towards
+<!--082.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span>noon
+a pretty
+smart shower of rain fell, the first for six months. Several of the
+natives came off in their canoes, and brought fowls, eggs, cocoa-nuts, and
+various other fruits, as also monkeys and parrots. Rupees, English
+shillings and sixpences, were evidently not unknown to them, as they
+greatly preferred these in exchange to mere toys and showy articles.</p>
+
+<p>On the 22nd we made an excursion to a bay on the island of Great Nicobar
+or Sambelong. All that portion of the coast lying opposite our anchorage
+was quite uninhabited, evidently in consequence of the entire absence at
+this point of the cocoa-palm, whereas on the west coast there are several
+good-sized villages. Unfortunately, however, these lay at far too great a
+distance from the frigate to permit of an excursion being made thither. As
+our boat, after an hour's rowing, approached the little bay, we perceived
+at the mouth of a small creek the singular spectacle of a dead mangrove
+forest. Some great storm had apparently thrown up a sand-drive here, so as
+to cut off the supply of sea-water even at full tide. As the mangrove only
+flourishes in salt or brackish water, it had thus been deprived of its
+vital element, and the trees had accordingly perished in the fresh water.
+But the lofty stems still stood, withered and blighted, a ghastly garden
+of death amidst delicious green peaks covered with forest. As the sun
+rose, a white vapour lay like a winding-sheet over the dead swamp: one
+felt the uncomfortable sensation of being in a place where miasmata were
+poisoning the air, while the soil was generating death. The rigid
+skeletons of these trees recall
+<!--083.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span>to
+the recollection of the stranger, who
+stands marvelling at the all-powerful energies of Nature to create and
+destroy in these regions, how many corpses of his fellow-Europeans are
+mouldering beneath the damp soil of this island! Fortunately the river has
+once more broken through the bar, and given access to the sea-water, so
+that beneath the dead forest a fresh green vegetation was fast springing
+up.</p>
+
+<p>The crew of a Malay prahu from Penang had selected this dull spot for a
+regular settlement, in order to collect ripe cocoa-nuts, and Trepang, the
+edible sea-slug (<i>Holothuria</i>) already mentioned, the latter for the
+Chinese market. These people occupied a large wooden shed, and were
+provisioned for a somewhat long stay. Except this shed there was not one
+single hut here, all around being nothing but dense forest and swamp; but
+some natives of the island of Kondul came over in their canoes to trade
+hens and eggs with us. The Malay vessels which visit these islands almost
+all come hither from Penang, about the beginning of the N.E. monsoon, and
+remain during the whole of the dry season, so as to take in a full cargo
+of the various natural produce of the island. They bring for barter fine
+Chinese tobacco, calico, knives, axes, hatchets, cutlasses, clothes, and
+black round hats. In former years they also imported the betel shrub into
+Great Nicobar for propagation; where, in fact, it has been planted, and
+has since then increased to such an extent that its importation is no
+longer remunerative. With the commencement of the S.W. monsoons and the
+rainy season, the Malay
+<!--084.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span>traders
+with their profitable cargoes make their
+way back to Penang, and the other places along the coast of the peninsula
+of Malacca. Thanks to the presence of these people, the members of the
+Expedition were enabled to compare the Nicobar idiom with that of the
+Malays, and could thus ascertain the exceeding discrepancies between these
+two languages.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> These merchants ordinarily bring with them a few
+individuals who have a slight knowledge of the Nicobar language, as the
+Malay tongue is not understood anywhere in this archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Malay seamen, named Tschingi, from Penang, whose caste was
+indicated by the long stripes of a bluish green colour painted upon his
+dark brown forehead, peculiar to the Hindu god Siva, told us that he
+recollected being employed as a boy in the service of Pastor Rosen on the
+island of Kamorta, with whom he remained till his return to Europe. He
+spoke with much admiration of that estimable and thoroughly deserving
+gentleman, and remarked that many Chinese and other settlers had
+accompanied him to Kamorta, all of whom speedily succumbed to the fever.</p>
+
+<p>The native known as John Bull, who had followed us hither from Pulo Milù,
+made his appearance at the bay, accompanied by some of his kindred, and
+brought us some provisions. He seemed firmly to believe that in the
+interior of the island of Sambelong, in its southern part, there existed
+some wild inhabitants of a different race, Baju-oal-Tschùa (or junglemen,
+as he called them), who lived entirely in the
+<!--085.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span>woods,
+in small huts
+erected upon the banks of the streams, and were so timid that they took to
+flight so soon as any one endeavoured to approach them. He also told us
+that in the S. and S.W. sides of Sambelong there were eleven villages:
+viz. Hinkóata, Changanhéi, Hinháha, Haenganglóeh, Kanálla, Taéingha,
+Dayák, Kanchingtong, Dagoák, Hinláwua, and Kalémma.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the day, not only was a highly successful onslaught made
+on the denizens of the woodland, but even the fishes in bay were not
+exempted from our attentions;&mdash;a net, which was flung over the side and
+retained there barely half an hour, being hauled ashore with upwards of a
+hundred weight of small fish. Of this the entire ship's company partook,
+and sufficient was left over for the next day. Our quarry in the swamps
+and forest consisted of snipes, of a splendidly plumed Maina bird
+(<i>Gracula Indica</i>), eagles, and apes; unfortunately a number of the
+animals shot were lost by their retreating into the thicket, where they
+could not be recovered.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the 23rd of March the frigate again made sail and
+steered along the west coast of Great Nicobar, while two boats' crews were
+despatched with the requisite instruments to examine this quite unexplored
+coast. This plan, however, proved only half successful. The tremendous
+surf, into which the long swell setting in from the S.W. is broken
+hereabouts, hurled the larger boat upon the beach with such violence that
+it was capsized, by which a great portion of her freight was utterly lost,
+and her crew could only
+<!--086.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span>escape
+to shore by swimming. The smaller, or
+jolly-boat, returned to the ship with two of her crew to fetch assistance
+for these woe-begone wights. One of the latter, who coolly spoke of the
+accident as a "<i>piccola disgrazietta</i>,"<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> with the same breath informed
+us that almost all the instruments, note-books, and implements of the
+chase which had been taken on board, were irretrievably gone. Another
+quarter-boat was despatched to bring off our shipwrecked companions, who
+meanwhile remained on the shore in anything but enviable plight, soaked to
+the skin, hungry and thirsty, and busily employed in fishing up some few
+of the articles that had been overturned into the water. At last both
+boats got safely back in company about midnight, but under such
+circumstances that it was out of the question to think of prosecuting the
+examination that had been commenced. We now lay a course for the southern
+bay of Great Nicobar, where, shortly after 9 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> of the 24th March, we
+cast anchor near the little stream called "Galatea" by the Danish
+expedition. The midshipman intrusted with the commission of selecting the
+most suitable spot to disembark, returned after several hours' absence,
+with the little consolatory intelligence, that along the entire reach of
+coast which he had examined, there was but one solitary spot at which it
+was possible to land without danger from a boat of European construction.
+In the course of the day we received numbers of natives on board; among
+the rest, one man
+<!--087.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span>still
+young, with immense spectacles, which undoubtedly
+were worn much more for personal adornment than for use. They brought off
+for sale a few apes, parrots, hens, swine, cocoa-nuts, as also some rosin,
+tortoise-shell, amber, and a few large eggs of a species of wood-pigeon,
+called by the natives Mekéni, of which unfortunately we did not succeed in
+seeing a single specimen, despite our utmost exertions.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning, 26th March, amid occasional premonitory symptoms of
+the approach of the rainy season, the naturalists and some officers
+endeavoured to effect a landing at a place where alone it seemed possible
+for the broad, clumsy boats of our western waters. In this we succeeded.
+Again we were able, although drenched to the skin, to set foot on Nicobar
+soil. It was for the last time we did so. Not a single vestige could be
+discerned along the beach of any human habitations:&mdash;all was thick
+tropical forest, fringed with enormous <i>Barringtoni&oelig; Gigante&oelig;</i>,
+which in all their primeval weirdness flung their branches over the water,
+interlaced in wild confusion. After half an hour's wandering along the hot
+beach, we came unexpectedly, at a point somewhat south of our point of
+disembarkation, upon a couple of wretched disconsolate-looking huts. Not a
+human being was visible,&mdash;only a pair of hens and a pig, which were
+parading about untended; the bamboo poles, which usually figure in front
+of the native huts, had been carried away. However, in their absence it
+did not cost us much trouble to penetrate into the interior. A few weapons
+of war or the chase, a number of
+<!--088.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span>hollowed-out
+perfumed cocoa-nut shells
+suspended above the fire-place, a pair of elegantly plaited baskets, a
+boat's sail made of pandanus leaves, some straw mats, and a couple of
+marvellously finished figures, formed the very miscellaneous inventory of
+this Nicobar household. The figures (cut in wood) and a very
+neatly-executed basket attracted to themselves our special attention as
+interesting specimens of the industry and taste of the natives of Nicobar.
+We could not resist possessing ourselves of these, at the same time
+leaving in recompense a quantity of shining six-penny pieces, fully twenty
+times the utmost possible value of what had been taken away, depositing
+them in one of the baskets which was suspended in a conspicuous position
+in the middle of the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Adjoining this hamlet was a forest of cocoa-palms. We penetrated into it,
+and suddenly found ourselves, to our great astonishment, on the track of a
+well-worn footpath, which was probably, with the exception of the paths in
+Great Nicobar and Pulo Milù, in better condition than any other we had
+hitherto encountered in the Nicobar Islands. What more natural than to
+suppose that a path so well worn must necessarily lead to an important
+settlement? It passed first through an extensive and splendid
+palm-plantation, and afterwards through a very beautiful clump of leafy
+trees, fringing a little brook, whose channel, it being then the end of
+the dry season, was quite dried up. Frequently we were obliged to clamber
+over steep blocks of rock, with footsteps hewn in them by the hand of man,
+for facilitating the passage, and at
+<!--089.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span>last,
+after a scramble of several
+hours, highly interesting, but exceedingly fatiguing, we reached a cleared
+spot on the sea-beach, but without being able to discern the remotest
+trace of any human habitations. On the contrary, it seemed to admit of no
+doubt that this path, as also some spots that had been cleared, were
+nothing but the preparations for an intended settlement, which can only be
+successfully carried out here where the cocoa-palm and screw-pine have
+first struck root. Some of the sailors, who accompanied us as porters and
+escort, went forward as far as the extreme point of the bay, but there
+also they found no trace of any human abode. After a brief rest we
+returned by the same track, to the spot at which we had disembarked, where
+we were joined by some of the officers, who, more fortunate than
+ourselves, had encountered some of the natives, and had even seen them in
+their dwellings. They spoke of the interiors of the huts they visited as
+being quite as wretched as those on the other islands, only the
+inhabitants did not seem so shy or timorous. Far from this, they had
+regaled our lucky companions with palm-wine, and had accompanied them till
+they fell in with us. With this visit ended the thirty-second day of our
+stay in the Nicobar Archipelago, only one half of that period having been
+spent on land, the rest having been occupied in beating about against
+unfavourable winds.</p>
+
+<p>Before, however, we take our departure from this most interesting group of
+islands, <i>en route</i> for the Sunda Islands and China, we shall be excused
+for briefly recapitulating the
+<!--090.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>main
+results of our observations and
+investigations, while referring the reader for a more detailed
+specification of our labours to the various special divisions yet to
+appear.</p>
+
+<p>The Nicobar Islands, situated right in the most important highway of
+commerce, which is destined to acquire yet greater importance, so soon as
+the projected opening of the Suez Canal has been carried out, and
+extending in their general direction from S.S.E. to N.N.W., seem like an
+extension of the main central mountain-chain of Sumatra, which is
+prolonged yet further to the northward through the Andaman group, and in
+its crescent-shaped arrangement, with the convexity towards the westward,
+corresponds with Cape Negrais in the peninsula of Malacca. If from this
+Archipelago, as a centre, a circle be described of about 1200 nautical
+miles of radius, it will include the most important commercial cities of
+India, as well as Ceylon, the majority of the Sunda Islands, and Cochin
+China. The winds usually prevalent here greatly facilitate the passage of
+vessels from the adjoining islands and coasts of <i>terra firma</i>, and
+proportionately enhance the importance of this Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>With but few exceptions, the shores of the whole group of islands consist
+of coral sand, or are fringed with coral banks, which latter extend
+seaward to a depth of thirty fathoms. In like manner almost all the bays
+seem to be edged with coral reefs, if indeed they are not actually studded
+with them. The promontories frequently present cliffs both above and below
+the level of the ocean, extending a couple of miles into
+<!--091.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span>the
+sea, which,
+what with the occasional rapid currents and light breezes, are not always
+very easily weathered. The prevailing winds are the two monsoons, the N.E.
+in the months of November, December, January, February, and March, the
+S.W. in May, June, July, August, and September. During the months of April
+and October, there are variable winds and calms, extending more or less
+into the adjoining months. The currents vary in direction with the
+passages between the islands, and depend upon the ebb and flow of the
+tide, varying in force and direction with the tidal phenomena. Ordinarily
+these make themselves felt during the making of the tide from S.W. to
+N.E., and in a contrary direction during the ebb.</p>
+
+<p>Due south of Kar-Nicobar, we found while lying at anchor a current running
+3&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> miles an hour, two days after the full moon; north of Little
+Nicobar, near the small island of Treis, where the current compelled us to
+anchor, its velocity, as we experienced two days after new moon, is as
+high as 4&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> miles an hour. These observations refer to a period when the
+velocity of the current was at its maximum. In light winds, and when near
+the coast, one must always let go the anchor, or at least lay out a kedge,
+the latter however being barely sufficient at several spots immediately
+after the full or the new moon. According to observations made during five
+days about the period of full moon, the course of tide at Kar-Nicobar may
+be assumed at 9h. 40m., and the difference in height between ebb and flood
+at five
+feet.<!--092.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In these waters, and in a still more marked degree in the latitude of
+Sumatra, occurs a belt within which the wave-currents form what is known
+to English navigators as "The Ripples." The sea here is ranged
+zone-fashion, so to speak, as though in fact in a state of ebullition, and
+makes a considerable noise, yet without there being anything to indicate
+an increased strength of current; since, on the contrary, we found when
+reaching these tracts, that the velocity of current was if anything rather
+diminished. We conceive this phenomenon may be attributed to the agitation
+caused by partial tidal currents, crossing each others' course, and
+occasionally even running counter to each other, as also to certain
+special conditions of ocean temperature at varying depths. The changes of
+the tides at points of the coast, proportionally speaking so near each
+other, are so widely different in point of time, and the height reached by
+the waves is so little uniform, that any such phenomenon as the above must
+naturally make itself perceptible at the surface in the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>While the change of tide at Kar-Nicobar takes place every 9h. 40m., that
+of Cape Diamond in Sumatra is laid down in the English chart at 12h., and
+on the sand-banks in the Straits of Malacca at only 5h. 30m. The
+difference in elevation assigned exhibits a similar discrepancy in the
+estimates; that for Kar-Nicobar being stated at five feet, that for Cape
+Diamond at 10 feet, and on the sand-banks already mentioned at 15 feet.
+The hurricanes of the Bay of Bengal never visit the Nicobars; they seem to
+originate part in or
+<!--093.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span>about
+the Andaman Islands, part from the west coast
+of Sumatra, proceeding in the former case towards the northern portions of
+the gulf, and in the latter towards the Coromandel coast and Ceylon.</p>
+
+<p>During the S.W. monsoon, in which occurs the rainy season, frequent
+thunder-storms and even gales of wind occur, especially in the vicinity of
+Great Nicobar. The dry N.E. monsoon again brings fine weather, but
+sometimes blows with considerable strength.</p>
+
+<p>Kar-Nicobar has no regular harbour, but presents on its north side a
+spacious land-locked bay nearly rectangular, the holding ground of which
+is a coral sand of from 10 to 16 fathoms, and is thoroughly sheltered to
+the S.W. and N.E. During the N.E. monsoon it is advisable to lie somewhat
+closer in with the northern promontory of the island. At this season it is
+difficult to find any spot at which small boats can disembark. However,
+near the northern point it is possible to reach the shore in a small cove,
+the western boundary of which presents an open space of coral sand, where
+it is possible to lie to in deep water with even a good-sized boat. The
+village of Sáoui, which gives its name to the roadstead, is not readily
+accessible during the N.E. monsoon in consequence of the surf, but the
+very next indentation of the coast facing eastwards, which is protected
+seaward by a coral reef, offers a well-sheltered point of disembarkation,
+where the boats can be beached on the smooth coral sand, and thereafter
+drawn up high and
+dry.<!--094.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the N.E. monsoon it is also practicable to avail oneself of the bay
+on the S. side of Kar-Nicobar, or to anchor anywhere along the W. side of
+the island, but such anchorages possess no other protection than is
+afforded by long points of land projecting far into the ocean, and usually
+protracted by coral reefs.</p>
+
+<p>Both in the bay of Sáoui, and on the south side of Kar-Nicobar, are found
+small brooks, which run with water even during the dry season. It is
+difficult however to water hereabouts, because these rivulets are blocked
+up with sand-bars, not to speak of the obstacles interposed to the landing
+of boats, by the tremendous surf and the low swampy shore at most periods
+of the year. In cases of extreme necessity, however, the little rivulet
+called the Areca might with some difficulty be made available.</p>
+
+<p>Chowra, Kamorta, and Bampoka, have no regular anchorages; a vessel must be
+content to ride to leeward of that coast, which will act as a shelter
+against whichever monsoon happens to be blowing. Disembarkation by means
+of boats is extremely difficult, and it is much better to make use of a
+native canoe, which, after transporting the visitor through the surf to
+the land, can be more easily drawn up on the beach.</p>
+
+<p>Tillangschong possesses a beautiful harbour on the S. side, which however
+is open to the S.E., but during the greater part of the year affords an
+excellent anchorage. The most southerly point has numerous cliffs and
+needles of rock where it projects into the sea, but it is possible to
+approach
+<!--095.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span>within
+a few fathoms of the southernmost of these with vessels
+of any size.</p>
+
+<p>On the west side of the island, at the spot where its two halves may be
+said to blend, the northernmost rugged, the more southerly flat, a pretty
+good anchorage will be found, which seems to be sheltered towards the S.W.
+by several solitary projecting rocks. Generally speaking, but more
+especially to the N. and E., this island presents a steep precipitous
+shore, so that, with the exception here and there of a few solitary rocks,
+close in to the shore, there is nothing but clear deep water around almost
+the entire island to within about 10 fathoms of the land.</p>
+
+<p>The harbour of Nangkauri is rather roomy, but of very unequal though for
+the most part considerable depth; the soundings in its midst giving
+between 20 and 30 fathoms. The promontories are all more or less
+low-lying, and thickly beset with coral reefs, and caution is the more
+necessary, since it is far from unusual after working in from 20 to 16
+fathoms, to find the water shoal suddenly to four or even three fathoms.
+The anchorage formed by the two islands of Kamorta and Nangkauri has two
+entrances, from the east and from the west, the navigation of which by
+large ships demands the utmost vigilance. The western entrance is barely a
+cable's length in width, while the island of Nangkauri has hardly any
+fair-way for vessels along its exterior coast-line. In consequence of the
+two islands trending towards each other at that point, the harbour near
+its middle is greatly
+<!--096.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span>narrowed,
+so that there may almost be said to be
+two harbours. In either of them a vessel is quite safe, being in fact so
+thoroughly sheltered from all winds that the heat is occasionally
+overpowering.</p>
+
+<p>On the west side of Kamorta, six or seven miles north of the western
+entrance of the harbour, will be found a large sheet of water, called
+Ulàla Bay, in the first half of which there is excellent anchorage; but
+the vapours emanating from the abundant mangrove swamps render residence
+here extremely unhealthy. As Ulàla Cove runs for the most part parallel
+with Nangkauri Harbour, and is separated from the latter only by a range
+of low eminences, the near proximity of these mangrove swamps likewise
+imparts their baleful influence to the air of Nangkauri Harbour. There is
+absolutely no water here fit for drinking.</p>
+
+<p>Katchal has large bays on both its west and its east sides, but they are
+almost entirely silted up with coral sand. The channel between Katchal and
+Kamorta is clear. Here we made short tacks in passing through, approaching
+the shores on either side within half a mile.</p>
+
+<p>Little Nicobar has a good harbour on the north side, formed by the island
+of Pulo Milù and the N. coast of Little Nicobar, which is bent almost at a
+right angle. This anchorage is accessible in all winds, and is well
+sheltered, but a considerable portion adjoining the shore of Little
+Nicobar is rendered useless by banks of coral.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the most careful examination of this part
+<!--097.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span>of
+the coast,
+we could not discover the spot, which in the Danish charts is marked as
+furnishing water fit for drinking, but perceived nothing save mangrove
+swamps, with numerous water-courses filled with brackish water, the two
+largest of which we navigated in our gondola as far as was practicable.</p>
+
+<p>The island of Kondul in St. George's Channel forms another very fair
+anchorage; and similarly on the N. side of Great Nicobar, one finds
+several suitable bays, the most easterly of which, called Ganges Harbour,
+is fringed with coral banks, rendering it proportionately difficult of
+access. The anchorage of Kondul may be selected for one reason, namely,
+that it is land-locked towards both N.E. and S.W., besides having the
+additional advantage of being airy, and distant from the mangrove swamps,
+whereas in the bays on the N. coast of Great Nicobar these are of immense
+extent. One of these mangrove swamps in the central cove was traversed by
+one of the naturalists, the result of which was that he found a river
+debouching into the sea through the very heart of the swamp, which,
+however, so long as the sea-water could find entrance, was not of course
+drinkable.</p>
+
+<p>On the west side of Great Nicobar, along the whole length of which we
+sailed, but which we could not visit more carefully, owing to want of time
+and the heavy S.W. swell of the ocean, several other promontories and
+coves are apparently available as harbours, and moreover may be supposed
+to be the embouchures of rivers. At the south point of Great Nicobar there
+is a large bay, which however being quite exposed from
+<!--098.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span>S.W.
+to S.E. must
+be anything but a safe anchorage during the S.W. monsoon. During the
+prevalence of the N.E. monsoon it seems tolerably well suited for an
+anchorage, if the eastern promontory be kept S.E. by S., and the anchor be
+cast in soundings of from 10 to 13 fathoms. Landing, however, is at all
+times a matter of difficulty, as the surf is very boisterous and the swell
+of the sea pretty heavy. Its most remote point is the mouth of the river
+Galatea, which, however, is closed by a sand-bar, and for that reason
+cannot be easily reached. This bay, owing to its configuration, is
+excessively hot and sweltering, and with reference to its salubrity cannot
+be recommended as a suitable abode.</p>
+
+<p>The climate of the Archipelago, though tropical, is not nevertheless to be
+ranked among the hottest, in consequence of its insular position, and of
+the whole of the islands being thickly clothed with forest. Hence the
+quantity of rain, which, as has been seen, is sufficient to keep the
+rivers full even in the dry season. According to the meteorological
+observations made on these islands by various observers at different
+periods of the year, the average temperature does not exceed 77° Fahr.,
+much about the temperature of the fluid found in the fresh unripe
+cocoa-nut. But during the months of April and October respectively, at
+which period calms prevail in these islands, the maximum temperature of
+86° to 88° Fahr. is reached.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the violence with which rain falls, and that the dry season of
+the N.E. monsoon from November to March,
+<!--099.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span>and
+the damp season of the S.W.
+monsoon from April to October, are by no means so sharply defined on these
+islands as on the adjoining coasts of the mainland, the quantity of annual
+rainfall must be enormous. At certain times it is not much less than 100
+or even 150 inches, and yet it probably is not so high as that presented
+by other localities, which experience the regular changes of the monsoons,
+as for instance, in the Straits of Malacca, where the annual rainfall is
+208 inches, or Mahableshwur south of Bombay, where it amounts to no less
+than 254 inches! March is the dryest month in the year. During the whole
+of the month, which we spent on the islands or in their immediate
+vicinity, we only had three sharp thunder-storms. These become more
+frequent and severe during April, until about May or June the S.W. monsoon
+sets in and envelopes the islands in rain-clouds. Where some special
+physical configuration of the soil does not admit of the rapid carrying
+off of the redundant deluge of rain, the island must necessarily be
+unusually well off for water. Of the correctness of this theory we were
+enabled thoroughly to satisfy ourselves, since the close of the dry season
+is necessarily unfavourable to there being any water remaining in the
+streams and brooks; notwithstanding which even the smallest of the
+islands, Pulo Milù and Kondul, although their rivulets had ceased to flow,
+possessed a sufficient supply of sweet drinkable water among the numerous
+basin-shaped pools that occur in the beds of the various streams. From the
+forest-covered slopes of Tillangschong also, small streams of fresh
+<!--100.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>water
+are continually trickling. The insignificant brooks and rivers of the
+large well-wooded islands lying further to the south of Great and Little
+Nicobar, are in like manner kept full the whole year by the blessed
+abundance of the watery element. On the other hand, the northern islands,
+so far at least as the marl-formation extends, seem to be but scantily
+supplied with water, especially on Kamorta, Nangkauri, Tringkut, and
+apparently Teressa and Bampoka as well. All the small streams on the two
+first-named islands, which fall into the Nangkauri harbour, were found to
+be very nearly dried up.</p>
+
+<p>The principal beverage of the natives of these islands is the fluid
+contents of the unripe cocoa-nut, while it should seem that they fetch the
+water required for house purposes from the pools of sweet water, which
+they find scattered here and there among the river-courses. Springs we saw
+none, with the exception of the old ruined one of the Moravian Brethren
+near the village of Malacca on the island of Nangkauri. Kar-Nicobar,
+although likewise belonging to the same marl-formation as the
+before-mentioned islands, has nevertheless no lack of drinkable water,
+since the expanse of land raised from eight to twelve feet above the level
+of the ocean constitutes the site of those singular springs, the sweet
+water in which rises and falls with the ebb and flow of the tide. The
+explanation of this singular phenomenon must not be sought for in the
+filtration of the sea-water by the coral rock, but is simply due to the
+rain-water, being the lighter, floating
+<!--101.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span>upon
+the surface of the
+sea-water, which is heavier, while the porous coral rock prevents the
+complete intermixture of the salt and fresh water. In the villages of
+Moose and Sáoui on Kar-Nicobar we saw several such cisterns, which always
+had eight or ten feet good fresh water. Of rivers, properly so called, we
+found but two, one falling into the northern Bay of Kar-Nicobar, the other
+at the southern point of Great Nicobar. The former, which from the
+luxuriant growth of the cabbage tree along its banks we named
+"Areca-river," is navigable for flat-boats for about two miles from its
+mouth, at which point further progress is arrested by some small rapids.
+Here the water is quite sweet, holding but a very little chalk in
+solution.</p>
+
+<p>We found no mineral waters or warm springs. The hardened marl deposits of
+Nangkauri harbour we perceived however to be encased in a crust an inch
+thick of sulphate of magnesia, and fine silk-like glistening fibres; this
+results from the clay-marl containing sulphate of magnesia, so that very
+possibly by digging cistern-shaped cavities, a bitter saline solution
+might be obtained similar to that at present obtained under similar
+circumstances at Billin in Bohemia.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of the extraordinarily rich vegetation, the dampness of the
+soil, and the numerous mangrove swamps all along the coast, the climate,
+as may readily be conceived, is at present anything but salubrious. During
+the changes of the monsoons especially, a fever breaks out of so malignant
+a type that it is very frequently fatal to
+Europeans.<!--102.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But, so long as dense forest, creeping plants, and swamps encumber the
+soil, there can be no country within the tropics favourable to the health
+of man, and all immigrants or other persons who make a sufficiently long
+stay in such localities, prepare themselves for being visited by maladies
+of the most formidable nature, among which fever and dysentery play the
+most conspicuous part.</p>
+
+<p>Similar conditions are occasionally met with in certain parts of Europe
+where swamp and uncultivated land are exposed to the influences of a high
+temperature, of which examples enough are furnished in the malaria of
+Italy, and the marsh fever of the lagoons of Venice and along the coasts
+of Istria. And if such visitations make less impression upon us in Europe,
+it is not that there is little danger, but simply because, as habit is
+second nature, the regularity of their return has ceased to attract
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>This is precisely what the English have experienced in the East Indies, it
+is what the German emigrant is now going through on the banks of the
+Mississippi and Ohio, in Brazil and in Peru, until the forests are cleared
+and rendered productive, until, in short, advancing cultivation has
+dispelled those miasmata, which are inevitably developed amid the
+undisturbed voluptuousness of nature.</p>
+
+<p>When at certain seasons of the year the vital principles of millions upon
+millions of organisms begin to be active, they throw off oxygen into the
+atmosphere, replacing it by absorbing carbonic acid; while, on the other
+hand, different
+<!--103.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span>organisms,
+in conformity with known chemical laws, are
+destroyed under similar conditions, and, under the influence of the
+atmosphere co-operating with humidity, ferment and become decomposed. From
+all which processes result products of emanation, which, caught up into
+the atmosphere and whirled away by the wind, become in their turn the
+means of nutriment and fertilization to other plants, thus imparting to
+tropical vegetation that marvellous rankness and super-abundance so fatal
+to the human frame. But the conditions which produce this tendency in the
+atmosphere to generate fever are not peculiar to certain localities, or
+strictly confined to these; they can be averted, and with them the vapours
+so prejudicial to health may be removed. We have but to raise up a barrier
+against that mighty all-devouring process of life and vegetation, which
+imperils our own conditions of existence, we have but to withdraw from the
+powerful agencies of chemical action the substances undergoing
+decomposition, to constrain the waters of heaven to follow certain
+definite directions, to drain every swamp, to clear the forest, to sweep
+away the dense underwood in order that the wind may wander unchecked over
+the now fertilized soil, and a wondrous alteration will take place in the
+climatic conditions of the Nicobar Islands. Of what may be achieved under
+such circumstances by energy and perseverance, the island of Penang, some
+350 nautical miles distant, furnishes the most striking example, which
+within a very few decades has, by dint of the progressive clearing and
+cultivation of the
+<!--104.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span>soil,
+been converted from a den of fever and malaria,
+a spot shunned by all men as a residence, into one of the most healthy
+localities in the East, so much so indeed that it has been made a resort
+for invalids!</p>
+
+<p>Seduced by the attractive beauty of the harbour of Nangkauri, the various
+attempts at founding a settlement have almost without exception been
+confined to that site. Upon a more close examination however of the
+precise spot selected for these settlements, it becomes at once apparent
+that they were for the most part pitched upon the neck of land which
+divides the land-locked ill-ventilated harbour of Nangkauri from the Bay
+of Ulàla, surrounded as it is on all sides by thick mangrove swamps.</p>
+
+<p>On such a site did the settlers erect their huts, and there, often at but
+a short interval after their arrival, did they find their grave; and if a
+very few of their number resisted the deadly influence of the miasmatic
+vapours, if even they were able for several years to drag along a
+miserable existence in such a scene, these can only be regarded as
+striking examples of an unusual vigour of constitution. It is true that
+most of these missionaries who founded settlements here were by no means
+properly housed and fed, which in such a climate is a matter of absolute
+prime necessity for the preservation of health. Often when already
+attacked with fever they toiled, spade in hand, delving the ground amid
+the exhausting heat of a tropical day in order to secure the means of
+subsistence, or gathered shell-fish along the beach, or hunted for
+reptiles or
+<!--105.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span>birds
+through the swamps and forest, in order to provide
+themselves, by the sale of these natural curiosities in Europe, with the
+means of existence in those distant regions. Not without feelings of the
+keenest emotion and deepest sympathy is it possible to peruse the
+description given by one of these missionaries, Father Hänsel, of his mode
+of life on the island of Nangkauri, where he lived for seven years amidst
+the greatest privations and hardships. "On my frequent excursions along
+the sea-coast," says the noble, high-souled missionary, "it sometimes
+happened that I was benighted, and I could not with convenience return to
+our dwelling; but I was never at a loss for a bed. The greater part of the
+beach consists of a remarkably fine white sand, which above high-water
+mark is perfectly clean and dry. Into this I dug with ease a hole large
+enough to contain my body, forming a mound as a pillow for my head; I then
+lay down, and by collecting the sand over me buried myself in it up to the
+neck. My faithful dog always laid across my body, ready to give the alarm
+in case of disturbance from any quarter. However, I was under no
+apprehensions from wild animals; crocodiles and caimans never haunt the
+open coast, but keep in creeks and lagoons; and there are no other
+ravenous beasts on the island. The only annoyance I suffered, was from the
+nocturnal perambulations of an immense variety of crabs of all sizes, the
+crackling noise of whose armour would sometimes keep me awake. But they
+were well watched by my dog, and if any one ventured to approach too near,
+he was sure
+<!--106.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span>to
+be suddenly seized and thrown to a more respectful
+distance. Or if a crab of a more tremendous appearance would deter my dog
+from exposing his nose to its claws, he would bark and frighten it away,
+by which however I was sometimes more seriously alarmed than the occasion
+required. Many a comfortable night's rest have I had in these sepulchral
+dormitories when the nights were clear and dry, and the heavens spangled
+with stars."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>After such a description, one cannot but feel astonished that any of these
+men, jealous for the faith, should have been able to linger on for years
+in such a plight, and assuredly no one will refuse to these heroes of
+Christianity their meed of the deepest admiration and gratitude, which
+they merit none the less that their labours among these natives were
+almost entirely unattended by any permanent good results.</p>
+
+<p>It seems specially worthy of remark that the crew of the Austrian ship
+<i>Joseph and Theresa</i>, which spent as much as five months here, and that
+too during the rainy season (April to September), almost entirely escaped
+fever. This fact sufficiently proves that the rainy season is by no means
+the most unhealthy, but that the periods of transition from the dry to the
+wet season, and <i>vice versâ</i>, must be considered as
+<!--107.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>invariably
+prejudicial. At these times light variable winds alternate with
+thunder-showers, after which there is usually experienced great heat by
+solar radiation, which at once liberates the noxious emanations of the
+humid soil. Further on, during the actual rainy season, when the heavens
+are almost continually veiled, and the condition of the atmosphere and the
+soil is alike one of complete saturation, this phenomenon appears much
+less marked, and becomes in a corresponding degree less dangerous to human
+organization.</p>
+
+<p>We are also of opinion that the time from the end of March to the end of
+April, as also the months of September and October, are the most
+insalubrious parts of the year, although on the Nicobars a man may be
+struck down with fever at any season, so soon as those precautions have
+been neglected, which are so necessary to observe in the uncultivated
+regions of the tropics. An instance on this point is furnished in the case
+of the crew of the Danish corvette <i>Galatea</i>. Of thirty individuals
+engaged in an exploring expedition up what is known as the Galatea river,
+in the southern Bay of Great Nicobar, and caught one night in a
+thunder-storm, which compelled them to remain in the forest wringing wet,
+no fewer than twenty-one fell ill of fever, which ultimately proved fatal
+in four cases.</p>
+
+<p>So far as our own experience goes, the state of health on board the
+frigate during a stay of thirty-two days was highly satisfactory. During
+that entire period, out of 350 men only six took ill with fever, which
+number, however, at a later
+<!--108.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span>period
+during our passage to the straits of
+Malacca, was increased to 21. Singular to say, those of the ship's
+company, who during our stay had <i>never set foot</i> on the Nicobar Islands,
+furnished the largest contingent of cases of fever, while of both officers
+and naturalists, who spent the whole day together among the swamps and the
+forest, and were exposed to all manner of fatigue, only three got upon the
+sick list. On the whole, however, even the few severer cases made an
+excellent recovery, and by the time we had anchored in the harbour of
+Singapore, all the fever patients were once more either quite well, or in
+a fair way towards convalescence.</p>
+
+<p>As the examination of this Archipelago was, in consequence of the all but
+impenetrable forests, confined to the narrow strip of land along the
+shore, we had almost said to the region of cocoa-palms exclusively, its
+various geognostic features were very inadequately, yet withal
+approximately, ascertained. If we admit that a covering of vegetation of
+the utmost variety and primeval luxuriance, untouched by the hand of man,
+and entirely unreclaimed by cultivation, may be considered as the
+expressive feature by which an estimate could be arrived at of the
+different geognostic conditions of soil beneath, we may succeed in our
+attempt from the characteristics of this primeval vegetation, to come to
+some definite conclusion as to the quality and the greater or lesser
+productiveness of the ground. According to this method of computing, it
+would seem that,</p>
+
+<p>I. The forest, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, includes
+<!--109.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span><sup>70</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub>
+of the entire surface of the island:&mdash;the soil being limestone, rich in
+alkalies, spungy, with clay-sand, and exceedingly fertile.</p>
+
+<p>II. On the other hand, the grass vegetation proper may be set down at
+<sup>15</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub> of the surface: a barren, clay soil.</p>
+
+<p>III. The cocoa forest may be estimated at <sup>5</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub> of the entire area; upon a
+fruitful soil of coral conglomerate, coral sand, and dried alluvium.</p>
+
+<p>IV. In like manner the screw-pine forests cover <sup>5</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub> of the entire
+insular surface, the soil marshy but well suited for cultivation, with
+fresh-water bogs, and moist fresh-water alluvium.</p>
+
+<p>V. Lastly, the mangrove forest in like manner may be roughly estimated at
+<sup>5</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub> of the superficial area, and is a swampy soil, unfitted for
+cultivation, consisting of salt-water marshes, and alluvium, moistened by
+salt-water.</p>
+
+<p>The entire superficial area of the islands may be computed at about 627
+square miles. Reckoning only <sup>7</sup>&frasl;<sub>10</sub> therefore of the surface as consisting
+of soil suitable for culture, which may undoubtedly be assumed as a fair
+approximation, we have a surface of 439 square miles capable of being made
+productive. But even the very ground now exclusively covered with grass,
+might be made productive with a more numerous population and a
+corresponding improvement in cultivation, so that these islands, now the
+abode of about 5000 savages, could easily support in comfort a population
+of over 100,000 industrious
+men.<!--110.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At present the chief product of the islands is the cocoa-nut palm, which
+grows for the most part on the sea-shore, so far as the coral sand
+reaches. Within the same limits is the existence of the inhabitants
+confined, destitute as they are of industry or the capacity to cultivate
+the soil. This invaluable plant seldom extends far into the interior, and
+from this circumstance was named by a celebrated German traveller and
+botanist, Martius, the "Sea-shore palm." It is, however, as yet undecided
+whether the cocoa-palm is indigenous to the Nicobar Islands, or whether,
+cast on these shores by the waves, it has, by virtue of its well-known
+property of putting forth shoots even in salt-water, gradually propagated
+itself without any assistance from man.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that the profit realized by those engaged in the trade in these
+nuts, amounts to from 20 to 40 per cent., and could greatly be increased,
+if, as for example in Ceylon, oil-presses were erected, by means of which
+the expense of transporting the heavy bulky loads of nuts would be
+economised, the oil being exported direct. On the more northerly islands
+the cocoa forest embraces proportionately a far larger area, those more to
+the south being much less abundantly supplied, especially Greater Nicobar,
+where there is hardly any. Accordingly the more northerly islands are much
+the more densely peopled, and the cocoa-palms are there subdivided as
+property, while on the southern islands they seem to be freely enjoyed in
+common.</p>
+
+<p>Next in importance to the cocoa-nut palm, as a means of
+<!--111.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>subsistence
+to
+the inhabitants, is the <i>Pandanus Melori</i>, of the family of the Pandaneæ,
+the fruit of which (Melori or Caldevia of the Portuguese, the Laróhm of
+the natives) supplies the place of rice and Indian corn, neither of which
+are grown on the island, owing to the ignorance of the islanders of the
+principles of cultivation, although the nature of the soil seems eminently
+suited to the production of both. From the huge fruit of this Pandanus, a
+species of bread is prepared, very similar to apple-marmalade, which is
+eaten by the natives along with the soft white kernel of the ripe
+cocoa-nut. The leaves are prepared as mats of every sort and description,
+and are occasionally used for the manufacture of sails.</p>
+
+<p>The Bread-fruit tree (<i>Podocarpus incisa</i>), which furnishes such excellent
+nutriment, that, according to Cook,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> three trees suffice to support a
+man during eight months, is found on the islands in single individuals,
+and we never happened to see its fruit used by the natives. The plantain
+too seemed but sparingly planted, although the elegant leafy green canopy
+of this the most important and nutritious plant, after the cocoa-nut,
+requires but little care in cultivation. The sugar-cane, the muscat-nut
+tree (<i>Myristia Moschatea</i>), and the <i>Cardamum Elettaria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> grow and
+flourish on most of the
+<!--112.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span>islands,
+and orange and lemon trees of the most
+stupendous proportions may be met with, growing wild in the immediate
+vicinity of the native dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>Of tubers we only found the yam growing in considerable quantities, but it
+seems to be cultivated by the natives more as an article of exchange with
+the ships visiting the islands, than for their own use. So far however as
+we could ascertain the capabilities of the soil, the Jucca (<i>Jakopha
+Manihot</i>), the sweet potato (the <i>Camote</i> of the Spanish colonies), and
+other American tuberous roots, might flourish here at least as well as on
+the hot damp coasts of the western continent.</p>
+
+<p>The number of plants collected by our botanists throughout this group of
+islands, amounts to 280 different species; however by a more thorough
+exploration of the Archipelago, the <i>Phanerogamous</i> species may be
+increased one half in number.</p>
+
+<p>There are also two plants, which, although they cannot be included among
+the vegetable products suited for the sustenance of man, must nevertheless
+be taken into account as contributing in an important degree to the
+subsistence of the natives. These are the Areca palm, and the Betel shrub.</p>
+
+<p>The nut of the <i>Areca Cateehu</i>, and the green leaf of the <i>Piper Betle</i>,
+constitute as already mentioned, together with coral lime, the chief
+ingredients of <i>Betel</i>, that singular salivatory compound, which has
+become a prime luxury for the
+<!--113.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span>inhabitants
+of the Indies, and the adjacent
+islands. The Areca palm, with its graceful straight stem and elegant tuft
+of leaves, is indigenous to the entire group, and is found in considerable
+quantities. With the enormous demand for it as a salivatory, as also as an
+article of medicine, it might, had the natives the slightest turn for
+cultivation, yield a large profit as an article of commerce. The Betel
+shrub is also found in large quantities in these islands, and needs but
+little looking after.</p>
+
+<p>The wealth of the forest in ornamental timber, and wood fit for building
+purposes, is so great that, if carefully surveyed and judiciously thinned,
+they would not only furnish the settler with cleared soil suitable for
+cultivation, but would likewise permit an immense profit to be
+realized.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Nicobar Islands had been recommended by a learned member of the
+Society of Physicians of Vienna, as a special subject of inquiry as to
+whether this group were not by position, conditions of soil, and climate,
+particularly suitable for the cultivation of the Peruvian bark tree, whose
+importance for medical purposes is daily increasing. So far as
+<!--114.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span>our
+brief
+stay admitted, we did not lose sight of this object, but the practical
+observations we made in the course of our voyage led us to conclusions
+widely different from those which, representing the quinquina tree as in
+danger of being extirpated on its native soil, South America, by the
+carelessness of the Indians, regarded its transplantation into other
+countries as a question of the utmost importance for the interests of the
+human race. The China tree, very far from becoming extinct, is carefully
+cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The bark is systematically
+cropped in most of these localities, and consequently there is no occasion
+to anticipate any considerable increase in price, or failure in the supply
+of this precious drug. We shall have an opportunity, when describing our
+stay at Java and at the west coast of America, to revert at length to this
+question, and shall have only to add the remark, that the great expense of
+such an attempt, and the extraordinary watchfulness and care which must be
+bestowed on the China tree for a number of years before the slightest
+profit can be derived from it, seem alone to render hopeless such an
+undertaking as its introduction in the Nicobar Islands, even were the
+climatic conditions better suited to such an experiment than we have
+reason to believe that they are.</p>
+
+<p>As for the zoology of these islands, it seems to be much less developed,
+whether as regards numbers, or size, than might be expected, considering
+the luxuriance of the vegetation. The forests are by their very nature
+poor in living denizens,
+<!--115.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>the
+majority of these consisting of various
+species of birds. In like manner the sea is but little productive, and the
+nets which we cast over the ship's side at Kar-Nicobar, Pulo Milù, and
+Ganges Harbour, like the hook and line, brought up but few specimens, and
+those hardly deserving of notice. The natives have no nets of any sort,
+their mode of fishing consisting simply of raising a succession of weirs,
+in which they can harpoon or take their prey.</p>
+
+<p>Of domestic animals we saw only swine, hens, dogs, and cats, all of which
+live upon cocoa-nut. The dog, a smooth-haired cur of a light
+brownish-yellow colour, with pointed ears, is a sad coward, and his bark
+rather resembles a prolonged howl. The cats and the hens are exactly like
+those of Europe. Cattle for draught or the dairy, are as yet entirely
+unknown to the natives; yet they might easily be introduced from the
+adjoining shores of India. The zebra breed especially, already
+acclimatized in the tropics, would be of conspicuous utility as beasts of
+draught, supposing any attempt made at cultivation of the soil.</p>
+
+<p>Judging by the experiments made at Pulo Milù, the introduction of goats
+and sheep could only be accomplished with much difficulty. On the other
+hand all manner of poultry would be found to thrive in these islands.</p>
+
+<p>In passing from this very cursory consideration of the natural history of
+these islands<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> to the race of man who inhabit
+<!--116.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span>them,
+we find ourselves
+confronted with a people, who, on account of the primitive manner in which
+they live, attract our interest in the highest degree. The natives of the
+Nicobar group, whose entire number may be estimated at from 5000 to 6000
+souls, are, as we have already remarked, large and well formed, the skin
+of a dark brown, bronze-like hue, and owing to the prevailing custom of
+anointing their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, usually presenting a glancing
+appearance, and emitting a peculiar odour. This inunction is apparently
+intended to obviate superabundant perspiration, as also any skin diseases,
+just as the Indian races west of the Mississippi are accustomed to protect
+their naked bodies against the direct influences of the cold, by rubbing
+in the fat of animals. The practice of daubing the face does not seem to
+be so extensively resorted to, as previous descriptions of the Nicobar
+islanders had led us to believe. We saw only one solitary native, at the
+village of Malacca in the island of Nangkauri, who had painted his
+forehead and cheeks with the red pigment obtained from the seeds of the
+<i>Bixa Orellana</i> (the well-known Annatto dye). Instances of tattooing we
+never fell in with, nor do these islanders seem to have any desire to
+imitate the beautiful, sometimes absolutely artistic, designs punctured on
+the hands and feet of the Malays and Burmese who occasionally visit them.
+Moles and blotches on the breast and arms are of frequent occurrence. The
+forehead of the Nicobar islander is slightly rounded, and in many cases
+may even be said to be well formed, but it falls
+<!--117.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span>away
+somewhat suddenly;
+the face is usually broad, and if we except the rather prominent zygomatic
+process, approaches the oval type; the hinder portion of the head is flat
+and seems as though crushed inwards, a circumstance of which Fontana, in
+his well-known journal already mentioned, takes special notice, and which
+deserves the more attention, that we think we are in a position, by means
+of actual measurement, and inquiries made on the spot, to say with
+certainty that this modification of the normal form of the skull is not
+natural to this race, but is artificially produced. We especially rely
+upon the circumstance, that among the natives of Nangkauri and others of
+the islands, the custom prevails of pressing quite flat the head of the
+newly-born infant, probably in conformity with Nicobar laws of taste and
+beauty: in order to make the result more certain, they keep continually
+repeating this experiment by a variety of different means during a
+considerable time. The nose is of ordinary dimensions, but is always of
+unusual breadth, and coarse of outline; we found a few individuals with
+noses of exorbitant length. Owing to the incredible extent to which the
+disgusting practice of chewing the betel-nut is carried, their mouth,
+naturally large, is hideously distorted. On the island of Treis we saw an
+aged native, whose tongue, in consequence of the incessant betel-chewing,
+had been attacked in a similar manner as his teeth. The chin is for the
+most part without any marked characteristic, and is usually rather
+retreating. The maxillary bones are broad and projecting, and the
+<!--118.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span>zygoma
+has a rather bold curve. The ears are small, but the flaps on the other
+hand are so broad, that when pierced they are ornamented with a piece of
+bamboo an inch thick.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the natives make use of this broad aperture to store away cigars.
+The thin eye-brows do not curve over the whole of the superior arch of the
+eye. The hair for the most part is beautiful, thick, black, and soft, in
+many instances depending low on both sides. The beard is universally very
+thin, and instances of mustachios or goatees are very rarely encountered.
+However a beard does not seem to be classed among those objects which add
+to the Nicobar ideal of beauty. At least, as often as they found an
+opportunity of seizing a pair of scissors from our dressing-cases, we used
+always to see the natives eagerly setting about extirpating the few hairs,
+which despite all their endeavours would persist in appearing upon the
+upper lip on either side of the mouth. The expression of their face is
+grave, tranquil, and rather <i>insouciant</i>. We never saw in their features
+any expression of emotion, such for instance as might have been imparted
+by delight at having obtained some coveted object, not even when they had
+manifested the utmost eagerness to possess it. The only excitement which
+their ordinarily impassive countenances were however many a time called on
+to indicate, took the form of an expression of pain and anxiety, as often
+as they saw a number of strangers make a descent upon their islands. The
+singularly marked similarity of feature in each and every individual, may
+safely be ascribed to the similarity of
+<!--119.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span>condition
+universally prevalent,
+to the small scope given to the play of their affections, and to the
+frequent intermarriage, which must necessarily be the case where, as in
+these islands, a couple of hundred human beings form the whole population
+of an island, and where intercommunication with the adjoining islands is
+so confined.</p>
+
+<p>The assertion by Fontana, that the natives never cut their nails, but on
+the other hand shave off their eye-brows, we have never found confirmed in
+any of the islands we visited, although very possibly some few
+individuals, certainly so far as we could find very scanty in number, may
+ape the customs of their Malay and Chinese visitors, by letting their
+nails grow. Of cripples, or at all events of individuals stunted in their
+growth, we saw but two, the first case being that of a native of
+Kar-Nicobar, who in consequence of a dislocation of the <i>radius</i> at the
+wrist joint was entirely powerless of the left arm; while the second, a
+sort of dwarf, who was likewise an inhabitant of that island, presented a
+well-marked corpulence in the extremities, and fingers so swelled up and
+short, that he was known among his neighbours by the nickname of
+<i>Kiutakuntí</i> (short finger).</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto the natives seem to have escaped the ravages of syphilitic
+diseases. As to any instances of visitations of virulent though temporary
+epidemics, we could not get any information of such having occurred; they
+have however in their language a word (Mallók) for the small-pox, of the
+existence of which we had convinced ourselves by
+<!--120.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span>personal
+demonstration
+in the case of a Malay, whose face was frightfully disfigured by the marks
+of this appalling disease.</p>
+
+<p>Although in a climate the annual average of which is 81° Fahr., clothes
+are all but unnecessary, the natives nevertheless manifest an
+extraordinary passion for European clothing, and when it seemed
+impracticable by any other means to elicit an expression of pleasure on
+their calm, indifferent, emotionless countenances, it was always possible
+to succeed by presenting them with a shirt, a coat, or a black silk round
+hat. As however the natives have seldom been presented with more than one
+such article at a time, and many a year is apt to elapse ere he gets
+another, by which he might succeed in gradually completing his dress, the
+Nicobarian makes his appearance before strangers attired in the most
+extraordinary fashion, almost entirely naked, sometimes with only a black
+hat on his head, or pluming himself on being spruced up in a frock coat
+(but without shirt, stockings, or head-gear), which on the plump naked
+brown skin of this child of nature has far more the appearance of a
+straight-waistcoat than a comfortable article of dress.</p>
+
+<p>The natives show infinitely more vanity in the selection of a piece of
+clothing, than calculation as to its real necessity or suitability. A
+large low-crowned white hat with broad rim, which we presented to one
+native, gained not the slightest approval, although both in form and
+colour it was far better suited to protecting the wearer against the rays
+of the tropical
+<!--121.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span>sun
+than a high, narrow-brimmed, fashionable black silk
+hat, to the possession of which the natives of Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri
+attach quite an inordinate value. For such an article, in the course of
+barter, they offer 1600 ripe cocoa-nuts, while for a long piece of wide
+dark-coloured muslin, in which they are wont to envelope their dead, they
+will give only 1200 such fruits. But the most characteristic head-gear of
+the Nicobarians is a bandeau made of dried leaves of the cocoa-nut palm,
+which gives them quite a picturesque appearance. We saw but few ornaments
+worn, such as necklaces, bracelets, &amp;c., only one or two of the younger
+men having their hands and their necks adorned with massive rings of
+silver and iron wire.</p>
+
+<p>The dwellings of the natives are usually round, beehive-shaped huts,
+resting on a number of stakes of from six to eight feet in height. Simple
+as is the construction of these huts, it nevertheless, especially on the
+island of Kar-Nicobar, possesses a certain degree of ornament, we might
+almost say elegance, while the thatching of dried palm-leaves, as also the
+beams and the walls constructed of reeds (<i>Calamus Rotang</i>), are a branch
+of industry which would do honour even to civilized races of the world.
+The natives usually cower or squat on the ground, or seat themselves upon
+some cocoa-nut that has chanced to fall, while at night, stretched out
+upon the flowers shed by the Areca palm, and with their heads elevated by
+a piece of hard wood, they find anywhere a sufficiently comfortable couch.</p>
+<!--122.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The means of subsistence of the Nicobar islanders are anything but
+abundant. As they are utterly ignorant of cultivation, they are entirely
+indebted for the very first necessaries of life to the provision which a
+bountiful nature has supplied to them, without the assistance of man's
+labour. Their chief articles of food are the cocoa-nut and the pandanus
+fruit. As with the natives of India, so among the natives of the Nicobar
+group, the cocoa-palm is applied to the most various purposes, although it
+would be difficult to make it fulfil all the ninety and nine useful
+purposes which the Hindoo proverb assigns to this noble individual of the
+royal race of palms. The cocoa-palm likewise constitutes the chief article
+of export of the entire group, while the profit from the Trepang (Biche de
+Mar of the English, a sort of cockle), edible swallows' nests,
+tortoise-shell, amber, and so forth, is of the highest importance in the
+interchange of commerce.</p>
+
+<p>The betel shrub (<i>Piper Betle</i>), next to the cocoa-nut and pandanus fruit,
+one of the most important necessities of the inhabitants of these islands,
+is not indigenous, but has been introduced hither from the peninsula of
+Malacca, and formed for a long time an article of commerce and exchange.
+At present this creeper, which spreads with hardly any particular care, is
+found in such quantities that only a small proportion of the leafy produce
+can be consumed by the sparse population. It was always incomprehensible
+to us in what could consist the great charm of betel-chewing, that a habit
+so loathsome should be so extensively practised by the very
+<!--123.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span>lowest
+slaves
+of the princes of India, by poor as well as rich, nay, should fling its
+chains, as it actually does, even over women and children. A lucky chance,
+however, threw in our way a Sanscrit poem (<i>Hytopedesa</i>) which celebrates
+as follows the thirteen cardinal virtues of the betel-leaf:&mdash;"Betel is
+pungent, bitter, aromatic, sweet, alkaline, astringent, a carminative, a
+dispeller of phlegm, a vermifuge, a sweetener of the breath, an ornament
+of the mouth, a remover of impurities, and a kindler of the flame of love!
+O friend! these thirteen properties of betel are hard to be met with, even
+in heaven!"<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>It would be an inquiry of considerable interest to trace the influence
+which the incessant betel-chewing exercises over the longevity of the
+inhabitants, and the changes caused in the masticatory organs, which are
+so constantly exposed to these pernicious practices.</p>
+
+<p>That which most deeply struck us throughout the Nicobars, was the
+frightful decomposition of the teeth, whereas in other betel-chewing races
+these were stained only of the same deep crimson as the lips and the gums.
+We at first ascribed this difference to some variation in the mixture of
+the ingredients, but we repeatedly perceived afterwards that the betel
+used on the Nicobar group consisted of nothing else than a small piece of
+Areca-nut, which, sprinkled with a little chalk, was enveloped in a green
+aromatic betel-leaf, and so was popped
+<!--124.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span>into
+the mouth. The Hindoos, on
+the other hand, add to these ingredients, which they always carry about
+with them in elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly
+called <i>Terra Japonica</i>, because it was long supposed to be a mineral
+product) made out of the pith of the <i>Acacia Catechu</i>, a species of
+Mimosa; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory composition a species
+of resin obtained from the <i>Melaleuca Cajeputi</i>, as also a little tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth and lips of
+the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only to some difference in
+the proportions of the ingredients used, very probably to the use of a
+larger quantity of coral lime. What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians
+have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive
+substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by
+personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves,
+nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.</p>
+
+<p>In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the
+inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world.
+They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but
+they age with uncommon rapidity. Of about 100 natives with whom during our
+stay on the various islands we were in communication, hardly one was above
+forty, and the majority may be roughly estimated at from twenty to thirty.
+If, moreover, we set it down as improbable that all the aged men should
+have taken to flight
+<!--125.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span>like
+the women and children, it should seem that
+these natives never attain a very extended duration of life.</p>
+
+<p>Of the therapeutic powers of various plants that are found in their
+forests, the natives have but little knowledge. All that they have ever
+had of drugs have been almost entirely supplied from Europe by captains of
+English vessels. Although they attach the most extravagant importance to
+the possession of these, these medicines are, if anything, more
+prejudicial than beneficial to them, as they of course understand nothing
+of their use, and often apply them in the most absurd manner. It seems
+that once some ship captain in order to get quit of their importunities
+made over to them all the articles he could most conveniently spare, such
+as castor-oil, Epsom salts, spirit of camphor, turpentine, peppermint, eau
+de Cologne, &amp;c. &amp;c., and ever since they pester each visitor for medicine!
+A native once urgently begged us to give him a little spirit of
+turpentine; on our asking him to what purpose he wished to apply it, he
+answered that he wanted to rub himself with it, and take a few drops
+internally, because he believed it was an excellent preservative against
+ague and pain in the chest!</p>
+
+<p>The maladies with which the natives are most commonly afflicted, are
+intermittent fever, phthisis, and rheumatism. In some cases we remarked
+<i>Elephantiasis Arabica</i> (the Juzam of Arab writers), called by the
+Nicobarians <i>Kelloidy</i>, attacking the bones, and several different forms
+of cuticular eruption. The severity of these diseases must be ascribed
+less to the
+<!--126.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span>insalubrity
+of the climate than to the unwholesome mode of
+existence of the natives. Can we feel surprised that naked men, who do not
+inhabit the more favourably situated spots ventilated by regular winds,
+but live on the swampy coast, in the sandy bays that are fringed with a
+forest belt, where they can grow their cocoa-palms with the least labour
+to themselves, who leave their bodies exposed now to the violence of
+tropical rains, now to the fiery rays of a tropical sun, and whose food
+consists almost exclusively of cocoa-nuts and the fruit of the
+<i>pandanus</i>,&mdash;can we wonder that they should be in an especial degree
+subject to disease? It is a mistake to suppose that the food of
+inhabitants of the tropics is that assigned by Nature herself, and
+therefore the most beneficial and suitable. For, despite all theory, which
+for residents in the tropics chiefly prescribes substances with plenty of
+carbon and nitrogen as the proper articles of food, we see Europeans, more
+especially Englishmen, in the hottest climate in the world, with a
+thermometer that rarely falls below 86° Fahr., devouring, just as in a
+more northern climate, strong soups, gigantic beef-steaks, and mutton
+cutlets to any extent, contemptuously turning up their noses at mere
+vegetable diet, and barely touching marmalade or sweetmeats; yet there
+they are blooming in the best of health, far better even than that of the
+natives. Indeed, it is a fact full of interest, and confirmed by
+observations carried on for years, that in the Presidency of Madras, for
+example, the Hindoos and Mahmudas, so widely different in their customs
+and mode
+<!--127.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span>of
+life, were much more seriously attacked by fever than the
+Europeans resident there, in such entirely different conditions of climate
+than they were accustomed to. On the other hand, so far as regards
+sanitary measures, that portion of the aboriginal population presents the
+most favourable results which is most intimately allied to the Europeans,
+and applies in its own case the precepts of modern civilization.</p>
+
+<p>So soon as the natives are attacked by fever with any severity, they
+rapidly succumb. However, we have never heard tell of any of that
+barbarous inhumanity which any medicine-man, whose treatment is
+unsuccessful, is said to experience at the hands of the relatives and
+friends of the patient, which indeed is all the more improbable as, were
+such really the case, considering the small advantages and scrimp fees
+likely to be picked up by a smart medicine-man among such an impoverished
+race, there would hardly be met with one Manluéna in the entire group! The
+head-mark of a doctor in the southern islands is his unusually long
+floating hair. On our inquiring of a native what qualifications were
+requisite in order to become a doctor, he replied with the most charming
+naïveté: "One must be the son of a doctor!" From this reply we may gather
+that in the Nicobar Islands medical skill and knowledge of the healing art
+are confined to certain families! We afterwards found this information
+confirmed, upon our discovering that the youthful Manluéna of Great
+Nicobar, who so severely kneaded and twisted the arm of one of the
+associates of the Expedition,
+<!--128.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>was
+the son of an aged doctor of the island
+of Kondul, and owed his reputation solely to the circumstance of his
+kindred. Besides cases of sickness, the advice, the adroitness, and the
+zeal of the Manluéna are held in special repute for the driving out of the
+evil spirit or <i>Eewees</i>, by which, as already mentioned, the inhabitants
+of the Nicobar Islands believe themselves to be incessantly surrounded.</p>
+
+<p>Of idols proper, such as barbarous tribes construct and honour, and to
+whom they dedicate temples, they have none; nor have they any object in
+nature, as, for instance, a lofty tree, a huge rock or a hill, to which
+they attach a certain charm, like some of the Central American tribes.
+They have not even a word for the Divine idea in their language, nor for
+Godhead, nor for any Beneficent Principle or Being, and the rudely carved
+figures, which are found set up in all sorts of comical postures within
+their huts, are intended to serve no higher purpose, than to frighten away
+those evil spirits which even the Manluéna has been unable to see, though
+he sets himself forward as able to hold converse with them.</p>
+
+<p>The notion of a Being, whose wisdom and whose love rule the world, is
+quite as foreign to their minds as the conception of a spiritual life in
+the future after death. We repeatedly asked one of their most intelligent
+leaders, who also spoke a little English, whether he believed he should
+ever again recognize his dead friends and relatives? But he replied
+invariably with a cold, indifferent, "Never, never!" All that we told them
+of the privileges of a believing Christian,
+<!--129.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span>of
+a Divine Being, of the
+belief in a future state of existence after death, served only to fill
+them with astonishment, but they seemed ready enough to listen to such
+subjects. What little they had heard upon these truths from missionaries
+and ship captains, appeared however to have left them with very confused
+notions.</p>
+
+<p>From all that came under our notice, the mode of life of these islanders
+is singularly uniform and indolent, its most important events consisting
+probably of the alterations necessary by the interchange of the seasons.
+They know of no other method of computing time than the change of the moon
+and of the monsoons. At the beginning of the wet season or S.W. monsoon,
+and at the corresponding period of the dry season or N.E. monsoon, there
+are certain festivals, which somewhat resemble the "sowing feasts" and
+"harvest homes" of the American aboriginal stocks. They have however no
+appointed day of rest, corresponding to the sabbath of the Christian
+Church, nor indeed do they need such, seeing that in their mode of life
+every day is a holiday! They have no measure for time, nor indeed for
+anything else: not a single native could give us any idea of his own age,
+nor could count above 20.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Time has for them not the slightest value:
+the watchword "<i>Time is money!</i>" which first given by England, is at
+present resounding throughout the world, falls voiceless and ineffectual
+on their insensible ears. Their
+<!--130.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span>reckoning
+of time is as limited as their
+capacity for recollecting by-gone occurrences. The presence of Christian
+missionaries at various periods, as also the visit of the Danish corvette
+<i>Galatea</i> in 1847, had already almost entirely disappeared from their
+memory. Only among a very few of their numbers have some of the names
+clung to the recollection, such as <i>Galatea</i>, and <i>Steene Bille</i> (which
+they pronounced <i>Piller</i>).</p>
+
+<p>We could not find anything that bore the least resemblance to any settled
+form of government, to any distribution upon fixed principles of the
+possessions of the general community, to any recognition of individual
+right, to any tribunal for settling quarrels, &amp;c. &amp;c. They recognize the
+relations of family and of property; on the other hand, the power of the
+captain, one of whom the greater number of villages has each for itself,
+and whom they call <i>Mah</i> or <i>Umiáha</i> (old), extends no further than giving
+him the right to be the first to trade with such foreign ships as make
+their appearance, and to inaugurate the barter-system. Indeed this very
+institution of captainship, although much liked by the natives, does not
+at all seem as though it were part of their own system, but to date from
+the period when English merchant vessels began to visit these islands
+regularly.</p>
+
+<p>As to the social life of the natives, their family relations, and so
+forth, we could get such scanty and uncertain data to go upon, what with
+the cursory visits we paid to the various islands, and considering the
+women and children had everywhere fled, while the men regarded us simply
+as intruders,
+<!--131.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span>that
+we do not venture to publish any special information
+upon this point. Be it however permitted to express our opinion, that,
+judging by the tendency to a decent style of dress and the extreme
+elegance of the decorations of the canoes and the huts of the islanders of
+Kar-Nicobar, as contrasted with the destitution, nakedness, and wretched
+condition of the natives of the southern islands of the group,
+civilization seems to be advancing from north to south with slow but sure
+steps. And it will probably interest the philologist to be informed that
+both in Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri, the most important settlement bears the
+same name, Malacca, as the chief city on the adjoining Malay peninsula. As
+the natives in this delicious <i>far niente</i> existence live exclusively upon
+the precious gifts of an all-bountiful Nature, which provides them at once
+with food and drink, one naturally finds among them few implements of
+labour, indeed only such as are indispensably necessary in erecting their
+huts, in preparing their canoes, and in enabling them readily to open the
+cocoa-nuts. And even these tools, as, for instance, hatchets, cutlasses,
+files, &amp;c., were first procured through intercourse with civilization.</p>
+
+<p>Their weapons consist merely of lances or javelins with points of iron or
+hardened wood, by the number of which, it is presumed, the wealth of a
+Nicobar islander is estimated. A cross-bow, which we saw in the possession
+of a native of Kar-Nicobar, although made on the island, was manifestly of
+European design originally, and merely an
+imitation.<!--132.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of musical instruments we did not find a single specimen in Kar-Nicobar,
+whereas on the southern islands there is a six, sometimes a seven-holed
+flute in use, made of bamboo-cane, which, as we afterwards discovered, had
+been brought hither by the Malays; and also a kind of guitar about two or
+three feet in length, hollowed out, and with sound-holes in the side, and
+made of thick bamboo and reed strings. On the whole, however, the
+Nicobarians seem to be much too apathetic and indifferent a race to have
+any special predilection for music, singing, or dancing. Accordingly at
+their monsoon festivals and other holiday-times, their notion of dancing
+is limited to hopping round in a circle with arms entwined, while they at
+the same time keep up a listless humming noise.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of such a race, which has no civilization or industry of its
+own, it is out of the question to speak of their having any regular
+industrial occupation in the strict sense of the word. The particular and
+to them most beneficent plant, which supplies them at once with enough to
+eat and to drink, at the same time brings them, very reluctantly, into
+contact with civilization, and will yet become a main agent in introducing
+a knowledge of those necessities and acquaintance with those articles
+which are the product of a higher grade of civilization alone. The ripe
+nuts of the cocoa-palm constitute the chief article of export of the
+Nicobar Islands, and, what is even more important, supply the stimulus,
+which already arouses the native to a certain degree of activity, although
+<!--133.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>most
+of the nuts that are put on ship-board are collected not by the
+natives, but by the crews of the Malay vessels. All other articles of
+export, such as <i>Biche de mar</i>, edible birds' nests, tortoise-shell,
+amber, &amp;c., are of very inferior importance, and are only taken as
+by-freight. According to published documents the northern islands can
+supply 10,000,000 cocoa-nuts, of which however, at present, not much more
+than 5,000,000, to wit, 3,000,000 from Kar-Nicobar alone, and 2,000,000
+from the rest of the islands, are exported in all. As this fruit is
+one-sixth of the price it bears on the coasts of Bengal, the concourse of
+English and Malay vessels, especially from Pulo Penang, increases every
+year.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The trade is carried on by way of barter instead of money
+payments, although silver is highly valued too; for here also, despite all
+that is reported of the inordinate longing of the Nicobar natives for
+tobacco, glass beads, and such like rubbish, the truth of the adage is
+fully borne out that "Money is the most <i>universal merchandise</i>." Of
+silver coins, the natives are only acquainted with rupees, Spanish
+dollars, and English threepenny pieces, which latter they call "small
+rupees." Gold is as yet unknown among the southern islands, and therefore
+is valueless in the eyes of the natives.</p>
+
+<p>So long as the relations of the natives with foreign nations were
+exclusively confined to barter with some couple of dozen English and Malay
+vessels, which latter visited the islands with the N.E. monsoon and left
+with the S.W. monsoon, thus
+<!--134.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span>making
+but one voyage in the course of the
+year, the natives of the various islands kept up among themselves quite a
+frequent and regular communication. This favourable trait was undoubtedly
+owing in great measure to the defectiveness of their otherwise very
+elegant, but small, slight-built canoes, which are but ill adapted for
+voyaging to any remote distance.</p>
+
+<p>Respecting that other swarthy, crisp-haired, savage race, widely different
+from that inhabiting the coasts of Nicobar, which, according to a legend,
+dwells in the forests of Great Nicobar, and lives upon snakes, vermin,
+roots, and leaves of plants, and in the Nicobar idiom called
+<i>Baju-oal-Tschùa</i>, we could only add to our stock of information by
+recitals that obviously pertained to the domain of Fable-land. When,
+however, we remember that not a single traveller or author who has
+indulged such gossiping, nay, that not even the natives who tell such
+stories of them, have ever seen one of this race, we shall be excused for
+suggesting in reply to the numberless conjectures afloat respecting these
+mysterious inhabitants, that the alleged denizens of the interior of Great
+Nicobar are neither a widely different race of men from the coast-natives,
+nor yet an offshoot of the crisp-haired swarthy race of Papuas from New
+Guinea, but that, dispossessed and degraded by a conjuncture of various
+hostile influences, they hold, with respect to the inhabitants of the
+sea-board, a similar position to that occupied by the Bushmen of
+Namaqualand to the Hottentots of Cape Colony.</p>
+
+<p>In the circumstances in which the inhabitants of this group
+<!--135.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span>of
+islands at
+present find themselves, without traditions, without proverbs, without
+songs, without monuments, and especially without any characteristic
+peculiarity in their habits and customs which could possibly throw a ray
+of light upon the obscurity of their origin, it is a bold undertaking to
+express any decided opinion as to the derivation and genealogy of this
+people. By far the most probable theory, as is also admitted by Dr. Rink,
+who visited these islands with the Danish Expedition, would represent them
+as an offshoot from the north-westerly boundary of the Malay race, as a
+people which, while possessing much in common with the Indo-Chinese stock,
+nevertheless in its physical characteristics seems to hold a middle rank
+between the Malay and the Burmese.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the study <i>of language</i> as a most important and reliable
+source of information, the members of the Expedition made it their main
+object to draw up, in conformity with what is known as Gallatin's method,
+so extensively used by all American and English travellers, a vocabulary
+of about 200 words in both languages, viz. that used by the inhabitants of
+Nicobar, and that (widely different in all respects except the numerals)
+in use among the natives of the more southern islands. As a Malay barque
+from Pulo Penang was lying at anchor during our stay on the northern
+shores of Great Nicobar, so favourable an opportunity was of course made
+use of to prepare a similar vocabulary of the Malay idiom spoken at that
+port, which will give the philologist the advantage of being able to judge
+for himself as to the similarity existing between
+<!--136.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span>these
+two idioms, and
+thence, by analogy, between the two races, and discriminate whether those
+scholars, such as Vatu, come nearer the truth who maintain that the
+Nicobar language is of Malay derivation with an admixture of foreign
+words, principally European, or those other students of philology who, as
+for instance Adelung, hold that the idiom used by these islanders is
+identical with some of the languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time the ethnographer of the Expedition had endeavoured to
+ascertain by means of a new system of measurements of the human frame,
+drawn up by himself in concert with Dr. Edward Schwarz, one of the
+physicians of the Expedition, and with the co-operation and assistance of
+the latter, various data, such as, when applied to the various races
+inhabiting the earth, might justify many new and striking conclusions, and
+ultimately result in definitely fixing the relation, resemblance, or
+physical dissimilarity of the various races of man. Such a plan makes it
+much more easy by means of figures, those most undeniable evidences of the
+results of investigations, to get speedily and accurately at the required
+results, than by all the most specious theories laid down in the less
+certain domain of philosophic speculation.</p>
+
+<p>These measurements, applied at three chief regions of the body, namely,
+the head, the trunk, and the upper and lower extremities, are intended to
+be scientifically discussed in a special memoir,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> and we accordingly
+confine ourselves here to remarking
+<!--137.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span>that
+the various points of
+measurements were not only determined in an anthropological point of view,
+but that among the 68 different categories, into which these measurements
+are naturally distributed, there occur some which supply many curious
+points of inquiry, as also considerable assistance not merely to national
+economics, the result of the light thrown upon the subject of the average
+of muscular strength of the various races as found by the dynamometer, but
+also to the graphic art, with respect to a more accurate acquaintance with
+the human skeleton as well as the entire figure.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner we never omitted to collect some of the hair of the head
+from as many as possible of the various individuals measured, since the
+laborious researches of Peter Brown of Philadelphia on the human hair,
+have elevated it into a very remarkable means of tracing the origin of the
+various disparities of race.</p>
+
+<p>It must also be considered as an especial boon for the science of
+comparative anatomy, as well as universal ethnography, that we succeeded
+in bringing away with us from the Nicobar Islands the skulls of two of the
+natives.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, a small collection of twenty-three subjects of ethnographical
+inquiry, collected from the various islands, will be found useful, partly
+as illustrating the information already obtained,
+<!--138.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span>partly
+as affording
+evidence of the amount of culture of the inhabitants of the Nicobar
+Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>We are still called upon to answer the question already propounded,
+whether the Nicobar Islands are suited as the site of a colony, and
+whether the numerous attempts already made in this direction did not
+probably fall through for other reasons than those of climate.</p>
+
+<p>According to inquiries instituted by the members of the Austrian
+Expedition, this insular group, by its geographical position in one of the
+very chiefest commercial routes of the world, and by the richness and
+abundance of the products of its soil, offers sufficient points of
+attraction to interest any leading commercial or maritime power, in
+securing possession of it. With regard to any colonization or cultivation
+of the soil by free European immigrants, there is as little to be said as
+of almost any other islands in the tropics. In order to make such spots
+aids to the extension of civilization, the utmost certainty of rule is
+imperatively necessary, such as was instituted with such marvellous
+results by England in Pulo Penang, Singapore, Sydney, &amp;c. The climate of
+the Nicobars is very far from being so deadly, that mere residence upon
+them must speedily prove fatal to Europeans, and it will undoubtedly be
+signally ameliorated by a partial clearing of the forests, cultivation of
+the soil, channelling of the rivers, and drainage of the swamps. All such
+works however must be executed by Malay or Indian labourers, under the
+superintendence of Europeans. From what we have learned
+<!--139.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span>by
+personal
+observation of the surprising influence which the transportation system
+has exercised in Australia upon the cultivation and development of the
+soil, as also upon the social condition of the convicts themselves, we do
+not hesitate, despite the distrust of experiments of such a nature which
+prevails in certain philosophic circles of Europe, to express our opinion,
+that with a little prudence and forbearance convict labourers in abundance
+could be imported, who would be at once better off, more contented, and
+more disposed to do honour to their man's estate than as at present
+confined at home in their dreary prison cells.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>If the various experiments hitherto made have all fallen through, the
+"effect defective" undoubtedly arises from the deficiency of means
+requisite for such an undertaking, and in the limited number of men,
+merely humanly speaking, who were engaged in such enterprises. The mere
+prime cost of clearing and cultivation, so as to enable them to anticipate
+a good return for their labour, must be set down as at the lowest
+computation between £100,000 and £150,000; the number of labourers
+employed in the undertaking at from 300 to 400; of whom all skilled
+artisans, such as carpenters, joiners, locksmiths, blacksmiths,
+bricklayers, masons, &amp;c., must accompany the settlers from Europe.</p>
+
+<p>The sums expended for the first outlay must not however be set down as
+entirely thrown away, since the fertility of
+<!--140.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span>the
+islands in those
+colonial products that are most valuable, and the enormous quantity of
+cocoa-nut palms, must, under the impulse of cultivation and industrious
+habits, speedily make returns in countless tides of prosperity. So far as
+regards the aboriginal population, of whom there are not above 5000 or
+6000 on all the islands, they would experience but little annoyance from
+the carrying out of such an enterprise. In fact, morally and materially
+they could only gain from the introduction of a foreign element. At
+present they are confined to the narrow belt of shore, where grows the
+cocoa-palm, their sole support. The interior of the island, so prolific in
+natural wealth of the most varied description, and which would become
+infinitely more valuable under a proper development of its capabilities,
+is utterly unknown and valueless to the native.</p>
+
+<p>Once a settlement were fairly set a-going on the above-mentioned
+principles, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Archipelago would be placed
+under the tutelage of European civilization, and in their transactions
+would no longer be exposed to the knavery and caprices of ships' captains.
+It would be necessary to watch over the natives as over minors, so as not
+alone to secure for them material benefits, but by liberal sympathetic
+treatment as the groundwork of their education, gradually to establish
+that faith whose introduction hitherto, despite numerous praiseworthy
+endeavours in the past as well as the present century, has been doomed to
+be unsuccessful through a variety of extraneous circumstances. Moreover,
+the Nicobar Archipelago
+<!--141.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span>would
+be a most convenient central station whence
+to impart the blessings of Christianity to the pagans of the adjoining
+groups of islands.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>MEMORANDUM</p>
+
+<p>Relating to those points of the Nicobar Archipelago whose geographical
+position was ascertained by the <i>Novara</i> Expedition.</p>
+
+<div class="center" style="padding: 2em 0 1em 0;">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">PLACE OF OBSERVATION.</td><td align="center" colspan="3" style="width: 8em;">Latitude<br />North.</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center" colspan="3" style="width: 8em;">Longitude East<br />from Greenwich.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sáui Cove</td><td align="center">9°</td><td align="center">14&#8242;</td><td align="center">8&#8243;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">92°</td><td align="center">44&#8242;</td><td align="center">46&#8243;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Komios</td><td align="center">9</td><td align="center">7</td><td align="center">32</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">92</td><td align="center">43</td><td align="center">42</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Morrock Bay</td><td align="center">8</td><td align="center">32</td><td align="center">30</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">93</td><td align="center">34</td><td align="center">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Kauláha</td><td align="center">8</td><td align="center">2</td><td align="center">10</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">93</td><td align="center">29</td><td align="center">40</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Kondul</td><td align="center">7</td><td align="center">12</td><td align="center">17</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">93</td><td align="center">39</td><td align="center">57</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Galatea Cove</td><td align="center">6</td><td align="center">48</td><td align="center">26</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">93</td><td align="center">49</td><td align="center">51</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>A very careful measurement, made at the point of observation in Sáui, of
+the Moon's distance from Jupiter, gave 6 h. 11 min. 2 sec., or 92° 45&#8242;
+30&#8243; East.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Our voyage from the south side of Great Nicobar to Singapore occupied
+twenty days. This time the fine weather seemed to have entirely abandoned
+us. Day and night, at almost all hours and from all parts of the sky, we
+encountered
+<!--142.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span>severe
+thunder-storms, with water-spouts, lightning, thunder,
+and the most tremendous rain-squalls. We could thoroughly realize that we
+were in the tropics at the beginning of the rainy season. One day during
+the prevalence of one of those floods, five tons during the first half
+hour, and in the course of an hour and a half eight tons, or 32,000 pints
+of water, were collected by the sailors in buckets and other similar
+utensils. These storms came now from the coast of Sumatra, now from the
+Malay peninsula, or yet again from the Straits of Malacca, and gave our
+jolly tars not a moment of repose. These tempests alternated with calms
+accompanied by a most oppressive sweltering hot temperature, and if by
+chance a breeze sprang up, it was sure to come out of the straits dead
+against us, and, coupled with the strong contrary current, fairly arrested
+our progress. Thus tacking about for 14 days between the north shore of
+Sumatra and Junk-Ceylon, we made as much way in that time as a fast
+steamer would have done in as many hours, and it was but poor consolation
+to us that several ships close to us, perhaps six or eight, shared the
+same adverse destiny.</p>
+
+<p>An incident of a very singular nature suddenly gave us all plenty of
+excitement. As our deeply respected chaplain was sitting reading one
+evening in his cabin, he became sensible of a peculiar pressure on his
+foot; the servant being called, made his appearance with a candle, and on
+examining the floor was horror-struck at perceiving a pretty large
+sea-snake (<i>Chorsydrus fasciatus</i>), coiled round the foot of
+<!--143.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span>the
+priest.
+In the same instant this gentleman instinctively rid himself of the
+poisonous reptile by a vigorous kick, while the various persons who
+hurried to the spot were resolved they would secure this dangerous
+assailant dead or alive. Within the narrow limits of a ship's state-room,
+a campaign is speedily brought to a close. His snakeship was forthwith
+routed out of his asylum, and hacked into more pieces than was exactly
+agreeable to the zoologists, who had been extremely anxious, and even
+expected, to preserve this now doubly interesting reptile almost uninjured
+in spirits of wine. It was a tolerably large specimen, one inch thick, and
+about three feet long, and had apparently either wriggled up the cable, or
+had been washed on board by a wave through the open sky-light of the
+cabin.</p>
+
+<p>At length on the 9th of April wind and weather changed, and, in company
+with the entire squadron of companions in misfortune, we sailed gaily into
+the Straits of Malacca, with all sail set, and dead before the wind. On
+the 11th of April, early in the morning, we found Pulo Penang (also called
+Areca, or Prince of Wales' Island) lying broad on our port beam. Its
+chains of forest-clad mountains, gloomy, and overcast with dense masses of
+cloud, prevented our realizing the charms of this possession of England,
+such as they have been described by all who have visited it.</p>
+
+<p>On the 12th of April we steered between the Sambelongs, or Nine Islands,
+and the island of Djara, and caught a glimpse of the lofty well-wooded
+mountains of the kingdom of Perah.
+<!--144.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span>The
+channel through these straits is
+becoming more and more contracted owing to the <i>débouche</i> at this point of
+the river Perah. Shallow sand-banks and small rocky islands impede the
+navigation, and it is a common precaution for ships to cast anchor at the
+least approach of foul weather, an operation which is the more readily set
+about that the water is nowhere above twenty fathoms, but good holding
+ground throughout the straits. Moreover, the charts of these regions are
+thoroughly reliable and accurate, while at the most dangerous spot, where
+a sand-bank with only one fathom of water over it lies right in the tracks
+of vessels, a light-ship is moored, which we passed on the 13th of April,
+and continued our voyage through the night in perfect safety.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the 14th April, the hill of Ophir (called also Ledang or
+Pudang), 5700 feet high, lay fair before us. We now found ourselves
+opposite the town of Malacca. The channel at this point approaches so
+close to the mainland, that we could easily distinguish churches and
+houses, and the frigate exchanged signals with the neighbouring semaphore.</p>
+
+<p>Malacca, once the Malay capital, has at present altogether lost its former
+importance, and of the three English colonies in the Straits of Malacca,
+usually known as the <i>Straits Settlements</i>, is the least important in
+either a political or a commercial sense. The entire region was, until
+within these few years, in most evil repute for the atrocious piracies
+perpetrated here. Natives used to lie in wait in small canoes filled with
+<!--145.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span>merchandise
+of all sorts, with which they boarded the passing ships, and
+while these were supplying themselves with fruit and fresh provisions, the
+former were spying the number of crew, as also the means of defence of the
+unfortunate vessel; after which it usually happened, that during the night
+the more defenceless of them, while becalmed or lying at anchor, would be
+attacked by an overwhelming force of pirates and ruthlessly plundered.
+Captain Steen Bille relates, that even so late as 1846, he loaded his
+cannon with shot, and maintained extra vigilance during the night.</p>
+
+<p>We now sped along, still favoured by the wind, during the ensuing night,
+and on the morning of the 15th April had the satisfaction of reaching the
+entrance of the bay of Singapore, without once having to lie at anchor in
+the straits. The landscape that lay outstretched before us was
+splendid,&mdash;lofty wooded islands on the coast of Sumatra, and a whole
+archipelago of islets lay around us, in the channels between which prahus
+were sailing about, while Chinese junks, full-rigged ships and barques,
+were working in or out as the case might be, all intimating the proximity
+of a great mart of commerce. Equally fortunate as in the straits was our
+passage through the labyrinth of islands, through which a vessel must wind
+in order to reach Singapore. And this roadstead itself, what a contrast it
+presented to the lovely beach of the Nicobar Islands! Here were thousands
+of ships of all sizes and rigs, and the flags of nearly all sea-faring
+nations in the world. We found at anchor the English frigate <i>Amethyst</i>,
+and the
+<!--146.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span>screw
+corvette <i>Niger</i>; and having warped ourselves into their
+vicinity, by 2 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> we had cast anchor in 13 fathoms water. Almost
+immediately afterwards an officer came off from the <i>Amethyst</i> to welcome
+us, and to impart to us the unpleasant intelligence that cholera had been
+raging in the city for some weeks past, and had also committed great havoc
+among the shipping in harbour. Even the captain and one of the crew of an
+English merchantman had succumbed but a few hours previously to this fell
+scourge, and the vessel had her flag half-mast high as a signal of
+mourning. This information at once deranged all our plans and projects
+with respect to Singapore, and had we not been compelled to victual here,
+we should at once have set sail. However, under the circumstances there
+was nothing to do but to spend five or six days at Singapore, and this
+breathing-space we availed ourselves of to obtain as much information as
+possible both by eye and ear touching this very remarkable colony, and its
+not less interesting inhabitants.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+Anciennes rélations des Indes et de la Chine de deux
+voyageurs Mahométans, qui y allèrent dans le IXème siècle. Traduit de
+l'Arabe avec des remarques par Eus. Renaudot. Paris, chez Coignard, 1718.
+8vo.</p></div>
+
+<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>
+Journal of the Voyage of the I.R. Ship <i>Joseph and Theresa</i>
+to the new Austrian plantations in Asia and Africa, by Nicolas Fontana,
+ship-surgeon to Mr. Brambilla, body physician to the Emperor, assistant
+surgeon in the army. Translated from the Italian MS. by Joseph-Eyerle.
+Dessau and Leipzig,&mdash;"<i>Buch-handlung der Gelehrten.</i>"</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>
+"I have drawn up these documents," writes Prince Kaunitz, in
+a state paper addressed to the Empress, dated 27th March, 1776, "in such
+manner as to advance the objects of your Majesty in establishing
+commercial intercourse between Austria and the Indies, without incurring
+disagreeable results, which might accrue from the conferring of
+unrestricted authority."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+A piece of parchment, cut out of a book in zig-zag fashion,
+which in former times was necessary in all commerce with barbarians, the
+captains of privateers, when unable to read, being enabled, by comparing
+the torn-out leaf (<i>scontrino</i>) with the counterfoil, which it was
+customary to give to all trading persons, to determine to what nationality
+the vessel belonged.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+A few years previous, in 1782, a certain C. F. von
+Brocktroff, of Kiel, had addressed a memorial to the Emperor Joseph II.,
+in the course of which he warmly advocated the annexation, settlement, and
+reclamation of the Nicobar Islands, and, on the strength of fifteen years'
+experience in the East Indies, promised immense profits to the
+Austrian-German trade by this method of procedure. This interesting
+treatise will be found among the Government Archives at Vienna, and will
+be published in full in another section.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+Bolts had several times come before the public as an author.
+In 1771 he issued in London a work in two volumes 4to, entitled,
+"Considerations on Indian Affairs," which was also translated into French.
+Further, he published a "<i>Recueil des pièces authentiques rélatives aux
+affaires de la ci-devant société Impériale-Asiatique de Trieste, gérées à
+Anvers</i>," which appeared in 4to (116 pages) at Paris, in 1787.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+The results of this voyage of discovery are embodied partly
+in a work in two volumes: "Steen Bille's account of the voyage of the
+corvette <i>Galatea</i>, round the world" (Copenhagen, Leipzig, 1852), partly
+in a Geographical sketch of the Nicobar Islands, with special remarks upon
+Geology, by Dr. H. Rink (Copenhagen, 1847): there will be likewise found
+in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, under the heading
+"Nicobar Islands," and at p. 261 of the third volume of the "Journal of
+the Indian Archipelago," under the title "Sketches at the Nicobars," a
+variety of valuable contributions to our stock of knowledge respecting
+this island group. In addition, Mr. A. E. Zhishmann, Professor in the
+Imperial Royal Academy of Commerce and Navigation at Trieste, published,
+in anticipation of the projected visit of the <i>Novara</i> to this
+Archipelago, a valuable historico-geographical sketch, entitled, "The
+Nicobar Islands" (Trieste, Printing Office of the Austrian Lloyds, 1857),
+which appeared at the same time in the Transactions of the Imp. Roy.
+Geographical Society for 1857.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+Vide, "Indian Political Dispatches," of 1st February, 1848:
+also the "Hamburger Correspondent," of 30th August, 1848, and "Friend of
+India," for 1853, p. 455.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+Thus, for example, we find on the island of Kar-Nicobar the
+following specimens of barter:&mdash;</p>
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">For</td><td align="right">Pair of ripe cocoa-nuts.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a sort of hunting-knife or cutlass, worth about $1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub></td><td align="right">300</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a small knife-blade</td><td align="right">100</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">six table knife-blades</td><td align="right">300</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">an American knife</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a hatchet</td><td align="right">300</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a musket</td><td align="right">500</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a double-barrelled gun</td><td align="right">2500</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a large spoon</td><td align="right">150</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">thirty feet of silver-wire</td><td align="right">2500</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a small cask of rum</td><td align="right">2500</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a flask of arrack</td><td align="right">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">three "sticks" of (negro-heads) tobacco</td><td align="right">100</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a flask of castor-oil</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a cabin lamp</td><td align="right">500</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a sack of rice</td><td align="right">300</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a piece of blue calico (about 6 to 8 ells)</td><td align="right">100</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">a neck-cloth</td><td align="right">100</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>Epsom salts, turpentine, spirit of camphor, eau-de-Cologne, and
+peppermint, are also much-prized articles of barter, and bring a large
+profit, being exchanged for old clothes, salt meat, onions, and biscuit.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+Thus, for instance, there occurred in one of these
+documents:&mdash;"In the village of Aurong, or Arrow, the best anchorage is
+opposite Capt. Marshall's hut, in from 13 to 15 fathoms water. At many
+points the coast is so dangerous, that one ship lost two of her men, who
+were endeavouring to land in a boat." In another certificate it was
+announced that the barque <i>Batavia</i> of Rotterdam, freighted with rice, of
+442 tons burthen, while on her voyage from Rangoon to Europe, was wrecked
+in Danson's passage, 7th April, 1857, and her crew was very hospitably
+treated by the natives of Kar-Nicobar. Almost every one of these
+certificates concludes with the remark that whoever wishes to be on
+friendly terms with the natives must play no pranks with their women, nor
+shoot their fowls or hogs in the forest.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+This place of interment is situated close to a small village
+on the north-east side of the island, where the graves are visible in the
+shape of a number of round stakes sunk about three or four feet into the
+earth, which are adorned with all sorts of variegated cloths and ribbons.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+It is customary to call the liquid contents of the green,
+unripe cocoa-nut by the name of <i>cocoa-nut milk</i>; but it is rather a
+clear, delightfully palatable water, which neither in colour nor taste at
+all resembles milk. This is obtained or pressed from the white, sweet,
+rather hard kernel, which is itself extraordinarily nutritive, and forms
+the daily food of the inhabitants. For an entire month, during which we
+could procure neither cows' nor goats' milk, we experimented on the use of
+the fluid obtained from the ripe cocoa-nut in our tea and coffee, and
+found it so excellent that we hardly felt the privation of animal milk.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a>
+See Vol. I., p. 240.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+This vocabulary, which probably will not be found altogether
+valueless for the purposes of comparative philology, as also for the
+assistance of future travellers, will appear at the end of this volume as
+an Appendix.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a>
+See Appendix.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a>
+Most of the Austrian sailors are from the Adriatic coast,
+and accordingly speak an Italian patois.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a>
+"Letters on the Nicobar Islands, etc. Addressed by the Rev.
+I. Gottfried Hänsel, the only surviving missionary, to the Rev. C. J.
+Latrobe. London, 1812." We are indebted for these rare pamphlets to the
+kindness of Dr. Rosen of the community of the Moravian Brethren at
+Genaadendal in South Africa, and do not think, despite its deep interest
+in the history of missions, that it has ever been translated into another
+language. Brown in his "History of Missions" has made a few brief extracts
+from it.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a>
+"If an inhabitant of the South Sea Islands have planted
+during his life but ten bread-fruit trees," says Cook, "he has fulfilled
+his duties towards his own and his grand-children as fully and effectually
+as the denizen of our rougher clime, who during his life-long endures the
+severity of winter, and exhausts his energies in the heats of summer, in
+order to provide his household with bread, and to save up some trifle for
+his family to inherit."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a>
+From the Malabar word Elettári. This is the common seed so
+well known in the pharmacopeia in the form of a carminative tincture, and
+is usually known as Alpinia Cardamomia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a>
+With respect to the resemblance if not indeed identity of
+the vegetation of the Nicobar Archipelago, with that of the surrounding
+islands, and the mainland, we beg to refer here to the excellent work of
+an Austrian naturalist, the learned Dr. Helfer, who, stricken in the
+flower of his days by the poisoned arrow of a native of the Andaman
+Islands, fell a victim to his zeal for travel. To the Imperial Royal
+Geographical Society of Vienna, science is indebted for the German edition
+of this important information, under the title of the Published and
+Unpublished Works of Dr. J. W. Helfer upon the Tenasserm Provinces, the
+Mergins Archipelago, and the Andaman Islands, in the third volume of its
+Proceedings for 1859.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a>
+An extensive description of the zoology of these islands is
+reserved for the zoological part of the Novara publications, published at
+the expense of the Austrian government, at the Imperial Printing-office in
+Vienna.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a>
+The Tagali maidens of Luzon regard it as a special proof of
+the honourable intentions and eagerness of passion of their admirers, if
+these latter take the betel quid from their mouths!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a>
+We did fall in with some few individuals on these islands
+who by dint of much exertion could count as high as 100.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a>
+At Pulo Penang the <i>picul</i> of ripe cocoa-nuts, 300, is worth
+5&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> dollars.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a>
+"On measurements as a diagnostic means for distinguishing
+the human races, being a systematic plan established and investigated by
+Dr. Karl Scherzer and Dr. Edward Schwarz, for the purpose of taking
+measurements on individuals of different races, during the voyage of H. I.
+M.'s frigate <i>Novara</i> round the world." Vide Proceedings of the I.R.
+Geographical Society of Vienna, vol. II. of 1859, p. 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a>
+In the Sydney chapter the reader will find the
+Transportation question pretty fully
+discussed.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--147.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -337px;
+  width: 674px; height: 565px; background-image: url('images/illu147.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu147" id="illu147"></a><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top: -1em;">A Forest Scene in Singapore.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 674px; height: 345px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 50px; margin-right: -45px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 50px; margin-left: -45px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 100px; margin-right: -130px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 100px; margin-left: -130px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 75px; margin-right: -270px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XI.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">Singapore.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">Stay from 15th to 21st April, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+Position of the Island.&mdash;Its previous history.&mdash;Sir Stamford
+Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British
+Government free to all sea-faring nations.&mdash;The Island becomes
+part of the Crown property of England.&mdash;Extraordinary
+development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.&mdash;Our stay
+shortened in consequence of the severity of the
+cholera.&mdash;Description of the city.&mdash;Tigers.&mdash;Gambir.&mdash;The Betel
+plantations.&mdash;Inhabitants.&mdash;Chinese and European
+labour.&mdash;Climate.&mdash;Diamond merchants.&mdash;Preparation of Pearl
+Sago.&mdash;Opium farms.&mdash;Opium
+manufacture.&mdash;Opium-smokers.&mdash;Intellectual
+activity.&mdash;Journalism.&mdash;Logan's "Journal of the Indian
+Archipelago."&mdash;School for Malay children.&mdash;Judicial
+procedure.&mdash;Visit to the penal settlement for coloured
+criminals.&mdash;A Chinese provision-merchant at business and at
+home.&mdash;Fatal accident on board.&mdash;Departure from
+Singapore.&mdash;Difficulty in passing through Caspar
+Straits.&mdash;Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.&mdash;Death of one
+of the ship's boys.&mdash;First burial at sea.&mdash;Sea-snakes.&mdash;Arrival
+in the Roads of Batavia.
+</div>
+
+<p>The island of Singapore or Singhapura<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> is situated at the southernmost
+point of the peninsula of Malacca, from which it is only separated by a
+strait nowhere above a mile in breadth.
+<!--148.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span>It
+is about 29&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub> statute miles
+in length from east to west, by 16&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>5</sub> in breadth from north to south. The
+superficial area of the island is estimated at 206 square geographical
+miles, which will make it about one half larger than the Isle of Wight.</p>
+
+<p>Up to the year 1819, Singapore was a howling wilderness, and the only
+settlement upon its shores was a couple of wretched Malay fishermen's
+huts; a lurking-place for the pirates, who at that period made it
+dangerous to navigate those waters. After the rendition of the Dutch
+colonies in the Indian Archipelago, which it will be remembered were the
+property of England throughout the great continental war up to the year
+1814, Sir Stamford Raffles, the former Governor of Java, was intrusted
+with the office of founding on it, as the most suitable spot in all the
+Malay seas, a free emporium where the general trade in those seas of all
+the sea-faring nations of the world might be concentrated and exchanged.
+England had further in view to leave not a single foot to stand on to the
+Dutch, whose interests in those seas clashed with her own, to obtain an
+emporium in which to collect all the more important products of the
+Archipelago for exchange against the teas and silks of China; and, lastly,
+to procure for the reception and repairs of the ships of war and
+merchantmen, a suitable harbour, such as, being in the vicinity of the
+teak-growing countries, would also have the advantage of supplying timber
+for her ships at any period when there might be in England a deficient
+supply of
+oak.<!--149.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sir Stamford, having previously examined several other localities,
+ultimately selected Singapore, and on 6th February, 1819, the English flag
+was hoisted on this solitary island, thus unsuspectedly inaugurating the
+beginning of a new era for the sea-faring world! At last, in 1824, came
+the Treaty of Cerum, by which Holland withdrew her pretensions in favour
+of England, and Singapore became an inalienable possession of the British
+Crown for a sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars paid over to its previous owner
+the Sultan of Djohore, together with a life-rent of 24,000 dollars
+annually payable to the same Malay chief. The slaves on the island were
+set at liberty, slavery was entirely abolished, and Singapore proclaimed a
+Free Port. The importance of Singapore as a site for a colony had already
+been pointed out and justified a century since by Captain Alexander
+Hamilton, who visited these seas at the beginning of the 18th century, and
+in a work entitled "A New Account of the East Indies," describes most
+circumstantially his stay at Djohore in 1703 on his voyage to China. In
+that work Hamilton narrates how the Sultan of Djohore wished to make him a
+present of the island, and how he declined this proposal with the remark
+that this island could be of no use to a private man, but would be
+eminently suitable for a colony and an emporium of trade,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> because the
+winds were at all seasons favourable for egress from and entrance into
+these waters on every side. A hundred years
+<!--150.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span>later,
+the choice of Sir
+Stamford Raffles, to whom this relation of Hamilton seems to have been
+entirely unknown, fell upon the same locality, thus testifying alike to
+the eligibility of its position, and to the wise forecast of the founder
+of this British settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Before the arrival of the Europeans in India round the Cape of Good Hope,
+towards the commencement of the 16th century, the trade of these countries
+was exclusively confined to the Arabs and Hindoos, who acted as a medium
+between the far East and Europe. Every island in the Archipelago, in
+proportion to the abundance and value of its vegetable produce and its
+foreign intercourse, had one or more harbours, at which the products of
+the surrounding districts and islands were gathered and heaped up until
+the monsoon permitted the arrival of the merchant vessels from the West.
+At the beginning of the fine season, Arabs and Indians entered these
+harbours in their ships, and brought Indian and other manufactures and
+merchandise, which they were in the habit of exchanging for gold, gum,
+spices, tortoise-shell, rosin, jewels, and such like. Acheen in the north
+of Sumatra, Bantam in Java, Goa in Celebes, Bruni in Borneo, and Malacca
+in the peninsula of the same name, were the most important of these depôts
+for merchandise and centres of trade. At present the importance of all
+these places has faded into history, whereas Singapore, from its
+singularly favourable geographical position, and the liberality of its
+political institutions, has made such a stride, as is entirely without
+parallel in the
+<!--151.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span>history
+of the world's trade. From a desolate haunt of
+piratical foes, the island has been converted into a flourishing emporium;
+about 1000 foreign vessels, and fully 3000 Malay prahus and Chinese junks,
+flit backwards and forwards annually with all sorts of merchandise and
+produce, while the value of the goods annually exchanged here amounts to
+about £11,000,000. Such is the change that has come over the old
+unhealthy, ill-omened Malay pirate abode: thanks to a clearly defined Free
+Trade policy! If a doubt should still obtrude itself as to these brilliant
+results of the utmost freedom and absence of restriction upon trade, it
+must give way before the spectacle presented to the view of the astonished
+beholder in the harbour of Singapore, the Alexandria of the 19th century!</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, however, our stay in this harbour, so interesting in a
+scientific as well as in a commercial point of view, was sensibly
+curtailed by the prevalence of such exceedingly unfavourable conditions of
+the public health. Hardly had we cast anchor ere an officer of the English
+frigate <i>Amethyst</i> came on board to salute, and to inform us that for
+several weeks past the cholera had been ravaging the city, especially what
+is known as the Chinese quarter. In another war-ship then in the harbour,
+the screw corvette <i>Niger</i>, several of the crew had already succumbed to
+the pestilence; and even in our own immediate neighbourhood was anchored a
+ship with flag half-mast high, a melancholy signal that the angel of death
+was once more seeking victims. Our original plan of passing several weeks
+at Singapore had
+<!--152.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span>of
+course to be abandoned, and we determined at once to
+get under weigh, so soon as the ship had been re-victualled and sundry
+other matters of imperative necessity carefully looked to. Meanwhile the
+naturalist corps landed, and proceeded to see and examine as much as they
+possibly could.</p>
+
+<p>The town of Singapore, situated at the southern extremity of the island of
+the same name, is divided by the river Singapore, on whose banks it is
+built, into two parts, in the northernmost of which are the churches, the
+law courts, the residences of the European settlers, and a little further
+away the native dwellings, as also the Kampong-Klam or Bugis quarter, so
+called from the number of Bugis from Celebes who congregate there to do
+business; while on the south bank of the river, only a few feet above the
+level of the sea, are the warehouses and offices of the various European
+and Chinese merchants. Still farther to the southward and in another small
+cove, called New Harbour, are the buildings and docks of the Peninsular
+and Oriental Steam-Ship Company.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the city are visible three hills of inconsiderable height, called
+Pearl Hill, Government Hill, and Sophia Hill. The middle one, on which
+stands Government House, rises on the left bank of the river, about half a
+mile from the sea-shore, to a height of about 156 feet above sea-level. On
+Pearl Hill, which commands the Chinese and mercantile quarters of the
+town, a citadel has been constructed. The environs of the town on every
+side consist of a rolling sweep of hilly country, diversified in outline
+by about 70 different
+<!--153.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span>eminences
+varying in height from 60 to 170 feet,
+crowned with the elegant villas of the European merchants or government
+officials, or the residences of wealthy Chinese or Malays. The loftiest
+point is Bukit Turiah or Tin Hill, lying about the centre of the island,
+and 519 feet in height. Although accessible in a few hours from the city,
+it is very rarely made the scene of any excursions, in consequence of the
+forests which encircle it having for long been frequented by great numbers
+of tigers. These animals, eager for prey, cross from the mainland by
+swimming the narrow strait, hardly more than half a nautical mile in
+width, which separates it from the island. Dr. Logan, the excellent editor
+of the Singapore Free Press, assured us that till within the last six or
+seven years, 360 natives had annually been carried off by the tigers! Even
+at present, over 100 persons a year are killed in the forest by the tigers
+that prowl there. Shortly before our arrival, in the month of March, four
+persons had perished by these voracious animals. For an explanation of
+such horrible occurrences, we must consider the heedlessness of the
+natives, and the peculiar conditions affecting the mode of agriculture
+followed on the island. The soil of Singapore is not sufficiently fertile
+to make the cultivation of land a customary occupation. Even for
+rice-growing it is found to be unsuitable, so that the greater part of
+that chief staple of subsistence has to be imported from the neighbouring
+islands. So far as the island has been cleared, viz. to a distance of
+about five miles round the city, attempts have been made to
+<!--154.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span>plant
+nutmeg,
+clove, and fruit-trees. But the majority of the natives busy themselves
+with sowing the Gambir and Betel shrubs in the jungle, the leaves of which
+are readily disposed of at a good profit among the betel-chewing
+inhabitants of the Indian Archipelago for an ingredient of their beloved
+masticatory. The mode of cultivating these, however, is very peculiar. As
+Gambir speedily exhausts the soil in which it is planted, and renders it
+quite barren, the cultivators find themselves compelled to advance as
+though by a sort of perpetual emigration. They hew their way into the
+jungle, where they plant the Gambir (<i>Nauclea Gambir</i>),<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> the withered
+branches and leaves of which, after it has served their purpose, are used
+as manure for the <i>next</i> shrub planted, the Betel (<i>Piper methysticum</i>).
+After a short time the soil becomes unsuited for this also, and needs
+several years' rest before it can again be made to produce any crop.</p>
+
+<p>In the prosecution of this thriftless cultivation the natives are
+compelled to penetrate deeper and deeper into the forest, in order to
+clear away with the axe spots of virgin soil for the planting of the
+Gambir. They frequently pass months at a time in the jungle, and with the
+carelessness characteristic of all southern races, constantly allow
+themselves to be surprised by wild beasts. Government, however, does not
+neglect publishing ordinances, by which as far as possible to discourage
+these formidable invaders. They have offered a
+<!--155.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span>reward
+of 50 dollars for
+every tiger killed. So soon as the track of a tiger has been struck, the
+natives usually dig a pit fifteen or twenty feet deep, which they cover
+slightly with grass and brushwood, and fasten close by a goat, a dog, or
+some other living creature. As soon as the tiger, eager for his prey,
+seeks to seize the poor animal, the brushwood gives way under him and he
+falls into the pit, where he is speedily finished with muskets.</p>
+
+<p>The entire population of the island amounts to about 100,000 souls, of
+which the greater number, say 60,000, inhabit the town itself or the
+surrounding villages. One meets here with a singular mixture of races,
+Europeans, Malays, Chinese, Klings (as the natives of the Coromandel coast
+are called), Arabs, Armenians, Parsees (Fire-worshippers), Bengalees,
+Burmese, Siamese, Bugis (from Celebes), Javanese, and from time to time
+visitors from every corner of the Archipelago. Of these the Europeans,
+although exercising far the largest and most preponderating influence upon
+the trade of the place, are much the weakest in point of numbers, the
+entire community not exceeding 300 or 400 on the whole island. On the
+other hand, the Chinese out-number all the rest, and are still constantly
+on the increase. Every year, as the N.E. monsoon sets in, in December and
+January, vast swarms of Chinese flock hither, fleeing from the poverty and
+distress of their native land. There are individuals, who make a regular
+trade of importing into Singapore coolies from China and the Coromandel
+coast. At the port of embarkation,
+<!--156.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span>each
+coolie engages with the captain,
+to serve one year after his arrival in Singapore with a European or native
+master, and to repay the cost of his passage out of his monthly wages. He
+usually receives at first 3 dollars a month (about 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>), out of
+which he lays aside 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> dol., and so gradually pays off his indebtedness
+to the ship captain. The passage-money, which a few years back was only
+about 10 or 12 Rs. (£1 to £1 4<i>s.</i>), is at present as high as 20 Rs., or
+£2. After the first year his earnings may amount to about 4 or 5 dols. a
+month. If, however, the coolie have repaid his debt, he is free, and may
+either earn a very good wage as a servant, or start in any business for
+himself. The facilities for earning money are so great here for men of
+industry and steadiness, that a few years' stay suffices to convert these
+naked, filthy, hang-dog looking wretches into clean well-to-do workmen,
+and some of them even attain a certain status in the community, as
+planters and merchants. Many a Chinese, who is now an important and
+wealthy man, possessed not a farthing when he landed on the hospitable
+shore of the English colony. The number of Chinese resident in Singapore
+is estimated at 60,000, or nearly two-thirds of the entire population of
+the island.</p>
+
+<p>We need not feel surprised therefore to find that the long-tailed children
+of the Flowery Land living in Singapore have begun to develope a certain
+taste for luxury. They already boast a theatre of their own, a wooden
+booth, like a gigantic dolls' house, in which actors from China yell out
+their "sing-song,"
+<!--157.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span>while
+the auditory, penned in within a
+carefully-locked court-yard, chant a vociferous accompaniment to this
+somewhat monotonous exhibition. Moreover, Singapore possesses a Chinese
+temple of such splendour, that one would hardly find its match in the
+Flowery Land itself. This is called the Telloh-Ayer, situated in the
+street of the same name, and is decorated with handsome carvings,
+innumerable mysterious inscriptions, and grotesque figures of stone and
+wood. The Chinese who conducted us all round were exceedingly friendly,
+and when, at parting, we slid a few pieces of silver into their hands as a
+recompense for their trouble, they gave vent to their feelings in repeated
+chin-chins, a mode of greeting which corresponds to the Salaam of the
+Mahometan races.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the Chinese of Singapore belong to secret societies (Hóes), the
+members of which seem banded together for both good and bad objects and
+for mutual protection. Their rules are so strict, and their slightest
+infraction is so fearfully punished, that hardly an instance has ever been
+known of an associate having been denounced or proved a traitor. In the
+British possessions, where the government attaches no sort of importance
+to these associations, and suffers them to pass unmolested so long as the
+laws of the country are not violated, these societies are unimportant, and
+are productive of no evil consequences; but in the Dutch East Indies,
+where the government has always kept their subjects in a state of
+tutelage, and is in a marked degree adverse to the Chinese
+<!--158.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span>settled
+in
+their colonies, these secret societies assume a far more dangerous
+character, and murders on purely political grounds are far from
+infrequent.</p>
+
+<p>The natives proper of Singapore are Malays, and their language is that
+most in use for general intercourse and trade. But as open-air labourers
+they are far inferior to the Chinese, who are much more enduring, more
+contented, and more sociable. In this connection the following comparative
+statement, prepared a few years since by W. J. Thompson, Esq., government
+engineer in Singapore, of the relative values of English and Chinese
+labour, will be found of much interest. To build a wall in England
+containing 306 cubic feet would, according to Mr. Thompson's estimate,
+employ one bricklayer and one ordinary labourer 4&nbsp;<sup>44</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub> days, the former
+receiving 5<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per day, the latter 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, the total expense
+amounting to 30<i>s.</i> In Singapore a similar piece of work, executed by
+Chinese labourers, would require 8&nbsp;<sup>54</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub> days, and the daily wage would
+amount to 2<i>s.</i> 9&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>5</sub><i>d.</i> for the bricklayer and 1<i>s.</i> 7&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>5</sub><i>d.</i> for his
+assistant, the total expense amounting to 37<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> Thus, English
+labour shows an economy over Chinese in the proportion of 52 to 100 in
+time, and of 4 to 5 in actual expense. The following is also interesting
+by way of confirmation. It had been resolved to fill up a swamp in
+Singapore, the material for which was at hand at either extremity. The
+swamp was 1200 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 21 feet wide. The contract was
+allotted to the Chinese, and completed in 326 working days, at 13 cents or
+11&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub><i>d.</i> a day. An English,
+<!--159.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span>or
+indeed any other European labourer,
+would have completed the same in 187 days, so that here also English or
+European labour in general is more valuable than Chinese or any other
+Asiatic labour in the proportion of 100 to 57.</p>
+
+<p>These results must not however be held to indicate that the Chinese
+labourer possesses less physical strength than the European, nor must we
+leave out of view this element in the calculation, that the one executes
+his work in a temperate, the other in an excessively hot climate, to which
+European labourers speedily succumb, or at all events lose their powers
+and their strength in a very marked degree. Indeed it seems to decide the
+question in favour of the Chinese over the European labourer, that the
+former can work without taking any heed for his health in even the most
+variable temperatures. These instructive comparisons seem to be in so far
+especially valuable and useful, wherever it is projected to carry out
+certain undertakings, the cost of which may be estimated, due reference
+being had to the well-ascertained expense of constructing similar works in
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Next to the Chinese, the Klings, or natives of the Coromandel coast, are
+in the greatest request as boatmen, coachmen, pedlars, porters, and
+house-servants, by Europeans as well as by their own successful
+fellow-countrymen. From their habits of extreme sobriety, they speedily
+save money, and generally return home, although a certain number continue
+permanent settlers in Singapore. The Armenians resident here are the most
+like the European mercantile community;
+<!--160.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span>the
+Arabs are the descendants of
+those Mahometan priests and merchants whom the Portuguese found here when
+they first visited this quarter of the globe, and are recruited from time
+to time, but on the whole rarely, by fresh arrivals from their mother
+country.</p>
+
+<p>One very marked peculiarity of the population of Singapore is the enormous
+disparity between the numbers of the sexes. The proportion of females to
+males is as one to seven. The most probable explanation of this phenomenon
+is the circumstance that hitherto the emigration of females from China has
+been entirely prohibited, and consequently almost all the Chinese
+residents, who constitute by far the majority of the whole population, are
+unmarried. Among them the proportion of females to males is as one to
+thirteen.</p>
+
+<p>The health of Singapore is not always so bad as at the period of our
+visit; indeed, judging by perquisitions made for the purpose, the climate
+may rather be regarded as salubrious, particularly since the immediate
+vicinity of the town has been so extensively cleared. The outbreak of
+cholera was entirely new, and on that account an all the more appalling
+visitation. The temperature is tolerably equal throughout the year.
+Observations carried on uninterruptedly during five years give an average
+of 81° 3. Fahr. for the hottest month (May), and of 79° 5. Fahr. for the
+coldest (January). Once only during the five years (in June) did the
+thermometer attain a height of 87° 2. Fahr. and once only in January did
+it fall as low as 74° 8. Fahr. By comparing the present range
+<!--161.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span>of
+temperature with that of thirty years since, it appears that since the
+foundation of the settlement it has gained three degrees in temperature, a
+phenomenon which may be ascribed to the increase of buildings, and to the
+large clearings for a distance of five miles round the town, and perhaps
+also to the spot itself where these observations were made being exposed.</p>
+
+<p>There is no regular rainy season in Singapore. Rain falls every month
+throughout the year, the heaviest falls occurring in August and December.
+According to observations carried on during four years, the annual
+rainfall averaged 93 inches. The tolerably regular distribution of the
+rain throughout the year imparts to the vegetation a freshness that makes
+the change of seasons pass almost unheeded.</p>
+
+<p>In Singapore as elsewhere the members of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition
+experienced from all classes of society the most cordial and hospitable
+reception. Every one bestirred himself to point out to us everything that
+was worth knowing, or that the city could present of interest or deserving
+special attention. After a cursory stroll through the most frequented
+streets, with their dense crowds of people, which sufficiently proved to
+us that trade was in fact the chief occupation of the inhabitants, we
+turned our attention to the shops of some of the Mahometan merchants, when
+our eyes were dazzled with all the most various products of India.</p>
+
+<p>In one of these we were shown some exceedingly valuable diamonds from
+Borneo, one of which weighed 17 carats, and was worth £4000 sterling,
+while another of 19 carats, but less
+<!--162.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span>pure
+and brilliant, was for sale for
+£2000. The seller, a Mahometan, himself wore on his finger a diamond-ring
+which our companion estimated at £1000. In the stores of several other
+merchants we saw the Malay servants sitting cross-legged on the bare floor
+of the porch, with huge heaps of Spanish dollars before them, which they
+were busy counting. The Spanish or Mexican dollar is here almost the only
+medium of exchange, payments being made all but exclusively in that
+currency, whereas gold, even English, is but sparingly used, and then with
+ill-concealed reluctance! The utter want of any other recognized medium of
+exchange than silver makes all extensive money transactions exceedingly
+onerous, owing to the expense of transmitting the precious metals, in
+consequence of which any one wishing to pay in a certain sum of a few
+thousand dollars in cash, must employ a convoy for the purpose of
+transporting the money!<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>Although, as already remarked, the chief business of the island is purely
+commercial, and although, ordinarily speaking, every branch of industry
+merges in that predominant occupation, there is yet one manufacture in
+Singapore which calls for most special notice. This consists in the
+preparation
+<!--163.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span>of
+pearl, or white sago, from the raw state, which is brought
+from the N.E. coast of Sumatra, and the N.W. coast of Borneo. Almost the
+whole of the sago of commerce is prepared here, and all but exclusively by
+Chinese labour. Sago is chiefly obtained from the pith of several species
+of palm, but more particularly from the <i>Sagus Rumphii</i> and the <i>Sagus
+Laevii</i>, both of which are rather limited in their area of cultivation,
+and are not, like the cosmopolitan cocoa-nut palm, found in every quarter
+of the tropical zone, both in the Old and New World, but are indigenous to
+the Indian Archipelago alone. The trunk of the sago-palm, when felled, is
+a cylinder of about 20 inches in diameter, and from 15 to 20 feet in
+length, which, when the woody fibres have been separated, contains about
+700 lbs of clear fine fecula. One may form some conception of its
+extraordinary productiveness on learning that three sago-palms contain as
+much nutritious matter as an acre of land grown with wheat! One piece of
+ground of the extent of an English acre planted with sago-palms
+occasionally yields 313,000 lbs of sago, or as much food as 163 acres of
+wheat. The sago however is neither as palatable nor as nutritious as it is
+productive, and nowhere, where rice is in common use, will it be displaced
+by this article of food. We visited the largest sago manufacture in
+Singapore, in which the sago, as it comes in the raw state from Borneo and
+Sumatra, is washed and roasted, when it becomes the pearl sago of
+commerce. The quantity thus prepared annually amounts to about 100,000
+cwt.<!--164.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Singapore was also the first place where we found an opportunity of
+becoming acquainted with opium-smokers, and of observing the noxious
+effects of this custom, which was forced upon the Chinese for the purpose
+of compelling commercial relations. Although in almost every street in
+Singapore there are houses in which opium is sold and can be smoked (the
+so-called "Licensed opium shops"), there is, in order to keep more control
+over it, only one single place where the opium is prepared for smoking
+from the raw material, called by the English the "Opium farm," from which
+all retail dealers must purchase their supplies of stock.</p>
+
+<p>Before describing our visit to this curious factory we shall indulge in a
+few observations upon a plant whose intoxicating, poisonous milky sap
+produces such singular effects upon the human system. The poppy (<i>papaver
+somniferum</i>), is chiefly grown in Hindostan in the districts of Benares,
+Patna, and Malwa. Its cultivation is exceedingly arduous, and very
+precarious, since the tender young plants require constant care and
+attention in the way of repeated watering, as well as weeding and turning
+up the soil, besides which there is the ever-present danger of its
+destruction by insects, or its loss through storm, or hail, or untimely
+rains. The plant blooms in the month of February, and three months later
+the seed is ripe. The incision into the capsule however is made three or
+four weeks earlier, so soon, in short, as it is covered with a fine white
+mealy dust. The instrument employed in this operation has three prongs
+with very sharp points, with
+<!--165.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span>which
+the plant is carefully scratched. Each
+plant is thus tapped for three consecutive days, the operation beginning
+with the first warm beams of the morning sun; the milky sap is scraped off
+in the cool of the next morning, and on the fourth morning each plant is
+again tried as to whether it still exudes sap, but usually it proves to
+have been exhausted. The juice as scraped off in its coagulated form, is
+put into a cask along with linseed oil, in order not to get too quickly
+dry, and then is made by hand-kneading into round flat cakes, of about
+four pounds' weight, and about five inches in diameter, which, enveloped
+in poppy and tobacco leaves, are spread out to dry in earthen dishes, till
+ready for purposes of commerce. In this stage the opium is packed in boxes
+of ten cakes or about 40 lbs, and thus passes from the hands of the grower
+or the speculator at certain fixed prices into those of the agents of the
+East India Company. The very anxious and precarious cultivation of the
+poppy must prove far less remunerative to the proprietor of the land than
+the much easier task of raising tobacco or sugar-cane, and it is only the
+long-established but most impoverishing system of payments in advance,
+pursued by the agents of the East India Company, that keeps the Hindoos
+engaged in opium cultivation.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>At the opium farm in Singapore we saw this same coagulated juice, as
+obtained from the poppy, converted into opium
+<!--166.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>suitable
+for smoking, which
+is called <i>chandú</i>, the process consisting in its being exposed to the
+action of heat in large semicircular brass pans, strained through filters,
+and once more exposed to a low heat, until it finally coagulates into a
+consistency strongly resembling treacle or syrup. The whole manipulation
+occupies from four to five days. A cattie or ball of this thickened
+poppy-juice costs the manufacturer about 20 dols. From ten such balls of
+the raw sap, or about 40 lbs, which is the usual weight of each "chest,"
+as imported from Hindostan, 216 "tiles" or about 18 lbs of opium are
+obtained upon an average. We saw the Chinese dealer place in one of the
+scales a Spanish dollar, instead of a regular weight, and measure off a
+corresponding weight of opium in the other, A <i>Chí</i>, weighing about <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>16</sub>
+oz., the ordinary quantity consumed by an opium-smoker, costs 17&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub>
+cents, or nine-pence. The duty levied upon this manufacture gives the
+government a revenue of £3000 a month, for the exclusive right of
+preparing opium fit for smoking, <i>chandú</i>, for consumption on the island.</p>
+
+<p>As often as the apparatus is called into activity, the Chinese employed in
+the preparation of the opium, in pursuance of what seems with them a
+regular custom at the commencement of any spell of work, commit to the
+flames, after repeating a certain set of formulas of prayer, a number of
+octavo-sized leaves (<i>Tschni-tschni-sóa</i>) of paper printed upon one side
+only, and occasionally provided in very large quantities: on these fabrics
+of the roughest material are printed
+<!--167.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span>sometimes
+prayers in Chinese,
+sometimes all kinds of drawings, intended to express the wishes of those
+making the offering, and which ordinarily represent in very sketchy
+outline those objects which they pray their deities to bestow on them. In
+thus burning, in a copper vessel specially prepared for the purpose, not
+unlike the baptismal font in a Christian church, these small slips of
+paper, the Chinese operative believes that his petition ascends to heaven
+as smoke, and so comes under the cognizance of his protecting gods.
+Similarly in all temples and pagodas, large quantities may be found stored
+away of these paper intercessors with the Chinese gods, intended for the
+use of believers, or rather of those who make profession of faith.</p>
+
+<p>The workmen of the opium farm have a part of their wages paid in opium.
+The greater number are themselves opium-smokers, and thus are all the more
+surely attached to the manufacture. We saw a number of these fellows lying
+stretched out on straw mats, in wretched filthy-looking dens of rooms,
+with blue curtains barely concealing them from view, and the spirit-lamp
+placed conveniently near to enable them from time to time to heat the
+<i>chandú</i>, the smoke of which they inhale through a peculiarly constructed
+pipe (<i>Yeu-tsiang</i>). The quantity of opium taken up at each dip by the
+instrument used, a three-cornered, flat-headed sort of needle specially
+adapted for the purpose, is about the size of a pea. The practised
+opium-smoker holds his breath for a considerable time, and passes the
+smoke through the nostrils.
+<!--168.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span>The
+taste of the half-fluid juice of the
+poppy is sweetish and oily, but the odour of the <i>chandú</i> when heated,
+which one of the workmen addicted to smoking insisted on our regarding as
+one of the most valuable of perfumes, is so disagreeable as almost to
+cause nausea. We saw numbers of smokers, athwart the filthy gossamer-like
+curtains, utterly stupefied, and lying carelessly stretched out on the
+hard bedsteads, the pipe fallen out of their hands, and the lamp on the
+table in front of their couch extinguished. They, however, did not want
+the curtain for the purpose of preventing their being disturbed in the
+luxurious enjoyment of their beatific dreams; for they continued in a
+state resembling death itself, from which hardly anything could possibly
+rouse them so long as the effects of the poisonous drug lasted. Others of
+the smokers were so affected by it as to have utterly lost their senses,
+and seemed on the whole entirely indifferent to all that was passing
+around them. One of the workmen, who was in a high state of excitement,
+and was uncommonly talkative, informed us however that he had to smoke
+about one shilling's worth of opium ere he could feel its effect, that
+there was nothing more annoying or insupportable than mere partial
+stupefaction, when one had no more money wherewith to buy opium so as to
+be able to get into a proper state of somnolence. The entire system at
+such times gets into a frightful state of irritation; there is severe
+headache, a sensation of pressure on the stomach, nausea, in a word all
+the ill-effects
+<!--169.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span>of
+the use of opium, without any of its more agreeable
+sensations. The state of intoxication and drowsiness usually lasts from
+forty to sixty minutes, when consciousness gradually returns, without any
+ill-effects being experienced at the moment from the inhalation of the
+poison.</p>
+
+<p>In Singapore, where comparatively high wages are paid, and the Chinese
+population is the most numerous, the annual consumption of opium amounts
+to about 330 grains per head. In the Island of Java, where, in consequence
+of certain limits prescribed by government, the Chinese element amounts to
+but <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>100</sub>th of the entire population, the consumption is hardly forty
+grains per head. Even in China, where this perilous narcotic is consumed
+in such enormous quantities, the amount sold only indicates 140 grains for
+each smoker, which however is chiefly attributable to the poverty of the
+populace, by whom this luxury is unattainable. Unfortunately we could get
+no reliable information as to the number of opium-smokers, and the
+quantity of opium consumed, in Singapore. Mr. Allen, a North American
+missionary, estimates the number of persons who surrender themselves to
+this practice throughout the Chinese Empire, at from 4-5,000,000, who
+annually consume about 50,000 chests of opium. The quantity consumed by
+each smoker daily varies in an extraordinary degree. At first the beginner
+cannot inhale above two or three grains at a time, but gradually, as he
+becomes habituated, the dose increases, till the confirmed smokers
+<!--170.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span>consume
+as much as 100 grains daily!! Many Chinese spend two-thirds of
+their earnings in the purchase of this drug, which has become for them a
+necessity of life.</p>
+
+<p>The practice of eating opium in the form of pills, which prevails in every
+Mahometan country in the East, and has in a special degree been readily
+adopted by the disciples of the Koran, in consequence of the prohibition
+of wine, would seem, judging by the researches of physicians, to be much
+less injurious and much slower in affecting the human system than smoking
+the opium, or otherwise bringing it directly in contact with the lungs,
+while the effects of the former practice is likewise different.</p>
+
+<p>We shall have an opportunity, when describing our stay in Chinese waters,
+to revert to this most remarkable and most profitable, but at the same
+time most iniquitous, monopoly of the (late) East India Company, which
+crushes millions of human beings in the most appalling and hopeless of all
+slaveries, and against the continuance of which the Chinese government has
+repeatedly but ineffectually set its face. The words of the
+idol-worshipping Emperor of China, when in 1840 he was solicited to
+convert the importation of opium into a source of revenue to the state,
+were worthy of a Christian monarch: "It is true," said the Chinese ruler,
+"I cannot hinder the importation of this subtle poison; infamous men in
+the lust for gain will out of covetousness or sensuality set at nought the
+fulfilment of my wishes;&mdash;but they shall
+<!--171.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span>never
+induce me to enrich myself
+by the vices and the wretchedness of my people!"</p>
+
+<p>Despite the very small proportion of Europeans resident in Singapore, and
+that almost the entire time of those few seems to be absorbed in business,
+there is nevertheless considerable intellectual activity. Several
+newspapers in the English language, among which the "Singapore Free
+Press," edited by Mr. A. Logan, occupies the foremost rank, supply
+information as to all that is worth knowing in every part of the East
+Indies, while the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," which has been for
+many years so ably and carefully conducted by the well-known and
+widely-famous J. H. Logan (brother of the editor of the "Press"), is a
+veritable mine of information for the naturalist, who wishes to make the
+history of the Indian Archipelago and its inhabitants the object of his
+study. It contains exceedingly useful data for extending our knowledge of
+these very remarkable countries, susceptible as they are of such
+extraordinary development.</p>
+
+<p>The colony also boasts a Museum of Natural History adjoining a library
+with several thousand volumes, and a reading-room, copiously supplied with
+newspapers and periodicals, the whole forming what is called the
+"Singapore Institution." This enterprise was founded by shares of 40
+dollars each, and is supported by an annual subscription of 24 dollars by
+each member, which confers the privilege of using the well-selected
+library of books, and a great number of English and French papers and
+periodicals. The small ethnographic
+<!--172.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span>collection
+consists chiefly of
+specimens from Borneo, Sumatra, and the adjoining islands.</p>
+
+<p>Among the educational institutions most deserving of attention and
+recognition must be specially noticed the school for the instruction of
+Malay boys and girls, under the management and preceptorship of that most
+deserving missionary, Mr. B. P. Keasberry, who has pursued a career of
+useful activity in this Archipelago during thirty years past. The parents
+of the children taken in here have to contribute to their support, and to
+leave them there for at least ten years, under the affectionate spiritual
+care of the missionary, and must not remove them till after the expiry of
+that period. This condition was rendered necessary by the fickleness of
+the Malay nature, which otherwise would frequently withdraw the children
+from the supervision of the missionary at the very moment when they were
+beginning to become amenable to the influences of instruction in
+Christianity and civilization. The Institution is supported partly by
+voluntary contributions, partly by the profits of a printing business, in
+which, however, hardly anything is printed except educational and
+religious works in the Malay language. Mr. Keasberry was so kind as to
+present us with a small collection of the works thus published during the
+past year, comprising among others a dictionary of the English and Malay
+languages, the New Testament, a volume of Natural History, a Manual of
+Geography, a Universal History, a Biblical History, and numerous
+educational works in Malay for the use of the
+pupils.<!--173.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the course of a visit we paid to the Police Court we had the pleasure
+of becoming acquainted with Mr. Windsor Carl, the well-known author of
+numerous valuable works relating to the Indian Archipelago and the Papuan
+Negroes, a gentleman whose career in life has been of the strangest, at
+present holding the position of magistrate in Singapore, where his great
+experience and his thorough acquaintance with the Malay language must be
+of the utmost service to government. The audience assembled in the Court
+room, in which only causes under 50 Rs. are tried, consisted for the most
+part of Chinese. Almost all the officials, clerks, inspectors, and
+policemen were coloured. In one month 414 causes came on for trial, of
+which 315 were disposed of by the imposition on the culprits of fines
+amounting in the aggregate to 5975 Rs., but of this sum only 5105 Rs. were
+realized. The largest number of sentences are passed in March, because the
+Chinese celebrate the New Year on the first day of that month, and
+accordingly the largest number of cases of assault, &amp;c., occur at that
+period. The police <i>employés</i> registered in that period above 100 cases of
+transgressions of the law. The New Year is however, as must be remembered,
+the solitary festival which John Chinaman takes out of his appointed work,
+since recognizing as they do neither Sunday nor feast-day they continue
+hard at work for all the rest of the year. The majority of decisions refer
+to prohibited games; and whoever knows the inextinguishable love of the
+Chinese populace for spending their time in gambling, will readily
+comprehend
+<!--174.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span>how
+in a single year there occurred above 2000 cases in which
+the law was violated. While we were in the justice-room, a paper was
+handed in to the presiding magistrate, in which an English sailor, at that
+moment in hospital, urgently requested that he might leave the same,
+inasmuch as he felt no longer sure of his life, owing to the numbers daily
+brought thither to die of cholera. In fact the hospital, and the
+localities adjacent, seemed to be the spots most seriously visited by the
+pestilence, so that the prayer of the petitioner to be removed from that
+neighbourhood was not altogether unfounded.</p>
+
+<p>One highly interesting establishment, deserving of universal imitation, is
+the penal colony for criminals sentenced to transportation for life from
+all parts of India, and known as "The Convict Settlement." In order to
+comprehend the object and tendency of this institution, it seems necessary
+to premise certain remarks upon the political relation of Singapore to
+India at large. Singapore in conjunction with the colony of Malacca, which
+gives its name to the entire peninsula, and the island of Penang,
+including the district of Wellesley, form that range of British
+settlements in the Straits of Malacca which is usually known to the
+English as "The Straits Settlements." Up to quite a recent date, these
+colonies, founded almost exclusively in the interests of British commerce,
+were under the authority of the Indian government, and were in fact
+controlled from Calcutta. To the Directors of the East India Company,
+however, these settlements, of whose future destiny the mother country has
+hitherto taken but little heed,
+<!--175.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span>notwithstanding
+their enormous political
+and commercial importance, appeared to be specially adapted as a place for
+maintaining common criminals, as also the more dangerous class of
+political offenders, and accordingly converted these settlements into
+penal colonies for the Indies, of which that of Singapore is the most
+important.</p>
+
+<p>The director of this institution, Captain McNair, had the kindness to
+accompany the members of the Novara expedition through the extensive
+buildings, for the most part only one storey high, but well adapted for
+this purpose, and to furnish us with much information on the various
+particulars and special matters of interest relating to the establishment.
+Ever since the year 1854, the wretched, confined, wooden huts thatched
+with straw, in which up to that period the unfortunate criminals were
+confined, have been removed, and in their stead lofty, airy, good-sized
+apartments have been substituted. At the period of our visit in April
+1858, there were over 2000 transported for life, and 245 sentenced to
+various terms of from five to ten years, confined here. All the public
+buildings of the island, churches, hospitals, barracks, works in the
+streets, sometimes constructions of a most expensive nature, were executed
+throughout by criminals. After sixteen years' good conduct, the prisoner
+was entitled to a "ticket of leave," authorising him to settle within the
+jurisdiction of the island as a free colonist, coupled with the condition
+of presenting himself once a month before the superintendent of the
+settlement. In case of bad conduct,
+<!--176.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span>or
+failure, or irregularity in
+fulfilling such stipulations, these concessions are revoked. All the
+overseers of the convict settlement, who receive monthly pay at the rate
+of from one to two dollars, are prisoners who have already given proof of
+their desire to return to a better mode of life, and it is well worth
+remark, that the 2000 convicts, consisting for the most part of the very
+dregs of the various Indian races, and condemned for grave crimes to
+perpetual imprisonment, are under the charge of a single white turnkey,
+and by him maintained in perfect order and propriety of demeanour. Besides
+this one official there is only a small detachment of Indian soldiers,
+from twelve to fifteen in number, stationed at the settlement as a measure
+of precaution. The best evidence of the excellent system on which this
+institution is administered, will be found in the published reports of its
+health, from which it appears that of the 2000 there confined, there were
+but forty sick at the very period when the cholera was committing such
+terrific ravages in the town among the poorer classes, and the change of
+the monsoon had been accompanied by great sickness and general
+unhealthiness. The convicts go to work at six every morning, and return to
+the barracks about 4 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, the rest of the day being spent in preparing
+their victuals, consisting of rice, vegetables, cayenne-pepper, and fruit.
+As most of those confined are Hindoos and profess Brahminism, they bathe
+several times a day, in a large tank filled with excellent water. This
+wise religious custom must in such a sultry climate conduce in a marked
+<!--177.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span>degree
+to the preservation of their health, by its beneficial and
+refreshing action upon the frame.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the convicts are also employed in manufacturing cordage, ropes,
+twine, &amp;c., of the fibres of the wild plantain (<i>Musa textilis</i>), the
+Ramé-shrub (<i>Boehmeria nivea</i>), and the wild pine-apple (<i>Bromelia Ananas</i>
+or <i>Ananassa Sativa</i>). All these textures are of excellent quality, and
+possess all the best properties of Russian hemp-fabrics, at a considerable
+reduction of cost.</p>
+
+<p>In the dormitories the convicts are not classified by nationalities as
+during the labours of the day, but according to the nature of the offences
+for which they are incarcerated, so that in one division all the thieves
+are together, in another all the homicides, in a third all those convicted
+of arson, &amp;c. Although from a psychological point of view much might be
+urged against the judiciousness of such a system, yet, as we were
+informed, this method of confinement by classification of offences
+exercises no prejudicial effect upon the moral amelioration of the
+convicts, but on the contrary most encouraging results have been observed
+to arise from its operation. Among others we were told of a Hindoo from
+the Malabar coast, a convict for life, who after sixteen years'
+confinement received permission to settle on the island as a free
+colonist. By industry, ability, and some fortunate speculations, this man
+in the course of years acquired a large fortune. He now felt an intense
+yearning to revisit his own home, and expressed his willingness to present
+a large portion of his newly acquired
+<!--178.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span>wealth
+for such a permission. But
+the law was explicit upon this point. Only a free pardon from the
+Governor-general of India can as a rule avail to make such an exception,
+which is of but rare occurrence. This he actually succeeded in obtaining
+after repeated supplications, and this "fortunate unfortunate" was at last
+permitted to return to his longed-for home. It is worth noting that of the
+2245 prisoners, only fifty are of the female sex, chiefly Hindoo women
+from Bengal. Among those imprisoned while we were there, we remarked three
+white men, who had been sentenced to several months' confinement for
+riotous conduct and drunkenness. Surrounded as they were by these bronzed
+half-savage Hindoo offenders, these men made a doubly painful impression
+upon Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>As the prevalence of disease in the town and harbour made it especially
+desirable that we should as speedily as possible change our quarters, in
+order not to be surprised by a visit on board from a guest so formidable,
+we made all possible efforts to complete with the utmost dispatch the
+revictualling of the ship, and transact whatever other business was
+necessary. For this purpose we were recommended in several quarters to
+employ a Chinese merchant, whose name is already favourably mentioned by
+Commodore Wilks on the occasion of his visiting Singapore in 1842. This
+was Whampoa, a ship-chandler, who indeed in similar departments of trade
+carries on by no means insignificant competition with the long-established
+English firms. His business is unquestionably
+<!--179.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span>the
+most extensive in this
+line in Singapore, and furnishes a striking example of what Chinese
+industry, economy, and perseverance are capable of. Immense quantities of
+provisions and ship-stores are accumulated in his extensive warehouses, so
+that he can supply orders to any extent in an incredibly short space of
+time. Within two days, Whampoa had completely victualled the ship for six
+months, besides supplying her from the adjoining stream with 100 tons of
+good water, which was brought alongside in boats specially constructed for
+the purpose, and thence pumped through hose into the iron water-tanks in
+the hold, an operation which in any European port would have taken thrice
+the time required here. Moreover all the articles supplied by Whampoa were
+of the best quality, and proportionally moderate in price. He employs none
+but Chinese, with long tails, and black silk apparel. All the books are
+kept in the Chinese language, and even the additions and subtractions are
+not made in the European method, but by the Chinese <i>counting</i> board, that
+is, by shifting a number of wooden beads or rings, which run in different
+rows, and have a variety of values. This reckoning-board consists of an
+oblong frame, divided in its length by a partition into unequal divisions,
+in the larger of which are hung five, in the smaller two, beads upon metal
+cross wires. Each wire with the seven beads running upon it constitutes a
+single row, and in each such row, a single bead of the smaller division is
+equal in value to the five corresponding beads in the larger compartment;
+<!--180.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span>while,
+just as in the Russian reckoning-board, each row represents a
+value tenfold greater or less with reference to the two arms adjoining it
+on either side. On the Chinese board the number of cross wires is not
+always the same, but depends upon the extent of the calculations intended
+to be made upon it.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 617px;">
+<img src="images/illu180.png" width="617" height="331" alt="Like an abacus." title="" />
+<span class="caption">A Chinese Counting Board.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Accordingly when a Chinese wishes to make a calculation upon his
+reckoning-board, he lays it crosswise before him, with the large
+compartment next himself, pushes the beads of the two divisions to the
+edge of the frame, whence, as the process of calculation may require, he
+shifts them into the middle against the partition-wire, or pushes them
+back again. In
+<!--181.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span>the
+former case the beads are said to "count on the
+board," in the latter to be "off the board." Consequently, in order to
+have 1, 2, 3, and 4 "counting," a corresponding number of beads in the
+larger compartment must be pushed away from himself till they reach the
+partition; to mark 5, he similarly draws towards himself a bead in the
+smaller compartment, and as 6, 7, 8, and 9 are formed by the addition of 5
+and 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively, these will be marked by adding one bead
+from the lesser compartment to the requisite number of beads in the
+greater. The tens are indicated by the beads of the next wire to the left;
+the hundreds by the next again to that, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Within his own house, Whampoa lives entirely in the European fashion.
+Plentifully blessed with this world's goods, he displays a degree of
+luxury such as we are unaccustomed to see save in the most elevated
+circles of society. One of his properties, which is several miles in
+circumference, has a spacious, elegantly furnished mansion with a splendid
+colonnade, a beautiful flower-garden, and a perfect menagery of useful
+domestic animals. Within the house all the arrangements are European, with
+the exception of the oval doors, communicating between the great saloon
+and the antechambers, which are pushed into the wall on either side, and
+have a very surprising effect. In the evening, especially when the saloon
+is illuminated, if a person passes through this oval entrance, the effect
+is as of a life-size portrait set in a golden frame. It would not be a bad
+idea to introduce this Chinese
+<!--182.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span>form
+of door-way into our European
+residences and country-seats, and it is assuredly not the only improvement
+in the decorative art which we could borrow with advantage from the
+Chinese. Whampoa's own favourite habitation is about four miles outside
+the town, and presents a curious admixture of European comfort and taste
+with Chinese notions of ornament. In the saloons, adorned with a quantity
+of neat fancy ornaments, are suspended from the walls verses and proverbs
+of the most renowned Chinese poets, all written on long elegantly
+illustrated rolls of paper. Our host also showed us a variety of objects
+which had been presented to him by foreign ship captains, officers of the
+navy, and even singers, as the late Mrs. Catherine Hayes Bushnell, whom he
+had shown much attention to. A banquet, to which we were invited by this
+hospitable Chinese to meet a number of the most prominent commercial
+magnates of the colony, was served entirely in the European style. The
+viands were cooked by a Chinese cook, in the English and French styles,
+only the dessert came part from Japan, part from China, and consisted of a
+variety of fruits, which were utterly unknown to the eye and the palate of
+the European guests. Our Chinese host seemed quite at home in doing the
+honours. Although outwardly a Chinese of the most orthodox stamp, with
+shaven head, (except the long tail reaching almost to the earth,) and his
+body robed in a black silken stuff, he drank to each of his guests in good
+old English style, and seemed as
+<!--183.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span>little
+afraid of Sherry as of Champagne.
+Indeed, we even had toasts, in the course of which this Chinese friend to
+foreigners remarked in English, that any amelioration of the present
+critical condition of his native land, can only be effected by the
+progressive influence of the British government. Whampoa is in all
+probability the first Chinese who has sent his son to Europe.</p>
+
+<p>On the very last day of our stay in Singapore, a melancholy accident
+occurred on board. One of our sailors named Rossi, while unbending a sail
+for the purpose of repair, fell from the fore-yard on the forecastle,
+where he lay insensible, and died a few hours afterwards. Latterly
+repeated instances had occurred at short intervals, of the sailors, while
+working at various elevations, losing hold and falling on deck, but none
+of these had had such a tragical result as the present, and a few slight
+injuries was all the penalty the sufferers received for their
+carelessness. Singularly enough, such accidents mostly occur to the able
+seamen, because that class usually feel themselves as secure while resting
+on the foot-ropes, and working among the masts and sails, as on the ground
+itself, and from their carelessness come much more frequently to grief,
+than their comrades less experienced in man&oelig;uvring among the cordage.
+Rossi was reverently committed to the earth in the Catholic burying-ground
+of Singapore, and arrangements were at the same time made for the erection
+of a small grave-stone over his distant resting-place,
+<!--184.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span>informing
+the
+visitors to this "Court of Peace," that below reposes a member of the
+<i>Novara</i> Expedition, who had lost his life in the discharge of his duties.</p>
+
+<p>As we were now at the season of the change of monsoon, at which period the
+always difficult navigation of the narrow seas between Singapore and
+Batavia demands an unusual degree of carefulness, in consequence of
+frequent squalls, we engaged a pilot, who for a stipulated sum of 175
+dollars was to convoy us to the next station on our voyage. Captain
+Burrows, as our pilot was named, had the reputation of being a specially
+competent, thoroughly trustworthy person, who for a long period had
+navigated these waters in his own ship, and, as we were informed, had,
+owing to some unfortunate speculations, been compelled to become a pilot
+of other vessels, after having for years sailed in command of his own
+ship. He had already come on board with his traps, but, as wind and tide
+were both unfavourable, he obtained permission to return to shore till
+sunset. This however the pilot did not do, and on the following morning,
+finding he did not come off despite our signals, we set sail without him
+about 9 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> with favourable wind and tide. No one could account for the
+default of a pilot so strongly recommended on all hands, particularly as
+all his baggage had remained on board, and must now of course make the
+voyage to Batavia. For a moment we conjectured that he had immediately on
+landing been seized by the dread distemper, only it seemed improbable we
+should not have been informed of such a catastrophe.
+<!--185.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span>And
+in fact it
+afterwards appeared that his having missed us was entirely due to his own
+inattention.</p>
+
+<p>We at first had intended to pass through the narrow strait of Rhio,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> by
+which the route is materially shortened, but as the squally weather had
+fairly set in, while the breeze had crept round to the S.E., and the tide
+set strong to the northwards, we abandoned this plan, and decided on
+sailing through the channel between Horsburgh light-house and Bintang, so
+as to pass to the eastward of this island as far as Graspar Straits, which
+however we only reached the following day, owing to light fitful breezes
+from the northwards. So soon as we entered Gaspar Straits we found the
+sea, which is here of no great depth, never exceeding 25 fathoms, partly
+covered with trunks of trees and sea-weed, while the water had lost its
+transparency and was of a dirty green colour.</p>
+
+<p>At 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> of the 25th April, we crossed the equator for the third time,
+and the same day about 11 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> were in sight of the rocky island of Tothy,
+a rain-squall from the N.E. blowing at the time. We passed between this
+island and the dangerous because invisible Vega Rock, just below the
+surface of the sea, and found ourselves in an archipelago of islands and
+shoals requiring the utmost vigilance in navigating ships of large size.
+But the moon, "the seaman's friend," shone brightly at night, and the
+well-known transparency of the air in tropical countries enabled us
+<!--186.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span>even
+during the hours of darkness to make out with perfect distinctness islands
+lying 25 to 30 miles distant, so that we were by these means, coupled with
+occasional casts of the lead, enabled on every occasion to make out with
+sufficient exactness at what point we had arrived. We were so lucky as to
+have never once throughout this intricate navigation been compelled to
+cast anchor (as is so frequently the case here), and thus succeeded in
+overhauling in Gaspar Straits more than one merchantman, that was a far
+better sailer than the <i>Novara</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On 30th April in 2° 48&#8242; S., and 107° 16&#8242; E., we celebrated the anniversary
+of our departure from Trieste, with hearts filled with gratitude to the
+illustrious projector of an expedition devoted to such lofty aims.</p>
+
+<p>Although during our stay in Singapore the cholera had not alone carried
+off its victims in the town, but also in the harbour, especially in the
+screw corvette <i>Niger</i>, anchored in our immediate vicinity, which lost at
+the rate of about a man daily till she changed her moorings, and
+ultimately had to put to sea (which under such circumstances gives hope
+from the very first for a change for the better in the requisite sanitary
+conditions for restoring to health), yet the crew of the <i>Novara</i> seemed
+destined to escape the slightest evil effects from our six days' stay in
+this plague-stricken harbour. But the result did not justify these
+expectations. Five days after our departure from Singapore, just as we
+<!--187.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span>were
+entering Gaspar Straits, one of the ship's boys fell ill with all
+the symptoms of the Asiatic pestilence, and two days after the man
+appointed to attend him was similarly seized. Every necessary precaution
+was taken, the crew were kept as much as possible on deck, the band played
+frequently, in order to keep up cheerfulness, and thus by great good
+fortune the malady was confined to the two individuals seized. The
+attendant ere long recovered, but the lad, after the choleraic symptoms
+had subsided, gradually fell into a typhoid state, under which, despite
+the utmost medical skill, he succumbed on the afternoon of May 4th. Owing
+to the rapidity with which decomposition sets in in organic structures in
+these hot latitudes, it was at once arranged that the body should be
+committed to the deep the same evening. It was the first occasion
+throughout the voyage that we had to perform this sad but most impressive
+ceremony. The officers and crew mustered on the deck. The body wrapped in
+an ensign lay upon a platform, close to the man-ropes on the starboard
+side. The chaplain prayed over the corpse of one so young, about to rest
+in the bosom of ocean far from friends and family, after which there was a
+dull hollow sound; the sea had got his prey, the waves closed with sullen
+glee over their booty,&mdash;and all was over!</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the passage we also celebrated a funeral service on board
+for Austria's great, never-to-be-forgotten commander, Field-marshal
+Radetzky, of whose death we had
+<!--188.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span>shortly
+before been apprized. As far as
+circumstances admitted, everything was done to celebrate this solemn duty
+in a befitting manner.</p>
+
+<p>Several times during this part of our voyage, owing to the slight depth,
+averaging only 14 fathoms, of the Gaspar Strait, we observed sea-snakes
+basking on the surface of the sea, and letting the waves roll them lazily
+forward, several of which, about four feet long, were caught in a common
+insect-net.</p>
+
+<p>At last, on the afternoon of May 5, we anchored in the roads of Batavia,
+in 6&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> fathoms, mud bottom. The aspect of the roads, especially in bad
+weather, is rather melancholy, the coast being low and swampy, and densely
+covered with mangrove-bushes, through which glittered a portion of the
+red-tiled roofs of the lower ancient city of Batavia, now abandoned on
+account of its insalubrity. Under a more cheerful sky the country round
+would of course assume a more agreeable and even imposing appearance, when
+the outline of the gigantic volcanoes of Java come into view in the
+background, with their heavenward towering peaks, partly covered with
+snow, permitting us to form some faint conception of the prodigality of
+Nature in this, the most beautiful island of the Malay Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>In the roads of Batavia we found much less bustle and animation than one
+could anticipate, considering the favourable situation and immense
+importance of the place. A short distance from us lay the Dutch frigate
+<i>Palembang</i>, carrying the
+<!--189.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span>flag
+of a Vice-admiral, and the steam-corvette
+<i>Gröningen</i>, besides which we counted some sixty foreign merchantmen, and
+over a hundred native boats and coasting vessels. This rather small
+evidence of commercial activity is the more noticeable when one has just
+come from the free port of Singapore, where several hundred ships are
+always lying at anchor, sporting the flags of every sea-faring nation,
+without taking account of the almost innumerable Chinese and Malay
+coasters, trading between Singapore and the other islands of the Sunda
+Archipelago. Moreover, there are here no small boats plying to and fro,
+because the communications between the city and the roadstead being over a
+space requiring an hour and a half to traverse, the transit is necessarily
+dear, and remains therefore confined within as small limits as possible.
+For a small boat with two rowers from the roads to the landing-place the
+charge is from four to five florins (6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> to 8<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>), and
+3&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> florins (5<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i>) more for a vehicle to transport them to the
+town. For this reason no artisans, trades-people, or washerwomen will come
+off to where the shipping is at anchor, to take orders&mdash;every commission
+of whatever nature must be executed in the city itself. Here we lay at
+anchor, an Austrian frigate, surely a most unwonted visitant, from the
+afternoon till the following morning without one single boat coming off to
+visit us!</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a>
+City of Lions, from Singha, the Sanscrit for Lion, a title
+of Indian princes, which we again meet with in Singhala, the kingdom of
+Lions, as Ceylon is called in ancient records and histories.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a>
+Captain Alexander Hamilton's "New Account of the East
+Indies, 1688-1723." Edinburgh, 1727. 8vo, Vol. II., p. 63.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a>
+From this shrub is prepared the drug <i>Kino</i>, once much used
+in the Pharmacop&oelig;ia, but now displaced by <i>catechu</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a>
+A similar system prevails to this day throughout Hindostan,
+where the necessity for convoy of specie forms one of the most important
+items of expense in the maintenance of local police, outlying military
+stations, &amp;c. And unfortunately such a policy reacts upon the respect of
+the natives for British rule, for seeing that even the government requires
+such convoys, they naturally presume that government feels itself
+insecure, and hence refuse to co-operate in the development of Indian
+resources.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a>
+The net produce of an acre of land grown with poppy amounts
+to about 20 or 30 rupees, producing about 30 lbs of opium. The oil
+extracted from the seed-vessels of the plant gives a return of from 2 to 3
+rupees per acre.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a>
+Among the valuable contributions of the Russian Embassy to
+Pekin, respecting China, its people, its religion, its political
+institutions, its social peculiarities, &amp;c., there is one long and very
+copious treatise upon the Chinese reckoning-board, and the method of using
+it. See the German translation of the work by Dr. Karl Abel, and F. T.
+Mecklenburg. Berlin, F. Heinicke, 1856, vol. i. p. 295.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a>
+The Rhio group of islands is about 50 miles S.E. of
+Singapore, the most important of which is Bintang, with a town of the same
+name.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--190.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -351px;
+  width: 702px; height: 673px; background-image: url('images/illu190.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu190" id="illu190"></a><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top:-1em;">Javanese Weapons.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 674px; height: 345px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 320px; margin-right: -210px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XII.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">Java.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">Stay from 5th to 29th May, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+Old and New Batavia.&mdash;Splendid reception.&mdash;Scientific
+societies.&mdash;Public institutions.&mdash;Natives.&mdash;A Malay
+embassy.&mdash;Excursion into the interior.&mdash;Buitenzorg.&mdash;The Botanic
+Garden.&mdash;The Negro.&mdash;Prince Aquasie Boachi.&mdash;Pondok-Gedeh.&mdash;The
+infirmary at Gadok, and Dr. Bernstein.&mdash;Megamendoeng.&mdash;Javanese
+villages.&mdash;Tjipannas.&mdash;Ascent of Pangerango.&mdash;Forest
+scenery.&mdash;Javanese resting-houses or Pasanggrahans.&mdash;Night and
+morning on the summit of the volcano.&mdash;Visit to Gunung
+Gedeh.&mdash;The plantations of Peruvian bark-trees in
+Tjipodas.&mdash;Their actual condition.&mdash;Conjectures as to the
+future.&mdash;Voyage to Bandong.&mdash;Spots where edible swallows'-nests
+are found.&mdash;Hospitable reception by a Javanese prince.&mdash;Visit to
+Dr. Junghuhn in Lembang.&mdash;Coffee cultivation.&mdash;Decay in value of
+the coffee bean of Java.&mdash;Professor Vriese and the coffee
+planters of Java.&mdash;Free trade and monopoly.&mdash;Compulsory and free
+labour.&mdash;Ascent of the volcano of Tangkuban Prahu.&mdash;Poison
+Crater and King's Crater.&mdash;A geological excursion to a portion
+of the Preanger Regency.&mdash;Native fête given by the Javanese
+Regent of Tjiangoer.&mdash;A day at the Governor-general's
+country-seat at Buitenzorg.&mdash;Return to Batavia.&mdash;Ball given by
+the military club in honour of the <i>Novara</i>.&mdash;Raden Saleh, a
+Javanese artist.&mdash;Barracks and prisons.&mdash;Meester
+Cornelis.&mdash;French opera.&mdash;Constant changes among the European
+society.&mdash;Aims of the colonial government.&mdash;Departure from
+Batavia.&mdash;Pleasant voyage.&mdash;An English ship with Chinese
+Coolies.&mdash;Bay of Manila.&mdash;Arrival in Cavite harbour.
+</div>
+
+<p>In order to get from the roadstead of Batavia to the "Stad Herberg," the
+sole landing-place for boats, distant some miles
+<!--191.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span>from
+the open sea, it is
+necessary to steer for some distance up the canal-like channel of the
+Tjiliwoeng (pronounced <i>Chili-wung</i>) River. Old Batavia (Jacatra), built
+by the Dutch in 1619, on an extremely swampy and most unhealthy spot, is
+at present entirely abandoned by the white population, and the numerous
+handsome edifices still standing there are now only used as warehouses,
+counting-houses, and offices generally. Where in days of yore a hundred
+thousand human beings bustled to and fro, there are at present dwelling
+but a couple of thousand wretched, poverty-stricken Portuguese and
+Javanese. The Dutch in selecting such a site undoubtedly took their own
+Amsterdam for a model, and the houses were accordingly built as close as
+possible to each other, and several storeys high, a mode of building
+eminently unsuited to a tropical climate, and accordingly adding another
+element of insalubrity. The thick fog, which every evening at sundown
+spreads over the city, situate as it is hardly above the level of the sea,
+is not only very injurious to Europeans, but proves quite frequently
+fatal, so that by 5 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> old Batavia assumes the appearance of a city of
+the dead, and a regular emigration takes place in waggons, on horseback,
+or on foot, to the more elevated and therefore more healthy parts of the
+town, to Ryswick, Molenvliet, Weltevreden, &amp;c., where during the last
+twenty years an entirely new and very elegant settlement has sprung up.
+Handsome villas rise amid the blooming fragrant gardens, and everything is
+arranged in accordance with the requirements of a tropical climate; and
+<!--192.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span>of
+an evening, when the low verandahs and beautifully furnished
+drawing-rooms of these airy, well-ventilated mansions are profusely lit
+up, and filled with a gaily-dressed social circle, while numbers of
+equipages, carrying torches, flit through the wide streets, the whole
+scene has quite a fairyland appearance. The gloom without makes the
+dazzling brightness within-doors still more marked, and renders the law a
+perfect boon, by which no native, so soon as it becomes dark, is permitted
+to walk through the streets unless he carries a lighted torch (<i>obor</i>).
+Owing to the distance intervening between each house, Batavia, although
+numbering only 70,000 inhabitants, apparently covers a larger area than
+Paris, and as the wealthy classes are concentrated in the upper quarters
+of the town, just as they are in the West End of London, it is there that
+one may see all that Batavia has to show of luxury, comfort, and elegance.
+The old haughty, aristocratic capital of the Netherland Indies, whose
+beauty once obtained for her the title of "Queen of the East," is found
+here in more than pristine freshness, and not alone in wealth and
+splendour, but even in social stiffness and pedantic etiquette, vies with
+the most ultra-refined centres of fashion in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Novara</i> had long been expected in Batavia, and months beforehand
+orders had been issued by the Governor-general to all the Dutch colonies
+in the East Indies, for the courteous reception of the Expedition, and
+energetically assisting its members. A German merchant from Celebes, whom
+<!--193.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span>we
+happened to meet the day of our arrival, informed us that in Macassar
+the entire population had been for several months past looking for the
+arrival of the foreign man-of-war, and those on the look-out at the
+signal-station, as often as a large ship made its appearance on the
+horizon, were continually hoping that it might prove to be the
+long-expected visitor.</p>
+
+<p>All that the resources of a mighty and generous power, such as is that of
+Holland in Java, could furnish to make our short stay at the island as
+agreeable and instructive as possible was exhibited on the most lavish
+scale, and all that could be done to promote our objects in view by men of
+science, of which Java possesses a considerable number, and even some of
+European celebrity, was offered with the most praiseworthy alacrity.
+Several eminent scholars and naturalists, headed by the renowned
+ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who shortly before had been decorated with an
+Austrian order of merit for his valuable contributions to our knowledge of
+the natural history of the Sunda Islands, did the honours, so to speak,
+for the members of the scientific commission, of whom they became the
+constant companions.</p>
+
+<p>The very day we landed we visited the Museum, in the company of our new
+friends, where we found an extremely interesting and most valuable
+collection, principally of ethnographic objects. Here we saw idols of the
+palmy days of Buddhism, made of bronze and silver, beautifully carved,
+which came from the interior of Java, as also from Sumatra and the Engano
+Islands; clothes of the bark of trees, garments
+<!--194.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span>of
+fish-scales, of a
+species of <i>Scarus</i> (probably <i>Scarus Schlosserii</i>), head-gear, armlets,
+and necklaces of the teeth of men and wild animals, richly adorned
+"creeses" or Malay daggers, lances and arrows of bamboo, whose iron heads
+were poisoned by a wash of arsenic mixed with lemon-juice; a great variety
+of musical instruments, among which were specimens of the well-known and
+singular <i>Gamelang</i>, which consists of a row of bells of all sizes and
+tones, which are struck with slender pieces of bamboo, and makes a regular
+orchestra of bells. There was also a very singular-looking collection of
+parasols, which as used by the natives are emblems of rank, and of which
+there are no less than thirty different kinds. Any one may carry a simple
+green, or blue, or black parasol, but those with gold thread or gold
+tassels are only permitted to be used by persons of a certain social
+standing, so that one may always know the social position of a Javanese by
+the parasol he carries, just as among the Chinese, rank is indicated by
+the number of peacock feathers, and the colour of the button on the
+bonnet. The higher the rank, the broader is the gilded fringe, so that the
+parasol of a Javanese prince of the highest rank is all gold together, and
+when fully expanded consists of three parasols, one above the other, which
+open by one and the same movement. Most of these parasols, prepared from
+the leaves of the screw-pine, are imported hither from China.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the rooms is a statue of Durga, one of the goddesses of the old
+Hindoo mythology, moulded in metal, a present
+<!--195.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span>from
+the Sultan of
+Surakarta in the centre of Java to one of the former governors of the
+island, who presented this fine specimen of native art to the Museum. A
+large number of Javanese and Sunda MSS., written on palm-leaves, have been
+placed by, and at the expense of, the government in the hands of Dr.
+Friedrich, a German philologist, to be deciphered and translated. In the
+same apartment we saw a large number of trachytes, with very beautiful
+sculptures and inscriptions, as also several figures from the island of
+Bali, quite modern in aspect, carved in wood and coarsely painted,
+representing some beautiful female figures; other hideous caricatures,
+which are used by the natives as decorations of their household altar, but
+without any religious significance being attached to them. The fact that
+these sculptures are no longer, as formerly, executed in stone, but are
+carved in wood, may be held to evidence the decay of this branch of art. A
+rather considerable craniological collection, comprising some 60 heads of
+the various types of races inhabiting the Malay Archipelago and the
+adjoining continent, was in the most handsome manner presented to the
+Expedition, and must, considering the many difficulties which stand in the
+way of our acquiring correct scientific knowledge of this interesting
+question, especially among races inhabiting uncivilized countries, be
+regarded as an exceedingly valuable addition to our collections of objects
+of natural history at home.</p>
+
+<p>The Ethnographic Museum and the library attached are, however, only
+branches thrown out by the indefatigable
+<!--196.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span>activity
+of the oldest
+scientific society in Java, the <i>Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en
+Wetenschappen</i>, which, founded in 1778 by the Europeans then resident in
+Batavia, has since that period published some thirty volumes of valuable
+statistics of the various objects of which it takes cognizance, and is in
+correspondence with upwards of 150 learned societies. Since 1852 there has
+also appeared under the auspices of this Society, conducted by three
+members of the direction, Dr. Bleeker, Mr. Netscher, and Mr. Munnich, a
+monthly journal of Indian History, as also of physical and ethnographic
+statistics (the "<i>Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal Land en Volkenkunde</i>"),
+of which seven volumes have already appeared, published in 8vo. Not less
+valuable, especially in the interests of natural science, is the
+Association known as the "<i>Natuurkundige Vereeniging</i>," which has been in
+existence since 1850, and, under the superintendence of that indefatigably
+active scholar Dr. Bleeker, has within that period published a
+considerable number of most interesting memoirs, while the Society for the
+advancement of Medical Science (<i>Vereeniging tot Bevordering der
+Geneeskundige Wetenschappen in Nederlandsch Indie</i>), under the guidance of
+the distinguished Dr. G. Wassink, has given to the world through its
+annual publications a large variety of experiences and observations on the
+study of Medicine.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> All these scientific institutions are the more
+deserving of commendation, when we reflect that there are but 6000
+emigrants
+<!--197.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span>from
+Holland, scattered abroad throughout the Netherland
+Indies, of whom only some 3000 are in Batavia, and that the white
+population is for the most part constantly changing. It is obvious this
+latter condition must have this prejudicial effect, that the various
+branches of scientific inquiry cannot always enjoy a uniform degree of
+attention, and that the task of maintaining them in a proper degree of
+efficiency must depend almost exclusively upon the continuance in office
+and constant attention of individuals. Owing to this frequency of change
+the active prosecution of scientific inquiry has undergone marked
+fluctuations in Batavia, and while occasionally it was at the lowest ebb,
+so to speak, at another time, as happily was the case at the period of our
+visit, it presents, in the convergence of numerous powerful minds devoted
+to the pursuit of knowledge, the imposing spectacle of a strong set of
+public opinion towards intellectual enjoyment and cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>Accompanied by Dr. Bleeker the members of the Expedition visited several
+of the most interesting of the public institutions, the establishment of
+which reflects the greatest honour on the government, as well as the
+public-spirited individuals who projected them. The Military and Civil
+Hospital at Tjiliwoeng, or Great River, does not indeed present the
+palace-like appearance of the Misericordia Hospital at Rio, but the small
+neat buildings, one storey high, scattered among beautiful flower-gardens,
+and occupying a flat space of great extent, are kept scrupulously clean,
+and are
+<!--198.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span>arranged
+with great comfort. Six physicians are on duty here, and
+the most exemplary care and attention are bestowed on patients. Officers
+and public servants who fall sick have, in particular, large, light, airy,
+elegantly furnished apartments; other patients are received into lofty,
+well-ventilated, spacious halls, usually holding from 50 to 60 beds.
+Altogether the hospital can accommodate 600 patients. The most common
+diseases are dysentery, intermittent fever, and heart and liver
+complaints. Here we saw numerous cases of <i>Beri-Beri</i> (the Barbiers of
+English medical writers), that singular, usually incurable disease which
+begins with intermittent fever, and generally ends with paralysis of the
+spinal chord. In the year 1857, of 500 patients at Batavia no fewer than
+348 were attacked with this frightful complaint, of whom 249 died within a
+brief space. In the medical section of the <i>Novara</i> publications will be
+found a complete account of this most interesting malady, which
+fortunately is very limited in its ravages, and hitherto has been almost
+exclusively confined to the natives.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the wards we were shown a Dutch sailor labouring under an
+asthmatic attack, whose hands and feet had been shockingly mutilated in
+1846 by pirates in the Straits of Malacca. We also found among the
+patients several German sailors and soldiers, whose transports of joy were
+unmistakeable on hearing once more the sound of their native language, and
+at the opportunity of conversing with a
+fellow-countryman.<!--199.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The heavy expense of building in Batavia, and the anxious vigilance
+exercised over those of the community who are sick, will best be
+understood from the fact that one single new ward, making up from 60 to 80
+beds, cost the government about 60,000 guilders (£5000). One of the
+buildings, at a little distance from the rest, is set apart for female
+invalids, as also for lunatics and sick prisoners. Attached to this
+hospital is a school of midwifery for the instruction of native women in
+obstetrics, which at the period of our visit was attended by sixteen women
+from various islands in the Malay Archipelago, and which, in a land where
+the birth of a child is accompanied by so many superstitious and hideous
+ceremonies, cannot fail to be followed by most beneficial results.</p>
+
+<p>One very important and useful establishment is the Javanese medical school
+(<i>Geneeskundige School voor Inlanders</i>), which, founded in 1851 by Mr.
+Bosch, at that period chief of the medical staff, is intended to supply
+the sons of the more prominent natives of Java and the adjacent islands
+with a thorough training in and acquaintance with the art of medicine as
+practised in Europe. Government defrays the travelling expenses of these
+youths, as also all expenses of maintenance and education. Among the
+four-and-twenty scholars here, we saw sons of native princes of Java,
+Palembang, Celebes, Amboina, Ceram, Sumatra, and Borneo, who intended
+following up the profession; and it is worthy of remark that two natives
+of Menado in the island of Celebes of the
+<!--200.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span>savage
+cannibal race of the
+Alfuras, were pointed out to us as among the most apt and docile of the
+scholars! Those of the students who are Christians, are clothed in the
+dress of Europeans, the rest, chiefly Mahométans, wear Oriental attire.
+Instruction is imparted in Malay, since as a rule not one of the students
+on entering the college understands a word of Dutch. For the same reason
+the books usually employed in instruction cannot be made use of, while,
+owing to the poverty of the Malay language, any translation into it must
+be fraught with difficulty. All technical names are therefore converted
+into Latin. The course of instruction is carried on the first year in the
+class-room, the second by the bed-side of the patient, or the dead body.
+After strict and thorough examination each pupil receives a diploma as a
+"Doctor&mdash;Java," besides a monthly salary of from £2 2<i>s.</i> to £2 10<i>s.</i>,
+and an outfit of the most important drugs and surgical instruments. By
+this system some fifty young men have already returned to their homes as
+physicians and government officials, and thus greatly contribute to the
+extension of European civilization.</p>
+
+<p>In the chief streets of Batavia the stranger comes upon some small open
+watch-houses, or rather huts, consisting simply of four poles and a roof
+of palm thatch, in which is suspended a long, slender piece of wood
+(<i>Tong-tong</i>), which is used for three different objects. The Javanese who
+in this little hut is watching over the property and personal safety of
+the inhabitants, strikes the <i>Tong-tong</i> with a sort of drum-stick, in
+<!--201.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span>order
+to announce the hours of the night, or to give notice of the
+outbreak of a fire, or in case of any one <i>running a-muck</i>. This singular
+phenomenon, in which a Malay with open knife or drawn dagger rushes madly
+through the streets, and seeks to kill every one he encounters, occurs
+perhaps a dozen times a year. The first murder is very probably
+intentional, the offspring of hate or revenge, but that once accomplished,
+the murderer, usually under the influence of opium, runs recklessly
+forward through the streets, with the wild cry of "Amok"&mdash;"Amok"
+(Kill!&mdash;Kill!), knocking down and stabbing whoever he encounters. As one
+can only approach the miscreant at the peril of one's life, there is kept
+in these watch-houses a peculiarly constructed weapon of long wooden
+staves, and shaped at the upper end not unlike a hay-fork, with which the
+desperate wretch can be seized. The various methods in which the Tong-tong
+is struck at once conveys notice as to which one of the three
+announcements conveyed by the instrument it is the watchman's object to
+make.</p>
+
+<p>The natives, although they divide themselves into the Java and Sunda
+nations, belong nevertheless to the same race, viz. the Malay, and are
+readily recognizable by their short thickset form, round face, wide mouth,
+short narrow nose, small black eyes, by their brown complexion, verging on
+yellow, and their luxuriant but always rough and coarse hair. As to their
+moral characteristics, the Javanese are a mild, easily contented,
+temperate, simple, industrious people. The principal occupation of the
+10,000,000 inhabitants of
+<!--202.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span>Java
+and Madura, is agriculture, which with
+them is at least equally, if not in a much higher degree, understood by
+them than by any other Asiatic community, with the exception of the
+Chinese. This is apparent from the neatness and careful cultivation of
+their fields, the excellent condition of their farm-stock, the careful
+observance of seed-time and harvest, and above all by their regular
+irrigation of the soil. When Java first became known to Europeans, the
+chief produce of the island consisted of rice, leguminous vegetables,
+indigo, and cotton. Intercourse with Europe has superadded to these two
+American products, maize and tobacco, and one African, coffee.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The
+Javanese have even less time for the mechanical arts than for agricultural
+pursuits, yet in the construction of boats and dwelling-houses, as also in
+making agricultural implements, shields and weapons of war, they have more
+aptitude than the majority of the people of the Malay Archipelago.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> The
+only other stuff, except cotton, of which they make clothing is silk,
+chiefly the raw, coarse, Chinese silk; all endeavours to naturalize the
+silk production in these islands having failed hitherto.</p>
+
+<!--203.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In addition to the ordinary language used for communication and every-day
+purposes there are in Java two special idioms,&mdash;Javanese in the centre and
+east of the island, and Sunda in the west of the island. The small river
+Losari in the province of Cheribon on the north side of the island
+indicates the boundary line of the two languages. Owing to the
+circumstance that both the idioms are used in Cheribon, many writers have
+deduced thence the origin of the name of that province, which signifies in
+Javanese "mingled," or mixed. The Javanese tongue, which of the two is far
+the more highly cultivated, has been a written language for untold ages,
+and its alphabet is universally used among the Sunda groups as well as in
+the adjoining Malay groups. Various inscriptions in stone and brass carry
+us back in the history of Java to the 12th century, and it would almost
+seem that the Javanese at that period had already attained the same degree
+of civilization as when four centuries later the Europeans for the first
+time landed on their soil.</p>
+
+<p>Of the original Javanese language there are three dialects,&mdash;the language
+of the populace (Ngoko), or low Javanese, the ceremonial language (Kromo),
+known as high Javanese, and the old mystical dialect, or <i>Kawi</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Javanese has borrowed a number of words from Sanscrit, Arabic, and
+Telingu, especially since the introduction of religion and commerce.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most important events in the history of the Javanese was their
+conversion to Brahmanism, and still
+<!--204.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span>later
+to Mahometanism. The precise
+period at which the first of these took place seems to be as yet quite
+uncertain, but this much is known, that from the 13th to the 15th century
+Brahmanism prevailed in Java. The conversion of the Javanese to Islam,
+whose religion is at present professed by the great majority of the
+inhabitants,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> took place in 1478 under the ruler of Salivana, after
+Arabian, Persian, Malay, and Mahometan Hindoos had since the year 1358
+vainly endeavoured to introduce that faith.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>In addition to the native population there is also a large number of
+foreign settlers in Java, of whom the Chinese constitute far the largest
+contingent. Their number is above 140,000, and would be much greater were
+their attempts at colonization not kept down by numerous limitations, and
+heavy taxes and imposts. The Chinese, who in more than one respect may be
+regarded as the Jews of India, are only admitted by the Indian Government
+at certain points of the coast, and in many of the Regencies must not
+transgress those limits. Although they are extraordinarily industrious,
+ingenious, and well suited for hard labour, yet the government
+<!--205.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span>is
+of
+opinion that their unchecked intercourse with the natives would inevitably
+prove prejudicial to the latter, who are plundered by the Chinese in every
+possible manner. Their main, indeed sole, object is to make money, and at
+all public auctions it is they who chiefly buy at a small price, and
+directly afterwards succeed in getting off their purchases at an enormous
+advance. One can purchase of these Chinese dealers at prices almost
+unheard of for cheapness, but quality and lasting capabilities are not
+guaranteed. A German writer compares the Kampong or Chinese quarter to a
+Polish country town on a fair day. Every house and store is crammed with
+all manner of useless trash, and everywhere there is the utmost bustle.
+The most various articles are exposed for sale in each magazine. Here too
+are found the Chinese theatrical booths, in which at various hours
+throughout the day Chinese comedians, richly dressed in Chinese fashion,
+perform Chinese plays, which are applauded by a numerous ragged auditory,
+collected in the open space in front!</p>
+
+<p>Each Chinese colony, or <i>Kampong</i>, has a chief, appointed by government,
+with the title of lieutenant, captain, or major, available within the
+limits of the Kampong, but which, it is needless to say, confers no
+military privileges. Those of the Chinese residing in Java belong to
+mutual societies, whose members assist each other, and which have not
+merely humanitarian, but also political tendencies.</p>
+
+<p>We are in possession of the affiliation-ticket of a member
+<!--206.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span>of
+the native
+Chinese society of Hoei, or Tuité-Huy (Brotherhood of the Heavens and the
+Earth), printed on a fabric of reddish cotton, which bears 91 various
+written characters, for the following translation of which, as also for
+the accompanying particulars respecting the objects of this very
+remarkable society, we are indebted to the kindness of the renowned
+Chinese scholar, Professor J. Neumann of Munich:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth frankly declares that it
+considers itself called on by the Supreme Being to put an end to the
+frightful contrast between wealth and poverty. In its view the possessors
+of earthly power and wealth have come into this world under the same
+ceremonies, and leave it in the same manner, as their defrauded brothers,
+the poor and oppressed. The Supreme Being never willed that millions
+should be held in slavery by a few thousands. Father Heaven and Mother
+Earth have never conferred on the few thousands the right to swallow up
+the property of millions of their brethren for the mere satiating their
+own luxury. To the rich and powerful their fortunes were never bestowed by
+the Supreme Being as an exceptional right; it consists rather in the
+labour and the 'sweat of the brow' of the millions of their oppressed
+brethren. The sun with his beaming face, the earth with her treasures of
+wealth, the universe with all its joys, are boons common to all, and must
+be seized from the grasp of the few thousands for the satisfaction of the
+necessities of the naked millions. The world must ultimately be purged of
+all oppression and woe;
+<!--207.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span>this
+must be initiated in brotherly unity, must
+be steadily followed up with mind and hand, and must be completed. The
+good seed of this brotherhood must not be stifled beneath noxious weeds,
+rather is it our duty to root up these noxious weeds, that overshadow all
+things, to the benefit and advancement of the good seed. The problem, be
+it frankly confessed, is a mighty and a difficult one, but let each man
+bethink him, that there is no victory, no redemption without storm and
+strife. Until the great majority of the dwellers of all the cities of each
+province have taken the oath of fidelity, each man may continue outwardly
+to obey the mandarins, and ingratiate himself with the police by presents.
+Ill-timed demonstrations will injure the plan. So soon as the majority of
+the inhabitants in each city and province has acceded to the bond of our
+union, the old monarchy must fall to the ground, and we shall be able to
+found the new reign upon the ruins of the old. Millions of grateful
+brethren shall honour the founders of our brotherhood after they shall
+have gone to the grave, mindful of the mighty benefit they have
+conferred;&mdash;the redemption from chains and bondage of a ruined social
+system."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 697px;">
+<img src="images/illu208.png" width="697" height="690" alt="An octagonal table of symbols." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Seal of Union of the Brotherhood of the Heavens and the
+Earth.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The seal of union of this Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth is
+engraved with numerous hieroglyphics, and many-cornered in its inner
+circumference, emblematic of the supreme states of felicity, according to
+Chinese notions, viz. wisdom, justice, posterity, honour, and riches.
+These five states of felicity correspond to their five elements, earth,
+<!--208.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span>wood,
+water, metal, fire, whose symbols figure at the corner of the seal.
+Immediately below are seen certain other engraved emblems, indicating
+mighty undaunted leaders, ancient heroes of China, who are standing
+closely together with unshaken front. Then follow a number of proverbs,
+partly of symbolic significance, and in rhythmical sayings, such
+as:<!--209.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In close array the ranks of heroes stand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Obedient to the master-mind's command.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>One tie unites the old and the young brethren; in order of battle old and
+young are intermingled. Each man stands ready to obey the smallest signal
+of his immediate commander. As the swollen mountain torrent spreads itself
+over the level ground, innumerable bands of these pour forth on all sides:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mingle brown, and white, and red,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And strike till ev'ry foe lie dead.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The by-laws of this secret society are so strict that there is hardly an
+example on record of a member incurring a denunciation, or being guilty of
+treason. In consequence of the cloud of mystery which envelopes these
+societies, they are the more dangerous, because unassailable by the
+government. And accordingly, all precautions hitherto taken for
+suppressing these secret societies of the Chinese population have proved
+unavailing. Secret societies however are anything but forbidden under
+Dutch rule in Java,&mdash;on the contrary, it is rather <i>bon ton</i> to belong to
+some one of the lodges of freemasonry existent out there.</p>
+
+<p>Before setting out on our excursion into the interior of Java, we had an
+opportunity of being present at the festivities which it is customary to
+get up on the occasion of the reception of an embassy from one of the
+native princes. On the present occasion it was the ministers of the Kings
+of the
+<!--210.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span>Island
+of Lombok,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> eastward of Java, who had to deliver on
+behalf of their illustrious masters letters for H. E. the Governor-general
+of the Dutch East Indies. During the whole of their stay they were
+maintained at the expense of government in the house of a specially
+appointed master of the ceremonies, a native of the Island of Borneo, and
+nephew of the Sultan of Pontianab, whose official position imposes upon
+him the duty of showing all that is worth seeing in the city to these
+occasional illustrious Malay guests. Both ministers were accompanied
+everywhere by a Malay dolmetsch, although they spoke Javanese with the
+utmost fluency, in addition to their mother tongue.</p>
+
+<p>On the day of the reception they made their appearance in ceremonial
+dress, and in gala "turn-outs," at the government palace, where they were
+presented to the Governor-general by the Resident of Batavia, the highest
+authority in the city. The master of the ceremonies took charge of the
+letters of the Kings of Lombok, as also of two immense spears, at least
+twelve feet long, each richly gilt and gaily bedecked with yellow
+tissue,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> which were presented by the ambassadors as presents from the
+Kings of Lombok to the Governor-general.
+<!--211.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span>It
+is however strictly forbidden
+to the Dutch employés to accept any presents of the most trifling nature,
+and even in cases such as the present, where the refusal of the gifts
+would be an insult to the donor, all such must be sold for the benefit of
+the treasury, or at least a corresponding amount must be returned by the
+receiver out of the state treasury. Accordingly, it is the custom to
+recompense all presents made by the various regents with others of far
+greater value.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>At the entrance to the palace a guard of honour of European soldiers was
+drawn up in full uniform, between whose ranks the ambassadors were ushered
+into the hall of reception. One of the attendants now held a large
+rich-looking, highly-gilt parasol above the letter of the Kings of Lombok,
+which was borne along by the master of the ceremonies on a silver waiter.
+A similar mark of distinction was conferred on the two ambassadors and the
+resident. The Governor-general in full official uniform, and surrounded by
+a number of government officials, received the embassy on a platform,
+where he sat on a beautifully covered gilt chair,
+<!--212.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span>canopied
+with costly
+tapestry. The elder of the two ambassadors, having been introduced by the
+resident, thereupon proceeded to say that he was charged to present the
+homage of his master to the Dutch Government, and to remit a letter. On a
+formal sign by the Governor-general, the government interpreter, Mr.
+Nitscher, took the letter off the silver waiter, at which moment a salute
+of nine cannon-shot was fired in the garden behind the palace, to announce
+to the people outdoors the moment at which the king's letter had been
+received. The letter, enveloped in yellow silk, and written in Malay with
+Arabic characters, was thereupon opened by the government interpreter, and
+read with a loud voice, after which it was translated into Dutch. In a
+similar manner the reply of the Governor-general was translated for the
+two ambassadors into the Malay language.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after these stiff and wearisome formalities had been gone
+through, the ambassadors were invited to occupy chairs that had been
+specially prepared for them next the Governor-general, when a short
+exchange took place of civilities and commonplace phrases, until the
+Governor-general gave the signal for breaking up, by rising from his seat.
+The ambassadors were thereupon ushered forth in the same ceremonious
+manner in which they had entered.</p>
+
+<p>The occasion of the present embassy was a dispute with the Sultan of
+Sumbawa, in which the Kings of Lombok invoked the mediation of the Dutch
+Government. The Sultan of Sumbawa had in fact refused to restore two
+subjects of
+<!--213.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span>the
+Kings of Lombok who had fled to Sumbawa. But for the
+preponderating influence of the Dutch Government the two disputants would
+long before have resorted to war.</p>
+
+<p>On the 13th May we set forth in two large and very comfortable coaches for
+Buitenzorg (signifying in Dutch "on the farther side of sorrow"), the
+usual residence of the Governor-general, who only comes to Batavia on
+certain days in the month to give audiences. He had not alone invited the
+members of the Expedition to visit the Preanger Regencies as guests of the
+government, and caused arrangements to be made for their ascending with as
+little trouble as possible the volcanic peak of Gunung Pangerango (10,194
+feet), but likewise detached one of his adjutants, M. de Kock, and Dr.
+Bleeker, both well acquainted with the natural history of the country, to
+accompany us upon this excursion. Messengers were sent in advance, to
+announce our approach at each station, so as to secure us a comfortable
+and courteous reception wherever we wished to pass a few hours, or to take
+a night's rest.</p>
+
+<p>Buitenzorg is distant from the capital 39 paals or Javanese miles,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>
+which distance, thanks to the excellence of the roads and the horses in
+Java, is traversed in about three hours, two "loopers," or runners, as is
+the custom here, as elsewhere
+<!--214.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span>in
+the East, accompanying each coach, who
+are incessantly on and off the waggon, yelling and cracking their long
+whips at the horses to keep them to their speed. About every five paals,
+or 4&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> miles (English), the cattle and the runners are changed, so that
+an unvarying speed is attained. All along the roads stretches the
+telegraphic wire, which unites Batavia in one direction with Angier (75
+miles) and Surabaya (543 miles).<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> The wood of which each post is
+constructed is the <i>Kapok</i> tree, a species of <i>Gossypium</i>, or cotton tree,
+and here for the first time we saw the slender, tightly-strained wires
+suspended on the stem of a luxuriant green tree. Thus, if the experiment
+succeeds, the elsewhere naked, dead telegraph-poles will here be made at
+once useful and productive, as each post that supports the wire will
+produce a small quantity of cotton.</p>
+
+<p>Buitenzorg possesses one of the finest and most extensive botanical
+gardens in the world. It was laid out as far back as 1817, during the
+vice-royalty of Baron van Capellen. The distribution of the various orders
+is contrived equally to assist and promote the instruction of the general
+observer, and to accustom the naturalist to the phenomena of Eastern
+vegetation. Each order of plants has its own area. The various species of
+palms are the most extensively represented, and there is scarcely one of
+the
+<!--215.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span>genus,
+whether ornamental or useful, found in the Netherland Indies
+or Australia, of which a representative is not to be found here. The
+superintendence of this garden has been intrusted to that indefatigable
+<i>hortulanus</i>, Mr. J. C. Teijsmann, who in his department assisted to the
+utmost the objects of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition. He not only presented us
+with duplicates of all the more valuable plants in his very extensive
+collection, but also with valuable seeds. By such kind co-operation we
+found ourselves provided with some twenty various species of fibrous
+plants, amongst others the well-known Ramé-shrub (<i>Boehmeria utilis</i>), and
+that useful species of wild plantain, the <i>Musa textilis</i> (from the leaves
+of which is manufactured Manila hemp), as also twenty-four different
+species of rice. Of these latter two were of special interest, one needing
+no watering, but flourishing best in mountainous, dry soil, the other
+being chiefly used by the natives for the preparation of a dye.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Teijsmann has the great merit of having been the first to introduce
+into Java the cultivation of the valuable and costly Vanilla plant
+(<i>Vanilla planifolia</i>), by using artificial means of fructification, after
+all the many expensive experiments previously made had failed, because the
+insect which effects the fructification of the plant in its original
+climate, the West Indies, is not found in Java. At present the yield is so
+great, that not alone does Mr. Teijsmann annually secure and send to
+market several hundredweights of this aromatic pod, but several other
+landowners have applied themselves
+<!--216.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span>to
+the laying out of Vanilla
+plantations. The fruit, from six to ten inches in length, by three to five
+lines in width, of a dark brown colour, flexible, and somewhat unctuous to
+the touch, requires about five months to ripen. They are carefully dried,
+first in the shade and afterwards in the sun, and are then packed away in
+bundles in air-tight metal cases. One hundred pounds of fresh pods yield
+about one pound of the Vanilla of commerce. Formerly the value of a pound
+of Vanilla was as high as £6 sterling, but it is at present sold at about
+£4.</p>
+
+<p>In the beautifully situated Hotel Bellevue, where we lived while at
+Buitenzorg, we chanced to become acquainted with a curious individual, a
+young negro named Aquasie Boachi, son of an African prince of Coomassie,
+the chief city of the kingdom of Ashantee on the Gold Coast,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> who,
+while a child of nine years, had been sent by the colonial government to
+Europe, in order to be educated in Germany. It was the intention to make
+apparent what early education and instruction can do for the negro, and
+how the present low state of the black race is principally attributable to
+their oppression hitherto, and to the limited application, in their case,
+of European civilization. The experiment proved most satisfactory. Aquasie
+Boachi speaks German, English, Dutch, and French quite fluently, and holds
+a diploma, as mining engineer, from the
+<!--217.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span>mining
+academy of Freiberg in
+Saxony. He is a pupil of the celebrated Professor Bernhard Cotta, whom he
+still remembers with affection and gratitude. As Aquasie had become a
+Christian he could not, save at the risk of his life, return to his
+heathenish native land, to the bosom of his own family. The Dutch
+Government accordingly, regarding him in the light of a victim to
+philanthropical experiments, at present pays the young miner out of the
+state funds about £400 per ann., and occasionally employs him on mining
+researches. Aquasie had resolved to settle for life in Germany, where, as
+he told us, he felt himself thoroughly at home, but the climate did not
+agree with him, upon which he returned to Java, and had since occupied
+himself in coffee-culture.</p>
+
+<p>From the terrace of the hotel one enjoys a magnificent prospect bounded by
+the mountains around. On the right rises a lofty peak, whose summit-cone
+has been cloven into three pinnacles, the Gunung Salak 7204 feet
+(English), an extinct volcano, from which, however, in 1699 issued immense
+volumes of sand and mud, accompanied by columns of flames, tremendous
+bellowings, and convulsions of the soil. The torrent of liquid mud hurried
+along trunks of trees, carcasses of animals, tame as well as wild,
+crocodiles and fish, and, still preserving its character of a mud torrent,
+rushed into the sea near Batavia, stopping up the mouths of several rivers
+and brooks. Since then this colossal hill, torn to its innermost core by
+this fearful eruption, has remained silent, and peaceful fields,
+alternating with luxuriant forest,
+<!--218.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span>stretch
+upwards to the very flanks of
+its once dreaded summit. To the left of Gunung Salak, and in appearance
+and elevation far more imposing, stands out the Gedee Range. Its highest
+point is the tapering regular cone of Gunung Pangerango, still further to
+the left of which rises, almost equal in height, the bare rocky wall of
+the still active crater of Gunung Gedeh, from the abyss of which there
+occasionally issued light clouds of vapour. But this exquisite landscape
+unveils itself to the ravished view of the beholder only during the early
+hours of morning. By 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> thin vapours have gathered round those lofty
+summits, which gradually accumulate as noon approaches, until by 3 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>
+there is almost invariably a dense mass of clouds resting over the entire
+range, which very frequently dissolve with fearful violence in the shape
+of tremendous tropical thunder-storms. The annual rainfall at Buitenzorg
+would seem to be higher than at any other spot on the face of the earth.
+During some years it occasionally attains the depth of 200 inches
+(English), which is far beyond the utmost known in Central or Southern
+America.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<!--219.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The evening we spent at the residence of M. Van de Groote, inspector of
+the tin-mines of Banka and Borneo, who was of very great use to the
+geologist of the Expedition, and at whose hospitable house we met a number
+of personages of distinction.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning (14th May), before prosecuting our journey, we
+made an excursion to the neighbouring Batoetoelis (pronounced
+Batootoolis), as a number of trachytic rocks are called, to which young
+Javanese wives, who wish to become mothers, ascribe the most marvellous
+virtues. The inscriptions hewn on the stones have been deciphered by the
+German philologist, Dr. Friedrich. There is also shown a stone with a
+depression like a human foot, which tradition asserts to be the footstep
+of a native prophet, who is supposed to have stood thereon at a time when
+the mass was not yet solid and hardened. There evidently is some
+association of ideas similar to that of the Cingalese respecting Adam's
+Peak, but without the poetic colouring of the latter.</p>
+
+<p>From Buitenzorg we went to Tjipannas,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> a country-seat of the
+Governor-general, at the foot of Pangerango. The road from Buitenzorg to
+Tjipannas is part of the great post-road from Batavia to Surabaya, which
+just at this point
+<!--220.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span>traverses
+the mountain pass of Mengamendoeng, 4925
+feet high, an outlier of the Gedeh range. It passes at first through
+richly-cultivated properties, with splendid rice-crops, and a little
+further on through coffee plantations, after which comes uninhabited
+wilderness, when the road becomes so steep that a pair of buffalos are
+harnessed in front of the horses of each carriage. <i>En route</i> we visited
+at Pondok-Gedeh the beautiful property of the family of Van den Bosch,
+whose founder greatly distinguished himself in promoting the agricultural
+prosperity of the island, while Governor-general of the colony, 1830-33.
+In the extensive gardens here we saw several large species of <i>Vanilla</i>
+and <i>Cactus</i> (<i>Nopal</i>), the latter of which are devoted to the propagation
+and gathering of the diminutive cochineal insect, from which is procured
+such a valuable dye. In 1826, a pair of this very fecund insect were
+brought from Spain to Java, and at present<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> there are in Pondok-Gedeh
+alone 500,000 plants, from which between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds of
+cochineal are obtained annually, while other gardens of Nopal of equal
+size occur elsewhere throughout the island. We were also filled with
+astonishment at the variety and richness of the brushwood and forest
+trees, which the European is accustomed to see only as diminutive, tender
+specimens, the rare plants of a hot-house! Under the influence of a
+tropical climate, and a fruitful soil, the tea plant, the nutmeg, the
+cinnamon, the sugar-cane, the
+<!--221.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span>coffee
+bean, and the indigo, all flourish
+in wildest profusion, and the various warehouses are as crammed with the
+splendid produce of these valuable colonial staples as our northern
+granaries are with the necessaries of subsistence in the shape of dried
+fruits.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>Quite close to Pondok-Gedeh, amid the majestic mountain scenery of Gadok,
+is the <i>maison de Santé</i> of Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, which enjoys a
+well-earned reputation under the management of Dr. Bernstein, a German
+physician and naturalist. Invalid residents of the coast, when recovering
+from climatic diseases, make a point of hurrying to this institution, in
+order to benefit by the keen, bracing mountain air. Dr. Bernstein is, as
+far as his professional engagements will admit, at once a zealous
+collector, and a skilful preparer, who has already made some very
+beautiful collections, and who, if he stay here any length of time, will
+be in a position to enrich considerably the museums of natural history in
+Europe, with numerous rare and valuable specimens.</p>
+
+<p>Just at the summit of the pass of Megamendoeng (dark cloud), begin the
+Preanger Regencies. This pass moreover forms a boundary line between the
+Malay language, chiefly used for commercial transactions along the coast,
+and that of Sunda, the difference between which two idioms, as regards the
+uninformed stranger is only so far important, that in
+<!--222.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span>asking
+a native for
+a light for his cigar, he must now say "Sono," instead of "Api," as
+hitherto, always supposing that he is a smoker, a qualification which
+rarely fails to appertain to the inhabitants of the Dutch East Indies.</p>
+
+<p>Here, in a wooden building open on all sides, and commanding an exquisite
+panoramic view, we partook of a <i>déjeuner à la fourchette</i>, prepared quite
+in the European style, after which, amidst a drenching thunder-plump, we
+pursued our course to Tjipannas, which lies about 1000 feet below the
+level of the pass.</p>
+
+<p>At every village we passed, the authorities, as is the custom of the
+country, provided us with an escort. Thus we almost constantly had some 20
+or 30 persons riding behind our carriages. The poor people had indued
+themselves in their best apparel, and looked very pretty in their varied
+fantastic attire. Even the rain, which still continued to descend in
+torrents, did not prevent them from following us, in order to do justice
+to the requirements of Javanese etiquette. So too, every one whom we met
+on the road assumed a respectful attitude, resting on the knees in a
+half-kneeling position, and cowering down in the road with folded hands,
+till our vehicle had rolled by. All the villages we saw had a very neat,
+clean, cheerful appearance. The houses of the Javanese (with the exception
+of those of the native authorities) are as a rule built entirely of
+bamboo, part being of wicker-work, part of the cane placed either side by
+side, or above each other, the whole roofed in with palm-leaves, or
+<!--223.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span>Allang
+grass (<i>Imperata Allang</i>), or narrow shingles of cut bamboo, and
+with a flooring raised two or three feet above the level of the soil. The
+beautiful yellow wicker-work is usually stained in alternate squares of so
+black a colour that the walls of a Javanese hut resemble nothing so much
+as a gigantic draught-board. Under the eaves of the dwelling, which
+project five or six feet, and is supported in front upon poles, so that
+there is a sort of verandah beneath, are suspended cages with various
+feathered inhabitants, which the Javanese cherish with much tenderness, or
+else a very peculiarly constructed bee-hive, consisting of a bamboo-cane,
+six or nine inches thick by three or four feet in length, which is split
+through the centre, hollowed out, and fastened together again on the upper
+side.</p>
+
+<p>Through a small orifice left in front, this artificial cavity is within a
+week or two peopled with a swarm of tiny stingless bees (<i>Meliporia
+minuta</i>) which in the wild state inhabit the holes and cavities of the
+calcareous cliffs, and provide the Javanese with honey and wax. The latter
+product is blackish, slimy, and adhesive, and is employed in the
+delineation of the beautifully coloured figures in the gowns (<i>Sarongs</i>)
+of the native women.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 332px;">
+<img src="images/illu223.png" width="332" height="138" alt="A short length of
+hollowed-out bamboo or similar, hung horizontally." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Javanese
+Bee-hive.</span>
+</div><p><!--224.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the station of Tjianjawar, we were saluted, while changing horses, by a
+Javanese chief, from Tjiangoer, named Radben Rangga Padma Negara, who,
+despite the tremendous tropical rains, accompanied us on horseback in his
+rich uniform, overlaid with gold lace, as far as Tjipannas, where we were
+received by two government officials, and welcomed with the utmost
+cordiality. Here it was arranged we were to pass the night, so as, early
+the following morning, to make the ascent of Gunung Pangerango. We also
+found awaiting us a letter from Dr. Junghuhn, the renowned geologist and
+writer on the natural history of Java, who for years has resided about a
+day's journey from Tjipannas, at Lembang, at the foot of Tankuban-Prahu,
+and has latterly been engaged by government to superintend the china-plant
+cultivation. Dr. Junghuhn had come to meet us as far as Tjipodas, where
+the first attempts at cultivation of the china plant were being made with
+roots imported from South America, but, owing to a press of important
+business, was compelled to return to his own station before we reached the
+Preanger Regencies. This estimable German gentleman urgently besought us,
+by letter, to visit him in his forest abode, and painted in the most
+glowing colours the wonders of Nature, and the interest in a scientific
+point of view of his mighty mountain neighbour. At the same time he sent
+over his learned assistant, Dr. de Vrij, to welcome in his name the
+Austrian travellers, to explain to them in all their detail the
+Cinchona-plantations at the foot of Pangerango, and to
+<!--225.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span>enlighten
+them as
+to the present condition and prospects of this very important branch of
+cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of 15th May we set off on horseback for the Pangerango,
+which was covered with dense vapours, which wholly concealed it from view,
+and rather damped our hopes of enjoying a fine view from the summit. A
+path for horses has been made to the very top, and although at certain
+points this passes over exceedingly steep ground, yet the Javanese horses
+climb with such safety and dogged perseverance, even in the most dangerous
+spots, that one may leave these small but powerful animals to choose their
+way, with as much confidence as in the case of that most sure-footed of
+animals, the mule of South America. Our cavalcade consisted of thirty
+riders, while an immense number of natives took on themselves the duties
+of an honorary body-guard. The forests, usually so lonely, were now alive
+with hundreds of men, busy transporting our horses, provisions, couches,
+tables, and stores, which were all to be conveyed to the highest peak of
+the mountain, where we intended to spend the evening. After we had
+attained a considerable distance from Tjipannas, constantly ascending till
+we were about 4000 feet above it, we found the flanks of the mountain
+quite free of wood. The traveller sees a few villages scattered at random,
+and rides over grass pasturages, on which are feeding troops of buffalos,
+alternating with plantations of tobacco or coffee. But at the very point
+where the forest gradually begins, where gigantic trees have been left
+standing like so many
+<!--226.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span>sentinels,
+there it is that the amazed European
+falls in with most luxuriant beds of artichokes and strawberries, and is
+welcomed on this distant soil by all the well-known fruits of his remote
+home. The path leads past Tjipodas, into a deep narrow valley, overgrown
+with the most luxuriant vegetation, and thence through a forest of
+indescribable majesty, filled with the straight, tapering, pillar-shaped
+trunks, 80 to 100 feet in height, of the imposing Rasamala
+(<i>Liquidambar-Altingiana</i>), and a thoroughly tropical underwood of wild
+<i>Musaceæ</i>, and splendid tree-ferns, till finally the broad plateau-shaped
+Tjiburum (red-water) is reached. Here at an elevation of 5100 feet we
+found some Pasanggrahans, or resting-houses, erected by government for the
+shelter and accommodation of all travellers through these mountain
+solitudes, who may happen to be surprised by night, or inclement weather.
+Such hostelries are found everywhere in the interior of Java, especially
+in those districts where they are most likely to be needed by European
+travellers, or by government employés, during their frequent tours of
+inspection, in which they occasionally undergo severe privations. At
+Tjiburum, lying far above the regions inhabited by man, there is a small
+nursery of useful plants of colder climes, bearing ample testimony to the
+indefatigable activity of Mr. Teijsmann of Buitenzorg, to whom the
+community is moreover chiefly indebted for the laying out of the entire
+road to the summit of the mountain. As there was every indication of a
+severe storm coming on, and as we hoped by pressing forward
+<!--227.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span>to
+get to our
+goal before it should burst, we halted here only long enough to change
+horses. This done we again resumed the ascent, much refreshed by the
+delay, which imparted renewed vigour to climb the steep zig-zag pathway,
+which now led through a gloomy, silent forest, whence not a sound issued
+except the <i>blowing</i> of our cattle, as they breasted the steep, and far
+below us the hollow roar of the mountain brook, which swept through the
+valley beneath. We then found ourselves approaching nearer and nearer to
+some resounding torrent, which went on increasing, till to our amazement
+we suddenly perceived amid the keen cool mountain breezes a smoking
+cascade of hot water!! (<i>Tji-olok</i>, or Sulphur spring). This warm spring,
+with a temperature of 113° Fahr., which even at its source forms a
+tolerable-sized brook, issues with much spluttering from a trachytic rock
+close by the way-side, and rushes, brawling and foaming, down a narrow
+defile, overgrown with splendid tree-ferns, and which is crossed by means
+of a slight rustic bridge. Scarcely is it possible to conceive a richer
+landscape, recalling as it were the primeval days of earth in all the
+luxuriance of Nature in the flush of youth, than this forest of
+tree-ferns, enveloped in clouds of warm vapour, which rise from this
+volcanic spring, close alongside of a clear, cold mountain torrent, which
+just here leaps into the same chasm! This hot spring thus early indicates
+the presence of volcanic fires, which is further evidenced by a tract of
+volcanic débris, over which it is necessary to clamber, and which has been
+<!--228.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span>ejected
+by the destructive energies of the neighbouring active crater of
+Gedeh, from which the subterranean forces usually throw up, not red-hot
+lava-streams, but from time to time tremendous stone and mud currents,
+which, rushing down the steep flanks of the mountain, overrun and destroy
+everything around.</p>
+
+<p>About 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> we reached Kandang Badak, or the spot where rhinoceroses
+assemble, which is the second station, 7200 feet above sea-level. Solitary
+specimens of the formidable animals which have given their name to this
+place are still met with here; but a troop of some hundred men,
+accompanied by almost as many horses, must necessarily make such a din in
+the usually solitary forest, as at once to account for our being unable by
+personal observation to speak as to whether it deserves the name it has
+received. The rhinoceros, despite his immense size, is a shy, timid
+animal, who flees before man, and only attacks him when fairly compelled
+to do so in self-defence. The Pasanggrahan erected at this spot has
+several times already been burnt down by red-hot stones ejected from
+Gedeh. Here the path divides, one branch leading to the still active
+crater of Gedeh, which can only be reached on foot, the other leading to
+the summit of Pangerango. For the second time we changed horses, and now
+had the last bit of the way before us&mdash;the steep, almost precipitous, cone
+of Pangerango. It was enveloped in thick clouds, and it was only by the
+short windings of the path we could realize that we were riding up an
+isolated
+<!--229.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span>cone
+of regular form, the slope of which was between 25 and 30
+degrees. The cool air of these elevated regions now began to make itself
+felt, while our sensations bodily testified to the northern character of
+the vegetation around us. The tree-ferns indeed continued to grow up to
+the very highest point, but long ere reaching the summit they ceased to be
+found among the gigantic forest-pillars of the <i>Liquid-ambar</i>, but grew
+between dwarfish, knotted, stunted trees, whose trunks were overrun with a
+bright green moss, while from the branches hung festoons of greyish-green
+beard-moss (<i>Tillandsia usnioides</i>), greatly resembling hair. The trees,
+instead of stretching out their brown limbs to the air and light above,
+left them to droop sullenly to the ground, turning themselves, as though
+in pain, away from the rude wind which swept through their branches, and,
+as it were, seeking for warmth and sustenance from mother Earth alone. All
+the plants here showed a tendency to become creepers, as also to a
+circumscribed growth and extent of foliage, as well as uniformity of
+species. By 3 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> the whole party, including a rear-guard of irregular
+naturalists and sharp-shooters, had finally reached the summit of the
+mountain. When Dr. Junghuhn, the first man who trod this solitude, made
+the earliest ascent of this mountain in 1839, he found not a trace of a
+human step, and had painfully to make his way by rhinoceros-paths, beneath
+a thick overhanging canopy of leaves, and through dense underwood. Thus he
+finally succeeded in forcing a passage through the forest, till he emerged
+upon a naked patch
+<!--230.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span>in
+the middle of the peak, where a rhinoceros was
+lying in the middle of the stream, while another was browsing on the edge
+of the forest: they fled snorting away on beholding him. How different was
+what we now witnessed on the same spot!</p>
+
+<p>The flat space on the summit, somewhat concave in shape, and sinking
+gradually away, the deepest part being towards the S.W., whence issues the
+highest spring in Java, now resembled the bivouac of a detachment of
+troops. Everywhere were men and horses, with cheerful blazing fires for
+cooking and warming, while immediately adjoining a strawberry garden
+filled with delicious fruit, rose a hut for shelter against wind and
+weather, in which we found a surprising degree of comfort. Tables, chairs,
+beds, excellent provisions and drinkables, were ready for us at an
+elevation of more than 9000 feet above the level of the sea, so that there
+was nothing wanting which could in any way contribute to our comfort. Even
+the necessary warmth was supplied by a huge iron stove, constantly kept
+supplied with fresh fuel by a Javanese servant, cowering on the ground.
+This was the more necessary that our systems, accustomed of late to
+tropical temperature, were unusually susceptible to this sudden and
+extreme change. In the morning when we left Tjipannas the thermometer even
+at that early hour marked 70°, while the mercury had now sunk to 48°.22
+Fahr. The longings we so often expressed, during a sojourn for months
+together on the bosom of the ocean, amid the moist, sultry strata of the
+lower atmosphere, in an almost unvarying Turkish-bath-like temperature
+<!--231.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span>of
+86°, of being once more re-invigorated by a little cold, were now being
+gratified to the letter.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately our anticipated enjoyment of the view from the summit was
+entirely frustrated by rain and cloud: we could hardly see anything a
+hundred yards distant, and the only idea we could form of the gigantic
+mountains and splendid hill-scenery that we knew surrounded us on all
+hands, had to be derived chiefly from the topographical charts we found in
+the hut. It was only during the occasional fleeting glimpses, when the
+S.E. trade-wind of the upper atmosphere, generally the chief ruler of
+these lofty regions, and almost always accompanied by a pure, blue sky,
+overpowered the N.W. trade (which blew from beneath; and, trending upwards
+along the cleft in the western side of the crater of Mondolawangi,
+continually enveloped anew in clouds the summit of the Pangerango), that
+it was permitted us to descry, now here, now there, small stretches of the
+country lying spread out at our feet, or to perceive closer at hand the
+inner slope of the crater of Gedeh, lying exposed to our wondering vision.
+We did what we could to secure a few thermometrical and barometrical
+observations, as also to shoot, to geologize, to botanize; and many a
+valuable discovery was made ere night set in and compelled us to seek
+shelter against the raw, cold night air, in the Pasanggrahan, which had
+been so carefully fitted up for our accommodation. On the summit we found
+quite an accumulation of various elegant little plants, which recalled to
+us
+<!--232.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span>the
+Alpine districts of our own land, one of which, first discovered
+by Junghuhn, and named by him <i>Primula Imperialis</i>,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> is one of the
+loveliest flowers in Nature, and which has never yet been found in any
+other part of the globe; while in the brushwood around we heard the cooing
+of a bird of the thrush species (<i>Turdus fumidus</i>), which, with the
+exception of a small, very elegant little fellow, somewhat resembling the
+willow-wren, was the sole representative of the feathered tribe in these
+elevated regions.</p>
+
+<p>All our hopes were now directed towards the ensuing morning, which it was
+hoped would bring us better weather. By five in the morning every one was
+on foot, watching with anxious look the advent of the star of day. But
+alas! ere long all was once more enveloped for us in a dense but fine
+vapour, and the thermometer indicated only 47°.33 Fahr.</p>
+
+<p>About fifty feet higher than the two huts for shelter erected on the
+plateau rises a trigonometrical pole, which, visible from a great
+distance, serves as a land-mark for the government surveyors during their
+labours in this neighbourhood. Any clear morning, when the sky is free
+from clouds, one must enjoy from this free, airy out-look a splendid
+distant view over a large portion of the Preanger Regency. As for
+ourselves our panorama continued to be lamentably circumscribed, and all
+we could do was, to watch for those fleeting
+<!--233.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span>moments
+during which the
+clouds lifted and gave us a brief yet comprehensive glimpse of the
+wondrous natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.</p>
+
+<p>Pangerango, 9326 Paris, or 9940 English, feet in height, is the loftiest
+of the extinct volcanic cones of Java, rising on the eastern slope of an
+enormous crater-gulf, likewise extinct. Close in the vicinity, not above a
+mile distant to the S.E., and communicating with it by the ridge of Pasce
+Alang, 7000 (Paris) feet in height, rises another volcanic peak, Gunung
+Gedeh, of almost precisely identical height (9323 Paris, or 9937 English,
+feet). Its summit has fallen in, and from amid the débris on the floor of
+this ruined crater rises a second cone far less in height, but in full
+activity, with a deep crater, which is the true fiery gorge of the still
+active Gedeh. Towards 7 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> the clouds dispersed for a considerable
+space, when directly opposite us we saw the beautifully regular cone of
+Gedeh, with its perpendicular precipitous crater-wall, some 600 or 700
+feet high. So near, indeed, did it appear to the eye that we could almost
+fancy it possible to throw a stone from the one summit to the other, so
+that it should fall exactly into the crater, from amid whose rents and
+cavities thick volumes of smoke were bursting forth at several points.</p>
+
+<p>By 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> our caravan was once more under weigh on our return to
+Tjipannas. The geologist of the Expedition, however, accompanied by Dr.
+Vrij and one of the government employés, set off upon a rather dangerous
+adventure, viz.
+<!--234.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span>the
+ascent of the Gedeh. Of this interesting excursion,
+Dr. Hochstetter gives the following interesting details:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A short distance before reaching the station of Kandung Badak, the path
+leaves the road by which we had come thus far. Here we had to clamber
+upwards as best we might, by a narrow path densely overgrown, and
+evidently but rarely traversed, till presently we emerged from the forest
+upon a tract of loose stone and scoriæ, which, sparsely covered with low
+bushes and grass, forms the upper portion of the peak of Gedeh. A strong
+odour of sulphuretted hydrogen greeted us here, issuing from a Solfatara,
+which nestled under the true crater in a deep savage cleft of rock. Hot
+sulphureous and watery vapours were emitted from among the dark crannies
+of the rock, the upper edges of which were coloured yellow with pure
+sulphur: with much difficulty we still pressed on, and finally reached the
+edge of the ruined crater. What a contrast presented itself here in the
+view before us and the landscape behind!</p>
+
+<p>"Behind we could see from base to summit clear and unbroken the beautiful
+luxuriantly-green well-wooded peak of Pangerango, on whose highest point
+stood out near and distinct the trigonometrical pole, or land-mark, while
+from the forest was heard an occasional musket-shot, sure sign that the
+company of travellers from the ship were on their way down. On the other
+hand, when we cast our eyes forward we saw but dismal desolate groups of
+grey rock, around the lofty amphitheatre-shaped rock wall of the
+<!--235.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span>broken-down
+lip of a crater, regularly constructed of pillar-like masses
+of trachyte, each sundered from the column immediately adjoining, beneath
+which was the smoking cone of the active region of the crater, a bare heap
+of stone and scoriæ, of the utmost variety of colour. Stretching from the
+vast abyss of the crater-ruins, on whose bald slope is situated the cone
+of the new eruption, there is visible at intervals on either side, far
+down, until indeed it is lost in the dark gloom of the forest, a bare
+rocky ravine, full of stones and débris, which the active vent of the
+crater has from time to time vomited forth. We had on the previous day
+passed the lower extremity of this stream while riding to Pangerango.</p>
+
+<p>"But we were not yet at the goal of our wanderings. We still had to climb
+from this point, and afterwards to scramble up to the summit of the active
+cone. This, however, proved to be much more easy than we had thought when
+looking at it from below, and we arrived without any disaster at the
+summit.</p>
+
+<p>"Here then we were standing upon the edge of a yawning crater, in full
+activity! Not a single step forward was it possible for us to make. In
+front of us lay a funnel-shaped slope, 250 feet in depth, the floor of
+which was covered with mud, in which stood frequent pools of boiling water
+of a yellow tinge. The Javanese who accompanied us stated that they had
+never before seen it so quiet, the crater having
+<!--236.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span>always
+been quite full
+of steam and vapour. On the present occasion the steam only escaped in
+small volumes through a few fissures in the sides of the inverted cone,
+and more particularly from the cracks and crevices on the exterior of the
+cone of scoriæ. We could perceive only water, steam, mud, and
+sharp-cornered fragments of rock, the débris and rubbish formed by the
+disintegration of the rocky masses thrown up by the crater, but not a
+trace, not a vestige, of any molten stream of lava, heaped up by the
+present crater of Gedeh. The whole history of the activity of this volcano
+may be compared to the explosions of a vapour cauldron in the interior of
+the earth, which has been heated by the masses of old trachytic lava
+currents in an incandescent state, but not yet thoroughly cooled, whose
+eruptions formed the principal means of erecting the volcanic cone.
+Repeatedly up to our own times has the mountain thrown up water, mud, and
+stones, together with fine powdered sand and volcanic ashes, which have
+travelled as far as Batavia, as also masses of melted stone cemented by
+liquefied sand, while marvellous volumes of flame were visible to an
+immense distance; but at no period within the memory of man has the Gedeh
+poured forth the hot liquid lava, or thrown up into the air melted
+volcanic matter. We must regard it as in its last stage, as about to
+become extinct, like all the other volcanoes of Java. It is the last
+reaction of the internal fires against the atmosphere penetrating from
+without. Even the most active volcanoes of Java, such as Gunung Guntur and
+Gunung
+<!--237.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span>Lamengan
+eject only masses of liquefied rock and scoriæ, cemented
+by the heat, but the regular lava currents have never been observed."</p>
+
+<p>While Dr. Hochstetter was occupied with this excursion to the active
+crater of Gedeh, the remaining members of the Expedition had reached
+Tjipodas at the foot of this fire-mountain, where, at an elevation of 4400
+feet above sea-level, and at an annual average temperature of 63°.5 Fahr.,
+the first attempts were made to acclimatize in Java the valuable quinquina
+tree (<i>Cinchona sp.</i>).</p>
+
+<p>Although for twenty years past the introduction into Java of the
+cultivation of the quinquina tree, the bark of which is of such
+superlative importance for suffering humanity, had been repeatedly tried,
+this praiseworthy intention was only successfully carried into effect in
+1852, through the purchase of a specimen of <i>Cinchona Calisaya</i> from the
+<i>Jardin des Plantes</i> at Paris by the then colonial minister of the kingdom
+of the Netherlands, M. Pahud, afterwards Governor-general of the Dutch
+East Indies. M. Pahud had the plant brought to Leyden with the utmost
+care, whence it was conveyed to Rotterdam for shipment to Batavia.
+Immediately on its arrival this plant, the progenitor of all that have
+been grown since, was placed in what is called the Governor-general's
+strawberry garden in Tjipodas, where it was protected by a bamboo shed
+from rain and sun, and at the time of our visit was 16 feet high. Dr.
+Hasskarl, widely renowned as a botanist, was, on the recommendation of Dr.
+Junghuhn, who had himself
+<!--238.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span>been
+urgently requested to undertake the duty,
+entrusted with a mission to Peru, whence he was to bring back offshoots,
+and germinating seeds, of the various species of Cinchona from which
+quinine is obtainable. Two years later, a Dutch man-of-war was specially
+despatched to Callao, the harbour of Lima, to convey Hasskarl with his
+valuable booty. That gentleman accordingly brought away with him four
+well-rooted young trees, and the seeds of four species of Cinchona,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>
+but only the saplings gave promise of success, whereas the greater part of
+the seeds, on being sown, were lost. M. Hasskarl has had the reproach cast
+upon him, that during his expensive residence of two years' duration in
+Peru, he should have collected such few data of the higher and lower
+limits of vegetation of the China plant, and the conditions of soil and
+mountain temperature under which it best flourishes, of the general
+influence exercised on it by storm and humidity, as also upon the annual
+quantity of rain it requires, whether a shady or sunny place of growth be
+best adapted to it, the period of flowering and fructification, the
+alterations which may be rendered necessary by its habits of growth at
+various points, as to what are its natural enemies, and how far its
+alkaloid properties are affected by the greater or less elevation above
+the sea of the spot in which it is growing, &amp;c., &amp;c. Nay, some persons
+went so far as to allege that the botanist had never seen one single
+<!--239.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span>China
+plantation, and had never personally selected either the plants or
+the seed, but had made arrangements for being supplied with the specimens
+he brought by means of the native bark-collectors (<i>Cascarilleros</i>). As
+though still further to enhance the public discontent with Hasskarl, and
+the failure of his expensive mission, fate unhappily willed that his wife,
+who was said to be bringing with her his papers and memoranda of his stay
+in Peru, was lost, together with the vessel which, after several years'
+separation from her husband, was about restoring her to his arms, in
+consequence of which many questions relating to the cultivation of the
+China plant in northern and southern Peru remained unanswered! Hasskarl
+ere long returned to Europe "for his health," and the superintendence of
+the China cultivation was in June, 1858, committed to Dr. Junghuhn, in
+whose careful charge it now is, and has taken a start which leaves no room
+to doubt its ultimate and permanent success.</p>
+
+<p>In October, 1856, there were in Tjipodas 105 China trees of 2 feet 6
+inches high (41 of <i>C. Calisaya</i>, 64 of <i>C. Condanimea</i>). On 31st October,
+1857, there were only 95 about 4 feet 11&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> inches in height, all in
+flourishing condition, while 10 had died. The cause of this lamentable
+phenomenon could not long escape the piercing glance of Junghuhn. The
+first tender shoots had been planted in a Tufa soil, the fertile covering
+of which barely exceeded 6 to 9 inches in thickness, and were surrounded
+by roots and stumps of immense forest trees that had been cut down, which
+of course prevented
+<!--240.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span>anything
+like expansion, and, in a word, completely
+stifled their growth.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of the earlier plants, there was far too little attention paid
+to the requisite amount of shade. The timber had been entirely cleared
+away, and the young plants were consequently exposed during the whole day
+to the fierce heat of the tropics. Unless people were prepared to see the
+whole plantation go to ruin it was necessary at once to take protecting
+measures against it. Junghuhn was a man fit for any emergency, as he had
+already shown on the banks of his native Rhine, when the very cells of
+Ehrenbreitstein, with which a chivalric adventure had made him acquainted
+in his youth, had for once been found too narrow to hold him. So in
+Tjipodas, the man of resources was able at once to devise a remedy. With
+incredible toil, and the most fostering care and attention, nearly all the
+trees were, without detriment to one single twig, transplanted from a soil
+so little congenial to them to the adjoining Rasamala-wood, in which the
+proud, slight <i>Liquid-ambar Altingiana</i> imparts its own peculiar character
+to the primeval forest, where they were transferred to spots partly
+shaded, which had already been prepared for their special reception, the
+sites having been surrounded with trenches to carry off the superfluous
+water. In October, 1857, some of the trees had already attained a height
+of 14&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> feet; by 31st March of the following year they were already
+15&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> feet, while their stems were 3.44 inches thick. Many of the trees
+planted near the forest had within
+<!--241.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span>three
+months grown from 9 to 21
+inches, while the few that remained on their old site had only gained 9 or
+10 inches in height, a fact which seemed incontestably to prove that the
+new site was the better adapted to them. In June, 1857, the first blossom
+had made its appearance on one of the <i>Condanimea</i>, but it was not till
+May, 1858, that the majority of the trees were in full bloom, or that the
+ripening fruit began to make its appearance. When all the fruits ripen,
+Dr. Junghuhn told us he was in hopes he would secure 80,000 fruit, which,
+as each fruit contains about 40 seeds, would provide him with 3,200,000
+seedlings. It is not indeed a question merely of ripe and at the same time
+fertilized seeds, but chiefly whether the bark of this plant contains in
+the land of its adoption, and under different conditions, that costly
+alkaloid quinine, which seems daily to become more indispensable in the
+science of medicine.</p>
+
+<p>Despite the most anxious solicitude there had long been remarked in
+Tjipodas a gradual decay of some of the shoots, but it was only a few days
+before our arrival that after a most minute zealous inquiry the cause of
+this phenomenon was discovered. A minute insect, scarcely <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>25</sub> of an inch
+in length, of the <i>Bostrichus</i> species, proved to be the foe of these
+plants. The holes which are burrowed by this insect, are drilled quite
+through the wood of the stem and branches into the very pith, in which it
+finally stops and lays its eggs. The Cinchona trees thus bored through are
+irremediably ruined, but there is always the hope that, as the roots
+remain
+<!--242.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span>sound,
+they may afterwards put forth new shoots. However, the
+appearance of this insect does not seem to be the primary cause of the
+disease of the trees,&mdash;on the contrary, disease is the cause of the
+appearance of the insect. If the other trees prove to be successfully
+reared, the insect will disappear, since it was convincingly proved by one
+of our zoologists that it had not come to the country with the Cinchona
+seeds and plants, but was undoubtedly indigenous to Java.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether there were, in May, 1858, upon the whole island three quinquina
+plantations, which have been specially established with a view to the
+solution of certain questions of climate at various elevations, and are
+situated in the following localities:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. In Tjipodas at the foot of Gunung Gedeh (4400 to 4800 feet above
+sea-level), in a beautiful Liquid-ambar forest, and containing 80 plants.</p>
+
+<p>2. In Bengalenzong, on the declivities of the Malabar Range (4000 to 7000
+feet in height), in the midst of a considerable oak forest (<i>Quercus
+fagifolia</i>), containing 600 plants.</p>
+
+<p>3. South of Besuki on the Ajang Range (about 6800 feet above sea-level),
+in a plantation<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> containing 21 plants, to which Dr. Junghuhn gave the
+name of Wono Djampie, i. e. Forest of medicines.</p>
+
+<!--243.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Dutch Government has spared neither trouble nor expense, and has made
+considerable sacrifices, to bring over the quinquina plant from its native
+country, where it was believed to be threatened with utter destruction, to
+Java, there to be acclimatized. The chances in favour of an adequate
+return are very great, and the attainment of this object has been secured
+within certain limits. Of all the tropical regions we visited, the Island
+of Java seems by its natural advantages to be the best capable of
+affording to the tree which produces the febrifuge bark, so invaluable a
+boon of nature to suffering humanity, a second home, amid the magnificent
+scenery of its mountain ranges.</p>
+
+<p>However, the wide-spread idea that the China plant is exposed to utter
+extinction in its native land of Peru has proved to be quite unfounded. We
+shall revert to this subject when we come to treat of our visit to the
+western coast of South America, and shall take pains to solve at least
+some portion of the question in dispute, as to certain necessary
+conditions being requisite to be observed in the case of the quinquina
+plant in its original home, the investigation of which, the superintendent
+of the quinquina tree culture in Java, Dr. Franz Junghuhn, so earnestly
+commended to the attention of the scientific members of the <i>Novara</i>
+Expedition.</p>
+
+<p>However, our interest was not confined to these China-tree plantations;
+our attention was riveted by the marvellous Rasamala (Liquid-ambar) forest
+in which we now found ourselves, while those fond of the chase were not
+less amazed
+<!--244.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span>and
+gratified, at bringing down a splendid specimen of what
+is known as the Kalong or Roussette Bat (<i>Pteropus vulgaris</i>). These
+singular nocturnal animals hang in enormous quantities throughout the
+entire day from the branches of the trees, amid the profoundest stillness,
+till evening sets in and dismisses them to their nightly evolutions. They
+are then visible flying through the air like gigantic bats, or flying
+foxes.</p>
+
+<p>While riding back to Tjipannas we remarked amid the smiling rice fields
+several poles with hangings of various kinds, resembling those erected on
+the shore in front of their huts by the superstitious natives of the
+Nicobar Islands, in order to keep his Satanic Majesty at a distance. The
+natives call these poles Tundang-Setan (talisman against the devil), and
+believe they can by their aid frighten away the evil spirits, while they
+are gathering the crop from their rice fields.</p>
+
+<p>From Tjipodas the excursionists proceeded to Tjiangoer,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> the present
+capital of the Preanger Regency, containing about 15,000 inhabitants,
+where some days were to be spent in excursions, collections, hunting, and
+other amusements, after which we were compelled by the limited time
+available to return to Buitenzorg and Batavia. Two members of the
+Expedition, Drs. Hochstetter and Scherzer, penetrated a little further
+into the interior, with the purpose of paying a visit to Dr. Junghuhn, to
+whose researches in the Natural History of Java we are so
+<!--245.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span>much
+indebted.
+The following few pages are devoted to an account of this interesting
+excursion.</p>
+
+<p>Towards 5 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> we arrived at Tjiangoer, in company with Dr. de Vrij and M.
+Vollenhoven, and immediately set out on our journey to Bandong, so as to
+reach the same evening that neat little town, whose singularly favourable
+position, almost exactly in the centre of the Regency, makes it a
+dangerous rival to Tjiangoer as the seat of government. <i>En route</i> we
+passed Tjisokan, a small village, most of whose inhabitants are engaged in
+procuring edible swallows'-nests, which are found in great quantities at a
+chalk mountain about twelve miles distant, known as Radjamandula.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> The
+spots at which the edible nests of the <i>Hirundo esculenta</i> are found are
+anything but grottoes peculiar to this product, as is usually alleged, but
+steep, almost inaccessible, cliffs, crannies, and fissures in the rock, in
+which the swallows build their nests, and which can only be reached by the
+utmost exertion, frequently accompanied by danger to life. They are met
+with partly upon the south coast, close above the raging surf, partly deep
+in the interior, about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, distant
+several hundred English miles from the nearest part of the sea-shore; and
+while the inhabitants of Karangbólong have to scale the almost
+perpendicular coast-wall by means of
+<!--246.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span>ladders<a
+name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> of Rotang (<i>Calamus
+Rotang</i>) and Bamboo, ere they can reach the entrance of the cavern, the
+natives of Bandong,
+<!--247.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span>on
+the contrary, are compelled to climb up to a yet
+greater elevation among the precipices and rocks, ere they are able to
+reach the openings that lead to the various hollows.</p>
+
+<p>While the birds are breeding, or if they have their young, which happens
+four times each year, one half remain in the cavities, and both males and
+females take their turns in sitting to brood, every six hours. Each nest
+is inhabited by a pair of swallows, so that if 1000 nests are found in a
+cave, they are inhabited by 2000 grown swallows (half male, half female).
+The fecundity of this bird is so great, that, although the nests are
+gathered four times a year, and that somewhere about a million of their
+progeny is at each plucking wasted or destroyed by the collectors, they
+never seem to diminish. The six caves at Bandong give yearly about 14,000
+nests, that at Karangbólong about 500,000: one hundred nests weigh about
+one <i>catty</i> (1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> lb.), and one hundred catties (125 lbs.) make one
+<i>picul</i>.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> For each picul of these nests, which they look upon as a
+special delicacy, the Chinese pay from 4000 to 5000 guilders (£350 to
+£420). The nest-gatherers are apparently a special class, whose occupation
+is handed down from father to son.</p>
+
+<p>Close to the village of Tjisokan, a very elegant wooden bridge,
+constructed on the American system, but entirely erected
+<!--248.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span>out
+of the
+resources of the colony, has been thrown over the Tjisokan river. The
+roads, although broad and kept in excellent order, nevertheless lead
+occasionally over hills so steep, that to descend them in a heavy
+carriage, especially considering the rapidity with which the Javanese
+drive, is exceedingly uncomfortable, and even dangerous, although the
+wheels are in such cases provided with a solid "<i>sabot</i>," and where this
+seems likely to prove inadequate, a number of natives hang on to the
+wheels behind, who for a small gratuity control the rate of descent by
+means of ropes.</p>
+
+<p>At last, about midnight, shortly before which we passed the river
+Tji-Tarum by a ferry, we reached Bandong, and on gaining the residence of
+the Javanese Regent, Raden Adipati Wira Nata Kusuma (spelt by the Dutch
+<i>Koesoema</i>, but pronounced as spelt in the text), were received,
+notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, in the most hospitable and
+friendly manner. Here we found everything, even to the minutest detail,
+managed in the European fashion; and no guest would imagine that he was in
+the house of one of the Mahometan princes of Java, were he not reminded of
+the fact by the rich Oriental costume of his host and his family, as also
+by the Javanese domestics, bearing elegant richly-adorned Siri, or
+betel-boxes, of gold or silver, and invariably tendering their services to
+their masters in a stooping posture, or rather sliding after them upon
+their knees. For the Javanese, too, greatly affect the leaf of the betel,
+mingled with powdered areca-nut, powdered coral, or pearl chalk, and
+<!--249.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span>Gambir
+(<i>Nauclea Gambir</i>); however, this mixture is not chewed, but
+placed between the lips and the front teeth, where it is barely kept long
+enough to admit of the saliva collecting in the mouth of a blood-red
+colour, which they spit out, the poor in their huts into cocoa-nut shells,
+the wealthier classes into copper vessels, but princes and rich people
+into golden spittoons. Even the ladies have given way to this custom, and
+the native belles make use occasionally of this filthy juice in order to
+keep importunate admirers at a distance!</p>
+
+<p>Supper, which, in anticipation of our arrival, had been made ready for us,
+was served entirely in the European mode, and our Mahometan host went so
+far in his assimilation to Western ideas as to overcome certain religious
+scruples, and himself join us at table. As we sat round the board long
+after midnight the Assistant Resident of the district made his appearance,
+M. Visscher van Gaasbeek, a Hanoverian by birth, who however has lived
+twenty-five years in this country, and immediately placed himself entirely
+at our disposal. We now proceeded to chalk out our plan of operations for
+the ensuing day, and the Regent gave orders in advance to have in
+readiness his own coach and several saddle-horses for an excursion to
+Lembang, the residence of M. Junghuhn. Before we separated, the Regent,
+with whom unfortunately we could only communicate through a Malay
+interpreter, with much condescension produced out of a leathern case his
+own elegantly-engraved <i>carte-de-visite</i>, and expressed his desire to
+exchange with ourselves. The Javanese
+<!--250.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span>princes
+seem to attach especial
+importance to anticipating the Europeans in good-breeding, and
+forestalling the desires and wishes of strangers. At last, towards 2 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span>,
+we went to rest, and despite the fatigue of the previous day, were by 5
+<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> seated in the carriage of the Regent, <i>en route</i> to the residence of
+Dr. Junghuhn. We drove the two first posts, about 10 <i>paals</i>, when we
+exchanged that mode of conveyance for our horses, which in less than an
+hour brought us to Lembang, situated about 4000 feet above sea-level, in
+an almost European climate. Standing alone close to this village is the
+beautiful dwelling of Junghuhn, at the foot of the volcano Tangkuban
+Prahu, and surrounded on all sides by beautifully-laid-out gardens, in
+which, cut off from the scientific world, he lives with his family.
+Everything around gives to the stranger a thoroughly home-feeling; in
+every countenance is visible content, in every glance the most heart-felt
+cheerfulness.</p>
+
+<p>Franz Junghuhn, a German by birth, from the district of Mansfeld in the
+Harz-mountains, saw many years hard service as a military surgeon in the
+service of the Dutch Government, and at present holds the appointments of
+Inspector of Scientific Explorations, and Director of the entire
+China-tree cultivation of the Island of Java, with ample means for the
+solution of this problem. This indefatigable naturalist (of whom there is
+an excellent engraving at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew), to whom
+science is indebted for the most comprehensive information relating to
+Java, has
+<!--251.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span>himself
+ascended 45 different volcanic peaks, and that at a
+period when there were no bridle-roads leading to their foot, but only
+those singular zig-zag paths which the rhinoceros has worn for himself, in
+order to browse at his leisure and undisturbed on the roots and rich grass
+of these lofty pastures. His imposing exterior and expression of
+countenance all betoken the indefatigable perseverance and gigantic
+powers, both physical and intellectual, which find expression in his
+incomparable work upon Java, and his great chart of that island.</p>
+
+<p>The renowned <i>savant</i> received us like old friends, with the most
+delightful fervent hospitality, related to us his very latest experiments
+and observations with respect to the cultivation of the quinquina plant,
+and presented us with his last work,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> to which he seemed exclusively to
+devote his entire activity. For our own part, we in return promised Dr.
+Junghuhn to make most special inquiries upon the subject during the period
+of our stay in the native country of the Cinchona, and to endeavour to be
+able to answer to the questions we were charged with; as by so doing we
+hoped to repay in some degree our tribute of gratitude, for the countless
+instances of personal interest and attention which had been shown us by
+the scientific gentlemen in Java, as well as by all the government
+officials.</p>
+
+<!--252.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Adjoining Junghuhn's dwelling, a large proportion of the coffee beans
+raised in the Preanger district are prepared for the European market. The
+Government has farmed the process to one M. Phlippan, and first deals with
+the beans when, packed in sacks, they are ready for exportation. The
+entire coffee crop of the environs of Bandong, averaging about 80,000
+piculs (or 10,000,000 lbs.), is conveyed annually over the hills to
+Lembang, where the fleshy berries are first shelled and made ready. For
+this purpose they use the Brazilian or moist mode of treatment, by which
+process, however, according to the opinion of connoisseurs in coffee
+beans, much of their flavour must be lost. But, instead of attributing the
+well-marked decrease of flavour of the Java coffee bean to this mode of
+preparation,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> others are disposed to find the cause of this
+deterioration in degeneration of the coffee-shrub itself, and accordingly
+the Dutch Government sent out to Java the well-known botanist Professor
+Vriese (with appointments<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> which must appear almost fabulous to a
+German botanist), in order to determine upon scientific data the cause of
+the falling off of the coffee bean. The sending out to Java a Professor of
+the University of Leyden, who had never before been in the Dutch East
+Indies, in order to enlighten
+<!--253.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span>the
+practical coffee planters, already on
+the spot, as to the deterioration of that plant, made anything but a
+favourable impression. Some bitter wags, indeed, of whom there is no lack
+in Java, any more than of Punches or Charivari at home, said that the
+mission of Professor Vriese was as singular as if a native Javanese had
+been despatched to Holland in order to teach the farmers there how to make
+<i>cheese</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the solution of this question of the degeneracy of the
+coffee is of the very highest importance to the country, as it produces
+annually about 800,000 piculs (100,000,000 lbs.) coffee beans,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> and as
+its climate and soil are eminently suitable for a far more extended
+development of that branch of cultivation, which was first introduced from
+Mocha into Java, about 1718, by the then Governor, Hendrik
+Zwoardecroon.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> The entire coffee crop must be delivered by the coffee
+planters to the Government at a fixed price, and while paying in the
+interior 3&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> guilders (5<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i>) per picul (125 lbs.), it fetches in
+Batavia, where the people are far more
+<!--254.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span>heavily
+taxed, 9 guilders (15<i>s.</i>)
+per picul. The Netherlands Trading Company (<i>Nederlandsche
+Handels-Maatschappy</i>), which possesses the sole right of shipment, pays
+the Dutch Government from 28 to 30 guilders (46<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> to 50<i>s.</i>) per
+picul of coffee, which it sells in the European market for its own
+account. How thoroughly such a monopoly must check the growth of trade and
+commerce may be best seen in the stagnation of haughty old Batavia, as
+compared with the youthful, flourishing free port of Singapore. The Dutch
+Government has, however, within the last few years taken a stride in the
+direction of liberalism, and has thrown open a portion of the products of
+the Island (as, for example, sugar, the whole of which Government itself
+had hitherto sent to Holland) to public auction on the spot; and it is
+hoped this system may ultimately be extended to other colonial products,
+especially coffee, and that a little later, not alone Batavia, Samarang,
+and Soerabaya may be declared free, but that all the harbours may be
+thrown open to free trade. With this question of free interchange of
+commodities is intimately bound up that of compulsory labour, which
+consists in the natives of the interior being compelled to work for the
+Government at certain fixed rates. In all districts where the Government
+owns coffee or other plantations, the cultivation of these must be
+attended to by the natives of the nearest villages, for a remuneration
+fixed by the Government. The coolies or porters must, for the fixed price
+of 2&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> or 3 doits per paal, carry goods or do service as runners or
+messengers, while free labour is at
+<!--255.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span>least
+four times as dear. A party,
+strongly supported at home, has arisen in Java, advocating the doing away
+with compulsory labour throughout the island, but, owing to the many
+important interests imperilled by such a policy, it has been very
+generally repudiated. It is impossible in Java to broach the topic of
+doing away with compulsory servitude without inaugurating an envenomed
+discussion. For this question concerns many planters and Government
+officials not less closely than that of the abolition of slavery does the
+planters of the southern States of America. On this point we have heard
+such widely different opinions pronounced by experienced, thoughtful,
+impartial men, that we are the less disposed to express, on the occasion
+of so short a visit as ours, any decided sentiments, since such would have
+probably been entirely changed, or at all events modified, if we had lived
+all our lives among the natives, and had become better acquainted with
+their customs and peculiarities of character.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed&mdash;such at least is the general impression&mdash;that in a land so
+favoured by Nature as Java there is but little to be hoped for from free
+labour, as the requirements of the natives are very limited, and easily
+satisfied. Abandoned to his own impulses of activity, the Javanese would
+only work sufficiently to supply what was necessary for his mere
+subsistence, or would only perform any extra duties so long as the
+imposition of regular labour does not set itself in direct antagonism with
+his docile, gentle disposition. The manners and customs of the country,
+the condition of the populace relative
+<!--256.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span>to
+their princes and chiefs, are
+favourable to the condition of forced labour, in which they have been
+confirmed by their Dutch conquerors, thus rendering it less perceptible
+and intolerable. It is patent to all that since the introduction in 1830
+by General Van den Bosch of the Culture system, or system of compulsory
+labour, the internal state of the colony has enormously benefited,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> and
+the revenues of the Government increased in a most extraordinary degree.
+In fact, what is known as the <i>Batig Stal</i>, or balance of the colonial
+administration for the past year (1859), gave a total of 41,000,000
+guilders (£3,416,000). But the pecuniary profits which the State Treasury
+wrings from the labour of its subjects are, unfortunately (as was amply
+proved in the South American colonies during the days of Spanish
+ascendency), not always a correct standard of the prosperity of a country
+or of the felicity of its inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>In company of Dr. Vrij the geologist of our Expedition ascended from
+Lembang the volcano of Tangkuban Prahu, whence, following an excellent
+route of travel drawn up by
+<!--257.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span>Dr.
+Junghuhn, he was enabled to visit all the
+more important points of geological interest in the Preanger Regency. Of
+these two highly interesting excursions, which derived an additional charm
+from the cordial hospitality of the Javanese princes, we borrow from Dr.
+Hochstetter's memoranda the following particulars:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"On the northern side of the table-land of Bandong, which is a veritable
+garden of Eden, hemmed in by roaring volcanic mountains, there rises a
+mountain-chain 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and 4000 above the
+lofty plateau of Bandong. In this range three peaks are conspicuous. The
+native, accustomed to indicate each majestic natural feature of his lovely
+native land by some name which gives a clear idea of its peculiar
+character, or expresses the emotion it makes upon his senses, has named
+the easternmost truncated conical peak Gunung Tungul (7800 feet), that is,
+the Broken Stump or Tree, and affirms that the long central ridge of
+Tangkuban Prahu (6427 feet), or the Inverted Boat, was formed by the
+overturned trunk of the tree, while the third very serrated peak, the
+Buranguang (5690 feet), or Boughs of the Tree, forms the crown of the tree
+with its branches and twigs. Only the long central ridge, the actual hill,
+though its shape would not readily lead us to suppose so, is at this day
+an active volcano. Its crater is one of the most extraordinary spectacles
+in the volcanic system of Java. Formerly it was necessary to follow in the
+tracks of the rhinoceroses up the sides of this mountain, and the ascent
+was not indeed without danger, since it
+<!--258.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span>occasionally
+happened that the
+traveller, while treading some of these funnel-shaped, narrow, tremendous
+defiles, unexpectedly found himself at some sudden turn face to face with
+one of these gigantic animals, and that, with a precipice on one hand and
+a wall of rock on the other, there was no visible means of escaping. Under
+such circumstances there was nothing for it but to fight for life and
+death, until the stronger marched over the corpse of the weaker. At
+present an excellent bridle-path leads from Lembang to the summit of the
+mountain, for the construction of which the community is indebted to Dr.
+Junghuhn.</p>
+
+<p>"On the morning of 18th May we set out from Lembang for the summit of
+Tangkuban Prahu, in company with Dr. de Vrij. The Regent of Bandong had
+sent us capital horses of the pure Macassar race, and, followed by a crowd
+of well-disciplined Sundanese, we at length after a two hours' ride stood
+at the edge of the crater.</p>
+
+<p>"Dense clouds of vapour filled the abyss below, from which at a
+considerable depth and in various directions issued the most appalling
+sounds, as though hundreds of steam engines were sobbing at work far
+beneath us, or like the broken sound of water falling in spray from a
+great height upon the rocks. Some dead trees standing on the brink of the
+abyss had a blackened appearance as though they had been charred, which we
+ascribed to the sulphureous vapours, that must be evolved with most
+destructive power when the crater is in full activity. Into this hideous
+abyss we now prepared to descend, by a
+<!--259.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span>narrow,
+steep ledge of the rock,
+which gradually lost itself among the vapour between two perpendicular,
+precipitous walls. We followed the Javanese, who were scrambling down
+before us, having ourselves given orders to be conducted if possible to
+the bottom of the crater, and therefore continued on as best we could,
+confident that those people had already often descended into the depths to
+get themselves sulphur.</p>
+
+<p>"Fortunately the vapours dispersed during our arduous clamber, and there
+at one view lay plain before us the fearful chasm from its floor to the
+rim running round it. With amazement and surprise, we perceived that the
+ledge on which we stood was but a narrow central ridge, separating two
+deep nearly circular volcanic cauldrons, which were both surrounded by a
+lofty ellipse-shaped crater-wall! There was also a singular double or twin
+crater. In both cavities, right and left, white clouds of steam rose
+hissing and sputtering to the height of the rim. In the left-hand or
+western crater, which the natives called <i>Kawah Upas</i>, or the Poison
+Crater, we perceived in the midst of the smoking <i>solfataras</i> a tranquil
+pool of water of a sulphur-yellow hue, while the lofty internal slopes of
+the crater, nearly 1000 feet high, were densely covered with brushwood,
+down almost to the bottom. Very different was the eastern crater, <i>Kawah
+Ratu</i>, or King's Crater; its floor seemed to consist of dried mud, from
+the clefts and springs in which steam and sulphureous vapours were
+constantly bursting impetuously forth. The wall of this crater, not above
+500 or 600 feet high, was naked and
+<!--260.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span>bare
+to the very summit. At the first
+glance one could almost fancy he gazed on an expanse of snow amid a green
+forest, so bleached and greyish-white did everything look, owing to the
+rocks being pulverized and changed by the vapours which continually issued
+from the soil. Above these white desolate masses of rock were
+distinguishable the blackened, charred, knotted stems of bushes and trunks
+of trees, the relics of the vegetation formerly here, tokens of the last
+eruption in 1846, in which this King's Crater threw up boiling mud,
+impregnated with sulphur, besides sand and stones, till throughout an
+extended area the green forests on every side were killed or desolated.
+Already however the rich green of the fern, and the <i>Thibaudia</i> (not
+unlike our own whortleberry), is seen shooting up amidst the bare stones,
+in close proximity to the blackened trees and shrubs, charred and altered
+by the action of the sulphureous vapours and the soil, impregnated as it
+is with sulphur.</p>
+
+<p>"Continuing to scramble forward, we reached in safety the floor of the
+Poison Crater, and had to observe the greatest vigilance, for the entire
+ground around the boiling lake in the crater to the steep walls consists
+of nothing but smoking solfataras, or a dense crust of sulphur, full of
+holes and fissures, over the cooled surface of which the traveller walks,
+constantly in danger of breaking through, not indeed into a fathomless
+abyss, but into boiling hot, bitter water, in which we would counsel no
+one to take a foot-bath. If the crust be broken off, there are seen
+shining beneath the most exquisite
+<!--261.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span>lustrous
+crystals of sulphur. This
+sulphur, which is exhibited here piled up in immense masses like small
+hills, is the same as that which occasionally entices the Javanese into
+these appalling abysses. The most powerful solfatara, which lies exactly
+in the middle ridge, and like a geyser throws up to a height apparently of
+one or two feet a column of boiling water, consisting in part of sulphur,
+is for that reason unapproachable by man.</p>
+
+<p>"From the Poison Crater we climbed over into the King's Crater. The hard
+masses of rubbish thrown out during the last eruption afforded firm
+footing here, until we got near the sputtering solfataras, when the hot
+yielding mud made further progress impracticable.</p>
+
+<p>"The visit to these two craters, which change features from year to year,
+furnished much material for observation. It was long past noon when we
+retraced our steps upwards along the precipitous path by which we had
+descended. Ere long we found ourselves once more on the summit, protected
+from the sun's vertical rays by the grateful shelter of the hut which
+Junghuhn had erected here, and from which we could take in at one glance,
+in all its vast proportions, the entire abyss, with its two smoking
+craters in all their horrid sublimity. The oval of the exterior rim
+measures not less than 6000 feet in length by 3000 in breadth, and from
+the upper wall the descent sheer into the abyss is not less than 800 feet
+perpendicular.</p>
+
+<p>"This was the last crater which we had an opportunity
+<!--262.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span>of
+visiting while
+in Java&mdash;our further peregrinations being directed towards the schistose
+formation abounding in petrifactions, which is found in the S.W. mountain
+range of the table-land of Bandong.</p>
+
+<p>"On the evening of the 18th, after we had returned from Tangkuban Prahu,
+we left Lembang, still in the company of Dr. de Vrij, who sacrificed his
+own convenience to accompany us throughout our interesting tour, and
+returned to Bandong.</p>
+
+<p>"Junghuhn had sketched out a second <i>carte de voyage</i>, which he had sent
+to the Resident of Bandong, with a request that this gentleman would make
+all necessary preparations to enable the projected excursion to be made in
+the shortest possible time, and for our comfort while on the road. We thus
+found everything prepared beforehand, and, after passing a most agreeable
+evening with the Resident and the Regent of Bandong, the latter of whom
+caused his dancing-girls to execute in our presence some of their most
+characteristic national dances, we were enabled to start early the
+following morning to prosecute our journey further among the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>"Gratitude to M. Visscher, the Assistant Resident, and to Raden Adipata
+Wira Nata Kusuma, the Regent of Bandong,<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> makes it an imperative duty
+that we should make
+<!--263.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span>the
+most ample acknowledgment for the great pains
+taken by both those gentlemen to enable us, without losing time consulting
+about other cares, to devote our entire attention to scientific
+examination. Indeed, the whole arrangements of this trip may be held to
+indicate what the Dutch Government is able to attain by the astute policy
+of leaving the executive power entirely in the hands of the native chiefs,
+and with what admirable exactness the despotic orders of these two united
+powers are carried into execution.</p>
+
+<p>"The brother of the Regent of Bandong, a truly chivalrous soul, but
+imperious and full of aristocratic hauteur in his deportment towards the
+peasantry, was our companion and guard of honour. All our material
+requirements had been cared for by the Regent in the most luxurious
+profusion. Four servants and a special cook, together with a number of
+coolies, were sent in advance to our next designated resting-place,
+sometimes in the heart of a forest, or upon a hill, or in a narrow defile,
+so that on our arrival we found our table already set for us. On these
+occasions, when there was no Pasanggrahan or comfortable hut at hand for
+our mid-day siesta, or for our accommodation at night, we found an elegant
+hut of bamboo and palm-leaves (of which materials
+<!--264.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span>the
+Javanese construct
+a thousand articles of every-day use) newly erected, and containing
+dining-room, sleeping-apartment, and bath-room. In order to travel with as
+much celerity as possible, our riding horses were changed three or four
+times a day. The fresh animals were everywhere ready for us to mount. At
+those points where petrifactions were likely to be found collected
+together natives would be sent forward, and that not by twos and threes,
+but by dozens and twenties, who were charged to dig and collect together
+whatever was found, so that all we had to do was to select what we
+required, when we found we had a splendid collection without trouble or
+loss of time. Even on roads seldom frequented, in outlying districts among
+the mountains, we found everything arranged anew, and we do not exaggerate
+when we say that between forty and fifty small bridges and narrow stiles
+made of bamboo and with bamboo balustrades must have been constructed
+solely to make this path passable. But still more particularly we had
+occasion to remark, that when it was necessary to descend into the
+defiles, which would naturally be of special interest to a geologist on
+account of their explanations of the phenomena of nature, fresh paths had
+been made, and all obstacles presented by the rocky soil overcome by means
+of steps cut in the rock or bamboo ladders! And all this had been planned
+and executed after the Regent had been informed of the day fixed for our
+departure from Bandong on our projected
+tour.<!--265.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No fewer than thirty-eight mounted Sundanese, all gaily dressed in their
+national costume, being in fact the chiefs and magistrates of the
+district, had attached themselves to us with all their retinue, besides a
+number of porters to attend upon the cavalcade, by all of whom we were
+cordially welcomed. Towards evening we entered amid music and dancing into
+the village, which it had been arranged was to be our quarters for the
+night, and amid more music, and a general gathering of the population, we
+once more, in the grey dawn of the next morning, mounted our horses. Such
+is the mode of travel in Java when a Junghuhn prescribes the route, when a
+Dutch Government official issues the requisite orders, and when a native
+Regent carries them out.</p>
+
+<p>"On the 19th May we set off in an easterly direction from Bandong for the
+river Tji-Tarum. Our object was to explore the beautiful natural defile
+which is presented by the deep chasm which forms the bed of that stream,
+where it has forced a passage in a northerly direction through a
+round-backed range of green-stone and porphyritic mountains which spring
+from the table-land of Bandong, forming in this part of its course the
+beautiful water-falls of Tjuruk-Kapek, Tjuruk-Lanong, and Tjuruk-Djombong.
+In close proximity to the very oldest volcanic formations of Java, one
+sees here, laid bare by the river, lofty walls of the latest fresh-water
+strata of the plateau of Bandong. We now rode through the porphyritic
+ridge to the rocky cone of Batu-Susun, on the flank of the Gunung Bulut,
+formed of vast
+<!--266.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span>columns
+of a sort of porphyritic green-stone, and the same
+evening reached Tjililui, the chief town of the district named Rongga,
+owing to its richness in petrifactions. Not greater was our surprise at
+our exceedingly hospitable reception, than at beholding, as we sat down to
+our evening meal in the Pasanggrahan where we were stopping, a huge table
+drawn forth, loaded with petrifactions and geological specimens, which the
+Wedanah had collected, and which, classified according to a chart of the
+district which he had himself prepared, he now placed at our disposal. The
+name of this spirited Sundanese is Mas Djaja Bradja, Wedanah of Tjililui.</p>
+
+<p>"On the 20th we inspected the spot itself where these are found. By
+daybreak we were <i>en route</i> for the chalk-kilns of Liotji Tjangkang, where
+a coral bank, abounding in petrifactions, lies full in view from the
+summit of an adjoining eminence. Hence we directed our steps in a S.E.
+direction, getting deeper into the mountains, in the neighbourhood of
+Gonnong Gatu, renowned for the numbers of tigers which range the immense
+wilderness of <i>allang</i> grass (<i>Imperata Allang</i>), which now forms the
+covering of these mountains, utterly denuded as they are of their original
+vegetation, and in which they find plenty of prey among the stags, wild
+boars, and buffaloes. Hunting however was not our object, but the
+succession of chasms, 100 feet deep, worn through the soft pumice and
+trachytic tufas by the action of the Tji-Lanang and its little tributary
+streams. First we had to scramble down to the confluence of the Tji-Burial
+and
+<!--267.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span>the
+Tji-Tangkil, where, in close proximity to the dykes of trachyte,
+several well-preserved <i>conchylia</i> were found amid the rubbish that had
+been detached from the sides of this cavity, which are composed of a sort
+of muddy tufa. After riding at full speed through a thinly-inhabited
+mountain district, in order to avoid an impending thunder-storm, we
+luckily reached the little mountain village of Gunung-Alu, lying on the
+Tji-Dadass, at the foot of a mountain ridge, which forms the water-shed
+between the northern and southern coasts of Java.</p>
+
+<p>"On 21st May we set off for the valley of the Tji-Lanang, which stretches
+beneath the steep sandstone acclivities of the Gunung Sela, another spot
+where petrifactions are exceedingly abundant, and where the remains of the
+fossils may be observed in the position they originally occupied, imbedded
+in the strata of mud and sandstone. A species of fossil resin is also
+frequently found there, in juxtaposition with other beautiful fossils.
+From this point we followed the valley of the Tji-Lanang in a northerly
+direction, and on quitting it we came upon a little traversed road leading
+to the valley of the Tji-Tjamotha, at the calcareous-brecciose rocks of
+Batu-Kakapa, and still further on reached the mountainous village of
+Tji-Jabang, whence we descended once more to the river Tji-Tarum, which at
+this point passes through a narrow cleft in the rock, more than a thousand
+feet deep, forming thus the grandest waterfall in Java, as it breaks
+through the western barrier range of the plateau
+<!--268.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span>of
+Bandong, consisting
+of porphyritic green-stone, trachytic-basalt, and perpendicular cliffs of
+chalk. Below this, after a series of splendid cascades, it becomes a
+navigable stream, flowing gently over the terrace of Radjamandala.</p>
+
+<p>"The majestic scale of the natural scenery of Java is seen fully developed
+in these savage, awful rocky defiles, shaded by primeval forest, and
+haunted by every description of wild animal. There are three points of
+special interest, Tjukang-Raon, Tjuruk-Almion, and Sangjang-Holut, at any
+of which one may study in the very bowels of the earth the geognostical
+structure of the Lanang chain, where the river has burst through. These
+points lie quite near to each other on the edge of the stream which here
+frets in its channel, hemmed closely by the rocks, but in order to reach
+any one of them it is always necessary to retrace one's steps to the
+village of Tji-jabang, on the plateau of the mountain, and thence scramble
+down and up again the precipitous rocky wall in height from 1000 to 1600
+feet! One can readily believe what Junghuhn writes in 1854, that 'although
+Tjurak-Almion' (dust or vapour fall) 'is the grandest waterfall in Java,
+no European had, as yet, visited the spot but himself.' It was here
+especially that we had occasion to notice what pains the natives had taken
+to render the various localities more accessible. We found fresh-hewn
+steps, ladders, and Rotang ropes, and thus we were enabled, so to speak,
+to tread in the footsteps of Junghuhn.</p>
+
+<p>"On the 21st we could only visit the Tjuruk-Baon,
+<!--269.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span>where
+the Tji-Tarum,
+raging along in its entire volume, is compelled to pass through a gate of
+rock not above 12 feet wide. A frail-looking bamboo ladder, with Rotang
+ropes suspended on either side at a dizzy elevation above, leads down the
+perpendicular walls of this stone portal.</p>
+
+<p>"On the morning of the 22nd we visited Tjuruk-Almion, the finest waterfall
+of the Tji-Tarum, which is here precipitated over a precipice of
+green-stone forty feet in height, and thence, after passing the steep
+basaltic chain of Gunung-Lanang, we descended from a height of 2653 Paris
+feet, into the deepest part (990 Paris feet above sea-level) of the chasm
+formed by volcanic eruption in the mountain Sangjang-Holut, where close to
+the steep broken rim, and in juxtaposition to the tertiary formations on
+the level of Radjamandala, the perpendicular sandstone banks of the river
+leave a passage only 10 feet in width.</p>
+
+<p>"The same day we reached the little village of Gua, at the foot of the
+northern side of Gunung Nungnang, an enormous mass of limestone, whose
+steep sides form a portion of the extensive limestone barrier, which
+bounds the table-land of Radjamandala to the southward. Gunung Nungnang is
+traversed by fissures and clefts from top to bottom, in which the Salangan
+swallow builds edible nests, which the natives gather for the Regent, not
+without peril to life.</p>
+
+<p>"On the 23rd May we carefully explored Sangjang Tji-Koro, a
+limestone-hill, through which one arm of the Tji-Tarum,
+<!--270.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span>after
+it has
+burst through the barrier-ridge, flows in a subterranean channel;
+interesting in a geological point of view, because at this point we find
+the very same limestone rocks which in an upright position form the
+structure of the hill, lying horizontally on the flat plain of
+Radjamandala, on the opposite bank of this brook. At Radjamandala we once
+more struck the main road, and found our travelling chaise ready, which
+conveyed us to Tjiandjur, and thence back to Batavia."</p>
+
+<p>While the geologist of our Expedition was occupied in the excursion above
+described, the commodore and his companions witnessed a most interesting
+spectacle in an ethnographical point of view. The Javanese Regent of
+Tjiandjur prepared a great fête, to which all the populace were invited,
+in the great hall of the palace, where a variety of entertainments, games,
+and dramatic representations took place. Here, as at Bandong, the interior
+of the house was entirely furnished in the European fashion, and only the
+ear-splitting, deafening tones of the gamelong,<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> the stout, bustling
+female house-keeper, who, richly apparelled and wearing yellow
+unmentionables, did the honours with a somewhat waddling gait, and the
+Oriental dress of the Regent, behind whom a couple of Javanese servants,
+crouched on their hams, carrying a neatly-carved silver box of exquisite
+workmanship, containing the ingredients for the betel, recalled to our
+recollection that we were in Java, in the residence of a
+<!--271.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span>native
+prince.
+The stiff, troublesome formalities of the Dutch were outdone by those of
+the Javanese: nay, so great is the observance of etiquette by these
+people, that even the nearest relatives of the house are fain to take up
+their place in the verandah or colonnade which runs round the house, but
+do not dare venture into the saloon itself. In this latter, besides the
+Regent and his consort, there were only the European guests invited, while
+the people thronged the doors and windows as spectators of what was going
+on. The fête began with some very monotonous, infinitely tedious dances
+executed by the <i>Bayadères</i>. In the choreographic art, despite the
+important part which dancing plays in their religious worship, the
+Javanese, like all the other populations of Asia, lag far behind the
+natives of the north. True, the dance with them has a widely different
+meaning, compared with that which we attach to it, who waltz and polka
+away in joyous, frolicsome mood, whereas the Asiatics, the Malay and the
+Hindoo, also dance during seasons of grief and anguish; with them dancing
+is nothing but a mode of expressing their feelings, whether these be grave
+or gay, joyous or sad. And so deeply is this custom implanted among the
+coloured races, that we have ourselves seen in Costa Rica Indian parents,
+who had been converted to Christianity, dancing before the dead body of
+their child, which was about being committed to consecrated earth.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<!--272.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The figures of the dance performed by the Javanese dancing-girls were
+nothing but a series of very slow rigid movements of advance and retreat,
+in the course of which they went through all sorts of attitudes and
+contortions with their hands and fingers. We were informed that these
+dancers were representing four sisters who were searching for their lost
+mother, and by their various postures and figuring hoped to obtain her
+again from the deity. This exhibition was succeeded by a war-dance,
+performed by eight maidens clothed as warriors, which however scarcely
+differed from the former, and was not less tedious. These dancers all
+appeared in extremely elegant richly-appointed dresses, which
+unfortunately only made the ugliness of their features more disagreeably
+conspicuous. Amid all these representations the deep boom of the gamelong
+almost unceasingly resounded in our ears, being struck, evidently for the
+purpose of stunning the senses, by a crowd of Javanese cowering on the
+ground with their feet crossed beneath them, while from without there fell
+on our ear the tunes of a brass band, especially noticeable by its
+overpowering penetrating sound. About 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> a number of rockets and
+fire-wheels were let off, and a disorderly crowd of maskers, on horse and
+foot, to the great delight of the assembled populace, made their
+appearance and marched about a dozen times round the great room. The chief
+honours of the entire procession were
+<!--273.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span>reserved
+for a transparent serpent,
+at least 20 feet long, which was borne along in the air by six or eight
+youths, who imitated with surprising address the wriggling motions of that
+lithe reptile.</p>
+
+<p>To a European observer, however, what was going on in one corner of the
+great room seemed far more extraordinary and surprising. A number of
+native fanatics were standing here round a heap of red-hot coals and
+ashes, before which a Mahometan priest, holding in his hand a small open
+book, was murmuring a prayer, accompanied by doleful cries and
+unintelligible groans. Several natives sprang barefooted into the fire,
+and turned about several times in its midst. The priest also, singing and
+praying the while, skipped upon the red-hot floor, apparently with the
+intention of inciting the by-standers to yet further exertions. The whole
+exhibition bore the character of being a form of religious expiation,
+although it was carried on amid all the noise and fun of a popular
+festival.</p>
+
+<p>A still more painful impression was made by several Javanese, who placed
+iron circlets set with fine sharp points on the cheeks, forehead, and
+eyes, and thus accoutred, twisted their bodies about in every conceivable
+direction, as though they were striving all they could to drill deep into
+their flesh with this heavy iron instrument. The leading idea contemplated
+in this rude fearsome exhibition, seems, however, to have been simply to
+amuse a circle of curious spectators, and gain their
+applause.<!--274.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Javanese Regent, Radhen Adhipati Aria Kusuma Ningrat, who gave this
+fête, a tall, robust man, of about fifty years of age, is held in high
+esteem by the inhabitants of his district, not alone for his political
+worth, but also for his intellectual qualities. He is an author and a
+poet, and availed himself of the opportunity to present to the foreign
+guests his last poem, an epic.</p>
+
+<p>Early on the morning of the 17th the entire company of travellers set out
+from Tjiandjur on their return to Batavia by the Java road, by which they
+had come. The naturalists, too, did not leave the capital of the Preanger
+Residency without substantial tokens of amity, since a medical gentleman
+settled there, Dr. I. Ch. Ploem, presented them with a number of
+interesting specimens, botanical and zoological, and not alone enriched
+their collections in natural history with many new objects, but also
+promised in future to maintain an active interchange of objects of
+scientific interest with the museum of the Empire-city on the Danube.</p>
+
+<p>The journey back to Buitenzorg, despite a tremendous thunder-storm,
+accompanied by such a shower as is only encountered in the tropics, was
+nevertheless pretty quickly got over, and even one trifling adventure
+which was encountered on the way&mdash;in the course of which one of the
+travelling carriages fell into a ditch on one side of the road, near
+Megamendung, in consequence of which the coachman and attendants were
+somewhat injured by their sudden precipitation from the box&mdash;had no more
+serious ulterior consequences than
+<!--275.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span>that
+we had to get out of the carriage
+for a short space under a deluge of rain, so as to admit of its being more
+readily put into running order again. Despite the inclemency of the
+weather we were on this occasion accompanied on horseback by the
+magistrates of the villages through which we passed, and although many of
+these were shivering and chattering with the wet and cold, they were
+nevertheless inexorable in assisting to send us forward, and though not
+required to do so, accompanied us to our next station, where their place
+was supplied by others not less attentive.</p>
+
+<p>While still on the road, the commodore and several members of the
+Expedition received an invitation from the Governor-general to stop at his
+summer residence of Buitenzorg, and to make it for some days their
+resting-place. It was unfortunate, that this display of hospitality was
+somewhat weakened in cordiality by a too rigid observance of those minor
+matters of etiquette, which his Excellency seemed to think he could not
+afford to dispense with even in his quiet, unostentatious country-seat.
+The stringent observance of such unbending measured ceremony is the more
+remarkable, in the case of a man who has raised himself from an obscure
+grade of citizenship to this lofty post, and who does not even indulge in
+that lavish expense or profuse luxury, which would at least be in harmony
+with the ceremonial usages with which he surrounds himself. M. Van Pahud
+came to Batavia about twenty years before, as a school-master, and ere
+long, having become an employé in the civil service,
+<!--276.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span>secured
+through his
+administrative capacity, and restless activity, the confidence and
+sympathies of the Government, was somewhat later appointed Colonial
+Minister in Holland, and finally, in 1856, Governor-general of the Dutch
+East Indies. The introduction of the <i>quinquina</i> plant from Peru and its
+present extension throughout Java, are his chief claims to recognition.</p>
+
+<p>As M. Van Pahud is a widower, the honours of his mansion were performed by
+his daughter, a lady in delicate health, who a few years previously had
+the distressing trial of beholding her husband, who filled one of the most
+important posts as Resident at a Regency in the interior, cut down before
+her eyes by a Malay!</p>
+
+<p>We spent a couple of days in this charming retreat of Buitenzorg, whose
+botanical garden ever unfolded fresh beauties, and had the pleasure on
+this, as on the occasion of our first visit, to make several most
+agreeable acquaintances. A deep interest attaches to our visit to Madame
+Hartmann, the widow of a former Resident in Borneo, who possesses a small
+but every way remarkable collection of ethnographic objects illustrative
+of that island, and who not alone had the thoughtful courtesy to show us
+all these treasures of natural history, but even presented us with a
+considerable portion of them. The writer of this account felt himself in
+an especial degree under obligation to this excellent lady for a number of
+skeletons of the various races of men inhabiting that island, which it
+would have been exceedingly
+<!--277.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span>difficult
+to procure otherwise. There existed
+but one object in this anthropological collection with which Madame
+Hartmann would not part: this was the skull of a Chinaman, who, during the
+fearful insurrection of these emigrants in Borneo in 1819, made a
+murderous onslaught on her husband, whose servants fortunately succeeded
+in rendering timely aid by cutting the miscreant down.</p>
+
+<p>Early on 20th May we quitted Buitenzorg. On the same morning two criminals
+accused of murder and robbery were brought thither. Although the
+punishment of death is only inflicted in cases of extreme atrocity, yet we
+were informed that in the capital scarcely a month passes without the
+infliction of this last penalty.</p>
+
+<p>On our return to Batavia we once more found ourselves the objects of that
+charming hospitality, to which we are indebted for the memory of many most
+agreeable hours.</p>
+
+<p>There was one gentleman in particular, a German countryman, Colonel Von
+Schierbrand, who has lived nearly thirty years in Java, and at present
+holds the high position of head of the Engineer department and President
+of the Topographical Institute, who most hospitably entertained the
+voyagers of the <i>Novara</i> in his elegant, comfortable dwelling, and
+arranged a variety of amusements and agreeable receptions.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a>
+<!--278.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span>Among
+these, the gentlemen who took part in it will long have a special
+recollection of a hunting party, which, owing to the great interest taken
+by all classes of the community near the seat of action, abounding in
+antelopes and wild hogs, became ultimately a regular ovation and popular
+festival. At various points arches covered with leaves were erected, flags
+fluttered to the breeze on every side, and all along our path the
+inhabitants, gaily attired, formed a dense array lining the road; while
+the evening was whiled away in the elegantly furnished mansion of a
+Chinese, the Mayor of his district, by Javanese dancing-girls, who
+performed a variety of national dances to the monotonous, lugubrious sound
+of the gamelong and other musical instruments, after which there was a
+comedy, the whole winding up with Chinese fire-works on the grandest
+scale.</p>
+
+<p>Another splendid entertainment was got up in honour of the <i>Novara</i>
+Expedition by the military "Concordia" society, in their large, handsome
+assembly-room in Weltevreden. The dancing-hall was tastefully fitted up,
+adorned with blue and green hangings and parti-coloured flags, while over
+the entrance was suspended a portrait of our Emperor. In the background of
+the saloon there was set up in front of a transparency an elegant boat,
+with an Austrian flag at the gaff, and
+<!--279.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span>carrying
+a cannon crowned with
+flowers and nautical emblems, all artistically designed and executed. The
+stewards all wore red and white ribbons round their dress, while the rich
+attire of the ladies consisted principally of stuffs in the Austrian
+colours. When the commander of the Expedition entered the saloon with his
+staff, the band struck up the Austrian National Hymn. The whole festivity
+went off most agreeably, and the majority of the company, which numbered
+about 800 guests, kept it up till daybreak. Both Dutch and Austrian
+officers vied with each other in making this a truly fraternal feast.
+Still as the band played on, there seemed no end to the fun and frolic,
+and one pair of joyous spirits suddenly bethought them of the droll idea
+of hauling the cannon "with all its honours thick upon it" through the
+apartment, with a not less frolicsome comrade sitting astride it, singing
+and shouting! Unluckily, during this peregrination one of the Dutch
+officers fell under the wheel, and had his thigh broken near the knee. The
+unfortunate had to be conveyed to the hospital forthwith, where for weeks
+he could ruminate upon the consequences of a moment's misplaced revelry.
+This gentleman, singularly enough, had just retired home and gone to bed,
+when a couple of his comrades insisted on his accompanying them, amid much
+cheering and noise, back to the apartment, where the accident happened to
+him!</p>
+
+<p>One remarkable character in Batavia, whose acquaintance we only made
+during the latter days of our stay, is Raden
+<!--280.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span>Saleh,
+a Javanese of high
+birth, and princely descent, who, born in 1816 at Djokjokarta in the
+interior of the island, was at the expense of the Dutch Government brought
+to Europe when a boy of 14, where he lived for a long time at the Hague,
+and afterwards in Dresden and Paris, turning his attention chiefly to
+painting, and who, after 23 years' absence, had returned to Java shortly
+before our arrival. Raden Saleh, who speaks and writes several European
+languages with fluency, draws a not inconsiderable sum yearly from the
+Colonial Government, by way of remuneration for pictures which he is from
+time to time commissioned to paint for Government House. At the period of
+our visit the artist was busy engaged in executing for the King of Holland
+a large oil-painting, representing a stag-hunt on the plain of Mundschul,
+in the Preanger Regency, at the foot of the Malabar range. The
+composition, the landscape, the aerial perspective, the attitudes and
+grouping of the mounted huntsmen, gave evidence of uncommon talent, which
+unfortunately, however, has not been cultivated to that extent as to
+enable him to stamp all his performances with the impress of artistic
+perfection. Raden Saleh cherishes a warm feeling for Germany, which even
+his placid, delightful residence among the Eden-like landscapes of his own
+native land has not been able to weaken. "I owe so much to Germany," he
+would say to us; "my thoughts and my feelings ever revert to Germany!" It
+seemed that in his case, as in that of the young negro prince, Aquasie
+Boachi, of the
+<!--281.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span>Gold
+Coast, considerations of health were the main reason
+for his return to the Dutch East Indies.</p>
+
+<p>The last days of our stay at Batavia we devoted to an inspection of
+various public institutions. First of all we carefully examined the
+barracks, which present several points of special interest. Major Smits
+was so kind as to accompany us over the extensive grounds, in which were
+at the time some 800 men. The soldiers are all volunteers, and consist of
+about 250 whites, and 600 of the various coloured races of the Malay
+Archipelago. The white troops sleep in beds, the coloured upon wooden
+settles covered with mosquito-nets. Each soldier is allowed to have his
+wife beside him, and it is affirmed that this extraordinary practice tends
+to make them more orderly and regular, by accustoming them more speedily
+to life in the barrack, which thus becomes for them a sort of small town!
+The women for their part prove highly serviceable as cooks, washerwomen,
+vendors of edibles, &amp;c., and manage a sort of small market for each
+company, where the soldier can find everything he may require for
+satisfying his usually very moderate wants.</p>
+
+<p>Major Smits ordered a number of the soldiers, representatives of the most
+important Malay types, to be submitted to a series of anthropometrical
+measurements, and made a present to the Expedition of a number of objects
+of ethnographical interest.</p>
+
+<p>In company with Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, an ardent and
+<!--282.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span>amiable
+companion,
+we visited the various prisons, and the Loar-Badang,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> of evil repute,
+which will be discussed in the medical section of the <i>Novara</i>
+publications.</p>
+
+<p>The prisons of Batavia stand in much need of reform, especially as regards
+construction, management, and treatment. The humane sentiments that
+characterize our century, have more care even for a robber or murderer
+than to load him with chains, and make him still more dangerous to
+society, by lengthened confinement within the thick lofty walls of a
+prison. There are two categories, into which all criminals in Java are
+divided, those who during the entire term of their sentence are to remain
+within the prison, and those who during the day are employed outside the
+prison on the public works, most of whom wear an iron ring round their
+neck, or chains on their hands or feet, whence they are usually termed
+"chain-gang" prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>In the city Bridewell, where the criminals serve their sentences in cells,
+there is room for 200, and at the time of our visit there were 70 male and
+two female prisoners in confinement. The disagreeable impression made at
+finding such an establishment located in an exceedingly unhealthy site, is
+anything but diminished when the visitor perceives that it consists mainly
+of a large number of narrow corridors and high
+<!--283.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span>walls
+running parallel
+with each other at short distances, between which the prisoners, in
+divisions of from six to ten, are confined in small cells, two
+occasionally inhabiting the same cell. Those condemned to imprisonment for
+debt are shut up in a special compartment, apart from the common run of
+criminals, but in respect of accommodation and general treatment are in no
+respect better off than the latter. The law permits the incarceration of a
+debtor for three years, but the creditor is compelled to pay 10 guilders a
+month (£10 per annum), to defray the cost of his maintenance. It is
+illustrative of the Chinese character, and its speculative propensities,
+that hardly any of that nation are to be found on the criminal side,
+whereas they furnish the longest quota of those imprisoned for debt. We
+saw one Javanese woman, who of her own free will submitted to be
+imprisoned with her husband who had been condemned to several years'
+incarceration, although she could only communicate with him in the
+presence of witnesses, and had to live in an entirely different part of
+the building.</p>
+
+<p>In the prison where the "chain-gangers" were confined, there were 170
+prisoners.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Owing to the circumstance that those committed in Batavia
+are draughted off to the prisons in the interior, while those sentenced in
+the provinces are sent
+<!--284.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span>to
+fulfil their sentences in the prisons of
+Batavia, the stranger encounters in these latter numerous peculiar types
+of natives from the various districts of Java and the adjoining islands,
+and this rare opportunity was made use of by myself and Dr. Schwarz to
+obtain some corporeal measurements of individuals presenting the
+characteristics of their respective races, as had already been done in the
+barracks.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Toussaint presented the Expedition with several pathological
+preparations, as also with one curiosity rather of historical than
+scientific interest, namely, the skull of a man, found a few years before
+in the maw of a shark which had been picked up dead at sea!</p>
+
+<p>A very singular impression was left on us by a visit we paid to "Meester
+Cornelis," a sort of bazaar in the outskirts of Batavia, where a singular
+phase of life may be seen nightly in full activity. On a wide open square
+are a large number of booths, in which are sold all sorts of eatables and
+drinkables, while there is at the same time no lack of dancing-girls,
+Javanese musicians, opium-dens, gambling "hells," and other
+breeding-places of human depravity. The majority of its frequenters are
+Chinese, who spend here in the most extravagant manner what they have
+earned during the day. They especially affect the filthy little closets,
+where for a couple of doits (a halfpenny English) they can lie stretched
+out in a pitiable state of stupefaction, the result of opium-smoking, but
+are likewise by no means backward in patronizing the gambling booths. A
+group of these half-naked children of the
+<!--285.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span>Celestial
+Empire, seated in a
+circle on the ground amid the flare of torches and lamps, each holding in
+his lean hand a pair of greasy, well-worn cards, and with a little heap of
+copper or silver pieces spread out before him, following the chances of
+the game with a wild eagerness that makes him utterly heedless of what is
+passing around him, presents a spectacle of such powerful interest, that
+the beholder, especially if a foreigner, likes to remain amid a scene so
+peculiar, despite its repulsiveness. The most melancholy consideration
+perhaps of all is that this form of dissipation seems by no means
+indigenous to Java, but was first introduced with many other forms of vice
+under the influence of foreign civilization.</p>
+
+<p>For the observant traveller, a visit to such so-called "places of
+amusement" possesses a far deeper interest than theatres or operas, which
+one may see and hear among the various settlements in this Archipelago.
+Such wandering companies, even those which are as highly remunerated as
+the "troupes" who minister to the æsthetic tastes of the wealthy
+inhabitants of the countries beyond sea,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> or rather to an indispensable
+fashion, must awaken among European visitors melancholy reminiscences of
+vanished triumphs of art. Thus Batavia, during our stay, could boast a
+French operatic company. The theatre, lofty and airy, though of but one
+storey, without either boxes or gallery, had far more the
+<!--286.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span>appearance
+of a
+concert-room than a regular theatre. The rather heavy cost was defrayed by
+lotteries, which were set on foot by the Colonial Government from time to
+time for the behoof of the funds of the theatre. Several of the
+"cantatrices" carry on simultaneously with their engagements a lucrative
+business in French articles for the toilette, while the men-singers give
+instruction in vocalization, by which they not merely eke out their
+living, but contribute handsomely to the annoyance of their next-door
+neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>There is but little sociability in Batavia. The people live in a
+thoroughly retired manner, each usually receiving only a small circle of
+friends in his own house. On this point, as on many others, our <i>own</i>
+experience is <i>directly contrary</i> to the actual state of matters, seeing
+that during our entire stay one invitation followed on the heels of
+another;&mdash;but those who live here for years together, even under the most
+favourable auspices, have repeatedly assured us that life in Batavia is
+unsociable and tedious.</p>
+
+<p>This is the misfortune of all countries "beyond sea," where Europeans do
+not settle permanently, but flock thither with the intention, after a
+certain number of years of industry and activity, of returning home with a
+fortune made by their own personal exertions. We see this in Brazil, in
+the West Indies, in the Western coast of South America; in a word, in all
+tropical or sub-tropical countries where, on account of climatic
+considerations, the greater part of the European population is changed
+every ten years, and is
+<!--287.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span>recruited
+by fresh arrivals from Europe. How out
+of place, accordingly, does social or intellectual life appear in such
+countries, as compared with the colonies settled in temperate climates, in
+North America, at the Cape, in Australia, in New Zealand, in all of which
+the immigrant population is of a fixed character, building up for
+themselves a second home, and clinging with love and gratitude to the soil
+that gives them sustenance, and on which their sons will grow up, under
+the invigorating influences of free institutions, into free, prosperous,
+self-relying men!</p>
+
+<p>Even in Batavia the majority of the European residents change every eight
+or ten years; instances such as that of Colonel von Schierbrand, of men
+who during 30 years have never once left the island, never yet seen a
+railroad, being of rare occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>Of the numerous friends whom we were so fortunate as to make during our
+stay in Java, and to whom such heart-felt thanks are due for their
+hospitality and the warm interest they took in the objects of our
+Expedition,<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> many have since left the island for ever, and by their
+return to Europe left many a lamentable vacancy.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> The more deserving
+<!--288.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span>of
+acknowledgment is the constant endeavour of the present Colonial
+Government to attract to itself fresh intelligence, and so not alone
+stimulate the scientific activity of the present, but also provide for the
+filling up of the various posts by properly qualified persons. The
+magnificent and expensive works which have been published of late years in
+Java by men of science, are the splendid fruit of that noble-minded
+support, and it is much to be regretted that the Government does not
+extend this liberality to their <i>political</i> system,&mdash;that despite the
+glorious example in their own immediate neighbourhood of the results of
+English Free Trade, Government still cramps the energies of the colony
+with monopolies and privileges, and thereby checks the development of a
+country, which, alike by its position and its manifold natural advantages,
+bids fair to be one of the wealthiest and most prosperous countries in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>At seven <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> on the 29th May, the <i>Novara</i> weighed anchor in the roads of
+Batavia, after a stay of 23 days. Our next visit was to be paid to the
+Philippine Archipelago,&mdash;to the flourishing island of Luzon, or rather to
+Manila, the most important settlement in the entire group. This was the
+pleasantest trip throughout the whole voyage. The distance, some 1800
+nautical miles, was achieved in 17 days, with delightful weather, and
+balmy south-west monsoons.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> By the
+<!--289.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span>14th
+June we were in sight of the
+coast of Luzon, and on the following day we ran on before the freshening
+monsoon into the broad, beautiful gulf of Manila. As we passed between the
+rock La Monja (the Nun) and "El Corregidor," or Governor's Island, which
+lie right in the channel, we met the <i>Cleopatra</i>, a large English
+screw-steamer, which had a freight of 1150 Chinese, who were to be
+imported into the Havanna as so-called "free" labourers. These poor
+wretches came from Amoy, and, as we afterwards learned, had been put on
+board so scantily provided, and so little cared for by the authorities,
+that thus early, during the voyage from Amoy to Manila, only 700 miles,
+eleven of these "passengers" had died, and the captain found himself
+compelled to bear up for the nearest harbour in consequence of a sort of
+malignant fever having broken out on board, so virulent that there were
+deaths occurring almost every day. We shall treat more particularly of
+this hideous trade in men, which is chiefly carried on by the Portuguese,
+when describing our visit to Macao.</p>
+
+<p>The Bay of Manila is a beautiful land-locked basin, of such splendid
+proportions that when we had passed Governor's Island the city of Manila
+was still below the horizon. We anchored on the afternoon of 18th June in
+the harbour of Cavite (seven nautical miles south of Manila), because
+during
+<!--290.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span>the
+S.W. monsoon this harbour is more sheltered, and therefore
+safer for ships, than the shallow open roadstead of the capital. Cavite,
+which boasts a fort, an arsenal, a dockyard, and a cigar manufactory, lies
+on a low, narrow tongue of land projecting into the bay. Whoever may have
+first set foot at Cavite, on the soil of the Island of Luzon, so renowned
+for its natural magnificence of scenery, must involuntarily feel that his
+anticipations have been sorely disappointed; he will with all possible
+diligence make the best of his way from the glaring white sands and black
+walls of the fortress here to Manila, the next object of our hopes. A
+small screw plies daily between Cavite and the last-named city, and this
+vessel also conveyed the Expeditionists from Cavite to the capital of the
+Philippine Archipelago.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a>
+Several copies of these various publications of the
+different scientific societies of Java were presented to the Expedition by
+the members of these learned bodies.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a>
+Still the chief article of cultivation is rice, which
+constitutes almost the sole bread-stuff of the Javanese. Crauford in his
+admirably digested dictionary of the Indian Archipelago calculates that
+the annual rice crop is about 500,000,000 lbs., and that each individual
+consumes annually one quarter, or 480 lbs.!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a>
+For some extremely beautiful and costly weapons used by the
+Malay races we are especially indebted to Mr. J. Netscher, one of the
+directors of the Society of Arts and Sciences, a profound scholar in the
+various idioms spoken in Java, and who on the same occasion enriched our
+collections with some of his own valuable numismatic specimens and
+philological researches, and to this day neglects no opportunity of
+advancing the special objects of our Expedition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a>
+Only two of the various races of Java have remained constant
+to the belief of their fathers, and still honour, some of them Buddha,
+some Brahma. Among these are the Badawis, who constitute all that remain
+of a once mighty race at the east end of the island, among the hills of
+Kendang in the Residency of Bandang, on the Tenggers, also at the east of
+the island in the Residency of Passeruwan, the former numbering 1500, the
+latter about 4000 souls.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a>
+Garsick, the Grisse of modern days, was the first spot where
+these jealous sectaries settled about the year 1374, and the two Arabic
+sheikhs Dulla and Moellana are usually cited by later historians as the
+introducers of the Mahometan worship into Java.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a>
+There are at present two kings reigning on the Island of
+Lombok: Ratù Agong Agong Suedé Carang-assem, and Ratù Agong Agong Madé
+Carang-assem. These had submitted under special treaties to the Dutch
+Government, whose vassals they now are.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a>
+Yellow is the royal colour of the Ruler of Lombok. According
+to the prevalent custom, no one but the king and members of his family is
+permitted to use that colour in their dress or ornaments.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a>
+This peculiarity of Eastern manners is universally prevalent
+wherever Oriental nations have come in contact with Europeans. It is of
+course as entirely unlike the genuine hospitality of the rude Bedouin or
+Tartar as it is possible to imagine, and seems to belong to an early and
+very imperfect notion of true refinement. Traces of it will be found in
+all countries, even in Europe, and in its original form of making a
+present in the expectation of receiving something more valuable in return,
+which lies at the bottom of all this pseudo-generosity. The astuteness of
+the Scotch Highlanders, themselves a race remarkably free from such
+meannesses, has hitched the system into a pithy proverb, the sense of
+which is to "send a hen's egg in order to get a goose's in exchange."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a>
+73.75 paals (posts) are equal to one degree of the equator,
+whence one paal = within a small fraction of 4943 feet 6 inches. This method
+of indicating land-measure originated in the circumstance that on every
+road intersecting Java from west to east, the respective distances from
+the three chief places, Batavia, Samarang, and Surabaya, are marked up
+upon wooden "paale" or posts.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a>
+As yet there are no railroads on the island. But a company
+has been formed with the intention of uniting the more important and
+productive districts of the island, an enterprise which will extend to
+about 1000 miles (English), and will cost about £8,500,000.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a>
+It is well known that Holland in former days recruited her
+black regiments of the Netherland Indies by men from the Gold Coast, and
+in fact had set on foot a sort of traffic in men with the king of
+Ashantee.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a>
+Dr. Junghuhn, in his admirable work upon Java, describes the
+rainy season&mdash;which usually has fairly set in by the month of January,
+when the westerly and north-westerly winds are driving the rain-clouds
+before them&mdash;in the following spirited language:&mdash;"The floods stream from
+the clouds often for four-and-twenty hours at a stretch without the
+slightest interruption, and with such violence that the noise of the plash
+of the falling element drowns the voices of the inhabitants, compelled as
+they are to keep to their houses. Every brook and river overflows its
+banks, covering with a tide of muddy brown water the alluvial soil wrested
+from the bed of ocean, while the frogs croak incessantly day and night,
+and the lizards and snakes emerge from their holes, and creep into every
+corner of the dwellings of every man; all through the hours of darkness is
+heard the loud thousand-voiced hum of insects, of myriads of mosquitoes,
+till it is hardly possible to find a dry place throughout the house. The
+hot, sultry air is saturated with moisture, so that everything becomes
+damp, in consequence of the fine particles of the rain-vapour penetrating
+into the inmost corners of the house."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a>
+Pronounced <i>Chipannas</i> (hot stream), from <i>Tji</i>, water, and
+<i>Pannas</i>, hot. <i>Tji</i> is always pronounced like <i>chi</i>, and <i>oe</i> like <i>oo</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a>
+One can form some idea of the enormous fecundity of this
+insect, if we mention that it takes 200,000 in a dried state to make one
+pound of the cochineal of commerce.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a>
+Two Vanilla plants, imported in 1841 from the Botanical
+Garden of Leyden, remained barren for nine years, till recourse was at
+last had to the system of artificial fructification, upon which these
+plants increased so rapidly that the plants at present under cultivation
+at Pondok-Gedeh amount to 700,000!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a>
+Now named <i>Cankrienia Chrysantha</i>. The plant most
+characteristic of this region was the <i>gnaphalium arboreum</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a>
+These four species were <i>Cinchona Calisaya</i>, <i>C.
+Condanimea</i>, <i>C. Lanceolata</i>, and <i>C. Ovata</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a>
+According to our latest advices from Java, which extend to
+November, 1860, there are at present in the Preanger Regency upwards of
+100,000 China plants in the very best order, so that this valuable
+commodity not only may be regarded as fully naturalized in that island,
+but the Dutch Government even complied with the request of the British
+Government for a certain number of seedlings for introduction into India.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a>
+Pronounce <i>Tschipodas</i> and <i>Tschangschoor</i> (Sweet Water)
+respectively.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a>
+Called in the Sunda dialect Gunung Masigit, or Hill of the
+Mosque, in consequence of the chalk, of which it is composed, being broken
+into pinnacles of remarkable uniformity, and strongly resembling the
+appearance presented by the minarets of a mosque.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a>
+As these edible swallows'-nests form a very important
+article of commerce among the Colonial products, and their collection
+provides the means of subsistence to a considerable section of the
+population of Java, we shall follow here the description given by Dr.
+Junghuhn, in his truly classic Monograph upon Java, in which (Book I. p.
+468) he speaks as follows respecting the marvellous abodes selected by
+this species of swallow, and the perils dared by the native in obtaining
+their nests. "In Karangbólong, a portion of the entrance to the holes
+where the swallows breed is on a level with the surface of the water, and
+at times covered by the sea. In one of these cavities, the Gua Gedé, the
+edge of the coast-wall rises 80 Paris feet above low water, in a concave
+form, so that it actually overhangs; however, at an elevation of about 25
+feet there occurs a projection, which the Rotang-ladder reaches by being
+suspended perpendicularly. The ladder is made by two side ropes of reed,
+which every inch-and-a-half, or two inches, are bound to each other by
+cross-bars of wood. The roof of the entrance to the cave is only 10 feet
+above the sea, which even at ebb-tide washes the flow throughout its
+extent, while at flood-tide the mouth of the cave is entirely closed by
+the sweep of the rollers. Only during ebb-tide therefore, and with
+perfectly smooth water, is it possible for any one to penetrate into the
+interior. Even then this would be impossible, were not the rocky vault, or
+roof of the cavern, pierced through, eaten away, and corroded into
+innumerable holes. By the projecting angles of these holes it is that the
+strongest and most daring gatherer who first makes his way in, has to hold
+on, while he attaches to them ropes made of Rotang, which thus hang from
+the roof to a length of four or five feet. At their lower extremities
+other Rotang ropes are securely fastened crosswise, thus running, rather
+more horizontally, parallel with the roof, so that they form a hanging
+bridge as it were along the whole length of the roof. The roof is about
+100 feet wide, and from the entrance at the south to the deepest recess in
+the north end, the cave is about 150 feet in length. Although only 10 feet
+high at the entrance, the roof becomes gradually more and more lofty as
+the cavern retreats, till at the farthest extremity it is about 20 to 25
+feet above the sea-level. Before any one of the nest-hunters proceeds to
+erect his ladder, and again before proceeding to climb up upon it in such
+fearful proximity to the thundering swell, a solemn prayer is proffered to
+the goddess or queen of the sea-coast, whose blessing is invoked. At this
+place she bears the name of <i>Njaï-Ratu-Segor-Kidul</i>, or sometimes
+<i>Ratu-Loro-Djunggrang</i>, and has dedicated to her in the village of
+Karangbólong a temple, which is kept scrupulously clean. Occasionally the
+gatherers make also a solemn sacrifice at the tomb of <i>Serot</i>, who,
+according to a Javanese legend, is revered as the first discoverer of the
+bird-nest caves." (The meaning of the above Javanese words is as follows:
+<i>Njaï</i>, the title of honour of a female, corresponding to our
+"Madame:"&mdash;<i>Ratu</i>, Queen:&mdash;<i>Segoro</i>, ocean:&mdash;<i>Kidul</i>, south:&mdash;<i>Lero</i>,
+maiden:&mdash;<i>Djunggrang</i> is a surname.) Compare "Java, its physical Features,
+Vegetation, and internal Structure," by Franz Junghuhn. Leipsig, Arnold,
+1842.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a>
+The picul varies in weight between 125 and 133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub> pounds.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a>
+Toestand der aangeweekete Kinabomen op het eiland Java in
+het laatst der Maand Julij, en het begni van Augustus, 1857. Kort
+beschreven door F. Junghuhn, 116 pp.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a>
+At all events, among the planters up the country the opinion
+prevails that the coffee beans prepared by the native population on what
+is called the parching method are of far finer and more durable quality
+than those prepared by the former process.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a>
+Professor Vriese, besides having all expenses paid, drew a
+salary of £1000 per annum, besides 10 guilders (16<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>) a day for
+every day passed by him in the interior of the island while engaged in its
+explorations.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a>
+The commercial and statistical particulars of Java, for
+which we are mainly indebted to the kindness of Mr. Fraser, the Austrian
+Consul in Batavia, will be specially considered in a different part of the
+work.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a>
+The Javanese agriculturist, especially the coffee planter,
+is sadly tormented by three kinds of grass, which Dr. Junghuhn has named
+the Javanese Trinity, and which are invariably found with the coffee
+plant&mdash;<i>Erichthitas Valerianifolia</i> (which was introduced from Mocha with
+the coffee-shrub, and was never before known in Java), <i>Agerahun
+Conisoïdes</i>, and <i>Bideus Sundaica</i>. The civet-cat, too (called <i>Luah</i> in
+Javanese, Jjáruh in the Sunda language), does great damage to the coffee
+plantations, just as the crop is being collected. It eats only the fleshy
+part of the brown berry, the beans, at least according to what the
+Javanese say, actually gaining a flavour by the process to which they are
+subjected in the maw of the animal!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a>
+In 1859 the most important of the colonial products, grown
+for account of the Government, presented the following quantities:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Coffee</td><td align="center">piculs</td><td align="left">727,000 (of 125 lbs. each)</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sugar</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="left">901,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Indigo</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">558,800</td><td align="center">lbs.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cassia</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">256,000</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cochineal (a failure in the crops<br />owing to incessant rains)</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">6,700</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Tea</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">2,057,400</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Pepper</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">45,000</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The duties on imports and exports for that year in the islands of Java and
+Madura alone amounted to 7,440,579 guilders, or £620,048.</p>
+
+<p>N.B. The picul of 125 lbs. = 136 lbs. 10 ounces avoirdupois.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a>
+Since this was written a number of the Dutch officials and
+<i>savans</i> at Java, who showed so many civilities to the Austrian
+travellers, were decorated by our Government with Austrian orders, among
+whom was also the Raden Adipata Wira Nata Kusuma, the first native
+Javanese Regent ever decorated by a foreign power. The prince was
+extremely delighted when he was informed of it, and said he longed for the
+hour when the imperial decoration was to arrive that he might put it on
+and wear it. Singularly enough the presents and letters of acknowledgment
+sent to the Dutch Government in the Hague for remittance, were not
+forwarded direct by the mail steamer, but as customary by sailing vessels,
+so that they only arrived six months after they were presented!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a>
+A genuine Javanese musical instrument, consisting of a
+number of bells all differently tuned, which are struck with two small
+bamboo-sticks.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a>
+Die Republic Costa Rica, in Central-America, mit besonderer
+Berücksichtigung der Naturverhältnisse, und der frage der deutschen
+Answanderung und Colonisation. Reisestudien und Reiseskizzen aus den
+Jahren 1853 und 1854. Von Dr. M. Wagner and Dr. Karl Scherzer. Leipzig,
+Arnold'sche Buchhandlung. 1856. S. 196-197.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a>
+Colonel Von Schierbrand, to whom natural science is already
+under deep obligations for acquiring a variety of valuable objects, is
+constantly and indefatigably endeavouring, both as a friend of knowledge
+and a zealous sportsman, to procure, sometimes by personal exertion,
+sometimes by employing natives engaged at his own expense, a series of
+rare geological specimens. He appears to be, like so many other of our
+excellent friends in Java, a living contradiction to the proverb, "Out of
+sight, out of mind," as he has since the return of the Expedition already
+sent over as presents to the museums of our native country, valuable
+selections of curious objects of natural history from the Indian
+Archipelago.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a>
+The Loar-Badang (Public Market) is an immense building, a
+sort of brothel on a large scale, kept by a Frenchman, who pays a handsome
+annual sum to Government for the privilege of his infamous traffic. Here,
+among others, are some 40 or 50 wretched outcasts, whom he sends off in
+boats every evening to the merchantmen in the port, for the accommodation
+of their crews!!!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a>
+According to official return, the number of criminals, in
+the year 1857, convicted in the islands of Java and Madura, was 3864, of
+whom 198 were females and 955 were sentenced to the chain-gang. In the
+year 1857 alone, 2525 coloured criminals were sentenced to hard labour,
+with or without chains. The number of convictions in the Dutch East
+Indies, exclusive of Java and Madura, amounted in the same year to 4430.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a>
+Thus the "Prima donna" receives for tragic opera 1500
+guilders (£125), and for comic opera 1800 guilders (£150) per month during
+the season. The "troupe" is usually engaged for a year and a half or two
+years together.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a>
+Of these we cannot refrain from mentioning Dr. Van den
+Broek, who shortly before our arrival had returned from Japan, where he
+had resided seven years as physician and Government agent. Dr. Van den
+Broek, who is at present engaged in the editing a dictionary of the Dutch
+and Japanese languages, presented us with a botanical work in Japanese
+with numerous woodcuts, and at the same time was so exceedingly kind as to
+present us with a small vocabulary of the Court and the popular dialects
+used in Japan.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a>
+Among scientific circles in Batavia the recent departure of
+the renowned ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who intends to settle in Holland
+or Germany, will be the more appreciated, that this resolve will be
+regarded by his numerous European friends as a satisfactory assurance that
+the valuable materials relating to natural history which he has collected
+will ere long make their appearance in a suitable form.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a>
+Voyagers between Batavia and Manila must not, however,
+always expect to make so rapid a voyage. In Manila we fell in with a ship
+captain, who had left Batavia in April, and, owing to the prevalence of
+calms and contrary winds, had been 59 days on the
+passage!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--291.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -357px;
+  width: 715px; height: 604px; background-image: url('images/illu291.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu291" id="illu291"></a><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top:-1em;">View from the Battlements at Manila.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 715px; height: 410px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 50px; margin-right: -88px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 50px; margin-left: -88px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 105px; margin-right: -125px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 105px; margin-left: -125px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 30px; margin-right: -300px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">Manila.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">Stay from 15th to 25th June, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+Historical notes relating to the Philippines.&mdash;From Cavite to
+Manila.&mdash;The river Pasig.&mdash;First impressions of the city.&mdash;Its
+inhabitants.&mdash;Tagales and Negritoes.&mdash;Preponderating influence
+of Monks.&mdash;Visit to the four chief monasteries.&mdash;Conversation
+with an Augustine Monk.&mdash;Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
+chiefly in use in Manila.&mdash;Reception by the Governor-general of
+the Philippines.&mdash;Monument in honour of Magelhaens.&mdash;The
+"Calzada."&mdash;Cock-fighting.&mdash;"Fiestas Reales."&mdash;Causes of the
+languid trade with Europe hitherto.&mdash;Visit to the
+Cigar-manufactories.&mdash;Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
+Havanna.&mdash;Abáca, or Manila hemp.&mdash;Excursion to the "Laguna de
+Bay."&mdash;A row on the river Pasig.&mdash;The village of
+Patero.&mdash;Wild-duck breeding.&mdash;Sail on the Lagoon.&mdash;Plans for
+canalization.&mdash;Arrival at Los Baños.&mdash;Canoe-trip on the
+"enchanted sea."&mdash;Alligators.&mdash;Kalong Bats.&mdash;Gobernador and
+Gobernadorcillo.&mdash;The Poll-tax.&mdash;A hunt in the swamps of
+Calamba.&mdash;Padre Lorenzo.&mdash;Return to Manila.&mdash;The "Pebete."&mdash;The
+military Library.&mdash;The civil and military
+Hospital.&mdash;Ecclesiastical processions.&mdash;Ave Maria.&mdash;Tagalian
+merriness.&mdash;Condiman.&mdash;Lunatic Asylum.&mdash;Gigantic serpent
+thirty-two years old.&mdash;Departure.&mdash;Chinese pilots.&mdash;First
+glimpse of the coasts of the Celestial Empire.&mdash;The Lemmas
+Channel.&mdash;Arrival in Hong-kong Harbour.
+</div>
+
+<p>Luzon, or Manila, the largest and most important island, politically
+speaking, of the Philippine Archipelago, is the sole possession of the
+Spanish Crown which was visited by the
+<!--292.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span><i>Novara</i>
+during her numerous
+traverses and diagonal tracks on her voyage round the world. As we had
+hitherto come into contact for the most part with the Anglo-Saxon race and
+its colonies, it was naturally doubly interesting to have an opportunity
+of becoming likewise acquainted with the results of civilization and
+colonization as exemplified by what are called the Romaic or Latin
+branches of the great Caucasian family, and by personal examination to
+satisfy ourselves in what fashion the Castilians have succeeded in
+identifying their own advantages with those of the natives of these
+islands. True it is, that the history of the earlier Spanish dependencies
+is by no means calculated to heighten our regard for the wisdom and
+mildness of the colonial policy of Spain, or to give a particularly
+favourable impression of the political and social condition of the
+Philippine Islands. A state, whose power at the commencement of the
+present century was still beaming in all its lustre, who has lost the
+fairest and most fertile lands on the face of the earth, which it had
+possessed for above three hundred years, without the slightest attempt to
+defend them, whose Government, through its inflexible adherence to
+obsolete forms and ordinances, after the dizzy pre-eminence of ruling the
+world has dwindled into a power of the third class,&mdash;leaves nothing to
+hope that any part of its organization should have remained intact, that
+the canker in its political and social proclivities, which so suddenly and
+so disastrously brought about the downfal
+<!--293.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span>of
+one of the mightiest and
+most extended empires in the world, should not likewise have made its
+appearance in the Philippines. However, it is precisely these
+considerations which make the contrast between the colonies founded by the
+Anglo-Saxon race in remote regions of the globe, and those of the Spanish,
+Portuguese, Dutch, and so forth, so valuable and instructive, although a
+rigid analysis of the causes which have conduced to the present condition
+of the majority of the countries conquered and ruled by races of Latin
+origin, must necessarily impress the unprejudiced inquirer in a sense
+little flattering to these latter, namely, that the history of every
+quarter of the globe would have assumed an entirely different aspect had
+these countries been first discovered and colonized by the Anglo-Saxon
+race, with its watchwords of freedom and religious toleration, instead of
+the Spaniard or Portuguese, with tyranny and fanaticism inscribed on its
+banners.</p>
+
+<p>The Archipelago of the Philippines comprises those numerous islands and
+islets between the parallels of 5° and 21° N., and which are scattered
+between the North Pacific Ocean on the east and the Chinese Sea on the
+west. The entire group, which, according to the Spanish account, consists
+of not fewer than 408 islands, extends over 16° of latitude by 9° of
+longitude, covering a superficial area of 91,000 square miles, or about
+the dimensions of England, Ireland, and Wales, exclusive of Scotland. Only
+two islands however of the whole cluster are
+<!--294.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span>of
+considerable dimensions,
+viz. Luzon, or Manila, which is about the same size as Galicia, Moravia,
+and Silesia taken together, and Mindanão, which, in superficial area, is
+about equal to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.</p>
+
+<p>As in size, so in fertility, natural advantages, and commerce, Luzon is
+the most important island in the Archipelago, as it is likewise one of the
+most delightful spots in the tropics. The climate is adapted to the
+cultivation of all the plants and various forms of vegetation alike of the
+torrid and the temperate zones. On the coast the thermometer never falls
+below 71°.6 Fahr., nor rises above 95° Fahr. In the highland valley of
+Banjanao, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, albeit not above 36 miles
+distant from Manila, the thermometer frequently descends as low as 44°.6
+Fahr. The highest register of the thermometer is during the rainy
+months,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> from May to September; but we were assured over and over again
+that in Manila the heat is very equably distributed over the entire year,
+and never attains such a high degree as many summer days in Madrid. The
+most valuable and most extensively used plants of the tropical and
+sub-tropical zones, suck as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas, maize,
+tobacco, and rice, flourish here. The forests abound in all the most
+valuable descriptions of cabinet-wood, but the narrow-minded illiberality
+that has always characterized the colonial policy
+<!--295.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span>of
+Spain, the
+numberless restrictions to which her commerce is subjected, do not admit
+of that magnificent development of which this insular cluster, so
+abounding in natural wealth, would be susceptible under a more free-souled
+rule. The Spaniards have conquered and have subjugated the islands,
+fanatical monks have what they call Christianized the people, but, during
+the three hundred years that the Castilian has held the supremacy here,
+little if anything has been done for the prosperity and development of the
+country, or the intellectual and moral advancement of the people.</p>
+
+<p>The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magelhaens and Pigafetta on the
+17th March, 1521, nearly twenty-nine years after the discovery of America
+by Columbus, and two years after the conquest of Mexico by Fernando
+Cortez. In consonance with the religious customs of that age, the group
+was named by Magelhaens "The Archipelago of St. Lazarus," because the day
+on which it was discovered corresponded with the fête-day of that saint in
+the calendar. But the discovery did not imply the conquest of the
+Archipelago. Four expeditions were dispatched at various intervals,
+without their succeeding in subduing the natives. The solitary result
+obtained thence was, that the commander of the fourth expedition, that of
+1542, Don Ruy Lopez de Villalobos by name, changed the Scriptural name of
+the Archipelago for that by which it is at present known, in honour of the
+prince of Asturias (then 15 years old), afterwards Philip
+II.<!--296.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was not till a fifth expedition had started in 1565, forty-one years
+after the first discovery of the Archipelago by Magelhaens, that the
+conquest was finally completed. The leader of this was Miguel Lopez de
+Legaspi, a man noways inferior to a Cortez or a Pizarro in venturesomeness
+of spirit, inflexible perseverance, and brilliant courage, and in humanity
+far exceeding either. His squadron consisted of five ships, and his entire
+force, including soldiers and mariners, was but 400 men.</p>
+
+<p>On 21st November, 1564, Legaspi sailed from Port Natividad in Spain, and
+on 16th February, 1565, hove in sight of the Philippines. The hardy
+navigator was accompanied by a number of Augustinian monks, who in the
+subsequent subjugation of the islands proved far more serviceable than his
+soldiers. The superior of these monks, Fray Andres de Urdañeta, a very
+remarkable man, had commanded a ship in the first expedition, and had
+afterwards been admitted into the order of St. Augustine.</p>
+
+<p>Four years after their arrival at the Philippines, and after they had
+subdued the native inhabitants of the fertile islands of Cebu and Panay,
+Legaspi first discovered Luzon, and there in the year 1571 founded the
+city of Manila. Since this first conquest the Spaniards have by no means
+been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of this smiling cluster of
+islands. Not alone the Portuguese and the Dutch bestirred themselves at
+various intervals to drive the Spaniards out of the Archipelago, but the
+English likewise, in 1762,
+<!--297.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span>towards
+the close of the Seven Years' War,
+invaded these settlements.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p>
+
+<p>The area conquered, however, did not extend further inland than to a
+distance of ten miles from the walls of the city, and after an occupation
+of ten months, Manila was restored to the Crown of Spain by the Peace of
+Paris, 1763. Since that memorable period, the Philippine group has
+remained uninterruptedly under the dominion of the Spaniards, and has up
+to the present day been a faithful dependent of the Royal House of
+Castile. In fact, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico, the
+Philippine and Marianne Archipelagoes are the sole colonies that Spain
+still retains of her once so enormous possessions in the distant portions
+of the globe, although in Manila even in our own day, as will be more
+fully detailed presently, despite her honourable distinction of "<i>La
+Siempre real ciudad</i>" (The Ever Loyal city), there is no lack of
+discontent, and the generally prevailing "loyal tranquillity" is, none the
+less, boding many serious perils for the Spanish supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>The most striking peculiarity of the natural configuration
+<!--298.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span>of
+Luzon<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>
+is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsulas, a northern, which
+comprises the larger portion, and a southern, smaller island; the former
+named Luzon by the Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire
+island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and its
+greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it is little more than
+thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the Caraballos mountains traverse
+Luzon from north to south, and sends off spurs in various directions,
+which impart an exceeding hilly aspect to the entire island.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions; Costa, Contra-Costa,
+and Centro, corresponding pretty nearly with the western side, the eastern
+side, and the interior of the island, and formerly indicating in what
+order these different sections of the country had been subjected to the
+Spanish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces and 12
+districts.</p>
+
+<p>Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipelago, and the
+oldest European settlement in this region of the globe, lies at the mouth
+of a small but rather rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of
+about 30 miles, draws off to the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake
+(<i>Laguna de Bay</i>). In
+<!--299.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span>consequence
+of a not very conveniently situated
+mole, the Pasig is forming a bar close to its own embouchure, which makes
+it somewhat dangerous for boats to attempt an entrance in bad weather.
+Ships, however, can anchor about 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> miles below the fortified walls of
+the city, which, though impregnable to the attack of a native force, would
+probably be found powerless to repel a European force attacking from
+seaward.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the Scientific Commission started from Cavite, where the
+frigate lay at anchor, in the small steamer which plies daily to the
+capital, which, when beheld from a distance, with its gloomy, lofty,
+defiant fortifications, and its dense clusters of monastic buildings and
+church towers, gives the impression rather of some great Catholic Mission
+than a place of commerce. In the roads there were not above 16 ships lying
+at anchor, whereas we counted 165 in Singapore, a disproportion which,
+considering the favourable site of Manila and its wealth in all manner of
+valuable produce, can only be accounted for by the pressure of political
+and administrative regulations, which weigh like a mountain upon trade and
+commerce.</p>
+
+<p>On pulling up the river from its mouth, where it is about 300 feet wide,
+we find ourselves in the vicinity of the light-house, in front of a dense
+mass of the inevitable filthy bamboo huts, which being inhabited by the
+very poorest section of the population, increase the dismal, gloomy
+impression left by the first view of the city. We land in the
+neighbourhood of the
+<!--300.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span>harbour-master's
+office, and have to pick our steps
+through a dirty quarter of the town in order to reach the focus of public
+activity.</p>
+
+<p>The river Pasig divides Manila Proper from its sister city of Binondo. Two
+handsome bridges, one an old-fashioned stone one, the other a modern
+suspension bridge of imposing dimensions, form the communication between
+the two cities. Manila, situate on the southern or left bank, and enclosed
+on all sides with ditches and fortifications, has all the peculiar
+features of a Spanish town of the ancient type. It consists of eight
+straight, narrow streets, all running in one direction. Within these are
+most of the public buildings; the Governor-general's Palace and that of
+the Archbishop, the Municipality, the Supreme Courts, the Cathedral, the
+Arsenal, the Barracks. Profound silence reigns in the grass-grown streets,
+between the gloomy masses of stone, of which at least one-third are Church
+property. There is no evidence anywhere of joyous life or social progress,
+and the variegated, charming flower-garden, lately laid out in the square
+in front of the Cathedral, stands out like a solitary gay picture, amid
+austere, sombre, historical paintings of vanished might and faded
+splendour. Within the walls of this melancholy old city only Spaniards and
+their descendants may dwell, all other races being excluded from this
+privilege. The number of inhabitants within the fortifications does not
+probably exceed 10,000 souls.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Binondo, on the northern or right bank of the river, is
+the true business city and head-quarters of
+<!--301.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span>trade.
+Here Europeans,
+Chinese, Malays, and their endless intermixtures of blood, amounting in
+all to more than 140,000 souls, reside in the most perfect harmony with
+each other; here are all the warehouses, shops, and manufactories; here
+prevails from morning till night a perpetual whirl of busy, cheerful
+crowds circulating through the streets, of which that called the Escolta
+is the most frequented, as it is the handsomest and most attractive. The
+houses, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are usually one storey
+high, enclosing large courts (<i>patios</i>), and very frequently with a sort
+of terrace on the roof. The interiors of the houses have an unusually
+spacious appearance, owing to their almost universally having but little
+furniture, in many cases simply a number of chairs ranged along the walls.
+But the most singular aspect of these houses is to be found in the
+windows, the panes of most of them being made, not of glass, but of the
+shell of a species of oyster (<i>Placuna Placenta</i>), ground down to the
+requisite thinness! The subdued light which is thus obtained is
+exceedingly grateful, and these mussel-shells have been found to be
+cheaper and more lasting than panes of glass, which, in a country so
+frequently visited by earthquakes and hurricanes, could only be replaced
+when injured at an immense expense. The streets are rather narrow, so much
+so that linen awnings are stretched across the streets from one row of
+shops to that opposite, thus securing to the foot-passenger the
+inestimable boon of being able during the hottest hours of the day to
+traverse almost every street in Binondo under
+shade.<!--302.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That which the stranger understands by the emphatic word "comfort" is only
+to be found in the houses of European residents, and is not obtainable by
+money. The two hotels lately started to levy, unchallenged, Californian
+prices for even the most moderate requirements, and so far as cleanliness
+and orderliness are concerned, lag far behind the commonest country inn in
+North America or the British colonies.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p>
+
+<p>Despite the various races that meet the stranger's gaze, Manila has,
+beyond any other colony in the East, the appearance of a European town.
+One remarks here, that the colonists are more completely amalgamated with
+the natives, and that with the religion these latter have also adopted a
+considerable proportion of the customs of Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>Among the populace of Manila belonging to the coloured races, that most
+prevalent in the capital is the Tagal, or Tagalag, on whose territory the
+Spaniards founded their first settlement. The obscurity that envelopes
+their origin has never been dispelled, although some of the older
+religious writers thought they found on Borneo and other islands of the
+Sunda Archipelago some traces of their stock. They were confirmed in this
+impression by the fact, that in the
+<!--303.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span>most
+cultivated dialects and idioms
+of the Tagal is to be found an unusually great number of Malay and
+Javanese words. The majority of the plants cultivated here, such as rice,
+sugar-cane, yam, indigo, cocoa-palm, as also all domestic animals, many of
+the metals, and even the digits used in enumeration, are, although greatly
+corrupted, directly traceable to the corresponding words or names in
+Malay. Moreover, there is a tradition very prevalent throughout Luzon,
+that the Spaniards, at their first arrival in this Archipelago, found
+certain Bornese officials here, who were levying taxes and tithes for the
+Rajahs resident in that island.</p>
+
+<p>Next in number to the Tagals rank the Chinese with their descendants, and
+to these succeed the Spaniards, with their offspring born in the country,
+who amount together to barely 5000, or about a 28th of the whole
+population of the capital; of Spaniards of pure descent, there are not
+above 300 in Manila.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
+
+<p>Besides the Tagal there is in this Archipelago yet another race, the
+<i>Negritos</i>, who only inhabit the mountain districts of the islands of
+Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Mindanão, and are estimated at about
+25,000 souls. These Negritos del Monte, or Negrillos, also called Aeta,
+Aigta, Ite, Inapta, and Igorote, are small in physical conformation as
+compared with their African congeners. The characteristic features of
+<!--304.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span>the
+negro are less strongly marked, the colour of their skin and their
+complexion are both less black. For this reason old Spanish authors speak
+of them as "<i>menos negro y menos feo</i>" (less negro-like and less hideous).
+Owing to their small stature, which does not average above 4 feet 8 inches
+English, they have received the appellation of Negritos (diminutive
+Negroes). By Spanish writers upon the Philippines they have been described
+as a still existent branch of the lowest type of humanity, without fixed
+dwellings, without regular employment, eking out a bare subsistence on
+roots and wild fruits, and such animals as they could bring down with the
+bow and arrow, their only weapon. Through the kind offices of Mr. Grahame,
+we had an opportunity of gratifying our curiosity to see an individual of
+this singular race of Negritos. This was a girl of about 12 or 14 years of
+age, of dwarf-like figure, with woolly hair, broad nostrils, but without
+the dark skin and wide everted lips which characterize the negro type.
+This pleasing-looking, symmetrically formed girl had been brought up in
+the house of a Spaniard, apparently with the pious object of rescuing her
+soul from heathenism. The poor little Negrilla hardly understood her own
+mother tongue, besides a very little Tagal, so that we had considerable
+difficulty in understanding each other. The received opinion that the
+Negrillos and the Igorotes are of a distinct race, but having some
+affinity with the Papuans of New Guinea, seems to us for many reasons very
+problematical. We are as yet far too little acquainted with the races
+<!--305.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span>inhabiting
+the most inaccessible parts of the island, to be able to
+pronounce a correct opinion upon such a point. The probabilities are not
+less that the Negritos and Igorotes stand in the same relation to the
+dwellers on the coast as the Bushmen to the Hottentots, the Weddahs to the
+Cingalese, or the savages of Sambalong to the natives of the rest of the
+Nicobars.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish language is only available in Manila and the vicinity;&mdash;a few
+miles in the interior, even in places which hold almost daily
+communication with Manila, Tagal is much more commonly used. At present
+Tagal is written and printed exclusively in the Roman character. While in
+Manila, we never once saw a book or MS. in which the ancient character had
+been used. Even the oldest printed matter, such as, for instance, a Tagal
+grammar, published in Manila in 1610, contains only a few samples of the
+native alphabet, while as to its original arrangement, as also the form of
+the numerals, the utmost uncertainty prevails. The entire alphabet, which,
+including the three vowels, consists of but 17 letters, comprises the
+following characters:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 701px;">
+<img src="images/illu305.png" width="701" height="242" alt="List of Tagal vowels and consonants." title="" />
+</div>
+<!--306.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A dot <i>above</i> the character changes the vowel sound <i>a</i> of the original
+consonants into <i>e</i> and <i>i</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 698px;">
+<img src="images/illu306a.png" width="698" height="167" alt="Dotted characters." title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>A dot <i>below</i> the character changes the vowel sound <i>a</i> of the original
+consonant into <i>o</i> and <i>u</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;">
+<img src="images/illu306b.png" width="700" height="170" alt="Dotted characters." title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>From the foregoing characters it would appear that <i>a</i> and <i>o</i>, as also
+<i>e</i> and <i>i</i>, <i>da</i> and <i>ra</i>, <i>pa</i> and <i>fa</i>, had each but one and the same
+character.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>&mdash;Besides the Tagal, five other different idioms are used by
+the civilized races of Luzon, namely, Bisaya, Pangasinana (the same as
+Ilocano), Tbanác (same as Cagayana), Bicol, and Pampanya.</p>
+
+<p>The Tagals are a small race, of a clear yellow complexion, and,
+notwithstanding their broad flat noses and thick lips, are by no means of
+unpleasing appearance. The hair of the head is rigid, bristly, and black;
+the beard very sparse.
+<!--307.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span>They
+all wear European clothes more or less,
+although the fashion in which they wear them is quite peculiar and
+ludicrously odd. Not merely do the lower orders and servants wear the
+shirt ironed perfectly smooth and unwrinkled, instead of a coat, above
+their continuations, but the Tagal dandy prides himself on his
+well-lacquered boots, his white stockings, his new Paris silk hat worn
+with a jaunty cock to one side, and above all his carefully plaited
+resplendent white shirt, as he struts through the streets of Manila,
+cigaret in his mouth, and swinging an elegant little cane! The women wear,
+like the Javanese women, the "Sarong," a parti-coloured striped cotton
+dress, rolled round the loins, and a close-fitting very short jacket, so
+short indeed that between it and the gown a space about an inch wide
+intervenes through which the naked body is visible, while the fine
+transparent gauze-like stuff of which the jacket is made is much better
+calculated to show off than to conceal their attractions. This universal
+fashion of dress is the more surprising, as the various orders of monks
+exercise in all other respects an almost despotic control over the
+natives, and as it is much more attributable to their influence than to
+that of the secular authorities that the speech, manners, and customs of
+old Castile have taken firm and extensive root in the Philippines. It
+seems, however, unjust to compare this group of islands, as has been done
+by modern writers, on account of the all-pervading influence of the
+Spanish element, with a province of Spain, in contradistinction to the
+colonies
+<!--308.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span>of
+other nations, where the Europeans have always been regarded
+by the natives as the lords of a conquered country. The English in India,
+Ceylon, and New Zealand, and the Dutch in Java, all appear to have a much
+firmer and more secure footing than the Spaniards, despite their having
+mingled with the people. How little can be effected by forced amalgamation
+of speech and manners, is best illustrated by the late separation of
+Central and Southern America from the Spanish rule, although in most of
+these countries the majority of the people speak only Spanish, and are
+governed entirely in accordance with Spanish customs. Much better founded
+seems to us the observation that it was less the sword than the cross of
+Spain which brought the Philippines under the throne of Castile, and that
+the natives have become Spanish Christians, without being Spanish
+subjects. The entire Archipelago is nothing but one rich church domain, a
+safe retreat for the legion of Spanish monks, who are able to lord it here
+with unrestrained power. There is a Governor-general of the Philippines
+only so long as it pleases the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan
+friars; and if ever an insurrection breaks out in the Archipelago,
+designed to shake off the Spanish yoke, there will be more than one monk
+to head the movement.</p>
+
+<p>In a country where the cloister and its denizens interfere so arbitrarily
+in all the concerns of life, and impart to the capital itself, as indeed
+to the entire Archipelago, a character entirely peculiar to itself,
+religious establishments and their
+<!--309.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span>zealous
+occupants call for special
+consideration, and the reader need assuredly feel no surprise that we
+should begin the narrative of our visit to the capital of the Philippines
+by a description of its monasteries. In Manila these unfortunately are
+not, as they were in the middle ages, the nurseries of culture and
+civilization, of science and art, but rather give the impression of being
+simply huge establishments for the maintenance of zealous souls, weary of
+life, who wish to close their days of labour in tranquil contemplation,
+exempt from all anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>The four orders of monks to whose hands are confided the entire spiritual
+and very much of the secular well-being of the inhabitants of the
+Philippines, are the Augustines (<i>Agustinos Calzados</i>&mdash;sandalled friars),
+the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the barefoot Augustinian mendicants
+(<i>Agustinos descalzados</i> or <i>Recoletos</i>).</p>
+
+<p>The monastery of the Bare-Foot Friars, lying close to the wall of the
+fortifications, consists of a number of spacious buildings, some of which
+date from the 17th century. Everything here tells of former power and
+splendour. From the billiard-room and parlour on the first storey, the eye
+is charmed by a marvellous landscape commanding the Bay of Manila and the
+mountains that surround it. How delightful must it be in the evening
+twilight to pace these airy chambers in the society of congenial souls,
+and, while the brow is fanned by the cool sea-breeze, to give free scope
+to the reins of fancy, as it swept far away over the Bay of Manila!
+<!--310.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span>For
+what privations must not such a source of pure exquisite enjoyment
+indemnify the ascetic brethren of the cloister! That spiritual meditation
+and converse however do not form the sole topics discussed in these
+departments, was abundantly evidenced by the hints let fall by several of
+the monks who conducted us through the various corridors and apartments,
+and who were constantly indulging in visions of Carlist supremacy and a
+return of the halcyon days of monasticism. On our remarking that so far as
+worldly consideration was concerned, the cloister enjoyed far more cordial
+support in Manila than either in Spain or Cuba, one of the Augustinians
+who was accompanying us, a tall commanding figure, attired in the plain
+garb of the order, replied: "The Government knows that it has need of us,
+that it could not get on a day without us, therefore it leaves us in
+peace, and places no impediments in our path as in Spain."<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> And he was
+right. Whensoever the monks lift the finger, Spain has ceased to rule in
+the Philippines. The spiritual reins have ever bridled the secular
+authority, and such a state of things is the severest impediment to the
+development of the country and its intellectual growth.</p>
+
+<!--311.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of the various monastic orders resident in Manila the Augustinians are by
+far the best educated. They have made the various dialects of the native
+races their study far more deeply than the other orders. The "<i>Flora de
+las Filipinas</i>," the <i>only</i> botanical work which has ever been published
+in the Spanish language, treating of this interesting Archipelago, was
+compiled by an Augustinian monk, Fray Manuel Blanco.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
+
+<p>The number of monks resident in the monastery of Manila when we were there
+was 48, but there was room enough for three times as many. Altogether
+there were of the Augustinian order 58 monasteries and parishes in the
+island of Luzon, extending from one end of the island to the other. In the
+entire Archipelago there are, according to public documents, 145
+Augustinian monks, whose authority extends over 14 provinces and 153
+villages, numbering 1,615,051 souls.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p>
+
+<!--312.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The monastery of the Dominicans is kept clean and comfortable, and its
+wide spacious apartments leave a less vivid impression of decay and human
+indifference than the majority of the monastic edifices. Here also the
+lofty, light chambers in the upper storeys command a magnificent prospect.
+The Prior, Padre Vellinchon, received the Austrian travellers with much
+cordiality, and conducted them in person round all the apartments of the
+very extensive building. He spoke Latin pretty fluently, and without the
+peculiar Spanish accent, besides possessing a slight acquaintance with
+French; and was somewhat better informed upon European matters than his
+spiritual <i>confrères</i>. The library of the order is not kept in the
+convent, but in one of the buildings of the University of St. Thomas also
+used by the Dominicans, but it is quite unimportant, whether as regards
+the number of works it contains or their scientific value.</p>
+
+<p>The spiritual jurisdiction of the Dominicans extends over eight provinces
+of the Archipelago, including 76 villages, with in all 427,593 souls,
+whose eternal interests are watched over by 76 brethren of the order.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p>
+
+<p>A Dominican friar, Joaquin Fonseca, is president of the permanent
+commission of Censorship of Books, consisting in all of nine members, five
+of whom are nominated by Government and four by the Archbishop of
+Manila.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> We had the
+<!--313.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span>pleasure
+of being made acquainted with Fray
+Joaquin Fonseca, who also holds the appointment of Professor of Theology
+in the University of St. Thomas, and were presented by him with a copy of
+an imperfect epic poem composed in Spanish, which had for subject the
+history of the island of Luzon and its inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Of this
+interesting fragment we shall publish a translation in another place.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were leaving the Dominican monastery, its worthy Prior begged
+our acceptance, by way of souvenir of our visit, of a copy of Dante's
+Divina Commedia in the original text, and a dictionary of the Ybanác, one
+of the idioms most extensively used throughout the Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>The monastery of the Franciscans presents no other feature of interest,
+than in so far as it is an emblem of the melancholy spiritual decay in
+which the members of this order at present find themselves in Manila. The
+dirt and untidiness which were not merely apparent in the various
+apartments, but which were even but too obvious in the external appearance
+of the brothers of the order, make a most disagreeable impression; for
+poverty and necessity, these two cardinal principles of the mendicant
+orders, are by no means incompatible with cleanliness and neatness.</p>
+
+<p>The Franciscans possess 16 missions in 14 of the provinces,
+<!--314.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span>comprising
+159 villages and 749,804 inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> The spiritual instruction of
+these is intrusted to 184 brethren of the order, 74 priests, and 43
+<i>Clerigos Interinos</i> (occasional preachers).</p>
+
+<p>The monastery of the <i>Recoletos</i>, or Reformed Augustinians, offers a not
+less impressive prospect than that of the Franciscans. Here, too, the
+occupants permit to appear a careless indifference utterly destructive of
+the value of their ghostly ministration. As we entered, the brethren of
+the order had finished their mid-day repast. Some of the monks were still
+sitting in a dirty, gloomy verandah round a table on which was spread a
+table-cloth stained with food and drink, while in front of each stood a
+half-empty wineglass. A lay brother announced us, upon which one of the
+monks rose to bid us welcome. From his rather jovial appearance, and the
+suspicious colour of his nose, we presumed he was the cellarer, and were
+not a little surprised when, in the course of conversation, he announced
+that it was the Prior himself who was speaking with us.</p>
+
+<p>We had the utmost difficulty in making the brethren, whose information was
+of a most limited extent, comprehend from what country we came. The
+circumstance that the original German name <i>Oesterreich</i> is pronounced
+Austria in Spanish, puzzled still more hopelessly the comprehension of
+<!--315.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span>the
+monks, whose geographical knowledge did not seem to extend much
+beyond the sphere of their vision. At first they confounded Austria with
+Australia, and fancied we must have come direct from the fifth quarter of
+the globe, but when the <i>Novara</i> voyagers, proud of their Fatherland,
+refused to permit this opinion to pass current, and gave a more clear
+explanation, one of the younger monks thought he had at last found out our
+<i>habitat</i>, and evidently priding himself on having solved the riddle, gave
+his less ingenious brethren to understand that we came, not from
+Australia, but from Asturias, and were consequently fellow-countrymen! The
+limited intelligence of the Franciscan mistook Austria for Asturias, and
+made of the Austrian Empire a Spanish province! Lest the hypothesis should
+suggest itself to the reader, that this confusion of foreign empires with
+domestic provinces might possibly have originated in our not being
+acquainted with the language of the country, it is necessary that we
+should inform him that one member of the Expedition was thoroughly versed
+in Spanish, so as to be able to maintain fluent conversation, and that he
+was perfectly comprehended upon all other topics. Just as little must it
+be supposed that the above anecdote is but an ill-natured imputation, or
+the expression of a long-vanished national jealousy, or anything else than
+a proof of the present state of education among the present occupants of
+the monasteries of
+Manila.<!--316.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Recoletos watch over the spiritual weal of 567,416<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> children
+belonging to parishes in the various islands of the Archipelago, and
+number 127 brethren.</p>
+
+<p>In each monastery there is what is called a <i>Procuracion</i>, where the
+various printed books published by the order (almost exclusively
+dictionaries and grammars of the native languages and dialects) are sold
+for the behoof of the funds of the monastery. The members of our
+Expedition exerted themselves to form a very complete collection of all
+such publications; and while thus engaged they also succeeded in getting
+several MS. treatises on language.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> Works and memoirs on the history of
+the island and the state of its inhabitants are scarcely met with in the
+wretchedly deficient libraries of the monasteries, which consist of not
+more than 500 or 600 volumes, mostly works of theology and philosophy.
+Whatever of valuable literary material may once have belonged to these
+institutions has apparently been removed to Spain, whose libraries have
+also gradually absorbed the literary treasures of the monasteries of
+Central and Southern America.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the monasteries, Government Square (Plaza de Gobierno), in the
+inner portion of the city, possesses some
+<!--317.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span>little
+interest for strangers.
+It has the shape of a large oblong, surrounded on each of its four sides
+by the palace of the Governor-general, that of the archbishop, the
+cathedral, and the law offices, with a well-kept garden-plot in the
+centre, in which is a handsome statue of Charles IV., the whole strongly
+recalling the principal square in the Havanna. The cathedral is equally as
+remarkable for the clumsiness of its exterior as for the profusion of
+perishable gold and silver within. The first edifice was erected by
+Legaspi, the conqueror of Luzon, in 1571, and was composed of bamboo-cane
+thatched with palm-leaves. The present temple was built in 1654 during the
+papacy of Innocent X., after several previous buildings had been
+destroyed, some by fire, others by earthquake. The palace of the
+Captain-general is an extensive but very simple building, with long wide
+corridors internally, but which can make no pretensions to architectural
+magnificence externally. In one of its saloons our Commodore and his
+companions were received by the Captain-general of the Philippines, Don
+Fernando Narzagaray, who had held this elevated post since 1857. Formerly
+Governor of the island of Porto Rico, in the West Indies, Don Fernando
+was, in consequence of his openly avowed Carlist proclivities, sent into
+honourable exile to the Philippines, and by a lucky chance is at present
+once more invested with the dignity of one of the highest officials of
+Queen Isabel II. of Spain. This gentleman received the voyagers of the
+<i>Novara</i> with the proverbial lofty courtesy of
+<!--318.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span>the
+Spaniards, yet not
+without suffering to appear in his address a certain embarrassment and
+hesitation, which however may have been due to his not being sufficiently
+acquainted with any other tongue than the Spanish, to enable him to use it
+in giving fluent expression to his thoughts. The conversation turned
+chiefly upon the scene of our latest visit, Java. Notwithstanding the not
+very formidable distance, and the constant communication existing between
+the two islands, the Captain-general seemed to have but a very vague
+conception of the political and social condition of Java, and framed his
+questions as though they related to some remote island, in some entirely
+different section of the globe, rather than an island in all but immediate
+vicinity. As we prepared to return to our vehicles, Don Fernando made use
+of the usual unmeaning compliment "<i>Usted<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> sabe que mi casa es à la
+disposicion de Usted!</i>" (You know you may consider my house as entirely at
+your disposal):<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> it would rather have astonished him though, had his
+visitors taken him at his word!</p>
+
+<!--319.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Passports, which are absolutely necessary in Manila to make the very
+shortest excursion into the interior, are given with the utmost alacrity
+to strangers, without any one thenceforward paying the slightest attention
+to enabling any expedition to carry out its objects. This cold, utterly
+indifferent treatment was doubly felt by travellers fresh from Batavia,
+where they had been overwhelmed with every sort of attention.</p>
+
+<p>In the office of the Captain-general we saw several large sheets of
+printed matter in columns, suspended on the walls, which we presumed were
+the annual statistics of the commerce of the Archipelago, and accordingly
+requested one of the officials to provide us with one. It was only when
+unfolding a little later the documents which had been so readily given to
+us that we discovered our error, and became aware that these tables
+printed with such care and elegance did not in any way refer to what we
+had supposed, but were the statistics of the various monasteries, and
+their inhabitant brethren throughout the Philippines. We had far greater
+trouble and difficulty ere we could get at the particulars of the natural
+productions and state of trade of Manila.</p>
+
+<p>When the visitor passes through the St. Domingo gate to the suburb of
+Binondo, on the N.E. side of the inner city, we traverse what is called
+the Isthmus, a narrow strip of
+<!--320.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span>meadow-land,
+surrounded by water on both
+sides, on which has been erected within these few years a simple monument
+in honour of Magelhaens, the discoverer of the Philippines, who, wounded
+by a native with a poisoned arrow, breathed his last, 15th April, 1521, on
+the small island of Mactan, lying opposite Cebu. A Doric column of black
+marble, 76 feet high, with inscriptions engraven on the four sides of the
+pedestal, lifts its head here since 1854,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> and is altogether a more
+appropriate monument than that which the Spaniards erected at Havanna to
+the greatest navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus, to whom they owe
+all their after power and greatness, on the spot where his ashes reposed
+for many a long year in the cathedral before they were conveyed back to
+Spain. A poor insignificant votive tablet, built into a recess near the
+altar, is all that intimates that there once reposed there for a season
+the mortal remains of the man who, to use the words of a German poet,
+"bestowed on the world another world."<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p>
+
+<p>On this isthmus are situated the most delightful pleasure grounds in
+Manila; the esplanade, with its simple, shady walks, and benches on which
+to repose, and further on, nearer the sea on the left bank of the river,
+the "Calzada" dam (causeway). Hither every evening comes the gay
+<!--321.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span>world
+of
+Manila, in long rows of carriages, to be fanned by the delicious cool
+sea-breeze. Arrived at the farther extremity of the promenade, the
+coachman, resplendent in gorgeous livery and large shining top-boots, for
+he does not drive from the box but rides postilion, is usually ordered to
+stop, and the gentlemen leave the carriage in order to chat with the
+ladies in the surrounding vehicles, just as we accost our fair friends in
+the theatre, and pay our visits in the boxes. For in Manila there are
+neither theatres nor concert-rooms, and the public promenade is therefore
+the only rendezvous of the "beau monde."</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately we reached Manila in the height of the rainy season, when
+even the attractiveness of nature can only be guessed at by occasional
+glimpses, and the delightful outdoor life which enlivens the streets and
+the front porch of the private residences of the inhabitants, is utterly
+arrested. Here, as in Batavia, the tropical rains fall with a violence of
+which a native of the northern climates, who has never lived in the
+tropics, and knows only the rainfall of his own country, can hardly form
+any conception. In July, 1857, it rained here for fourteen days
+uninterruptedly, so that the Pasig overflowed its banks, and people were
+ferried about the streets of Manila, as in the city of Lagoons, by means
+of small boats, called here <i>bancas</i>. This inundation was converted into a
+merry-making, and visits were paid on all sides in elegant little boats.</p>
+
+<p>The one sole amusement with which even the rainy season
+<!--322.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span>cannot
+interfere,
+is cock-fighting. So soon as the bad weather has fairly set in, universal
+recourse is had to this, the most popular of amusements, whose cruel,
+murderous issue is strangely in contrast with the mild, soft, timid
+character of the natives. These "<i>Gallos</i>," as they are called, are a
+monopoly of Government, that is to say, they can only be held with their
+permission, and upon payment of a fee for such license. The revenue which
+Government derives from this anything but civilized amusement is very
+considerable,<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> and the fee paid by the owners of the cocks and the
+spectators is at any rate the least objectionable part of the spectacle,
+for far larger sums are lost in the betting. What cards and hazard are for
+<i>blasée</i> Europe, cock-fighting is for the simple native of Manila. Such is
+their passionate excitement, that several days elapse before their
+ordinary apathy subsides into its state of chronic contentment. It is
+singular that, with the exception of the Spaniards and the mixed race
+founded by them in various distant parts of the world, there is not now
+one single civilized nation that can find any pleasure in such brutal
+amusements as cock-fights and bull-fights.</p>
+
+<p>The scene of action is a small building, built of bamboo, and thatched
+with palm-leaves, in the interior of which the benches for the spectators
+rise behind each other in form of an amphitheatre, while the arena, or
+pit, is filled with the owners of cocks and betting-men, until the signal
+for the
+<!--323.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span>commencement
+of the combat is given. Each owner caresses or
+incites once more his champion, or to prove his courage flings him against
+one of the other cocks. At last the spectators have decided to back one or
+the other of the cocks, red or white, the flat comb or the round comb; the
+bets are "on," and the "spur," a sharp-pointed weapon above two inches in
+length, and provided with a sheath, is firmly attached to the right foot.
+Then the two cocks are simultaneously swung against each other, and a few
+feathers are plucked from their necks to excite their fury. The bell in
+the hand of the director gives the signal for the commencement of the
+"main." The spectators retire from the "pit," the sheaths are taken off
+the trenchant spurs, and the encounter commences. Most marvellous is the
+eagerness for the fray, the dogged valour, which these two knightly
+antagonists display to the very last gasp; how even wounded, bleeding, and
+sorely fatigued, they will not give up the contest! Occasionally it
+happens that neither of the combatants is hailed the victor. The
+extraordinary keen, sharp "spur" sometimes wounds both warriors with
+terrible severity, till with severed limbs, and bleeding from every pore,
+both lie dead on the field of battle.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p>
+
+<!--324.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Very comical is the method hit upon in those places of amusements to
+supply the places of the return tickets in use amongst ourselves, and at
+the same time render it impossible for any different person to make use of
+them. When a native wishes to leave the apartment with the intention of
+returning he has his naked fore arm, near the wrist, stamped as he goes
+out with a black die, which secures his re-admission, and at the same time
+obviates all anxiety as to his losing his return ticket! On his return
+this mark is easily wiped out.</p>
+
+<p>During our stay occurred the "<i>Fiestas Reales</i>," or royal fêtes, which
+were given by the Colonial Government in honour of the birth of an heir to
+the Spanish throne, Don Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias. The little
+heir-apparent had, in fact, seen the light in the month of November
+preceding, at Madrid, but when the news reached the Philippines it was
+Lent; respect for the tenets of the Catholic Church deferred the
+festivities, and afterwards the various fire-works, triumphal
+<!--325.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span>arches,
+illuminations, &amp;c., took so long a preparation that the month of June and
+the rainy season were again at hand before the fête could be held, which
+owing to the latter circumstance fell through, and excited hardly any
+interest. That intelligence should be so many months in arriving at the
+Philippines is due less to their great distance, than to the little care
+taken by Government to promote the public interests. Until 1857, all
+letters to Europe were for the most part dispatched by sailing vessels, so
+that letters remained four or five months on the way, and owing to the
+uncertainties of the length of passage made by the various vessels, it was
+constantly happening that the last letters sent came to hand before those
+dispatched several weeks earlier. This irregularity and uncertainty
+weighed so heavily upon commerce, that since March, 1858, there has been
+established regular communication by steam between Manila and Europe, the
+epistolary matter from Europe, for the residents throughout the
+Archipelago, being conveyed by a Spanish steamer from Hong-kong, which is
+distant only 600 miles, while all letters for Europe are conveyed to the
+latter port in time for the mails of the 1st and 15th of each month,
+whence they are forwarded together with the English correspondence viâ
+Singapore and Suez.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand there is up to this moment no regular communication with
+any of the adjacent islands in the Archipelago, even the Government only
+availing itself of such sailing vessels as private adventurers may from
+time to time
+<!--326.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span>charter.
+When any change of officials takes place, the new
+appointment must often remain vacant for months till the occupant reach
+his post; indeed, during our stay in Manila we witnessed a case in which
+the consort of the Governor of the Marianne Archipelago had been vainly
+waiting for months for an opportunity to return to her husband.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Some
+foreign merchants settled at Manila had made an offer to the Government,
+in consideration of a fixed subsidy, to establish regular communication
+between the various islands of the Archipelago, and to keep it on foot by
+means of five steam vessels. But the Colonial Government did not see its
+way to giving the company a larger subsidy than 43,000 Spanish piasters
+(£6763 at par), and thus the whole plan once more fell through, the
+carrying out of which would so greatly tend to the development of these
+islands.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the fertility of the islands in all manner of natural
+wealth, there are at present but three products of the soil which are
+exported in anything like large quantities to the European and North
+American markets, and which thus give this group any importance in the
+eyes of the commercial world, viz. tobacco, Abáca, or Manila hemp, and
+sugar. The amount of all other articles exported, such as coffee, indigo,
+Sapan wood (<i>Cæsalpinia sapan</i>), straw-plait,<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> hides
+<!--327.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span>and
+skins of
+animals, &amp;c., is proportionately but small. We visited the great
+manufactories of Binondo, as also that of Arroceros, where <i>cigarillos</i>,
+or paper-covered cigarettes, are exclusively manufactured. The former
+gives employment to about 8000 work-people, mostly women. In the long
+workshops, where it is common to see 800 females sitting at work on low
+wooden benches in front of a narrow table, there prevails a most
+disagreeable deafening hubbub. Some are busy moistening the leaves, and
+cutting off the requisite lengths, or are sorting the fragments and
+smaller pieces, of which inferior cigars will be made; others hold in
+their right hand a flat smoothed stone, with which they keep continually
+pounding each single leaf, in order to make these more susceptible of
+being rolled up. This drumming noise, and the cries of several hundreds of
+workwomen, who, on the appearance of foreign visitors, handle their
+implements of stone with yet more energy, apparently out of sheer
+wantonness, the strong odour of the tobacco, and the disagreeable
+exhalations from the bodies of so many human beings shut up together in
+one close apartment, in a tropical temperature, have such an unpleasant,
+uncomfortable effect that one hastens to exchange the damp sultry vapours
+of the workshops for the fresh air without.</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>Cigarillo</i> manufactory about 2000 workmen find employment.
+<!--328.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span>Here
+also there is felt in the workshops the same clammy, sultry atmosphere. A
+workman can make about 150 packages of 25 cigarettes, or 3750, per diem,
+for which he is paid four reals<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> (1<i>s.</i> 7<i>d.</i> English). Most
+extraordinary is the rapidity, bordering almost upon the magical, with
+which the cigarillos are counted, divided into packages, bound up, and
+stamped. The unpractised vision of the visitor is hardly able to follow
+the celerity of motion of the workman's hands and fingers.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the two factories already mentioned, there is yet a third
+cigarillo manufactory in Cavite, which employs 4000, and a fourth in
+Malabon, employing 5000, workwomen. The quantities annually produced by
+these various manufactories amount to about 1,200,000,000 cigarillos. If
+we deduct the numerous holidays of the Church, on which no work is done,
+we shall find that about 5,000,000 must be made daily. Government buys up
+each year from the planters the entire crop of tobacco at a fixed price,
+and exports it partly in leaf, but for the most part in cigars, the right
+to manufacture which no one possesses but the Government. The monopoly of
+tobacco was, after great difficulties had been encountered, first
+introduced into the Philippines in 1787 by Don José Basco, the then
+Governor-general.</p>
+
+<p>The greater part of the cigars are shipped to the East Indies, the islands
+of the Malay Archipelago, and North America, only a small quantity in
+proportion coming to Europe for
+sale.<!--329.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The principal tobacco-growing districts of the island of Luzon are Cagayan
+and Bisayx, in which on an average 180,000 cwt. of tobacco are grown
+annually; of these about 80,000 cwt. are sent annually in the leaf to
+Spain, while the surplus are worked up into cigars in Luzon itself, sold
+at auction (<i>al martillo</i>) every month, and knocked down to the highest
+bidder. The average price is 8 to 10 dollars per 1000 <i>Costados</i>. There is
+but one species of tobacco grown in Manila, and the size of the leaf is
+the sole element that regulates the value. The Manila tobacco is a very
+strong narcotic; there is, notwithstanding the prevailing opinion in
+Europe, no opium mingled with it; one end being simply dipped in rice
+juice to glue it together. Indeed, the enormous cost of that liquid drug,
+which plays so important a part in the history of the Chinese empire,
+would alone prevent its being used. As cigars are greatly in request by
+both sexes in Manila, and it is necessary first to provide for the supply
+of the country itself, it occasionally happens that the stocks are not
+sufficiently large at once to supply all demands for exportation. Except
+during the public sales by auction, no one is permitted to buy of
+Government more than 1000 cigars at once, a regulation most vicious in
+principle and useless in practice, as persons who wish to possess larger
+quantities of cigars have simply to send round to any number of persons in
+the tobacco trade, in order to provide themselves with what they require.
+We ourselves experienced how any one, who was desirous of buying 45,000
+cigars, sent 45 different
+<!--330.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span>individuals
+to the bonded magazine, from which
+each brought 1000 cigars without any further interference.</p>
+
+<p>Although altogether more tobacco is raised on the island of Luzon than in
+Cuba, yet the exportation from the former is far less in quantity, for the
+reason already commented upon, that a large portion of the tobacco so
+grown is consumed in the country itself. Luzon provides <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>10</sub>th, and Cuba
+<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>12</sub>th of the entire production of tobacco on the earth, which amounts to
+4,000,000 cwt.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> There are indeed two countries which produce a far
+<!--331.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span>larger
+quantity of tobacco than either Luzon or Cuba,<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> but in no other
+country does the tobacco leaf attain such superior quality, owing to
+favourable climate and congenial soil, as in the Spanish possessions
+already named.</p>
+
+<p>Another chief product of the Philippines, which first found its way into
+the markets of the world from these islands, is what is called Manila
+hemp. This, however, is not the common hemp plant (<i>Cannabis sativa</i>), but
+is procured from the fibres of
+<!--332.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span>the
+"<i>Musa textilis</i>," a species of
+banana, and is called by the Tagals <i>abáca</i>. The plant comes in great
+quantities from almost every one of the Philippines, from Luzon to
+Mindanão, so that the area over which it extends stretches between the
+equator and 20° N. This seems, however, to be the most northerly limit of
+vegetation of the <i>Musa textilis</i>, and consequently it is out of question
+to attempt to introduce into Europe the cultivation of this most useful
+plant, which, ere it can be profitably grown, requires a temperature of
+77° Fahr. The stem of this <i>musacea</i> grows in the Philippines to a height
+of from 9 to 12 feet, by about 6 inches in thickness, its leaves being of
+an exceedingly dark green colour, 8 feet in length by 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> feet in width.
+The fruit is smaller, and neither so yellow nor so palatable as that of
+the common banana. To procure the hemp, the trunk, so soon as the fleshy
+bulbous fruit makes its appearance, is stripped of its splendid leaves,
+which serve as fodder for the oxen, and is left about three days to
+ferment. It is then peeled off in pieces, which by the application of a
+corresponding pressure are drawn between two knives, not too sharp, in
+order to separate the hemp, which now begins to be visible, from the bast,
+which, owing to the fermentation, has become rather brittle. This process
+is continued until the hemp is sufficiently cleaned to admit of its being
+spread out and dried in the sun. A skilful workman may make extract from 8
+to 10 feet of hemp a day. There are 450,000 cwt. of hemp produced
+annually, of the value of £520,000, the greater part of which is sent to
+the United States of North
+<!--333.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span>America,
+while from 30,000 to 60,000 cwt. is
+manufactured into rigging for ships in the country itself, at the splendid
+factory of Messrs. Russell and Sturgis, an American firm, by whom it is
+exported to Singapore, Australia, and China. This raw material, as well as
+the various products manufactured from it, has a magnificent future
+opening to it, and will ere long compete advantageously with English and
+Russian hemp in the European markets. The principal objection as yet made
+to the use of the Manila hemp for rigging, viz. its contracting in wet
+weather, can easily be obviated by more careful treatment of the fibres in
+the process of manufacture. On the other hand, in strength and elasticity
+the abáca surpasses its rival, as has been proved by repeated experiments,
+especially over common European, and even Russian, hemp.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> Messrs.
+Russell and Sturgis have, it is true, monopolized the hemp product of the
+entire Archipelago, but under their fostering care it must sensibly
+increase and become perceptibly improved. From the leaves of <i>Musa
+textilis</i>, like those of all other species of the banana tribe, very
+excellent paper can be made, and by the increasing cultivation of the
+<i>musaceæ</i> in the
+<!--334.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span>tropics,
+two main objects could be attained, viz.
+providing a plentiful subsistence for the natives, and extending and
+cheapening the medium that mainly contributes to widen the circle of
+knowledge of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p>
+
+<p>Next to <i>Musa textilis</i>, the Ramé-shrub (<i>Boehmeria tenacissima</i>)
+especially deserves the attention of business men. The fibre of this
+member of the <i>urticaceæ</i>, which unites extraordinary toughness with much
+beauty and fineness, is stronger and more durable than that of Russian
+hemp, and with careful preparation would make into finer thread than the
+very expensive material which is used in Europe at the present day for
+making the world-famous Brussels point-lace. The variety of purposes to
+which this useful plant may be applied has hitherto been less fully
+recognized than those of the Manila hemp. In Europe the <i>Boehmeria
+tenacissima</i> is but found in botanical gardens, or herbariums, and as yet
+not the slightest use is made of it for industrial purposes. And yet the
+introduction on a large scale of Manila hemp and Ramé fibre into the
+European markets in place of Russian hemp, would have more than merely a
+commercial and industrial importance!<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p>
+
+<p>We may also notice in this connection another description of fabrics made
+from fibrous material, which, though but little known beyond the limits of
+the Archipelago, seems to us to deserve to be more extensively known, and,
+it would seem, may
+<!--335.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span>be
+most profitably taken up. These are the delicate
+almost transparent tissues prepared from the fibres of one of the
+<i>Bromeliaceæ</i> (<i>ananassa sativa</i>), which are used by the natives for
+ornamental shirts, <i>chemisettes</i>, and necklaces, and are known in commerce
+by the names of <i>Piña</i> or grass-cloths.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> The threads of these textures
+are so thin, that they can only be woven in apartments where there is not
+the slightest breath of air. The natives contrive to weave them into the
+most beautiful designs, and were they submitted to some chemical process
+which should impart to the web a clearer colour, less of a dirty yellow,
+the world of taste would be enriched by the addition of one of the most
+exquisite materials that could be presented to adorn the graceful form of
+woman, and while seeming to conceal her charms, would but render them more
+conspicuously attractive.</p>
+
+<p>Although the rainy season, during which we visited Manila, was but little
+inviting for excursions, we yet could not resist the temptation to make an
+excursion to the celebrated <i>Laguna de Bay</i>, a short distance in the
+interior. Mr. J. Steffan, consul for Bremen, a Swiss by birth, and a
+partner in one of the most eminent mercantile houses in Manila (Jenny and
+Co.), who from the moment the Austrian expeditionaries set foot in the
+Philippines manifested to them the most delightful hospitality, was on
+this occasion also our companion and cicerone. Two other foreigners, an
+English artist and a merchant from Amsterdam,
+<!--336.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span>joined
+our party. The
+first-named had lived for long on the island, and had already visited all
+its most accessible spots, whence he had returned with some very accurate
+sketches; the latter had been sent out by his firm to Manila, in 1857,
+when the price of sugar had fallen, for the purpose of purchasing, at the
+price to which he was limited, a large quantity of that important article
+of colonial produce. By the time, however, he had reached the capital of
+the Philippines, the value of the sugar had already, in consequence of a
+favourable crop, exceeded the limit assigned him, and has since then
+advanced 300 per cent. Still the Amsterdam agent held on, awaiting a fall,
+and meanwhile did his best to wile away his time of exile by feasting his
+eyes with all the various beauties of the island.</p>
+
+<p>On a grey, dreary morning we found ourselves pulling up the Pasig in small
+covered boats, till we reached the Lagune, where a larger craft was
+awaiting us, to take the entire company of pilgrims on board and transport
+them to the opposite shore of this inland lake, as far as Los Baños. In
+clear sunny weather a row in a <i>banca</i> upon the river Pasig, the aorta of
+Manila, which forms the communication between the city and the Lagune,
+together with all the various settlements along the shores of that
+internal sea, must be exceedingly pleasant. The banks of the river,
+indeed, are flat and unsightly, but the vegetation rejoices in a
+marvellous profusion of the most beautiful forms and colours. The
+<i>Bambusaceæ</i> are the chief ornament of the shores, on which there are but
+few palms to
+<!--337.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span>be
+seen, while the banana, the sugar-cane, or the rice-plant
+are only exceptionally met with at certain points. The delicate-leaved
+bamboo accordingly presents hereabouts an elegance and variety of form,
+which at first sight seems to mark out its individual representatives as
+belonging to so many different families of plants. Wherever the subjacent
+rock is visible along the banks it presents beds of an ashen-grey
+pumice-stone, which constitutes the chief building material of Manila. On
+the shores of the river, near the city, are situate the various factories
+and iron-foundries, above which are the residences of the wealthy
+Mestizoes and foreign settlers, as also the country-seat of the
+Governor-general, whence, still ascending the stream, are Tagal villages
+of wretched cane huts, grouped round stately churches and parsonages,
+which peep picturesquely through lovely groves of bamboo.</p>
+
+<p>There are three modes of boating on the Pasig and through the Lagune,
+namely, the <i>banca</i>, consisting of a large trunk of a tree hollowed out
+and covered with an awning of bamboo; the <i>lorcha</i> or <i>falúa</i> (corruption
+of felucca), large, comfortable, but exceedingly clumsy row-boats, which,
+particularly during the rainy season when there is a heavy sea running,
+are those chiefly used in this navigation; and finally, the <i>casco</i>, which
+is of equal breadth at either end, and has more the appearance of a raft.
+The last-named is principally made use of for the transport of heavy
+merchandise, and is in especial favour with the natives, for the reason
+that it is practicable to hoist sail upon it as well as to row. On the
+<!--338.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span>Lagune
+there is also found yet a fourth kind of boat, the Paráho, the
+principle of which, as well as the name, has obviously been borrowed from
+the Malay <i>Prahu</i>, which it closely resembles in form and mode of
+steering.</p>
+
+<p>On the Pasig there is a constant and amazing tide of human activity.
+Numberless boats pass and repass, some bound for the city, to supply it
+with provisions and other necessary articles, even to drinking-water,
+which has to be shipped in casks at a considerable distance, others
+returning with all sorts of purchases made in Manila, for the supply of
+the various residents on the shores of the Lagune with the necessaries of
+life. On this voyage we got a sight of numbers of grackles (<i>Pastor
+Rosen</i>), the well-known grasshopper-destroyer, which, about five years
+before, had been introduced from China at considerable expense, with the
+view of extirpating this formidable locust. But since these birds, to kill
+which is punishable by imprisonment, have become acclimatized, they seem
+to have lost all relish for grasshoppers, sitting quiet and unmoved on the
+trees and roofs of the houses, while swarms of locusts are disporting
+under their very eyes. Apparently the number of these destructive insects
+is less great in China than in Manila, where these voracious wanderers
+often appear in dense swarms, which, in the shape of black clouds,
+absolutely obscure the daylight! Probably, too, their means of sustenance
+is much more limited in China than in the Philippines, where these birds,
+being in fact treated as tame animals, and fairly domesticated,
+<!--339.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span>find
+frequent opportunities of satisfying their hunger otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>At the village of Patero (from <i>Pato</i>, duck), which is situated five miles
+from the capital on the left bank, the inhabitants are mainly employed in
+breeding ducks. In front of each hut, and near the river, there is a large
+area fenced in, where these birds can bask in the sun or bathe at
+pleasure. The floor of the little poultry house is carefully cleaned every
+morning with river-water, and the ground dug up and plentifully filled
+daily with shell-fish for the use of the ducks, which the natives bring in
+their small canoes from the sea, where they thrive by millions in the mud.
+The spectacle of the gently-sloping assembling-places of these cackling
+denizens of the watery element, and the clamours with which we were
+saluted, strongly recalled to us the penguins of the Island of St. Paul.
+In Patero millions of ducks are annually reared as articles of trade, as
+the Tagalese look upon the half-hatched eggs and the new-born chickens as
+special dainties.</p>
+
+<p>The natives whom we met on the way all wore large round hats, made of
+plaited straw or bamboo, white hose, and above these the invariable shirt,
+a custom so singular, that it is but very gradually the eye of the
+foreigner becomes reconciled to it. The farther we got from the capital
+the more the use of Spanish seemed to diminish, till at the Lagune the
+natives only speak Tagal and Bisay.</p>
+
+<p>Our original intention had been to row up in <i>bancas</i> as far as the
+entrance to the Lagune, where it had been arranged
+<!--340.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span>that
+the <i>lorcha</i>,
+which had started from Manila a day or two before, was to await our
+arrival. But when little more than half way beyond the village of Pasig we
+overtook the great clumsy concern, and it was forthwith resolved to remove
+into it bag and baggage, not forgetting the "provant," and endeavour to
+make ourselves as comfortable as we could for a few days and nights.</p>
+
+<p>As it was perfectly calm, and the <i>lorcha</i> had to be poled along, we were
+a considerable time before reaching the entrance to the Lagune, where the
+industrious natives had erected a variety of nets and other fishing
+apparatus of very peculiar nature. The banks of the Lagune are for some
+distance from the shore thickly studded with thousands of what are called
+<i>coráls</i>, or fish-runs, and a special pilot is required to enable the
+<i>lorcha</i> to thread this labyrinth of fishing apparatus of every
+conceivable form, so as to reach the open water. Singularly enough, it is
+for the most part the Tagalese women who manipulate the fishing
+instruments, while the men, as we were told, sit in the house and
+embroider. Near the entrance is stationed a sort of guardship. A Tagalese
+overseer overhauled our passports, turned them over in his hands two or
+three times with much official importance, and then returned them to us.
+The worthy officer of the law was obviously ignorant of the art of
+reading, but for that very reason he looked doubly massy, for fear of
+exposing his weak side to the Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>The Lagune de Bay is a fresh-water lake of such dimensions,
+<!--341.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span>that
+even on
+a clear day it is impossible, from the entrance, to see the coast on the
+further side, much less, of course, in the wretched rainy weather which
+stuck by us throughout our trip. Nevertheless, it is far inferior in size
+to the great lakes of North America. Its greatest breadth is little more
+than 30 miles.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> All around the fertile shores of this charming lake
+nestle little villages, and the daily intercourse with the capital is so
+extensive that a steam-boat company would pay well. While on the one hand
+the Colonial Government objects to the expense of entering upon an
+undertaking so important for developing the general trade, engineers, on
+the other hand, have for the last 14 years been busily engaged projecting
+the immense work of connecting the Lagune with the ocean by means of a
+canal, in such manner as would enable ships approaching Luzon from the
+southwards to reach Manila easily, and with great saving in time, instead
+of having to sail all round the island. This short cut through the tongue
+of land would, it may well be supposed, be in other respects of
+incalculable benefit for the country, for the shipping and for trade
+generally, especially were the execution of this splendid project to be
+carried out hand in hand with a liberal policy, that should shake off that
+despotism which at present weighs like a mountain upon every sort of
+intellectual and political activity.
+<!--342.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">332</a></span>Let
+Manila be declared a free port,
+let the ships of all mercantile nations visit unrestrictedly the various
+harbours of the Archipelago, and Spain will under such relaxations reap
+far more profit than from her present retrograde colonial policy, which
+can only result in permanent discontent and impoverishment. A thoroughly
+unprejudiced Spanish statesman might make most valuable observations by a
+brief visit to the neighbouring colony of Singapore, that marvellous
+British settlement, which, owing to a commercial policy conceived in the
+free, liberal spirit that characterizes the 19th century, has sprung up
+from a nest of pirates into the most flourishing and the wealthiest
+emporium in the entire Malay Archipelago. The situation of Manila, as also
+its numerous natural advantages and resources, would soon make it a rival
+to Singapore. But of what avail are the choicest treasures of nature, if
+the mind be wanting which can turn them to their proper use, and elicit
+their real value?</p>
+
+<p>The continued bad weather compelled us to pass the night most
+uncomfortably on board the <i>lorcha</i>; however, the morning after our
+departure from Manila we arrived at the village of Los Baños on the
+southern shore of the Lagune, where we were most courteously received by
+Padre Lorenzo, a Tagalese (only the monks being of Spanish blood, whereas
+among the secular clergy there are numbers of coloured persons). The
+parsonage, formerly an hospital, is an extensive edifice, with covered
+terraces, from whence the visitor enjoys the most splendid views of the
+neighbouring hills, as also
+<!--343.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">333</a></span>over
+the village. Here we were rejoined by
+those members of the Expedition who, there not being room for all on board
+the <i>lorcha</i>, had made out the voyage to Los Baños in a small boat. The
+Government officer of the village of Pasig was so kind as to provide for
+our exploration of the lake a well-appointed, thoroughly armed and
+equipped war-galley; by no means a superfluous precaution when making an
+excursion upon the lake, as it has not unfrequently happened that
+unprotected strangers have returned to Manila robbed of everything.</p>
+
+<p>We had great difficulty in making our kind Father Lorenzo, whose
+wanderings had been rather limited, comprehend from what country we came,
+and to what nation we belonged. The natives of Luzon for the most part
+believe that all mankind consists of but two nations, Spaniards and
+English; the former they regard as their own masters, while the political
+and commercial power of the latter impress them with more terror than
+sympathy, and this feeling is still further deepened by that spiritual
+teaching, which makes everything seem to their untutored minds of the most
+terrible criminality, which does not strictly accord with Roman
+Catholicism.</p>
+
+<p>Los Baños (the baths), so named on account of the numerous hot springs,
+whose source is close at hand at the foot of the now extinct volcanic cone
+of Maquilui, thickly wooded to its very summit, was so far back as the end
+of the 16th century a place of resort for invalids, who hoped here to find
+a cure for their various maladies. In the interests of
+<!--344.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span>suffering
+humanity, the Franciscans of those days, then in the height of their
+influence, built over the baths a sort of hut, and a hospital dedicated to
+"<i>Nuestra Señora de las Aguas santas de Maynit</i>" (our Lady of the Holy
+waters of Maynit, the latter name expressing <i>hot</i> in Tagal). Although at
+present in a very forlorn and dilapidated condition, there is still in
+existence, quite near to the edge of the Lake, an apartment enclosed
+within a wall, within which there boils up from a considerable depth a
+spring of hot water of a temperature of 186°.8 Fahr.; which is
+occasionally used, both by natives and foreigners, as a vapour bath,
+although these <i>Thermæ</i> are more used to scald poultry than for their
+original purpose of curing disease. The entire neighbourhood is volcanic.
+Behind Maquilui, which is about 3400 feet high, lies, surrounded by a deep
+lake, the active crater of the renowned volcano of Taal, while to one side
+of the first-named mountain rises in the blue distance, to a height of
+from 6000 to 7000 feet, the gigantic mass of the Majayjay<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> range, a
+volcanic system long since extinct. An oppressive sultriness in the
+atmosphere, such as we had never before experienced, and a drenching
+thunder-storm, put a complete stopper on our projected excursion to make a
+closer acquaintance with the hills. Somewhat of the terrific heat
+experienced here, may, with much justice, be attributed to the great
+number of almost boiling springs which issue from the foot of the
+Maquilui, so that even on entirely clear days, when
+<!--345.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span>the
+mountain-top is
+quite free of clouds, the country about Los Baños seems enveloped in an
+atmosphere of mist.</p>
+
+<p>The main object and ever-memorable result of our excursion was the <i>Laguna
+Encantada</i> (or Enchanted Lake,&mdash;the <i>Socol</i> of the Tagalese), distant not
+much more than a mile from Los Baños. Volcanic agency and tropical beauty
+have combined to prepare here one of the most singular and mysterious
+phenomena that the eye of man may ever behold. Although this small lake is
+only separated by a low hill from the larger basin, yet the approach to it
+is extremely troublesome and arduous. It is necessary here and there to
+use one's hands, in order to creep through the brushwood along the steep
+wall of rock, till the shore of the lake is at last reached. Even the very
+"dug-outs," in which the lake is to be navigated, have to be transported
+over this lonely inhospitable hill. As the Lagune enjoys the unenviable
+reputation of being the haunt of numbers of ravenous crocodiles, which
+have on several occasions overturned the light canoes navigating it at the
+time, and without further ceremony devoured their crews, the natives had
+learned to take the precaution of binding two or three canoes close
+together with bamboos and cords, in order to diminish the risk of being
+overturned while boating on this dreary haunt of "caymano."</p>
+
+<p>While the natives were getting ready this handsome specimen of a craft, we
+stood on the shore, every one absorbed in gazing at this singular natural
+picture. Calm and mysterious-looking the lake lay before us, a circular
+<!--346.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span>basin,
+of a deep green from innumerable almost microscopic water plants,
+unfathomable, if we may trust common report, and enclosed by a crater-like
+wall of lava-blocks. All along the shore grew the tropical forest;
+gigantic primeval trunks, wildly festooned with wondrously luxuriant
+creepers, raised their towering crests, their splendid coronets of leaves
+reflected in the calm mirror below, and casting the lake in every corner
+into a dusky, shadowy obscurity of outline. From the topmost branches of
+the trees were suspended huge brown, indistinct-looking fruits. There was
+death-like silence all around. Only at fitful intervals might be
+distinguished the note of a bird, or the muttered growl of distant
+thunder. We now got into our canoes and rowed silently over the waters of
+the lake. As though to add to the interest of the adventure, it came on to
+rain pretty heavily. Some of the party followed the very practical custom
+of the natives, who forthwith divested themselves of their clothing, and
+left the rain to beat upon their naked bodies, while they put their
+dresses under the seats of the boat to prevent their being soaked.
+Fortunately the alligators at no time made their appearance in such
+numbers as the tales of the natives had led us to anticipate. We saw but
+one of these monsters, apparently about 15 feet long, who however speedily
+dived out of our sight.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> Our guides
+<!--347.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span>maintained
+it would be advisable
+to take a dog with us, whose howl would have aroused the alligators and
+brought them up to the surface in hope as of prey. Indeed people
+frequently sacrifice dogs in order to entice these rapacious monsters from
+their haunts for the purpose of hunting them.</p>
+
+<p>If however disappointed in this spectacle, we were recompensed by another
+not less peculiar. For hardly had a shot been fired at one of the
+water-fowls which were skimming to and fro over the lake, than at once
+tree and thicket seemed filled with life. Birds of all kinds, screaming
+and whirring, fluttered about or dashed wildly against each other on every
+side. Thousands that had been sitting on the beach concealed in the deep
+shade, wood-pigeons and legions of gigantic bats, which had been suddenly
+frightened out of their listless repose, now flew about directly before
+the murderous fowling-pieces. The singular-looking fruits which seemed to
+be so strangely dependent from the trees, were transformed into Kalong
+bats (<i>Pteropus edulis</i>), and flew about in immense flocks that obscured
+the light of day, directly over our heads, hastily seeking a shelter in
+the forest, which should hide them from the gaze of the sportsmen.
+Probably we should have brought down some of these singular animals, had
+not our fowling-pieces, owing to the incessant pour of rain, got so
+thoroughly out of order that we had to content ourselves
+<!--348.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span>with
+getting a
+very few specimens for our zoological collection.</p>
+
+<p>On returning to the parsonage from this interesting excursion, we found
+the <i>Alcalde Mayor</i>, who had come to Los Baños from the adjacent small
+town of Santa Cruz, to welcome the foreigners, and be of service to them.
+The <i>Alcalde Mayor</i>, or <i>Gobernador</i>, is the highest official, the chief
+both of administration and justice in the province, a sort of prefect,
+under whom are the <i>Gobernadorcillos</i>, or departmental administrators,
+beneath whom again the Cabezas,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> or parish justices, form yet a lower
+grade. The chief duties of these native officials consist in seeing that
+the proper amount of tribute or head-money is duly collected. This impost
+is divided into three parts: the duty for defraying the State expenses
+amounting to five reals, that for supporting the Church amounts to three
+reals, and that for the wants of the community amounting to one real, so
+that the whole taxation levied upon each individual liable is about nine
+reals (4<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i> English). In addition to the natives, the Chinese
+resident in Manila and the half-breed Chinese are subject to a poll-tax,
+the pure Chinese being rated according to their social position and the
+nature of their calling. They pay on the average about 17 dollars, or
+about 15 times as much as the native. The poll-tax of the Chinese Mestizo
+amounts to 18 reals, or about twice as much as that on the native. All
+males are liable to be rated for the poll-tax, as also all females when
+<!--349.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">339</a></span>married,
+or when they have attained the age of 25. Those exempted from
+the poll-tax are all Spaniards and their half-caste children, all foreign
+residents except the Chinese, as also all natives above 60, and a few
+native families, whose ancestors had performed certain services for the
+Spaniards at the period of the conquest; and, lastly, all native
+authorities during their tenure of office (usually six years).<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p>
+
+<p>The morning after our excursion to the Enchanted Lake, a hunt of
+water-fowl was organized among the swamps surrounding Calamba, which
+furnished us with plenty of sport, as well as important scientific
+results, in which it would have been yet more productive, had it not been
+suddenly brought to a close by the acute illness of one of the canoe-men.
+As some cases of cholera had occurred during the few days immediately
+preceding, it seemed to be only a wise precaution to exercise some little
+prudence on the present occasion. Strange to say, however, the man
+attacked, despite his sickness, rowed resolutely till the party reached
+Los Baños, during all which period he showed the most lively interest in
+the hunt, constantly calling our attention to birds which his keen eye
+detected at a distance, or which were moving softly over the water without
+being observed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile one of the zoologists was busy at the parsonage, making
+preparations of the most interesting specimens procured.
+<!--350.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">340</a></span>Padre
+Lorenzo
+could hardly believe his eyes when he beheld the naturalist engaged in
+such a bloody business, apparently on precisely the most agreeable spot of
+the whole terrace, and performing the various dissections requisite upon
+the dead bodies of some couple of dozen of birds. In whatever direction
+one turned in the apartment, the eye encountered nothing but birds of
+variegated plumage, gigantic Kalong bats, monkeys, or else barrels filled
+with spirits of wine, in which were preserved snakes, fish, and other
+small inhabitants of the deep. The poor padre, accustomed to peaceful
+meditation and full of simplicity, appeared quite convinced he must have
+sinned grievously that such a visitation should have overtaken him, as
+that this horde of foreigners should have disturbed the repose of his
+peaceful asylum with such appalling practices. The youths of the village,
+encouraged by the promise of remuneration, busied themselves with yet
+further increasing our zoological collection, and made their appearance,
+breathless with running, each with some still more curious and important
+object to show to the strange gentleman, who found such interest in snakes
+and insects, that he even paid money down for them!</p>
+
+<p>Padre Lorenzo, however, was ere long rid of his singular guests, with whom
+he could even not get upon an intelligible footing. On the same day on
+which the hunt among the swamps of Calamba took place in the morning, the
+Expeditionary party returned from Los Baños, and by way of recompense to
+the obliging padre for the discomfort inflicted,
+<!--351.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">341</a></span>they
+presented him with
+some provisions and some bottles of claret, which filled the worthy
+gentleman with delight, and seemed completely to reconcile him to the
+"Estranjeros." Some of the members of our Expedition also visited the two
+villages of Jalla-jalla and Binangonan, lying close to the shore of the
+lake, places of great interest in a geographical sense, while the
+remainder of the party returned to Manila in the same way they had come.
+Unfortunately throughout the entire distance the rain fell worse than
+ever. It never ceased pouring in deluges, so that for hours together we
+could not get upon deck, but had to remain below in the small bleak,
+comfortless cabin. Here there was nothing for it but to wile away the time
+as best we might. We talked "<i>de omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis</i>," we
+laughed, we sang, and we&mdash;<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SMOKED</span>, a habit, be it remarked incidentally, so
+constant and universal here, that the <i>Pebete</i> with its glowing top is
+constantly circulating from hand to hand. This is a sort of tinder in the
+shape of small thin rods, a cubit long, which is prepared in China from a
+mixture of fine dried sawdust, fir, and clay, and forms a by no means
+insignificant article of commerce, the greater part coming from
+Macao.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> A chest of eight cubic feet, filled with <i>Pebete</i> or
+"joss-sticks," as the English call this tinder, the use of which pervades
+the entire Malay Archipelago as far as Madras, costs from 10<i>s.</i> to 16<i>s.</i>
+6<i>d.</i> sterling.</p>
+
+<!--352.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">342</a></span></p>
+
+<p>By 11 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> we had got back to Manila. The weather had cleared up somewhat,
+the rain had ceased, and the city and environs were gay with the gleam of
+innumerable variegated lamps, intended to represent the illuminations
+expressive of the joy of the people at the birth of a prince of the
+Asturias. This did not however continue long; the enthusiasm that was
+finding vent through the glitter of the lamps was drowned in another
+deluge of rain, and as the exhibition had now lasted for several nights in
+succession, people at last had got weary of the trouble of constantly
+relighting them; the gaudy triumphal arches were decomposed into their
+constituent atoms&mdash;rough boards, wooden pegs, nails, and filthy little
+oil-lamps.</p>
+
+<p>The continuance of the wet weather put more distant excursions out of the
+question. We had to content ourselves with having seen all that was really
+worth seeing in the city and environs during our limited stay.</p>
+
+<p>Many additional visits were paid to the interior of the city, to the fort,
+to the monasteries, and the various public institutions. Of these latter,
+two call for a more particular notice: the "<i>Biblioteca Militar</i>," and the
+immense hospital of San Juan de Dios, under the charge of the Charitable
+Friars.</p>
+
+<p>The attraction of the Military Library, which is situated in one portion
+of the cloister of the Jesuits which had been almost entirely
+destroyed<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> by a former earthquake, consisted
+<!--353.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">343</a></span>far
+less in its
+bibliographic treasures, than in a small collection of objects
+illustrative of natural history, of which the first beginning had been
+made but a few months before our arrival. It deserves the more notice that
+it was not the project of a professed naturalist, but solely of an
+"aficimado," or friend to scientific inquiry, Colonel Miguel Creus.
+Although very deficient, still the bare experiment has paved the way to a
+better and more complete collection, which at present comprises, besides
+about 100 species of birds and a few mammalia, a number of objects
+illustrative of ethnography, geological specimens, and the various
+manufactures and natural products of the Archipelago (among which are 37
+species of rice). Considering the natural resources of this Archipelago,
+(some of which, especially the Conchylia,<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> far surpass in richness of
+colour, beauty, and gracefulness of form anything that has yet been met
+with in any part of the globe,) the inauguration of this small collection
+may yet prove the foundation of one of the most magnificent and marvellous
+museums of natural history, provided the laudable intention
+<!--354.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">344</a></span>of
+the
+founder receive adequate support; and the work, commenced as a labour of
+love, be continued and promoted with energy and perseverance.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p>
+
+<p>The great Civil Hospital, to which Dr. Fullerton, a Scotchman settled in
+Manila, was so kind as to accompany us, is a very extensive range of
+buildings, with large airy rooms, but so unclean and ill-kept, that it is
+no wonder if the report be true, that many natives in bad health prefer to
+run the chance of death without, to being brought to this infirmary.
+Indeed most of the rooms are empty and unoccupied, there being in the
+whole building but 30 confined to their beds, which in a city of not less
+than 130,000 souls, with but <i>one</i> hospital, is at all events a remarkable
+phenomenon. Every year on St. John's day the brethren of the order give a
+fête, when all the different rooms are scoured, swept, and garnished, and
+the sick in the hospital are present at the festivities, and, unrestricted
+by considerations of diet, are regaled with food and wine to their heart's
+content. This is likewise the period at which the hospital is most
+extensively patronized, and not only by those actually sick, but far more
+by those
+<!--355.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">345</a></span>who
+qualify for a residence in the hospital by a too great
+devotion to the plentiful viands provided on St. John's day. When the
+English were in possession of Manila during the Seven Years' War, this
+range of buildings was used as a barrack, for which reason the church was
+considered as desecrated for 90 years, and only in 1857 consecrated once
+more as a temple of God.</p>
+
+<p>There is also in the <i>Calle de Hospicio</i> a Military Hospital, somewhat
+better kept, and not like the former under the charge of a brotherhood,
+but of a medical staff. Unfortunately the arrangements here leave very
+much to be desired. The rooms, insufficiently ventilated, are in the
+immediate vicinity of the kitchen, the smoke and odours from which cannot
+but be very prejudicial to the patients. In the various wards there were
+about 150 to 200 sick, whose lot called for redoubled sympathy,
+considering the little attention paid them.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately no opportunity presented itself during our stay at Manila of
+witnessing any of those processions of the Church, which are necessarily
+so frequent in the course of the year. This was the more to be regretted,
+as we were told of many peculiarities of these costly processions. Here
+apparently, as in the earlier dependencies of Spain, in Central and
+Southern America, the Roman Catholic ritual has become mingled in the most
+extraordinary manner with ceremonies borrowed from paganism. The earliest
+Spanish missionaries were especially prone to believe that by retaining
+some of
+<!--356.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">346</a></span>the
+former ceremonies they would facilitate the work of
+conversion, and increase the number of neophytes. They saw no scandal in
+the native, attired sometimes as a giant twelve feet high, sometimes as a
+Malay warrior, sometimes as an aboriginal savage, fantastically painted,
+and accoutred with bow and arrow, in a word, in all sorts of masquerading
+costume, frolicking in the very midst of the sacred procession, and
+performing all manner of buffoonery in front of the life-sized and
+gaily-adorned images of saints; but appeared rather to contemplate with
+pleasure that these wild beings, who had resisted the Spaniards on their
+first arrival on the island, were now subjected to the Holy Church, and
+rejoiced in her service! There are also numbers of natives dressed up as
+animals, and girls gaily decorated with flowers and in robes of spotless
+white, as also a fantastically-attired jester, who from time to time gives
+national dances and sings national songs, to the best of his ability, all
+in one long procession, accompanied by monks singing chorals and carrying
+wax tapers, while a promiscuous crowd of the faithful bring up the rear.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of such processions have anything but an edifying influence upon
+a European, but on the mind of the masses they seem to make a deep
+impression, and for weeks after, when smoking a cigarette in the privacy
+of the family circle, they will talk of the splendour of such solemnities,
+and the motley episodes that accompanied it. If it were admissible to
+judge of the religious mind of a people by their outward
+<!--357.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">347</a></span>observances,
+the
+Tagalese would be the most devout race in the world. Wherever the natives
+come in contact with the Church, they put on an extraordinary stern and
+reverential deportment, and even in the most trivial matters the great
+influence of the priesthood upon the masses becomes abundantly apparent.
+This is the most conspicuous every evening as the clock tolls for the Ave
+Maria. The tones work like enchantment upon the people at whatever
+distance they may be audible, and for a few moments a profound silence
+succeeds to the noise and bustle. The labourer and the promenader, the
+ladies and gentlemen of the upper ranks in their elegant carriages, as
+well as the poor Tagale returning homeward from his hard day's work, and
+driving his laden mule before him, are for the space of an instant awed by
+the solemn sounds. All vehicles stop suddenly short, the gentlemen and
+servants uncover their heads, the restless masses stand as though nailed
+to the ground, and then sink gradually on their knees in prayer, their
+heads bared and their cigars extinguished; no one would venture to break
+in upon the universal stillness so long as the bell continues to toll. But
+as soon as it is silent, each jumps to his feet, and proceeds on again,
+believing he may now in safety give way to his frolicsomeness and pursue
+his pleasures.</p>
+
+<p>Life in Manila during the dry season was described to us as exceedingly
+agreeable and gay. Then almost every evening joyous groups thread the city
+singing and joking, while from every hut resounds some snatch of melody
+<!--358.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">348</a></span>accompanied
+by the guitar. We had a slight foretaste of the joviality
+which must prevail in Manila during the delicious summer evenings from the
+joyous disposition manifested by the various Tagal families, even during
+the wet season, when the almost incessant rain, and the swampy state of
+the streets, compelled the natives to remain crowded in the narrow rooms
+of their poor little huts. In St. Miguel, a hamlet in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Manila, with a number of country-seats of wealthy
+foreigners and natives, we repeatedly heard the sweet plaintive notes of
+the native women singing Tagal ditties, which for pathos and thrilling
+tenderness surpassed all we had hitherto heard or read of the talents of
+the coloured races for song and melody. We shall be able in the Appendix
+to give the notes of a very characteristic melody, the words of which form
+a very favourite popular song (Condiman), which we ultimately succeeded in
+taking down through the kindness of Señor Balthasar Girandier of Manila.</p>
+
+<p>It was at San Miguel that we had not alone the most agreeable, but also
+the most melancholy, experience of our entire stay in the capital of the
+Philippines. On an island opposite the handsome, beautifully situate
+residence of our hospitable friend Mr. Steffan, the Bremen Consul, is the
+Poorhouse, in which the insane as well as the sick are confined together,
+the whole being, like all the other humane institutions of Manila, under
+the superintendence of an ecclesiastic, in the present case a Mestizo. It
+appeared there was no proper or
+<!--359.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span>regular
+medical attendance. Without
+assistance, or any one responsible for their proper care, these miserable
+beings, left in an indescribably desolate and neglected condition, cower
+down upon the bare stone floor in the damp, filthy rooms, staring vacantly
+before them, or slink about among the cool corridors, murmuring
+unintelligibly to themselves. The padre, habituated to such a state of
+matters, seems never to give it a moment's thought, but rather to make it
+his amusement to conduct strangers through the dismal, horrible wards,
+where at each step one encounters some fresh form of misery. We felt most
+pity at the sight of a female, whose features and whole appearance spoke
+of a happier lot in by-gone days. It seemed a mystery crying aloud for
+reparation, that this unhappy being, an orphan, worthy of all compassion,
+should for a slight attack of melancholy be liable to be sent to the
+asylum for the insane by her unscrupulous relations, that they might with
+the greater security possess themselves of her property. So deep and so
+permanent was the impression made by this melancholy spectacle, that even
+now, after the lapse of years of varied experience, since our visit to the
+lunatic asylum of Manila, the ill-fated being, with her wan yet striking
+features, her large, melancholy black eyes, and her wavy, shining black
+hair, her dress neglected and half torn into pieces, stands out life-like
+before us, as an embodiment of misery.</p>
+
+<p>Early on the day on which we bade adieu to Manila we found an opportunity
+of seeing a live boa-constrictor, said
+<!--360.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">350</a></span>to
+be 48 feet long and seven
+inches thick, at the house of a secular ecclesiastic in the suburb of
+Santa Cruz. This gigantic reptile had been confined for 32 years in a
+large wooden cage, where it had enjoyed such a carefully tended existence
+that it had fairly outlived the good padre, and was now for sale by his
+heirs. The indolent animal, constantly lying almost motionless among the
+sand, is fed only once in every four weeks, when it is usually presented
+with a young pig.</p>
+
+<p>On the 24th of June the members of our Expedition went on board the small
+steamer plying to Cavite, where lay the frigate, on board which all
+necessary preparations had been made. Now, on the eve of departure, almost
+every one of our number mourned the disappointment of cherished
+expectations. The inclemency of the weather had not alone precluded our
+undertaking the more distant excursions which would have repaid our
+researches in the natural history of the islands, but had even interposed
+serious obstacles to our wanderings in the immediate neighbourhood;
+moreover, up to the very moment of our departure the Government manifested
+the utmost indifference to the objects of the Expedition, while even the
+educated portion of the Spanish residents never took the slightest notice.
+The more reason therefore is it, under such circumstances, that we should
+not be unmindful of the few, such as Messrs. Steffan, Schmidt, Wegener,
+Wood, Fullerton, Fonseca, Girandier, and Creus, who, with warm interest in
+our plans, furnished us with
+<!--361.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">351</a></span>new
+material relating to the Philippines and
+their inhabitants, and left us with the agreeable prospect of a permanent
+exchange of literary and scientific labours.</p>
+
+<p>At one <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> of the 25th June we weighed anchor in the harbour of Cavite,
+on our voyage to the Empire of China. The land breeze, which sets in
+regularly every night, carried us clear out of the Bay of Manila, but in
+the open sea outside we found, contrary to expectation, instead of the
+S.W. monsoon, light variable winds and calms, which materially interfered
+with our progress. At last, when we were about mid-way across the China
+Sea, we fell in with the long-looked for S.W. wind, which speedily wafted
+us to the next station we were to visit, the British colony of Hong-kong,
+or Victoria. With favourable winds the voyage from Manila to Hong-kong, a
+distance of about 700 nautical miles, is four or five days' sail; owing to
+the constant contrary winds we were double that time.</p>
+
+<p>Already, before we came in sight of land, a Chinese fishing vessel had put
+a pilot on board in the shape of a long-tailed son of the Celestial
+Empire, who jabbered English in a fashion to set the hair on end, and was
+lost in wonder at our flag, which he had never before seen. We afterwards
+found that the dialect used by our pilot was what is called
+Canton-English, such as is spoken by all Chinese who have dealings with
+the British, and consisting exclusively of a most ludicrous distortion of
+the commonest English phrases.</p>
+
+<p>About noon on the 4th July we sighted the Chinese coast;
+<!--362.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">352</a></span>and
+before
+sundown we had passed the Lemmas islands, and found ourselves in the
+island-studded, many-bayed archipelago at the mouth of the Canton River,
+where the English have selected Hong-kong, with its admirable harbour, for
+the site of their colony. Thousands of fishing-boats covered the surface
+of the ocean all around us, always sailing parallel with each other, in
+fact, quite a fleet of fishermen, who, on a favourable opportunity, add a
+little buccaneering, and have numerous secure retreats among the thousands
+of coves all around, so that even up to the present day they can carry on
+almost unpunished their piratical attempts upon their own
+fellow-countrymen, as well as upon foreigners ignorant of their danger. It
+was the first time we had seen in any numbers the Chinese Junk, with its
+strange-looking rigging. On most of these small but clumsy vessels there
+was cut or painted on either side of the forecastle a huge eye, as though
+the crew were anxious to increase the power of vision of their vessel, so
+that it might more readily pick its way through the numerous dangerous
+reefs and coral banks. On the other hand the superstitious sea-faring
+Chinese sometimes veil and cover up the eyes of their vessels, in order
+that they should not behold certain strange things passing by, as, for
+instance, a dead body, or an approaching thunder-storm, and not be
+frightened by them.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p>
+
+<p>The nearer we approached the coast, the more was our
+<!--363.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">353</a></span>gaze
+rivetted by a
+landscape of the most imposing character, and now not owing to the
+altitude of the hills (for the highest peak is only 3000 feet), but to the
+grandeur of their form and their contour. Here are sharp, needle-shaped
+pinnacles, their steep rocky cones reminding one of the Sugar Loaf at Rio,
+and then round shoulders of hills, and far-extending ranges, penetrated by
+deep defiles, all nearly perpendicular, and without any extent of level
+land, and rising sheer out of the sea. These mountain ranges are almost
+entirely naked, or covered only with a scanty grass or bush vegetation: no
+tree, no forest hides the majestic groups of rocks and stones, and when
+the setting sun picked out with dark, well-defined shadows the sharp
+outline of the granite rock, it was as though there lay before us a "bit"
+of the Swiss Alps, bathed in the sea as far as the limit of
+forest-vegetation, and our sailors contemplated with redoubled enjoyment a
+scene which reminded them of their native Dalmatia.</p>
+
+<p>As the night was dark, with neither moonlight nor light-house (of which
+latter there is unfortunately an utter lack here), we could not venture to
+wind our way through the narrow channel into the harbour of Hong-kong, on
+the north side of the island, and we anchored therefore about 9 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> on
+the west side, in the Lemmas Channel; and with the first beams of the sun,
+on the morning of the 5th July, we stood in to the enchanting harbour of
+Hong-kong. Where the previous day we could descry from seaward hardly any
+traces of human activity in the hills and rocks along the coast,
+<!--364.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">354</a></span>so
+that
+the land seemed desolate and deserted, there now smiled upon us, as we
+doubled Green Island, the city of Victoria, rising amphitheatre-like; and,
+lying invitingly before us, its harbour, all alive with numbers of stately
+ships and steamers, looking like an inland lake,&mdash;in fact, entirely
+land-locked. Several old ships of the line, which the English use as
+hospitals and coal depôts, filled the background, among which was the
+Royal Charlotte, 130 guns, the first three-decker that has passed the
+Equator.</p>
+
+<p>At 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> we cast anchor directly opposite the town; and amid the flags
+of England, America, France, Holland, and Russia, there now flaunted
+proudly forth the flag of Austria!</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a>
+In Manila the minimum annual rainfall is 84 inches, the
+maximum 102 inches.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a>
+The expedition sailed from Madras with about 2300 men; the
+squadron consisted of 13 ships of war and transports. The English landed
+without any opposition, laid siege to Manila, stormed and captured the
+city proper within ten days after their arrival. The Citadel capitulated;
+the Governor, an Archbishop, binding himself to pay a contribution of
+4,000,000 dollars (£833,000), in order to save the city from being sacked.
+This expedition was always looked on by the Spaniards of the Philippines
+as a very rash adventure, which by no means tended to diminish the
+national antipathy to the English race, although after such freebooting
+expeditions as have within these last two years been witnessed on the part
+of civilized states in law-abiding Europe, this invasion by an army of
+declared enemies must be viewed in an entirely different light.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a>
+Spanish writers, treating of the Philippines, derive this
+name from "Losong," which in the native language means the wooden mortar
+in which the rice, which forms the chief subsistence of the inhabitants,
+is shelled and pounded. The first strangers who came to this island, and
+found in every hut one of these very peculiar clumsy-looking implements,
+spoke of the newly discovered island as "Isle de los Losenes" (island of
+wooden mortars), whence in process of time it became transformed into
+Luzon.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a>
+One of these hotels, the Hotel Français, was, at the time of
+our visit, kept by a Frenchman named Dubosse, a man of a most adventurous
+disposition, who afterwards accompanied the French army to China as a
+mess-man, and was one of the victims seized by Sang-ko-lin-sin's soldiers,
+near Pekin, in September, 1860, who met with such a horrible fate. The
+other inn, the Hotel Fernando, kept by a North American, is yet more
+filthy and noisy than the first-named, since, being situated on the
+harbour, it serves for a rendezvous for the various ships' captains. In
+neither of these is the charge less than 4 to 5 Spanish dollars a day, or
+about £1 sterling.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a>
+The Stranger's Guide to the Philippines (<i>Guia de
+Forasteros</i>) for the year 1859 gives the names of 61 commercial houses
+established by Spaniards in Manila. Besides these, there are in the
+capital of the Philippines, seven English, three North American, two
+French, one German, and two Swiss trading firms.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a>
+We borrow this alphabet from the valuable work of Baron von
+Hügel, entitled the Pacific Ocean and the Spanish Colonies of the Indian
+Archipelago (Vienna, printed at the Imperial Press, 1860), and believe the
+reader will the more gratefully welcome it that only a small number of
+copies of Baron von Hügel's interesting journal were printed in manuscript
+for private circulation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a>
+This opinion of our Augustinian guide is not shared out
+there. An Austrian traveller, as widely renowned as highly cultivated,
+Baron Von Hügel, relates, in his Diary already alluded to, the following
+singular revelations by a friar in Manila: "The Philippine Islands belong
+to the Augustine monks; in Manila, Don Pasquale (the then Governor) or
+another may ruffle it and talk large,&mdash;in the interior we are the true
+masters. Tell me where you want to go and everything shall be laid open
+for you!... Police in the interior? It is laughable to hear of such an
+idea! As if such were possible! and I should be glad to make the
+acquaintance of that official who would venture to ask even the simple
+question of who any man is, who is under the protection of our order!...
+Should you like to ascend the Majayjay, the highest hill in the interior?
+An Augustinian friar shall accompany you thither. Should you care to make
+an excursion to the Lagoons and thence proceed to the Pacific Ocean? An
+Augustinian friar shall be your guide. Have you a hankering to visit the
+forests of Ilocos, northward from Manila, or to sail down the great river
+Lanatin? An Augustinian shall arrange all that for you. In one word, say
+what you wish to do!"</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a>
+Fray Manuel Blanco, whose portrait, the size of life, but by
+no means artistically executed, adorns one of the corridors, was born 24th
+November, 1778, at Navianos, in the province of Zamora in Spain, and died
+in the convent of Manila 1st April, 1845.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a>
+Of these there were in 1857, 373,569 liable to taxation.
+Within the same year there were 85,629 persons baptized, 16,768 married,
+and 49,999 buried with the rites of the Church.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a>
+In 1857 there were baptized in these 76 villages 21,604
+children, 4512 couples were united in wedlock, and 12,002 were buried.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a>
+In the entire Archipelago there is but <i>one</i> newspaper, "El
+Boletin Oficial," published under the auspices of Government, and which
+treats much more of religious than of political topics. There are but two
+printing and publishing houses in Manila, one of which is in the hands of
+the Dominicans, and prints almost exclusively Prayer-books and religious
+works.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a>
+This historical poem is entitled "<i>Luzonia, ò sea Los Genios
+del Pasig</i>."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a>
+Of this number of souls there were in 1857, 188,509 amenable
+to taxation, while during the year there occurred 31,285 births, 21,029
+deaths, and 5713 marriages.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a>
+In 1857, the order baptized 23,227, joined in marriage 4830
+couples, and buried 15,627.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a>
+The printed works obtained in the various monasteries of
+Manila consist of dictionaries and small grammars of the Togala, Bisaya,
+Ilocana, Tbanác, Bicol, and Pampangu dialects. The MSS. embrace
+vocabularies of the Igorotes and Ilongotes languages of Luzon, as also the
+idiom used by the natives of the Marianne Archipelago, together with a
+short treatise on the Marianne group written in Spanish by a missionary.
+All these works will be thoroughly and exhaustively treated of in the
+ethnological portion, where also the manuscripts will be published.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a>
+<i>Usted</i>&mdash;contraction for "<i>Vuestra Merced</i>" (your Grace).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a>
+The fair speeches and amiable phrases of the Spaniards lose
+all their value when one finds upon nearer acquaintance with this
+courteous nation, that the heart and the feelings take no part therein.
+There is nothing which a Spaniard will not offer to a stranger&mdash;but it is
+always on the clear understanding that the latter will with equal
+politeness refuse the proffer. We on one occasion, however, saw a Yankee
+take these professions at their apparent value, and by so doing put his
+Spanish host to no small confusion. The Spaniard wore a very costly
+diamond breast-pin, for which the American could not find words sufficient
+to express his admiration. To his exclamations of delight, the Spaniard
+kept repeating his nauseous "<i>à la disposicion de Usted</i>," till at last
+the American fairly took the pin out of the Spaniard's scarf and
+transferred it to his own. The latter felt so ashamed and dumbfounded that
+he could not utter a word. The following day the American, who had only
+taken it by way of joke, returned the costly bauble to the agonized
+Spaniard, but took occasion in so doing to remark that he now knew what
+was meant by Spanish courtesy.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a>
+On the island of Mactan (10° 20&#8242; N., 124° 10&#8242; E.) there was
+also erected on the promontory of Sugaño, a monument to the memory of
+Magelhaens, and the happy idea was entertained of making it also into a
+light-house, to warn ships of the danger in approaching the immense
+numbers of reefs that are found here.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a>
+V. Heinrich Heine's "Romanzero."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a>
+It was estimated, we were told, at from $35,000 to $40,000
+annually.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a>
+Cock-fighting has been so long disused in England, that to
+most persons it only lingers as a grim tradition, mainly authenticated by
+Hogarth's well-known painting. The degrading associations which a
+cock-fight generated are sufficiently well illustrated by the prince of
+pictorial satirists. The "betting-ring" still brings together in England
+the same intermingling of grades of society, and consequent utter
+disruption of all social respect, but with all its faults it never has,
+nor can have, the same brutalizing effects of cock-fighting, which are
+instanced by the following anecdote, extracted from the <i>Gentleman's
+Magazine</i> for April, 1789, and which may even now be found to repay
+perusal:&mdash;"Died at Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq., a young man of large
+fortune, ... who if he had his foibles, had also his merits (!) that far
+outweighed them. Mr. Ardesoif was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a
+favourite cock, upon which he won many very profitable matches. The last
+bet he laid upon this cock, he lost; which so enraged him that he had the
+bird tied to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of
+the miserable animal were so affecting that some gentlemen who were
+present attempted to interfere, at which Mr. Ardesoif was so enraged that
+he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared that he
+would kill the first man that interfered, but in the midst of his
+asseveration he fell dead upon the spot! Such we are assured were the
+circumstances attending the death of this great pillar of humanity!"</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a>
+This unhappy lady died a melancholy death, having, what
+rarely occurs among Spanish women, committed suicide at her hotel by
+swallowing Prussic acid. It was rumoured that an unhappy attachment led to
+this fatal resolve.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a>
+Of these straw-plait manufactories the cigar-holders are
+especially noticeable for their fine texture and elegance. These are
+usually sold at very high prices; some of the more elegant of these
+fetching from 40 to 50 dollars (£8 to £10). Straw mats and hats, not
+inferior in fineness of texture to those of Panama, are made here of palm
+fibre, and form a not unimportant article of exportation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a>
+8 reals = 1 Spanish piastre = 3<i>s.</i> 1&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub><i>d.</i> at par; hence
+1 real = 4.71875<i>d.</i> English.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a>
+Owing to the universal interest felt in tobacco, the use of
+which has spread over the globe, till it has become a necessary of life to
+the civilized man as well as the half-savage races of mankind, we subjoin
+by way of completing the information above attained, the following remarks
+upon the tobacco culture in other possessions of Spain, extracted from an
+unpublished journal, kept by a member of the Expedition, during a visit
+previously paid to the West Indies.
+</p><p>
+"The best sites for growing tobacco in Cuba lie to the westward of the
+capital in what is called the <i>Vuelta abajo</i>, between Rio Hondo and San
+Juan de Martinez, and is about ten English miles in circumference; the
+tobacco grown on the <i>Vuelta arriba</i> is usually of inferior quality. In
+1856 there were in Cuba 10,000 plantations or <i>Vegas</i>, with a superficial
+area of 8000 <i>Caballerias</i>, (about 414 square miles, 1 Caballeria being
+equal to 160,371,041 English square yards, or 33,134 acres), cultivated by
+from 14,000 to 16,000 negro slaves. The total value of the capital
+employed in this branch of culture (including manual labour, building
+utensils, draught animals, &amp;c.) may be estimated at 13,000,000 piasters
+(£2,730,000), and the average weight of tobacco produced at a million and
+a half <i>arrobas</i>, or 37,500,000 lbs. annually. Of this quantity 400,000
+<i>arrobas</i>, or 10,000,000 lbs., are consumed in Cuba itself, while the rest
+is exported partly in the leaf, partly in the manufactured state. One
+<i>Caballeria</i> of ground can produce on the average about 360 <i>arrobas</i>, or
+9000 lbs., of which however only <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>20</sub>th will be of superior quality.
+</p><p>
+"A '<i>vega</i>' usually consists of three <i>Caballerias</i>, which are in regular
+succession devoted to the tobacco cultivation, so that while two are
+devoted to maize and other vegetables for human subsistence, only the
+remaining third is under tobacco. The season for sowing is in October or
+November, and the crop is got in in January or February. On one
+<i>Caballeria</i> there are usually found under favourable circumstances
+500,000 plants or <i>Matas</i>. Hence it results, that as the tobacco culture
+of Cuba extends over 8000 <i>Caballerias</i>, there are throughout the island
+4,000,000,000 plants. Each plant has from 8 to 10 suitable leaves. They
+are collected together in bundles, called <i>manojos</i> (handfuls), of from
+120 to 130 leaves each, and 80 <i>manojos</i> make one <i>tercio</i>, or 150 lbs. of
+tobacco. One <i>manojo</i> weighs about 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> lbs., and when prepared makes
+into about 400 cigars. There are in Cuba altogether 600
+cigar-manufactories, of which above 400 are in the capital alone. A
+workman can make about 150 cigars a day; the rate of pay is about 10
+Spanish piasters or <i>duros</i> for 1000. The manufacture of cigars gives
+employment to about 20,000 workmen, chiefly males. Under the designation
+of <i>Tabagueros</i>, they constitute almost an exclusive class, and owing to
+their improvidence are usually in wretched plight. In Cuba (as in Luzon)
+there is but one species of tobacco raised, but more attention seems to be
+paid to its cultivation in the former island. The leaves are sorted in
+Cuba according to colour and 'vein' (<i>venas</i>), and their quality fixed
+accordingly. In commerce there are three sorts, viz.&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+No. I. 42 to 45 Spanish piasters (£6 15<i>s.</i> to £7 5<i>s.</i>) per 1000.
+   II. 32         "       "      (£5)                      "
+  III. 28         "       "      (£4 10<i>s.</i>)                 "
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+The number of cigars annually exported from the Havanna averages from
+200,000,000 to 250,000,000, without including the <i>ramos</i>, or tobacco
+exported in the leaf. The cedar-tree (<i>Cedrela odorata</i>), of which the
+cigar-boxes are chiefly made, is occasionally prejudicial to the contents,
+in consequence of the slight dampness still remaining in the wood bringing
+out white spots of decay upon the tips of the cigars."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a>
+The United States of North America produce above 200,000
+cwt., or more than one half the whole supply. The annual consumption of
+tobacco by the individual is in the United States 3&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> lbs., in England 1
+lb. and <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> oz., in France 1 lb. 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> oz., and in Germany 2 lbs.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a>
+The experiments made at Fort St. George near Madras in July,
+1850, with lines and rigging made of abáca and European hemp, with the
+view of testing their respective availability, gave the following
+interesting results: a rope of Manila hemp, 12 feet long, 3&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> inches in
+circumference, and weighing 28&nbsp;<sup>11</sup>&frasl;<sub>16</sub> oz., required a strain of 4460 lbs.
+to break it: on the other hand a rope of English hemp of similar
+dimensions, weighing 39 oz., broke with a strain of only 3885 lbs. A
+second smaller rope of Manila hemp, 1&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> inches thick, and 9&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> oz.
+weight, also 12 feet in length, required 1490 lbs. to break it, while an
+exactly similar cord of English and Russian hemp, weighing 13 oz. per
+fathom, broke with 1184 lbs., so that in the first instance the abáca line
+was 13 per cent., and in the second nearly 22 per cent. stronger than
+ropes of similar size of European hemp.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a>
+Compare with Forbes Royle's valuable treatise upon Manila
+hemp, entitled "The Fibrous Plants of India fitted for cordage, clothing,
+and paper." London, 1855.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a>
+The best Manila hemp is worth from 4&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> to 6 dollars per
+Spanish <i>picul</i>=140 lbs. Cordage made by steam power of the various
+dimensions, from half to one inch thick, sells at 25, and from one to five
+inches thick, at 10, piasters per <i>picul</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a>
+The fabrics known by the name of <i>Sinamay</i> are on the other
+hand made of the fibres of the <i>Musa textilis</i>. They are of less gossamer
+tissue, but almost transparent, and far more durable than the fabrics made
+from the Piña.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a>
+According to Buzeta the Lagoon is 36 Spanish leagues in
+circumference, by an average depth of 15 to 16 <i>brazos</i> (fathoms). While
+thirteen rivers of various dimensions flow into the lake, the Pasig alone
+issues from it, to carry off its waters to the sea.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a>
+Pronounce Mahayhay.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a>
+The size attained by the alligator or cayman in the Laguna
+de Bay borders on the incredible. Baron Von Hügel, in his work already
+referred to, tells of a French settler in <i>Jalla-Jalla</i> (pronounce
+Halla-Halla), who assured him that he had once killed an alligator, whose
+head alone weighed 250 lbs., while the body was 10 feet in circumference!
+It lay buried in the sluice at the mouth of a river, and it proved so
+difficult to get it brought to land and cut up, that only the head was
+severed by way of trophy, and brought home to his house.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a>
+Cabeza, the head, whence it is further applied to express
+"chief," or "chieftain."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a>
+Another description of tax is the compulsory labour exacted
+from the natives, which is expended in the construction of roads and
+bridges, transmission of mail matter, transport of military baggage,
+luggage of travellers, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a>
+These joss-sticks, by the Chinese called "shi-shin-hiang,"
+burn, when lighted, so slowly and regularly, that the Chinese often use
+them to mark the divisions of time.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a>
+The church was utterly ruined, and a large portion of the
+buildings are similarly in a most desolate, neglected condition. A hope
+was however expressed that in the following year, 1859, members of the
+Society of Jesus would come from Europe to settle in the Philippines, who
+would include among their other labours that of rebuilding their own
+cloister.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a>
+The graceful elegance of the Conchylia brought from Manila
+is so remarkable that an English ship captain, who, without a special
+knowledge of the matter, brought on speculation a freight of mussels from
+the Philippines to Europe, not only made by their sale an enormous profit,
+but even attained in consequence to a certain degree of celebrity in the
+scientific world!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a>
+Unfortunately the students of Natural Science have met with
+but little encouragement or support from Government, and many parts of the
+interior still remain a sealed book to them, or are only accessible under
+great difficulties. The deficiency of definite information respecting the
+island attracts foreign naturalists thither, and of late there have been
+exploring it, M. M. Feodor Jagor of Berlin, Dr. Karl Semper of Hamburg,
+and La Porte of Paris, all intent on matters connected with the natural
+history of this Archipelago, but the majority of such visitants come back
+discontented and thoroughly undeceived to land, where all activity of
+scientific inquiry is allowed reluctantly, and regarded by the Government
+and the priests with an envious eye.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a>
+A Chinese sailor, on being asked why his vessel had an eye
+painted on its bulwark, replied in Canton-English, "Suppose no hab eye,
+how can see?"</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--365.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">355</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -338px;
+  width: 677px; height: 548px; background-image: url('images/illu365.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu365" id="illu365"></a><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top:-1em;">Life in Hong-kong</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 715px; height: 475px;"></div>
+<div class="icbl" style="height: 50px; margin-right: -88px;"></div>
+<div class="icbr" style="height: 50px; margin-left: -88px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XIV.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">Hong-kong.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">Duration of Stay from 5th to 18th July, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or
+Hong-kong.&mdash;Disagreeables.&mdash;Public character.&mdash;The Comprador, or
+"fac-totum."&mdash;A Chinese fortune-teller.&mdash;Curiosity-stalls.&mdash;The
+To-stone.&mdash;Pictures on so-called rice-paper.&mdash;Canton-English.&mdash;Notices on
+the Chinese language and mode of writing.&mdash;Manufacture of
+ink.&mdash;Hospitality of German missionaries.&mdash;The custom of exposing and
+murdering female children.&mdash;Method of dwarfing the female foot.&mdash;Sir John
+Bowring.&mdash;Branch Institute of the Royal Asiatic Society.&mdash;An
+ecclesiastical dignitary on the study of natural sciences.&mdash;The Chinese in
+the East Indies.&mdash;Green indigo or Lu-Kao.&mdash;Kind reception by German
+countrymen.&mdash;Anthropometrical measurements.&mdash;Ramble to Little
+Hong-kong.&mdash;Excursion to Canton on board H.M. gun-boat Algerine.&mdash;A day at
+the English head-quarters.&mdash;The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.&mdash;Visit to the
+Portuguese settlement of Macao.&mdash;Herr von Carlowitz.&mdash;Camoens'
+Grotto.&mdash;Church for Protestants.&mdash;Pagoda Makok.&mdash;Dr. Kane.&mdash;Present
+position of the colony.&mdash;Slave-trade revived under the name of Chinese
+emigration.&mdash;Excursions round Macao.&mdash;The Isthmus.&mdash;Chinese graves.&mdash;Praya
+Granite.&mdash;A Chinese physician.&mdash;Singing stones.&mdash;Departure.&mdash;Gutzlaff's
+Island.&mdash;Voyage to the Yang-tse-Kiang.&mdash;Wusung.&mdash;Arrival at Shanghai.</div>
+
+<p>Victoria, the name by which the settlement situate on the north side of
+the island of Hong-kong is known in official
+<!--366.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">356</a></span>documents,
+strongly recalls
+another renowned British possession, Gibraltar. A mere uninviting granite
+rock of about 9 miles in length, 8 in breadth, and 26 in circumference,
+Hong-kong, situate as it is at the mouth of the Canton River, is one of
+the best harbours in the Chinese Empire. Owing to the barren, treeless
+surface, which consists for the most part of chains of hills, the highest
+point of which is 1825 feet above sea-level, with narrow valleys between,
+and a small extent of level ground around the bay, hardly a twentieth part
+of its surface is adapted to agriculture. The modern cheerful town,
+thoroughly European in character, has within these few years rapidly
+attained large dimensions, and its numerous palatial structures speak
+volumes for the wealth and prosperity of the residents. The buildings of
+the colony rise terrace-like one above another, and extend in rows all
+along the steep slope of the granite, for a distance of nearly three
+miles. Besides the population inhabiting the town, many thousand Chinese
+of the very lowest class with their wives and children live here in small
+boats year after year, so that the total population of the island amounts
+to about 80,000 souls.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty years back Hong-kong was but an insignificant place. Only since the
+peace of Nangking in 1842, which shook to its foundation the exclusive
+system till then prevalent, and among other important advantages secured
+the island of Hong-kong to the English, besides bringing into the
+community of nations the huge unwieldy empire with its
+<!--367.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">357</a></span>400,000,000,
+occupying 78 degrees of longitude and 38 of latitude, has it been
+developed into the most important business centre of China. It became an
+emporium for all European manufactures, as well as for all produce from
+the interior, which is shipped hence to the various marts of the world.
+Unfortunately the period at which the flag of the great Mandjing, or
+Double Eagle, as the Chinese call Austria, was for the first time unfurled
+on the shores of the Celestial Kingdom proved most unsuitable for
+scientific observation. While in the interior a variety of circumstances
+seriously threatened the stability of the throne of the reigning dynasty,
+the flames of war were once more breaking out along the coast also, and
+adding to the confusion and distress of the Chinese diplomatists. In the
+present war the English were for the first time in these waters fighting
+side by side with the French, while the Russians and North Americans were
+cautiously maintaining an observant, but none the less on that account
+menacing attitude. The hatred and animosity of the Chinese populace,
+stirred up by their own authorities, was continually goaded to increasing
+fury with each new victory of the "red-haired barbarians." The Chinese
+bakers in Hong-kong had devised the cruel expedient of poisoning the bread
+purchased by the English, and thus avenging themselves on the foe more
+fatally and more certainly than by Chinese weapons. Even while walking in
+the neighbourhood one's life was not safe, and even the usually not very
+easily terrified Englishman was now begirt with "revolvers," when
+<!--368.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">358</a></span>he
+rode
+forth of an afternoon with his wife, or was taken in a sedan-chair to a
+friend's house of an evening.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly before our arrival, the captain of a merchantman, while taking a
+walk outside the city, was set upon by some Chinese, robbed, and so
+severely maltreated that he expired of the injuries he received. So too
+the clerk of a mercantile house had been picked up just outside the city
+weltering in his blood and pierced with a number of wounds from a dagger,
+the murderer in this case also evading detection. An attempt was even made
+against the life of the Governor, Sir John Bowring, which was only
+frustrated through the vigilance of the sentinel, who discharged his piece
+at the scoundrels just as, favoured by night, they were stealing over the
+walls of the Government-house, with the view of creeping through the
+garden as far as Sir John's cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the most ordinary domestic matters might be traced the same
+relentless hostility on the part of the Chinese, and the state of affairs
+was becoming every day more intolerable to the European residents. All the
+domestic servants at Hong-kong are Chinese, who come hither from the
+nearest provinces of the mainland, in order to benefit by the rate of
+wages paid by the "foreign barbarian." The Chinese officials, vying with
+each other in every possible method of showing their implacable hatred to
+the strangers and to embitter their life in China, now issued an order to
+all the Chinese resident in Hong-kong to quit the island and
+<!--369.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">359</a></span>return
+to
+their native country. This ordinance would assuredly have been disregarded
+by most of the resident Chinese of the Middle Empire, had not any
+violation of the Imperial rescripts been visited with such appalling
+consequences. For by the Draconic laws of the Empire, the family of the
+criminal expiate his offence, should he take to flight and get beyond the
+reach of the arm of Chinese justice. For any such absentee from justice,
+some other member of the family is substituted, who may be still on the
+spot; as for instance, the father, mother, or brother, who is punished
+exactly as though he had in person been guilty of the crime or
+misdemeanour. With such terrific means of repressing disobedience
+impending over him, no Chinese would venture to set at defiance the orders
+of the Mandarins; and accordingly, during the summer of 1858, 10,000
+Chinese returned home at once; others, who did not dare to return, but
+could not endure that the ruthless doom should be executed upon their
+relatives, committed suicide. The position of European ladies in Hong-kong
+became anything but enviable, as they had at a moment's notice to take up
+the pot-ladle for themselves, and get through the various fatiguing
+details of their households with what skill they could. Moreover there was
+good ground for apprehension that the Mandarins might cut off all
+communications with the neighbouring provinces, which move, as the greater
+part of the every-day necessaries of life are supplied from the mainland,
+might have exposed the population of Hong-kong to the severest
+straits.<!--370.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">360</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances any more remote excursions, or visits to the
+adjacent mainland, were of course impossible. We had to confine our
+investigations to the island itself, there to collect what memoranda we
+could, and see as much of the island and its inhabitants as the shortness
+of our stay and the prevailing disorders might admit.</p>
+
+<p>Life in Hong-kong has already a strong leaven of western civilization.
+Only in the narrowest streets does the visitor come upon examples of the
+genuine Chinese type. Most of the natives even inhabit houses built in the
+European style, so that one feels as though in a European city inhabited
+by a Chinese population, the latter having however greatly altered from
+its originality. Only very few types of Chinese popular life are met with
+in this English colony. Of these characters the most interesting and
+unique is the <i>Comprador</i> (<i>Mai-pau</i>), a sort of factotum, whom no
+household can dispense with, and whose importance only those can
+adequately do justice to who have lived some time in the country. The
+Comprador, or <i>shroff</i>, is the soul, the good or evil genius, of the
+house: he sees to all sorts of purchases, manages the domestic economy,
+and maintains order and discipline in the house and household. The entire
+domestic control is exclusively lodged in his hands, to that extent that
+even the master and mistress of the house may not, without consulting the
+Comprador, dismiss one of the servants or engage a new one. For all that
+goes on, the latter is responsible. He has to answer for the honesty of
+<!--371.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">361</a></span>the
+servants, and must replace anything that may have gone amissing from
+the house inventory. If the family leave their house for any time, the
+Comprador is informed of the place where the most valuable articles are
+deposited, where they are more likely to be found in proper order on their
+return than by any other device. Even during the late war, in which the
+feeling of the Chinese to the Europeans was anything but friendly, the
+Comprador held to his fidelity, and was as useful as ever. In view of the
+actual state of matters, a traveller must feel no little astonishment at
+beholding the doors and windows of the private dwelling-houses everywhere
+wide open, and valuable articles lying exposed in the various apartments.
+As however the Comprador himself must get a number of bails to become
+responsible for him, and as the post is a very profitable one, it follows
+that there are but few cases of dishonesty in this singular profession. It
+is especially remarkable that few of the populace seem to be as hostile to
+the strangers as the Mandarins, and all the numerous annoyances inflicted
+on the latter are invariably to be traced to the intrigues of the Chinese
+authorities. How else would it be possible for a couple of hundred
+Europeans to rule a colony in which are 80,000 Chinese, and which moreover
+is dependent upon the mainland for the very first necessities of life?</p>
+
+<p>The Comprador receives for all his services and attentions no higher pay
+than from 12 to 15 dollars a month, besides support for himself and
+family. This however is not his
+<!--372.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">362</a></span>sole
+income, as every tradesman must give
+the Comprador a per-centage upon everything, even the most insignificant
+article that enters the house, and this custom even extends to any
+purchases made by a Chinese in the warehouses of the foreign merchant.</p>
+
+<p>Another "public character," whom one frequently meets in the lower parts
+of the city in the public streets of the Chinese quarter, is the
+"soothsayer." On a small table before him stands an open draught-board
+with a number of squares, on which are inscribed a variety of proverbs and
+oracular sayings. In each square is a grain of rice, and quite close to
+the board is a bird-cage with a tame canary. Presently some good-humoured
+gaping rustic comes up, who wishes to learn his destiny, upon which the
+soothsayer suffers the canary to hop out of his cage upon one of the
+squares, and pick up a grain of rice <i>ad libitum</i>. The sentences and
+interpretations, which are inscribed on each square from which the canary
+snaps up his food serve for a reply and decision to the curious
+questioner, who hands over a small <i>honorarium</i>. The apparatus is simple
+and ingenious, but the proverbs are excessively silly, and recall much
+less the land of Confucius than the dream-books of certain countries
+standing high in European civilization.</p>
+
+<p>The stores which seem most to attract the attention of a stranger are the
+"Curiosity-shops," in which are heaped up those innumerable articles of
+Chinese industry and Chinese taste which are so characteristic of the
+country and its
+<!--373.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">363</a></span>inhabitants.
+Here the eye rests upon objects of the most
+bizarre shapes, which in material design and execution are totally unlike
+anything the European sees elsewhere; workmanship in wood and stone, that
+illustrates in a remarkable manner the extraordinary patience of the
+artisan, such as drinking-cups, barrels, frames, cut all in one piece, and
+beautifully carved, elegant fancy articles of horn, stone,
+mother-of-pearl, ivory, roots of trees, metal, or wood, vases and dishes,
+statuettes in copper and clay, woven portraits, embroidery, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Among all these various manufactures, one especially remarks those
+prepared from a leek-green, slimy-feeling stone (nephrite), which is in
+much request among the Chinese, and is highly valued. The Chinese name,
+Yo, from which in all probability is derived the French name <i>Jade</i>, does
+not indicate however a peculiar species, but is used for all sorts of
+carved stone-work and gems, while the most valuable one is called by the
+Chinese the "mutton-fat" stone. The articles prepared of what is named
+steatite, or soap-stone, are largely used in commerce, but are of very
+small value, and usually cut only in very clumsy figures.</p>
+
+<p>But these manufactures make much less impression upon the stranger than
+the beautiful pictures of the Chinese artists upon rice-paper, a peculiar
+branch of art, cultivated by the Chinese alone, and which as yet has never
+been successfully imitated in any other country. The most exquisite
+specimens of these are sent to Canton, but among the Chinese in Hong-kong
+we
+<!--374.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">364</a></span>saw
+several beautiful works in this style of painting. The common
+designation of rice-paper has led to the erroneous idea that the substance
+of which these pictures are made is manufactured from the leaves of the
+rice-plant, whereas it is prepared from the pith of an entirely different
+plant (<i>Aralia papyrifera</i>), which grows in Funan and Tukun. The marrow is
+steeped for some time in water, after which it is split by means of very
+keen sharp knives into thin leaves, which are then subjected to gentle
+pressure. The largest are about a foot square, and are reserved almost
+exclusively for pictures, the shreds and inferior sorts alone being used
+for the manufacture of artificial flowers. We saw portraits of the Emperor
+and Empress, of the rebel leader, Tai-ping, of the notorious Yeh,
+ex-governor of Canton, and other well-known or conspicuous personages.
+Latterly there has sprung up a strong tendency among the Chinese artists
+to daguerreotypes and photographs in miniature upon ivory; and in the
+<i>ateliers</i> of Hong-kong a number of artists were engaged in this, at
+present the most profitable branch of Chinese artistic skill.</p>
+
+<p>In all these shops the medium of trade is what is called Canton-English,
+less a dialect than a confused jargon of English and Chinese words,
+consisting of concessions made on either side to the grammar and idiom of
+the other, so as the more readily to comprehend each other. A few Spanish
+and Portuguese words have also crept in, recalling the former relations of
+these countries with China. All English words ending in <i>e</i> mute have in
+this gibberish an <i>i</i> attached to
+<!--375.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">365</a></span>them,
+as also all other words whatever.
+Thus they say <i>timi</i>, <i>housi</i>, <i>pieci</i>, <i>coachi</i>, <i>cooki</i>, &amp;c. &amp;c. There
+are certain Chinese, especially in Canton, who pick up a living by
+initiating young country folks, who are about entering service in English
+mercantile houses, in this singular language. Curious and unpleasant as
+this Chinese English dialect sounds in the ears of strangers, it is found
+greatly to facilitate intercourse with the Chinese, in consequence of the
+immense difficulties attending the study of Chinese, so that most
+Europeans find it far more comfortable to master this jargon, which is not
+without some influence on the spread of English in the chief commercial
+cities, than to occupy themselves with mastering Chinese. The language
+spoken by the sons of the "middle kingdom" consists of 450 monosyllabic
+sounds, which by various delicate differences in accentuation may increase
+to about 1600. The slight, and to unaccustomed ears almost inappreciable,
+shades of aspiration and accentuation, are the main difficulty in the way
+of foreigners desirous of learning the Chinese language.</p>
+
+<p>To learn the written characters is equally arduous, and requires not less
+time and perseverance; for this does not consist of a number of letters,
+the varying arrangement of which constitutes words, but of 40,000 more or
+less complicated signs, each of which expresses a whole word. They are
+rude forms, representing most imperfectly ideas and material objects;<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>
+however, the knowledge of 4000 to 6000 such signs,
+<!--376.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">366</a></span>with
+their various
+significations, suffices to understand most of the common Chinese books.
+These singular hieroglyphics are not written horizontally but vertically.
+Moreover, the Chinese begin from the right side, so that, directly the
+reverse of the European custom, the title of a Chinese book is found on
+the first page, the leaf furthest to the right hand. Long ago, the
+Chinese, like most other Asiatic nations at the present day, wrote with
+metal <i>styli</i> upon split leaves of bamboo. Ever since the third century
+before Christ, however, when the art was invented of making paper from the
+rind of the mulberry tree and the bamboo-cane, and preparing pin-soot,
+glair, musk, glue, Indian ink<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> (méh), and other substances,
+<!--377.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">367</a></span>the
+pencil has taken the place of the graver. The hieroglyphics now made on
+paper are softer, more elegant, and in distinctness of outline admit
+greater varieties of form. Most of the Chinese whom we saw engaged in
+writing formed the most complicated characters with great celerity and
+ease upon the thin paper, and without the firm strokes losing anything of
+their neatness and clearness of outline.</p>
+
+<p>Among the various scientific objects recommended as important objects of
+inquiry to the members of the Expedition, during their visit to China, by
+the renowned sinologue Dr. Pfitzmaier, was the obtaining of rare Chinese
+books, and the elucidation of certain ethnographic and linguistic
+questions. Whatever was achieved by us in throwing light upon these
+matters is due in great measure to the cordial reception with which we
+were received by men of science resident at Hong-kong. Especially we would
+name in this respect Dr. M. Lobscheid, a German by birth, a missionary and
+inspector of schools, who, thoroughly conversant with the Chinese
+language, exerted himself to the utmost in forwarding the objects of the
+scientific corps, besides assisting us in the purchase of a variety of the
+most valuable Chinese works, and giving us much interesting information
+respecting the country and the inhabitants. Dr. Lobscheid
+<!--378.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">368</a></span>himself
+has a
+well-selected, valuable, and extensive library of rare Chinese works on
+geography, natural science, history, philology, and numismatics, and
+presented a number of valuable gifts to the Expedition. One of his
+colleagues, Dr. Ph. Winnes, also a German, and a missionary from the
+Mission Society of Bâle, compiled for us a list of words of the Hakka
+dialect, as spoken in the interior of the province of Quang-Tung, hitherto
+so little known philologically. It is indeed astonishing what English, and
+German, and American missionaries have effected as publicists, during the
+short period they have been resident here. The educational and religious
+works published in Chinese at the expense of the various religious
+societies form already quite a respectable literature of themselves,
+although the Chinese language puts as many obstacles in the way of mere
+Christian civilization as in that of the propagation of the Evangile
+itself. Most of the missionaries consider any attempt to substitute Romish
+for Chinese characters as being quite vain. The indistinctness of Chinese
+signs has already been fruitful of much controversy among the missionaries
+themselves. Thus, for example, those engaged in promulgating the Christian
+faith are not as yet agreed by what Chinese word the God of Christianity
+may best be indicated. The Roman Catholic missionaries write <i>Tientschù</i>
+(the Highest of all things); the English and German Protestants use the
+sign <i>Schang-Ti</i> (the Most High); the American Protestants make use of the
+word <i>Schin</i> (Spirit). These varieties of opinion as to the mode of
+<!--379.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">369</a></span>expressing
+the idea of "God," have given rise to a vast number of
+publications, which however have unfortunately tended rather to envenom
+the dispute than smooth the way to a common understanding.</p>
+
+<p>Conspicuous, however, as are the services of the missionaries in the
+publication and diffusion of useful and moral books in the Chinese
+language, their direct efforts have, on the other hand, been attended with
+but limited results hitherto, and although it is always laid down as an
+axiom in the books and manifestoes of the Tai-Ping insurgents, that the
+doctrines of Christianity, as deduced from the writings of the Missionary
+Societies, are the leading principle of the movement, yet, as set forth
+and promulgated by the insurgent chiefs, they cannot be said to deserve
+recognition by any known form of Christianity.</p>
+
+<p>As in their religion, so in their mode of life, and their national
+customs, the Chinese remain stiff-necked and obstinate, and in this
+direction also Christianity is in but few cases capable of mitigating
+their frequently barbarous customs. Children in China are constantly
+exposed in large numbers, and that not owing to poverty, but from
+indifference to the female children. One Chinese woman who at present
+professes Christianity, and is a member of the Bâle missionary community,
+has herself killed eight female children whom she had herself carried in
+her womb! Dr. Lobscheid informed us that he was personally cognizant of
+<!--380.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">370</a></span>one
+case, where a Chinese mother-in-law, irritated at the birth of a
+female child, murdered it before its mother's eyes, almost immediately
+after it had come into the world, and this in a rather well-to-do family!
+Young mothers often lay their children down in the open field, or on the
+sea-beach, watching anxiously if any one takes it away, or till a wave
+mercifully sweeps it off. One such infant, accidentally found by some of
+the crew of the English frigate <i>Nankin</i>, and tended with all the
+tender-heartedness of Jack when he finds an object of compassion, is at
+present in the German Mission House at Hong-kong, and was baptized in the
+cathedral by the chaplain of the frigate, who gave her the name of
+Victoria Nankin. Other mothers endeavour to choke the new-born girl with
+moistened ashes, which, not unfrequently with caressing hand, they lay
+upon the mouth of the little unconscious innocent. Male children, on the
+other hand, even such as are crippled or deformed, are very seldom, indeed
+quite exceptionally, exposed or put to death. In proportion to the harsh
+treatment which the female offspring experience, is the pride and anxious
+carefulness which wait on the male children. Indeed the Chinese are very
+much in the habit of having several wives, simply because by so doing they
+of course have a better chance of a number of male offspring, and it very
+frequently happens that the lawful wife of a Chinaman, if she has
+continued any length of time childless, will even seek out and bring to
+her husband a concubine by whom he may have heirs, that is,
+<!--381.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">371</a></span><i>sons</i>.<a
+name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a>
+In such cases the two wives usually continue on the best of terms, which
+cannot be said of those instances where the second or third wife is
+introduced into the family by the husband, without the intervention of his
+wife. According to the old Chinese law, the man had to be thirty, the
+woman twenty, before marriage. At present marriages, as a rule, are made
+between sixteen and twenty years of age. It may be assumed that one in
+every fifteen Chinese has more than one wife; the first, usually known as
+"number one," is generally taken from inclination, whereas the rest are
+usually bought, the price varying, according to their youth and beauty,
+from 100 to 600 dollars. This custom gives rise to quite a peculiar trade.
+Chinese women make a practice of purchasing for themselves from the poorer
+classes such of the female children as are of good health and well formed,
+whom they bring up with great care, with the view of selling them, when
+grown up, to the wealthy Chinese, and even sometimes to&mdash;European
+residents.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> The custom of child-murder is most prevalent in the coast
+districts of the province of Fo-kien, so that latterly there was a
+positive scarcity of women, and marriageable girls had to be imported from
+the northern part of the province. The prevalence of this custom of
+child-murder in these localities is to be ascribed to the enormous
+migration of the male population to Siam, to the islands
+<!--382.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">372</a></span>of
+the Malay
+Archipelago, and other points. These emigrants supply the labour market in
+foreign countries, and but seldom return to their families. Numerous
+placards and pamphlets, pointing out the enormity of child-murder, and
+dissuading from its commission, are printed annually, partly at the cost
+of philanthropists, partly at that of the Chinese Government, and widely
+diffused, yet without producing any diminution in the practice of this
+appalling custom.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of distorting the feet of the better class of women at the
+period of their birth, seems to have arisen from the jealousy of the
+husbands, who in thus preventing the possibility of gadding about, think
+they have secured an additional guarantee for the fidelity and chastity of
+their wives. However, one occasionally hears the first introduction of
+this singular and cruel custom ascribed to a Chinese empress having once
+been born with such distortion of the feet, and that in consequence it not
+only became the fashion among the females of the higher class in those
+days, out of pure obsequiousness, to imitate by artificial means a
+disfiguration accidentally arising from a freak of Nature, but even to
+recognize it as a necessary concomitant of the Chinese ideal of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor of Hong-kong, Sir John Bowring, a distinguished <i>savant</i>, who
+received the members of the Expedition with the utmost consideration,
+invited them to his house and endeavoured to bring them into personal
+communication with those residents in the colony most interested in
+scientific
+<!--383.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">373</a></span>pursuits,
+so that each one of us could consult with the
+gentleman best able to advise him in his own department, and thus attain
+in the shortest time the most satisfactory results. Sir John, moreover, as
+President of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, admitted the
+members of the Expedition to the honours of an extraordinary session. He
+welcomed the Austrian naturalists in the heartiest manner, and expressed
+the most flattering anticipations from their visit. Very deserving of
+remark was the speech made on this occasion by the Lord Bishop of
+Hong-kong. In his capacity of a dignitary of the Church, he too bade us
+welcome in the warmest manner, and expressed his conviction that
+Christianity had nothing to fear, but only to hope, from the study of
+natural sciences! What would certain ultramontanists, had they been
+present, have replied to this remark of a high ecclesiastical
+dignitary?&mdash;they who consider government impossible without restricting
+the study of the natural sciences!</p>
+
+<p>Among the various subjects discussed at this meeting were several of great
+interest, which sufficiently evidenced what a thorough disposition to
+mental activity the English show, even in a place where material interests
+are necessarily the main objects of attention, and where they, moreover,
+are continually exposed to great personal danger.</p>
+
+<p>One of the communications received by the Society was a memoir by Mr. W.
+Alabaster, who had accompanied ex-governor Yeh to Calcutta as interpreter,
+treating of the Chinese population there, and its influence on the state
+of society.
+<!--384.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">374</a></span>The
+memoir contained the very remarkable statement that the
+Chinese colony in Calcutta, which in 1858 counted little more than 500
+souls, had not alone monopolized several employments, such as shoemakers,
+tailors, &amp;c., but had, even when thousands of miles distant from home,
+jealously maintained several of their customs and rites intact. This
+Chinese community, so inconsiderable in point of mere numbers, already
+possesses its own temple, its own priests, and its own teachers, who guard
+any Chinese immigrants from the perils of proselytism; it has founded a
+special association, whose object it is to transmit to their native land
+the bodies of such as die abroad, while their luxury is beginning to
+develope itself to the extent of ordering from China at considerable
+expense troops of actors, so as even at this distance to provide
+themselves with the national amusement of a genuine Sing-Song. This
+peculiarity is of great importance, inasmuch as the emigration from China
+is ever assuming more extended dimensions, and already embraces several
+portions of the world. We find Chinese scattered throughout Eastern Asia,
+in Australia, in California, in Peru, in Brazil, in the West Indies, and,
+what is very astonishing they thrive and prosper at most places they
+visit, despite the not very humane treatment they receive, and the
+wretched, desolate state in which they leave their homes. This enormous
+emigration of the sons of the Flowery Land seems destined to be of immense
+importance, and to be fraught with momentous influence upon the future of
+the other Asiatic populations, whom the Chinese greatly
+<!--385.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">375</a></span>excel
+in capacity
+for work, mechanical dexterity, and dogged perseverance. Even the
+religious movement gives the Chinese certain advantages over all other
+nations of the Asiatic type of civilization. The Hindoo, like the
+Catholic, has numbers of festivals, which greatly diminish the number of
+his actual working days; the daily ceremonies prescribed by Brahminism
+further curtail the most precious hours of labour; his exclusively
+vegetarian food not alone prevents the proper development of his muscular
+power, but also by its ostentatiously morbid delicacy, brings him
+constantly into collision with the social order of a Christian household.
+The Chinese, on the other hand, keeps but one holiday-time, the beginning
+of the new year, which he celebrates for fourteen days without
+intermission. But the remaining 11&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> months of the year are for him but
+one long day of work. Moreover, the Chinese has no fastidious notions
+about his food. He eats pork, and drinks wine, and prefers fat meat to
+meagre fruit diet, thoroughly unrestrained by any considerations as to
+whether such a mode of life accords with the institutes of Brahma and
+Menu, or the teaching of Confucius. Their sobriety, their capacity, their
+industry, their frugal mode of life, and their numbers, all seem to
+indicate the Chinese as destined to play an important part, not alone in
+the development of the Oriental nations, but also in the history of
+mankind. They are, as a German philosopher has profoundly remarked, the
+Greeks and Romans of Eastern Asia, and they will, if once hurried onwards
+by the great tide of Christian
+<!--386.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">376</a></span>civilization,
+perform such feats as to
+fill even the nations of the old world with wonder and amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Another communication, made during the same meeting of this meritorious
+branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong-kong, related to that singular
+plant, which has within the last few years excited so much attention in
+industrial circles throughout Europe under the name of "Green dye," or
+"Vert Chinois." Notwithstanding the experiments hitherto made with this
+valuable dye, and the excellent use which has been made of it, more
+especially by the Chamber of Commerce at Lyons, the first in Europe to
+make application of the new colour, there was yet much to be learned
+respecting the mode of raising and manufacturing it, in order to render
+its employment entirely practicable. The elegant pamphlet of the Lyons
+Chamber of Commerce<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> had just arrived from Europe, and led to a
+variety of interesting investigations. Nothing was known in Hong-kong
+respecting the plant beyond what was already contained in Robert Fortune's
+excellent work and Rondot's treatise. Somewhat later, we were furnished
+with more accurate and circumstantial information respecting the Lu-Kao,
+the well-known "Green dye" of the English (a species of <i>Rhamnus</i> or
+buckthorn), which we shall here transcribe pretty fully.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p>
+
+<!--387.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">377</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lu-Kao is grown chiefly in the northern provinces, extensive plantations
+of this valuable plant existing in the country around Foo-Chow and the
+environs of the city of Haening. The valuable green dye matter is
+obtained, however, from the rind, not of one but of two species <i>Rhamnus</i>,
+of which the "yellow" grows on the flats, the "white" on the high-grounds
+in a wild state. The preparation of the substance, which does not differ
+much in appearance from common indigo, is exceedingly primitive. Both
+plants are boiled for a considerable time in iron kettles, the yellow
+deposit or <i>residuum</i> being suffered to remain undisturbed for several
+days. Transferred thence into earthen vessels, a piece of cotton cloth is
+steeped into it five or six times, after which the adherent dye is wrung
+out, and exposed a second time to the process of boiling in iron pans. The
+next step in the manipulation consists in permitting the dye stuff, which
+now has much more consistence, to be soaked up by some pieces of cotton,
+when it is once more washed, sprinkled upon thin paper, and, lastly,
+exposed for some time to the sun.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese have as yet only used the dye for colouring cloths of coarse
+texture; all attempts hitherto to apply it to silks, &amp;c., have proved
+fruitless. But the great development of chemical science in Europe
+justifies us in expecting that a method will ere long be devised for
+fixing this beautiful, durable light green tint, which does not alter even
+in candlelight, upon fabrics of fine smooth texture, and thus greatly
+enhance its value in the industrial arts. The Lu-Kao has
+<!--388.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">378</a></span>from
+time
+immemorial been used by the Chinese in watercolour paintings, but its use
+in industrial processes only dates from about 20 years back. The very
+price charged for the small quantities hitherto brought from China, is by
+no means natural, but seems to have been artificially forced up by
+speculation, apparently in consequence of an unusual demand. In Foo-Chow
+the price of one Catti, about 1&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> lbs., is 20 <i>Taels</i>, or about £6
+10<i>s.</i> Were the production of this dye stuff really so expensive, we may
+be sure it would not be made use of by the Chinese for their ordinary
+stuffs, nor could these be sold as cheap as they are. We have found our
+opinion confirmed by competent observers in various parts of China, that
+this valuable product is susceptible of being acclimatized in Europe, and
+of being cultivated with profit, especially in those places where,
+together with favourable conditions of temperature and soil, the wages of
+labour are not too high.</p>
+
+<p>Like the English authorities and Government officials, our German
+fellow-countrymen, resident in Hong-kong, did not fail to exercise their
+hospitality for the benefit of the associates of the Expedition, and we
+cannot sufficiently express our obligations to the Austrian Consul, Mr. G.
+Wiener, and the Prussian vice-consul, Mr. Gustav Oberbeck, for their
+delicate attention. The latter presented the Expedition with a number of
+articles interesting as illustrating the advances of civilization, which
+he had obtained during the siege of Canton, in Dec. 1857, and of which the
+greater part have since been deposited at the Imperial Cabinet of
+Antiquities at
+Vienna.<!--389.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">379</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Through the kindness and interest of Dr. Harland (since deceased),
+surgeon-in-chief of the colony, some of the members of the Expedition were
+enabled to make corporeal measurements in the great prison, the inmates of
+which come from the most various parts of the empire, as well as in the
+hospital, upon a number of individuals of either sex, all "fair specimens
+of the Chinese race," as Dr. Harland assured them, the results of which
+will be found in the anthropological section of the <i>Novara</i> publications.</p>
+
+<p>Before the frigate left Hong-kong, despite the insecurity of public
+affairs, several excursions were made to the south side of the island, to
+Canton, and to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, which proved as
+interesting as they were satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of their peregrinations about the mountains on the island,
+as far as the fishing village on the south side of the island, known as
+Little Hong-kong (sweet-waters), the naturalists of the Expedition were
+accompanied by Dr. Hance, the botanist, and the missionary, Dr. Lobscheid,
+both thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language. Little as the pretty
+name of this small settlement, founded so far back as 1668, is applicable
+to the entire island, it yet corresponds well, and is eminently suitable,
+to the smiling valley, entirely shut in by lofty rocks, in which lies
+wretched Little Hong-kong. A beautiful wood filled with tufts of flowers,
+forming for the labours of the botanist a rich supply of the most splendid
+plants, and refreshed by copious springs of water from the
+<!--390.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">380</a></span>mountains,
+constitute a lovely landscape. Above the limit of vegetation of the
+foliage trees, are seen on the slopes of the mountain groups of pines,
+while the level ground at the bottom of the valley is laid out in smiling
+rice fields. The miserable inhabitants of the village, which looks
+gloomily out from among the trees, are not safe from the predatory
+onslaughts of ferocious pirates, even among the recesses of the valley.
+The streets of the village, hidden between trees, are uncommonly narrow,
+so that two men can scarcely pass each other, and the huts are all placed
+on purpose close against each other, in order, we were told, to be able
+more easily to admit of defence. Our rambles were rewarded with an
+abundant collection of specimens, and were particularly instructive in a
+geognostical point of view, as satisfying us that the island does not
+consist entirely of granite, but that a large proportion of the mountain
+is porphyritic.</p>
+
+<p>Another excursion was made by the Commodore and some of his staff as far
+as Canton. The Commandant of the station, Commodore Stewart, had for this
+purpose placed the gun-boat <i>Algerine</i> at our disposal. The distance from
+Hong-kong to Canton is about 87 nautical miles (100 statute miles), and
+the voyage took full eleven hours, viz. from 6.30 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> to 5.30 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span></p>
+
+<p>Canton, the third capital of the Chinese Empire, and its most flourishing
+commercial city, which but a short time before had numbered about
+1,000,000 inhabitants, was at this period a desolate, almost entirely
+abandoned mass of houses,
+<!--391.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">381</a></span>half
+in ruins, half burnt. The stately European
+factories, which had adorned the banks of the river up to the walls of the
+Chinese city, were heaps of ashes. The floating town upon the river
+itself, the renowned flower-boats of Canton, with their marvellous
+splendour and their luxurious beauty, had entirely disappeared, leaving no
+trace. Whoever had anything to lose had fled the country. English
+sentinels patrolled the walls and occupied the streets of the interior of
+the city, and only the very poorest of the mob remained behind, watching
+every opportunity of getting the "head-money," which the Mandarins of the
+province of Kuang-Tung had offered for every head of a "barbarian" brought
+in. "The state of matters in Canton gets worse and worse every day," said
+the latest issue of the Hong-kong journals. Since the Americans and
+Russians had concluded private treaties with the Imperial Government, and
+the English and French allied fleet had gone north to the Gulf of
+Pe-Cheli, to treat at Tien-Tsin with the Imperial commissioners, the
+Chinese of Canton had been plucking up courage. They conceived the allies
+to be isolated; the Russians and the Americans they held to be hostile to
+them. The Mandarins and Imperial commissioners launched proclamations by
+the dozen at the "foreign devils,"<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> set on foot organized Guerilla
+bands,
+<!--392.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">382</a></span>which
+were called "Braves," who every night discharged rockets
+into the city, murdered and pillaged, and kept the allied troops, who were
+only 3500 strong (800 of whom were in hospital) almost continually on the
+alert.</p>
+
+<p>When the gun-boat <i>Algerine</i> arrived off Canton, the Commodore, although
+it was late in the evening, was accompanied by a military escort to the
+head-quarters of General Straubenzee, commander of the allied troops. A
+stillness as of a grave-yard reigned throughout the city, and not a light
+was to be seen. By 10.30 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> the Commodore reached the post, and was
+most hospitably received by the General. The
+<!--393.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">383</a></span>head-quarters
+were situated
+on a hillock commanding the city, surrounded by the numerous buildings of
+a country-seat or <i>Yamun</i>, which had been the property of the father of
+Governor Yeh, who had acquired such notoriety during the recent warlike
+troubles. The ostentatious splendour of the apartments, the splendid ebony
+carved work, gave such an idea of the magnificence, the luxury, the
+gorgeousness of the Chinese princes, as can only be paralleled by what we
+read of the palaces of the emperors of ancient Rome. Yeh himself had by
+this time been removed from the political scene, and was a state prisoner
+in Calcutta, where he lived in more than monastic seclusion. To judge by
+his portrait, which was for sale in all the print-shops of Hong-kong, Yeh
+was a fine-looking man with energetic features, and an expression full of
+intellect, and, so far as his physical appearance went, seemed to take
+after his father, who in his ninety-second year was still tasting joys of
+paternity. In his own country, even among the Europeans, Yeh enjoys the
+reputation of being not only an able diplomatist, but a man of varied
+information as well. While at Hong-kong we were shown some large
+anatomical woodcuts, which Yeh had himself borrowed from a European work
+on anatomy, and published at his own cost on an enlarged scale,
+accompanied by a preface from his pen.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p>
+
+<p>Even more extensive and elegant in its outward aspect than that of Yeh,
+was the palace of the Tartar general Pihkwei,
+<!--394.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">384</a></span>now
+employed for barracks
+and the officers of the English and French commissariat, while a much less
+pretentious building had been assigned to the Tartar general for his
+present residence.</p>
+
+<p>The Commodore had reached head-quarters and was sitting at the tea-table
+with General Straubenzee, when an alarm of fire was heard. The "Braves"
+had fired a house close by in the hope, it should seem, that the flames
+would catch the barracks as well as the powder depôt, or at all events
+compel the English to withdraw their troops from the post, and give an
+opportunity for inflicting some loss on them. Fortunately, however, what
+had been set on fire burned quite out, without fulfilling the
+anticipations of the "Braves."</p>
+
+<p>In the course of a stroll, which our Commodore took with the General
+somewhat later in the night, they perceived that the Chinese kept up a
+continual flight of rockets against the sentries and buildings of the
+post, from a small eminence not two hundred yards distant, which was
+provided with ramparts and cannon, and the Austrian guests greatly
+marvelled that no energetic steps were taken to obviate the disorders
+produced by these guerilla bands of Chinese, who every night with their
+incendiarism and fire-balls kept the city, the head-quarters, and the
+pickets in constant alarm, seeing that their inactivity only tended to
+animate the courage of the Chinese, while in such harassing service,
+unattended as it was with any results, their own forces, already very much
+reduced, were proportionately
+weakened.<!--395.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">385</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The morning after their arrival the Austrian officers, accompanied by the
+English commissioner Mr. Parkes, whose imprisonment near Pekin has since
+made his name widely and universally known, paid a visit to the sole
+Chinese authority still remaining in the town, the Tartar General and
+Mandarin, Pi-Kwei. An immense crowd had assembled in the streets through
+which the foreigners wended their way, and their reception by the Tartar
+General was accompanied by all the ceremonial of Chinese etiquette: three
+howitzer salvo-shots, and ear-splitting Chinese music, the General's
+body-guard, disarmed, drawn up on the staircase, the General himself,
+wearing his Mandarin cap on his head, nodding and laughing more or less to
+the foreigners presented, according to their higher or lower rank. The
+Commodore was provided with a raised seat. In the course of conversation,
+during which Mr. Parkes kindly acted as interpreter, tea was served.
+Pi-Kwei inquired as to the objects of the Expedition, and asked the names
+of the officers, which, owing to the symbolic nature of Chinese writing,
+could not be done but after much difficulty. Pi-Kwei, a man of colossal
+proportions, behaved and spoke like a lamb in presence of the small
+physically insignificant-looking Mr. Parkes. Like the regents appointed by
+the Dutch Government in Java, he was nothing more than the agent to carry
+out the orders of the English.</p>
+
+<p>Our departure was not less ceremonious and noisy than our reception: a
+number of fire-balls were let off in front of
+<!--396.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">386</a></span>the
+building, the noise of
+which gave much more the impression of an infernal machine than a salute.
+The rest of the day the officers spent in reconnoitring various parts of
+the city, as far as circumstances admitted, and all returned in the
+evening to Hong-kong in the same gun-boat which had conveyed them to
+Canton.</p>
+
+<p>While we were lying at anchor in Hong-kong, an extra sheet of the "<i>North
+China Herald</i>," published at Shanghai, brought intelligence of a treaty of
+peace having been signed at Tien-Tsin, by Lord Elgin, on the part of
+England, and the Imperial Commissioners, and that it had been dispatched
+to Pekin for the purpose of being ratified by the imperial autograph. This
+treaty, which contained 56 clauses, invested England with far more
+extensive rights than she had hitherto possessed. Especially it was
+stipulated that an English ambassador should reside in a palace at Pekin,
+and be accorded all the honours due to his rank, and that the Christian
+religion should be professed and taught without any restrictions. British
+subjects, provided with passes from their own consuls, to be countersigned
+by the local Chinese authorities, were to be permitted to traverse the
+empire in every direction on business or pleasure; the navigation of the
+Yang-tse-Kiang, or Blue River, was also declared free; and in addition to
+the five harbours already opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of
+Nankin, the English were now to be at liberty to trade with New-Chwang,
+Tang-Char, Tai-Wan (on the island of Formosa), Chau-Chow, and Kiung-Chow
+<!--397.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">387</a></span>(in
+Hainan), to settle in any of these, to buy and sell house property,
+as also to erect churches and hospitals, and lay out cemeteries. Chinese
+subjects guilty of crimes or offences against the English, to be punished
+by the native authorities in conformity with the law of the land. English
+subjects, on the other hand, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the
+British authorities, in similar circumstances, and treated according to
+British law. All official communications on the part of the English
+authorities to be drawn up in English for presentation to the Chinese
+Government, and although, for the present, accompanied by a translation,
+shall in the event of uncertainty be construed according to the text of
+the English original. Article L provides that the symbol
+<img src="images/glyph397.png" style="display: inline; height: 2em;
+vertical-align: middle;" alt="" /> (Barbarian) shall be discontinued in all official documents,
+whether in the capital or the provinces, and the term "English" or
+"English Government" be substituted. On the other hand, the Treaty of
+Tien-Tsin is silent on the subject of the opium trade, the main point in
+dispute, the prime cause of the various wars hitherto broken out! There
+was mention made of a revision of the tariff only. Obviously the British
+plenipotentiaries thought they would more readily attain their object if
+they endeavoured to get this difficult question solved in some less
+conspicuous manner. The opium merchants, as well as their antagonists the
+London philanthropists, seemed equally dissatisfied that the opium matter
+was still left a "pending question." On the whole, however, this was one
+of the most marked diplomatic peculiarities of the Treaty
+<!--398.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">388</a></span>of
+Tien-Tsin.
+Instead of rousing anew the passions of the Chinese, and, by wringing such
+an open and public concession from that Government, weakening still more
+the hold of the Emperor over his own people, and, whatever their
+professions of amity, rendering the authorities yet more hostile and
+rancorous against the foreigners, the wily English ambassador preferred
+quietly to include opium amongst the other articles of import under the
+revised tariff, and thus convert it into a common article of import.
+Accordingly, opium, like cotton, hides, and stockfish, may now be imported
+at a fixed duty of 30 <i>taels</i> (£8 15<i>s.</i>) per <i>picul</i> of 100 <i>catties</i>
+(133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> lbs.).</p>
+
+<p>The events of which China was the scene shortly after the signature of the
+treaty, the hostilities of the troops in the Taku forts, the desperate
+resistance which was made to the advance of the British ambassador, when
+the latter, agreeably to the stipulations in the new treaty, was preparing
+to travel to Pekin, all combine to prove that, in their professions of
+peace and friendliness, the Chinese were not in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>Since that period an army of 20,000 Europeans has dictated a peace to
+400,000,000 Asiatics, and their till then deemed impregnable capital; and
+on 24th October, 1860, Lord Elgin countersigned a new treaty, which,
+together with the clauses contained in the previous Treaty of Tien-Tsin
+drawn up two years before, provides for the permanent residence of a
+British ambassador in the capital of the Chinese Empire, as also for a war
+indemnity of 8,000,000 <i>taels</i> (£2,333,333); throws open the harbour of
+Tien-Tsin to
+<!--399.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">389</a></span>foreign
+commerce, permits Chinese subjects to emigrate,
+without any restrictions, to any part of the British colonies, and to take
+service there; assigns to Great Britain a portion of the district of
+Kow-loang or Cow-loon on the mainland opposite Hong-kong; and, finally,
+ordains that the original treaty, and all the various additional articles,
+shall be published by placard in every part of the Empire. Never before
+had the Middle Kingdom sustained such a humiliation. True, during the rule
+of the former dynasty, Tao-Kwang (Light of Reason), an end was put to a
+system that had endured for a thousand years, but conditions such as those
+that had been imposed by the western nations in the treaties of Tien-Tsin
+and Pekin, were altogether unheard of in the history of China, and afford
+convincing proof of its weakness and approaching downfal, the more so, as
+the late Emperor Hien-fung was a jealous upholder of the old Asiatic
+doctrines and state craft. Only the utmost necessity and unceasing
+pressure could have induced him to lower his arms before the barbarians of
+the west, and to endure that an enemy should have dictated conditions of
+peace in his own capital, hitherto inaccessible to foreign nations.
+English, French, and American ships of war hold possession of the most
+important forts of China. In several provinces of the interior, a rebel
+emperor has set up his camp, while on the banks of the Amoor, on the north
+of the Empire, Russia is building fortresses, and acting as if she were
+quite at home in that region. But all these phenomena, however divergent
+the interests, may at
+<!--400.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">390</a></span>present
+point to one stupendous result,&mdash;rousing
+the immense Chinese Empire from its thousand years' lethargy, and forcing
+the natives who populate it to follow in the great onward career of
+civilization, which in our days is rushing with the rapidity of a tempest
+through the world!</p>
+
+<p>While the Commodore and some of his staff were proceeding to Canton in the
+gun-boat, the naturalists made an excursion to the Portuguese settlement
+of Macao, about 35 miles distant from Hong-kong, with which there is
+bi-weekly communication by an English steamer. Usually this voyage
+occupies from four to five hours, but the <i>Sir Charles Forbes</i> was a small
+slow-going tub, and as our departure was delayed several hours in
+consequence of a large shipment of chests of opium, for which it was hoped
+a better price would be obtained at Macao, and as we had on our way
+thither to contend with rain, squalls, and contrary winds, it was dark ere
+we reached Macao.</p>
+
+<p>We were not a little taken aback at finding several of the passengers
+armed with revolvers. However, these seemingly superfluous precautions
+against danger in a pleasure sail of a few hours were well founded. Not
+long before, it had happened that the European passengers to Macao had
+been assailed by the Chinese on board, and all murdered in cold blood! the
+Chinese had stealthily watched for the moment when the captain and
+passengers were at table in the confined cabin of the little craft, took
+possession of the vessel, and murdered every European on board. The
+captain and
+<!--401.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">391</a></span>some
+of the passengers sprang overboard to save their lives,
+but only one man, an Englishman, succeeded in effecting his escape, and
+giving intelligence of this terrible affair. After they had possessed
+themselves of a considerable booty, the pirates set the vessel on fire,
+and set at nought all efforts to bring them to punishment by escaping into
+the interior of the country.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangements for paying passage-money, expenses, &amp;c., are apt to
+strike a stranger as singular. Gold is absolutely out of use, and the
+current coins, such as Mexican dollars, and copper money, or cash, are too
+bulky to admit of their being lugged about to pay large amounts. In order
+to provide for the expenses of a pleasure party of a couple of days it
+would be necessary to take a large bag, which there was the further danger
+might disappear somewhere without hands. An excellent arrangement has
+accordingly been introduced, by which each passenger pays his fare and
+other expenses, by means of a check on any one of the mercantile houses in
+Macao or Hong-kong, which is filled up with the entire amount for
+collection by the controller, and is cashed on his return. This custom is
+also a remarkable example of mutual confidence in public life, even if it
+be explained by the fact that the majority of the passengers are well
+known, and that China has as yet only been frequented by well-off
+foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>The passage from Hong-kong to Macao is not entirely devoid of interest.
+The course of the steamer lies at first
+<!--402.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">392</a></span>among
+narrow canals, between
+lofty granite rocks: so soon as she emerges from these, the muddy
+disturbed colour of the water indicates that she is now crossing the mouth
+of the Canton River proper. Stately ships are seen passing up or down,
+while junks and fishing-boats are plying on every side. The majestic
+conical peak, 3000 feet high, of the island of Lantao, and the Castle Peak
+scarred with a deep furrow from top to bottom, on the mainland of the
+province of Quang-tong directly opposite, form the background. The
+regularity of the conical shape in these peaks, which seems to point to
+their being of volcanic origin, renders it probable that they are either
+granite or porphyritic in structure. The mouth of the Canton River is so
+wide, that the opposing shores only gradually become visible, the wide
+expanse of water, extending on every side till lost in the horizon, giving
+the traveller the impression that he is on the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>Already, before the houses of Macao could be very easily made out, we
+passed the merchant ships lying in the roads, which cannot approach within
+from six to eight nautical miles. The small thoroughly land-locked "inner
+harbour," as it is called, lying on the other side of the narrow tongue of
+land on which Macao is situate, is only accessible for small vessels and
+Chinese junks, which visit it in large numbers.</p>
+
+<p>The first view of the city of Macao is not less charming than that of
+Victoria. The long ranges of houses are picturesquely grouped around the
+numerous little hills surmounted by forts, which form the greater part of
+the isthmus;
+<!--403.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">393</a></span>while
+the beautiful Praya Grande, where palaces and imposing
+mansions are disposed in long array close along the shore, in order to get
+the benefit of the refreshing sea-breezes, makes a deep and lasting
+impression upon the stranger. Churches with lofty double towers shooting
+into the air, and the vast dome of the Jesuit College, at once single the
+city out as Catholic, and impart to its external aspect a strong contrast
+with the adjoining English colony.</p>
+
+<p>Macao is a favourite resort of the foreigners settled in Hong-kong for
+change of air, which in these latitudes seems to be even more necessary
+than in Europe. So long as Canton was the chief seat of the European
+traders, the Portuguese settlement was used by them as a summer residence
+for their families, whither they could themselves occasionally retire from
+the bustle of Canton, and the attendant insecurity of life, to spend a few
+days of calm enjoyment with their families. On account of the alarms of
+war of the previous year, most of the Canton merchants had come down to
+Hong-kong and Macao to settle, in consequence of which the latter town has
+an unusually lively appearance, while its trade, which had previously been
+in a rather languishing condition, has materially improved.</p>
+
+<p>When the steamer makes its appearance in the roads of Macao, it is
+immediately surrounded by an innumerable swarm of what are called
+Tanka-boats, mostly propelled by women, who with yells and shrieks bid for
+the privilege of conveying the passengers to shore. As there is no
+suitable
+<!--404.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">394</a></span>landing-place
+on the eastern side of the roads, the traveller is
+conveyed to the shore through the lash of the waves in a small
+cockle-shaped boat, just as at Madeira or Madras, and equally
+uncomfortably; but although the boat and the mode in which it is navigated
+are anything but calculated to inspire confidence, such a thing as an
+accident is of rare occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>The naturalists of the <i>Novara</i> found an exceedingly friendly and hearty
+reception at the beautiful residence of the Russian Consul, M. Von
+Carlowitz, who shortly before had come from Canton to settle in Macao,
+with his excellent wife, a very beautiful lady of Altenburg in Germany,
+there to await the upshot of the war.</p>
+
+<p>Our first visit the following morning&mdash;a bright and beautiful Sabbath
+morning&mdash;was to the renowned Camoens Grotto, situated in a large
+well-wooded park, partly covered with primeval forest, the property of a
+Portuguese family of the name of Marquez. All around there reigned utter,
+almost sacred silence. Here it was that Camoens, banished from his native
+land, wrote his Lusiad. The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its
+majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its
+huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic
+fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths,
+its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though
+destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his
+destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt
+<!--405.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">395</a></span>his
+spirit roused amid
+this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,&mdash;"Things
+unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!" In an ill-contrived niche in the
+substructure of the grotto is a bust, in terra-cotta, of the great poet,
+with the inscription, "Louis de Camoens, born 1524, died 1579." On the
+broad marble pedestal whereon stands this bust, which savours but little
+of artistic taste, various verses from the Lusiad have been engraved with
+an iron stylus.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> Formerly this grotto must have had a much more
+agreeable appearance, but the present proprietor thought to beautify it by
+making an addition to it, which has resulted in its having almost entirely
+lost its original character. From one point within the grotto, called the
+observatory, and traditionally used as such by Camoens, there is a
+beautiful peep over the inner harbour, with its throng of busy human ants.
+Quite close to this singular abode for a poet, is the meeting-house of an
+evangelical Christian community, numbering about 200 souls, with a
+cemetery attached, which, with its handsome stone monuments and
+beautifully laid-out gardens, constitutes one of the most interesting
+places of outdoor resort in the colony.</p>
+
+<p>The most extensive and important edifice in the settlement of Macao,
+founded in 1563 by the Portuguese, on a peninsula of the same name, about
+five square miles in extent, is the Pagoda of Makok and its different
+temples, situate on the
+<!--406.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">396</a></span>slope
+of a hill between picturesque groups of
+granite rocks, studded with gigantic Chinese inscriptions and splendid
+clumps of trees. At the entrance of this retreat for the gods, is a large
+fantastically-adorned Buddhist temple, surrounded by a large number of
+apartments, in which reside the priests, and where they carry on their
+household duties, and prepare tapers and sycee-paper for the worship of
+their deities, and where are also a few private altars to divinities,
+whose influence and protection the Chinese ladies of doubtful reputation
+do not, it seems, venture publicly to invoke.</p>
+
+<p>Steps cut in the granite rock conduct to the highest point, about 200 feet
+above sea-level, on which there is likewise a temple. At the time of our
+visit, a number of Buddhist priests in long yellow plaited garments were
+ascending to the summit, preceded by flute-players, there to perform their
+devotions. On their return they distributed among the poor Chinese
+congregated in the chief apartment of the temple, a large quantity of
+fruit and other eatables.</p>
+
+<p>While at Macao we visited one of the most respected of the foreigners
+settled there, Dr. Kane, an English physician, who has for years resided
+in the colony. This gentleman was so kind as to present us with the head
+of a statue from the renowned nine-storied or Flower Pagoda (Hwa-tah) near
+Canton, which during a visit he paid to that half-ruined edifice in March,
+1857, he had found lying on the ground, a fragment from a sandstone figure
+on the seventh story, representing a pupil of Buddha. This Pagoda, 160
+feet high,
+<!--407.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">397</a></span>was
+constructed upwards of a thousand years since, which must
+accordingly be the age of the relic in question.</p>
+
+<p>The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of
+whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other
+foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula. The chief
+article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into
+the interior in large quantities. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is
+too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to
+admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the
+Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. Portugal derives
+but little profit from her colonies, and it is only national pride that
+will not hear of this possession, which is more a burden than a source of
+aid to the mother country, being disposed of by way of sale to either the
+English or the North Americans. However, the maintenance of this colony
+costs the Portuguese home Government but little, as the colonists support
+the chief expenses themselves. Thus the pay of the Governor, who receives
+£1260 per annum, as also that of the military force of about 400 men, and
+of a small ship stationed in the harbour, are all defrayed by the
+colonists.</p>
+
+<p>Macao is at present the chief point for the shipment of Chinese labourers
+or coolies to the West Indies. There are above 10,000 Chinese annually
+whom hunger and want drive to sell themselves virtually as slaves to the
+traders in
+<!--408.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">398</a></span>human
+flesh, to drag out a miserable existence far from home.
+They are chiefly sent from Macao to the Havanna. We visited the house in
+which these pitiable objects are confined till the departure of the ship;
+we saw the haggard, reckless look of these wretched beings, who, despite
+the dreadful fate that awaits them, hire themselves out to Portuguese and
+Spanish kidnappers. In return for a free passage to Havanna, they bind
+themselves to work for eight years after their arrival with whatever
+master is found for them at four dollars a month,<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> a rate of wage very
+much lower than that paid to the labourer of the country, or even to the
+manumitted slave. This immense difference however does not accrue so much
+to the West India planter as to the speculators who are engaged in the
+importation of Chinese, for each of whom a large premium is paid. The
+voyage, which usually lasts from four to five months and costs about £70 a
+head, is chiefly carried on in French, Portuguese, and&mdash;alas! that it
+should be so&mdash;English and German ships. What sufferings the unhappy
+emigrants are exposed to during the voyage, appears from the fact that a
+number of them not unfrequently jump overboard, to seek a refuge from
+their misery under the waves. Cases have been known in which, owing to
+hard fare and mismanagement, 38 per cent. of the emigrants have died on
+the passage!<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p>
+
+<!--409.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">399</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The society which takes charge of this trade in exporting men is known as
+the <i>Colonisadora</i>, and has its head-quarters in the Havanna. Each Chinese
+must before leaving Macao subscribe a contract which is for the exclusive
+benefit of the society, and by which the poor emigrants explicitly
+renounce all the advantage they might derive from certain paragraphs in
+the Spanish Emigration Act, passed in 1854, which bear upon the
+interpretation of such contracts. As it is usually only the very poorest,
+most shiftless, and most ignorant class that emigrates, the contract is
+enforced without the smallest scruple, and if afterwards the emigrant in
+the foreign country becomes aware of the privations and oppression he has
+to submit to in comparison with other workers, the obligations he has
+entered into are made use of to invoke the protection of the Spanish
+authorities.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> The fact however that these latter secretly favour the
+objections of the colonization society, sufficiently proves that the
+interests of a social class and the extension of the labour market in the
+island are considered by them as of far higher importance than the good of
+mankind.</p>
+
+<!--410.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">400</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To the English Government is due the credit of having initiated an
+energetic protest against this trade in human beings, and of having taken
+such steps as tend to mitigate the evil consequences which cannot but
+result from such a system of deportation. Its representative at the
+Havanna, Mr. Crawford, was the first and indeed only individual who
+ventured to make representations to the Spanish Government as to the
+little humanity shown for these poor Chinese emigrants, and to draw public
+attention to the system.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Under a humane and well-managed
+<!--411.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">401</a></span>administration
+of the emigration system in China, it might prove of
+immense service to those countries which are eager to absorb labour, as,
+owing to the super-abundance of labour in China, a far larger supply as
+well as a much higher class of labourers might be procured.</p>
+
+<p>M. de Carlowitz was so kind as to accompany us in our various rambles to
+the more interesting sights and points of view, and more especially when
+we were busied "doing" the "lines" of the city. On an eminence in the
+suburbs, about 200 feet high, is what is known as Monte fort, garrisoned
+by 150 men, whence there is a charming panorama, and the eye catches sight
+of the Chinese village of Whang-hia, at the period of our visit most
+hostilely disposed, and where on July 3rd, 1844, the first treaty of
+peace, friendship, and commerce, was drawn up and signed between China and
+the United States. Another hill, about 300 feet high, at the outer
+extremity of the peninsula, on which many years ago the Portuguese had
+erected a fort, of which only the foundations can now be traced, commands
+the tongue of land on which stands the city, as well as all the eastern
+portion of the island, and amply repays the trouble of ascent. On the road
+thither, by which the communication with the mainland of China is mainly
+carried on, we came upon the corpse of a coolie, which had apparently lain
+for several days in the very middle of the
+<!--412.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">402</a></span>road.
+A part of the head and
+the right hand had been already stripped of the flesh by the
+carrion-crows, and enormous swarms of insects had fastened on the upper
+portions of the naked horribly swollen dead body. The miserable being had
+obviously fallen a victim to want and destitution. His strength seemed to
+have failed him while he was earning his miserable subsistence, as two
+empty broken panniers were lying close beside him. Crowds of people were
+passing daily, men, women, children, even Portuguese taking their
+customary promenade on foot or on horseback, without any person giving
+himself the least trouble to remove the shocking spectacle. Even the
+representations of the foreign consuls seem to have but little influence
+on the Portuguese authorities in these matters, and it appears that it is
+by no means an infrequent occurrence to see dead bodies lying about. A
+hardly less sickening spectacle was presented on the slope of the hill,
+where were erected a couple of dozen of small, wretched, filthy huts of
+palm-straw, which served for the reception of a number of sick and lepers,
+who, shunned and abandoned by all the world, were sinking in their misery
+into the grave. Leprosy is regarded by the Chinese as a punishment for
+secret sins, and those visited with it are accordingly deprived of all
+assistance or attention. Very probably this coolie, whose body we thus saw
+lying on the road, was one of those unfortunates who were here digging, as
+it were, their own graves.</p>
+
+<p>The isthmus which unites the Portuguese settlement on the
+<!--413.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">403</a></span>peninsula
+with
+the mainland, is barely a quarter of a mile in length by 500 feet in
+breadth. Formerly there was a wall built right across the centre of this
+tongue of land, which marked the limit of the colony. Here Chinese
+sentinels used to march to and fro to protect the Flowery Kingdom. This,
+however, did not prevent the "<i>Macaoistas</i>," as the inhabitants of Macao
+are accustomed to call themselves, from making frequent excursions and
+pic-nic parties to the mainland and the adjacent Chinese villages. On 22nd
+August, 1848, however, when the then governor of Macao, Dom Joâo Maria
+Ferreira do Amaral, while riding along the narrow part of the isthmus, was
+set upon by a couple of armed Chinese, torn from his horse, and beheaded,
+his skull and hand being carried off by the murderers, the Portuguese
+pulled down the wall and destroyed the adjoining Chinese fort, so that not
+a vestige of either now remains. The government of Macao insisted on the
+murderers being delivered up, as also on the restitution of the head and
+hand of the victim, but after the lapse of a year the authorities received
+an official notification that the murderers had been discovered, and on
+confession of the crime had been executed at Shunteh. The head and hand of
+the unhappy Amaral were delivered to the Portuguese officials by two
+Chinese commissioners, and solemnly interred with the other remains. In
+the course of the correspondence with reference to this matter<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a>
+between the Chinese and Portuguese authorities, it appeared that, owing to
+certain stringent regulations
+<!--414.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">404</a></span>he
+had laid down, Governor Amaral had long
+been marked out for destruction by the Chinese population of Macao. The
+chief complaint against him was that he had profaned the graves of their
+ancestors in the suburbs of Macao, and had constructed new streets right
+through them. Every attack of illness, every unlucky speculation, every
+unexpected mischance, which happened to any of the Chinese residents in
+Macao, was ascribed to the vengeance of those spirits, whose repose had
+been so wantonly violated for such an insignificant purpose. The Chinese
+have no regular cemeteries for their dead. They inter them anywhere about
+the township, simply marking the spot with a stone or an inscription. At
+the new-year's festival these graves are adorned in the most gaudy manner,
+none, not even of the poorest, being neglected in this respect. This pious
+feeling for the dead is in singular and rude contrast with the
+indifference with which the Chinese regard the misfortunes of their
+neighbours, and the cruelty with which mothers expose their new-born
+children, or even leave them to die.</p>
+
+<p>The trade between Macao and the mainland is very active: in the quarter of
+an hour that we were upon the isthmus there passed at least 60 men loaded
+with goods or provisions, moving to and fro to the settlement. Among these
+there were also sedan-chairmen, conveying back to the neighbouring
+villages such of the better class of Chinese as had been doing business in
+the city. The effect of warlike rumours from Canton and the Pei-ho had
+meanwhile become apparent
+<!--415.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">405</a></span>among
+the European population of Macao. The
+insecurity of life and property increased daily. No one could venture to
+go a mile or two beyond the city. Even a beautiful pic-nic house, erected
+by the foreigners on "Green Island," close by the town, whither during
+peaceful times frequent excursions were made by European residents with
+their families, had been for months empty and gutted.</p>
+
+<p>The Praya Grande, or rather the shady promenade, at its eastern extremity
+serves as a rendezvous for the gay world, and on Sundays, when a band of
+music plays here, one can scarcely pass through the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>The Portuguese, who even in their native country are not a handsome race,
+lose still more in their physical qualities by the unscrupulous manner in
+which they cross with the native races. This circumstance makes the
+contrast still more apparent of simple, graceful, pale ladies of the
+Anglo-Saxon race, who now and then appear between the ugly dark natives.
+In the evening, towards sunset, these lovely creatures make their
+appearance in their sedan or other chairs in the Campo San Francisco,
+there to enjoy the cool evening sea-breezes. A great number of sedan
+porters halt here with their precious burdens, and elegantly-attired
+cavaliers saunter about, striving by amiable phrases and flattering
+remarks to elicit a smile. While these vehicles form the commonest mode of
+conveyance, we also saw there but few saddle-horses, and only one single
+carriage, the property of a rich brownish native, baronized for the amount
+of 40,000
+<!--416.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">406</a></span>dollars,
+and who thought by this means to display his taste,
+his luxury, and his nobility!</p>
+
+<p>We had heard so much of certain wonderful singing stones, on a large
+island opposite the inner part of the harbour, that several of our party
+made an excursion thither. Neither natives nor indeed Europeans could give
+us any explanation of this singular phenomenon, but all hold that the
+stones must contain metal in some certain proportion, while electricity
+and magnetism would do the rest. The naturalists were accompanied to this
+mysterious spot by M. Von Carlowitz, Dr. Kane, and a Chinese physician,
+Dr. Wong-fun. The estimable and highly-educated Wong-fun had graduated as
+Doctor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and had afterwards
+enlarged his experience by practising some time in the United States,
+since which he had practised the healing art with great success upon his
+own countrymen. A European in intelligence and education, he was still a
+Chinese in external appearance, and wore, as formerly, a long tail.
+Probably Wong-fun adhered to this ancient custom in order the more readily
+to indoctrinate his fellow-countrymen with European ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Some small Tanka-boats, in which, as already mentioned, only two persons
+can be accommodated at once, and which are exclusively managed by women,
+conveyed our party over the bosom of the inner harbour to the opposite
+shore. We then proceeded through a beautiful valley, covered with rice
+fields, and traversed in its entire extent by a mountain
+<!--417.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">407</a></span>torrent,
+which
+is dammed off, and drives a number of Chinese mills with the small
+water-courses. In the background of this valley lies the mysterious spot.
+The marvel itself presently became visible in a large expanse of syenite
+rock, greatly resembling that in the Oderwald of Hesse. Some of these have
+been tilted on the others, and the hard syenite resounds when struck with
+a hammer, just as a block of marble or basalt vibrates when struck, with a
+bell-like sound. These musical blocks therefore are but little
+interesting, unless that the Chinese make use of them to sculpture the
+figures of lions and tigers to adorn the entrances of their temples.</p>
+
+<p>After a stay of two days in Macao, the naturalists returned to Hong-kong,
+where they had to devote the little time that would elapse ere the frigate
+sailed to sorting and packing the collections, and arranging for their
+transmission: for the manipulation of packing is, as Humboldt well
+remarked, as important as actual science in such undertakings. That
+naturalist confers but a small boon on science, whose only care is to
+collect, but who takes no pains to preserve, the fruits of his labour, by
+an exact indication of the place where found, and such special particulars
+as may prevent mistakes, and by carefully guarding against damage to the
+objects about to be sent, while on their way.</p>
+
+<p>The kind reception and hospitality of our new friends in Hong-kong
+remained undiminished to the very last moment of our stay. We were fairly
+overwhelmed with attentions of
+<!--418.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">408</a></span>all
+sorts, each apparently striving to
+make us forget the unfavourable circumstances under which we visited the
+Empire of China.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer <i>Hong-kong</i>, early on the morning of 18th July, towed us out
+through the narrow Eastern Straits, the Ly-e-num Pass, and the
+Ta-thong-wun Channel, into the open sea. As we passed alongside the
+English frigate <i>Nankin</i>, carrying the broad pendant of the amiable and
+excellent Commodore Stewart, our band played "God save the Queen," while
+the English ensign was dipped, by way of parting salute. A little further
+on the Chinese Comprador, who had supplied the <i>Novara</i> with provisions
+daily during her stay, had stationed himself in his boat to give us a
+parting farewell with a roar of gong-gong, while innumerable rockets
+whizzed and exploded in the air.</p>
+
+<p>We found a tolerably high sea outside, but a fine fresh S.W. breeze, under
+which we rapidly increased our distance from the shore. In like manner as
+when we entered, we had now in getting out to thread our way among
+thousands of fishing-boats sailing about in couples, which cruise about to
+a distance of even 50 and 60 miles to sea. The steamer which towed us
+through the narrow Eastern Channel, and had us just four hours and twenty
+minutes in tow, charged the amount of 300 dollars (£63), so that each
+minute of towing cost rather over one dollar. After making a tack towards
+Lemma Island, in order to avoid the dangerous Nine-pin rock, the wind
+sprung up from E.S.E., so that we were
+<!--419.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">409</a></span>enabled
+to lie our proper course,
+and by sundown had cleared <i>Piedra bianca</i>.</p>
+
+<p>With fine weather and a fresh S.W. monsoon our voyage was so speedy, that
+by 2nd July we were in the latitude of Formosa, but without being able to
+distinguish the high land, either on the Chinese coast or on that island,
+and by 23rd July we were off the Saddle Islands, at the mouth of the
+Yang-tse-Kiang.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we reached this, the door, as it were, through which we had to
+enter, the weather chose to change with the utmost suddenness. Calms and
+contrary winds, coupled with the powerful current of the mighty river,
+sweeping through the islands, prevented our further advance, and on the
+24th we had to cast anchor near the easternmost Saddle Island. Close to us
+on every side were numbers of other ships equally unfortunate with
+ourselves, while the spectacle of the steamers, pursuing their course
+without feeling any obstruction, filled us with envy. We had taken a
+Chinese pilot on board, and by 25th July were in sight of Gutzlaff, a
+small islet of rock 210 feet high, the best land-mark of the "Son of
+Ocean," and just before sunset anchored off the outer bar. We now had fair
+breezes, and without further obstacles passed over the bar in from 30 to
+33 feet water, which in bad weather, however, is exceedingly dangerous. We
+were still out of sight of land; even the islands we had already passed
+sank below the horizon, and still there was nothing visible but an
+unbroken expanse of yellowish-red water, which reflected
+<!--420.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">410</a></span>with
+the utmost
+brilliancy the rays of the sun. A light-ship moored to a sand-bank, and a
+wreck on another sand-bank, are, after leaving Gutzlaff Island, the sole
+land-marks by which the pilot can hope to keep the channel, which is only
+from one to two miles wide in this vast shoreless river estuary. Indeed
+the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang is regarded as one of the most
+difficult feats for a large ship. With favourable wind and weather, the
+<i>Novara</i> cleared without accident the 47 miles between the bar and the
+place where the Wusung falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and on the evening
+of the 26th July dropped anchor in front of Wusung. The navigation
+presented little that was interesting, yet each man involuntarily felt a
+thrill as he reflected that he was sailing in the current of the longest
+river in China, whose source lies thousands of miles inland at Khukkunor,
+among the Mangolians.</p>
+
+<p>As we neared Wusung, signs of life began to be visible on the river
+itself; tall three-masters were passing, bound in or out, and scores of
+Chinese junks with their peculiar rig and build. Far above the light-ship
+the shore first became visible, low, flat, scarcely above the level of the
+river, but green and fertile. A Pagoda of the well-known form of the
+Porcelain tower of Nankin and a few lofty trees enable the pilot to take
+the bearings of the channel at this point. Only the land on the left is
+actual mainland, the shore on the right being the coast of the island of
+Tsuning, lying at the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Wusung, this
+southern
+<!--421.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">411</a></span>arm
+of the Yang-tse-Kiang, as formed by the above-named island,
+is about six and a half nautical miles in width, and a little higher up is
+further narrowed by Bush Island to a width of four miles.</p>
+
+<p>The first inhabited spot at the junction of the Wusung and Yang-tse-Kiang
+is the wretched filthy village of Wusung, which owes its importance solely
+and exclusively to the opium boats, which the merchants of Hong-kong and
+Shanghai used to station here in the stream, in order more readily to sell
+and deliver to the Chinese that forbidden article. Thus the natives took
+on themselves the responsibility of opium smuggling, while the foreign
+merchants became thereby involved in a conflict with the Chinese
+Government. The opium sold per month from the ships stationed at Wusung
+amounts to from 2500 to 2800 chests, in value about 500 <i>taels</i> (£150) per
+chest (£375,000 to £420,000).</p>
+
+<p>The mouth of the Wusung is the entrance to Shanghai, which lies about 12
+miles up the Wusung or Shanghai river, but in consequence of a mud-bank is
+only accessible to large ships at spring-tide. Nankin lies up the
+Yang-tse-Kiang 180 miles from Shanghai, the channel being so deep that
+even a frigate may sail close up under its walls. Six hundred miles
+distant from the embouchure of the Wusung lie the three immense cities of
+Wu-chang, Hang-iang, and Shan-Keu, containing 8,000,000 inhabitants, the
+central point of the internal commerce of China; and about 400 miles
+further up are the first rapids of the Yang-tse-Kiang, which completely
+<!--422.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">412</a></span>prevent
+all further navigation. Up to this point the mighty river, like
+the Mississippi, the Rhine, or the Danube, may be navigated by river
+steamers, without the slightest danger or difficulty. What an enormous
+trade, what a tremendous development, will ere long be witnessed here, so
+soon as, in accordance with the stipulations of the Tien-Tsin and Pekin
+treaties, English ships, freighted with goods and necessaries of all
+sorts, shall steam up this most splendid of rivers and its tributaries,
+and the inhabitants of the far interior shall become acquainted with the
+products of European industry, and in exchange shall export to Europe
+innumerable articles of new and valuable trade. For it is the greatest
+service of the merchant that he not alone opens new channels of commerce,
+and by increased exportation of the fabrics of his native land tends to
+build up his power, but that he civilizes foreign nations, and enriches
+science and industry with innumerable fresh acquisitions.</p>
+
+<p>The larger ships usually lie at anchor at the little Chinese village of
+Wusung on the river of that name, just where it falls into the
+Yang-tse-Kiang, and here accordingly, owing to the hostilities, we found
+upwards of twenty ships of war of various nationalities at anchor. Among
+others the powerful American steam-ship <i>Minnesota</i>, and the French
+frigates <i>Audacieuse</i> and <i>Nemesis</i>, an imposing spectacle in these
+distant regions, and to which the half-ruined Chinese fort on the tongue
+of land between the Wusung and the Yang-tse-Kiang, with its couple of
+wretched cannon, presented a tragi-comic contrast.
+<!--423.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">413</a></span>Numbers
+of Chinese
+boats, from the smallest cloth-awning <i>sampan</i> propelled by one man with a
+paddle to the large junk with fifteen masts, and sentences painted along
+the bends, were cruising in every direction. Ere long a Comprador found
+his way on board, who according to custom undertook to provide the frigate
+with everything she required.</p>
+
+<p>Commodore Wüllerstorff purposed proceeding with the frigate to Shanghai;
+but as it would be necessary to wait for a fair wind, or else to engage
+another steam-tug, implying a delay of several days, the naturalists were
+permitted to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the
+Comprador's boat to proceed at once to Shanghai, which voyage we were two
+hours and a half in performing.</p>
+
+<p>While the number of European merchantmen that we passed, some lying at
+anchor in front of Wusung, others sailing up or down stream, was quite
+surprising, yet the sight of the river at Shanghai far surpassed all
+expectation. Here, close packed together in a channel rather narrower than
+elsewhere, was drawn up tier after tier of shipping, a quite impervious
+forest of masts, athwart which at intervals the large warehouses of the
+European merchants indistinctly loomed, lining the banks on either side.
+The newspaper lists at the time of our visit gave the names of no less
+than 102 large American and European merchantmen in the Shanghai River, in
+addition to which there were upwards of a thousand native junks lying in
+the stream with their short crooked masts, the most convincing evidence of
+the commercial importance
+<!--424.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">414</a></span>which
+this place has attained within the short
+space of time that has elapsed since by the Treaty of Nankin in 1842
+foreign factories were authorized to be erected here.</p>
+
+<p>On the shore the flags of the Consulates of the more important sea-faring
+nations fluttered gaily in the breeze from lofty flag-staffs on the top of
+the imposing buildings. Hardly had we landed ere we were surrounded by an
+ungainly crowd of Chinese coolies, who with their bamboo staves began such
+a serious battle among themselves for the right of carrying our baggage,
+that it was only by the interposition of the police that several were not
+left on the spot severely wounded.</p>
+
+<p>The intelligence that there was in Shanghai not a single house of
+entertainment, such as we understand by the name of "hotel" in Europe, was
+the less agreeable, as the dwellings of the resident Europeans, where,
+under ordinary circumstances, strangers are received with the utmost
+hospitality, happened at present to be occupied by the officers of the
+numerous war-ships, as well as by members of the two embassies. The only
+place where we could be received was what is known as the Union Hotel, a
+den in the fullest sense of the word, in which we passed one of the most
+uncomfortable nights we ever remember. Myriads of mosquitoes, the true
+blood-thirsty "gallinipper," loud-shouting drunken seamen, dogs howling,
+intolerable heat, which not even a tremendous thunder-storm that broke
+forth during the night could assuage,&mdash;such were some of the amenities of
+our reception,
+<!--425.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">415</a></span>which,
+despite our exhaustion, utterly precluded sleep.
+With unspeakable longing we watched for the dawn of the morning, and,
+thanks to the hospitality of our new friends, we were in the course of the
+day fortunate enough to be released from this hideous abode.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Novara</i> did not remain long behind us. A few days later, on 29th
+July, she sailed gallantly up in an hour and a half, from Wusung, on the
+top of a spring-tide, and with favourable breezes, and on reaching
+Shanghai was welcomed with pride and delight by the German residents
+here&mdash;the first ship-of-war of a first-class German power that had ever
+been seen in the river Wusung.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a>
+The analysis of these hieroglyphics, by which abstract
+ideas are sought to be expressed, is extremely interesting. Thus a heart
+with the badge of slavery over it represents "anger;" a hand, and the sign
+for the middle, signifies an "historian," because it is his duty not to
+lean to either side; by the sign of uprightness and motion is represented
+"government," because it must always observe probity in the transaction of
+affairs; to indicate the idea of a "friend" two pearls are represented
+side by side, because friendship is as rare as two pearls, exactly
+resembling each other! The well-known French missionary Huc, in his
+valuable work on the Chinese Empire, gives a variety of most interesting
+particulars respecting the Chinese language.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a>
+A very abstruse treatise upon the preparation of the
+Chinese ink is contained in the important labours of the Russian Embassy
+at Pekin, relating to China, published in German by Dr. Abel and
+Mecklenburg, Berlin, F. Heinike, 1858, vol. ii. p. 481. The information is
+borrowed from a small treatise which was written in 1398 by a certain
+Scheu-zsi-Sun, who had been for thirty years engaged in the fabrication of
+the India ink. The author therein mentions how, after he had tried every
+known method, and every substance usually employed, without attaining any
+result, he at last put them all on one side, mingling only pin-soot with
+glue together, and diluting this mixture with but hot water, again kneaded
+it thoroughly, and thus succeeded in getting an ink "black and lustrous as
+a child's eyes." According to another method, India ink is prepared,
+besides pin-soot and lime, of a sort of tincture, consisting of the
+following various pigments,&mdash;pomegranate-rind, sandal-wood, sulphate of
+iron and copper, gamboge, cinnobar, dragon's-blood, gold-leaf, musk, and
+glair. This tint is said to be remarkable for preventing the glue from
+getting spoiled by age, or the colour changing, and may be thus kept for
+any length of time. <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> lb. of glue and <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> lb. of this colouring matter
+are the proportions for one pound of pin-soot. However, only a very small
+portion of the different materials used seems to possess the power
+ascribed to them, and many are used out of mere prejudice, and not at all
+to the advantage of the ink prepared.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a>
+This custom is of remote antiquity in Oriental countries,
+as witness the circumstances attending the birth of Ishmael, and also of
+several of the children of Israel.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a>
+Many European residents at Hong-kong and Shanghai have
+Chinese mistresses <i>bought</i> in this way, who are bound to live with them
+only so long as their masters choose.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a>
+The title of this work is:&mdash;"<i>Notices sur le vert de Chine
+et de la teinture en vert chez les Chinois, par Natalis Rondot, imprimé
+aux frais de la Chambre de Commerce de Lyon, à Paris, 1858.</i>"</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a>
+The Chinese of Shanghai called the plant <i>Li-lu-schu</i>, and
+the substance obtained from it <i>Gah-schik</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a>
+We give the following translation of one of these
+proclamations: "Listen, O listen, ye detestable barbarians! We, patriots
+and honourable subjects of the reigning dynasty, wish to hold up a mirror
+to you, that ye may see what ye are doing, and what like you are! Only in
+speech, and in no other respect, do ye differ from wild beasts! We have
+understanding, we observe laws and commandments; but you are blind and
+dumb, and will not receive advice. You must&mdash;there is nothing else for
+it&mdash;you <i>must</i> be cut off to the very last man!... Since you first came to
+the <span class="smcap">Middle Kingdom</span>, you have done all that you can to destroy us; you have
+shot at us from your ships; you have poisoned us with opium, you have
+erected devils' houses (churches) within the walls of the city! Nay more,
+in order to hold your horse-races, you have profaned graves, and not
+suffered the dead to rest in peace! Insatiable as sharks, greedy as a set
+of silk-worms upon a mulberry tree, the more you get the more you want.
+Even our most trifling profit you have taken to yourselves. Now, however,
+the cup is full, Heaven in its wrath has decreed your destruction,&mdash;our
+people shall cut you off with divine weapons of fire. Hearken now, O
+people, to the four following rules for the extermination of the
+barbarians: All barbarians must be beheaded, that our reproach may be
+removed, and our Middle Kingdom be no longer insulted. So runs the order
+of the leader!&mdash;To none other shall any disaster happen, no one shall be
+molested. Whoever strikes back, shall himself be struck.... The day of
+vengeance shall be secretly appointed. We shall circumvent the barbarians
+with treachery, we shall fall on them unawares, and destroy them. Natives
+who are in the habit of attending their schools, or of serving them, or of
+trading with them, must leave them and return to their old pursuits. If
+they remain, then the subjects of the exceedingly beneficent dynasty as
+well as the barbarians, the diamonds and the hailstones, shall be
+destroyed together.... After the destruction of these hideous hordes,
+their possessions shall be distributed among those who have distinguished
+themselves on the day of battle. So runs the order of the leader!"</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a>
+Yeh, as is well known, has since died in imprisonment at
+Calcutta.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a>
+In front, Canto X. v. 25; XII. vv. 79-80. On the back,
+Canto VI. vv. 95, 131, and Canto VIII. v. 42.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a>
+Even these four dollars sustain a reduction during the
+first year, since the emigrant must for the first year pay one dollar a
+month to defray necessaries, partly provisions, partly clothes, supplied
+to him to the amount of $12, before his departure.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a>
+J. F. Crawford, Esq., British Consul-General at the
+Havanna, in an official document respecting the number of Chinese imported
+in the course of one year into Havanna proves that in the case of the
+Peruvian ship <i>Cora</i>, 117 out of 292 coolies perished owing to bad water.
+In one single year (1857) 63 ships, of 43,933 tons, cleared from Chinese
+ports for the Havanna, with 23,928 Chinese labourers, of whom 3842, or
+above 16 per cent., died during the voyage.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a>
+We give in the Appendix the original text of one of these
+contracts, which the Chinese emigrants have to sign preparatory to their
+going on ship-board, together with a translation, and shall leave the
+reader to judge whether those are very far wrong who denounce the system
+as but another form of slave-trade.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a>
+The cruelty and injustice with which the poor Chinese
+emigrants are treated, have repeatedly had the most appalling
+consequences. The "<i>China Overland Trade Report</i>," published at Hong-kong,
+under date 28th February, 1861, gives the particulars of one such tragedy,
+which had shortly before occurred on board of one of these emigrant ships.
+On 22nd February, the American ship <i>Leonidas</i> sailed from Canton for the
+Havanna with a number of coolies on board. Near what is known as the Macao
+passage, a tremendous noise was suddenly heard in the between-decks. Two
+of the mates, on descending to inquire into the cause of the disturbance,
+were attacked with knives and severely wounded. Meanwhile some of the
+coolies had overpowered the captain and his wife, and had inflicted on
+them several dangerous wounds. However, the crew ultimately succeeded in
+driving all the coolies into the hold, though not till after the 29th had
+been passed in constant fighting. In their desperation they sought to set
+fire to the ship, by preparing a regular pyre of combustibles, to which
+they set fire. Ere long, however, the smoke became so intolerable in the
+hold, that they themselves speedily made every effort to extinguish the
+fire. The ship returned to Canton. Out of 250 coolies, 94 were dead, of
+whom some were shot, some were drowned, some suffocated. Singular to say
+the French man-of-war <i>Durance</i> refused to render any assistance. Other
+accounts speak in the highest terms of the efforts of a German missionary
+to put a stop to this practice of kidnapping, dignified by the name of
+emigration, it having not unfrequently happened that young Chinese were
+openly carried off to Macao, and there as openly sold. This is the more
+readily credible, inasmuch as the Chinese are most desperate gamblers, and
+after they have lost all they possess, think nothing of staking their
+personal liberty. Thus, a short time since, the son of respectable parents
+in Sunon was sold by the Emigration Society at Macao for 40 dols., and it
+was only by the most unremitting efforts of the German missionary already
+mentioned that the wretched lad was re-purchased for £60, and thus escaped
+a terrible destiny. Two other Chinese were shipped at the same time, the
+bargain in their case being recognized.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a>
+See "Chinese Repository," vol. x., of October,
+1849.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--426.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">416</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -353px;
+  width: 707px; height: 459px; background-image: url('images/illu426.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu426" id="illu426"></a><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top:-1em;">Flower Boat on the Wusung at Shanghai.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 715px; height: 475px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XV.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">Shanghai.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">Duration of Stay from 25th July to 11th August, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.&mdash;Book-stalls.&mdash;Public
+Baths.&mdash;Chinese Pawnbrokers.&mdash;Foundling hospital.&mdash;The Hall of
+Universal Benevolence.&mdash;Sacrificial Hall of Medical
+Faculty.&mdash;City prison.&mdash;Temple of the Goddess of the
+Sea.&mdash;Chinese taverns.&mdash;Tea-garden.&mdash;Temple of Buddha.&mdash;Temple
+of Confucius.&mdash;Taouist convent.&mdash;Chinese nuns.&mdash;An apothecary's
+store, and what is sold therein.&mdash;Public schools.&mdash;Christian
+places of worship.&mdash;Native industry.&mdash;Cenotaphs to the memory of
+beneficent females.&mdash;A Chinese patrician family.&mdash;The villas of
+the foreign merchants.&mdash;Activity of the London Missionary
+Society.&mdash;Dr. Hobson.&mdash;Chinese medical works.&mdash;Leprosy.&mdash;The
+American Missionary Society.&mdash;Dr. Bridgman.&mdash;Main-tze
+tribe.&mdash;Mission schools for Chinese boys and girls.&mdash;The North
+China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.&mdash;Meeting in honour of
+the Members of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition.&mdash;Mons. de
+Montigny.&mdash;Baron Gros.&mdash;Interview with the Táu-Tái, or chief
+Chinese official of the city.&mdash;The Jesuit mission at
+Sikkawéi.&mdash;The Pagoda of Long-Sáh.&mdash;A Chinese dinner.&mdash;Serenade
+by the German singing-club.&mdash;The Germans in China.&mdash;Influence of
+the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and Pekin upon
+commerce.&mdash;Silk.&mdash;Tea.&mdash;The Chinese sugar-cane.&mdash;Various species
+of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of paper.&mdash;The varnish
+tree.&mdash;The tallow tree.&mdash;The wax-tree.&mdash;Mosquito
+tobacco.&mdash;Articles of import.&mdash;Opium.&mdash;The Tai-ping
+rebels.&mdash;Departure from Shanghai.&mdash;A typhoon in the China
+sea.&mdash;Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.
+</div>
+
+<p>Shanghai, or Shanghai-Hein (the city near the sea), is divided into the
+Chinese city proper, enclosed within walls
+<!--427.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">417</a></span>twenty-four
+feet in height,
+and the foreign quarter, which has been laid out beyond the walls since
+the year 1843, and is as much distinguished by elegance as by comfort. Old
+Shanghai, only accessible by three of the six gates with which it is
+furnished, contains 250,000 inhabitants in a superficial area of nine Li,
+or about two and one-third English miles, and, including the population of
+neighbouring towns, who are constantly flocking to and fro, about 400,000.
+The streets are filthy and singularly narrow, so much so that occasionally
+it is difficult for two men to pass each other, the small cross streets
+vividly recalling Venice, or the "lanes" of London. It is with difficulty,
+and only by a constant succession of cries and hearty buffets, that the
+bearers of merchandise can force their way through these intricate
+passages, and find their way to their destination. The houses, for the
+most part one and two storeys in height, usually consist of shops on the
+ground-floor, each with a flaming superscription in gigantic characters,
+which, the better to arrest the curiosity of the passers-by, is generally
+hung diagonally across the narrow street. The living throng, which
+throughout the entire day surges to and fro here, is so immense and so
+various that it leaves upon a stranger an impression even deeper than that
+made by the crowds and bustle of Piccadilly or Regent Street, on a fine
+day in the height of "the season." The grotesqueness and filth of almost
+everything that meets the eye rather adds to the singularity of the
+spectacle, and while the visitor on the one
+<!--428.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">418</a></span>hand
+speedily finds ample
+justification for extricating himself from the din and confusion, he
+nevertheless encounters at every step some new object of attraction and
+absorbing interest.</p>
+
+<p>Entering the city through the east gate, on whose walls, by way of example
+to the multitude, are suspended in sacks and wicker-work numerous skulls
+of rebels and murderers, on whom justice has been done, we find ourselves
+in China street, one of the principal streets of Shanghai, and in which
+are most of the best class of native shops. It is however no wider or
+cleaner than the other streets of the city, and might be termed a "lane"
+with far more propriety than a street. We were conveyed within the lofty,
+gloomy "enceinte" of the walls in the sedan-chair of the country, after
+which, under the guidance of Mr. Muirhead, an English missionary, who in
+the kindest manner had offered to be our <i>cicerone</i>, we proceeded to
+stroll through the town.</p>
+
+<p>Close to the east gate we entered a book-stall, in which were heaped up
+immense piles of stitched books. A number of Chinese in white nankeen
+jackets, their foreheads smooth shaved, and each with a "tail" behind
+dependent to the heels, started forward to inquire the strangers' wants,
+and minister to them. Our inquiries however were by no means merely
+dictated by the desire to gratify a silly curiosity. A learned countryman,
+Dr. Pfizmaier, one of the profoundest of Chinese scholars, had intrusted
+us with a list of fourteen rare Chinese books, the purchase of which
+seemed to us specially
+<!--429.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">419</a></span>desirable,
+and we accordingly made every exertion,
+with the assistance of our companion, himself well acquainted with
+Chinese, to crown our search with success. With one exception we succeeded
+in purchasing the entire catalogue, and therewith gladly brought to an end
+our wearisome stay of upwards of an hour in the close steaming book-shop,
+exposed the while to a more than tropical temperature.</p>
+
+<p>Chinese authors are, it must be allowed, terribly prolix in the treatment
+of their subjects, and instances are by no means uncommon in China of
+works, especially those of an historical nature, extending to from forty
+to fifty volumes! Thus, for example, the "Seventeen Historical classics"
+consists of 337 parts:&mdash;"Mingschintschuen" (History of the most renowned
+ministers and statesmen), of thirty volumes:&mdash;"Singpu" (Lives of
+remarkable persons), of 122 parts:&mdash;the "Encyclopedia of Matuanlin," with
+its additions, even reaches the immense number of six hundred
+volumes!!<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> Books are generally far from expensive in China; for a few
+dollars, comparatively, one may, owing to the cheapness of labour and of
+cost of production, purchase quite a large supply of ordinary literature.</p>
+
+<p>Adjoining this book-shop is a public bath establishment, where for 16
+copper cash<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> (rather less than 1<i>d.</i> sterling), one
+<!--430.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">420</a></span>may
+get a vapour
+bath, while six cash more are paid for keeping custody of the habiliments.
+The bath is far from being elegant or comfortable, but when one reflects
+on such extraordinary cheapness, it seems as though the very utmost had
+been attained. It consists of a large apartment, filled with steam, which
+is from time to time renewed, by dashing hot water upon stones, maintained
+at a high temperature, while ranged in readiness all round are a number of
+tubs of cold water for cooling the bather. In one of these establishments
+about thirty persons may bathe at once, and as John Chinaman, despite his
+filthy manners, is passably clean about the body, as testified by the
+pains he is at with his head and hands, these places are as extensively
+patronized as they are greatly needed.</p>
+
+<p>Our next stoppage was at a pawnbroker's, an institution which, to all
+appearance, has been far longer in vogue in China than in Europe, and is
+made great use of by the wealthy as well as the poorer classes. In the
+Celestial Kingdom, the same custom prevails as with us of pawning the
+winter habiliments in summer, and summer apparel in winter; and this not
+so much for the sake of the money borrowed upon them, as to have them kept
+in safety and carefully preserved, especially in the case of costly furs.
+In China the usual advance is of one half the value, upon a very low
+computation of the article pledged, for which the monthly charge is ten
+cash per 500, or twenty-four per cent. per annum. Whatever has not been
+redeemed at the end of three years,
+<!--431.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">421</a></span>or
+of which the interest has not been
+paid, is put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder, the
+proceeds going to the benefit of the establishment. The utmost per-centage
+allowed by law is three per cent. a month; but it must not exceed two per
+cent. in winter, in order that the poor may be enabled to redeem the
+articles pledged. The broker gives a ticket for the articles pledged,
+which have a definite value, and may be sold in the street. Thieves find
+these establishments very handy for disposing of their plunder, as they
+deface or destroy the pawn-ticket so as to prevent the rightful owner from
+regaining possession of the stolen articles. When a pawnbroker sustains
+any loss through theft, or the outbreak of fire on his premises, he must
+make good to his customers the value of the destroyed articles that had
+been left with him as pledges. If, however, the fire has broken out in the
+house of a neighbour, he is only bound to pay one half of the loss he may
+sustain. The establishment is managed by fifty individuals, whom the
+concourse of people flocking in to pledge or redeem property keeps in
+constant activity.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the notorious and openly avowed indifference everywhere
+manifested throughout China for the poor, the sick, and the unfortunate,
+the number of charitable institutions to be found in all parts of China is
+very surprising, all which, as has lately been proved, do not owe their
+origin to the introduction of Christianity, but had been in a flourishing
+condition for a long time previously. Thus in several of
+<!--432.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">422</a></span>the
+streets of
+Shanghai, we came upon hospitals for children and foundlings (&nbsp;<img src="images/glyph432.png"
+style="display: inline; height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" />&nbsp;), of
+the latter of which the one we visited was founded by
+voluntary contribution so far back as 1710. This humane institution has a
+landed property of about 30 acres, by the produce of which, as well as
+frequent public collections, it is supported. In 1783, this orphan
+hospital was amalgamated with an asylum for old and decrepit persons, and
+others incapacitated for labour, and one wealthy Chinese gentleman
+provided 3000
+taels<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> for
+this praiseworthy object, but somewhat later
+this joint plan was abandoned, and the Orphan Asylum remains to this day
+self-supporting, while the poor, the sick, and the aged are relieved every
+month at the Custom-house out of funds specially set apart.</p>
+
+<p>At the period of our visit we found thirty infants in the building, who
+had been deposited by their mothers in a
+<!--433.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">423</a></span>basket
+suspended in a recess at
+the entrance. After the new-born child has been deposited, a signal is
+given with a bamboo-stick, after which the receptacle is turned inwards
+and the innocent without delay taken charge of. Each child has its own
+wet-nurse or attendant.</p>
+
+<p>The building is lofty, roomy, and passably clean, but the children, one
+and all without exception, have a sickly appearance, and seem to suffer
+much from eruptions and affections of the eye. There was not one child
+above two years of age. It is worth recording that every one of these
+children was of the female sex; their male offspring, even when
+illegitimate, the mothers seem much less disposed to part from. It
+frequently happens, moreover, owing to the low considerations in which the
+female sex are held, that even legitimate children of that sex are
+occasionally committed to the silent receptacle of the foundling's basket.</p>
+
+<p>We inquired of one of the overseers what was the destiny of these unhappy
+children when they grew up, but could get no satisfactory reply. We were
+informed that they were occasionally adopted as children by those who had
+no family. But more extended inquiries leave us rather inclined to believe
+that these poor waifs of humanity constitute a not inconsiderable
+contingent to that unhappy class of beings who, carefully brought up,
+clothed, and fed by speculative foster-mothers, are at a suitable age sold
+for concubines to the well-to-do Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>One very remarkable charitable institution, for which there
+<!--434.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">424</a></span>is
+no
+parallel in Europe, is the Tûng-jin-tang (&nbsp;<img src="images/glyph434.png"
+style="display: inline; height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;"
+alt="" />&nbsp;) or Hall of United Benevolence, founded by a number of philanthropists in
+1804, for the interment of the poor. This establishment, through its
+legacies, donations, and voluntary contributions, speedily became so
+wealthy that it has been enabled to take up, in addition to its original
+business, other objects of a not less humane nature. It pensions poor
+widows of respectable families with 700 cash (about £1 8<i>s.</i>) per month;
+it presents persons above 60 years of age, if sickly and unable to work,
+with 600 cash (about £1 4<i>s.</i>) a month, and provides, free of charge,
+wooden coffins, as also digging implements, for those who are too poor to
+inter their dead relatives. Another humane occupation of the society is
+the interment of coffins containing dead bodies, which used to be exposed
+on the bare ground in various parts of the city. Finally, it was the
+intention of the founder of this charitable institution, so soon as the
+money should permit, to erect schools for the poor, to provide warm
+clothing in winter for the helpless, as also to buy up animals destined
+for the slaughter-house, and set them at liberty again.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings connected with the direction of the institution are
+transacted in public, and the managers for the time being are bound to
+furnish for each year a detailed report<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> of the management. This
+humane institution has
+<!--435.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">425</a></span>since
+its foundation undergone many reforms, and
+at the period of our visit was confining its sphere of usefulness to three
+main objects: 1st, The pensioning aged and broken-down persons of both
+sexes, with 600 cash a month. These however were not supplied with the
+money, but were for the most part taken into the house itself, or at least
+supported through it. 2nd, The dispensing free of charge of various
+so-called universal medicines, for headache, stomach-complaints, fever,
+diarrh&oelig;a, spasms during the unhealthy season (June to October). On the
+3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, 23rd, and 28th of each month (that is, on every date
+ending with a 3 or an 8), during the continuance of the sultry, damp,
+unhealthy season there was also provided for the sick and poor, gratis,
+advice from Chinese physicians in the great hall. 3rd, The furnishing
+coffins for the interment of those who died without means, or on payment
+in part by families not altogether penniless. In one of these extensive
+magazines we saw a coffin bearing the number 1084, which was just coming
+into requisition. During 36 months 1000 coffins and upwards had been
+supplied to poor families for the interment of their dead! As we were
+leaving the building, we remarked in the principal apartment a large
+quantity of paper, partly written upon, partly in shreds, all heaped up.
+On inquiry as to the object of this collection, we were informed that it
+was for no industrial purpose, but solely to be ascribed to the profound
+respect the Chinese have for every sort of writing. They regard written
+leaves as positively holy, and are particularly
+<!--436.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">426</a></span>careful
+that no written
+paper shall chance to fall into improper hands, that might make a wrong
+use of it. For this reason the society pays for every pound of old waste
+paper which the poor of Shanghai pick up in the street and bring to the
+Institution three copper cash, and when the pile has attained a sufficient
+height it is set on fire at a particular season.</p>
+
+<p>Built in close proximity to this "Hall of United Benevolence" is the
+sanctuary of the medical profession, or, as Mr. Muirhead translated for
+our benefit the gigantic Chinese inscription over the portal, "the
+sacrificial hall of the medical faculty." This is a temple erected at the
+expense of the nation to a celebrated Chinese physician, whose stature, in
+an easy, erect attitude, cut in wood the size of life and richly gilt, is
+erected upon a platform somewhat resembling an altar. Part of the drapery
+consists of gigantic leaves, while his folded hands clasp a lotos-flower.
+In front of the image is placed the inscription: "The shrine of the spirit
+of the King of Medicine." Above the idol are the following words in
+Chinese, cut in the stone and gilt, "The divine husbandman and sacred
+ruler!" and thereafter, "For all ages the instructive teacher."</p>
+
+<p>This renowned physician had, it seems, instituted many experiments on
+himself with new healing remedies, and according to popular belief had
+attained to an exact knowledge of all that was going on in the human
+frame, so that he could point out the seat of the malady by simply placing
+a
+<!--437.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">427</a></span>piece
+of common window-glass upon the pit of the patient's stomach, and
+looking into it!</p>
+
+<p>Adjoining this College of Health is the city prison, or Tschi-hin, in
+which, when we saw it, were confined about 100 prisoners in the various
+wards. In that set apart for the worst class of criminals, we saw about
+40, heavily shackled and manacled. Three of these were confined in low
+wooden cages, about three feet in height and width, and four feet in
+length, and fastened to each other by iron chains running through. These
+men also wore iron rings on their feet. One of these unfortunates was
+sentenced to 70, and each of the other two to 60, days of such durance,
+without being suffered for one moment to come out from the cage, which was
+placed on the ground, and like a hen-roost, was provided with perches
+running through it, so as to interfere still further with freedom of
+movement. Their food consisted of rice and vegetables. According to their
+own showing, these three were sentenced to this terrible punishment in
+consequence of some affray, but we had reason to believe that some more
+serious matter was the real cause of their having this penalty inflicted
+on them. We gave the unhappy wretches a few pieces of silver. Each hastily
+secured the donation in a corner of his cage, and seemed in his forlorn
+condition doubly sensible of the value of a metal whose influence,
+especially in China, is so powerful, so all-pervading, and so infallible.</p>
+
+<p>One very peculiar institution is the Wei-kwan, a sort of Council Chamber,
+situated on the N.E. side of the city between
+<!--438.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">428</a></span>the
+walls and the river, in
+which all matters in dispute between mercantile men are adjusted, and in
+conjunction with which is a temple in honour of the goddess of the seas
+(Tien-Mú). In the centre of the council-room is a large elegantly-shaped
+iron pan (Schang-Lú), in which the merchants and seamen frequenting the
+hall burn slips of paper, on which are written the wishes of those making
+their offerings. Also money, fruit, &amp;c., are here sacrificed, and Chinese
+mariners, whose "junks" have come unscathed through a storm, or have been
+preserved, make their thank-offerings in the shape of elegant little
+models of their ships, which are placed in various parts of the building.
+This hall was founded in 1270 by the Sung dynasty, on a site where certain
+Chinese believed they had observed that the tumultuous tide of the Whampoa
+river gradually lost its violence, as it approached the spot, a phenomenon
+which to them seemed of marvellous significance. Under the Yuen and Múi
+dynasties the temple was repeatedly plundered and burnt to the ground, but
+was rebuilt through the influence of a Tao-priest. In 1735, an imperial
+edict ordered the observance of certain religious ceremonies from time to
+time, an example which has been followed to the present day.</p>
+
+<p>Directly facing the goddess of the sea (called also Kwan-Yin, Queen of
+Heaven),<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> who is represented by a life-size
+<!--439.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">429</a></span>figure
+placed at the
+bottom of the apartment, a large stage is erected, on which Chinese dramas
+are represented for their entertainment from 10 o'clock in the morning
+till nightfall.</p>
+
+<p>In one part of the immense pile of buildings there are also provided
+dwellings for such Chinese merchants as visit Shanghai from the interior
+of the kingdom, and have neither friends nor relatives in the city with
+whom they can take up their residence, for public taverns are in China
+only frequented by the very lowest classes. We entered one of these
+Chinese hotels, which we had come upon during our ramble, and inspected
+the eating-rooms and bed-rooms, which are usually situated on the first
+floor. The usual charge is from 100 to 140 cash a day for board (4<i>d.</i> to
+6<i>d.</i>), and from 20 to 40 cash for lodging (1<i>d.</i> to 2<i>d.</i>). The gloomy,
+filthy, cavernous aspect of each room makes even a moment's stay
+intolerable. The victuals supplied consist chiefly of rice, vegetables,
+and fish. In the interior, board and lodging in these taverns is very much
+cheaper, and the well-known and highly meritorious English missionary Dr.
+Medhurst, who, in 1845, traversed, in the dress of a Chinese, a large
+portion of the silk and tea
+<!--440.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">430</a></span>districts,
+relates that the customary charge
+for supper, bed, and breakfast next morning altogether amounted to 80 cash
+only, or about 3&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>8</sub><i>d.</i>!<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> In the streets of Shanghai, the
+eating-houses are greatly out-numbered by the tea-houses, where one gets a
+cup of tea for 6 cash (<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub><i>d.</i>). These, like our own cafés, are laid out
+with little tables, stools, and benches. As soon as a guest enters and
+takes his seat, a Chinese attendant brings a cup, throws into it the
+proper quantity of tea-leaves, and pours boiling water upon it. After the
+lapse of a few minutes the hot light yellow liquid is hastily swallowed,
+but avoiding the leaves which are swimming on the surface, and usually
+serve for a second or even a third infusion. These tea-houses are crowded
+with visitors throughout the day, who sometimes transact business here
+over a cup of tea and a pipe of oiled tobacco, sometimes resort hither to
+wile the time listlessly away.</p>
+
+<p>The chief place of amusement, however, of the native population of
+Shanghai is the Tea-Garden (Tschin-Huang-Mian), or temple of the Emperor,
+which contains numerous gardens laid out in Chinese fashion, and booths of
+all sorts, besides the attractions of jugglers, singers, actors,
+soothsayers, musicians, and mountebanks, all driving their respective
+avocations. The whole scene is eminently characteristic of the
+grotesqueness
+<!--441.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">431</a></span>of
+Chinese taste. Artificial canals and tanks filled with
+green stagnant water, redolent of miasmatic effluvia, amid which the Lotos
+opens its lovely white blossoms, quantities of zig-zag bridges with
+beautifully carved balustrades, islands with artificially constructed
+rocks and grottoes, subterranean passages, flags of all shapes and sizes,
+bearing the most bombastic inscriptions&mdash;such are the chief attractions of
+a Chinese People's Garden, every large town boasting one such, erected at
+the expense of the State, in which from early morning till late in the
+evening a vast crowd of human beings is incessantly surging to and fro,
+intent on pleasure, dissipation, or profit. The rabble, however, have not
+access to every part of the Tea-Garden, a certain portion being set apart
+for the recreation of the chief officials of the city (Táu-Tái). This
+portion, shut off by a lofty wall, is elegantly laid out, and is made
+attractive with all manner of dwarf trees nursed with great care and
+expense, besides the usual grottoes, artificial hills and precipices,
+pavilions, &amp;c. Hither the head magistrate occasionally resorts to pass the
+warmest hours of the day, and dozes away undisturbed by the cares of his
+onerous responsibilities. All the public gardens of China present almost
+the identical features of the one we visited; a park without artificial
+islands and wooden bridges, without canals (in lieu of paths), without
+pools of stagnant water thickly covered with the broad leaves of the
+<i>Nelumbium</i>, would, in the eyes of a Chinese, be deprived of its chief
+pleasure and its greatest
+attraction.<!--442.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">432</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Close to the Tea-Garden is the largest Buddhist Temple within the city
+walls, in which throughout the day the over-credulous Chinese kneel before
+their idols, and with many reverences murmur their set formulas of
+prayers. Like everything else in China, even religious observances are
+regarded from the most practical point of view. They think they have done
+enough when they have gone through a certain round of outward ceremonies.
+The condition of most of the temples, the utter neglect of some, and the
+various employments of others, indicate that the Chinese either has no
+sense of the sanctity attaching to such places of devotion, or else
+attaches but little value to the act itself. The men rarely enter the
+temples. It is only the women who, to satisfy the cravings of the heart,
+have recourse to invoking the Deity. Frequently one sees a worshipper
+approach the attendant sitting in the porch of the temple, in order to get
+their horoscope calculated by him for a few cash. For this purpose she
+shakes with eager devotion a box of bamboo-cane filled with thin wands,
+until one of these wands springs out. The words inscribed on each wand
+furnish the oracle-expounder with an infallible sign, by which, after
+consulting one of the books of Chinese wisdom spread out before him, he is
+enabled to pronounce the answer of the divinity to the prayers preferred
+by the poor dupe. The most prolific source of revenue of the temple and
+its ministrants, consists, however, in the sale of the gold and silver
+tissue paper,<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a>
+<!--443.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">433</a></span>which
+plays so important a part in the worship of the
+Chinese, and owing to their zealous and frequent use are heaped up in
+immense piles, for consumption by fire in a gigantic furnace.</p>
+
+<p>Much more edifying than the interior of the great Buddhist temple with its
+troops of swag-bellied idols in their parti-coloured apparel, some with a
+good-humoured leer, others sulkily scowling on the beholder, is the
+appearance of the temple of Confucius<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> in a remote quarter of the
+city. In this extensive building, at once elegant and simple, and with
+numerous halls and corridors, the scholars undergo their examination for
+the service of the state; here the Government officials at stated seasons
+perform certain religious ceremonies, and here all the <i>literati</i> assemble
+for the discussion of grave questions of debate. The main hall has its
+red-tinted walls covered with Chinese and Tartar inscriptions, all of
+which refer to Confucius, his doctrines and his wisdom. At intervals, a
+number of tablets let into the wall inform the visitor that this edifice
+is devoted to the instruction of the virtuous, and the cultivation of the
+endowments. At the same time every person who passes this in a sedan-chair
+or on horseback,
+<!--444.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">434</a></span>whether
+an official or one of the people, is compelled
+to quit his vehicle and traverse the consecrated space on foot. Over the
+entrance to the right is written: "His virtue is comparable to Heaven and
+Earth;" and above the door to the left we read, "His teachings comprise
+all the wisdom of ancient and modern days." Behind the temple is a smaller
+edifice, dedicated to the five progenitors of Confucius. The temple itself
+is similarly surrounded with various apartments, all, as their bombastic
+inscriptions announce, devoted to the honour and advancement of knowledge.
+One of these chambers is dedicated to the god of Literature, another to
+the guardian spirit of Science. The latter is curiously represented as a
+figure holding in one hand a <i>stylus</i>, in the other a lump of silver,
+emblematic, we presume, of "man through wisdom attaining unto riches."</p>
+
+<p>In every city throughout China there is, as well as a tea-garden, a temple
+in honour of the great teacher Kong-fu-tse, whose knowledge and whose
+moral system, 2400 years after his mortal pilgrimage, instruct and gladden
+not merely his own countrymen, but all admirers throughout the world of
+what is noble and virtuous.</p>
+
+<p>Among the various monasteries of the city, we visited one of the Taouists,
+called the Du-Kung or Great Mirror (probably of Virtue), where strangers
+provided with introductions are received and entertained at 150 cash
+(6<i>d.</i> per diem). This cloister, whose sole inhabitants are some five or
+six Chinese
+<!--445.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">435</a></span>monks,
+is situated close to the wall, and forms one of the
+best points whence to obtain a view of the entire city.</p>
+
+<p>The Taouists, who follow the Tao, the "way of knowledge," and arrogate to
+themselves a more profound insight into the mysterious powers of nature,
+as well as more special acquaintance with and definite powers over good
+and evil spirits, are disciples of the doctrines of Lao-tse,<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> and are
+extensively scattered throughout the country, although at present, in
+consequence of their losing themselves deeper and deeper in a slothful,
+sensual mode of existence, their proselytism is proceeding at a much
+slower ratio than formerly. It is purely accidental that there is
+immediately adjoining the Taoui monastery a convent known as that of the
+"White nuns," a small one-storey building, kept however singularly neat
+and clean. Here we saw six Buddhist nuns, with close-shaven heads and in
+long white dresses, which gave them quite a masculine aspect. They
+received us with much courtesy,
+<!--446.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">436</a></span>and
+escorted us round the various
+apartments with considerable <i>empressement</i>. They were mostly widows, who
+pass their lives here in calm retrospective contemplation, and occupy
+themselves with preparing little articles for the Buddhist ritual, such as
+censers, tapers, printed sacrificial papers, &amp;c., with which apparently
+they contrive to support themselves. These associations (Ni-koo) were
+usually founded by legacies and donations by pious Chinese, and are
+exceedingly useful as providing an asylum for poor, helpless women, weary
+of life. Many widows withdraw into these abodes of peace, there to pass
+the rest of their lives, free from the tumult of the world, in the
+exercise of devotion and of works of neighbourly love and charity.
+Nevertheless, if we are to believe common report, works of piety are not
+the only objects occasionally pursued in these Buddhist convents, and the
+web of intrigue and amorous adventure, of which they have frequently been
+the scene, has not a little tended to lower the estimate in which these
+religious societies are held, and even threatens to cut short their
+existence. A people of such a materialistic mode of life, and such
+ant-like industry, as the Chinese, who rarely know what it is to have one
+holiday in the entire year, must involuntarily look with argus-like eye on
+all religious communities, which pass their time in luxurious ease and
+exemption from care, without in any way advancing the well-being of their
+fellow-creatures by either mental or physical
+labour.<!--447.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">437</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the course of our peregrinations through the streets of Shanghai we
+also came upon the shop of a Chinese apothecary (Yak-Tien), which
+externally bears a considerable resemblance to a similar establishment in
+Europe, but widely differs in respect of details. The Chinese Materia
+Medica is especially abundant in patent medicines, the use and application
+of which, it must be allowed, is frequently of the most extraordinary
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>According to the latest researches of Dr. Hobson, of whose important
+services in the diffusion of European medical science in China we shall
+have much to say in a future page, we are acquainted with 442 drugs from
+among the three great kingdoms of Nature, which must be kept in every
+well-stocked Chinese drug-store, of which 314 belong to the botanical, 78
+to the animal, and 50 to the mineral world. We shall, however, in this
+place only indicate those of which Chinese physicians avail themselves
+most frequently in the preparation of their medicines, such, for example,
+as birds' nests, dried red-spotted lizard, the fresh tips of stags'
+antlers, the shell of the tortoise, dogs' flesh, bones of animals,
+preparations from various parts of the human body, whale-bone,
+oyster-shells, skins of snakes, shark's maw and fin, tendons of deer and
+buffalo, dried silk-worms, their larvæ and excrement, bamboo shavings, the
+bear's gall, preparations from human <i>fæces</i>, scraped rhinoceros and
+antelope horn, rabbit dung, cuttle-fish bone, dried varnish, dried leeches
+and earthworms, red marble, refuse of ivory, preparations from
+<!--448.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">438</a></span>toads,
+petrifactions, old copper money,<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> snow-water,<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> human milk,<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a>
+&amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>These pharmaceutics are brought from various parts of China, as well as
+from Japan, Siam, and the Straits of Malacca, and constitute an important
+and profitable branch of commerce. Many of them are sold at the druggist's
+in the raw state, when they are used as sympathetic remedies, amulets, or
+generally for external use. The Chinese druggists sell their medicaments
+for the most part in the form of powders or pills. These latter are
+usually made up in a capsule of bees-wax for greater facility of
+administration, so
+<!--449.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">439</a></span>that
+the dose as it comes from the shop resembles
+those small wax-cakes used by house-wives for waxing their thread. One
+such cake contains four or six pills, called <i>Tzi-páu-tan</i>, or very costly
+pills, which are used as a sort of universal specific against fevers,
+affections of the digestive organs, headaches, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable and costly article in the Chinese pharmacop&oelig;ia is,
+however, the Ginseng (<i>Panax Ginseng</i>, or <i>Panax Quinquefolia</i>), which is
+chiefly found in Mantchooria and the deserts to the north of the peninsula
+of Corea. The circumstance that the Ginseng is still a monopoly of the
+Chinese Government, only a few privileged individuals being annually
+permitted to purchase a certain quantity for its weight in pure gold, has
+much more to do with its efficacy as a panacea than the benefits conferred
+by its curative powers. The roots are about the size and thickness of a
+man's little finger, and break short off when bent. When cleaned they are
+transparent, and of a dark amber colour.</p>
+
+<p>Of the Ginseng there are three qualities sold in the Chinese drug-stores.
+One leang or ounce of the best (the largest and finest) costs 50 dollars,
+of the medium quality five dollars, and of the most inferior quality one
+dollar. The Ginseng root is also found in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
+Canada, and is thence exported to China, but the Chinese prefer that of
+their native forests, even though these are very much dearer, and there is
+hardly any difference to remark between
+<!--450.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">440</a></span>them.
+As the plant is only found
+in the wild state, and obstinately resists all attempts to cultivate it,
+its collection among the forests of North America is attended with great
+hardship and expense, and whereas in former years the profit realized on
+this article of commerce by English and American merchantmen amounted to
+from 500 to 600 per cent., it is now reduced to a very moderate
+proportion.</p>
+
+<p>A more general subject of interest is presented by the shops where is sold
+the porcelain-ware, the manufacture of which dates from a very remote
+period of Chinese history, and was already a flourishing trade at the
+commencement of our historic epoch. Indeed we may reasonably assume,
+notwithstanding the beautiful specimens of the art which from time to time
+are brought to light, that this special branch of industry is at present
+in a state of decline, while of many kinds of porcelain manufacture no
+examples can now be shown, as the secret of their manipulation has
+perished. What usually interests Europeans in these shops is what is known
+as "crackle" porcelain,<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> the upper surface of which everywhere
+presents broken lines, so that the entire vessel appears as though it
+consisted of numbers of small pieces cemented to each other, the whole
+having very much the appearance of Mosaic. But this description also is no
+longer manufactured of the first quality in the present day. Antique
+porcelain is of extraordinary value, but specimens of modern manufacture,
+<!--451.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">441</a></span>such
+as small figures, mannikins, &amp;c., are very cheap, and are much the
+same as those imported to Europe.</p>
+
+<p>One marked partiality of the Chinese is their fondness for suspending
+grasshoppers in small elegant baskets of bamboo strips, or twisted wire,
+in which, whatever the season or the weather, these little captives keep
+up a constant pleasant chirping. This custom is of great antiquity, and
+while one even now finds among the populace of the present day some of
+these chirpers thus carefully tended, there once was a time when the
+grasshopper was the object of universal adoration, and enjoyed all the
+honours of Fashion. They were indebted for this singular good fortune,
+according to the abbé Grosier,<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> to a poor scholar under the Thang
+dynasty, in the 7th century of our era, who to relieve his poverty fell
+upon the singular expedient of trading in these insects. He went into the
+country, selected the most beautiful insects he could find, constructed
+elegant little cages for them, and returning to the city offered them for
+sale in the most frequented streets of Tschang-gan. The idea was novel,
+and the wealthy upper classes speedily found a charm in having the music
+of the fields thus transplanted into their houses. The Empress, the
+Queens, the ladies of the Palace, in a word, every one was eager to
+possess these songsters of the meadow. There was actually an enactment
+passed for the supply of the Imperial Palace with the requisite number of
+these insects. The fashion rose to a perfect mania&mdash;the little Zirperu was
+encountered
+<!--452.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">442</a></span>at
+every corner&mdash;it was taken out whenever a call was
+paid&mdash;the whole city resounded with its shrill cry. The fine arts, and
+every branch of industry, felt its impulse. There was no textile fabric,
+no embroidery, no design, no vessel, on which it did not conspicuously
+figure. It was represented in metal and in jewellery, and no handsome lady
+thought her toilette complete, unless she sported a grasshopper among her
+hair. This mania has died out in China, but the buzz of the insect still
+continues to furnish matter of amusement for the populace and children of
+all classes, and they are still caught in large quantities, and exposed
+for sale in the streets. Singular to say, all ancient and modern writers,
+if we are to judge by their delineations, describe these insects as
+<i>cicadæ</i>, whereas it was shown and proved by the researches of one of the
+zoologists of the Expedition, that the insect is no <i>cicada</i>, but a
+species of grasshopper (<i>Decticus</i>), which, so far as appears, has never
+hitherto been described. Very probably the circumstance that the noise
+made by each of these insects is very similar, gave circulation to this
+error of upwards of a thousand years' standing, whence people would
+without further examination take it for granted that the insect confined
+in the cage belonged to that species whose place in natural history, and
+whose special musical qualifications, mankind had so long been familiar
+with. One of these grasshoppers was kept for months in such a cage on
+board our ship, and chirped away lustily, fair weather or foul, even when
+confined in a
+<!--453.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">443</a></span>close
+cupboard. On the other hand, some <i>cicadæ</i>, with
+which similar experiments were made, lived only two or three days in
+captivity. None sang, unless when teased, or when a number more were
+introduced into the vessel, thereby incommoding them, and none took
+nourishment. It was obvious that the <i>cicadæ</i> possessed none of those
+characteristics which would enable them to be kept in captivity as pets,
+whereas, on the other hand, the grasshoppers and crickets were especially
+adapted for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>We were anxious to visit a variety of other interesting places, ere
+quitting the sultry, gloomy Chinese city on our return to the more genial
+European quarter. But evening was already setting in, and after sunset the
+gates of the city are closed, and neither Chinese nor European can after
+that hour obtain access to the city. Whoever is belated must find shelter
+for the night in the house of some hospitable friend, until with the first
+break of morning the gates are re-opened, communication is restored with
+the foreign quarter, and the previous day's scene of bustle is renewed.</p>
+
+<p>The next object which excited our interest was a Chinese school. Ascending
+a wooden staircase, we enter a room, quite empty but for a table and
+stools, in which a haggard woe-begone Chinese, with long tail and rod in
+hand, is walking to and fro, while at a table some dozen of boys of from
+eight to twelve are engaged in reading. Their loud accents may be heard
+down in the street outside. The cost of the
+<!--454.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">444</a></span>schools
+for the people is
+chiefly defrayed by voluntary subscriptions, foundations, &amp;c. &amp;c. The
+children of the middle classes pay for nine months' instruction, three
+Spanish dollars. Many teachers have more than a hundred scholars, and thus
+earn about 1000 dollars per annum. These, it is true, are exceptions, but
+teaching as a profession seems on the whole to be fully better remunerated
+in China than in European countries. There it is in much higher
+estimation, and receives better recompense. The wealthy Chinese usually
+engage private tutors for their children, who, as among ourselves, usually
+form part of the family. Elementary education is almost universal
+throughout China. There are but few Chinese who are not at least able to
+read and write. One very gratifying instance of the prevailing religious
+toleration, well worthy of example in the Christian states of Europe, is
+the presence of Protestant and Catholic places of worship in the midst of
+Buddhist temples, and other edifices dedicated to heathen worship. The
+American Episcopal church, erected in 1850, at the expense of a wealthy
+merchant and ship-owner of Boston named Appleton, at a cost of 6000
+dollars, already numbers eighty converts. It is an extremely simple yet
+neat-looking place of worship, quite in the style of the chapels in the
+Western portion of the American Union, and has in connection with it a
+school numbering about forty native scholars. Every Sunday morning at ten,
+a sermon is preached, which is attended by most of the foreign community.
+Far grander and more imposing in plan and fittings
+<!--455.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">445</a></span>is
+the Catholic
+cathedral of Tong-Kadú, confessedly the finest place of Christian worship
+throughout China. The construction of this building was commenced by
+voluntary subscription in 1846, and completed in 1852, the total cost
+amounting to 230,000 <i>leangs</i>, or about £65,000. Within there is a large
+organ, constructed by one of the lay brothers of bamboo pipes, whose
+saddening yet inspiring notes, heard in the festivals of the Church,
+invite the Christian community far and wide to devotion and instruction.
+At present this cathedral is under the charge of a bishop of the Order of
+the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>Our road from the Chinese city to the European quarter led us past an
+establishment which bore interesting testimony to the industrial activity
+of the Chinese. It is an oil factory worked exclusively by natives, and
+giving employment to about 400 workmen, besides 80 draught oxen. The oil
+is extracted from indigenous beans, and is so copious, that 1400 <i>catties</i>
+(1750 lbs.) of oil are procured daily, which is worth 74 <i>cash</i> per
+<i>catty</i> (about 3&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub><i>d.</i> per lb.), and is used both for cooking and for
+light. The residuary oil-cake, after expression of the oily matter, is
+used as manure.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> A workman may earn at this description of labour from
+100 to 200 <i>cash</i> a day (4<i>d.</i> to 8<i>d.</i>).</p>
+
+<!--456.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">446</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As we left the manufactory, and were bending our stops towards the little
+Eastern gate, our gaze was suddenly attracted by a spacious and elegant
+mansion, evidently the property of a well-to-do Chinese. This, as we were
+informed by our companion, proved to be the residence of the Wuong family,
+which ranks among the five oldest and most distinguished families in
+Shanghai. There is to be seen in the neighbourhood a small stone memorial
+shaped like a mausoleum, which, with the Emperor's permission, was erected
+by the inhabitants of the district in which she lived, to commemorate the
+benevolence and philanthropic exertions of the mother of Wuong. The custom
+of honouring ladies distinguished by their virtues and benevolence, by the
+erection of temples, cenotaphs, &amp;c., is by no means unusual in China, and
+is in marvellous contrast to the almost slavish treatment which the female
+sex usually meets with. Nevertheless, in the city and environs of Shanghai
+alone there are ninety such triumphal arches and memorials
+<!--457.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">447</a></span>to
+as many
+exemplary and philanthropic ladies. The majority of these were married,
+and some had attained a very great age, one having died at 104 years, and
+another at 115 years of age!<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the house of Wuong, who stands in high repute among the Europeans as a
+merchant and ship-owner, we were received with the most gratifying
+hospitality. As soon as we entered the house, an attendant immediately
+presented tea in small cups, which, in conformity with the usages of the
+country, had to be swallowed in all its native bitterness without
+admixture of sugar or milk. Immediately after an old nurse made her
+appearance, and struck up with our excellent conductor, Mr. Syles, who
+seemed to be everywhere welcomed by the Chinese, and was well acquainted
+with the family, a long conversation upon the most diverse subjects. At
+length the master of the house himself made his appearance, a dignified,
+stately man, arrayed in a light elegant grey silk frock, but in deportment
+and externals not differing in the very least from his Chinese attendants,
+and himself conducted us round the house. He seemed to feel pleasure in
+the opportunity of baring to the view of a stranger the very penetralia
+<!--458.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">448</a></span>of
+his beautiful abode. We wandered through numerous apartments simply
+yet elegantly furnished, with various antechambers and corridors, among
+which were interspersed little plots laid out with dwarf plantations,
+artistically-designed grottoes, and "rookeries." In one of the rooms was a
+"punkah," an article of furniture rarely met with in a Chinese household.
+On reaching the library or study, our host bade us be seated, while he
+again ordered tea to be served. This small but pretty apartment was
+covered all round with inscriptions in Chinese (chiefly maxims from
+Confucius), which, written on rolls of white paper, were suspended on the
+walls. While sipping our tea, and engrossed in conversation, an attendant
+appeared with somewhat thick cloths, steeped in hot water, with which to
+wipe our faces and hands. The evaporation of the moisture lowers the
+temperature of the skin, and has so refreshing an effect, that one cannot
+but feel surprised that this custom is not more extensively patronized in
+hot countries, or put in practice by ourselves during our hot sultry
+summers.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to ourselves, what appeared most to interest our Chinese host
+in his silken attire was our apparel. He felt over and over again the
+black alpaca coat, which was worn by one of the members of our Expedition,
+and remarked, "these Western races are truly marvellous people; they wear
+far more clothes than we do, yet they perspire less." And thereupon Wuong
+mopped his face twice with the towel, which in the mean time the attendant
+had again
+<!--459.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">449</a></span>dipped
+in the hot water, and thoroughly wrung out. As we were
+taking our departure, our courteous host accompanied us to the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>In the portico were a number of wooden tables lacquered with red varnish,
+on which were inscribed in large golden letters of the Chinese character
+the titles of honour of the family of Wuong, which on festive occasions
+were drawn in front of the head of the family as he sat on his sofa.</p>
+
+<p>After this ramble through the Chinese town, we returned to the "Strangers'
+Quarter," where we came upon a widely different mode of life. Here
+everything is arranged upon the European model, and the attention is only
+diverted by those minor accessories, in which the climatic conditions have
+necessitated some variation. The houses are universally lofty, roomy, and
+agreeable, usually surrounded by a garden, and many of them present an
+almost palace-like aspect. More even than to the merchants in Broadway is
+the designation of "merchant princes" applicable to the foreign merchants
+of China and the East Indies, for it is among them beyond any other class
+on the globe, that there prevails a luxury almost princely in its
+magnificence. In such a place as Shanghai, which can present to the
+educated foreigner such a meagre equivalent for his numerous intellectual
+privations, each man endeavours in the readiest possible way to render his
+material existence as comfortable and agreeable as he possibly can. This
+leading principle one sees illustrated and carried out in practice in the
+splendid designs
+<!--460.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">450</a></span>of
+their residences, and the exquisite refinement and
+comfort of their internal arrangements, as well as in the scrupulous
+attention paid to the cellar and the "cuisine."</p>
+
+<p>On the ground-floors are the counting-house and stores, on the first floor
+the drawing-room, the dining-room, and the sleeping-apartments. All these
+various chambers are decorated with as much attention to comfort as good
+taste, and almost every single article bears on it the solid,
+unmistakeable impress of its English origin. Even into the most minute
+details all the genuine comfort of an English drawing-room is introduced,
+increased even, if that be possible, by the adoption of a few customs
+peculiar to the peoples of Asia, such as mats of fragrant materials placed
+before the doors and windows, Punkahs, which, kept in motion by Chinese
+servants, keep up a constant current of fresh air, while through the
+verandah, or the open glass casement, where the family sit swinging to and
+fro in an American rocking-chair, a delicious cool breeze blows in the
+mornings and evenings. A well-appointed numerous household is constantly
+hovering around, eagerly intent to anticipate the slightest wish of their
+employers. Probably in no part of the world are there more intelligent or
+punctual servants than the Chinese. They get through the utmost variety of
+work with consummate tact, method, and facility. Everything is done
+rapidly and noiselessly, and one is served with the utmost regularity,
+without being pestered with too much attention.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition experienced in
+<!--461.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">451</a></span>Shanghai
+the most
+hearty hospitality. Even the presence of the various embassies, and the
+momentous nature of the operations of which the Gulf of Petcheli was the
+scene, proved no barrier to a most flattering reception being accorded to
+this the first maritime Expedition of a German power. Foreigners of the
+most widely divergent races and standing,&mdash;consuls, missionaries,
+merchants, naturalists, journalists,&mdash;each in his own way vied with the
+rest in ministering to our comfort, and in aiding us in the prosecution of
+our objects.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most distinguished of the physicians and missionaries of the
+London Missionary Society, Dr. B. Hobson, who since 1838 has resided at
+Canton in the honourable capacity of a "medical missionary,"<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> and who,
+a few months before our arrival, had, in consequence of the outbreak of
+hostilities, removed to Shanghai, was so kind as to furnish us, out of his
+own rich treasures of Chinese lore, with much valuable information, and
+acquainted us with the various objects aimed at by the praiseworthy
+activity of the London Board of Missions. This body by no means confines
+its operations to the diffusion of tracts and works relating to
+Christianity published in the Chinese language, but combines
+simultaneously with that sphere of action the excellent
+<!--462.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">452</a></span>idea
+of
+ministering to the physical necessities of the poor and sick Chinese, and
+of helping them in their need. While able, eloquent Dr. Muirhead presides
+over the missionary schools, and the not less zealous Mr. Wylie
+superintends the printing of the books, our highly-educated friend Dr.
+Hobson takes charge of the hospital, the cost of which is defrayed partly
+by the Missionary Society, partly by the European community.</p>
+
+<p>The building itself is rather small and unpretending, and can at most
+accommodate only thirty patients. But it was erected chiefly for those
+cases which in England it is customary to classify in the general category
+of "accidents," injuries, that is, sustained unexpectedly, or in a riot,
+&amp;c. &amp;c. Every day between twelve and one o'clock a consultation is held,
+and treatment provided gratuitously. Hither flock hundreds of invalids, to
+avail themselves of this benevolent arrangement, and while Dr. Hobson is
+busy giving orders and dispensing drugs in his small apartment, a native
+convert in the waiting-room is preaching the Living Word to those who come
+for advice.</p>
+
+<p>We passed an entire hour in the dispensary, not merely for the purpose of
+witnessing the various descriptions of cases, mostly of a surgical nature,
+but also to catch many an instructive remark from the lips of Dr. Hobson.
+Thus he remarked, as the result of a medical practice of more than sixteen
+years, that the Chinese are uncommonly soon affected by the use of mercury
+and quinine. A very small dose of
+<!--463.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">453</a></span>either
+of these drugs very speedily
+shows a marked effect. Oddly enough, quinine, as a tonic and febrifuge, is
+unknown in the Chinese pharmacop&oelig;ia, and is almost exclusively
+prescribed for the cure of the opium-smoking form of mania.</p>
+
+<p>In China, a physician is treated with great distinction, and is usually
+designated as szí-yaý (the honourable teacher). Of late years cholera
+(tschan-kan-tschúi, literally "the contracting of the tendons") and
+small-pox had committed fearful ravages among the populace, and the
+appalling havoc committed by the latter-named disease gave occasion for
+the publication by the English missionaries of a short treatise translated
+into Chinese, on the importance of vaccination. Among children especially
+the mortality caused by this fell scourge was very great, and the
+instances of <i>leucoma</i> and loss of sight resulting from the disease appear
+to have been very numerous.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Hobson, who in 1851 had published a volume of Physiology in the Canton
+dialect, has also completed a handbook of Practical Surgery, with 400
+woodcuts, and, like the preceding, had had it printed by native workmen.
+Even the drawings were drawn on the wood and cut by native artists after
+English originals. Many of the scientific phrases contained in these works
+must have required to be entirely reconstructed, or else expressed by a
+circumlocution. Dr. Hobson intended to follow up these two splendid
+undertakings with a fresh work upon Pharmacology, as also a treatise upon
+the diseases of women and children, both, like their predecessors, to be
+in the Canton dialect, as that most universally
+used.<!--464.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">454</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Chinese, however, possess themselves a pretty comprehensive medical
+literature, whence we may infer that from the earliest times they paid
+special attention to the science of medicine. According to a Chinese
+tradition, the Emperor Schi-nung, 3200 years before our era, collected a
+"Materia Medica," and 570 years later, the Emperor Hwang-té is said to
+have written a work with the title "Sonwán" (open questions in medicine).
+The celebrated work, "the Doctrine of the Pulse," by Wang-shu-fo, was
+written in the reign of Tsche-Hwang-té (the book-burner), about 510 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">B.C.</span> A
+second edition of this work was published in the reign of Kang-he, in the
+year 1693 of our era. About <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span> 229 the Chinese physician Tschang-kae-pin
+wrote the first Chinese work which, in addition to the theory of medicine,
+also contained prescriptions. The great "<i>Materia Medica</i>" of China was
+compiled by Li-tschi-kan, and was published by his son during the reign of
+Wan-Leih, about <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span> 1600. The most important medical work in Chinese is
+the E-tsang-kin-ksen, or "the Golden Mirror of Medical Authors," collated
+by Imperial authority from the best works of earlier native authors,
+especially from the "Nan-king," and the writings of Dr. Tschang-kae-pin.
+This was published in 1743 (the seventh year of the reign of Keen-lung),
+and consists of thirty-two volumes 8vo, with upwards of 400 woodcuts.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p>
+
+<!--465.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">455</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The information furnished us by Dr. Hobson with reference to the terrible
+forms of leprosy in China are of so much interest, general as well as
+special, that we believe we shall not transcend the scope of this work, if
+we give in these pages the valuable data upon the subject in all their
+completeness.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese consider leprosy as the most appalling of diseases, since,
+while resisting all means of cure itself, it attacks others, and they
+accordingly avoid in the greatest terror all those who are smitten with
+it. Like the people whom Moses brought out, the Chinese regard leprosy as
+a direct consequence of impiety, an expiation for sin committed. For this
+reason those afflicted with leprosy are rarely regarded with pity. No hand
+of sympathy is stretched forth to give aid, no heart feels itself impelled
+to alleviate their hopeless condition, and thus the most wretched of all
+are in the eyes of the masses simply objects of disgust and of horror.
+Leprosy is called Lae in Chinese. In the Imperial dictionary of Kang-he
+Lae, is described as a very evil kind of disease, which breaks out upon
+the skin in the form of blotches and pustules. Gutzlaff and others
+acquainted with Chinese make use however of the words Ma-fung to express
+leprosy, which is also used by native writers to indicate the disease.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese physicians consider leprosy as a subtle, penetrating,
+poisonous effluvium which has infected the blood. They profess to
+recognize 36 different kinds of leprosy, among which they enumerate every
+form and variety of
+<!--466.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">456</a></span>Lichen,
+Scabies, Psoriasis, and Syphilis. Common as
+the disease is in Southern China, it is unknown in the North; its area of
+manifestation seems to be confined within the tropics. It is, however,
+related of many Chinese in good circumstances, that when attacked by
+leprosy they have removed to Pekin, where after a two years' residence
+they have lost all trace of the infection, which, however, broke out anew
+immediately on their return to the South.</p>
+
+<p>Leprosy does not seem by its physical effects to shorten life. There are
+in China numbers of aged people attacked with this disease, and in the
+Lazar-house at Canton there is still living an old leper upwards of
+eighty, who has long found an asylum in that hospital as an incurable.
+Suicide is not uncommon among those thus sorely smitten, when they usually
+poison themselves with an over-dose of opium, hang themselves, or drown
+themselves, for death, they say, makes them once more clean. Although the
+Chinese believe in the hereditary transmission of leprosy, they
+nevertheless think that the disease becomes of a milder type in the third
+generation, and entirely disappears in the fourth. Marriages never take
+place with the offspring of leprous parents or grand-parents, but on the
+other hand the lepers and their children intermarry among themselves. A
+leper however of the fourth generation would only ally himself with a girl
+of the same degree of exemption. The children of such a union would be
+considered sound and free from leprosy, and would no longer be excluded in
+any way from social
+rights.<!--467.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">457</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the Chinese believe leprosy not alone hereditary, but also infectious
+through the very slightest contact. Hence the father abandons his own
+child; the children flee from their parents: they will not eat and drink
+with them, will not sit in their company, will not use the chairs which
+have been sat upon by the leper, until at least the surrounding atmosphere
+has been fumigated with a torch. Even the law declares leprosy to be a
+contagious disease. A wealthy leper durst not venture to leave his own
+room, where he is excluded from all communication with the outer world,
+without exposing himself to the danger of being arrested by the police,
+and mulcted in a heavy fine, or else sent to what is called the Leper
+village near Canton, an abode of human woe and misery, which even the
+leprous regard with horror.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p>
+
+<p>As the Chinese physicians regard leprosy as a taint of the blood, and in
+their treatment adopt Hahnemann's principle of <i>similia similibus
+curantur</i>, they prescribe by way of
+<!--468.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">458</a></span>remedies
+the most repulsive and
+disgusting substances which they can select from their <i>Materia Medica</i>,
+such as the saliva of the toad, beetles, snakes, worms, scorpions,
+centipedes, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Hobson considers leprosy, when once fully developed, to be incurable.
+Such remedies as arsenic, salts, acids, in short alteratives, occasionally
+prove efficacious at an early stage of the malady, as also Iodine baths,
+and mercurial friction. External remedies however are usually found to be
+unavailing in reaching the root of the disorder, its seat lying deeper
+than an ordinary affection of the skin.</p>
+
+<p>Of late years the seeds of the Tschaul or Tscharul Mugra (one of the order
+of <i>Flacourtiaceæ</i>), have been administered for leprosy by several English
+physicians in India, and certainly, in some instances, with such results
+that the most sanguine hopes were entertained of its efficacy in all cases
+of leprosy. Dr. Hobson informed us that Dr. Mouatt, of the Medical
+College, Calcutta, who was the first to discover the remarkable properties
+of this plant, sent him, when he was at Canton, a considerable quantity of
+these seeds for the purpose of experimenting with them.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> They were
+ground into a coarse powder,
+<!--469.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">459</a></span>and
+in that state administered twice a day
+at considerable intervals in doses of about 60 grains, the external sores
+being at the same time rubbed with the oil pressed out of the seeds. The
+cure must be persevered in without interruption for six months, and must
+be from time to time aided by saline purgatives. The first symptom of
+improvement shows itself in an abatement of the prominence and redness of
+the eruption, and the appearance of white scales all round it. This remedy
+has long been known to the Chinese, but those who are acquainted with the
+active curative principle contained in the seeds of the Tscharul Mugra,
+keep the secret to themselves in their own interest.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> Dr. Hobson
+assured us that he had cured two cases of leprosy taken early, and in a
+very mild form, by the administration of these seeds, and had seen several
+greatly improved by their use; but this experienced physician is, like
+others, distrustful of the efficacy of the seeds of Tscharul Mugra in
+cases of fully developed leprosy, which, according to his view, is
+pre-eminently a taint of the blood,&mdash;a poison which can never again be
+eradicated from the system. In cases of scrofula, these seeds have been
+found serviceable.</p>
+
+<p>Like their brethren of the London Missionary Association, the various
+missions of the United States of North America
+<!--470.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">460</a></span>display
+the most
+praiseworthy zeal and activity of co-operation upon every question.</p>
+
+<p>That eminent philanthropist, Dr. Bridgman, who had, for more than a
+quarter of a century, been an active and highly esteemed missionary, was
+in 1858 at the head of the American Episcopal Mission, and was one of the
+oldest, as also among the most highly respected, denizens of the little
+foreign settlement. This meritorious citizen died at Shanghai, on the 29th
+of November, 1861, after having spent upwards of thirty years in China in
+the promotion of the Christian faith and the advancement of knowledge,
+deeply lamented by foreigners, as well as by the Chinese, who always found
+him their true and confident friend. This gentleman had the kindness to
+assemble under his simple but kindly roof the various members of his
+mission, who are no less useful in increasing our acquaintance with the
+Chinese language and literature than in diffusing the blessings of the
+gospel, thus furnishing the members of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition with an
+opportunity of personal intercourse with these gentlemen. We here became
+acquainted with Mr. Wells Williams, so highly esteemed and so widely known
+for his profound historical and philological works<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> respecting China,
+as also with Messrs. Syle, Aichison, Macy, Jones, and Blodgett,
+missionaries distinguished for their extensive acquirements in Chinese;
+and in the course of this
+<!--471.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">461</a></span>agreeable
+and interesting intercourse were so
+fortunate as to obtain information respecting a variety of topics, many of
+them suggested by Dr. Pfitzmaier, and recommended by him to our
+investigation. On most of these topics accurate intelligence was in the
+course of our voyage transmitted to the Imperial Academy of Sciences; of
+the remainder elaborate and comprehensive particulars are reserved for the
+scientific publications of the Expedition.</p>
+
+<p>We may, however, more closely investigate here one topic of universal
+interest, namely, the latest researches respecting the very remarkable,
+little known, half-savage tribe, known as the Miáu-Tze.</p>
+
+<p>These extraordinary human beings are usually encountered in the provinces
+of Kwei-chan, Yun-nán, Szechuen, Húnán, Kwang-si, and the western part of
+Kwang-tung. The wild tribes of the island of Formosa belong, on the
+contrary, to an entirely different race. In the Imperial Dictionary of
+Kang-hi, the sign <img src="images/glyph471a.png" style="display: inline;
+height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" />, <i>miáu</i> (a compound of the
+words "flower" and "meadow"), signifies "germinating seeds," "blades of
+grass springing from the seed-vessels." The sign <img src="images/glyph471b.png"
+style="display: inline; height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;"
+alt="" />, <i>tsz</i>, on the other hand, is that usually employed to
+express son, or descendant. In accordance with this explanation, the
+Chinese also seem to consider the Miáu-tze as children of the soil, as
+aborigines, or indigenous inhabitants of the country. In their
+descriptions of this singular people they divide them into "Sang" and
+"Schuh." <i>Sang</i>, ordinarily used when speaking of fruit, signifies "green,
+unripe,"&mdash;<i>schuh</i> again means "ripe," or, when
+<!--472.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">462</a></span>speaking
+of food, the
+former signifies "raw," the latter "thoroughly cooked." By these means
+they discriminate them into the savage independent "green" Miáu-tze, and
+the subjugated more civilized "ripe" Miáu-tze. The subjection and
+civilization of these latter are however as yet very problematical. As in
+days long gone by, so up to the present hour, the Miáu-tze are restless
+and troublesome neighbours to the Chinese. Dr. Bridgman has lately
+translated into English the sketches made by a Chinese scholar upon the
+Miáu-tze, during his travels in the province of Kwei-chan, by which he has
+added greatly to our stock of information respecting those "children of
+the soil;" the work consists of two volumes in 8vo, containing about 82
+sketches or delineations. Each of these fills one page, the handwriting
+being condensed or expanded according to the amount of the contents, while
+that opposite contains an illustration elucidatory of the text. This very
+rare work divides the Miáu-tze into 82 tribes according to their customs,
+more or less savage, very few of whom possess any trace of a written
+language, recording the most important events simply by certain marks on a
+stick, or by what are called "tallies," and subsisting upon wild fruit,
+fish, and the flesh of wild animals. They usually go about barefooted, are
+very scantily clad, lead a life full of privation and hardship, and in all
+their troubles have recourse to the invocation of the evil spirits. Only
+very few of their race follow agriculture, or any branch of industry, or
+worship
+<!--473.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">463</a></span>Buddha
+in their festivals.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> Some of these however seem to be
+more or less crossed with Chinese blood, as, for example, the
+Tsche-Tsai-Miáu, in the district of Kutschan, whither the rebel Má-sán-pái
+formerly fled with 600 of his followers, when his attempt, under his
+feudal leader, Mu-san-Kwei, to overthrow the reigning dynasty, failed of
+success. Many of these fugitives formed connections with the native women,
+and their descendants are now known by the name of the six hundred savage
+Miáu families.</p>
+
+<p>Adjoining Dr. Bridgman's residence, is a school maintained at the expense
+of the mission, in which twenty-four Chinese girls are during five years
+instructed in reading and writing their mother tongue, in arithmetic, and
+in the rudiments of Christianity, after which they are provided with a
+small portion and married to Chinese Christians of good character.
+Selected under the idea that very favourable results may be anticipated,
+if the various subjects in which the scholars are
+<!--474.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">464</a></span>instructed
+are imparted
+to them in their native language, English is entirely omitted. Interesting
+and extraordinary, however, as it is to hear American ladies imparting
+instruction in the Chinese language, this method of teaching has many
+drawbacks, and the mission itself and society in general would derive far
+more advantage, if these poor females should be instructed in English,
+thus widening the horizon of their knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>In the boys' school, also supported by the mission, another method of
+teaching is in use. The children learn an epistle first in Chinese,
+afterwards in English, when they are called upon to translate the Chinese
+into English. Thus we heard one lad rehearse the Book of Ruth, first in
+Chinese, and then in English. He was then examined in English upon the
+meaning of certain passages, when he replied with great accuracy in the
+same language. Education in these schools is mainly intrusted to ladies.
+Two of these, Miss Jones and Miss Conover, displayed remarkable
+attainments in Chinese, besides their really marvellous store of
+information. None of the teachers are married, while none of the wives of
+the missionaries interfere with the school, but employ themselves in
+superintending the education of their own children. We found forty Chinese
+boys receiving their education at the expense of the mission, whose
+parents have to sign a written engagement that they will not withdraw
+their children from the institution for a period of ten years, in fact,
+till the completion of their education. This precaution is absolutely
+<!--475.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">465</a></span>necessary,
+owing to the fickle nature of the Chinese, else it would be a
+by no means rare occurrence for the parents to insist on the child
+returning home, possibly just at the critical moment when the beneficent
+influence of Christian culture is beginning to spring up in the soul. On
+the whole, this mission has splendid results to show. We saw one scholar,
+who at present forms one of the staff of teachers, and speaks and writes
+English absolutely better than his native language. Another young Chinese,
+sent out at the expense of the mission, spent eight years at Yale College
+in Massachusetts, and at present earns his maintenance by translating
+English documents into Chinese and <i>vice versâ</i>, for the mercantile houses
+of the place.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Bridgman is at once founder and president of the first scientific
+association in Shanghai, the "North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
+Society," including among its members almost all the foreigners resident
+in Shanghai, who assemble regularly every winter for intellectual and
+literary recreation, and publish from time to time in a periodical of
+their own, details of the efforts, adventures, and experiences of their
+colleagues in promoting the objects of the association.</p>
+
+<p>An extraordinary meeting was held in honour of the <i>Novara</i> voyagers, at
+which about forty persons were present. The President, Dr. Bridgman,
+welcomed our commander and his subordinates with a few cordial remarks,
+which was responded to by Commodore Wüllerstorff, after which the writer
+of these lines had the honour to deliver in English a
+<!--476.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">466</a></span>brief
+address,
+touching on the chief aims of the Expedition and its scientific objects,
+stating that its chief purpose was less the promotion of purely scientific
+knowledge, than by ample, long-continued practice to provide material of
+suitable quality for our youthful budding navy, to unfurl the standard of
+Austria in localities where it had never before been seen, to effect
+treaties of commerce with foreign nations, to knit the various capitals
+which we should visit in our cruise by the tie of science, to open
+correspondence with their various institutes, and to make collections,
+chiefly of those objects of natural history, the acquisition of which,
+owing to their great value or the difficulty of transport, is almost
+impossible to the single traveller. The hearty reception which had been
+accorded the Expedition in Shanghai rendered it doubly incumbent on us to
+explain the various purposes we had in view, and the original points of
+inquiry to which we were restricted by the track definitely assigned to
+us, as also to account for the shortness of our stay in each port, and the
+fact that our prescribed route led us sometimes to visit places either
+politically or nautically well known.</p>
+
+<p>After the close of this short lecture, several of those present rose to
+speak, amongst others the United States Plenipotentiary, Mr. Reed, who
+expressed his sincere pleasure at having been privileged during his stay
+in China to meet with the commander of an Austrian frigate engaged with
+his gallant companions in so grand a mission.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed spoke in high terms of the scientific exertions
+<!--477.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">467</a></span>being
+made by
+Germany, and recalled in animated terms the splendid services of A. von
+Humboldt, whom the news of the death of Washington (14th Dec. 1799) found
+already occupied in scientific research in the primeval forests of South
+America, and who still (August, 1858) continued to display such marvellous
+intellectual activity.</p>
+
+<p>Besides Mr. Reed, we also made the personal acquaintance of the French
+Plenipotentiary, Baron Gros; the ambassadors of England and Russia were
+already gone, the former to Japan, the latter to the Amur. We were
+introduced to Baron Gros at the house of M. de Montigny, the French
+Consul, who during a residence of many years in China has occupied himself
+not alone with upholding the prestige and influence of "<i>la grande
+nation</i>," but has also rendered conspicuous services to science and
+agriculture. To him is due the credit of having in 1847 dispatched to
+Europe the first seeds of what is called the Chinese sugar-cane (<i>Sorghum
+saccharatum</i>), and of having introduced to agriculturists that remarkable
+species of grass, with which, in consequence of its many useful qualities,
+hundreds of thousands of acres have since that period been planted in
+various parts of the globe. M. de Montigny distinguished the members of
+our Expedition in every way, and presented them with numerous specimens of
+seeds from Northern China.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p>
+
+<!--478.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">468</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The visit paid to Baron Gros by two of the naturalists left by no means an
+agreeable impression. The French ambassador is a tall, commanding,
+powerfully-built man, about fifty years of age, with a full, round,
+beardless face covered with freckles, and hair of a light colour. He
+seemed pleased to speak of himself and his connections, and repeatedly
+proclaimed himself an admirer of German men of science, who was in
+correspondence with M. von Humboldt. "You know," quoth the Baron,
+apparently desirous of explaining his meaning, "he that wrote the Kosmos."
+The two members of our Expedition coloured up; to pronounce the name of
+Humboldt to German men of science, and deem it necessary to state his
+literary claims, was sufficiently embarrassing. One of them endeavoured to
+turn the conversation to the gulf of Petchi-li, whence Baron Gros had just
+returned after the ratification of the treaty of peace. He showed them a
+hasty sketch of a portion of the great wall of China, to which he had paid
+a visit when in the gulf of Petchi-li, and had made the sketch on the
+spot. The natives with whom he came in contact during his stay in the
+North he described as destitute and poor to an extraordinary degree, but
+anything but hostile to foreigners. They asked for with eagerness and
+seized with avidity the entrails of animals which the sailors were about
+to throw away; on empty bottles being thrown
+<!--479.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">469</a></span>overboard,
+they swam a
+considerable distance to rescue them. With respect to the political events
+in the Pei-ho and Tien-Tsin, his Excellency, whether out of diplomatic
+reserve or for other reasons we do not know, preserved profound
+silence.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p>
+
+<!--480.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">470</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A variety of circumstances, however, may have contributed to make the
+Baron less susceptible to every other thing than his everlasting "I."
+Baron Gros had in fact been subjected
+<!--481.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">471</a></span>to
+the very great inconvenience of
+the Propellor <i>Audacieuse</i>, which had been brought from France, having
+suddenly become unseaworthy, so that he had to abandon her. She was making
+from 100 to 140 tons of water per diem, and there was nothing for it but
+to have the vessel taken with all speed to the docks at Whampoa for
+repairs, while the envoy had to return to Europe by another opportunity.
+Moreover, the Baron had been attacked by a disorder of common occurrence
+in hot countries, namely, a furuncle, which is exceedingly painful, and
+obstinately resists every remedy. Whoever is of a constitution liable to
+such attacks is never free from them till he gains a colder climate. In
+the case of the unfortunate Baron, these went on continually increasing,
+and on one of his compatriots being asked in society what was the cause of
+the absence of the French ambassador, replied with an arch look, "<i>le
+pauvre baron a quatre-vingt cloux</i>." In fact, the annoyance caused by this
+malady is redoubled by the little sympathy accorded to those afflicted
+with it, who are only rallied or laughed at.</p>
+
+<p>Another personage who, at the period of our stay in Shanghai, attained a
+rather unenviable notoriety by his strange conduct, and did but little to
+raise the reputation of France in these latitudes, was the Marquis de
+Chassiron. By his marriage with one of the Princesses Murat (since dead),
+he was allied to the Emperor of the French, whom he occasionally spoke of
+in an off-hand way as "mon neveu, l'Empereur." Meagre, wizen,
+spindle-shanked, and ringletted,
+<!--482.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">472</a></span>in
+coloured check pantaloons, blue
+frock, open-work cravat of Gros de Naples, and dancing-master's pumps,
+resembling much more a second-rate Paris dandy than a diplomatist, it
+seemed as though he must have been dispatched to this out-of-the-way part
+of the world for quite other than a diplomatic object, although he took
+great pains to spread the report that he had been appointed the successor
+of Baron Gros in the Embassy.</p>
+
+<p>One day the Commodore and some members of the Expedition received an
+invitation from the kind and hospitable English Consul, Mr. Brook
+Robertson, to be present at a reception at the Consulate of the Táu-Tái,
+or highest Chinese official of the city.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p>
+
+<p>We the more readily congratulated ourselves on this invitation, as, owing
+to the sudden departure of the Táu-Tái, we missed the opportunity of
+paying him a visit in his own palace in the city. Punctually at the
+appointed hour, 2 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, a formal procession was seen approaching the
+buildings of the English Consulate. In front were carried numerous titles
+and insignia, then the Táu-Tái in a large and handsome sedan-chair,
+<!--483.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">473</a></span>and
+finally a noisy "following," in the shape of a rabble of servants. Mr.
+Robertson received the Táu-Tái at the threshold of his house, and greeted
+him with the customary Tschin-Tschin, moving the hands closely folded a
+few times over the breast.</p>
+
+<p>All present kept the head covered, making in like manner a few
+Tschin-tschins, and then accompanied the visitor to the reception-room, in
+which were five stools, the seat of honour being on the left. As soon as
+the Táu-Tái was seated, the rest took their seats, and a proposition was
+made in consequence of the truly tropical heat, contrary to Chinese
+notions of courtesy, to divest one's self of one's head-gear. The
+Mandarin, at all events, seemed as little loth to lay aside his
+funnel-shaped straw-cap, with its blue button and peacock's feather, as
+the Europeans present to doff their uniform caps.</p>
+
+<p>The presentation of the commander and the author of this narrative by Mr.
+Meadows, who acted as interpreter, gave the Táu-Tái an opportunity of
+inquiring of the English Consul whether our frigate had been at the gulf
+of Petcheli. Mr. Robertson replied that the <i>Novara</i> was the first
+war-ship of a German power which had ever visited the Yang-tse-Kiang and
+Wusung rivers, and that the frigate was bound on a voyage of scientific
+discovery. This led to a running fire of questions and answers, during the
+course of which two attendants were engaged alternately in filling a small
+pipe with tobacco, which they handed to the Táu-Tái. The latter drew a few
+puffs, permitted the smoke to escape through his
+<!--484.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">474</a></span>nostrils,
+after which
+his pipe was again replenished with a small supply of tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>We next had an example of the custom, already mentioned, of wiping the
+face with a hot damp towel, one of the attendants dipping a rather thick
+piece of linen cloth in a tub of hot water, which was then wrung out, when
+the cloth was presented to the Mandarin, who, without in any way
+interrupting the conversation, from time to time wiped the perspiration
+from his brow.</p>
+
+<p>The Táu-Tái had a well-made, handsome figure, pleasing, rather
+intelligent, features, a round, smooth, delicate face, without any trace
+of beard, eyes as usual drawn up at the outer corner, small elegant hands,
+and beautifully tapered fingers, with very long nails. His dress was very
+simple; he wore, for the sake of coolness, a shirt made of thin bamboo
+shoots, with a long, yellowish, loose surcoat, white drawers, and, instead
+of the usual Chinese shoe with its high cork soles, or white thick
+gaiters, he wore light shoes of European make. His head was covered with a
+cone-shaped straw-hat of very fine texture, with a red tassel and blue
+knot in the midst, and a dark green peacock's feather, extending
+horizontally backwards.</p>
+
+<p>Business over, a table was covered, and the Táu-Tái invited to partake.
+According to the Chinese custom, only confectionery, preserves, and fruit
+were handed round. The liquids consisted of sherry, liqueurs, Chinese wine
+or Samschoo (made from rice and imbibed from cups in lieu of glasses), and
+green
+<!--485.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">475</a></span>and
+almond tea. The Mandarin drank to all present, and seemed to
+take more to sherry and Maraschino than to his own native drinks. The slim
+liqueur bottle, with its neat gilt label and the thick cork stopper,
+seemed especially to attract his attention.</p>
+
+<p>After a few commonplace observations, the Táu-Tái once more turned the
+conversation upon Austria, and remarked he had never before heard of that
+power. Mr. Meadows endeavoured to prompt the memory of the Chinese
+official, produced Muirhead's universal geography translated into Chinese,
+turned up therein the section relating to Austria, and handed the book to
+the Táu-Tái, who had the entire passage read to him by one of his
+attendants, that he might "get up" the country from which the strangers
+had come who were seated on his left and right hands.</p>
+
+<p>The inquisitiveness of every Chinese now displayed itself in a series of
+inquiries as to the principal products and articles of export of the
+Empire, and he expressed a hope he should ere long see more of the
+"Austrian Mandarins" in Shanghai. The <i>Novara</i> travellers on their side
+with a patriotic pride, readily pardonable under the circumstances,
+endeavoured through the medium of the Government interpreter to leave the
+best possible impression of their native country upon the mind of the
+Táu-Tái, by giving a glowing description of the Austrian Empire, its
+natural advantages, and its people. Of numbers the worthy man seemed to
+have no definite idea, for the remark that the Empire contained (1st
+August, 1858)
+<!--486.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">476</a></span>very
+nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants seemed greatly to
+astonish him, although this is probably barely one-tenth of the population
+of the Chinese Empire.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p>
+
+<p>Just as the Táu-Tái was preparing to set out on his return, a tremendous
+tumult was suddenly heard in the street. It seemed like a popular
+insurrection, and servants were forthwith sent out to ascertain the cause
+of this unexpected shindy, who came back presently with the intelligence
+that an English sailor had struck a coolie of the suite a blow on the face
+with his fist, so violent that he was seriously injured, and was bleeding
+profusely. The Táu-Tái made his appearance
+<!--487.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">477</a></span>on
+the portico. As soon as the
+injured man saw his master approaching, he flung himself before him
+imploring aid, and exhibiting his face streaming with blood, and the wound
+gaping open. The Táu-Tái ordered the man to rise, and delivered him to the
+Chinese police. Occasionally when a Chinese receives a wound in a quarrel
+of this nature he will abstain from wiping off the blood-stains from his
+face for weeks together, finding, it should seem, some satisfaction in
+being able to exhibit them. This done, the procession resumed its march.
+In front strode a man who from time to time administered a sounding thwack
+to the gong, after which he rushed through the streets bawling like a
+Stentor, that the people might crowd on one side and leave the Táu-Tái
+space to pass unobstructed. The rear was brought up with police,
+catch-poles with long bamboo poles, and the executioner with his axe&mdash;the
+never-failing attendant on such occasions,&mdash;who accompanies it, however,
+only as a sort of allegorical personage, to impress upon the yelling
+crowds around the consequences of disobedience, and of rebellion against
+constituted authority.</p>
+
+<p>The only important excursion we made from Shanghai was to the Jesuit
+Mission of Sikkawéi, twelve miles distant. Our excellent host, Mr. James
+Hogg, of the well-known firm of Lindsay and Co.,<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> and Consul for the
+Hanse towns, to whose great kindness we are deeply indebted, was so kind
+as
+<!--488.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">478</a></span>to
+order his pretty little yacht <i>Flirt</i> to be got ready for our
+accommodation, and we set off, accompanied by the heroic Mr. Gray, of the
+American house of Russell and Co., who lost one foot while fighting
+against the Tai-ping rebels before the very gates of Shanghai. As the
+Europeans are in the habit of using these pleasure-boats as residences
+during their visit to the interior, so as not to be dependent upon the
+somewhat uncertain hospitality of the Chinese, they are provided with
+every accessory to comfort, being fitted with a neat cabin, a small
+library, boudoir, berth-cabin, &amp;c. They usually carry an immense spread of
+canvas, and during calms are propelled like the native boats with one big
+oar from the stern, which serves at the same time as a rudder. The sail up
+the Wusung, in which upwards of a hundred sail of merchantmen, and above a
+thousand junks, were lying at anchor, was very interesting. Many of the
+junks lying off the Catholic cathedral of Tonka-dú displayed a flag with a
+white cross on a black ground, in token of the religious faith of the
+crew. Here also we saw for the first time some Siamese ships, built in
+Siam, for the most part on European models. Of these we counted eleven. By
+way of ensign, they had an elephant rather nicely drawn, sometimes on a
+red, sometimes on a blue field, according to the fancy or the taste of the
+owner. These vessels have Siamese crews and English captains, and are
+armed with ten or twelve cannon, so that his Siamese Majesty can at a
+moment's notice use his little fleet of merchantmen for warlike purposes.</p>
+
+<!--489.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">479</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The channel, 200 or 300 fathoms wide, which unites the Wusung with the
+internal network of small rivers, is called the Wuang-Po, a designation
+which some authorities assume to be the name of its constructor, while
+others maintain that it is derived from <i>wong</i>, yellow, and applies to the
+colour of the water, just as Whampoa, near Canton, signifies the yellow
+anchorage. Nothing has so much contributed to that immense activity of
+commerce, which we marvel at among the Chinese, as their vast canal
+system, the introduction of which was pursued with such energy in the 7th
+century.<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> The innumerable artificial canals, with which the whole
+north of China is intersected, and which by their admirably planned system
+of arrangement unite all the lakes and navigable rivers of the Empire with
+each other, make it possible to voyage through every province of the
+Empire without having once to leave the boat. They atone for the great
+want of good roads, and even make the absence of railroads less
+perceptible in a country where the value of labour is so unprecedentedly
+low.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as we leave Shanghai behind, with its immense
+<!--490.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">480</a></span>commercial
+fleet,
+the scenery beyond becomes tame. The banks on either side are low, and far
+as the eye can reach not a single hill is to be seen, not even a rising
+slope&mdash;nothing but a flat alluvial soil, every inch of which seems
+diligently tilled, or otherwise made useful.</p>
+
+<p>After we had sailed several miles in the <i>Flirt</i> we came to a branch of
+the great canal, where we shifted into a smaller but not less elegant
+boat, the property of Mr. Gray, which drew less water, and in which we
+were to reach the Jesuit mission. At this season, however, owing to the
+lowness of the water, navigation was only continued with great difficulty,
+and notwithstanding the astonishing dexterity with which our worthy Lau-tú
+(the old chief) conned our craft through the sharp bends of the river, we
+were at last compelled to halt, and perform the rest of the distance,
+about two miles, on foot.</p>
+
+<p>We now found ourselves strolling through fields planted with rice and
+cotton, through cabbage and vegetable gardens, occasionally even over
+graves, which rose in mounds here and there along our path. Sometimes in
+the distance we could descry small villages and solitary farm-houses.</p>
+
+<p>In Sikkawéi we found about twenty Jesuits, French and Italians, all of
+genuine Chinese appearance, with heads half-shaved, long queues stretching
+to the ground, loose yellow clothes, and velvet shoes with thick cork
+soles. This had a striking, almost theatrical effect. We were ushered into
+the reception-room, and there offered refreshment. The conversation
+<!--491.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">481</a></span>soon
+became brisk, which added to the singularity of the scene, as the seeming
+Chinese, sitting in a circle round the table, and smoking perfumed tobacco
+out of small long-stemmed pipes, began, in fluent French or liquid
+Italian, to discuss Paris, Naples, Vienna, or politics and art.</p>
+
+<p>This Mission is supported by the Propaganda of Rome, as also by voluntary
+contributions. About 80 pupils, chiefly children of poor parents, are
+instructed in the Chinese language and literature, in reading, writing,
+arithmetic, and drawing, and in the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith; on
+the other hand, little anxiety is manifested for their instruction in
+French or English, or in providing them with any practical mechanical
+instruction. In this mode of education the main object seems to be to
+enable the students more readily to reach the highest offices in the state
+by imparting to them a thorough grounding in Chinese literature, and by
+these means to ensure for them religious influence and protection.
+Accordingly, strenuous efforts are made to increase the number of
+scholars, and in order to facilitate this aim, as in the case of the
+Indians of Central and Southern America, their observance of various
+heathen rites is connived at, as, for example, the worship of their
+ancestors, the ceremonies at the death of a relation, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>One branch of art, in which some of the scholars have, owing to their
+having naturally a turn for it, attained considerable proficiency, is
+wood-engraving. In the church attached to the Mission are shown a number
+of altar-ornaments,
+<!--492.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">482</a></span>chiefly
+figures very beautifully carved in wood, the
+work of a Jesuit of Spanish extraction, whose talent and enthusiasm seem
+to have laid the foundation of this school of image-carvers. In what is
+called the model-room are numbers of figures and busts designed by the
+practised hand of the brother alluded to. Here too are some heads of the
+Saviour, very beautifully executed in clay by the Chinese scholars, as
+also Madonnas, busts of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Emperor
+Napoleon III. These are doubly extraordinary, when we remember the slight
+instruction and very scanty assistance bestowed on them while in course of
+execution; their actual value however is small, for at present, as none of
+the Jesuits in the Mission have any very decided taste for the art,
+instruction in it has almost entirely ceased.</p>
+
+<p>The achievements of the present members of the Society of Jesus, in China,
+suffer greatly, measured by the standard of what was accomplished by their
+renowned brethren in previous centuries; one looks in vain for the high
+attainments, the self-sacrificing zeal, the practical talents of other
+times, and Sikkawéi, with its present spiritual occupants, cannot leave a
+very pleasing impression on any unprejudiced Catholic. There is an utter
+lack of all those qualities which once formed the renown and the title to
+admiration of the Jesuits in China. One looks for, but fails to find, a
+library corresponding to the dignity of the Mission, or mathematical or
+medical instruments, or a chemical laboratory: in lieu of these there seem
+to prevail a deficiency of Christian toleration for these unmistakeable
+<!--493.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">483</a></span>adjuncts
+of true education and enlightenment. At all events, we judged as
+much from a remark made by the brother who accompanied us round the
+building, who spoke some words in Chinese to the gaping crowd of
+long-tailed scholars, who kept pressing upon us, and then turning to us,
+observed in French,&mdash;"I have informed our pupils that our present guests
+are Roman Catholics, and therefore <i>true</i> Christians, because we
+occasionally have English visitors at the Mission, and they are heretics."
+Apparently the intolerant padre was reckoning without his host, for there
+were several Protestants among the party!</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the province of Kaing-su there are at present 80,000 Chinese
+Catholics, that is to say, who profess Catholicism, though having but a
+very superficial idea of its spirit and its reality.</p>
+
+<p>In returning to our boat we availed ourselves of the mode of conveyance in
+most common use in China, the sedan-chair, or couch. The ordinary
+sedan-chair differs little in exterior form and interior arrangement from
+those still occasionally used in some of the out-of-the-way, old-fashioned
+towns, both of Germany and England. Owing to the extreme cheapness of
+labour, the least well-to-do classes of Chinese are able to avail
+themselves of these convenient conveyances, the use of which is doubly
+agreeable in such a hot climate. Indeed, long journeys are very frequently
+made by this mode of transport. As a rule, the sedan-bearers get over from
+twenty to twenty-five miles per diem, charging for that distance one
+dollar, in
+<!--494.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">484</a></span>addition
+to their food, consisting of tea, rice, vegetables,
+and cakes. Baggage and merchandise of all sorts are conveyed by coolies,
+each carrying with ease 110 <i>catties</i>, equal to 146 lbs. With such a
+burthen he will trudge over lofty mountain passes, and without much effort
+will cover thirteen miles a day. If special dispatch is required, the
+burthen must be reduced one-half, when the coolie, keeping at the trot,
+will get over double the distance in one day; what is gained in speed
+being lost in power.</p>
+
+<p>On our return to Shanghai, we visited the celebrated six-storied Pagoda,
+Long-Sáh, which is traditionally said to have been erected about <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span> 250,
+during the period of the Three Empires. Of all the Pagodas hitherto known,
+not even excepting the well-known specimen at Canton, it is the best
+preserved, and forms one massive, wide quadrangular tower, about 150 feet
+high, arranged in six stories, one of which has running around it a richly
+carved balcony. The pyramidal roof has turned-up angles, to which are
+suspended bells, which when agitated by the wind give forth their music.
+From the highest story, to which access is obtained by a stone staircase,
+there is a rather agreeable, pretty extensive view over the country, and
+its cultivated surface, stretching away till, at 200 miles from Shanghai,
+to the north and north-west, rises a range of mountains, of which of
+course not a glimpse is to be seen hence, the prospect in this direction
+having no defined limit. This panoramic view gives an excellent idea of
+the characteristics of a Chinese landscape, the various methods of
+<!--495.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">485</a></span>cultivation,
+the situation of the valleys, and, above all, the ceaseless
+tide of traffic, as evidenced by the almost innumerable artificial
+water-channels which intersect the country in every direction. Quite close
+to the Pagoda is a Buddha temple, the well-known Lûng-hwó, erected <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span>
+230. Of the seventy Buddhist and Taouist temples of the province this is
+the largest and most beautiful. The rear of the edifice is adorned with
+countless figures, sometimes of colossal dimensions, in wood, plaster, and
+porcelain, richly carved and gilt. There is also a female statue among
+these Chinese saints, the attitude strongly suggestive of a Madonna.</p>
+
+<p>This temple is plainly in connection with the Pagoda, and the various
+small chambers behind it seem to have been destined for the accommodation
+of priests and devout pilgrims. According to an old Chinese tradition this
+temple owes its erection to the following circumstance:&mdash;a queen from the
+south, who had anchored her boat one night in the Whampoa Channel near
+Wusung, suddenly beheld a light shoot up amid the tall grass, and rise
+towards heaven, in consequence of which she gave orders for a temple to be
+built on the site.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting episodes of our stay at Shanghai consisted in
+a genuine Chinese banquet, given by a wealthy native merchant, named
+Ta-ki, a warm friend of all foreigners, in honour of the Austrian
+Expedition. The huge invitation cards, written, according to the usual
+practice of the country, in Chinese characters upon blood-red paper, and
+folded in envelopes of the same brilliant hue, were sent
+<!--496.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">486</a></span>round
+to the
+residences of the guests some days beforehand.</p>
+
+<p>At 8 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> the feast began. Ta-ki's house, like those of all the wealthy
+Chinese, is surrounded by a massive wall, six or seven feet in height, and
+painted white. After passing through a narrow gateway, the visitor finds
+himself at once in the usual apartments. These were adorned for the
+occasion with large coloured lanterns, which despite their numbers shed a
+mild and most agreeable light.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> Along the walls, which were richly
+gilt, hung quantities of sententious native maxims, written with Indian
+ink, sometimes in Chinese characters, sometimes in Tartar, on white or
+yellow rolls of paper. The greatest attention appeared to have been paid
+to the preparation of the reception-room, whose form was a rather narrow
+oblong, in which at the far end was erected a platform, where a strolling
+company acted Chinese theatricals. The musicians sat on the stage. The
+company belonged to one of those innumerable wandering troops which are
+engaged for a day or two now by the community, now by wealthy Mandarins,
+to give some theatrical representations, which it
+<!--497.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">487</a></span>seems
+must in China
+form the accompaniment of every important event, whether joyous or
+sorrowful.</p>
+
+<p>At those performances which are given in public, the multitude is admitted
+gratis, and of this privilege they avail themselves to the utmost. Each
+man selects the best seat for himself, on the street, in a tree, or on a
+roof. Mandarins, however, and rich private individuals have their own
+little stage scenes in the interior of their usually spacious mansions, in
+which from time to time they have theatrical representations for the
+amusement of a small circle of friends. Some Mandarins even go the length
+of having their own players, who receive regular annual pay, and form part
+of the household.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the very extensive collections of Chinese plays, with
+several of which the learned classes of Europe have been made acquainted
+by the valuable labours of Julien, Bazin, Remusat, and others, there are
+but a very few of true literary value. The plot of most of them is
+exceedingly simple, the actors themselves specify the characters they are
+to play; between each scene there is usually a lack of connection, and
+frequently the most telling scenes and situations are marred by the most
+arrant trash, or the coarsest jests. Only a very small number of these
+rise above the level of the buffoonery of former ages, and judging by the
+accounts given by travellers, who have been present at such entertainments
+in even the large cities, including Pekin itself, the dramatic art would
+as yet seem to be in
+<!--498.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">488</a></span>its
+infancy in China.<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> The company which was
+assembled in the hospitable mansion of Ta-ki, to do honour to the members
+of the <i>Novara</i> Expedition, was not calculated to impress them favourably
+with the scope of the Chinese drama. The piece appointed consisted of
+events in the ancient history of China, for which Chinese dramatic poets
+have a special predilection, owing to the abundance of material from which
+to choose, although the multitude seem to have but little sympathy with
+it. Even our host, who spoke the Canton-English, as it is called, could
+give us but little explanation or enlightenment as to the plot, and
+contented himself with repeatedly remarking that the piece related to
+"old, old times!"</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the universal custom, according to which women are not
+permitted to enter a theatre, so that even the female characters have to
+be played by men dressed to represent the part, the majority of the
+present troupe were girls of from 14 to 20 years of age, who, stained red
+or white, and elegantly arrayed, appeared mostly in Mandarin dresses on
+the stage. The most outrageously absurd of the scenes were those most in
+favour with the numerous domestics who, besides the invited guests, formed
+the audience. Thus, there was a roar of laughter when a nurse entered with
+a child in her arms, which had the face of an old soldier, with grey
+beard, whiskers, and moustachios. They sang a long, rather
+<!--499.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">489</a></span>melancholious
+ditty, and then retired, without there appearing to be the slightest
+connection between this and the following scene. We noted the evident
+predilection of the Chinese actors for a high-pitched falsetto tone of
+voice when speaking, which, by the way, must render their assumption of
+female parts much more easy, and on the present occasion they probably
+were desirous of giving us a specimen of their skill in this
+accomplishment. The music on such occasions is, if possible, even more
+discordant and monotonous than the delivery, and is not confined to merely
+accompanying the couplets, but continues to play during the intervals till
+the ear is utterly wearied.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of each act a large board covered with a red cloth was
+brought on the stage and placed beneath the feet of the actors; on this
+the steward of the house placed a present for the troupe about four
+dollars' worth of copper <i>cash</i>, which was forthwith carried away. This
+was apparently the only intimation to most of the spectators that a piece
+was ended, and a fresh one about to begin.</p>
+
+<p>After these theatrical representations had lasted about an hour and a half
+a long pause ensued. One longed to escape outside into the fresh air, to
+get rid of the wearying sensation of the performances, and the stifling
+heat which prevailed in the room. The guests were at liberty to walk
+without obstruction through the various apartments of the extensive
+residence, and accordingly stumbled upon rooms which are usually, as it
+were, hermetically sealed to a foreigner, viz.
+<!--500.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">490</a></span>the
+apartments of the
+women. Ta-ki carried his hospitality even this length, and presented us to
+his wives, as also to his grey-haired mother, seventy years old, for whom
+he showed the utmost love and respect. Ta-ki's wives, four or five in
+number, had "assisted" at the theatrical performances, each seated on
+elevated seats expressly prepared for them, and behaved with the greatest
+courtesy and ease of manner. They seemed not to have the slightest thought
+of showing off, or of tittering or joking with the strangers. All were
+attired in silk, and most tastefully decorated with jewels; all had the
+usual painfully distorted small feet, which greatly interfered with their
+powers of locomotion. They did not attend at the banquet, but had their
+food served in the private apartments.</p>
+
+<p>For supper the quondam theatre was converted into a banqueting-hall. But
+there was no long wide table set out as in Europe, only small
+four-cornered tables covered with red cloth, at each of which three
+Europeans and one Chinese took their seats; the duty of the latter being
+to do the honours to his companions in the name of the host, who took his
+seat beside the Commodore, and to minister to their comfort.</p>
+
+<p>As it was the object to give us the most accurate idea possible of a
+genuine Chinese repast, everything was eliminated which could in any way
+interfere with the design, and we had accordingly to begin with dessert
+and conclude with the soup, as also to convey the various descriptions of
+food to our
+<!--501.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">491</a></span>mouths
+with thin strips of ivory ("chop-sticks"), instead of
+knives and forks.</p>
+
+<p>The peculiarity of Chinese usages, so directly opposed to those of Europe,
+became likewise strikingly apparent in the course of the meal. And as in
+China the mark of courtesy is to keep the head covered instead of removing
+the hat, so the place of honour is on the left hand; the ancestors are
+ennobled instead of the descendants (which is at once more sensible and
+more economical); the characters in writing run from right to left instead
+of the reverse; the mourning colour is white instead of black; the natives
+carefully extirpate every sign of a beard, instead of cherishing it as a
+symbol of mature, dignified manhood; thus also meals begin with the food
+with which we terminate ours, confectionery and fruit. When we were all
+seated, each table was forthwith covered with a profusion of the most
+varied dishes on beautiful plates of stained porcelain, and while we were
+still engaged in attempting to discover the mysterious ingredients of
+these, the Chinese who was doing the honours at our table was exerting
+himself to select and lay before us the most dainty morsels of each dish.
+In performing this part of his functions he thought only to act with more
+care and attention, in drawing each of the twain chop-sticks between his
+own lips and withdrawing them before he fished up a fresh piece and laid
+it on our plate! The dexterity with which all Chinese use these
+chop-sticks, which are usually made of
+<!--502.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">492</a></span>ivory,
+ebony, or bamboo, borders
+on the marvellous. In their hands, held between their fingers, they become
+like a pair of pincers, with which they can pick up the smallest objects,
+and can eat rice-grains, beans, or peas as easily as they can separate the
+flakes of a fish from its skin, or remove the shell of a hard-boiled egg.</p>
+
+<p>As to the ingredients of the dishes presented, we must frankly avow that
+by far the greater number were utterly unknown to us, for the Chinese
+cuisine, oddly enough, sets great store on making the materials
+unrecognizable, and altering their natural flavour by various recipes and
+culinary mysteries. According to the inquiries which we made of our
+carver, our host seemed so anxious to fulfil to the letter his promise to
+give us a real Chinese repast, that he had resolved on not sparing us a
+single one of the rarer dainties of Chinese epicures. Thus we not only had
+swallows' nests, lapwings' eggs, and steamed frogs, but also roasted
+silk-worms, shark-fins, stag and buffalo tendons, biche-de-mar, bamboo
+roots, sea-weed, half-fledged chickens, and various other natural
+delicacies. The table was supplied at least three times with fresh
+delicacies, and we believe we do not exaggerate when we estimate the
+number of different dishes at not less than half a hundred. Meat of all
+sorts was at a discount, and was served up in small morsels ready
+carved;<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> on the other hand, rice and vegetables
+<!--503.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">493</a></span>were
+presented in
+every imaginable form. During the meal one young girl, who had played a
+part in the dramas, was incessantly occupied with filling for each guest a
+very small cup with a warm beverage distilled from millet, thus carrying
+out the code of Chinese civility, that the cup should never be suffered to
+be empty, and therefore, that however little has once been drunk it must
+forthwith be replenished. Of the juice of the grape the Chinese make no
+use, although there are many districts in the country which are eminently
+adapted to the growth of the vine. All the native drinks consist of
+nothing but poor-flavoured, highly-perfumed drinks, chiefly distilled from
+millet and rice, and known by the general name of Samshoo, although this
+name is solely applicable to that obtained from rice, which somewhat
+resembles arrack. After the meal is over there are no spirits presented,
+but only tea, usually the common green tea, or else a tea prepared from
+almonds. The Chinese are, on the whole, a very temperate people, and even
+their passion for smoking opium is rather a vice among the masses of the
+coast provinces and the large towns, than of the interior of the kingdom.
+During the banquet, as well as after it, there were further theatrical
+exhibitions, but the guests, who had been sufficiently wearied with the
+first of these, preferred to retire quietly to
+<!--504.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">494</a></span>their
+own residences, and,
+seated in a rocking-chair on the delicious verandah, to recall all the
+peculiarities of the entertainment at which they had been present.</p>
+
+<p>The rites of hospitality to strangers were not, however, limited in
+fulfilment to Ta-ki, since the various consuls settled at Shanghai, as
+well as several of the English, American, and German merchants, invited
+the members of the Expedition to dinner-parties given in their honour,
+each vying with the rest in refined courtesy. An especially pleasant
+memory attaches to one indication of this feeling, the spontaneous
+offering of a number of Germans to our commander and his associates. We
+were sitting in the house of Mr. James Hogg, the Hanseatic Consul, when
+from the garden there suddenly arose a serenade of men's voices, singing
+German melodies. Surprised and deeply affected, the entire company rose
+from table and strolled into the garden, but the serenaders were concealed
+behind a group of trees, and as they withdrew, singing, the last cadence
+of a thrilling patriotic song was heard melting in the distance!</p>
+
+<p>The Germans already constitute a by no means inconsiderable portion of the
+foreign community of China, and it is painful to observe what slender
+encouragement and support their energy and industry have as yet met with
+from the various governments of Germany. The number of Bremen ships which
+visited the harbour of Shanghai has of late years equalled that of the
+United States, and would be very greatly increased if the German
+mercantile community and the
+<!--505.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">495</a></span>home-shippers
+to the Chinese market could
+depend upon protection such as the English and French can rely upon. The
+German States, such, for instance, as the Hanseatic Towns, Prussia,
+Oldenburg, have indeed unsalaried Consuls here, but the shrewd, material
+Chinese people require something more than an empty intercession&mdash;they
+require to be convinced by an unmistakeable physical ability to back these
+representatives. Many a crying injustice, which the helpless German
+merchants and ship captains have to put up with without hope of redress in
+the various ports of China, would not and dare not occur if but a single
+German ship-of-war were stationed in Chinese waters. What the effect is,
+under similar circumstances, of even one single small boat was well
+illustrated by Mr. Alcock, formerly the English Consul at Shanghai,<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a>
+who with a small English brig blocked the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, and
+did not suffer one single "junk" of the many hundreds stationed in the
+river to put to sea under threat of firing into them until the Chinese
+Government had paid attention to his demands, and surrendered for trial by
+an English tribunal the murderers of an English missionary. The bare
+menace of closing the river sufficed to secure the Consul in his rights,
+and he speedily saw his various demands complied with. Only a month or two
+later a Bremen captain sustained such severe losses through the wilful act
+of the Chinese Government that he had to sell his ship, the energetic
+protest of his Consul to the native authorities meeting no
+<!--506.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">496</a></span>other
+attention than an insulting chuckle over the powerlessness of the German
+empire.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of the Treaty of Pekin securing to Europeans the
+unobstructed navigation of all canals and rivers throughout the Celestial
+Empire, the trade with China is becoming so rapidly developed, that some
+remedy of this sort is imperatively needed,&mdash;if German commerce and
+industry would avoid receiving a serious check, if she would not be
+supplanted by other and more fortunate nations, in the endeavour to avail
+herself of the great alteration for the better in the facilities for trade
+in China.</p>
+
+<p>The activity and energy of the English in opening up new outlets for their
+native manufactures were here astonishingly visible. Hardly are the
+ratifications of peace exchanged, opening the most important rivers and
+harbours of the Empire to free commerce with the subjects of England, ere
+the country has been surveyed and explored in every direction. A number of
+English merchants ascended the Yang-tse-kiang as far as Hang-kow<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a>
+(mouth of trade), a city containing several millions of inhabitants,
+which, in consequence of its extraordinarily advantageous site, has
+already been described by Huc as the chief emporium of the 18 Provinces,
+and whence all the foreign trade radiates into the interior. Others
+undertook a land journey from Canton to Hang-kow; a third company ascended
+the Pei-ho and visited Tien-Tsin, while yet a fourth were contemplating
+the formidable undertaking of
+<!--507.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">497</a></span>boating
+it up the Yang-tse-kiang from
+Shanghai to Hang-kow, whence they thought of penetrating viâ Thibet into
+British India.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> Already information has been obtained from a variety
+of these excursions, which were undertaken specially in the interests of
+commerce, such as justify the most glowing expectations as to the trade
+with the Yang-tse-kiang and the Pei-ho.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> Hang-kow promises to be a
+most important depôt for the exportation of tea, while Tien-Tsin promises
+to be not less important as an entrepôt for the importation of
+manufactures of every description. By the opening of these two additional
+harbours, Shanghai and Canton will fall off in their ratio of increase
+hitherto, but general commerce will on the whole receive a new impulse.</p>
+
+<p>To the merchant and shipper, the latest intelligence from China as to the
+enormous development of commerce and trade at numerous spots of the
+Central Empire, hitherto undisturbed by European civilization, must be
+positively astounding. It is a rich mine of the most valuable material,
+which the <i>China Overland Trade Report</i> and the <i>North China Herald</i>
+presents to its readers, rendered doubly valuable through
+<!--508.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">498</a></span>the
+influence
+of that Freedom of Speech, which makes every mercantile nation participate
+in the very latest information as to these experiments and their results.
+For, so far as concerns our present direct intercourse with China, a time
+must come, when more accurate notions will penetrate into even Austrian
+commercial circles as to the wants of a population, and the natural wealth
+of an empire, which embraces a superficial area of 3,000,000 square miles,
+with a population of 400,000,000 souls, and whose entire foreign commerce
+already amounts to £36,000,000, apart from the impulse which recent events
+must lend it.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the immense variety of natural products of the Chinese
+Empire, the chief articles of export hitherto have been tea and silk, and
+we shall therefore confine our attention to a few important particulars as
+to those two articles.</p>
+
+<p>The introduction of silk cultivation into China, one of the most ancient
+industrial pursuits of the Empire, is due, if we are to believe a native
+legend, to the consort of the Emperor Hwang-té, who reigned <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">B.C.</span> 2640. The
+first mention of the mulberry tree and of silk occurs in the
+Schoo-kiu,<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> "the
+<!--509.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">499</a></span>Book
+of exalted solid learning&mdash;the Book of Books,"
+as it were, a collection of the most ancient historical annals of the
+Chinese Empire, which was compiled <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">B.C.</span> 484, by Confucius, from the
+memoranda of former writers of history, as well as from the information
+furnished by ancient monuments. Even empresses in those halcyon times did
+not deem it beneath their dignity to collect mulberry-leaves and feed the
+silk-worms, while various treatises were composed by imperial pens,
+respecting the cultivation of that most useful plant. The interest taken
+in silk-rearing by these the highest personages in the Empire, has
+remained unbroken to our own day, and quite recently a Chinese governor
+enriched the already copious literature upon this subject with a
+comprehensive work, written with the laudable object of stimulating the
+inhabitants of the silk-producing districts to a more extensive and
+improved system of silk cultivating.</p>
+
+<p>The two best species of mulberry, those which are best adapted for the
+consumption of the worm, are: "Loo" (<i>Morus alba</i>), with long leaves,
+little fruit, and firm roots, which flourishes chiefly in North China, and
+"King" (<i>Morus nigra</i>), with narrow leaves, more abundant fruit, and
+altogether a hardier plant, which grows chiefly in the South.</p>
+
+<p>According to old Chinese notions, there are eight different species of
+silk-worm, which spin their cocoons at various periods<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> of the year
+between April and November.</p>
+
+<!--510.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">500</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The chief silk districts lie in the northern part of the province of
+Tsche-Kiang, and the principal silk marts are the following cities:
+Hoo-chow-foo, Hang-chow-foo, Keahing-fu, Nantsin, and Shoo-hing, which lie
+in a sort of semi-circle about 150 miles from Shanghai.</p>
+
+<p>The silk is not grown in China by wealthy landed proprietors, and "thrown"
+in huge establishments, but by millions of husbandmen, each of whom calls
+but a small patch of land his own, and plants it with mulberry trees,
+thus, like the bee, contributing his own share towards increasing the
+universal stock. During the season specially devoted to the silk-worm, old
+and young, lofty and lowly, throughout the silk districts, are busily and
+earnestly engaged night and day in tending the worms and winding off the
+silk. When the crop is being gathered in, the chief merchants send their
+agents to all parts of the chief silk districts, in order to collect and
+buy up these small quantities (varying greatly in value, as may be readily
+imagined), and depositing them in regularly assigned warehouses, where
+they can be sorted according to quality. This done, the silk is packed in
+bales of 80 <i>catties</i>, or about 106 lbs. weight, and conveyed to Shanghai
+for sale, where it is once more subjected in each mercantile house to the
+examination of the special "silk Inspectors," or "Testers," after passing
+through whose hands, it is sorted according to quality for shipment to
+Europe.<!--511.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">501</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Three distinct qualities of raw silk are known in commerce, viz. Tsatli
+<img src="images/glyph511a.png" style="display: inline; height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;"
+alt="" />, Taysam <img src="images/glyph511b.png" style="display: inline;
+ height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" /> (the big worm),
+and Yuen-whá, or Yuen-fa <img src="images/glyph511c.png" style="display: inline;
+height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" /> (the flower of the
+garden). These three leading descriptions are again subdivided into a
+great number of sorts, which are usually known by the name of the trader,
+or his "hong" (business).</p>
+
+<p>The annual production of silk in China is estimated to amount to from
+200,000 to 250,000 bales, or from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 pounds' weight.
+This, however, is a very superficial estimate; that silk cultivation,
+however, must be enormously developed in China is obvious, not alone from
+the immense home consumption of the article, but also from the
+circumstance that, notwithstanding the immense increase in exports during
+the last ten years, the price of silk has not merely remained stationary,
+but is on an average absolutely less than at a period when barely
+one-fourth of the quantity now exported found its way to England and
+France. The price of silk is usually reckoned in Taels,<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> on the
+estimate of a bale averaging 100 lbs. English. Between Shanghai and London
+the bale loses on the average three per cent. in weight. There is also
+usually an allowance made of 15 per cent. for cost of transport and
+incidental charges from Shanghai to any English port.</p>
+
+<p>On the average only one-fourth of the entire quantity of
+<!--512.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">502</a></span>silk
+produced in
+China, or about 6,000,000 lbs., is exported annually, of which by far the
+largest quantity, perhaps as much as nine-tenths, goes to England and
+France. In 1843-44, the total export from all China was only 5100 bales.
+In 1859, the export of raw silk from Shanghai alone was 75,652 bales!</p>
+
+<p>Besides the raw silk there are annually exported from China a large
+quantity of silk-stuffs manufactured in China, crape shawls, &amp;c. &amp;c., to
+the value of from £400,000 to £500,000, the majority of which find a
+market in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>The social condition of the Chinese silk-spinner is not less deplorable
+and poverty-stricken than that of the workmen of Europe, who are similarly
+engaged in the preparation of this costly article of luxury. As in Lyons,
+in Spitalfields, or among the Silesian Mountains, the Chinese silk-weaver
+lives and dies in the most abject misery, and the delicate and beautiful
+fabrics of his loom are produced in a wretched hut of such mean
+dimensions, that he is sometimes compelled to dig a hole in the soil in
+order to find room for the treadle. However, the Chinese weaver appears in
+so far better off than the same handicraftsman in Europe, that he has less
+to dread from the severity of the climate, and can purchase more food,
+even though his remuneration be smaller, than the weaver can possibly do
+in Europe, owing to the much higher price of even the commonest
+necessities of life.</p>
+
+<p>The recent revolution in Chinese foreign relations will exercise
+<!--513.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">503</a></span>a
+permanent influence on the silk culture of China, and, considering the
+exceedingly low rate of wages in that country, the time cannot be far
+distant, when one may purchase Chinese silk in Europe more cheaply than
+home-grown silk, when manufacturers will find it more profitable to
+purchase this most important raw material in China, than in Italy or the
+South of France. Acute business men in Hong-kong and Shanghai assured us
+that it only needed an impulse from without to increase the silk
+manufacture of China tenfold, and supply the annual demand for silk of the
+entire globe, which, if we are to believe encyclopedias and such like
+authorities, amounts to from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 lbs. What makes
+Chinese silk especially suitable for the European market is its possessing
+in great perfection the two chief qualities of substance and colour,
+while, on the other hand, it is inferior to that of Europe in the fineness
+and glossy feel of its fibre. In Europe the silk is wound off from a
+limited number of cocoons, whereas in China it is left to the discretion
+of the workman to spin it from few or many cocoons as he pleases. Hence
+results that inequality and unevenness in the texture of the thread, a
+defect which cannot possibly be remedied by after-manipulation, and which
+accordingly completely prevents its employment in the manufacture of the
+more costly fabrics. This drawback, which is the main reason why Chinese
+silk does not rule the European market, will however admit of being
+remedied without any difficulty, so soon as the silk districts become more
+easily accessible, by the
+<!--514.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">504</a></span>introduction
+of European labour and machinery,
+when this valuable and costly product will gain materially both in
+fineness and suitability.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few years since German and Austrian merchants attached but a small
+value to Chinese silk as suited to our market, and it seemed to them a
+positive absurdity, when any one spoke, as we ourselves repeatedly have
+done from a profound conviction of its truth, of the future influence
+exercised over the silk markets of the world by the influence of this
+Chinese raw material. Now-a-days we hear that there is scarcely one single
+silk factory which can hold its ground, unless, in addition to French and
+Italian silk, it imports Chinese silk, while the demand for that material
+increases from year to year, and has very probably not yet attained the
+one-hundredth part of the development of which it is susceptible.</p>
+
+<p>Tea (<i>Châ</i><a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a>) ranks next to silk among the articles which have raised
+the trade with China to such an importance. The cultivation of the tea
+plant is of far later date than that of the mulberry tree, and its leaves,
+although used by the Chinese as a curative from the third century of our
+era, only came into general use, as providing a universal drink, towards
+the end of the sixth century.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> Statesmen and poets sounded
+<!--515.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">505</a></span>the
+praises of the new beverage, and while the one employed this excellent and
+beneficial gift of nature to fill the treasury by the imposition of a tax,
+the others chanted the praise of the plant in their hymns and songs, and
+thus, probably without intending it, contributed to increase the revenue
+of the Government.</p>
+
+<p>"Tea," writes one of the older Chinese authors, "soothes the spirit,
+softens the heart, dispels languor, restores from fatigue, stimulates the
+intellect, and arouses from indolence; it makes the body lighter and more
+brisk, and quickens the faculty of observation."</p>
+
+<p>The tea plant first attracted the attention of Chinese naturalists in
+Wu-yi, or, as the English term it, the Bohea<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> district, which enjoys
+to this day a great reputation for the exquisite quality which grows on
+its hills.</p>
+
+<p>At present the cultivation of the tea plant extends northward as far as
+Tang-tschao, in the province of Shantung, southward as far as Canton and
+Kuang-si, and westward as far as the province of Yun-nán. As, moreover,
+the tea plant likewise abounds in Japan, the Corea, and the Loo-Choo
+Islands, as also in Chusan, Tonquin, and Cochin China, we may assume that
+it flourishes over about 28° of latitude and
+<!--516.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">506</a></span>30°
+of longitude, within
+which it can be cultivated without being affected by severe alternations
+of temperature. That part of North China, however, which lies between 27°
+and 33° N., seems on the whole to furnish the finest sorts,<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> where the
+mean annual temperature ranges between 61°.7 and 68°, and in which fine
+weather with a rise of temperature follows upon a heavy rainfall; the
+latter being as necessary for the speedy and luxuriant growth of the
+leaves, as the former is for eliciting their fragrance and other valuable
+qualities.</p>
+
+<p>To form an idea of the enormous amount of tea which is annually cultivated
+in China, it suffices to remark that, after deducting the immense quantity
+consumed, there are more than 70,000,000 lbs. exported annually.</p>
+
+<p>It is not our intention to give a disquisition upon the cultivation and
+preparation of the tea, the drying (<i>poey</i>), roasting (<i>tschóo</i>),
+perfuming and colouring of the leaves, in short, the long tedious process
+to which this valuable article of commerce is subjected from its
+collection on the fertile green slopes of the bush-covered hills of Bohea,
+till its arrival at the port of shipment in a form suited for exportation.
+We prefer here to confine our attention to a consideration of those
+experiments which have recently been made in China with respect to tea
+cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>There are of the tea plant an almost endless variety of
+<!--517.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">507</a></span>qualities,
+but
+only two species, viz. <i>Thea viridis</i> (green tea), and <i>Thea Bohea</i>,<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a>
+and even these two have such few points of difference, that quite lately
+they were described by Fortune as one and the same species. Thus, too, it
+has been asserted in our own day that the green and black varieties of tea
+sold in Europe do not, as is universally supposed, belong to two different
+species of tea, but that the difference of colour, shape of leaf, flavour,
+&amp;c., is exclusively due to varieties in the mode of preparing them for the
+market, and that the manufacturer is able to make from the leaves every
+description, black or green, which is required in commerce. Thus in the
+celebrated tea district of Ning-tschan, where in former days black tea was
+exclusively grown, there is now procured green tea from the same species
+of plant, apparently because its cultivation pays better, while the
+quality remains in its olden repute.</p>
+
+<p>The black tea, which constitutes four-fifths of the entire export to
+England, is grown of a particularly fine quality in the district of
+Kien-ning-foo in the province of Fo-kien, and is known to commerce by a
+variety of names, chiefly derived from the localities in which it is
+grown, or those of their proprietors. On the other hand, the green sort
+selected for
+<!--518.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">508</a></span>exportation
+is chiefly met with on the slopes of the chain
+of hills between Che-kiang and Ngan-hwui. Besides those descriptions
+actually prepared on the spot where they grow, there are also an immense
+variety of teas manufactured in Canton from all sorts of black and green
+tea. The tea-growers of Canton are reputed to colour their green teas
+artificially, by sprinkling them with a mixture of Prussian blue and
+pulverized chalk, after which they subject them to a rolling motion for a
+considerable time in heated copper pans.<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p>
+
+<p>One most important element in tea cultivation is the method adopted to
+impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrance, which it does not possess
+in the natural state. This process of "scenting," as it is called, which
+is practised exclusively for the foreign market, is termed by the Chinese
+<i>Hwa-hiang</i>. The flowers which are used for imparting this fragrance, and
+the growth of which, like the invisible fields of odoriferous herbs near
+Cannes, in the South of France, forms a most important branch of
+cultivation near Canton, are chiefly <i>Jasminum sambac</i>, <i>Jasminum
+paniculatum</i>, <i>Aglaia odorata</i>, <i>Olea fragrans</i>, <i>Sardenia florida</i>,
+orange-blossom, and roses. The method of "scenting" consists simply in
+placing a definite quantity of the flower-blossoms, varying according to
+the strength or feebleness of the odour, in juxtaposition with about 100
+lbs. of dried tea-leaves, where they are suffered to remain from 24
+<!--519.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">509</a></span>to
+48
+hours. Thus 40 lbs. of orange-blossom, 50 lbs. of Jasmin, 100 lbs. of
+<i>Aglaia odorata</i>, are reckoned the equivalent respectively of 100 lbs. of
+tea-leaves. The extraordinary costliness of these fragrant blossoms<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a>
+has caused a very general suspicion to prevail, that the leaves thus
+"scented" are afterwards adulterated with large quantities of the common
+teas. And as it is an ascertained fact that 60 lbs. of such tea can impart
+a similar fragrance to 100 lbs. additional by merely mixing the two
+together, without any apparent diminution of fragrance, it seems more than
+probable that similar admixtures, very possibly in a still more profitable
+proportion, are being silently carried on every day in the warehouses of
+the tea districts.</p>
+
+<p>Since the suppression of the East India Company's monopoly, and the
+opening of the Five Ports, tea has somewhat fallen in price, but has in
+consequence gained in far greater ratio in respect of quantity shipped.
+The value of a picul of tea is at present about 18 or 20 taels (£5 12<i>s.</i>
+6<i>d.</i> to £6 5<i>s.</i>), so that the pound costs 1<i>s.</i> 1<i>d.</i> to 1<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i>
+Notwithstanding the unexampled cheapness of hand labour (60 to 70 cash, or
+2&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub><i>d.</i> to 3<i>d.</i>, per diem), it is not possible to procure <i>good tea</i>
+below this limit, although the various descriptions vary extraordinarily
+in price according to their quality and the districts they come from. The
+lower classes in the tea districts purchase for themselves the raw
+unprepared leaves just as they
+<!--520.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">510</a></span>are
+plucked, for about 1<i>d.</i> per pound,
+and as it takes about 4 lbs. of the fresh leaves to make 1 lb. of dry
+leaves, it may be calculated that the tea, as drunk by this class, must
+cost from 4<i>d.</i> to 5<i>d.</i> per lb. Moreover, it is customary to add some of
+the less costly descriptions, more especially in districts at some little
+distance where the tea plant is cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>The first historical document referring to the introduction into England
+of tea as a beverage, is an Act of Parliament in the year 1660 (the year
+of the Restoration). At that period China tea cost sixty shillings the
+pound, which of course limited its use to a very narrow circle. At present
+there are 30,000,000 lbs. imported into England<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> annually, or more
+than one half of the entire export from the Central Empire, the consumer
+in London paying about 3<i>s.</i> per pound on the average.</p>
+
+<p>Of late years attempts have been made to cultivate the tea plant at the
+foot of the Himalayas, in Java, and in the United States. In Hindústan,
+whither only a few years ago that well-known and enlightened gentleman,
+Mr. Robert Fortune, dispatched 24,000 plants, selected from among the
+finest tea districts, the experiment has already proved successful, and
+even remunerative. The cost of growing is about 10&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub><i>d.</i>
+<!--521.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">511</a></span>per
+lb. for
+one description, which fetches 2<i>s.</i> per lb. in the London market. That
+grown in Java has hitherto been viewed with disfavour in Europe, but in a
+few years more it must make its way. The result of the experiments in the
+United States we have yet to learn. Mr. Fortune, who was intrusted by the
+Patent Office at Washington with superintending the introduction of the
+tea cultivation into the Southern States, and who in virtue of many years'
+scientific researches in China may be regarded as an authority upon this
+subject, is of opinion that the possibility of cultivating tea in the
+United States does not admit of a doubt, since the plant not only
+successfully resists frosts, but even, in a measure, benefits by them, it
+being a well-known fact that it flourishes better in the northern than the
+southern climates of China. It is questionable, however, whether its
+cultivation can prove remunerative in a country where labour is still so
+exceptionally high. Will the tea plant repay the immense cost of
+cultivation, and compete successfully with the product of China? The next
+few years will settle this question, if it be not choked by this unholy
+fratricidal war, which is raging within the freest and most glorious
+confederacy of modern times.</p>
+
+<p>We enjoyed the good "fortune" while at Shanghai of becoming personally
+acquainted with Mr. Fortune, and of gathering these valuable particulars
+from the very lips of that distinguished naturalist and traveller. While
+reserving for consideration elsewhere the subject of various little known,
+but most
+<!--522.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">512</a></span>important,
+articles of export from the vast Empire of China, we
+cannot refrain from indulging in a few remarks upon some useful products
+of that country, which seem to us of more than merely commercial
+importance. Among these we shall notice first one of the most valuable
+rewards bestowed by Nature on human industry, the so-called Chinese
+sugar-cane (<i>Sorghum</i>, or <i>Holcus saccharatus</i>), which deserves the
+earnest attention of all European proprietors of land, as it grows in its
+native country quite in the northern districts, in fact in latitudes where
+the ordinary cane (<i>Saccharum officinale</i>) no longer flourishes; because
+frost and cold are much more conducive to its growth than the opposite
+extreme, so that it would seem to be specially adapted for cultivation in
+Southern Europe.</p>
+
+<p>The first attempt to cultivate this cane in Europe was made, if we are
+rightly informed, at the Hyères islands by Count David de Beauregard, from
+seeds which M. de Montigny had sent home to the Geographical Society of
+Paris, while other attempts were made at the same time in various parts of
+France by the <i>Société d' Acclimatisation</i>. The results surpassed the most
+sanguine expectations. From the stem there was obtained a juice from which
+sugar and alcohol, syrup and brandy, can be easily made. The abundant
+leaves, five or six feet long, furnished a considerable quantity of cattle
+with most nutritive food; the seeds were used as food for poultry, and
+were even substituted with advantage for barley in the provender supplied
+to horses, so that the experiment at once
+<!--523.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">513</a></span>repaid
+its cost, while in
+addition to the foregoing, the flour obtained from the seeds was found to
+furnish a highly nutritive, wholesome article of diet for man. Dr. Adrian
+Sicard, to whom the agricultural world is indebted for a very exhaustive
+analysis of the Chinese sugar-cane, has established, by conclusive
+researches, that its leaves are also specially adapted for the manufacture
+of paper, as well as for various colours or dye stuffs. As to the
+remunerative value of the <i>Sorgho</i>, it is more than 230 per cent. more
+productive than beet-root, which in France produces on the average 2160
+kilogrammes per hectare, while the <i>Sorgho</i> makes a return of 5000
+kilogrammes.</p>
+
+<p>The mode of cultivating this useful plant differs in no respect, as we
+repeatedly had occasion to observe, from that of maize or Indian corn. The
+season for sowing varies with the temperature of the country, between the
+months April and July. The seed when sown in the beginning of April will
+be ripe about the middle of August, or in 135 days, while that sown in
+mid-July will not be ripe before the end of November, or about 140 days.
+In France the experiment has been made of bathing the seeds in tepid water
+for periods varying from 24 to 48 hours before sowing, which resulted in a
+much more speedy bringing forward of the plant. In like manner experiments
+were made of sowing the seeds with and without their husk, the result of
+which was that the former took 15 days, and the latter only 10 days to
+sprout. It is recommended
+<!--524.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">514</a></span>to
+plant the seeds in furrows sufficiently
+separated from each other according to the conditions of soil and
+irrigation, so far as is possible.</p>
+
+<p>The period of germination of the <i>Sorgho</i> is rather long, but once that
+period is passed, the most favourable results are sure to follow, even
+should the most unusual alternations of temperature ensue, provided the
+thermometer does not descend below 27°.5 Fahr. The <i>Sorgho</i> requires about
+five months to attain its full ripeness, when it is usually of a
+pale-yellow colour, streaked with red. It is occasionally subject to
+different maladies, some of which attack the root, others the pith. In
+like manner the larvæ of certain noxious insects have been remarked on
+occasional specimens. But the origin of all these drawbacks has been as
+yet far too little inquired into, and they are of too rare occurrence to
+permit of any definite information respecting them being as yet available.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the cultivation of the <i>Sorgho</i> may be regarded as eminently
+successful in the South of France, as well as in Pennsylvania, U. S.
+(which has a much severer climate than Venetia, Dalmatia, or the lower
+course of the Danube). Very probably we may also succeed in naturalizing
+the <i>Sorgho</i> in suitable parts of Austria, and introducing there the
+cultivation on a commensurate scale<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> of a plant,
+<!--525.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">515</a></span>which
+bids fair not
+merely to prove far more profitable in cultivation than any other member
+of the vegetable kingdom in any part of the earth, but at the same time
+seems destined at no distant period to be the means of supplying the
+civilized world with one of its most vitally necessary articles of food,
+by means of free white labour, without the assistance of slavery!<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another plant, which it seems likely might be advantageously introduced
+into the southern districts of Europe, is
+<!--526.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">516</a></span>the
+<i>Mo-chok</i>, one of the most
+graceful kinds of bamboo found in the forests of China, which grows in
+greatest luxuriance on the limestone slopes of the province of
+Tschi-Kiang, in a climate ranging between 90°.5 in summer, and 20°.3
+(Fahr.) in winter. The erect, smooth, elegant stem shoots up to a height
+of from 60 to 80 feet. The lower part of the tree is usually free from
+branches, which usually begin to spring from the trunk about 20 feet from
+the ground, and are very delicately leaved. These and two other species,
+the <i>Long-sin-chok</i> and the <i>Hu-chok</i>, are used in the manufacture of
+sieves, baskets, furniture, &amp;c., while the tender shoots form a most
+nutritious and delicately flavoured vegetable. The stem of the plant is
+moreover available for the manufacture of paper.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p>
+
+<p>Writing paper is manufactured from it as well as packing paper, and one
+very coarse quality is mingled with the mortar by the Chinese masons. Mr.
+Fortune has introduced the Mo-chok into China, where, especially in the
+north-west provinces, it promises to come on well upon the slopes of the
+Himalaya.</p>
+
+<p>Of the other plants which grow in China, which are not indeed suited for
+transplanting to a colder climate, yet merit
+<!--527.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">517</a></span>attention
+on account of
+their produce, we shall briefly notice the varnish tree, the tallow tree,
+and the wax shrub.</p>
+
+<p>The varnish tree (<i>Vernix vernicia</i>), a sort of sumach, which grows in
+greatest luxuriance in the provinces of Kiang-si, Chi-kiang, and Szechuen,
+furnishes that varnish which, partly in a semi-fluid, partly in a dry
+state, comes to market in whitish cakes, and is worth, according to
+quality and demand, from 40 to 100 dollars per picul of 133 lbs. In the
+preparation of this lacquer, the reputation of which has extended over the
+globe, 6&nbsp;<sup>2</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub> lbs. varnish, 13&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> lbs. water, 41&nbsp;<sup>2</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub> lbs. nut-oil, 16&nbsp;<sup>2</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub>
+lbs. of pigs' gall, and 33&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub> lbs. of vinegar, are mixed together till
+the whole assumes the consistence and appearance of a shining black paste.
+The fact that many Chinese lacquered wares, especially those prepared in
+Foo-chow, vie with the renowned manufactures of Japan in beauty and
+lustre, leaves room to suspect that the Chinese workmen have received some
+instruction from their Japanese fellow-craftsmen.</p>
+
+<p>Vegetable tallow (<i>Schulah</i>, or <i>Schu-káu</i>, tree fat) is obtained from the
+<i>Stillingia sebifera</i>, the so-called tallow tree, and, judging by the
+experiments made with it, promises under an extended system of cultivation
+to become a tolerably profitable article of export. The tallow tree
+flourishes throughout the southern provinces, but is chiefly found in the
+island of Chusan and the coasts adjacent. The tallowy substance procured
+from the seeds, which externally resemble nuts, is sold in cakes of from
+90 to 130 lbs. at from 7 to 12
+dollars.<!--528.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">518</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Vegetable or tree wax (<i>peh-lah</i>) is a waxy substance, which the <i>coccus
+pela</i> or <i>flata limitata</i> deposits, apparently as a protection to its
+eggs, on a sort of ash tree, on whose twigs and boughs it is deposited
+like snow-flakes. It is gathered after the first frost, and purified by
+melting it in a cloth held over hot water. Apparently the process is
+varied by dipping what has been collected in a silken sack into hot water.
+It melts at 81° Fahr., and in consequence of its unusual stiffness is much
+used for admixture with bees-wax and other descriptions of fats used in
+the manufacture of tapers. The candles hitherto made in England of this
+substance have commanded a large sale, and only the circumstance that as
+yet but a small quantity has found its way into commerce, prevents its
+being much more extensively cultivated. The price of <i>Peh-lah</i> is rather
+high, as it fetches about £11 10<i>s.</i> per 133 lbs.</p>
+
+<p>Passing from the various natural products furnished for export by China to
+a consideration of those articles<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> of European industry, for which the
+Chinese market supplies an ample demand, we find that their number is
+considerable, while they represent a value of upwards of £5,000,000. In
+these pages, however, we propose to notice only that article which is the
+most profitable, and undoubtedly forms the chief staple of import in all
+the harbours opened to foreign commerce, viz. opium. Opium (<i>á-pièn</i>), the
+solidified sap of
+<!--529.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">519</a></span><i>Papaver
+somniferum</i>, was, as every one knows, up to
+quite a recent period, a monopoly of the Anglo-Indian Government, by whom
+it was cultivated under the superintendence of agents in the various
+provinces of Hindostan, and sold to the trade by public auction in large
+quantities at a time in the markets of Calcutta and Bombay. It seems to
+fulfil among the Chinese the function of the various spirituous liquors of
+Europe; at least every attempt to introduce among the Chinese a taste for
+ale, whisky, sherry, port, champagne, and claret, has hitherto entirely
+failed. Indeed there is probably no country of the globe where, in
+proportion to population, there is so little spirituous liquor introduced
+as into China, what is imported being almost exclusively for the
+consumption of foreigners. The Chinese is emphatically a born
+"tea-totaller," or friend of abstemiousness, for the native drinks,
+substitutes for wine, which are obtained chiefly from rice and millet, are
+only used on special occasions, and then only in small quantities. During
+our entire stay in Chinese waters, we never saw one single Chinese drunk,
+and heard in every quarter that any such cases are rare and quite
+exceptional. On the other hand, the consumption of opium is continually
+increasing, and the quantity of solidified poppy-juice annually imported
+amounts to from 75,000 to 80,000 chests, which at current rates represent
+a value of from £7,500,000 to £10,000,000. There are four descriptions of
+opium that come to the Chinese market, viz. Benares (<i>Ku-ni</i>), Patna
+(<i>Kung-ni</i>), Malwa (<i>Peh-pi</i>), and Turkish (<i>Kiu-ni</i>
+<!--530.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">520</a></span>or
+golden dung). Of
+these the Patna and Benares are reckoned of finer quality, and
+consequently are more sought after, than that imported from Malwa, but
+both descriptions are preferred by the Chinese to the Turkish, and even to
+that produced at home.<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p>
+
+<p>The custom of opium-smoking is of comparatively modern introduction among
+the Chinese. It was about the commencement of the 18th century,<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> that
+the practice of mingling opium with tobacco as an antidote against
+toothache, headache, and pains in the body first began to prevail. Chinese
+sailors and merchantmen, returning from the islands of the Bornese
+Archipelago, had learned from the natives to inhale it as an anæsthetic,
+which, depriving them of all activity, brought the most delightful visions
+before their eyes. It is unquestionably the prohibition of wine to the
+believers in the Koran which first directed their attention to this
+narcotic substance, which the Western Asiatics swallow in pills, the
+Hindoos chew, and the Chinese smoke. In 1750, there were imported into
+China from Turkey, Persia, and Bengal, chiefly by Portuguese merchants,
+some 200 to 250 chests according to official return (of 140 lbs. each),
+ostensibly for medical use.
+<!--531.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">521</a></span>Nothing
+could be more welcome to the entire
+Empire than a means of passing the intervals of relaxation from the hurry
+of business, in a state of absolute exemption from all anxiety, rocked in
+the most delightful slumbers! In 1773 the East India Company sent a small
+portion of opium to China by way of speculation. Seven years later they
+founded an Opium Dépôt in Larke's Bay. In 1781 the Company sent 2800
+chests (of 140 lbs. each) at one single shipment to Canton, where it was
+purchased by a "Hong," or Association,<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> for trading purposes. The
+Company found itself compelled, however, to re-export a quantity, as at
+that period there was not in China a sufficient demand for such a supply.
+The first regular shipments began in 1798, when 4170 chests were sent to
+the account of the Association in China, and then sold at Rs. 415 (about
+£41 10<i>s.</i>) per chest.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> Since that period the import and consumption
+have been steadily increasing at a geometric ratio, and a table now before
+<!--532.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">522</a></span>us,
+drawn up with great labour and industry by Dr. Medhurst, informs us
+that between 1798 and 1855 there were imported altogether 1,197,041 chests
+of opium from Bengal, which, after deducting all expenses of cultivation
+and shipment, represented a net gain to the East India Company of
+£67,851,853.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p>
+
+<p>Relying on the splendid profits secured to the East India Company, and its
+colleagues settled in China, by the opium traffic, no one troubled himself
+in the slightest with the many protests of the Chinese Government, any
+more than the anathemas launched at opium dealers and opium-smokers by
+English missionaries and philanthropists. The dealers, growing richer day
+by day, contented themselves with laconic replies to the more virulent of
+their antagonists, to the effect that they were but supplying a want
+originating in a national custom, and that it was as futile to attempt to
+prevent the Chinese from smoking as to restrain Europeans from the use of
+spirituous liquors. Both when abused are productive of much evil, and even
+then opium was productive of far less destructive ravages on the human
+organism, and was never followed by such appalling catastrophes as those
+resulting from alcohol. The dark side of the opium traffic has since been
+so fully exposed, that but little more remains to be said, and although
+even the most sanguine persons
+<!--533.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">523</a></span>have
+ceased to hope that the trade can
+ever be entirely suppressed, yet it is at least consolatory to know that,
+according to the best calculations, the number of opium smokers throughout
+China, in a population that is to say of 420,000,000, is not above
+4,000,000 to 5,000,000, and that an ordinary smoker does not on an average
+consume more than one mace or about one drachm<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> of opium, worth about
+90 cash, or 3&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub><i>d.</i> The provisions of the new tariff, by which opium may
+be imported unrestrictedly on payment of a fixed duty of 30 taels (about
+£10) per chest when water-borne, and 20 taels (about £6 10<i>s.</i>) when
+imported by land, must materially effect the opium trade as hitherto
+carried on, and may very possibly alter the views at present entertained
+by the Chinese Government with reference to this important article of
+commerce, in proportion as its treasury begins to be replenished by such a
+high rate of duty.</p>
+
+<p>Although for European readers the chief interest of China is to be found
+in its relations with foreign countries, we yet cannot take leave of it
+without a few remarks on the momentous political movement which has been
+on foot since 1849 in several provinces of China, and claims, in
+consequence of its peculiar religious nature, universal interest.</p>
+
+<p>Hung-sin-Tsuen, the originator and head of this rebellion,
+<!--534.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">524</a></span>was
+born in
+1813, in a village near Canton, and while yet in his early youth was, in
+consequence of his precocity, removed from tending his father's flocks to
+be a scholar in the village, where he pursued his studies with such zeal,
+that a year later he took several degrees as a teacher. On one of his
+visits to Canton, he made the acquaintance of a Protestant missionary,
+with whom he long corresponded, and from whom he received a variety of
+tracts translated into Chinese, and books, by way of presents. In the
+course of a serious illness with which he was assailed about this period,
+he had numerous visions, and is said in his delirium to have insisted on
+being hailed Emperor of China. Gradually Hung and his friend and zealous
+adherent Fung-Yun-San became, through erroneous or wilful
+misinterpretation of the works of various missionary societies, the
+founders of a new creed, a sort of free, semi-Christian sect, which, as it
+could not long subsist without coming into collision with the reigning
+Government, very speedily assumed a political character. It is an
+indubitable fact that at first the religious movement was supported by the
+Protestant missionaries, and the views of its founders forwarded by every
+means in their power, with the object of using it to prepare the soil for
+the promulgation of Christianity. When about entering his forty-first
+year, Hung formed an alliance with American missionaries stationed at
+Canton, studied their books, after which he returned to the province of
+Kuang-si, where he published writings descriptive of the alleged
+manifestations of the Deity, gave
+<!--535.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">525</a></span>himself
+forth as a poet,<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> and at
+the same time issued proclamations under the designation of the "Heavenly
+King." The severity with which the regular Government treated the
+insurgents, and all who consorted with them, only served to augment their
+ranks, to which the mysticism of their doctrine contributed in no small
+degree; for the credulous masses have in all lands the same love of the
+marvellous and unintelligible. Such a result only increased the courage,
+the energy, the arrogance of Hung. He no longer was content to announce
+himself as "the mouth through which God the Father, and Jesus the Elder
+Brother, declared their will;" he now proclaimed boldly the intention of
+himself and his followers to overthrow the unworthy Mantchoo dynasty, and
+raise to the throne a new native dynasty, that of the Tai-ping, or
+universal peace. Although stigmatized by the official <i>Pekin Gazette</i> as
+"local banditti," they were nevertheless strong enough in March, 1852, to
+storm even such a
+<!--536.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">526</a></span>populous
+city as Nankin, where they set up a
+provisional government, and have since fortified it as their
+head-quarters. At the time the Tai-ping rebellion first broke out, Yeh,
+the then Governor of Canton, thought he would readily be able to suppress
+it by the summary process of chopping off the heads of all who were
+supposed to be in correspondence with them, and thus had as many as 800
+executed daily.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> It was no longer quite safe for a native to show
+himself in the streets of Canton, unless provided with a paper of
+identification. For this purpose, four-cornered pieces of a sort of white
+cotton fabric were worn, on which was printed a sign in red. These cotton
+strips served as countersigns for those friendly to the reigning dynasty,
+and were worn concealed from view, but so as to admit of being at once
+shown in case of need. Dr. Pfitzmaier, who has examined this sign, is of
+opinion that it is simply a union of the three signs <img src="images/glyph536.png"
+style="display: inline; height: 2em; vertical-align: middle;"
+alt="" /> which, so far as the two last are concerned, seem to have
+been compressed together and abbreviated, so that only the initiated could
+understand its significance. The learned sinologue is of opinion that this
+hieroglyphic, signifying "to offer hand and heart," or "to offer the
+original (own) heart," has nevertheless no meaning apart from the centre
+figure, which, however, is unusually distorted, so that
+<!--537.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">527</a></span>the
+whole may
+also mean <img src="images/glyph537.png" style="display: inline; height: 2em;
+vertical-align: middle;" alt="" /> Kia-hoei, "to yield grace and
+benevolence," or may be applicable to him who wears it, "one who enjoys
+the all-embracing Imperial clemency."</p>
+
+<p>The religious direction of the Tai-ping movement, coupled with its
+apparent Christian tendencies, its results, and, above all, the last
+hostile proclamation of the Pekin Government against foreigners, roused
+the sympathies of both Europeans and Americans in favour of the
+insurgents; and in the English papers of Hong-kong and Shanghai, the
+policy was vigorously and repeatedly advocated of turning the insurrection
+to their own advantage; while in a religious point of view it was
+recommended to avail themselves of the favour shown to the Scriptures by
+the Christian sect of the Tai-ping, which was also so amicably disposed to
+foreigners, who at all events were more likely to prove a bulwark and
+support to English Protestantism than the deceitful, promise-breaking,
+idol-worshipping Mantchoos. Letters and communications, which from time to
+time were published on the visit of Protestant missionaries in the
+insurgent camp, were apt to propound the most favourable ideas about the
+insurgents and their strivings after religious truth, and to attach to
+their victories and successes the most glorious hopes with respect to the
+spreading of Christianity in China. Fortunately the English Government did
+not suffer its policy to be affected thereby, but continued to observe the
+strictest neutrality. Only in those cases where, owing to the advance of
+the
+<!--538.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">528</a></span>rebels,
+the interests of British subjects or of universal commerce
+seemed to be endangered, communications were held with the "Heavenly King"
+or his ministers, or to protest against the injury and limitation of trade
+with the earnestness and depth of impression which Armstrong guns are apt
+to impart to diplomatic dispatches. Thus the insurgents were prohibited
+from approaching within 10 Li of the city of Hang-kow, by this measure
+protecting not alone their own property, but the entire city from pillage
+and destruction. During the last war the interests of the insurgents were
+kept entirely in the background, and during the stay of the <i>Novara</i> at
+Shanghai, which had likewise been repeatedly threatened by the insurgents,
+we could gain but little enlightenment as to the nature and direction of
+the movement.</p>
+
+<p>However, since the Treaty of Pekin has thrown open the navigation of the
+most important rivers, and thus facilitated communication with the
+interior, there has been a better opportunity than hitherto for
+intercourse with the Tai-ping, as also for obtaining a clearer insight
+into its present condition, as well as the object and inevitable
+consequences of their tenets. People are beginning to consider it more
+calmly, and even the missionaries seem gradually abandoning the
+expectations they had formed, of finding in it a means of helping the
+cause of Christianity, albeit a former missionary, Rev. J. C. Roberts, who
+in 1847 had spent
+<!--539.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">529</a></span>several
+months with Hung, is at the present moment a
+sort of minister of foreign affairs in the insurgents' camp at Nankin. The
+latest information respecting the Tai-ping enters so fully into the
+character of the whole movement, and so clearly develops its tendency,
+that no apology is needed for laying before the readers of every class a
+brief sketch of the more important and significant dogmas.</p>
+
+<p>The Tai-ping translations of the Old and New Testament, though in the
+whole tolerably correct, yet are in certain parts so imperfect that they
+implanted the most erroneous ideas in the head of the "Celestial King." He
+conceived his own visions and revelations as far more important, and of
+far higher authority, than those of Holy Writ. His mission, as he himself
+states it, is to be followed by a new revelation, accompanied by numerous
+miracles, and a third book will be given to the world, which is to
+supersede the Old and New Testaments, and be called the "<i>True</i>
+Testament." According to Hung, both God and Christ have appeared in the
+human form. Christ is not equal to the Father, that is solely God; he is
+also brought into connection with other redeemers, and has a wife and
+children in heaven.</p>
+
+<p>The Celestial King and his son form with God and Christ a Quaternity in
+Unity. The corporeal presence of the Celestial King is that of the
+Godhead, and in the distempered imagination of the Tai-ping the government
+now existing in Nankin is assuredly that of heaven
+itself!<!--540.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">530</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Tai-ping suffer no one to preach against their creed, because that
+would be to diminish the authority of their chief, and damp the ardour of
+their hopes. In their various proclamations it is expressly declared that
+Hung-sin-Tsuen is the brother of the Saviour, the Son of God, without any
+other distinction than such as must exist between an elder and a younger
+brother. They maintain that there is a celestial mother as well as Father,
+a heavenly sister as well as a heavenly Brother, and that the recently
+defunct King of the West, Fung-yun-san, one of Hung's oldest adherents, is
+now married to the heavenly sister. They hold to the opinion that not one
+of such of their revelations as clash with the Old and New Testaments, can
+be decided by such ancient books of religion. Their revelations being the
+newest, are on that account the most entitled to belief.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter of greeting addressed by Hung to Roberts<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> the
+<!--541.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">531</a></span>missionary,
+on the occasion of the arrival of the latter at Nankin, in October, 1860,
+Hung narrates his heavenly
+<!--542.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">532</a></span>journey
+in 1837, the repeated miraculous
+interference of the Father and the Son in his favour, as also the
+revelations made to the Eastern King. He professes to have seen the Father
+and Christ, the heavenly mother and the heavenly sister. He is himself
+"the Way, the Truth, and the Life," just as Christ is. He warns Roberts
+repeatedly, that implicit belief in this is of the highest importance, as
+otherwise he can neither be useful in this world nor blest in the next.
+After such an exposition, Christian missionaries will scarcely be suffered
+in the insurgent's camp if they dare to preach against such errors, not to
+say blasphemies.</p>
+
+<p>There are but few religious ceremonies. The Tai-ping,
+<!--543.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">533</a></span>indeed,
+call one
+day of the week the day of prayer, and it happens more through oversight
+than intention to be fixed upon the Saturday, but so far as external
+sanctity goes there seems to be no special attention paid to it. They buy,
+and sell, and delve just as on other days. On the previous night about ten
+o'clock two or three cannon-shot are fired to announce the approach of the
+hour of prayer, and that the day of worship is at hand. Every family is
+engaged for an hour in devotion and praise. All strangers who have been in
+communication with the Tai-ping in Nankin state that, even in the capital
+where he has been resident for seven years past, that dignitary does not
+observe the Sabbath in any way, either by preaching, prayer, or expounding
+of the Scripture; there are no exhortations or pious admonitions; they
+have neither church nor temple; their sole divine service consists in each
+one reciting in his own house English hymns, and repeating a few prayers,
+while divers offerings are made, such as tea, rice, and the flesh of slain
+animals. They offer their prayers kneeling, after which they close the
+proceedings by singing a hymn standing. An English missionary, who arrived
+at Nankin with the conviction that the insurgents were genuine sincere
+Christians, made, after a short stay, the following severe but just remark
+concerning them: "I found to my regret no trace of Christianity, but a
+system of the grossest idolatry substituted for it, and arrogating its
+name. Their notion of God is so distorted,
+<!--544.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">534</a></span>that
+it is, if possible, still
+more erroneous than that entertained of the Supreme Being by other
+idol-worshipping Chinese. Their conception of the Redeemer, to whom they
+pay equal honours, is crude, and thoroughly material. Their prayers, far
+from giving the impression of a true reverence of God, have much more the
+appearance of an idolatrous mockery of sacred things!"</p>
+
+<p>An English merchant, who accompanied Sir Hope Grant on his reconnoitring
+excursion up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and spent a week in what used to be
+called Nankin, now the celestial capital of the Tai-ping, gives the
+following characteristic sketch of them: "The insurgents take no interest
+in and do not encourage trade, except in muskets and ammunition. To our
+representations how unwise it was to lay waste towns and villages, and
+shut out commerce, they promised, after peace was concluded, to erect
+schools and other similar institutions, and professed their willingness to
+promote trade, but 'for the present,' they went on, 'we must, before
+anything else, make the hills and the rivers subject to our power.' On the
+whole I found the condition of the rebels far better than I had expected.
+They are comfortably clothed and well fed. The population of Nankin
+consists exclusively of officials. No one not connected with the
+administration of the army is admitted within the gates of the city. The
+majority of the inhabitants, who number about 20,000, are prisoners and
+slaves from every part of the empire. Although employed
+<!--545.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">535</a></span>in
+most arduous
+work, they get no pay, but are simply clothed and fed. I remarked an
+extraordinary number of beautiful young women in elegant silken stuffs
+from Sutschan. There were also prisoners of war from Sutschan and other
+places, who, however, were by no means inclined to lead a very Christian
+and moral life in the celestial capital. The city of Nankin, as well as
+its suburb, the beautiful ancient cemetery of the Ning dynasty, and the
+far-famed porcelain Pagoda, are all utterly destroyed; instead of the
+broad well-paved streets of former times the stranger has now to pick his
+steps through heaps of bricks and rubbish. The palaces of the kings of the
+Tai-ping dynasty are glaringly conspicuous among all these ruins. They
+must have been entirely rebuilt, for the old Yamuns and temples, like the
+whole of the Táu-Tái City, have been demolished utterly.</p>
+
+<p>"The rebel chief inhabits a large palace. His household consists of 300
+female attendants. He also, in virtue of his rank, has 68 wives supported
+for him. No one but the kings (of whom there are 11 or 12, but only two
+are resident in Nankin) is permitted to approach his sacred person.
+Probably Hung is little more than a mere puppet in the hands of his
+ministers. It is he who mainly keeps the rebellion on foot. Discipline is
+far better maintained among the long-haired insurgents than the imperial
+troops, and many of the younger soldiers have pleasing manners.</p>
+
+<p>"The kings or Wangs, on the other hand, seem exceedingly
+<!--546.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">536</a></span>lazy
+and
+vicious, and when they make their appearance, with a theatrical attempt at
+assuming a dignified deportment, clad in the yellow costume of a
+mountebank, and with a tinsel crown upon their heads, they present a most
+ludicrous aspect. Not one of these so-called kings understands the
+Mandarin dialect, so widely diffused among the educated classes;&mdash;not one,
+except Hung himself and Kan-wang, has a better education than one of his
+coolies.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> They have linguists at their elbow, who do their reading and
+writing for them.</p>
+
+<p>"The arms of the Tai-ping are very wretched, and the bare fact that they
+are able to make head against the Imperial troops, speak volumes for the
+utter helplessness and incapacity of the Imperial Government. I have not
+the slightest expectation that any advantage will accrue to civilization
+or Christianity from the religio-political movement of the Tai-ping. No
+Chinese will have anything to do with them. Their whole activity consists
+in burning, murdering, and devastating. They are universally detested by
+the people; even those inhabitants of the city who do not belong to the
+'Brotherhood' detest them. For eight years their head-quarters have been
+at Nankin, which they destroyed, nor have they as yet made the slightest
+attempt to rebuild it. Trade and industry are forbidden. Their taxes are
+three times higher than those of the regular Government. They take no
+measures to staunch the wounds which they have
+<!--547.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">537</a></span>inflicted
+on the people,
+nor do they occupy it as though they had any permanent interest in the
+land. They take no pains to tap those slow but sure springs of revenue, or
+to increase the resources of the state. They lay themselves out to
+maintain themselves by plunder. Nothing in their organization gives hope
+for any amelioration of the present or consolidation of power in the
+future; there is nothing in the entire history of the Tai-ping to enlist
+sympathy or compel confidence in a movement which, under the mask of
+religious reform, conceals the most hateful self-interest and terrorism,
+and under the pretext of spreading peace amongst men, brandishes the
+scourge of destruction and desolation among the provinces through which it
+has passed."<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of August the <i>Novara</i> quitted her anchorage off Shanghai, and
+with the steam-tug <i>Meteor</i><a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> fastened to her side availed herself of a
+spring-tide to make her way into the Yang-tse-Kiang. Off Wusung we awaited
+the arrival of the post,
+<!--548.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">538</a></span>after
+receiving which we were on 14th August
+towed as far as Gutzlaff's Island. Here we had once more to lay to, owing
+to calms and currents, till at last on the 15th August a fresh breeze
+sprang up from the S.E., and enabled us to make an offing.</p>
+
+<p>The temperature had materially altered during the last few days. After a
+cycle of oppressive heat the weather had suddenly changed to severe
+squalls, with a marked fall in the barometric column. The thermometer,
+which while we were lying off Shanghai marked from 86° to 93°.2 Fahr., now
+indicated in the morning only 68° Fahr., and during the day never rose
+above 77° Fahr. The number of fever cases, which had reached the number of
+seventy, began gradually to fall off. Several cases of dysentery forthwith
+began to show symptoms of amendment.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the latitude we were in, and the season of the year, the
+barometer stood unusually high (30°.100), and although this might be
+attributable to the constant prevalence of easterly winds, we nevertheless
+knew we were approaching the period when the monsoon changes, and little
+reliance was to be placed on the steadiness of that from the S.E.
+Accordingly on the 17th the wind shifted round to N.E. by E., while our
+course was due S.E. This however rendered it necessary to tack, if we
+wished to pass to the northward of the Loo-Choo group, whereas we could
+run free and with a fair wind through the southern channel. The sun set
+behind a bank of dense clouds on the horizon. The western sky was tinged a
+deep red, and the stars shone out with uncommon brilliancy,
+<!--549.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">539</a></span>but
+with a
+sort of trembling ray. The barometer fell slowly but steadily; the sea
+began to heave perceptibly. Our course was now changed to S.E. by S.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning the breeze freshened, and drew somewhat further aft;
+the sky was covered with clouds massed together, those to the N.E. of a
+very dark, almost black, colour. Wind and sea were now rising, the sky
+became more and more obscure, the barometer kept falling&mdash;there was every
+indication of the approach of heavy weather.</p>
+
+<p>The 18th August, the birthday of our Emperor, was duly celebrated far on
+the open ocean, in the middle of the China Sea. All was prepared for
+Divine worship, which was to be celebrated at 10 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> on the gun-deck, in
+presence of the staff and the entire crew. The Commodore had invited
+several gentlemen of the staff to dinner. On land no one thinks of
+consulting the elements, when such a festival is to be observed, nor do
+the guests waste many thoughts on wind, rain, and heavy seas, as they
+assemble in their comfortable chambers. At sea, on the other hand, the
+conditions are altered. Wind and weather are the masters here, whose
+behests the sea-farer must attend to. This was our case on this 18th of
+August.</p>
+
+<p>First, Divine service had to be dispensed with, because the sea became too
+heavy, rendering it necessary to close the port-holes in the gun-deck,
+where, as already mentioned, the service was to be performed. As the hour
+for the festival drew nigh, the elements gave unmistakeable evidence of
+their determined hostility; there was no room any longer to
+<!--550.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">540</a></span>doubt
+that we
+were about to do battle with a regular Typhoon.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> This species of
+storm, which is very customary at the change of the monsoons in August,
+September, and October, when the N.E. trade suddenly veers round and
+becomes the S.W. monsoon, is, like the tornado of the West Indies, the
+Pampero of the eastern coast of South America, and the hurricane of the
+Mauritius, a whirlwind of the most colossal proportions and most
+tremendous fury, by which the atmosphere is swept in a circle at an
+astonishing velocity around a central point more or less calm, which does
+not, however, remain stationary, but is continually progressing, and hence
+they are usually termed <i>cyclones</i>, or circular storms, to distinguish
+them from those other storms in which the wind moves in a straight line.
+It has been reserved for scientific investigation to explain the
+extraordinary regularity of the laws in obedience to which the masses of
+air, in the case of such storms occurring in the Southern hemisphere, move
+in the direction of the hands of a clock, whereas in the Northern
+hemisphere they are rotated in an opposite direction. In like manner, the
+direction of the centre round which the <i>cyclone</i> is raging has been
+definitely ascertained, so that, provided with these data, it is not
+merely possible for the navigator to hold aloof
+<!--551.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">541</a></span>from
+the dangerous
+central point of these circular storms, where the best and stoutest ship
+that ever floated must almost to a certainty be swallowed up, but even to
+avail himself of the wind to reach the edge of the <i>cyclone</i> (the breadth
+of whose path is from 300 to 1000 miles), and thus make a rapid and
+prosperous passage. By mid-day the wind had increased to such an extent
+that we had to take in most of our sails, and reef the rest. The sea now
+rose, and many of its waves came thundering upon our decks. The vessel was
+tossed to and fro with such violence that everything which had not been
+made fast, or was attached to the vessel, began to lurch from side to
+side. Nevertheless, the invited guests sat down to table, made the seats
+and the table fast, and, such at least whom the violent rocking did not
+make sea-sick, partook of a pleasant and joyous meal. But even these
+precautions did not prevent numerous unpleasant accidents. One tremendous
+lurch of the ship, which took us unawares, suddenly set adrift a number of
+our mess, who rolled over and over each other upon that unstable floor,
+amid a hideous chaos of tumblers, bottles, plates, and crockery. Chairs
+and <i>fauteuils</i> had their legs broken, everything breakable went into
+irretrievable smash, the convives escaping serious injury only by a
+marvel. Once more they took their seats at table, where only the bare
+cloth gave promise of security, and endeavoured to anchor themselves more
+firmly. When, at the conclusion of the meal, our Commodore gave the usual
+toast, and his guests
+<!--552.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">542</a></span>emptied
+their glasses to the health of the reigning
+monarch, the band attempted to strike up the National Anthem, and a hearty
+cheer resounded above the groaning of the ship, the howling of the wind,
+and the sullen roar of the ever-increasing waves, as they lashed against
+the ship's sides.</p>
+
+<p>The sun went down behind clouds, as we went careering along under
+close-reefed main sail and storm stay-sail over a confused sea, running
+mountains high, and with huge heavy grey masses of cloud and mist close
+overhead; the barometer was still falling, and as night closed in the wind
+sung mournfully, yet with almost deafening noise, through the masts and
+rigging. The wind now shifted and sprung up from N.E. by N., which being
+an additional sign that the centre of the <i>cyclone</i> was receding, we felt
+assured that we were on the right side to keep clear of it. By midnight
+the wind came still further round, till it stood steadily at N.E., when it
+acquired fresh strength, and blew a most violent hurricane. The centre of
+the <i>cyclone</i> had once more altered its course, and begun to move in our
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>Our position at noon (27° 25&#8242; N. and 125° 23&#8242; E.) was the most
+unfavourable possible. We had a N.E. wind, and were in the N.E. section of
+the typhoon, whose centre, as is customary in these storms, was moving in
+a N.W. or W. direction, and therefore threatened the more readily to
+overtake us, that our course lay S.E. through the wide channel, which
+leads from the Chinese Sea into the open ocean
+<!--553.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">543</a></span>between
+the Loo-Choo
+Islands and the Meiaco-sima group. There was now no other egress possible
+than by steering W. by S. to get away from the advancing centre of the
+whirlwind, on which course we would have to steer for the N. extremity of
+the Island of Formosa.</p>
+
+<p>The night of 18th and 19th of August was, in the fullest sense of the
+word, a night of storms. Towards midnight we once more set double-reefed
+foresail in order to lie our course of west by south. Had we calculated
+aright the course of the centre of the <i>cyclone</i>, the wind as we advanced
+should have drawn ahead, as we were now keeping it on our larboard beam.</p>
+
+<p>Daybreak of the 19th found us beneath a gloomy, angry-looking, cloudy grey
+canopy on every side, the clouds hanging quite low, till they seemed to
+brood upon the surface of the sea, now lashed into fury by the violence of
+the storm. The look-out could scarcely see a cable's length clear of the
+ship. Deluges of rain, lashes of spray, driven on board by the tremendous
+violence of the wind, enveloped us in a strange, half-mysterious
+obscurity. Towards the N.E. a compact bank of bluish grey clouds indicated
+the centre of the <i>cyclone</i>. The motion of the ship was so violent that
+one of her quarter-boats got filled with water, which at every lurch was
+washed upon the frigate's quarter-deck like a small cascade. Sometimes
+they became so full that they threatened to wrench the davits from their
+fastenings. The gun-deck was afloat with spray lashed on board with each
+pitch of the
+<!--554.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">544</a></span>ship,
+while the foam flew high up upon the mast. The waves
+crossed each other in every direction, huge conical masses rising suddenly
+to a height of 25 or 30 feet, as far as one might guess, and then as
+suddenly subsiding. It was the genuine pyramidal sea of the true
+<i>cyclone</i>, of which vessels caught in these furious circular storms are
+even more apprehensive than the fury and strength of the hurricane.</p>
+
+<p>The wind, which now began to draw to the westward, indicated that thus far
+we had shaped a proper course, and that the course of the <i>cyclone</i> lay
+towards the N.W. Under these circumstances it was deemed most prudent to
+make the Marianne Islands, and to avail ourselves even of the hurricane in
+order to perform a rapid voyage. We accordingly now laid our course to
+steer S.E. by S., through the centre of the channel south of the Loo-Choo
+Islands. Considering the width, 120 nautical miles, of this channel, there
+was reason to hope that, despite the errors in reckoning which were to be
+expected amid so many man&oelig;uvres, and considering the impossibility of
+getting astronomical observations, and the influence of the sort of
+currents which those hurricanes usually set in motion for a short period,
+we might make our way through it in safety.</p>
+
+<p>The wind remained steadily in the N.W., and at first was on our port
+quarter. Towards noon, however, it came round to N.W. by W., so that we
+were now running dead before it. We now set double-reefed foresail so as
+to make quicker progress. Towards 6 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> the hurricane woke up to its full
+<!--555.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">545</a></span>strength;
+squall followed squall, the universal covering of cloud in
+which the heavens seemed wrapped looked as though it reached to the very
+waters, and the air was quite filled with spray, till when standing at the
+ship's stern it was barely possible to distinguish the forecastle. The
+storm, sweeping along above the seething water, had a singular piercing,
+almost metallic, note, quite unlike the singing and whistling made among
+the sails and cordage. Staggering along under close-reefed fore and main
+sail, and double-reefed top-sail, the frigate pressed on through the thick
+night, going 14 miles an hour, through the strait between Loo-Choo and
+Meiaco-sima, out of the China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, whither she was
+being hurried along with such impetuous, irresistible violence by the
+wind, that not even the most experienced seaman could make head against
+it, but had, when passing from one part of the ship to the other, to warp
+himself along by means of a rope made fast fore and aft.<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> At 4 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>
+the barometer stood at its lowest (29°.302, the temperature at the same
+period being 66°.02 Fahr.), where it remained without sensible alteration
+for several hours. At last, towards 9 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, it began slowly to rise, the
+surest indication, and therefore most welcome one, that we were increasing
+our distance from the
+<!--556.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">546</a></span>central
+point of the storm. About 11 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> the
+clouds suddenly lifted on S.S.E., the horizon began to widen; there was no
+longer a doubt that the worst was over.</p>
+
+<p>At dawn on the 20th the masts and cordage showed a thick incrustation of
+salt, thus giving unmistakable evidence of the great height to which the
+spray had been driven. The wind was now W.S.W., and the barometer had
+risen to 29°.5, so that we had now merely an ordinary gale to deal with,
+and might look upon the <i>cyclone</i> as expended. Science had indicated the
+method of evading the centre of the circular storm, and even of making the
+very hurricane subservient to our ends in driving us along our destined
+course!</p>
+
+<p>At 8 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> the sun began to be visible by fits and starts, long enough,
+however, to permit us to make an occasional observation. According to this
+we were only one mile out of our position by dead-reckoning. During the 24
+hours, inclusive of the period during which we lay to, we had run 218
+miles in a general direction of S.E. by E. During the afternoon the sky
+cleared. The sea was still high, but the atmosphere gradually became
+clearer and more transparent, till by sundown even the large banks of
+clouds on the N.E. which continued to mark the centre of the <i>cyclone</i> had
+entirely disappeared. The <i>Novara</i> during this tremendous storm had proved
+herself a thorough sea-boat, nor was there any particular damage
+noticeable on the occasion of the careful inspection to which her sails,
+masts, and rigging were subjected, immediately that the weather became
+more favourable.
+<!--557.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">547</a></span>Her
+masts and sails, which in such a warfare of the
+elements she might so readily have had carried away, were all found to be
+uninjured, and only a few plates of her copper sheeting had been loosened
+by the fury of the waves, while those still clinging to the ship had been
+rolled up like so much paper, by the tremendous pitching of the good ship.
+The quarter gallery too, which when the frigate was running before the
+wind was exposed to considerable danger, had sustained but little damage.
+Such unfortunately was not the case with a small menagerie of rare birds
+and monkeys, which had been placed in cages carefully covered with linen
+in this, ordinarily the most sheltered, part of the vessel. The covering
+had been torn away by the hurricane, and the wind had so tossed the poor
+things about, that all their feathers were knocked off, and they presented
+a most pitiable appearance. The quadrupeds too, whose cries and lowings
+during the storm had already testified to their misery, were found to have
+suffered severely. Two oxen and several sheep died on the 19th. All the
+surviving animals lost flesh terribly during 48 hours, while those that
+had been the wildest and most untameable were now quite tame and docile.</p>
+
+<p>An analysis of the phenomena observed during the continuation of the
+<i>cyclone</i>, shows that on the 18th it formed its vortex, being then about
+opposite the rather lofty and tolerable-sized island of Dkinawasmia of the
+Loo-Choo group, which must have occasioned an alteration in the direction
+of the wind. Owing in part to the influence of the N.E.
+<!--558.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">548</a></span>trade,
+which
+enters the northern part of the China Sea, and at this season is gradually
+veering round till it completely displaces the S.W. monsoon, as also
+during the S.W. monsoon itself, which blows from Formosa on the south,
+there appears to exist to the northward of the latter-named island,
+favoured probably by its natural configuration and physical features, a
+well-defined space within which the barometer is always depressed, and in
+which the atmosphere in immediate contact with these N.E. and S.W. winds
+is compelled to assume a sort of whirling motion, like that of the hands
+of a clock, thus forming the germ as it were of a <i>cyclone</i>.</p>
+
+<p>So long as the S.W. wind was blowing strongly, the centre of the <i>cyclone</i>
+moved in an easterly direction, or in other words, in the direction of
+least resistance. But arrested in its advance by the various island
+groups, as also by the gradually increasing pressure of the S.E. and E.
+winds, the <i>cyclone</i> must, in consequence of the obstacles opposed to its
+path, have swung round with a sort of whirl, which once more impressed
+upon it a N.W. direction to the coasts of China, there to expend itself,
+apparently in consequence of the ever-increasing pressure of the
+surrounding atmosphere. During forty-eight hours, namely from 6 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> of
+the 18th to the same hour on the 20th, we were within the range of the
+typhoon itself, and on the 19th were at the nearest point to its vortex;
+nevertheless, judging by our lowest barometrical reading, we must have
+been at least 100 miles distant from the centre. It was the first typhoon
+that visited Chinese waters in 1858, and had
+<!--559.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">549</a></span>been
+predicted weeks before
+in the "North China Herald," while the Thousand Years Almanac of the
+Chinese calendar assigned its date for the 10th of August.</p>
+
+<p>Our course was now shaped for the Marianne Archipelago. For several days
+after the typhoon, the weather remained unsettled, and the swell was both
+heavy and broken, when on 26th August we came in sight of the island of
+Guam or Guaham, the most southerly of the Marianne group. In twelve days
+we had run 1860 miles, with the aid of the typhoon it is true, but there
+was the fact, the distance had been accomplished, and as to the How? Jack
+gives himself little concern, so long as he reaches his goal swiftly and
+in safety.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the 27th we stood into the Bay of Umáta, although it was
+very doubtful whether we should find a secure anchorage here, considering
+the S.W. wind that was blowing full into the roadstead, which is quite
+un-sheltered in that point of the compass. In fact, as we came nearer the
+land, we speedily became aware of the impracticability of anchoring here
+even in the best weather; while, on the other hand, it did not seem very
+advisable, owing to the difficulty of getting in, to make for the
+excellent harbour of San Louis de Apra, it being by no means easy, during
+the prevalence of the S.W. monsoons, for a large ship to beat out, so that
+they are occasionally detained there for several weeks. The order was
+accordingly given to luff up, so as to make tacks against the freshening
+west wind, out of this bay, studded as it is with numerous coral reefs.
+This proved
+<!--560.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">550</a></span>to
+be a work of much time and trouble, ere we succeeded,
+after many hours of anxious care, in weathering the reef.</p>
+
+<p>The island of Guam, with its lofty green mountain-ridges, numberless
+valleys, and thickly-wooded glades, had a cheerful and friendly aspect,
+but seems but little cultivated. At Umáta, where we perceived a few
+houses, the Spanish flag was waving from a small fort adjoining the
+settlement, which had been hoisted on the approach of the frigate.</p>
+
+<p>On 30th August, in 149° 53&#8242; E., we reached the eastern limit of the S.W.
+monsoon, and&mdash;although not more than four days' sail from the object of
+our next visit, the island of Puynipet, had we met with favourable winds
+to waft us a little further&mdash;it was 15th September ere we came in sight of
+that lovely island, for, stormy and boisterous as the beginning of this
+section of our cruise had proved, not less annoying were the fickle calms,
+which kept us lying for weeks motionless, our sails idly flapping with the
+roll of the ship. It is a wretched depressing state of inactivity and
+discomfort, of which only those can form an idea who have been caught in a
+calm on the open ocean, on board of a sailing ship,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luftgeflüster;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wenn Meer und Himmel schweigend sich umschlingen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Und fromm, fast wie zwei betende Geschwister."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Which may be freely translated as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"When ocean smooths his wrinkled face,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And sea and sky in pray'rful silence bend,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As when, in mutual fond embrace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Two loving sisters' vows on high ascend!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The original is by Nicolas Lenau.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a>
+Compare Gutzlaff's "History of the Chinese Empire,"
+published by K. Neumann; Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1847.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a>
+The copper cash is the sole currency in use, and consists
+of a mixture of copper, iron, and tin. Its value, reckoned by the string
+of 100, is variable, and is calculated according to the proportional
+traffic in foreign merchandise. On the average, from 1250-1300 cash are
+about equal to $1.00 American, or 4<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i> English.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a>
+In Shanghai the medium of exchange in common use is not as
+at Hong-kong reckoned in dollars, but in taels, an imaginary currency of
+the value of about $1.33, so that 100 taels = $133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub>, or about £27 15<i>s.</i>
+Most accounts are rendered in taels, whence they are reduced into Mexican
+dollars, the only foreign silver that is current. When European merchants
+first came in contact with the children of the Flowery Land, the latter
+used to pay a sort of premium for American dollars, while for those
+bearing the effigies of Charles III. (known as the Karolus dollar), quite
+a special price was paid. Gradually, however, the value sank till, as
+already mentioned, 75 taels = $100. What has so often been reported of a
+special Shanghai dollar coinage is quite erroneous. There are neither gold
+nor silver coins struck in China, but solely of copper, and in some
+provinces of iron. The term Shanghai dollar is equivalent to tael, which,
+as already remarked, is, like the guinea in England, unknown to commerce.
+1 tael=5<i>s.</i> 7<i>d.</i> English, but in trade it is taken as 6<i>s.</i> It
+occasionally rises as high as 6<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, when the proportion between the
+dollar and the tael is as 100 to 72.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a>
+An English translation of one of these reports will be
+found in the 1845 number of Morrison's admirably edited, but now rather
+rarely met with, monthly periodical, "The Chinese Repository."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a>
+We occasionally saw the Queen of Heaven (Kwan-Yin)
+represented with a child in her arms, and have in our possession a piece
+of carved work representing such a group, which we purchased in a shop at
+Shanghai. This elegant figure seems to be a favourite deity with the
+Chinese, as it frequently adorns their little domestic altars, and is
+especially reverenced by the women who are desirous of the honours of
+maternity. The striking similarity between this exhibition and that of the
+Holy Virgin, as we see her represented in Catholic Churches, with the
+infant Jesus in her arms, must involuntarily suggest the idea that there
+has been an infusion of Catholicism intermingled here with the rites of
+Buddha. If the resemblance between the two is not accidental, it may
+readily be assumed that the same thing has occurred here as in the case of
+certain Christian legends, which the traveller encounters among various
+races, on whom the beams of Christian civilization have never been shed.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a>
+The price of each meal is as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">1 bowl of rice,</td><td align="right">12</td><td align="center">cash</td><td align="left">(<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> <i>d.</i>)</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">1 bowl of vegetables,</td><td align="right">"</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="left">(<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> <i>d.</i>)</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">1 cup of tea,</td><td align="right">6</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="left">(<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> <i>d.</i>)</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Breakfast, consisting usually of rice, vegetables, and tea,</td><td align="right">30</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="left">(1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> <i>d.</i>)</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Bed, fire, and attendance,</td><td align="right">20</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="left">(<sup>7</sup>&frasl;<sub>8</sub> <i>d.</i>)</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a>
+This sacrificial paper, coloured and written upon, is
+usually called "Joss" or "Sycee"-paper in Canton-English, because the
+prayers addressed to the Divinity are usually for riches and silver ingots
+(<i>Sycee</i>), which the suppliants hope to obtain by entreaty.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a>
+Properly spelt <i>Kong-fu-tséu</i>, from which the Europeans
+have constructed the Latinized name Confucius. <i>Kong-fu-tséu</i> (sometimes
+also written <i>Kong-tse</i>) was born 550 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">B.C.</span> in the city of Kio-siu-bien, in
+the modern province of Shantung.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a>
+Lao-tse (Lao-tseu), born <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">B.C.</span> 504, in the village of
+Knio-schin, in the kingdom of Thsu, held the post of keeper of the
+archives of the palace under the Tscheu dynasty. In his Book of Philosophy
+(Tao-te-king) the following remarkable words occur: "The rule of antiquity
+has been, not to shed light on the people, but to keep them in ignorance.
+A people that comprehends is difficult to govern. On this subject men say,
+Whoso governs a kingdom in knowledge, the same is the destroyer of that
+kingdom; whoso governs a kingdom assigning no reason, the same maintains
+that kingdom. In the family, in the school, children are brought up among
+idols. When they enter school in the morning they are taught to do honour
+to the image of Kong-tse. This custom must be forthwith dispensed with."
+(Compare J. R. Kaeuffer's History of Eastern Asia, for "Friends of the
+History of Mankind," Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1859, vol. ii. p. 64, and K. F.
+Neumann's Eastern Asiatic History, Leipzig, W. Engilmann, 1861, p. 129.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a>
+Copper coins, struck by a ruler with whose reign any
+memorable occurrences are associated, command a high price as
+health-giving amulets. Some of these, those, for instance, of the Ming and
+Sing dynasties, have very special healing virtues attributed to them. The
+currency of Tsching-tá (1506-1522) are unfailing preservatives against the
+perils of pregnancy, and the illnesses consequent thereon. Others are held
+in great honour as prophylactics. The mode of application consists in the
+invalid dragging them by a cord over various parts of his body in a
+certain prescribed order.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a>
+The Chinese attribute the most marvellous healing powers to
+water, and accordingly apply it in a variety of forms, in numbers of
+maladies of the most dissimilar character. Water, cold, tepid, warm, and
+hot, as also snow and iced-water, figure among the list of medicaments, as
+do also rain-water, well and river-water, brackish water, dew, water from
+any eddy or whirlpool, or a stream, boiling water, and steam.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a>
+The Chinese women are for this reason anxious to keep their
+children at the breast for two or three years and even longer, partly by
+way of speculating upon their having a constant breast of milk, and in
+this singular manner make up for any deficiency of cow's milk, between the
+market demand and the actual supply. A Chinese who possesses five or six
+concubines in addition to his legitimate spouse, may thus boast of a
+regular dairy farm. As sailors on arriving in port are usually excessively
+fond of milk, which they drink in large quantities, we were not a little
+amazed on learning from a physician at Hong-kong the source whence in all
+probability had been derived the milk that was so plentifully supplied!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a>
+In German <i>Bruch-porzellan</i>, in French
+<i>porcelaine-craquelée</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a>
+<i>Description générale de la Chine.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a>
+Not alone this oil-cake, but ground horns and bones, hair
+from the beard, and nail-parings, rust, ashes, and even human excrement
+are used as manure. And it is a singular fact that the price of the latter
+varies according to the race of men by whom it has been evacuated. The
+succulently nourished flesh-eating English and Americans are in this
+respect in far greater demand than the more sparely-fed cross-breeds;
+while the Chinese, subsisting almost exclusively upon fish and vegetables,
+are in respect to the value of their <i>fæces</i> as manure, behind every other
+race inhabiting the country. The price of this manure varies with the
+quality from one dollar to three dollars the <i>picul</i>. This custom of
+collecting and disposing of human excrement for manure is much more
+extensively observed in the interior of the Empire than in the provinces
+along the coast. "If," writes M. Huc, the well-known missionary,&mdash;"if we
+were not aware to what perfection the denizens of the Celestial Empire
+have carried the art of manuring, one would be at a loss how to reconcile
+the fondness of John Chinaman for making money with the conveniences free
+of all charge which the proprietors of the soil everywhere erect for the
+comfort of travellers. There is not a city nor a village in which this is
+not universally the case. In the most crowded streets, or the most
+out-of-the-way abandoned spot, one frequently marvels to find these
+"cabinets" in cane-work, earth, or even masonry. One is almost tempted to
+believe he is in a country where the care to provide plenty of public
+latrines is pushed to the extreme. Utilization, however, furnishes a
+sufficient explanation of all these edifices."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a>
+In every part of this extensive empire, travellers
+encounter these national tributes to the memory of distinguished women,
+and Dr. Medhurst, as also Fortune and other authorities upon China, relate
+numerous instances of these remarkable memorials. One of these, an archway
+of stone, is spoken of by Medhurst as of singular beauty. It is half a
+mile from the city of Kwang-Tib, and was erected by the community of that
+region, with the approval of the Emperor, in honour of a lady of that
+city, of singular piety and benevolence. Over the portico are inscribed
+the words "Kin-sin-tsaé-tschung" (a golden and perfect heart precisely in
+the middle).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a>
+In the hospital, in what is called the western suburb of
+Canton, which was under the charge of Dr. Hobson from 1848 to 1858, the
+annual number of patients of both sexes under treatment averaged upwards
+of 20,000. During the most unhealthy season (May and June) the number
+imploring assistance frequently amounted to from 3000 to 3400. In the
+dispensary there were, moreover, from 200 to 250 patients, who received
+medical advice three times a week, and were supplied with medicaments
+gratuitously.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a>
+We saw this huge work in the private library of the chief
+of the medical staff at Hong-kong, Dr. W. A. Harland, who had conceived
+the idea of publishing a more important work upon Chinese drugs, when
+death struck down this distinguished and most industrious gentleman while
+in the active discharge of his duties.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a>
+In the Leper village near Canton, which is under the
+superintendence of a Chinese physician, there are about 100 lepers of both
+sexes, each of whom receives about 20 cash (not quite one penny) daily for
+his support. The superintendents stated to Dr. Hobson, who repeatedly
+visited the village, as the result of their many years' experience and
+observations, that leprosy is not in every case transmitted from parents
+to children; that several wives of leprous persons have no trace whatever
+of the disease, but that these women in all probability belong to those of
+the third and fourth generation, who wholly escape. The Chinese overseers
+and attendants, however, can have had as little opportunity for remarking
+upon the breaking out of leprosy among the children of those whose parents
+were entirely exempt from it as they had of informing themselves with
+accuracy as to the various forms and rapid diffusion of the disease in the
+case of the one, or its mild type and gradual disappearance in the other.
+Perspiration or suppuration in the diseased parts are never remarked in
+these patients.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a>
+At the Refuge for the Destitute (<i>Monegu choultry</i>) at
+Madras, where Dr. Mudge was at the same time instituting experiments
+lasting over two years, exhibiting these same remedies in every form and
+shape of elephantiasis, to which cases a special ward had been set apart,
+rarely entertaining fewer than 100 patients, that gentleman found it to be
+perfectly inoperative, and he accordingly entirely ceased prescribing it.
+In lieu of the Tscharul Mugra, the Hindoos in cases of leprosy make use of
+what are known as the "Asiatic pills," consisting of arsenic, pepper, and
+the root of the <i>Asclepia gigantea</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a>
+In an old Chinese medical work occurs the following remarks
+upon the plant: "Tae-fung-tzi. Taste, acrid and burning: imported from the
+South (this obviously alludes to the Straits of Malacca). Acts as an
+alterative on the blood, and is accordingly useful in cases of leprosy,
+when the blood is corrupted. The oil pressed from the seeds is also used
+as a remedy in ulcers, eruptions, and psoriasis, and for killing worms.
+This drug must be exhibited in the form of pills."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a>
+Geography, Statistics, and Natural History of the Chinese
+Empire&mdash;New York, 1847; Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese language&mdash;Canton,
+1856; Chinese Commercial Guide. Fourth edition&mdash;Canton, 1856.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a>
+In the figures of the Chinese original, which represents
+the Lo-háu-miáu or Buddhist aboriginal, Buddha is represented in a cavity
+of a rock. Two burning lamps are standing beside him, one on each side,
+and in front are two worshippers in devotional attitudes, while at a short
+distance one perceives a woman with a little child, who is approaching the
+divinity. The men wear fox-tails as ornaments to the head, and their long
+locks hang loose and dishevelled, far below the shoulders. Every year on
+the third day of the third moon, our Chinese traveller goes on to state,
+old and young, man, woman, and child, bring offerings of fruit to Buddha,
+and for that and the three next succeeding days, they sing and dance, and
+at the same time make offerings of all manner of <i>cooked</i> food. From their
+custom of wearing a fox-tail on their heads, which was also common among
+the ancestors of the present Mantchoos, and that these wild tribes
+reverence the image of Buddha, Dr. Bridgman is disposed to class them
+amongst foreign nations.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a>
+Among these there were, besides a small quantity of
+Sorghum, several species of vegetables, which are suited for cultivation
+in temperate climates, such, for example, as Poussén, Pa-tsé, Pon-ta-tsé,
+with which since our return experiments have been instituted in various
+parts of the Austrian Empire. M. de Montigny has also since our return
+sent, quite lately, a large quantity of Chinese seeds by way of souvenir,
+and despite illness, is so much interested in forwarding the objects of
+the Imperial Expedition, that he was a short time ago decorated with an
+Austrian order.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a>
+We are however in a position to furnish an extract from the
+note-book of an English sailor, left in charge of the yacht of an English
+merchant at Shanghai, who accompanied the expedition of Lord Elgin to the
+Pei-ho as coxswain. Notwithstanding the occasional <i>naïve</i> expressions
+made use of, it is a valuable narrative, such as may call up many strange
+reflections in the mind of the reader:&mdash;
+</p><p>
+"1858. May 30th.&mdash;The river Pei-ho is about 150 yards wide at its mouth,
+and at dead low water varies from 1&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> to 4&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> fathoms in depth. On the
+bar, which is two miles wide, the difference between the ebb and the flood
+is from 9 to 10 feet. Easterly winds cause the highest tides. In the
+interior, near Tien-Tsin, the river is from 3 to 6 fathoms deep, and from
+50 to 100 fathoms wide. Countless villages stud the banks. The houses are
+built of clay or straw. The boys run about naked to an age of eight years.
+It is a very wretched population. The coolies plunge into the water after
+the empty bottles which are swimming about. They seem exceedingly willing
+to be serviceable to foreigners. At Tien-Tsin, ten and a half hours from
+the mouth of the river, the thermometer marks 89° Fahr. in the shade. Lord
+Elgin is living in a private house on shore. The interpreters live in a
+passenger-junk. Provisions are on the whole cheaper than at Shanghai. An
+immense number of natives keep crowding open-mouthed round the
+"barbarians" and their ship during the entire day, hundreds following us
+at every step. Almost all the shops are shut, through dread of the
+barbarians."
+</p><p>
+"4th June.&mdash;Thermometer 95°. The people very willing to supply the
+strangers with water, tea, &amp;c. The natives are on the average from five to
+five feet three and well-proportioned. Some of them are "tremendously"
+fat, with huge heads. Among the entire lot I could not see one single
+woman. The streets are narrow, filthy, and uneven. Saw several hand-carts,
+which were used to convey water from the river to the village. On each
+barrow there could be from six to eight buckets of water. There were also
+plenty of mules and donkeys, but very few horses."
+</p><p>
+"June 18.&mdash;This day the Russian minister concluded his treaty. A Russian
+courier starts to-morrow for St. Petersburg with dispatches."
+</p><p>
+"June 26th.&mdash;At 6 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> to-day the treaty with England was signed. Went in
+procession to the town. All the shipping dressed with flags, and manned
+yards. The festivities went off in the Yamun. Lord Elgin sat at the middle
+table, with a Mandarin on each side of him. I hear their names were
+Wa-schu-nau and Kwei-liang. The first-named is a strong, corpulent man of
+about 45; the latter is much older, and seemed very much dejected; he has
+however just recovered from sickness, which may account for it. After the
+ceremonies of signing and sealing had been gone through, they all partook
+of refreshments provided by the Mandarin. Lord Elgin proposed a toast to
+the health of the Emperor of China, and to the future friendship of the
+two nations, which was responded to by the Mandarins. Shortly after the
+assembly broke up, and we all marched home to the excellent music of the
+flag-ship's band and the bugles of the marines. The whole affair lasted
+about three hours and a half. It was full moon, and a splendid night.
+</p><p>
+"June 27th.&mdash;This afternoon the treaty with the French was signed.
+Returned to their ships by torch-light, port-fires, &amp;c. &amp;c. Ki-ying, the
+Mandarin who assisted in bringing about the treaty, was sentenced to be
+decapitated, as he was blamed for opening the door to the barbarians, but
+he has since been pardoned."
+</p><p>
+"July 3rd.&mdash;News came from Pekin that Ki-ying has committed suicide by
+cutting his throat."
+</p><p>
+"July 4th.&mdash;Thermometer 96° on board, despite awnings and sprinkling the
+roof of the wheel-house with water!"
+</p><p>
+"July 6th.&mdash;Left Tien-Tsin. After a long, tedious, and tiresome passage of
+15 days we reached Shanghai once more on 21st July, all well.
+</p><p>
+"Price of provisions at Tien-Tsin, as contracted for on 28th May, for the
+supply of the English fleet:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Oxen (average weight 4 piculs, or 533 lbs.),</td><td align="center">the carcase</td><td align="center">$10</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sheep,</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Hens,</td><td align="center">per dozen</td><td align="center">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Geese and ducks,</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Eggs,</td><td align="center">per thousand</td><td align="center">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Vegetables,</td><td align="center">picul = 133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> lbs.</td><td align="center">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rice,</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">5</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sugar,</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Yams,</td><td align="center">per dozen</td><td align="center">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Pears,</td><td align="center">per hundred</td><td align="center">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Apples,</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ice,</td><td align="center">per lb.</td><td align="center">16</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>"All articles to be delivered of the best quality. The prices are reckoned
+in American dollars. Every morning a boat was sent off to the
+<i>Coromandel</i>, on board which the purchases took place."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a>
+The Táu-Tái, whose authority extends over the three
+prefectures of Soo-Chow, Sung-Kiang, and Tai-tsing in the north-east of
+the province of Kiang-ti, is under the governor of Soo-chow, and has
+resided at Shanghai ever since that port was thrown open to trade. His
+salary by law is only 4000 <i>taels</i> (£1445), but the various perquisites
+and emolument attached to it make his actual income about 365,000 <i>taels</i>
+or £105,000 per annum; out of which he has, however, to defray all
+expenses of subordinates, &amp;c.; so that the net annual income of this post
+is estimated at from 25,000 to 30,000 <i>taels</i> (£7000 to £8700). Besides
+the Táu-Tái there is only the Tschi-hien, a sort of magistrate who lives
+in Shanghai, and trades with the foreigners.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a>
+As another example of an interview with the highest class
+of Chinese officials, we must briefly describe one enjoyed by some of our
+Expedition with a Mandarin named Li-hoi-wan. He received them in a chamber
+of his house, in which were a few small tables and chairs, while at the
+other end was an elevated cushioned seat on which sate Li-hoi-wan, a large
+stout man. He wore a Mandarin hat, with a blue button, and a greyish blue
+coat reaching to the ground. He saluted the foreigners by folding his
+palms across his breast, invited them to be seated on the daïs beside him,
+and ordered cigars and tea to be brought. Afterwards sweetmeats of every
+description, confectionery, and fruit were served, as also Chinese wines,
+the latter, to judge by their flavour and their fragrance, seeming as
+though they must have hailed from a perfumery store rather than a wine
+cellar. Two days after the Chinese, with delicate courtesy, returned the
+visit at their quarters in the residence of M. Probst, the Consul for
+Oldenburg. Punctually at the appointed hour three far-resounding taps of
+the gong were heard, a foot-soldier of police presented a flaming red
+"<i>carte de viste</i>," bearing the name and titles of Li-hoi-wan, who
+forthwith was received by the travellers at the threshold, in compliance
+with Chinese customs. He was attired in heavy silk clothes, his fan in an
+elegantly worked sheath, a gold lever watch in his girdle, and was in
+excellent spirits. The hospitable host had, according to the custom of the
+country, prepared a chow-chow, or collation, at which, however, instead of
+Samschoo, champagne was the prevailing beverage. A few days later the
+Mandarin visited his newly acquired friends on board the frigate, and
+begged their acceptance of a variety of presents, such as silks, nuts,
+tea, dried fruits, and Chinese maxims and proverbs, written on long rolls
+of paper, that, as he naïvely expressed it, we might think of him "as a
+brother."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a>
+Mr. Hogg has since left that firm, and with his brother,
+Mr. Edward J. Hogg, has established the firm of Hogg Brothers, in
+Shanghai.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a>
+Under the Emperor Yang-ti of the Tsin dynasty, which filled
+the throne during the 6th century, more than 1600 miles of canals were
+partly constructed, partly rebuilt and repaired, the immense works being
+distributed among the soldiery and the inhabitants of the cities and
+villages. Each family was bound to furnish one man, between the ages of 15
+and 20, whom the Government only found in provisions. The soldiers, on
+whom devolved the heaviest portion of the work, received higher pay. Some
+of these canals, which were the making of the commerce of the interior,
+and thus were of the utmost service to the welfare of the Empire, were
+forty feet wide, and were planted on either bank with elms and willows.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a>
+These lanterns, often beautifully carved and otherwise
+adorned, are among the most characteristic furniture of a Chinese room.
+Into their manufacture enter not alone glass, horn, silk, paper, &amp;c., but
+also the glutinous matter derived from a species of sea-tangle (<i>Gigartina
+tenax</i>&mdash;called by the Malays <i>Agar-Agar</i>), with which the paper employed
+in covering the sides of the lantern is fastened on. In the silk and paper
+manufactures too this omnipresent Agar-Agar paste plays so important a
+part, that above 500 piculs at $2 a picul, are annually imported from the
+Indian Archipelago.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a>
+Vide Huc's Chinese Empire, Vol. I.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a>
+The Chinese find it not less inexplicable that we use such
+murderous-looking instruments to divide and convey our food to our mouths,
+with which they think we must every moment be in danger of wounding our
+lips or putting our eyes out, than that we should remove the bones from
+the flesh, or crack the shells of nuts and almonds, both which operations
+seem to them excessively absurd. In fact, it is no mere bon-mot which
+represents a Chinese gazing in astonishment at Europeans playing
+billiards, or nine-pins, waltzing, or "polking," and remarking, with an
+ill-concealed assumption of superiority, that wealthy people ought to
+leave such fatiguing things to be done by their servants!!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a>
+Since the well-known minister and envoy to Japan.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a>
+Since sacked by the Tai-ping rebels.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a>
+Abandoned after a large part of the course of the Yang-tse
+had been explored. Lieutenant-Colonel Sarel published lately a most
+interesting and valuable pamphlet on this expedition, of which he was the
+leader, under the title, "Notes on the River Yang-tse-kiang from Hankow to
+Ping-Shan. Hong-kong, Printed at Noronka's office."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a>
+Report of the deputation, appointed by the British Chamber
+of Commerce in Shanghai, on the commercial capabilities of ports and
+places on the Yang-tse-kiang visited by the expedition under Vice-Admiral
+Sir James Hope, K.C.B., in February and March, 1861. Supplement to the
+China Overland Trade Report of 28th Feb. and 27th May, 1861, and
+Supplement to the Overland China Mail, No. 237 of 12th June, 1861.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a>
+According to Dr. W. H. Medhurst's translation of this rare
+work, for a copy of which, rescued from the last great conflagration at
+Canton, we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Wylie, the portion
+especially referring to this runs as follows: "The mulberry ground having
+been supplied with silk-worms, the people descended from the hills and
+dwelt in the plains," (p. 91,) and further on, "their tribute baskets were
+filled with black silks and checkered sarsenets" (p. 96). See Ancient
+China, <img src="images/glyph508.png" style="display: inline; height: 2em;
+vertical-align: middle;" alt="" /> The Shookin, or the Historical Classic.
+Being the most ancient authentic Records of the Annals of the Chinese
+Empire. Illustrated by later commentators. Translated by Dr. W. H.
+Medhurst, Sen. Shanghai, 1846.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a>
+Thus Yuen-tschin in the third month (April of our
+calendar), Chay and Yuen in the fourth month (May), Gae-tschin in the
+fifth month (June), Sai in the sixth month (July), Han-tschin in the
+seventh month (August), Szé-tschan in the ninth month (October), and Haù
+in the tenth month (November).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a>
+The value of a tael, as already stated, varies from 6<i>s.</i>
+to 6<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> It is estimated that a bale of silk, until it is shipped at
+Shanghai for England, has cost from £80 to £100 sterling.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a>
+The word <i>Châ</i> is, however, used by the Chinese to
+designate not the tea plant alone, but every description of <i>Camelia</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a>
+Arabian travellers who visited China in the 9th century,
+<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span> 850, speak thus early of tea, as of a beverage in universal use.
+According to Kämpfer tea was introduced from China into Japan about <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span>
+519, by a native prince named Dæme, who, during his residence in China,
+had learned its invaluable properties. The Japanese, however, do not drink
+their tea as an infusion, but grind the leaves into powder, pour hot water
+upon them, and stir them with a bamboo-stick till they are thoroughly
+mingled together, when they swallow the decoction and the powder together,
+as is done with coffee in some parts of Asia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a>
+The term "Bohea" is in fact only a corruption of the
+Chinese Wu-yi, which again is derived from Wu-i-kien, a well-known Chinese
+divinity.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a>
+In Java, where the tea plant has been cultivated for a
+series of years, the mountain region from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea,
+and with an average temperature of from 58°.1 to 73°.7, Fahr., has been
+found best adapted for the growth of the plant.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a>
+The first scientific arrangement of the tea plant according
+to dried specimens was made in 1753 by Linnæus, who in his <i>Species
+Plantarum</i> included among these one species, which he called <i>Thea
+Sinensis</i>. But by the time the second edition of his renowned work made
+its appearance in 1762, Linnæus found himself compelled to make two
+species of it, and to assign them the names by which they are known to the
+present day. The first living tea plant was brought to Europe in October,
+1763, by a ship captain named Ekeberg, and planted in the Botanic Garden
+of Upsala.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a>
+According to Fortune ("A Residence among the Chinese."
+London, 1857. Murray), the various sorts of tea have added to them from
+two to four spoonfuls of a mixture in which the plant <i>ma-ki-holy</i> largely
+enters, as also indigo and pulverized <i>gypsum</i>, in order to increase the
+green tinge of the leaves.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a>
+A picul, 133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>3</sub> lbs., of these leaves costs on the average
+15 to 18 dollars, though it occasionally ranges as high as 30 dollars.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a>
+In the year 1859, the exports into England were 30,988,598
+lbs. (viz. 22,292,702 lbs. black, and 8,695,896 lbs. green), out of a
+total export of 55,328,731 lbs. Within the same period 19,952,147 lbs.
+went to the United States, 1,879,584 lbs. to Australia; to Hong-kong, and
+other ports along the coast of China, 1,261,347 lbs.; to Montreal, 510,600
+lbs., and to the entire continent of Europe 736,455 lbs.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a>
+Some experiments on a small scale were made with the
+<i>Sorgho</i> at Aquileia near Görz, by M. Karl Ritter, a well-known merchant
+and sugar refiner, of Trieste. We were shown samples of refined sugar,
+extracted from the <i>Sorgho</i>, which promised the best results. A large
+quantity of seeds which were sent a year ago to one of the members of the
+<i>Novara</i> Expedition by M. de Montigny, had been made use of to institute a
+series of experiments in cultivation, in those parts of the Empire, the
+climatic conditions of which promised to be most favourable for the growth
+of the <i>Sorgho</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a>
+During our stay at Shanghai we also made inquiries as to an
+alleged new species of potato, concerning which there have been current
+for years such contradictory accounts in the European and American
+journals, that the foreign community of Shanghai was beset with inquiries
+from all parts of the world, begging for more accurate information as to
+this newly discovered tuber, which promised to supply a much-needed
+substitute for the apparently effete, worn-out, disease-smitten potato of
+Peru. No one, however, could furnish us with the slightest information on
+the subject, and ultimately it became apparent that the rumours hitherto
+current were founded on an erroneous impression. It would seem, according
+to the opinion of Mr. Fortune, that the rumour first arose from mistaking
+for a new sort of potato, the <i>Calladium esculentum</i>, which is quite
+commonly exposed for sale in the streets of Shanghai, and the small tubers
+of which, both in flavour and external appearance, resemble those of the
+potato, when, without taking the slightest further trouble to inquire into
+the matter, the pretended new discovery, fraught with such important
+results for the poorer classes, was duly trumpeted to the entire world. In
+no part of China hitherto accessible was there at the time of our visit
+any other description of potato in use than the common Peruvian. Officers
+of the English and American navies, who at the time of the first Peace of
+Tien-Tsin were eating potatoes in the Gulf of Petcheli, assured us that
+they were precisely identical with those that have so long been
+acclimatized in Europe. Of edible tubers there are at Shanghai, besides
+potatoes, the yam (<i>Dioscorea</i> sp.) and the Yucca (<i>Jatropha</i> sp.).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a>
+The following is the process as we observed it: the bamboo
+strips are first soaked for a considerable period in water, after which
+they are peeled, and again saturated with lime-water, until they are
+perfectly flexible. After this, they are converted, according to the
+method in use at that special locality, either by water power or hand
+labour, into a fluid of a pap-like viscosity, after which it is boiled
+till it has attained the requisite fineness and consistency for conversion
+into paper.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a>
+These consist chiefly of cotton and woollen goods of every
+description, steel cutlery, iron-ware, glass, clocks, watches, musical
+clocks, tin-ware, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a>
+The quantity of home-grown opium, chiefly produced in the
+province of Yun-nán, cannot be accurately ascertained, as the returns are
+not made at certain points; but the quantity must fall far short of the
+amount imported from India.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a>
+According to MacCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, opium had
+been introduced into China and India by the commencement of the 16th
+century by Mahometan merchants, and it sounds like an apology when the
+learned and patriotic author, in treating of the part taken by England in
+the much-to-be-lamented traffic in this noxious drug, adds by way of
+palliation&mdash;"A century and a half before the English had <i>anything</i>
+whatever to do with its <i>cultivation</i>."&mdash;(Latest edition, p. 939.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a>
+Only a certain number (originally twelve) of wealthy
+Chinese merchants, "Hong," were permitted by law to trade with foreigners
+at Canton. They had not only to account to Government for all duties and
+taxes, but were likewise responsible for the good behaviour of the
+strangers!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a>
+It is a coincidence worthy of notice, that simultaneously
+with the rise of the opium trade with China, the importation of slaves
+into America began to increase, and that European commerce in these two
+infamous traffics seemed to be ever increasing and gaining ground in
+Eastern Asia and in America! At the end of last century the number of
+slaves in the Southern States of the Union was little greater than that of
+opium-smokers in China: at present the number of the former is about
+4,000,000, and the latter may be put at about the same figure; the latter,
+slaves of their own intemperate passions,&mdash;the former, of the covetousness
+and cold calculating selfishness of their masters. The opium question and
+the slave question&mdash;these two seem destined to be solved simultaneously!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a>
+A very similar result is arrived at by MacCulloch, who
+calculates that the Company cleared 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per lb. on opium, which
+they bought by their agents from the Bengal ryots at 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per
+pound, and retailed at 11<i>s.</i> per pound.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a>
+There are indeed smokers who smoke their two, four, five,
+and even eight drachms per diem, but these are solitary instances, while
+the very costliness of the article forbids the use of the narcotic to the
+great mass of the population, except in the very smallest quantities.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a>
+One poem of the Chinese Imperial Pretender, which is not
+included in Dr. Medhurst's collection of the writings published by the
+insurgent press at Nankin, and for a copy of which we have to thank Mr.
+Meadows, Government interpreter at Shanghai, has lately been translated by
+our learned countryman, Dr. Pfitzmaier. The splendidly got up binding of
+this little book is of a golden yellow on the title page, and red on the
+reverse; the river Yang-tse-kiang appears to pay homage to the Tai-ping,
+whose residence it surrounds. The title printed on the exterior of the
+wrapper runs as follows: "Imperial announcements in theses upon the words
+of the Heavenly Father, the Most High Ruler." The title within is: "Ten
+poems upon Supreme Felicity," although these so-called poems are simply
+strophes, never exceeding four verses of seven feet. The writing bears
+date the number <i>Kuei-hao</i> (50), corresponding to <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.D.</span> 1853, the third
+year of the reign of the Heavenly King, Tai-ping. The whole production is,
+if that be possible, yet more bombastic, unintelligible, and stupid than
+Chinese poems usually are to Western readers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a>
+Between February and September, 1855, there were executed
+in Canton 70,000 persons all told. Many of the rebel leaders were, in
+conformity with the <i>penal laws</i>, hewed in numerous pieces while yet
+living; a certain Kausin in 108! See K. F. Neumann's History of Eastern
+Asia, from the first Chinese war to the Treaty of Pekin, 1840-1860.
+Leipzig, Engelmann, 1861.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a>
+We extract from the <i>London and China Telegraph</i> of 31st
+March, 1862, the following severe but just criticism on this gentleman,
+whose letter, which we also quote, shows him to be a person of but limited
+education:&mdash;"Even the Rev. J. Roberts, who, as our readers are aware, has
+lived with the rebels at Nankin, and has to his discredit defended their
+conduct in the strongest possible manner, has at length discovered that
+they are nothing better than robbers and murderers. This change of opinion
+in a man who on all occasions so confidently urged the claims of the
+Tai-pings, arose from a very simple cause:&mdash;he at length suffered,
+personally, from their barbarity. A servant to whom he was attached was
+killed before his eyes; and considering his life in danger, he fled to
+Shanghai, and wrote the following letter, dated 22nd January, 1862,
+reprobating the conduct of his former friends:&mdash;'From having been the
+religious teacher of Hung Sow-chuen in 1847, and hoping that
+good&mdash;religious, commercial, and political&mdash;would result to the nation
+from his elevation, I have hitherto been a friend to his revolutionary
+movement, sustaining it by word and deed, as far as a missionary
+consistently could, without vitiating his higher character as an
+ambassador of Christ. But after living among them fifteen months, and
+closely observing their proceedings&mdash;political, commercial, and
+religious&mdash;I have turned over entirely a new leaf, and am now as much
+opposed to them, for good reasons, I think, as I was ever in favour of
+them. Not that I have aught personally against Hung Sow-chuen, he has been
+exceedingly kind to me. But I believe him to be a crazy man, entirely
+unfit to rule, without any organized government, nor is he, with his
+coolie-kings, capable of organizing a government of equal benefit to the
+people of even the old Imperial Government. He is violent in his temper,
+and lets his wrath fall heavily upon his people, making a man or woman 'an
+offender for a word,' and ordering such instantly to be murdered without
+'judge or jury.' He is opposed to commerce, having had more than a dozen
+of his own people murdered since I have been here, for no other crime than
+trading in the city, and has promptly repelled every foreign effort to
+establish lawful commerce here among them, whether inside of the city or
+out. His religious toleration and multiplicity of chapels turn out to be a
+farce, of no avail in the spread of Christianity, worse than useless. It
+only amounts to a machinery for the promotion and spread of his own
+political religion, making himself equal with Jesus Christ, who, with God
+the Father, himself, and his own son constitute one Lord over all! Nor is
+any missionary, who will not believe in his divine appointment to this
+high equality, and promulgate his political religion accordingly, safe
+among these rebels, in life, servants, or property. He told me soon after
+I arrived that if I did not believe in him, I would perish, like the Jews
+did for not believing in the Saviour. But little did I then think that I
+should ever come so near it, by the sword of one of his own miscreants, in
+his own capital, as I did the other day. Kan-Wang, moved by his elder
+brother (literally a coolie at Hong-kong) and the devil, without the fear
+of God before his eyes, did, on Monday the 13th inst., come into the house
+in which I was living, then and there most wilfully, maliciously, and with
+malice aforethought, murder one of my servants with a large sword in his
+own hand in my presence, without a moment's warning or any just cause. And
+after having slain my poor harmless, helpless boy, he jumped on his head
+most fiend-like and stamped it with his foot; notwithstanding I besought
+him most entreatingly from the commencement of his murderous attack to
+spare my poor boy's life. And not only so, but he insulted me myself in
+every possible way he could think of, to provoke me to do or say something
+which would give him an apology, as I then thought and I think yet, to
+kill me, as well as my dear boy, whom I loved like a son. He stormed at
+me, seized the bench on which I sat with the violence of a madman, threw
+the dregs of a cup of tea in my face, seized hold of me personally, and
+shook me violently, struck me on my right cheek with his open hand; then,
+according to the instruction of my King for whom I am ambassador, I turned
+the other, and he struck me quite a sounder blow on my left cheek with his
+right hand, making my ear ring again; and then perceiving that he could
+not provoke me to offend him in word or deed, he seemed to get the more
+outrageous, and stormed at me like a dog, to be gone out of his presence.
+'If they will do these things in a green tree, what will they do in the
+dry?'&mdash;to a favourite of Teen Wang's, who can trust himself among them,
+either as a missionary or a merchant? I then despaired of missionary
+success among them, or any good coming out of the movement&mdash;religious,
+commercial, or political&mdash;and determined to leave them, which I did on
+Monday, Jan. 20th, 1862.' Mr. Roberts adds that Kan-Wang had refused to
+give up his clothes, books, and journals, and that he had been left in a
+state of destitution. Most persons will agree that he fully deserves any
+amount of suffering that may be inflicted on him. Mr. Roberts has done his
+utmost to delude Europeans as to the true character of the Tai-pings; he
+has kept back some facts, has falsified others, and has acted throughout
+in a manner utterly inconsistent with his assumed character of a Christian
+missionary. On such conduct no comment can be too severe."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a>
+Nankin accordingly is usually called now-a-days the "City
+of the Coolie-Kings."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a>
+Very similar are the reports made by the English who, in
+Dec. 1858, accompanied Lord Elgin on his voyage of discovery up the Kiang,
+and remained a considerable period among the Tai-ping. "The tenets of
+their religion," says Mr. Laurence Oliphant (vide Earl of Elgin's Mission
+to China and Japan, vol. ii. p. 463), "consist of a singular jumbling of
+Jewish ordinances, Christian theology, and Chinese philosophy. Like the
+Jews in the Old Testament they wage wars of extermination, they live like
+the worst professing Christians, and they believe like&mdash;Chinese."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a>
+The charges forwarded by the owners of the little <i>Meteor</i>
+for towing, and which are calculated according to the draught of water of
+the ship towed, was as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="center">
+<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left" class="smcap">Itinerary and vice versâ.</td><td align="center">15 feet and under.</td><td align="center">15 to 17 feet.</td><td align="center">17 to 18 feet.</td><td align="center">18 to 19 feet.</td><td align="center">19 ft. &amp; all beyond.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">From Shanghai to Gutzlaff's Island.</td><td align="center">300 taels, or £90.</td><td align="center">350 taels, or £105.</td><td align="center">450 taels, or £135.</td><td align="center">450 taels, or £135.</td><td align="center">500 taels, or £150.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Shanghai to Wusung.</td><td align="center">150 taels, or £45.</td><td align="center">175 taels, or £52 10<i>s.</i></td><td align="center">200 taels, or £60.</td><td align="center">225 taels, or £62 10<i>s.</i></td><td align="center">250 taels, or £75.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">From Wusung to Gutzlaff's Island.</td><td align="center">225 taels, or £62 10<i>s.</i></td><td align="center">250 taels, or £75.</td><td align="center">275 taels, or £82 10<i>s.</i></td><td align="center">300 taels, or £90.</td><td align="center">350 taels, or £105.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a>
+Typhoon, or <i>Teí-fun</i>, a strong wind. While some authors
+derive this word from the Arabic <i>Tufan</i>, a violent wind, others see in it
+the giant <i>Typhos</i> of Greek mythology, who was begotten by Tartarus of
+Earth, and from whom proceeded all that was disastrous and destructive.
+Whoever has experienced a typhoon will most readily acquiesce in the
+latter derivation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a>
+During this storm, we made the not uninteresting
+observation in a physiological point of view, that when the gale was at
+its worst, even the least hard-a-weather of us seemed quite free from
+sea-sickness, apparently the result of extreme excitement. For similar
+reasons, men who have been bitten by a snake, and who have had raw spirits
+administered as an antidote, seem able to take four or five times the
+quantity which they can on ordinary
+occasions.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--561.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">551</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -339px;
+  width: 677px; height: 509px; background-image: url('images/illu561.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu561" id="illu561"></a><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top:-1em;">Distant View of the Island of Puynipet.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 677px; height: 509px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XVI.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">The Island of Puynipet.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">18th September, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+Native boats in sight.&mdash;A pilot comes on board.&mdash;Communications
+of a white settler.&mdash;Another pilot.&mdash;Fruitless attempts to tack
+for the island.&mdash;Roankiddi Harbour.&mdash;Extreme difficulty in
+effecting a landing with the boats.&mdash;Settlement of Réi.&mdash;Dr.
+Cook.&mdash;Stroll through the forest.&mdash;Excursions up the Roankiddi
+River.&mdash;American missionaries.&mdash;Visit from the king of the
+Roankiddi tribe.&mdash;Kawa as a beverage.&mdash;Interior of the royal
+abode.&mdash;The Queen.&mdash;Mode of living, habits and customs of the
+natives.&mdash;Their religion and mode of worship.&mdash;Their festivals
+and dances.&mdash;Ancient monumental records and their probable
+origin.&mdash;Importance of these in both a historical and geological
+point of view.&mdash;Return on board.&mdash;Suspicious conduct of the
+white settler.&mdash;An asylum for contented delinquents.&mdash;Under
+weigh for Australia.&mdash;Belt of calms.&mdash;Simpson Island.&mdash;"It must
+be a ghost!"&mdash;Bradley Reef.&mdash;A Comet.&mdash;The Salmon
+Islands.&mdash;Rencontre with the natives of Malaýta.&mdash;In sight of
+Sikayana.
+</div>
+
+<p>While yet, on 16th September, 1858, five or six knots distant from the
+island of Puynipet,<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> first discovered in
+<!--562.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">552</a></span>1828
+by the Russian Admiral
+Lütke, and just as we found ourselves off what is called "Middle Harbour,"
+we remarked a boat of European construction making for the frigate. Two
+hours later it came alongside, with four natives and a white man, the
+latter of whom came on deck and offered his services to the Commodore as
+pilot. He proved to be a Yankee named Alexander Tellet, who had lived 20
+years on the island as smith and carpenter, to which he added the
+functions of pilot for the harbour in which he lived. Presently we were
+surrounded by a considerable number of natives in elegant canoes streaked
+with red, and formed of hollowed-out trunks of trees with outriggers,
+which have very peculiar scaffold-like supports, so that there is a kind
+of platform formed in the centre of the canoe, whereon the master usually
+seats himself, but which serves on occasion for festive meetings, and even
+for a small dance! The sails, made of mats, are triangular, the most acute
+angle being confined between two long bamboos, while a third serves as a
+mast, the whole capable of being shifted to either end of the boat by one
+of the crew, according to the direction of the wind. While some were doing
+what they could in their small boats to keep within the speed of the
+frigate, though we were going pretty fast, just as parasites make fast to
+the shark, others followed us a little distance, like dolphins, those
+faithful companions of ships, as far as the nearest harbour. With the
+exception of a short apron of cocoa-palm leaves, the natives were quite
+naked, and seemed pretty well made. On their heads they wore a sort of
+projecting pent-hat,
+<!--563.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">553</a></span>also
+of palm-leaves, obviously intended to shield
+the eyes from the vertical rays of the sun, and in form most resembling
+those lamp shades which old men or youths with weak eyesight are with us
+in the habit of using to ward off the full glare of artificial light.
+Among the natives who favoured us with their escort, there were two who
+from their personal grace, their light colour of skin, and thoroughly
+European cast of features, especially attracted our attention. They were
+the sons of an Englishman named Hadley, who had been for many years
+resident on Mudock island, E. of Puynipet, where he supported himself by
+fishing and pilotage, and had married a native woman. Shortly before our
+arrival, Hadley had started with several hundred pounds of tortoise-shell
+for Hong-kong, whence he intended to sail for England. He had intrusted
+his two sons to the care of a European settler, who succeeded him as pilot
+on Mudock island. According to all appearance, however, Hadley had little
+intention of returning to this island, notwithstanding the family tie that
+should have bound him to it.</p>
+
+<p>As we were coasting along the west side of the island about 1 to 17 miles
+from the reefs, Tellet was overwhelmed with questions on every hand and on
+every possible subject, and among other subjects of information we
+presently found that the chief intercourse of foreign ships was carried on
+with Roankiddi or Lee Harbour, some 15 or 20 miles distant, and Metetemai
+or Foul-weather Harbour, which lies six or seven miles E. of Roankiddi.
+During the N.E. trade (November
+<!--564.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">554</a></span>to
+April), from 50 to 60 American whalers
+put in to Puynipet to take in wood and water, and fresh provisions,
+chiefly yams, taro, sweet potato, poultry, and pigs. Many ships, moreover,
+bound from Sydney for China prefer at that season the voyage through the
+Pacific to passing round the south of Australia, and thence through the
+Straits of Sunda, or the yet more dangerous passage through Torres
+Straits, and usually make a tolerably fast run. Thus the Swedish corvette
+<i>Eugénie</i>, on her voyage round the globe, performed in November, 1852, the
+astonishing feat of making the passage from Sydney to Hong-kong, 5000
+miles, in the unprecedentedly short space of 37 days!</p>
+
+<p>The number of aborigines on this island, which is about 60 miles in
+circumference, was estimated by Tellet at about 2000. Formerly it was as
+many as 5000,<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> but the small-pox had since then committed fearful
+ravages among the population. The circumstances under which this frightful
+scourge was first introduced into Puynipet, throw considerable light upon
+the history of the spread of that disease, as well as much useful
+information upon the question of vaccination.</p>
+
+<p>In 1854, the English barque <i>Delta</i> arrived at Roankiddi
+<!--565.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">555</a></span>Harbour,
+with
+one of her crew ill with small-pox. The white settlers then on the island,
+who were well acquainted with the virulence of the disease, implored the
+native chief to forbid the captain's remaining, and insist on his putting
+to sea forthwith. The latter, however, seemed determined to leave the
+patient on the island. When he learned the hostile feeling of the
+population to himself and the crew, and found that they would neither take
+his sick man off his hands, nor supply himself and ship's company with
+provisions, he availed himself of the silence and obscurity of night to
+deposit the sick man on the shore with all his property, and at daybreak
+made off under full sail. Next morning the natives found the unfortunate
+wretch stretched suffering and utterly helpless on the strand, while the
+barque was no longer in sight. Hostility to the captain was now converted
+into sympathy with, and active compassion for, the sick man; a couch was
+prepared in an adjacent hut, and as much attention lavished on him as was
+possible under the circumstances; but his effects, consisting chiefly of
+linen and upper clothing, were speedily appropriated by the thievish
+natives. A few weeks later the small-pox broke out with frightful
+violence, and raged five months with undiminished severity all over the
+island. Almost every one of the natives was attacked, and of 5000
+inhabitants 3000 succumbed to the virulence of the epidemic. The sailor,
+however, with whom first originated this terrible fatality, completely
+recovered. His clothing,
+<!--566.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">556</a></span>scattered
+through every part of the island, had
+no doubt essentially contributed to the speedy diffusion of the malady. Of
+the thirty white settlers, who had all been inoculated, only one was
+attacked, and he soon got well again. In August, 1854, the destroyer
+disappeared almost as suddenly as he came, and has since then spared
+Puynipet a second visit, but wherever one goes the traces of the disease
+are visible in the faces and on the bodies of the natives.</p>
+
+<p>While picking up this information, we were getting nearer and nearer to
+Roankiddi Harbour on the S.W. of the island, and Tellet now stated he
+could not undertake to conduct us further, as there resided a pilot in the
+harbour whom he was not unwilling to give a job to. Another boat was now
+approaching the frigate, which had on board the regular pilot of Roankiddi
+Harbour, a Virginia Negro, named Johnson. Our man Tellet now took his
+leave, and set out in his boat on his return to Middle Harbour. Many a
+longing glance did we cast at the spot, where for the first time we were
+to be privileged to examine the wonders of the coral beds of the South
+Sea. For Puynipet is one of the finest examples known of a lofty island of
+the great ocean regularly hemmed in by wall-like reefs, by far the
+majority of the other islands being mere low "atolls." Unfortunately the
+breeze was unsteady and very light; the sky looked so gloomy and
+threatening that we had to haul off again from the island, and steer to
+the S.E., so as not to approach the reef too closely during the night. In
+the morning we once
+<!--567.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">557</a></span>more
+neared the island, under the influence of a
+gentle west wind, having run 15 miles out during the night. Gradually the
+small wooded or rocky islets hove in sight again, which, stretching
+northward from the great central mass, 2860 feet in height, surround the
+lofty island like a ring, inside of the wall-reef, which encompasses it at
+a distance of from one to two miles. We tacked about during the whole day
+with light variable winds from the west, and by evening had got
+sufficiently near our anchorage, that every one expected by a last tack to
+fetch it ere night set in, when the breeze suddenly shifted, died away,
+and once more compelled us to withdraw to a safe distance from the island,
+and pass the night under easy sail. At length, on 18th September, a fresh
+leading wind from the westward promised to carry us in without further
+delay.</p>
+
+<p>Right in front of us, and with not a cloud to interrupt the view, lay this
+extinct volcano of an island, densely covered with the most luxuriant
+verdure. Only at its N.E. corner there sprang suddenly into the air a
+naked, castellated rock, about 1000 feet high or so, cut off horizontally
+above, and with perpendicular sides, which we were informed was a small
+island (Dochokoits), separated by a narrow channel from the main island.
+Gradually, on either side of the isle, several rocky points became
+visible, which steadily increased in dimension, and began to stretch
+towards each other, till they looked like a row of pearls densely
+sprinkled in the air above the horizon; after which a number of thin,
+small, white
+<!--568.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">558</a></span>clouds
+suddenly rose and disappeared above the dark blue
+surface of the sea, flickering here and there like flames. This was our
+first glimpse of the island-reef and the surf-beaten coral, seen under the
+influence of a mirage, when, as is very frequently the case in tropical
+climates, the temperature of the surface of the water, and consequently of
+the immediately adjacent strata of atmosphere, is higher than those next
+above. Having got within about a couple of miles, the dark points resolved
+themselves into verdant cocoa-groves, patches of which adorn the outermost
+reef, while the small clouds now proved to be the tumultuous lash of a
+tremendous blinding surf, on the reef which separated the rise and fall of
+the ocean outside from the smooth placid surface of the broad channel,
+which inside the ring-shaped coral reef forms those singular natural
+canals, on which the natives in their frail canoes can sail right round
+the island, sheltered from the violence of the waves, and which, at those
+places where there is sufficient depth, and a breach in the line of reef
+admits of ingress from without, affords for even large-sized ships a
+secure harbour, according to observation in 6° 47&#8242; N., 158° 13&#8242; 3&#8243; E.</p>
+
+<p>We now endeavoured to enter between Nahlap Island on the west, covered
+with cocoa-palms and bread-fruit, and Sandy Island on the east, surrounded
+with a belt of raging foam, its coral masses clothed with low scanty
+brushwood. But almost immediately "Halt" was once more the order. In order
+to get into the harbour proper, which lay between two majestic banks of
+coral rising from the level of the sea
+<!--569.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">559</a></span>like
+an elegantly hewn dock, we
+had to pass through a very narrow channel in the reef, barely 50 fathoms
+wide, which indeed was pretty plainly indicated by the colour of the
+smooth water, besides being well marked out by regular buoys, but winds in
+a direction first westerly and then northwards, and accordingly was
+inaccessible to us with a west wind blowing. There was no alternative but
+to let the anchor go among the naked coral rocks forming the sub-marine
+plateau over which we now lay. But anxiety for the safety of the ship did
+not admit of her being suffered to remain in circumstances so dangerous.
+While therefore the frigate once more made sail, a survey of the island
+and harbour was ordered by a boat expedition.</p>
+
+<p>About 9 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A.M.</span> the Commodore, accompanied by some of the scientific staff,
+set off for land in a slim, flat-floored, Venetian gondola, admirably
+adapted for such purposes. When we had passed the twin Nahlap Islands and
+Sandy Island, we found ourselves in a channel about 100 fathoms in length
+by not quite 80 in width, which led directly into the interior of this
+huge basin constructed exclusively by insects, and surrounded by a triple
+wall of coral, an unfathomable, mirror-like pool, in which a ship lies
+calm and motionless as though in a dock. A buoy at the S.W. angle of the
+channel indicates some sunken rocks. On the further side of the coral reef
+one perceives the low-lying group of the Ants' Islands, thickly covered
+with trees. Although our Venetian boat drew hardly any water, we
+nevertheless found great difficulty in
+<!--570.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">560</a></span>advancing
+in proportion as we
+approached the shore. The fact too that it was ebb-tide served to increase
+the obstacles that beset our progress. Every moment the gondola touched
+upon sand-bank or rock. The utmost caution had therefore to be exercised,
+as we steered for some huts which were visible under the cocoa-palms quite
+close to the shore. Following the deeper more navigable channels, we
+reached the mouth of a river running from N.E., the low swampy soil on
+either side being covered with dense mangrove bushes, but all our efforts
+to push through the thickets so as to reach the huts proved unavailing,
+while the whole soil seemed to be beset with the stumps of the mangrove,
+like so many sharp stakes. After pushing a short distance up this mangrove
+channel, from which on either side smaller channels diverged, we retraced
+our steps, as there was no appearance of the scene changing, nor any
+appearance of human habitation, and endeavoured to reach the land near the
+huts already mentioned, by some of the deeper channels. Just then a white
+settler came to our assistance, who, standing on the shore, indicated to
+us by manual signs the clue out of this labyrinth of coral, and enabled us
+by a less shallow channel to reach one of the few points at which a
+landing is practicable. For at almost every point of the shore the
+mangroves, by the tenacity of their roots, prevent, or at any rate impede,
+the approach of boats, the natives themselves being confined to the use of
+those few spots where rivers or other natural channels afford means of
+access. Close to the shore appeared three wooden
+<!--571.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">561</a></span>huts
+thatched with
+bamboo and palm-leaves. This was a small colony of whites, whom a singular
+freak of destiny seemed to have cast away upon these islands, where they
+earned their subsistence as wood-cutters, smiths, fishermen, &amp;c. They call
+their settlement Réi. The first hut we entered was inhabited by a
+Scotchman, who called himself "Dr. Cook," and practised as a physician. He
+had lived 26 years on the island. His dwelling consisted of three large
+apartments, which up to a certain height were shut off from each other by
+thin wooden walls, so that the air could circulate freely overhead
+throughout the entire length of the hut. Everything was neat and orderly:
+in the first room, which apparently was used as a surgery, stood a number
+of medicine bottles duly labelled, and crucibles, which at the very first
+glance revealed the avocation of the possessor. Cook, who seemed far past
+the half century, with pale, faded, expressionless features, and a long
+silver-grey beard, clothed in a coarse woollen jacket, and with the huge,
+broad-brimmed, worn-out straw-hat pulled low upon his wrinkled forehead,
+had quite caught the listless, motionless deportment of the natives.
+Nothing roused him, nothing surprised him; it took considerable time to
+elicit from him any reply to our questions. The other white settlers in
+the adjoining islands were not much more communicative; all showed in
+their conduct a certain embarrassment, which left little doubt that theirs
+had not been an altogether blameless life in former days. Most of them
+were surrounded by a number of native wives, who had covered their bodies
+with a
+<!--572.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">562</a></span>powder
+of an intense yellow, prepared from the <i>Curcuma longa</i>,
+and wore merely a piece of calico round the loins, while splendid yellow
+blossoms set off the raven blackness of their long hair.</p>
+
+<p>We now followed up a narrow footpath, which led to a gently-sloping
+eminence behind the huts, and soon found ourselves surrounded by
+bread-fruit trees and banana, while from time to time a black basaltic
+rock cropped out from among the red, marl-like soil, and beautiful small
+lizards with sapphire-blue tails that shone with a metallic lustre, shot
+about with the velocity of an arrow among the stones. The prevailing
+formation, as in almost all the volcanic islands of the Pacific, is an
+amorphous basalt-lava, full of olivin and porphyry. On gaining the summit
+of the hill, we found there a solitary, wretched-looking hut. A dog, a few
+hens, and a phlegmatic native worn away to a shadow, whom the sudden
+appearance of a number of European strangers hardly seemed to rouse from
+his apathy, were the only living creatures visible. On our requesting to
+be furnished with a light, a wrinkled old hag crept out of the hut, and
+handed us a piece of lighted wood. The dusky old woman was presented with
+a cigar, which she forthwith lit, and proceeded to smoke with
+unmistakeable satisfaction. To our request for fresh cocoa-nuts with which
+to quench our thirst, the man, without moving from his place, shouted a
+few words in the direction of the forest, which was speedily replied to,
+when some young girls came forth giggling and romping, who brought us what
+we
+<!--573.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_563" id="Page_563">563</a></span>had
+asked for, fresh plucked from the slender cocoa-stem, as well as a
+sugar-cane, and some ginger (<i>Zingiber officinalis</i>); all these
+refreshments were handed us amid much hilarity by a lot of daughters of
+Eve, young, not the least shy, but by no means attractive, whom a present
+of two small mirrors in return sent away in a state of enthusiastic
+delight. On our return to Dr. Cook's hut on the shore, several natives had
+approached who bartered mussels and fresh fruit for tobacco, which they
+preferred to everything, besides a number of young females, who were
+retailing, from small bags hung round their persons, the different animals
+they had collected the same morning at ebb-tide among the coral reefs.</p>
+
+<p>One of the white settlers offered his services as guide, to pilot us up
+the Roankiddi river as far as a village of the natives about two miles
+inland, where the chief of the nation dwelt, and several American
+missionaries had formed a settlement. Before reaching the main stream,
+which is about 100 feet wide and is densely wooded on either side, we had
+to pass various small branches and canals, which appeared to be
+artificially constructed, and wind about in a succession of extraordinary
+meanderings beneath an elastic covering of conical mangrove roots. For
+about a mile inwards there was nothing but dreary, swampy, unlovely
+mangrove forest, after which the vegetation on either shore began to
+assume an unusually variegated but thoroughly tropical appearance. Palms,
+bread-fruit trees, pandanus trees, papayas, caladias, Barringtonias, were
+the chief representatives of this abounding forest flora.
+<!--574.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_564" id="Page_564">564</a></span>The
+animals on
+this island seem to be less numerous and less varied; there are no large
+ones at all. Of doves, as also of sand-pipers and parrots, we saw some
+very beautiful species, of which the fowling-pieces of our sportsmen
+furnished numerous specimens for our zoological collection. All along the
+bank of the river and around the hills lay scattered at will, under the
+shade of the most beautiful and abundant vegetation, the dwellings of the
+natives. Near where the pretty Roankiddi falls into the sea, rises on the
+left bank the handsome mission house built of wood, which serves the
+missionaries for school, church, and residence in one. Close by is a stone
+building, which serves as a larder. Unfortunately, the sole missionary,
+Mr. Sturges of Pennsylvania, was absent on a tour of inspection, and only
+his assistant (a native of the Sandwich Islands, who had received his
+education in the States) was at home with his family. A third missionary,
+also a native of the Sandwich Islands, lives at what is called
+Foul-weather Harbour, where he also occupies his time with meteorological
+observations.</p>
+
+<p>The mission, which has been in the island since 1851, is supported at
+considerable expense. A schooner, the property of the American Missionary
+Society, keeps up regular communication with the neighbouring islands and
+the Sandwich Islands, and supplies the missionaries with provisions and
+other necessaries. These industrious, energetic men have quite recently
+made experiments in planting several sorts of vegetables, as also tobacco
+and sugar-cane, nearer their houses, in the hope, if successful, of
+inciting the
+<!--575.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_565" id="Page_565">565</a></span>natives
+to similar exertions. The great resources at the
+disposal of the Protestant missionaries, and the circumstance that they
+attend to the temporal as well as the eternal weal of their dusky
+neophytes, exhausting their medical skill in illness, educating their
+children, ministering to their wants both by advice and co-operation, must
+be regarded as the main causes of the rapid spread of Protestantism
+throughout the races of the Pacific Ocean. We have seen missions, of which
+the schools, places of worship, and dwelling-houses, constructed of iron,
+were imported from the United States ready made, while the expenses of
+maintenance were defrayed by an annual grant of 20,000 dollars. What a
+gratifying contrast to the wretched appliances with which Catholic oversea
+missions are compelled to eke out a precarious existence!</p>
+
+<p>We landed at a spot where the Roankiddi promised to be navigable for
+vessels of a better class than the hollowed-out canoes of the natives, and
+for the remainder of the distance to the chief's residence we followed a
+footpath through the forest. Close to the landing-place is a large,
+hall-like building, which is used as an assembly-room by the natives on
+the occasion of their festivities. Around the interior of this are ranged
+couches stuffed with straw for families of rank, not unlike berths round a
+ship's cabin. The centre of the hall is set apart for slaves and servants,
+who during these rude réunions are busily employed preparing food and
+drink for strangers. As often as a meeting is deemed necessary,
+invitations are sent off to the various chiefs requesting their
+co-operation.
+<!--576.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_566" id="Page_566">566</a></span>On
+very important occasions these are intoned through a
+conk. As soon as all are assembled the king lays the subject-matter of the
+debate before them, when every one present is at liberty to express his
+opinion. Frequently these discussions become very animated, especially
+when the orators happen to have partaken too freely of Kawa, when only the
+interference of the less excited chiefs can prevent the disputants from
+coming to blows. When we saw it, there were in the hall of justice, as it
+might be termed, a number of huge, lengthy, but elegant canoes, painted
+red, which gave it rather the appearance of a shed than a festive hall.</p>
+
+<p>The footpath to the chief's residence led through a most beautiful
+tropical landscape. The estate of the Nannekin (as the natives designate a
+king in their own language) was laid out quite in the European fashion,
+and the entrance was indicated by a wooden gateway. The house itself, a
+lengthy oblong of wood and cane-work, with a roof of palm-leaves, and
+built upon a sort of platform of two or three courses of stone, and
+furnished in every part with numerous large apertures serving as windows,
+presented from without a very comfortable, even imposing appearance; but
+the interior was bare, ill-equipped, and sadly out of order. A row of
+wooden columns, irregularly cut, and partially covered with gay-coloured
+stuffs, running parallel with the thin exterior walls, formed a narrow
+passage, a closer view of which was, however, shut off by cotton hangings
+stretching across. The clothes and other property of the family hung here
+at
+<!--577.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_567" id="Page_567">567</a></span>random,
+suspended from pegs and lines all round the wide hall, and in
+the middle a hole had been excavated, which apparently was intended for a
+fire-place. Among the articles of furniture we specially noticed a large
+iron chest, with iron clampings, and a very singular-looking loom, on
+which a fabric was being woven in variegated colours. The chief was not at
+home, and had to be summoned, his timely absence affording an excellent
+opportunity for examining the environs of the palace a little more
+closely. In immediate proximity were a number of bread-fruit trees
+(<i>Dong-dong</i>), the fruit of which forms the staple diet of the natives,
+and has long been prepared by them in quite a unique manner.</p>
+
+<p>The bread-fruit, so soon as it is ripe, is stripped of its husk, and cut
+into small pieces. These the natives place in pits dug for the purpose
+about three feet deep, in which they are placed in layers carefully
+wrapped in banana leaves so as to prevent moisture reaching them. Thus
+prepared, the pits are filled up to within a few inches of the surface,
+covered with leaves, and weighted with heavy stones so distributed as to
+diffuse an equal pressure throughout. Thus each pit is both air and water
+tight. After a short time fermentation sets in, till the whole is
+converted into a substance resembling cheese. The original idea of thus
+storing the bread-fruit is said, according to tradition, to have been
+suggested to the natives by a violent hurricane having at a remote period
+levelled all the bread-fruit trees on the island, thus causing a
+<!--578.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_568" id="Page_568">568</a></span>great
+famine. The fruit thus treated continues fit for consumption for years,
+and, despite its sour taste and nauseous odour when exhumed, it is
+regarded by the natives as a most palatable and nutritive dish, when well
+kneaded, placed between two banana leaves, and baked between two hot
+stones. Besides the bread-fruit, the principal articles of food in use
+among the natives are cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, yams, pigeons, turtle, fish,
+and trepang, the sort of sea-cucumber of which we have already given a
+description, and which the natives eat in the raw state.</p>
+
+<p>They also eat taro (<i>Caladium esculentum</i>), a beautiful bulbous-rooted
+plant of the <i>Aroidea</i> tribe, with its broad elegant leaves, which,
+together with wild ginger and turmeric (which is used sometimes for food,
+sometimes for anointing the person, or dyeing their dresses) and the plant
+they call Kawa (<i>Piper Methysticum</i>), grow in great profusion on the
+property of the Nannekin.</p>
+
+<p>As in all the South Sea Islands, the juice of the Kawa is used in Puynipet
+for distilling an intoxicating beverage, which indeed plays a conspicuous
+part in all their solemnities. But the mode of preparing it is somewhat
+better calculated to tempt the palate, since it is not, as elsewhere,
+first chewed by the women, but rubbed between two large stones, wetted,
+and then drawn off in cocoa-nut shells. The leading chief is entitled to
+the first shells of the prepared Kawa, or, if he is not present, the chief
+priest, who mutters a few prayers over it ere drinking
+it.<!--579.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569">569</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The liquid, as thus procured from this species of pepper, is of a
+brownish-yellow colour, somewhat like that of coffee into which milk has
+been poured. The taste is sweet and agreeable, producing a glow in the
+stomach, and induces a sort of intoxication, widely different however from
+the form that alcoholic inebriations assume with us. Men in the habit of
+drinking Kawa neither stagger about, nor speak thick and loud, when under
+its influence. A sort of shiver affects the whole frame, and their gait
+becomes listless and slow, but they never lose consciousness. In its last
+stage, the person affected feels an extraordinary weakness in all his
+joints; headache and an irresistible inclination to go to sleep supervene,
+and a state of most complete repose becomes an absolute necessity.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of Kawa drinking is diffused over the whole of the islands of
+the Pacific. It even appears to have become a necessary of life among the
+natives of Polynesia, just as betel-chewing and palm-wine are to the
+Malays and Hindoos, opium-smoking and samchoo to the Chinese, chicha to
+the Mexican races, and coca to the South American Indians.</p>
+
+<p>In former times, on certain of the islands, the chiefs had regular
+watchers, whose duty it was to guard their monarchs from being disturbed
+when thus reposing. A dog which dared to bark, a cock that was venturesome
+enough to crow, were forthwith put to death. The too liberal or
+long-continued indulgence in Kawa seems to generate a peculiar
+<!--580.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570">570</a></span>cuticular
+disease. Inveterate Kawa drinkers seem haggard or melancholy, their eyes
+are sunk, their teeth of a bright yellow, their skin dry and chopped, and
+the whole body is covered with boils; but those in whom such sores heal up
+again, point with pride to the cicatrices that mark where they occurred.
+The more of these scars a Kawa drinker can show, the higher is his
+character. Besides producing unconsciousness, Kawa also induces
+exceedingly erotic dreams.</p>
+
+<p>According to the information which the white settlers gave us respecting
+the method of cultivation of the soil of Puynipet and its climate, it
+seems that sugar-cane, coffee, cotton, rice, tobacco, &amp;c., would be
+certain to succeed. Sugar-cane is found even now in the wild state; and to
+a certain extent it forms an article of food of the natives, who suck the
+juice.</p>
+
+<p>The chief of Roankiddi is a handsome young man of lofty stature, strong
+frame, of dark brown almost bronze skin, and agreeable, winning
+expression. With the exception of the usual apron of palm-leaves, and a
+bright red belt, he was naked, and wore a green circlet on his fine,
+lustrous black hair, and a piece of sugar-cane in his right hand. His arms
+and legs were very neatly tattooed. He seemed quite to understand the use
+of a red Turkish fez with blue tassel, which we presented to him, and took
+from his head its own exceedingly picturesque covering. Having been
+apprized of the friendly nature of our visit, he begged us to
+<!--581.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_571" id="Page_571">571</a></span>enter
+his
+house, which was not so easy a process as it seems, since the only access
+was by one of the windows, about three feet from the ground. The Nannekin,
+however, set us the example, and we followed. He first invited us to sit
+upon European chairs, and ordered his pretty young wife to fetch us
+cocoa-nut milk. It was the first time we had ever tasted this drink of the
+natural man in the goblet of civilization! How differently did this
+invaluable drink taste, when quaffed from the fresh green shell, than in
+the artificial vessel of human manufacture! The natives of Puynipet did
+not, like those of Nicobar, show their dexterity in opening the young
+cocoa-nut by means of a slash. Here the husk is peeled off, and an opening
+bored with much trouble till the fluid contents gush out&mdash;a process so
+tedious, and manifesting so little ingenuity, that one would rather expect
+it to be adopted by a European, who for the first time in his life was
+opening a cocoa-nut, than from a child of the tropics. After the queen had
+presented with her dainty little hands the cocoa-nut drink to the foreign
+guests, she squatted herself smiling and laughing on the earth beside the
+monarch, occasionally hiding herself with much natural grace behind her
+youthful husband, when she could not restrain a burst of mirth at the
+interest with which we seemed to regard many of the objects in her simple
+household. Nothing surprised her more than that we should attach such
+value to some baskets, plaited work, boxes, &amp;c., as to be willing to
+exchange articles of European make for them. Like all the
+<!--582.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_572" id="Page_572">572</a></span>other
+females
+we saw, the young queen wore nothing but a piece of yellow linen (<i>likú</i>),
+about five feet long, round her loins, which reached to her knees, and was
+attached by one extremity to the haunch. Her splendid black hair was
+adorned with a chaplet of yellow flowers, and her body, smeared with
+cocoa-nut oil, was plentifully besprinkled with turmeric (called by the
+natives <i>Kitschi-néang</i>). Her legs and forearms were beautifully tattooed.</p>
+
+<p>The gown, or rather apron, worn by the men is made of the fresh leaves of
+the cocoa-palm, which, bleached and cut into narrow strips, are fastened
+at the upper end with a string, and then adorned with numerous flaps of
+red cloth. This gown stretches from the hips to about the knees, and is
+about two feet long. To be in the fashion at Puynipet, a dandy must wear
+at least six of these round his body! The ladies of the island stain white
+calico with turmeric, yellow being apparently the favourite colour of the
+country. A bright-coloured light handkerchief usually covers the upper
+part of the body, and they adorn their long beautiful black tresses with
+the delicate flowers of the cocoa-palm. On high days the ladies wear red
+clothes hemmed with white calico. Such of the natives, however, as are
+converted to Christianity, appear in clothes made after the European
+fashion, although many a part of dress would still have to be remedied,
+ere a native of Puynipet or his better half would be presentable in a
+saloon.</p>
+
+<p>Men and women alike are tattooed from the loins to the
+<!--583.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_573" id="Page_573">573</a></span>ancles,
+and from
+the elbows to the wrist. This curious practice is performed on both sexes
+at from ten to twelve years of age by old women, with whom it is a regular
+profession. The blue colouring matter used is obtained from the abundant
+nut-like fruit of the <i>Aleurites triloba</i>, which they heat on the fire,
+and then peel off the hard crust which forms upon it. The operation is
+performed with the sharp point of a species of pine, or with a pointed
+instrument<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> made from fish-bone, which is placed upon the skin, when
+it is driven in with a slight blow, till the whole design comes out upon
+the body. Besides the turmeric already mentioned, we saw but one colouring
+stuff, dyeing red, which seemed to be obtained from <i>Bixa Orellana</i>, and
+is used by the natives to paint their canoes with.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the natives are subject to a very disgusting scaly eruption of the
+skin (<i>Ichthyosis</i>), but do not seem to feel any discomfort from it. Some
+travellers ascribe this to the immoderate use as an article of diet of raw
+uncooked fish. It is singular that this malady is found on all the islands
+near the equator, and was also found by Captain Cheyne among the Pellew
+Islanders. That shrewd observer once had on board for four months a native
+of Puynipet as servant, whose whole body was covered with this eruption,
+but who speedily lost every trace of it as soon as his chief diet was salt
+meat and vegetables. Beside this cuticular
+<!--584.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_574" id="Page_574">574</a></span>malady,
+the natives are
+greatly afflicted with scurvy and intermittent fever. Most of their
+infants too suffer from Yaws<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> (<i>Framboesia</i>), a disgusting eruption,
+called by the natives "<i>Keutsch</i>," which, however, disappears when the
+child has attained about its third or fourth year. The marks left by this
+malady when cicatrized might easily be mistaken for those of inoculation.</p>
+
+<p>The Nannekin, although the king of his tribe, nevertheless seemed on the
+whole to exercise but little influence over his subjects. Thus, for
+example, we were eye-witnesses of how he vainly attempted to induce two
+native boys to carry our bananas as far as our place of disembarkation. On
+the other hand, in all that concerned trading with foreigners he seemed to
+be thoroughly alive to his own interest. One native who was driving a
+bargain with us for something, was informed forthwith of the value which
+the Nannekin assigned to it.</p>
+
+<p>Money is as yet but little used at Puynipet as a medium of exchange, only
+the whites resident there and the chiefs take a few English and United
+States coins; and many a native would generally not part for a silver
+dollar from an object which he will readily give for a piece of chewing
+tobacco or a common knife. The most useful articles for barter are pieces
+of bright-coloured calico, red shirts, hatchets, knives,
+<!--585.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_575" id="Page_575">575</a></span>axes,
+straight
+swords, muskets, ammunition, biscuit, old clothes, and tobacco.<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p>
+
+<p>Of the latter article American Cavendish or negro-head in longish pieces
+is the most in repute. The Puynipetanese have no special fondness for
+cigars, nor do they use pipes, but only chew passionately tobacco. As they
+are unacquainted with the use of the Betel, their teeth are universally
+beautiful, and of a brilliant white.</p>
+
+<p>There are on the island five tribes, wholly independent of each
+other,&mdash;the Roankiddi, the Metelemia, the Nót, the Tchokoits, and the
+Awnak, none, however, numbering much above 1500 souls, the most numerous
+and important being the Roankiddi.</p>
+
+<p>Each king, we are told, has a minister whose power almost rivals his own.
+Next in rank to the minister are the nobles, who bear the following
+strange-sounding titles: Talk, Washy, Nane-by, Noatch, Shoe-Shabut, and
+Groen-wani; after these come such as are not of noble birth, but have
+earned them through illustrious deeds, and have been rewarded with
+estates. On the death of the king he is succeeded by whichever of his
+nobles
+<!--586.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_576" id="Page_576">576</a></span>has
+the title of Talk, the others rising one grade. The monarch
+has the right of freely disposing of his property. As a rule he leaves it
+to his sons, but if he have none he usually bequeaths it to the next
+sovereign. Between the monarch and his courtiers some quaint patriarchal
+customs prevail. Thus the first ripe bread-fruit is brought to the king.
+Whenever a chief uses a new turtle or fish net, the prey during a certain
+number of days is sent to the king. Another mark of the respect paid to
+the king, as also by all ranks to their superiors, is to be found in the
+custom for a native who meets another of higher rank in a canoe,&mdash;he
+cowers down in his own boat till the other has passed by, the two canoes
+approaching on the side opposite the outrigger, so that the person of
+superior condition may, if he see fit, satisfy himself of the identity of
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>The Awnaks and Tchokoits had, at the period of our visit, been at war with
+each other for six months, and it is significant of the ferocity and
+courage of both parties, that not a single combatant had thus far been
+wounded on either side! Their weapons are chiefly spears of hard wood, six
+feet long, the barb, instead of iron, being made of fish-bones, thorns, or
+ground mussel-shells, which they throw with great dexterity; also
+hatchets, long knives, and old muskets, obtained from the whale-fishers in
+return for yams and tortoise-shell. At present there are about 1500
+muskets in all on the island, and each native possesses at least one, some
+of the chiefs having as many as three, besides ample ammunition. Singular
+to say, these
+<!--587.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_577" id="Page_577">577</a></span>formidable
+auxiliaries are rarely called into play in any
+of their wars, the fatal effect of fire-arms having contributed not a
+little to the promotion of harmony and peace between the various tribes!
+Their warriors are selected from among the most powerful men of the tribe,
+and as a rule they behave with much consideration to the women and
+children, whom they almost always spare. When either party sues for peace,
+a neutral party is sent to the monarch of the opposite tribe with a few
+Kawa roots. If these are accepted, the struggle is considered over, and a
+succession of friendly visits are thereupon exchanged between the chiefs
+of the two tribes, which are usually followed up by festivities and much
+consumption of Kawa.</p>
+
+<p>As to the narratives of most earlier travellers that the island is
+inhabited by two entirely distinct races, the one yellow the other black,
+we could neither see nor hear of anything which would confirm such a
+statement. It seemed more probable that the diversity of skin and hair
+among the various tribes was exclusively caused by a variety of crosses,
+which are still frequent, and in former times must have been still more
+prevalent. The present population consists of whites, negroes, and
+yellow-coloured aborigines, who, as speaking a dialect allied to that of
+Polynesia, seem to belong to the Malay-Polynesian <i>stirps</i>. The present
+white settlers are English and North Americans; formerly they were chiefly
+Spanish and Portuguese who traded with the natives. Negro slaves and free
+blacks have also occasionally visited the island,
+<!--588.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_578" id="Page_578">578</a></span>or
+been left there for
+good and all. These considerations alone suffice to explain certain
+appearances among the natives, such as brown or yellow skins, with crisp
+woolly hair, and very full lips, without any more marked characteristics
+of the Ethiopian race. We noticed one native with woolly hair of a reddish
+hue, but otherwise of strongly-marked Malay features, and on inquiring
+into his ancestry, were informed in reply that his father was a Portuguese
+(negro understood), and his mother a native.</p>
+
+<p>The daughter of Doctor Cook, the Scotchman already mentioned, of whose
+union with a native woman of the island there was issue a handsome
+well-shaped <i>mestiza</i> of a light yellow colour, strongly recalling the
+stately, elegant quadroons of New Orleans and St. Domingo, had
+intermarried with a full-blooded negro of the district of Columbia, U. S.,
+from which resulted a new and entirely dissimilar admixture. Their
+children had the face of the mother, with the woolly head of the father.</p>
+
+<p>At all events it may be laid down with some degree of certainty, that the
+aboriginal races, especially those inhabiting the Caroline Archipelago,
+are not of the Pelagian Mongols, nor are they an offshoot of the Mongolian
+race of the Asiatic continent, as Lesson maintained; also that Puynipet
+has not been peopled by the Papuan negroes; that the woolly crisp hair of
+so many of its inhabitants is mainly explained by the intimacy between the
+black crews of the whalers (it being well known that a large proportion of
+the crews of the American
+<!--589.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_579" id="Page_579">579</a></span>whalers
+are negroes), some 50 or 60 of which
+visit the island every year, and often remain for several weeks taking in
+provisions and other stores.</p>
+
+<p>Puynipet has been for some years past the chief rendezvous of the whalers
+in the Caroline Archipelago, because it is of all the islands the most
+accessible, has the best and safest harbours, and because fuel and water
+are procurable thence in unlimited quantities.</p>
+
+<p>The complexion of the natives is of a clear copper hue, and the average
+height of the males is 5 feet 8 in.; the women are much smaller than the
+men, with delicate features and flexible forms. The sons of the chiefs are
+usually well formed, and lighter in colour than the majority of the
+population, the consequence of their being less exposed to the weather,
+and in any part of the world would pass for elegant men. The nose is
+arched, the mouth wide with full lips and dazzling teeth. The flap of the
+ear is bored in both sexes, but is rarely much enlarged by artificial
+means. Both men and women have beautiful black hair, which they take great
+care of.</p>
+
+<p>The men have neither beard nor mustachios. They eradicate the hair so soon
+as it makes its appearance on the cheeks by means of mussel-shells, or two
+little pieces of tortoise-shell sharpened. The women are usually pretty,
+but as the girls marry very young they soon lose the freshness of youth.
+Their complexion is much fairer than that of the men. The cause of this is
+to be found in their wearing a sort of upper
+<!--590.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_580" id="Page_580">580</a></span>robe
+of calico; a large
+piece of stuff with a hole in the centre through which to put the head,
+which thus protects their bodies somewhat from the direct rays of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>The natives are said to be very temperate and methodical in their habits
+of life. They rise at daybreak, bathe in the river, take a little
+vegetable food, anoint their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, after which they
+sprinkle themselves plentifully with powdered turmeric. This done, they
+address themselves to some simple avocation, which they prosecute till
+noon, when they once more withdraw to their huts, bathe, and partake of
+another equally frugal repast. The rest of the day is spent in amusements
+and mutual visiting. Towards sunset they take a third meal, and as they
+have neither torches nor artificial light of any sort, they usually retire
+early to rest, unless fishing or dancing by moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>Much respect and consideration is paid to the weaker sex throughout the
+island, they not being put to any work which does not come within their
+regular sphere of duty. All outdoor work is done by the men, who build the
+huts and canoes, plant yams and Kawa, fish, transport the food from the
+plantation to the house, and even cook it.</p>
+
+<p>The women are chiefly occupied within-doors, in fishing, or cleaning the
+vegetables, most of their time being taken up with preparing head-dresses,
+weaving girdles, sewing together palm or pandanus leaves for clothes,
+plaiting elegant baskets, and looking after the house and children.</p>
+
+<p>Never at any time patterns of virtue and chastity, the importation
+<!--591.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_581" id="Page_581">581</a></span>of
+European trinkets and luxuries of all sorts has greatly increased the
+spread of immorality among the native women, who are actuated by an
+insatiate, irresistible craving to possess articles of European
+manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>When a native wishes to marry, he makes a present to the father of the
+girl he wishes to marry; if not returned, it is understood his addresses
+are accepted. Thereupon invitations are issued to a merry-making, with
+feast, and dance, and revel, after which the bridegroom conducts his bride
+to his dwelling. When she dies the widower marries her sister, the brother
+in like manner being required to marry his widowed sister-in-law in the
+case of the death of the husband, even though he may happen to be already
+married. Under certain circumstances a man is at liberty to divorce his
+wife and take another; a woman, on the other hand, enjoys no such
+privilege, unless she happen to be of higher rank. The chiefs usually have
+several wives, polygamy, as among the Mormons, being only limited by the
+means of providing subsistence. The women are of an unusually gossiping,
+talkative turn, they are quite incapable of keeping their own secrets, and
+many a delinquency is generally known at the very moment of its
+commission.</p>
+
+<p>The funeral ceremonies seem to have undergone some modification since the
+natives began to have intercourse with Europeans. In former times the dead
+were enveloped in straw mats, and kept for a considerable time in the
+huts: through the influence of the missionaries, apparently, they
+<!--592.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_582" id="Page_582">582</a></span>have
+adopted the European custom of interring their dead in certain special
+places. On the death of a chief or any exalted person, the female
+relatives of the deceased assemble to mourn for a specific period, and
+betray their sorrow by loud sobs and lamentations by day and dances by
+night. The connections of the deceased cut off their hair as a mark of
+their sorrow. All the goods and clothes of the defunct are carried away by
+whoever is nearest or first possesses himself of them, and this custom is
+so universal that objects thus obtained are thenceforth considered as
+lawful property.</p>
+
+<p>The natives usually pray to the spirits of their departed chiefs, whom
+they implore to grant them success in fishing, rich harvests in
+bread-fruit and yams, the arrival of numerous foreign ships with beautiful
+articles for barter, and a variety of similar matters. The priests of
+their idols profess to be able to read the future, and the natives place
+the most implicit confidence in these predictions. They believe that the
+priest is inspired with the spirit of a deceased chief, and that every
+word they utter when in this excited state is dictated by the departed.
+When any of these prophecies fail, as is often enough the case, the
+cunning priest pretends that another more powerful spirit has interfered,
+and forcibly prevented the accomplishment of what they had foretold.</p>
+
+<p>The religion of this primitive people is very simple. They have neither
+idols nor temple, and although they believe in a future state after death,
+they seem to have no religious customs or festivals of any sort. Their
+notion of a future
+<!--593.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_583" id="Page_583">583</a></span>state
+is under such circumstances exceedingly
+extraordinary.</p>
+
+<p>Their abode after death they believe to be surrounded by a colossal wall
+amid a fathomless abyss, in fact a sort of fortress. The only portal into
+this Elysian abode is guarded by an old woman, whose duty it is to hurl
+back into the yawning deep the shadows of the departed, who are compelled
+to spring upwards from the abyss. Such of the shadows as succeed in
+eluding the evil spirit and effecting an entrance are for ever happy; on
+the other hand, those whom the malicious female demon succeeds in
+precipitating into the abyss sink into the region of endless woe and
+torture.</p>
+
+<p>The native festivals, as a rule, take precedence of every other business,
+no matter how pressing. Every year the king visits the various villages
+and settlements of those of his tribe, at which period the chief
+festivities take place, the chiefs vieing with each other in entertaining
+him. Enormous quantities of yam and bread-fruit are on such occasions
+cooked two days previous, and Kawa is drunk to excess.</p>
+
+<p>Their dances are far from unbecoming, and are quite free from those
+lascivious gestures which are so often seen at the festivals of the other
+inhabitants of the South Sea. The dancers are usually unmarried lads and
+girls, who stand opposite each other in long rows. While keeping time with
+their feet to the music, they accompany the dance with graceful motions of
+the arms and upper part of the body.
+<!--594.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_584" id="Page_584">584</a></span>Occasionally
+they throw their arms
+out, snap their fingers, and then clap the hands together. Every movement
+is performed with extraordinary precision, and at the same moment by all
+the dancers. Their sole musical instrument is a small flute made of
+bamboo-cane, the notes of which they draw forth by inserting one end in
+the nostril and blowing gently, while their hands are busy fingering the
+holes in the usual way.</p>
+
+<p>Their drum is a piece of hollowed-out wood with the skin of a shark
+stretched over it, of the shape of a sand-glass. This is struck with the
+fingers of the right hand, the instrument being hung on the left side. The
+sound somewhat resembles the Tom-tom of the Hindoos. The drummer sits
+cross-legged on the ground, and accompanies the beat of the drum with
+apposite words.</p>
+
+<p>As to the monumental ruins of the interior of Puynipet which have never
+yet been visited and described by scientific travellers, we were informed
+that they consisted of nothing more than a large number of colossal
+rough-hewn blocks of basalt in the heart of the forest, near Metelenia
+harbour. The simplicity of the native, in the absence of all means of
+accounting for them naturally, sees in these the grand forms of the
+spirits of departed chiefs. Experienced travellers, on the other hand, are
+of opinion that in this primeval forest, where now only rocky débris lie
+scattered about, there once stood strong fortifications, such as indeed no
+savage people could have erected, and that the character of the ruins
+evidences a
+<!--595.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_585" id="Page_585">585</a></span>high
+state of civilization in those who erected them. Some of
+the blocks are 8 or 10 feet long, hexagonal, and must evidently have been
+brought from some other country, since, with the exception of these, there
+are no other stones of a similar description found in any part of the
+island. Streets are laid out at various points, and the whole settlement
+seems to have consisted of a range of strongly fortified dwellings.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p>
+
+<p>These columns and blocks, however, possess a special interest not merely
+in the history of civilization, but of geology, as a part is at present
+under water, and can only be reached in canoes, a difficulty which cannot
+have been in existence at the period of their erection. What once were
+streets are now passages for canoes, and were the walls, built of massive
+basalt blocks, to be pulled up, the water would obtain access to the
+inclosed space. This has induced later geologists to refer this phenomenon
+to a sinking of the entire group, so that Puynipet is perhaps the only
+spot on the earth where Darwin's ingenious theory of the construction of
+perpendicular reefs and atolls being the result of a sinking of the soil
+on which the coral-animal had begun to erect his edifice, receives
+confirmation from the existence of the remains of man's handiwork within
+the historic period.</p>
+
+<p>As even the "oldest inhabitants" could give us not the slightest
+information as to these ruins, and their origin and
+<!--596.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_586" id="Page_586">586</a></span>history
+are plunged
+in the utmost obscurity, it seems not improbable that these stone masses
+were once the fortified retreat of pirates, and were built by Spanish
+corsairs 200 or 300 years back. This hypothesis receives confirmation in
+the fact that in 1838 or 1840, a small brass cannon was found on a hill in
+the interior, which was brought home as a curiosity by H.M.S. <i>Larne</i>.
+Occasionally, too, at various parts of the island clearings are found,
+some of which are several acres in extent. In one of these, still in
+existence near the harbour of Roankiddi, the traveller is shown an
+artificial mound of about 20 feet wide, 8 feet high, and a quarter of a
+mile long, which has obviously been thrown up as a defence, or else has
+been the place of interment for such as have fallen in a severe contest.</p>
+
+<p>This conjecture adopted, it follows that the present population is of
+quite recent introduction, and the rumour of a black race inhabiting the
+interior must necessarily be treated as a myth.</p>
+
+<p>While we were asking questions and getting up information, evening was
+beginning to draw on, and we could not remain longer on the island, as it
+was necessary to return on ship-board before nightfall, the frigate having
+meanwhile been kept cruising under easy sail, about three or four miles
+off the island. Another reason for our immediate departure was to be found
+in our narrow flat-bottomed craft, which in any sort of sea-way would have
+some difficulty in escaping swamping. Had the wind during our return
+voyage freshened
+<!--597.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_587" id="Page_587">587</a></span>ever
+so little, we should have found ourselves in a
+serious dilemma. Numbers of herons, white, black, and mottled, were
+fishing in the shallow water along the edge of the reefs, the sea-raven
+flew in vast flights among the lagoons, while high overhead the graceful
+frigate-bird swept along, every now and then darting rapidly down to
+secure his booty.</p>
+
+<p>One of the whites whom we employed as our guide in the island, accompanied
+us on board, and asked as his reward some tobacco and clothes, with which
+he departed much satisfied. In him, too, we observed a marked and quite
+peculiar shyness, especially when on board the frigate. He seemed as
+though he dreaded some avenging hand. His glance was timid, his gait and
+motions betrayed a sense of insecurity, and he might have readily been
+mistaken for some repentant sinner, who in consequence of some evil deed
+had fled from civilized society and sought out this distant asylum, where
+he had scarcely to fear any other persecution than that of his own
+conscience! Hardly any spot, indeed, can be named more suitable for thus
+expiating crime than this remote island, where the white man, face to face
+with nature in a new and unwonted aspect, and at the mercy of a savage
+people, often deprived for months of the consolations and support of
+civilization, finds in his solitude ample opportunity to reflect upon the
+enormity of his guilt, and to mourn over his own evil fortune.</p>
+
+<p>As the west wind, which still blew, effectually prevented
+<!--598.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_588" id="Page_588">588</a></span>the
+frigate
+from entering the harbour of Roankiddi, and there was no reason to hope
+for any speedy change, our original intention of spending several days
+there was abandoned, and the same evening we resumed our course for
+Australia.</p>
+
+<p>As our brief stay of barely five hours on the island of Puynipet
+necessarily led to our observations and remarks being of the most
+superficial nature, whereas the island has of late years begun to acquire
+an unusual importance both in a maritime and a commercial sense, we must
+content ourselves with referring the reader for a more detailed account to
+Captain Cheyne's admirable and comprehensive account of the island.</p>
+
+<p>"The Ant Islands (called also Fraser's Islands) lie in a S.W. direction
+from the harbour of Roankiddi, from which they are about 12 nautical miles
+distant.</p>
+
+<p>"They consist of a group of low coral islets covered with cocoa-palms and
+bread-fruit trees, and surrounded by a coral reef, which makes a lagoon in
+the centre. Between the two longer islands at the east end of the group
+there is a channel. The entire group from N.W. to S.E. measures seven
+miles in width, is only inhabited from May to September, during the period
+when the cuttle-fish are caught, and is the property of the chief of the
+Roankiddi tribe. However the islands are frequented at all seasons by the
+natives of Puynipet, who procure here cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit. The most
+north-easterly point lies in 6° 42&#8242; N., 158° 3&#8242;
+E.<!--599.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_589" id="Page_589">589</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Next the Ant Island is Pakeen, the sole adjoining island. It lies about
+22 miles W. of Tschokoits, its central point lying in 7° 10&#8242; N. and 157°
+43&#8242; E. It consists of five small coral islets, completely inclosed in a
+reef, which forms an inaccessible lagoon in the interior.</p>
+
+<p>"The entire group is about five miles in length from west to east, and
+from north to south three miles in width. The islands are very low, but
+produce an enormous quantity of cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit, while the
+lagoon abounds with excellent fish. The westernmost island is inhabited by
+about thirty persons in all, mainly of the family and attendants of the
+Chief of Puynipet, who claims proprietorship of the whole group. This
+scanty population is chiefly engaged in the construction of mats and
+canoe-sails made of the leaves of the <i>pandanus</i>. In fine weather the
+denizens of Pakeen are fond of running over to Puynipet to exchange their
+own products for tobacco and other foreign articles.</p>
+
+<p>"What are marked on the charts as Bottomless Group and St. Augustine's
+Islands have no existence. Pakeen and Ant's Islands are the same groups
+adjoining each other to the westward of Puynipet."</p>
+
+<p>Our progress now began to be very slow, and the equatorial zones with
+their vexatious calms, and variable light breezes alternating with violent
+squalls, became a sore trial for our patience. An unusual and most
+oppressive heat, from which we vainly sought shelter; tropical rains,
+which often fell in unbroken torrents for hours at a time, and obscured
+the daylight
+<!--600.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_590" id="Page_590">590</a></span>with
+clouds almost as suddenly at times as though there were
+an eclipse; a long heavy swell, which knocked the good ship about with an
+unceasing and most disagreeable motion, without nevertheless our being
+able to advance one single mile in the twenty-four hours; the depressing
+monotonous flapping and filling of the sails, which, with the rolling and
+pitching of the ship, now bellied out and then fell idly back against the
+masts and yards, straining the rigging and cordage, and keeping a constant
+indescribable but most irritating noise&mdash;such is a faint sketch of the
+miseries of voyagers caught by an equatorial calm in a sailing vessel! How
+one longs for a good hearty storm, if only to drive us out of this truly
+dismal plight! How in the monotony of such an existence does a quite
+insignificant circumstance at once assume the proportions of an important
+event! The most trifling incident on board, the most imperceptible object
+which becomes visible in either atmosphere or water, attracts universal
+attention, and gives rise to discussions by the hour. One day some one
+perceived a dark object floating in the distance; when the frigate got
+near this proved to be the trunk of a tree, almost 100 feet long, and
+though at best we could only have used it as firewood, a boat was
+forthwith manned and dispatched to tow it alongside. A few black
+Albatrosses suffered themselves to be hauled contentedly along upon the
+floating trunk, somewhat astonishing us by their being found so near the
+equator. Only by dint of considerable exertion was the
+<!--601.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_591" id="Page_591">591</a></span>huge
+unwieldy
+piece of wood brought on board, when the zoologists got a famous lesson in
+conchology, from the shell-fish that had fastened on it, and the sailors
+chuckled with delight at finding some occupation in cutting up the
+vegetable colossus into sizeable pieces.</p>
+
+<p>At 6.30 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> on the 29th Sept., we crossed the equator for the sixth time
+in 161° 57&#8242; E., and in the Southern hemisphere found we still had to
+contend with calms and contrary winds.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Crept in this petty pace from day to day,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>without our making any perceptible progress. When we had reached 4° 15&#8242;
+S., and 160° 24&#8242; E., a circumstance occurred to break the uniformity of
+our existence, as according to the charts we were using of the
+Hydrographic Institute of England for the year 1856,<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> we must have
+been quite close to some coral reefs, known as Simpson's Island. But
+although by our observations, after due allowance made for currents, we
+were, about 4 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span> of the 5th October, off the N.W. extremity of the
+islands, there was no land of any sort visible on either side even from
+the royals, and we accordingly had to conjecture that Captain Simpson,
+after whom these islands were named, must have sighted one of the Le Maire
+or Tasman group, which lie 40 miles further to the west and 10 miles
+further to the north, and had, owing to
+<!--602.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_592" id="Page_592">592</a></span>false
+reckoning, imagined to have
+discovered a new cluster; for on the following day at 6 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, when by our
+course, which was south-easterly, the island ought to have lain W.N.W. ten
+miles distant, not a vestige of land could be descried from the deck, nor
+even from the mast-head, so that we felt positive the Simpson group were
+neither at the spot laid in the general chart of the English Admiralty,
+nor within ten miles of it in either an easterly or westerly
+direction.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a></p>
+
+<p>A few days after this interlude, an incident of a very peculiar character
+took place, which excited universal attention, and more especially greatly
+exercised the souls of the superstitious. The occasion was nothing less
+than a dread whisper that there was a ghost on board. From time to time,
+in fact, dull rumbling sounds were said to be audible, which some
+professed to hear above them, others below, some in the fore part of the
+ship, others aft. It was a noise like the roll of thunder, or of
+cannon-balls that had got loose. The shot-racks were carefully examined,
+but everything there appeared to be in its usual order. The sound was
+repeated the following days, when there was hanging over us a sky as black
+and murky, accompanied by heavy pelts of rain,
+<!--603.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_593" id="Page_593">593</a></span>as
+though all the clouds
+of heaven were lavishing their contents upon us. All on board indulged in
+every possible hypothesis that could explain these sounds, and exhausted
+themselves in conjectures. Some maintained that one of the volcanoes of
+the Solomon group, in the vicinity of which we were at the time, was in a
+state of activity, and was the cause of these sub-marine thunders; but the
+sailors, sailor-like, insisted it was ghosts playing pranks, and the
+attendants refused any longer to remain in the cock-pit, alleging it was
+haunted! However, when a second examination was made of the shot-racks, it
+was found that no fewer than eighty thirty-pound iron shots had broken
+through the wooden bulk-head of the ordnance room, whence they had made
+their way into the bread-depôt, as it was called, and on its metal floor
+had produced the resonance peculiar to the impact of metal against metal.
+The mystery was at once solved in the most natural manner, and the
+"each-particular-hair-on-end" ghost stories which during the last few days
+had been flying from mouth to mouth, forthwith dropped. Thus might many a
+"marvel" prove to be the result of some very ordinary cause, if people
+would but take the trouble to examine its natural causes, instead of
+ascribing everything which they cannot understand or explain to some
+supernatural influence.</p>
+
+<p>At noon of the 7th October, in 6° 37&#8242; S., 161° 8&#8242; E., we were, according
+to chart, 12 miles distant from Bradley's Reef. But although both seamen
+and midshipmen were
+<!--604.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_594" id="Page_594">594</a></span>stationed
+at the mast-heads, in order the more
+readily to make it out with the advantage of such an elevation, there was
+not the slightest trace perceptible of rocks or shoals, and we sailed
+without obstruction over the very spot at which, according to the English
+charts, Bradley's Reef rises from the waves. This reef was discovered by
+Captain Hunter in May, 1791, two days after he had passed Stewart's Island
+(Sikayana), and is doubly dangerous in a climate where the sea rarely runs
+so high as to make it easily observed by the surf breaking over it.
+According to our observations, collated with those of Captain Cheyne,
+Bradley's Reef must lie in about 160° 48&#8242; E.<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p>
+
+<p>The same day about 7 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, when we were about 120 miles distant from the
+N.W. part of the Solomon group, there suddenly and altogether unexpectedly
+blazed forth in the western sky an immense and most brilliant comet, with
+a yellow, rather bright nucleus, and an enormous tail, sweeping over some
+15° or 20°. It was about 8° or 10° above the horizon when we observed it.</p>
+
+<p>This rare phenomenon, during the fourteen days it continued visible,
+presented a most excellent opportunity for astronomical observations. Upon
+the sailors, usually so superstitious, this splendid celestial visitor
+made a much less profound impression than we had anticipated. But few were
+apprehensive that the end of the world was at hand, while
+<!--605.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_595" id="Page_595">595</a></span>the
+majority
+seemed quietly to indulge the pleasing anticipation that the wine of the
+present year would be good and plentiful.</p>
+
+<p>At last, on the 8th of October, we sighted the Solomon Islands. Some reefs
+which were said to lie a little to the north, adjoining Ontong-Java, we
+looked for in vain in the positions assigned them on the charts. On the
+other hand we could see the lofty, forest-covered Carteret Island directly
+before us. Gower Island lay nearly due west, about four miles distant.
+This flat low island, which also is not quite accurately laid down on the
+English chart, appears to be about eight miles long, the highest point of
+its ridge not exceeding 180 feet above the sea. Its S.E. and N.W. points,
+upon which beats a furious surf, extend a full half mile into the sea. We
+could nowhere perceive any huts of natives. Nevertheless it is highly
+probable, if the island is inhabited at all, that the population would
+have settled on the W. side, which is more sheltered against wind and
+weather.</p>
+
+<p>From the hills on Carteret Island smoke was issuing at different points,
+but the natives did not put off in their boats, although on the afternoon
+of 8th October the frigate was becalmed off the land. When it was found
+that in consequence of the violence of the S.E. winds, which alternated
+with calms and N.E. squalls accompanied by rain, it would be impossible
+for us to pass through "Indispensable Straits," fringed as they are with
+coral reefs, it was resolved to range along the N.E. side of the entire
+chain of islands,
+<!--606.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_596" id="Page_596">596</a></span>so
+as to fetch the open passage between San Christoval
+(the most south-easterly of the Solomon Islands) and the Nitendi group. We
+thus had to beat with much difficulty against a S.E. wind and a strong
+current, so that we barely made 15 miles a day.</p>
+
+<p>On the 13th October, towards evening, we found ourselves about opposite
+the large mountainous island of Malaýta. This island presents fine
+richly-wooded mountain scenery, but without any traces of volcanic
+contours. The natives do not appear to dwell near the shore, but among the
+hills we could observe cleared spots and huts. Curiously enough the
+highest peak of the island, 3900 feet high, is named Kolowrat, a renowned
+Austrian name, although it could hardly have been an Austrian navigator
+who gave it to this mountain. Many others of these islands, however, have
+German names, though the majority indicate their discovery by the French
+navigators, Bougainville, Senville, and Dumont d'Urville, to whom the
+sea-faring world are indebted for their first acquaintance with this
+interesting group. During the afternoon a heavy blow came on from the
+S.S.E., upon which we put about and steered E. by S., but had hardly made
+the alteration, ere it came on to blow from N.N.E., with such fearful
+violence that the cross-jack-yard, which was already sprung, broke in two,
+and the sheet of the main try-sail gave way. It was the heaviest squall we
+encountered during the voyage. Fortunately the cross-jack-yard had as a
+precaution been firmly lashed, so that the two ends continued to hang
+<!--607.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_597" id="Page_597">597</a></span>in
+the air. Consequently what might have been a serious calamity was avoided,
+and the result of the accident was confined to the difficult task of
+disengaging the unwieldy shattered yard. Towards evening a heavy rain
+fell, and the wind went down. In the course of the profoundly calm night
+which followed, the current swept us so close in shore, that by morning we
+were not more than two or three miles distant. A few small boats with
+natives were about, which endeavoured to approach us, but only one of
+their number succeeded. These boats were not ordinary canoes, but
+regularly decked and deep-waisted boats, with high stem and stern, not
+unlike the boats in use at the Island of Madeira.</p>
+
+<p>The one which came alongside was manned by five brownish-black men,
+perfectly naked, with thick crisp hair resembling a wig, which seemed to
+be stained red with ochre. By way of special adornment, some wore in their
+side hair a yellowish-red tuft, something like a tassel, and apparently
+made of strips of stained bast. One wore a wild boar's tooth in the tip of
+the ear, two others had small cylinders neatly carved out of mussel-shells
+passed through the nostrils, as well as rings of the same material around
+the upper arm and below the knee. When the boat had got within about a
+pistol shot from us, one of the natives rose, and in clear strong tones
+shouted to us some unintelligible words, while at the same time he pointed
+towards the land with very eager, energetic gestures. He seemed desirous
+of
+<!--608.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_598" id="Page_598">598</a></span>inviting
+us to come on shore and visit the islands. At the close of
+his address there arose those peculiar reverberating shouts, such as one
+would have expected rather to hear among the Styrian Alps than from a
+Papuan of the Solomon Islands! Upon this the rest of his companions rose
+likewise, and waving in their long arms a piece of tortoise-shell, they
+kept shrieking Matté-Matté! for an indefinite period. Not one of them knew
+a single word of English, nor could we make ourselves intelligible even
+with a vocabulary of the dialects used in the adjoining islands. Although
+distant in a direct line N.W. only 60 miles from Stewart's Island and its
+inhabitants, they spoke an entirely different idiom, and were likewise
+distinguished widely from any of the latter in colour, make, and
+physiognomy. Notwithstanding a repeated and pressing invitation to come on
+board, they could not be induced to mount the frigate's side, even by the
+most tempting promises, nor even by presents of linen-stuffs, tobacco,
+articles of clothing, &amp;c. They seemed to have had but little intercourse
+with vessels. At length, on our repeated signs, they slowly and shyly came
+so near that we could throw a rope on board. The most courageous of their
+number planted his foot on the side rope, but made no attempt to proceed
+one step further. But we were by this means at all events able to examine
+these singular beings more closely. They all had oval faces, and broad,
+flat, long noses. Two were full-grown men, of tall powerful frame, while
+the rest seemed not above from fourteen to sixteen
+<!--609.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_599" id="Page_599">599</a></span>years
+old. None of
+them were tattooed, but the practice of anointing the body and the want of
+cleanliness left many coloured marks upon the skin. One of the lads had a
+sort of scaly eruption all over his skin. Beyond the pieces of
+tortoise-shell already mentioned, and the ornaments they wore upon their
+bodies, they had absolutely nothing in their boats, not even fruit or
+other natural products. They rowed a considerable distance after empty
+bottles which were pitched into the sea, and one of them seemed to attach
+such importance to the possession of these, that he plunged into the water
+to swim after them, and thus secure them the more readily.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately our intercourse with these islanders of the Solomon group
+was confined to the little episode above related, and as a favourable
+breeze once more sprang up, we soon lost sight of these simple savages and
+their island. On this occasion the members of the Expedition were
+unanimously of opinion (which is not always the case in matters of
+personal impressions), that the inhabitants of Malaýta were the wildest,
+most uncivilized race of men we had as yet encountered in our voyaging to
+and fro round the globe.</p>
+
+<p>During the night numerous watch-fires were visible on the peaks of the
+island. Were they lit for the protection of the slumbering inhabitants
+against the cold and damp of the night, or were they alarm signals for the
+entire population of the island, warning them against dangers that menaced
+them? If any apprehensions were entertained by the natives of Malaýta
+<!--610.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_600" id="Page_600">600</a></span>that
+we had visited their shores with hostile intent, they must have been
+of short duration, for the same wind which prevented our making Port Adam,
+wafted us the following morning&mdash;it was the 16th October, 1858&mdash;in sight
+of Sikayana.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a>
+Occasionally called Bonabe, Bonibet, Funopet (by the
+French, Ascension). It lies in 6° 58&#8242; N., and 158° 20&#8242; E., and, with the
+two low atolls adjacent of Andema and Paphenemo (called by the English
+Ant's Island and Pakeen respectively) were named by their discoverer,
+Admiral Lütke, the Senjawin group, after the name of his ship.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a>
+Captain Andrew Cheyne, of the English mercantile service,
+to whom the sea-faring world is indebted for a very complete and excellent
+account of the islands of the West Pacific, and who last visited Puynipet
+in 1846, reckoned the population of the island at that period at from 7000
+to 8000. See a description of islands in the Western Pacific Ocean, North
+and South of the Equator, with sailing Directions, &amp;c. p. 94. London, J.
+D. Potter. 1852.&mdash;Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China and
+Japan. Compiled from the most Authentic Sources. By Andrew Cheyne, first
+Class Master, Mercantile Navy. p. 136. London, J. D. Potter. 1855.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a>
+The natives of the Engano Islands, to the west of Sumatra,
+use precisely similar instruments for the same purpose.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a>
+Yaws is a very common disease among the lower class of the
+western and eastern <i>coast</i>-population of England. It is unknown almost in
+Ireland, where the poorer classes rarely eat fish.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a>
+Captain Cheyne adds to the foregoing lists the following
+articles; fish-hooks, butcher's-knives, chisels, hand-saws, bill-hooks,
+planes, augers, piles, iron-pots, razors, needles, twine, drills, gay
+parti-coloured cotton cloths, cotton hose, woollen cloths, trinkets, glass
+beads, straw-hats, chests with lock, key, and handles, spirits. The
+equivalents as laid down by Captain Cheyne are as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">12 hens</td><td align="center">=</td><td align="right">24</td><td align="center">sticks</td><td align="center">of</td><td align="center">negro-head</td><td align="center">tobacco,</td><td align="left">or 4 ells of calico.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">100 yams</td><td align="center">=</td><td align="right">10</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">100 bread-fruit</td><td align="center">=</td><td align="right">10</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">100 cocoa-nuts</td><td align="center">=</td><td align="right">10</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">1 cluster of bananas</td><td align="center">=</td><td align="right">2</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">&nbsp;</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a>
+Similar ruins are described by Captain Cheyne as having
+been also found in the forests of Nálan (Strong Island) in the Caroline
+Archipelago, 5° 21&#8242; 30&#8243; N., 163° 0&#8242; 42&#8243; E.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a>
+From 1st October, 1856, upon which were marked all the
+improvements known up to 1857.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a>
+Compare Captain Cheyne's sailing directions, p. 68:
+"Captain Simpson of Sydney reported to me in 1845, that a group of low
+coral islands, covered with cocoa-nut trees and inhabited, had been seen
+in 4° 52&#8242; S., and 160° 12&#8242; E. This may probably be the same group seen by
+Captain Wellings in 1824, which is laid down in Mr. Arrowsmith's chart in
+latitude 4° 29&#8242; S., 159° 28&#8242; E." It is matter of surprise in any case that
+considering the uncertainty which prevails as to the precise locality of
+the reef, its position on the English Admiralty Charts should not at least
+be marked <i>doubtful</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a>
+A. Cheyne&mdash;Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China
+and Japan. London, 1855, page
+68.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+<!--611.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_601" id="Page_601">601</a></span></p>
+
+<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; margin-left: -343px;
+  width: 687px; height: 520px; background-image: url('images/illu611.png');
+  background-color: transparent;"><a name="illu611" id="illu611"></a><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>
+  <span style="position: relative; top:-1em;">Barrier Reef and Atoll of Sikayana.</span></div>
+<div class="icba" style="width: 687px; height: 520px;"></div>
+
+<h2 style="clear: none;">XVII.</h2>
+
+<div class="c2" style="clear: none;">The Coral Island of Sikayana.</div>
+
+<div class="c3 smcap" style="clear: none;"><span class="smcap">17th October, 1858.</span></div>
+
+<div class="ChapDescr" style="clear: none;">
+Natives on board.&mdash;Good prospects of fresh provisions.&mdash;An
+interment on board.&mdash;A night scene.&mdash;Visit to the Island
+Group.&mdash;Fáole.&mdash;Voyage trip to Sikayana.&mdash;Narrative of an
+English sailor.&mdash;Cruelty of merchantmen in the South Sea
+Islands.&mdash;Tradition as to the origin of the inhabitants of
+Sikayana.&mdash;A king.&mdash;Barter.&mdash;Religion of the
+natives.&mdash;Trepang.&mdash;Method of preparing this sea-slug for the
+Chinese market.&mdash;Dictionary of the native language.&mdash;Under
+sail.&mdash;Ile de Contrariété.&mdash;Stormy weather.&mdash;Spring a
+leak.&mdash;Bampton Reef.&mdash;Smoky Cape.&mdash;Arrival in Port Jackson, the
+harbour of Sydney.
+</div>
+
+<p>The short distance at which we found ourselves from Sikayana, called
+Stewart's Island by the English, as also the prospect of procuring there
+fresh provisions for the crew, among whom after 66 days' confinement on
+board ship, some symptoms of scurvy began to appear, determined our
+Commodore on spending a day there, and effecting a landing. Towards
+afternoon, when we were about four or five miles distant
+<!--612.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_602" id="Page_602">602</a></span>from
+the western
+island, two splendid large canoes approached the ship, in which were
+fifteen men stark naked, except for a piece of linen round their loins.
+They were all tall, robust, powerful men, five and a half to six feet
+high, some with long, others broad faces, all having long noses, of a
+light brown colour, and the greater number with glossy black hair. With
+the exception of one who had whiskers, they were beardless; almost all
+being tattooed from the elbow to the shoulder. They spoke broken English,
+and even had English names. We never saw among the savage races such
+finely built, well-proportioned, healthy-looking men, as these inhabitants
+of the coral reef of Sikayana. Their free, unaccustomed, familiar
+deportment was something surprising. But our astonishment reached its
+height when one of these apparently savage children of nature, happening
+to find on a table on the gun-deck a draught-board lying open, immediately
+challenged one of the by-standers to a game, which it seems he understood
+so well that he beat his antagonist two games out of three. We afterwards
+heard that the natives at Sikayana have learned draughts, as also an
+English game at cards known as "odd fourth," of which they seemed
+passionately fond, from some English sailors, who several years before had
+spent five months on these islands, preparing Trepang, or <i>biche-de-mar</i>,
+for the Chinese market, those sea-slugs having formerly been found here in
+large quantities.</p>
+
+<p>To our question whether they had fresh provisions for sale, and of what
+description, they replied that they possess on
+<!--613.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_603" id="Page_603">603</a></span>the
+island plenty of Taro,
+cocoa-nuts, bananas, pigs, and poultry, which they would willingly
+exchange for fish-hooks, tobacco, calico, gunpowder, ammunition, biscuit,
+playing-cards, and ornaments for their wives. For money they did not show
+the slightest desire, and of the value of gold they seemed to be utterly
+ignorant. They showed the utmost eagerness for playing-cards and trinkets.</p>
+
+<p>We now also learned that there was on the island one white settler, an
+English sailor. This man attempted to come off to the frigate in a small
+canoe, but owing to night setting in, he could not reach her. As these
+hearty people were taking their leave, we promised to pay them a visit
+early next morning, with which they seemed highly delighted.</p>
+
+<p>There still remained the same evening one mournful duty for those on board
+the <i>Novara</i>. During the afternoon one of our sailors had died after
+protracted sufferings consequent on dysentery, and we had now, for
+sanitary reasons, to commit his remains to the deep the very evening of
+his death. It was already dark when the officers and crew were mustered on
+deck, to pay the last honours to the departed. The captain gave the
+customary orders, the ship's bell tolled, the narrow plank, on which lay
+the body of the deceased sewn up in his hammock, was brought to the
+gangway, where an iron weight was attached to the body by the feet, and
+last of all the plank being tilted up, the heavy body plunged into the
+waves with a hollow splash, and the watery tomb closed over him.</p>
+
+<p>We looked down into the abyss and beheld myriads of stars
+<!--614.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_604" id="Page_604">604</a></span>reflected
+in
+all their lustre in the smooth mirror of the ocean; the deep, blue,
+unfathomable ocean appearing like a second firmament beneath our feet!
+Nothing in the gay scene around seemed out of harmony with the mournful
+act which the community of Christians on board the <i>Novara</i> had been
+celebrating. Everything about us&mdash;the brightly glistening stars, the
+whispering ripple of the waves, the balmy atmosphere, all left an
+impression of a higher state of felicity and tranquil happiness, and
+seemed to remind us that everything in the universe, even the poor remains
+we had just committed to the waves, obeyed but one eternal, immutable law!</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of 17th October, three boats put off from the <i>Novara</i> with
+some of the officers and all the naturalists of the Expedition, bound for
+Sikayana, between three and four miles distant, while the frigate cruised
+about in the vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>Stewart's Atoll (8° 22&#8242; S., 162° 58&#8242; E.) is a semi-lunar coral reef of
+about sixteen miles in circumference, with a deep lagoon in its centre,
+and five small wooded islands on the reef itself, which are visible from
+the deck of a ship about twelve miles away, and were first discovered by
+Captain Hunter, in May, 1791. These islands are named Sikayana, Fáole,
+Mandúiloto, Baréna, and Maduáwe, and are so overgrown with cocoa-nut
+palms, that they appear capable of supporting a population of about 1000
+souls (with the wants and requirements of men in the tropics).</p>
+
+<p>The two largest islands, Sikayana and Fáole, lie exactly at the sharp
+horns of the lune-shaped atoll. Here we again
+<!--615.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_605" id="Page_605">605</a></span>had
+an opportunity of
+observing the configuration of which all known atolls furnish examples,
+viz. that the islands found adjoining these reefs are almost invariably at
+the projecting extremities, where the surf rages on either side, and where
+consequently the conditions are most favourable for the heaping up of
+detached fragments of coral. The area of habitable dry land is to the
+extent of the reef in the proportion of 1 : 21. As may readily be assumed
+from the physical conditions of the islands, there is no drinkable water
+to be found upon them; the liquid contents of the cocoa-nut when fresh is
+almost the only beverage of the inhabitants, and hence the first thing the
+natives asked for when they came on board was for some "drinking-water,"
+since, except of course during the wet season, when they catch the
+rain-water, this is a rarity with them&mdash;we might almost say an article of
+luxury.</p>
+
+<p>Sikayana, the Big Island of the English, the most easterly and largest of
+the islands, is about 1 <sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>6</sub>th statute mile in length, and lies in 8° 22&#8242;
+24&#8243; S., and 163° 1&#8242; E. The reef which surrounds the island sinks at
+certain points sheer downwards, so that a ship may in perfect safety
+approach within a cable's length. We had to sail for a considerable time
+along this line of reef, on which the sea beat with a thundering surf, ere
+we came to one of those spots on the N.W. side where it is practicable in
+a boat to pass the atoll reef into the tranquil lagoon, which it encloses.
+At all times, even in the calmest weather, a tremendous surf roars against
+the reef, and even this point is inaccessible when there is a fresh breeze
+blowing. Here
+<!--616.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_606" id="Page_606">606</a></span>we
+found some of the canoes of the natives awaiting our
+approach, who now, as though they had been on the look-out for our
+arrival, came off to us, some in their boats, others swimming, to inform
+us that, it being ebb-tide, the entry into the lagoon was not very easy,
+but that at high-water one could pass right over the reef, in even larger
+boats than ours. It was accordingly arranged that two of the boats should
+anchor outside the reef, and only one should be hauled inside the lagoon
+with a rope for our further use. But even this could not be managed until
+by removing all baggage and transhipping almost her entire crew, she had
+been made sufficiently light.</p>
+
+<p>The passage between the coral reefs and the lagoon is at high-water about
+three feet deep, but at lowest ebb it is barely a foot in depth, and three
+to four feet wide, and then the reef juts up at most points to such
+extent, that a skilled equilibrist may (although not to the advantage of
+his soles) easily reach the interior of the lagoon without wetting his
+shoes. As soon, however, as this narrow entrance, which is about 300 feet
+long, has been passed, the navigation becomes easier. The appearance of
+the reef was very peculiar. Corals of every description, <i>Astrææ</i>,
+<i>Mæandrinæ</i>, <i>Madriporæ</i>, form a sort of series of clusters of
+stone-bushes, among which beautifully mottled fish swim about, while
+starfish of an exquisite indigo blue, and mussels of the most
+extraordinary forms, people the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The atoll presents some very remarkable geological features. At its N.W.
+side, close to the reef and as it were growing to it, stand two singular
+vase-shaped rocks, from 8 to 10 feet in
+<!--617.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_607" id="Page_607">607</a></span>height.
+While their base is
+bathed by the sea, their upper portions, which are about 20 feet in
+diameter, present the spectacle of luxuriant grass, brushwood, and one or
+two fruit-bearing cocoa-nut palms, so that the two crags looked like two
+gigantic flower-pots attached to the reef. They seem to be all that
+remains of an island which Ocean had first thrown up, and was now busy
+wearing away.</p>
+
+<p>Another geological peculiarity is the occurrence of heaps of pumice-stone.
+These are found about the size of walnuts over the entire interior of the
+island of Fáole at those places which the swell of the waves cannot reach
+even in the stormiest weather, where they occur in such immense quantities
+(though there are no traces of them on the sand or shingle of the actual
+beach) that we may take for granted that the convulsion which brought them
+here must have occurred in times long gone by, the more so as this
+superposed pumice-stone exercises a marked and obvious influence upon the
+vegetation of the island. So far as its soil consists of heaps of
+fragments of coral and mussel-shells, the cocoa-nut palm reigns almost
+alone, whereas as soon as the pumice-stone region is reached, there begins
+an exceedingly luxuriant growth of lofty forest trees with huge trunks and
+umbrageous foliage, and an astonishingly abundant <i>flora</i> of species
+apparently peculiar to these Atoll islands. The English naturalist Jukes,
+who accompanied Captain Blackwood on his survey of Torres Straits, found
+beds of pumice along the entire east and north coasts of Australia, over
+an extent of 2000 miles, and under numerous
+<!--618.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_608" id="Page_608">608</a></span>special
+conditions, but most
+frequently on flat grounds elevated about ten feet above high-water mark
+and more or less distant from the beach&mdash;never upon the beach itself. The
+occurrence of pumice in such vast quantities is of no slight interest in a
+geological point of view. It must have been some tremendous natural
+convulsions, an earthquake wave of enormous lateral dimensions, which
+threw up this pumice-stone, and deposited it throughout this entire region
+at the same height above high-water mark. Since this phenomenon occurred,
+the general level of the coasts and islands on which this deposit of
+pumice is found, can scarcely have undergone any considerable alteration,
+if one is not inclined to assume for the entire region a perfectly equal
+elevation or depression.</p>
+
+<p>The whole party of Excursionists had wandered along the reef to a spot at
+which we could embark once more, so as to row over to the next island,
+Fáole, which, however, the natives do not much frequent, except
+occasionally to collect cocoa-nuts and pandanus fruits. But as one main
+object had to be accomplished, namely, the supply of the ship with fresh
+provisions, which were not found here, some of the party went off to the
+principal settlement on the island of Sikayana, to barter some goods they
+had brought, against as much private supplies for themselves as could be
+conveniently conveyed to the boats and so taken on board.</p>
+
+<p>While the natives were paddling along in their elegant canoes, escorting
+us as far as Sikayana, we offered a seat in our boat to the only white man
+on the island, the English
+<!--619.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_609" id="Page_609">609</a></span>sailor
+already mentioned. This man was named
+John Davis, about forty years of age, a native of Greenwich, and was,
+according to his own story, left behind against his will by Captain Ross,
+a "sandal-wooder," who had visited this group in 1858. He stated he had
+just before been with Captain Ross at the Tonga Islands, where the captain
+sent two sailors on shore to fell sandal-wood. These men, however, got
+into a quarrel with the natives, who would not permit them to rob them of
+their property, in the course of which they lost their lives. The captain
+immediately proceeded to the islands himself with some of his crew well
+armed, attacked the unfortunate natives, shot five, and then sailed off.
+Davis had become obnoxious to the captain, because in consequence of
+over-work he had fallen ill with intermittent fever, and could not work,
+upon which his remorseless superior cast about how to get rid of the now
+useless seaman, and resolved to put him ashore by force on the next island
+which came in sight. What a fearful doom! To be abandoned, sick and
+helpless, on a lone island far from the highways of the world, where ships
+but seldom touched, and amid savages with whose tongue he was
+unacquainted! If even one were disposed to doubt the possibility of such
+inhuman cruelty, it would find mournful confirmation in many similar
+instances. To this charge the "sandal-wooders" are especially amenable,
+who visit the islands of the South Sea to collect the costly sandal-wood,
+and in the prosecution of their enterprise seem to go upon the exclusive
+principle that the coloured man has
+<!--620.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_610" id="Page_610">610</a></span>no
+property over the natural wealth
+of these islands, and has no right to resist the wishes of the white man!</p>
+
+<p>Commander Erskine of H.M.S. <i>Savannah</i>, mentions a case in which an
+English merchantman, engaged in the sandal-wood traffic, entered into an
+engagement to employ his whole crew in assisting one native tribe to
+overpower its neighbour, in return for which timely assistance certain
+places were pointed out where the coveted sandal-wood was found in great
+abundance. A battle took place, and a number of prisoners were carried on
+board the ship, of whom, during the passage to the sandal-wood-producing
+islands, several were in the presence of the European crew coolly
+slaughtered and eaten by their cannibal foes of the Fee-jee Islands!!</p>
+
+<p>Davis, whom the natives for distinction's sake called simply "the white
+man," could not expatiate enough on the cordiality and kind treatment he
+received from the poor inhabitants of Sikayana during his stay. Since
+April no ship had called at the island, or even been visible from it. He
+begged the favour of a passage to Sydney, which was readily accorded him
+on condition he would first repay all his obligations to the natives, and
+that on their side there should be no objections made to his leaving. On
+our arrival in Sydney we learned that Captain Ross, who had put Davis
+ashore at Sikayana, had been tried for another still greater atrocity; he
+had inflicted Lynch-law, by hanging some of the natives of New Caledonia
+at his yard-arm. Ross was somewhat later acquitted by the judges at
+Sydney, but public opinion reversed the
+verdict.<!--621.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_611" id="Page_611">611</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After a row of an hour and a half we at last reached the island of
+Sikayana, having previously met three canoes, one of which was manned by
+twelve rowers, who now entered on a sort of regatta contest with us. These
+canoes, not more than a foot and a half wide, glide with uncommon velocity
+through the water, but despite their outriggers, they are not adapted for
+carrying much provisions. We found it quite easy to land at the place, and
+drew up our boat upon the sandy beach.</p>
+
+<p>The world of these islanders, the entire area of dry habitable land upon
+this coral reef, is about one-eighth of an English square mile; no stream,
+no mountain, no eminence adorns the island, the highest part of which is
+just sufficiently elevated to enable the winds and waves to heap up sand
+and débris; around it on every side is the boundless ocean, and its
+mineral wealth is reduced to one single mineral, carbonated chalk,
+deposited in the brine by thousands of millions of coral-animals. Hither
+too the ocean in some extraordinary cases wafts pumice and other stones
+lighter than water, which somewhat improve the soil, or occasionally
+stones are transported, entangled in the roots of floating trees, with
+which the denizens of this little place can grind the mussel-shells, of
+which they make all their tools, as well as knives and hatchets.</p>
+
+<p>The immense vegetable kingdom has but 20 or 30 representatives here, whose
+seeds have been transported hither by the sea from richer and more
+congenial soils, and thrown
+<!--622.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_612" id="Page_612">612</a></span>up
+by it upon the strand. Animals are still
+more scarce. A few sea-swallows and insects form the whole Fauna of the
+group. The sea furnishes the only supply of animal food, in the shape of
+fish, crabs, and shell-fish. One may well ask, what degree of moral or
+spiritual development can be attained by a race of men whose sphere of
+action is confined to a solitary coral reef! Yet the mode of existence of
+the inhabitants of Stewart's Islands is by no means of the most primitive
+or simple nature; through the occasional visits of ships they have
+obtained much, by which they have sensibly improved their condition. They
+now possess swine, poultry, and various tubers, which seem greatly to
+thrive on the island, and which they can now exchange for other articles
+of prime necessity.</p>
+
+<p>Sikayana is the only member of the group which is permanently inhabited,
+and that by a sincerely hospitable, most friendly race. Their origin is
+variously accounted for.</p>
+
+<p>Among the natives themselves there is a dim tradition that Captain Cook
+transported hither the first settlers. Another version is, that the first
+inhabitants came from South Island, 130 miles W. of Stewart's Islands, and
+that they were brought hither by whalers, which latter, when they no
+longer needed the services of these poor people, sought how most easily to
+get rid of them. At the same time several English and American sailors,
+who at various times have been left in these islands in consequence of
+sickness, want of further employment, love of adventure, or quarrels with
+<!--623.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_613" id="Page_613">613</a></span>their
+captains, must have largely contributed to the present quite
+peculiar mixture. The practice of leaving upon any suitable island such
+natives of the South Sea groups as may take service with English or
+American whalers, is very common, and sufficiently explains the mode of
+first settling many of these islands of Oceania.</p>
+
+<p>When Captain Cheyne, who has greatly contributed to our more intimate
+knowledge of the islands of the West Pacific, visited Sikayana in
+September, 1847, the population amounted to 48 men, 73 women, and 50
+children, who inhabited a small village lying on the lagoon at the eastern
+end of the island. Although eleven years had elapsed ere we visited this
+simple community, their numbers did not appear materially to have
+increased.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the powerful, healthy appearance of the natives, it should
+seem that we must ascribe this stagnation in amount of population less to
+the influence of climate, than to the ravages of the various diseases
+which are from time to time introduced by foreign ships. Thus we saw one
+woman whose whole body was deeply marked with small-pox, and presented a
+living example that the fell scourge of all uncivilized races is no longer
+unknown in Sikayana.</p>
+
+<p>At the landing-place we were received by the king of the island, a very
+aged man with grey hair and silver beard. He sat on the grass close to the
+shore under the shade of cocoa-nut palms, driving away with his hand the
+flies which were stinging his naked body. After a brief welcome he
+<!--624.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_614" id="Page_614">614</a></span>invited
+us to be seated beside him on Nature's own soft green carpet.</p>
+
+<p>The natives whom we met here were all tall handsome men, with good
+features, decidedly of a European cast. The hair was black, very crisp,
+but not the slightest appearance of being woolly. Many had shaved it till
+there only remained a long tail; most of them had their arms and legs
+tattooed, but wore no ear or nose ornaments like the Solomon Islanders.
+Round the loins they wore a sort of girdle, four or five inches wide, of
+strips of plants plaited by the women. In addition to this, most of them
+wore some piece of European clothing; drawers, old caps, but most commonly
+a sort of jacket without sleeves made of calico, which only covered the
+back and chest. Like the natives of the Nicobars, they showed great
+curiosity to learn our names, and kept repeating them over and over,
+apparently to impress them upon their memory. They had beyond a doubt
+taken their own names from sailors and ship captains, with whom they had
+once been in communication.</p>
+
+<p>Close to the shore, among some scattered palm-trees, stood a few wretched
+huts, compared with which the bee-hive huts of the Nicobar Islanders
+appear like palaces. They consisted of a roofing woven of cocoa-nut
+palm-leaves, planted upon the naked soil which serves as a floor, and
+closed in front and rear with mats of similar texture. The interior was no
+less poverty-stricken than the exterior. We could see no articles of
+furniture beyond a few baskets and
+<!--625.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_615" id="Page_615">615</a></span>battered
+boxes, in which the islanders
+stow away their small property.</p>
+
+<p>A crowd of eager expectants had gathered round the crates of merchandise
+which our sailors had brought on shore, and the barter began.</p>
+
+<p>The natives had swine, poultry, a few eggs, papayas, Taro, cocoa-nuts, and
+bananas to offer, while we had an assortment of knives, hatchets, saws,
+flints, fish-hooks, calico, linen, blue cloth, ribbons, linen-thread,
+needles, coarse tobacco, biscuit, red coral, glass beads, empty bottles,
+&amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>This commerce was something higher than a mere barter&mdash;it had also a
+psychological interest of its own. Useful goods and tools found a much
+less demand than baubles and objects of personal adornment; and for a
+string of glass beads only fit to hang round the neck of a wife, or to put
+as a bracelet upon the arm of some little dusky daughter, provisions
+enough were given away to have supported an entire family for days.</p>
+
+<p>Red and green seemed the colours most in demand, and the small beads were
+in far more request than the larger and heavier descriptions, even if
+these latter were more costly and neat. It seemed the women were not
+permitted to show themselves at market, which must have been a sore enough
+disappointment for many; but the men earnestly requested before closing
+with an offer to be permitted to carry off the coveted prizes, leaving
+their own articles of barter in pledge, apparently with the gallant
+attention of first of all obtaining
+<!--626.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_616" id="Page_616">616</a></span>the
+advice and consent of their
+better halves. Hence it frequently happened that the article first
+selected was exchanged for some other widely different, or the whole
+bargain given up.</p>
+
+<p>The women whom we afterwards saw in their huts were all tall and
+powerfully built, but very unattractive, the majority appearing
+prematurely old. The sole covering was a piece of gay-coloured calico
+tolerably wide, which they wore around their loins. Their lower limbs and
+faces were tattooed, the latter however with only a few cross-bars.</p>
+
+<p>The two hampers of assorted articles, which was our stock in trade, were
+ere long nearly emptied, and as the sailors would have found it hard work
+to bring off the provisions we had purchased in our small boat, it was
+agreed to break up our improvised exchange, and return to Fáole with our
+valuable cargo of fresh provisions.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a></p>
+
+<p>While the barter was going on, the author of this narrative
+<!--627.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_617" id="Page_617">617</a></span>occupied
+himself with making some anthropometrical measurements, and at the same
+time noting down a few cursory remarks respecting these interesting
+people.</p>
+
+<p>The chief food of these islanders consists of fish, cocoa-nuts, taro, and
+the fruit of the pandanus (<i>dawa</i>); only at rare intervals do they taste
+pork or poultry. The rearing of pigs and poultry is chiefly carried on for
+the purpose of trading with foreign vessels, so as to obtain in return the
+products of a higher civilization. Their fish-nets are prepared from the
+rind of their trees. A few looms which they also possess have been given
+them by whale-fishers. The cincture round the loins, which is their sole
+article of apparel, is also prepared from the inner bark of the tree.</p>
+
+<p>When the king dies, the oldest member of the community is elected his
+successor. At their festivals they sing in a sort of monotonous drone, and
+blow at the same time through mussel-shells.</p>
+
+<p>When mourning for the dead, they stain their faces red with the seeds of
+the <i>Bixa orellana</i>, and wear a piece of white calico, shaped something
+like a capuchin's hood, which reaches down till it covers the shoulder.
+One native, who was wearing one of these head coverings, could not be
+induced to traffic, nor even to approach the place where our improvised
+market was being held, because, as he made us understand, one of his near
+relatives had lately died. Altogether the inhabitants of Sikayana struck
+us as a primitive, very moral, and honourable race, and it made us almost
+<!--628.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_618" id="Page_618">618</a></span>melancholy
+to think that these excellent people should be without the
+blessings of Christianity. To our great amazement, however, we learned
+that the natives themselves strenuously opposed the settlement in their
+midst of any missionaries of any Christian denomination,&mdash;"Because," said
+they, "all their Kai-kai (i. e. their food) would belong to the
+missionaries." This naïve reply reminds us of a similar remark on the part
+of the Quiche Indians, which we once overheard in the highlands of
+Guatemala, in whose language a missionary or priest is known as
+Ki-sol-re-le-ak-úch, which being interpreted means "devourer of all hens!"
+And just as among the Mormons every care is taken to keep certain
+professions out of their community, as, for instance, the physician, in
+order to prevent illness, or the lawyer, with the intent to keep away
+law-suits, thus in their simplicity the natives of Sikayana have fallen
+into the error of viewing the missionary, that moral physician, as only of
+importance or of necessity in those places where there are really
+spiritual and moral evils to cure!</p>
+
+<p>The liquors of Europe are as yet but little known to the inhabitants of
+Sikayana. In none of the huts could we discern any sort of spirituous
+fluids, nor was any offered to us. Even during the trading, amid the
+demands for every sort of article, no desire was expressed for them, not a
+question even was asked respecting them, whereas hitherto all the wild or
+semi-savage races with which we came in contact at once clamoured for
+"Brandy," and not seldom presented themselves in a riotous
+<!--629.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_619" id="Page_619">619</a></span>condition.
+That there is as yet no demand for spirits at Sikayana shows how little
+intercourse they can as yet have had with civilization. In former years
+this group was occasionally visited by American and English merchantmen,
+owing to the abundance of Trepang. Since the year 1845, however, when one
+American captain collected 250 Chinese piculs<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> (about 15 tons), and
+ten years later when Captain Cheyne in the course of nine months gathered
+265 piculs (about 16&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>4</sub> tons), the business is no longer profitable and
+at present years sometimes slip by without a ship lying to off Sikayana.</p>
+
+<p>As these worm-like animals,<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> which in the dried state command, like
+the Salangan swallows' nests, a high price as a costly delicacy in China
+and Japan, form an important article of commerce and employ a considerable
+number of ships annually, we shall indulge in a few remarks on the very
+laborious operations of preparing the Trepang.</p>
+
+<p>Of the large number of varieties of Trepang which are found among the
+coral reefs of the Pacific, there are only ten suited to the Chinese
+market, which are accurately distinguished by their special names. As they
+fetch a price according to quality of from 6 to 35 dollars per picul, it
+is
+<!--630.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_620" id="Page_620">620</a></span>a
+matter of great importance to obtain the very highest qualities.</p>
+
+<p>The four species most in demand are known in China by the following
+names,&mdash;<i>Bangkolungan</i>, <i>Kiskisan</i>, <i>Talipan</i>, and <i>Munang</i>, each of which
+has a distinctive appearance, and is found at various depths on the coral
+reefs.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bangkolungan</i>, when captured, is from 11 to 15 inches in length, of an
+oval form, brown on the back, white on the belly, incrusted with chalk,
+and with a row of papillæ or warts along the side. This species is hard,
+stiff, and possesses hardly any means of progression beyond expanding and
+contracting at will. They are found on the inner edge of the coral reef in
+coral-sandy ground, under water of from 2 to 10 fathoms, and are difficult
+to get at without diving. Kiskisan is from 6 to 12 inches long, oval, very
+black, smooth on the back, dark grey belly, and with a row of papillæ
+along its side. This description is found in shallow water near the
+highest portion of the reef, and on a bottom of coral and sand. <i>Talipan</i>
+varies in length from 9 inches to 2 feet, and is the most peculiar-looking
+of all the Trepang species. This sort is found in all parts of the reef,
+but chiefly in water of from 2 to 3 fathoms. It is of a dark red colour,
+and less bulky than either of the sorts already described. The back is
+covered with large red spots, which readily distinguish it from all other
+species. It is more flexible than the black sort, and more difficult to
+prepare. <i>Munang</i> is oval, small, quite black, and rarely measures above
+<!--631.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_621" id="Page_621">621</a></span>eight
+inches in length. It has neither warts nor other excrescences, and
+is found in shallow water on the coral flats, and frequently also among
+the sea-tangle along the shore. It is this sort which the Americans
+usually catch at the Fee-jee Islands. In the Chinese markets, a picul of
+<i>Munang</i> is worth 15 to 25 dollars. Besides these four principal species,
+there are a variety of less valuable descriptions, such as Zapatos-China,
+Lowlowan, Balati-blanco, Matan, Hangenan, and Zapatos-Grande.</p>
+
+<p>In order to prepare these four sorts of Trepang for commerce, they are
+first soaked in a large iron kettle for from 5 to 10 minutes in boiling
+water, and when thoroughly heated through, are taken out. The portion of
+the animal which is cut off, when well boiled, should be of an amber
+colour tinged with blue, and feel somewhat like Indian rubber.</p>
+
+<p>A certain degree of dexterity and practice are requisite for boiling
+Trepang to the proper point and afterwards drying it. While it becomes
+puffed out through too sudden an application of heat, and porous like
+sponge, too low a temperature or too short a time destroys it on the other
+hand, and in 24 hours it becomes quite tainted. Trepang dried in the sun
+is more valuable than that dried on the island, nor does the native ever
+care for those he dries over his wood fire. Probably the former mode of
+preparing it would not pay for a ship, since at least twenty days are
+necessary to
+<!--632.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_622" id="Page_622">622</a></span>dry
+Trepang in the sun, whereas over a wood fire the same
+end is attained in four days.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the precautions requisite properly to prepare Trepang are so
+manifold and require such an expenditure of time, that only those who for
+years have been exclusively devoted to the business can secure a
+successful result. Consequently the trade is exceedingly remunerative, and
+numbers of captains have within a very few years realized a competency and
+even affluence by preparing Trepang for the Chinese market.</p>
+
+<p>We employed our time, when sailing back to the island of Fáole, in
+finishing a small vocabulary of the language in use by the inhabitants of
+the Stewart Island group, which we accomplished with the last stroke of
+the oar that brought our heavily-laden boat back to Fáole, where the rest
+of our companions already anxiously awaited our return. We had occasion to
+remark with surprise the perseverance and readiness of comprehension of
+one native named Károsi, to whose assistance we are entirely indebted for
+the preparation of this vocabulary.</p>
+
+<p>After a stay of about four hours on the island, we returned to the ship
+about 4.30 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, and by sundown were again under weigh for Sydney.<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> If
+the inhabitants of the Solomon group
+<!--633.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_623" id="Page_623">623</a></span>were
+the most savage race of men we
+encountered throughout our cruise, these amiable Sikayanese left on us the
+impression of being the most moral and peacefully disposed race of
+aborigines that we became acquainted with, and even to this day the few
+fleeting but highly suggestive hours we spent with these primitive people
+are among the most singular, yet delightful, on which memory rests, when
+recalling the incidents of our circumnavigation.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p>
+
+<p>A fresh breeze hurried us rapidly to the southward during the 18th, but we
+soon entered once more upon the region of
+<!--634.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_624" id="Page_624">624</a></span>squalls<a
+name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> and calms, and on
+19th and 20th October we were lying listlessly about 15 miles E., by
+chart, from Sesarga,<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> called also <i>Ile de Contrariété</i> (9° 49&#8242; S.,
+162° 13&#8242; E.), condemned to inactivity to the northward of San Christoval.
+We could now satisfy ourselves that it is quite erroneous to identify this
+island with that seen by Pedro de Ortega in 1567, round in shape, and with
+a lofty volcano in its midst continually throwing up smoke and steam. <i>Ile
+de Contrariété</i>, as seen from the deck of our frigate, presented the
+appearance of a long wooded ridge, averaging about 800 feet in height,
+whereas some of the peaks of San Christoval, 3000 or 4000 feet in height,
+presented all the configuration peculiar to a volcanic island; this was
+especially the case with one remarkably regular cone of about 2000 feet in
+height, which rises quite close to Cape Surville. So that Burney's theory
+seems the most probable, that Ortega's Sesarga is no other than Mount
+Lammot, 8000 feet high, on Guadalcanar (9° 50&#8242; S., 160° 20&#8242; E.).</p>
+
+<p>At last, on 21st October, we succeeded in weathering Cape Surville. Thus
+the Solomon's group too were what seamen call "hull-down," and we might
+look forward to a speedy termination to this most tedious and unpropitious
+voyage. For a long month we had, while to the northward of the Solomon's
+Islands, vainly sighed for a fresh breeze, and now all at once
+<!--635.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_625" id="Page_625">625</a></span>the
+S.E.
+trade was blowing so strong that the ship could only lay her course to the
+southward under reduced sail, close-hauled, and had now to plunge
+laboriously through the heavy seas, which the stiff breeze was knocking
+up. On the 25th and 26th October it blew a regular storm from the S.E., we
+forging along under double-reefed square-sails, till it almost seemed that
+the end of our voyage was destined to be as stormy as its commencement
+"away in the China seas." The ship's timbers creaked and groaned, as
+though they would break into a thousand pieces, while the whistling and
+moaning of the wind, the raging and roaring of the sea, the tremendous
+crash of the waves against our bulwarks, left no peace night or day for
+the "non-effectives," as all passengers not regularly borne upon the
+ship's books are called on board a man-of-war. As though to increase the
+discomfort of their position, it happened that the frigate began to make
+water to such an extent, that in what was fortunately but a very small
+portion of the hold, the water rose to fifty inches within four hours! It
+was supposed that during the typhoon on the China sea, some of the copper
+plates had been wrenched off, and that the water was finding entrance
+through some leak in her outer timbers, but the most rigid examination
+failed to discover its whereabouts. At all events it must have been at or
+above the water line, as when the sea rose higher than usual, or the ship
+lurched much, the water was sure to gain. We were compelled consequently
+to vary from our original course by the open sea-way along the west coast
+of New Caledonia,
+<!--636.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_626" id="Page_626">626</a></span>and
+steer for the coral sea, thickly studded with
+reefs, which lies between New Caledonia and "Sandy Cape" on the shores of
+Australia, as by adopting this dangerous route we should at least have
+smoother water and more favourable winds. Meanwhile, every possible
+precaution was taken in handling the ship, so as not to increase the leak,
+and a sail was kept ready to be fothered from without over the leaky part
+in case of necessity.</p>
+
+<p>On 28th October we had expected to be in sight of the great
+horse-shoe-shaped Bampton Reef. But there was no surf discernible from the
+mast-head, only the change to smooth water, which we at once felt, proving
+that the reef really existed, and that we were to leeward of it. Its
+position is so variously laid down on the charts, that while by one chart
+we must have been upon the very reef itself, we were, according to a
+second, four miles, and, according to a third, fourteen miles to the
+eastward of it! The last-mentioned seemed to be the most correct, since at
+four miles the surf must have been visible, whereas it would be impossible
+to see it at fourteen miles.</p>
+
+<p>By 30th October we had passed the latitude of Sandy Cape, and could now
+steer direct for Sydney, the capital of the colony of New South Wales. The
+same day we also crossed the tropic of Capricorn. The temperature, which
+had been falling regularly ever since we left the Solomon Islands, in 28°
+S., was as low as 64°.4 Fahr., so that we found it advisable to resume our
+woollen
+clothing.<!--637.png--><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_627" id="Page_627">627</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ten months we had now spent in the tropics, in the hottest seas of the
+globe, and we now felt, on a beautiful November morning in the southern
+tropics, as on a clear spring morning at home. On 4th November we had our
+first peep of the coast of Australia at Smoky Cape, a fresh easterly
+breeze filling our sails, as we bowled along at 10 knots an hour,
+constantly nearing the next station of our voyage. On the 5th, at 2 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>,
+the not very high land round Port Jackson came in sight, and we had not to
+alter her course by one spoke, so that our chronometer had given
+unmistakeable proof of its accuracy. The coast is for the most part rather
+flat and monotonous, but we soon recognized the entrance by North Cape,
+which rises sheer out of the water at the harbour mouth, where we also
+took a pilot on board. The light-house here, 420 feet above sea-level, had
+been visible from the deck of the frigate 15 miles away! During the whole
+voyage we had only seen one vessel, an American clipper off the Marianne
+Archipelago, and were greatly amazed to find not a single sail in the
+vicinity of the port. At last, just as we got abreast of the entrance, we
+saw a steamer and some small boats making for the land. At 6 <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">P.M.</span>, after a
+voyage of 82 days, during which we had sailed 5930 miles, the anchor was
+let go in the magnificent harbour of Port Jackson, off Garden Island, to
+the N.E. of the city of Sydney. We had reached in safety the fifth quarter
+of the globe!</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a>
+As it is not uninteresting to know the course of exchange
+at Sikayana existing between the products of European industry and its
+native products, we subjoin a few of the most important equivalents:
+</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="center">For</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="left">lbs. tobacco</td><td align="center">one pig.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">20</td><td align="left">Steel fish-hooks</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="left">Strings of red corals</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="left">Strings of green and red glass beads</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="left">Packets of needles and thread</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">10</td><td align="left">Ells of calico</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="left">Fish-hooks</td><td align="center">ten eggs.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="left">Fish-hooks</td><td align="center">two hens.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">10</td><td align="left">Fish-hooks</td><td align="center">30 pieces of Taro.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">2</td><td align="left">Packets needles and threads</td><td align="center">30 pieces of Taro.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">1</td><td align="left">Packet old playing-cards</td><td align="center">4 hens.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a>
+One Chinese picul = 133&nbsp;<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> lbs. English, whereas one Dutch
+picul = 135&nbsp;<sup>3</sup>&frasl;<sub>5</sub> lbs. English.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a>
+Called Trepang by the Malays, <i>hái-schni</i> by the Chinese,
+and <i>Biche-de-mar</i> by both English and French. Of this <i>holothuria</i> or
+sea-cucumber (<i>Holothuria edulis</i>), there are about 400 tons annually
+imported into China from the various islands of the Southern Ocean.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a>
+During our excursion, there were taken on board the
+frigate, which cruised to and fro in short tacks off the island, about 200
+readings of the temperature, at depths of every 50 fathoms. It was also
+intended to experiment as to soundings, but the state of the weather
+prevented this, as there were continual squalls, and the threatening state
+of the weather did not admit of a boat being launched. However at a
+distance of half a mile from the reef, no bottom was found with 200
+fathoms of line.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a>
+It is perhaps a duty to our gallant companions of every
+grade to vindicate the Expedition once more, and finally, from certain
+malignant calumnies which, upwards of a year after we had left Australian
+waters, were circulated in the columns of even respectable newspapers,
+accusing the crew of the <i>Novara</i> of having been guilty of most scandalous
+excesses and wanton robbery while at Sikayana. It seems however needless
+to insist that not the slightest pretext for such infamous aspersions was
+furnished by any of the party who spent these few hours in Sikayana, of
+which we have sketched the details in the present chapter. But the fact
+that they could be circulated without its being possible to contradict
+them on official authority points to a serious defect in our diplomatic
+position abroad. True, that no respectable member of the community
+accredited the idle mischievous report; true that the leading inhabitants,
+English, American, and German, strenuously combated it on every possible
+occasion, and in every possible manner. Yet had Austria been a recognized
+power, instead of a friendly guest, it needs but little acquaintance with
+the etiquette of public and official life to know that the calumny must
+have been stifled in its birth, by the prompt action of those specially
+appointed to protect the fair fame of their country in these distant
+waters. Not till her flag floats regularly to the breeze in the most
+distant countries, instead of being that of a casual visitor, will
+Austria, and through her the entire German nation, receive that respect,
+and occupy that position among the family of nations, to which her
+intelligence, her energy, and her important influence upon the progress of
+civilization alike entitle her.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a>
+The quantity of rain that falls in these latitudes is
+something almost incredible. One single squall from the N.W. was
+accompanied by a rainfall of <i>three</i> inches, in the course of <i>five
+hours</i>, whereas the <i>entire rainfall</i> for the <i>year</i> in London, for
+instance, is only 18.07 inches.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a>
+The native name is Ulatúa.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="center">
+END OF VOL. II.
+</div>
+<!--638.png--><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_628" id="Page_628"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="c2"><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.</span></div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+
+<div class="center"><a name="Changes" id="Changes">List of Modifications</a></div>
+
+<p>Transcriber's Note: Blank pages have been deleted. Captions indicated in
+the original publication's list of illustrations have been added to the
+illustrations themselves. Illustrations omitted from the list of
+illustrations have been added there. To these illustrations, new captions
+have been added. Illustrations may have been moved. The footnotes have
+been moved. We have rendered consistent on a per-word-pair basis the
+hyphenation or spacing of such pairs when repeated in the same grammatical
+context. We have corrected inconsistencies in the application of accents
+to the same word when repeated. The publisher's inadvertent omissions of
+punctuation have been corrected. Some wide tables have been re-formatted
+to narrower equivalents with some words replaced with commonly known
+abbreviations and possibly a key. Some ditto marks have been replaced with
+the words represented. The publisher's corrections listed at the end of
+Volume III have been applied. Duplicative front matter has been removed.
+Other changes were made as listed below:</p>
+
+<pre>
+ 23: the poor people having been over whelmed[overwhelmed]
+ 62: first the island of Meroe, than[then] the two
+193: Javanese was their conversion to Brahmaism[Brahmanism]
+205: of which is manufactured Manilla[Manila] hemp)
+205: the plant in its orginal[original] climate,
+206: beautifully situated Hotel Belleuve[Bellevue],
+226: such as Gunnug[Gunung] Guntur and Gunung
+236: caves.[&quot;] (The meaning of the above Javanese words is
+236: name of <i>Njai[Nja&iuml;]-Ratu-Segor-Kidul</i>,
+270: Radhen[Raden] Saleh cherishes
+281: Plans for canalization.&mdash;Arrival at Los Banos[Ba&ntilde;os].
+292: The two hotels lately started [to] levy,
+301: was born 24th November, 1778, at Navia&ntilde;os[Navianos],
+320: Athough[although] altogether more tobacco
+345: the church was considered as descerated[desecrated]
+353: owing to the attitude[altitude] of the hills
+418: and wicker[-]work numerous skulls of rebels
+451: In the dispensary there were, morever[moreover],
+508: impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrancy[fragrance],
+529: clearly developes[develops] its tendency,
+543: the centre of the <i>cylone[cyclone]</i>,
+550: Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luft gefl&uuml;ster[Luftgefl&uuml;ster]
+550: Und fromm, fast wie zwei betende Geschwester[Geschwister].
+617: with the seeds of the <i>Bixa ocellana[orellana]</i>,
+</pre>
+
+<div style="padding-top: 1em;"><a href="#Start">Start of text.</a></div>
+
+<hr class="ChapterTopRule" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of
+the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
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+</body>
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@@ -0,0 +1,16671 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the
+Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+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: Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II
+       (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order
+       of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+       Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the
+       Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the
+       Austrian Navy.
+
+Author: Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+Release Date: January 1, 2012 [EBook #38462]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL II ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Henry Gardiner and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file made from scans of public domain material at
+Austrian Literature Online.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been replicated
+faithfully except as shown in the List Of Corrections at the end of the
+text. Words in italics are indicated like _this_. Footnotes are located
+near the end of each chapter. [oe] represents the oe ligature.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+                               NARRATIVE
+                                OF THE
+                      Circumnavigation of the Globe
+                         BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE
+                                 NOVARA,
+
+                (COMMODORE B. VON WULLERSTORF-URBAIR,)
+           _Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government_,
+
+                    IN THE YEARS 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+
+         UNDER THE IMMEDIATE AUSPICES OF HIS I. AND R. HIGHNESS
+                   THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN,
+                COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.
+
+                                   BY
+                           DR. KARL SCHERZER,
+
+  MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA," ETC.
+
+                                VOL. II.
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+                                LONDON:
+                      _SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO._,
+                   66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE.
+                                  1862.
+
+                 [THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
+
+
+                    JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+                          THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.
+
+    Historical details respecting this Archipelago.--Arrival at
+    Kar-Nicobar.--Communication with the Aborigines.--Village of
+    Saoui and "Captain John."--Meet with two white men.--Journey to
+    the south side of the Island.--Village of Komios.--Forest
+    Scenery.--Batte-Malve.--Tillangschong.--Arrival and stay at
+    Nangkauri Harbour.--Village of Itoe.--Peak Mongkata on Kamorta.--
+    Villages of Enuang and Malacca.--Tripjet, the first settlement
+    of the Moravian Brothers.--Ulala Cove.--Voyage through the
+    Archipelago.--The Island of Treis.--Pulo Miu.--Pandanus Forest.--
+    St. George's Channel.--Island of Kondul.--Departure for the
+    northern coast of Great Nicobar.--Mangrove Swamp.--Malay
+    traders.--Remarks upon the natives of Great Nicobar.--Disaster
+    to a boat dispatched to make Geodetical observations.--Visit to
+    the Southern Bay of Great Nicobar.--General results obtained
+    during the stay of the Expedition in this Archipelago.--
+    Nautical, Climatic, and Geognostic observations.--Vegetation.--
+    Animal Life.--Ethnography.--Prospects of this group of Islands
+    in the way of settlement and cultivation.--Voyage to the Straits
+    of Malacca.--Arrival at Singapore.                                   1
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XI.
+
+                               SINGAPORE.
+
+    Position of the Island.--Its previous history.--Sir Stamford
+    Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British
+    Government free to all sea-faring nations.--The Island becomes
+    part of the Crown property of England.--Extraordinary
+    development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.--Our
+    stay shortened in consequence of the severity of the cholera.--
+    Description of the city.--Tigers.--Gambir.--The Betel
+    plantations.--Inhabitants.--Chinese and European labour.--
+    Climate.--Diamond merchants.--Preparation of Pearl Sago.--Opium
+    farms.--Opium manufacture.--Opium-smokers.--Intellectual
+    activity.--Journalism.--Logan's "Journal of the Indian
+    Archipelago."--School for Malay children.--Judicial procedure.--
+    Visit to the penal settlement for coloured criminals.--A Chinese
+    provision-merchant at business and at home.--Fatal accident on
+    board.--Departure from Singapore.--Difficulty in passing through
+    Gaspar Straits.--Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.--Death
+    of one of the ship's boys.--First burial at sea.--Sea-snakes.--
+    Arrival in the Roads of Batavia.                                   137
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+                                 JAVA.
+
+    Old and New Batavia.--Splendid reception.--Scientific
+    societies.--Public institutions.--Natives.--A Malay embassy.--
+    Excursion into the interior.--Buitenzorg.--The Botanic Garden.--
+    The Negro.--Prince Aquasie Boachi.--Pondok-Gedeh.--The infirmary
+    at Gadok, and Dr. Bernstein.--Megamendoeng.--Javanese villages.--
+    Tjipannas.--Ascent of Pangerango.--Forest scenery.--Javanese
+    resting-houses or Pasanggrahans.--Night and morning on the
+    summit of the volcano.--Visit to Gunung Gedeh.--The plantations
+    of Peruvian bark-trees in Tjipodas.--Their actual condition.--
+    Conjectures as to the future.--Voyage to Bandong.--Spots where
+    edible swallows' nests are found.--Hospitable reception by a
+    Javanese prince.--Visit to Dr. Junghuhn in Lembang.--Coffee
+    cultivation.--Decay in value of the coffee bean of Java.--
+    Professor Vriese and the coffee planters of Java.--Free trade
+    and monopoly.--Compulsory and free labour.--Ascent of the
+    volcano of Tangkuban Prahu.--Poison Crater and King's Crater.--A
+    geological excursion to a portion of the Preanger Regency.--
+    Native fete given by the Javanese Regent of Tjiangoer.--A day at
+    the Governor-general's country-seat at Buitenzorg.--Return to
+    Batavia.--Ball given by the military club in honour of the
+    Novara.--Raden Saleh, a Javanese artist.--Barracks and prisons.--
+    Meester Cornelis.--French opera.--Constant changes among the
+    European society.--Aims of the colonial government.--Departure
+    from Batavia.--Pleasant voyage.--An English ship with Chinese
+    Coolies.--Bay of Manila.--Arrival in Cavite harbour.               180
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                                 MANILA.
+
+    Historical notes relating to the Philippines.--From Cavite to
+    Manila.--The river Pasig.--First impressions of the city.--Its
+    inhabitants.--Tagales and Negritoes.--Preponderating influence
+    of monks.--Visit to the four chief monasteries.--Conversation
+    with an Augustine Monk.--Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
+    chiefly in use in Manila.--Reception by the Governor-general of
+    the Philippines.--Monument in honour of Magelhaens.--The
+    "Calzada."--Cock-fighting.--"Fiestas Reales."--Causes of
+    the languid trade with Europe hitherto.--Visit to the
+    Cigar-manufactories.--Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
+    Havanna.--Abaca, or Manila hemp.--Excursion to the "Laguna de
+    Bay."--A row on the river Pasig.--The village of Patero.--
+    Wild-duck breeding.--Sail on the Lagoon.--Plans for
+    canalization.--Arrival at Los Banos.--Canoe-trip on the
+    "enchanted sea."--Alligators.--Kalong Bats.--Gobernador and
+    Gobernadorcillo.--The Poll-tax.--A hunt in the swamps of
+    Calamba.--Padre Lorenzo.--Return to Manila.--The "Pebete."--The
+    military Library.--The civil and military Hospital.--
+    Ecclesiastical processions.--Ave Maria.--Tagalian merriness.--
+    Condiman.--Lunatic Asylum.--Gigantic serpent thirty-two years
+    old.--Departure.--Chinese pilots.--First glimpse of the coasts
+    of the Celestial Empire.--The Lemmas Channel.--Arrival in
+    Hong-kong Harbour.                                                 281
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                               HONG-KONG.
+
+    Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or Hong-kong.--
+    Disagreeables.--Public character.--The Comprador, or
+    "factotum."--A Chinese fortune-teller.--Curiosity-stalls.--The
+    To-stone.--Pictures on so-called "rice-paper."--Canton English.--
+    Notices on the Chinese language and mode of writing.--
+    Manufacture of ink.--Hospitality of German missionaries.--The
+    custom of exposing and murdering female children.--Method of
+    dwarfing the female foot.--Sir John Bowring.--Branch Institute
+    of the Royal Asiatic Society.--An ecclesiastical dignitary on
+    the study of natural sciences.--The Chinese in the East Indies.--
+    Green indigo or Lu-Kao.--Kind reception by German countrymen.--
+    Anthropometrical measurements.--Ramble to Little Hong-kong.--
+    Excursion to Canton on board H.M. gun-boat _Algerine_.--A day at
+    the English head-quarters.--The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.--Visit to
+    the Portuguese settlement of Macao.--Herr von Carlowitz.--
+    Camoens' Grotto.--Church for Protestants.--Pagoda Makok.--Dr.
+    Kane.--Present position of the colony.--Slave-trade revived
+    under the name of Chinese emigration.--Excursions round Macao.--
+    The Isthmus.--Chinese graves.--Praya Granite.--A Chinese
+    physician.--Singing stones.--Departure.--Gutzlaff's Island.--
+    Voyage up the Yang-tse-Kiang.--Wusung.--Arrival at Shanghai.       355
+
+
+                                CHAPTER XV.
+
+                                SHANGHAI.
+
+    A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.--Book-stalls.--Public
+    Baths.--Chinese Pawnbrokers.--Foundling hospital.--The Hall of
+    Universal Benevolence.--Sacrificial Hall of Medical Faculty.--
+    City prison.--Temple of the Goddess of the Sea.--Chinese
+    taverns.--Tea-garden.--Temple of Buddha.--Temple of Confucius.--
+    Taouist convent.--Chinese nuns.--An apothecary's store, and what
+    is sold therein.--Public schools.--Christian places of worship.--
+    Native industry.--Cenotaphs to the memory of beneficent
+    females.--A Chinese patrician family.--The villas of the foreign
+    merchants.--Activity of the London Missionary Society.--Dr.
+    Hobson.--Chinese medical works.--Leprosy.--The American
+    Missionary Society.--Dr. Bridgman.--Main-tze tribe.--Mission
+    schools for Chinese boys and girls.--The North China branch of
+    the Royal Asiatic Society.--Meeting in honour of the Members of
+    the _Novara_ Expedition.--Mons. de Montigny.--Baron Gros.--
+    Interview with the Tau-Tai, or chief Chinese official of the
+    city.--The Jesuit mission at Sikkawei.--The Pagoda of Long-Sah.--
+    A Chinese dinner.--Serenade by the German singing-club.--The
+    Germans in China.--Influence of the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and
+    Pekin upon commerce.--Silk.--Tea.--The Chinese sugar-cane.--
+    Various species of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of
+    paper.--The varnish tree.--The tallow tree.--The wax-tree.--
+    Mosquito tobacco.--Articles of import.--Opium.--The Tai-ping
+    rebels.--Departure from Shanghai.--A typhoon in the China sea.--
+    Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.          416
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI.
+
+                        THE ISLAND OF PUYNIPET.
+
+    Native boats in sight.--A pilot comes on board--Communications
+    of a white settler.--Another pilot.--Fruitless attempts to tack
+    for the island.--Roankiddi Harbour.--Extreme difficulty in
+    effecting a landing with the boats.--Settlement of Rei.--Dr.
+    Cook.--Stroll through the forest.--Excursions up the Roankiddi
+    River.--American missionaries.--Visit from the king of the
+    Roankiddi tribe.--Kawa as a beverage.--Interior of the royal
+    abode.--The Queen.--Mode of living, habits and customs of the
+    natives.--Their religion and mode of worship.--Their festivals
+    and dances.--Ancient monumental records and their probable
+    origin.--Importance of these in both a historical and geological
+    point of view.--Return on board.--Suspicious conduct of the
+    white settler.--An asylum for contented delinquents.--Under
+    weigh for Australia.--Belt of calms.--Simpson Island.--"It must
+    be a ghost!"--Bradley Reef.--A Comet.--The Solomon Islands.--
+    Rencontre with the natives of Malayta.--In sight of Sikayana.      551
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+                     THE CORAL ISLAND OF SIKAYANA.
+
+    Natives on board.--Good prospects of fresh provisions.--An
+    interment on board.--A night scene.--Visit to the Island
+    Group.--Faole.--Trip ashore to Sikayana.--Narrative of an
+    English sailor.--Cruelty of merchantmen in the South Sea
+    Islands.--Tradition as to the origin of the inhabitants of
+    Sikayana.--A king.--Barter.--Religion of the natives.--Trepang.--
+    Method of preparing this sea-slug for the Chinese market.--
+    Dictionary of the native language.--Under sail.--Ile de
+    Contrariete.--Stormy weather.--Spring a leak.--Bampton Reef.--
+    Smoky Cape.--Arrival in Port Jackson, the harbour of Sydney.       601
+
+
+
+
+                        LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                VOL. II.
+
+
+                                                                PAGE
+
+      1. A Landscape in the Nicobar Islands                        1
+
+      2. A Forest Scene in Singapore                             137
+
+      3. A Chinese Counting Board                                170
+
+      4. Javanese Weapons                                        180
+
+      5. The Seal of Union of the Brotherhood
+           of the Heavens and the Earth                          197
+
+      6. Javanese Bee-hive                                       213
+
+      7. View from the Battlements at Manila                     281
+
+      8. Life in Hong-kong                                       355
+
+      9. Flower Boat on the Wusung at Shanghai                   416
+
+      10. Distant View of the Island of Puynipet                 551
+
+      11. Barrier Reef and Atoll of Sikayana                     601
+
+
+            [Illustration: A Landscape in the Nicobar Islands.]
+
+
+
+
+                                   X.
+
+                          The Nicobar Islands.
+
+             Stay from 23rd February to 26th March, 1858.
+
+    Historical details respecting this Archipelago.--Arrival at
+    Kar-Nicobar.--Communication with the Aborigines.--Village of
+    Saoui and "Captain John."--Meet with two white men.--Journey to
+    the south side of the island.--Village of Komios.--Forest
+    Scenery.--Batte-Malve.--Tillangschong.--Arrival and stay at
+    Nangkauri Harbour.--Village of Itoe.--Peak Mongkata on Kamorta.--
+    Villages of Enuang and Malacca.--Tripjet, the first settlement
+    of the Moravian Brothers.--Ulala Cove.--Voyage through the
+    Archipelago.--The Island of Treis.--Pulo Milu--Pandanus Forest.--
+    St. George's Channel.--Island of Kondul.--Departure for the
+    northern coast of Great Nicobar.--Mangrove Swamp.--Malay
+    traders.--Remarks upon the natives of Great Nicobar.--Disaster
+    to a boat dispatched to make Geodetical observations.--Visit to
+    the Southern Bay of Great Nicobar.--General results obtained
+    during the stay of the Expedition in this Archipelago.--
+    Nautical, Climatic, and Geognostic observations.--Vegetation.--
+    Animal Life.--Ethnography.--Prospects of this group of Islands
+    in the way of settlement and cultivation.--Voyage to the Straits
+    of Malacca.--Arrival at Singapore.
+
+
+The earliest visitants of whom we have any certain information to this
+cluster of islands (situated in the Bay of Bengal, between 6 deg. 50' and 9 deg.
+10' N., and 93 deg. and 94 deg. E.), appear to have been Arabian traders, who, on
+their voyages to Southern China, landed on these islands, then known as
+Megabalu and Legabalu, on the first occasion in 851, and on the second in
+877 of the Christian era. Abu-Zeyd-Hassan, one of these adventurers, gave
+a circumstantial account of these voyages, which has been translated into
+French, and published by Eusebius Renaudot.[1]
+
+After the Cape of Good Hope was doubled in 1497, the Nicobars were chiefly
+frequented by voyagers in East Indian seas, but without any such visits
+having in the least contributed to enlarge our information respecting a
+group so important by geographical position.
+
+In 1602, Captain Lancaster, commander of an English ship, passed ten days
+on the Nicobars, during which he hardly visited the southern islands,
+Great and Little Nicobar, but kept to the small island of Sombrero, of the
+northern cluster, now called Bampoka. He there found trees of such
+circumference and height, as would serve for the construction of the
+largest ships. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, Koeping, a
+Swede, made his appearance at the Nicobars. Happening to be on board a
+Dutch vessel, which touched in 1647 at one of the islands, he thought he
+perceived among the inhabitants certain men furnished with caudal
+appendages, whereas it was their peculiar clothing, which consists of a
+long narrow piece of woven stuff, wound round the body and then left to
+hang loosely, which gave rise to such a report. With the arrival in Indian
+waters of Dampier, that daring but most trustworthy of navigators, the
+information respecting these islands first becomes more definite. He
+landed in the north-western Bay of the largest of these, to which he
+assigned the latitude 7 deg. 30' N., and gave a most extensive narrative of
+his adventurous career from the moment he abandoned the corsair-craft he
+had brought from Europe to seek for assistance on the Nicobars, to the
+period when, after braving a tremendous storm in a canoe, along with seven
+of his companions in misfortune he landed half dead on the northernmost
+point of Sumatra about 1706.
+
+In 1708, Captain Owen, another English shipmaster, paid an involuntary
+visit to this Archipelago, his ship having been stranded on the
+uninhabited island of Tillangschong, whence he escaped with his crew to
+the islands Ning and Souri, only four miles to the westward, apparently
+what is now known as Nangkauri. For the first time history now records an
+outrage of which the natives were guilty towards the strangers.
+
+It would appear that the captain, after having experienced an exceedingly
+friendly reception, laid down his knife, upon which one of the islanders,
+very possibly out of curiosity, laid hold of it, pushed the owner aside,
+and ultimately possessed himself of the knife. On the following day, as
+Owen was taking his mid-day meal under a tree, he was set upon and killed
+by several of the natives, who shot him down with their arrows; on the
+other hand the crew, consisting of sixteen persons, were furnished with
+canoes and provisions, so that without experiencing any further
+ill-treatment they were so fortunate as to reach Junkseilan.
+
+The first essay towards a settlement of the Nicobar Islands was made by
+the Jesuits in 1711, upon the most northerly island of the group,
+Kar-Nicobar. They succumbed however to the noxious influences of the
+climate, and the few neophytes speedily sank back into heathendom.
+
+The second attempt at colonization by Europeans took place in 1756, when
+Lieutenant Tanck, a Dane, after taking possession of the entire group in
+the name of his sovereign, the King of Denmark, named the islands
+"_Frederiks Oerne_" (Frederick Islands), and founded the first colony on
+the northern side of Great Nicobar, or Sambellong. In the year 1760 this
+was transferred by the followers of Tanck to the island of Kamorta, but
+here too after a short time the experiment failed, owing to the
+unhealthiness of the climate.
+
+In 1766, fourteen Moravian Brethren were settled on Nangkauri, with the
+view of extending the influence of the Danish East India Company. The want
+of information respecting the necessary conditions under which this colony
+was called into existence, was in all probability the cause of its speedy
+declension. Within less than two decades the majority of these settlers
+had fallen under the baneful influence of the climate.
+
+On 1st April, 1778, the Austrian vessel _Joseph and Theresa_, commanded
+by Captain Bennet, landed on the N.E. side of Kar-Nicobar, or New Denmark.
+This vessel had been commissioned by the Imperial Government to select, in
+the name of H.M. Joseph II., Austrian plantations and commercial stations
+on the farther side of the Cape of Good Hope. Of this remarkable
+expedition nothing more has been handed down to us than is related by
+excellent Nicolas Fontana, who accompanied the expedition as surgeon, in
+his book of travels, which was published at Leipzig in 1782.[2]
+
+Neither the libraries nor the archives of the empire seem capable of
+furnishing more definite information respecting this interesting
+undertaking. However, on the other hand, through the kind offices of
+H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian with the Government of H.M. the
+King of the Belgians, there have been found in the Royal Archives at
+Brussels several highly important documents, bearing upon this expedition,
+of which M. Gachard, keeper of the State Archives in that country, had the
+kindness to furnish us with copies; and while we propose in the following
+remarks to avail ourselves of the most interesting data, the more
+particular consideration of this circumstance, so interesting in the
+history of the development of our trade, will be deferred till the
+appearance of the commercial section of the Novara publications.
+
+A Dutchman, named William Bolts, formerly in the service of the British
+East India Company, in the year 1774 made to Count Belgiojoso, at that
+period Ambassador in London of the Empress Maria Theresa, proposals for
+direct commercial intercourse between the Netherlands and Trieste and
+Persia, the East Indies, China, and Africa, with the object of supplying
+the harbours of the Austrian dominions with the products of India and
+China, without the costly intervention of other countries. This
+proposition having been brought under the notice of the Imperial
+Chancellor, Prince Kaunitz, at Vienna, was so cordially received by that
+minister, that Bolts received an invitation to present himself at the
+Empress's palace, in order to develope his plans more fully in person in
+that august presence. Bolts arrived in Vienna in April, 1775, and very
+shortly afterwards was invested by the Empress with all the requisite
+privileges for facilitating the prosecution of his great project. The
+imperial officials at Trieste were entrusted with the equipment and arming
+of the vessel, the supreme military council were required to provide the
+necessary pay for the soldiers and subaltern officers, and Bolts by
+special commission was formally empowered in the name of the Empress
+Queen, as also in that of her successors upon the throne, to take
+possession of all the territories which he might succeed in getting ceded
+by the princes of India, for the behoof of such of Her Imperial Majesty's
+subjects as should purpose trading with the Indies.
+
+It was the wish of the Government that the first expedition should take
+its departure from Trieste; Bolts however opposed this, for the reason
+that his vessel must take part of its lading from London, but declared
+himself prepared to make the most strenuous efforts to found a mercantile
+house in Trieste, and to take such precautions as should result in the
+second and all future expeditions being dispatched from Trieste.
+
+Bolts hereupon first proceeded to Amsterdam with his newly acquired
+privileges, and thence to London, as yet without being more fortunate in
+his attempt to set on foot the proposed association in the one locality
+than in the other. At last, at Antwerp in the Netherlands, he succeeded in
+interesting in his project a certain Baron von Proli, and two merchants,
+by the name of Borrekens and Naegeles, and with these three persons he
+entered into a contract of association, on 20th Sept. 1775. At the same
+time a fund of L90,000 was raised for the armament of a second trading
+vessel to the East Indies and China, and out of the same amount to
+establish a mercantile house in Trieste.
+
+In possession of L25,000 sterling, which he had procured from his
+associates, Bolts proceeded to London, where he purchased a vessel, which
+he named the _Joseph and Theresa_, put a portion of her cargo on board,
+and on 14th March, 1776, set sail thence for Leghorn. Here certain
+articles were to be taken on board, which the Government had promised to
+have ready, and which consisted of copper, iron, steel, and tools. Before
+Bolts left harbour on his voyage to the Indies he was invested by the
+Empress with the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in their service, and for the
+better prosecution of his objects was provided by the State Chancery with
+comprehensive powers,[3] and a pass for barbarous countries, called a
+"_Scontrino_."[4] The Empress at the same time provided the daring
+adventurer with letters of introduction under her own hand to the Emperor
+of China, the "King" of Persia, and the Indian satraps whose dominions he
+was to visit.
+
+Baron Proli, one of the chief partners, went first of all to Vienna, and
+thence to Leghorn, and concluded an agreement with Bolts to dispatch a
+ship to the Indies in each of the years 1777, 1778, 1779, the cargoes of
+which should be worth at least L30,000 each, while Bolts, on his part,
+engaged to remain in the Indies three and a half years from the day of his
+departure, there to found factories, and to lay out to the best advantage
+the money realized by the sale of the merchandise consigned to him. The
+Empress Maria Theresa rewarded Proli for services already rendered, as
+also for those which he undertook to perform in the establishment of
+trading-exchanges in Trieste and Bruges, for the support of the oversea
+commerce of the Austrian and Belgian provinces, by raising him to the
+dignity of Count.
+
+The ship _Joseph and Theresa_, bound for the east coast of Africa, as also
+for the shores of Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal, set sail from Leghorn
+in September, 1776, with a crew of 155 men. Unfavourable winds compelled
+Bolts to make the Brazilian coast, in order to take in fresh stores.
+Thence he lay a course for Delagoa Bay, on the S.E. coast of Africa,
+opposite the island of Madagascar, on which, on 30th March, 1777, he was
+so unfortunate as to get stranded, when he was compelled to start a
+portion of his cargo overboard. Bolts, however, turned to excellent
+account his stay on this coast, having purchased from two African kings,
+named Mohaar Capell, and Chibauraan Matola, a site of ground on both banks
+of the river Masoumo, and, at a total expenditure of 126,267 florins
+(about L12,600), in which was included the cost of constructing the
+necessary vessels, founded a factory, for whose protection he also erected
+two small forts, which he furnished with cannon, and named after his two
+illustrious patrons, Joseph and Theresa.
+
+After a more protracted stay on the coast of Malabar, where he purchased
+from the Nabob, the celebrated Hyder Ali Khan, a number of plots of
+ground in the vicinity of Mangalore, Carwar, and Balliapatam, the very
+centre of the pepper trade, and erected a factory at an expense of 28,074
+florins (L2800), this enterprising man set sail for the Coromandel Coast
+and the Bay of Bengal, and about the commencement of 1778 visited the
+Nicobar Islands, in order there also to found a factory. Unfortunately, of
+this visit there nowhere survive any detailed particulars, and the only
+document extant under Bolts' hand, which can throw any light on the
+subject, is a statement of the expenditure incurred in erecting a fort on
+the Nicobars, which, together with the purchase of a _goelette_, and a
+snow, or two-masted vessel, for the coasting trade between Madras, Pegu,
+and the group of islands, amounted to 47,659 fl. 48 kr. (about L4760).
+
+At the close of 1780 Bolts returned to Europe, and in May, 1781, cast
+anchor in the harbour of Leghorn. His exertions and his speculation had
+not been attended with the success anticipated, and despite fresh
+assistance afforded by the Austrian Government to the Association, which
+at first seemed to promise a more auspicious future for the undertaking,
+yet the political complications of the period, and especially the sudden,
+totally unlooked-for rupture of peace between France, England, and
+Holland, ere long entailed utter ruin on the trading company, which, in
+the year 1785, found itself compelled to stop payment.[5] Bolts died at
+Paris in April, 1808, in utter destitution, and Michaud, in his
+_Biographie Universelle_, dedicated an article to this hardy and
+enterprising, rather than shrewd and prudent, adventurer.[6]
+
+About two years after the appearance of the Austrian ship in the Nicobar
+Archipelago, the Danes endeavoured to found there a missionary station of
+Moravian Brothers. Towards the close of 1778 the missionaries, Haensel and
+Wangemann, sailed from Tranquebar to Nangkauri, where they arrived in
+January, 1779. In 1787 the mission at Nangkauri was once more abandoned,
+when the only surviving Moravian Brother returned to Tranquebar, and
+shortly after to Europe.
+
+In 1795 an Englishman, Major Symes, touched at Kar-Nicobar, while on his
+voyage as Envoy to Ava and Burmah. His observations there may be found in
+the second volume of "Asiatic Researches," p. 344, in an article entitled
+"Description of Carnicobar."
+
+In 1831, Denmark once more made an attempt to colonize, by means of a
+missionary enterprise, the group formerly known as New Denmark, and
+occasionally as Frederick Islands. Pastor Rosen landed in August of that
+year on the island of Kamorta, and first set up his establishment on the
+so-called Frederick Hill, then on the adjoining Mongkata Hill; somewhat
+later on the island of Trinkut, and lastly on the shore immediately
+beneath the Mongkata Hill. In December, 1834, after about a four years'
+stay, Pastor Rosen left the islands, and in 1839 published, at Copenhagen,
+his own experiences and personal observations, under the title:
+"_Erindringen om mit Ophold paa de Nikobariske Oerne_" (Recollections of
+my Residence on the Nicobar Islands).
+
+In 1835, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Straits of Malacca dispatched to
+Kar-Nicobar two French missionaries, the Fathers Chopard and Borie. But
+after a certain lapse of time, during which their missionary efforts gave
+promise of the most pleasing results, and when they had lived about a year
+on the island, the pious work fell through, owing to the credulity and
+prejudices of the natives, to whom the two missionaries were represented
+by the crew of a ship from the adjacent shores of the continent as English
+spies, whose object probably was to ascertain the products of the country,
+which thereupon would speedily be annexed by the English Government. The
+missionaries had to flee, and Borie expired in the arms of his companion
+before he could get off the island. Chopard afterwards, in the year 1849,
+published his adventures in this group of islands in the "Asiatic Journal
+of the Indian Archipelago," under the title, "_A few Particulars
+respecting the Nicobar Islands._"
+
+In March, 1845, Mr. Mackey, Danish Consul in Calcutta, set on foot a
+small expedition to the Nicobar Archipelago. That gentleman hoped to find
+amongst the southern islands strata of coal, and made a voyage thither in
+prosecution of that object, on board the schooner _Espiegle_, commanded by
+an Englishman named Lewis, and accompanied by two Danes, Mr. Busch, the
+sole commander of the expedition, and a certain Mr. Lowert. By the end of
+May the adventurers were once more in Calcutta. With the exception of a
+few lumps they had not found coal-beds on any part of the island, while
+they lacked the physical strength requisite for founding the agricultural
+colony, which it had been intended to set on foot at the same time. The
+scientific results of this voyage are comprised in a small _brochure_, "H.
+Busch's Journal of a Cruise amongst the Nicobar Islands," (Calcutta,
+1845).
+
+A further scientific exploration of the Nicobar group was made by the
+naturalists attached to the Danish corvette _Galatea_ in the course of
+their voyage round the world in the years 1845-7. A thorough examination
+of the Nicobars was one of the chief objects of the expedition set on foot
+under the auspices of the Danish Government. On the 25th January, 1846, at
+Nangkauri, Captain Steen Bille took formal possession of this group of
+islands in the name of H.M. the King of Denmark. Two natives, father and
+son, named respectively Luha and Angre, the former resident in Malacca,
+and the latter in Enuang, were on that occasion installed as chief
+magistrates; each being at the same time provided with a staff bearing the
+cypher of Christian VIII., and instructed, by means of a document drawn
+up in the English and Danish languages, on the subject of their duties,
+which consisted principally in hoisting the Danish Standard on the arrival
+of foreign ships in the harbour of Nangkauri.[7]
+
+After the decease of Christian VIII., the Danish Government, in
+consequence of the violent political agitations of the period, did not
+show itself disposed to make practical use of their possession of the
+Nicobar Islands by any lasting colonization, but on the contrary in the
+year 1848 dispatched the royal corvette _Valkyrien_ to the Archipelago, to
+bring away the flag and batons.[8]
+
+In consequence of this, according to "Thornton's Gazetteer of India," the
+chiefs of the island of Kar-Nicobar hoisted the English flag, and through
+certain English merchants resident in Moulmein, expressed a wish to be
+permitted to place themselves under the protection of the British Crown.
+This information, however, seems to be inaccurate, in so far as it
+professes to describe the conduct of the native chiefs. The inhabitants,
+it is true, hoist any flag given to them, because they are fond of
+imitating European customs, and by so doing believe they secure themselves
+against the pretensions of other nations; but there is nothing they so
+much dread as a regular occupation of the islands, and on every appearance
+of a war-ship are forthwith filled with alarm lest they should be about to
+be deprived of their liberty, and--their cocoa-nuts. Indeed they have a
+saying widely diffused among them, probably through the craft of some
+smart chiefs, that whenever a European should settle among them all the
+cocoa-nuts will drop from the trees, and they will thus see themselves
+deprived for ever of their most important means of subsistence. It is, on
+the contrary, more probable that the English ship captains, who trade with
+these islands in order the better to secure their highly profitable trade
+in cocoa-nuts, made some propositions to the East Indian Government to
+take possession of this important group, by a similar procedure as that by
+which the Andaman islands were annexed somewhat later.
+
+Since the unsuccessful attempt at the end of last century to extend
+Austrian commerce with the Indies and the coast of Africa, by founding a
+few colonies in those places, no vessel sailing under the Austrian flag
+had again visited the Nicobar Islands, and accordingly, on the dispatch of
+an Imperial ship-of-war to those waters, it was naturally wished that she
+should on her voyage to China visit this group, on whose shores the
+Austrian flag had once been unfurled as a symbol of possession. On this
+occasion, however, the object was rather scientific than political. It was
+intended, so far as the time allotted for visiting these islands and the
+appliances at hand admitted, to undertake inquiries as to the most
+important geodetical points, together with astronomical, magnetic, and
+meteorological observations, and at the same time to make investigations
+and collections of the various objects of natural science, and thus to
+complete as it were the valuable labours carried out in 1846 by the Danish
+Expedition to the Nicobar Islands. The following pages are simply limited
+to giving a popular narrative of our own stay on this interesting island
+group, while more circumstantial information of the various scientific
+results obtained there will be deferred till the appearance of the special
+works being drawn up by the members, each in his own special section.
+
+On 25th February, at 10 A.M., the naturalists, accompanied by the officers
+in charge of the scientific apparatus, and the midshipmen, after very
+considerable difficulty, succeeded in effecting a landing on the island of
+Kar-Nicobar, in a bay protected by a coral reef (by observation 9 deg. 14' 8''
+N., and 92 deg. 44' 46'' E.), between the villages of Moose and Saoui. At this
+point the surf beats incessantly over the huge reefs of coral upon a waste
+of gleaming white sand, which stretches in graceful curves from one point
+of rock to that next adjoining. The few fruits which have been thrown up,
+or been carried hither, probably from some distant shore, have struck root
+in this coral sand, and a coronal of luxuriant palms, with their slim
+stems, and loaded with thousands of nuts, serves as food for man.
+
+In the vicinity of the spot where we disembarked was anchored a barque
+from Moulmein, with a Malay crew, the majority of whom were tattooed on
+the thigh with extraordinary skill. They had been for a considerable
+period taking in a cargo of cocoa-nuts, which the natives had been
+exchanging against various merchandise. About thirty dusky natives, almost
+entirely naked, and for the most part without any head covering beyond the
+splendid raven locks which hung down over their shoulders, some carrying
+in their hands cutlasses, others long wooden lances tipped with bone,
+stood near the beach, and while we were yet a little distance off, called
+out to us in broken English, and with visible anxiety, "Good friend? No
+fear!" apparently anxious, in the first place, to have confirmation from
+us that we were really "good friends," and that they had nothing to dread,
+before they ventured quite close to us. When they were no more than twenty
+paces distant, they suddenly came to a halt, upon which some of their
+number, who appeared to be chiefs, gave their spears and cutlasses to
+those around, and advanced to us with a tolerably friendly air, at the
+same time stretching out their hands by way of salutation. They were for
+the most part large, well-proportioned men, of a dark bronze colour of
+skin.
+
+The most disagreeable feature is the mouth, which, in consequence of the
+loathsome custom of incessantly chewing the betel-nut, seems to have
+become utterly distorted in shape. In a few cases this filthy habit had
+resulted in such deformity among the teeth, that these were barely visible
+between the thick swollen lips, like a malignant tumour! The apparel of
+the natives is pretty universally entirely primitive, consisting of
+nothing but a long very narrow strip of dark blue linen, which they wind
+round the body, bringing it from the front between the legs backwards,
+when it is made fast to the girdle, and the ends left to hang loosely
+down. Some of the natives make a very singular use of the different
+articles of old clothes which they receive in exchange from the ship
+captains, or have had given as a present, as they appear now in a black
+hat, now in a coat or a shirt, without a vestige of other clothing!
+
+Almost every native we saw brought to us a soiled, crumpled-up
+testimonial, setting forth his good character, and his honesty in the
+cocoa-nut trade, which he had received from various ship captains, who
+bartered their merchandise for ripe cocoa-nuts, which they afterwards sold
+in the East Indies or Ceylon at an immense profit. The greater number of
+these testimonials were written in English; we found only one in German
+from the skipper of a Bremen ship, and one in Dutch. In these certificates
+are set forth the objects best worth enquiring for, as also a statement of
+the articles bartered in the course of exchange for cocoa-nuts, a practice
+which is not alone of the utmost utility for those who may afterwards
+visit the islands for purposes of commerce, but also throw a most
+interesting light upon the evidences of civilization among the natives.[9]
+
+These testimonials also frequently contain very humorous remarks about the
+unsuspecting natives, who assuredly would be less eager in producing them
+if they were acquainted with the contents. One of the earliest to extend
+to us the hand of welcome was a native who called himself Captain Dickson,
+a handsome, slim, dark brown figure, with very long, fine, glossy hair
+hanging over his shoulders, and neatly gathered together with a bark
+ribbon. In the document presented to us, which was dated 15th January,
+and bore the signature of the captain of the ship _Arracan_, there was
+written beneath, "Dickson, though a shabby-looking fellow, is a man of
+substance." In a second testimonial, it was said of a native: "He will do
+honour to England when she comes!" a remark which leaves plainly apparent
+the hope of the ship captain that these islands will speedily be occupied
+by the English. These certificates likewise contain a variety of important
+hints, especially with reference to the method of dealing with the
+natives, the most commodious anchorage, the difficulty encountered in
+landing, &c.[10]
+
+Thus the most cursory communication with the natives convinced us that
+they must already have repeatedly done business with English ship
+captains, who had imparted to them a slight knowledge of the English
+language, and a few of the simpler principles of humanity and religion.
+When we gave them to understand that we visited them as friends, they
+replied in their broken English: "Not merely friends--brothers! all
+brothers! all only one father and one mother!" Hereupon each proceeded to
+light one of the cigars that had been presented to them, while, for want
+of any other receptacle, they secreted the remainder in the wide holes
+transpiercing the lobes of the ears, after which they with the most frank
+munificence, and in token of their hospitality, pulled a number of young
+cocoa-nuts from the tree, and gave us their fluid contents to drink. Very
+singular was the method in which this was effected. They tie their feet
+together by the ankles with a loop of the same bast, or bark rope, which,
+when employed in fastening their long black locks, usually forms such a
+picturesque frontlet, and then clamber with the agility of cats to the
+summit of the palm, throw to the bottom the separated fruit, and slide
+swiftly down to the ground again. Holding in one hand a tolerably heavy
+young nut, in the other a sharp cutlass, they proceed at one sure blow to
+open the nut, in such manner that a small orifice is made, through which
+the refreshing liquid contents can be conveniently quaffed. When this has
+been evacuated the nut is usually split in half, in which form it serves
+as a most nutritious food for the fowls and hogs. Despite their
+hospitality, there was perceptible in all of them great anxiety, and the
+upshot of all their conversation always resolved itself into the
+stereotyped questions, "What did we really require? whether we wished to
+purchase cocoa-nuts, and would soon be leaving?"
+
+Great and natural as our desire was to penetrate from the shore, thickly
+covered with its belt of cocoa-nut palms, into the rather flat interior,
+and thus obtain a nearer view of the hive-shaped, basket-formed huts which
+were visible under the forest trees, we judged it much the better course
+to endeavour first of all to make the natives more confiding, and for that
+purpose invited them to accompany us on board. Eight of their number were
+finally induced to follow us, and came alongside in their elegant canoes,
+formed of the wood of the _Calophyllum inophyllum_, one of the most
+splendid trees of the primeval forest of the islands. As soon as we
+reached the frigate, only a single one, Captain Dickson, could be induced
+to clamber up of the man-ropes; the rest did not venture to leave their
+canoes, and one, who called himself Captain Charlie, a short, lank little
+fellow of boyish appearance, who for all apparel wore a dirty cloth cap on
+his head, trembled with terror through his whole frame when he saw our big
+guns. Captain Dickson, too, did not seem to feel himself altogether
+comfortable while on board, and although there was much to excite his
+curiosity, he soon longed to get out of the large ship, back again into
+his own frail skiff. Quite peculiar was the impression made upon him by a
+pair of live cows; such large animals he gave us to understand were not
+found upon his island.
+
+Meanwhile a number of natives had approached the frigate in their canoes,
+bringing swine, fowls, plantains, yams, and eggs in hollowed-out cocoa-nut
+shells, which they offered as presents, but at the same time inquired what
+we intended giving them in return. They greatly wished for biscuit,
+brandy, medicines, clothes, but above all else for black hats, which most
+probably results from their having occasionally seen the captains of
+English ships wearing round hats, whence they now seem to imagine that
+such a head-gear is the insignia of captain's rank, or of a chief.
+
+Their knowledge of money was confined to Rupees, which they discriminated
+into two sorts, viz. the ordinary East Indian coin, and the English
+sixpenny-piece, which they called "small Rupees," covering with them, by
+way of ornament, the ends of the small bits of bamboo which they usually
+wear through the hole that transpierces the greatly distended lobe of the
+ear.
+
+Of the two Catholic missionaries, Borie and Chopard, who in 1835 had
+remained a short time on the island, not one of the natives could give us
+any particulars; and likewise of the Danish corvette _Galatea_, which
+visited the group in 1846, they had but a dim remembrance, and even this
+of a far from complimentary character; the poor people having been
+overwhelmed with the apprehensions that their island was about to be taken
+possession of, and themselves exposed to a lingering death by hunger.
+"Danish bad people," they exclaimed, "wanted to take our island. Suppose I
+could come to your island and take it? Not good! no good people!"
+
+We returned on shore with the natives, who, in consequence of their
+friendly reception on board, had already become somewhat more tranquil and
+trustful. Tents were now pitched, the astronomical and geodetical
+instruments, together with the barometer and thermometer, were adjusted,
+the tide-gauge fixed at the most suitable point, and the island traversed
+in all directions for scientific purposes, so far at least as the density
+of the forest and the mistrust of the natives would permit.
+
+On the very same day we visited the Cove of Saoui, on which is situated
+the village of the same name, whose chief is called "Captain John." This
+worthy had received by way of present an old cast-off blue uniform frock,
+and was now making strenuous exertions to squeeze his all too little
+flexible limbs into this tight thick cloth coat, and to button it, despite
+the tropical heat, round his naked body up to the very throat. He was
+anxious it should not be reported of him that he did not sufficiently
+value the distinction awarded him, or did not comprehend how to make a
+proper use of it. Unlike the rest of his compatriots, Captain John also
+wore shoes and pants, and in consequence openly claimed to belong to the
+privileged classes. He was surrounded by a considerable number of natives,
+who presented themselves to us, as Captain Morgan, Captain Douglas, Dr.
+Crisp, Lord Nelson, Lord Byron, Lord Wellington, and so forth, having been
+indebted to the singular whimsies of some English captains, who thought it
+a good joke to confer on these filthy brown people the illustrious names
+of the hereditary and intellectual aristocracy of Great Britain.
+
+Captain John accompanied us along the coast to his own domicile by an
+exceedingly difficult and sunny path, having designedly concealed from us
+the existence of a much more commodious track through the forest to the
+village, which contains only seven houses. These are erected in a broad
+open space, and in consequence of the great humidity of the soil during
+the wet season, consist of eight or ten poles, from six to eight feet in
+height, so that a man can easily pass under them. They comprise but one
+large apartment, into which access is obtained by a neatly-carved ladder
+of bamboo-reed, which during the night, or when the occupants leave the
+hut, is usually taken away, so that, without using locks or bolts, it is
+pretty difficult to get in. The flooring is constructed of bamboo planks,
+bound together with Rotang (_Calamus Rotang_), in such a manner that the
+air from beneath can circulate freely through, and, in a similar way, the
+neat basket-work of the hive-shaped structure is vaulted. A dense straw
+thatch serves as well to keep out the sun's rays as the rain. The internal
+arrangements are very simple. In the rear is a sort of fire-place, a low
+block of wood hollowed out, and the cavity filled with sand and stones,
+upon which is placed a variety of utensils of clay, imported from the
+adjoining island of Chowry, the only island of the entire Archipelago
+where any industry is carried on. From the beams of the roof are suspended
+hollowed-out cocoa-nuts, strung together in pairs, and serving as water
+jars, as also elegantly plaited baskets and the few possessions of the
+family, and, lastly, some fruits, betel-leaves, and tobacco, as offerings
+to the Eewees, or evil spirits, in the event of their paying a visit, and
+having an appetite for such fare. Further forward, opposite the entrance
+of the hut, there are stuck on the side walls, as evidences of special
+prosperity, numerous cutlasses, spears, javelins, and paddles. Besides,
+there are laid on the floor plaited straw-mats, which, rolled up during
+the day, are stretched out at night and, together with a small wooden
+stool for a pillow, serve as couches on which to repose. The hut might
+furnish sleeping quarters for about ten men. As, moreover, all the cookery
+is carried on therein, and there is no means of ventilating from above,
+the interior is completely saturated with smoke, and all articles are soon
+begrimed with smoke and soot. The natives, however, apparently take no
+precautions to get rid of the smoke, because it contributes to keep them
+free of a far more subtle foe, the mosquito, who, especially during the
+rainy season, becomes a formidable torment for their naked bodies.
+
+In the shady space beneath the hut, which sometimes serves as a
+workshop,--if one may venture so to designate the industry of the
+inhabitants of the Nicobars generally,--Captain John had suspended upon a
+transverse beam a sort of swing, in which he occasionally rocked himself,
+much to his own delight, while for his guests was provided a wooden
+arm-chair, which had evidently come into his possession in the course of
+some barter with the captain of a merchant vessel.
+
+The old chief spoke with marked predilection of the captain of the barque
+_Rochester_ of London, a gentleman named Green, who, by his humane and
+strictly conscientious dealings with the natives, seemed to stand in high
+respect, and afforded a striking example of what beneficial influence is
+exercised by individual English ship captains over the wild races with
+whom they come in contact in the way of trade, and how much they have it
+in their power to make their nation respected in all parts of the globe.
+We venture to assert that these English merchantmen, during their cursory
+visits, have done more towards paving the way for civilizing the Nicobars
+than the Danish and French missionaries during their residence of years.
+Not a single native understands one word of Danish or French, but almost
+every one speaks English, sufficient, at all events, to make himself
+understood in that language. The talkative old fellow next held forth an
+English Bible, which had been carefully stowed away on one of the
+cross-beams of his hut, and of which, as he told us, he had been made a
+present by Captain Green, on that gentleman's last visit. "This is my
+Jesus Christ," said Captain John, full of unquestioning faith in the
+marvellous power of Holy Writ:--"when I feel ill, I lay this little book
+under my head, and I get well again!" The worthy fellow could neither read
+nor, so far as we could perceive, did he precisely comprehend what was
+printed in the book, yet he seemed instinctively to feel that it was of no
+ordinary purport, and accordingly held his present in high honour, as a
+sort of talisman, whose power and efficacy one might confide in, without
+his being able precisely to account for such a belief. We turned over the
+leaves of the little volume, which had been issued by the renowned,
+wide-spread, and beneficent London Bible Society, and found on the
+fly-leaf some English verses in Green's handwriting, and some encomiums
+upon the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar, "The most virtuous people that
+Captain Green had fallen in with during eight and thirty years'
+sea-faring;" closing with the remark, "What a pity they have no
+missionary!"
+
+In truth, the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar are among the most perfect of
+human-kind. In their commerce with us they showed themselves to be
+child-like and ignorant, yet virtuous, trustworthy people, without
+ambition or the thirst of knowledge, but also without jealousy or envy. If
+ever any breach between themselves and the Europeans has been pushed the
+length of violence, such has pretty certainly resulted rather from their
+being in a measure suddenly incited to self-defence than from any open
+predisposition to mischief. When we inquired of one of the natives in what
+manner breach of faith is punished on the island, he replied with the
+utmost _naivete_;--"We never have such--we are all good;--but in your
+country there must be many evil men, else what for would you require so
+many guns?"
+
+In company with some of the natives we had proceeded upon a stroll through
+the magnificent cocoa forest along the beach, in the course of which we
+reached several huts scattered at random through the thicket, the
+inhabitants of which received us in the most cordial manner. Their wives
+and children however had all retired in a body, and during our entire stay
+never once made their appearance. Indeed the natives, in the hope of
+hastening our departure, pretended that their families had in their panic
+fled into the forest, and must starve of hunger if we should remain long,
+and so prevent them from returning to their usual abodes. This however was
+but a hoax. The natives knew well enough where their families were
+lurking, and provided them with food and drink. This extreme shyness of
+the female portion of the population arises apparently from the
+incivilities of which the sailors of the merchant vessels were guilty
+towards the natives, whose moral feelings and delicacy of mind,
+considering their low state of civilization, becomes doubly extraordinary.
+
+An attempt to penetrate deeper into the interior of the island was baffled
+through the obstacles which are interposed by the unchecked luxuriance of
+tropical nature. The vegetation grows densely down to the very sea, which
+is separated from the rich foliage above only by rocky reefs and narrow
+dunes of sand, washed by the furious surf. A broad belt of _Rhizophorae_,
+gigantic _Barringtonias_, _Pandanus_, _Areca_, and cocoa-palms, encircles
+the island, to which succeeds a somewhat higher land grown with dense
+grass and interspersed with groups of trees, from which, lastly, spring a
+few thickly-wooded peaks of about 150 to 200 feet in height. Through this
+girdle it requires the most violent efforts to force one's way, while, on
+the other hand, it is wholly impossible, owing to the dense tangle of
+climbing plants and bamboo, to advance further into the forest over the
+grass flat, unless a path be previously cleared with hedge-knives, which,
+even could more time be devoted, would call for immense exertion. Our
+researches therefore were necessarily confined for the most part to the
+coast region.
+
+After several hours of strolling about, collecting and examining as we
+went on, the naturalists found themselves collected once more on the open
+space facing Captain John's hut, where meanwhile a pig had been roasted by
+our sailors in the open air, which we had purchased for three shillings of
+our corpulent friend Dr. Crisp. The natives had at first protested against
+this improvised hearthstone, being apprehensive lest the fire should reach
+their huts, the roofs of which are thatched with dried palm-leaves. "It is
+as inflammable as gunpowder," remarked the old chief in an anxious tone,
+when our people had with great want of foresight lighted the fire too near
+the buildings. Captain John and his kindred did not need to be invited
+twice to partake of our meal, at which they proved themselves excellent
+trenchermen. The inhabitants of these islands generally eat vegetables
+only, the use of meat being for the most part restricted to festive
+occasions. The use of salt is as yet unknown to them. They only use
+sea-water for the purpose of seething their pigs and hens, by which
+process the flesh gets a slight flavour of salt. During our luncheon,
+which had made the natives yet more confiding than ever, we found an
+opportunity of hearing something about the various festivals of the
+Nicobar islanders.
+
+When a native falls down from a tree, or is bitten by a snake, or is
+otherwise wounded or dies, the Nicobarians forthwith discontinue all work,
+and institute a fast, which they term Uraka. With the commencement of the
+S.W. monsoons or rainy season (when the wind comes from "yonder," quoth
+Dr. Crisp, and pointed with his finger to the southward), the inhabitants
+of Kar-Nicobar hold their chief festival, which lasts fourteen days, and
+is called Oilere.
+
+They have a similar festival at the end of the damp season, or N.E.
+monsoon, to which the pigs, which play quite a conspicuous part in it,
+impart an entirely peculiar character. Several weeks before the
+commencement of this _fete_, a large number of these unclean but useful
+animals are confined in small stalls, whence they are released on the
+feast-day, and set loose in a well-fenced space, where they are teased and
+pricked with lances by all the courageous, or rather mischievous, youth of
+the island. The Nicobarians seem to attach special importance to the swine
+being driven wild, and themselves engaged in a regular struggle with the
+infuriated animal, in the course of which severe wounds are by no means of
+rare occurrence. We ourselves saw several young natives, who a few days
+previously had been severely injured in a similar contest with some
+enraged pigs. When this anything but aesthetic spectacle has lasted some
+time, the pigs are killed, roasted on the fire, and devoured by the
+combatants and spectators.
+
+A not less strange and even more barbarous festival is that which is held
+about the same time as the one just mentioned. This consists in exhuming
+the bones of all those who have died during the year elapsed since the
+last N.E. monsoon, and have been interred in a sort of cemetery called
+"_Cuyucupa_."[11] They next bring these bones into a hut, seat themselves
+in a circle around the ghastly mementos, and shriek and howl as at the day
+on which the relation died. While this scene of lamentation is going on, a
+lighted cigar is usually stuck into the bony mouth of the grisly skull,
+after which the latter is consigned to the grave again. The rest of the
+bones however are either thrown into the deep sea or hid far in the
+forest, while at the same moment, as a farther evidence of sorrow, a
+number of cocoa-palms are cut down, and their fruit scattered to the
+winds. By such symbols they apparently wish to express their overwhelming
+grief, their weariness of existence, and their indifference to the most
+valued gifts of nature, so that they would even deprive themselves of the
+most universally necessary of the means of subsistence--were it not that,
+owing to the readiness with which the sea-shore palm is propagated, the
+nuts thus scattered at random, in all the indifference to sublunary
+considerations incidental to a paroxysm of grief, speedily strike root,
+and after a few years lift up their heads again in the forest, at once
+ornamental and nutritious.
+
+At all these festivals the natives assemble in the various villages, and
+at these seasons spend days and weeks with each other. Earlier visitors to
+Kar-Nicobar estimate the number of villages on the island at about six or
+seven only. The natives on the other hand gave us the names of the
+following thirteen: Arrong (or Arrow), Saoui, Moose, Lapate, Kinmai,
+Tapoimai, Chukchuitche, Kiukiuka, Tamalu, Paka, Malacca, Komios, and
+Kankena, which all together would hardly number much above 100 huts, and
+about 800 or 900 inhabitants.
+
+Southward of our anchorage we fell in with a small stream, which near its
+embouchure on the beach was lost in a sand-bank. Some of the members of
+the Expedition explored it in a very small flat-bottomed boat, a Venetian
+gondola, which was transported across the bar in order to admit of its
+being sculled up the river. At first it was found to be about 2-1/2 feet
+deep, by about 12 to 14 yards in width; the general direction of its very
+sinuous course being towards E.S.E. All around the forest presented a
+scene to which perhaps only the fantastic whimsicality of certain
+theatrical forest sceneries might furnish a dim resemblance. Along the
+steep bank of the river rose to a height of nearly 100 feet the slender
+Nibong palm, adorned with blossoms and clusters of fruit, and close
+adjoining the graceful Catechu palm. Gigantic forest trees, with thick
+squat trunks, extended their shady masses of foliage far over the stream;
+screw-pines towering up from the scaffold-like arrangement of their
+numerous roots, were reflected from the glassy bosom of the water; clumps
+of bamboo, absolutely alive with butterflies; nymph-like aquatic plants,
+mossy green banks, and tree-ferns with indescribably graceful corollae, all
+combined here to form a landscape of the most enchanting richness, in the
+water, on the shore, and in the air. Suspended over the whole scene,
+partly in leaf, partly in bloom, a gigantic garland of climbing and
+creeping plants, in living cords of every variety of thickness, rose in a
+lofty arch above the limpid element, interlaced and girt round with
+thousands of blooming and flourishing parasites! Then, too, from amid the
+mysterious gloom started forth the strangest voices and cries, without our
+being able to descry the animals themselves. In the water, which was
+perfectly sweet to the taste, swarmed multitudes of fish of from one to
+four inches in length. After rowing about one nautical mile and a half up
+the stream, some rapids and rocks prevented our further progress, the
+stream itself being but twelve feet wide. A little further to the east
+occurs a similar small river, which however had even less water, and at
+its mouth is yet more sanded up and inaccessible than that above
+described.
+
+After we had lain for six days at anchor on the N.W. coast of Kar-Nicobar,
+and were once more casting about how to make out our long-desired
+excursion through its almost impermeable forests, we suddenly perceived in
+the distance upon the beach two men in European dress, with muskets upon
+their shoulders, who, conducted by some absolutely naked natives, speedily
+approached us. One, a fine-looking, well-formed young man of about 20,
+addressed us in French, saying he was supercargo of the Sardinian brig
+_Giovannina_ of Singapore, and was occupied in taking in a cargo of
+cocoa-nuts upon the southern shore of the island. The natives had been so
+unsettled by the arrival of a war-ship, that they loudly affirmed a pirate
+ship had made its appearance, which would rob and destroy them all;
+whereupon the most anxious of their number entreated the few whites who
+fortunately happened to be among them to start immediately for the north
+side of the island, where the Colossus lay at anchor, so as at all events
+to ascertain what was to be their fate. In the course of the conversation
+which sprung up between ourselves and the two strangers, we found that the
+supercargo was a Frenchman, born at St. Denis in the island of Bourbon,
+and was named Auguste Tigard, while his companion was a Sardinian. They
+were both singularly pale and embarrassed on first falling in with us,
+apparently from surprise and delight at finding themselves so unexpectedly
+in the society of white men at so solitary a spot; ere long however they
+felt themselves more at their ease, visited the frigate, were provided
+with clothes, medicines, and wine, and at a later period were of much use
+to us in our intercourse with the natives. Tigard remarked that the
+sugar-cane, which at present grows wild on the island, could, judging by
+his own personal experience, be very profitably grown for the production
+of sugar, as also that tobacco, cotton, and rice thrive in the most
+conspicuous manner.
+
+At present the cocoa-palm is the sole plant which is cultivated by the
+natives of Kar-Nicobar. It supplies them with all they require for food
+and lodging, for house-furniture, or for commerce with foreign peoples.
+The stem of this slender column, from 60 to 100 feet in height, by about
+2-1/2 in thickness, with its heavy green thatch of leaves, is very porous
+and slight looking, but is yet stiff and strong enough to furnish
+cross-beams, laths, and masts for huts and boats. The fibres of the bark
+and of the nut-shells (known in commerce as _Coir_) supply cordage and
+line; the immense fan-shaped leaf (3 feet wide by 12 to 14 in length) of
+the coronal serves as a covering for the roof, as also for plaited work
+and baskets. The juice of the nut, shaped like an egg, yet somewhat
+triangular, and about the size of the human head, prevents the native from
+feeling even in the slightest degree the absence of available spring
+water, and is the sole beverage which invigorates and refreshes the
+wayfarer through these forest solitudes. Frequently did we experience a
+glow of thankfulness to all-bounteous Nature, as often as some hospitable
+native handed to us for our refreshment, exhausted and thirsty as we were
+after our fatiguing wanderings, a green cocoa-nut, that vegetable spring
+of the tropical forest.[12] The kernel of the ripe nut, thoroughly dried
+and pressed, gives forth a strong, clear, tasteless oil, which is used by
+the natives for anointing their skin and hair, and at the same time forms
+so important an article in European commerce, that above 5,000,000 ripe
+cocoa-nuts are annually exported through foreign mercantile houses in
+exchange for European fabrics. The hard shell of the cocoa-nut is the sole
+drinking cup of the Nicobar islanders, and the cooling, refreshing juice,
+which is extracted by an incision in the sheath of the palm-blossom before
+the latter has expanded, is the sole fermented beverage of which they make
+use. When brought into a state of fermentation it possesses similar
+intoxicating effects with the Chicha of the American Indian. Here, as
+among other half-savage races, we had occasion to remark, that the chief
+food of the aborigines is also made available for supplying them with
+their favourite liquid stimulant, and just as the native of India effects
+this purpose with rice, the African from the Yucca, or the Yam, the
+South-Sea Islander with the Kawa, and the Mexican with the Maize or the
+Agave, so the inhabitant of the Nicobars avails himself of the cocoa-nut
+at once for the supply of the first necessities of his existence, and the
+excitement of his brain by artificial stimulant.
+
+On 27th February, towards evening, after a stay of seven days on the north
+side of Kar-Nicobar, which had been spent in scientific operations of the
+most varied nature, we again set sail, and next morning cast anchor on the
+south side of the same island, close to the village of Komios. The
+current, which at this point sets to the E.S.E., runs about three miles an
+hour, so long as the flood-tide continues, but as soon as the ebb-tide
+sets in, it chops round, and runs with greatly diminished velocity. The
+landings on the south side, which, on leaving the northern promontory,
+shows a much richer vegetation, are somewhat difficult to discover, since
+at almost all points reefs and coral banks project from the shore far into
+the sea, so that after doubling the cape it is necessary to stop short a
+pretty considerable distance from the land.
+
+While we were coasting along the eastern shore we could perceive through
+the telescope, at the village of Lapate, consisting of some eight or ten
+huts, a great number of women and children, who were rushing to and fro
+among the huts in the utmost confusion, till suddenly all disappeared in
+the forest. These were evidently fugitives from the north side, who were
+now once more betaking themselves to the forest, accompanied by the native
+females of the east and south sides, when they saw the dreaded floating
+giant approaching them. A beach of dazzling white coral sand, sprinkled
+over with thousands of living mussels, low melancholy-looking mangrove
+swamps, and a superb forest of trees with lofty stems, through which lay a
+beaten footpath, was all that the flat shore offered to our view. The
+Frenchman already mentioned had indeed apprized the inhabitants of our
+arrival, and had endeavoured to explain to them our friendly intention,
+but it was in vain,--the greater portion of the population had taken to
+flight, and only dogs and armed men were left behind. Here also we could
+not see a single woman. However, we were informed by M. Tigard, who lived
+several weeks in the village of Kankena, and had been treated by the
+natives as one of themselves, that the Nicobar women have their hair cut
+quite short, and simply wind round their dusky bodies, all smeared with
+oil, a piece of white or red calico at the loins. They are generally ugly,
+but strictly virtuous, and regard the Europeans as an inferior race, as
+compared with their native lords.
+
+As we were making for the land in what is called Komios Bay, near the
+village of the same name (situate according to our observations in 9 deg. 37'
+32'' N. Lat. and 92 deg. 43' 42'' E. Long.), a number of stalwart natives
+approached us from the forest, one of whom, who called himself Captain
+Wilkinson, proved to be the most intelligent and graceful of their number.
+He was extremely eager to give us a lot of information respecting the more
+southerly islands of the Nicobar Archipelago, with which the inhabitants
+of the southern coast appear to carry on more extensive commerce than
+those on the northern shore. During the N.E. monsoons, canoes occasionally
+start hence for the islands of Teressa, Bampoka, and Chowry. Wilkinson
+himself once visited these islands in the barque _Cecilia_ of Moulmein,
+with the view of fetching cocoa-nuts. The natives of Teressa, however,
+showed such determined hostility to the captain of the vessel, that
+Wilkinson advised him to abandon the island without further delay, ere the
+intended shipment of cocoa-nuts was completed.
+
+Another English captain, named Iselwood, seems once to have carried over
+some natives of Teressa to Kar-Nicobar, and afterwards taken them back
+again. There does not exist, however, any regular commercial intercourse
+between Kar-Nicobar and the remaining islands of the Archipelago. The
+boats of the natives are much too small, and unsuitable to admit of their
+undertaking voyages to any distance, unless for some very important
+purpose, such, for instance, as bringing pottery ware from the island of
+Chowry, or Chowra, where alone in the Archipelago that manufacture is
+carried on.
+
+The Frenchman, Tigard, affirmed that the natives constantly spoke of
+another race of men inhabiting the interior, who have but one eye in the
+middle of the forehead, who possess no fixed habitation, but pass the
+night among the trees like wild beasts, and subsist upon fruits and roots
+dug up in the forest. This superstition meets with the more ready
+acceptance among the natives, as not one of them has ever penetrated into
+the interior. All their villages lie along the shore, as far as the tract
+of coral sand reaches and the cocoa-nut is thriving. Here the frugal
+native finds all that is necessary to satisfy his very limited
+requirements. The cocoa-palm and the screw-pine (_Pandanus
+odoratissima_), whose fruit forms his chief article of food, as also the
+betel shrub and the Areca palm, which furnish their cherished masticatory,
+grow here, and the coral sand, which can be worked into the most excellent
+lime for building purposes, is only used by them for the purpose of
+obtaining that ingredient so prejudicial to the teeth, which serves to
+impart to the betel the proper relish.
+
+From a passing observation of Wilkinson's we gathered that occasionally,
+during the S.W. monsoons, earthquakes are experienced at Kar-Nicobar, and
+this volcanic indication is yet more strongly marked on the adjoining
+island of Bampoka. Despite the almost stifling heat, which raised the
+column of mercury to 99 deg. in the shade, some of the members of the
+expedition endeavoured to penetrate, with indescribable toil, into the
+swampy forest tract along the shore, and eventually succeeded in bringing
+back several objects which, though few in number, were of the utmost
+importance, and well repaid their labour. Among the animals knocked over,
+there was a gigantic bat, or flying Maki (_Pterops_), the native name of
+which is _Daiahm_.
+
+A foot-track led direct through the forest, cutting off the southern
+corner of the island towards the western side. The natives had in vain
+endeavoured, with their customary importunities, to deter us from
+following this path, assuring us that we should land ourselves in the
+thick of the jungle, which was full of poisonous serpents. However,
+nothing would serve us but to penetrate for once a little deeper into the
+forest. A youthful native, of the most elegant and symmetrical
+proportions, followed us at a long interval, but disappeared finally in
+the woods. We wandered along in deep shadow between lofty colossal banyan
+trees with hundreds of stems, and trunks interlaced with enormous branches
+of ivy, from whose summits hung down lianas of all sizes and dimensions,
+by which one might have clambered to the top as though by a rope, between
+trees with smooth and glossy, or scarred and rugged, bark, which were
+thickly overgrown with parasitical plants. Enormous crabs, with fiery red
+claws, and bodies of the most lovely blue-black, fled before us to their
+lurking-places in the depth of the forest. On right and left amid the
+parched foliage was heard the rustling of lizards, and from the summits of
+the imposing forest trees resounded the musical hum of swarms of _cicadae_,
+while green and rose-coloured parrots flew shrieking from branch to
+branch, and from the boughs and tendrils was heard the call of the Mania,
+or the cooing, murmuring love-note of the great Nicobar wood-pigeon.
+Gradually the noise of the surf became once more audible, like distant
+thunder, just where a few cocoa-nut palms and screw-pines mingled with the
+laurel trees around. We had reached the beach again.
+
+The same day, towards 4 P.M., the frigate quitted the south coast of
+Kar-Nicobar, and steered in a S.S.E. direction towards the little island
+of Batte-Malve, about twenty-one miles distant, in the neighbourhood of
+which we kept beating about the whole of the following day, without being
+able, in consequence of a stiff breeze and strong contrary current, to
+approach it sufficiently near for a boat to get to land, and thus enable
+us to make a more complete examination. Batte-Malve is a small, entirely
+uninhabited island, some two miles in length, and seems to be of a
+quadrangular form; the upper portion is thickly wooded; the highest
+elevation being from 150 to 200 feet. Towards the N.W. the island becomes
+somewhat flattened when approaching the coast, whereas on the west side,
+as also on the S. and S.E. shores, the rocks descend perpendicularly into
+the sea. According to our observations, instituted on the spot, there is
+in the longitude, as we ascertained it, when compared with that assigned
+by the officers of the Galatea, a discrepancy of ten nautical miles.
+
+Early on the morning of the 3rd of March, while still to the N.W. of
+Batte-Malve, but steering a S.E. course, the islands of Teressa, Chowry,
+and Bampoka became visible at a distance of from eight to ten nautical
+miles. From the main-mast-head we could also descry further to the
+eastward the island of Tillangschong, to which we were now proceeding.
+
+Next morning we found ourselves close in with its N.E. promontory. Both
+wind and weather were highly favourable, the look-out man was stationed
+upon the fore-top, the lead line on being hove overboard with forty
+fathoms found no bottom, and the water had the deep blue colour of the
+open ocean. We were therefore able to approach the shore fearlessly, and
+accordingly stood in till we were barely 100 feet distant from the steep
+octagonal-shaped cliff, which rises like a bastion at the north extremity
+of the island. We now edged off with the frigate and ran under the lee of
+the land, coasting along the west side from north to south, never above
+150 or 200 feet distant from the shore; so close, in short, that, standing
+on the deck, it seemed almost possible to stretch out the hand and touch
+the beetling shore-cliffs, every stone and shrub being perfectly
+distinguishable. Only a narrow rocky belt overhanging the surf appeared
+barren of vegetation, the entire island with that exception being covered
+with dense forest to the very summits, from 400 to 600 feet in height, of
+the steep, projecting, knob-like eminences. It was a delightful,
+never-to-be-forgotten sail along this rock-bound coast, the romantic
+beauties of which passed before us like green dissolving views. The sea
+was so smooth and peaceful that we seemed to be sailing on a mill-pond. At
+last we opened a small sandy cove, in which we perceived a few cocoa-nut
+palms directly opposite. Here the lead promised us good holding ground,
+and the anchor was accordingly let go.
+
+One of the side-boats conveyed to land the officers entrusted with the
+astronomical operations, as also the naturalists. Only with the utmost
+difficulty was it possible to make way through the surf, and get under the
+lee of a reef, whence it was requisite to make a spring to get ashore. At
+the spot at which we landed (named by us Morrock's Cove, and according to
+observation in 8 deg. 32' 30'' N. and 93 deg. 34' 10'' E.) the island was almost
+exclusively clothed with trees and brushwood. Only close to the shore did
+any cocoa-nut palms present themselves to the view. Although quite
+uninhabited at the period of our visit, it was evident, by the traces of
+abandoned fire-places, split cocoa-nuts, and so forth, that human beings
+occasionally make this island their abode, albeit the assertion repeated
+by several writers, that Tillangschong is the Siberia of Nicobar
+criminals, can only be set down to travellers' tales, or some utter
+misapprehension of the meaning of the natives. It would seem that the
+residents in Chowra and Bampoka come to this island from time to time, for
+the purpose of collecting cocoa-nuts, and the fruit of the _pandanus_. By
+dint of strenuous exertion we made our way along river-courses, which
+during the rainy season must rush down as most violent torrents, through a
+thick plantation of screw-pines, into the forest proper, which was
+overgrown with the most majestic representatives of tropical vegetation.
+To the botanist presented itself a great variety of interesting plants and
+timber; to the lovers of sport numerous descriptions of birds, and more
+especially pigeons, in such quantities that the various messes on board
+ship were amply provided with them.
+
+Sundown saw us returned on board, when the anchor was once more weighed.
+During the night we got so close in with the north side of the island
+that, on the following morning, a boat well-manned and carefully equipped
+was detached with one of the officers, who was instructed to round the
+northernmost promontory, in order to examine the northern and eastern
+sides of the island, and rejoin us on its southern shore. One of the
+zoologists, conceiving this minor expedition would furnish him with an
+excellent opportunity for examining some of the lower orders of marine
+life, attached himself to it. The frigate now put about, and coasted down
+the west side southwards. Seen from a distance the vegetation seemed quite
+of a European character. The eminences varied in elevation from 250 to 300
+feet. Judging from the direction of the foliage on the trees, the S.W.
+monsoon seems to commit great ravages. Everywhere along the coast, but
+more especially on the south side, serpentine cropped out--giving little
+promise of fertility. At many spots the cocoa-palms disappeared entirely;
+a circumstance which must ever interfere materially with the settlement of
+this island by a people to whom the most profuse natural treasures are
+worthless and unknown, beyond wealth in cocoa-nuts.
+
+Near the southern point we were suddenly alarmed at noticing an alteration
+in the colour of the sea, which led us to suspect the proximity of a
+sand-bank. Nevertheless a boat, lowered to try for soundings, found no
+bottom at 45 fathoms. In fact, the water was found to be transfused with
+an enormous mass of _crustaceae_, and small brownish filaments of 1/48 to
+1/12 of an inch in length, occasionally collected into a knot, which
+rendered it cloudy and muddy, and at once explained a phenomenon at first
+sight so unexpected. Towards 5 P.M. we passed the southern point of the
+island, and somewhat later discovered a well-sheltered anchorage on the
+S.E. side of the island.
+
+Considerable anxiety was felt as the sun went down, since the boat that
+had been dispatched not only had not rejoined us but was not yet even
+visible. As soon as darkness had fairly set in, blue lights were burnt on
+board the frigate, of which the third was at last responded to by the crew
+of the boat, which had been provided with port-fires for such a
+contingency. It seemed to be steering for the frigate. Hour after hour,
+however, flew by without its approaching us, and the rest of our signals
+remained unanswered. Thus morning broke, and still no boat was visible.
+
+At length, about 7.30 A.M., the anxiously expected little wanderer hove in
+sight at a little distance, and half an hour later she came alongside all
+safe. The projected operations had been only partially successful, owing
+to the extreme difficulty in making a landing. Surprised by nightfall, it
+was no longer practicable to make out the ten nautical miles at least they
+were still distant from the frigate, and the scanty crew consequently saw
+nothing for it but to anchor close in with the shore, and await the light
+of dawn in the boat. The cause of our later blue lights not being
+answered, was partly the want of a sufficient supply of signal lights,
+part having been already expended, and the rest having got damp.
+
+We now steered for Nangkauri harbour. Full in view lay the north shore of
+the island of Kamorta, and, as we glided smoothly thither over the glassy
+sea, it loomed gradually nearer; an island of flat-topped hills, which,
+despite its rank vegetation, had a park-like aspect, consequent on the
+alternations of forest and grass-slopes with the white coral beach,
+crowned with cocoa-palms. Gradually the island of Tringkut came into view,
+singularly level, and abounding in cocoa-palms and edible sea-slugs
+(Trepang), lying directly facing the entrance of the harbour-like channel,
+between Kamorta and Nangkauri. Our course, on which we were being
+propelled on a beautiful evening by a gentle soft wind which wafted us
+slowly but surely forwards, was indeed entrancingly delicious. Directly
+ahead lay the low strand of Tringkut, shimmering whitely under the dark
+green canopy of foliage, while the long swell, breaking on the coral reefs
+like glancing walls of foam, sunk away in the distance into the smooth
+mirror-like sea, which rose and fell almost imperceptibly, as though
+peacefully breathing. On the left lay Nangkauri, with its forests. On both
+sides of Kamorta and Nangkauri, huts and villages were visible sprinkled
+along the shore, from which numerous natives put off in their canoes to
+the frigate, but presently lay on their oars at a respectful distance, and
+followed us like a sort of squadron of observation. On the right was
+visible in mid-channel between Tringkut and Kamorta the solitary rocky
+island of Tillangschong; the shores of all these islands, and indeed the
+whole horizon, being lit up with a gorgeous Fata Morgana. The extreme
+southernmost cliffs of Tillangschong seemed to be suspended entirely in
+the air. The corners, at which jutted out the coast-lines of Tringkut and
+Kamorta, seen along the horizon of the ocean resembled wedge-shaped
+incisions into the domain of the atmosphere; while the tips of the waves,
+lashed into foam as they broke upon them, seemed as if dancing in the air.
+The canoes of the natives were reflected upside down, till the figures
+seated in them were so enormously lengthened that one could almost fancy
+they were gigantic 'genii' disporting on the surface of the sea.
+
+As we were sailing along in front of the village of Malacca into the
+splendid harbour, and just as the lead had almost a moment before marked
+23 fathoms, the look-out man suddenly descried a shoal. Notwithstanding
+the man[oe]uvres that were at once put in execution, it was found
+impossible to get entirely clear, and the frigate grounded forward of the
+beam on the port-side. Although it was ebb-tide, yet deep water was
+observable both ahead and astern, and accordingly an effort was made, by
+running out the guns and laying out a spring for the frigate to haul upon,
+to get the ship once more afloat, which accordingly speedily proved
+successful, so that by sundown we were enabled to anchor in good holding
+ground, opposite the village of Itoe, in the island of Nangkauri.
+
+Here we lay in a calm, tranquil sheet of water, such as we had not fallen
+in with throughout our voyage hitherto, surrounded by dense forest, from
+which were heard distinctly, on board ship, the disagreeable shrill sound
+of innumerable crickets, and the deep coo of the great Nicobar
+wood-pigeon. Except for these, the most profound stillness reigned. There
+was not the smallest movement either in sea or sky. Although on our
+excursion to Kar-Nicobar we had to endure great heat, it was here that for
+the first time we experienced in all its discomfort the oppressive,
+relaxing sultriness of the tropical atmosphere, when saturated with
+vapour. The thermometer stood pretty regularly at 84 deg. to 86 deg. Fahr., nor
+was it possible to find any relief by plunging into the water, which was
+if anything even warmer than the air. Hemmed in on all sides, and with the
+welcome beneficent sea-breeze frequently ceasing to blow for a week
+together, it was speedily pronounced a riddle, impossible to be solved,
+how this harbour came to be once and again selected by German and Danish
+Missionaries for the purposes of colonization, unless the key to the
+mystery be found in its secure situation, the exquisite beauty of the
+mountain landscape, and the numerous clear spots around.
+
+The very morning after our arrival we set out on a small reconnoitring
+excursion to examine the ground, in order to decide, among so many objects
+claiming our attention at once, what, considering the brief time at our
+disposal, we might hope to undertake successfully, and what must once for
+all be abandoned. Our first visit was to the village of Itoe, which lay
+directly opposite our frigate's anchorage. The natives had all fled into
+the forest, only their dogs having remained behind, who saluted us with a
+tremendous howl. The huts, six or eight in number, had a poor, miserable
+appearance, and were built close to a cocoa forest, so that there was not
+the slightest space to move about in between the huts, the forest, and
+the luxuriant underwood, so that free circulation of air was entirely
+prevented. In front of the village a number of Bamboo poles, with large
+bunches of ribbons waving about from their upper end, were stuck into the
+water, for the purpose of frightening away the evil spirit or Eewee, and
+driving him into the sea! In the interior of these few huts built of
+stakes, and of much inferior construction to those in Kar-Nicobar, was a
+large number of rudely cut figures of all possible sizes, and every
+variety of position, suspended by strings, and supplying the most
+unmistakeable evidence of the superstitions of the natives. We had never
+seen these kinds of charms against the evil spirit at Kar-Nicobar, nor had
+even heard them spoken of. Quite close to the huts was the place of
+interment. At one grave, apparently quite lately used, a large pole was
+erected, which was adorned with innumerable white and blue stripes waving
+in the wind, and from which had also been suspended axes, piles, bars,
+nails, and other tools and implements of labour of the deceased, so that
+the whole scene much more resembled a rag-shop than a grave heap.
+
+From Itoe we proceeded to the peak of Monghata, on the island of Kamorta,
+lying just opposite Nangkauri. It was here that, in 1831, Pastor Rosen
+wished to found the projected settlement. He could hardly have selected a
+more unsuitable site, since all around is either dense forest or mangrove
+swamp. The spots that had been cleared are now overgrown with _Saccharum
+Konigii_ (Lalang grass), of the height of a man, which usually follows
+here upon spots that have been once cultivated and are afterwards
+abandoned, and which, if once taken root, can only with the utmost
+difficulty be eradicated. From this peak, barely 200 feet in height, it is
+practicable to descend by a small footpath to the cove of Ulala, whose
+shores are entirely overrun with dense impassable mangrove swamp, and
+accordingly present a most dreary, gloomy aspect.
+
+Our next excursion was to the village of Enuang or Enong, where lay at
+anchor, under the British flag, two Malay prahus from Pulo Penang, manned
+by Malay crews, and taking in cargoes of ripe cocoa-nuts, edible birds'
+nests, and sea-slugs, or Trepang. The captain of one of these prahus and
+the greater number of the crew were laid up with fever. The supercargo, a
+Chinese named Owi-Bing-Hong, spoke English fluently, and was of the utmost
+service to us in our communications with the natives. Enuang is larger
+than Itoe, and has about a dozen huts, but these are one and all
+half-ruinous, very filthy, and utterly neglected. In all the huts we found
+numbers of figures, cut in white wood in the very rudest style in various
+postures, mostly with a threatening, combative expression, intended to
+drive away the evil spirit, of whom the natives seem to stand in great
+dread; for it is the universal practice of these islanders to ascribe
+whatever happens to them to the influence of an evil spirit, and probably
+also the appearance of the _Novara_ in the harbour of Nangkauri was laid
+to the account of the ill intentions of an Eewee. One constantly sees
+fruit, tobacco, or betel-leaves, prepared with pearl-lime, strewed in
+small portions at various spots in the interiors of the huts, or suspended
+on the bamboo ladders by which they are entered, the object being to
+propitiate the Eewee in the event of his being hungry on his arrival! In
+one of the abandoned huts we discovered a figure resembling a cat, rudely
+carved in wood, before which the natives had placed tobacco and
+cocoa-nuts; almost all these figures were besmeared with soot, and daubed
+with some red pigment, and their abdomens hung with long pendent dried
+palm-leaves.
+
+Not one of the natives at Enuang understood English. Only a couple of old
+men spoke a few words of Portuguese, of which they were not a little
+conceited. The Portuguese, in the 17th and 18th centuries, seem to have
+been the first European nations that had any commercial dealings with the
+Nicobar islanders. A number of words of their language, all referring to
+objects of civilization, and but little corrupted from the Portuguese,
+such for instance as "pang" (for _pan_, the Portuguese for bread),
+"zapato" (shoe), "cuchillo" (knife), and so forth, are evidences of this.
+The natives here seemed to us yet more hideous than those of Kar-Nicobar,
+especially as the everlasting betel-chewing had disfigured their mouths in
+the most shocking manner. It is however incorrect to allege, as has been
+the case hitherto, that they avail themselves of a particular substance
+with which to discolour the teeth, and which it was supposed induced this
+frightful distortion of the mouth; it is unquestionably only the abuse of
+the betel (consisting of Areca-nut, betel-leaves, and coral chalk) which
+causes these disgusting disfigurements. At this settlement also the women
+and children had disappeared. Only one native woman, married to a Malay
+from Pulo Penang, who was at the moment officiating as cook on board one
+of the prahus lying at anchor in the bay, had the courage to present
+herself before us. She was, according to the custom of the Malays, dressed
+in silk, but bore on her body all the disagreeable traces of her Nicobar
+origin. She showed no reluctance to talk with us, and, in her somewhat
+scanty toilette, was the one solitary native woman with whom we found an
+opportunity of communicating during our entire stay at the various
+islands.
+
+From Enuang we visited the first settlement of the Moravian Brothers,
+lying on the small neck of land between Enuang and Malacca, where
+apparently the amiable Father Haensel seems to have lived, for whose
+interesting memoir, narrating his many years' residence upon the Nicobar
+Islands, we were indebted to the kindness of Dr. Rosen of the Moravian
+Mission at Genaadendal in South Africa.[13] At present all is once more
+thick majestic forest; a marvellous leafy dome, like a green pantheon,
+encircles and overshadows the scene of the once benevolent activity of the
+devoted missionary. Only a ruined well and a few brick fragments of what
+was the oven, lying about, remain to show that a dwelling once stood
+here. At the well there were a variety of beautiful flowers growing
+between the stones. The place is still called, as then, Tripjet, or the
+"Habitation of the Friends." Here in quick succession most of the Brethren
+died, (no fewer than eleven out of the thirteen,) upon which the mission
+was transferred to the opposite island of Kamorta, first of all to the
+clearing at Kalaha, and ultimately to Kamut. But all these sites were as
+ill-selected as the first. An abode located between swamp and forest, of
+which latter only a space of barely 1000 feet in circumference was
+cleared, could not but prove fatal in a very short space of time to the
+unfortunate colonists. At the village of Enuang too it would seem to be
+that the last attempt at founding a settlement was made in 1835 by the two
+French missionaries; at least we were informed by several natives, who
+seemed to be at present about 34 to 36 years of age, that they were
+themselves but boys when the last missionaries lived at Nangkauri. They
+also further recollected that the gigantic cocoa-palms, which at present
+skirt the forest, were at that time quite small saplings, and the only
+vegetation between the beach and the mission house. At present enormous
+roots are stretching over the foundations of the earlier settlement. The
+natives who accompanied us spoke with warm feeling of the missionaries,
+and seemed to regret their departure. Many professed themselves with much
+earnestness to be Christians, but they were so only in name. According to
+what they reported, many natives must at that period have been baptized
+in the islands of Chowra and Bampoka.
+
+During this visit to Enuang and Malacca, it had been one of the objects
+aimed at by the members of the Expedition to draw up a small vocabulary of
+the language of the natives, when it speedily appeared that, despite the
+proximity of the two islands, the dialects used by the inhabitants were
+entirely different. Even for trees and plants, for the feathered
+inhabitants of the forests, as well as domestic animals, the inhabitants
+of the central groups of islands have different names. The cocoa-palm and
+its noble fruit, the betel and its ingredients, are here known by entirely
+different names. The accurate transcription of each individual word into
+German as pronounced by the native was hard work. It took us two days to
+make a vocabulary of one hundred words! And even this slight success would
+have been impossible but for our serviceable Chinese friend, Bing-Hong,
+who had gone to school for two years at Pulo Penang, and could read and
+write English with tolerable readiness and accuracy. The distortion of
+their mouths is one main reason why the natives pronounce the greater
+number of their words almost unintelligibly; it is more a lisping mutter
+than a language. Hence, apparently, their ability to follow out the
+concatenation of ideas is so slightly developed, that it is only with much
+difficulty they can be made to comprehend the particular subject
+respecting which the information was wanted. For example, if it was wished
+to know the word in their language which expressed "_blue_," and in order
+to make more intelligible what was required, a variety of objects of a
+blue colour were pointed out, they almost invariably named the object
+itself, and not the colour. Or again, one wanted to know what they called
+"_leaf_" in their language, and indicated the leaf of a tree standing
+near; the native, however, replies by giving the name of the tree
+_itself_, instead of the word expressing leaf. It seems to us not
+unimportant to call attention to this circumstance, in order more
+completely to lay before the reader the great and manifold obstacles which
+present themselves in drawing up vocabularies of the languages of
+half-savage races, and thus more readily secure indulgence for the
+discrepancies which are frequently to be met with in such works.[14]
+
+Bing-Hong invited us to pay him a visit on board his vessel, which had
+already been lying for several months at anchor in Nangkauri harbour,
+taking in a cargo of ripe cocoa-nuts, of which a _Picul_, or 133-1/3
+pounds, is worth in the Pulo Penang market 5-1/2 American dollars (L1
+3_s._ sterling). This hospitable Chinese informed us it was at the period
+of our visit the least unhealthy season in Nangkauri harbour: that as soon
+as the S.W. monsoon sets in, all foreign ships hurry away, through dread
+of the illnesses that follow in its track. However, feverish attacks are
+of daily occurrence throughout the year. Of the thirteen men who formed
+the crew of the barque, ten were laid up with fever. The disorderly habits
+of life, however, of foreign visitors are much more to blame for these
+frequent attacks of disease than the unhealthiness of the climate.
+Constantly they are guilty of excesses in diet and general negligence of
+health, bathing during the utmost heat of the day without any covering to
+the head, exposing themselves to the burning rays of the noonday sun,
+drinking for the most part nothing but the fluid contents of the unripe
+cocoa-nut, eating quantities of juicy fruits, the constant use of which
+acts injuriously on the systems of strangers, and sleeping on the damp
+soil under the open air, exposed to all the noxious influences of the
+atmosphere of a tropical forest without the slightest shelter. Bing-Hong
+showed us the dried edible nests of the _Hirundo esculenta_ (in Malay
+_Salang_, in Nicobar _Hegai_), and presented us with a small packet of
+about thirty nests. When properly dried, seventy-two of these tiny nests
+weigh one catty, or 1-1/4 lb., and they are sold at two rupees (4_s._) for
+three of the inferior sort. The best quality is far more expensive. We
+caused some of these Chinese dainties to be prepared exactly as prescribed
+by Bing-Hong, that is to say, they were boiled for one hour in hot water,
+but we found the gelatinous mass quite tasteless, and, in fact, resembling
+dissolved gum. The swallow which constructs these edible nests does not
+however seem to be a regular visitant of the Nicobar Islands, and the
+profits on this article of commerce, which is of such importance in Java
+and the rest of the Sunda Islands, are here scarcely worth naming.
+
+It has been long disputed whence this industrious little warbler obtains
+the material for his nest, and it was in all probability the circumstance
+that it was generally believed to consist of particles of sea-weed,
+fish-roe, and marine animalculae of the _medusa_ class, which secured for
+these nests such a celebrity among Chinese gourmands. A German naturalist,
+Professor Troschel of Bonn, affirms however, on the strength of an
+analysis of these nests, that the notion hitherto prevalent as to the
+component parts of these nests is entirely erroneous, as they consist of
+nothing else than a thick, glutinous slime, secreted from the salivary
+glands, which, at the period when the Indian swallow builds its nest,
+swell out into large whitish masses. This slime, which is susceptible of
+being drawn out in long filaments from the bill of the animal, is quite
+analogous to gum Arabic. Whenever the bird is desirous of constructing its
+nest, it causes this salivary substance, which at that period is copiously
+secreted, to adhere to the crags, till its elegant nest is finished.
+
+One of the days during which the frigate lay in Nangkauri harbour, the
+geologist of the Expedition made an excursion in a native canoe along the
+coasts of Kamorta and Tringkut, as these islands at the points where the
+shores are precipitous furnish the only possible geognostic facilities,
+the forest or the thick covering of vegetation in the interior of the
+island quite concealing the geological conformation. Our Chinese friend
+Bing-Hong aforesaid accompanied him in the capacity of interpreter. When
+the geologist had got some distance from the frigate, he found that the
+natives had not abandoned their villages, and to this one alone of our
+fellow-travellers, manned and rowed along by natives, did some of the
+women become visible. They were as tall as the men, and quite as loathsome
+in appearance, the mouth similarly disfigured by betel-chewing, but the
+hair cut short. Around the body they wore a petticoat of red or blue
+cloth, reaching from the loins to the knee.
+
+Another excursion was made to Ulala Cove, distant about four nautical
+miles from our anchorage on the W. side of the island of Kamorta, on which
+occasion our Venetian gondola, specially constructed for similar
+expeditions, was pressed into the service. The entrance to the cove is
+about 3/4 of a mile in breadth, after which it expands in an easterly
+direction with varying width, at the same time sending off arms in every
+direction. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant and plentiful, and
+along the swampy shore consists mainly of mangrove bushes, which at most
+points make it almost impracticable to disembark, and impart to the entire
+bay a dreary, desolate appearance. At the few villages scattered along the
+shore, most of the natives had taken to flight. On this occasion, however,
+it was not child-like terror that had driven them away, but an evil
+conscience, for among the other inhabitants this bay enjoys the sad
+reputation of having on various occasions massacred the crews of small
+vessels, after having plundered them of everything. So strong is this
+feeling that the natives of the rest of the Nicobar group, according to
+their own report, refuse to have anything to do with this ferocious set,
+and could not by any means be induced to accompany us in their canoes as
+far as Ulala Cove.
+
+The frigate lay five days in Nangkauri harbour, until the soundings and
+general survey of this large bay with its numerous branches had been
+completed, when, on the morning of the 11th March, she sailed, with a
+fresh breeze from N.W., through the western entrance, which is scarcely a
+hundred fathoms wide, by fourteen in depth, and is marked by two rocky
+pinnacles. Directly opposite lies the island of Katchal, thickly wooded to
+the water-edge, and stretching out long and low, without any marked
+elevation above sea-level. We now sailed in between these islands of
+Katchal and Kamorta in a northerly direction towards the islands of
+Teressa and Bampoka. On the W. side of Kamorta a number of villages were
+visible; on the N.W. we perceived at several spots natural meadows, while
+hereabouts the land gradually culminated into the highest point of the
+island,--a conical hill, rising not very far from the shore, almost
+entirely without trees, except where near the summit a number of bushes
+and shrubs nestled in a sort of hollow. Three days were now lost in
+unsuccessful attempts to make head-way against wind and tide, so that for
+four mortal days we were tossed about in full view of Bampoka, Teressa,
+and Chowra, never indeed above twenty miles distant, yet utterly unable to
+make any one of them. As the time at our disposal for visiting these was
+exhausted in consequence of this unexpected difficulty, we were, very much
+to our regret, compelled to forego the satisfaction of setting foot on
+either of these islands, which, especially Chowra, would have presented a
+rare opportunity of examining the effect upon tropical races of men of an
+excess of population. That rather barren island possesses, it seems, more
+inhabitants than it has the means of subsisting, and appears to be the
+only spot of the entire Nicobar group where the natives follow industrial
+avocations. All manner of pottery ware comes from Chowra, so that it would
+almost seem as though the lamentable spectacle of a superabundant
+population had given the natives the first impulse towards active
+industry.
+
+In the island of Teressa the Austrian Expedition had a more special
+interest, in so far as it is by no means improbable that the adventurous
+Bolts, who in 1778 visited the Nicobar Archipelago in the Austrian ship
+_Joseph and Theresa_, named this island, as he already had done in the
+case of a fort on the coast of Africa, after the renowned Austrian
+Empress, which, corrupted by the native dialect, had been gradually
+transformed into Teressa or Terassa.
+
+At sunrise on the 17th March there loomed on the horizon in a S.E.
+direction, first the island of Meroe, then the two small islands of Treis
+and Track, and lastly the long mountain-chain of Little Nicobar, with the
+beautiful island of Pulo Milu. The breeze was light, and a current of a
+velocity of five miles an hour, which ran rushing and seething like a
+mill-race through the calm sea, so completely checked our progress that
+the anchor had to be let go. This procured us the very unexpected pleasure
+of visiting these two small wooded islands. Owing to the heavy surf, we
+only succeeded in effecting a landing by the assistance of some natives,
+whom we happened to fall in with in their canoes off these all but
+uninhabited islets. Treis is a veritable pigeon island, full of the most
+various and beautiful species of that bird; nevertheless we could only
+procure a single specimen of the exceedingly elegant Nicobar dove. Here
+too it was that the geologist found the first traces of brown coal, which
+however did not present itself in layers suitable for domestic use.
+
+The same afternoon, with the turn of the tide the current set in our
+favour, and towards 10 P.M. we reached the roadstead protected to the
+eastward by the northernmost point of Little Nicobar, to the westward by
+the island of Pulo Milu, and southward by the mainland of Little Nicobar
+itself. It is not very large, but it has excellent holding ground, and
+would be available at all seasons as a harbour of refuge for vessels. As
+most of the villages of Little Nicobar lie on the N.W. and S. sides of the
+island, and were with difficulty accessible from our anchorage, it was
+thought preferable to select the small but beautiful island of Pulo Milu
+for our visit. Already, while we were lying at anchor in front of the
+island of Treis, a few natives had come on board the frigate, and had
+shown much confidence. They possessed all the characteristics of the
+residents of Nangkauri, and they also spoke, with but slight variations,
+the same idiom. Only for certain objects, and those, singular to say,
+articles of the very first necessity, such as cocoa-nut trees, palms,
+screw-pines, and the like, did they employ different expressions.
+
+The island of Pulo Milu, with its variety of forest-vegetation, and its
+charming woodland-scenery, displays all the beauty and all the marvels of
+the tropics. The screw-pine (of the family of _Pandaneae_), that peculiar
+tree which imparts to the forests of Asia a character so different from
+those of America, is seen here in exceptional size and majesty. Nowhere
+have we met with this marvellous tree growing in such luxuriance as on
+Pulo Milu, where it appears in such quantities as to resemble a forest,
+and leaves an impression of such lonely wildness as makes one almost
+imagine it a remnant of some earlier period of our earth. Wondering at the
+capricious vagaries of nature, the traveller contemplates these
+extraordinary trees, which have leaves arranged in spiral order like the
+dragon trees, trunks like those of palms, boughs like those trees
+presenting the ordinary characteristics of foliage, fruit-cones like the
+_conifer[oe]_, and yet have nothing in common with all these plants, so
+that they form a family by themselves. On Pulo Milu we saw some of these
+trees with slim smooth stems 40 or 50 feet in height, which are nourished
+by and supported upon a pile of roots of 10 to 12 feet high, resembling a
+neatly-finished conical piece of wicker-work, composed of spindle-shaped
+staves. Many of these roots do not reach the soil, and in this undeveloped
+state these atmospheric roots assume the most peculiar shapes. Higher up
+the same formation is repeated among the branches, from which depend
+beautiful massy fruit-cones, a foot and a half in length, by one in
+thickness, which, when ripe, are of a splendid orange hue.
+
+The screw-pine is not cultivated in the Nicobar Islands; it grows wild in
+the utmost luxuriance, and, after the cocoa-nut, is for the natives the
+most important plant that furnishes them with subsistence. The immense
+fruit-cones borne by this tree consist of several single wedge-shaped
+fruits, which when raw are uneatable, but boiled in water, and subjected
+to pressure, give out a sort of mealy mass, the "Melori" of the
+Portuguese, and called by the natives "Larohm," which is also occasionally
+used with the fleshy interior of the ripe fruit, and forms the daily bread
+of the islanders. The flavour of the mass thus prepared strongly resembles
+that of apple-marmalade, and is by no means unpalatable to Europeans. The
+woody, brush-like fibres of the fruit which remain behind, after the mealy
+contents have been squeezed out, are made use of by the natives as natural
+brooms and brushes, while the dried leaves of the Pandanus serve instead
+of paper to surround their cigarettes.
+
+At Pulo Milu, as is yet more markedly the case among the southernmost
+islands, the cocoa-palm does not grow so luxuriantly as on Kar-Nicobar,
+and to this circumstance may be chiefly ascribed the fact that the
+natives are not so liberal as at the last-named island. The Swedish
+naturalist, Dr. Rink, who has so largely and valuably added to our stock
+of information respecting the Nicobar group, resided here for a
+considerable time with some forty Chinese labourers, and, with a view to
+ultimate colonization, had caused to be cut through the forest several
+paths, by means of which this island has been rendered much more permeable
+than any other in the Archipelago. The selection was an extremely happy
+one, and had the projected colonization of the island been carried into
+effect, very different results would have been obtained than those of poor
+Dr. Rosen in Nangkauri Harbour. Next to Kar-Nicobar, it has been clearly
+decided that Pulo Milu is the most suitable spot for a first settlement,
+in the event of any European power or any capitalist undertaking to solve
+the problem of colonizing this Archipelago.
+
+In the cove at which we landed five huts stand upon the beach, much
+similar to those at Nangkauri, and like them having before them a number
+of lofty singularly ornamented poles emerging from the water, called by
+the natives Handschuop, and intended to keep Davy Jones at a respectful
+distance from the village,--not unlike the scarecrow with which we at home
+seek to frighten from the ripening corn the rapacious troop of feathered
+epicures. These banners for scaring away the Eewees are erected within the
+sea limit by the Manluena, or exorcist, who in these islands, like the
+medicine-man of the Red Indian of America, or the Ach-Itz of the Indian
+races among the highlands of Guatemala, exercises the utmost influence
+over all the affairs of life. Here, as elsewhere, most of the natives had
+disappeared on our approach. We found but five men, who were all at least
+partially clad; some wore shirts, trowsers, and caps; another had
+enveloped his person in an immense, and by no means over-clean, piece of
+linen. One of this number, who acted as our guide through the island, and
+called himself "John Bull," was not a regular resident in Pulo Milu, but
+in Lesser-Nicobar, and had only come over to the island for the purpose of
+constructing canoes of trunks of trees hollowed out. He spoke English with
+tolerable fluency, and displayed quite child-like satisfaction, as often
+as any English word, no matter what, was recalled to his recollection,
+which had slipped his memory from want of practice. John Bull soon became
+very insinuating, and expressed a wish to accompany us to Great Nicobar,
+where, as he assured us, at Hinkvala, one of the villages on the southern
+shore, he had several relatives, among others one named "London," who
+could be of the utmost service to us. For his kind offices we promised him
+a present, upon which he asked with the most naive simplicity: "You not
+talk lie?" from which we may conjecture that not every promise made to him
+by a stranger was duly fulfilled. The huts of the natives were constructed
+of beams, exactly like those in the central island; and the internal
+arrangements were precisely identical. Here also are figures sculptured
+in wood, Eewee-charms, which especially are found in the interiors of the
+houses in such numbers and in such quaint costumes, that one is almost
+tempted to imagine the inhabitants of these huts must be proprietors of
+some Marionette-theatre. We also found here various objects carved in soft
+wood, among others a large serpent, a tortoise, and several droll figures,
+as also a seven-holed flute of bamboo-reed, the model for which had
+evidently been supplied by some of the Malay sailors from Pulo Penang.
+
+The same evening we weighed anchor, and shaped our course along the
+eastern shore of Lesser-Nicobar, which is thickly covered with swamp and
+forest. On the morning of 19th March, we were abreast of the island of
+Montial in St. George's Channel, and by evening had anchored on the
+northern side of Great Nicobar, S.E. of the island of Kondul, which also
+lies in the Channel. Already before sunrise the boats were lowered and
+everything got in readiness for a visit to the small but delightful island
+of Kondul, which, though on the N.W. side so lofty and rocky as to be
+almost inaccessible, presents on its E. side a tolerably secure
+landing-place, situated according to our observations in 7 deg. 12' 17'' N.
+and 93 deg. 39' 57'' E. Here we found a number of huts, but not one single
+native was visible. We now endeavoured, by following up a torrent bed, to
+climb to the highest point of the island, which has an elevation of 350 to
+400 feet. In this we only succeeded after most severe exertion,
+occasionally having to avail ourselves at the steepest parts of the ascent
+of the gigantic roots of trees, or of the climbing plants that hung
+suspended like natural ropes, by means of which we swung ourselves among
+the huge blocks of rock, till we could gain a secure footing. Instead,
+however, of finding, as we had hoped, a small _plateau_ at the summit, or
+at all events discovering some less difficult path by which to descend, we
+were sorely disconcerted, on arriving thoroughly exhausted on the top, at
+finding the rock descended so sheer and precipitous on the other side that
+it was impossible to make one step further. However, we found here a
+delicious refreshing breeze. With pleasure indescribable, our gaze
+wandered to the island of Great Nicobar and the islet of Cabra, lying
+immediately opposite us, their green luxuriant shores bathed on all sides
+by the azure ripple of the ocean. Although no rain had fallen for more
+than six months, the vegetation was on the whole wonderfully fresh and
+abundant, the forest lovely and majestic as on "the first day of
+Creation!"
+
+We found ourselves compelled to retrace our steps by the same break-neck
+path by which we had ascended the peak. On the shore we encountered some
+of the natives, whose curiosity had got the better of their apprehensions,
+and who now slunk out of the forest, to discover what was our peculiar
+object in landing on the island. Among their number was a native doctor,
+and Eewee exorciser; he was however in no way distinguishable from the
+rest of his brethren, unless by the inordinate length of his hair, which
+flowed down far below his shoulders. One of the members of the Commission,
+desirous of getting at the treatment pursued by these sly knaves when
+they go to work with their poor credulous dupes of patients, promised this
+dusky disciple of AEsculapius a present, if he would cure him by his own
+method, and affected to have an intolerably severe pain in the left arm.
+The Manluena displayed his treatment with a vengeance; he laid hold of the
+supposed sufferer by the arm, which he pinched and punched, till there was
+not a spot that had not received his attentions, while during the entire
+process he now screamed aloud, now whistled, now blew vigorously upon the
+bare skin, as though endeavouring to expel the Evil Spirit. According to
+the belief of these poor people, every bodily pain is nothing other than a
+demon magically introduced into the system through the evil influence of
+an Eewee. The Manluena commenced to pinch the arm from above, performing
+this anything but agreeable manipulation with his hands lubricated with
+cocoa-nut oil, from above downwards, the object being to drive out the
+Eewee from the arm by the finger points! Although the doctor had not used
+his patient very tenderly, he nevertheless in the opinion of the natives
+had not appeared to put forth all his powers, and had made use of far
+fewer noises and contortions than had been usual with him when one of
+themselves was undergoing treatment. Moreover his original confidence
+seemed to fail him in his anxiety lest some mischance should befall him in
+case this attempt at a cure should miscarry, and accordingly he speedily
+made off, after he had been complimented with a few threepenny bits for
+his trouble, nor did he again make his appearance the whole day.
+
+Some of the members of the Expedition had resolved to ramble quite round
+the island; the circumference of which is little if at all more than eight
+English miles. At early morning they had started with their guns and
+botanical boxes on their shoulders full of the most buoyant expectation of
+securing an ample store of curiosities, starting from the east coast and
+thence to the north side of the island; and towards sunset they made their
+appearance at the south side, foot-sore and nearly exhausted. In the
+ardour of the chase and of collecting "specimens," they had plunged so
+deep into the forest, thereby losing all trace of the direction by which
+they had entered, that as the sun was already beginning to descend, they
+had no alternative but to hew a path with their hatchets through the
+thickest of the forest, so as to reach the beach once more. At times
+hanging by creepers, at others swimming at various spots where the rocks
+dipped perpendicularly into the sea, they at length arrived at the spot
+where we were re-embarking, hungry, thirsty, and in a state of such
+extreme exhaustion that we at first were really apprehensive for their
+lives. Singularly enough these severe hardships were followed by no evil
+consequences to any one of the party, though the recollection of them will
+surely not fade out of their memory for the rest of their lives.
+
+The 21st March, being a Sunday, was duly observed, and was kept as a
+much-needed day of rest, no boat going to shore. Towards noon a pretty
+smart shower of rain fell, the first for six months. Several of the
+natives came off in their canoes, and brought fowls, eggs, cocoa-nuts, and
+various other fruits, as also monkeys and parrots. Rupees, English
+shillings and sixpences, were evidently not unknown to them, as they
+greatly preferred these in exchange to mere toys and showy articles.
+
+On the 22nd we made an excursion to a bay on the island of Great Nicobar
+or Sambelong. All that portion of the coast lying opposite our anchorage
+was quite uninhabited, evidently in consequence of the entire absence at
+this point of the cocoa-palm, whereas on the west coast there are several
+good-sized villages. Unfortunately, however, these lay at far too great a
+distance from the frigate to permit of an excursion being made thither. As
+our boat, after an hour's rowing, approached the little bay, we perceived
+at the mouth of a small creek the singular spectacle of a dead mangrove
+forest. Some great storm had apparently thrown up a sand-drive here, so as
+to cut off the supply of sea-water even at full tide. As the mangrove only
+flourishes in salt or brackish water, it had thus been deprived of its
+vital element, and the trees had accordingly perished in the fresh water.
+But the lofty stems still stood, withered and blighted, a ghastly garden
+of death amidst delicious green peaks covered with forest. As the sun
+rose, a white vapour lay like a winding-sheet over the dead swamp: one
+felt the uncomfortable sensation of being in a place where miasmata were
+poisoning the air, while the soil was generating death. The rigid
+skeletons of these trees recall to the recollection of the stranger, who
+stands marvelling at the all-powerful energies of Nature to create and
+destroy in these regions, how many corpses of his fellow-Europeans are
+mouldering beneath the damp soil of this island! Fortunately the river has
+once more broken through the bar, and given access to the sea-water, so
+that beneath the dead forest a fresh green vegetation was fast springing
+up.
+
+The crew of a Malay prahu from Penang had selected this dull spot for a
+regular settlement, in order to collect ripe cocoa-nuts, and Trepang, the
+edible sea-slug (_Holothuria_) already mentioned, the latter for the
+Chinese market. These people occupied a large wooden shed, and were
+provisioned for a somewhat long stay. Except this shed there was not one
+single hut here, all around being nothing but dense forest and swamp; but
+some natives of the island of Kondul came over in their canoes to trade
+hens and eggs with us. The Malay vessels which visit these islands almost
+all come hither from Penang, about the beginning of the N.E. monsoon, and
+remain during the whole of the dry season, so as to take in a full cargo
+of the various natural produce of the island. They bring for barter fine
+Chinese tobacco, calico, knives, axes, hatchets, cutlasses, clothes, and
+black round hats. In former years they also imported the betel shrub into
+Great Nicobar for propagation; where, in fact, it has been planted, and
+has since then increased to such an extent that its importation is no
+longer remunerative. With the commencement of the S.W. monsoons and the
+rainy season, the Malay traders with their profitable cargoes make their
+way back to Penang, and the other places along the coast of the peninsula
+of Malacca. Thanks to the presence of these people, the members of the
+Expedition were enabled to compare the Nicobar idiom with that of the
+Malays, and could thus ascertain the exceeding discrepancies between these
+two languages.[15] These merchants ordinarily bring with them a few
+individuals who have a slight knowledge of the Nicobar language, as the
+Malay tongue is not understood anywhere in this archipelago.
+
+One of the Malay seamen, named Tschingi, from Penang, whose caste was
+indicated by the long stripes of a bluish green colour painted upon his
+dark brown forehead, peculiar to the Hindu god Siva, told us that he
+recollected being employed as a boy in the service of Pastor Rosen on the
+island of Kamorta, with whom he remained till his return to Europe. He
+spoke with much admiration of that estimable and thoroughly deserving
+gentleman, and remarked that many Chinese and other settlers had
+accompanied him to Kamorta, all of whom speedily succumbed to the fever.
+
+The native known as John Bull, who had followed us hither from Pulo Milu,
+made his appearance at the bay, accompanied by some of his kindred, and
+brought us some provisions. He seemed firmly to believe that in the
+interior of the island of Sambelong, in its southern part, there existed
+some wild inhabitants of a different race, Baju-oal-Tschua (or junglemen,
+as he called them), who lived entirely in the woods, in small huts
+erected upon the banks of the streams, and were so timid that they took to
+flight so soon as any one endeavoured to approach them. He also told us
+that in the S. and S.W. sides of Sambelong there were eleven villages:
+viz. Hinkoata, Changanhei, Hinhaha, Haengangloeh, Kanalla, Taeingha,
+Dayak, Kanchingtong, Dagoak, Hinlawua, and Kalemma.
+
+In the course of the day, not only was a highly successful onslaught made
+on the denizens of the woodland, but even the fishes in bay were not
+exempted from our attentions;--a net, which was flung over the side and
+retained there barely half an hour, being hauled ashore with upwards of a
+hundred weight of small fish. Of this the entire ship's company partook,
+and sufficient was left over for the next day. Our quarry in the swamps
+and forest consisted of snipes, of a splendidly plumed Maina bird
+(_Gracula Indica_), eagles, and apes; unfortunately a number of the
+animals shot were lost by their retreating into the thicket, where they
+could not be recovered.
+
+On the morning of the 23rd of March the frigate again made sail and
+steered along the west coast of Great Nicobar, while two boats' crews were
+despatched with the requisite instruments to examine this quite unexplored
+coast. This plan, however, proved only half successful. The tremendous
+surf, into which the long swell setting in from the S.W. is broken
+hereabouts, hurled the larger boat upon the beach with such violence that
+it was capsized, by which a great portion of her freight was utterly lost,
+and her crew could only escape to shore by swimming. The smaller, or
+jolly-boat, returned to the ship with two of her crew to fetch assistance
+for these woe-begone wights. One of the latter, who coolly spoke of the
+accident as a "_piccola disgrazietta_,"[16] with the same breath informed
+us that almost all the instruments, note-books, and implements of the
+chase which had been taken on board, were irretrievably gone. Another
+quarter-boat was despatched to bring off our shipwrecked companions, who
+meanwhile remained on the shore in anything but enviable plight, soaked to
+the skin, hungry and thirsty, and busily employed in fishing up some few
+of the articles that had been overturned into the water. At last both
+boats got safely back in company about midnight, but under such
+circumstances that it was out of the question to think of prosecuting the
+examination that had been commenced. We now lay a course for the southern
+bay of Great Nicobar, where, shortly after 9 P.M. of the 24th March, we
+cast anchor near the little stream called "Galatea" by the Danish
+expedition. The midshipman intrusted with the commission of selecting the
+most suitable spot to disembark, returned after several hours' absence,
+with the little consolatory intelligence, that along the entire reach of
+coast which he had examined, there was but one solitary spot at which it
+was possible to land without danger from a boat of European construction.
+In the course of the day we received numbers of natives on board; among
+the rest, one man still young, with immense spectacles, which undoubtedly
+were worn much more for personal adornment than for use. They brought off
+for sale a few apes, parrots, hens, swine, cocoa-nuts, as also some rosin,
+tortoise-shell, amber, and a few large eggs of a species of wood-pigeon,
+called by the natives Mekeni, of which unfortunately we did not succeed in
+seeing a single specimen, despite our utmost exertions.
+
+The following morning, 26th March, amid occasional premonitory symptoms of
+the approach of the rainy season, the naturalists and some officers
+endeavoured to effect a landing at a place where alone it seemed possible
+for the broad, clumsy boats of our western waters. In this we succeeded.
+Again we were able, although drenched to the skin, to set foot on Nicobar
+soil. It was for the last time we did so. Not a single vestige could be
+discerned along the beach of any human habitations:--all was thick
+tropical forest, fringed with enormous _Barringtoni[oe] Gigante[oe]_,
+which in all their primeval weirdness flung their branches over the water,
+interlaced in wild confusion. After half an hour's wandering along the hot
+beach, we came unexpectedly, at a point somewhat south of our point of
+disembarkation, upon a couple of wretched disconsolate-looking huts. Not a
+human being was visible,--only a pair of hens and a pig, which were
+parading about untended; the bamboo poles, which usually figure in front
+of the native huts, had been carried away. However, in their absence it
+did not cost us much trouble to penetrate into the interior. A few weapons
+of war or the chase, a number of hollowed-out perfumed cocoa-nut shells
+suspended above the fire-place, a pair of elegantly plaited baskets, a
+boat's sail made of pandanus leaves, some straw mats, and a couple of
+marvellously finished figures, formed the very miscellaneous inventory of
+this Nicobar household. The figures (cut in wood) and a very
+neatly-executed basket attracted to themselves our special attention as
+interesting specimens of the industry and taste of the natives of Nicobar.
+We could not resist possessing ourselves of these, at the same time
+leaving in recompense a quantity of shining six-penny pieces, fully twenty
+times the utmost possible value of what had been taken away, depositing
+them in one of the baskets which was suspended in a conspicuous position
+in the middle of the hut.
+
+Adjoining this hamlet was a forest of cocoa-palms. We penetrated into it,
+and suddenly found ourselves, to our great astonishment, on the track of a
+well-worn footpath, which was probably, with the exception of the paths in
+Great Nicobar and Pulo Milu, in better condition than any other we had
+hitherto encountered in the Nicobar Islands. What more natural than to
+suppose that a path so well worn must necessarily lead to an important
+settlement? It passed first through an extensive and splendid
+palm-plantation, and afterwards through a very beautiful clump of leafy
+trees, fringing a little brook, whose channel, it being then the end of
+the dry season, was quite dried up. Frequently we were obliged to clamber
+over steep blocks of rock, with footsteps hewn in them by the hand of man,
+for facilitating the passage, and at last, after a scramble of several
+hours, highly interesting, but exceedingly fatiguing, we reached a cleared
+spot on the sea-beach, but without being able to discern the remotest
+trace of any human habitations. On the contrary, it seemed to admit of no
+doubt that this path, as also some spots that had been cleared, were
+nothing but the preparations for an intended settlement, which can only be
+successfully carried out here where the cocoa-palm and screw-pine have
+first struck root. Some of the sailors, who accompanied us as porters and
+escort, went forward as far as the extreme point of the bay, but there
+also they found no trace of any human abode. After a brief rest we
+returned by the same track, to the spot at which we had disembarked, where
+we were joined by some of the officers, who, more fortunate than
+ourselves, had encountered some of the natives, and had even seen them in
+their dwellings. They spoke of the interiors of the huts they visited as
+being quite as wretched as those on the other islands, only the
+inhabitants did not seem so shy or timorous. Far from this, they had
+regaled our lucky companions with palm-wine, and had accompanied them till
+they fell in with us. With this visit ended the thirty-second day of our
+stay in the Nicobar Archipelago, only one half of that period having been
+spent on land, the rest having been occupied in beating about against
+unfavourable winds.
+
+Before, however, we take our departure from this most interesting group of
+islands, _en route_ for the Sunda Islands and China, we shall be excused
+for briefly recapitulating the main results of our observations and
+investigations, while referring the reader for a more detailed
+specification of our labours to the various special divisions yet to
+appear.
+
+The Nicobar Islands, situated right in the most important highway of
+commerce, which is destined to acquire yet greater importance, so soon as
+the projected opening of the Suez Canal has been carried out, and
+extending in their general direction from S.S.E. to N.N.W., seem like an
+extension of the main central mountain-chain of Sumatra, which is
+prolonged yet further to the northward through the Andaman group, and in
+its crescent-shaped arrangement, with the convexity towards the westward,
+corresponds with Cape Negrais in the peninsula of Malacca. If from this
+Archipelago, as a centre, a circle be described of about 1200 nautical
+miles of radius, it will include the most important commercial cities of
+India, as well as Ceylon, the majority of the Sunda Islands, and Cochin
+China. The winds usually prevalent here greatly facilitate the passage of
+vessels from the adjoining islands and coasts of _terra firma_, and
+proportionately enhance the importance of this Archipelago.
+
+With but few exceptions, the shores of the whole group of islands consist
+of coral sand, or are fringed with coral banks, which latter extend
+seaward to a depth of thirty fathoms. In like manner almost all the bays
+seem to be edged with coral reefs, if indeed they are not actually studded
+with them. The promontories frequently present cliffs both above and below
+the level of the ocean, extending a couple of miles into the sea, which,
+what with the occasional rapid currents and light breezes, are not always
+very easily weathered. The prevailing winds are the two monsoons, the N.E.
+in the months of November, December, January, February, and March, the
+S.W. in May, June, July, August, and September. During the months of April
+and October, there are variable winds and calms, extending more or less
+into the adjoining months. The currents vary in direction with the
+passages between the islands, and depend upon the ebb and flow of the
+tide, varying in force and direction with the tidal phenomena. Ordinarily
+these make themselves felt during the making of the tide from S.W. to
+N.E., and in a contrary direction during the ebb.
+
+Due south of Kar-Nicobar, we found while lying at anchor a current running
+3-1/2 miles an hour, two days after the full moon; north of Little
+Nicobar, near the small island of Treis, where the current compelled us to
+anchor, its velocity, as we experienced two days after new moon, is as
+high as 4-1/2 miles an hour. These observations refer to a period when the
+velocity of the current was at its maximum. In light winds, and when near
+the coast, one must always let go the anchor, or at least lay out a kedge,
+the latter however being barely sufficient at several spots immediately
+after the full or the new moon. According to observations made during five
+days about the period of full moon, the course of tide at Kar-Nicobar may
+be assumed at 9h. 40m., and the difference in height between ebb and flood
+at five feet.
+
+In these waters, and in a still more marked degree in the latitude of
+Sumatra, occurs a belt within which the wave-currents form what is known
+to English navigators as "The Ripples." The sea here is ranged
+zone-fashion, so to speak, as though in fact in a state of ebullition, and
+makes a considerable noise, yet without there being anything to indicate
+an increased strength of current; since, on the contrary, we found when
+reaching these tracts, that the velocity of current was if anything rather
+diminished. We conceive this phenomenon may be attributed to the agitation
+caused by partial tidal currents, crossing each others' course, and
+occasionally even running counter to each other, as also to certain
+special conditions of ocean temperature at varying depths. The changes of
+the tides at points of the coast, proportionally speaking so near each
+other, are so widely different in point of time, and the height reached by
+the waves is so little uniform, that any such phenomenon as the above must
+naturally make itself perceptible at the surface in the open sea.
+
+While the change of tide at Kar-Nicobar takes place every 9h. 40m., that
+of Cape Diamond in Sumatra is laid down in the English chart at 12h., and
+on the sand-banks in the Straits of Malacca at only 5h. 30m. The
+difference in elevation assigned exhibits a similar discrepancy in the
+estimates; that for Kar-Nicobar being stated at five feet, that for Cape
+Diamond at 10 feet, and on the sand-banks already mentioned at 15 feet.
+The hurricanes of the Bay of Bengal never visit the Nicobars; they seem to
+originate part in or about the Andaman Islands, part from the west coast
+of Sumatra, proceeding in the former case towards the northern portions of
+the gulf, and in the latter towards the Coromandel coast and Ceylon.
+
+During the S.W. monsoon, in which occurs the rainy season, frequent
+thunder-storms and even gales of wind occur, especially in the vicinity of
+Great Nicobar. The dry N.E. monsoon again brings fine weather, but
+sometimes blows with considerable strength.
+
+Kar-Nicobar has no regular harbour, but presents on its north side a
+spacious land-locked bay nearly rectangular, the holding ground of which
+is a coral sand of from 10 to 16 fathoms, and is thoroughly sheltered to
+the S.W. and N.E. During the N.E. monsoon it is advisable to lie somewhat
+closer in with the northern promontory of the island. At this season it is
+difficult to find any spot at which small boats can disembark. However,
+near the northern point it is possible to reach the shore in a small cove,
+the western boundary of which presents an open space of coral sand, where
+it is possible to lie to in deep water with even a good-sized boat. The
+village of Saoui, which gives its name to the roadstead, is not readily
+accessible during the N.E. monsoon in consequence of the surf, but the
+very next indentation of the coast facing eastwards, which is protected
+seaward by a coral reef, offers a well-sheltered point of disembarkation,
+where the boats can be beached on the smooth coral sand, and thereafter
+drawn up high and dry.
+
+During the N.E. monsoon it is also practicable to avail oneself of the bay
+on the S. side of Kar-Nicobar, or to anchor anywhere along the W. side of
+the island, but such anchorages possess no other protection than is
+afforded by long points of land projecting far into the ocean, and usually
+protracted by coral reefs.
+
+Both in the bay of Saoui, and on the south side of Kar-Nicobar, are found
+small brooks, which run with water even during the dry season. It is
+difficult however to water hereabouts, because these rivulets are blocked
+up with sand-bars, not to speak of the obstacles interposed to the landing
+of boats, by the tremendous surf and the low swampy shore at most periods
+of the year. In cases of extreme necessity, however, the little rivulet
+called the Areca might with some difficulty be made available.
+
+Chowra, Kamorta, and Bampoka, have no regular anchorages; a vessel must be
+content to ride to leeward of that coast, which will act as a shelter
+against whichever monsoon happens to be blowing. Disembarkation by means
+of boats is extremely difficult, and it is much better to make use of a
+native canoe, which, after transporting the visitor through the surf to
+the land, can be more easily drawn up on the beach.
+
+Tillangschong possesses a beautiful harbour on the S. side, which however
+is open to the S.E., but during the greater part of the year affords an
+excellent anchorage. The most southerly point has numerous cliffs and
+needles of rock where it projects into the sea, but it is possible to
+approach within a few fathoms of the southernmost of these with vessels
+of any size.
+
+On the west side of the island, at the spot where its two halves may be
+said to blend, the northernmost rugged, the more southerly flat, a pretty
+good anchorage will be found, which seems to be sheltered towards the S.W.
+by several solitary projecting rocks. Generally speaking, but more
+especially to the N. and E., this island presents a steep precipitous
+shore, so that, with the exception here and there of a few solitary rocks,
+close in to the shore, there is nothing but clear deep water around almost
+the entire island to within about 10 fathoms of the land.
+
+The harbour of Nangkauri is rather roomy, but of very unequal though for
+the most part considerable depth; the soundings in its midst giving
+between 20 and 30 fathoms. The promontories are all more or less
+low-lying, and thickly beset with coral reefs, and caution is the more
+necessary, since it is far from unusual after working in from 20 to 16
+fathoms, to find the water shoal suddenly to four or even three fathoms.
+The anchorage formed by the two islands of Kamorta and Nangkauri has two
+entrances, from the east and from the west, the navigation of which by
+large ships demands the utmost vigilance. The western entrance is barely a
+cable's length in width, while the island of Nangkauri has hardly any
+fair-way for vessels along its exterior coast-line. In consequence of the
+two islands trending towards each other at that point, the harbour near
+its middle is greatly narrowed, so that there may almost be said to be
+two harbours. In either of them a vessel is quite safe, being in fact so
+thoroughly sheltered from all winds that the heat is occasionally
+overpowering.
+
+On the west side of Kamorta, six or seven miles north of the western
+entrance of the harbour, will be found a large sheet of water, called
+Ulala Bay, in the first half of which there is excellent anchorage; but
+the vapours emanating from the abundant mangrove swamps render residence
+here extremely unhealthy. As Ulala Cove runs for the most part parallel
+with Nangkauri Harbour, and is separated from the latter only by a range
+of low eminences, the near proximity of these mangrove swamps likewise
+imparts their baleful influence to the air of Nangkauri Harbour. There is
+absolutely no water here fit for drinking.
+
+Katchal has large bays on both its west and its east sides, but they are
+almost entirely silted up with coral sand. The channel between Katchal and
+Kamorta is clear. Here we made short tacks in passing through, approaching
+the shores on either side within half a mile.
+
+Little Nicobar has a good harbour on the north side, formed by the island
+of Pulo Milu and the N. coast of Little Nicobar, which is bent almost at a
+right angle. This anchorage is accessible in all winds, and is well
+sheltered, but a considerable portion adjoining the shore of Little
+Nicobar is rendered useless by banks of coral.
+
+Notwithstanding the most careful examination of this part of the coast,
+we could not discover the spot, which in the Danish charts is marked as
+furnishing water fit for drinking, but perceived nothing save mangrove
+swamps, with numerous water-courses filled with brackish water, the two
+largest of which we navigated in our gondola as far as was practicable.
+
+The island of Kondul in St. George's Channel forms another very fair
+anchorage; and similarly on the N. side of Great Nicobar, one finds
+several suitable bays, the most easterly of which, called Ganges Harbour,
+is fringed with coral banks, rendering it proportionately difficult of
+access. The anchorage of Kondul may be selected for one reason, namely,
+that it is land-locked towards both N.E. and S.W., besides having the
+additional advantage of being airy, and distant from the mangrove swamps,
+whereas in the bays on the N. coast of Great Nicobar these are of immense
+extent. One of these mangrove swamps in the central cove was traversed by
+one of the naturalists, the result of which was that he found a river
+debouching into the sea through the very heart of the swamp, which,
+however, so long as the sea-water could find entrance, was not of course
+drinkable.
+
+On the west side of Great Nicobar, along the whole length of which we
+sailed, but which we could not visit more carefully, owing to want of time
+and the heavy S.W. swell of the ocean, several other promontories and
+coves are apparently available as harbours, and moreover may be supposed
+to be the embouchures of rivers. At the south point of Great Nicobar there
+is a large bay, which however being quite exposed from S.W. to S.E. must
+be anything but a safe anchorage during the S.W. monsoon. During the
+prevalence of the N.E. monsoon it seems tolerably well suited for an
+anchorage, if the eastern promontory be kept S.E. by S., and the anchor be
+cast in soundings of from 10 to 13 fathoms. Landing, however, is at all
+times a matter of difficulty, as the surf is very boisterous and the swell
+of the sea pretty heavy. Its most remote point is the mouth of the river
+Galatea, which, however, is closed by a sand-bar, and for that reason
+cannot be easily reached. This bay, owing to its configuration, is
+excessively hot and sweltering, and with reference to its salubrity cannot
+be recommended as a suitable abode.
+
+The climate of the Archipelago, though tropical, is not nevertheless to be
+ranked among the hottest, in consequence of its insular position, and of
+the whole of the islands being thickly clothed with forest. Hence the
+quantity of rain, which, as has been seen, is sufficient to keep the
+rivers full even in the dry season. According to the meteorological
+observations made on these islands by various observers at different
+periods of the year, the average temperature does not exceed 77 deg. Fahr.,
+much about the temperature of the fluid found in the fresh unripe
+cocoa-nut. But during the months of April and October respectively, at
+which period calms prevail in these islands, the maximum temperature of
+86 deg. to 88 deg. Fahr. is reached.
+
+Considering the violence with which rain falls, and that the dry season of
+the N.E. monsoon from November to March, and the damp season of the S.W.
+monsoon from April to October, are by no means so sharply defined on these
+islands as on the adjoining coasts of the mainland, the quantity of annual
+rainfall must be enormous. At certain times it is not much less than 100
+or even 150 inches, and yet it probably is not so high as that presented
+by other localities, which experience the regular changes of the monsoons,
+as for instance, in the Straits of Malacca, where the annual rainfall is
+208 inches, or Mahableshwur south of Bombay, where it amounts to no less
+than 254 inches! March is the dryest month in the year. During the whole
+of the month, which we spent on the islands or in their immediate
+vicinity, we only had three sharp thunder-storms. These become more
+frequent and severe during April, until about May or June the S.W. monsoon
+sets in and envelopes the islands in rain-clouds. Where some special
+physical configuration of the soil does not admit of the rapid carrying
+off of the redundant deluge of rain, the island must necessarily be
+unusually well off for water. Of the correctness of this theory we were
+enabled thoroughly to satisfy ourselves, since the close of the dry season
+is necessarily unfavourable to there being any water remaining in the
+streams and brooks; notwithstanding which even the smallest of the
+islands, Pulo Milu and Kondul, although their rivulets had ceased to flow,
+possessed a sufficient supply of sweet drinkable water among the numerous
+basin-shaped pools that occur in the beds of the various streams. From the
+forest-covered slopes of Tillangschong also, small streams of fresh water
+are continually trickling. The insignificant brooks and rivers of the
+large well-wooded islands lying further to the south of Great and Little
+Nicobar, are in like manner kept full the whole year by the blessed
+abundance of the watery element. On the other hand, the northern islands,
+so far at least as the marl-formation extends, seem to be but scantily
+supplied with water, especially on Kamorta, Nangkauri, Tringkut, and
+apparently Teressa and Bampoka as well. All the small streams on the two
+first-named islands, which fall into the Nangkauri harbour, were found to
+be very nearly dried up.
+
+The principal beverage of the natives of these islands is the fluid
+contents of the unripe cocoa-nut, while it should seem that they fetch the
+water required for house purposes from the pools of sweet water, which
+they find scattered here and there among the river-courses. Springs we saw
+none, with the exception of the old ruined one of the Moravian Brethren
+near the village of Malacca on the island of Nangkauri. Kar-Nicobar,
+although likewise belonging to the same marl-formation as the
+before-mentioned islands, has nevertheless no lack of drinkable water,
+since the expanse of land raised from eight to twelve feet above the level
+of the ocean constitutes the site of those singular springs, the sweet
+water in which rises and falls with the ebb and flow of the tide. The
+explanation of this singular phenomenon must not be sought for in the
+filtration of the sea-water by the coral rock, but is simply due to the
+rain-water, being the lighter, floating upon the surface of the
+sea-water, which is heavier, while the porous coral rock prevents the
+complete intermixture of the salt and fresh water. In the villages of
+Moose and Saoui on Kar-Nicobar we saw several such cisterns, which always
+had eight or ten feet good fresh water. Of rivers, properly so called, we
+found but two, one falling into the northern Bay of Kar-Nicobar, the other
+at the southern point of Great Nicobar. The former, which from the
+luxuriant growth of the cabbage tree along its banks we named
+"Areca-river," is navigable for flat-boats for about two miles from its
+mouth, at which point further progress is arrested by some small rapids.
+Here the water is quite sweet, holding but a very little chalk in
+solution.
+
+We found no mineral waters or warm springs. The hardened marl deposits of
+Nangkauri harbour we perceived however to be encased in a crust an inch
+thick of sulphate of magnesia, and fine silk-like glistening fibres; this
+results from the clay-marl containing sulphate of magnesia, so that very
+possibly by digging cistern-shaped cavities, a bitter saline solution
+might be obtained similar to that at present obtained under similar
+circumstances at Billin in Bohemia.
+
+In consequence of the extraordinarily rich vegetation, the dampness of the
+soil, and the numerous mangrove swamps all along the coast, the climate,
+as may readily be conceived, is at present anything but salubrious. During
+the changes of the monsoons especially, a fever breaks out of so malignant
+a type that it is very frequently fatal to Europeans.
+
+But, so long as dense forest, creeping plants, and swamps encumber the
+soil, there can be no country within the tropics favourable to the health
+of man, and all immigrants or other persons who make a sufficiently long
+stay in such localities, prepare themselves for being visited by maladies
+of the most formidable nature, among which fever and dysentery play the
+most conspicuous part.
+
+Similar conditions are occasionally met with in certain parts of Europe
+where swamp and uncultivated land are exposed to the influences of a high
+temperature, of which examples enough are furnished in the malaria of
+Italy, and the marsh fever of the lagoons of Venice and along the coasts
+of Istria. And if such visitations make less impression upon us in Europe,
+it is not that there is little danger, but simply because, as habit is
+second nature, the regularity of their return has ceased to attract
+attention.
+
+This is precisely what the English have experienced in the East Indies, it
+is what the German emigrant is now going through on the banks of the
+Mississippi and Ohio, in Brazil and in Peru, until the forests are cleared
+and rendered productive, until, in short, advancing cultivation has
+dispelled those miasmata, which are inevitably developed amid the
+undisturbed voluptuousness of nature.
+
+When at certain seasons of the year the vital principles of millions upon
+millions of organisms begin to be active, they throw off oxygen into the
+atmosphere, replacing it by absorbing carbonic acid; while, on the other
+hand, different organisms, in conformity with known chemical laws, are
+destroyed under similar conditions, and, under the influence of the
+atmosphere co-operating with humidity, ferment and become decomposed. From
+all which processes result products of emanation, which, caught up into
+the atmosphere and whirled away by the wind, become in their turn the
+means of nutriment and fertilization to other plants, thus imparting to
+tropical vegetation that marvellous rankness and super-abundance so fatal
+to the human frame. But the conditions which produce this tendency in the
+atmosphere to generate fever are not peculiar to certain localities, or
+strictly confined to these; they can be averted, and with them the vapours
+so prejudicial to health may be removed. We have but to raise up a barrier
+against that mighty all-devouring process of life and vegetation, which
+imperils our own conditions of existence, we have but to withdraw from the
+powerful agencies of chemical action the substances undergoing
+decomposition, to constrain the waters of heaven to follow certain
+definite directions, to drain every swamp, to clear the forest, to sweep
+away the dense underwood in order that the wind may wander unchecked over
+the now fertilized soil, and a wondrous alteration will take place in the
+climatic conditions of the Nicobar Islands. Of what may be achieved under
+such circumstances by energy and perseverance, the island of Penang, some
+350 nautical miles distant, furnishes the most striking example, which
+within a very few decades has, by dint of the progressive clearing and
+cultivation of the soil, been converted from a den of fever and malaria,
+a spot shunned by all men as a residence, into one of the most healthy
+localities in the East, so much so indeed that it has been made a resort
+for invalids!
+
+Seduced by the attractive beauty of the harbour of Nangkauri, the various
+attempts at founding a settlement have almost without exception been
+confined to that site. Upon a more close examination however of the
+precise spot selected for these settlements, it becomes at once apparent
+that they were for the most part pitched upon the neck of land which
+divides the land-locked ill-ventilated harbour of Nangkauri from the Bay
+of Ulala, surrounded as it is on all sides by thick mangrove swamps.
+
+On such a site did the settlers erect their huts, and there, often at but
+a short interval after their arrival, did they find their grave; and if a
+very few of their number resisted the deadly influence of the miasmatic
+vapours, if even they were able for several years to drag along a
+miserable existence in such a scene, these can only be regarded as
+striking examples of an unusual vigour of constitution. It is true that
+most of these missionaries who founded settlements here were by no means
+properly housed and fed, which in such a climate is a matter of absolute
+prime necessity for the preservation of health. Often when already
+attacked with fever they toiled, spade in hand, delving the ground amid
+the exhausting heat of a tropical day in order to secure the means of
+subsistence, or gathered shell-fish along the beach, or hunted for
+reptiles or birds through the swamps and forest, in order to provide
+themselves, by the sale of these natural curiosities in Europe, with the
+means of existence in those distant regions. Not without feelings of the
+keenest emotion and deepest sympathy is it possible to peruse the
+description given by one of these missionaries, Father Haensel, of his mode
+of life on the island of Nangkauri, where he lived for seven years amidst
+the greatest privations and hardships. "On my frequent excursions along
+the sea-coast," says the noble, high-souled missionary, "it sometimes
+happened that I was benighted, and I could not with convenience return to
+our dwelling; but I was never at a loss for a bed. The greater part of the
+beach consists of a remarkably fine white sand, which above high-water
+mark is perfectly clean and dry. Into this I dug with ease a hole large
+enough to contain my body, forming a mound as a pillow for my head; I then
+lay down, and by collecting the sand over me buried myself in it up to the
+neck. My faithful dog always laid across my body, ready to give the alarm
+in case of disturbance from any quarter. However, I was under no
+apprehensions from wild animals; crocodiles and caimans never haunt the
+open coast, but keep in creeks and lagoons; and there are no other
+ravenous beasts on the island. The only annoyance I suffered, was from the
+nocturnal perambulations of an immense variety of crabs of all sizes, the
+crackling noise of whose armour would sometimes keep me awake. But they
+were well watched by my dog, and if any one ventured to approach too near,
+he was sure to be suddenly seized and thrown to a more respectful
+distance. Or if a crab of a more tremendous appearance would deter my dog
+from exposing his nose to its claws, he would bark and frighten it away,
+by which however I was sometimes more seriously alarmed than the occasion
+required. Many a comfortable night's rest have I had in these sepulchral
+dormitories when the nights were clear and dry, and the heavens spangled
+with stars."[17]
+
+After such a description, one cannot but feel astonished that any of these
+men, jealous for the faith, should have been able to linger on for years
+in such a plight, and assuredly no one will refuse to these heroes of
+Christianity their meed of the deepest admiration and gratitude, which
+they merit none the less that their labours among these natives were
+almost entirely unattended by any permanent good results.
+
+It seems specially worthy of remark that the crew of the Austrian ship
+_Joseph and Theresa_, which spent as much as five months here, and that
+too during the rainy season (April to September), almost entirely escaped
+fever. This fact sufficiently proves that the rainy season is by no means
+the most unhealthy, but that the periods of transition from the dry to the
+wet season, and _vice versa_, must be considered as invariably
+prejudicial. At these times light variable winds alternate with
+thunder-showers, after which there is usually experienced great heat by
+solar radiation, which at once liberates the noxious emanations of the
+humid soil. Further on, during the actual rainy season, when the heavens
+are almost continually veiled, and the condition of the atmosphere and the
+soil is alike one of complete saturation, this phenomenon appears much
+less marked, and becomes in a corresponding degree less dangerous to human
+organization.
+
+We are also of opinion that the time from the end of March to the end of
+April, as also the months of September and October, are the most
+insalubrious parts of the year, although on the Nicobars a man may be
+struck down with fever at any season, so soon as those precautions have
+been neglected, which are so necessary to observe in the uncultivated
+regions of the tropics. An instance on this point is furnished in the case
+of the crew of the Danish corvette _Galatea_. Of thirty individuals
+engaged in an exploring expedition up what is known as the Galatea river,
+in the southern Bay of Great Nicobar, and caught one night in a
+thunder-storm, which compelled them to remain in the forest wringing wet,
+no fewer than twenty-one fell ill of fever, which ultimately proved fatal
+in four cases.
+
+So far as our own experience goes, the state of health on board the
+frigate during a stay of thirty-two days was highly satisfactory. During
+that entire period, out of 350 men only six took ill with fever, which
+number, however, at a later period during our passage to the straits of
+Malacca, was increased to 21. Singular to say, those of the ship's
+company, who during our stay had _never set foot_ on the Nicobar Islands,
+furnished the largest contingent of cases of fever, while of both officers
+and naturalists, who spent the whole day together among the swamps and the
+forest, and were exposed to all manner of fatigue, only three got upon the
+sick list. On the whole, however, even the few severer cases made an
+excellent recovery, and by the time we had anchored in the harbour of
+Singapore, all the fever patients were once more either quite well, or in
+a fair way towards convalescence.
+
+As the examination of this Archipelago was, in consequence of the all but
+impenetrable forests, confined to the narrow strip of land along the
+shore, we had almost said to the region of cocoa-palms exclusively, its
+various geognostic features were very inadequately, yet withal
+approximately, ascertained. If we admit that a covering of vegetation of
+the utmost variety and primeval luxuriance, untouched by the hand of man,
+and entirely unreclaimed by cultivation, may be considered as the
+expressive feature by which an estimate could be arrived at of the
+different geognostic conditions of soil beneath, we may succeed in our
+attempt from the characteristics of this primeval vegetation, to come to
+some definite conclusion as to the quality and the greater or lesser
+productiveness of the ground. According to this method of computing, it
+would seem that,
+
+I. The forest, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, includes 70/100
+of the entire surface of the island:--the soil being limestone, rich in
+alkalies, spungy, with clay-sand, and exceedingly fertile.
+
+II. On the other hand, the grass vegetation proper may be set down at
+15/100 of the surface: a barren, clay soil.
+
+III. The cocoa forest may be estimated at 5/100 of the entire area; upon a
+fruitful soil of coral conglomerate, coral sand, and dried alluvium.
+
+IV. In like manner the screw-pine forests cover 5/100 of the entire
+insular surface, the soil marshy but well suited for cultivation, with
+fresh-water bogs, and moist fresh-water alluvium.
+
+V. Lastly, the mangrove forest in like manner may be roughly estimated at
+5/100 of the superficial area, and is a swampy soil, unfitted for
+cultivation, consisting of salt-water marshes, and alluvium, moistened by
+salt-water.
+
+The entire superficial area of the islands may be computed at about 627
+square miles. Reckoning only 7/10 therefore of the surface as consisting
+of soil suitable for culture, which may undoubtedly be assumed as a fair
+approximation, we have a surface of 439 square miles capable of being made
+productive. But even the very ground now exclusively covered with grass,
+might be made productive with a more numerous population and a
+corresponding improvement in cultivation, so that these islands, now the
+abode of about 5000 savages, could easily support in comfort a population
+of over 100,000 industrious men.
+
+At present the chief product of the islands is the cocoa-nut palm, which
+grows for the most part on the sea-shore, so far as the coral sand
+reaches. Within the same limits is the existence of the inhabitants
+confined, destitute as they are of industry or the capacity to cultivate
+the soil. This invaluable plant seldom extends far into the interior, and
+from this circumstance was named by a celebrated German traveller and
+botanist, Martius, the "Sea-shore palm." It is, however, as yet undecided
+whether the cocoa-palm is indigenous to the Nicobar Islands, or whether,
+cast on these shores by the waves, it has, by virtue of its well-known
+property of putting forth shoots even in salt-water, gradually propagated
+itself without any assistance from man.
+
+It is said that the profit realized by those engaged in the trade in these
+nuts, amounts to from 20 to 40 per cent., and could greatly be increased,
+if, as for example in Ceylon, oil-presses were erected, by means of which
+the expense of transporting the heavy bulky loads of nuts would be
+economised, the oil being exported direct. On the more northerly islands
+the cocoa forest embraces proportionately a far larger area, those more to
+the south being much less abundantly supplied, especially Greater Nicobar,
+where there is hardly any. Accordingly the more northerly islands are much
+the more densely peopled, and the cocoa-palms are there subdivided as
+property, while on the southern islands they seem to be freely enjoyed in
+common.
+
+Next in importance to the cocoa-nut palm, as a means of subsistence to
+the inhabitants, is the _Pandanus Melori_, of the family of the Pandaneae,
+the fruit of which (Melori or Caldevia of the Portuguese, the Larohm of
+the natives) supplies the place of rice and Indian corn, neither of which
+are grown on the island, owing to the ignorance of the islanders of the
+principles of cultivation, although the nature of the soil seems eminently
+suited to the production of both. From the huge fruit of this Pandanus, a
+species of bread is prepared, very similar to apple-marmalade, which is
+eaten by the natives along with the soft white kernel of the ripe
+cocoa-nut. The leaves are prepared as mats of every sort and description,
+and are occasionally used for the manufacture of sails.
+
+The Bread-fruit tree (_Podocarpus incisa_), which furnishes such excellent
+nutriment, that, according to Cook,[18] three trees suffice to support a
+man during eight months, is found on the islands in single individuals,
+and we never happened to see its fruit used by the natives. The plantain
+too seemed but sparingly planted, although the elegant leafy green canopy
+of this the most important and nutritious plant, after the cocoa-nut,
+requires but little care in cultivation. The sugar-cane, the muscat-nut
+tree (_Myristia Moschatea_), and the _Cardamum Elettaria_,[19] grow and
+flourish on most of the islands, and orange and lemon trees of the most
+stupendous proportions may be met with, growing wild in the immediate
+vicinity of the native dwellings.
+
+Of tubers we only found the yam growing in considerable quantities, but it
+seems to be cultivated by the natives more as an article of exchange with
+the ships visiting the islands, than for their own use. So far however as
+we could ascertain the capabilities of the soil, the Jucca (_Jakopha
+Manihot_), the sweet potato (the _Camote_ of the Spanish colonies), and
+other American tuberous roots, might flourish here at least as well as on
+the hot damp coasts of the western continent.
+
+The number of plants collected by our botanists throughout this group of
+islands, amounts to 280 different species; however by a more thorough
+exploration of the Archipelago, the _Phanerogamous_ species may be
+increased one half in number.
+
+There are also two plants, which, although they cannot be included among
+the vegetable products suited for the sustenance of man, must nevertheless
+be taken into account as contributing in an important degree to the
+subsistence of the natives. These are the Areca palm, and the Betel shrub.
+
+The nut of the _Areca Cateehu_, and the green leaf of the _Piper Betle_,
+constitute as already mentioned, together with coral lime, the chief
+ingredients of _Betel_, that singular salivatory compound, which has
+become a prime luxury for the inhabitants of the Indies, and the adjacent
+islands. The Areca palm, with its graceful straight stem and elegant tuft
+of leaves, is indigenous to the entire group, and is found in considerable
+quantities. With the enormous demand for it as a salivatory, as also as an
+article of medicine, it might, had the natives the slightest turn for
+cultivation, yield a large profit as an article of commerce. The Betel
+shrub is also found in large quantities in these islands, and needs but
+little looking after.
+
+The wealth of the forest in ornamental timber, and wood fit for building
+purposes, is so great that, if carefully surveyed and judiciously thinned,
+they would not only furnish the settler with cleared soil suitable for
+cultivation, but would likewise permit an immense profit to be
+realized.[20]
+
+The Nicobar Islands had been recommended by a learned member of the
+Society of Physicians of Vienna, as a special subject of inquiry as to
+whether this group were not by position, conditions of soil, and climate,
+particularly suitable for the cultivation of the Peruvian bark tree, whose
+importance for medical purposes is daily increasing. So far as our brief
+stay admitted, we did not lose sight of this object, but the practical
+observations we made in the course of our voyage led us to conclusions
+widely different from those which, representing the quinquina tree as in
+danger of being extirpated on its native soil, South America, by the
+carelessness of the Indians, regarded its transplantation into other
+countries as a question of the utmost importance for the interests of the
+human race. The China tree, very far from becoming extinct, is carefully
+cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The bark is systematically
+cropped in most of these localities, and consequently there is no occasion
+to anticipate any considerable increase in price, or failure in the supply
+of this precious drug. We shall have an opportunity, when describing our
+stay at Java and at the west coast of America, to revert at length to this
+question, and shall have only to add the remark, that the great expense of
+such an attempt, and the extraordinary watchfulness and care which must be
+bestowed on the China tree for a number of years before the slightest
+profit can be derived from it, seem alone to render hopeless such an
+undertaking as its introduction in the Nicobar Islands, even were the
+climatic conditions better suited to such an experiment than we have
+reason to believe that they are.
+
+As for the zoology of these islands, it seems to be much less developed,
+whether as regards numbers, or size, than might be expected, considering
+the luxuriance of the vegetation. The forests are by their very nature
+poor in living denizens, the majority of these consisting of various
+species of birds. In like manner the sea is but little productive, and the
+nets which we cast over the ship's side at Kar-Nicobar, Pulo Milu, and
+Ganges Harbour, like the hook and line, brought up but few specimens, and
+those hardly deserving of notice. The natives have no nets of any sort,
+their mode of fishing consisting simply of raising a succession of weirs,
+in which they can harpoon or take their prey.
+
+Of domestic animals we saw only swine, hens, dogs, and cats, all of which
+live upon cocoa-nut. The dog, a smooth-haired cur of a light
+brownish-yellow colour, with pointed ears, is a sad coward, and his bark
+rather resembles a prolonged howl. The cats and the hens are exactly like
+those of Europe. Cattle for draught or the dairy, are as yet entirely
+unknown to the natives; yet they might easily be introduced from the
+adjoining shores of India. The zebra breed especially, already
+acclimatized in the tropics, would be of conspicuous utility as beasts of
+draught, supposing any attempt made at cultivation of the soil.
+
+Judging by the experiments made at Pulo Milu, the introduction of goats
+and sheep could only be accomplished with much difficulty. On the other
+hand all manner of poultry would be found to thrive in these islands.
+
+In passing from this very cursory consideration of the natural history of
+these islands[21] to the race of man who inhabit them, we find ourselves
+confronted with a people, who, on account of the primitive manner in which
+they live, attract our interest in the highest degree. The natives of the
+Nicobar group, whose entire number may be estimated at from 5000 to 6000
+souls, are, as we have already remarked, large and well formed, the skin
+of a dark brown, bronze-like hue, and owing to the prevailing custom of
+anointing their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, usually presenting a glancing
+appearance, and emitting a peculiar odour. This inunction is apparently
+intended to obviate superabundant perspiration, as also any skin diseases,
+just as the Indian races west of the Mississippi are accustomed to protect
+their naked bodies against the direct influences of the cold, by rubbing
+in the fat of animals. The practice of daubing the face does not seem to
+be so extensively resorted to, as previous descriptions of the Nicobar
+islanders had led us to believe. We saw only one solitary native, at the
+village of Malacca in the island of Nangkauri, who had painted his
+forehead and cheeks with the red pigment obtained from the seeds of the
+_Bixa Orellana_ (the well-known Annatto dye). Instances of tattooing we
+never fell in with, nor do these islanders seem to have any desire to
+imitate the beautiful, sometimes absolutely artistic, designs punctured on
+the hands and feet of the Malays and Burmese who occasionally visit them.
+Moles and blotches on the breast and arms are of frequent occurrence. The
+forehead of the Nicobar islander is slightly rounded, and in many cases
+may even be said to be well formed, but it falls away somewhat suddenly;
+the face is usually broad, and if we except the rather prominent zygomatic
+process, approaches the oval type; the hinder portion of the head is flat
+and seems as though crushed inwards, a circumstance of which Fontana, in
+his well-known journal already mentioned, takes special notice, and which
+deserves the more attention, that we think we are in a position, by means
+of actual measurement, and inquiries made on the spot, to say with
+certainty that this modification of the normal form of the skull is not
+natural to this race, but is artificially produced. We especially rely
+upon the circumstance, that among the natives of Nangkauri and others of
+the islands, the custom prevails of pressing quite flat the head of the
+newly-born infant, probably in conformity with Nicobar laws of taste and
+beauty: in order to make the result more certain, they keep continually
+repeating this experiment by a variety of different means during a
+considerable time. The nose is of ordinary dimensions, but is always of
+unusual breadth, and coarse of outline; we found a few individuals with
+noses of exorbitant length. Owing to the incredible extent to which the
+disgusting practice of chewing the betel-nut is carried, their mouth,
+naturally large, is hideously distorted. On the island of Treis we saw an
+aged native, whose tongue, in consequence of the incessant betel-chewing,
+had been attacked in a similar manner as his teeth. The chin is for the
+most part without any marked characteristic, and is usually rather
+retreating. The maxillary bones are broad and projecting, and the zygoma
+has a rather bold curve. The ears are small, but the flaps on the other
+hand are so broad, that when pierced they are ornamented with a piece of
+bamboo an inch thick.
+
+Some of the natives make use of this broad aperture to store away cigars.
+The thin eye-brows do not curve over the whole of the superior arch of the
+eye. The hair for the most part is beautiful, thick, black, and soft, in
+many instances depending low on both sides. The beard is universally very
+thin, and instances of mustachios or goatees are very rarely encountered.
+However a beard does not seem to be classed among those objects which add
+to the Nicobar ideal of beauty. At least, as often as they found an
+opportunity of seizing a pair of scissors from our dressing-cases, we used
+always to see the natives eagerly setting about extirpating the few hairs,
+which despite all their endeavours would persist in appearing upon the
+upper lip on either side of the mouth. The expression of their face is
+grave, tranquil, and rather _insouciant_. We never saw in their features
+any expression of emotion, such for instance as might have been imparted
+by delight at having obtained some coveted object, not even when they had
+manifested the utmost eagerness to possess it. The only excitement which
+their ordinarily impassive countenances were however many a time called on
+to indicate, took the form of an expression of pain and anxiety, as often
+as they saw a number of strangers make a descent upon their islands. The
+singularly marked similarity of feature in each and every individual, may
+safely be ascribed to the similarity of condition universally prevalent,
+to the small scope given to the play of their affections, and to the
+frequent intermarriage, which must necessarily be the case where, as in
+these islands, a couple of hundred human beings form the whole population
+of an island, and where intercommunication with the adjoining islands is
+so confined.
+
+The assertion by Fontana, that the natives never cut their nails, but on
+the other hand shave off their eye-brows, we have never found confirmed in
+any of the islands we visited, although very possibly some few
+individuals, certainly so far as we could find very scanty in number, may
+ape the customs of their Malay and Chinese visitors, by letting their
+nails grow. Of cripples, or at all events of individuals stunted in their
+growth, we saw but two, the first case being that of a native of
+Kar-Nicobar, who in consequence of a dislocation of the _radius_ at the
+wrist joint was entirely powerless of the left arm; while the second, a
+sort of dwarf, who was likewise an inhabitant of that island, presented a
+well-marked corpulence in the extremities, and fingers so swelled up and
+short, that he was known among his neighbours by the nickname of
+_Kiutakunti_ (short finger).
+
+Hitherto the natives seem to have escaped the ravages of syphilitic
+diseases. As to any instances of visitations of virulent though temporary
+epidemics, we could not get any information of such having occurred; they
+have however in their language a word (Mallok) for the small-pox, of the
+existence of which we had convinced ourselves by personal demonstration
+in the case of a Malay, whose face was frightfully disfigured by the marks
+of this appalling disease.
+
+Although in a climate the annual average of which is 81 deg. Fahr., clothes
+are all but unnecessary, the natives nevertheless manifest an
+extraordinary passion for European clothing, and when it seemed
+impracticable by any other means to elicit an expression of pleasure on
+their calm, indifferent, emotionless countenances, it was always possible
+to succeed by presenting them with a shirt, a coat, or a black silk round
+hat. As however the natives have seldom been presented with more than one
+such article at a time, and many a year is apt to elapse ere he gets
+another, by which he might succeed in gradually completing his dress, the
+Nicobarian makes his appearance before strangers attired in the most
+extraordinary fashion, almost entirely naked, sometimes with only a black
+hat on his head, or pluming himself on being spruced up in a frock coat
+(but without shirt, stockings, or head-gear), which on the plump naked
+brown skin of this child of nature has far more the appearance of a
+straight-waistcoat than a comfortable article of dress.
+
+The natives show infinitely more vanity in the selection of a piece of
+clothing, than calculation as to its real necessity or suitability. A
+large low-crowned white hat with broad rim, which we presented to one
+native, gained not the slightest approval, although both in form and
+colour it was far better suited to protecting the wearer against the rays
+of the tropical sun than a high, narrow-brimmed, fashionable black silk
+hat, to the possession of which the natives of Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri
+attach quite an inordinate value. For such an article, in the course of
+barter, they offer 1600 ripe cocoa-nuts, while for a long piece of wide
+dark-coloured muslin, in which they are wont to envelope their dead, they
+will give only 1200 such fruits. But the most characteristic head-gear of
+the Nicobarians is a bandeau made of dried leaves of the cocoa-nut palm,
+which gives them quite a picturesque appearance. We saw but few ornaments
+worn, such as necklaces, bracelets, &c., only one or two of the younger
+men having their hands and their necks adorned with massive rings of
+silver and iron wire.
+
+The dwellings of the natives are usually round, beehive-shaped huts,
+resting on a number of stakes of from six to eight feet in height. Simple
+as is the construction of these huts, it nevertheless, especially on the
+island of Kar-Nicobar, possesses a certain degree of ornament, we might
+almost say elegance, while the thatching of dried palm-leaves, as also the
+beams and the walls constructed of reeds (_Calamus Rotang_), are a branch
+of industry which would do honour even to civilized races of the world.
+The natives usually cower or squat on the ground, or seat themselves upon
+some cocoa-nut that has chanced to fall, while at night, stretched out
+upon the flowers shed by the Areca palm, and with their heads elevated by
+a piece of hard wood, they find anywhere a sufficiently comfortable couch.
+
+The means of subsistence of the Nicobar islanders are anything but
+abundant. As they are utterly ignorant of cultivation, they are entirely
+indebted for the very first necessaries of life to the provision which a
+bountiful nature has supplied to them, without the assistance of man's
+labour. Their chief articles of food are the cocoa-nut and the pandanus
+fruit. As with the natives of India, so among the natives of the Nicobar
+group, the cocoa-palm is applied to the most various purposes, although it
+would be difficult to make it fulfil all the ninety and nine useful
+purposes which the Hindoo proverb assigns to this noble individual of the
+royal race of palms. The cocoa-palm likewise constitutes the chief article
+of export of the entire group, while the profit from the Trepang (Biche de
+Mar of the English, a sort of cockle), edible swallows' nests,
+tortoise-shell, amber, and so forth, is of the highest importance in the
+interchange of commerce.
+
+The betel shrub (_Piper Betle_), next to the cocoa-nut and pandanus fruit,
+one of the most important necessities of the inhabitants of these islands,
+is not indigenous, but has been introduced hither from the peninsula of
+Malacca, and formed for a long time an article of commerce and exchange.
+At present this creeper, which spreads with hardly any particular care, is
+found in such quantities that only a small proportion of the leafy produce
+can be consumed by the sparse population. It was always incomprehensible
+to us in what could consist the great charm of betel-chewing, that a habit
+so loathsome should be so extensively practised by the very lowest slaves
+of the princes of India, by poor as well as rich, nay, should fling its
+chains, as it actually does, even over women and children. A lucky chance,
+however, threw in our way a Sanscrit poem (_Hytopedesa_) which celebrates
+as follows the thirteen cardinal virtues of the betel-leaf:--"Betel is
+pungent, bitter, aromatic, sweet, alkaline, astringent, a carminative, a
+dispeller of phlegm, a vermifuge, a sweetener of the breath, an ornament
+of the mouth, a remover of impurities, and a kindler of the flame of love!
+O friend! these thirteen properties of betel are hard to be met with, even
+in heaven!"[22]
+
+It would be an inquiry of considerable interest to trace the influence
+which the incessant betel-chewing exercises over the longevity of the
+inhabitants, and the changes caused in the masticatory organs, which are
+so constantly exposed to these pernicious practices.
+
+That which most deeply struck us throughout the Nicobars, was the
+frightful decomposition of the teeth, whereas in other betel-chewing races
+these were stained only of the same deep crimson as the lips and the gums.
+We at first ascribed this difference to some variation in the mixture of
+the ingredients, but we repeatedly perceived afterwards that the betel
+used on the Nicobar group consisted of nothing else than a small piece of
+Areca-nut, which, sprinkled with a little chalk, was enveloped in a green
+aromatic betel-leaf, and so was popped into the mouth. The Hindoos, on
+the other hand, add to these ingredients, which they always carry about
+with them in elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly
+called _Terra Japonica_, because it was long supposed to be a mineral
+product) made out of the pith of the _Acacia Catechu_, a species of
+Mimosa; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory composition a species
+of resin obtained from the _Melaleuca Cajeputi_, as also a little tobacco.
+
+The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth and lips of
+the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only to some difference in
+the proportions of the ingredients used, very probably to the use of a
+larger quantity of coral lime. What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians
+have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive
+substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by
+personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves,
+nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.
+
+In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the
+inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world.
+They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but
+they age with uncommon rapidity. Of about 100 natives with whom during our
+stay on the various islands we were in communication, hardly one was above
+forty, and the majority may be roughly estimated at from twenty to thirty.
+If, moreover, we set it down as improbable that all the aged men should
+have taken to flight like the women and children, it should seem that
+these natives never attain a very extended duration of life.
+
+Of the therapeutic powers of various plants that are found in their
+forests, the natives have but little knowledge. All that they have ever
+had of drugs have been almost entirely supplied from Europe by captains of
+English vessels. Although they attach the most extravagant importance to
+the possession of these, these medicines are, if anything, more
+prejudicial than beneficial to them, as they of course understand nothing
+of their use, and often apply them in the most absurd manner. It seems
+that once some ship captain in order to get quit of their importunities
+made over to them all the articles he could most conveniently spare, such
+as castor-oil, Epsom salts, spirit of camphor, turpentine, peppermint, eau
+de Cologne, &c. &c., and ever since they pester each visitor for medicine!
+A native once urgently begged us to give him a little spirit of
+turpentine; on our asking him to what purpose he wished to apply it, he
+answered that he wanted to rub himself with it, and take a few drops
+internally, because he believed it was an excellent preservative against
+ague and pain in the chest!
+
+The maladies with which the natives are most commonly afflicted, are
+intermittent fever, phthisis, and rheumatism. In some cases we remarked
+_Elephantiasis Arabica_ (the Juzam of Arab writers), called by the
+Nicobarians _Kelloidy_, attacking the bones, and several different forms
+of cuticular eruption. The severity of these diseases must be ascribed
+less to the insalubrity of the climate than to the unwholesome mode of
+existence of the natives. Can we feel surprised that naked men, who do not
+inhabit the more favourably situated spots ventilated by regular winds,
+but live on the swampy coast, in the sandy bays that are fringed with a
+forest belt, where they can grow their cocoa-palms with the least labour
+to themselves, who leave their bodies exposed now to the violence of
+tropical rains, now to the fiery rays of a tropical sun, and whose food
+consists almost exclusively of cocoa-nuts and the fruit of the
+_pandanus_,--can we wonder that they should be in an especial degree
+subject to disease? It is a mistake to suppose that the food of
+inhabitants of the tropics is that assigned by Nature herself, and
+therefore the most beneficial and suitable. For, despite all theory, which
+for residents in the tropics chiefly prescribes substances with plenty of
+carbon and nitrogen as the proper articles of food, we see Europeans, more
+especially Englishmen, in the hottest climate in the world, with a
+thermometer that rarely falls below 86 deg. Fahr., devouring, just as in a
+more northern climate, strong soups, gigantic beef-steaks, and mutton
+cutlets to any extent, contemptuously turning up their noses at mere
+vegetable diet, and barely touching marmalade or sweetmeats; yet there
+they are blooming in the best of health, far better even than that of the
+natives. Indeed, it is a fact full of interest, and confirmed by
+observations carried on for years, that in the Presidency of Madras, for
+example, the Hindoos and Mahmudas, so widely different in their customs
+and mode of life, were much more seriously attacked by fever than the
+Europeans resident there, in such entirely different conditions of climate
+than they were accustomed to. On the other hand, so far as regards
+sanitary measures, that portion of the aboriginal population presents the
+most favourable results which is most intimately allied to the Europeans,
+and applies in its own case the precepts of modern civilization.
+
+So soon as the natives are attacked by fever with any severity, they
+rapidly succumb. However, we have never heard tell of any of that
+barbarous inhumanity which any medicine-man, whose treatment is
+unsuccessful, is said to experience at the hands of the relatives and
+friends of the patient, which indeed is all the more improbable as, were
+such really the case, considering the small advantages and scrimp fees
+likely to be picked up by a smart medicine-man among such an impoverished
+race, there would hardly be met with one Manluena in the entire group! The
+head-mark of a doctor in the southern islands is his unusually long
+floating hair. On our inquiring of a native what qualifications were
+requisite in order to become a doctor, he replied with the most charming
+naivete: "One must be the son of a doctor!" From this reply we may gather
+that in the Nicobar Islands medical skill and knowledge of the healing art
+are confined to certain families! We afterwards found this information
+confirmed, upon our discovering that the youthful Manluena of Great
+Nicobar, who so severely kneaded and twisted the arm of one of the
+associates of the Expedition, was the son of an aged doctor of the island
+of Kondul, and owed his reputation solely to the circumstance of his
+kindred. Besides cases of sickness, the advice, the adroitness, and the
+zeal of the Manluena are held in special repute for the driving out of the
+evil spirit or _Eewees_, by which, as already mentioned, the inhabitants
+of the Nicobar Islands believe themselves to be incessantly surrounded.
+
+Of idols proper, such as barbarous tribes construct and honour, and to
+whom they dedicate temples, they have none; nor have they any object in
+nature, as, for instance, a lofty tree, a huge rock or a hill, to which
+they attach a certain charm, like some of the Central American tribes.
+They have not even a word for the Divine idea in their language, nor for
+Godhead, nor for any Beneficent Principle or Being, and the rudely carved
+figures, which are found set up in all sorts of comical postures within
+their huts, are intended to serve no higher purpose, than to frighten away
+those evil spirits which even the Manluena has been unable to see, though
+he sets himself forward as able to hold converse with them.
+
+The notion of a Being, whose wisdom and whose love rule the world, is
+quite as foreign to their minds as the conception of a spiritual life in
+the future after death. We repeatedly asked one of their most intelligent
+leaders, who also spoke a little English, whether he believed he should
+ever again recognize his dead friends and relatives? But he replied
+invariably with a cold, indifferent, "Never, never!" All that we told them
+of the privileges of a believing Christian, of a Divine Being, of the
+belief in a future state of existence after death, served only to fill
+them with astonishment, but they seemed ready enough to listen to such
+subjects. What little they had heard upon these truths from missionaries
+and ship captains, appeared however to have left them with very confused
+notions.
+
+From all that came under our notice, the mode of life of these islanders
+is singularly uniform and indolent, its most important events consisting
+probably of the alterations necessary by the interchange of the seasons.
+They know of no other method of computing time than the change of the moon
+and of the monsoons. At the beginning of the wet season or S.W. monsoon,
+and at the corresponding period of the dry season or N.E. monsoon, there
+are certain festivals, which somewhat resemble the "sowing feasts" and
+"harvest homes" of the American aboriginal stocks. They have however no
+appointed day of rest, corresponding to the sabbath of the Christian
+Church, nor indeed do they need such, seeing that in their mode of life
+every day is a holiday! They have no measure for time, nor indeed for
+anything else: not a single native could give us any idea of his own age,
+nor could count above 20.[23] Time has for them not the slightest value:
+the watchword "_Time is money!_" which first given by England, is at
+present resounding throughout the world, falls voiceless and ineffectual
+on their insensible ears. Their reckoning of time is as limited as their
+capacity for recollecting by-gone occurrences. The presence of Christian
+missionaries at various periods, as also the visit of the Danish corvette
+_Galatea_ in 1847, had already almost entirely disappeared from their
+memory. Only among a very few of their numbers have some of the names
+clung to the recollection, such as _Galatea_, and _Steene Bille_ (which
+they pronounced _Piller_).
+
+We could not find anything that bore the least resemblance to any settled
+form of government, to any distribution upon fixed principles of the
+possessions of the general community, to any recognition of individual
+right, to any tribunal for settling quarrels, &c. &c. They recognize the
+relations of family and of property; on the other hand, the power of the
+captain, one of whom the greater number of villages has each for itself,
+and whom they call _Mah_ or _Umiaha_ (old), extends no further than giving
+him the right to be the first to trade with such foreign ships as make
+their appearance, and to inaugurate the barter-system. Indeed this very
+institution of captainship, although much liked by the natives, does not
+at all seem as though it were part of their own system, but to date from
+the period when English merchant vessels began to visit these islands
+regularly.
+
+As to the social life of the natives, their family relations, and so
+forth, we could get such scanty and uncertain data to go upon, what with
+the cursory visits we paid to the various islands, and considering the
+women and children had everywhere fled, while the men regarded us simply
+as intruders, that we do not venture to publish any special information
+upon this point. Be it however permitted to express our opinion, that,
+judging by the tendency to a decent style of dress and the extreme
+elegance of the decorations of the canoes and the huts of the islanders of
+Kar-Nicobar, as contrasted with the destitution, nakedness, and wretched
+condition of the natives of the southern islands of the group,
+civilization seems to be advancing from north to south with slow but sure
+steps. And it will probably interest the philologist to be informed that
+both in Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri, the most important settlement bears the
+same name, Malacca, as the chief city on the adjoining Malay peninsula. As
+the natives in this delicious _far niente_ existence live exclusively upon
+the precious gifts of an all-bountiful Nature, which provides them at once
+with food and drink, one naturally finds among them few implements of
+labour, indeed only such as are indispensably necessary in erecting their
+huts, in preparing their canoes, and in enabling them readily to open the
+cocoa-nuts. And even these tools, as, for instance, hatchets, cutlasses,
+files, &c., were first procured through intercourse with civilization.
+
+Their weapons consist merely of lances or javelins with points of iron or
+hardened wood, by the number of which, it is presumed, the wealth of a
+Nicobar islander is estimated. A cross-bow, which we saw in the possession
+of a native of Kar-Nicobar, although made on the island, was manifestly of
+European design originally, and merely an imitation.
+
+Of musical instruments we did not find a single specimen in Kar-Nicobar,
+whereas on the southern islands there is a six, sometimes a seven-holed
+flute in use, made of bamboo-cane, which, as we afterwards discovered, had
+been brought hither by the Malays; and also a kind of guitar about two or
+three feet in length, hollowed out, and with sound-holes in the side, and
+made of thick bamboo and reed strings. On the whole, however, the
+Nicobarians seem to be much too apathetic and indifferent a race to have
+any special predilection for music, singing, or dancing. Accordingly at
+their monsoon festivals and other holiday-times, their notion of dancing
+is limited to hopping round in a circle with arms entwined, while they at
+the same time keep up a listless humming noise.
+
+In the case of such a race, which has no civilization or industry of its
+own, it is out of the question to speak of their having any regular
+industrial occupation in the strict sense of the word. The particular and
+to them most beneficent plant, which supplies them at once with enough to
+eat and to drink, at the same time brings them, very reluctantly, into
+contact with civilization, and will yet become a main agent in introducing
+a knowledge of those necessities and acquaintance with those articles
+which are the product of a higher grade of civilization alone. The ripe
+nuts of the cocoa-palm constitute the chief article of export of the
+Nicobar Islands, and, what is even more important, supply the stimulus,
+which already arouses the native to a certain degree of activity, although
+most of the nuts that are put on ship-board are collected not by the
+natives, but by the crews of the Malay vessels. All other articles of
+export, such as _Biche de mar_, edible birds' nests, tortoise-shell,
+amber, &c., are of very inferior importance, and are only taken as
+by-freight. According to published documents the northern islands can
+supply 10,000,000 cocoa-nuts, of which however, at present, not much more
+than 5,000,000, to wit, 3,000,000 from Kar-Nicobar alone, and 2,000,000
+from the rest of the islands, are exported in all. As this fruit is
+one-sixth of the price it bears on the coasts of Bengal, the concourse of
+English and Malay vessels, especially from Pulo Penang, increases every
+year.[24] The trade is carried on by way of barter instead of money
+payments, although silver is highly valued too; for here also, despite all
+that is reported of the inordinate longing of the Nicobar natives for
+tobacco, glass beads, and such like rubbish, the truth of the adage is
+fully borne out that "Money is the most _universal merchandise_." Of
+silver coins, the natives are only acquainted with rupees, Spanish
+dollars, and English threepenny pieces, which latter they call "small
+rupees." Gold is as yet unknown among the southern islands, and therefore
+is valueless in the eyes of the natives.
+
+So long as the relations of the natives with foreign nations were
+exclusively confined to barter with some couple of dozen English and Malay
+vessels, which latter visited the islands with the N.E. monsoon and left
+with the S.W. monsoon, thus making but one voyage in the course of the
+year, the natives of the various islands kept up among themselves quite a
+frequent and regular communication. This favourable trait was undoubtedly
+owing in great measure to the defectiveness of their otherwise very
+elegant, but small, slight-built canoes, which are but ill adapted for
+voyaging to any remote distance.
+
+Respecting that other swarthy, crisp-haired, savage race, widely different
+from that inhabiting the coasts of Nicobar, which, according to a legend,
+dwells in the forests of Great Nicobar, and lives upon snakes, vermin,
+roots, and leaves of plants, and in the Nicobar idiom called
+_Baju-oal-Tschua_, we could only add to our stock of information by
+recitals that obviously pertained to the domain of Fable-land. When,
+however, we remember that not a single traveller or author who has
+indulged such gossiping, nay, that not even the natives who tell such
+stories of them, have ever seen one of this race, we shall be excused for
+suggesting in reply to the numberless conjectures afloat respecting these
+mysterious inhabitants, that the alleged denizens of the interior of Great
+Nicobar are neither a widely different race of men from the coast-natives,
+nor yet an offshoot of the crisp-haired swarthy race of Papuas from New
+Guinea, but that, dispossessed and degraded by a conjuncture of various
+hostile influences, they hold, with respect to the inhabitants of the
+sea-board, a similar position to that occupied by the Bushmen of
+Namaqualand to the Hottentots of Cape Colony.
+
+In the circumstances in which the inhabitants of this group of islands at
+present find themselves, without traditions, without proverbs, without
+songs, without monuments, and especially without any characteristic
+peculiarity in their habits and customs which could possibly throw a ray
+of light upon the obscurity of their origin, it is a bold undertaking to
+express any decided opinion as to the derivation and genealogy of this
+people. By far the most probable theory, as is also admitted by Dr. Rink,
+who visited these islands with the Danish Expedition, would represent them
+as an offshoot from the north-westerly boundary of the Malay race, as a
+people which, while possessing much in common with the Indo-Chinese stock,
+nevertheless in its physical characteristics seems to hold a middle rank
+between the Malay and the Burmese.
+
+Considering the study _of language_ as a most important and reliable
+source of information, the members of the Expedition made it their main
+object to draw up, in conformity with what is known as Gallatin's method,
+so extensively used by all American and English travellers, a vocabulary
+of about 200 words in both languages, viz. that used by the inhabitants of
+Nicobar, and that (widely different in all respects except the numerals)
+in use among the natives of the more southern islands. As a Malay barque
+from Pulo Penang was lying at anchor during our stay on the northern
+shores of Great Nicobar, so favourable an opportunity was of course made
+use of to prepare a similar vocabulary of the Malay idiom spoken at that
+port, which will give the philologist the advantage of being able to judge
+for himself as to the similarity existing between these two idioms, and
+thence, by analogy, between the two races, and discriminate whether those
+scholars, such as Vatu, come nearer the truth who maintain that the
+Nicobar language is of Malay derivation with an admixture of foreign
+words, principally European, or those other students of philology who, as
+for instance Adelung, hold that the idiom used by these islanders is
+identical with some of the languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula.
+
+At the same time the ethnographer of the Expedition had endeavoured to
+ascertain by means of a new system of measurements of the human frame,
+drawn up by himself in concert with Dr. Edward Schwarz, one of the
+physicians of the Expedition, and with the co-operation and assistance of
+the latter, various data, such as, when applied to the various races
+inhabiting the earth, might justify many new and striking conclusions, and
+ultimately result in definitely fixing the relation, resemblance, or
+physical dissimilarity of the various races of man. Such a plan makes it
+much more easy by means of figures, those most undeniable evidences of the
+results of investigations, to get speedily and accurately at the required
+results, than by all the most specious theories laid down in the less
+certain domain of philosophic speculation.
+
+These measurements, applied at three chief regions of the body, namely,
+the head, the trunk, and the upper and lower extremities, are intended to
+be scientifically discussed in a special memoir,[25] and we accordingly
+confine ourselves here to remarking that the various points of
+measurements were not only determined in an anthropological point of view,
+but that among the 68 different categories, into which these measurements
+are naturally distributed, there occur some which supply many curious
+points of inquiry, as also considerable assistance not merely to national
+economics, the result of the light thrown upon the subject of the average
+of muscular strength of the various races as found by the dynamometer, but
+also to the graphic art, with respect to a more accurate acquaintance with
+the human skeleton as well as the entire figure.
+
+In like manner we never omitted to collect some of the hair of the head
+from as many as possible of the various individuals measured, since the
+laborious researches of Peter Brown of Philadelphia on the human hair,
+have elevated it into a very remarkable means of tracing the origin of the
+various disparities of race.
+
+It must also be considered as an especial boon for the science of
+comparative anatomy, as well as universal ethnography, that we succeeded
+in bringing away with us from the Nicobar Islands the skulls of two of the
+natives.
+
+Lastly, a small collection of twenty-three subjects of ethnographical
+inquiry, collected from the various islands, will be found useful, partly
+as illustrating the information already obtained, partly as affording
+evidence of the amount of culture of the inhabitants of the Nicobar
+Archipelago.
+
+We are still called upon to answer the question already propounded,
+whether the Nicobar Islands are suited as the site of a colony, and
+whether the numerous attempts already made in this direction did not
+probably fall through for other reasons than those of climate.
+
+According to inquiries instituted by the members of the Austrian
+Expedition, this insular group, by its geographical position in one of the
+very chiefest commercial routes of the world, and by the richness and
+abundance of the products of its soil, offers sufficient points of
+attraction to interest any leading commercial or maritime power, in
+securing possession of it. With regard to any colonization or cultivation
+of the soil by free European immigrants, there is as little to be said as
+of almost any other islands in the tropics. In order to make such spots
+aids to the extension of civilization, the utmost certainty of rule is
+imperatively necessary, such as was instituted with such marvellous
+results by England in Pulo Penang, Singapore, Sydney, &c. The climate of
+the Nicobars is very far from being so deadly, that mere residence upon
+them must speedily prove fatal to Europeans, and it will undoubtedly be
+signally ameliorated by a partial clearing of the forests, cultivation of
+the soil, channelling of the rivers, and drainage of the swamps. All such
+works however must be executed by Malay or Indian labourers, under the
+superintendence of Europeans. From what we have learned by personal
+observation of the surprising influence which the transportation system
+has exercised in Australia upon the cultivation and development of the
+soil, as also upon the social condition of the convicts themselves, we do
+not hesitate, despite the distrust of experiments of such a nature which
+prevails in certain philosophic circles of Europe, to express our opinion,
+that with a little prudence and forbearance convict labourers in abundance
+could be imported, who would be at once better off, more contented, and
+more disposed to do honour to their man's estate than as at present
+confined at home in their dreary prison cells.[26]
+
+If the various experiments hitherto made have all fallen through, the
+"effect defective" undoubtedly arises from the deficiency of means
+requisite for such an undertaking, and in the limited number of men,
+merely humanly speaking, who were engaged in such enterprises. The mere
+prime cost of clearing and cultivation, so as to enable them to anticipate
+a good return for their labour, must be set down as at the lowest
+computation between L100,000 and L150,000; the number of labourers
+employed in the undertaking at from 300 to 400; of whom all skilled
+artisans, such as carpenters, joiners, locksmiths, blacksmiths,
+bricklayers, masons, &c., must accompany the settlers from Europe.
+
+The sums expended for the first outlay must not however be set down as
+entirely thrown away, since the fertility of the islands in those
+colonial products that are most valuable, and the enormous quantity of
+cocoa-nut palms, must, under the impulse of cultivation and industrious
+habits, speedily make returns in countless tides of prosperity. So far as
+regards the aboriginal population, of whom there are not above 5000 or
+6000 on all the islands, they would experience but little annoyance from
+the carrying out of such an enterprise. In fact, morally and materially
+they could only gain from the introduction of a foreign element. At
+present they are confined to the narrow belt of shore, where grows the
+cocoa-palm, their sole support. The interior of the island, so prolific in
+natural wealth of the most varied description, and which would become
+infinitely more valuable under a proper development of its capabilities,
+is utterly unknown and valueless to the native.
+
+Once a settlement were fairly set a-going on the above-mentioned
+principles, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Archipelago would be placed
+under the tutelage of European civilization, and in their transactions
+would no longer be exposed to the knavery and caprices of ships' captains.
+It would be necessary to watch over the natives as over minors, so as not
+alone to secure for them material benefits, but by liberal sympathetic
+treatment as the groundwork of their education, gradually to establish
+that faith whose introduction hitherto, despite numerous praiseworthy
+endeavours in the past as well as the present century, has been doomed to
+be unsuccessful through a variety of extraneous circumstances. Moreover,
+the Nicobar Archipelago would be a most convenient central station whence
+to impart the blessings of Christianity to the pagans of the adjoining
+groups of islands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MEMORANDUM
+
+Relating to those points of the Nicobar Archipelago whose geographical
+position was ascertained by the _Novara_ Expedition.
+
+  +--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
+  |   PLACE OF   | Latitude North. | Longitude East  |
+  | OBSERVATION. |                 | from Greenwich. |
+  +--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
+  | Saui Cove    |   9 deg. 14' 8''|  92 deg. 44' 46''   |
+  | Komios       |   9   7  32     |  92  43  42     |
+  | Morrock Bay  |   8  32  30     |  93  34  10     |
+  | Kaulaha      |   8   2  10     |  93  29  40     |
+  | Kondul       |   7  12  17     |  93  39  57     |
+  | Galatea Cove |   6  48  26     |  93  49  51     |
+  +--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
+
+A very careful measurement, made at the point of observation in Saui, of
+the Moon's distance from Jupiter, gave 6 h. 11 min. 2 sec., or 92 deg. 45'
+30'' East.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Our voyage from the south side of Great Nicobar to Singapore occupied
+twenty days. This time the fine weather seemed to have entirely abandoned
+us. Day and night, at almost all hours and from all parts of the sky, we
+encountered severe thunder-storms, with water-spouts, lightning, thunder,
+and the most tremendous rain-squalls. We could thoroughly realize that we
+were in the tropics at the beginning of the rainy season. One day during
+the prevalence of one of those floods, five tons during the first half
+hour, and in the course of an hour and a half eight tons, or 32,000 pints
+of water, were collected by the sailors in buckets and other similar
+utensils. These storms came now from the coast of Sumatra, now from the
+Malay peninsula, or yet again from the Straits of Malacca, and gave our
+jolly tars not a moment of repose. These tempests alternated with calms
+accompanied by a most oppressive sweltering hot temperature, and if by
+chance a breeze sprang up, it was sure to come out of the straits dead
+against us, and, coupled with the strong contrary current, fairly arrested
+our progress. Thus tacking about for 14 days between the north shore of
+Sumatra and Junk-Ceylon, we made as much way in that time as a fast
+steamer would have done in as many hours, and it was but poor consolation
+to us that several ships close to us, perhaps six or eight, shared the
+same adverse destiny.
+
+An incident of a very singular nature suddenly gave us all plenty of
+excitement. As our deeply respected chaplain was sitting reading one
+evening in his cabin, he became sensible of a peculiar pressure on his
+foot; the servant being called, made his appearance with a candle, and on
+examining the floor was horror-struck at perceiving a pretty large
+sea-snake (_Chorsydrus fasciatus_), coiled round the foot of the priest.
+In the same instant this gentleman instinctively rid himself of the
+poisonous reptile by a vigorous kick, while the various persons who
+hurried to the spot were resolved they would secure this dangerous
+assailant dead or alive. Within the narrow limits of a ship's state-room,
+a campaign is speedily brought to a close. His snakeship was forthwith
+routed out of his asylum, and hacked into more pieces than was exactly
+agreeable to the zoologists, who had been extremely anxious, and even
+expected, to preserve this now doubly interesting reptile almost uninjured
+in spirits of wine. It was a tolerably large specimen, one inch thick, and
+about three feet long, and had apparently either wriggled up the cable, or
+had been washed on board by a wave through the open sky-light of the
+cabin.
+
+At length on the 9th of April wind and weather changed, and, in company
+with the entire squadron of companions in misfortune, we sailed gaily into
+the Straits of Malacca, with all sail set, and dead before the wind. On
+the 11th of April, early in the morning, we found Pulo Penang (also called
+Areca, or Prince of Wales' Island) lying broad on our port beam. Its
+chains of forest-clad mountains, gloomy, and overcast with dense masses of
+cloud, prevented our realizing the charms of this possession of England,
+such as they have been described by all who have visited it.
+
+On the 12th of April we steered between the Sambelongs, or Nine Islands,
+and the island of Djara, and caught a glimpse of the lofty well-wooded
+mountains of the kingdom of Perah. The channel through these straits is
+becoming more and more contracted owing to the _debouche_ at this point of
+the river Perah. Shallow sand-banks and small rocky islands impede the
+navigation, and it is a common precaution for ships to cast anchor at the
+least approach of foul weather, an operation which is the more readily set
+about that the water is nowhere above twenty fathoms, but good holding
+ground throughout the straits. Moreover, the charts of these regions are
+thoroughly reliable and accurate, while at the most dangerous spot, where
+a sand-bank with only one fathom of water over it lies right in the tracks
+of vessels, a light-ship is moored, which we passed on the 13th of April,
+and continued our voyage through the night in perfect safety.
+
+On the morning of the 14th April, the hill of Ophir (called also Ledang or
+Pudang), 5700 feet high, lay fair before us. We now found ourselves
+opposite the town of Malacca. The channel at this point approaches so
+close to the mainland, that we could easily distinguish churches and
+houses, and the frigate exchanged signals with the neighbouring semaphore.
+
+Malacca, once the Malay capital, has at present altogether lost its former
+importance, and of the three English colonies in the Straits of Malacca,
+usually known as the _Straits Settlements_, is the least important in
+either a political or a commercial sense. The entire region was, until
+within these few years, in most evil repute for the atrocious piracies
+perpetrated here. Natives used to lie in wait in small canoes filled with
+merchandise of all sorts, with which they boarded the passing ships, and
+while these were supplying themselves with fruit and fresh provisions, the
+former were spying the number of crew, as also the means of defence of the
+unfortunate vessel; after which it usually happened, that during the night
+the more defenceless of them, while becalmed or lying at anchor, would be
+attacked by an overwhelming force of pirates and ruthlessly plundered.
+Captain Steen Bille relates, that even so late as 1846, he loaded his
+cannon with shot, and maintained extra vigilance during the night.
+
+We now sped along, still favoured by the wind, during the ensuing night,
+and on the morning of the 15th April had the satisfaction of reaching the
+entrance of the bay of Singapore, without once having to lie at anchor in
+the straits. The landscape that lay outstretched before us was
+splendid,--lofty wooded islands on the coast of Sumatra, and a whole
+archipelago of islets lay around us, in the channels between which prahus
+were sailing about, while Chinese junks, full-rigged ships and barques,
+were working in or out as the case might be, all intimating the proximity
+of a great mart of commerce. Equally fortunate as in the straits was our
+passage through the labyrinth of islands, through which a vessel must wind
+in order to reach Singapore. And this roadstead itself, what a contrast it
+presented to the lovely beach of the Nicobar Islands! Here were thousands
+of ships of all sizes and rigs, and the flags of nearly all sea-faring
+nations in the world. We found at anchor the English frigate _Amethyst_,
+and the screw corvette _Niger_; and having warped ourselves into their
+vicinity, by 2 P.M. we had cast anchor in 13 fathoms water. Almost
+immediately afterwards an officer came off from the _Amethyst_ to welcome
+us, and to impart to us the unpleasant intelligence that cholera had been
+raging in the city for some weeks past, and had also committed great havoc
+among the shipping in harbour. Even the captain and one of the crew of an
+English merchantman had succumbed but a few hours previously to this fell
+scourge, and the vessel had her flag half-mast high as a signal of
+mourning. This information at once deranged all our plans and projects
+with respect to Singapore, and had we not been compelled to victual here,
+we should at once have set sail. However, under the circumstances there
+was nothing to do but to spend five or six days at Singapore, and this
+breathing-space we availed ourselves of to obtain as much information as
+possible both by eye and ear touching this very remarkable colony, and its
+not less interesting inhabitants.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine de deux voyageurs
+Mahometans, qui y allerent dans le IXeme siecle. Traduit de l'Arabe avec
+des remarques par Eus. Renaudot. Paris, chez Coignard, 1718. 8vo.
+
+[2] Journal of the Voyage of the I.R. Ship _Joseph and Theresa_ to the new
+Austrian plantations in Asia and Africa, by Nicolas Fontana, ship-surgeon
+to Mr. Brambilla, body physician to the Emperor, assistant surgeon in the
+army. Translated from the Italian MS. by Joseph-Eyerle. Dessau and
+Leipzig,--"_Buch-handlung der Gelehrten._"
+
+[3] "I have drawn up these documents," writes Prince Kaunitz, in a state
+paper addressed to the Empress, dated 27th March, 1776, "in such manner as
+to advance the objects of your Majesty in establishing commercial
+intercourse between Austria and the Indies, without incurring disagreeable
+results, which might accrue from the conferring of unrestricted
+authority."
+
+[4] A piece of parchment, cut out of a book in zig-zag fashion, which in
+former times was necessary in all commerce with barbarians, the captains
+of privateers, when unable to read, being enabled, by comparing the
+torn-out leaf (_scontrino_) with the counterfoil, which it was customary
+to give to all trading persons, to determine to what nationality the
+vessel belonged.
+
+[5] A few years previous, in 1782, a certain C. F. von Brocktroff, of
+Kiel, had addressed a memorial to the Emperor Joseph II., in the course of
+which he warmly advocated the annexation, settlement, and reclamation of
+the Nicobar Islands, and, on the strength of fifteen years' experience in
+the East Indies, promised immense profits to the Austrian-German trade by
+this method of procedure. This interesting treatise will be found among
+the Government Archives at Vienna, and will be published in full in
+another section.
+
+[6] Bolts had several times come before the public as an author. In 1771
+he issued in London a work in two volumes 4to, entitled, "Considerations
+on Indian Affairs," which was also translated into French. Further, he
+published a "_Recueil des pieces authentiques relatives aux affaires de la
+ci-devant societe Imperiale-Asiatique de Trieste, gerees a Anvers_," which
+appeared in 4to (116 pages) at Paris, in 1787.
+
+[7] The results of this voyage of discovery are embodied partly in a work
+in two volumes: "Steen Bille's account of the voyage of the corvette
+_Galatea_, round the world" (Copenhagen, Leipzig, 1852), partly in a
+Geographical sketch of the Nicobar Islands, with special remarks upon
+Geology, by Dr. H. Rink (Copenhagen, 1847): there will be likewise found
+in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, under the heading
+"Nicobar Islands," and at p. 261 of the third volume of the "Journal of
+the Indian Archipelago," under the title "Sketches at the Nicobars," a
+variety of valuable contributions to our stock of knowledge respecting
+this island group. In addition, Mr. A. E. Zhishmann, Professor in the
+Imperial Royal Academy of Commerce and Navigation at Trieste, published,
+in anticipation of the projected visit of the _Novara_ to this
+Archipelago, a valuable historico-geographical sketch, entitled, "The
+Nicobar Islands" (Trieste, Printing Office of the Austrian Lloyds, 1857),
+which appeared at the same time in the Transactions of the Imp. Roy.
+Geographical Society for 1857.
+
+[8] Vide, "Indian Political Dispatches," of 1st February, 1848: also the
+"Hamburger Correspondent," of 30th August, 1848, and "Friend of India,"
+for 1853, p. 455.
+
+[9] Thus, for example, we find on the island of Kar-Nicobar the following
+specimens of barter:--
+
+         For                            Pair of ripe cocoa-nuts.
+
+  a sort of hunting-knife or
+      cutlass, worth about $1-1/2                  300
+  a small knife-blade                              100
+  six table knife-blades                           300
+  an American knife                                 50
+  a hatchet                                        300
+  a musket                                         500
+  a double-barrelled gun                          2500
+  a large spoon                                    150
+  thirty feet of silver-wire                      2500
+  a small cask of rum                             2500
+  a flask of arrack                                 10
+  three "sticks" of (negro-heads) tobacco          100
+  a flask of castor-oil                             50
+  a cabin lamp                                     500
+  a sack of rice                                   300
+  a piece of blue calico (about 6 to 8 ells)       100
+  a neck-cloth                                     100
+
+Epsom salts, turpentine, spirit of camphor, eau-de-Cologne, and
+peppermint, are also much-prized articles of barter, and bring a large
+profit, being exchanged for old clothes, salt meat, onions, and biscuit.
+
+[10] Thus, for instance, there occurred in one of these documents:--"In
+the village of Aurong, or Arrow, the best anchorage is opposite Capt.
+Marshall's hut, in from 13 to 15 fathoms water. At many points the coast
+is so dangerous, that one ship lost two of her men, who were endeavouring
+to land in a boat." In another certificate it was announced that the
+barque _Batavia_ of Rotterdam, freighted with rice, of 442 tons burthen,
+while on her voyage from Rangoon to Europe, was wrecked in Danson's
+passage, 7th April, 1857, and her crew was very hospitably treated by the
+natives of Kar-Nicobar. Almost every one of these certificates concludes
+with the remark that whoever wishes to be on friendly terms with the
+natives must play no pranks with their women, nor shoot their fowls or
+hogs in the forest.
+
+[11] This place of interment is situated close to a small village on the
+north-east side of the island, where the graves are visible in the shape
+of a number of round stakes sunk about three or four feet into the earth,
+which are adorned with all sorts of variegated cloths and ribbons.
+
+[12] It is customary to call the liquid contents of the green, unripe
+cocoa-nut by the name of _cocoa-nut milk_; but it is rather a clear,
+delightfully palatable water, which neither in colour nor taste at all
+resembles milk. This is obtained or pressed from the white, sweet, rather
+hard kernel, which is itself extraordinarily nutritive, and forms the
+daily food of the inhabitants. For an entire month, during which we could
+procure neither cows' nor goats' milk, we experimented on the use of the
+fluid obtained from the ripe cocoa-nut in our tea and coffee, and found it
+so excellent that we hardly felt the privation of animal milk.
+
+[13] See Vol. I., p. 240.
+
+[14] This vocabulary, which probably will not be found altogether
+valueless for the purposes of comparative philology, as also for the
+assistance of future travellers, will appear at the end of this volume as
+an Appendix.
+
+[15] See Appendix.
+
+[16] Most of the Austrian sailors are from the Adriatic coast, and
+accordingly speak an Italian patois.
+
+[17] "Letters on the Nicobar Islands, etc. Addressed by the Rev. I.
+Gottfried Haensel, the only surviving missionary, to the Rev. C. J.
+Latrobe. London, 1812." We are indebted for these rare pamphlets to the
+kindness of Dr. Rosen of the community of the Moravian Brethren at
+Genaadendal in South Africa, and do not think, despite its deep interest
+in the history of missions, that it has ever been translated into another
+language. Brown in his "History of Missions" has made a few brief extracts
+from it.
+
+[18] "If an inhabitant of the South Sea Islands have planted during his
+life but ten bread-fruit trees," says Cook, "he has fulfilled his duties
+towards his own and his grand-children as fully and effectually as the
+denizen of our rougher clime, who during his life-long endures the
+severity of winter, and exhausts his energies in the heats of summer, in
+order to provide his household with bread, and to save up some trifle for
+his family to inherit."
+
+[19] From the Malabar word Elettari. This is the common seed so well known
+in the pharmacopeia in the form of a carminative tincture, and is usually
+known as Alpinia Cardamomia.
+
+[20] With respect to the resemblance if not indeed identity of the
+vegetation of the Nicobar Archipelago, with that of the surrounding
+islands, and the mainland, we beg to refer here to the excellent work of
+an Austrian naturalist, the learned Dr. Helfer, who, stricken in the
+flower of his days by the poisoned arrow of a native of the Andaman
+Islands, fell a victim to his zeal for travel. To the Imperial Royal
+Geographical Society of Vienna, science is indebted for the German edition
+of this important information, under the title of the Published and
+Unpublished Works of Dr. J. W. Helfer upon the Tenasserm Provinces, the
+Mergins Archipelago, and the Andaman Islands, in the third volume of its
+Proceedings for 1859.
+
+[21] An extensive description of the zoology of these islands is reserved
+for the zoological part of the Novara publications, published at the
+expense of the Austrian government, at the Imperial Printing-office in
+Vienna.
+
+[22] The Tagali maidens of Luzon regard it as a special proof of the
+honourable intentions and eagerness of passion of their admirers, if these
+latter take the betel quid from their mouths!
+
+[23] We did fall in with some few individuals on these islands who by dint
+of much exertion could count as high as 100.
+
+[24] At Pulo Penang the _picul_ of ripe cocoa-nuts, 300, is worth 5-1/2
+dollars.
+
+[25] "On measurements as a diagnostic means for distinguishing the human
+races, being a systematic plan established and investigated by Dr. Karl
+Scherzer and Dr. Edward Schwarz, for the purpose of taking measurements on
+individuals of different races, during the voyage of H. I. M.'s frigate
+_Novara_ round the world." Vide Proceedings of the I.R. Geographical
+Society of Vienna, vol. II. of 1859, p. 11.
+
+[26] In the Sydney chapter the reader will find the Transportation
+question pretty fully discussed.
+
+
+               [Illustration: A Forest Scene in Singapore.]
+
+
+
+
+                                   XI.
+
+                               Singapore.
+
+                  Stay from 15th to 21st April, 1858.
+
+    Position of the Island.--Its previous history.--Sir Stamford
+    Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British
+    Government free to all sea-faring nations.--The Island becomes
+    part of the Crown property of England.--Extraordinary
+    development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.--Our stay
+    shortened in consequence of the severity of the cholera.--
+    Description of the city.--Tigers.--Gambir.--The Betel
+    plantations.--Inhabitants.--Chinese and European labour.--
+    Climate.--Diamond merchants.--Preparation of Pearl Sago.--Opium
+    farms.--Opium manufacture.--Opium-smokers.--Intellectual
+    activity.--Journalism.--Logan's "Journal of the Indian
+    Archipelago."--School for Malay children.--Judicial procedure.--
+    Visit to the penal settlement for coloured criminals.--A Chinese
+    provision-merchant at business and at home.--Fatal accident on
+    board.--Departure from Singapore.--Difficulty in passing through
+    Caspar Straits.--Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.--Death
+    of one of the ship's boys.--First burial at sea.--Sea-snakes.--
+    Arrival in the Roads of Batavia.
+
+
+The island of Singapore or Singhapura[27] is situated at the southernmost
+point of the peninsula of Malacca, from which it is only separated by a
+strait nowhere above a mile in breadth. It is about 29-1/3 statute miles
+in length from east to west, by 16-3/5 in breadth from north to south. The
+superficial area of the island is estimated at 206 square geographical
+miles, which will make it about one half larger than the Isle of Wight.
+
+Up to the year 1819, Singapore was a howling wilderness, and the only
+settlement upon its shores was a couple of wretched Malay fishermen's
+huts; a lurking-place for the pirates, who at that period made it
+dangerous to navigate those waters. After the rendition of the Dutch
+colonies in the Indian Archipelago, which it will be remembered were the
+property of England throughout the great continental war up to the year
+1814, Sir Stamford Raffles, the former Governor of Java, was intrusted
+with the office of founding on it, as the most suitable spot in all the
+Malay seas, a free emporium where the general trade in those seas of all
+the sea-faring nations of the world might be concentrated and exchanged.
+England had further in view to leave not a single foot to stand on to the
+Dutch, whose interests in those seas clashed with her own, to obtain an
+emporium in which to collect all the more important products of the
+Archipelago for exchange against the teas and silks of China; and, lastly,
+to procure for the reception and repairs of the ships of war and
+merchantmen, a suitable harbour, such as, being in the vicinity of the
+teak-growing countries, would also have the advantage of supplying timber
+for her ships at any period when there might be in England a deficient
+supply of oak.
+
+Sir Stamford, having previously examined several other localities,
+ultimately selected Singapore, and on 6th February, 1819, the English flag
+was hoisted on this solitary island, thus unsuspectedly inaugurating the
+beginning of a new era for the sea-faring world! At last, in 1824, came
+the Treaty of Cerum, by which Holland withdrew her pretensions in favour
+of England, and Singapore became an inalienable possession of the British
+Crown for a sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars paid over to its previous owner
+the Sultan of Djohore, together with a life-rent of 24,000 dollars
+annually payable to the same Malay chief. The slaves on the island were
+set at liberty, slavery was entirely abolished, and Singapore proclaimed a
+Free Port. The importance of Singapore as a site for a colony had already
+been pointed out and justified a century since by Captain Alexander
+Hamilton, who visited these seas at the beginning of the 18th century, and
+in a work entitled "A New Account of the East Indies," describes most
+circumstantially his stay at Djohore in 1703 on his voyage to China. In
+that work Hamilton narrates how the Sultan of Djohore wished to make him a
+present of the island, and how he declined this proposal with the remark
+that this island could be of no use to a private man, but would be
+eminently suitable for a colony and an emporium of trade,[28] because the
+winds were at all seasons favourable for egress from and entrance into
+these waters on every side. A hundred years later, the choice of Sir
+Stamford Raffles, to whom this relation of Hamilton seems to have been
+entirely unknown, fell upon the same locality, thus testifying alike to
+the eligibility of its position, and to the wise forecast of the founder
+of this British settlement.
+
+Before the arrival of the Europeans in India round the Cape of Good Hope,
+towards the commencement of the 16th century, the trade of these countries
+was exclusively confined to the Arabs and Hindoos, who acted as a medium
+between the far East and Europe. Every island in the Archipelago, in
+proportion to the abundance and value of its vegetable produce and its
+foreign intercourse, had one or more harbours, at which the products of
+the surrounding districts and islands were gathered and heaped up until
+the monsoon permitted the arrival of the merchant vessels from the West.
+At the beginning of the fine season, Arabs and Indians entered these
+harbours in their ships, and brought Indian and other manufactures and
+merchandise, which they were in the habit of exchanging for gold, gum,
+spices, tortoise-shell, rosin, jewels, and such like. Acheen in the north
+of Sumatra, Bantam in Java, Goa in Celebes, Bruni in Borneo, and Malacca
+in the peninsula of the same name, were the most important of these depots
+for merchandise and centres of trade. At present the importance of all
+these places has faded into history, whereas Singapore, from its
+singularly favourable geographical position, and the liberality of its
+political institutions, has made such a stride, as is entirely without
+parallel in the history of the world's trade. From a desolate haunt of
+piratical foes, the island has been converted into a flourishing emporium;
+about 1000 foreign vessels, and fully 3000 Malay prahus and Chinese junks,
+flit backwards and forwards annually with all sorts of merchandise and
+produce, while the value of the goods annually exchanged here amounts to
+about L11,000,000. Such is the change that has come over the old
+unhealthy, ill-omened Malay pirate abode: thanks to a clearly defined Free
+Trade policy! If a doubt should still obtrude itself as to these brilliant
+results of the utmost freedom and absence of restriction upon trade, it
+must give way before the spectacle presented to the view of the astonished
+beholder in the harbour of Singapore, the Alexandria of the 19th century!
+
+Unfortunately, however, our stay in this harbour, so interesting in a
+scientific as well as in a commercial point of view, was sensibly
+curtailed by the prevalence of such exceedingly unfavourable conditions of
+the public health. Hardly had we cast anchor ere an officer of the English
+frigate _Amethyst_ came on board to salute, and to inform us that for
+several weeks past the cholera had been ravaging the city, especially what
+is known as the Chinese quarter. In another war-ship then in the harbour,
+the screw corvette _Niger_, several of the crew had already succumbed to
+the pestilence; and even in our own immediate neighbourhood was anchored a
+ship with flag half-mast high, a melancholy signal that the angel of death
+was once more seeking victims. Our original plan of passing several weeks
+at Singapore had of course to be abandoned, and we determined at once to
+get under weigh, so soon as the ship had been re-victualled and sundry
+other matters of imperative necessity carefully looked to. Meanwhile the
+naturalist corps landed, and proceeded to see and examine as much as they
+possibly could.
+
+The town of Singapore, situated at the southern extremity of the island of
+the same name, is divided by the river Singapore, on whose banks it is
+built, into two parts, in the northernmost of which are the churches, the
+law courts, the residences of the European settlers, and a little further
+away the native dwellings, as also the Kampong-Klam or Bugis quarter, so
+called from the number of Bugis from Celebes who congregate there to do
+business; while on the south bank of the river, only a few feet above the
+level of the sea, are the warehouses and offices of the various European
+and Chinese merchants. Still farther to the southward and in another small
+cove, called New Harbour, are the buildings and docks of the Peninsular
+and Oriental Steam-Ship Company.
+
+Behind the city are visible three hills of inconsiderable height, called
+Pearl Hill, Government Hill, and Sophia Hill. The middle one, on which
+stands Government House, rises on the left bank of the river, about half a
+mile from the sea-shore, to a height of about 156 feet above sea-level. On
+Pearl Hill, which commands the Chinese and mercantile quarters of the
+town, a citadel has been constructed. The environs of the town on every
+side consist of a rolling sweep of hilly country, diversified in outline
+by about 70 different eminences varying in height from 60 to 170 feet,
+crowned with the elegant villas of the European merchants or government
+officials, or the residences of wealthy Chinese or Malays. The loftiest
+point is Bukit Turiah or Tin Hill, lying about the centre of the island,
+and 519 feet in height. Although accessible in a few hours from the city,
+it is very rarely made the scene of any excursions, in consequence of the
+forests which encircle it having for long been frequented by great numbers
+of tigers. These animals, eager for prey, cross from the mainland by
+swimming the narrow strait, hardly more than half a nautical mile in
+width, which separates it from the island. Dr. Logan, the excellent editor
+of the Singapore Free Press, assured us that till within the last six or
+seven years, 360 natives had annually been carried off by the tigers! Even
+at present, over 100 persons a year are killed in the forest by the tigers
+that prowl there. Shortly before our arrival, in the month of March, four
+persons had perished by these voracious animals. For an explanation of
+such horrible occurrences, we must consider the heedlessness of the
+natives, and the peculiar conditions affecting the mode of agriculture
+followed on the island. The soil of Singapore is not sufficiently fertile
+to make the cultivation of land a customary occupation. Even for
+rice-growing it is found to be unsuitable, so that the greater part of
+that chief staple of subsistence has to be imported from the neighbouring
+islands. So far as the island has been cleared, viz. to a distance of
+about five miles round the city, attempts have been made to plant nutmeg,
+clove, and fruit-trees. But the majority of the natives busy themselves
+with sowing the Gambir and Betel shrubs in the jungle, the leaves of which
+are readily disposed of at a good profit among the betel-chewing
+inhabitants of the Indian Archipelago for an ingredient of their beloved
+masticatory. The mode of cultivating these, however, is very peculiar. As
+Gambir speedily exhausts the soil in which it is planted, and renders it
+quite barren, the cultivators find themselves compelled to advance as
+though by a sort of perpetual emigration. They hew their way into the
+jungle, where they plant the Gambir (_Nauclea Gambir_),[29] the withered
+branches and leaves of which, after it has served their purpose, are used
+as manure for the _next_ shrub planted, the Betel (_Piper methysticum_).
+After a short time the soil becomes unsuited for this also, and needs
+several years' rest before it can again be made to produce any crop.
+
+In the prosecution of this thriftless cultivation the natives are
+compelled to penetrate deeper and deeper into the forest, in order to
+clear away with the axe spots of virgin soil for the planting of the
+Gambir. They frequently pass months at a time in the jungle, and with the
+carelessness characteristic of all southern races, constantly allow
+themselves to be surprised by wild beasts. Government, however, does not
+neglect publishing ordinances, by which as far as possible to discourage
+these formidable invaders. They have offered a reward of 50 dollars for
+every tiger killed. So soon as the track of a tiger has been struck, the
+natives usually dig a pit fifteen or twenty feet deep, which they cover
+slightly with grass and brushwood, and fasten close by a goat, a dog, or
+some other living creature. As soon as the tiger, eager for his prey,
+seeks to seize the poor animal, the brushwood gives way under him and he
+falls into the pit, where he is speedily finished with muskets.
+
+The entire population of the island amounts to about 100,000 souls, of
+which the greater number, say 60,000, inhabit the town itself or the
+surrounding villages. One meets here with a singular mixture of races,
+Europeans, Malays, Chinese, Klings (as the natives of the Coromandel coast
+are called), Arabs, Armenians, Parsees (Fire-worshippers), Bengalees,
+Burmese, Siamese, Bugis (from Celebes), Javanese, and from time to time
+visitors from every corner of the Archipelago. Of these the Europeans,
+although exercising far the largest and most preponderating influence upon
+the trade of the place, are much the weakest in point of numbers, the
+entire community not exceeding 300 or 400 on the whole island. On the
+other hand, the Chinese out-number all the rest, and are still constantly
+on the increase. Every year, as the N.E. monsoon sets in, in December and
+January, vast swarms of Chinese flock hither, fleeing from the poverty and
+distress of their native land. There are individuals, who make a regular
+trade of importing into Singapore coolies from China and the Coromandel
+coast. At the port of embarkation, each coolie engages with the captain,
+to serve one year after his arrival in Singapore with a European or native
+master, and to repay the cost of his passage out of his monthly wages. He
+usually receives at first 3 dollars a month (about 12_s._ 6_d._), out of
+which he lays aside 1-1/2 dol., and so gradually pays off his indebtedness
+to the ship captain. The passage-money, which a few years back was only
+about 10 or 12 Rs. (L1 to L1 4_s._), is at present as high as 20 Rs., or
+L2. After the first year his earnings may amount to about 4 or 5 dols. a
+month. If, however, the coolie have repaid his debt, he is free, and may
+either earn a very good wage as a servant, or start in any business for
+himself. The facilities for earning money are so great here for men of
+industry and steadiness, that a few years' stay suffices to convert these
+naked, filthy, hang-dog looking wretches into clean well-to-do workmen,
+and some of them even attain a certain status in the community, as
+planters and merchants. Many a Chinese, who is now an important and
+wealthy man, possessed not a farthing when he landed on the hospitable
+shore of the English colony. The number of Chinese resident in Singapore
+is estimated at 60,000, or nearly two-thirds of the entire population of
+the island.
+
+We need not feel surprised therefore to find that the long-tailed children
+of the Flowery Land living in Singapore have begun to develope a certain
+taste for luxury. They already boast a theatre of their own, a wooden
+booth, like a gigantic dolls' house, in which actors from China yell out
+their "sing-song," while the auditory, penned in within a
+carefully-locked court-yard, chant a vociferous accompaniment to this
+somewhat monotonous exhibition. Moreover, Singapore possesses a Chinese
+temple of such splendour, that one would hardly find its match in the
+Flowery Land itself. This is called the Telloh-Ayer, situated in the
+street of the same name, and is decorated with handsome carvings,
+innumerable mysterious inscriptions, and grotesque figures of stone and
+wood. The Chinese who conducted us all round were exceedingly friendly,
+and when, at parting, we slid a few pieces of silver into their hands as a
+recompense for their trouble, they gave vent to their feelings in repeated
+chin-chins, a mode of greeting which corresponds to the Salaam of the
+Mahometan races.
+
+Many of the Chinese of Singapore belong to secret societies (Hoes), the
+members of which seem banded together for both good and bad objects and
+for mutual protection. Their rules are so strict, and their slightest
+infraction is so fearfully punished, that hardly an instance has ever been
+known of an associate having been denounced or proved a traitor. In the
+British possessions, where the government attaches no sort of importance
+to these associations, and suffers them to pass unmolested so long as the
+laws of the country are not violated, these societies are unimportant, and
+are productive of no evil consequences; but in the Dutch East Indies,
+where the government has always kept their subjects in a state of
+tutelage, and is in a marked degree adverse to the Chinese settled in
+their colonies, these secret societies assume a far more dangerous
+character, and murders on purely political grounds are far from
+infrequent.
+
+The natives proper of Singapore are Malays, and their language is that
+most in use for general intercourse and trade. But as open-air labourers
+they are far inferior to the Chinese, who are much more enduring, more
+contented, and more sociable. In this connection the following comparative
+statement, prepared a few years since by W. J. Thompson, Esq., government
+engineer in Singapore, of the relative values of English and Chinese
+labour, will be found of much interest. To build a wall in England
+containing 306 cubic feet would, according to Mr. Thompson's estimate,
+employ one bricklayer and one ordinary labourer 4-44/100 days, the former
+receiving 5_s._ 6_d._ per day, the latter 3_s._ 6_d._, the total expense
+amounting to 30_s._ In Singapore a similar piece of work, executed by
+Chinese labourers, would require 8-54/100 days, and the daily wage would
+amount to 2_s._ 9-3/5_d._ for the bricklayer and 1_s._ 7-3/5_d._ for his
+assistant, the total expense amounting to 37_s._ 6_d._ Thus, English
+labour shows an economy over Chinese in the proportion of 52 to 100 in
+time, and of 4 to 5 in actual expense. The following is also interesting
+by way of confirmation. It had been resolved to fill up a swamp in
+Singapore, the material for which was at hand at either extremity. The
+swamp was 1200 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 21 feet wide. The contract was
+allotted to the Chinese, and completed in 326 working days, at 13 cents or
+11-1/2_d._ a day. An English, or indeed any other European labourer,
+would have completed the same in 187 days, so that here also English or
+European labour in general is more valuable than Chinese or any other
+Asiatic labour in the proportion of 100 to 57.
+
+These results must not however be held to indicate that the Chinese
+labourer possesses less physical strength than the European, nor must we
+leave out of view this element in the calculation, that the one executes
+his work in a temperate, the other in an excessively hot climate, to which
+European labourers speedily succumb, or at all events lose their powers
+and their strength in a very marked degree. Indeed it seems to decide the
+question in favour of the Chinese over the European labourer, that the
+former can work without taking any heed for his health in even the most
+variable temperatures. These instructive comparisons seem to be in so far
+especially valuable and useful, wherever it is projected to carry out
+certain undertakings, the cost of which may be estimated, due reference
+being had to the well-ascertained expense of constructing similar works in
+Europe.
+
+Next to the Chinese, the Klings, or natives of the Coromandel coast, are
+in the greatest request as boatmen, coachmen, pedlars, porters, and
+house-servants, by Europeans as well as by their own successful
+fellow-countrymen. From their habits of extreme sobriety, they speedily
+save money, and generally return home, although a certain number continue
+permanent settlers in Singapore. The Armenians resident here are the most
+like the European mercantile community; the Arabs are the descendants of
+those Mahometan priests and merchants whom the Portuguese found here when
+they first visited this quarter of the globe, and are recruited from time
+to time, but on the whole rarely, by fresh arrivals from their mother
+country.
+
+One very marked peculiarity of the population of Singapore is the enormous
+disparity between the numbers of the sexes. The proportion of females to
+males is as one to seven. The most probable explanation of this phenomenon
+is the circumstance that hitherto the emigration of females from China has
+been entirely prohibited, and consequently almost all the Chinese
+residents, who constitute by far the majority of the whole population, are
+unmarried. Among them the proportion of females to males is as one to
+thirteen.
+
+The health of Singapore is not always so bad as at the period of our
+visit; indeed, judging by perquisitions made for the purpose, the climate
+may rather be regarded as salubrious, particularly since the immediate
+vicinity of the town has been so extensively cleared. The outbreak of
+cholera was entirely new, and on that account an all the more appalling
+visitation. The temperature is tolerably equal throughout the year.
+Observations carried on uninterruptedly during five years give an average
+of 81 deg. 3. Fahr. for the hottest month (May), and of 79 deg. 5. Fahr. for the
+coldest (January). Once only during the five years (in June) did the
+thermometer attain a height of 87 deg. 2. Fahr. and once only in January did
+it fall as low as 74 deg. 8. Fahr. By comparing the present range of
+temperature with that of thirty years since, it appears that since the
+foundation of the settlement it has gained three degrees in temperature, a
+phenomenon which may be ascribed to the increase of buildings, and to the
+large clearings for a distance of five miles round the town, and perhaps
+also to the spot itself where these observations were made being exposed.
+
+There is no regular rainy season in Singapore. Rain falls every month
+throughout the year, the heaviest falls occurring in August and December.
+According to observations carried on during four years, the annual
+rainfall averaged 93 inches. The tolerably regular distribution of the
+rain throughout the year imparts to the vegetation a freshness that makes
+the change of seasons pass almost unheeded.
+
+In Singapore as elsewhere the members of the _Novara_ Expedition
+experienced from all classes of society the most cordial and hospitable
+reception. Every one bestirred himself to point out to us everything that
+was worth knowing, or that the city could present of interest or deserving
+special attention. After a cursory stroll through the most frequented
+streets, with their dense crowds of people, which sufficiently proved to
+us that trade was in fact the chief occupation of the inhabitants, we
+turned our attention to the shops of some of the Mahometan merchants, when
+our eyes were dazzled with all the most various products of India.
+
+In one of these we were shown some exceedingly valuable diamonds from
+Borneo, one of which weighed 17 carats, and was worth L4000 sterling,
+while another of 19 carats, but less pure and brilliant, was for sale for
+L2000. The seller, a Mahometan, himself wore on his finger a diamond-ring
+which our companion estimated at L1000. In the stores of several other
+merchants we saw the Malay servants sitting cross-legged on the bare floor
+of the porch, with huge heaps of Spanish dollars before them, which they
+were busy counting. The Spanish or Mexican dollar is here almost the only
+medium of exchange, payments being made all but exclusively in that
+currency, whereas gold, even English, is but sparingly used, and then with
+ill-concealed reluctance! The utter want of any other recognized medium of
+exchange than silver makes all extensive money transactions exceedingly
+onerous, owing to the expense of transmitting the precious metals, in
+consequence of which any one wishing to pay in a certain sum of a few
+thousand dollars in cash, must employ a convoy for the purpose of
+transporting the money![30]
+
+Although, as already remarked, the chief business of the island is purely
+commercial, and although, ordinarily speaking, every branch of industry
+merges in that predominant occupation, there is yet one manufacture in
+Singapore which calls for most special notice. This consists in the
+preparation of pearl, or white sago, from the raw state, which is brought
+from the N.E. coast of Sumatra, and the N.W. coast of Borneo. Almost the
+whole of the sago of commerce is prepared here, and all but exclusively by
+Chinese labour. Sago is chiefly obtained from the pith of several species
+of palm, but more particularly from the _Sagus Rumphii_ and the _Sagus
+Laevii_, both of which are rather limited in their area of cultivation,
+and are not, like the cosmopolitan cocoa-nut palm, found in every quarter
+of the tropical zone, both in the Old and New World, but are indigenous to
+the Indian Archipelago alone. The trunk of the sago-palm, when felled, is
+a cylinder of about 20 inches in diameter, and from 15 to 20 feet in
+length, which, when the woody fibres have been separated, contains about
+700 lbs of clear fine fecula. One may form some conception of its
+extraordinary productiveness on learning that three sago-palms contain as
+much nutritious matter as an acre of land grown with wheat! One piece of
+ground of the extent of an English acre planted with sago-palms
+occasionally yields 313,000 lbs of sago, or as much food as 163 acres of
+wheat. The sago however is neither as palatable nor as nutritious as it is
+productive, and nowhere, where rice is in common use, will it be displaced
+by this article of food. We visited the largest sago manufacture in
+Singapore, in which the sago, as it comes in the raw state from Borneo and
+Sumatra, is washed and roasted, when it becomes the pearl sago of
+commerce. The quantity thus prepared annually amounts to about 100,000
+cwt.
+
+Singapore was also the first place where we found an opportunity of
+becoming acquainted with opium-smokers, and of observing the noxious
+effects of this custom, which was forced upon the Chinese for the purpose
+of compelling commercial relations. Although in almost every street in
+Singapore there are houses in which opium is sold and can be smoked (the
+so-called "Licensed opium shops"), there is, in order to keep more control
+over it, only one single place where the opium is prepared for smoking
+from the raw material, called by the English the "Opium farm," from which
+all retail dealers must purchase their supplies of stock.
+
+Before describing our visit to this curious factory we shall indulge in a
+few observations upon a plant whose intoxicating, poisonous milky sap
+produces such singular effects upon the human system. The poppy (_papaver
+somniferum_), is chiefly grown in Hindostan in the districts of Benares,
+Patna, and Malwa. Its cultivation is exceedingly arduous, and very
+precarious, since the tender young plants require constant care and
+attention in the way of repeated watering, as well as weeding and turning
+up the soil, besides which there is the ever-present danger of its
+destruction by insects, or its loss through storm, or hail, or untimely
+rains. The plant blooms in the month of February, and three months later
+the seed is ripe. The incision into the capsule however is made three or
+four weeks earlier, so soon, in short, as it is covered with a fine white
+mealy dust. The instrument employed in this operation has three prongs
+with very sharp points, with which the plant is carefully scratched. Each
+plant is thus tapped for three consecutive days, the operation beginning
+with the first warm beams of the morning sun; the milky sap is scraped off
+in the cool of the next morning, and on the fourth morning each plant is
+again tried as to whether it still exudes sap, but usually it proves to
+have been exhausted. The juice as scraped off in its coagulated form, is
+put into a cask along with linseed oil, in order not to get too quickly
+dry, and then is made by hand-kneading into round flat cakes, of about
+four pounds' weight, and about five inches in diameter, which, enveloped
+in poppy and tobacco leaves, are spread out to dry in earthen dishes, till
+ready for purposes of commerce. In this stage the opium is packed in boxes
+of ten cakes or about 40 lbs, and thus passes from the hands of the grower
+or the speculator at certain fixed prices into those of the agents of the
+East India Company. The very anxious and precarious cultivation of the
+poppy must prove far less remunerative to the proprietor of the land than
+the much easier task of raising tobacco or sugar-cane, and it is only the
+long-established but most impoverishing system of payments in advance,
+pursued by the agents of the East India Company, that keeps the Hindoos
+engaged in opium cultivation.[31]
+
+At the opium farm in Singapore we saw this same coagulated juice, as
+obtained from the poppy, converted into opium suitable for smoking, which
+is called _chandu_, the process consisting in its being exposed to the
+action of heat in large semicircular brass pans, strained through filters,
+and once more exposed to a low heat, until it finally coagulates into a
+consistency strongly resembling treacle or syrup. The whole manipulation
+occupies from four to five days. A cattie or ball of this thickened
+poppy-juice costs the manufacturer about 20 dols. From ten such balls of
+the raw sap, or about 40 lbs, which is the usual weight of each "chest,"
+as imported from Hindostan, 216 "tiles" or about 18 lbs of opium are
+obtained upon an average. We saw the Chinese dealer place in one of the
+scales a Spanish dollar, instead of a regular weight, and measure off a
+corresponding weight of opium in the other, A _Chi_, weighing about 1/16
+oz., the ordinary quantity consumed by an opium-smoker, costs 17-1/2
+cents, or nine-pence. The duty levied upon this manufacture gives the
+government a revenue of L3000 a month, for the exclusive right of
+preparing opium fit for smoking, _chandu_, for consumption on the island.
+
+As often as the apparatus is called into activity, the Chinese employed in
+the preparation of the opium, in pursuance of what seems with them a
+regular custom at the commencement of any spell of work, commit to the
+flames, after repeating a certain set of formulas of prayer, a number of
+octavo-sized leaves (_Tschni-tschni-soa_) of paper printed upon one side
+only, and occasionally provided in very large quantities: on these fabrics
+of the roughest material are printed sometimes prayers in Chinese,
+sometimes all kinds of drawings, intended to express the wishes of those
+making the offering, and which ordinarily represent in very sketchy
+outline those objects which they pray their deities to bestow on them. In
+thus burning, in a copper vessel specially prepared for the purpose, not
+unlike the baptismal font in a Christian church, these small slips of
+paper, the Chinese operative believes that his petition ascends to heaven
+as smoke, and so comes under the cognizance of his protecting gods.
+Similarly in all temples and pagodas, large quantities may be found stored
+away of these paper intercessors with the Chinese gods, intended for the
+use of believers, or rather of those who make profession of faith.
+
+The workmen of the opium farm have a part of their wages paid in opium.
+The greater number are themselves opium-smokers, and thus are all the more
+surely attached to the manufacture. We saw a number of these fellows lying
+stretched out on straw mats, in wretched filthy-looking dens of rooms,
+with blue curtains barely concealing them from view, and the spirit-lamp
+placed conveniently near to enable them from time to time to heat the
+_chandu_, the smoke of which they inhale through a peculiarly constructed
+pipe (_Yeu-tsiang_). The quantity of opium taken up at each dip by the
+instrument used, a three-cornered, flat-headed sort of needle specially
+adapted for the purpose, is about the size of a pea. The practised
+opium-smoker holds his breath for a considerable time, and passes the
+smoke through the nostrils. The taste of the half-fluid juice of the
+poppy is sweetish and oily, but the odour of the _chandu_ when heated,
+which one of the workmen addicted to smoking insisted on our regarding as
+one of the most valuable of perfumes, is so disagreeable as almost to
+cause nausea. We saw numbers of smokers, athwart the filthy gossamer-like
+curtains, utterly stupefied, and lying carelessly stretched out on the
+hard bedsteads, the pipe fallen out of their hands, and the lamp on the
+table in front of their couch extinguished. They, however, did not want
+the curtain for the purpose of preventing their being disturbed in the
+luxurious enjoyment of their beatific dreams; for they continued in a
+state resembling death itself, from which hardly anything could possibly
+rouse them so long as the effects of the poisonous drug lasted. Others of
+the smokers were so affected by it as to have utterly lost their senses,
+and seemed on the whole entirely indifferent to all that was passing
+around them. One of the workmen, who was in a high state of excitement,
+and was uncommonly talkative, informed us however that he had to smoke
+about one shilling's worth of opium ere he could feel its effect, that
+there was nothing more annoying or insupportable than mere partial
+stupefaction, when one had no more money wherewith to buy opium so as to
+be able to get into a proper state of somnolence. The entire system at
+such times gets into a frightful state of irritation; there is severe
+headache, a sensation of pressure on the stomach, nausea, in a word all
+the ill-effects of the use of opium, without any of its more agreeable
+sensations. The state of intoxication and drowsiness usually lasts from
+forty to sixty minutes, when consciousness gradually returns, without any
+ill-effects being experienced at the moment from the inhalation of the
+poison.
+
+In Singapore, where comparatively high wages are paid, and the Chinese
+population is the most numerous, the annual consumption of opium amounts
+to about 330 grains per head. In the Island of Java, where, in consequence
+of certain limits prescribed by government, the Chinese element amounts to
+but 1/100th of the entire population, the consumption is hardly forty
+grains per head. Even in China, where this perilous narcotic is consumed
+in such enormous quantities, the amount sold only indicates 140 grains for
+each smoker, which however is chiefly attributable to the poverty of the
+populace, by whom this luxury is unattainable. Unfortunately we could get
+no reliable information as to the number of opium-smokers, and the
+quantity of opium consumed, in Singapore. Mr. Allen, a North American
+missionary, estimates the number of persons who surrender themselves to
+this practice throughout the Chinese Empire, at from 4-5,000,000, who
+annually consume about 50,000 chests of opium. The quantity consumed by
+each smoker daily varies in an extraordinary degree. At first the beginner
+cannot inhale above two or three grains at a time, but gradually, as he
+becomes habituated, the dose increases, till the confirmed smokers
+consume as much as 100 grains daily!! Many Chinese spend two-thirds of
+their earnings in the purchase of this drug, which has become for them a
+necessity of life.
+
+The practice of eating opium in the form of pills, which prevails in every
+Mahometan country in the East, and has in a special degree been readily
+adopted by the disciples of the Koran, in consequence of the prohibition
+of wine, would seem, judging by the researches of physicians, to be much
+less injurious and much slower in affecting the human system than smoking
+the opium, or otherwise bringing it directly in contact with the lungs,
+while the effects of the former practice is likewise different.
+
+We shall have an opportunity, when describing our stay in Chinese waters,
+to revert to this most remarkable and most profitable, but at the same
+time most iniquitous, monopoly of the (late) East India Company, which
+crushes millions of human beings in the most appalling and hopeless of all
+slaveries, and against the continuance of which the Chinese government has
+repeatedly but ineffectually set its face. The words of the
+idol-worshipping Emperor of China, when in 1840 he was solicited to
+convert the importation of opium into a source of revenue to the state,
+were worthy of a Christian monarch: "It is true," said the Chinese ruler,
+"I cannot hinder the importation of this subtle poison; infamous men in
+the lust for gain will out of covetousness or sensuality set at nought the
+fulfilment of my wishes;--but they shall never induce me to enrich myself
+by the vices and the wretchedness of my people!"
+
+Despite the very small proportion of Europeans resident in Singapore, and
+that almost the entire time of those few seems to be absorbed in business,
+there is nevertheless considerable intellectual activity. Several
+newspapers in the English language, among which the "Singapore Free
+Press," edited by Mr. A. Logan, occupies the foremost rank, supply
+information as to all that is worth knowing in every part of the East
+Indies, while the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," which has been for
+many years so ably and carefully conducted by the well-known and
+widely-famous J. H. Logan (brother of the editor of the "Press"), is a
+veritable mine of information for the naturalist, who wishes to make the
+history of the Indian Archipelago and its inhabitants the object of his
+study. It contains exceedingly useful data for extending our knowledge of
+these very remarkable countries, susceptible as they are of such
+extraordinary development.
+
+The colony also boasts a Museum of Natural History adjoining a library
+with several thousand volumes, and a reading-room, copiously supplied with
+newspapers and periodicals, the whole forming what is called the
+"Singapore Institution." This enterprise was founded by shares of 40
+dollars each, and is supported by an annual subscription of 24 dollars by
+each member, which confers the privilege of using the well-selected
+library of books, and a great number of English and French papers and
+periodicals. The small ethnographic collection consists chiefly of
+specimens from Borneo, Sumatra, and the adjoining islands.
+
+Among the educational institutions most deserving of attention and
+recognition must be specially noticed the school for the instruction of
+Malay boys and girls, under the management and preceptorship of that most
+deserving missionary, Mr. B. P. Keasberry, who has pursued a career of
+useful activity in this Archipelago during thirty years past. The parents
+of the children taken in here have to contribute to their support, and to
+leave them there for at least ten years, under the affectionate spiritual
+care of the missionary, and must not remove them till after the expiry of
+that period. This condition was rendered necessary by the fickleness of
+the Malay nature, which otherwise would frequently withdraw the children
+from the supervision of the missionary at the very moment when they were
+beginning to become amenable to the influences of instruction in
+Christianity and civilization. The Institution is supported partly by
+voluntary contributions, partly by the profits of a printing business, in
+which, however, hardly anything is printed except educational and
+religious works in the Malay language. Mr. Keasberry was so kind as to
+present us with a small collection of the works thus published during the
+past year, comprising among others a dictionary of the English and Malay
+languages, the New Testament, a volume of Natural History, a Manual of
+Geography, a Universal History, a Biblical History, and numerous
+educational works in Malay for the use of the pupils.
+
+In the course of a visit we paid to the Police Court we had the pleasure
+of becoming acquainted with Mr. Windsor Carl, the well-known author of
+numerous valuable works relating to the Indian Archipelago and the Papuan
+Negroes, a gentleman whose career in life has been of the strangest, at
+present holding the position of magistrate in Singapore, where his great
+experience and his thorough acquaintance with the Malay language must be
+of the utmost service to government. The audience assembled in the Court
+room, in which only causes under 50 Rs. are tried, consisted for the most
+part of Chinese. Almost all the officials, clerks, inspectors, and
+policemen were coloured. In one month 414 causes came on for trial, of
+which 315 were disposed of by the imposition on the culprits of fines
+amounting in the aggregate to 5975 Rs., but of this sum only 5105 Rs. were
+realized. The largest number of sentences are passed in March, because the
+Chinese celebrate the New Year on the first day of that month, and
+accordingly the largest number of cases of assault, &c., occur at that
+period. The police _employes_ registered in that period above 100 cases of
+transgressions of the law. The New Year is however, as must be remembered,
+the solitary festival which John Chinaman takes out of his appointed work,
+since recognizing as they do neither Sunday nor feast-day they continue
+hard at work for all the rest of the year. The majority of decisions refer
+to prohibited games; and whoever knows the inextinguishable love of the
+Chinese populace for spending their time in gambling, will readily
+comprehend how in a single year there occurred above 2000 cases in which
+the law was violated. While we were in the justice-room, a paper was
+handed in to the presiding magistrate, in which an English sailor, at that
+moment in hospital, urgently requested that he might leave the same,
+inasmuch as he felt no longer sure of his life, owing to the numbers daily
+brought thither to die of cholera. In fact the hospital, and the
+localities adjacent, seemed to be the spots most seriously visited by the
+pestilence, so that the prayer of the petitioner to be removed from that
+neighbourhood was not altogether unfounded.
+
+One highly interesting establishment, deserving of universal imitation, is
+the penal colony for criminals sentenced to transportation for life from
+all parts of India, and known as "The Convict Settlement." In order to
+comprehend the object and tendency of this institution, it seems necessary
+to premise certain remarks upon the political relation of Singapore to
+India at large. Singapore in conjunction with the colony of Malacca, which
+gives its name to the entire peninsula, and the island of Penang,
+including the district of Wellesley, form that range of British
+settlements in the Straits of Malacca which is usually known to the
+English as "The Straits Settlements." Up to quite a recent date, these
+colonies, founded almost exclusively in the interests of British commerce,
+were under the authority of the Indian government, and were in fact
+controlled from Calcutta. To the Directors of the East India Company,
+however, these settlements, of whose future destiny the mother country has
+hitherto taken but little heed, notwithstanding their enormous political
+and commercial importance, appeared to be specially adapted as a place for
+maintaining common criminals, as also the more dangerous class of
+political offenders, and accordingly converted these settlements into
+penal colonies for the Indies, of which that of Singapore is the most
+important.
+
+The director of this institution, Captain McNair, had the kindness to
+accompany the members of the Novara expedition through the extensive
+buildings, for the most part only one storey high, but well adapted for
+this purpose, and to furnish us with much information on the various
+particulars and special matters of interest relating to the establishment.
+Ever since the year 1854, the wretched, confined, wooden huts thatched
+with straw, in which up to that period the unfortunate criminals were
+confined, have been removed, and in their stead lofty, airy, good-sized
+apartments have been substituted. At the period of our visit in April
+1858, there were over 2000 transported for life, and 245 sentenced to
+various terms of from five to ten years, confined here. All the public
+buildings of the island, churches, hospitals, barracks, works in the
+streets, sometimes constructions of a most expensive nature, were executed
+throughout by criminals. After sixteen years' good conduct, the prisoner
+was entitled to a "ticket of leave," authorising him to settle within the
+jurisdiction of the island as a free colonist, coupled with the condition
+of presenting himself once a month before the superintendent of the
+settlement. In case of bad conduct, or failure, or irregularity in
+fulfilling such stipulations, these concessions are revoked. All the
+overseers of the convict settlement, who receive monthly pay at the rate
+of from one to two dollars, are prisoners who have already given proof of
+their desire to return to a better mode of life, and it is well worth
+remark, that the 2000 convicts, consisting for the most part of the very
+dregs of the various Indian races, and condemned for grave crimes to
+perpetual imprisonment, are under the charge of a single white turnkey,
+and by him maintained in perfect order and propriety of demeanour. Besides
+this one official there is only a small detachment of Indian soldiers,
+from twelve to fifteen in number, stationed at the settlement as a measure
+of precaution. The best evidence of the excellent system on which this
+institution is administered, will be found in the published reports of its
+health, from which it appears that of the 2000 there confined, there were
+but forty sick at the very period when the cholera was committing such
+terrific ravages in the town among the poorer classes, and the change of
+the monsoon had been accompanied by great sickness and general
+unhealthiness. The convicts go to work at six every morning, and return to
+the barracks about 4 P.M., the rest of the day being spent in preparing
+their victuals, consisting of rice, vegetables, cayenne-pepper, and fruit.
+As most of those confined are Hindoos and profess Brahminism, they bathe
+several times a day, in a large tank filled with excellent water. This
+wise religious custom must in such a sultry climate conduce in a marked
+degree to the preservation of their health, by its beneficial and
+refreshing action upon the frame.
+
+Some of the convicts are also employed in manufacturing cordage, ropes,
+twine, &c., of the fibres of the wild plantain (_Musa textilis_), the
+Rame-shrub (_Boehmeria nivea_), and the wild pine-apple (_Bromelia Ananas_
+or _Ananassa Sativa_). All these textures are of excellent quality, and
+possess all the best properties of Russian hemp-fabrics, at a considerable
+reduction of cost.
+
+In the dormitories the convicts are not classified by nationalities as
+during the labours of the day, but according to the nature of the offences
+for which they are incarcerated, so that in one division all the thieves
+are together, in another all the homicides, in a third all those convicted
+of arson, &c. Although from a psychological point of view much might be
+urged against the judiciousness of such a system, yet, as we were
+informed, this method of confinement by classification of offences
+exercises no prejudicial effect upon the moral amelioration of the
+convicts, but on the contrary most encouraging results have been observed
+to arise from its operation. Among others we were told of a Hindoo from
+the Malabar coast, a convict for life, who after sixteen years'
+confinement received permission to settle on the island as a free
+colonist. By industry, ability, and some fortunate speculations, this man
+in the course of years acquired a large fortune. He now felt an intense
+yearning to revisit his own home, and expressed his willingness to present
+a large portion of his newly acquired wealth for such a permission. But
+the law was explicit upon this point. Only a free pardon from the
+Governor-general of India can as a rule avail to make such an exception,
+which is of but rare occurrence. This he actually succeeded in obtaining
+after repeated supplications, and this "fortunate unfortunate" was at last
+permitted to return to his longed-for home. It is worth noting that of the
+2245 prisoners, only fifty are of the female sex, chiefly Hindoo women
+from Bengal. Among those imprisoned while we were there, we remarked three
+white men, who had been sentenced to several months' confinement for
+riotous conduct and drunkenness. Surrounded as they were by these bronzed
+half-savage Hindoo offenders, these men made a doubly painful impression
+upon Europeans.
+
+As the prevalence of disease in the town and harbour made it especially
+desirable that we should as speedily as possible change our quarters, in
+order not to be surprised by a visit on board from a guest so formidable,
+we made all possible efforts to complete with the utmost dispatch the
+revictualling of the ship, and transact whatever other business was
+necessary. For this purpose we were recommended in several quarters to
+employ a Chinese merchant, whose name is already favourably mentioned by
+Commodore Wilks on the occasion of his visiting Singapore in 1842. This
+was Whampoa, a ship-chandler, who indeed in similar departments of trade
+carries on by no means insignificant competition with the long-established
+English firms. His business is unquestionably the most extensive in this
+line in Singapore, and furnishes a striking example of what Chinese
+industry, economy, and perseverance are capable of. Immense quantities of
+provisions and ship-stores are accumulated in his extensive warehouses, so
+that he can supply orders to any extent in an incredibly short space of
+time. Within two days, Whampoa had completely victualled the ship for six
+months, besides supplying her from the adjoining stream with 100 tons of
+good water, which was brought alongside in boats specially constructed for
+the purpose, and thence pumped through hose into the iron water-tanks in
+the hold, an operation which in any European port would have taken thrice
+the time required here. Moreover all the articles supplied by Whampoa were
+of the best quality, and proportionally moderate in price. He employs none
+but Chinese, with long tails, and black silk apparel. All the books are
+kept in the Chinese language, and even the additions and subtractions are
+not made in the European method, but by the Chinese _counting_ board, that
+is, by shifting a number of wooden beads or rings, which run in different
+rows, and have a variety of values. This reckoning-board consists of an
+oblong frame, divided in its length by a partition into unequal divisions,
+in the larger of which are hung five, in the smaller two, beads upon metal
+cross wires. Each wire with the seven beads running upon it constitutes a
+single row, and in each such row, a single bead of the smaller division is
+equal in value to the five corresponding beads in the larger compartment;
+while, just as in the Russian reckoning-board, each row represents a
+value tenfold greater or less with reference to the two arms adjoining it
+on either side. On the Chinese board the number of cross wires is not
+always the same, but depends upon the extent of the calculations intended
+to be made upon it.[32]
+
+                [Illustration: A Chinese Counting Board.]
+
+Accordingly when a Chinese wishes to make a calculation upon his
+reckoning-board, he lays it crosswise before him, with the large
+compartment next himself, pushes the beads of the two divisions to the
+edge of the frame, whence, as the process of calculation may require, he
+shifts them into the middle against the partition-wire, or pushes them
+back again. In the former case the beads are said to "count on the
+board," in the latter to be "off the board." Consequently, in order to
+have 1, 2, 3, and 4 "counting," a corresponding number of beads in the
+larger compartment must be pushed away from himself till they reach the
+partition; to mark 5, he similarly draws towards himself a bead in the
+smaller compartment, and as 6, 7, 8, and 9 are formed by the addition of 5
+and 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively, these will be marked by adding one bead
+from the lesser compartment to the requisite number of beads in the
+greater. The tens are indicated by the beads of the next wire to the left;
+the hundreds by the next again to that, &c.
+
+Within his own house, Whampoa lives entirely in the European fashion.
+Plentifully blessed with this world's goods, he displays a degree of
+luxury such as we are unaccustomed to see save in the most elevated
+circles of society. One of his properties, which is several miles in
+circumference, has a spacious, elegantly furnished mansion with a splendid
+colonnade, a beautiful flower-garden, and a perfect menagery of useful
+domestic animals. Within the house all the arrangements are European, with
+the exception of the oval doors, communicating between the great saloon
+and the antechambers, which are pushed into the wall on either side, and
+have a very surprising effect. In the evening, especially when the saloon
+is illuminated, if a person passes through this oval entrance, the effect
+is as of a life-size portrait set in a golden frame. It would not be a bad
+idea to introduce this Chinese form of door-way into our European
+residences and country-seats, and it is assuredly not the only improvement
+in the decorative art which we could borrow with advantage from the
+Chinese. Whampoa's own favourite habitation is about four miles outside
+the town, and presents a curious admixture of European comfort and taste
+with Chinese notions of ornament. In the saloons, adorned with a quantity
+of neat fancy ornaments, are suspended from the walls verses and proverbs
+of the most renowned Chinese poets, all written on long elegantly
+illustrated rolls of paper. Our host also showed us a variety of objects
+which had been presented to him by foreign ship captains, officers of the
+navy, and even singers, as the late Mrs. Catherine Hayes Bushnell, whom he
+had shown much attention to. A banquet, to which we were invited by this
+hospitable Chinese to meet a number of the most prominent commercial
+magnates of the colony, was served entirely in the European style. The
+viands were cooked by a Chinese cook, in the English and French styles,
+only the dessert came part from Japan, part from China, and consisted of a
+variety of fruits, which were utterly unknown to the eye and the palate of
+the European guests. Our Chinese host seemed quite at home in doing the
+honours. Although outwardly a Chinese of the most orthodox stamp, with
+shaven head, (except the long tail reaching almost to the earth,) and his
+body robed in a black silken stuff, he drank to each of his guests in good
+old English style, and seemed as little afraid of Sherry as of Champagne.
+Indeed, we even had toasts, in the course of which this Chinese friend to
+foreigners remarked in English, that any amelioration of the present
+critical condition of his native land, can only be effected by the
+progressive influence of the British government. Whampoa is in all
+probability the first Chinese who has sent his son to Europe.
+
+On the very last day of our stay in Singapore, a melancholy accident
+occurred on board. One of our sailors named Rossi, while unbending a sail
+for the purpose of repair, fell from the fore-yard on the forecastle,
+where he lay insensible, and died a few hours afterwards. Latterly
+repeated instances had occurred at short intervals, of the sailors, while
+working at various elevations, losing hold and falling on deck, but none
+of these had had such a tragical result as the present, and a few slight
+injuries was all the penalty the sufferers received for their
+carelessness. Singularly enough, such accidents mostly occur to the able
+seamen, because that class usually feel themselves as secure while resting
+on the foot-ropes, and working among the masts and sails, as on the ground
+itself, and from their carelessness come much more frequently to grief,
+than their comrades less experienced in man[oe]uvring among the cordage.
+Rossi was reverently committed to the earth in the Catholic burying-ground
+of Singapore, and arrangements were at the same time made for the erection
+of a small grave-stone over his distant resting-place, informing the
+visitors to this "Court of Peace," that below reposes a member of the
+_Novara_ Expedition, who had lost his life in the discharge of his duties.
+
+As we were now at the season of the change of monsoon, at which period the
+always difficult navigation of the narrow seas between Singapore and
+Batavia demands an unusual degree of carefulness, in consequence of
+frequent squalls, we engaged a pilot, who for a stipulated sum of 175
+dollars was to convoy us to the next station on our voyage. Captain
+Burrows, as our pilot was named, had the reputation of being a specially
+competent, thoroughly trustworthy person, who for a long period had
+navigated these waters in his own ship, and, as we were informed, had,
+owing to some unfortunate speculations, been compelled to become a pilot
+of other vessels, after having for years sailed in command of his own
+ship. He had already come on board with his traps, but, as wind and tide
+were both unfavourable, he obtained permission to return to shore till
+sunset. This however the pilot did not do, and on the following morning,
+finding he did not come off despite our signals, we set sail without him
+about 9 A.M. with favourable wind and tide. No one could account for the
+default of a pilot so strongly recommended on all hands, particularly as
+all his baggage had remained on board, and must now of course make the
+voyage to Batavia. For a moment we conjectured that he had immediately on
+landing been seized by the dread distemper, only it seemed improbable we
+should not have been informed of such a catastrophe. And in fact it
+afterwards appeared that his having missed us was entirely due to his own
+inattention.
+
+We at first had intended to pass through the narrow strait of Rhio,[33] by
+which the route is materially shortened, but as the squally weather had
+fairly set in, while the breeze had crept round to the S.E., and the tide
+set strong to the northwards, we abandoned this plan, and decided on
+sailing through the channel between Horsburgh light-house and Bintang, so
+as to pass to the eastward of this island as far as Graspar Straits, which
+however we only reached the following day, owing to light fitful breezes
+from the northwards. So soon as we entered Gaspar Straits we found the
+sea, which is here of no great depth, never exceeding 25 fathoms, partly
+covered with trunks of trees and sea-weed, while the water had lost its
+transparency and was of a dirty green colour.
+
+At 10 A.M. of the 25th April, we crossed the equator for the third time,
+and the same day about 11 P.M. were in sight of the rocky island of Tothy,
+a rain-squall from the N.E. blowing at the time. We passed between this
+island and the dangerous because invisible Vega Rock, just below the
+surface of the sea, and found ourselves in an archipelago of islands and
+shoals requiring the utmost vigilance in navigating ships of large size.
+But the moon, "the seaman's friend," shone brightly at night, and the
+well-known transparency of the air in tropical countries enabled us even
+during the hours of darkness to make out with perfect distinctness islands
+lying 25 to 30 miles distant, so that we were by these means, coupled with
+occasional casts of the lead, enabled on every occasion to make out with
+sufficient exactness at what point we had arrived. We were so lucky as to
+have never once throughout this intricate navigation been compelled to
+cast anchor (as is so frequently the case here), and thus succeeded in
+overhauling in Gaspar Straits more than one merchantman, that was a far
+better sailer than the _Novara_.
+
+On 30th April in 2 deg. 48' S., and 107 deg. 16' E., we celebrated the anniversary
+of our departure from Trieste, with hearts filled with gratitude to the
+illustrious projector of an expedition devoted to such lofty aims.
+
+Although during our stay in Singapore the cholera had not alone carried
+off its victims in the town, but also in the harbour, especially in the
+screw corvette _Niger_, anchored in our immediate vicinity, which lost at
+the rate of about a man daily till she changed her moorings, and
+ultimately had to put to sea (which under such circumstances gives hope
+from the very first for a change for the better in the requisite sanitary
+conditions for restoring to health), yet the crew of the _Novara_ seemed
+destined to escape the slightest evil effects from our six days' stay in
+this plague-stricken harbour. But the result did not justify these
+expectations. Five days after our departure from Singapore, just as we
+were entering Gaspar Straits, one of the ship's boys fell ill with all
+the symptoms of the Asiatic pestilence, and two days after the man
+appointed to attend him was similarly seized. Every necessary precaution
+was taken, the crew were kept as much as possible on deck, the band played
+frequently, in order to keep up cheerfulness, and thus by great good
+fortune the malady was confined to the two individuals seized. The
+attendant ere long recovered, but the lad, after the choleraic symptoms
+had subsided, gradually fell into a typhoid state, under which, despite
+the utmost medical skill, he succumbed on the afternoon of May 4th. Owing
+to the rapidity with which decomposition sets in in organic structures in
+these hot latitudes, it was at once arranged that the body should be
+committed to the deep the same evening. It was the first occasion
+throughout the voyage that we had to perform this sad but most impressive
+ceremony. The officers and crew mustered on the deck. The body wrapped in
+an ensign lay upon a platform, close to the man-ropes on the starboard
+side. The chaplain prayed over the corpse of one so young, about to rest
+in the bosom of ocean far from friends and family, after which there was a
+dull hollow sound; the sea had got his prey, the waves closed with sullen
+glee over their booty,--and all was over!
+
+In the course of the passage we also celebrated a funeral service on board
+for Austria's great, never-to-be-forgotten commander, Field-marshal
+Radetzky, of whose death we had shortly before been apprized. As far as
+circumstances admitted, everything was done to celebrate this solemn duty
+in a befitting manner.
+
+Several times during this part of our voyage, owing to the slight depth,
+averaging only 14 fathoms, of the Gaspar Strait, we observed sea-snakes
+basking on the surface of the sea, and letting the waves roll them lazily
+forward, several of which, about four feet long, were caught in a common
+insect-net.
+
+At last, on the afternoon of May 5, we anchored in the roads of Batavia,
+in 6-1/2 fathoms, mud bottom. The aspect of the roads, especially in bad
+weather, is rather melancholy, the coast being low and swampy, and densely
+covered with mangrove-bushes, through which glittered a portion of the
+red-tiled roofs of the lower ancient city of Batavia, now abandoned on
+account of its insalubrity. Under a more cheerful sky the country round
+would of course assume a more agreeable and even imposing appearance, when
+the outline of the gigantic volcanoes of Java come into view in the
+background, with their heavenward towering peaks, partly covered with
+snow, permitting us to form some faint conception of the prodigality of
+Nature in this, the most beautiful island of the Malay Archipelago.
+
+In the roads of Batavia we found much less bustle and animation than one
+could anticipate, considering the favourable situation and immense
+importance of the place. A short distance from us lay the Dutch frigate
+_Palembang_, carrying the flag of a Vice-admiral, and the steam-corvette
+_Groeningen_, besides which we counted some sixty foreign merchantmen, and
+over a hundred native boats and coasting vessels. This rather small
+evidence of commercial activity is the more noticeable when one has just
+come from the free port of Singapore, where several hundred ships are
+always lying at anchor, sporting the flags of every sea-faring nation,
+without taking account of the almost innumerable Chinese and Malay
+coasters, trading between Singapore and the other islands of the Sunda
+Archipelago. Moreover, there are here no small boats plying to and fro,
+because the communications between the city and the roadstead being over a
+space requiring an hour and a half to traverse, the transit is necessarily
+dear, and remains therefore confined within as small limits as possible.
+For a small boat with two rowers from the roads to the landing-place the
+charge is from four to five florins (6_s._ 8_d._ to 8_s._ 4_d._), and
+3-1/2 florins (5_s._ 10_d._) more for a vehicle to transport them to the
+town. For this reason no artisans, trades-people, or washerwomen will come
+off to where the shipping is at anchor, to take orders--every commission
+of whatever nature must be executed in the city itself. Here we lay at
+anchor, an Austrian frigate, surely a most unwonted visitant, from the
+afternoon till the following morning without one single boat coming off to
+visit us!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[27] City of Lions, from Singha, the Sanscrit for Lion, a title of Indian
+princes, which we again meet with in Singhala, the kingdom of Lions, as
+Ceylon is called in ancient records and histories.
+
+[28] Captain Alexander Hamilton's "New Account of the East Indies,
+1688-1723." Edinburgh, 1727. 8vo, Vol. II., p. 63.
+
+[29] From this shrub is prepared the drug _Kino_, once much used in the
+Pharmacop[oe]ia, but now displaced by _catechu_.
+
+[30] A similar system prevails to this day throughout Hindostan, where the
+necessity for convoy of specie forms one of the most important items of
+expense in the maintenance of local police, outlying military stations,
+&c. And unfortunately such a policy reacts upon the respect of the natives
+for British rule, for seeing that even the government requires such
+convoys, they naturally presume that government feels itself insecure, and
+hence refuse to co-operate in the development of Indian resources.
+
+[31] The net produce of an acre of land grown with poppy amounts to about
+20 or 30 rupees, producing about 30 lbs of opium. The oil extracted from
+the seed-vessels of the plant gives a return of from 2 to 3 rupees per
+acre.
+
+[32] Among the valuable contributions of the Russian Embassy to Pekin,
+respecting China, its people, its religion, its political institutions,
+its social peculiarities, &c., there is one long and very copious treatise
+upon the Chinese reckoning-board, and the method of using it. See the
+German translation of the work by Dr. Karl Abel, and F. T. Mecklenburg.
+Berlin, F. Heinicke, 1856, vol. i. p. 295.
+
+[33] The Rhio group of islands is about 50 miles S.E. of Singapore, the
+most important of which is Bintang, with a town of the same name.
+
+
+                   [Illustration: Javanese Weapons.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII.
+
+                                  Java.
+
+                   Stay from 5th to 29th May, 1858.
+
+    Old and New Batavia.--Splendid reception.--Scientific
+    societies.--Public institutions.--Natives.--A Malay embassy.--
+    Excursion into the interior.--Buitenzorg.--The Botanic Garden.--
+    The Negro.--Prince Aquasie Boachi.--Pondok-Gedeh.--The infirmary
+    at Gadok, and Dr. Bernstein.--Megamendoeng.--Javanese villages.--
+    Tjipannas.--Ascent of Pangerango.--Forest scenery.--Javanese
+    resting-houses or Pasanggrahans.--Night and morning on the
+    summit of the volcano.--Visit to Gunung Gedeh.--The plantations
+    of Peruvian bark-trees in Tjipodas.--Their actual condition.--
+    Conjectures as to the future.--Voyage to Bandong.--Spots where
+    edible swallows'-nests are found.--Hospitable reception by a
+    Javanese prince.--Visit to Dr. Junghuhn in Lembang.--Coffee
+    cultivation.--Decay in value of the coffee bean of Java.--
+    Professor Vriese and the coffee planters of Java.--Free trade
+    and monopoly.--Compulsory and free labour.--Ascent of the
+    volcano of Tangkuban Prahu.--Poison Crater and King's Crater.--A
+    geological excursion to a portion of the Preanger Regency.--
+    Native fete given by the Javanese Regent of Tjiangoer.--A day at
+    the Governor-general's country-seat at Buitenzorg.--Return to
+    Batavia.--Ball given by the military club in honour of the
+    _Novara_.--Raden Saleh, a Javanese artist.--Barracks and
+    prisons.--Meester Cornelis.--French opera.--Constant changes
+    among the European society.--Aims of the colonial government.--
+    Departure from Batavia.--Pleasant voyage.--An English ship with
+    Chinese Coolies.--Bay of Manila.--Arrival in Cavite harbour.
+
+
+In order to get from the roadstead of Batavia to the "Stad Herberg," the
+sole landing-place for boats, distant some miles from the open sea, it is
+necessary to steer for some distance up the canal-like channel of the
+Tjiliwoeng (pronounced _Chili-wung_) River. Old Batavia (Jacatra), built
+by the Dutch in 1619, on an extremely swampy and most unhealthy spot, is
+at present entirely abandoned by the white population, and the numerous
+handsome edifices still standing there are now only used as warehouses,
+counting-houses, and offices generally. Where in days of yore a hundred
+thousand human beings bustled to and fro, there are at present dwelling
+but a couple of thousand wretched, poverty-stricken Portuguese and
+Javanese. The Dutch in selecting such a site undoubtedly took their own
+Amsterdam for a model, and the houses were accordingly built as close as
+possible to each other, and several storeys high, a mode of building
+eminently unsuited to a tropical climate, and accordingly adding another
+element of insalubrity. The thick fog, which every evening at sundown
+spreads over the city, situate as it is hardly above the level of the sea,
+is not only very injurious to Europeans, but proves quite frequently
+fatal, so that by 5 P.M. old Batavia assumes the appearance of a city of
+the dead, and a regular emigration takes place in waggons, on horseback,
+or on foot, to the more elevated and therefore more healthy parts of the
+town, to Ryswick, Molenvliet, Weltevreden, &c., where during the last
+twenty years an entirely new and very elegant settlement has sprung up.
+Handsome villas rise amid the blooming fragrant gardens, and everything is
+arranged in accordance with the requirements of a tropical climate; and
+of an evening, when the low verandahs and beautifully furnished
+drawing-rooms of these airy, well-ventilated mansions are profusely lit
+up, and filled with a gaily-dressed social circle, while numbers of
+equipages, carrying torches, flit through the wide streets, the whole
+scene has quite a fairyland appearance. The gloom without makes the
+dazzling brightness within-doors still more marked, and renders the law a
+perfect boon, by which no native, so soon as it becomes dark, is permitted
+to walk through the streets unless he carries a lighted torch (_obor_).
+Owing to the distance intervening between each house, Batavia, although
+numbering only 70,000 inhabitants, apparently covers a larger area than
+Paris, and as the wealthy classes are concentrated in the upper quarters
+of the town, just as they are in the West End of London, it is there that
+one may see all that Batavia has to show of luxury, comfort, and elegance.
+The old haughty, aristocratic capital of the Netherland Indies, whose
+beauty once obtained for her the title of "Queen of the East," is found
+here in more than pristine freshness, and not alone in wealth and
+splendour, but even in social stiffness and pedantic etiquette, vies with
+the most ultra-refined centres of fashion in Europe.
+
+The _Novara_ had long been expected in Batavia, and months beforehand
+orders had been issued by the Governor-general to all the Dutch colonies
+in the East Indies, for the courteous reception of the Expedition, and
+energetically assisting its members. A German merchant from Celebes, whom
+we happened to meet the day of our arrival, informed us that in Macassar
+the entire population had been for several months past looking for the
+arrival of the foreign man-of-war, and those on the look-out at the
+signal-station, as often as a large ship made its appearance on the
+horizon, were continually hoping that it might prove to be the
+long-expected visitor.
+
+All that the resources of a mighty and generous power, such as is that of
+Holland in Java, could furnish to make our short stay at the island as
+agreeable and instructive as possible was exhibited on the most lavish
+scale, and all that could be done to promote our objects in view by men of
+science, of which Java possesses a considerable number, and even some of
+European celebrity, was offered with the most praiseworthy alacrity.
+Several eminent scholars and naturalists, headed by the renowned
+ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who shortly before had been decorated with an
+Austrian order of merit for his valuable contributions to our knowledge of
+the natural history of the Sunda Islands, did the honours, so to speak,
+for the members of the scientific commission, of whom they became the
+constant companions.
+
+The very day we landed we visited the Museum, in the company of our new
+friends, where we found an extremely interesting and most valuable
+collection, principally of ethnographic objects. Here we saw idols of the
+palmy days of Buddhism, made of bronze and silver, beautifully carved,
+which came from the interior of Java, as also from Sumatra and the Engano
+Islands; clothes of the bark of trees, garments of fish-scales, of a
+species of _Scarus_ (probably _Scarus Schlosserii_), head-gear, armlets,
+and necklaces of the teeth of men and wild animals, richly adorned
+"creeses" or Malay daggers, lances and arrows of bamboo, whose iron heads
+were poisoned by a wash of arsenic mixed with lemon-juice; a great variety
+of musical instruments, among which were specimens of the well-known and
+singular _Gamelang_, which consists of a row of bells of all sizes and
+tones, which are struck with slender pieces of bamboo, and makes a regular
+orchestra of bells. There was also a very singular-looking collection of
+parasols, which as used by the natives are emblems of rank, and of which
+there are no less than thirty different kinds. Any one may carry a simple
+green, or blue, or black parasol, but those with gold thread or gold
+tassels are only permitted to be used by persons of a certain social
+standing, so that one may always know the social position of a Javanese by
+the parasol he carries, just as among the Chinese, rank is indicated by
+the number of peacock feathers, and the colour of the button on the
+bonnet. The higher the rank, the broader is the gilded fringe, so that the
+parasol of a Javanese prince of the highest rank is all gold together, and
+when fully expanded consists of three parasols, one above the other, which
+open by one and the same movement. Most of these parasols, prepared from
+the leaves of the screw-pine, are imported hither from China.
+
+In one of the rooms is a statue of Durga, one of the goddesses of the old
+Hindoo mythology, moulded in metal, a present from the Sultan of
+Surakarta in the centre of Java to one of the former governors of the
+island, who presented this fine specimen of native art to the Museum. A
+large number of Javanese and Sunda MSS., written on palm-leaves, have been
+placed by, and at the expense of, the government in the hands of Dr.
+Friedrich, a German philologist, to be deciphered and translated. In the
+same apartment we saw a large number of trachytes, with very beautiful
+sculptures and inscriptions, as also several figures from the island of
+Bali, quite modern in aspect, carved in wood and coarsely painted,
+representing some beautiful female figures; other hideous caricatures,
+which are used by the natives as decorations of their household altar, but
+without any religious significance being attached to them. The fact that
+these sculptures are no longer, as formerly, executed in stone, but are
+carved in wood, may be held to evidence the decay of this branch of art. A
+rather considerable craniological collection, comprising some 60 heads of
+the various types of races inhabiting the Malay Archipelago and the
+adjoining continent, was in the most handsome manner presented to the
+Expedition, and must, considering the many difficulties which stand in the
+way of our acquiring correct scientific knowledge of this interesting
+question, especially among races inhabiting uncivilized countries, be
+regarded as an exceedingly valuable addition to our collections of objects
+of natural history at home.
+
+The Ethnographic Museum and the library attached are, however, only
+branches thrown out by the indefatigable activity of the oldest
+scientific society in Java, the _Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en
+Wetenschappen_, which, founded in 1778 by the Europeans then resident in
+Batavia, has since that period published some thirty volumes of valuable
+statistics of the various objects of which it takes cognizance, and is in
+correspondence with upwards of 150 learned societies. Since 1852 there has
+also appeared under the auspices of this Society, conducted by three
+members of the direction, Dr. Bleeker, Mr. Netscher, and Mr. Munnich, a
+monthly journal of Indian History, as also of physical and ethnographic
+statistics (the "_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal Land en Volkenkunde_"),
+of which seven volumes have already appeared, published in 8vo. Not less
+valuable, especially in the interests of natural science, is the
+Association known as the "_Natuurkundige Vereeniging_," which has been in
+existence since 1850, and, under the superintendence of that indefatigably
+active scholar Dr. Bleeker, has within that period published a
+considerable number of most interesting memoirs, while the Society for the
+advancement of Medical Science (_Vereeniging tot Bevordering der
+Geneeskundige Wetenschappen in Nederlandsch Indie_), under the guidance of
+the distinguished Dr. G. Wassink, has given to the world through its
+annual publications a large variety of experiences and observations on the
+study of Medicine.[34] All these scientific institutions are the more
+deserving of commendation, when we reflect that there are but 6000
+emigrants from Holland, scattered abroad throughout the Netherland
+Indies, of whom only some 3000 are in Batavia, and that the white
+population is for the most part constantly changing. It is obvious this
+latter condition must have this prejudicial effect, that the various
+branches of scientific inquiry cannot always enjoy a uniform degree of
+attention, and that the task of maintaining them in a proper degree of
+efficiency must depend almost exclusively upon the continuance in office
+and constant attention of individuals. Owing to this frequency of change
+the active prosecution of scientific inquiry has undergone marked
+fluctuations in Batavia, and while occasionally it was at the lowest ebb,
+so to speak, at another time, as happily was the case at the period of our
+visit, it presents, in the convergence of numerous powerful minds devoted
+to the pursuit of knowledge, the imposing spectacle of a strong set of
+public opinion towards intellectual enjoyment and cultivation.
+
+Accompanied by Dr. Bleeker the members of the Expedition visited several
+of the most interesting of the public institutions, the establishment of
+which reflects the greatest honour on the government, as well as the
+public-spirited individuals who projected them. The Military and Civil
+Hospital at Tjiliwoeng, or Great River, does not indeed present the
+palace-like appearance of the Misericordia Hospital at Rio, but the small
+neat buildings, one storey high, scattered among beautiful flower-gardens,
+and occupying a flat space of great extent, are kept scrupulously clean,
+and are arranged with great comfort. Six physicians are on duty here, and
+the most exemplary care and attention are bestowed on patients. Officers
+and public servants who fall sick have, in particular, large, light, airy,
+elegantly furnished apartments; other patients are received into lofty,
+well-ventilated, spacious halls, usually holding from 50 to 60 beds.
+Altogether the hospital can accommodate 600 patients. The most common
+diseases are dysentery, intermittent fever, and heart and liver
+complaints. Here we saw numerous cases of _Beri-Beri_ (the Barbiers of
+English medical writers), that singular, usually incurable disease which
+begins with intermittent fever, and generally ends with paralysis of the
+spinal chord. In the year 1857, of 500 patients at Batavia no fewer than
+348 were attacked with this frightful complaint, of whom 249 died within a
+brief space. In the medical section of the _Novara_ publications will be
+found a complete account of this most interesting malady, which
+fortunately is very limited in its ravages, and hitherto has been almost
+exclusively confined to the natives.
+
+In one of the wards we were shown a Dutch sailor labouring under an
+asthmatic attack, whose hands and feet had been shockingly mutilated in
+1846 by pirates in the Straits of Malacca. We also found among the
+patients several German sailors and soldiers, whose transports of joy were
+unmistakeable on hearing once more the sound of their native language, and
+at the opportunity of conversing with a fellow-countryman.
+
+The heavy expense of building in Batavia, and the anxious vigilance
+exercised over those of the community who are sick, will best be
+understood from the fact that one single new ward, making up from 60 to 80
+beds, cost the government about 60,000 guilders (L5000). One of the
+buildings, at a little distance from the rest, is set apart for female
+invalids, as also for lunatics and sick prisoners. Attached to this
+hospital is a school of midwifery for the instruction of native women in
+obstetrics, which at the period of our visit was attended by sixteen women
+from various islands in the Malay Archipelago, and which, in a land where
+the birth of a child is accompanied by so many superstitious and hideous
+ceremonies, cannot fail to be followed by most beneficial results.
+
+One very important and useful establishment is the Javanese medical school
+(_Geneeskundige School voor Inlanders_), which, founded in 1851 by Mr.
+Bosch, at that period chief of the medical staff, is intended to supply
+the sons of the more prominent natives of Java and the adjacent islands
+with a thorough training in and acquaintance with the art of medicine as
+practised in Europe. Government defrays the travelling expenses of these
+youths, as also all expenses of maintenance and education. Among the
+four-and-twenty scholars here, we saw sons of native princes of Java,
+Palembang, Celebes, Amboina, Ceram, Sumatra, and Borneo, who intended
+following up the profession; and it is worthy of remark that two natives
+of Menado in the island of Celebes of the savage cannibal race of the
+Alfuras, were pointed out to us as among the most apt and docile of the
+scholars! Those of the students who are Christians, are clothed in the
+dress of Europeans, the rest, chiefly Mahometans, wear Oriental attire.
+Instruction is imparted in Malay, since as a rule not one of the students
+on entering the college understands a word of Dutch. For the same reason
+the books usually employed in instruction cannot be made use of, while,
+owing to the poverty of the Malay language, any translation into it must
+be fraught with difficulty. All technical names are therefore converted
+into Latin. The course of instruction is carried on the first year in the
+class-room, the second by the bed-side of the patient, or the dead body.
+After strict and thorough examination each pupil receives a diploma as a
+"Doctor--Java," besides a monthly salary of from L2 2_s._ to L2 10_s._,
+and an outfit of the most important drugs and surgical instruments. By
+this system some fifty young men have already returned to their homes as
+physicians and government officials, and thus greatly contribute to the
+extension of European civilization.
+
+In the chief streets of Batavia the stranger comes upon some small open
+watch-houses, or rather huts, consisting simply of four poles and a roof
+of palm thatch, in which is suspended a long, slender piece of wood
+(_Tong-tong_), which is used for three different objects. The Javanese who
+in this little hut is watching over the property and personal safety of
+the inhabitants, strikes the _Tong-tong_ with a sort of drum-stick, in
+order to announce the hours of the night, or to give notice of the
+outbreak of a fire, or in case of any one _running a-muck_. This singular
+phenomenon, in which a Malay with open knife or drawn dagger rushes madly
+through the streets, and seeks to kill every one he encounters, occurs
+perhaps a dozen times a year. The first murder is very probably
+intentional, the offspring of hate or revenge, but that once accomplished,
+the murderer, usually under the influence of opium, runs recklessly
+forward through the streets, with the wild cry of "Amok"--"Amok"
+(Kill!--Kill!), knocking down and stabbing whoever he encounters. As one
+can only approach the miscreant at the peril of one's life, there is kept
+in these watch-houses a peculiarly constructed weapon of long wooden
+staves, and shaped at the upper end not unlike a hay-fork, with which the
+desperate wretch can be seized. The various methods in which the Tong-tong
+is struck at once conveys notice as to which one of the three
+announcements conveyed by the instrument it is the watchman's object to
+make.
+
+The natives, although they divide themselves into the Java and Sunda
+nations, belong nevertheless to the same race, viz. the Malay, and are
+readily recognizable by their short thickset form, round face, wide mouth,
+short narrow nose, small black eyes, by their brown complexion, verging on
+yellow, and their luxuriant but always rough and coarse hair. As to their
+moral characteristics, the Javanese are a mild, easily contented,
+temperate, simple, industrious people. The principal occupation of the
+10,000,000 inhabitants of Java and Madura, is agriculture, which with
+them is at least equally, if not in a much higher degree, understood by
+them than by any other Asiatic community, with the exception of the
+Chinese. This is apparent from the neatness and careful cultivation of
+their fields, the excellent condition of their farm-stock, the careful
+observance of seed-time and harvest, and above all by their regular
+irrigation of the soil. When Java first became known to Europeans, the
+chief produce of the island consisted of rice, leguminous vegetables,
+indigo, and cotton. Intercourse with Europe has superadded to these two
+American products, maize and tobacco, and one African, coffee.[35] The
+Javanese have even less time for the mechanical arts than for agricultural
+pursuits, yet in the construction of boats and dwelling-houses, as also in
+making agricultural implements, shields and weapons of war, they have more
+aptitude than the majority of the people of the Malay Archipelago.[36] The
+only other stuff, except cotton, of which they make clothing is silk,
+chiefly the raw, coarse, Chinese silk; all endeavours to naturalize the
+silk production in these islands having failed hitherto.
+
+In addition to the ordinary language used for communication and every-day
+purposes there are in Java two special idioms,--Javanese in the centre and
+east of the island, and Sunda in the west of the island. The small river
+Losari in the province of Cheribon on the north side of the island
+indicates the boundary line of the two languages. Owing to the
+circumstance that both the idioms are used in Cheribon, many writers have
+deduced thence the origin of the name of that province, which signifies in
+Javanese "mingled," or mixed. The Javanese tongue, which of the two is far
+the more highly cultivated, has been a written language for untold ages,
+and its alphabet is universally used among the Sunda groups as well as in
+the adjoining Malay groups. Various inscriptions in stone and brass carry
+us back in the history of Java to the 12th century, and it would almost
+seem that the Javanese at that period had already attained the same degree
+of civilization as when four centuries later the Europeans for the first
+time landed on their soil.
+
+Of the original Javanese language there are three dialects,--the language
+of the populace (Ngoko), or low Javanese, the ceremonial language (Kromo),
+known as high Javanese, and the old mystical dialect, or _Kawi_.
+
+Javanese has borrowed a number of words from Sanscrit, Arabic, and
+Telingu, especially since the introduction of religion and commerce.
+
+One of the most important events in the history of the Javanese was their
+conversion to Brahmanism, and still later to Mahometanism. The precise
+period at which the first of these took place seems to be as yet quite
+uncertain, but this much is known, that from the 13th to the 15th century
+Brahmanism prevailed in Java. The conversion of the Javanese to Islam,
+whose religion is at present professed by the great majority of the
+inhabitants,[37] took place in 1478 under the ruler of Salivana, after
+Arabian, Persian, Malay, and Mahometan Hindoos had since the year 1358
+vainly endeavoured to introduce that faith.[38]
+
+In addition to the native population there is also a large number of
+foreign settlers in Java, of whom the Chinese constitute far the largest
+contingent. Their number is above 140,000, and would be much greater were
+their attempts at colonization not kept down by numerous limitations, and
+heavy taxes and imposts. The Chinese, who in more than one respect may be
+regarded as the Jews of India, are only admitted by the Indian Government
+at certain points of the coast, and in many of the Regencies must not
+transgress those limits. Although they are extraordinarily industrious,
+ingenious, and well suited for hard labour, yet the government is of
+opinion that their unchecked intercourse with the natives would inevitably
+prove prejudicial to the latter, who are plundered by the Chinese in every
+possible manner. Their main, indeed sole, object is to make money, and at
+all public auctions it is they who chiefly buy at a small price, and
+directly afterwards succeed in getting off their purchases at an enormous
+advance. One can purchase of these Chinese dealers at prices almost
+unheard of for cheapness, but quality and lasting capabilities are not
+guaranteed. A German writer compares the Kampong or Chinese quarter to a
+Polish country town on a fair day. Every house and store is crammed with
+all manner of useless trash, and everywhere there is the utmost bustle.
+The most various articles are exposed for sale in each magazine. Here too
+are found the Chinese theatrical booths, in which at various hours
+throughout the day Chinese comedians, richly dressed in Chinese fashion,
+perform Chinese plays, which are applauded by a numerous ragged auditory,
+collected in the open space in front!
+
+Each Chinese colony, or _Kampong_, has a chief, appointed by government,
+with the title of lieutenant, captain, or major, available within the
+limits of the Kampong, but which, it is needless to say, confers no
+military privileges. Those of the Chinese residing in Java belong to
+mutual societies, whose members assist each other, and which have not
+merely humanitarian, but also political tendencies.
+
+We are in possession of the affiliation-ticket of a member of the native
+Chinese society of Hoei, or Tuite-Huy (Brotherhood of the Heavens and the
+Earth), printed on a fabric of reddish cotton, which bears 91 various
+written characters, for the following translation of which, as also for
+the accompanying particulars respecting the objects of this very
+remarkable society, we are indebted to the kindness of the renowned
+Chinese scholar, Professor J. Neumann of Munich:--
+
+"The Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth frankly declares that it
+considers itself called on by the Supreme Being to put an end to the
+frightful contrast between wealth and poverty. In its view the possessors
+of earthly power and wealth have come into this world under the same
+ceremonies, and leave it in the same manner, as their defrauded brothers,
+the poor and oppressed. The Supreme Being never willed that millions
+should be held in slavery by a few thousands. Father Heaven and Mother
+Earth have never conferred on the few thousands the right to swallow up
+the property of millions of their brethren for the mere satiating their
+own luxury. To the rich and powerful their fortunes were never bestowed by
+the Supreme Being as an exceptional right; it consists rather in the
+labour and the 'sweat of the brow' of the millions of their oppressed
+brethren. The sun with his beaming face, the earth with her treasures of
+wealth, the universe with all its joys, are boons common to all, and must
+be seized from the grasp of the few thousands for the satisfaction of the
+necessities of the naked millions. The world must ultimately be purged of
+all oppression and woe; this must be initiated in brotherly unity, must
+be steadily followed up with mind and hand, and must be completed. The
+good seed of this brotherhood must not be stifled beneath noxious weeds,
+rather is it our duty to root up these noxious weeds, that overshadow all
+things, to the benefit and advancement of the good seed. The problem, be
+it frankly confessed, is a mighty and a difficult one, but let each man
+bethink him, that there is no victory, no redemption without storm and
+strife. Until the great majority of the dwellers of all the cities of each
+province have taken the oath of fidelity, each man may continue outwardly
+to obey the mandarins, and ingratiate himself with the police by presents.
+Ill-timed demonstrations will injure the plan. So soon as the majority of
+the inhabitants in each city and province has acceded to the bond of our
+union, the old monarchy must fall to the ground, and we shall be able to
+found the new reign upon the ruins of the old. Millions of grateful
+brethren shall honour the founders of our brotherhood after they shall
+have gone to the grave, mindful of the mighty benefit they have
+conferred;--the redemption from chains and bondage of a ruined social
+system."
+
+[Illustration: The Seal of Union of the Brotherhood of the Heavens and the
+Earth.]
+
+The seal of union of this Brotherhood of the Heavens and the Earth is
+engraved with numerous hieroglyphics, and many-cornered in its inner
+circumference, emblematic of the supreme states of felicity, according to
+Chinese notions, viz. wisdom, justice, posterity, honour, and riches.
+These five states of felicity correspond to their five elements, earth,
+wood, water, metal, fire, whose symbols figure at the corner of the seal.
+Immediately below are seen certain other engraved emblems, indicating
+mighty undaunted leaders, ancient heroes of China, who are standing
+closely together with unshaken front. Then follow a number of proverbs,
+partly of symbolic significance, and in rhythmical sayings, such as:--
+
+                In close array the ranks of heroes stand,
+                Obedient to the master-mind's command.
+
+One tie unites the old and the young brethren; in order of battle old and
+young are intermingled. Each man stands ready to obey the smallest signal
+of his immediate commander. As the swollen mountain torrent spreads itself
+over the level ground, innumerable bands of these pour forth on all sides:
+
+                   Mingle brown, and white, and red,
+                   And strike till ev'ry foe lie dead.
+
+The by-laws of this secret society are so strict that there is hardly an
+example on record of a member incurring a denunciation, or being guilty of
+treason. In consequence of the cloud of mystery which envelopes these
+societies, they are the more dangerous, because unassailable by the
+government. And accordingly, all precautions hitherto taken for
+suppressing these secret societies of the Chinese population have proved
+unavailing. Secret societies however are anything but forbidden under
+Dutch rule in Java,--on the contrary, it is rather _bon ton_ to belong to
+some one of the lodges of freemasonry existent out there.
+
+Before setting out on our excursion into the interior of Java, we had an
+opportunity of being present at the festivities which it is customary to
+get up on the occasion of the reception of an embassy from one of the
+native princes. On the present occasion it was the ministers of the Kings
+of the Island of Lombok,[39] eastward of Java, who had to deliver on
+behalf of their illustrious masters letters for H. E. the Governor-general
+of the Dutch East Indies. During the whole of their stay they were
+maintained at the expense of government in the house of a specially
+appointed master of the ceremonies, a native of the Island of Borneo, and
+nephew of the Sultan of Pontianab, whose official position imposes upon
+him the duty of showing all that is worth seeing in the city to these
+occasional illustrious Malay guests. Both ministers were accompanied
+everywhere by a Malay dolmetsch, although they spoke Javanese with the
+utmost fluency, in addition to their mother tongue.
+
+On the day of the reception they made their appearance in ceremonial
+dress, and in gala "turn-outs," at the government palace, where they were
+presented to the Governor-general by the Resident of Batavia, the highest
+authority in the city. The master of the ceremonies took charge of the
+letters of the Kings of Lombok, as also of two immense spears, at least
+twelve feet long, each richly gilt and gaily bedecked with yellow
+tissue,[40] which were presented by the ambassadors as presents from the
+Kings of Lombok to the Governor-general. It is however strictly forbidden
+to the Dutch employes to accept any presents of the most trifling nature,
+and even in cases such as the present, where the refusal of the gifts
+would be an insult to the donor, all such must be sold for the benefit of
+the treasury, or at least a corresponding amount must be returned by the
+receiver out of the state treasury. Accordingly, it is the custom to
+recompense all presents made by the various regents with others of far
+greater value.[41]
+
+At the entrance to the palace a guard of honour of European soldiers was
+drawn up in full uniform, between whose ranks the ambassadors were ushered
+into the hall of reception. One of the attendants now held a large
+rich-looking, highly-gilt parasol above the letter of the Kings of Lombok,
+which was borne along by the master of the ceremonies on a silver waiter.
+A similar mark of distinction was conferred on the two ambassadors and the
+resident. The Governor-general in full official uniform, and surrounded by
+a number of government officials, received the embassy on a platform,
+where he sat on a beautifully covered gilt chair, canopied with costly
+tapestry. The elder of the two ambassadors, having been introduced by the
+resident, thereupon proceeded to say that he was charged to present the
+homage of his master to the Dutch Government, and to remit a letter. On a
+formal sign by the Governor-general, the government interpreter, Mr.
+Nitscher, took the letter off the silver waiter, at which moment a salute
+of nine cannon-shot was fired in the garden behind the palace, to announce
+to the people outdoors the moment at which the king's letter had been
+received. The letter, enveloped in yellow silk, and written in Malay with
+Arabic characters, was thereupon opened by the government interpreter, and
+read with a loud voice, after which it was translated into Dutch. In a
+similar manner the reply of the Governor-general was translated for the
+two ambassadors into the Malay language.
+
+At last, after these stiff and wearisome formalities had been gone
+through, the ambassadors were invited to occupy chairs that had been
+specially prepared for them next the Governor-general, when a short
+exchange took place of civilities and commonplace phrases, until the
+Governor-general gave the signal for breaking up, by rising from his seat.
+The ambassadors were thereupon ushered forth in the same ceremonious
+manner in which they had entered.
+
+The occasion of the present embassy was a dispute with the Sultan of
+Sumbawa, in which the Kings of Lombok invoked the mediation of the Dutch
+Government. The Sultan of Sumbawa had in fact refused to restore two
+subjects of the Kings of Lombok who had fled to Sumbawa. But for the
+preponderating influence of the Dutch Government the two disputants would
+long before have resorted to war.
+
+On the 13th May we set forth in two large and very comfortable coaches for
+Buitenzorg (signifying in Dutch "on the farther side of sorrow"), the
+usual residence of the Governor-general, who only comes to Batavia on
+certain days in the month to give audiences. He had not alone invited the
+members of the Expedition to visit the Preanger Regencies as guests of the
+government, and caused arrangements to be made for their ascending with as
+little trouble as possible the volcanic peak of Gunung Pangerango (10,194
+feet), but likewise detached one of his adjutants, M. de Kock, and Dr.
+Bleeker, both well acquainted with the natural history of the country, to
+accompany us upon this excursion. Messengers were sent in advance, to
+announce our approach at each station, so as to secure us a comfortable
+and courteous reception wherever we wished to pass a few hours, or to take
+a night's rest.
+
+Buitenzorg is distant from the capital 39 paals or Javanese miles,[42]
+which distance, thanks to the excellence of the roads and the horses in
+Java, is traversed in about three hours, two "loopers," or runners, as is
+the custom here, as elsewhere in the East, accompanying each coach, who
+are incessantly on and off the waggon, yelling and cracking their long
+whips at the horses to keep them to their speed. About every five paals,
+or 4-3/4 miles (English), the cattle and the runners are changed, so that
+an unvarying speed is attained. All along the roads stretches the
+telegraphic wire, which unites Batavia in one direction with Angier (75
+miles) and Surabaya (543 miles).[43] The wood of which each post is
+constructed is the _Kapok_ tree, a species of _Gossypium_, or cotton tree,
+and here for the first time we saw the slender, tightly-strained wires
+suspended on the stem of a luxuriant green tree. Thus, if the experiment
+succeeds, the elsewhere naked, dead telegraph-poles will here be made at
+once useful and productive, as each post that supports the wire will
+produce a small quantity of cotton.
+
+Buitenzorg possesses one of the finest and most extensive botanical
+gardens in the world. It was laid out as far back as 1817, during the
+vice-royalty of Baron van Capellen. The distribution of the various orders
+is contrived equally to assist and promote the instruction of the general
+observer, and to accustom the naturalist to the phenomena of Eastern
+vegetation. Each order of plants has its own area. The various species of
+palms are the most extensively represented, and there is scarcely one of
+the genus, whether ornamental or useful, found in the Netherland Indies
+or Australia, of which a representative is not to be found here. The
+superintendence of this garden has been intrusted to that indefatigable
+_hortulanus_, Mr. J. C. Teijsmann, who in his department assisted to the
+utmost the objects of the _Novara_ Expedition. He not only presented us
+with duplicates of all the more valuable plants in his very extensive
+collection, but also with valuable seeds. By such kind co-operation we
+found ourselves provided with some twenty various species of fibrous
+plants, amongst others the well-known Rame-shrub (_Boehmeria utilis_), and
+that useful species of wild plantain, the _Musa textilis_ (from the leaves
+of which is manufactured Manila hemp), as also twenty-four different
+species of rice. Of these latter two were of special interest, one needing
+no watering, but flourishing best in mountainous, dry soil, the other
+being chiefly used by the natives for the preparation of a dye.
+
+Mr. Teijsmann has the great merit of having been the first to introduce
+into Java the cultivation of the valuable and costly Vanilla plant
+(_Vanilla planifolia_), by using artificial means of fructification, after
+all the many expensive experiments previously made had failed, because the
+insect which effects the fructification of the plant in its original
+climate, the West Indies, is not found in Java. At present the yield is so
+great, that not alone does Mr. Teijsmann annually secure and send to
+market several hundredweights of this aromatic pod, but several other
+landowners have applied themselves to the laying out of Vanilla
+plantations. The fruit, from six to ten inches in length, by three to five
+lines in width, of a dark brown colour, flexible, and somewhat unctuous to
+the touch, requires about five months to ripen. They are carefully dried,
+first in the shade and afterwards in the sun, and are then packed away in
+bundles in air-tight metal cases. One hundred pounds of fresh pods yield
+about one pound of the Vanilla of commerce. Formerly the value of a pound
+of Vanilla was as high as L6 sterling, but it is at present sold at about
+L4.
+
+In the beautifully situated Hotel Bellevue, where we lived while at
+Buitenzorg, we chanced to become acquainted with a curious individual, a
+young negro named Aquasie Boachi, son of an African prince of Coomassie,
+the chief city of the kingdom of Ashantee on the Gold Coast,[44] who,
+while a child of nine years, had been sent by the colonial government to
+Europe, in order to be educated in Germany. It was the intention to make
+apparent what early education and instruction can do for the negro, and
+how the present low state of the black race is principally attributable to
+their oppression hitherto, and to the limited application, in their case,
+of European civilization. The experiment proved most satisfactory. Aquasie
+Boachi speaks German, English, Dutch, and French quite fluently, and holds
+a diploma, as mining engineer, from the mining academy of Freiberg in
+Saxony. He is a pupil of the celebrated Professor Bernhard Cotta, whom he
+still remembers with affection and gratitude. As Aquasie had become a
+Christian he could not, save at the risk of his life, return to his
+heathenish native land, to the bosom of his own family. The Dutch
+Government accordingly, regarding him in the light of a victim to
+philanthropical experiments, at present pays the young miner out of the
+state funds about L400 per ann., and occasionally employs him on mining
+researches. Aquasie had resolved to settle for life in Germany, where, as
+he told us, he felt himself thoroughly at home, but the climate did not
+agree with him, upon which he returned to Java, and had since occupied
+himself in coffee-culture.
+
+From the terrace of the hotel one enjoys a magnificent prospect bounded by
+the mountains around. On the right rises a lofty peak, whose summit-cone
+has been cloven into three pinnacles, the Gunung Salak 7204 feet
+(English), an extinct volcano, from which, however, in 1699 issued immense
+volumes of sand and mud, accompanied by columns of flames, tremendous
+bellowings, and convulsions of the soil. The torrent of liquid mud hurried
+along trunks of trees, carcasses of animals, tame as well as wild,
+crocodiles and fish, and, still preserving its character of a mud torrent,
+rushed into the sea near Batavia, stopping up the mouths of several rivers
+and brooks. Since then this colossal hill, torn to its innermost core by
+this fearful eruption, has remained silent, and peaceful fields,
+alternating with luxuriant forest, stretch upwards to the very flanks of
+its once dreaded summit. To the left of Gunung Salak, and in appearance
+and elevation far more imposing, stands out the Gedee Range. Its highest
+point is the tapering regular cone of Gunung Pangerango, still further to
+the left of which rises, almost equal in height, the bare rocky wall of
+the still active crater of Gunung Gedeh, from the abyss of which there
+occasionally issued light clouds of vapour. But this exquisite landscape
+unveils itself to the ravished view of the beholder only during the early
+hours of morning. By 10 A.M. thin vapours have gathered round those lofty
+summits, which gradually accumulate as noon approaches, until by 3 P.M.
+there is almost invariably a dense mass of clouds resting over the entire
+range, which very frequently dissolve with fearful violence in the shape
+of tremendous tropical thunder-storms. The annual rainfall at Buitenzorg
+would seem to be higher than at any other spot on the face of the earth.
+During some years it occasionally attains the depth of 200 inches
+(English), which is far beyond the utmost known in Central or Southern
+America.[45]
+
+The evening we spent at the residence of M. Van de Groote, inspector of
+the tin-mines of Banka and Borneo, who was of very great use to the
+geologist of the Expedition, and at whose hospitable house we met a number
+of personages of distinction.
+
+On the following morning (14th May), before prosecuting our journey, we
+made an excursion to the neighbouring Batoetoelis (pronounced
+Batootoolis), as a number of trachytic rocks are called, to which young
+Javanese wives, who wish to become mothers, ascribe the most marvellous
+virtues. The inscriptions hewn on the stones have been deciphered by the
+German philologist, Dr. Friedrich. There is also shown a stone with a
+depression like a human foot, which tradition asserts to be the footstep
+of a native prophet, who is supposed to have stood thereon at a time when
+the mass was not yet solid and hardened. There evidently is some
+association of ideas similar to that of the Cingalese respecting Adam's
+Peak, but without the poetic colouring of the latter.
+
+From Buitenzorg we went to Tjipannas,[46] a country-seat of the
+Governor-general, at the foot of Pangerango. The road from Buitenzorg to
+Tjipannas is part of the great post-road from Batavia to Surabaya, which
+just at this point traverses the mountain pass of Mengamendoeng, 4925
+feet high, an outlier of the Gedeh range. It passes at first through
+richly-cultivated properties, with splendid rice-crops, and a little
+further on through coffee plantations, after which comes uninhabited
+wilderness, when the road becomes so steep that a pair of buffalos are
+harnessed in front of the horses of each carriage. _En route_ we visited
+at Pondok-Gedeh the beautiful property of the family of Van den Bosch,
+whose founder greatly distinguished himself in promoting the agricultural
+prosperity of the island, while Governor-general of the colony, 1830-33.
+In the extensive gardens here we saw several large species of _Vanilla_
+and _Cactus_ (_Nopal_), the latter of which are devoted to the propagation
+and gathering of the diminutive cochineal insect, from which is procured
+such a valuable dye. In 1826, a pair of this very fecund insect were
+brought from Spain to Java, and at present[47] there are in Pondok-Gedeh
+alone 500,000 plants, from which between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds of
+cochineal are obtained annually, while other gardens of Nopal of equal
+size occur elsewhere throughout the island. We were also filled with
+astonishment at the variety and richness of the brushwood and forest
+trees, which the European is accustomed to see only as diminutive, tender
+specimens, the rare plants of a hot-house! Under the influence of a
+tropical climate, and a fruitful soil, the tea plant, the nutmeg, the
+cinnamon, the sugar-cane, the coffee bean, and the indigo, all flourish
+in wildest profusion, and the various warehouses are as crammed with the
+splendid produce of these valuable colonial staples as our northern
+granaries are with the necessaries of subsistence in the shape of dried
+fruits.[48]
+
+Quite close to Pondok-Gedeh, amid the majestic mountain scenery of Gadok,
+is the _maison de Sante_ of Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, which enjoys a
+well-earned reputation under the management of Dr. Bernstein, a German
+physician and naturalist. Invalid residents of the coast, when recovering
+from climatic diseases, make a point of hurrying to this institution, in
+order to benefit by the keen, bracing mountain air. Dr. Bernstein is, as
+far as his professional engagements will admit, at once a zealous
+collector, and a skilful preparer, who has already made some very
+beautiful collections, and who, if he stay here any length of time, will
+be in a position to enrich considerably the museums of natural history in
+Europe, with numerous rare and valuable specimens.
+
+Just at the summit of the pass of Megamendoeng (dark cloud), begin the
+Preanger Regencies. This pass moreover forms a boundary line between the
+Malay language, chiefly used for commercial transactions along the coast,
+and that of Sunda, the difference between which two idioms, as regards the
+uninformed stranger is only so far important, that in asking a native for
+a light for his cigar, he must now say "Sono," instead of "Api," as
+hitherto, always supposing that he is a smoker, a qualification which
+rarely fails to appertain to the inhabitants of the Dutch East Indies.
+
+Here, in a wooden building open on all sides, and commanding an exquisite
+panoramic view, we partook of a _dejeuner a la fourchette_, prepared quite
+in the European style, after which, amidst a drenching thunder-plump, we
+pursued our course to Tjipannas, which lies about 1000 feet below the
+level of the pass.
+
+At every village we passed, the authorities, as is the custom of the
+country, provided us with an escort. Thus we almost constantly had some 20
+or 30 persons riding behind our carriages. The poor people had indued
+themselves in their best apparel, and looked very pretty in their varied
+fantastic attire. Even the rain, which still continued to descend in
+torrents, did not prevent them from following us, in order to do justice
+to the requirements of Javanese etiquette. So too, every one whom we met
+on the road assumed a respectful attitude, resting on the knees in a
+half-kneeling position, and cowering down in the road with folded hands,
+till our vehicle had rolled by. All the villages we saw had a very neat,
+clean, cheerful appearance. The houses of the Javanese (with the exception
+of those of the native authorities) are as a rule built entirely of
+bamboo, part being of wicker-work, part of the cane placed either side by
+side, or above each other, the whole roofed in with palm-leaves, or
+Allang grass (_Imperata Allang_), or narrow shingles of cut bamboo, and
+with a flooring raised two or three feet above the level of the soil. The
+beautiful yellow wicker-work is usually stained in alternate squares of so
+black a colour that the walls of a Javanese hut resemble nothing so much
+as a gigantic draught-board. Under the eaves of the dwelling, which
+project five or six feet, and is supported in front upon poles, so that
+there is a sort of verandah beneath, are suspended cages with various
+feathered inhabitants, which the Javanese cherish with much tenderness, or
+else a very peculiarly constructed bee-hive, consisting of a bamboo-cane,
+six or nine inches thick by three or four feet in length, which is split
+through the centre, hollowed out, and fastened together again on the upper
+side.
+
+Through a small orifice left in front, this artificial cavity is within a
+week or two peopled with a swarm of tiny stingless bees (_Meliporia
+minuta_) which in the wild state inhabit the holes and cavities of the
+calcareous cliffs, and provide the Javanese with honey and wax. The latter
+product is blackish, slimy, and adhesive, and is employed in the
+delineation of the beautifully coloured figures in the gowns (_Sarongs_)
+of the native women.
+
+                  [Illustration: Javanese Bee-hive.]
+
+At the station of Tjianjawar, we were saluted, while changing horses, by a
+Javanese chief, from Tjiangoer, named Radben Rangga Padma Negara, who,
+despite the tremendous tropical rains, accompanied us on horseback in his
+rich uniform, overlaid with gold lace, as far as Tjipannas, where we were
+received by two government officials, and welcomed with the utmost
+cordiality. Here it was arranged we were to pass the night, so as, early
+the following morning, to make the ascent of Gunung Pangerango. We also
+found awaiting us a letter from Dr. Junghuhn, the renowned geologist and
+writer on the natural history of Java, who for years has resided about a
+day's journey from Tjipannas, at Lembang, at the foot of Tankuban-Prahu,
+and has latterly been engaged by government to superintend the china-plant
+cultivation. Dr. Junghuhn had come to meet us as far as Tjipodas, where
+the first attempts at cultivation of the china plant were being made with
+roots imported from South America, but, owing to a press of important
+business, was compelled to return to his own station before we reached the
+Preanger Regencies. This estimable German gentleman urgently besought us,
+by letter, to visit him in his forest abode, and painted in the most
+glowing colours the wonders of Nature, and the interest in a scientific
+point of view of his mighty mountain neighbour. At the same time he sent
+over his learned assistant, Dr. de Vrij, to welcome in his name the
+Austrian travellers, to explain to them in all their detail the
+Cinchona-plantations at the foot of Pangerango, and to enlighten them as
+to the present condition and prospects of this very important branch of
+cultivation.
+
+On the morning of 15th May we set off on horseback for the Pangerango,
+which was covered with dense vapours, which wholly concealed it from view,
+and rather damped our hopes of enjoying a fine view from the summit. A
+path for horses has been made to the very top, and although at certain
+points this passes over exceedingly steep ground, yet the Javanese horses
+climb with such safety and dogged perseverance, even in the most dangerous
+spots, that one may leave these small but powerful animals to choose their
+way, with as much confidence as in the case of that most sure-footed of
+animals, the mule of South America. Our cavalcade consisted of thirty
+riders, while an immense number of natives took on themselves the duties
+of an honorary body-guard. The forests, usually so lonely, were now alive
+with hundreds of men, busy transporting our horses, provisions, couches,
+tables, and stores, which were all to be conveyed to the highest peak of
+the mountain, where we intended to spend the evening. After we had
+attained a considerable distance from Tjipannas, constantly ascending till
+we were about 4000 feet above it, we found the flanks of the mountain
+quite free of wood. The traveller sees a few villages scattered at random,
+and rides over grass pasturages, on which are feeding troops of buffalos,
+alternating with plantations of tobacco or coffee. But at the very point
+where the forest gradually begins, where gigantic trees have been left
+standing like so many sentinels, there it is that the amazed European
+falls in with most luxuriant beds of artichokes and strawberries, and is
+welcomed on this distant soil by all the well-known fruits of his remote
+home. The path leads past Tjipodas, into a deep narrow valley, overgrown
+with the most luxuriant vegetation, and thence through a forest of
+indescribable majesty, filled with the straight, tapering, pillar-shaped
+trunks, 80 to 100 feet in height, of the imposing Rasamala
+(_Liquidambar-Altingiana_), and a thoroughly tropical underwood of wild
+_Musaceae_, and splendid tree-ferns, till finally the broad plateau-shaped
+Tjiburum (red-water) is reached. Here at an elevation of 5100 feet we
+found some Pasanggrahans, or resting-houses, erected by government for the
+shelter and accommodation of all travellers through these mountain
+solitudes, who may happen to be surprised by night, or inclement weather.
+Such hostelries are found everywhere in the interior of Java, especially
+in those districts where they are most likely to be needed by European
+travellers, or by government employes, during their frequent tours of
+inspection, in which they occasionally undergo severe privations. At
+Tjiburum, lying far above the regions inhabited by man, there is a small
+nursery of useful plants of colder climes, bearing ample testimony to the
+indefatigable activity of Mr. Teijsmann of Buitenzorg, to whom the
+community is moreover chiefly indebted for the laying out of the entire
+road to the summit of the mountain. As there was every indication of a
+severe storm coming on, and as we hoped by pressing forward to get to our
+goal before it should burst, we halted here only long enough to change
+horses. This done we again resumed the ascent, much refreshed by the
+delay, which imparted renewed vigour to climb the steep zig-zag pathway,
+which now led through a gloomy, silent forest, whence not a sound issued
+except the _blowing_ of our cattle, as they breasted the steep, and far
+below us the hollow roar of the mountain brook, which swept through the
+valley beneath. We then found ourselves approaching nearer and nearer to
+some resounding torrent, which went on increasing, till to our amazement
+we suddenly perceived amid the keen cool mountain breezes a smoking
+cascade of hot water!! (_Tji-olok_, or Sulphur spring). This warm spring,
+with a temperature of 113 deg. Fahr., which even at its source forms a
+tolerable-sized brook, issues with much spluttering from a trachytic rock
+close by the way-side, and rushes, brawling and foaming, down a narrow
+defile, overgrown with splendid tree-ferns, and which is crossed by means
+of a slight rustic bridge. Scarcely is it possible to conceive a richer
+landscape, recalling as it were the primeval days of earth in all the
+luxuriance of Nature in the flush of youth, than this forest of
+tree-ferns, enveloped in clouds of warm vapour, which rise from this
+volcanic spring, close alongside of a clear, cold mountain torrent, which
+just here leaps into the same chasm! This hot spring thus early indicates
+the presence of volcanic fires, which is further evidenced by a tract of
+volcanic debris, over which it is necessary to clamber, and which has been
+ejected by the destructive energies of the neighbouring active crater of
+Gedeh, from which the subterranean forces usually throw up, not red-hot
+lava-streams, but from time to time tremendous stone and mud currents,
+which, rushing down the steep flanks of the mountain, overrun and destroy
+everything around.
+
+About 10 A.M. we reached Kandang Badak, or the spot where rhinoceroses
+assemble, which is the second station, 7200 feet above sea-level. Solitary
+specimens of the formidable animals which have given their name to this
+place are still met with here; but a troop of some hundred men,
+accompanied by almost as many horses, must necessarily make such a din in
+the usually solitary forest, as at once to account for our being unable by
+personal observation to speak as to whether it deserves the name it has
+received. The rhinoceros, despite his immense size, is a shy, timid
+animal, who flees before man, and only attacks him when fairly compelled
+to do so in self-defence. The Pasanggrahan erected at this spot has
+several times already been burnt down by red-hot stones ejected from
+Gedeh. Here the path divides, one branch leading to the still active
+crater of Gedeh, which can only be reached on foot, the other leading to
+the summit of Pangerango. For the second time we changed horses, and now
+had the last bit of the way before us--the steep, almost precipitous, cone
+of Pangerango. It was enveloped in thick clouds, and it was only by the
+short windings of the path we could realize that we were riding up an
+isolated cone of regular form, the slope of which was between 25 and 30
+degrees. The cool air of these elevated regions now began to make itself
+felt, while our sensations bodily testified to the northern character of
+the vegetation around us. The tree-ferns indeed continued to grow up to
+the very highest point, but long ere reaching the summit they ceased to be
+found among the gigantic forest-pillars of the _Liquid-ambar_, but grew
+between dwarfish, knotted, stunted trees, whose trunks were overrun with a
+bright green moss, while from the branches hung festoons of greyish-green
+beard-moss (_Tillandsia usnioides_), greatly resembling hair. The trees,
+instead of stretching out their brown limbs to the air and light above,
+left them to droop sullenly to the ground, turning themselves, as though
+in pain, away from the rude wind which swept through their branches, and,
+as it were, seeking for warmth and sustenance from mother Earth alone. All
+the plants here showed a tendency to become creepers, as also to a
+circumscribed growth and extent of foliage, as well as uniformity of
+species. By 3 P.M. the whole party, including a rear-guard of irregular
+naturalists and sharp-shooters, had finally reached the summit of the
+mountain. When Dr. Junghuhn, the first man who trod this solitude, made
+the earliest ascent of this mountain in 1839, he found not a trace of a
+human step, and had painfully to make his way by rhinoceros-paths, beneath
+a thick overhanging canopy of leaves, and through dense underwood. Thus he
+finally succeeded in forcing a passage through the forest, till he emerged
+upon a naked patch in the middle of the peak, where a rhinoceros was
+lying in the middle of the stream, while another was browsing on the edge
+of the forest: they fled snorting away on beholding him. How different was
+what we now witnessed on the same spot!
+
+The flat space on the summit, somewhat concave in shape, and sinking
+gradually away, the deepest part being towards the S.W., whence issues the
+highest spring in Java, now resembled the bivouac of a detachment of
+troops. Everywhere were men and horses, with cheerful blazing fires for
+cooking and warming, while immediately adjoining a strawberry garden
+filled with delicious fruit, rose a hut for shelter against wind and
+weather, in which we found a surprising degree of comfort. Tables, chairs,
+beds, excellent provisions and drinkables, were ready for us at an
+elevation of more than 9000 feet above the level of the sea, so that there
+was nothing wanting which could in any way contribute to our comfort. Even
+the necessary warmth was supplied by a huge iron stove, constantly kept
+supplied with fresh fuel by a Javanese servant, cowering on the ground.
+This was the more necessary that our systems, accustomed of late to
+tropical temperature, were unusually susceptible to this sudden and
+extreme change. In the morning when we left Tjipannas the thermometer even
+at that early hour marked 70 deg., while the mercury had now sunk to 48 deg.22
+Fahr. The longings we so often expressed, during a sojourn for months
+together on the bosom of the ocean, amid the moist, sultry strata of the
+lower atmosphere, in an almost unvarying Turkish-bath-like temperature of
+86 deg., of being once more re-invigorated by a little cold, were now being
+gratified to the letter.
+
+Unfortunately our anticipated enjoyment of the view from the summit was
+entirely frustrated by rain and cloud: we could hardly see anything a
+hundred yards distant, and the only idea we could form of the gigantic
+mountains and splendid hill-scenery that we knew surrounded us on all
+hands, had to be derived chiefly from the topographical charts we found in
+the hut. It was only during the occasional fleeting glimpses, when the
+S.E. trade-wind of the upper atmosphere, generally the chief ruler of
+these lofty regions, and almost always accompanied by a pure, blue sky,
+overpowered the N.W. trade (which blew from beneath; and, trending upwards
+along the cleft in the western side of the crater of Mondolawangi,
+continually enveloped anew in clouds the summit of the Pangerango), that
+it was permitted us to descry, now here, now there, small stretches of the
+country lying spread out at our feet, or to perceive closer at hand the
+inner slope of the crater of Gedeh, lying exposed to our wondering vision.
+We did what we could to secure a few thermometrical and barometrical
+observations, as also to shoot, to geologize, to botanize; and many a
+valuable discovery was made ere night set in and compelled us to seek
+shelter against the raw, cold night air, in the Pasanggrahan, which had
+been so carefully fitted up for our accommodation. On the summit we found
+quite an accumulation of various elegant little plants, which recalled to
+us the Alpine districts of our own land, one of which, first discovered
+by Junghuhn, and named by him _Primula Imperialis_,[49] is one of the
+loveliest flowers in Nature, and which has never yet been found in any
+other part of the globe; while in the brushwood around we heard the cooing
+of a bird of the thrush species (_Turdus fumidus_), which, with the
+exception of a small, very elegant little fellow, somewhat resembling the
+willow-wren, was the sole representative of the feathered tribe in these
+elevated regions.
+
+All our hopes were now directed towards the ensuing morning, which it was
+hoped would bring us better weather. By five in the morning every one was
+on foot, watching with anxious look the advent of the star of day. But
+alas! ere long all was once more enveloped for us in a dense but fine
+vapour, and the thermometer indicated only 47 deg.33 Fahr.
+
+About fifty feet higher than the two huts for shelter erected on the
+plateau rises a trigonometrical pole, which, visible from a great
+distance, serves as a land-mark for the government surveyors during their
+labours in this neighbourhood. Any clear morning, when the sky is free
+from clouds, one must enjoy from this free, airy out-look a splendid
+distant view over a large portion of the Preanger Regency. As for
+ourselves our panorama continued to be lamentably circumscribed, and all
+we could do was, to watch for those fleeting moments during which the
+clouds lifted and gave us a brief yet comprehensive glimpse of the
+wondrous natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.
+
+Pangerango, 9326 Paris, or 9940 English, feet in height, is the loftiest
+of the extinct volcanic cones of Java, rising on the eastern slope of an
+enormous crater-gulf, likewise extinct. Close in the vicinity, not above a
+mile distant to the S.E., and communicating with it by the ridge of Pasce
+Alang, 7000 (Paris) feet in height, rises another volcanic peak, Gunung
+Gedeh, of almost precisely identical height (9323 Paris, or 9937 English,
+feet). Its summit has fallen in, and from amid the debris on the floor of
+this ruined crater rises a second cone far less in height, but in full
+activity, with a deep crater, which is the true fiery gorge of the still
+active Gedeh. Towards 7 A.M. the clouds dispersed for a considerable
+space, when directly opposite us we saw the beautifully regular cone of
+Gedeh, with its perpendicular precipitous crater-wall, some 600 or 700
+feet high. So near, indeed, did it appear to the eye that we could almost
+fancy it possible to throw a stone from the one summit to the other, so
+that it should fall exactly into the crater, from amid whose rents and
+cavities thick volumes of smoke were bursting forth at several points.
+
+By 10 A.M. our caravan was once more under weigh on our return to
+Tjipannas. The geologist of the Expedition, however, accompanied by Dr.
+Vrij and one of the government employes, set off upon a rather dangerous
+adventure, viz. the ascent of the Gedeh. Of this interesting excursion,
+Dr. Hochstetter gives the following interesting details:--
+
+"A short distance before reaching the station of Kandung Badak, the path
+leaves the road by which we had come thus far. Here we had to clamber
+upwards as best we might, by a narrow path densely overgrown, and
+evidently but rarely traversed, till presently we emerged from the forest
+upon a tract of loose stone and scoriae, which, sparsely covered with low
+bushes and grass, forms the upper portion of the peak of Gedeh. A strong
+odour of sulphuretted hydrogen greeted us here, issuing from a Solfatara,
+which nestled under the true crater in a deep savage cleft of rock. Hot
+sulphureous and watery vapours were emitted from among the dark crannies
+of the rock, the upper edges of which were coloured yellow with pure
+sulphur: with much difficulty we still pressed on, and finally reached the
+edge of the ruined crater. What a contrast presented itself here in the
+view before us and the landscape behind!
+
+"Behind we could see from base to summit clear and unbroken the beautiful
+luxuriantly-green well-wooded peak of Pangerango, on whose highest point
+stood out near and distinct the trigonometrical pole, or land-mark, while
+from the forest was heard an occasional musket-shot, sure sign that the
+company of travellers from the ship were on their way down. On the other
+hand, when we cast our eyes forward we saw but dismal desolate groups of
+grey rock, around the lofty amphitheatre-shaped rock wall of the
+broken-down lip of a crater, regularly constructed of pillar-like masses
+of trachyte, each sundered from the column immediately adjoining, beneath
+which was the smoking cone of the active region of the crater, a bare heap
+of stone and scoriae, of the utmost variety of colour. Stretching from the
+vast abyss of the crater-ruins, on whose bald slope is situated the cone
+of the new eruption, there is visible at intervals on either side, far
+down, until indeed it is lost in the dark gloom of the forest, a bare
+rocky ravine, full of stones and debris, which the active vent of the
+crater has from time to time vomited forth. We had on the previous day
+passed the lower extremity of this stream while riding to Pangerango.
+
+"But we were not yet at the goal of our wanderings. We still had to climb
+from this point, and afterwards to scramble up to the summit of the active
+cone. This, however, proved to be much more easy than we had thought when
+looking at it from below, and we arrived without any disaster at the
+summit.
+
+"Here then we were standing upon the edge of a yawning crater, in full
+activity! Not a single step forward was it possible for us to make. In
+front of us lay a funnel-shaped slope, 250 feet in depth, the floor of
+which was covered with mud, in which stood frequent pools of boiling water
+of a yellow tinge. The Javanese who accompanied us stated that they had
+never before seen it so quiet, the crater having always been quite full
+of steam and vapour. On the present occasion the steam only escaped in
+small volumes through a few fissures in the sides of the inverted cone,
+and more particularly from the cracks and crevices on the exterior of the
+cone of scoriae. We could perceive only water, steam, mud, and
+sharp-cornered fragments of rock, the debris and rubbish formed by the
+disintegration of the rocky masses thrown up by the crater, but not a
+trace, not a vestige, of any molten stream of lava, heaped up by the
+present crater of Gedeh. The whole history of the activity of this volcano
+may be compared to the explosions of a vapour cauldron in the interior of
+the earth, which has been heated by the masses of old trachytic lava
+currents in an incandescent state, but not yet thoroughly cooled, whose
+eruptions formed the principal means of erecting the volcanic cone.
+Repeatedly up to our own times has the mountain thrown up water, mud, and
+stones, together with fine powdered sand and volcanic ashes, which have
+travelled as far as Batavia, as also masses of melted stone cemented by
+liquefied sand, while marvellous volumes of flame were visible to an
+immense distance; but at no period within the memory of man has the Gedeh
+poured forth the hot liquid lava, or thrown up into the air melted
+volcanic matter. We must regard it as in its last stage, as about to
+become extinct, like all the other volcanoes of Java. It is the last
+reaction of the internal fires against the atmosphere penetrating from
+without. Even the most active volcanoes of Java, such as Gunung Guntur and
+Gunung Lamengan eject only masses of liquefied rock and scoriae, cemented
+by the heat, but the regular lava currents have never been observed."
+
+While Dr. Hochstetter was occupied with this excursion to the active
+crater of Gedeh, the remaining members of the Expedition had reached
+Tjipodas at the foot of this fire-mountain, where, at an elevation of 4400
+feet above sea-level, and at an annual average temperature of 63 deg.5 Fahr.,
+the first attempts were made to acclimatize in Java the valuable quinquina
+tree (_Cinchona sp._).
+
+Although for twenty years past the introduction into Java of the
+cultivation of the quinquina tree, the bark of which is of such
+superlative importance for suffering humanity, had been repeatedly tried,
+this praiseworthy intention was only successfully carried into effect in
+1852, through the purchase of a specimen of _Cinchona Calisaya_ from the
+_Jardin des Plantes_ at Paris by the then colonial minister of the kingdom
+of the Netherlands, M. Pahud, afterwards Governor-general of the Dutch
+East Indies. M. Pahud had the plant brought to Leyden with the utmost
+care, whence it was conveyed to Rotterdam for shipment to Batavia.
+Immediately on its arrival this plant, the progenitor of all that have
+been grown since, was placed in what is called the Governor-general's
+strawberry garden in Tjipodas, where it was protected by a bamboo shed
+from rain and sun, and at the time of our visit was 16 feet high. Dr.
+Hasskarl, widely renowned as a botanist, was, on the recommendation of Dr.
+Junghuhn, who had himself been urgently requested to undertake the duty,
+entrusted with a mission to Peru, whence he was to bring back offshoots,
+and germinating seeds, of the various species of Cinchona from which
+quinine is obtainable. Two years later, a Dutch man-of-war was specially
+despatched to Callao, the harbour of Lima, to convey Hasskarl with his
+valuable booty. That gentleman accordingly brought away with him four
+well-rooted young trees, and the seeds of four species of Cinchona,[50]
+but only the saplings gave promise of success, whereas the greater part of
+the seeds, on being sown, were lost. M. Hasskarl has had the reproach cast
+upon him, that during his expensive residence of two years' duration in
+Peru, he should have collected such few data of the higher and lower
+limits of vegetation of the China plant, and the conditions of soil and
+mountain temperature under which it best flourishes, of the general
+influence exercised on it by storm and humidity, as also upon the annual
+quantity of rain it requires, whether a shady or sunny place of growth be
+best adapted to it, the period of flowering and fructification, the
+alterations which may be rendered necessary by its habits of growth at
+various points, as to what are its natural enemies, and how far its
+alkaloid properties are affected by the greater or less elevation above
+the sea of the spot in which it is growing, &c., &c. Nay, some persons
+went so far as to allege that the botanist had never seen one single
+China plantation, and had never personally selected either the plants or
+the seed, but had made arrangements for being supplied with the specimens
+he brought by means of the native bark-collectors (_Cascarilleros_). As
+though still further to enhance the public discontent with Hasskarl, and
+the failure of his expensive mission, fate unhappily willed that his wife,
+who was said to be bringing with her his papers and memoranda of his stay
+in Peru, was lost, together with the vessel which, after several years'
+separation from her husband, was about restoring her to his arms, in
+consequence of which many questions relating to the cultivation of the
+China plant in northern and southern Peru remained unanswered! Hasskarl
+ere long returned to Europe "for his health," and the superintendence of
+the China cultivation was in June, 1858, committed to Dr. Junghuhn, in
+whose careful charge it now is, and has taken a start which leaves no room
+to doubt its ultimate and permanent success.
+
+In October, 1856, there were in Tjipodas 105 China trees of 2 feet 6
+inches high (41 of _C. Calisaya_, 64 of _C. Condanimea_). On 31st October,
+1857, there were only 95 about 4 feet 11-1/2 inches in height, all in
+flourishing condition, while 10 had died. The cause of this lamentable
+phenomenon could not long escape the piercing glance of Junghuhn. The
+first tender shoots had been planted in a Tufa soil, the fertile covering
+of which barely exceeded 6 to 9 inches in thickness, and were surrounded
+by roots and stumps of immense forest trees that had been cut down, which
+of course prevented anything like expansion, and, in a word, completely
+stifled their growth.
+
+In the case of the earlier plants, there was far too little attention paid
+to the requisite amount of shade. The timber had been entirely cleared
+away, and the young plants were consequently exposed during the whole day
+to the fierce heat of the tropics. Unless people were prepared to see the
+whole plantation go to ruin it was necessary at once to take protecting
+measures against it. Junghuhn was a man fit for any emergency, as he had
+already shown on the banks of his native Rhine, when the very cells of
+Ehrenbreitstein, with which a chivalric adventure had made him acquainted
+in his youth, had for once been found too narrow to hold him. So in
+Tjipodas, the man of resources was able at once to devise a remedy. With
+incredible toil, and the most fostering care and attention, nearly all the
+trees were, without detriment to one single twig, transplanted from a soil
+so little congenial to them to the adjoining Rasamala-wood, in which the
+proud, slight _Liquid-ambar Altingiana_ imparts its own peculiar character
+to the primeval forest, where they were transferred to spots partly
+shaded, which had already been prepared for their special reception, the
+sites having been surrounded with trenches to carry off the superfluous
+water. In October, 1857, some of the trees had already attained a height
+of 14-1/2 feet; by 31st March of the following year they were already
+15-1/2 feet, while their stems were 3.44 inches thick. Many of the trees
+planted near the forest had within three months grown from 9 to 21
+inches, while the few that remained on their old site had only gained 9 or
+10 inches in height, a fact which seemed incontestably to prove that the
+new site was the better adapted to them. In June, 1857, the first blossom
+had made its appearance on one of the _Condanimea_, but it was not till
+May, 1858, that the majority of the trees were in full bloom, or that the
+ripening fruit began to make its appearance. When all the fruits ripen,
+Dr. Junghuhn told us he was in hopes he would secure 80,000 fruit, which,
+as each fruit contains about 40 seeds, would provide him with 3,200,000
+seedlings. It is not indeed a question merely of ripe and at the same time
+fertilized seeds, but chiefly whether the bark of this plant contains in
+the land of its adoption, and under different conditions, that costly
+alkaloid quinine, which seems daily to become more indispensable in the
+science of medicine.
+
+Despite the most anxious solicitude there had long been remarked in
+Tjipodas a gradual decay of some of the shoots, but it was only a few days
+before our arrival that after a most minute zealous inquiry the cause of
+this phenomenon was discovered. A minute insect, scarcely 1/25 of an inch
+in length, of the _Bostrichus_ species, proved to be the foe of these
+plants. The holes which are burrowed by this insect, are drilled quite
+through the wood of the stem and branches into the very pith, in which it
+finally stops and lays its eggs. The Cinchona trees thus bored through are
+irremediably ruined, but there is always the hope that, as the roots
+remain sound, they may afterwards put forth new shoots. However, the
+appearance of this insect does not seem to be the primary cause of the
+disease of the trees,--on the contrary, disease is the cause of the
+appearance of the insect. If the other trees prove to be successfully
+reared, the insect will disappear, since it was convincingly proved by one
+of our zoologists that it had not come to the country with the Cinchona
+seeds and plants, but was undoubtedly indigenous to Java.
+
+Altogether there were, in May, 1858, upon the whole island three quinquina
+plantations, which have been specially established with a view to the
+solution of certain questions of climate at various elevations, and are
+situated in the following localities:--
+
+1. In Tjipodas at the foot of Gunung Gedeh (4400 to 4800 feet above
+sea-level), in a beautiful Liquid-ambar forest, and containing 80 plants.
+
+2. In Bengalenzong, on the declivities of the Malabar Range (4000 to 7000
+feet in height), in the midst of a considerable oak forest (_Quercus
+fagifolia_), containing 600 plants.
+
+3. South of Besuki on the Ajang Range (about 6800 feet above sea-level),
+in a plantation[51] containing 21 plants, to which Dr. Junghuhn gave the
+name of Wono Djampie, i. e. Forest of medicines.
+
+The Dutch Government has spared neither trouble nor expense, and has made
+considerable sacrifices, to bring over the quinquina plant from its native
+country, where it was believed to be threatened with utter destruction, to
+Java, there to be acclimatized. The chances in favour of an adequate
+return are very great, and the attainment of this object has been secured
+within certain limits. Of all the tropical regions we visited, the Island
+of Java seems by its natural advantages to be the best capable of
+affording to the tree which produces the febrifuge bark, so invaluable a
+boon of nature to suffering humanity, a second home, amid the magnificent
+scenery of its mountain ranges.
+
+However, the wide-spread idea that the China plant is exposed to utter
+extinction in its native land of Peru has proved to be quite unfounded. We
+shall revert to this subject when we come to treat of our visit to the
+western coast of South America, and shall take pains to solve at least
+some portion of the question in dispute, as to certain necessary
+conditions being requisite to be observed in the case of the quinquina
+plant in its original home, the investigation of which, the superintendent
+of the quinquina tree culture in Java, Dr. Franz Junghuhn, so earnestly
+commended to the attention of the scientific members of the _Novara_
+Expedition.
+
+However, our interest was not confined to these China-tree plantations;
+our attention was riveted by the marvellous Rasamala (Liquid-ambar) forest
+in which we now found ourselves, while those fond of the chase were not
+less amazed and gratified, at bringing down a splendid specimen of what
+is known as the Kalong or Roussette Bat (_Pteropus vulgaris_). These
+singular nocturnal animals hang in enormous quantities throughout the
+entire day from the branches of the trees, amid the profoundest stillness,
+till evening sets in and dismisses them to their nightly evolutions. They
+are then visible flying through the air like gigantic bats, or flying
+foxes.
+
+While riding back to Tjipannas we remarked amid the smiling rice fields
+several poles with hangings of various kinds, resembling those erected on
+the shore in front of their huts by the superstitious natives of the
+Nicobar Islands, in order to keep his Satanic Majesty at a distance. The
+natives call these poles Tundang-Setan (talisman against the devil), and
+believe they can by their aid frighten away the evil spirits, while they
+are gathering the crop from their rice fields.
+
+From Tjipodas the excursionists proceeded to Tjiangoer,[52] the present
+capital of the Preanger Regency, containing about 15,000 inhabitants,
+where some days were to be spent in excursions, collections, hunting, and
+other amusements, after which we were compelled by the limited time
+available to return to Buitenzorg and Batavia. Two members of the
+Expedition, Drs. Hochstetter and Scherzer, penetrated a little further
+into the interior, with the purpose of paying a visit to Dr. Junghuhn, to
+whose researches in the Natural History of Java we are so much indebted.
+The following few pages are devoted to an account of this interesting
+excursion.
+
+Towards 5 P.M. we arrived at Tjiangoer, in company with Dr. de Vrij and M.
+Vollenhoven, and immediately set out on our journey to Bandong, so as to
+reach the same evening that neat little town, whose singularly favourable
+position, almost exactly in the centre of the Regency, makes it a
+dangerous rival to Tjiangoer as the seat of government. _En route_ we
+passed Tjisokan, a small village, most of whose inhabitants are engaged in
+procuring edible swallows'-nests, which are found in great quantities at a
+chalk mountain about twelve miles distant, known as Radjamandula.[53] The
+spots at which the edible nests of the _Hirundo esculenta_ are found are
+anything but grottoes peculiar to this product, as is usually alleged, but
+steep, almost inaccessible, cliffs, crannies, and fissures in the rock, in
+which the swallows build their nests, and which can only be reached by the
+utmost exertion, frequently accompanied by danger to life. They are met
+with partly upon the south coast, close above the raging surf, partly deep
+in the interior, about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, distant
+several hundred English miles from the nearest part of the sea-shore; and
+while the inhabitants of Karangbolong have to scale the almost
+perpendicular coast-wall by means of ladders[54] of Rotang (_Calamus
+Rotang_) and Bamboo, ere they can reach the entrance of the cavern, the
+natives of Bandong, on the contrary, are compelled to climb up to a yet
+greater elevation among the precipices and rocks, ere they are able to
+reach the openings that lead to the various hollows.
+
+While the birds are breeding, or if they have their young, which happens
+four times each year, one half remain in the cavities, and both males and
+females take their turns in sitting to brood, every six hours. Each nest
+is inhabited by a pair of swallows, so that if 1000 nests are found in a
+cave, they are inhabited by 2000 grown swallows (half male, half female).
+The fecundity of this bird is so great, that, although the nests are
+gathered four times a year, and that somewhere about a million of their
+progeny is at each plucking wasted or destroyed by the collectors, they
+never seem to diminish. The six caves at Bandong give yearly about 14,000
+nests, that at Karangbolong about 500,000: one hundred nests weigh about
+one _catty_ (1-1/4 lb.), and one hundred catties (125 lbs.) make one
+_picul_.[55] For each picul of these nests, which they look upon as a
+special delicacy, the Chinese pay from 4000 to 5000 guilders (L350 to
+L420). The nest-gatherers are apparently a special class, whose occupation
+is handed down from father to son.
+
+Close to the village of Tjisokan, a very elegant wooden bridge,
+constructed on the American system, but entirely erected out of the
+resources of the colony, has been thrown over the Tjisokan river. The
+roads, although broad and kept in excellent order, nevertheless lead
+occasionally over hills so steep, that to descend them in a heavy
+carriage, especially considering the rapidity with which the Javanese
+drive, is exceedingly uncomfortable, and even dangerous, although the
+wheels are in such cases provided with a solid "_sabot_," and where this
+seems likely to prove inadequate, a number of natives hang on to the
+wheels behind, who for a small gratuity control the rate of descent by
+means of ropes.
+
+At last, about midnight, shortly before which we passed the river
+Tji-Tarum by a ferry, we reached Bandong, and on gaining the residence of
+the Javanese Regent, Raden Adipati Wira Nata Kusuma (spelt by the Dutch
+_Koesoema_, but pronounced as spelt in the text), were received,
+notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, in the most hospitable and
+friendly manner. Here we found everything, even to the minutest detail,
+managed in the European fashion; and no guest would imagine that he was in
+the house of one of the Mahometan princes of Java, were he not reminded of
+the fact by the rich Oriental costume of his host and his family, as also
+by the Javanese domestics, bearing elegant richly-adorned Siri, or
+betel-boxes, of gold or silver, and invariably tendering their services to
+their masters in a stooping posture, or rather sliding after them upon
+their knees. For the Javanese, too, greatly affect the leaf of the betel,
+mingled with powdered areca-nut, powdered coral, or pearl chalk, and
+Gambir (_Nauclea Gambir_); however, this mixture is not chewed, but
+placed between the lips and the front teeth, where it is barely kept long
+enough to admit of the saliva collecting in the mouth of a blood-red
+colour, which they spit out, the poor in their huts into cocoa-nut shells,
+the wealthier classes into copper vessels, but princes and rich people
+into golden spittoons. Even the ladies have given way to this custom, and
+the native belles make use occasionally of this filthy juice in order to
+keep importunate admirers at a distance!
+
+Supper, which, in anticipation of our arrival, had been made ready for us,
+was served entirely in the European mode, and our Mahometan host went so
+far in his assimilation to Western ideas as to overcome certain religious
+scruples, and himself join us at table. As we sat round the board long
+after midnight the Assistant Resident of the district made his appearance,
+M. Visscher van Gaasbeek, a Hanoverian by birth, who however has lived
+twenty-five years in this country, and immediately placed himself entirely
+at our disposal. We now proceeded to chalk out our plan of operations for
+the ensuing day, and the Regent gave orders in advance to have in
+readiness his own coach and several saddle-horses for an excursion to
+Lembang, the residence of M. Junghuhn. Before we separated, the Regent,
+with whom unfortunately we could only communicate through a Malay
+interpreter, with much condescension produced out of a leathern case his
+own elegantly-engraved _carte-de-visite_, and expressed his desire to
+exchange with ourselves. The Javanese princes seem to attach especial
+importance to anticipating the Europeans in good-breeding, and
+forestalling the desires and wishes of strangers. At last, towards 2 A.M.,
+we went to rest, and despite the fatigue of the previous day, were by 5
+A.M. seated in the carriage of the Regent, _en route_ to the residence of
+Dr. Junghuhn. We drove the two first posts, about 10 _paals_, when we
+exchanged that mode of conveyance for our horses, which in less than an
+hour brought us to Lembang, situated about 4000 feet above sea-level, in
+an almost European climate. Standing alone close to this village is the
+beautiful dwelling of Junghuhn, at the foot of the volcano Tangkuban
+Prahu, and surrounded on all sides by beautifully-laid-out gardens, in
+which, cut off from the scientific world, he lives with his family.
+Everything around gives to the stranger a thoroughly home-feeling; in
+every countenance is visible content, in every glance the most heart-felt
+cheerfulness.
+
+Franz Junghuhn, a German by birth, from the district of Mansfeld in the
+Harz-mountains, saw many years hard service as a military surgeon in the
+service of the Dutch Government, and at present holds the appointments of
+Inspector of Scientific Explorations, and Director of the entire
+China-tree cultivation of the Island of Java, with ample means for the
+solution of this problem. This indefatigable naturalist (of whom there is
+an excellent engraving at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew), to whom
+science is indebted for the most comprehensive information relating to
+Java, has himself ascended 45 different volcanic peaks, and that at a
+period when there were no bridle-roads leading to their foot, but only
+those singular zig-zag paths which the rhinoceros has worn for himself, in
+order to browse at his leisure and undisturbed on the roots and rich grass
+of these lofty pastures. His imposing exterior and expression of
+countenance all betoken the indefatigable perseverance and gigantic
+powers, both physical and intellectual, which find expression in his
+incomparable work upon Java, and his great chart of that island.
+
+The renowned _savant_ received us like old friends, with the most
+delightful fervent hospitality, related to us his very latest experiments
+and observations with respect to the cultivation of the quinquina plant,
+and presented us with his last work,[56] to which he seemed exclusively to
+devote his entire activity. For our own part, we in return promised Dr.
+Junghuhn to make most special inquiries upon the subject during the period
+of our stay in the native country of the Cinchona, and to endeavour to be
+able to answer to the questions we were charged with; as by so doing we
+hoped to repay in some degree our tribute of gratitude, for the countless
+instances of personal interest and attention which had been shown us by
+the scientific gentlemen in Java, as well as by all the government
+officials.
+
+Adjoining Junghuhn's dwelling, a large proportion of the coffee beans
+raised in the Preanger district are prepared for the European market. The
+Government has farmed the process to one M. Phlippan, and first deals with
+the beans when, packed in sacks, they are ready for exportation. The
+entire coffee crop of the environs of Bandong, averaging about 80,000
+piculs (or 10,000,000 lbs.), is conveyed annually over the hills to
+Lembang, where the fleshy berries are first shelled and made ready. For
+this purpose they use the Brazilian or moist mode of treatment, by which
+process, however, according to the opinion of connoisseurs in coffee
+beans, much of their flavour must be lost. But, instead of attributing the
+well-marked decrease of flavour of the Java coffee bean to this mode of
+preparation,[57] others are disposed to find the cause of this
+deterioration in degeneration of the coffee-shrub itself, and accordingly
+the Dutch Government sent out to Java the well-known botanist Professor
+Vriese (with appointments[58] which must appear almost fabulous to a
+German botanist), in order to determine upon scientific data the cause of
+the falling off of the coffee bean. The sending out to Java a Professor of
+the University of Leyden, who had never before been in the Dutch East
+Indies, in order to enlighten the practical coffee planters, already on
+the spot, as to the deterioration of that plant, made anything but a
+favourable impression. Some bitter wags, indeed, of whom there is no lack
+in Java, any more than of Punches or Charivari at home, said that the
+mission of Professor Vriese was as singular as if a native Javanese had
+been despatched to Holland in order to teach the farmers there how to make
+_cheese_.
+
+Nevertheless, the solution of this question of the degeneracy of the
+coffee is of the very highest importance to the country, as it produces
+annually about 800,000 piculs (100,000,000 lbs.) coffee beans,[59] and as
+its climate and soil are eminently suitable for a far more extended
+development of that branch of cultivation, which was first introduced from
+Mocha into Java, about 1718, by the then Governor, Hendrik
+Zwoardecroon.[60] The entire coffee crop must be delivered by the coffee
+planters to the Government at a fixed price, and while paying in the
+interior 3-1/2 guilders (5_s._ 10_d._) per picul (125 lbs.), it fetches in
+Batavia, where the people are far more heavily taxed, 9 guilders (15_s._)
+per picul. The Netherlands Trading Company (_Nederlandsche
+Handels-Maatschappy_), which possesses the sole right of shipment, pays
+the Dutch Government from 28 to 30 guilders (46_s._ 8_d._ to 50_s._) per
+picul of coffee, which it sells in the European market for its own
+account. How thoroughly such a monopoly must check the growth of trade and
+commerce may be best seen in the stagnation of haughty old Batavia, as
+compared with the youthful, flourishing free port of Singapore. The Dutch
+Government has, however, within the last few years taken a stride in the
+direction of liberalism, and has thrown open a portion of the products of
+the Island (as, for example, sugar, the whole of which Government itself
+had hitherto sent to Holland) to public auction on the spot; and it is
+hoped this system may ultimately be extended to other colonial products,
+especially coffee, and that a little later, not alone Batavia, Samarang,
+and Soerabaya may be declared free, but that all the harbours may be
+thrown open to free trade. With this question of free interchange of
+commodities is intimately bound up that of compulsory labour, which
+consists in the natives of the interior being compelled to work for the
+Government at certain fixed rates. In all districts where the Government
+owns coffee or other plantations, the cultivation of these must be
+attended to by the natives of the nearest villages, for a remuneration
+fixed by the Government. The coolies or porters must, for the fixed price
+of 2-1/2 or 3 doits per paal, carry goods or do service as runners or
+messengers, while free labour is at least four times as dear. A party,
+strongly supported at home, has arisen in Java, advocating the doing away
+with compulsory labour throughout the island, but, owing to the many
+important interests imperilled by such a policy, it has been very
+generally repudiated. It is impossible in Java to broach the topic of
+doing away with compulsory servitude without inaugurating an envenomed
+discussion. For this question concerns many planters and Government
+officials not less closely than that of the abolition of slavery does the
+planters of the southern States of America. On this point we have heard
+such widely different opinions pronounced by experienced, thoughtful,
+impartial men, that we are the less disposed to express, on the occasion
+of so short a visit as ours, any decided sentiments, since such would have
+probably been entirely changed, or at all events modified, if we had lived
+all our lives among the natives, and had become better acquainted with
+their customs and peculiarities of character.
+
+It is believed--such at least is the general impression--that in a land so
+favoured by Nature as Java there is but little to be hoped for from free
+labour, as the requirements of the natives are very limited, and easily
+satisfied. Abandoned to his own impulses of activity, the Javanese would
+only work sufficiently to supply what was necessary for his mere
+subsistence, or would only perform any extra duties so long as the
+imposition of regular labour does not set itself in direct antagonism with
+his docile, gentle disposition. The manners and customs of the country,
+the condition of the populace relative to their princes and chiefs, are
+favourable to the condition of forced labour, in which they have been
+confirmed by their Dutch conquerors, thus rendering it less perceptible
+and intolerable. It is patent to all that since the introduction in 1830
+by General Van den Bosch of the Culture system, or system of compulsory
+labour, the internal state of the colony has enormously benefited,[61] and
+the revenues of the Government increased in a most extraordinary degree.
+In fact, what is known as the _Batig Stal_, or balance of the colonial
+administration for the past year (1859), gave a total of 41,000,000
+guilders (L3,416,000). But the pecuniary profits which the State Treasury
+wrings from the labour of its subjects are, unfortunately (as was amply
+proved in the South American colonies during the days of Spanish
+ascendency), not always a correct standard of the prosperity of a country
+or of the felicity of its inhabitants.
+
+In company of Dr. Vrij the geologist of our Expedition ascended from
+Lembang the volcano of Tangkuban Prahu, whence, following an excellent
+route of travel drawn up by Dr. Junghuhn, he was enabled to visit all the
+more important points of geological interest in the Preanger Regency. Of
+these two highly interesting excursions, which derived an additional charm
+from the cordial hospitality of the Javanese princes, we borrow from Dr.
+Hochstetter's memoranda the following particulars:--
+
+"On the northern side of the table-land of Bandong, which is a veritable
+garden of Eden, hemmed in by roaring volcanic mountains, there rises a
+mountain-chain 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and 4000 above the
+lofty plateau of Bandong. In this range three peaks are conspicuous. The
+native, accustomed to indicate each majestic natural feature of his lovely
+native land by some name which gives a clear idea of its peculiar
+character, or expresses the emotion it makes upon his senses, has named
+the easternmost truncated conical peak Gunung Tungul (7800 feet), that is,
+the Broken Stump or Tree, and affirms that the long central ridge of
+Tangkuban Prahu (6427 feet), or the Inverted Boat, was formed by the
+overturned trunk of the tree, while the third very serrated peak, the
+Buranguang (5690 feet), or Boughs of the Tree, forms the crown of the tree
+with its branches and twigs. Only the long central ridge, the actual hill,
+though its shape would not readily lead us to suppose so, is at this day
+an active volcano. Its crater is one of the most extraordinary spectacles
+in the volcanic system of Java. Formerly it was necessary to follow in the
+tracks of the rhinoceroses up the sides of this mountain, and the ascent
+was not indeed without danger, since it occasionally happened that the
+traveller, while treading some of these funnel-shaped, narrow, tremendous
+defiles, unexpectedly found himself at some sudden turn face to face with
+one of these gigantic animals, and that, with a precipice on one hand and
+a wall of rock on the other, there was no visible means of escaping. Under
+such circumstances there was nothing for it but to fight for life and
+death, until the stronger marched over the corpse of the weaker. At
+present an excellent bridle-path leads from Lembang to the summit of the
+mountain, for the construction of which the community is indebted to Dr.
+Junghuhn.
+
+"On the morning of 18th May we set out from Lembang for the summit of
+Tangkuban Prahu, in company with Dr. de Vrij. The Regent of Bandong had
+sent us capital horses of the pure Macassar race, and, followed by a crowd
+of well-disciplined Sundanese, we at length after a two hours' ride stood
+at the edge of the crater.
+
+"Dense clouds of vapour filled the abyss below, from which at a
+considerable depth and in various directions issued the most appalling
+sounds, as though hundreds of steam engines were sobbing at work far
+beneath us, or like the broken sound of water falling in spray from a
+great height upon the rocks. Some dead trees standing on the brink of the
+abyss had a blackened appearance as though they had been charred, which we
+ascribed to the sulphureous vapours, that must be evolved with most
+destructive power when the crater is in full activity. Into this hideous
+abyss we now prepared to descend, by a narrow, steep ledge of the rock,
+which gradually lost itself among the vapour between two perpendicular,
+precipitous walls. We followed the Javanese, who were scrambling down
+before us, having ourselves given orders to be conducted if possible to
+the bottom of the crater, and therefore continued on as best we could,
+confident that those people had already often descended into the depths to
+get themselves sulphur.
+
+"Fortunately the vapours dispersed during our arduous clamber, and there
+at one view lay plain before us the fearful chasm from its floor to the
+rim running round it. With amazement and surprise, we perceived that the
+ledge on which we stood was but a narrow central ridge, separating two
+deep nearly circular volcanic cauldrons, which were both surrounded by a
+lofty ellipse-shaped crater-wall! There was also a singular double or twin
+crater. In both cavities, right and left, white clouds of steam rose
+hissing and sputtering to the height of the rim. In the left-hand or
+western crater, which the natives called _Kawah Upas_, or the Poison
+Crater, we perceived in the midst of the smoking _solfataras_ a tranquil
+pool of water of a sulphur-yellow hue, while the lofty internal slopes of
+the crater, nearly 1000 feet high, were densely covered with brushwood,
+down almost to the bottom. Very different was the eastern crater, _Kawah
+Ratu_, or King's Crater; its floor seemed to consist of dried mud, from
+the clefts and springs in which steam and sulphureous vapours were
+constantly bursting impetuously forth. The wall of this crater, not above
+500 or 600 feet high, was naked and bare to the very summit. At the first
+glance one could almost fancy he gazed on an expanse of snow amid a green
+forest, so bleached and greyish-white did everything look, owing to the
+rocks being pulverized and changed by the vapours which continually issued
+from the soil. Above these white desolate masses of rock were
+distinguishable the blackened, charred, knotted stems of bushes and trunks
+of trees, the relics of the vegetation formerly here, tokens of the last
+eruption in 1846, in which this King's Crater threw up boiling mud,
+impregnated with sulphur, besides sand and stones, till throughout an
+extended area the green forests on every side were killed or desolated.
+Already however the rich green of the fern, and the _Thibaudia_ (not
+unlike our own whortleberry), is seen shooting up amidst the bare stones,
+in close proximity to the blackened trees and shrubs, charred and altered
+by the action of the sulphureous vapours and the soil, impregnated as it
+is with sulphur.
+
+"Continuing to scramble forward, we reached in safety the floor of the
+Poison Crater, and had to observe the greatest vigilance, for the entire
+ground around the boiling lake in the crater to the steep walls consists
+of nothing but smoking solfataras, or a dense crust of sulphur, full of
+holes and fissures, over the cooled surface of which the traveller walks,
+constantly in danger of breaking through, not indeed into a fathomless
+abyss, but into boiling hot, bitter water, in which we would counsel no
+one to take a foot-bath. If the crust be broken off, there are seen
+shining beneath the most exquisite lustrous crystals of sulphur. This
+sulphur, which is exhibited here piled up in immense masses like small
+hills, is the same as that which occasionally entices the Javanese into
+these appalling abysses. The most powerful solfatara, which lies exactly
+in the middle ridge, and like a geyser throws up to a height apparently of
+one or two feet a column of boiling water, consisting in part of sulphur,
+is for that reason unapproachable by man.
+
+"From the Poison Crater we climbed over into the King's Crater. The hard
+masses of rubbish thrown out during the last eruption afforded firm
+footing here, until we got near the sputtering solfataras, when the hot
+yielding mud made further progress impracticable.
+
+"The visit to these two craters, which change features from year to year,
+furnished much material for observation. It was long past noon when we
+retraced our steps upwards along the precipitous path by which we had
+descended. Ere long we found ourselves once more on the summit, protected
+from the sun's vertical rays by the grateful shelter of the hut which
+Junghuhn had erected here, and from which we could take in at one glance,
+in all its vast proportions, the entire abyss, with its two smoking
+craters in all their horrid sublimity. The oval of the exterior rim
+measures not less than 6000 feet in length by 3000 in breadth, and from
+the upper wall the descent sheer into the abyss is not less than 800 feet
+perpendicular.
+
+"This was the last crater which we had an opportunity of visiting while
+in Java--our further peregrinations being directed towards the schistose
+formation abounding in petrifactions, which is found in the S.W. mountain
+range of the table-land of Bandong.
+
+"On the evening of the 18th, after we had returned from Tangkuban Prahu,
+we left Lembang, still in the company of Dr. de Vrij, who sacrificed his
+own convenience to accompany us throughout our interesting tour, and
+returned to Bandong.
+
+"Junghuhn had sketched out a second _carte de voyage_, which he had sent
+to the Resident of Bandong, with a request that this gentleman would make
+all necessary preparations to enable the projected excursion to be made in
+the shortest possible time, and for our comfort while on the road. We thus
+found everything prepared beforehand, and, after passing a most agreeable
+evening with the Resident and the Regent of Bandong, the latter of whom
+caused his dancing-girls to execute in our presence some of their most
+characteristic national dances, we were enabled to start early the
+following morning to prosecute our journey further among the mountains.
+
+"Gratitude to M. Visscher, the Assistant Resident, and to Raden Adipata
+Wira Nata Kusuma, the Regent of Bandong,[62] makes it an imperative duty
+that we should make the most ample acknowledgment for the great pains
+taken by both those gentlemen to enable us, without losing time consulting
+about other cares, to devote our entire attention to scientific
+examination. Indeed, the whole arrangements of this trip may be held to
+indicate what the Dutch Government is able to attain by the astute policy
+of leaving the executive power entirely in the hands of the native chiefs,
+and with what admirable exactness the despotic orders of these two united
+powers are carried into execution.
+
+"The brother of the Regent of Bandong, a truly chivalrous soul, but
+imperious and full of aristocratic hauteur in his deportment towards the
+peasantry, was our companion and guard of honour. All our material
+requirements had been cared for by the Regent in the most luxurious
+profusion. Four servants and a special cook, together with a number of
+coolies, were sent in advance to our next designated resting-place,
+sometimes in the heart of a forest, or upon a hill, or in a narrow defile,
+so that on our arrival we found our table already set for us. On these
+occasions, when there was no Pasanggrahan or comfortable hut at hand for
+our mid-day siesta, or for our accommodation at night, we found an elegant
+hut of bamboo and palm-leaves (of which materials the Javanese construct
+a thousand articles of every-day use) newly erected, and containing
+dining-room, sleeping-apartment, and bath-room. In order to travel with as
+much celerity as possible, our riding horses were changed three or four
+times a day. The fresh animals were everywhere ready for us to mount. At
+those points where petrifactions were likely to be found collected
+together natives would be sent forward, and that not by twos and threes,
+but by dozens and twenties, who were charged to dig and collect together
+whatever was found, so that all we had to do was to select what we
+required, when we found we had a splendid collection without trouble or
+loss of time. Even on roads seldom frequented, in outlying districts among
+the mountains, we found everything arranged anew, and we do not exaggerate
+when we say that between forty and fifty small bridges and narrow stiles
+made of bamboo and with bamboo balustrades must have been constructed
+solely to make this path passable. But still more particularly we had
+occasion to remark, that when it was necessary to descend into the
+defiles, which would naturally be of special interest to a geologist on
+account of their explanations of the phenomena of nature, fresh paths had
+been made, and all obstacles presented by the rocky soil overcome by means
+of steps cut in the rock or bamboo ladders! And all this had been planned
+and executed after the Regent had been informed of the day fixed for our
+departure from Bandong on our projected tour.
+
+"No fewer than thirty-eight mounted Sundanese, all gaily dressed in their
+national costume, being in fact the chiefs and magistrates of the
+district, had attached themselves to us with all their retinue, besides a
+number of porters to attend upon the cavalcade, by all of whom we were
+cordially welcomed. Towards evening we entered amid music and dancing into
+the village, which it had been arranged was to be our quarters for the
+night, and amid more music, and a general gathering of the population, we
+once more, in the grey dawn of the next morning, mounted our horses. Such
+is the mode of travel in Java when a Junghuhn prescribes the route, when a
+Dutch Government official issues the requisite orders, and when a native
+Regent carries them out.
+
+"On the 19th May we set off in an easterly direction from Bandong for the
+river Tji-Tarum. Our object was to explore the beautiful natural defile
+which is presented by the deep chasm which forms the bed of that stream,
+where it has forced a passage in a northerly direction through a
+round-backed range of green-stone and porphyritic mountains which spring
+from the table-land of Bandong, forming in this part of its course the
+beautiful water-falls of Tjuruk-Kapek, Tjuruk-Lanong, and Tjuruk-Djombong.
+In close proximity to the very oldest volcanic formations of Java, one
+sees here, laid bare by the river, lofty walls of the latest fresh-water
+strata of the plateau of Bandong. We now rode through the porphyritic
+ridge to the rocky cone of Batu-Susun, on the flank of the Gunung Bulut,
+formed of vast columns of a sort of porphyritic green-stone, and the same
+evening reached Tjililui, the chief town of the district named Rongga,
+owing to its richness in petrifactions. Not greater was our surprise at
+our exceedingly hospitable reception, than at beholding, as we sat down to
+our evening meal in the Pasanggrahan where we were stopping, a huge table
+drawn forth, loaded with petrifactions and geological specimens, which the
+Wedanah had collected, and which, classified according to a chart of the
+district which he had himself prepared, he now placed at our disposal. The
+name of this spirited Sundanese is Mas Djaja Bradja, Wedanah of Tjililui.
+
+"On the 20th we inspected the spot itself where these are found. By
+daybreak we were _en route_ for the chalk-kilns of Liotji Tjangkang, where
+a coral bank, abounding in petrifactions, lies full in view from the
+summit of an adjoining eminence. Hence we directed our steps in a S.E.
+direction, getting deeper into the mountains, in the neighbourhood of
+Gonnong Gatu, renowned for the numbers of tigers which range the immense
+wilderness of _allang_ grass (_Imperata Allang_), which now forms the
+covering of these mountains, utterly denuded as they are of their original
+vegetation, and in which they find plenty of prey among the stags, wild
+boars, and buffaloes. Hunting however was not our object, but the
+succession of chasms, 100 feet deep, worn through the soft pumice and
+trachytic tufas by the action of the Tji-Lanang and its little tributary
+streams. First we had to scramble down to the confluence of the Tji-Burial
+and the Tji-Tangkil, where, in close proximity to the dykes of trachyte,
+several well-preserved _conchylia_ were found amid the rubbish that had
+been detached from the sides of this cavity, which are composed of a sort
+of muddy tufa. After riding at full speed through a thinly-inhabited
+mountain district, in order to avoid an impending thunder-storm, we
+luckily reached the little mountain village of Gunung-Alu, lying on the
+Tji-Dadass, at the foot of a mountain ridge, which forms the water-shed
+between the northern and southern coasts of Java.
+
+"On 21st May we set off for the valley of the Tji-Lanang, which stretches
+beneath the steep sandstone acclivities of the Gunung Sela, another spot
+where petrifactions are exceedingly abundant, and where the remains of the
+fossils may be observed in the position they originally occupied, imbedded
+in the strata of mud and sandstone. A species of fossil resin is also
+frequently found there, in juxtaposition with other beautiful fossils.
+From this point we followed the valley of the Tji-Lanang in a northerly
+direction, and on quitting it we came upon a little traversed road leading
+to the valley of the Tji-Tjamotha, at the calcareous-brecciose rocks of
+Batu-Kakapa, and still further on reached the mountainous village of
+Tji-Jabang, whence we descended once more to the river Tji-Tarum, which at
+this point passes through a narrow cleft in the rock, more than a thousand
+feet deep, forming thus the grandest waterfall in Java, as it breaks
+through the western barrier range of the plateau of Bandong, consisting
+of porphyritic green-stone, trachytic-basalt, and perpendicular cliffs of
+chalk. Below this, after a series of splendid cascades, it becomes a
+navigable stream, flowing gently over the terrace of Radjamandala.
+
+"The majestic scale of the natural scenery of Java is seen fully developed
+in these savage, awful rocky defiles, shaded by primeval forest, and
+haunted by every description of wild animal. There are three points of
+special interest, Tjukang-Raon, Tjuruk-Almion, and Sangjang-Holut, at any
+of which one may study in the very bowels of the earth the geognostical
+structure of the Lanang chain, where the river has burst through. These
+points lie quite near to each other on the edge of the stream which here
+frets in its channel, hemmed closely by the rocks, but in order to reach
+any one of them it is always necessary to retrace one's steps to the
+village of Tji-jabang, on the plateau of the mountain, and thence scramble
+down and up again the precipitous rocky wall in height from 1000 to 1600
+feet! One can readily believe what Junghuhn writes in 1854, that 'although
+Tjurak-Almion' (dust or vapour fall) 'is the grandest waterfall in Java,
+no European had, as yet, visited the spot but himself.' It was here
+especially that we had occasion to notice what pains the natives had taken
+to render the various localities more accessible. We found fresh-hewn
+steps, ladders, and Rotang ropes, and thus we were enabled, so to speak,
+to tread in the footsteps of Junghuhn.
+
+"On the 21st we could only visit the Tjuruk-Baon, where the Tji-Tarum,
+raging along in its entire volume, is compelled to pass through a gate of
+rock not above 12 feet wide. A frail-looking bamboo ladder, with Rotang
+ropes suspended on either side at a dizzy elevation above, leads down the
+perpendicular walls of this stone portal.
+
+"On the morning of the 22nd we visited Tjuruk-Almion, the finest waterfall
+of the Tji-Tarum, which is here precipitated over a precipice of
+green-stone forty feet in height, and thence, after passing the steep
+basaltic chain of Gunung-Lanang, we descended from a height of 2653 Paris
+feet, into the deepest part (990 Paris feet above sea-level) of the chasm
+formed by volcanic eruption in the mountain Sangjang-Holut, where close to
+the steep broken rim, and in juxtaposition to the tertiary formations on
+the level of Radjamandala, the perpendicular sandstone banks of the river
+leave a passage only 10 feet in width.
+
+"The same day we reached the little village of Gua, at the foot of the
+northern side of Gunung Nungnang, an enormous mass of limestone, whose
+steep sides form a portion of the extensive limestone barrier, which
+bounds the table-land of Radjamandala to the southward. Gunung Nungnang is
+traversed by fissures and clefts from top to bottom, in which the Salangan
+swallow builds edible nests, which the natives gather for the Regent, not
+without peril to life.
+
+"On the 23rd May we carefully explored Sangjang Tji-Koro, a
+limestone-hill, through which one arm of the Tji-Tarum, after it has
+burst through the barrier-ridge, flows in a subterranean channel;
+interesting in a geological point of view, because at this point we find
+the very same limestone rocks which in an upright position form the
+structure of the hill, lying horizontally on the flat plain of
+Radjamandala, on the opposite bank of this brook. At Radjamandala we once
+more struck the main road, and found our travelling chaise ready, which
+conveyed us to Tjiandjur, and thence back to Batavia."
+
+While the geologist of our Expedition was occupied in the excursion above
+described, the commodore and his companions witnessed a most interesting
+spectacle in an ethnographical point of view. The Javanese Regent of
+Tjiandjur prepared a great fete, to which all the populace were invited,
+in the great hall of the palace, where a variety of entertainments, games,
+and dramatic representations took place. Here, as at Bandong, the interior
+of the house was entirely furnished in the European fashion, and only the
+ear-splitting, deafening tones of the gamelong,[63] the stout, bustling
+female house-keeper, who, richly apparelled and wearing yellow
+unmentionables, did the honours with a somewhat waddling gait, and the
+Oriental dress of the Regent, behind whom a couple of Javanese servants,
+crouched on their hams, carrying a neatly-carved silver box of exquisite
+workmanship, containing the ingredients for the betel, recalled to our
+recollection that we were in Java, in the residence of a native prince.
+The stiff, troublesome formalities of the Dutch were outdone by those of
+the Javanese: nay, so great is the observance of etiquette by these
+people, that even the nearest relatives of the house are fain to take up
+their place in the verandah or colonnade which runs round the house, but
+do not dare venture into the saloon itself. In this latter, besides the
+Regent and his consort, there were only the European guests invited, while
+the people thronged the doors and windows as spectators of what was going
+on. The fete began with some very monotonous, infinitely tedious dances
+executed by the _Bayaderes_. In the choreographic art, despite the
+important part which dancing plays in their religious worship, the
+Javanese, like all the other populations of Asia, lag far behind the
+natives of the north. True, the dance with them has a widely different
+meaning, compared with that which we attach to it, who waltz and polka
+away in joyous, frolicsome mood, whereas the Asiatics, the Malay and the
+Hindoo, also dance during seasons of grief and anguish; with them dancing
+is nothing but a mode of expressing their feelings, whether these be grave
+or gay, joyous or sad. And so deeply is this custom implanted among the
+coloured races, that we have ourselves seen in Costa Rica Indian parents,
+who had been converted to Christianity, dancing before the dead body of
+their child, which was about being committed to consecrated earth.[64]
+
+The figures of the dance performed by the Javanese dancing-girls were
+nothing but a series of very slow rigid movements of advance and retreat,
+in the course of which they went through all sorts of attitudes and
+contortions with their hands and fingers. We were informed that these
+dancers were representing four sisters who were searching for their lost
+mother, and by their various postures and figuring hoped to obtain her
+again from the deity. This exhibition was succeeded by a war-dance,
+performed by eight maidens clothed as warriors, which however scarcely
+differed from the former, and was not less tedious. These dancers all
+appeared in extremely elegant richly-appointed dresses, which
+unfortunately only made the ugliness of their features more disagreeably
+conspicuous. Amid all these representations the deep boom of the gamelong
+almost unceasingly resounded in our ears, being struck, evidently for the
+purpose of stunning the senses, by a crowd of Javanese cowering on the
+ground with their feet crossed beneath them, while from without there fell
+on our ear the tunes of a brass band, especially noticeable by its
+overpowering penetrating sound. About 10 P.M. a number of rockets and
+fire-wheels were let off, and a disorderly crowd of maskers, on horse and
+foot, to the great delight of the assembled populace, made their
+appearance and marched about a dozen times round the great room. The chief
+honours of the entire procession were reserved for a transparent serpent,
+at least 20 feet long, which was borne along in the air by six or eight
+youths, who imitated with surprising address the wriggling motions of that
+lithe reptile.
+
+To a European observer, however, what was going on in one corner of the
+great room seemed far more extraordinary and surprising. A number of
+native fanatics were standing here round a heap of red-hot coals and
+ashes, before which a Mahometan priest, holding in his hand a small open
+book, was murmuring a prayer, accompanied by doleful cries and
+unintelligible groans. Several natives sprang barefooted into the fire,
+and turned about several times in its midst. The priest also, singing and
+praying the while, skipped upon the red-hot floor, apparently with the
+intention of inciting the by-standers to yet further exertions. The whole
+exhibition bore the character of being a form of religious expiation,
+although it was carried on amid all the noise and fun of a popular
+festival.
+
+A still more painful impression was made by several Javanese, who placed
+iron circlets set with fine sharp points on the cheeks, forehead, and
+eyes, and thus accoutred, twisted their bodies about in every conceivable
+direction, as though they were striving all they could to drill deep into
+their flesh with this heavy iron instrument. The leading idea contemplated
+in this rude fearsome exhibition, seems, however, to have been simply to
+amuse a circle of curious spectators, and gain their applause.
+
+The Javanese Regent, Radhen Adhipati Aria Kusuma Ningrat, who gave this
+fete, a tall, robust man, of about fifty years of age, is held in high
+esteem by the inhabitants of his district, not alone for his political
+worth, but also for his intellectual qualities. He is an author and a
+poet, and availed himself of the opportunity to present to the foreign
+guests his last poem, an epic.
+
+Early on the morning of the 17th the entire company of travellers set out
+from Tjiandjur on their return to Batavia by the Java road, by which they
+had come. The naturalists, too, did not leave the capital of the Preanger
+Residency without substantial tokens of amity, since a medical gentleman
+settled there, Dr. I. Ch. Ploem, presented them with a number of
+interesting specimens, botanical and zoological, and not alone enriched
+their collections in natural history with many new objects, but also
+promised in future to maintain an active interchange of objects of
+scientific interest with the museum of the Empire-city on the Danube.
+
+The journey back to Buitenzorg, despite a tremendous thunder-storm,
+accompanied by such a shower as is only encountered in the tropics, was
+nevertheless pretty quickly got over, and even one trifling adventure
+which was encountered on the way--in the course of which one of the
+travelling carriages fell into a ditch on one side of the road, near
+Megamendung, in consequence of which the coachman and attendants were
+somewhat injured by their sudden precipitation from the box--had no more
+serious ulterior consequences than that we had to get out of the carriage
+for a short space under a deluge of rain, so as to admit of its being more
+readily put into running order again. Despite the inclemency of the
+weather we were on this occasion accompanied on horseback by the
+magistrates of the villages through which we passed, and although many of
+these were shivering and chattering with the wet and cold, they were
+nevertheless inexorable in assisting to send us forward, and though not
+required to do so, accompanied us to our next station, where their place
+was supplied by others not less attentive.
+
+While still on the road, the commodore and several members of the
+Expedition received an invitation from the Governor-general to stop at his
+summer residence of Buitenzorg, and to make it for some days their
+resting-place. It was unfortunate, that this display of hospitality was
+somewhat weakened in cordiality by a too rigid observance of those minor
+matters of etiquette, which his Excellency seemed to think he could not
+afford to dispense with even in his quiet, unostentatious country-seat.
+The stringent observance of such unbending measured ceremony is the more
+remarkable, in the case of a man who has raised himself from an obscure
+grade of citizenship to this lofty post, and who does not even indulge in
+that lavish expense or profuse luxury, which would at least be in harmony
+with the ceremonial usages with which he surrounds himself. M. Van Pahud
+came to Batavia about twenty years before, as a school-master, and ere
+long, having become an employe in the civil service, secured through his
+administrative capacity, and restless activity, the confidence and
+sympathies of the Government, was somewhat later appointed Colonial
+Minister in Holland, and finally, in 1856, Governor-general of the Dutch
+East Indies. The introduction of the _quinquina_ plant from Peru and its
+present extension throughout Java, are his chief claims to recognition.
+
+As M. Van Pahud is a widower, the honours of his mansion were performed by
+his daughter, a lady in delicate health, who a few years previously had
+the distressing trial of beholding her husband, who filled one of the most
+important posts as Resident at a Regency in the interior, cut down before
+her eyes by a Malay!
+
+We spent a couple of days in this charming retreat of Buitenzorg, whose
+botanical garden ever unfolded fresh beauties, and had the pleasure on
+this, as on the occasion of our first visit, to make several most
+agreeable acquaintances. A deep interest attaches to our visit to Madame
+Hartmann, the widow of a former Resident in Borneo, who possesses a small
+but every way remarkable collection of ethnographic objects illustrative
+of that island, and who not alone had the thoughtful courtesy to show us
+all these treasures of natural history, but even presented us with a
+considerable portion of them. The writer of this account felt himself in
+an especial degree under obligation to this excellent lady for a number of
+skeletons of the various races of men inhabiting that island, which it
+would have been exceedingly difficult to procure otherwise. There existed
+but one object in this anthropological collection with which Madame
+Hartmann would not part: this was the skull of a Chinaman, who, during the
+fearful insurrection of these emigrants in Borneo in 1819, made a
+murderous onslaught on her husband, whose servants fortunately succeeded
+in rendering timely aid by cutting the miscreant down.
+
+Early on 20th May we quitted Buitenzorg. On the same morning two criminals
+accused of murder and robbery were brought thither. Although the
+punishment of death is only inflicted in cases of extreme atrocity, yet we
+were informed that in the capital scarcely a month passes without the
+infliction of this last penalty.
+
+On our return to Batavia we once more found ourselves the objects of that
+charming hospitality, to which we are indebted for the memory of many most
+agreeable hours.
+
+There was one gentleman in particular, a German countryman, Colonel Von
+Schierbrand, who has lived nearly thirty years in Java, and at present
+holds the high position of head of the Engineer department and President
+of the Topographical Institute, who most hospitably entertained the
+voyagers of the _Novara_ in his elegant, comfortable dwelling, and
+arranged a variety of amusements and agreeable receptions.[65] Among
+these, the gentlemen who took part in it will long have a special
+recollection of a hunting party, which, owing to the great interest taken
+by all classes of the community near the seat of action, abounding in
+antelopes and wild hogs, became ultimately a regular ovation and popular
+festival. At various points arches covered with leaves were erected, flags
+fluttered to the breeze on every side, and all along our path the
+inhabitants, gaily attired, formed a dense array lining the road; while
+the evening was whiled away in the elegantly furnished mansion of a
+Chinese, the Mayor of his district, by Javanese dancing-girls, who
+performed a variety of national dances to the monotonous, lugubrious sound
+of the gamelong and other musical instruments, after which there was a
+comedy, the whole winding up with Chinese fire-works on the grandest
+scale.
+
+Another splendid entertainment was got up in honour of the _Novara_
+Expedition by the military "Concordia" society, in their large, handsome
+assembly-room in Weltevreden. The dancing-hall was tastefully fitted up,
+adorned with blue and green hangings and parti-coloured flags, while over
+the entrance was suspended a portrait of our Emperor. In the background of
+the saloon there was set up in front of a transparency an elegant boat,
+with an Austrian flag at the gaff, and carrying a cannon crowned with
+flowers and nautical emblems, all artistically designed and executed. The
+stewards all wore red and white ribbons round their dress, while the rich
+attire of the ladies consisted principally of stuffs in the Austrian
+colours. When the commander of the Expedition entered the saloon with his
+staff, the band struck up the Austrian National Hymn. The whole festivity
+went off most agreeably, and the majority of the company, which numbered
+about 800 guests, kept it up till daybreak. Both Dutch and Austrian
+officers vied with each other in making this a truly fraternal feast.
+Still as the band played on, there seemed no end to the fun and frolic,
+and one pair of joyous spirits suddenly bethought them of the droll idea
+of hauling the cannon "with all its honours thick upon it" through the
+apartment, with a not less frolicsome comrade sitting astride it, singing
+and shouting! Unluckily, during this peregrination one of the Dutch
+officers fell under the wheel, and had his thigh broken near the knee. The
+unfortunate had to be conveyed to the hospital forthwith, where for weeks
+he could ruminate upon the consequences of a moment's misplaced revelry.
+This gentleman, singularly enough, had just retired home and gone to bed,
+when a couple of his comrades insisted on his accompanying them, amid much
+cheering and noise, back to the apartment, where the accident happened to
+him!
+
+One remarkable character in Batavia, whose acquaintance we only made
+during the latter days of our stay, is Raden Saleh, a Javanese of high
+birth, and princely descent, who, born in 1816 at Djokjokarta in the
+interior of the island, was at the expense of the Dutch Government brought
+to Europe when a boy of 14, where he lived for a long time at the Hague,
+and afterwards in Dresden and Paris, turning his attention chiefly to
+painting, and who, after 23 years' absence, had returned to Java shortly
+before our arrival. Raden Saleh, who speaks and writes several European
+languages with fluency, draws a not inconsiderable sum yearly from the
+Colonial Government, by way of remuneration for pictures which he is from
+time to time commissioned to paint for Government House. At the period of
+our visit the artist was busy engaged in executing for the King of Holland
+a large oil-painting, representing a stag-hunt on the plain of Mundschul,
+in the Preanger Regency, at the foot of the Malabar range. The
+composition, the landscape, the aerial perspective, the attitudes and
+grouping of the mounted huntsmen, gave evidence of uncommon talent, which
+unfortunately, however, has not been cultivated to that extent as to
+enable him to stamp all his performances with the impress of artistic
+perfection. Raden Saleh cherishes a warm feeling for Germany, which even
+his placid, delightful residence among the Eden-like landscapes of his own
+native land has not been able to weaken. "I owe so much to Germany," he
+would say to us; "my thoughts and my feelings ever revert to Germany!" It
+seemed that in his case, as in that of the young negro prince, Aquasie
+Boachi, of the Gold Coast, considerations of health were the main reason
+for his return to the Dutch East Indies.
+
+The last days of our stay at Batavia we devoted to an inspection of
+various public institutions. First of all we carefully examined the
+barracks, which present several points of special interest. Major Smits
+was so kind as to accompany us over the extensive grounds, in which were
+at the time some 800 men. The soldiers are all volunteers, and consist of
+about 250 whites, and 600 of the various coloured races of the Malay
+Archipelago. The white troops sleep in beds, the coloured upon wooden
+settles covered with mosquito-nets. Each soldier is allowed to have his
+wife beside him, and it is affirmed that this extraordinary practice tends
+to make them more orderly and regular, by accustoming them more speedily
+to life in the barrack, which thus becomes for them a sort of small town!
+The women for their part prove highly serviceable as cooks, washerwomen,
+vendors of edibles, &c., and manage a sort of small market for each
+company, where the soldier can find everything he may require for
+satisfying his usually very moderate wants.
+
+Major Smits ordered a number of the soldiers, representatives of the most
+important Malay types, to be submitted to a series of anthropometrical
+measurements, and made a present to the Expedition of a number of objects
+of ethnographical interest.
+
+In company with Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, an ardent and amiable companion,
+we visited the various prisons, and the Loar-Badang,[66] of evil repute,
+which will be discussed in the medical section of the _Novara_
+publications.
+
+The prisons of Batavia stand in much need of reform, especially as regards
+construction, management, and treatment. The humane sentiments that
+characterize our century, have more care even for a robber or murderer
+than to load him with chains, and make him still more dangerous to
+society, by lengthened confinement within the thick lofty walls of a
+prison. There are two categories, into which all criminals in Java are
+divided, those who during the entire term of their sentence are to remain
+within the prison, and those who during the day are employed outside the
+prison on the public works, most of whom wear an iron ring round their
+neck, or chains on their hands or feet, whence they are usually termed
+"chain-gang" prisoners.
+
+In the city Bridewell, where the criminals serve their sentences in cells,
+there is room for 200, and at the time of our visit there were 70 male and
+two female prisoners in confinement. The disagreeable impression made at
+finding such an establishment located in an exceedingly unhealthy site, is
+anything but diminished when the visitor perceives that it consists mainly
+of a large number of narrow corridors and high walls running parallel
+with each other at short distances, between which the prisoners, in
+divisions of from six to ten, are confined in small cells, two
+occasionally inhabiting the same cell. Those condemned to imprisonment for
+debt are shut up in a special compartment, apart from the common run of
+criminals, but in respect of accommodation and general treatment are in no
+respect better off than the latter. The law permits the incarceration of a
+debtor for three years, but the creditor is compelled to pay 10 guilders a
+month (L10 per annum), to defray the cost of his maintenance. It is
+illustrative of the Chinese character, and its speculative propensities,
+that hardly any of that nation are to be found on the criminal side,
+whereas they furnish the longest quota of those imprisoned for debt. We
+saw one Javanese woman, who of her own free will submitted to be
+imprisoned with her husband who had been condemned to several years'
+incarceration, although she could only communicate with him in the
+presence of witnesses, and had to live in an entirely different part of
+the building.
+
+In the prison where the "chain-gangers" were confined, there were 170
+prisoners.[67] Owing to the circumstance that those committed in Batavia
+are draughted off to the prisons in the interior, while those sentenced in
+the provinces are sent to fulfil their sentences in the prisons of
+Batavia, the stranger encounters in these latter numerous peculiar types
+of natives from the various districts of Java and the adjoining islands,
+and this rare opportunity was made use of by myself and Dr. Schwarz to
+obtain some corporeal measurements of individuals presenting the
+characteristics of their respective races, as had already been done in the
+barracks.
+
+Dr. Toussaint presented the Expedition with several pathological
+preparations, as also with one curiosity rather of historical than
+scientific interest, namely, the skull of a man, found a few years before
+in the maw of a shark which had been picked up dead at sea!
+
+A very singular impression was left on us by a visit we paid to "Meester
+Cornelis," a sort of bazaar in the outskirts of Batavia, where a singular
+phase of life may be seen nightly in full activity. On a wide open square
+are a large number of booths, in which are sold all sorts of eatables and
+drinkables, while there is at the same time no lack of dancing-girls,
+Javanese musicians, opium-dens, gambling "hells," and other
+breeding-places of human depravity. The majority of its frequenters are
+Chinese, who spend here in the most extravagant manner what they have
+earned during the day. They especially affect the filthy little closets,
+where for a couple of doits (a halfpenny English) they can lie stretched
+out in a pitiable state of stupefaction, the result of opium-smoking, but
+are likewise by no means backward in patronizing the gambling booths. A
+group of these half-naked children of the Celestial Empire, seated in a
+circle on the ground amid the flare of torches and lamps, each holding in
+his lean hand a pair of greasy, well-worn cards, and with a little heap of
+copper or silver pieces spread out before him, following the chances of
+the game with a wild eagerness that makes him utterly heedless of what is
+passing around him, presents a spectacle of such powerful interest, that
+the beholder, especially if a foreigner, likes to remain amid a scene so
+peculiar, despite its repulsiveness. The most melancholy consideration
+perhaps of all is that this form of dissipation seems by no means
+indigenous to Java, but was first introduced with many other forms of vice
+under the influence of foreign civilization.
+
+For the observant traveller, a visit to such so-called "places of
+amusement" possesses a far deeper interest than theatres or operas, which
+one may see and hear among the various settlements in this Archipelago.
+Such wandering companies, even those which are as highly remunerated as
+the "troupes" who minister to the aesthetic tastes of the wealthy
+inhabitants of the countries beyond sea,[68] or rather to an indispensable
+fashion, must awaken among European visitors melancholy reminiscences of
+vanished triumphs of art. Thus Batavia, during our stay, could boast a
+French operatic company. The theatre, lofty and airy, though of but one
+storey, without either boxes or gallery, had far more the appearance of a
+concert-room than a regular theatre. The rather heavy cost was defrayed by
+lotteries, which were set on foot by the Colonial Government from time to
+time for the behoof of the funds of the theatre. Several of the
+"cantatrices" carry on simultaneously with their engagements a lucrative
+business in French articles for the toilette, while the men-singers give
+instruction in vocalization, by which they not merely eke out their
+living, but contribute handsomely to the annoyance of their next-door
+neighbours.
+
+There is but little sociability in Batavia. The people live in a
+thoroughly retired manner, each usually receiving only a small circle of
+friends in his own house. On this point, as on many others, our _own_
+experience is _directly contrary_ to the actual state of matters, seeing
+that during our entire stay one invitation followed on the heels of
+another;--but those who live here for years together, even under the most
+favourable auspices, have repeatedly assured us that life in Batavia is
+unsociable and tedious.
+
+This is the misfortune of all countries "beyond sea," where Europeans do
+not settle permanently, but flock thither with the intention, after a
+certain number of years of industry and activity, of returning home with a
+fortune made by their own personal exertions. We see this in Brazil, in
+the West Indies, in the Western coast of South America; in a word, in all
+tropical or sub-tropical countries where, on account of climatic
+considerations, the greater part of the European population is changed
+every ten years, and is recruited by fresh arrivals from Europe. How out
+of place, accordingly, does social or intellectual life appear in such
+countries, as compared with the colonies settled in temperate climates, in
+North America, at the Cape, in Australia, in New Zealand, in all of which
+the immigrant population is of a fixed character, building up for
+themselves a second home, and clinging with love and gratitude to the soil
+that gives them sustenance, and on which their sons will grow up, under
+the invigorating influences of free institutions, into free, prosperous,
+self-relying men!
+
+Even in Batavia the majority of the European residents change every eight
+or ten years; instances such as that of Colonel von Schierbrand, of men
+who during 30 years have never once left the island, never yet seen a
+railroad, being of rare occurrence.
+
+Of the numerous friends whom we were so fortunate as to make during our
+stay in Java, and to whom such heart-felt thanks are due for their
+hospitality and the warm interest they took in the objects of our
+Expedition,[69] many have since left the island for ever, and by their
+return to Europe left many a lamentable vacancy.[70] The more deserving
+of acknowledgment is the constant endeavour of the present Colonial
+Government to attract to itself fresh intelligence, and so not alone
+stimulate the scientific activity of the present, but also provide for the
+filling up of the various posts by properly qualified persons. The
+magnificent and expensive works which have been published of late years in
+Java by men of science, are the splendid fruit of that noble-minded
+support, and it is much to be regretted that the Government does not
+extend this liberality to their _political_ system,--that despite the
+glorious example in their own immediate neighbourhood of the results of
+English Free Trade, Government still cramps the energies of the colony
+with monopolies and privileges, and thereby checks the development of a
+country, which, alike by its position and its manifold natural advantages,
+bids fair to be one of the wealthiest and most prosperous countries in the
+world.
+
+At seven A.M. on the 29th May, the _Novara_ weighed anchor in the roads of
+Batavia, after a stay of 23 days. Our next visit was to be paid to the
+Philippine Archipelago,--to the flourishing island of Luzon, or rather to
+Manila, the most important settlement in the entire group. This was the
+pleasantest trip throughout the whole voyage. The distance, some 1800
+nautical miles, was achieved in 17 days, with delightful weather, and
+balmy south-west monsoons.[71] By the 14th June we were in sight of the
+coast of Luzon, and on the following day we ran on before the freshening
+monsoon into the broad, beautiful gulf of Manila. As we passed between the
+rock La Monja (the Nun) and "El Corregidor," or Governor's Island, which
+lie right in the channel, we met the _Cleopatra_, a large English
+screw-steamer, which had a freight of 1150 Chinese, who were to be
+imported into the Havanna as so-called "free" labourers. These poor
+wretches came from Amoy, and, as we afterwards learned, had been put on
+board so scantily provided, and so little cared for by the authorities,
+that thus early, during the voyage from Amoy to Manila, only 700 miles,
+eleven of these "passengers" had died, and the captain found himself
+compelled to bear up for the nearest harbour in consequence of a sort of
+malignant fever having broken out on board, so virulent that there were
+deaths occurring almost every day. We shall treat more particularly of
+this hideous trade in men, which is chiefly carried on by the Portuguese,
+when describing our visit to Macao.
+
+The Bay of Manila is a beautiful land-locked basin, of such splendid
+proportions that when we had passed Governor's Island the city of Manila
+was still below the horizon. We anchored on the afternoon of 18th June in
+the harbour of Cavite (seven nautical miles south of Manila), because
+during the S.W. monsoon this harbour is more sheltered, and therefore
+safer for ships, than the shallow open roadstead of the capital. Cavite,
+which boasts a fort, an arsenal, a dockyard, and a cigar manufactory, lies
+on a low, narrow tongue of land projecting into the bay. Whoever may have
+first set foot at Cavite, on the soil of the Island of Luzon, so renowned
+for its natural magnificence of scenery, must involuntarily feel that his
+anticipations have been sorely disappointed; he will with all possible
+diligence make the best of his way from the glaring white sands and black
+walls of the fortress here to Manila, the next object of our hopes. A
+small screw plies daily between Cavite and the last-named city, and this
+vessel also conveyed the Expeditionists from Cavite to the capital of the
+Philippine Archipelago.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] Several copies of these various publications of the different
+scientific societies of Java were presented to the Expedition by the
+members of these learned bodies.
+
+[35] Still the chief article of cultivation is rice, which constitutes
+almost the sole bread-stuff of the Javanese. Crauford in his admirably
+digested dictionary of the Indian Archipelago calculates that the annual
+rice crop is about 500,000,000 lbs., and that each individual consumes
+annually one quarter, or 480 lbs.!
+
+[36] For some extremely beautiful and costly weapons used by the Malay
+races we are especially indebted to Mr. J. Netscher, one of the directors
+of the Society of Arts and Sciences, a profound scholar in the various
+idioms spoken in Java, and who on the same occasion enriched our
+collections with some of his own valuable numismatic specimens and
+philological researches, and to this day neglects no opportunity of
+advancing the special objects of our Expedition.
+
+[37] Only two of the various races of Java have remained constant to the
+belief of their fathers, and still honour, some of them Buddha, some
+Brahma. Among these are the Badawis, who constitute all that remain of a
+once mighty race at the east end of the island, among the hills of Kendang
+in the Residency of Bandang, on the Tenggers, also at the east of the
+island in the Residency of Passeruwan, the former numbering 1500, the
+latter about 4000 souls.
+
+[38] Garsick, the Grisse of modern days, was the first spot where these
+jealous sectaries settled about the year 1374, and the two Arabic sheikhs
+Dulla and Moellana are usually cited by later historians as the
+introducers of the Mahometan worship into Java.
+
+[39] There are at present two kings reigning on the Island of Lombok: Ratu
+Agong Agong Suede Carang-assem, and Ratu Agong Agong Made Carang-assem.
+These had submitted under special treaties to the Dutch Government, whose
+vassals they now are.
+
+[40] Yellow is the royal colour of the Ruler of Lombok. According to the
+prevalent custom, no one but the king and members of his family is
+permitted to use that colour in their dress or ornaments.
+
+[41] This peculiarity of Eastern manners is universally prevalent wherever
+Oriental nations have come in contact with Europeans. It is of course as
+entirely unlike the genuine hospitality of the rude Bedouin or Tartar as
+it is possible to imagine, and seems to belong to an early and very
+imperfect notion of true refinement. Traces of it will be found in all
+countries, even in Europe, and in its original form of making a present in
+the expectation of receiving something more valuable in return, which lies
+at the bottom of all this pseudo-generosity. The astuteness of the Scotch
+Highlanders, themselves a race remarkably free from such meannesses, has
+hitched the system into a pithy proverb, the sense of which is to "send a
+hen's egg in order to get a goose's in exchange."
+
+[42] 73.75 paals (posts) are equal to one degree of the equator, whence
+one paal = within a small fraction of 4943 feet 6 inches. This method of
+indicating land-measure originated in the circumstance that on every road
+intersecting Java from west to east, the respective distances from the
+three chief places, Batavia, Samarang, and Surabaya, are marked up upon
+wooden "paale" or posts.
+
+[43] As yet there are no railroads on the island. But a company has been
+formed with the intention of uniting the more important and productive
+districts of the island, an enterprise which will extend to about 1000
+miles (English), and will cost about L8,500,000.
+
+[44] It is well known that Holland in former days recruited her black
+regiments of the Netherland Indies by men from the Gold Coast, and in fact
+had set on foot a sort of traffic in men with the king of Ashantee.
+
+[45] Dr. Junghuhn, in his admirable work upon Java, describes the rainy
+season--which usually has fairly set in by the month of January, when the
+westerly and north-westerly winds are driving the rain-clouds before
+them--in the following spirited language:--"The floods stream from the
+clouds often for four-and-twenty hours at a stretch without the slightest
+interruption, and with such violence that the noise of the plash of the
+falling element drowns the voices of the inhabitants, compelled as they
+are to keep to their houses. Every brook and river overflows its banks,
+covering with a tide of muddy brown water the alluvial soil wrested from
+the bed of ocean, while the frogs croak incessantly day and night, and the
+lizards and snakes emerge from their holes, and creep into every corner of
+the dwellings of every man; all through the hours of darkness is heard the
+loud thousand-voiced hum of insects, of myriads of mosquitoes, till it is
+hardly possible to find a dry place throughout the house. The hot, sultry
+air is saturated with moisture, so that everything becomes damp, in
+consequence of the fine particles of the rain-vapour penetrating into the
+inmost corners of the house."
+
+[46] Pronounced _Chipannas_ (hot stream), from _Tji_, water, and _Pannas_,
+hot. _Tji_ is always pronounced like _chi_, and _oe_ like _oo_.
+
+[47] One can form some idea of the enormous fecundity of this insect, if
+we mention that it takes 200,000 in a dried state to make one pound of the
+cochineal of commerce.
+
+[48] Two Vanilla plants, imported in 1841 from the Botanical Garden of
+Leyden, remained barren for nine years, till recourse was at last had to
+the system of artificial fructification, upon which these plants increased
+so rapidly that the plants at present under cultivation at Pondok-Gedeh
+amount to 700,000!
+
+[49] Now named _Cankrienia Chrysantha_. The plant most characteristic of
+this region was the _gnaphalium arboreum_.
+
+[50] These four species were _Cinchona Calisaya_, _C. Condanimea_, _C.
+Lanceolata_, and _C. Ovata_.
+
+[51] According to our latest advices from Java, which extend to November,
+1860, there are at present in the Preanger Regency upwards of 100,000
+China plants in the very best order, so that this valuable commodity not
+only may be regarded as fully naturalized in that island, but the Dutch
+Government even complied with the request of the British Government for a
+certain number of seedlings for introduction into India.
+
+[52] Pronounce _Tschipodas_ and _Tschangschoor_ (Sweet Water)
+respectively.
+
+[53] Called in the Sunda dialect Gunung Masigit, or Hill of the Mosque, in
+consequence of the chalk, of which it is composed, being broken into
+pinnacles of remarkable uniformity, and strongly resembling the appearance
+presented by the minarets of a mosque.
+
+[54] As these edible swallows'-nests form a very important article of
+commerce among the Colonial products, and their collection provides the
+means of subsistence to a considerable section of the population of Java,
+we shall follow here the description given by Dr. Junghuhn, in his truly
+classic Monograph upon Java, in which (Book I. p. 468) he speaks as
+follows respecting the marvellous abodes selected by this species of
+swallow, and the perils dared by the native in obtaining their nests. "In
+Karangbolong, a portion of the entrance to the holes where the swallows
+breed is on a level with the surface of the water, and at times covered by
+the sea. In one of these cavities, the Gua Gede, the edge of the
+coast-wall rises 80 Paris feet above low water, in a concave form, so that
+it actually overhangs; however, at an elevation of about 25 feet there
+occurs a projection, which the Rotang-ladder reaches by being suspended
+perpendicularly. The ladder is made by two side ropes of reed, which every
+inch-and-a-half, or two inches, are bound to each other by cross-bars of
+wood. The roof of the entrance to the cave is only 10 feet above the sea,
+which even at ebb-tide washes the flow throughout its extent, while at
+flood-tide the mouth of the cave is entirely closed by the sweep of the
+rollers. Only during ebb-tide therefore, and with perfectly smooth water,
+is it possible for any one to penetrate into the interior. Even then this
+would be impossible, were not the rocky vault, or roof of the cavern,
+pierced through, eaten away, and corroded into innumerable holes. By the
+projecting angles of these holes it is that the strongest and most daring
+gatherer who first makes his way in, has to hold on, while he attaches to
+them ropes made of Rotang, which thus hang from the roof to a length of
+four or five feet. At their lower extremities other Rotang ropes are
+securely fastened crosswise, thus running, rather more horizontally,
+parallel with the roof, so that they form a hanging bridge as it were
+along the whole length of the roof. The roof is about 100 feet wide, and
+from the entrance at the south to the deepest recess in the north end, the
+cave is about 150 feet in length. Although only 10 feet high at the
+entrance, the roof becomes gradually more and more lofty as the cavern
+retreats, till at the farthest extremity it is about 20 to 25 feet above
+the sea-level. Before any one of the nest-hunters proceeds to erect his
+ladder, and again before proceeding to climb up upon it in such fearful
+proximity to the thundering swell, a solemn prayer is proffered to the
+goddess or queen of the sea-coast, whose blessing is invoked. At this
+place she bears the name of _Njai-Ratu-Segor-Kidul_, or sometimes
+_Ratu-Loro-Djunggrang_, and has dedicated to her in the village of
+Karangbolong a temple, which is kept scrupulously clean. Occasionally the
+gatherers make also a solemn sacrifice at the tomb of _Serot_, who,
+according to a Javanese legend, is revered as the first discoverer of the
+bird-nest caves." (The meaning of the above Javanese words is as follows:
+_Njai_, the title of honour of a female, corresponding to our
+"Madame:"--_Ratu_, Queen:--_Segoro_, ocean:--_Kidul_, south:--_Lero_,
+maiden:--_Djunggrang_ is a surname.) Compare "Java, its physical Features,
+Vegetation, and internal Structure," by Franz Junghuhn. Leipsig, Arnold,
+1842.
+
+[55] The picul varies in weight between 125 and 133-1/3 pounds.
+
+[56] Toestand der aangeweekete Kinabomen op het eiland Java in het laatst
+der Maand Julij, en het begni van Augustus, 1857. Kort beschreven door F.
+Junghuhn, 116 pp.
+
+[57] At all events, among the planters up the country the opinion prevails
+that the coffee beans prepared by the native population on what is called
+the parching method are of far finer and more durable quality than those
+prepared by the former process.
+
+[58] Professor Vriese, besides having all expenses paid, drew a salary of
+L1000 per annum, besides 10 guilders (16_s._ 8_d._) a day for every day
+passed by him in the interior of the island while engaged in its
+explorations.
+
+[59] The commercial and statistical particulars of Java, for which we are
+mainly indebted to the kindness of Mr. Fraser, the Austrian Consul in
+Batavia, will be specially considered in a different part of the work.
+
+[60] The Javanese agriculturist, especially the coffee planter, is sadly
+tormented by three kinds of grass, which Dr. Junghuhn has named the
+Javanese Trinity, and which are invariably found with the coffee
+plant--_Erichthitas Valerianifolia_ (which was introduced from Mocha with
+the coffee-shrub, and was never before known in Java), _Agerahun
+Conisoides_, and _Bideus Sundaica_. The civet-cat, too (called _Luah_ in
+Javanese, Jjaruh in the Sunda language), does great damage to the coffee
+plantations, just as the crop is being collected. It eats only the fleshy
+part of the brown berry, the beans, at least according to what the
+Javanese say, actually gaining a flavour by the process to which they are
+subjected in the maw of the animal!
+
+[61] In 1859 the most important of the colonial products, grown for
+account of the Government, presented the following quantities:--
+
+  Coffee                      piculs 727,000 (of 125 lbs. each)
+  Sugar                         "    901,000.
+  Indigo                                                    558,800 lbs.
+  Cassia                                                    256,000  "
+  Cochineal (a failure in the crops owing to incessant rains) 6,700  "
+  Tea                                                     2,057,400  "
+  Pepper                                                     45,000  "
+
+The duties on imports and exports for that year in the islands of Java and
+Madura alone amounted to 7,440,579 guilders, or L620,048.
+
+N.B. The picul of 125 lbs. = 136 lbs. 10 ounces avoirdupois.
+
+[62] Since this was written a number of the Dutch officials and _savans_
+at Java, who showed so many civilities to the Austrian travellers, were
+decorated by our Government with Austrian orders, among whom was also the
+Raden Adipata Wira Nata Kusuma, the first native Javanese Regent ever
+decorated by a foreign power. The prince was extremely delighted when he
+was informed of it, and said he longed for the hour when the imperial
+decoration was to arrive that he might put it on and wear it. Singularly
+enough the presents and letters of acknowledgment sent to the Dutch
+Government in the Hague for remittance, were not forwarded direct by the
+mail steamer, but as customary by sailing vessels, so that they only
+arrived six months after they were presented!
+
+[63] A genuine Javanese musical instrument, consisting of a number of
+bells all differently tuned, which are struck with two small
+bamboo-sticks.
+
+[64] Die Republic Costa Rica, in Central-America, mit besonderer
+Beruecksichtigung der Naturverhaeltnisse, und der frage der deutschen
+Answanderung und Colonisation. Reisestudien und Reiseskizzen aus den
+Jahren 1853 und 1854. Von Dr. M. Wagner and Dr. Karl Scherzer. Leipzig,
+Arnold'sche Buchhandlung. 1856. S. 196-197.
+
+[65] Colonel Von Schierbrand, to whom natural science is already under
+deep obligations for acquiring a variety of valuable objects, is
+constantly and indefatigably endeavouring, both as a friend of knowledge
+and a zealous sportsman, to procure, sometimes by personal exertion,
+sometimes by employing natives engaged at his own expense, a series of
+rare geological specimens. He appears to be, like so many other of our
+excellent friends in Java, a living contradiction to the proverb, "Out of
+sight, out of mind," as he has since the return of the Expedition already
+sent over as presents to the museums of our native country, valuable
+selections of curious objects of natural history from the Indian
+Archipelago.
+
+[66] The Loar-Badang (Public Market) is an immense building, a sort of
+brothel on a large scale, kept by a Frenchman, who pays a handsome annual
+sum to Government for the privilege of his infamous traffic. Here, among
+others, are some 40 or 50 wretched outcasts, whom he sends off in boats
+every evening to the merchantmen in the port, for the accommodation of
+their crews!!!
+
+[67] According to official return, the number of criminals, in the year
+1857, convicted in the islands of Java and Madura, was 3864, of whom 198
+were females and 955 were sentenced to the chain-gang. In the year 1857
+alone, 2525 coloured criminals were sentenced to hard labour, with or
+without chains. The number of convictions in the Dutch East Indies,
+exclusive of Java and Madura, amounted in the same year to 4430.
+
+[68] Thus the "Prima donna" receives for tragic opera 1500 guilders
+(L125), and for comic opera 1800 guilders (L150) per month during the
+season. The "troupe" is usually engaged for a year and a half or two years
+together.
+
+[69] Of these we cannot refrain from mentioning Dr. Van den Broek, who
+shortly before our arrival had returned from Japan, where he had resided
+seven years as physician and Government agent. Dr. Van den Broek, who is
+at present engaged in the editing a dictionary of the Dutch and Japanese
+languages, presented us with a botanical work in Japanese with numerous
+woodcuts, and at the same time was so exceedingly kind as to present us
+with a small vocabulary of the Court and the popular dialects used in
+Japan.
+
+[70] Among scientific circles in Batavia the recent departure of the
+renowned ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who intends to settle in Holland or
+Germany, will be the more appreciated, that this resolve will be regarded
+by his numerous European friends as a satisfactory assurance that the
+valuable materials relating to natural history which he has collected will
+ere long make their appearance in a suitable form.
+
+[71] Voyagers between Batavia and Manila must not, however, always expect
+to make so rapid a voyage. In Manila we fell in with a ship captain, who
+had left Batavia in April, and, owing to the prevalence of calms and
+contrary winds, had been 59 days on the passage!
+
+
+           [Illustration: View from the Battlements at Manila.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIII.
+
+                                 Manila.
+
+                  Stay from 15th to 25th June, 1858.
+
+    Historical notes relating to the Philippines.--From Cavite to
+    Manila.--The river Pasig.--First impressions of the city.--Its
+    inhabitants.--Tagales and Negritoes.--Preponderating influence
+    of Monks.--Visit to the four chief monasteries.--Conversation
+    with an Augustine Monk.--Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
+    chiefly in use in Manila.--Reception by the Governor-general of
+    the Philippines.--Monument in honour of Magelhaens.--The
+    "Calzada."--Cock-fighting.--"Fiestas Reales."--Causes of the
+    languid trade with Europe hitherto.--Visit to the
+    Cigar-manufactories.--Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
+    Havanna.--Abaca, or Manila hemp.--Excursion to the "Laguna de
+    Bay."--A row on the river Pasig.--The village of Patero.--
+    Wild-duck breeding.--Sail on the Lagoon.--Plans for
+    canalization.--Arrival at Los Banos.--Canoe-trip on the
+    "enchanted sea."--Alligators.--Kalong Bats.--Gobernador and
+    Gobernadorcillo.--The Poll-tax.--A hunt in the swamps of
+    Calamba.--Padre Lorenzo.--Return to Manila.--The "Pebete."--The
+    military Library.--The civil and military Hospital.--
+    Ecclesiastical processions.--Ave Maria.--Tagalian merriness.--
+    Condiman.--Lunatic Asylum.--Gigantic serpent thirty-two years
+    old.--Departure.--Chinese pilots.--First glimpse of the coasts
+    of the Celestial Empire.--The Lemmas Channel.--Arrival in
+    Hong-kong Harbour.
+
+
+Luzon, or Manila, the largest and most important island, politically
+speaking, of the Philippine Archipelago, is the sole possession of the
+Spanish Crown which was visited by the _Novara_ during her numerous
+traverses and diagonal tracks on her voyage round the world. As we had
+hitherto come into contact for the most part with the Anglo-Saxon race and
+its colonies, it was naturally doubly interesting to have an opportunity
+of becoming likewise acquainted with the results of civilization and
+colonization as exemplified by what are called the Romaic or Latin
+branches of the great Caucasian family, and by personal examination to
+satisfy ourselves in what fashion the Castilians have succeeded in
+identifying their own advantages with those of the natives of these
+islands. True it is, that the history of the earlier Spanish dependencies
+is by no means calculated to heighten our regard for the wisdom and
+mildness of the colonial policy of Spain, or to give a particularly
+favourable impression of the political and social condition of the
+Philippine Islands. A state, whose power at the commencement of the
+present century was still beaming in all its lustre, who has lost the
+fairest and most fertile lands on the face of the earth, which it had
+possessed for above three hundred years, without the slightest attempt to
+defend them, whose Government, through its inflexible adherence to
+obsolete forms and ordinances, after the dizzy pre-eminence of ruling the
+world has dwindled into a power of the third class,--leaves nothing to
+hope that any part of its organization should have remained intact, that
+the canker in its political and social proclivities, which so suddenly and
+so disastrously brought about the downfal of one of the mightiest and
+most extended empires in the world, should not likewise have made its
+appearance in the Philippines. However, it is precisely these
+considerations which make the contrast between the colonies founded by the
+Anglo-Saxon race in remote regions of the globe, and those of the Spanish,
+Portuguese, Dutch, and so forth, so valuable and instructive, although a
+rigid analysis of the causes which have conduced to the present condition
+of the majority of the countries conquered and ruled by races of Latin
+origin, must necessarily impress the unprejudiced inquirer in a sense
+little flattering to these latter, namely, that the history of every
+quarter of the globe would have assumed an entirely different aspect had
+these countries been first discovered and colonized by the Anglo-Saxon
+race, with its watchwords of freedom and religious toleration, instead of
+the Spaniard or Portuguese, with tyranny and fanaticism inscribed on its
+banners.
+
+The Archipelago of the Philippines comprises those numerous islands and
+islets between the parallels of 5 deg. and 21 deg. N., and which are scattered
+between the North Pacific Ocean on the east and the Chinese Sea on the
+west. The entire group, which, according to the Spanish account, consists
+of not fewer than 408 islands, extends over 16 deg. of latitude by 9 deg. of
+longitude, covering a superficial area of 91,000 square miles, or about
+the dimensions of England, Ireland, and Wales, exclusive of Scotland. Only
+two islands however of the whole cluster are of considerable dimensions,
+viz. Luzon, or Manila, which is about the same size as Galicia, Moravia,
+and Silesia taken together, and Mindanao, which, in superficial area, is
+about equal to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.
+
+As in size, so in fertility, natural advantages, and commerce, Luzon is
+the most important island in the Archipelago, as it is likewise one of the
+most delightful spots in the tropics. The climate is adapted to the
+cultivation of all the plants and various forms of vegetation alike of the
+torrid and the temperate zones. On the coast the thermometer never falls
+below 71 deg.6 Fahr., nor rises above 95 deg. Fahr. In the highland valley of
+Banjanao, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, albeit not above 36 miles
+distant from Manila, the thermometer frequently descends as low as 44 deg.6
+Fahr. The highest register of the thermometer is during the rainy
+months,[72] from May to September; but we were assured over and over again
+that in Manila the heat is very equably distributed over the entire year,
+and never attains such a high degree as many summer days in Madrid. The
+most valuable and most extensively used plants of the tropical and
+sub-tropical zones, suck as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas, maize,
+tobacco, and rice, flourish here. The forests abound in all the most
+valuable descriptions of cabinet-wood, but the narrow-minded illiberality
+that has always characterized the colonial policy of Spain, the
+numberless restrictions to which her commerce is subjected, do not admit
+of that magnificent development of which this insular cluster, so
+abounding in natural wealth, would be susceptible under a more free-souled
+rule. The Spaniards have conquered and have subjugated the islands,
+fanatical monks have what they call Christianized the people, but, during
+the three hundred years that the Castilian has held the supremacy here,
+little if anything has been done for the prosperity and development of the
+country, or the intellectual and moral advancement of the people.
+
+The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magelhaens and Pigafetta on the
+17th March, 1521, nearly twenty-nine years after the discovery of America
+by Columbus, and two years after the conquest of Mexico by Fernando
+Cortez. In consonance with the religious customs of that age, the group
+was named by Magelhaens "The Archipelago of St. Lazarus," because the day
+on which it was discovered corresponded with the fete-day of that saint in
+the calendar. But the discovery did not imply the conquest of the
+Archipelago. Four expeditions were dispatched at various intervals,
+without their succeeding in subduing the natives. The solitary result
+obtained thence was, that the commander of the fourth expedition, that of
+1542, Don Ruy Lopez de Villalobos by name, changed the Scriptural name of
+the Archipelago for that by which it is at present known, in honour of the
+prince of Asturias (then 15 years old), afterwards Philip II.
+
+It was not till a fifth expedition had started in 1565, forty-one years
+after the first discovery of the Archipelago by Magelhaens, that the
+conquest was finally completed. The leader of this was Miguel Lopez de
+Legaspi, a man noways inferior to a Cortez or a Pizarro in venturesomeness
+of spirit, inflexible perseverance, and brilliant courage, and in humanity
+far exceeding either. His squadron consisted of five ships, and his entire
+force, including soldiers and mariners, was but 400 men.
+
+On 21st November, 1564, Legaspi sailed from Port Natividad in Spain, and
+on 16th February, 1565, hove in sight of the Philippines. The hardy
+navigator was accompanied by a number of Augustinian monks, who in the
+subsequent subjugation of the islands proved far more serviceable than his
+soldiers. The superior of these monks, Fray Andres de Urdaneta, a very
+remarkable man, had commanded a ship in the first expedition, and had
+afterwards been admitted into the order of St. Augustine.
+
+Four years after their arrival at the Philippines, and after they had
+subdued the native inhabitants of the fertile islands of Cebu and Panay,
+Legaspi first discovered Luzon, and there in the year 1571 founded the
+city of Manila. Since this first conquest the Spaniards have by no means
+been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of this smiling cluster of
+islands. Not alone the Portuguese and the Dutch bestirred themselves at
+various intervals to drive the Spaniards out of the Archipelago, but the
+English likewise, in 1762, towards the close of the Seven Years' War,
+invaded these settlements.[73]
+
+The area conquered, however, did not extend further inland than to a
+distance of ten miles from the walls of the city, and after an occupation
+of ten months, Manila was restored to the Crown of Spain by the Peace of
+Paris, 1763. Since that memorable period, the Philippine group has
+remained uninterruptedly under the dominion of the Spaniards, and has up
+to the present day been a faithful dependent of the Royal House of
+Castile. In fact, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico, the
+Philippine and Marianne Archipelagoes are the sole colonies that Spain
+still retains of her once so enormous possessions in the distant portions
+of the globe, although in Manila even in our own day, as will be more
+fully detailed presently, despite her honourable distinction of "_La
+Siempre real ciudad_" (The Ever Loyal city), there is no lack of
+discontent, and the generally prevailing "loyal tranquillity" is, none the
+less, boding many serious perils for the Spanish supremacy.
+
+The most striking peculiarity of the natural configuration of Luzon[74]
+is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsulas, a northern, which
+comprises the larger portion, and a southern, smaller island; the former
+named Luzon by the Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire
+island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and its
+greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it is little more than
+thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the Caraballos mountains traverse
+Luzon from north to south, and sends off spurs in various directions,
+which impart an exceeding hilly aspect to the entire island.
+
+The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions; Costa, Contra-Costa,
+and Centro, corresponding pretty nearly with the western side, the eastern
+side, and the interior of the island, and formerly indicating in what
+order these different sections of the country had been subjected to the
+Spanish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces and 12
+districts.
+
+Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipelago, and the
+oldest European settlement in this region of the globe, lies at the mouth
+of a small but rather rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of
+about 30 miles, draws off to the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake
+(_Laguna de Bay_). In consequence of a not very conveniently situated
+mole, the Pasig is forming a bar close to its own embouchure, which makes
+it somewhat dangerous for boats to attempt an entrance in bad weather.
+Ships, however, can anchor about 1-1/2 miles below the fortified walls of
+the city, which, though impregnable to the attack of a native force, would
+probably be found powerless to repel a European force attacking from
+seaward.
+
+The members of the Scientific Commission started from Cavite, where the
+frigate lay at anchor, in the small steamer which plies daily to the
+capital, which, when beheld from a distance, with its gloomy, lofty,
+defiant fortifications, and its dense clusters of monastic buildings and
+church towers, gives the impression rather of some great Catholic Mission
+than a place of commerce. In the roads there were not above 16 ships lying
+at anchor, whereas we counted 165 in Singapore, a disproportion which,
+considering the favourable site of Manila and its wealth in all manner of
+valuable produce, can only be accounted for by the pressure of political
+and administrative regulations, which weigh like a mountain upon trade and
+commerce.
+
+On pulling up the river from its mouth, where it is about 300 feet wide,
+we find ourselves in the vicinity of the light-house, in front of a dense
+mass of the inevitable filthy bamboo huts, which being inhabited by the
+very poorest section of the population, increase the dismal, gloomy
+impression left by the first view of the city. We land in the
+neighbourhood of the harbour-master's office, and have to pick our steps
+through a dirty quarter of the town in order to reach the focus of public
+activity.
+
+The river Pasig divides Manila Proper from its sister city of Binondo. Two
+handsome bridges, one an old-fashioned stone one, the other a modern
+suspension bridge of imposing dimensions, form the communication between
+the two cities. Manila, situate on the southern or left bank, and enclosed
+on all sides with ditches and fortifications, has all the peculiar
+features of a Spanish town of the ancient type. It consists of eight
+straight, narrow streets, all running in one direction. Within these are
+most of the public buildings; the Governor-general's Palace and that of
+the Archbishop, the Municipality, the Supreme Courts, the Cathedral, the
+Arsenal, the Barracks. Profound silence reigns in the grass-grown streets,
+between the gloomy masses of stone, of which at least one-third are Church
+property. There is no evidence anywhere of joyous life or social progress,
+and the variegated, charming flower-garden, lately laid out in the square
+in front of the Cathedral, stands out like a solitary gay picture, amid
+austere, sombre, historical paintings of vanished might and faded
+splendour. Within the walls of this melancholy old city only Spaniards and
+their descendants may dwell, all other races being excluded from this
+privilege. The number of inhabitants within the fortifications does not
+probably exceed 10,000 souls.
+
+On the other hand, Binondo, on the northern or right bank of the river, is
+the true business city and head-quarters of trade. Here Europeans,
+Chinese, Malays, and their endless intermixtures of blood, amounting in
+all to more than 140,000 souls, reside in the most perfect harmony with
+each other; here are all the warehouses, shops, and manufactories; here
+prevails from morning till night a perpetual whirl of busy, cheerful
+crowds circulating through the streets, of which that called the Escolta
+is the most frequented, as it is the handsomest and most attractive. The
+houses, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are usually one storey
+high, enclosing large courts (_patios_), and very frequently with a sort
+of terrace on the roof. The interiors of the houses have an unusually
+spacious appearance, owing to their almost universally having but little
+furniture, in many cases simply a number of chairs ranged along the walls.
+But the most singular aspect of these houses is to be found in the
+windows, the panes of most of them being made, not of glass, but of the
+shell of a species of oyster (_Placuna Placenta_), ground down to the
+requisite thinness! The subdued light which is thus obtained is
+exceedingly grateful, and these mussel-shells have been found to be
+cheaper and more lasting than panes of glass, which, in a country so
+frequently visited by earthquakes and hurricanes, could only be replaced
+when injured at an immense expense. The streets are rather narrow, so much
+so that linen awnings are stretched across the streets from one row of
+shops to that opposite, thus securing to the foot-passenger the
+inestimable boon of being able during the hottest hours of the day to
+traverse almost every street in Binondo under shade.
+
+That which the stranger understands by the emphatic word "comfort" is only
+to be found in the houses of European residents, and is not obtainable by
+money. The two hotels lately started to levy, unchallenged, Californian
+prices for even the most moderate requirements, and so far as cleanliness
+and orderliness are concerned, lag far behind the commonest country inn in
+North America or the British colonies.[75]
+
+Despite the various races that meet the stranger's gaze, Manila has,
+beyond any other colony in the East, the appearance of a European town.
+One remarks here, that the colonists are more completely amalgamated with
+the natives, and that with the religion these latter have also adopted a
+considerable proportion of the customs of Europeans.
+
+Among the populace of Manila belonging to the coloured races, that most
+prevalent in the capital is the Tagal, or Tagalag, on whose territory the
+Spaniards founded their first settlement. The obscurity that envelopes
+their origin has never been dispelled, although some of the older
+religious writers thought they found on Borneo and other islands of the
+Sunda Archipelago some traces of their stock. They were confirmed in this
+impression by the fact, that in the most cultivated dialects and idioms
+of the Tagal is to be found an unusually great number of Malay and
+Javanese words. The majority of the plants cultivated here, such as rice,
+sugar-cane, yam, indigo, cocoa-palm, as also all domestic animals, many of
+the metals, and even the digits used in enumeration, are, although greatly
+corrupted, directly traceable to the corresponding words or names in
+Malay. Moreover, there is a tradition very prevalent throughout Luzon,
+that the Spaniards, at their first arrival in this Archipelago, found
+certain Bornese officials here, who were levying taxes and tithes for the
+Rajahs resident in that island.
+
+Next in number to the Tagals rank the Chinese with their descendants, and
+to these succeed the Spaniards, with their offspring born in the country,
+who amount together to barely 5000, or about a 28th of the whole
+population of the capital; of Spaniards of pure descent, there are not
+above 300 in Manila.[76]
+
+Besides the Tagal there is in this Archipelago yet another race, the
+_Negritos_, who only inhabit the mountain districts of the islands of
+Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Mindanao, and are estimated at about
+25,000 souls. These Negritos del Monte, or Negrillos, also called Aeta,
+Aigta, Ite, Inapta, and Igorote, are small in physical conformation as
+compared with their African congeners. The characteristic features of the
+negro are less strongly marked, the colour of their skin and their
+complexion are both less black. For this reason old Spanish authors speak
+of them as "_menos negro y menos feo_" (less negro-like and less hideous).
+Owing to their small stature, which does not average above 4 feet 8 inches
+English, they have received the appellation of Negritos (diminutive
+Negroes). By Spanish writers upon the Philippines they have been described
+as a still existent branch of the lowest type of humanity, without fixed
+dwellings, without regular employment, eking out a bare subsistence on
+roots and wild fruits, and such animals as they could bring down with the
+bow and arrow, their only weapon. Through the kind offices of Mr. Grahame,
+we had an opportunity of gratifying our curiosity to see an individual of
+this singular race of Negritos. This was a girl of about 12 or 14 years of
+age, of dwarf-like figure, with woolly hair, broad nostrils, but without
+the dark skin and wide everted lips which characterize the negro type.
+This pleasing-looking, symmetrically formed girl had been brought up in
+the house of a Spaniard, apparently with the pious object of rescuing her
+soul from heathenism. The poor little Negrilla hardly understood her own
+mother tongue, besides a very little Tagal, so that we had considerable
+difficulty in understanding each other. The received opinion that the
+Negrillos and the Igorotes are of a distinct race, but having some
+affinity with the Papuans of New Guinea, seems to us for many reasons very
+problematical. We are as yet far too little acquainted with the races
+inhabiting the most inaccessible parts of the island, to be able to
+pronounce a correct opinion upon such a point. The probabilities are not
+less that the Negritos and Igorotes stand in the same relation to the
+dwellers on the coast as the Bushmen to the Hottentots, the Weddahs to the
+Cingalese, or the savages of Sambalong to the natives of the rest of the
+Nicobars.
+
+The Spanish language is only available in Manila and the vicinity;--a few
+miles in the interior, even in places which hold almost daily
+communication with Manila, Tagal is much more commonly used. At present
+Tagal is written and printed exclusively in the Roman character. While in
+Manila, we never once saw a book or MS. in which the ancient character had
+been used. Even the oldest printed matter, such as, for instance, a Tagal
+grammar, published in Manila in 1610, contains only a few samples of the
+native alphabet, while as to its original arrangement, as also the form of
+the numerals, the utmost uncertainty prevails. The entire alphabet, which,
+including the three vowels, consists of but 17 letters, comprises the
+following characters:
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Each of the italicized character groups below
+designate the Roman equivalent to a Tagal character. The Tagal character
+can not be rendered here. It is available in the .html version of this
+book.]
+
+                                 Vowels.
+
+               _a_      _e_ and _i_      _o_  and  _u_
+
+                               Consonants.
+
+          _ba_     _ca_     _da_ a. _ra_     _ga_     _nga_
+
+          _ha_     _la_     _ma_     _na_     _pa_ a. _fa_
+
+                   _sa_     _ta_     _va_     _ya_
+
+A dot _above_ the character changes the vowel sound _a_ of the original
+consonants into _e_ and _i_.
+
+  _be_   _ke_   _de_ a. _re_   _ge_   _nge_   _he_   _le_   _me_   _ne_
+
+                      [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+  _bi_   _ki_   _di_ a. _ri_   _gi_   _ngi_   _hi_   _li_   _mi_   _ni_
+
+              _pe_ a. _fe_   _se_   _te_   _ve_   _ye_
+
+                      [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+              _pi_ a. _fi_   _si_   _ti_   _vi_   _yi_
+
+A dot _below_ the character changes the vowel sound _a_ of the original
+consonant into _o_ and _u_.
+
+  _bo_   _co_   _do_ a. _ro_   _go_   _ngo_   _ho_   _lo_   _mo_   _no_
+
+                      [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+  _bu_   _cu_   _du_ a. _ru_   _gu_   _ngu_   _hu_   _lu_   _mu_   _nu_
+
+                _po_ a. _fo_  _so_   _to_   _vo_   _yo_
+
+                       [Line of Tagal characters]
+
+                _pu_ a. _fu_  _su_   _tu_   _vu_   _yu_
+
+From the foregoing characters it would appear that _a_ and _o_, as also
+_e_ and _i_, _da_ and _ra_, _pa_ and _fa_, had each but one and the same
+character.[77]--Besides the Tagal, five other different idioms are used by
+the civilized races of Luzon, namely, Bisaya, Pangasinana (the same as
+Ilocano), Tbanac (same as Cagayana), Bicol, and Pampanya.
+
+The Tagals are a small race, of a clear yellow complexion, and,
+notwithstanding their broad flat noses and thick lips, are by no means of
+unpleasing appearance. The hair of the head is rigid, bristly, and black;
+the beard very sparse. They all wear European clothes more or less,
+although the fashion in which they wear them is quite peculiar and
+ludicrously odd. Not merely do the lower orders and servants wear the
+shirt ironed perfectly smooth and unwrinkled, instead of a coat, above
+their continuations, but the Tagal dandy prides himself on his
+well-lacquered boots, his white stockings, his new Paris silk hat worn
+with a jaunty cock to one side, and above all his carefully plaited
+resplendent white shirt, as he struts through the streets of Manila,
+cigaret in his mouth, and swinging an elegant little cane! The women wear,
+like the Javanese women, the "Sarong," a parti-coloured striped cotton
+dress, rolled round the loins, and a close-fitting very short jacket, so
+short indeed that between it and the gown a space about an inch wide
+intervenes through which the naked body is visible, while the fine
+transparent gauze-like stuff of which the jacket is made is much better
+calculated to show off than to conceal their attractions. This universal
+fashion of dress is the more surprising, as the various orders of monks
+exercise in all other respects an almost despotic control over the
+natives, and as it is much more attributable to their influence than to
+that of the secular authorities that the speech, manners, and customs of
+old Castile have taken firm and extensive root in the Philippines. It
+seems, however, unjust to compare this group of islands, as has been done
+by modern writers, on account of the all-pervading influence of the
+Spanish element, with a province of Spain, in contradistinction to the
+colonies of other nations, where the Europeans have always been regarded
+by the natives as the lords of a conquered country. The English in India,
+Ceylon, and New Zealand, and the Dutch in Java, all appear to have a much
+firmer and more secure footing than the Spaniards, despite their having
+mingled with the people. How little can be effected by forced amalgamation
+of speech and manners, is best illustrated by the late separation of
+Central and Southern America from the Spanish rule, although in most of
+these countries the majority of the people speak only Spanish, and are
+governed entirely in accordance with Spanish customs. Much better founded
+seems to us the observation that it was less the sword than the cross of
+Spain which brought the Philippines under the throne of Castile, and that
+the natives have become Spanish Christians, without being Spanish
+subjects. The entire Archipelago is nothing but one rich church domain, a
+safe retreat for the legion of Spanish monks, who are able to lord it here
+with unrestrained power. There is a Governor-general of the Philippines
+only so long as it pleases the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan
+friars; and if ever an insurrection breaks out in the Archipelago,
+designed to shake off the Spanish yoke, there will be more than one monk
+to head the movement.
+
+In a country where the cloister and its denizens interfere so arbitrarily
+in all the concerns of life, and impart to the capital itself, as indeed
+to the entire Archipelago, a character entirely peculiar to itself,
+religious establishments and their zealous occupants call for special
+consideration, and the reader need assuredly feel no surprise that we
+should begin the narrative of our visit to the capital of the Philippines
+by a description of its monasteries. In Manila these unfortunately are
+not, as they were in the middle ages, the nurseries of culture and
+civilization, of science and art, but rather give the impression of being
+simply huge establishments for the maintenance of zealous souls, weary of
+life, who wish to close their days of labour in tranquil contemplation,
+exempt from all anxiety.
+
+The four orders of monks to whose hands are confided the entire spiritual
+and very much of the secular well-being of the inhabitants of the
+Philippines, are the Augustines (_Agustinos Calzados_--sandalled friars),
+the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the barefoot Augustinian mendicants
+(_Agustinos descalzados_ or _Recoletos_).
+
+The monastery of the Bare-Foot Friars, lying close to the wall of the
+fortifications, consists of a number of spacious buildings, some of which
+date from the 17th century. Everything here tells of former power and
+splendour. From the billiard-room and parlour on the first storey, the eye
+is charmed by a marvellous landscape commanding the Bay of Manila and the
+mountains that surround it. How delightful must it be in the evening
+twilight to pace these airy chambers in the society of congenial souls,
+and, while the brow is fanned by the cool sea-breeze, to give free scope
+to the reins of fancy, as it swept far away over the Bay of Manila! For
+what privations must not such a source of pure exquisite enjoyment
+indemnify the ascetic brethren of the cloister! That spiritual meditation
+and converse however do not form the sole topics discussed in these
+departments, was abundantly evidenced by the hints let fall by several of
+the monks who conducted us through the various corridors and apartments,
+and who were constantly indulging in visions of Carlist supremacy and a
+return of the halcyon days of monasticism. On our remarking that so far as
+worldly consideration was concerned, the cloister enjoyed far more cordial
+support in Manila than either in Spain or Cuba, one of the Augustinians
+who was accompanying us, a tall commanding figure, attired in the plain
+garb of the order, replied: "The Government knows that it has need of us,
+that it could not get on a day without us, therefore it leaves us in
+peace, and places no impediments in our path as in Spain."[78] And he was
+right. Whensoever the monks lift the finger, Spain has ceased to rule in
+the Philippines. The spiritual reins have ever bridled the secular
+authority, and such a state of things is the severest impediment to the
+development of the country and its intellectual growth.
+
+Of the various monastic orders resident in Manila the Augustinians are by
+far the best educated. They have made the various dialects of the native
+races their study far more deeply than the other orders. The "_Flora de
+las Filipinas_," the _only_ botanical work which has ever been published
+in the Spanish language, treating of this interesting Archipelago, was
+compiled by an Augustinian monk, Fray Manuel Blanco.[79]
+
+The number of monks resident in the monastery of Manila when we were there
+was 48, but there was room enough for three times as many. Altogether
+there were of the Augustinian order 58 monasteries and parishes in the
+island of Luzon, extending from one end of the island to the other. In the
+entire Archipelago there are, according to public documents, 145
+Augustinian monks, whose authority extends over 14 provinces and 153
+villages, numbering 1,615,051 souls.[80]
+
+The monastery of the Dominicans is kept clean and comfortable, and its
+wide spacious apartments leave a less vivid impression of decay and human
+indifference than the majority of the monastic edifices. Here also the
+lofty, light chambers in the upper storeys command a magnificent prospect.
+The Prior, Padre Vellinchon, received the Austrian travellers with much
+cordiality, and conducted them in person round all the apartments of the
+very extensive building. He spoke Latin pretty fluently, and without the
+peculiar Spanish accent, besides possessing a slight acquaintance with
+French; and was somewhat better informed upon European matters than his
+spiritual _confreres_. The library of the order is not kept in the
+convent, but in one of the buildings of the University of St. Thomas also
+used by the Dominicans, but it is quite unimportant, whether as regards
+the number of works it contains or their scientific value.
+
+The spiritual jurisdiction of the Dominicans extends over eight provinces
+of the Archipelago, including 76 villages, with in all 427,593 souls,
+whose eternal interests are watched over by 76 brethren of the order.[81]
+
+A Dominican friar, Joaquin Fonseca, is president of the permanent
+commission of Censorship of Books, consisting in all of nine members, five
+of whom are nominated by Government and four by the Archbishop of
+Manila.[82] We had the pleasure of being made acquainted with Fray
+Joaquin Fonseca, who also holds the appointment of Professor of Theology
+in the University of St. Thomas, and were presented by him with a copy of
+an imperfect epic poem composed in Spanish, which had for subject the
+history of the island of Luzon and its inhabitants.[83] Of this
+interesting fragment we shall publish a translation in another place.
+
+Just as we were leaving the Dominican monastery, its worthy Prior begged
+our acceptance, by way of souvenir of our visit, of a copy of Dante's
+Divina Commedia in the original text, and a dictionary of the Ybanac, one
+of the idioms most extensively used throughout the Archipelago.
+
+The monastery of the Franciscans presents no other feature of interest,
+than in so far as it is an emblem of the melancholy spiritual decay in
+which the members of this order at present find themselves in Manila. The
+dirt and untidiness which were not merely apparent in the various
+apartments, but which were even but too obvious in the external appearance
+of the brothers of the order, make a most disagreeable impression; for
+poverty and necessity, these two cardinal principles of the mendicant
+orders, are by no means incompatible with cleanliness and neatness.
+
+The Franciscans possess 16 missions in 14 of the provinces, comprising
+159 villages and 749,804 inhabitants.[84] The spiritual instruction of
+these is intrusted to 184 brethren of the order, 74 priests, and 43
+_Clerigos Interinos_ (occasional preachers).
+
+The monastery of the _Recoletos_, or Reformed Augustinians, offers a not
+less impressive prospect than that of the Franciscans. Here, too, the
+occupants permit to appear a careless indifference utterly destructive of
+the value of their ghostly ministration. As we entered, the brethren of
+the order had finished their mid-day repast. Some of the monks were still
+sitting in a dirty, gloomy verandah round a table on which was spread a
+table-cloth stained with food and drink, while in front of each stood a
+half-empty wineglass. A lay brother announced us, upon which one of the
+monks rose to bid us welcome. From his rather jovial appearance, and the
+suspicious colour of his nose, we presumed he was the cellarer, and were
+not a little surprised when, in the course of conversation, he announced
+that it was the Prior himself who was speaking with us.
+
+We had the utmost difficulty in making the brethren, whose information was
+of a most limited extent, comprehend from what country we came. The
+circumstance that the original German name _Oesterreich_ is pronounced
+Austria in Spanish, puzzled still more hopelessly the comprehension of
+the monks, whose geographical knowledge did not seem to extend much
+beyond the sphere of their vision. At first they confounded Austria with
+Australia, and fancied we must have come direct from the fifth quarter of
+the globe, but when the _Novara_ voyagers, proud of their Fatherland,
+refused to permit this opinion to pass current, and gave a more clear
+explanation, one of the younger monks thought he had at last found out our
+_habitat_, and evidently priding himself on having solved the riddle, gave
+his less ingenious brethren to understand that we came, not from
+Australia, but from Asturias, and were consequently fellow-countrymen! The
+limited intelligence of the Franciscan mistook Austria for Asturias, and
+made of the Austrian Empire a Spanish province! Lest the hypothesis should
+suggest itself to the reader, that this confusion of foreign empires with
+domestic provinces might possibly have originated in our not being
+acquainted with the language of the country, it is necessary that we
+should inform him that one member of the Expedition was thoroughly versed
+in Spanish, so as to be able to maintain fluent conversation, and that he
+was perfectly comprehended upon all other topics. Just as little must it
+be supposed that the above anecdote is but an ill-natured imputation, or
+the expression of a long-vanished national jealousy, or anything else than
+a proof of the present state of education among the present occupants of
+the monasteries of Manila.
+
+The Recoletos watch over the spiritual weal of 567,416[85] children
+belonging to parishes in the various islands of the Archipelago, and
+number 127 brethren.
+
+In each monastery there is what is called a _Procuracion_, where the
+various printed books published by the order (almost exclusively
+dictionaries and grammars of the native languages and dialects) are sold
+for the behoof of the funds of the monastery. The members of our
+Expedition exerted themselves to form a very complete collection of all
+such publications; and while thus engaged they also succeeded in getting
+several MS. treatises on language.[86] Works and memoirs on the history of
+the island and the state of its inhabitants are scarcely met with in the
+wretchedly deficient libraries of the monasteries, which consist of not
+more than 500 or 600 volumes, mostly works of theology and philosophy.
+Whatever of valuable literary material may once have belonged to these
+institutions has apparently been removed to Spain, whose libraries have
+also gradually absorbed the literary treasures of the monasteries of
+Central and Southern America.
+
+Besides the monasteries, Government Square (Plaza de Gobierno), in the
+inner portion of the city, possesses some little interest for strangers.
+It has the shape of a large oblong, surrounded on each of its four sides
+by the palace of the Governor-general, that of the archbishop, the
+cathedral, and the law offices, with a well-kept garden-plot in the
+centre, in which is a handsome statue of Charles IV., the whole strongly
+recalling the principal square in the Havanna. The cathedral is equally as
+remarkable for the clumsiness of its exterior as for the profusion of
+perishable gold and silver within. The first edifice was erected by
+Legaspi, the conqueror of Luzon, in 1571, and was composed of bamboo-cane
+thatched with palm-leaves. The present temple was built in 1654 during the
+papacy of Innocent X., after several previous buildings had been
+destroyed, some by fire, others by earthquake. The palace of the
+Captain-general is an extensive but very simple building, with long wide
+corridors internally, but which can make no pretensions to architectural
+magnificence externally. In one of its saloons our Commodore and his
+companions were received by the Captain-general of the Philippines, Don
+Fernando Narzagaray, who had held this elevated post since 1857. Formerly
+Governor of the island of Porto Rico, in the West Indies, Don Fernando
+was, in consequence of his openly avowed Carlist proclivities, sent into
+honourable exile to the Philippines, and by a lucky chance is at present
+once more invested with the dignity of one of the highest officials of
+Queen Isabel II. of Spain. This gentleman received the voyagers of the
+_Novara_ with the proverbial lofty courtesy of the Spaniards, yet not
+without suffering to appear in his address a certain embarrassment and
+hesitation, which however may have been due to his not being sufficiently
+acquainted with any other tongue than the Spanish, to enable him to use it
+in giving fluent expression to his thoughts. The conversation turned
+chiefly upon the scene of our latest visit, Java. Notwithstanding the not
+very formidable distance, and the constant communication existing between
+the two islands, the Captain-general seemed to have but a very vague
+conception of the political and social condition of Java, and framed his
+questions as though they related to some remote island, in some entirely
+different section of the globe, rather than an island in all but immediate
+vicinity. As we prepared to return to our vehicles, Don Fernando made use
+of the usual unmeaning compliment "_Usted[87] sabe que mi casa es a la
+disposicion de Usted!_" (You know you may consider my house as entirely at
+your disposal):[88] it would rather have astonished him though, had his
+visitors taken him at his word!
+
+Passports, which are absolutely necessary in Manila to make the very
+shortest excursion into the interior, are given with the utmost alacrity
+to strangers, without any one thenceforward paying the slightest attention
+to enabling any expedition to carry out its objects. This cold, utterly
+indifferent treatment was doubly felt by travellers fresh from Batavia,
+where they had been overwhelmed with every sort of attention.
+
+In the office of the Captain-general we saw several large sheets of
+printed matter in columns, suspended on the walls, which we presumed were
+the annual statistics of the commerce of the Archipelago, and accordingly
+requested one of the officials to provide us with one. It was only when
+unfolding a little later the documents which had been so readily given to
+us that we discovered our error, and became aware that these tables
+printed with such care and elegance did not in any way refer to what we
+had supposed, but were the statistics of the various monasteries, and
+their inhabitant brethren throughout the Philippines. We had far greater
+trouble and difficulty ere we could get at the particulars of the natural
+productions and state of trade of Manila.
+
+When the visitor passes through the St. Domingo gate to the suburb of
+Binondo, on the N.E. side of the inner city, we traverse what is called
+the Isthmus, a narrow strip of meadow-land, surrounded by water on both
+sides, on which has been erected within these few years a simple monument
+in honour of Magelhaens, the discoverer of the Philippines, who, wounded
+by a native with a poisoned arrow, breathed his last, 15th April, 1521, on
+the small island of Mactan, lying opposite Cebu. A Doric column of black
+marble, 76 feet high, with inscriptions engraven on the four sides of the
+pedestal, lifts its head here since 1854,[89] and is altogether a more
+appropriate monument than that which the Spaniards erected at Havanna to
+the greatest navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus, to whom they owe
+all their after power and greatness, on the spot where his ashes reposed
+for many a long year in the cathedral before they were conveyed back to
+Spain. A poor insignificant votive tablet, built into a recess near the
+altar, is all that intimates that there once reposed there for a season
+the mortal remains of the man who, to use the words of a German poet,
+"bestowed on the world another world."[90]
+
+On this isthmus are situated the most delightful pleasure grounds in
+Manila; the esplanade, with its simple, shady walks, and benches on which
+to repose, and further on, nearer the sea on the left bank of the river,
+the "Calzada" dam (causeway). Hither every evening comes the gay world of
+Manila, in long rows of carriages, to be fanned by the delicious cool
+sea-breeze. Arrived at the farther extremity of the promenade, the
+coachman, resplendent in gorgeous livery and large shining top-boots, for
+he does not drive from the box but rides postilion, is usually ordered to
+stop, and the gentlemen leave the carriage in order to chat with the
+ladies in the surrounding vehicles, just as we accost our fair friends in
+the theatre, and pay our visits in the boxes. For in Manila there are
+neither theatres nor concert-rooms, and the public promenade is therefore
+the only rendezvous of the "beau monde."
+
+Unfortunately we reached Manila in the height of the rainy season, when
+even the attractiveness of nature can only be guessed at by occasional
+glimpses, and the delightful outdoor life which enlivens the streets and
+the front porch of the private residences of the inhabitants, is utterly
+arrested. Here, as in Batavia, the tropical rains fall with a violence of
+which a native of the northern climates, who has never lived in the
+tropics, and knows only the rainfall of his own country, can hardly form
+any conception. In July, 1857, it rained here for fourteen days
+uninterruptedly, so that the Pasig overflowed its banks, and people were
+ferried about the streets of Manila, as in the city of Lagoons, by means
+of small boats, called here _bancas_. This inundation was converted into a
+merry-making, and visits were paid on all sides in elegant little boats.
+
+The one sole amusement with which even the rainy season cannot interfere,
+is cock-fighting. So soon as the bad weather has fairly set in, universal
+recourse is had to this, the most popular of amusements, whose cruel,
+murderous issue is strangely in contrast with the mild, soft, timid
+character of the natives. These "_Gallos_," as they are called, are a
+monopoly of Government, that is to say, they can only be held with their
+permission, and upon payment of a fee for such license. The revenue which
+Government derives from this anything but civilized amusement is very
+considerable,[91] and the fee paid by the owners of the cocks and the
+spectators is at any rate the least objectionable part of the spectacle,
+for far larger sums are lost in the betting. What cards and hazard are for
+_blasee_ Europe, cock-fighting is for the simple native of Manila. Such is
+their passionate excitement, that several days elapse before their
+ordinary apathy subsides into its state of chronic contentment. It is
+singular that, with the exception of the Spaniards and the mixed race
+founded by them in various distant parts of the world, there is not now
+one single civilized nation that can find any pleasure in such brutal
+amusements as cock-fights and bull-fights.
+
+The scene of action is a small building, built of bamboo, and thatched
+with palm-leaves, in the interior of which the benches for the spectators
+rise behind each other in form of an amphitheatre, while the arena, or
+pit, is filled with the owners of cocks and betting-men, until the signal
+for the commencement of the combat is given. Each owner caresses or
+incites once more his champion, or to prove his courage flings him against
+one of the other cocks. At last the spectators have decided to back one or
+the other of the cocks, red or white, the flat comb or the round comb; the
+bets are "on," and the "spur," a sharp-pointed weapon above two inches in
+length, and provided with a sheath, is firmly attached to the right foot.
+Then the two cocks are simultaneously swung against each other, and a few
+feathers are plucked from their necks to excite their fury. The bell in
+the hand of the director gives the signal for the commencement of the
+"main." The spectators retire from the "pit," the sheaths are taken off
+the trenchant spurs, and the encounter commences. Most marvellous is the
+eagerness for the fray, the dogged valour, which these two knightly
+antagonists display to the very last gasp; how even wounded, bleeding, and
+sorely fatigued, they will not give up the contest! Occasionally it
+happens that neither of the combatants is hailed the victor. The
+extraordinary keen, sharp "spur" sometimes wounds both warriors with
+terrible severity, till with severed limbs, and bleeding from every pore,
+both lie dead on the field of battle.[92]
+
+Very comical is the method hit upon in those places of amusements to
+supply the places of the return tickets in use amongst ourselves, and at
+the same time render it impossible for any different person to make use of
+them. When a native wishes to leave the apartment with the intention of
+returning he has his naked fore arm, near the wrist, stamped as he goes
+out with a black die, which secures his re-admission, and at the same time
+obviates all anxiety as to his losing his return ticket! On his return
+this mark is easily wiped out.
+
+During our stay occurred the "_Fiestas Reales_," or royal fetes, which
+were given by the Colonial Government in honour of the birth of an heir to
+the Spanish throne, Don Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias. The little
+heir-apparent had, in fact, seen the light in the month of November
+preceding, at Madrid, but when the news reached the Philippines it was
+Lent; respect for the tenets of the Catholic Church deferred the
+festivities, and afterwards the various fire-works, triumphal arches,
+illuminations, &c., took so long a preparation that the month of June and
+the rainy season were again at hand before the fete could be held, which
+owing to the latter circumstance fell through, and excited hardly any
+interest. That intelligence should be so many months in arriving at the
+Philippines is due less to their great distance, than to the little care
+taken by Government to promote the public interests. Until 1857, all
+letters to Europe were for the most part dispatched by sailing vessels, so
+that letters remained four or five months on the way, and owing to the
+uncertainties of the length of passage made by the various vessels, it was
+constantly happening that the last letters sent came to hand before those
+dispatched several weeks earlier. This irregularity and uncertainty
+weighed so heavily upon commerce, that since March, 1858, there has been
+established regular communication by steam between Manila and Europe, the
+epistolary matter from Europe, for the residents throughout the
+Archipelago, being conveyed by a Spanish steamer from Hong-kong, which is
+distant only 600 miles, while all letters for Europe are conveyed to the
+latter port in time for the mails of the 1st and 15th of each month,
+whence they are forwarded together with the English correspondence via
+Singapore and Suez.
+
+On the other hand there is up to this moment no regular communication with
+any of the adjacent islands in the Archipelago, even the Government only
+availing itself of such sailing vessels as private adventurers may from
+time to time charter. When any change of officials takes place, the new
+appointment must often remain vacant for months till the occupant reach
+his post; indeed, during our stay in Manila we witnessed a case in which
+the consort of the Governor of the Marianne Archipelago had been vainly
+waiting for months for an opportunity to return to her husband.[93] Some
+foreign merchants settled at Manila had made an offer to the Government,
+in consideration of a fixed subsidy, to establish regular communication
+between the various islands of the Archipelago, and to keep it on foot by
+means of five steam vessels. But the Colonial Government did not see its
+way to giving the company a larger subsidy than 43,000 Spanish piasters
+(L6763 at par), and thus the whole plan once more fell through, the
+carrying out of which would so greatly tend to the development of these
+islands.
+
+Notwithstanding the fertility of the islands in all manner of natural
+wealth, there are at present but three products of the soil which are
+exported in anything like large quantities to the European and North
+American markets, and which thus give this group any importance in the
+eyes of the commercial world, viz. tobacco, Abaca, or Manila hemp, and
+sugar. The amount of all other articles exported, such as coffee, indigo,
+Sapan wood (_Caesalpinia sapan_), straw-plait,[94] hides and skins of
+animals, &c., is proportionately but small. We visited the great
+manufactories of Binondo, as also that of Arroceros, where _cigarillos_,
+or paper-covered cigarettes, are exclusively manufactured. The former
+gives employment to about 8000 work-people, mostly women. In the long
+workshops, where it is common to see 800 females sitting at work on low
+wooden benches in front of a narrow table, there prevails a most
+disagreeable deafening hubbub. Some are busy moistening the leaves, and
+cutting off the requisite lengths, or are sorting the fragments and
+smaller pieces, of which inferior cigars will be made; others hold in
+their right hand a flat smoothed stone, with which they keep continually
+pounding each single leaf, in order to make these more susceptible of
+being rolled up. This drumming noise, and the cries of several hundreds of
+workwomen, who, on the appearance of foreign visitors, handle their
+implements of stone with yet more energy, apparently out of sheer
+wantonness, the strong odour of the tobacco, and the disagreeable
+exhalations from the bodies of so many human beings shut up together in
+one close apartment, in a tropical temperature, have such an unpleasant,
+uncomfortable effect that one hastens to exchange the damp sultry vapours
+of the workshops for the fresh air without.
+
+In the _Cigarillo_ manufactory about 2000 workmen find employment. Here
+also there is felt in the workshops the same clammy, sultry atmosphere. A
+workman can make about 150 packages of 25 cigarettes, or 3750, per diem,
+for which he is paid four reals[95] (1_s._ 7_d._ English). Most
+extraordinary is the rapidity, bordering almost upon the magical, with
+which the cigarillos are counted, divided into packages, bound up, and
+stamped. The unpractised vision of the visitor is hardly able to follow
+the celerity of motion of the workman's hands and fingers.
+
+Besides the two factories already mentioned, there is yet a third
+cigarillo manufactory in Cavite, which employs 4000, and a fourth in
+Malabon, employing 5000, workwomen. The quantities annually produced by
+these various manufactories amount to about 1,200,000,000 cigarillos. If
+we deduct the numerous holidays of the Church, on which no work is done,
+we shall find that about 5,000,000 must be made daily. Government buys up
+each year from the planters the entire crop of tobacco at a fixed price,
+and exports it partly in leaf, but for the most part in cigars, the right
+to manufacture which no one possesses but the Government. The monopoly of
+tobacco was, after great difficulties had been encountered, first
+introduced into the Philippines in 1787 by Don Jose Basco, the then
+Governor-general.
+
+The greater part of the cigars are shipped to the East Indies, the islands
+of the Malay Archipelago, and North America, only a small quantity in
+proportion coming to Europe for sale.
+
+The principal tobacco-growing districts of the island of Luzon are Cagayan
+and Bisayx, in which on an average 180,000 cwt. of tobacco are grown
+annually; of these about 80,000 cwt. are sent annually in the leaf to
+Spain, while the surplus are worked up into cigars in Luzon itself, sold
+at auction (_al martillo_) every month, and knocked down to the highest
+bidder. The average price is 8 to 10 dollars per 1000 _Costados_. There is
+but one species of tobacco grown in Manila, and the size of the leaf is
+the sole element that regulates the value. The Manila tobacco is a very
+strong narcotic; there is, notwithstanding the prevailing opinion in
+Europe, no opium mingled with it; one end being simply dipped in rice
+juice to glue it together. Indeed, the enormous cost of that liquid drug,
+which plays so important a part in the history of the Chinese empire,
+would alone prevent its being used. As cigars are greatly in request by
+both sexes in Manila, and it is necessary first to provide for the supply
+of the country itself, it occasionally happens that the stocks are not
+sufficiently large at once to supply all demands for exportation. Except
+during the public sales by auction, no one is permitted to buy of
+Government more than 1000 cigars at once, a regulation most vicious in
+principle and useless in practice, as persons who wish to possess larger
+quantities of cigars have simply to send round to any number of persons in
+the tobacco trade, in order to provide themselves with what they require.
+We ourselves experienced how any one, who was desirous of buying 45,000
+cigars, sent 45 different individuals to the bonded magazine, from which
+each brought 1000 cigars without any further interference.
+
+Although altogether more tobacco is raised on the island of Luzon than in
+Cuba, yet the exportation from the former is far less in quantity, for the
+reason already commented upon, that a large portion of the tobacco so
+grown is consumed in the country itself. Luzon provides 1/10th, and Cuba
+1/12th of the entire production of tobacco on the earth, which amounts to
+4,000,000 cwt.[96] There are indeed two countries which produce a far
+larger quantity of tobacco than either Luzon or Cuba,[97] but in no other
+country does the tobacco leaf attain such superior quality, owing to
+favourable climate and congenial soil, as in the Spanish possessions
+already named.
+
+Another chief product of the Philippines, which first found its way into
+the markets of the world from these islands, is what is called Manila
+hemp. This, however, is not the common hemp plant (_Cannabis sativa_), but
+is procured from the fibres of the "_Musa textilis_," a species of
+banana, and is called by the Tagals _abaca_. The plant comes in great
+quantities from almost every one of the Philippines, from Luzon to
+Mindanao, so that the area over which it extends stretches between the
+equator and 20 deg. N. This seems, however, to be the most northerly limit of
+vegetation of the _Musa textilis_, and consequently it is out of question
+to attempt to introduce into Europe the cultivation of this most useful
+plant, which, ere it can be profitably grown, requires a temperature of
+77 deg. Fahr. The stem of this _musacea_ grows in the Philippines to a height
+of from 9 to 12 feet, by about 6 inches in thickness, its leaves being of
+an exceedingly dark green colour, 8 feet in length by 1-1/2 feet in width.
+The fruit is smaller, and neither so yellow nor so palatable as that of
+the common banana. To procure the hemp, the trunk, so soon as the fleshy
+bulbous fruit makes its appearance, is stripped of its splendid leaves,
+which serve as fodder for the oxen, and is left about three days to
+ferment. It is then peeled off in pieces, which by the application of a
+corresponding pressure are drawn between two knives, not too sharp, in
+order to separate the hemp, which now begins to be visible, from the bast,
+which, owing to the fermentation, has become rather brittle. This process
+is continued until the hemp is sufficiently cleaned to admit of its being
+spread out and dried in the sun. A skilful workman may make extract from 8
+to 10 feet of hemp a day. There are 450,000 cwt. of hemp produced
+annually, of the value of L520,000, the greater part of which is sent to
+the United States of North America, while from 30,000 to 60,000 cwt. is
+manufactured into rigging for ships in the country itself, at the splendid
+factory of Messrs. Russell and Sturgis, an American firm, by whom it is
+exported to Singapore, Australia, and China. This raw material, as well as
+the various products manufactured from it, has a magnificent future
+opening to it, and will ere long compete advantageously with English and
+Russian hemp in the European markets. The principal objection as yet made
+to the use of the Manila hemp for rigging, viz. its contracting in wet
+weather, can easily be obviated by more careful treatment of the fibres in
+the process of manufacture. On the other hand, in strength and elasticity
+the abaca surpasses its rival, as has been proved by repeated experiments,
+especially over common European, and even Russian, hemp.[98] Messrs.
+Russell and Sturgis have, it is true, monopolized the hemp product of the
+entire Archipelago, but under their fostering care it must sensibly
+increase and become perceptibly improved. From the leaves of _Musa
+textilis_, like those of all other species of the banana tribe, very
+excellent paper can be made, and by the increasing cultivation of the
+_musaceae_ in the tropics, two main objects could be attained, viz.
+providing a plentiful subsistence for the natives, and extending and
+cheapening the medium that mainly contributes to widen the circle of
+knowledge of mankind.[99]
+
+Next to _Musa textilis_, the Rame-shrub (_Boehmeria tenacissima_)
+especially deserves the attention of business men. The fibre of this
+member of the _urticaceae_, which unites extraordinary toughness with much
+beauty and fineness, is stronger and more durable than that of Russian
+hemp, and with careful preparation would make into finer thread than the
+very expensive material which is used in Europe at the present day for
+making the world-famous Brussels point-lace. The variety of purposes to
+which this useful plant may be applied has hitherto been less fully
+recognized than those of the Manila hemp. In Europe the _Boehmeria
+tenacissima_ is but found in botanical gardens, or herbariums, and as yet
+not the slightest use is made of it for industrial purposes. And yet the
+introduction on a large scale of Manila hemp and Rame fibre into the
+European markets in place of Russian hemp, would have more than merely a
+commercial and industrial importance![100]
+
+We may also notice in this connection another description of fabrics made
+from fibrous material, which, though but little known beyond the limits of
+the Archipelago, seems to us to deserve to be more extensively known, and,
+it would seem, may be most profitably taken up. These are the delicate
+almost transparent tissues prepared from the fibres of one of the
+_Bromeliaceae_ (_ananassa sativa_), which are used by the natives for
+ornamental shirts, _chemisettes_, and necklaces, and are known in commerce
+by the names of _Pina_ or grass-cloths.[101] The threads of these textures
+are so thin, that they can only be woven in apartments where there is not
+the slightest breath of air. The natives contrive to weave them into the
+most beautiful designs, and were they submitted to some chemical process
+which should impart to the web a clearer colour, less of a dirty yellow,
+the world of taste would be enriched by the addition of one of the most
+exquisite materials that could be presented to adorn the graceful form of
+woman, and while seeming to conceal her charms, would but render them more
+conspicuously attractive.
+
+Although the rainy season, during which we visited Manila, was but little
+inviting for excursions, we yet could not resist the temptation to make an
+excursion to the celebrated _Laguna de Bay_, a short distance in the
+interior. Mr. J. Steffan, consul for Bremen, a Swiss by birth, and a
+partner in one of the most eminent mercantile houses in Manila (Jenny and
+Co.), who from the moment the Austrian expeditionaries set foot in the
+Philippines manifested to them the most delightful hospitality, was on
+this occasion also our companion and cicerone. Two other foreigners, an
+English artist and a merchant from Amsterdam, joined our party. The
+first-named had lived for long on the island, and had already visited all
+its most accessible spots, whence he had returned with some very accurate
+sketches; the latter had been sent out by his firm to Manila, in 1857,
+when the price of sugar had fallen, for the purpose of purchasing, at the
+price to which he was limited, a large quantity of that important article
+of colonial produce. By the time, however, he had reached the capital of
+the Philippines, the value of the sugar had already, in consequence of a
+favourable crop, exceeded the limit assigned him, and has since then
+advanced 300 per cent. Still the Amsterdam agent held on, awaiting a fall,
+and meanwhile did his best to wile away his time of exile by feasting his
+eyes with all the various beauties of the island.
+
+On a grey, dreary morning we found ourselves pulling up the Pasig in small
+covered boats, till we reached the Lagune, where a larger craft was
+awaiting us, to take the entire company of pilgrims on board and transport
+them to the opposite shore of this inland lake, as far as Los Banos. In
+clear sunny weather a row in a _banca_ upon the river Pasig, the aorta of
+Manila, which forms the communication between the city and the Lagune,
+together with all the various settlements along the shores of that
+internal sea, must be exceedingly pleasant. The banks of the river,
+indeed, are flat and unsightly, but the vegetation rejoices in a
+marvellous profusion of the most beautiful forms and colours. The
+_Bambusaceae_ are the chief ornament of the shores, on which there are but
+few palms to be seen, while the banana, the sugar-cane, or the rice-plant
+are only exceptionally met with at certain points. The delicate-leaved
+bamboo accordingly presents hereabouts an elegance and variety of form,
+which at first sight seems to mark out its individual representatives as
+belonging to so many different families of plants. Wherever the subjacent
+rock is visible along the banks it presents beds of an ashen-grey
+pumice-stone, which constitutes the chief building material of Manila. On
+the shores of the river, near the city, are situate the various factories
+and iron-foundries, above which are the residences of the wealthy
+Mestizoes and foreign settlers, as also the country-seat of the
+Governor-general, whence, still ascending the stream, are Tagal villages
+of wretched cane huts, grouped round stately churches and parsonages,
+which peep picturesquely through lovely groves of bamboo.
+
+There are three modes of boating on the Pasig and through the Lagune,
+namely, the _banca_, consisting of a large trunk of a tree hollowed out
+and covered with an awning of bamboo; the _lorcha_ or _falua_ (corruption
+of felucca), large, comfortable, but exceedingly clumsy row-boats, which,
+particularly during the rainy season when there is a heavy sea running,
+are those chiefly used in this navigation; and finally, the _casco_, which
+is of equal breadth at either end, and has more the appearance of a raft.
+The last-named is principally made use of for the transport of heavy
+merchandise, and is in especial favour with the natives, for the reason
+that it is practicable to hoist sail upon it as well as to row. On the
+Lagune there is also found yet a fourth kind of boat, the Paraho, the
+principle of which, as well as the name, has obviously been borrowed from
+the Malay _Prahu_, which it closely resembles in form and mode of
+steering.
+
+On the Pasig there is a constant and amazing tide of human activity.
+Numberless boats pass and repass, some bound for the city, to supply it
+with provisions and other necessary articles, even to drinking-water,
+which has to be shipped in casks at a considerable distance, others
+returning with all sorts of purchases made in Manila, for the supply of
+the various residents on the shores of the Lagune with the necessaries of
+life. On this voyage we got a sight of numbers of grackles (_Pastor
+Rosen_), the well-known grasshopper-destroyer, which, about five years
+before, had been introduced from China at considerable expense, with the
+view of extirpating this formidable locust. But since these birds, to kill
+which is punishable by imprisonment, have become acclimatized, they seem
+to have lost all relish for grasshoppers, sitting quiet and unmoved on the
+trees and roofs of the houses, while swarms of locusts are disporting
+under their very eyes. Apparently the number of these destructive insects
+is less great in China than in Manila, where these voracious wanderers
+often appear in dense swarms, which, in the shape of black clouds,
+absolutely obscure the daylight! Probably, too, their means of sustenance
+is much more limited in China than in the Philippines, where these birds,
+being in fact treated as tame animals, and fairly domesticated, find
+frequent opportunities of satisfying their hunger otherwise.
+
+At the village of Patero (from _Pato_, duck), which is situated five miles
+from the capital on the left bank, the inhabitants are mainly employed in
+breeding ducks. In front of each hut, and near the river, there is a large
+area fenced in, where these birds can bask in the sun or bathe at
+pleasure. The floor of the little poultry house is carefully cleaned every
+morning with river-water, and the ground dug up and plentifully filled
+daily with shell-fish for the use of the ducks, which the natives bring in
+their small canoes from the sea, where they thrive by millions in the mud.
+The spectacle of the gently-sloping assembling-places of these cackling
+denizens of the watery element, and the clamours with which we were
+saluted, strongly recalled to us the penguins of the Island of St. Paul.
+In Patero millions of ducks are annually reared as articles of trade, as
+the Tagalese look upon the half-hatched eggs and the new-born chickens as
+special dainties.
+
+The natives whom we met on the way all wore large round hats, made of
+plaited straw or bamboo, white hose, and above these the invariable shirt,
+a custom so singular, that it is but very gradually the eye of the
+foreigner becomes reconciled to it. The farther we got from the capital
+the more the use of Spanish seemed to diminish, till at the Lagune the
+natives only speak Tagal and Bisay.
+
+Our original intention had been to row up in _bancas_ as far as the
+entrance to the Lagune, where it had been arranged that the _lorcha_,
+which had started from Manila a day or two before, was to await our
+arrival. But when little more than half way beyond the village of Pasig we
+overtook the great clumsy concern, and it was forthwith resolved to remove
+into it bag and baggage, not forgetting the "provant," and endeavour to
+make ourselves as comfortable as we could for a few days and nights.
+
+As it was perfectly calm, and the _lorcha_ had to be poled along, we were
+a considerable time before reaching the entrance to the Lagune, where the
+industrious natives had erected a variety of nets and other fishing
+apparatus of very peculiar nature. The banks of the Lagune are for some
+distance from the shore thickly studded with thousands of what are called
+_corals_, or fish-runs, and a special pilot is required to enable the
+_lorcha_ to thread this labyrinth of fishing apparatus of every
+conceivable form, so as to reach the open water. Singularly enough, it is
+for the most part the Tagalese women who manipulate the fishing
+instruments, while the men, as we were told, sit in the house and
+embroider. Near the entrance is stationed a sort of guardship. A Tagalese
+overseer overhauled our passports, turned them over in his hands two or
+three times with much official importance, and then returned them to us.
+The worthy officer of the law was obviously ignorant of the art of
+reading, but for that very reason he looked doubly massy, for fear of
+exposing his weak side to the Europeans.
+
+The Lagune de Bay is a fresh-water lake of such dimensions, that even on
+a clear day it is impossible, from the entrance, to see the coast on the
+further side, much less, of course, in the wretched rainy weather which
+stuck by us throughout our trip. Nevertheless, it is far inferior in size
+to the great lakes of North America. Its greatest breadth is little more
+than 30 miles.[102] All around the fertile shores of this charming lake
+nestle little villages, and the daily intercourse with the capital is so
+extensive that a steam-boat company would pay well. While on the one hand
+the Colonial Government objects to the expense of entering upon an
+undertaking so important for developing the general trade, engineers, on
+the other hand, have for the last 14 years been busily engaged projecting
+the immense work of connecting the Lagune with the ocean by means of a
+canal, in such manner as would enable ships approaching Luzon from the
+southwards to reach Manila easily, and with great saving in time, instead
+of having to sail all round the island. This short cut through the tongue
+of land would, it may well be supposed, be in other respects of
+incalculable benefit for the country, for the shipping and for trade
+generally, especially were the execution of this splendid project to be
+carried out hand in hand with a liberal policy, that should shake off that
+despotism which at present weighs like a mountain upon every sort of
+intellectual and political activity. Let Manila be declared a free port,
+let the ships of all mercantile nations visit unrestrictedly the various
+harbours of the Archipelago, and Spain will under such relaxations reap
+far more profit than from her present retrograde colonial policy, which
+can only result in permanent discontent and impoverishment. A thoroughly
+unprejudiced Spanish statesman might make most valuable observations by a
+brief visit to the neighbouring colony of Singapore, that marvellous
+British settlement, which, owing to a commercial policy conceived in the
+free, liberal spirit that characterizes the 19th century, has sprung up
+from a nest of pirates into the most flourishing and the wealthiest
+emporium in the entire Malay Archipelago. The situation of Manila, as also
+its numerous natural advantages and resources, would soon make it a rival
+to Singapore. But of what avail are the choicest treasures of nature, if
+the mind be wanting which can turn them to their proper use, and elicit
+their real value?
+
+The continued bad weather compelled us to pass the night most
+uncomfortably on board the _lorcha_; however, the morning after our
+departure from Manila we arrived at the village of Los Banos on the
+southern shore of the Lagune, where we were most courteously received by
+Padre Lorenzo, a Tagalese (only the monks being of Spanish blood, whereas
+among the secular clergy there are numbers of coloured persons). The
+parsonage, formerly an hospital, is an extensive edifice, with covered
+terraces, from whence the visitor enjoys the most splendid views of the
+neighbouring hills, as also over the village. Here we were rejoined by
+those members of the Expedition who, there not being room for all on board
+the _lorcha_, had made out the voyage to Los Banos in a small boat. The
+Government officer of the village of Pasig was so kind as to provide for
+our exploration of the lake a well-appointed, thoroughly armed and
+equipped war-galley; by no means a superfluous precaution when making an
+excursion upon the lake, as it has not unfrequently happened that
+unprotected strangers have returned to Manila robbed of everything.
+
+We had great difficulty in making our kind Father Lorenzo, whose
+wanderings had been rather limited, comprehend from what country we came,
+and to what nation we belonged. The natives of Luzon for the most part
+believe that all mankind consists of but two nations, Spaniards and
+English; the former they regard as their own masters, while the political
+and commercial power of the latter impress them with more terror than
+sympathy, and this feeling is still further deepened by that spiritual
+teaching, which makes everything seem to their untutored minds of the most
+terrible criminality, which does not strictly accord with Roman
+Catholicism.
+
+Los Banos (the baths), so named on account of the numerous hot springs,
+whose source is close at hand at the foot of the now extinct volcanic cone
+of Maquilui, thickly wooded to its very summit, was so far back as the end
+of the 16th century a place of resort for invalids, who hoped here to find
+a cure for their various maladies. In the interests of suffering
+humanity, the Franciscans of those days, then in the height of their
+influence, built over the baths a sort of hut, and a hospital dedicated to
+"_Nuestra Senora de las Aguas santas de Maynit_" (our Lady of the Holy
+waters of Maynit, the latter name expressing _hot_ in Tagal). Although at
+present in a very forlorn and dilapidated condition, there is still in
+existence, quite near to the edge of the Lake, an apartment enclosed
+within a wall, within which there boils up from a considerable depth a
+spring of hot water of a temperature of 186 deg.8 Fahr.; which is
+occasionally used, both by natives and foreigners, as a vapour bath,
+although these _Thermae_ are more used to scald poultry than for their
+original purpose of curing disease. The entire neighbourhood is volcanic.
+Behind Maquilui, which is about 3400 feet high, lies, surrounded by a deep
+lake, the active crater of the renowned volcano of Taal, while to one side
+of the first-named mountain rises in the blue distance, to a height of
+from 6000 to 7000 feet, the gigantic mass of the Majayjay[103] range, a
+volcanic system long since extinct. An oppressive sultriness in the
+atmosphere, such as we had never before experienced, and a drenching
+thunder-storm, put a complete stopper on our projected excursion to make a
+closer acquaintance with the hills. Somewhat of the terrific heat
+experienced here, may, with much justice, be attributed to the great
+number of almost boiling springs which issue from the foot of the
+Maquilui, so that even on entirely clear days, when the mountain-top is
+quite free of clouds, the country about Los Banos seems enveloped in an
+atmosphere of mist.
+
+The main object and ever-memorable result of our excursion was the _Laguna
+Encantada_ (or Enchanted Lake,--the _Socol_ of the Tagalese), distant not
+much more than a mile from Los Banos. Volcanic agency and tropical beauty
+have combined to prepare here one of the most singular and mysterious
+phenomena that the eye of man may ever behold. Although this small lake is
+only separated by a low hill from the larger basin, yet the approach to it
+is extremely troublesome and arduous. It is necessary here and there to
+use one's hands, in order to creep through the brushwood along the steep
+wall of rock, till the shore of the lake is at last reached. Even the very
+"dug-outs," in which the lake is to be navigated, have to be transported
+over this lonely inhospitable hill. As the Lagune enjoys the unenviable
+reputation of being the haunt of numbers of ravenous crocodiles, which
+have on several occasions overturned the light canoes navigating it at the
+time, and without further ceremony devoured their crews, the natives had
+learned to take the precaution of binding two or three canoes close
+together with bamboos and cords, in order to diminish the risk of being
+overturned while boating on this dreary haunt of "caymano."
+
+While the natives were getting ready this handsome specimen of a craft, we
+stood on the shore, every one absorbed in gazing at this singular natural
+picture. Calm and mysterious-looking the lake lay before us, a circular
+basin, of a deep green from innumerable almost microscopic water plants,
+unfathomable, if we may trust common report, and enclosed by a crater-like
+wall of lava-blocks. All along the shore grew the tropical forest;
+gigantic primeval trunks, wildly festooned with wondrously luxuriant
+creepers, raised their towering crests, their splendid coronets of leaves
+reflected in the calm mirror below, and casting the lake in every corner
+into a dusky, shadowy obscurity of outline. From the topmost branches of
+the trees were suspended huge brown, indistinct-looking fruits. There was
+death-like silence all around. Only at fitful intervals might be
+distinguished the note of a bird, or the muttered growl of distant
+thunder. We now got into our canoes and rowed silently over the waters of
+the lake. As though to add to the interest of the adventure, it came on to
+rain pretty heavily. Some of the party followed the very practical custom
+of the natives, who forthwith divested themselves of their clothing, and
+left the rain to beat upon their naked bodies, while they put their
+dresses under the seats of the boat to prevent their being soaked.
+Fortunately the alligators at no time made their appearance in such
+numbers as the tales of the natives had led us to anticipate. We saw but
+one of these monsters, apparently about 15 feet long, who however speedily
+dived out of our sight.[104] Our guides maintained it would be advisable
+to take a dog with us, whose howl would have aroused the alligators and
+brought them up to the surface in hope as of prey. Indeed people
+frequently sacrifice dogs in order to entice these rapacious monsters from
+their haunts for the purpose of hunting them.
+
+If however disappointed in this spectacle, we were recompensed by another
+not less peculiar. For hardly had a shot been fired at one of the
+water-fowls which were skimming to and fro over the lake, than at once
+tree and thicket seemed filled with life. Birds of all kinds, screaming
+and whirring, fluttered about or dashed wildly against each other on every
+side. Thousands that had been sitting on the beach concealed in the deep
+shade, wood-pigeons and legions of gigantic bats, which had been suddenly
+frightened out of their listless repose, now flew about directly before
+the murderous fowling-pieces. The singular-looking fruits which seemed to
+be so strangely dependent from the trees, were transformed into Kalong
+bats (_Pteropus edulis_), and flew about in immense flocks that obscured
+the light of day, directly over our heads, hastily seeking a shelter in
+the forest, which should hide them from the gaze of the sportsmen.
+Probably we should have brought down some of these singular animals, had
+not our fowling-pieces, owing to the incessant pour of rain, got so
+thoroughly out of order that we had to content ourselves with getting a
+very few specimens for our zoological collection.
+
+On returning to the parsonage from this interesting excursion, we found
+the _Alcalde Mayor_, who had come to Los Banos from the adjacent small
+town of Santa Cruz, to welcome the foreigners, and be of service to them.
+The _Alcalde Mayor_, or _Gobernador_, is the highest official, the chief
+both of administration and justice in the province, a sort of prefect,
+under whom are the _Gobernadorcillos_, or departmental administrators,
+beneath whom again the Cabezas,[105] or parish justices, form yet a lower
+grade. The chief duties of these native officials consist in seeing that
+the proper amount of tribute or head-money is duly collected. This impost
+is divided into three parts: the duty for defraying the State expenses
+amounting to five reals, that for supporting the Church amounts to three
+reals, and that for the wants of the community amounting to one real, so
+that the whole taxation levied upon each individual liable is about nine
+reals (4_s._ 9_d._ English). In addition to the natives, the Chinese
+resident in Manila and the half-breed Chinese are subject to a poll-tax,
+the pure Chinese being rated according to their social position and the
+nature of their calling. They pay on the average about 17 dollars, or
+about 15 times as much as the native. The poll-tax of the Chinese Mestizo
+amounts to 18 reals, or about twice as much as that on the native. All
+males are liable to be rated for the poll-tax, as also all females when
+married, or when they have attained the age of 25. Those exempted from
+the poll-tax are all Spaniards and their half-caste children, all foreign
+residents except the Chinese, as also all natives above 60, and a few
+native families, whose ancestors had performed certain services for the
+Spaniards at the period of the conquest; and, lastly, all native
+authorities during their tenure of office (usually six years).[106]
+
+The morning after our excursion to the Enchanted Lake, a hunt of
+water-fowl was organized among the swamps surrounding Calamba, which
+furnished us with plenty of sport, as well as important scientific
+results, in which it would have been yet more productive, had it not been
+suddenly brought to a close by the acute illness of one of the canoe-men.
+As some cases of cholera had occurred during the few days immediately
+preceding, it seemed to be only a wise precaution to exercise some little
+prudence on the present occasion. Strange to say, however, the man
+attacked, despite his sickness, rowed resolutely till the party reached
+Los Banos, during all which period he showed the most lively interest in
+the hunt, constantly calling our attention to birds which his keen eye
+detected at a distance, or which were moving softly over the water without
+being observed.
+
+Meanwhile one of the zoologists was busy at the parsonage, making
+preparations of the most interesting specimens procured. Padre Lorenzo
+could hardly believe his eyes when he beheld the naturalist engaged in
+such a bloody business, apparently on precisely the most agreeable spot of
+the whole terrace, and performing the various dissections requisite upon
+the dead bodies of some couple of dozen of birds. In whatever direction
+one turned in the apartment, the eye encountered nothing but birds of
+variegated plumage, gigantic Kalong bats, monkeys, or else barrels filled
+with spirits of wine, in which were preserved snakes, fish, and other
+small inhabitants of the deep. The poor padre, accustomed to peaceful
+meditation and full of simplicity, appeared quite convinced he must have
+sinned grievously that such a visitation should have overtaken him, as
+that this horde of foreigners should have disturbed the repose of his
+peaceful asylum with such appalling practices. The youths of the village,
+encouraged by the promise of remuneration, busied themselves with yet
+further increasing our zoological collection, and made their appearance,
+breathless with running, each with some still more curious and important
+object to show to the strange gentleman, who found such interest in snakes
+and insects, that he even paid money down for them!
+
+Padre Lorenzo, however, was ere long rid of his singular guests, with whom
+he could even not get upon an intelligible footing. On the same day on
+which the hunt among the swamps of Calamba took place in the morning, the
+Expeditionary party returned from Los Banos, and by way of recompense to
+the obliging padre for the discomfort inflicted, they presented him with
+some provisions and some bottles of claret, which filled the worthy
+gentleman with delight, and seemed completely to reconcile him to the
+"Estranjeros." Some of the members of our Expedition also visited the two
+villages of Jalla-jalla and Binangonan, lying close to the shore of the
+lake, places of great interest in a geographical sense, while the
+remainder of the party returned to Manila in the same way they had come.
+Unfortunately throughout the entire distance the rain fell worse than
+ever. It never ceased pouring in deluges, so that for hours together we
+could not get upon deck, but had to remain below in the small bleak,
+comfortless cabin. Here there was nothing for it but to wile away the time
+as best we might. We talked "_de omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis_," we
+laughed, we sang, and we--SMOKED, a habit, be it remarked incidentally, so
+constant and universal here, that the _Pebete_ with its glowing top is
+constantly circulating from hand to hand. This is a sort of tinder in the
+shape of small thin rods, a cubit long, which is prepared in China from a
+mixture of fine dried sawdust, fir, and clay, and forms a by no means
+insignificant article of commerce, the greater part coming from
+Macao.[107] A chest of eight cubic feet, filled with _Pebete_ or
+"joss-sticks," as the English call this tinder, the use of which pervades
+the entire Malay Archipelago as far as Madras, costs from 10_s._ to 16_s._
+6_d._ sterling.
+
+By 11 P.M. we had got back to Manila. The weather had cleared up somewhat,
+the rain had ceased, and the city and environs were gay with the gleam of
+innumerable variegated lamps, intended to represent the illuminations
+expressive of the joy of the people at the birth of a prince of the
+Asturias. This did not however continue long; the enthusiasm that was
+finding vent through the glitter of the lamps was drowned in another
+deluge of rain, and as the exhibition had now lasted for several nights in
+succession, people at last had got weary of the trouble of constantly
+relighting them; the gaudy triumphal arches were decomposed into their
+constituent atoms--rough boards, wooden pegs, nails, and filthy little
+oil-lamps.
+
+The continuance of the wet weather put more distant excursions out of the
+question. We had to content ourselves with having seen all that was really
+worth seeing in the city and environs during our limited stay.
+
+Many additional visits were paid to the interior of the city, to the fort,
+to the monasteries, and the various public institutions. Of these latter,
+two call for a more particular notice: the "_Biblioteca Militar_," and the
+immense hospital of San Juan de Dios, under the charge of the Charitable
+Friars.
+
+The attraction of the Military Library, which is situated in one portion
+of the cloister of the Jesuits which had been almost entirely
+destroyed[108] by a former earthquake, consisted far less in its
+bibliographic treasures, than in a small collection of objects
+illustrative of natural history, of which the first beginning had been
+made but a few months before our arrival. It deserves the more notice that
+it was not the project of a professed naturalist, but solely of an
+"aficimado," or friend to scientific inquiry, Colonel Miguel Creus.
+Although very deficient, still the bare experiment has paved the way to a
+better and more complete collection, which at present comprises, besides
+about 100 species of birds and a few mammalia, a number of objects
+illustrative of ethnography, geological specimens, and the various
+manufactures and natural products of the Archipelago (among which are 37
+species of rice). Considering the natural resources of this Archipelago,
+(some of which, especially the Conchylia,[109] far surpass in richness of
+colour, beauty, and gracefulness of form anything that has yet been met
+with in any part of the globe,) the inauguration of this small collection
+may yet prove the foundation of one of the most magnificent and marvellous
+museums of natural history, provided the laudable intention of the
+founder receive adequate support; and the work, commenced as a labour of
+love, be continued and promoted with energy and perseverance.[110]
+
+The great Civil Hospital, to which Dr. Fullerton, a Scotchman settled in
+Manila, was so kind as to accompany us, is a very extensive range of
+buildings, with large airy rooms, but so unclean and ill-kept, that it is
+no wonder if the report be true, that many natives in bad health prefer to
+run the chance of death without, to being brought to this infirmary.
+Indeed most of the rooms are empty and unoccupied, there being in the
+whole building but 30 confined to their beds, which in a city of not less
+than 130,000 souls, with but _one_ hospital, is at all events a remarkable
+phenomenon. Every year on St. John's day the brethren of the order give a
+fete, when all the different rooms are scoured, swept, and garnished, and
+the sick in the hospital are present at the festivities, and, unrestricted
+by considerations of diet, are regaled with food and wine to their heart's
+content. This is likewise the period at which the hospital is most
+extensively patronized, and not only by those actually sick, but far more
+by those who qualify for a residence in the hospital by a too great
+devotion to the plentiful viands provided on St. John's day. When the
+English were in possession of Manila during the Seven Years' War, this
+range of buildings was used as a barrack, for which reason the church was
+considered as desecrated for 90 years, and only in 1857 consecrated once
+more as a temple of God.
+
+There is also in the _Calle de Hospicio_ a Military Hospital, somewhat
+better kept, and not like the former under the charge of a brotherhood,
+but of a medical staff. Unfortunately the arrangements here leave very
+much to be desired. The rooms, insufficiently ventilated, are in the
+immediate vicinity of the kitchen, the smoke and odours from which cannot
+but be very prejudicial to the patients. In the various wards there were
+about 150 to 200 sick, whose lot called for redoubled sympathy,
+considering the little attention paid them.
+
+Unfortunately no opportunity presented itself during our stay at Manila of
+witnessing any of those processions of the Church, which are necessarily
+so frequent in the course of the year. This was the more to be regretted,
+as we were told of many peculiarities of these costly processions. Here
+apparently, as in the earlier dependencies of Spain, in Central and
+Southern America, the Roman Catholic ritual has become mingled in the most
+extraordinary manner with ceremonies borrowed from paganism. The earliest
+Spanish missionaries were especially prone to believe that by retaining
+some of the former ceremonies they would facilitate the work of
+conversion, and increase the number of neophytes. They saw no scandal in
+the native, attired sometimes as a giant twelve feet high, sometimes as a
+Malay warrior, sometimes as an aboriginal savage, fantastically painted,
+and accoutred with bow and arrow, in a word, in all sorts of masquerading
+costume, frolicking in the very midst of the sacred procession, and
+performing all manner of buffoonery in front of the life-sized and
+gaily-adorned images of saints; but appeared rather to contemplate with
+pleasure that these wild beings, who had resisted the Spaniards on their
+first arrival on the island, were now subjected to the Holy Church, and
+rejoiced in her service! There are also numbers of natives dressed up as
+animals, and girls gaily decorated with flowers and in robes of spotless
+white, as also a fantastically-attired jester, who from time to time gives
+national dances and sings national songs, to the best of his ability, all
+in one long procession, accompanied by monks singing chorals and carrying
+wax tapers, while a promiscuous crowd of the faithful bring up the rear.
+
+The sight of such processions have anything but an edifying influence upon
+a European, but on the mind of the masses they seem to make a deep
+impression, and for weeks after, when smoking a cigarette in the privacy
+of the family circle, they will talk of the splendour of such solemnities,
+and the motley episodes that accompanied it. If it were admissible to
+judge of the religious mind of a people by their outward observances, the
+Tagalese would be the most devout race in the world. Wherever the natives
+come in contact with the Church, they put on an extraordinary stern and
+reverential deportment, and even in the most trivial matters the great
+influence of the priesthood upon the masses becomes abundantly apparent.
+This is the most conspicuous every evening as the clock tolls for the Ave
+Maria. The tones work like enchantment upon the people at whatever
+distance they may be audible, and for a few moments a profound silence
+succeeds to the noise and bustle. The labourer and the promenader, the
+ladies and gentlemen of the upper ranks in their elegant carriages, as
+well as the poor Tagale returning homeward from his hard day's work, and
+driving his laden mule before him, are for the space of an instant awed by
+the solemn sounds. All vehicles stop suddenly short, the gentlemen and
+servants uncover their heads, the restless masses stand as though nailed
+to the ground, and then sink gradually on their knees in prayer, their
+heads bared and their cigars extinguished; no one would venture to break
+in upon the universal stillness so long as the bell continues to toll. But
+as soon as it is silent, each jumps to his feet, and proceeds on again,
+believing he may now in safety give way to his frolicsomeness and pursue
+his pleasures.
+
+Life in Manila during the dry season was described to us as exceedingly
+agreeable and gay. Then almost every evening joyous groups thread the city
+singing and joking, while from every hut resounds some snatch of melody
+accompanied by the guitar. We had a slight foretaste of the joviality
+which must prevail in Manila during the delicious summer evenings from the
+joyous disposition manifested by the various Tagal families, even during
+the wet season, when the almost incessant rain, and the swampy state of
+the streets, compelled the natives to remain crowded in the narrow rooms
+of their poor little huts. In St. Miguel, a hamlet in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Manila, with a number of country-seats of wealthy
+foreigners and natives, we repeatedly heard the sweet plaintive notes of
+the native women singing Tagal ditties, which for pathos and thrilling
+tenderness surpassed all we had hitherto heard or read of the talents of
+the coloured races for song and melody. We shall be able in the Appendix
+to give the notes of a very characteristic melody, the words of which form
+a very favourite popular song (Condiman), which we ultimately succeeded in
+taking down through the kindness of Senor Balthasar Girandier of Manila.
+
+It was at San Miguel that we had not alone the most agreeable, but also
+the most melancholy, experience of our entire stay in the capital of the
+Philippines. On an island opposite the handsome, beautifully situate
+residence of our hospitable friend Mr. Steffan, the Bremen Consul, is the
+Poorhouse, in which the insane as well as the sick are confined together,
+the whole being, like all the other humane institutions of Manila, under
+the superintendence of an ecclesiastic, in the present case a Mestizo. It
+appeared there was no proper or regular medical attendance. Without
+assistance, or any one responsible for their proper care, these miserable
+beings, left in an indescribably desolate and neglected condition, cower
+down upon the bare stone floor in the damp, filthy rooms, staring vacantly
+before them, or slink about among the cool corridors, murmuring
+unintelligibly to themselves. The padre, habituated to such a state of
+matters, seems never to give it a moment's thought, but rather to make it
+his amusement to conduct strangers through the dismal, horrible wards,
+where at each step one encounters some fresh form of misery. We felt most
+pity at the sight of a female, whose features and whole appearance spoke
+of a happier lot in by-gone days. It seemed a mystery crying aloud for
+reparation, that this unhappy being, an orphan, worthy of all compassion,
+should for a slight attack of melancholy be liable to be sent to the
+asylum for the insane by her unscrupulous relations, that they might with
+the greater security possess themselves of her property. So deep and so
+permanent was the impression made by this melancholy spectacle, that even
+now, after the lapse of years of varied experience, since our visit to the
+lunatic asylum of Manila, the ill-fated being, with her wan yet striking
+features, her large, melancholy black eyes, and her wavy, shining black
+hair, her dress neglected and half torn into pieces, stands out life-like
+before us, as an embodiment of misery.
+
+Early on the day on which we bade adieu to Manila we found an opportunity
+of seeing a live boa-constrictor, said to be 48 feet long and seven
+inches thick, at the house of a secular ecclesiastic in the suburb of
+Santa Cruz. This gigantic reptile had been confined for 32 years in a
+large wooden cage, where it had enjoyed such a carefully tended existence
+that it had fairly outlived the good padre, and was now for sale by his
+heirs. The indolent animal, constantly lying almost motionless among the
+sand, is fed only once in every four weeks, when it is usually presented
+with a young pig.
+
+On the 24th of June the members of our Expedition went on board the small
+steamer plying to Cavite, where lay the frigate, on board which all
+necessary preparations had been made. Now, on the eve of departure, almost
+every one of our number mourned the disappointment of cherished
+expectations. The inclemency of the weather had not alone precluded our
+undertaking the more distant excursions which would have repaid our
+researches in the natural history of the islands, but had even interposed
+serious obstacles to our wanderings in the immediate neighbourhood;
+moreover, up to the very moment of our departure the Government manifested
+the utmost indifference to the objects of the Expedition, while even the
+educated portion of the Spanish residents never took the slightest notice.
+The more reason therefore is it, under such circumstances, that we should
+not be unmindful of the few, such as Messrs. Steffan, Schmidt, Wegener,
+Wood, Fullerton, Fonseca, Girandier, and Creus, who, with warm interest in
+our plans, furnished us with new material relating to the Philippines and
+their inhabitants, and left us with the agreeable prospect of a permanent
+exchange of literary and scientific labours.
+
+At one A.M. of the 25th June we weighed anchor in the harbour of Cavite,
+on our voyage to the Empire of China. The land breeze, which sets in
+regularly every night, carried us clear out of the Bay of Manila, but in
+the open sea outside we found, contrary to expectation, instead of the
+S.W. monsoon, light variable winds and calms, which materially interfered
+with our progress. At last, when we were about mid-way across the China
+Sea, we fell in with the long-looked for S.W. wind, which speedily wafted
+us to the next station we were to visit, the British colony of Hong-kong,
+or Victoria. With favourable winds the voyage from Manila to Hong-kong, a
+distance of about 700 nautical miles, is four or five days' sail; owing to
+the constant contrary winds we were double that time.
+
+Already, before we came in sight of land, a Chinese fishing vessel had put
+a pilot on board in the shape of a long-tailed son of the Celestial
+Empire, who jabbered English in a fashion to set the hair on end, and was
+lost in wonder at our flag, which he had never before seen. We afterwards
+found that the dialect used by our pilot was what is called
+Canton-English, such as is spoken by all Chinese who have dealings with
+the British, and consisting exclusively of a most ludicrous distortion of
+the commonest English phrases.
+
+About noon on the 4th July we sighted the Chinese coast; and before
+sundown we had passed the Lemmas islands, and found ourselves in the
+island-studded, many-bayed archipelago at the mouth of the Canton River,
+where the English have selected Hong-kong, with its admirable harbour, for
+the site of their colony. Thousands of fishing-boats covered the surface
+of the ocean all around us, always sailing parallel with each other, in
+fact, quite a fleet of fishermen, who, on a favourable opportunity, add a
+little buccaneering, and have numerous secure retreats among the thousands
+of coves all around, so that even up to the present day they can carry on
+almost unpunished their piratical attempts upon their own
+fellow-countrymen, as well as upon foreigners ignorant of their danger. It
+was the first time we had seen in any numbers the Chinese Junk, with its
+strange-looking rigging. On most of these small but clumsy vessels there
+was cut or painted on either side of the forecastle a huge eye, as though
+the crew were anxious to increase the power of vision of their vessel, so
+that it might more readily pick its way through the numerous dangerous
+reefs and coral banks. On the other hand the superstitious sea-faring
+Chinese sometimes veil and cover up the eyes of their vessels, in order
+that they should not behold certain strange things passing by, as, for
+instance, a dead body, or an approaching thunder-storm, and not be
+frightened by them.[111]
+
+The nearer we approached the coast, the more was our gaze rivetted by a
+landscape of the most imposing character, and now not owing to the
+altitude of the hills (for the highest peak is only 3000 feet), but to the
+grandeur of their form and their contour. Here are sharp, needle-shaped
+pinnacles, their steep rocky cones reminding one of the Sugar Loaf at Rio,
+and then round shoulders of hills, and far-extending ranges, penetrated by
+deep defiles, all nearly perpendicular, and without any extent of level
+land, and rising sheer out of the sea. These mountain ranges are almost
+entirely naked, or covered only with a scanty grass or bush vegetation: no
+tree, no forest hides the majestic groups of rocks and stones, and when
+the setting sun picked out with dark, well-defined shadows the sharp
+outline of the granite rock, it was as though there lay before us a "bit"
+of the Swiss Alps, bathed in the sea as far as the limit of
+forest-vegetation, and our sailors contemplated with redoubled enjoyment a
+scene which reminded them of their native Dalmatia.
+
+As the night was dark, with neither moonlight nor light-house (of which
+latter there is unfortunately an utter lack here), we could not venture to
+wind our way through the narrow channel into the harbour of Hong-kong, on
+the north side of the island, and we anchored therefore about 9 P.M. on
+the west side, in the Lemmas Channel; and with the first beams of the sun,
+on the morning of the 5th July, we stood in to the enchanting harbour of
+Hong-kong. Where the previous day we could descry from seaward hardly any
+traces of human activity in the hills and rocks along the coast, so that
+the land seemed desolate and deserted, there now smiled upon us, as we
+doubled Green Island, the city of Victoria, rising amphitheatre-like; and,
+lying invitingly before us, its harbour, all alive with numbers of stately
+ships and steamers, looking like an inland lake,--in fact, entirely
+land-locked. Several old ships of the line, which the English use as
+hospitals and coal depots, filled the background, among which was the
+Royal Charlotte, 130 guns, the first three-decker that has passed the
+Equator.
+
+At 10 A.M. we cast anchor directly opposite the town; and amid the flags
+of England, America, France, Holland, and Russia, there now flaunted
+proudly forth the flag of Austria!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[72] In Manila the minimum annual rainfall is 84 inches, the maximum 102
+inches.
+
+[73] The expedition sailed from Madras with about 2300 men; the squadron
+consisted of 13 ships of war and transports. The English landed without
+any opposition, laid siege to Manila, stormed and captured the city proper
+within ten days after their arrival. The Citadel capitulated; the
+Governor, an Archbishop, binding himself to pay a contribution of
+4,000,000 dollars (L833,000), in order to save the city from being sacked.
+This expedition was always looked on by the Spaniards of the Philippines
+as a very rash adventure, which by no means tended to diminish the
+national antipathy to the English race, although after such freebooting
+expeditions as have within these last two years been witnessed on the part
+of civilized states in law-abiding Europe, this invasion by an army of
+declared enemies must be viewed in an entirely different light.
+
+[74] Spanish writers, treating of the Philippines, derive this name from
+"Losong," which in the native language means the wooden mortar in which
+the rice, which forms the chief subsistence of the inhabitants, is shelled
+and pounded. The first strangers who came to this island, and found in
+every hut one of these very peculiar clumsy-looking implements, spoke of
+the newly discovered island as "Isle de los Losenes" (island of wooden
+mortars), whence in process of time it became transformed into Luzon.
+
+[75] One of these hotels, the Hotel Francais, was, at the time of our
+visit, kept by a Frenchman named Dubosse, a man of a most adventurous
+disposition, who afterwards accompanied the French army to China as a
+mess-man, and was one of the victims seized by Sang-ko-lin-sin's soldiers,
+near Pekin, in September, 1860, who met with such a horrible fate. The
+other inn, the Hotel Fernando, kept by a North American, is yet more
+filthy and noisy than the first-named, since, being situated on the
+harbour, it serves for a rendezvous for the various ships' captains. In
+neither of these is the charge less than 4 to 5 Spanish dollars a day, or
+about L1 sterling.
+
+[76] The Stranger's Guide to the Philippines (_Guia de Forasteros_) for
+the year 1859 gives the names of 61 commercial houses established by
+Spaniards in Manila. Besides these, there are in the capital of the
+Philippines, seven English, three North American, two French, one German,
+and two Swiss trading firms.
+
+[77] We borrow this alphabet from the valuable work of Baron von Huegel,
+entitled the Pacific Ocean and the Spanish Colonies of the Indian
+Archipelago (Vienna, printed at the Imperial Press, 1860), and believe the
+reader will the more gratefully welcome it that only a small number of
+copies of Baron von Huegel's interesting journal were printed in manuscript
+for private circulation.
+
+[78] This opinion of our Augustinian guide is not shared out there. An
+Austrian traveller, as widely renowned as highly cultivated, Baron Von
+Huegel, relates, in his Diary already alluded to, the following singular
+revelations by a friar in Manila: "The Philippine Islands belong to the
+Augustine monks; in Manila, Don Pasquale (the then Governor) or another
+may ruffle it and talk large,--in the interior we are the true masters.
+Tell me where you want to go and everything shall be laid open for you!...
+Police in the interior? It is laughable to hear of such an idea! As if
+such were possible! and I should be glad to make the acquaintance of that
+official who would venture to ask even the simple question of who any man
+is, who is under the protection of our order!... Should you like to ascend
+the Majayjay, the highest hill in the interior? An Augustinian friar shall
+accompany you thither. Should you care to make an excursion to the Lagoons
+and thence proceed to the Pacific Ocean? An Augustinian friar shall be
+your guide. Have you a hankering to visit the forests of Ilocos, northward
+from Manila, or to sail down the great river Lanatin? An Augustinian shall
+arrange all that for you. In one word, say what you wish to do!"
+
+[79] Fray Manuel Blanco, whose portrait, the size of life, but by no means
+artistically executed, adorns one of the corridors, was born 24th
+November, 1778, at Navianos, in the province of Zamora in Spain, and died
+in the convent of Manila 1st April, 1845.
+
+[80] Of these there were in 1857, 373,569 liable to taxation. Within the
+same year there were 85,629 persons baptized, 16,768 married, and 49,999
+buried with the rites of the Church.
+
+[81] In 1857 there were baptized in these 76 villages 21,604 children,
+4512 couples were united in wedlock, and 12,002 were buried.
+
+[82] In the entire Archipelago there is but _one_ newspaper, "El Boletin
+Oficial," published under the auspices of Government, and which treats
+much more of religious than of political topics. There are but two
+printing and publishing houses in Manila, one of which is in the hands of
+the Dominicans, and prints almost exclusively Prayer-books and religious
+works.
+
+[83] This historical poem is entitled "_Luzonia, o sea Los Genios del
+Pasig_."
+
+[84] Of this number of souls there were in 1857, 188,509 amenable to
+taxation, while during the year there occurred 31,285 births, 21,029
+deaths, and 5713 marriages.
+
+[85] In 1857, the order baptized 23,227, joined in marriage 4830 couples,
+and buried 15,627.
+
+[86] The printed works obtained in the various monasteries of Manila
+consist of dictionaries and small grammars of the Togala, Bisaya, Ilocana,
+Tbanac, Bicol, and Pampangu dialects. The MSS. embrace vocabularies of the
+Igorotes and Ilongotes languages of Luzon, as also the idiom used by the
+natives of the Marianne Archipelago, together with a short treatise on the
+Marianne group written in Spanish by a missionary. All these works will be
+thoroughly and exhaustively treated of in the ethnological portion, where
+also the manuscripts will be published.
+
+[87] _Usted_--contraction for "_Vuestra Merced_" (your Grace).
+
+[88] The fair speeches and amiable phrases of the Spaniards lose all their
+value when one finds upon nearer acquaintance with this courteous nation,
+that the heart and the feelings take no part therein. There is nothing
+which a Spaniard will not offer to a stranger--but it is always on the
+clear understanding that the latter will with equal politeness refuse the
+proffer. We on one occasion, however, saw a Yankee take these professions
+at their apparent value, and by so doing put his Spanish host to no small
+confusion. The Spaniard wore a very costly diamond breast-pin, for which
+the American could not find words sufficient to express his admiration. To
+his exclamations of delight, the Spaniard kept repeating his nauseous "_a
+la disposicion de Usted_," till at last the American fairly took the pin
+out of the Spaniard's scarf and transferred it to his own. The latter felt
+so ashamed and dumbfounded that he could not utter a word. The following
+day the American, who had only taken it by way of joke, returned the
+costly bauble to the agonized Spaniard, but took occasion in so doing to
+remark that he now knew what was meant by Spanish courtesy.
+
+[89] On the island of Mactan (10 deg. 20' N., 124 deg. 10' E.) there was also
+erected on the promontory of Sugano, a monument to the memory of
+Magelhaens, and the happy idea was entertained of making it also into a
+light-house, to warn ships of the danger in approaching the immense
+numbers of reefs that are found here.
+
+[90] V. Heinrich Heine's "Romanzero."
+
+[91] It was estimated, we were told, at from $35,000 to $40,000 annually.
+
+[92] Cock-fighting has been so long disused in England, that to most
+persons it only lingers as a grim tradition, mainly authenticated by
+Hogarth's well-known painting. The degrading associations which a
+cock-fight generated are sufficiently well illustrated by the prince of
+pictorial satirists. The "betting-ring" still brings together in England
+the same intermingling of grades of society, and consequent utter
+disruption of all social respect, but with all its faults it never has,
+nor can have, the same brutalizing effects of cock-fighting, which are
+instanced by the following anecdote, extracted from the _Gentleman's
+Magazine_ for April, 1789, and which may even now be found to repay
+perusal:--"Died at Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq., a young man of large
+fortune, ... who if he had his foibles, had also his merits (!) that far
+outweighed them. Mr. Ardesoif was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a
+favourite cock, upon which he won many very profitable matches. The last
+bet he laid upon this cock, he lost; which so enraged him that he had the
+bird tied to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of
+the miserable animal were so affecting that some gentlemen who were
+present attempted to interfere, at which Mr. Ardesoif was so enraged that
+he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared that he
+would kill the first man that interfered, but in the midst of his
+asseveration he fell dead upon the spot! Such we are assured were the
+circumstances attending the death of this great pillar of humanity!"
+
+[93] This unhappy lady died a melancholy death, having, what rarely occurs
+among Spanish women, committed suicide at her hotel by swallowing Prussic
+acid. It was rumoured that an unhappy attachment led to this fatal
+resolve.
+
+[94] Of these straw-plait manufactories the cigar-holders are especially
+noticeable for their fine texture and elegance. These are usually sold at
+very high prices; some of the more elegant of these fetching from 40 to 50
+dollars (L8 to L10). Straw mats and hats, not inferior in fineness of
+texture to those of Panama, are made here of palm fibre, and form a not
+unimportant article of exportation.
+
+[95] 8 reals = 1 Spanish piastre = 3_s._ 1-3/4_d._ at par; hence 1 real =
+4.71875_d._ English.
+
+[96] Owing to the universal interest felt in tobacco, the use of which has
+spread over the globe, till it has become a necessary of life to the
+civilized man as well as the half-savage races of mankind, we subjoin by
+way of completing the information above attained, the following remarks
+upon the tobacco culture in other possessions of Spain, extracted from an
+unpublished journal, kept by a member of the Expedition, during a visit
+previously paid to the West Indies.
+
+"The best sites for growing tobacco in Cuba lie to the westward of the
+capital in what is called the _Vuelta abajo_, between Rio Hondo and San
+Juan de Martinez, and is about ten English miles in circumference; the
+tobacco grown on the _Vuelta arriba_ is usually of inferior quality. In
+1856 there were in Cuba 10,000 plantations or _Vegas_, with a superficial
+area of 8000 _Caballerias_, (about 414 square miles, 1 Caballeria being
+equal to 160,371,041 English square yards, or 33,134 acres), cultivated by
+from 14,000 to 16,000 negro slaves. The total value of the capital
+employed in this branch of culture (including manual labour, building
+utensils, draught animals, &c.) may be estimated at 13,000,000 piasters
+(L2,730,000), and the average weight of tobacco produced at a million and
+a half _arrobas_, or 37,500,000 lbs. annually. Of this quantity 400,000
+_arrobas_, or 10,000,000 lbs., are consumed in Cuba itself, while the rest
+is exported partly in the leaf, partly in the manufactured state. One
+_Caballeria_ of ground can produce on the average about 360 _arrobas_, or
+9000 lbs., of which however only 1/20th will be of superior quality.
+
+"A '_vega_' usually consists of three _Caballerias_, which are in regular
+succession devoted to the tobacco cultivation, so that while two are
+devoted to maize and other vegetables for human subsistence, only the
+remaining third is under tobacco. The season for sowing is in October or
+November, and the crop is got in in January or February. On one
+_Caballeria_ there are usually found under favourable circumstances
+500,000 plants or _Matas_. Hence it results, that as the tobacco culture
+of Cuba extends over 8000 _Caballerias_, there are throughout the island
+4,000,000,000 plants. Each plant has from 8 to 10 suitable leaves. They
+are collected together in bundles, called _manojos_ (handfuls), of from
+120 to 130 leaves each, and 80 _manojos_ make one _tercio_, or 150 lbs. of
+tobacco. One _manojo_ weighs about 1-1/4 lbs., and when prepared
+makes into about 400 cigars. There are in Cuba altogether 600
+cigar-manufactories, of which above 400 are in the capital alone. A
+workman can make about 150 cigars a day; the rate of pay is about 10
+Spanish piasters or _duros_ for 1000. The manufacture of cigars gives
+employment to about 20,000 workmen, chiefly males. Under the designation
+of _Tabagueros_, they constitute almost an exclusive class, and owing to
+their improvidence are usually in wretched plight. In Cuba (as in Luzon)
+there is but one species of tobacco raised, but more attention seems to be
+paid to its cultivation in the former island. The leaves are sorted in
+Cuba according to colour and 'vein' (_venas_), and their quality fixed
+accordingly. In commerce there are three sorts, viz.--
+
+  No. I. 42 to 45 Spanish piasters (L6 15_s._ to L7 5_s._) per 1000.
+     II. 32         "       "      (L5)                          "
+    III. 28         "       "      (L4 10_s._)                   "
+
+The number of cigars annually exported from the Havanna averages from
+200,000,000 to 250,000,000, without including the _ramos_, or tobacco
+exported in the leaf. The cedar-tree (_Cedrela odorata_), of which the
+cigar-boxes are chiefly made, is occasionally prejudicial to the contents,
+in consequence of the slight dampness still remaining in the wood bringing
+out white spots of decay upon the tips of the cigars."
+
+[97] The United States of North America produce above 200,000 cwt., or
+more than one half the whole supply. The annual consumption of tobacco by
+the individual is in the United States 3-1/2 lbs., in England 1 lb. and
+1/2 oz., in France 1 lb. 1-1/2 oz., and in Germany 2 lbs.
+
+[98] The experiments made at Fort St. George near Madras in July, 1850,
+with lines and rigging made of abaca and European hemp, with the view of
+testing their respective availability, gave the following interesting
+results: a rope of Manila hemp, 12 feet long, 3-1/4 inches in
+circumference, and weighing 28-11/16 oz., required a strain of 4460 lbs.
+to break it: on the other hand a rope of English hemp of similar
+dimensions, weighing 39 oz., broke with a strain of only 3885 lbs. A
+second smaller rope of Manila hemp, 1-3/4 inches thick, and 9-1/2 oz.
+weight, also 12 feet in length, required 1490 lbs. to break it, while an
+exactly similar cord of English and Russian hemp, weighing 13 oz. per
+fathom, broke with 1184 lbs., so that in the first instance the abaca line
+was 13 per cent., and in the second nearly 22 per cent. stronger than
+ropes of similar size of European hemp.
+
+[99] Compare with Forbes Royle's valuable treatise upon Manila hemp,
+entitled "The Fibrous Plants of India fitted for cordage, clothing, and
+paper." London, 1855.
+
+[100] The best Manila hemp is worth from 4-1/2 to 6 dollars per Spanish
+_picul_=140 lbs. Cordage made by steam power of the various dimensions,
+from half to one inch thick, sells at 25, and from one to five inches
+thick, at 10, piasters per _picul_.
+
+[101] The fabrics known by the name of _Sinamay_ are on the other hand
+made of the fibres of the _Musa textilis_. They are of less gossamer
+tissue, but almost transparent, and far more durable than the fabrics made
+from the Pina.
+
+[102] According to Buzeta the Lagoon is 36 Spanish leagues in
+circumference, by an average depth of 15 to 16 _brazos_ (fathoms). While
+thirteen rivers of various dimensions flow into the lake, the Pasig alone
+issues from it, to carry off its waters to the sea.
+
+[103] Pronounce Mahayhay.
+
+[104] The size attained by the alligator or cayman in the Laguna de Bay
+borders on the incredible. Baron Von Huegel, in his work already referred
+to, tells of a French settler in _Jalla-Jalla_ (pronounce Halla-Halla),
+who assured him that he had once killed an alligator, whose head alone
+weighed 250 lbs., while the body was 10 feet in circumference! It lay
+buried in the sluice at the mouth of a river, and it proved so difficult
+to get it brought to land and cut up, that only the head was severed by
+way of trophy, and brought home to his house.
+
+[105] Cabeza, the head, whence it is further applied to express "chief,"
+or "chieftain."
+
+[106] Another description of tax is the compulsory labour exacted from the
+natives, which is expended in the construction of roads and bridges,
+transmission of mail matter, transport of military baggage, luggage of
+travellers, &c. &c.
+
+[107] These joss-sticks, by the Chinese called "shi-shin-hiang," burn,
+when lighted, so slowly and regularly, that the Chinese often use them to
+mark the divisions of time.
+
+[108] The church was utterly ruined, and a large portion of the buildings
+are similarly in a most desolate, neglected condition. A hope was however
+expressed that in the following year, 1859, members of the Society of
+Jesus would come from Europe to settle in the Philippines, who would
+include among their other labours that of rebuilding their own cloister.
+
+[109] The graceful elegance of the Conchylia brought from Manila is so
+remarkable that an English ship captain, who, without a special knowledge
+of the matter, brought on speculation a freight of mussels from the
+Philippines to Europe, not only made by their sale an enormous profit, but
+even attained in consequence to a certain degree of celebrity in the
+scientific world!
+
+[110] Unfortunately the students of Natural Science have met with but
+little encouragement or support from Government, and many parts of the
+interior still remain a sealed book to them, or are only accessible under
+great difficulties. The deficiency of definite information respecting the
+island attracts foreign naturalists thither, and of late there have been
+exploring it, M. M. Feodor Jagor of Berlin, Dr. Karl Semper of Hamburg,
+and La Porte of Paris, all intent on matters connected with the natural
+history of this Archipelago, but the majority of such visitants come back
+discontented and thoroughly undeceived to land, where all activity of
+scientific inquiry is allowed reluctantly, and regarded by the Government
+and the priests with an envious eye.
+
+[111] A Chinese sailor, on being asked why his vessel had an eye painted
+on its bulwark, replied in Canton-English, "Suppose no hab eye, how can
+see?"
+
+
+                   [Illustration: Life in Hong-kong.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV.
+
+                               Hong-kong.
+
+             Duration of Stay from 5th to 18th July, 1858.
+
+    Rapid increase of the colony of Victoria or Hong-kong.--
+    Disagreeables.--Public character.--The Comprador, or
+    "fac-totum."--A Chinese fortune-teller.--Curiosity-stalls.--The
+    To-stone.--Pictures on so-called rice-paper.--Canton-English.--
+    Notices on the Chinese language and mode of writing.--
+    Manufacture of ink.--Hospitality of German missionaries.--The
+    custom of exposing and murdering female children.--Method of
+    dwarfing the female foot.--Sir John Bowring.--Branch Institute
+    of the Royal Asiatic Society.--An ecclesiastical dignitary on
+    the study of natural sciences.--The Chinese in the East Indies.--
+    Green indigo or Lu-Kao.--Kind reception by German countrymen.--
+    Anthropometrical measurements.--Ramble to Little Hong-kong.--
+    Excursion to Canton on board H.M. gun-boat Algerine.--A day at
+    the English head-quarters.--The Treaty of Tien-Tsin.--Visit to
+    the Portuguese settlement of Macao.--Herr von Carlowitz.--
+    Camoens' Grotto.--Church for Protestants.--Pagoda Makok.--Dr.
+    Kane.--Present position of the colony.--Slave-trade revived
+    under the name of Chinese emigration.--Excursions round Macao.--
+    The Isthmus.--Chinese graves.--Praya Granite.--A Chinese
+    physician.--Singing stones.--Departure.--Gutzlaff's Island.--
+    Voyage to the Yang-tse-Kiang.--Wusung.--Arrival at Shanghai.
+
+
+Victoria, the name by which the settlement situate on the north side of
+the island of Hong-kong is known in official documents, strongly recalls
+another renowned British possession, Gibraltar. A mere uninviting granite
+rock of about 9 miles in length, 8 in breadth, and 26 in circumference,
+Hong-kong, situate as it is at the mouth of the Canton River, is one of
+the best harbours in the Chinese Empire. Owing to the barren, treeless
+surface, which consists for the most part of chains of hills, the highest
+point of which is 1825 feet above sea-level, with narrow valleys between,
+and a small extent of level ground around the bay, hardly a twentieth part
+of its surface is adapted to agriculture. The modern cheerful town,
+thoroughly European in character, has within these few years rapidly
+attained large dimensions, and its numerous palatial structures speak
+volumes for the wealth and prosperity of the residents. The buildings of
+the colony rise terrace-like one above another, and extend in rows all
+along the steep slope of the granite, for a distance of nearly three
+miles. Besides the population inhabiting the town, many thousand Chinese
+of the very lowest class with their wives and children live here in small
+boats year after year, so that the total population of the island amounts
+to about 80,000 souls.
+
+Twenty years back Hong-kong was but an insignificant place. Only since the
+peace of Nangking in 1842, which shook to its foundation the exclusive
+system till then prevalent, and among other important advantages secured
+the island of Hong-kong to the English, besides bringing into the
+community of nations the huge unwieldy empire with its 400,000,000,
+occupying 78 degrees of longitude and 38 of latitude, has it been
+developed into the most important business centre of China. It became an
+emporium for all European manufactures, as well as for all produce from
+the interior, which is shipped hence to the various marts of the world.
+Unfortunately the period at which the flag of the great Mandjing, or
+Double Eagle, as the Chinese call Austria, was for the first time unfurled
+on the shores of the Celestial Kingdom proved most unsuitable for
+scientific observation. While in the interior a variety of circumstances
+seriously threatened the stability of the throne of the reigning dynasty,
+the flames of war were once more breaking out along the coast also, and
+adding to the confusion and distress of the Chinese diplomatists. In the
+present war the English were for the first time in these waters fighting
+side by side with the French, while the Russians and North Americans were
+cautiously maintaining an observant, but none the less on that account
+menacing attitude. The hatred and animosity of the Chinese populace,
+stirred up by their own authorities, was continually goaded to increasing
+fury with each new victory of the "red-haired barbarians." The Chinese
+bakers in Hong-kong had devised the cruel expedient of poisoning the bread
+purchased by the English, and thus avenging themselves on the foe more
+fatally and more certainly than by Chinese weapons. Even while walking in
+the neighbourhood one's life was not safe, and even the usually not very
+easily terrified Englishman was now begirt with "revolvers," when he rode
+forth of an afternoon with his wife, or was taken in a sedan-chair to a
+friend's house of an evening.
+
+Shortly before our arrival, the captain of a merchantman, while taking a
+walk outside the city, was set upon by some Chinese, robbed, and so
+severely maltreated that he expired of the injuries he received. So too
+the clerk of a mercantile house had been picked up just outside the city
+weltering in his blood and pierced with a number of wounds from a dagger,
+the murderer in this case also evading detection. An attempt was even made
+against the life of the Governor, Sir John Bowring, which was only
+frustrated through the vigilance of the sentinel, who discharged his piece
+at the scoundrels just as, favoured by night, they were stealing over the
+walls of the Government-house, with the view of creeping through the
+garden as far as Sir John's cabinet.
+
+Even in the most ordinary domestic matters might be traced the same
+relentless hostility on the part of the Chinese, and the state of affairs
+was becoming every day more intolerable to the European residents. All the
+domestic servants at Hong-kong are Chinese, who come hither from the
+nearest provinces of the mainland, in order to benefit by the rate of
+wages paid by the "foreign barbarian." The Chinese officials, vying with
+each other in every possible method of showing their implacable hatred to
+the strangers and to embitter their life in China, now issued an order to
+all the Chinese resident in Hong-kong to quit the island and return to
+their native country. This ordinance would assuredly have been disregarded
+by most of the resident Chinese of the Middle Empire, had not any
+violation of the Imperial rescripts been visited with such appalling
+consequences. For by the Draconic laws of the Empire, the family of the
+criminal expiate his offence, should he take to flight and get beyond the
+reach of the arm of Chinese justice. For any such absentee from justice,
+some other member of the family is substituted, who may be still on the
+spot; as for instance, the father, mother, or brother, who is punished
+exactly as though he had in person been guilty of the crime or
+misdemeanour. With such terrific means of repressing disobedience
+impending over him, no Chinese would venture to set at defiance the orders
+of the Mandarins; and accordingly, during the summer of 1858, 10,000
+Chinese returned home at once; others, who did not dare to return, but
+could not endure that the ruthless doom should be executed upon their
+relatives, committed suicide. The position of European ladies in Hong-kong
+became anything but enviable, as they had at a moment's notice to take up
+the pot-ladle for themselves, and get through the various fatiguing
+details of their households with what skill they could. Moreover there was
+good ground for apprehension that the Mandarins might cut off all
+communications with the neighbouring provinces, which move, as the greater
+part of the every-day necessaries of life are supplied from the mainland,
+might have exposed the population of Hong-kong to the severest straits.
+
+Under these circumstances any more remote excursions, or visits to the
+adjacent mainland, were of course impossible. We had to confine our
+investigations to the island itself, there to collect what memoranda we
+could, and see as much of the island and its inhabitants as the shortness
+of our stay and the prevailing disorders might admit.
+
+Life in Hong-kong has already a strong leaven of western civilization.
+Only in the narrowest streets does the visitor come upon examples of the
+genuine Chinese type. Most of the natives even inhabit houses built in the
+European style, so that one feels as though in a European city inhabited
+by a Chinese population, the latter having however greatly altered from
+its originality. Only very few types of Chinese popular life are met with
+in this English colony. Of these characters the most interesting and
+unique is the _Comprador_ (_Mai-pau_), a sort of factotum, whom no
+household can dispense with, and whose importance only those can
+adequately do justice to who have lived some time in the country. The
+Comprador, or _shroff_, is the soul, the good or evil genius, of the
+house: he sees to all sorts of purchases, manages the domestic economy,
+and maintains order and discipline in the house and household. The entire
+domestic control is exclusively lodged in his hands, to that extent that
+even the master and mistress of the house may not, without consulting the
+Comprador, dismiss one of the servants or engage a new one. For all that
+goes on, the latter is responsible. He has to answer for the honesty of
+the servants, and must replace anything that may have gone amissing from
+the house inventory. If the family leave their house for any time, the
+Comprador is informed of the place where the most valuable articles are
+deposited, where they are more likely to be found in proper order on their
+return than by any other device. Even during the late war, in which the
+feeling of the Chinese to the Europeans was anything but friendly, the
+Comprador held to his fidelity, and was as useful as ever. In view of the
+actual state of matters, a traveller must feel no little astonishment at
+beholding the doors and windows of the private dwelling-houses everywhere
+wide open, and valuable articles lying exposed in the various apartments.
+As however the Comprador himself must get a number of bails to become
+responsible for him, and as the post is a very profitable one, it follows
+that there are but few cases of dishonesty in this singular profession. It
+is especially remarkable that few of the populace seem to be as hostile to
+the strangers as the Mandarins, and all the numerous annoyances inflicted
+on the latter are invariably to be traced to the intrigues of the Chinese
+authorities. How else would it be possible for a couple of hundred
+Europeans to rule a colony in which are 80,000 Chinese, and which moreover
+is dependent upon the mainland for the very first necessities of life?
+
+The Comprador receives for all his services and attentions no higher pay
+than from 12 to 15 dollars a month, besides support for himself and
+family. This however is not his sole income, as every tradesman must give
+the Comprador a per-centage upon everything, even the most insignificant
+article that enters the house, and this custom even extends to any
+purchases made by a Chinese in the warehouses of the foreign merchant.
+
+Another "public character," whom one frequently meets in the lower parts
+of the city in the public streets of the Chinese quarter, is the
+"soothsayer." On a small table before him stands an open draught-board
+with a number of squares, on which are inscribed a variety of proverbs and
+oracular sayings. In each square is a grain of rice, and quite close to
+the board is a bird-cage with a tame canary. Presently some good-humoured
+gaping rustic comes up, who wishes to learn his destiny, upon which the
+soothsayer suffers the canary to hop out of his cage upon one of the
+squares, and pick up a grain of rice _ad libitum_. The sentences and
+interpretations, which are inscribed on each square from which the canary
+snaps up his food serve for a reply and decision to the curious
+questioner, who hands over a small _honorarium_. The apparatus is simple
+and ingenious, but the proverbs are excessively silly, and recall much
+less the land of Confucius than the dream-books of certain countries
+standing high in European civilization.
+
+The stores which seem most to attract the attention of a stranger are the
+"Curiosity-shops," in which are heaped up those innumerable articles of
+Chinese industry and Chinese taste which are so characteristic of the
+country and its inhabitants. Here the eye rests upon objects of the most
+bizarre shapes, which in material design and execution are totally unlike
+anything the European sees elsewhere; workmanship in wood and stone, that
+illustrates in a remarkable manner the extraordinary patience of the
+artisan, such as drinking-cups, barrels, frames, cut all in one piece, and
+beautifully carved, elegant fancy articles of horn, stone,
+mother-of-pearl, ivory, roots of trees, metal, or wood, vases and dishes,
+statuettes in copper and clay, woven portraits, embroidery, &c. &c.
+
+Among all these various manufactures, one especially remarks those
+prepared from a leek-green, slimy-feeling stone (nephrite), which is in
+much request among the Chinese, and is highly valued. The Chinese name,
+Yo, from which in all probability is derived the French name _Jade_, does
+not indicate however a peculiar species, but is used for all sorts of
+carved stone-work and gems, while the most valuable one is called by the
+Chinese the "mutton-fat" stone. The articles prepared of what is named
+steatite, or soap-stone, are largely used in commerce, but are of very
+small value, and usually cut only in very clumsy figures.
+
+But these manufactures make much less impression upon the stranger than
+the beautiful pictures of the Chinese artists upon rice-paper, a peculiar
+branch of art, cultivated by the Chinese alone, and which as yet has never
+been successfully imitated in any other country. The most exquisite
+specimens of these are sent to Canton, but among the Chinese in Hong-kong
+we saw several beautiful works in this style of painting. The common
+designation of rice-paper has led to the erroneous idea that the substance
+of which these pictures are made is manufactured from the leaves of the
+rice-plant, whereas it is prepared from the pith of an entirely different
+plant (_Aralia papyrifera_), which grows in Funan and Tukun. The marrow is
+steeped for some time in water, after which it is split by means of very
+keen sharp knives into thin leaves, which are then subjected to gentle
+pressure. The largest are about a foot square, and are reserved almost
+exclusively for pictures, the shreds and inferior sorts alone being used
+for the manufacture of artificial flowers. We saw portraits of the Emperor
+and Empress, of the rebel leader, Tai-ping, of the notorious Yeh,
+ex-governor of Canton, and other well-known or conspicuous personages.
+Latterly there has sprung up a strong tendency among the Chinese artists
+to daguerreotypes and photographs in miniature upon ivory; and in the
+_ateliers_ of Hong-kong a number of artists were engaged in this, at
+present the most profitable branch of Chinese artistic skill.
+
+In all these shops the medium of trade is what is called Canton-English,
+less a dialect than a confused jargon of English and Chinese words,
+consisting of concessions made on either side to the grammar and idiom of
+the other, so as the more readily to comprehend each other. A few Spanish
+and Portuguese words have also crept in, recalling the former relations of
+these countries with China. All English words ending in _e_ mute have in
+this gibberish an _i_ attached to them, as also all other words whatever.
+Thus they say _timi_, _housi_, _pieci_, _coachi_, _cooki_, &c. &c. There
+are certain Chinese, especially in Canton, who pick up a living by
+initiating young country folks, who are about entering service in English
+mercantile houses, in this singular language. Curious and unpleasant as
+this Chinese English dialect sounds in the ears of strangers, it is found
+greatly to facilitate intercourse with the Chinese, in consequence of the
+immense difficulties attending the study of Chinese, so that most
+Europeans find it far more comfortable to master this jargon, which is not
+without some influence on the spread of English in the chief commercial
+cities, than to occupy themselves with mastering Chinese. The language
+spoken by the sons of the "middle kingdom" consists of 450 monosyllabic
+sounds, which by various delicate differences in accentuation may increase
+to about 1600. The slight, and to unaccustomed ears almost inappreciable,
+shades of aspiration and accentuation, are the main difficulty in the way
+of foreigners desirous of learning the Chinese language.
+
+To learn the written characters is equally arduous, and requires not less
+time and perseverance; for this does not consist of a number of letters,
+the varying arrangement of which constitutes words, but of 40,000 more or
+less complicated signs, each of which expresses a whole word. They are
+rude forms, representing most imperfectly ideas and material objects;[112]
+however, the knowledge of 4000 to 6000 such signs, with their various
+significations, suffices to understand most of the common Chinese books.
+These singular hieroglyphics are not written horizontally but vertically.
+Moreover, the Chinese begin from the right side, so that, directly the
+reverse of the European custom, the title of a Chinese book is found on
+the first page, the leaf furthest to the right hand. Long ago, the
+Chinese, like most other Asiatic nations at the present day, wrote with
+metal _styli_ upon split leaves of bamboo. Ever since the third century
+before Christ, however, when the art was invented of making paper from the
+rind of the mulberry tree and the bamboo-cane, and preparing pin-soot,
+glair, musk, glue, Indian ink[113] (meh), and other substances, the
+pencil has taken the place of the graver. The hieroglyphics now made on
+paper are softer, more elegant, and in distinctness of outline admit
+greater varieties of form. Most of the Chinese whom we saw engaged in
+writing formed the most complicated characters with great celerity and
+ease upon the thin paper, and without the firm strokes losing anything of
+their neatness and clearness of outline.
+
+Among the various scientific objects recommended as important objects of
+inquiry to the members of the Expedition, during their visit to China, by
+the renowned sinologue Dr. Pfitzmaier, was the obtaining of rare Chinese
+books, and the elucidation of certain ethnographic and linguistic
+questions. Whatever was achieved by us in throwing light upon these
+matters is due in great measure to the cordial reception with which we
+were received by men of science resident at Hong-kong. Especially we would
+name in this respect Dr. M. Lobscheid, a German by birth, a missionary and
+inspector of schools, who, thoroughly conversant with the Chinese
+language, exerted himself to the utmost in forwarding the objects of the
+scientific corps, besides assisting us in the purchase of a variety of the
+most valuable Chinese works, and giving us much interesting information
+respecting the country and the inhabitants. Dr. Lobscheid himself has a
+well-selected, valuable, and extensive library of rare Chinese works on
+geography, natural science, history, philology, and numismatics, and
+presented a number of valuable gifts to the Expedition. One of his
+colleagues, Dr. Ph. Winnes, also a German, and a missionary from the
+Mission Society of Bale, compiled for us a list of words of the Hakka
+dialect, as spoken in the interior of the province of Quang-Tung, hitherto
+so little known philologically. It is indeed astonishing what English, and
+German, and American missionaries have effected as publicists, during the
+short period they have been resident here. The educational and religious
+works published in Chinese at the expense of the various religious
+societies form already quite a respectable literature of themselves,
+although the Chinese language puts as many obstacles in the way of mere
+Christian civilization as in that of the propagation of the Evangile
+itself. Most of the missionaries consider any attempt to substitute Romish
+for Chinese characters as being quite vain. The indistinctness of Chinese
+signs has already been fruitful of much controversy among the missionaries
+themselves. Thus, for example, those engaged in promulgating the Christian
+faith are not as yet agreed by what Chinese word the God of Christianity
+may best be indicated. The Roman Catholic missionaries write _Tientschu_
+(the Highest of all things); the English and German Protestants use the
+sign _Schang-Ti_ (the Most High); the American Protestants make use of the
+word _Schin_ (Spirit). These varieties of opinion as to the mode of
+expressing the idea of "God," have given rise to a vast number of
+publications, which however have unfortunately tended rather to envenom
+the dispute than smooth the way to a common understanding.
+
+Conspicuous, however, as are the services of the missionaries in the
+publication and diffusion of useful and moral books in the Chinese
+language, their direct efforts have, on the other hand, been attended with
+but limited results hitherto, and although it is always laid down as an
+axiom in the books and manifestoes of the Tai-Ping insurgents, that the
+doctrines of Christianity, as deduced from the writings of the Missionary
+Societies, are the leading principle of the movement, yet, as set forth
+and promulgated by the insurgent chiefs, they cannot be said to deserve
+recognition by any known form of Christianity.
+
+As in their religion, so in their mode of life, and their national
+customs, the Chinese remain stiff-necked and obstinate, and in this
+direction also Christianity is in but few cases capable of mitigating
+their frequently barbarous customs. Children in China are constantly
+exposed in large numbers, and that not owing to poverty, but from
+indifference to the female children. One Chinese woman who at present
+professes Christianity, and is a member of the Bale missionary community,
+has herself killed eight female children whom she had herself carried in
+her womb! Dr. Lobscheid informed us that he was personally cognizant of
+one case, where a Chinese mother-in-law, irritated at the birth of a
+female child, murdered it before its mother's eyes, almost immediately
+after it had come into the world, and this in a rather well-to-do family!
+Young mothers often lay their children down in the open field, or on the
+sea-beach, watching anxiously if any one takes it away, or till a wave
+mercifully sweeps it off. One such infant, accidentally found by some of
+the crew of the English frigate _Nankin_, and tended with all the
+tender-heartedness of Jack when he finds an object of compassion, is at
+present in the German Mission House at Hong-kong, and was baptized in the
+cathedral by the chaplain of the frigate, who gave her the name of
+Victoria Nankin. Other mothers endeavour to choke the new-born girl with
+moistened ashes, which, not unfrequently with caressing hand, they lay
+upon the mouth of the little unconscious innocent. Male children, on the
+other hand, even such as are crippled or deformed, are very seldom, indeed
+quite exceptionally, exposed or put to death. In proportion to the harsh
+treatment which the female offspring experience, is the pride and anxious
+carefulness which wait on the male children. Indeed the Chinese are very
+much in the habit of having several wives, simply because by so doing they
+of course have a better chance of a number of male offspring, and it very
+frequently happens that the lawful wife of a Chinaman, if she has
+continued any length of time childless, will even seek out and bring to
+her husband a concubine by whom he may have heirs, that is, _sons_.[114]
+In such cases the two wives usually continue on the best of terms, which
+cannot be said of those instances where the second or third wife is
+introduced into the family by the husband, without the intervention of his
+wife. According to the old Chinese law, the man had to be thirty, the
+woman twenty, before marriage. At present marriages, as a rule, are made
+between sixteen and twenty years of age. It may be assumed that one in
+every fifteen Chinese has more than one wife; the first, usually known as
+"number one," is generally taken from inclination, whereas the rest are
+usually bought, the price varying, according to their youth and beauty,
+from 100 to 600 dollars. This custom gives rise to quite a peculiar trade.
+Chinese women make a practice of purchasing for themselves from the poorer
+classes such of the female children as are of good health and well formed,
+whom they bring up with great care, with the view of selling them, when
+grown up, to the wealthy Chinese, and even sometimes to--European
+residents.[115] The custom of child-murder is most prevalent in the coast
+districts of the province of Fo-kien, so that latterly there was a
+positive scarcity of women, and marriageable girls had to be imported from
+the northern part of the province. The prevalence of this custom of
+child-murder in these localities is to be ascribed to the enormous
+migration of the male population to Siam, to the islands of the Malay
+Archipelago, and other points. These emigrants supply the labour market in
+foreign countries, and but seldom return to their families. Numerous
+placards and pamphlets, pointing out the enormity of child-murder, and
+dissuading from its commission, are printed annually, partly at the cost
+of philanthropists, partly at that of the Chinese Government, and widely
+diffused, yet without producing any diminution in the practice of this
+appalling custom.
+
+The custom of distorting the feet of the better class of women at the
+period of their birth, seems to have arisen from the jealousy of the
+husbands, who in thus preventing the possibility of gadding about, think
+they have secured an additional guarantee for the fidelity and chastity of
+their wives. However, one occasionally hears the first introduction of
+this singular and cruel custom ascribed to a Chinese empress having once
+been born with such distortion of the feet, and that in consequence it not
+only became the fashion among the females of the higher class in those
+days, out of pure obsequiousness, to imitate by artificial means a
+disfiguration accidentally arising from a freak of Nature, but even to
+recognize it as a necessary concomitant of the Chinese ideal of beauty.
+
+The Governor of Hong-kong, Sir John Bowring, a distinguished _savant_, who
+received the members of the Expedition with the utmost consideration,
+invited them to his house and endeavoured to bring them into personal
+communication with those residents in the colony most interested in
+scientific pursuits, so that each one of us could consult with the
+gentleman best able to advise him in his own department, and thus attain
+in the shortest time the most satisfactory results. Sir John, moreover, as
+President of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, admitted the
+members of the Expedition to the honours of an extraordinary session. He
+welcomed the Austrian naturalists in the heartiest manner, and expressed
+the most flattering anticipations from their visit. Very deserving of
+remark was the speech made on this occasion by the Lord Bishop of
+Hong-kong. In his capacity of a dignitary of the Church, he too bade us
+welcome in the warmest manner, and expressed his conviction that
+Christianity had nothing to fear, but only to hope, from the study of
+natural sciences! What would certain ultramontanists, had they been
+present, have replied to this remark of a high ecclesiastical
+dignitary?--they who consider government impossible without restricting
+the study of the natural sciences!
+
+Among the various subjects discussed at this meeting were several of great
+interest, which sufficiently evidenced what a thorough disposition to
+mental activity the English show, even in a place where material interests
+are necessarily the main objects of attention, and where they, moreover,
+are continually exposed to great personal danger.
+
+One of the communications received by the Society was a memoir by Mr. W.
+Alabaster, who had accompanied ex-governor Yeh to Calcutta as interpreter,
+treating of the Chinese population there, and its influence on the state
+of society. The memoir contained the very remarkable statement that the
+Chinese colony in Calcutta, which in 1858 counted little more than 500
+souls, had not alone monopolized several employments, such as shoemakers,
+tailors, &c., but had, even when thousands of miles distant from home,
+jealously maintained several of their customs and rites intact. This
+Chinese community, so inconsiderable in point of mere numbers, already
+possesses its own temple, its own priests, and its own teachers, who guard
+any Chinese immigrants from the perils of proselytism; it has founded a
+special association, whose object it is to transmit to their native land
+the bodies of such as die abroad, while their luxury is beginning to
+develope itself to the extent of ordering from China at considerable
+expense troops of actors, so as even at this distance to provide
+themselves with the national amusement of a genuine Sing-Song. This
+peculiarity is of great importance, inasmuch as the emigration from China
+is ever assuming more extended dimensions, and already embraces several
+portions of the world. We find Chinese scattered throughout Eastern Asia,
+in Australia, in California, in Peru, in Brazil, in the West Indies, and,
+what is very astonishing they thrive and prosper at most places they
+visit, despite the not very humane treatment they receive, and the
+wretched, desolate state in which they leave their homes. This enormous
+emigration of the sons of the Flowery Land seems destined to be of immense
+importance, and to be fraught with momentous influence upon the future of
+the other Asiatic populations, whom the Chinese greatly excel in capacity
+for work, mechanical dexterity, and dogged perseverance. Even the
+religious movement gives the Chinese certain advantages over all other
+nations of the Asiatic type of civilization. The Hindoo, like the
+Catholic, has numbers of festivals, which greatly diminish the number of
+his actual working days; the daily ceremonies prescribed by Brahminism
+further curtail the most precious hours of labour; his exclusively
+vegetarian food not alone prevents the proper development of his muscular
+power, but also by its ostentatiously morbid delicacy, brings him
+constantly into collision with the social order of a Christian household.
+The Chinese, on the other hand, keeps but one holiday-time, the beginning
+of the new year, which he celebrates for fourteen days without
+intermission. But the remaining 11-1/2 months of the year are for him but
+one long day of work. Moreover, the Chinese has no fastidious notions
+about his food. He eats pork, and drinks wine, and prefers fat meat to
+meagre fruit diet, thoroughly unrestrained by any considerations as to
+whether such a mode of life accords with the institutes of Brahma and
+Menu, or the teaching of Confucius. Their sobriety, their capacity, their
+industry, their frugal mode of life, and their numbers, all seem to
+indicate the Chinese as destined to play an important part, not alone in
+the development of the Oriental nations, but also in the history of
+mankind. They are, as a German philosopher has profoundly remarked, the
+Greeks and Romans of Eastern Asia, and they will, if once hurried onwards
+by the great tide of Christian civilization, perform such feats as to
+fill even the nations of the old world with wonder and amazement.
+
+Another communication, made during the same meeting of this meritorious
+branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong-kong, related to that singular
+plant, which has within the last few years excited so much attention in
+industrial circles throughout Europe under the name of "Green dye," or
+"Vert Chinois." Notwithstanding the experiments hitherto made with this
+valuable dye, and the excellent use which has been made of it, more
+especially by the Chamber of Commerce at Lyons, the first in Europe to
+make application of the new colour, there was yet much to be learned
+respecting the mode of raising and manufacturing it, in order to render
+its employment entirely practicable. The elegant pamphlet of the Lyons
+Chamber of Commerce[116] had just arrived from Europe, and led to a
+variety of interesting investigations. Nothing was known in Hong-kong
+respecting the plant beyond what was already contained in Robert Fortune's
+excellent work and Rondot's treatise. Somewhat later, we were furnished
+with more accurate and circumstantial information respecting the Lu-Kao,
+the well-known "Green dye" of the English (a species of _Rhamnus_ or
+buckthorn), which we shall here transcribe pretty fully.[117]
+
+Lu-Kao is grown chiefly in the northern provinces, extensive plantations
+of this valuable plant existing in the country around Foo-Chow and the
+environs of the city of Haening. The valuable green dye matter is
+obtained, however, from the rind, not of one but of two species _Rhamnus_,
+of which the "yellow" grows on the flats, the "white" on the high-grounds
+in a wild state. The preparation of the substance, which does not differ
+much in appearance from common indigo, is exceedingly primitive. Both
+plants are boiled for a considerable time in iron kettles, the yellow
+deposit or _residuum_ being suffered to remain undisturbed for several
+days. Transferred thence into earthen vessels, a piece of cotton cloth is
+steeped into it five or six times, after which the adherent dye is wrung
+out, and exposed a second time to the process of boiling in iron pans. The
+next step in the manipulation consists in permitting the dye stuff, which
+now has much more consistence, to be soaked up by some pieces of cotton,
+when it is once more washed, sprinkled upon thin paper, and, lastly,
+exposed for some time to the sun.
+
+The Chinese have as yet only used the dye for colouring cloths of coarse
+texture; all attempts hitherto to apply it to silks, &c., have proved
+fruitless. But the great development of chemical science in Europe
+justifies us in expecting that a method will ere long be devised for
+fixing this beautiful, durable light green tint, which does not alter even
+in candlelight, upon fabrics of fine smooth texture, and thus greatly
+enhance its value in the industrial arts. The Lu-Kao has from time
+immemorial been used by the Chinese in watercolour paintings, but its use
+in industrial processes only dates from about 20 years back. The very
+price charged for the small quantities hitherto brought from China, is by
+no means natural, but seems to have been artificially forced up by
+speculation, apparently in consequence of an unusual demand. In Foo-Chow
+the price of one Catti, about 1-3/4 lbs., is 20 _Taels_, or about L6
+10_s._ Were the production of this dye stuff really so expensive, we may
+be sure it would not be made use of by the Chinese for their ordinary
+stuffs, nor could these be sold as cheap as they are. We have found our
+opinion confirmed by competent observers in various parts of China, that
+this valuable product is susceptible of being acclimatized in Europe, and
+of being cultivated with profit, especially in those places where,
+together with favourable conditions of temperature and soil, the wages of
+labour are not too high.
+
+Like the English authorities and Government officials, our German
+fellow-countrymen, resident in Hong-kong, did not fail to exercise their
+hospitality for the benefit of the associates of the Expedition, and we
+cannot sufficiently express our obligations to the Austrian Consul, Mr. G.
+Wiener, and the Prussian vice-consul, Mr. Gustav Oberbeck, for their
+delicate attention. The latter presented the Expedition with a number of
+articles interesting as illustrating the advances of civilization, which
+he had obtained during the siege of Canton, in Dec. 1857, and of which the
+greater part have since been deposited at the Imperial Cabinet of
+Antiquities at Vienna.
+
+Through the kindness and interest of Dr. Harland (since deceased),
+surgeon-in-chief of the colony, some of the members of the Expedition were
+enabled to make corporeal measurements in the great prison, the inmates of
+which come from the most various parts of the empire, as well as in the
+hospital, upon a number of individuals of either sex, all "fair specimens
+of the Chinese race," as Dr. Harland assured them, the results of which
+will be found in the anthropological section of the _Novara_ publications.
+
+Before the frigate left Hong-kong, despite the insecurity of public
+affairs, several excursions were made to the south side of the island, to
+Canton, and to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, which proved as
+interesting as they were satisfactory.
+
+In the course of their peregrinations about the mountains on the island,
+as far as the fishing village on the south side of the island, known as
+Little Hong-kong (sweet-waters), the naturalists of the Expedition were
+accompanied by Dr. Hance, the botanist, and the missionary, Dr. Lobscheid,
+both thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language. Little as the pretty
+name of this small settlement, founded so far back as 1668, is applicable
+to the entire island, it yet corresponds well, and is eminently suitable,
+to the smiling valley, entirely shut in by lofty rocks, in which lies
+wretched Little Hong-kong. A beautiful wood filled with tufts of flowers,
+forming for the labours of the botanist a rich supply of the most splendid
+plants, and refreshed by copious springs of water from the mountains,
+constitute a lovely landscape. Above the limit of vegetation of the
+foliage trees, are seen on the slopes of the mountain groups of pines,
+while the level ground at the bottom of the valley is laid out in smiling
+rice fields. The miserable inhabitants of the village, which looks
+gloomily out from among the trees, are not safe from the predatory
+onslaughts of ferocious pirates, even among the recesses of the valley.
+The streets of the village, hidden between trees, are uncommonly narrow,
+so that two men can scarcely pass each other, and the huts are all placed
+on purpose close against each other, in order, we were told, to be able
+more easily to admit of defence. Our rambles were rewarded with an
+abundant collection of specimens, and were particularly instructive in a
+geognostical point of view, as satisfying us that the island does not
+consist entirely of granite, but that a large proportion of the mountain
+is porphyritic.
+
+Another excursion was made by the Commodore and some of his staff as far
+as Canton. The Commandant of the station, Commodore Stewart, had for this
+purpose placed the gun-boat _Algerine_ at our disposal. The distance from
+Hong-kong to Canton is about 87 nautical miles (100 statute miles), and
+the voyage took full eleven hours, viz. from 6.30 A.M. to 5.30 P.M.
+
+Canton, the third capital of the Chinese Empire, and its most flourishing
+commercial city, which but a short time before had numbered about
+1,000,000 inhabitants, was at this period a desolate, almost entirely
+abandoned mass of houses, half in ruins, half burnt. The stately European
+factories, which had adorned the banks of the river up to the walls of the
+Chinese city, were heaps of ashes. The floating town upon the river
+itself, the renowned flower-boats of Canton, with their marvellous
+splendour and their luxurious beauty, had entirely disappeared, leaving no
+trace. Whoever had anything to lose had fled the country. English
+sentinels patrolled the walls and occupied the streets of the interior of
+the city, and only the very poorest of the mob remained behind, watching
+every opportunity of getting the "head-money," which the Mandarins of the
+province of Kuang-Tung had offered for every head of a "barbarian" brought
+in. "The state of matters in Canton gets worse and worse every day," said
+the latest issue of the Hong-kong journals. Since the Americans and
+Russians had concluded private treaties with the Imperial Government, and
+the English and French allied fleet had gone north to the Gulf of
+Pe-Cheli, to treat at Tien-Tsin with the Imperial commissioners, the
+Chinese of Canton had been plucking up courage. They conceived the allies
+to be isolated; the Russians and the Americans they held to be hostile to
+them. The Mandarins and Imperial commissioners launched proclamations by
+the dozen at the "foreign devils,"[118] set on foot organized Guerilla
+bands, which were called "Braves," who every night discharged rockets
+into the city, murdered and pillaged, and kept the allied troops, who were
+only 3500 strong (800 of whom were in hospital) almost continually on the
+alert.
+
+When the gun-boat _Algerine_ arrived off Canton, the Commodore, although
+it was late in the evening, was accompanied by a military escort to the
+head-quarters of General Straubenzee, commander of the allied troops. A
+stillness as of a grave-yard reigned throughout the city, and not a light
+was to be seen. By 10.30 P.M. the Commodore reached the post, and was
+most hospitably received by the General. The head-quarters were situated
+on a hillock commanding the city, surrounded by the numerous buildings of
+a country-seat or _Yamun_, which had been the property of the father of
+Governor Yeh, who had acquired such notoriety during the recent warlike
+troubles. The ostentatious splendour of the apartments, the splendid ebony
+carved work, gave such an idea of the magnificence, the luxury, the
+gorgeousness of the Chinese princes, as can only be paralleled by what we
+read of the palaces of the emperors of ancient Rome. Yeh himself had by
+this time been removed from the political scene, and was a state prisoner
+in Calcutta, where he lived in more than monastic seclusion. To judge by
+his portrait, which was for sale in all the print-shops of Hong-kong, Yeh
+was a fine-looking man with energetic features, and an expression full of
+intellect, and, so far as his physical appearance went, seemed to take
+after his father, who in his ninety-second year was still tasting joys of
+paternity. In his own country, even among the Europeans, Yeh enjoys the
+reputation of being not only an able diplomatist, but a man of varied
+information as well. While at Hong-kong we were shown some large
+anatomical woodcuts, which Yeh had himself borrowed from a European work
+on anatomy, and published at his own cost on an enlarged scale,
+accompanied by a preface from his pen.[119]
+
+Even more extensive and elegant in its outward aspect than that of Yeh,
+was the palace of the Tartar general Pihkwei, now employed for barracks
+and the officers of the English and French commissariat, while a much less
+pretentious building had been assigned to the Tartar general for his
+present residence.
+
+The Commodore had reached head-quarters and was sitting at the tea-table
+with General Straubenzee, when an alarm of fire was heard. The "Braves"
+had fired a house close by in the hope, it should seem, that the flames
+would catch the barracks as well as the powder depot, or at all events
+compel the English to withdraw their troops from the post, and give an
+opportunity for inflicting some loss on them. Fortunately, however, what
+had been set on fire burned quite out, without fulfilling the
+anticipations of the "Braves."
+
+In the course of a stroll, which our Commodore took with the General
+somewhat later in the night, they perceived that the Chinese kept up a
+continual flight of rockets against the sentries and buildings of the
+post, from a small eminence not two hundred yards distant, which was
+provided with ramparts and cannon, and the Austrian guests greatly
+marvelled that no energetic steps were taken to obviate the disorders
+produced by these guerilla bands of Chinese, who every night with their
+incendiarism and fire-balls kept the city, the head-quarters, and the
+pickets in constant alarm, seeing that their inactivity only tended to
+animate the courage of the Chinese, while in such harassing service,
+unattended as it was with any results, their own forces, already very much
+reduced, were proportionately weakened.
+
+The morning after their arrival the Austrian officers, accompanied by the
+English commissioner Mr. Parkes, whose imprisonment near Pekin has since
+made his name widely and universally known, paid a visit to the sole
+Chinese authority still remaining in the town, the Tartar General and
+Mandarin, Pi-Kwei. An immense crowd had assembled in the streets through
+which the foreigners wended their way, and their reception by the Tartar
+General was accompanied by all the ceremonial of Chinese etiquette: three
+howitzer salvo-shots, and ear-splitting Chinese music, the General's
+body-guard, disarmed, drawn up on the staircase, the General himself,
+wearing his Mandarin cap on his head, nodding and laughing more or less to
+the foreigners presented, according to their higher or lower rank. The
+Commodore was provided with a raised seat. In the course of conversation,
+during which Mr. Parkes kindly acted as interpreter, tea was served.
+Pi-Kwei inquired as to the objects of the Expedition, and asked the names
+of the officers, which, owing to the symbolic nature of Chinese writing,
+could not be done but after much difficulty. Pi-Kwei, a man of colossal
+proportions, behaved and spoke like a lamb in presence of the small
+physically insignificant-looking Mr. Parkes. Like the regents appointed by
+the Dutch Government in Java, he was nothing more than the agent to carry
+out the orders of the English.
+
+Our departure was not less ceremonious and noisy than our reception: a
+number of fire-balls were let off in front of the building, the noise of
+which gave much more the impression of an infernal machine than a salute.
+The rest of the day the officers spent in reconnoitring various parts of
+the city, as far as circumstances admitted, and all returned in the
+evening to Hong-kong in the same gun-boat which had conveyed them to
+Canton.
+
+While we were lying at anchor in Hong-kong, an extra sheet of the "_North
+China Herald_," published at Shanghai, brought intelligence of a treaty of
+peace having been signed at Tien-Tsin, by Lord Elgin, on the part of
+England, and the Imperial Commissioners, and that it had been dispatched
+to Pekin for the purpose of being ratified by the imperial autograph. This
+treaty, which contained 56 clauses, invested England with far more
+extensive rights than she had hitherto possessed. Especially it was
+stipulated that an English ambassador should reside in a palace at Pekin,
+and be accorded all the honours due to his rank, and that the Christian
+religion should be professed and taught without any restrictions. British
+subjects, provided with passes from their own consuls, to be countersigned
+by the local Chinese authorities, were to be permitted to traverse the
+empire in every direction on business or pleasure; the navigation of the
+Yang-tse-Kiang, or Blue River, was also declared free; and in addition to
+the five harbours already opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of
+Nankin, the English were now to be at liberty to trade with New-Chwang,
+Tang-Char, Tai-Wan (on the island of Formosa), Chau-Chow, and Kiung-Chow
+(in Hainan), to settle in any of these, to buy and sell house property,
+as also to erect churches and hospitals, and lay out cemeteries. Chinese
+subjects guilty of crimes or offences against the English, to be punished
+by the native authorities in conformity with the law of the land. English
+subjects, on the other hand, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the
+British authorities, in similar circumstances, and treated according to
+British law. All official communications on the part of the English
+authorities to be drawn up in English for presentation to the Chinese
+Government, and although, for the present, accompanied by a translation,
+shall in the event of uncertainty be construed according to the text of
+the English original. Article L provides that the symbol [Chinese
+character(s)] (Barbarian) shall be discontinued in all official documents,
+whether in the capital or the provinces, and the term "English" or
+"English Government" be substituted. On the other hand, the Treaty of
+Tien-Tsin is silent on the subject of the opium trade, the main point in
+dispute, the prime cause of the various wars hitherto broken out! There
+was mention made of a revision of the tariff only. Obviously the British
+plenipotentiaries thought they would more readily attain their object if
+they endeavoured to get this difficult question solved in some less
+conspicuous manner. The opium merchants, as well as their antagonists the
+London philanthropists, seemed equally dissatisfied that the opium matter
+was still left a "pending question." On the whole, however, this was one
+of the most marked diplomatic peculiarities of the Treaty of Tien-Tsin.
+Instead of rousing anew the passions of the Chinese, and, by wringing such
+an open and public concession from that Government, weakening still more
+the hold of the Emperor over his own people, and, whatever their
+professions of amity, rendering the authorities yet more hostile and
+rancorous against the foreigners, the wily English ambassador preferred
+quietly to include opium amongst the other articles of import under the
+revised tariff, and thus convert it into a common article of import.
+Accordingly, opium, like cotton, hides, and stockfish, may now be imported
+at a fixed duty of 30 _taels_ (L8 15_s._) per _picul_ of 100 _catties_
+(133-1/2 lbs.).
+
+The events of which China was the scene shortly after the signature of the
+treaty, the hostilities of the troops in the Taku forts, the desperate
+resistance which was made to the advance of the British ambassador, when
+the latter, agreeably to the stipulations in the new treaty, was preparing
+to travel to Pekin, all combine to prove that, in their professions of
+peace and friendliness, the Chinese were not in earnest.
+
+Since that period an army of 20,000 Europeans has dictated a peace to
+400,000,000 Asiatics, and their till then deemed impregnable capital; and
+on 24th October, 1860, Lord Elgin countersigned a new treaty, which,
+together with the clauses contained in the previous Treaty of Tien-Tsin
+drawn up two years before, provides for the permanent residence of a
+British ambassador in the capital of the Chinese Empire, as also for a war
+indemnity of 8,000,000 _taels_ (L2,333,333); throws open the harbour of
+Tien-Tsin to foreign commerce, permits Chinese subjects to emigrate,
+without any restrictions, to any part of the British colonies, and to take
+service there; assigns to Great Britain a portion of the district of
+Kow-loang or Cow-loon on the mainland opposite Hong-kong; and, finally,
+ordains that the original treaty, and all the various additional articles,
+shall be published by placard in every part of the Empire. Never before
+had the Middle Kingdom sustained such a humiliation. True, during the rule
+of the former dynasty, Tao-Kwang (Light of Reason), an end was put to a
+system that had endured for a thousand years, but conditions such as those
+that had been imposed by the western nations in the treaties of Tien-Tsin
+and Pekin, were altogether unheard of in the history of China, and afford
+convincing proof of its weakness and approaching downfal, the more so, as
+the late Emperor Hien-fung was a jealous upholder of the old Asiatic
+doctrines and state craft. Only the utmost necessity and unceasing
+pressure could have induced him to lower his arms before the barbarians of
+the west, and to endure that an enemy should have dictated conditions of
+peace in his own capital, hitherto inaccessible to foreign nations.
+English, French, and American ships of war hold possession of the most
+important forts of China. In several provinces of the interior, a rebel
+emperor has set up his camp, while on the banks of the Amoor, on the north
+of the Empire, Russia is building fortresses, and acting as if she were
+quite at home in that region. But all these phenomena, however divergent
+the interests, may at present point to one stupendous result,--rousing
+the immense Chinese Empire from its thousand years' lethargy, and forcing
+the natives who populate it to follow in the great onward career of
+civilization, which in our days is rushing with the rapidity of a tempest
+through the world!
+
+While the Commodore and some of his staff were proceeding to Canton in the
+gun-boat, the naturalists made an excursion to the Portuguese settlement
+of Macao, about 35 miles distant from Hong-kong, with which there is
+bi-weekly communication by an English steamer. Usually this voyage
+occupies from four to five hours, but the _Sir Charles Forbes_ was a small
+slow-going tub, and as our departure was delayed several hours in
+consequence of a large shipment of chests of opium, for which it was hoped
+a better price would be obtained at Macao, and as we had on our way
+thither to contend with rain, squalls, and contrary winds, it was dark ere
+we reached Macao.
+
+We were not a little taken aback at finding several of the passengers
+armed with revolvers. However, these seemingly superfluous precautions
+against danger in a pleasure sail of a few hours were well founded. Not
+long before, it had happened that the European passengers to Macao had
+been assailed by the Chinese on board, and all murdered in cold blood! the
+Chinese had stealthily watched for the moment when the captain and
+passengers were at table in the confined cabin of the little craft, took
+possession of the vessel, and murdered every European on board. The
+captain and some of the passengers sprang overboard to save their lives,
+but only one man, an Englishman, succeeded in effecting his escape, and
+giving intelligence of this terrible affair. After they had possessed
+themselves of a considerable booty, the pirates set the vessel on fire,
+and set at nought all efforts to bring them to punishment by escaping into
+the interior of the country.
+
+The arrangements for paying passage-money, expenses, &c., are apt to
+strike a stranger as singular. Gold is absolutely out of use, and the
+current coins, such as Mexican dollars, and copper money, or cash, are too
+bulky to admit of their being lugged about to pay large amounts. In order
+to provide for the expenses of a pleasure party of a couple of days it
+would be necessary to take a large bag, which there was the further danger
+might disappear somewhere without hands. An excellent arrangement has
+accordingly been introduced, by which each passenger pays his fare and
+other expenses, by means of a check on any one of the mercantile houses in
+Macao or Hong-kong, which is filled up with the entire amount for
+collection by the controller, and is cashed on his return. This custom is
+also a remarkable example of mutual confidence in public life, even if it
+be explained by the fact that the majority of the passengers are well
+known, and that China has as yet only been frequented by well-off
+foreigners.
+
+The passage from Hong-kong to Macao is not entirely devoid of interest.
+The course of the steamer lies at first among narrow canals, between
+lofty granite rocks: so soon as she emerges from these, the muddy
+disturbed colour of the water indicates that she is now crossing the mouth
+of the Canton River proper. Stately ships are seen passing up or down,
+while junks and fishing-boats are plying on every side. The majestic
+conical peak, 3000 feet high, of the island of Lantao, and the Castle Peak
+scarred with a deep furrow from top to bottom, on the mainland of the
+province of Quang-tong directly opposite, form the background. The
+regularity of the conical shape in these peaks, which seems to point to
+their being of volcanic origin, renders it probable that they are either
+granite or porphyritic in structure. The mouth of the Canton River is so
+wide, that the opposing shores only gradually become visible, the wide
+expanse of water, extending on every side till lost in the horizon, giving
+the traveller the impression that he is on the open sea.
+
+Already, before the houses of Macao could be very easily made out, we
+passed the merchant ships lying in the roads, which cannot approach within
+from six to eight nautical miles. The small thoroughly land-locked "inner
+harbour," as it is called, lying on the other side of the narrow tongue of
+land on which Macao is situate, is only accessible for small vessels and
+Chinese junks, which visit it in large numbers.
+
+The first view of the city of Macao is not less charming than that of
+Victoria. The long ranges of houses are picturesquely grouped around the
+numerous little hills surmounted by forts, which form the greater part of
+the isthmus; while the beautiful Praya Grande, where palaces and imposing
+mansions are disposed in long array close along the shore, in order to get
+the benefit of the refreshing sea-breezes, makes a deep and lasting
+impression upon the stranger. Churches with lofty double towers shooting
+into the air, and the vast dome of the Jesuit College, at once single the
+city out as Catholic, and impart to its external aspect a strong contrast
+with the adjoining English colony.
+
+Macao is a favourite resort of the foreigners settled in Hong-kong for
+change of air, which in these latitudes seems to be even more necessary
+than in Europe. So long as Canton was the chief seat of the European
+traders, the Portuguese settlement was used by them as a summer residence
+for their families, whither they could themselves occasionally retire from
+the bustle of Canton, and the attendant insecurity of life, to spend a few
+days of calm enjoyment with their families. On account of the alarms of
+war of the previous year, most of the Canton merchants had come down to
+Hong-kong and Macao to settle, in consequence of which the latter town has
+an unusually lively appearance, while its trade, which had previously been
+in a rather languishing condition, has materially improved.
+
+When the steamer makes its appearance in the roads of Macao, it is
+immediately surrounded by an innumerable swarm of what are called
+Tanka-boats, mostly propelled by women, who with yells and shrieks bid for
+the privilege of conveying the passengers to shore. As there is no
+suitable landing-place on the eastern side of the roads, the traveller is
+conveyed to the shore through the lash of the waves in a small
+cockle-shaped boat, just as at Madeira or Madras, and equally
+uncomfortably; but although the boat and the mode in which it is navigated
+are anything but calculated to inspire confidence, such a thing as an
+accident is of rare occurrence.
+
+The naturalists of the _Novara_ found an exceedingly friendly and hearty
+reception at the beautiful residence of the Russian Consul, M. Von
+Carlowitz, who shortly before had come from Canton to settle in Macao,
+with his excellent wife, a very beautiful lady of Altenburg in Germany,
+there to await the upshot of the war.
+
+Our first visit the following morning--a bright and beautiful Sabbath
+morning--was to the renowned Camoens Grotto, situated in a large
+well-wooded park, partly covered with primeval forest, the property of a
+Portuguese family of the name of Marquez. All around there reigned utter,
+almost sacred silence. Here it was that Camoens, banished from his native
+land, wrote his Lusiad. The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its
+majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its
+huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic
+fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths,
+its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though
+destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his
+destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt his spirit roused amid
+this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,--"Things
+unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!" In an ill-contrived niche in the
+substructure of the grotto is a bust, in terra-cotta, of the great poet,
+with the inscription, "Louis de Camoens, born 1524, died 1579." On the
+broad marble pedestal whereon stands this bust, which savours but little
+of artistic taste, various verses from the Lusiad have been engraved with
+an iron stylus.[120] Formerly this grotto must have had a much more
+agreeable appearance, but the present proprietor thought to beautify it by
+making an addition to it, which has resulted in its having almost entirely
+lost its original character. From one point within the grotto, called the
+observatory, and traditionally used as such by Camoens, there is a
+beautiful peep over the inner harbour, with its throng of busy human ants.
+Quite close to this singular abode for a poet, is the meeting-house of an
+evangelical Christian community, numbering about 200 souls, with a
+cemetery attached, which, with its handsome stone monuments and
+beautifully laid-out gardens, constitutes one of the most interesting
+places of outdoor resort in the colony.
+
+The most extensive and important edifice in the settlement of Macao,
+founded in 1563 by the Portuguese, on a peninsula of the same name, about
+five square miles in extent, is the Pagoda of Makok and its different
+temples, situate on the slope of a hill between picturesque groups of
+granite rocks, studded with gigantic Chinese inscriptions and splendid
+clumps of trees. At the entrance of this retreat for the gods, is a large
+fantastically-adorned Buddhist temple, surrounded by a large number of
+apartments, in which reside the priests, and where they carry on their
+household duties, and prepare tapers and sycee-paper for the worship of
+their deities, and where are also a few private altars to divinities,
+whose influence and protection the Chinese ladies of doubtful reputation
+do not, it seems, venture publicly to invoke.
+
+Steps cut in the granite rock conduct to the highest point, about 200 feet
+above sea-level, on which there is likewise a temple. At the time of our
+visit, a number of Buddhist priests in long yellow plaited garments were
+ascending to the summit, preceded by flute-players, there to perform their
+devotions. On their return they distributed among the poor Chinese
+congregated in the chief apartment of the temple, a large quantity of
+fruit and other eatables.
+
+While at Macao we visited one of the most respected of the foreigners
+settled there, Dr. Kane, an English physician, who has for years resided
+in the colony. This gentleman was so kind as to present us with the head
+of a statue from the renowned nine-storied or Flower Pagoda (Hwa-tah) near
+Canton, which during a visit he paid to that half-ruined edifice in March,
+1857, he had found lying on the ground, a fragment from a sandstone figure
+on the seventh story, representing a pupil of Buddha. This Pagoda, 160
+feet high, was constructed upwards of a thousand years since, which must
+accordingly be the age of the relic in question.
+
+The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of
+whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other
+foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula. The chief
+article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into
+the interior in large quantities. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is
+too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to
+admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the
+Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. Portugal derives
+but little profit from her colonies, and it is only national pride that
+will not hear of this possession, which is more a burden than a source of
+aid to the mother country, being disposed of by way of sale to either the
+English or the North Americans. However, the maintenance of this colony
+costs the Portuguese home Government but little, as the colonists support
+the chief expenses themselves. Thus the pay of the Governor, who receives
+L1260 per annum, as also that of the military force of about 400 men, and
+of a small ship stationed in the harbour, are all defrayed by the
+colonists.
+
+Macao is at present the chief point for the shipment of Chinese labourers
+or coolies to the West Indies. There are above 10,000 Chinese annually
+whom hunger and want drive to sell themselves virtually as slaves to the
+traders in human flesh, to drag out a miserable existence far from home.
+They are chiefly sent from Macao to the Havanna. We visited the house in
+which these pitiable objects are confined till the departure of the ship;
+we saw the haggard, reckless look of these wretched beings, who, despite
+the dreadful fate that awaits them, hire themselves out to Portuguese and
+Spanish kidnappers. In return for a free passage to Havanna, they bind
+themselves to work for eight years after their arrival with whatever
+master is found for them at four dollars a month,[121] a rate of wage very
+much lower than that paid to the labourer of the country, or even to the
+manumitted slave. This immense difference however does not accrue so much
+to the West India planter as to the speculators who are engaged in the
+importation of Chinese, for each of whom a large premium is paid. The
+voyage, which usually lasts from four to five months and costs about L70 a
+head, is chiefly carried on in French, Portuguese, and--alas! that it
+should be so--English and German ships. What sufferings the unhappy
+emigrants are exposed to during the voyage, appears from the fact that a
+number of them not unfrequently jump overboard, to seek a refuge from
+their misery under the waves. Cases have been known in which, owing to
+hard fare and mismanagement, 38 per cent. of the emigrants have died on
+the passage![122]
+
+The society which takes charge of this trade in exporting men is known as
+the _Colonisadora_, and has its head-quarters in the Havanna. Each Chinese
+must before leaving Macao subscribe a contract which is for the exclusive
+benefit of the society, and by which the poor emigrants explicitly
+renounce all the advantage they might derive from certain paragraphs in
+the Spanish Emigration Act, passed in 1854, which bear upon the
+interpretation of such contracts. As it is usually only the very poorest,
+most shiftless, and most ignorant class that emigrates, the contract is
+enforced without the smallest scruple, and if afterwards the emigrant in
+the foreign country becomes aware of the privations and oppression he has
+to submit to in comparison with other workers, the obligations he has
+entered into are made use of to invoke the protection of the Spanish
+authorities.[123] The fact however that these latter secretly favour the
+objections of the colonization society, sufficiently proves that the
+interests of a social class and the extension of the labour market in the
+island are considered by them as of far higher importance than the good of
+mankind.
+
+To the English Government is due the credit of having initiated an
+energetic protest against this trade in human beings, and of having taken
+such steps as tend to mitigate the evil consequences which cannot but
+result from such a system of deportation. Its representative at the
+Havanna, Mr. Crawford, was the first and indeed only individual who
+ventured to make representations to the Spanish Government as to the
+little humanity shown for these poor Chinese emigrants, and to draw public
+attention to the system.[124] Under a humane and well-managed
+administration of the emigration system in China, it might prove of
+immense service to those countries which are eager to absorb labour, as,
+owing to the super-abundance of labour in China, a far larger supply as
+well as a much higher class of labourers might be procured.
+
+M. de Carlowitz was so kind as to accompany us in our various rambles to
+the more interesting sights and points of view, and more especially when
+we were busied "doing" the "lines" of the city. On an eminence in the
+suburbs, about 200 feet high, is what is known as Monte fort, garrisoned
+by 150 men, whence there is a charming panorama, and the eye catches sight
+of the Chinese village of Whang-hia, at the period of our visit most
+hostilely disposed, and where on July 3rd, 1844, the first treaty of
+peace, friendship, and commerce, was drawn up and signed between China and
+the United States. Another hill, about 300 feet high, at the outer
+extremity of the peninsula, on which many years ago the Portuguese had
+erected a fort, of which only the foundations can now be traced, commands
+the tongue of land on which stands the city, as well as all the eastern
+portion of the island, and amply repays the trouble of ascent. On the road
+thither, by which the communication with the mainland of China is mainly
+carried on, we came upon the corpse of a coolie, which had apparently lain
+for several days in the very middle of the road. A part of the head and
+the right hand had been already stripped of the flesh by the
+carrion-crows, and enormous swarms of insects had fastened on the upper
+portions of the naked horribly swollen dead body. The miserable being had
+obviously fallen a victim to want and destitution. His strength seemed to
+have failed him while he was earning his miserable subsistence, as two
+empty broken panniers were lying close beside him. Crowds of people were
+passing daily, men, women, children, even Portuguese taking their
+customary promenade on foot or on horseback, without any person giving
+himself the least trouble to remove the shocking spectacle. Even the
+representations of the foreign consuls seem to have but little influence
+on the Portuguese authorities in these matters, and it appears that it is
+by no means an infrequent occurrence to see dead bodies lying about. A
+hardly less sickening spectacle was presented on the slope of the hill,
+where were erected a couple of dozen of small, wretched, filthy huts of
+palm-straw, which served for the reception of a number of sick and lepers,
+who, shunned and abandoned by all the world, were sinking in their misery
+into the grave. Leprosy is regarded by the Chinese as a punishment for
+secret sins, and those visited with it are accordingly deprived of all
+assistance or attention. Very probably this coolie, whose body we thus saw
+lying on the road, was one of those unfortunates who were here digging, as
+it were, their own graves.
+
+The isthmus which unites the Portuguese settlement on the peninsula with
+the mainland, is barely a quarter of a mile in length by 500 feet in
+breadth. Formerly there was a wall built right across the centre of this
+tongue of land, which marked the limit of the colony. Here Chinese
+sentinels used to march to and fro to protect the Flowery Kingdom. This,
+however, did not prevent the "_Macaoistas_," as the inhabitants of Macao
+are accustomed to call themselves, from making frequent excursions and
+pic-nic parties to the mainland and the adjacent Chinese villages. On 22nd
+August, 1848, however, when the then governor of Macao, Dom Joao Maria
+Ferreira do Amaral, while riding along the narrow part of the isthmus, was
+set upon by a couple of armed Chinese, torn from his horse, and beheaded,
+his skull and hand being carried off by the murderers, the Portuguese
+pulled down the wall and destroyed the adjoining Chinese fort, so that not
+a vestige of either now remains. The government of Macao insisted on the
+murderers being delivered up, as also on the restitution of the head and
+hand of the victim, but after the lapse of a year the authorities received
+an official notification that the murderers had been discovered, and on
+confession of the crime had been executed at Shunteh. The head and hand of
+the unhappy Amaral were delivered to the Portuguese officials by two
+Chinese commissioners, and solemnly interred with the other remains. In
+the course of the correspondence with reference to this matter[125]
+between the Chinese and Portuguese authorities, it appeared that, owing to
+certain stringent regulations he had laid down, Governor Amaral had long
+been marked out for destruction by the Chinese population of Macao. The
+chief complaint against him was that he had profaned the graves of their
+ancestors in the suburbs of Macao, and had constructed new streets right
+through them. Every attack of illness, every unlucky speculation, every
+unexpected mischance, which happened to any of the Chinese residents in
+Macao, was ascribed to the vengeance of those spirits, whose repose had
+been so wantonly violated for such an insignificant purpose. The Chinese
+have no regular cemeteries for their dead. They inter them anywhere about
+the township, simply marking the spot with a stone or an inscription. At
+the new-year's festival these graves are adorned in the most gaudy manner,
+none, not even of the poorest, being neglected in this respect. This pious
+feeling for the dead is in singular and rude contrast with the
+indifference with which the Chinese regard the misfortunes of their
+neighbours, and the cruelty with which mothers expose their new-born
+children, or even leave them to die.
+
+The trade between Macao and the mainland is very active: in the quarter of
+an hour that we were upon the isthmus there passed at least 60 men loaded
+with goods or provisions, moving to and fro to the settlement. Among these
+there were also sedan-chairmen, conveying back to the neighbouring
+villages such of the better class of Chinese as had been doing business in
+the city. The effect of warlike rumours from Canton and the Pei-ho had
+meanwhile become apparent among the European population of Macao. The
+insecurity of life and property increased daily. No one could venture to
+go a mile or two beyond the city. Even a beautiful pic-nic house, erected
+by the foreigners on "Green Island," close by the town, whither during
+peaceful times frequent excursions were made by European residents with
+their families, had been for months empty and gutted.
+
+The Praya Grande, or rather the shady promenade, at its eastern extremity
+serves as a rendezvous for the gay world, and on Sundays, when a band of
+music plays here, one can scarcely pass through the crowd.
+
+The Portuguese, who even in their native country are not a handsome race,
+lose still more in their physical qualities by the unscrupulous manner in
+which they cross with the native races. This circumstance makes the
+contrast still more apparent of simple, graceful, pale ladies of the
+Anglo-Saxon race, who now and then appear between the ugly dark natives.
+In the evening, towards sunset, these lovely creatures make their
+appearance in their sedan or other chairs in the Campo San Francisco,
+there to enjoy the cool evening sea-breezes. A great number of sedan
+porters halt here with their precious burdens, and elegantly-attired
+cavaliers saunter about, striving by amiable phrases and flattering
+remarks to elicit a smile. While these vehicles form the commonest mode of
+conveyance, we also saw there but few saddle-horses, and only one single
+carriage, the property of a rich brownish native, baronized for the amount
+of 40,000 dollars, and who thought by this means to display his taste,
+his luxury, and his nobility!
+
+We had heard so much of certain wonderful singing stones, on a large
+island opposite the inner part of the harbour, that several of our party
+made an excursion thither. Neither natives nor indeed Europeans could give
+us any explanation of this singular phenomenon, but all hold that the
+stones must contain metal in some certain proportion, while electricity
+and magnetism would do the rest. The naturalists were accompanied to this
+mysterious spot by M. Von Carlowitz, Dr. Kane, and a Chinese physician,
+Dr. Wong-fun. The estimable and highly-educated Wong-fun had graduated as
+Doctor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and had afterwards
+enlarged his experience by practising some time in the United States,
+since which he had practised the healing art with great success upon his
+own countrymen. A European in intelligence and education, he was still a
+Chinese in external appearance, and wore, as formerly, a long tail.
+Probably Wong-fun adhered to this ancient custom in order the more readily
+to indoctrinate his fellow-countrymen with European ideas.
+
+Some small Tanka-boats, in which, as already mentioned, only two persons
+can be accommodated at once, and which are exclusively managed by women,
+conveyed our party over the bosom of the inner harbour to the opposite
+shore. We then proceeded through a beautiful valley, covered with rice
+fields, and traversed in its entire extent by a mountain torrent, which
+is dammed off, and drives a number of Chinese mills with the small
+water-courses. In the background of this valley lies the mysterious spot.
+The marvel itself presently became visible in a large expanse of syenite
+rock, greatly resembling that in the Oderwald of Hesse. Some of these have
+been tilted on the others, and the hard syenite resounds when struck with
+a hammer, just as a block of marble or basalt vibrates when struck, with a
+bell-like sound. These musical blocks therefore are but little
+interesting, unless that the Chinese make use of them to sculpture the
+figures of lions and tigers to adorn the entrances of their temples.
+
+After a stay of two days in Macao, the naturalists returned to Hong-kong,
+where they had to devote the little time that would elapse ere the frigate
+sailed to sorting and packing the collections, and arranging for their
+transmission: for the manipulation of packing is, as Humboldt well
+remarked, as important as actual science in such undertakings. That
+naturalist confers but a small boon on science, whose only care is to
+collect, but who takes no pains to preserve, the fruits of his labour, by
+an exact indication of the place where found, and such special particulars
+as may prevent mistakes, and by carefully guarding against damage to the
+objects about to be sent, while on their way.
+
+The kind reception and hospitality of our new friends in Hong-kong
+remained undiminished to the very last moment of our stay. We were fairly
+overwhelmed with attentions of all sorts, each apparently striving to
+make us forget the unfavourable circumstances under which we visited the
+Empire of China.
+
+The steamer _Hong-kong_, early on the morning of 18th July, towed us out
+through the narrow Eastern Straits, the Ly-e-num Pass, and the
+Ta-thong-wun Channel, into the open sea. As we passed alongside the
+English frigate _Nankin_, carrying the broad pendant of the amiable and
+excellent Commodore Stewart, our band played "God save the Queen," while
+the English ensign was dipped, by way of parting salute. A little further
+on the Chinese Comprador, who had supplied the _Novara_ with provisions
+daily during her stay, had stationed himself in his boat to give us a
+parting farewell with a roar of gong-gong, while innumerable rockets
+whizzed and exploded in the air.
+
+We found a tolerably high sea outside, but a fine fresh S.W. breeze, under
+which we rapidly increased our distance from the shore. In like manner as
+when we entered, we had now in getting out to thread our way among
+thousands of fishing-boats sailing about in couples, which cruise about to
+a distance of even 50 and 60 miles to sea. The steamer which towed us
+through the narrow Eastern Channel, and had us just four hours and twenty
+minutes in tow, charged the amount of 300 dollars (L63), so that each
+minute of towing cost rather over one dollar. After making a tack towards
+Lemma Island, in order to avoid the dangerous Nine-pin rock, the wind
+sprung up from E.S.E., so that we were enabled to lie our proper course,
+and by sundown had cleared _Piedra bianca_.
+
+With fine weather and a fresh S.W. monsoon our voyage was so speedy, that
+by 2nd July we were in the latitude of Formosa, but without being able to
+distinguish the high land, either on the Chinese coast or on that island,
+and by 23rd July we were off the Saddle Islands, at the mouth of the
+Yang-tse-Kiang.
+
+Just as we reached this, the door, as it were, through which we had to
+enter, the weather chose to change with the utmost suddenness. Calms and
+contrary winds, coupled with the powerful current of the mighty river,
+sweeping through the islands, prevented our further advance, and on the
+24th we had to cast anchor near the easternmost Saddle Island. Close to us
+on every side were numbers of other ships equally unfortunate with
+ourselves, while the spectacle of the steamers, pursuing their course
+without feeling any obstruction, filled us with envy. We had taken a
+Chinese pilot on board, and by 25th July were in sight of Gutzlaff, a
+small islet of rock 210 feet high, the best land-mark of the "Son of
+Ocean," and just before sunset anchored off the outer bar. We now had fair
+breezes, and without further obstacles passed over the bar in from 30 to
+33 feet water, which in bad weather, however, is exceedingly dangerous. We
+were still out of sight of land; even the islands we had already passed
+sank below the horizon, and still there was nothing visible but an
+unbroken expanse of yellowish-red water, which reflected with the utmost
+brilliancy the rays of the sun. A light-ship moored to a sand-bank, and a
+wreck on another sand-bank, are, after leaving Gutzlaff Island, the sole
+land-marks by which the pilot can hope to keep the channel, which is only
+from one to two miles wide in this vast shoreless river estuary. Indeed
+the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang is regarded as one of the most
+difficult feats for a large ship. With favourable wind and weather, the
+_Novara_ cleared without accident the 47 miles between the bar and the
+place where the Wusung falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and on the evening
+of the 26th July dropped anchor in front of Wusung. The navigation
+presented little that was interesting, yet each man involuntarily felt a
+thrill as he reflected that he was sailing in the current of the longest
+river in China, whose source lies thousands of miles inland at Khukkunor,
+among the Mangolians.
+
+As we neared Wusung, signs of life began to be visible on the river
+itself; tall three-masters were passing, bound in or out, and scores of
+Chinese junks with their peculiar rig and build. Far above the light-ship
+the shore first became visible, low, flat, scarcely above the level of the
+river, but green and fertile. A Pagoda of the well-known form of the
+Porcelain tower of Nankin and a few lofty trees enable the pilot to take
+the bearings of the channel at this point. Only the land on the left is
+actual mainland, the shore on the right being the coast of the island of
+Tsuning, lying at the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Wusung, this
+southern arm of the Yang-tse-Kiang, as formed by the above-named island,
+is about six and a half nautical miles in width, and a little higher up is
+further narrowed by Bush Island to a width of four miles.
+
+The first inhabited spot at the junction of the Wusung and Yang-tse-Kiang
+is the wretched filthy village of Wusung, which owes its importance solely
+and exclusively to the opium boats, which the merchants of Hong-kong and
+Shanghai used to station here in the stream, in order more readily to sell
+and deliver to the Chinese that forbidden article. Thus the natives took
+on themselves the responsibility of opium smuggling, while the foreign
+merchants became thereby involved in a conflict with the Chinese
+Government. The opium sold per month from the ships stationed at Wusung
+amounts to from 2500 to 2800 chests, in value about 500 _taels_ (L150) per
+chest (L375,000 to L420,000).
+
+The mouth of the Wusung is the entrance to Shanghai, which lies about 12
+miles up the Wusung or Shanghai river, but in consequence of a mud-bank is
+only accessible to large ships at spring-tide. Nankin lies up the
+Yang-tse-Kiang 180 miles from Shanghai, the channel being so deep that
+even a frigate may sail close up under its walls. Six hundred miles
+distant from the embouchure of the Wusung lie the three immense cities of
+Wu-chang, Hang-iang, and Shan-Keu, containing 8,000,000 inhabitants, the
+central point of the internal commerce of China; and about 400 miles
+further up are the first rapids of the Yang-tse-Kiang, which completely
+prevent all further navigation. Up to this point the mighty river, like
+the Mississippi, the Rhine, or the Danube, may be navigated by river
+steamers, without the slightest danger or difficulty. What an enormous
+trade, what a tremendous development, will ere long be witnessed here, so
+soon as, in accordance with the stipulations of the Tien-Tsin and Pekin
+treaties, English ships, freighted with goods and necessaries of all
+sorts, shall steam up this most splendid of rivers and its tributaries,
+and the inhabitants of the far interior shall become acquainted with the
+products of European industry, and in exchange shall export to Europe
+innumerable articles of new and valuable trade. For it is the greatest
+service of the merchant that he not alone opens new channels of commerce,
+and by increased exportation of the fabrics of his native land tends to
+build up his power, but that he civilizes foreign nations, and enriches
+science and industry with innumerable fresh acquisitions.
+
+The larger ships usually lie at anchor at the little Chinese village of
+Wusung on the river of that name, just where it falls into the
+Yang-tse-Kiang, and here accordingly, owing to the hostilities, we found
+upwards of twenty ships of war of various nationalities at anchor. Among
+others the powerful American steam-ship _Minnesota_, and the French
+frigates _Audacieuse_ and _Nemesis_, an imposing spectacle in these
+distant regions, and to which the half-ruined Chinese fort on the tongue
+of land between the Wusung and the Yang-tse-Kiang, with its couple of
+wretched cannon, presented a tragi-comic contrast. Numbers of Chinese
+boats, from the smallest cloth-awning _sampan_ propelled by one man with a
+paddle to the large junk with fifteen masts, and sentences painted along
+the bends, were cruising in every direction. Ere long a Comprador found
+his way on board, who according to custom undertook to provide the frigate
+with everything she required.
+
+Commodore Wuellerstorff purposed proceeding with the frigate to Shanghai;
+but as it would be necessary to wait for a fair wind, or else to engage
+another steam-tug, implying a delay of several days, the naturalists were
+permitted to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the
+Comprador's boat to proceed at once to Shanghai, which voyage we were two
+hours and a half in performing.
+
+While the number of European merchantmen that we passed, some lying at
+anchor in front of Wusung, others sailing up or down stream, was quite
+surprising, yet the sight of the river at Shanghai far surpassed all
+expectation. Here, close packed together in a channel rather narrower than
+elsewhere, was drawn up tier after tier of shipping, a quite impervious
+forest of masts, athwart which at intervals the large warehouses of the
+European merchants indistinctly loomed, lining the banks on either side.
+The newspaper lists at the time of our visit gave the names of no less
+than 102 large American and European merchantmen in the Shanghai River, in
+addition to which there were upwards of a thousand native junks lying in
+the stream with their short crooked masts, the most convincing evidence of
+the commercial importance which this place has attained within the short
+space of time that has elapsed since by the Treaty of Nankin in 1842
+foreign factories were authorized to be erected here.
+
+On the shore the flags of the Consulates of the more important sea-faring
+nations fluttered gaily in the breeze from lofty flag-staffs on the top of
+the imposing buildings. Hardly had we landed ere we were surrounded by an
+ungainly crowd of Chinese coolies, who with their bamboo staves began such
+a serious battle among themselves for the right of carrying our baggage,
+that it was only by the interposition of the police that several were not
+left on the spot severely wounded.
+
+The intelligence that there was in Shanghai not a single house of
+entertainment, such as we understand by the name of "hotel" in Europe, was
+the less agreeable, as the dwellings of the resident Europeans, where,
+under ordinary circumstances, strangers are received with the utmost
+hospitality, happened at present to be occupied by the officers of the
+numerous war-ships, as well as by members of the two embassies. The only
+place where we could be received was what is known as the Union Hotel, a
+den in the fullest sense of the word, in which we passed one of the most
+uncomfortable nights we ever remember. Myriads of mosquitoes, the true
+blood-thirsty "gallinipper," loud-shouting drunken seamen, dogs howling,
+intolerable heat, which not even a tremendous thunder-storm that broke
+forth during the night could assuage,--such were some of the amenities of
+our reception, which, despite our exhaustion, utterly precluded sleep.
+With unspeakable longing we watched for the dawn of the morning, and,
+thanks to the hospitality of our new friends, we were in the course of the
+day fortunate enough to be released from this hideous abode.
+
+The _Novara_ did not remain long behind us. A few days later, on 29th
+July, she sailed gallantly up in an hour and a half, from Wusung, on the
+top of a spring-tide, and with favourable breezes, and on reaching
+Shanghai was welcomed with pride and delight by the German residents
+here--the first ship-of-war of a first-class German power that had ever
+been seen in the river Wusung.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[112] The analysis of these hieroglyphics, by which abstract ideas are
+sought to be expressed, is extremely interesting. Thus a heart with the
+badge of slavery over it represents "anger;" a hand, and the sign for the
+middle, signifies an "historian," because it is his duty not to lean to
+either side; by the sign of uprightness and motion is represented
+"government," because it must always observe probity in the transaction of
+affairs; to indicate the idea of a "friend" two pearls are represented
+side by side, because friendship is as rare as two pearls, exactly
+resembling each other! The well-known French missionary Huc, in his
+valuable work on the Chinese Empire, gives a variety of most interesting
+particulars respecting the Chinese language.
+
+[113] A very abstruse treatise upon the preparation of the Chinese ink is
+contained in the important labours of the Russian Embassy at Pekin,
+relating to China, published in German by Dr. Abel and Mecklenburg,
+Berlin, F. Heinike, 1858, vol. ii. p. 481. The information is borrowed
+from a small treatise which was written in 1398 by a certain
+Scheu-zsi-Sun, who had been for thirty years engaged in the fabrication of
+the India ink. The author therein mentions how, after he had tried every
+known method, and every substance usually employed, without attaining any
+result, he at last put them all on one side, mingling only pin-soot with
+glue together, and diluting this mixture with but hot water, again kneaded
+it thoroughly, and thus succeeded in getting an ink "black and lustrous as
+a child's eyes." According to another method, India ink is prepared,
+besides pin-soot and lime, of a sort of tincture, consisting of the
+following various pigments,--pomegranate-rind, sandal-wood, sulphate of
+iron and copper, gamboge, cinnobar, dragon's-blood, gold-leaf, musk, and
+glair. This tint is said to be remarkable for preventing the glue from
+getting spoiled by age, or the colour changing, and may be thus kept for
+any length of time. 1/2 lb. of glue and 1/4 lb. of this colouring matter
+are the proportions for one pound of pin-soot. However, only a very small
+portion of the different materials used seems to possess the power
+ascribed to them, and many are used out of mere prejudice, and not at all
+to the advantage of the ink prepared.
+
+[114] This custom is of remote antiquity in Oriental countries, as witness
+the circumstances attending the birth of Ishmael, and also of several of
+the children of Israel.
+
+[115] Many European residents at Hong-kong and Shanghai have Chinese
+mistresses _bought_ in this way, who are bound to live with them only so
+long as their masters choose.
+
+[116] The title of this work is:--"_Notices sur le vert de Chine et de la
+teinture en vert chez les Chinois, par Natalis Rondot, imprime aux frais
+de la Chambre de Commerce de Lyon, a Paris, 1858._"
+
+[117] The Chinese of Shanghai called the plant _Li-lu-schu_, and the
+substance obtained from it _Gah-schik_.
+
+[118] We give the following translation of one of these proclamations:
+"Listen, O listen, ye detestable barbarians! We, patriots and honourable
+subjects of the reigning dynasty, wish to hold up a mirror to you, that ye
+may see what ye are doing, and what like you are! Only in speech, and in
+no other respect, do ye differ from wild beasts! We have understanding, we
+observe laws and commandments; but you are blind and dumb, and will not
+receive advice. You must--there is nothing else for it--you _must_ be cut
+off to the very last man!... Since you first came to the MIDDLE KINGDOM,
+you have done all that you can to destroy us; you have shot at us from
+your ships; you have poisoned us with opium, you have erected devils'
+houses (churches) within the walls of the city! Nay more, in order to hold
+your horse-races, you have profaned graves, and not suffered the dead to
+rest in peace! Insatiable as sharks, greedy as a set of silk-worms upon a
+mulberry tree, the more you get the more you want. Even our most trifling
+profit you have taken to yourselves. Now, however, the cup is full, Heaven
+in its wrath has decreed your destruction,--our people shall cut you off
+with divine weapons of fire. Hearken now, O people, to the four following
+rules for the extermination of the barbarians: All barbarians must be
+beheaded, that our reproach may be removed, and our Middle Kingdom be no
+longer insulted. So runs the order of the leader!--To none other shall any
+disaster happen, no one shall be molested. Whoever strikes back, shall
+himself be struck.... The day of vengeance shall be secretly appointed. We
+shall circumvent the barbarians with treachery, we shall fall on them
+unawares, and destroy them. Natives who are in the habit of attending
+their schools, or of serving them, or of trading with them, must leave
+them and return to their old pursuits. If they remain, then the subjects
+of the exceedingly beneficent dynasty as well as the barbarians, the
+diamonds and the hailstones, shall be destroyed together.... After the
+destruction of these hideous hordes, their possessions shall be
+distributed among those who have distinguished themselves on the day of
+battle. So runs the order of the leader!"
+
+[119] Yeh, as is well known, has since died in imprisonment at Calcutta.
+
+[120] In front, Canto X. v. 25; XII. vv. 79-80. On the back, Canto VI. vv.
+95, 131, and Canto VIII. v. 42.
+
+[121] Even these four dollars sustain a reduction during the first year,
+since the emigrant must for the first year pay one dollar a month to
+defray necessaries, partly provisions, partly clothes, supplied to him to
+the amount of $12, before his departure.
+
+[122] J. F. Crawford, Esq., British Consul-General at the Havanna, in an
+official document respecting the number of Chinese imported in the course
+of one year into Havanna proves that in the case of the Peruvian ship
+_Cora_, 117 out of 292 coolies perished owing to bad water. In one single
+year (1857) 63 ships, of 43,933 tons, cleared from Chinese ports for the
+Havanna, with 23,928 Chinese labourers, of whom 3842, or above 16 per
+cent., died during the voyage.
+
+[123] We give in the Appendix the original text of one of these contracts,
+which the Chinese emigrants have to sign preparatory to their going on
+ship-board, together with a translation, and shall leave the reader to
+judge whether those are very far wrong who denounce the system as but
+another form of slave-trade.
+
+[124] The cruelty and injustice with which the poor Chinese emigrants are
+treated, have repeatedly had the most appalling consequences. The "_China
+Overland Trade Report_," published at Hong-kong, under date 28th February,
+1861, gives the particulars of one such tragedy, which had shortly before
+occurred on board of one of these emigrant ships. On 22nd February, the
+American ship _Leonidas_ sailed from Canton for the Havanna with a number
+of coolies on board. Near what is known as the Macao passage, a tremendous
+noise was suddenly heard in the between-decks. Two of the mates, on
+descending to inquire into the cause of the disturbance, were attacked
+with knives and severely wounded. Meanwhile some of the coolies had
+overpowered the captain and his wife, and had inflicted on them several
+dangerous wounds. However, the crew ultimately succeeded in driving all
+the coolies into the hold, though not till after the 29th had been passed
+in constant fighting. In their desperation they sought to set fire to the
+ship, by preparing a regular pyre of combustibles, to which they set fire.
+Ere long, however, the smoke became so intolerable in the hold, that they
+themselves speedily made every effort to extinguish the fire. The ship
+returned to Canton. Out of 250 coolies, 94 were dead, of whom some were
+shot, some were drowned, some suffocated. Singular to say the French
+man-of-war _Durance_ refused to render any assistance. Other accounts
+speak in the highest terms of the efforts of a German missionary to put a
+stop to this practice of kidnapping, dignified by the name of emigration,
+it having not unfrequently happened that young Chinese were openly carried
+off to Macao, and there as openly sold. This is the more readily credible,
+inasmuch as the Chinese are most desperate gamblers, and after they have
+lost all they possess, think nothing of staking their personal liberty.
+Thus, a short time since, the son of respectable parents in Sunon was sold
+by the Emigration Society at Macao for 40 dols., and it was only by the
+most unremitting efforts of the German missionary already mentioned that
+the wretched lad was re-purchased for L60, and thus escaped a terrible
+destiny. Two other Chinese were shipped at the same time, the bargain in
+their case being recognized.
+
+[125] See "Chinese Repository," vol. x., of October, 1849.
+
+
+          [Illustration: Flower Boat on the Wusung at Shanghai.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XV.
+
+                              Shanghai.
+
+         Duration of Stay from 25th July to 11th August, 1858.
+
+    A stroll through the old Chinese quarter.--Book-stalls.--Public
+    Baths.--Chinese Pawnbrokers.--Foundling hospital.--The Hall of
+    Universal Benevolence.--Sacrificial Hall of Medical Faculty.--
+    City prison.--Temple of the Goddess of the Sea.--Chinese
+    taverns.--Tea-garden.--Temple of Buddha.--Temple of Confucius.--
+    Taouist convent.--Chinese nuns.--An apothecary's store, and what
+    is sold therein.--Public schools.--Christian places of worship.--
+    Native industry.--Cenotaphs to the memory of beneficent
+    females.--A Chinese patrician family.--The villas of the foreign
+    merchants.--Activity of the London Missionary Society.--Dr.
+    Hobson.--Chinese medical works.--Leprosy.--The American
+    Missionary Society.--Dr. Bridgman.--Main-tze tribe.--Mission
+    schools for Chinese boys and girls.--The North China branch of
+    the Royal Asiatic Society.--Meeting in honour of the Members of
+    the _Novara_ Expedition.--Mons. de Montigny.--Baron Gros.--
+    Interview with the Tau-Tai, or chief Chinese official of the
+    city.--The Jesuit mission at Sikkawei.--The Pagoda of Long-Sah.--
+    A Chinese dinner.--Serenade by the German singing-club.--The
+    Germans in China.--Influence of the Treaties of Tien-Tsin and
+    Pekin upon commerce.--Silk.--Tea.--The Chinese sugar-cane.--
+    Various species of Bamboos employed in the manufacture of
+    paper.--The varnish tree.--The tallow tree.--The wax-tree.--
+    Mosquito tobacco.--Articles of import.--Opium.--The Tai-ping
+    rebels.--Departure from Shanghai.--A typhoon in the China sea.--
+    Sight the island of Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago.
+
+
+Shanghai, or Shanghai-Hein (the city near the sea), is divided into the
+Chinese city proper, enclosed within walls twenty-four feet in height,
+and the foreign quarter, which has been laid out beyond the walls since
+the year 1843, and is as much distinguished by elegance as by comfort. Old
+Shanghai, only accessible by three of the six gates with which it is
+furnished, contains 250,000 inhabitants in a superficial area of nine Li,
+or about two and one-third English miles, and, including the population of
+neighbouring towns, who are constantly flocking to and fro, about 400,000.
+The streets are filthy and singularly narrow, so much so that occasionally
+it is difficult for two men to pass each other, the small cross streets
+vividly recalling Venice, or the "lanes" of London. It is with difficulty,
+and only by a constant succession of cries and hearty buffets, that the
+bearers of merchandise can force their way through these intricate
+passages, and find their way to their destination. The houses, for the
+most part one and two storeys in height, usually consist of shops on the
+ground-floor, each with a flaming superscription in gigantic characters,
+which, the better to arrest the curiosity of the passers-by, is generally
+hung diagonally across the narrow street. The living throng, which
+throughout the entire day surges to and fro here, is so immense and so
+various that it leaves upon a stranger an impression even deeper than that
+made by the crowds and bustle of Piccadilly or Regent Street, on a fine
+day in the height of "the season." The grotesqueness and filth of almost
+everything that meets the eye rather adds to the singularity of the
+spectacle, and while the visitor on the one hand speedily finds ample
+justification for extricating himself from the din and confusion, he
+nevertheless encounters at every step some new object of attraction and
+absorbing interest.
+
+Entering the city through the east gate, on whose walls, by way of example
+to the multitude, are suspended in sacks and wicker-work numerous skulls
+of rebels and murderers, on whom justice has been done, we find ourselves
+in China street, one of the principal streets of Shanghai, and in which
+are most of the best class of native shops. It is however no wider or
+cleaner than the other streets of the city, and might be termed a "lane"
+with far more propriety than a street. We were conveyed within the lofty,
+gloomy "enceinte" of the walls in the sedan-chair of the country, after
+which, under the guidance of Mr. Muirhead, an English missionary, who in
+the kindest manner had offered to be our _cicerone_, we proceeded to
+stroll through the town.
+
+Close to the east gate we entered a book-stall, in which were heaped up
+immense piles of stitched books. A number of Chinese in white nankeen
+jackets, their foreheads smooth shaved, and each with a "tail" behind
+dependent to the heels, started forward to inquire the strangers' wants,
+and minister to them. Our inquiries however were by no means merely
+dictated by the desire to gratify a silly curiosity. A learned countryman,
+Dr. Pfizmaier, one of the profoundest of Chinese scholars, had intrusted
+us with a list of fourteen rare Chinese books, the purchase of which
+seemed to us specially desirable, and we accordingly made every exertion,
+with the assistance of our companion, himself well acquainted with
+Chinese, to crown our search with success. With one exception we succeeded
+in purchasing the entire catalogue, and therewith gladly brought to an end
+our wearisome stay of upwards of an hour in the close steaming book-shop,
+exposed the while to a more than tropical temperature.
+
+Chinese authors are, it must be allowed, terribly prolix in the treatment
+of their subjects, and instances are by no means uncommon in China of
+works, especially those of an historical nature, extending to from forty
+to fifty volumes! Thus, for example, the "Seventeen Historical classics"
+consists of 337 parts:--"Mingschintschuen" (History of the most renowned
+ministers and statesmen), of thirty volumes:--"Singpu" (Lives of
+remarkable persons), of 122 parts:--the "Encyclopedia of Matuanlin," with
+its additions, even reaches the immense number of six hundred
+volumes!![126] Books are generally far from expensive in China; for a few
+dollars, comparatively, one may, owing to the cheapness of labour and of
+cost of production, purchase quite a large supply of ordinary literature.
+
+Adjoining this book-shop is a public bath establishment, where for 16
+copper cash[127] (rather less than 1_d._ sterling), one may get a vapour
+bath, while six cash more are paid for keeping custody of the habiliments.
+The bath is far from being elegant or comfortable, but when one reflects
+on such extraordinary cheapness, it seems as though the very utmost had
+been attained. It consists of a large apartment, filled with steam, which
+is from time to time renewed, by dashing hot water upon stones, maintained
+at a high temperature, while ranged in readiness all round are a number of
+tubs of cold water for cooling the bather. In one of these establishments
+about thirty persons may bathe at once, and as John Chinaman, despite his
+filthy manners, is passably clean about the body, as testified by the
+pains he is at with his head and hands, these places are as extensively
+patronized as they are greatly needed.
+
+Our next stoppage was at a pawnbroker's, an institution which, to all
+appearance, has been far longer in vogue in China than in Europe, and is
+made great use of by the wealthy as well as the poorer classes. In the
+Celestial Kingdom, the same custom prevails as with us of pawning the
+winter habiliments in summer, and summer apparel in winter; and this not
+so much for the sake of the money borrowed upon them, as to have them kept
+in safety and carefully preserved, especially in the case of costly furs.
+In China the usual advance is of one half the value, upon a very low
+computation of the article pledged, for which the monthly charge is ten
+cash per 500, or twenty-four per cent. per annum. Whatever has not been
+redeemed at the end of three years, or of which the interest has not been
+paid, is put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder, the
+proceeds going to the benefit of the establishment. The utmost per-centage
+allowed by law is three per cent. a month; but it must not exceed two per
+cent. in winter, in order that the poor may be enabled to redeem the
+articles pledged. The broker gives a ticket for the articles pledged,
+which have a definite value, and may be sold in the street. Thieves find
+these establishments very handy for disposing of their plunder, as they
+deface or destroy the pawn-ticket so as to prevent the rightful owner from
+regaining possession of the stolen articles. When a pawnbroker sustains
+any loss through theft, or the outbreak of fire on his premises, he must
+make good to his customers the value of the destroyed articles that had
+been left with him as pledges. If, however, the fire has broken out in the
+house of a neighbour, he is only bound to pay one half of the loss he may
+sustain. The establishment is managed by fifty individuals, whom the
+concourse of people flocking in to pledge or redeem property keeps in
+constant activity.
+
+Considering the notorious and openly avowed indifference everywhere
+manifested throughout China for the poor, the sick, and the unfortunate,
+the number of charitable institutions to be found in all parts of China is
+very surprising, all which, as has lately been proved, do not owe their
+origin to the introduction of Christianity, but had been in a flourishing
+condition for a long time previously. Thus in several of the streets of
+Shanghai, we came upon hospitals for children and foundlings ([Chinese
+character(s)]), of the latter of which the one we visited was founded by
+voluntary contribution so far back as 1710. This humane institution has a
+landed property of about 30 acres, by the produce of which, as well as
+frequent public collections, it is supported. In 1783, this orphan
+hospital was amalgamated with an asylum for old and decrepit persons, and
+others incapacitated for labour, and one wealthy Chinese gentleman
+provided 3000 taels[128] for this praiseworthy object, but somewhat later
+this joint plan was abandoned, and the Orphan Asylum remains to this day
+self-supporting, while the poor, the sick, and the aged are relieved every
+month at the Custom-house out of funds specially set apart.
+
+At the period of our visit we found thirty infants in the building, who
+had been deposited by their mothers in a basket suspended in a recess at
+the entrance. After the new-born child has been deposited, a signal is
+given with a bamboo-stick, after which the receptacle is turned inwards
+and the innocent without delay taken charge of. Each child has its own
+wet-nurse or attendant.
+
+The building is lofty, roomy, and passably clean, but the children, one
+and all without exception, have a sickly appearance, and seem to suffer
+much from eruptions and affections of the eye. There was not one child
+above two years of age. It is worth recording that every one of these
+children was of the female sex; their male offspring, even when
+illegitimate, the mothers seem much less disposed to part from. It
+frequently happens, moreover, owing to the low considerations in which the
+female sex are held, that even legitimate children of that sex are
+occasionally committed to the silent receptacle of the foundling's basket.
+
+We inquired of one of the overseers what was the destiny of these unhappy
+children when they grew up, but could get no satisfactory reply. We were
+informed that they were occasionally adopted as children by those who had
+no family. But more extended inquiries leave us rather inclined to believe
+that these poor waifs of humanity constitute a not inconsiderable
+contingent to that unhappy class of beings who, carefully brought up,
+clothed, and fed by speculative foster-mothers, are at a suitable age sold
+for concubines to the well-to-do Chinese.
+
+One very remarkable charitable institution, for which there is no
+parallel in Europe, is the Tung-jin-tang ([Chinese character(s)]) or Hall
+of United Benevolence, founded by a number of philanthropists in 1804, for
+the interment of the poor. This establishment, through its legacies,
+donations, and voluntary contributions, speedily became so wealthy that it
+has been enabled to take up, in addition to its original business, other
+objects of a not less humane nature. It pensions poor widows of
+respectable families with 700 cash (about L1 8_s._) per month; it presents
+persons above 60 years of age, if sickly and unable to work, with 600 cash
+(about L1 4_s._) a month, and provides, free of charge, wooden coffins, as
+also digging implements, for those who are too poor to inter their dead
+relatives. Another humane occupation of the society is the interment of
+coffins containing dead bodies, which used to be exposed on the bare
+ground in various parts of the city. Finally, it was the intention of the
+founder of this charitable institution, so soon as the money should
+permit, to erect schools for the poor, to provide warm clothing in winter
+for the helpless, as also to buy up animals destined for the
+slaughter-house, and set them at liberty again.
+
+The proceedings connected with the direction of the institution are
+transacted in public, and the managers for the time being are bound to
+furnish for each year a detailed report[129] of the management. This
+humane institution has since its foundation undergone many reforms, and
+at the period of our visit was confining its sphere of usefulness to three
+main objects: 1st, The pensioning aged and broken-down persons of both
+sexes, with 600 cash a month. These however were not supplied with the
+money, but were for the most part taken into the house itself, or at least
+supported through it. 2nd, The dispensing free of charge of various
+so-called universal medicines, for headache, stomach-complaints, fever,
+diarrh[oe]a, spasms during the unhealthy season (June to October). On the
+3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, 23rd, and 28th of each month (that is, on every date
+ending with a 3 or an 8), during the continuance of the sultry, damp,
+unhealthy season there was also provided for the sick and poor, gratis,
+advice from Chinese physicians in the great hall. 3rd, The furnishing
+coffins for the interment of those who died without means, or on payment
+in part by families not altogether penniless. In one of these extensive
+magazines we saw a coffin bearing the number 1084, which was just coming
+into requisition. During 36 months 1000 coffins and upwards had been
+supplied to poor families for the interment of their dead! As we were
+leaving the building, we remarked in the principal apartment a large
+quantity of paper, partly written upon, partly in shreds, all heaped up.
+On inquiry as to the object of this collection, we were informed that it
+was for no industrial purpose, but solely to be ascribed to the profound
+respect the Chinese have for every sort of writing. They regard written
+leaves as positively holy, and are particularly careful that no written
+paper shall chance to fall into improper hands, that might make a wrong
+use of it. For this reason the society pays for every pound of old waste
+paper which the poor of Shanghai pick up in the street and bring to the
+Institution three copper cash, and when the pile has attained a sufficient
+height it is set on fire at a particular season.
+
+Built in close proximity to this "Hall of United Benevolence" is the
+sanctuary of the medical profession, or, as Mr. Muirhead translated for
+our benefit the gigantic Chinese inscription over the portal, "the
+sacrificial hall of the medical faculty." This is a temple erected at the
+expense of the nation to a celebrated Chinese physician, whose stature, in
+an easy, erect attitude, cut in wood the size of life and richly gilt, is
+erected upon a platform somewhat resembling an altar. Part of the drapery
+consists of gigantic leaves, while his folded hands clasp a lotos-flower.
+In front of the image is placed the inscription: "The shrine of the spirit
+of the King of Medicine." Above the idol are the following words in
+Chinese, cut in the stone and gilt, "The divine husbandman and sacred
+ruler!" and thereafter, "For all ages the instructive teacher."
+
+This renowned physician had, it seems, instituted many experiments on
+himself with new healing remedies, and according to popular belief had
+attained to an exact knowledge of all that was going on in the human
+frame, so that he could point out the seat of the malady by simply placing
+a piece of common window-glass upon the pit of the patient's stomach, and
+looking into it!
+
+Adjoining this College of Health is the city prison, or Tschi-hin, in
+which, when we saw it, were confined about 100 prisoners in the various
+wards. In that set apart for the worst class of criminals, we saw about
+40, heavily shackled and manacled. Three of these were confined in low
+wooden cages, about three feet in height and width, and four feet in
+length, and fastened to each other by iron chains running through. These
+men also wore iron rings on their feet. One of these unfortunates was
+sentenced to 70, and each of the other two to 60, days of such durance,
+without being suffered for one moment to come out from the cage, which was
+placed on the ground, and like a hen-roost, was provided with perches
+running through it, so as to interfere still further with freedom of
+movement. Their food consisted of rice and vegetables. According to their
+own showing, these three were sentenced to this terrible punishment in
+consequence of some affray, but we had reason to believe that some more
+serious matter was the real cause of their having this penalty inflicted
+on them. We gave the unhappy wretches a few pieces of silver. Each hastily
+secured the donation in a corner of his cage, and seemed in his forlorn
+condition doubly sensible of the value of a metal whose influence,
+especially in China, is so powerful, so all-pervading, and so infallible.
+
+One very peculiar institution is the Wei-kwan, a sort of Council Chamber,
+situated on the N.E. side of the city between the walls and the river, in
+which all matters in dispute between mercantile men are adjusted, and in
+conjunction with which is a temple in honour of the goddess of the seas
+(Tien-Mu). In the centre of the council-room is a large elegantly-shaped
+iron pan (Schang-Lu), in which the merchants and seamen frequenting the
+hall burn slips of paper, on which are written the wishes of those making
+their offerings. Also money, fruit, &c., are here sacrificed, and Chinese
+mariners, whose "junks" have come unscathed through a storm, or have been
+preserved, make their thank-offerings in the shape of elegant little
+models of their ships, which are placed in various parts of the building.
+This hall was founded in 1270 by the Sung dynasty, on a site where certain
+Chinese believed they had observed that the tumultuous tide of the Whampoa
+river gradually lost its violence, as it approached the spot, a phenomenon
+which to them seemed of marvellous significance. Under the Yuen and Mui
+dynasties the temple was repeatedly plundered and burnt to the ground, but
+was rebuilt through the influence of a Tao-priest. In 1735, an imperial
+edict ordered the observance of certain religious ceremonies from time to
+time, an example which has been followed to the present day.
+
+Directly facing the goddess of the sea (called also Kwan-Yin, Queen of
+Heaven),[130] who is represented by a life-size figure placed at the
+bottom of the apartment, a large stage is erected, on which Chinese dramas
+are represented for their entertainment from 10 o'clock in the morning
+till nightfall.
+
+In one part of the immense pile of buildings there are also provided
+dwellings for such Chinese merchants as visit Shanghai from the interior
+of the kingdom, and have neither friends nor relatives in the city with
+whom they can take up their residence, for public taverns are in China
+only frequented by the very lowest classes. We entered one of these
+Chinese hotels, which we had come upon during our ramble, and inspected
+the eating-rooms and bed-rooms, which are usually situated on the first
+floor. The usual charge is from 100 to 140 cash a day for board (4_d._ to
+6_d._), and from 20 to 40 cash for lodging (1_d._ to 2_d._). The gloomy,
+filthy, cavernous aspect of each room makes even a moment's stay
+intolerable. The victuals supplied consist chiefly of rice, vegetables,
+and fish. In the interior, board and lodging in these taverns is very much
+cheaper, and the well-known and highly meritorious English missionary Dr.
+Medhurst, who, in 1845, traversed, in the dress of a Chinese, a large
+portion of the silk and tea districts, relates that the customary charge
+for supper, bed, and breakfast next morning altogether amounted to 80 cash
+only, or about 3-3/8_d._![131] In the streets of Shanghai, the
+eating-houses are greatly out-numbered by the tea-houses, where one gets a
+cup of tea for 6 cash (1/4_d._). These, like our own cafes, are laid out
+with little tables, stools, and benches. As soon as a guest enters and
+takes his seat, a Chinese attendant brings a cup, throws into it the
+proper quantity of tea-leaves, and pours boiling water upon it. After the
+lapse of a few minutes the hot light yellow liquid is hastily swallowed,
+but avoiding the leaves which are swimming on the surface, and usually
+serve for a second or even a third infusion. These tea-houses are crowded
+with visitors throughout the day, who sometimes transact business here
+over a cup of tea and a pipe of oiled tobacco, sometimes resort hither to
+wile the time listlessly away.
+
+The chief place of amusement, however, of the native population of
+Shanghai is the Tea-Garden (Tschin-Huang-Mian), or temple of the Emperor,
+which contains numerous gardens laid out in Chinese fashion, and booths of
+all sorts, besides the attractions of jugglers, singers, actors,
+soothsayers, musicians, and mountebanks, all driving their respective
+avocations. The whole scene is eminently characteristic of the
+grotesqueness of Chinese taste. Artificial canals and tanks filled with
+green stagnant water, redolent of miasmatic effluvia, amid which the Lotos
+opens its lovely white blossoms, quantities of zig-zag bridges with
+beautifully carved balustrades, islands with artificially constructed
+rocks and grottoes, subterranean passages, flags of all shapes and sizes,
+bearing the most bombastic inscriptions--such are the chief attractions of
+a Chinese People's Garden, every large town boasting one such, erected at
+the expense of the State, in which from early morning till late in the
+evening a vast crowd of human beings is incessantly surging to and fro,
+intent on pleasure, dissipation, or profit. The rabble, however, have not
+access to every part of the Tea-Garden, a certain portion being set apart
+for the recreation of the chief officials of the city (Tau-Tai). This
+portion, shut off by a lofty wall, is elegantly laid out, and is made
+attractive with all manner of dwarf trees nursed with great care and
+expense, besides the usual grottoes, artificial hills and precipices,
+pavilions, &c. Hither the head magistrate occasionally resorts to pass the
+warmest hours of the day, and dozes away undisturbed by the cares of his
+onerous responsibilities. All the public gardens of China present almost
+the identical features of the one we visited; a park without artificial
+islands and wooden bridges, without canals (in lieu of paths), without
+pools of stagnant water thickly covered with the broad leaves of the
+_Nelumbium_, would, in the eyes of a Chinese, be deprived of its chief
+pleasure and its greatest attraction.
+
+Close to the Tea-Garden is the largest Buddhist Temple within the city
+walls, in which throughout the day the over-credulous Chinese kneel before
+their idols, and with many reverences murmur their set formulas of
+prayers. Like everything else in China, even religious observances are
+regarded from the most practical point of view. They think they have done
+enough when they have gone through a certain round of outward ceremonies.
+The condition of most of the temples, the utter neglect of some, and the
+various employments of others, indicate that the Chinese either has no
+sense of the sanctity attaching to such places of devotion, or else
+attaches but little value to the act itself. The men rarely enter the
+temples. It is only the women who, to satisfy the cravings of the heart,
+have recourse to invoking the Deity. Frequently one sees a worshipper
+approach the attendant sitting in the porch of the temple, in order to get
+their horoscope calculated by him for a few cash. For this purpose she
+shakes with eager devotion a box of bamboo-cane filled with thin wands,
+until one of these wands springs out. The words inscribed on each wand
+furnish the oracle-expounder with an infallible sign, by which, after
+consulting one of the books of Chinese wisdom spread out before him, he is
+enabled to pronounce the answer of the divinity to the prayers preferred
+by the poor dupe. The most prolific source of revenue of the temple and
+its ministrants, consists, however, in the sale of the gold and silver
+tissue paper,[132] which plays so important a part in the worship of the
+Chinese, and owing to their zealous and frequent use are heaped up in
+immense piles, for consumption by fire in a gigantic furnace.
+
+Much more edifying than the interior of the great Buddhist temple with its
+troops of swag-bellied idols in their parti-coloured apparel, some with a
+good-humoured leer, others sulkily scowling on the beholder, is the
+appearance of the temple of Confucius[133] in a remote quarter of the
+city. In this extensive building, at once elegant and simple, and with
+numerous halls and corridors, the scholars undergo their examination for
+the service of the state; here the Government officials at stated seasons
+perform certain religious ceremonies, and here all the _literati_ assemble
+for the discussion of grave questions of debate. The main hall has its
+red-tinted walls covered with Chinese and Tartar inscriptions, all of
+which refer to Confucius, his doctrines and his wisdom. At intervals, a
+number of tablets let into the wall inform the visitor that this edifice
+is devoted to the instruction of the virtuous, and the cultivation of the
+endowments. At the same time every person who passes this in a sedan-chair
+or on horseback, whether an official or one of the people, is compelled
+to quit his vehicle and traverse the consecrated space on foot. Over the
+entrance to the right is written: "His virtue is comparable to Heaven and
+Earth;" and above the door to the left we read, "His teachings comprise
+all the wisdom of ancient and modern days." Behind the temple is a smaller
+edifice, dedicated to the five progenitors of Confucius. The temple itself
+is similarly surrounded with various apartments, all, as their bombastic
+inscriptions announce, devoted to the honour and advancement of knowledge.
+One of these chambers is dedicated to the god of Literature, another to
+the guardian spirit of Science. The latter is curiously represented as a
+figure holding in one hand a _stylus_, in the other a lump of silver,
+emblematic, we presume, of "man through wisdom attaining unto riches."
+
+In every city throughout China there is, as well as a tea-garden, a temple
+in honour of the great teacher Kong-fu-tse, whose knowledge and whose
+moral system, 2400 years after his mortal pilgrimage, instruct and gladden
+not merely his own countrymen, but all admirers throughout the world of
+what is noble and virtuous.
+
+Among the various monasteries of the city, we visited one of the Taouists,
+called the Du-Kung or Great Mirror (probably of Virtue), where strangers
+provided with introductions are received and entertained at 150 cash
+(6_d._ per diem). This cloister, whose sole inhabitants are some five or
+six Chinese monks, is situated close to the wall, and forms one of the
+best points whence to obtain a view of the entire city.
+
+The Taouists, who follow the Tao, the "way of knowledge," and arrogate to
+themselves a more profound insight into the mysterious powers of nature,
+as well as more special acquaintance with and definite powers over good
+and evil spirits, are disciples of the doctrines of Lao-tse,[134] and are
+extensively scattered throughout the country, although at present, in
+consequence of their losing themselves deeper and deeper in a slothful,
+sensual mode of existence, their proselytism is proceeding at a much
+slower ratio than formerly. It is purely accidental that there is
+immediately adjoining the Taoui monastery a convent known as that of the
+"White nuns," a small one-storey building, kept however singularly neat
+and clean. Here we saw six Buddhist nuns, with close-shaven heads and in
+long white dresses, which gave them quite a masculine aspect. They
+received us with much courtesy, and escorted us round the various
+apartments with considerable _empressement_. They were mostly widows, who
+pass their lives here in calm retrospective contemplation, and occupy
+themselves with preparing little articles for the Buddhist ritual, such as
+censers, tapers, printed sacrificial papers, &c., with which apparently
+they contrive to support themselves. These associations (Ni-koo) were
+usually founded by legacies and donations by pious Chinese, and are
+exceedingly useful as providing an asylum for poor, helpless women, weary
+of life. Many widows withdraw into these abodes of peace, there to pass
+the rest of their lives, free from the tumult of the world, in the
+exercise of devotion and of works of neighbourly love and charity.
+Nevertheless, if we are to believe common report, works of piety are not
+the only objects occasionally pursued in these Buddhist convents, and the
+web of intrigue and amorous adventure, of which they have frequently been
+the scene, has not a little tended to lower the estimate in which these
+religious societies are held, and even threatens to cut short their
+existence. A people of such a materialistic mode of life, and such
+ant-like industry, as the Chinese, who rarely know what it is to have one
+holiday in the entire year, must involuntarily look with argus-like eye on
+all religious communities, which pass their time in luxurious ease and
+exemption from care, without in any way advancing the well-being of their
+fellow-creatures by either mental or physical labour.
+
+In the course of our peregrinations through the streets of Shanghai we
+also came upon the shop of a Chinese apothecary (Yak-Tien), which
+externally bears a considerable resemblance to a similar establishment in
+Europe, but widely differs in respect of details. The Chinese Materia
+Medica is especially abundant in patent medicines, the use and application
+of which, it must be allowed, is frequently of the most extraordinary
+nature.
+
+According to the latest researches of Dr. Hobson, of whose important
+services in the diffusion of European medical science in China we shall
+have much to say in a future page, we are acquainted with 442 drugs from
+among the three great kingdoms of Nature, which must be kept in every
+well-stocked Chinese drug-store, of which 314 belong to the botanical, 78
+to the animal, and 50 to the mineral world. We shall, however, in this
+place only indicate those of which Chinese physicians avail themselves
+most frequently in the preparation of their medicines, such, for example,
+as birds' nests, dried red-spotted lizard, the fresh tips of stags'
+antlers, the shell of the tortoise, dogs' flesh, bones of animals,
+preparations from various parts of the human body, whale-bone,
+oyster-shells, skins of snakes, shark's maw and fin, tendons of deer and
+buffalo, dried silk-worms, their larvae and excrement, bamboo shavings, the
+bear's gall, preparations from human _faeces_, scraped rhinoceros and
+antelope horn, rabbit dung, cuttle-fish bone, dried varnish, dried leeches
+and earthworms, red marble, refuse of ivory, preparations from toads,
+petrifactions, old copper money,[135] snow-water,[136] human milk,[137]
+&c. &c.
+
+These pharmaceutics are brought from various parts of China, as well as
+from Japan, Siam, and the Straits of Malacca, and constitute an important
+and profitable branch of commerce. Many of them are sold at the druggist's
+in the raw state, when they are used as sympathetic remedies, amulets, or
+generally for external use. The Chinese druggists sell their medicaments
+for the most part in the form of powders or pills. These latter are
+usually made up in a capsule of bees-wax for greater facility of
+administration, so that the dose as it comes from the shop resembles
+those small wax-cakes used by house-wives for waxing their thread. One
+such cake contains four or six pills, called _Tzi-pau-tan_, or very costly
+pills, which are used as a sort of universal specific against fevers,
+affections of the digestive organs, headaches, &c. &c.
+
+The most valuable and costly article in the Chinese pharmacop[oe]ia is,
+however, the Ginseng (_Panax Ginseng_, or _Panax Quinquefolia_), which is
+chiefly found in Mantchooria and the deserts to the north of the peninsula
+of Corea. The circumstance that the Ginseng is still a monopoly of the
+Chinese Government, only a few privileged individuals being annually
+permitted to purchase a certain quantity for its weight in pure gold, has
+much more to do with its efficacy as a panacea than the benefits conferred
+by its curative powers. The roots are about the size and thickness of a
+man's little finger, and break short off when bent. When cleaned they are
+transparent, and of a dark amber colour.
+
+Of the Ginseng there are three qualities sold in the Chinese drug-stores.
+One leang or ounce of the best (the largest and finest) costs 50 dollars,
+of the medium quality five dollars, and of the most inferior quality one
+dollar. The Ginseng root is also found in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
+Canada, and is thence exported to China, but the Chinese prefer that of
+their native forests, even though these are very much dearer, and there is
+hardly any difference to remark between them. As the plant is only found
+in the wild state, and obstinately resists all attempts to cultivate it,
+its collection among the forests of North America is attended with great
+hardship and expense, and whereas in former years the profit realized on
+this article of commerce by English and American merchantmen amounted to
+from 500 to 600 per cent., it is now reduced to a very moderate
+proportion.
+
+A more general subject of interest is presented by the shops where is sold
+the porcelain-ware, the manufacture of which dates from a very remote
+period of Chinese history, and was already a flourishing trade at the
+commencement of our historic epoch. Indeed we may reasonably assume,
+notwithstanding the beautiful specimens of the art which from time to time
+are brought to light, that this special branch of industry is at present
+in a state of decline, while of many kinds of porcelain manufacture no
+examples can now be shown, as the secret of their manipulation has
+perished. What usually interests Europeans in these shops is what is known
+as "crackle" porcelain,[138] the upper surface of which everywhere
+presents broken lines, so that the entire vessel appears as though it
+consisted of numbers of small pieces cemented to each other, the whole
+having very much the appearance of Mosaic. But this description also is no
+longer manufactured of the first quality in the present day. Antique
+porcelain is of extraordinary value, but specimens of modern manufacture,
+such as small figures, mannikins, &c., are very cheap, and are much the
+same as those imported to Europe.
+
+One marked partiality of the Chinese is their fondness for suspending
+grasshoppers in small elegant baskets of bamboo strips, or twisted wire,
+in which, whatever the season or the weather, these little captives keep
+up a constant pleasant chirping. This custom is of great antiquity, and
+while one even now finds among the populace of the present day some of
+these chirpers thus carefully tended, there once was a time when the
+grasshopper was the object of universal adoration, and enjoyed all the
+honours of Fashion. They were indebted for this singular good fortune,
+according to the abbe Grosier,[139] to a poor scholar under the Thang
+dynasty, in the 7th century of our era, who to relieve his poverty fell
+upon the singular expedient of trading in these insects. He went into the
+country, selected the most beautiful insects he could find, constructed
+elegant little cages for them, and returning to the city offered them for
+sale in the most frequented streets of Tschang-gan. The idea was novel,
+and the wealthy upper classes speedily found a charm in having the music
+of the fields thus transplanted into their houses. The Empress, the
+Queens, the ladies of the Palace, in a word, every one was eager to
+possess these songsters of the meadow. There was actually an enactment
+passed for the supply of the Imperial Palace with the requisite number of
+these insects. The fashion rose to a perfect mania--the little Zirperu was
+encountered at every corner--it was taken out whenever a call was
+paid--the whole city resounded with its shrill cry. The fine arts, and
+every branch of industry, felt its impulse. There was no textile fabric,
+no embroidery, no design, no vessel, on which it did not conspicuously
+figure. It was represented in metal and in jewellery, and no handsome lady
+thought her toilette complete, unless she sported a grasshopper among her
+hair. This mania has died out in China, but the buzz of the insect still
+continues to furnish matter of amusement for the populace and children of
+all classes, and they are still caught in large quantities, and exposed
+for sale in the streets. Singular to say, all ancient and modern writers,
+if we are to judge by their delineations, describe these insects as
+_cicadae_, whereas it was shown and proved by the researches of one of the
+zoologists of the Expedition, that the insect is no _cicada_, but a
+species of grasshopper (_Decticus_), which, so far as appears, has never
+hitherto been described. Very probably the circumstance that the noise
+made by each of these insects is very similar, gave circulation to this
+error of upwards of a thousand years' standing, whence people would
+without further examination take it for granted that the insect confined
+in the cage belonged to that species whose place in natural history, and
+whose special musical qualifications, mankind had so long been familiar
+with. One of these grasshoppers was kept for months in such a cage on
+board our ship, and chirped away lustily, fair weather or foul, even when
+confined in a close cupboard. On the other hand, some _cicadae_, with
+which similar experiments were made, lived only two or three days in
+captivity. None sang, unless when teased, or when a number more were
+introduced into the vessel, thereby incommoding them, and none took
+nourishment. It was obvious that the _cicadae_ possessed none of those
+characteristics which would enable them to be kept in captivity as pets,
+whereas, on the other hand, the grasshoppers and crickets were especially
+adapted for that purpose.
+
+We were anxious to visit a variety of other interesting places, ere
+quitting the sultry, gloomy Chinese city on our return to the more genial
+European quarter. But evening was already setting in, and after sunset the
+gates of the city are closed, and neither Chinese nor European can after
+that hour obtain access to the city. Whoever is belated must find shelter
+for the night in the house of some hospitable friend, until with the first
+break of morning the gates are re-opened, communication is restored with
+the foreign quarter, and the previous day's scene of bustle is renewed.
+
+The next object which excited our interest was a Chinese school. Ascending
+a wooden staircase, we enter a room, quite empty but for a table and
+stools, in which a haggard woe-begone Chinese, with long tail and rod in
+hand, is walking to and fro, while at a table some dozen of boys of from
+eight to twelve are engaged in reading. Their loud accents may be heard
+down in the street outside. The cost of the schools for the people is
+chiefly defrayed by voluntary subscriptions, foundations, &c. &c. The
+children of the middle classes pay for nine months' instruction, three
+Spanish dollars. Many teachers have more than a hundred scholars, and thus
+earn about 1000 dollars per annum. These, it is true, are exceptions, but
+teaching as a profession seems on the whole to be fully better remunerated
+in China than in European countries. There it is in much higher
+estimation, and receives better recompense. The wealthy Chinese usually
+engage private tutors for their children, who, as among ourselves, usually
+form part of the family. Elementary education is almost universal
+throughout China. There are but few Chinese who are not at least able to
+read and write. One very gratifying instance of the prevailing religious
+toleration, well worthy of example in the Christian states of Europe, is
+the presence of Protestant and Catholic places of worship in the midst of
+Buddhist temples, and other edifices dedicated to heathen worship. The
+American Episcopal church, erected in 1850, at the expense of a wealthy
+merchant and ship-owner of Boston named Appleton, at a cost of 6000
+dollars, already numbers eighty converts. It is an extremely simple yet
+neat-looking place of worship, quite in the style of the chapels in the
+Western portion of the American Union, and has in connection with it a
+school numbering about forty native scholars. Every Sunday morning at ten,
+a sermon is preached, which is attended by most of the foreign community.
+Far grander and more imposing in plan and fittings is the Catholic
+cathedral of Tong-Kadu, confessedly the finest place of Christian worship
+throughout China. The construction of this building was commenced by
+voluntary subscription in 1846, and completed in 1852, the total cost
+amounting to 230,000 _leangs_, or about L65,000. Within there is a large
+organ, constructed by one of the lay brothers of bamboo pipes, whose
+saddening yet inspiring notes, heard in the festivals of the Church,
+invite the Christian community far and wide to devotion and instruction.
+At present this cathedral is under the charge of a bishop of the Order of
+the Jesuits.
+
+Our road from the Chinese city to the European quarter led us past an
+establishment which bore interesting testimony to the industrial activity
+of the Chinese. It is an oil factory worked exclusively by natives, and
+giving employment to about 400 workmen, besides 80 draught oxen. The oil
+is extracted from indigenous beans, and is so copious, that 1400 _catties_
+(1750 lbs.) of oil are procured daily, which is worth 74 _cash_ per
+_catty_ (about 3-3/4_d._ per lb.), and is used both for cooking and for
+light. The residuary oil-cake, after expression of the oily matter, is
+used as manure.[140] A workman may earn at this description of labour from
+100 to 200 _cash_ a day (4_d._ to 8_d._).
+
+As we left the manufactory, and were bending our stops towards the little
+Eastern gate, our gaze was suddenly attracted by a spacious and elegant
+mansion, evidently the property of a well-to-do Chinese. This, as we were
+informed by our companion, proved to be the residence of the Wuong family,
+which ranks among the five oldest and most distinguished families in
+Shanghai. There is to be seen in the neighbourhood a small stone memorial
+shaped like a mausoleum, which, with the Emperor's permission, was erected
+by the inhabitants of the district in which she lived, to commemorate the
+benevolence and philanthropic exertions of the mother of Wuong. The custom
+of honouring ladies distinguished by their virtues and benevolence, by the
+erection of temples, cenotaphs, &c., is by no means unusual in China, and
+is in marvellous contrast to the almost slavish treatment which the female
+sex usually meets with. Nevertheless, in the city and environs of Shanghai
+alone there are ninety such triumphal arches and memorials to as many
+exemplary and philanthropic ladies. The majority of these were married,
+and some had attained a very great age, one having died at 104 years, and
+another at 115 years of age![141]
+
+In the house of Wuong, who stands in high repute among the Europeans as a
+merchant and ship-owner, we were received with the most gratifying
+hospitality. As soon as we entered the house, an attendant immediately
+presented tea in small cups, which, in conformity with the usages of the
+country, had to be swallowed in all its native bitterness without
+admixture of sugar or milk. Immediately after an old nurse made her
+appearance, and struck up with our excellent conductor, Mr. Syles, who
+seemed to be everywhere welcomed by the Chinese, and was well acquainted
+with the family, a long conversation upon the most diverse subjects. At
+length the master of the house himself made his appearance, a dignified,
+stately man, arrayed in a light elegant grey silk frock, but in deportment
+and externals not differing in the very least from his Chinese attendants,
+and himself conducted us round the house. He seemed to feel pleasure in
+the opportunity of baring to the view of a stranger the very penetralia
+of his beautiful abode. We wandered through numerous apartments simply
+yet elegantly furnished, with various antechambers and corridors, among
+which were interspersed little plots laid out with dwarf plantations,
+artistically-designed grottoes, and "rookeries." In one of the rooms was a
+"punkah," an article of furniture rarely met with in a Chinese household.
+On reaching the library or study, our host bade us be seated, while he
+again ordered tea to be served. This small but pretty apartment was
+covered all round with inscriptions in Chinese (chiefly maxims from
+Confucius), which, written on rolls of white paper, were suspended on the
+walls. While sipping our tea, and engrossed in conversation, an attendant
+appeared with somewhat thick cloths, steeped in hot water, with which to
+wipe our faces and hands. The evaporation of the moisture lowers the
+temperature of the skin, and has so refreshing an effect, that one cannot
+but feel surprised that this custom is not more extensively patronized in
+hot countries, or put in practice by ourselves during our hot sultry
+summers.
+
+With respect to ourselves, what appeared most to interest our Chinese host
+in his silken attire was our apparel. He felt over and over again the
+black alpaca coat, which was worn by one of the members of our Expedition,
+and remarked, "these Western races are truly marvellous people; they wear
+far more clothes than we do, yet they perspire less." And thereupon Wuong
+mopped his face twice with the towel, which in the mean time the attendant
+had again dipped in the hot water, and thoroughly wrung out. As we were
+taking our departure, our courteous host accompanied us to the threshold.
+
+In the portico were a number of wooden tables lacquered with red varnish,
+on which were inscribed in large golden letters of the Chinese character
+the titles of honour of the family of Wuong, which on festive occasions
+were drawn in front of the head of the family as he sat on his sofa.
+
+After this ramble through the Chinese town, we returned to the "Strangers'
+Quarter," where we came upon a widely different mode of life. Here
+everything is arranged upon the European model, and the attention is only
+diverted by those minor accessories, in which the climatic conditions have
+necessitated some variation. The houses are universally lofty, roomy, and
+agreeable, usually surrounded by a garden, and many of them present an
+almost palace-like aspect. More even than to the merchants in Broadway is
+the designation of "merchant princes" applicable to the foreign merchants
+of China and the East Indies, for it is among them beyond any other class
+on the globe, that there prevails a luxury almost princely in its
+magnificence. In such a place as Shanghai, which can present to the
+educated foreigner such a meagre equivalent for his numerous intellectual
+privations, each man endeavours in the readiest possible way to render his
+material existence as comfortable and agreeable as he possibly can. This
+leading principle one sees illustrated and carried out in practice in the
+splendid designs of their residences, and the exquisite refinement and
+comfort of their internal arrangements, as well as in the scrupulous
+attention paid to the cellar and the "cuisine."
+
+On the ground-floors are the counting-house and stores, on the first floor
+the drawing-room, the dining-room, and the sleeping-apartments. All these
+various chambers are decorated with as much attention to comfort as good
+taste, and almost every single article bears on it the solid,
+unmistakeable impress of its English origin. Even into the most minute
+details all the genuine comfort of an English drawing-room is introduced,
+increased even, if that be possible, by the adoption of a few customs
+peculiar to the peoples of Asia, such as mats of fragrant materials placed
+before the doors and windows, Punkahs, which, kept in motion by Chinese
+servants, keep up a constant current of fresh air, while through the
+verandah, or the open glass casement, where the family sit swinging to and
+fro in an American rocking-chair, a delicious cool breeze blows in the
+mornings and evenings. A well-appointed numerous household is constantly
+hovering around, eagerly intent to anticipate the slightest wish of their
+employers. Probably in no part of the world are there more intelligent or
+punctual servants than the Chinese. They get through the utmost variety of
+work with consummate tact, method, and facility. Everything is done
+rapidly and noiselessly, and one is served with the utmost regularity,
+without being pestered with too much attention.
+
+The members of the _Novara_ Expedition experienced in Shanghai the most
+hearty hospitality. Even the presence of the various embassies, and the
+momentous nature of the operations of which the Gulf of Petcheli was the
+scene, proved no barrier to a most flattering reception being accorded to
+this the first maritime Expedition of a German power. Foreigners of the
+most widely divergent races and standing,--consuls, missionaries,
+merchants, naturalists, journalists,--each in his own way vied with the
+rest in ministering to our comfort, and in aiding us in the prosecution of
+our objects.
+
+One of the most distinguished of the physicians and missionaries of the
+London Missionary Society, Dr. B. Hobson, who since 1838 has resided at
+Canton in the honourable capacity of a "medical missionary,"[142] and who,
+a few months before our arrival, had, in consequence of the outbreak of
+hostilities, removed to Shanghai, was so kind as to furnish us, out of his
+own rich treasures of Chinese lore, with much valuable information, and
+acquainted us with the various objects aimed at by the praiseworthy
+activity of the London Board of Missions. This body by no means confines
+its operations to the diffusion of tracts and works relating to
+Christianity published in the Chinese language, but combines
+simultaneously with that sphere of action the excellent idea of
+ministering to the physical necessities of the poor and sick Chinese, and
+of helping them in their need. While able, eloquent Dr. Muirhead presides
+over the missionary schools, and the not less zealous Mr. Wylie
+superintends the printing of the books, our highly-educated friend Dr.
+Hobson takes charge of the hospital, the cost of which is defrayed partly
+by the Missionary Society, partly by the European community.
+
+The building itself is rather small and unpretending, and can at most
+accommodate only thirty patients. But it was erected chiefly for those
+cases which in England it is customary to classify in the general category
+of "accidents," injuries, that is, sustained unexpectedly, or in a riot,
+&c. &c. Every day between twelve and one o'clock a consultation is held,
+and treatment provided gratuitously. Hither flock hundreds of invalids, to
+avail themselves of this benevolent arrangement, and while Dr. Hobson is
+busy giving orders and dispensing drugs in his small apartment, a native
+convert in the waiting-room is preaching the Living Word to those who come
+for advice.
+
+We passed an entire hour in the dispensary, not merely for the purpose of
+witnessing the various descriptions of cases, mostly of a surgical nature,
+but also to catch many an instructive remark from the lips of Dr. Hobson.
+Thus he remarked, as the result of a medical practice of more than sixteen
+years, that the Chinese are uncommonly soon affected by the use of mercury
+and quinine. A very small dose of either of these drugs very speedily
+shows a marked effect. Oddly enough, quinine, as a tonic and febrifuge, is
+unknown in the Chinese pharmacop[oe]ia, and is almost exclusively
+prescribed for the cure of the opium-smoking form of mania.
+
+In China, a physician is treated with great distinction, and is usually
+designated as szi-yay (the honourable teacher). Of late years cholera
+(tschan-kan-tschui, literally "the contracting of the tendons") and
+small-pox had committed fearful ravages among the populace, and the
+appalling havoc committed by the latter-named disease gave occasion for
+the publication by the English missionaries of a short treatise translated
+into Chinese, on the importance of vaccination. Among children especially
+the mortality caused by this fell scourge was very great, and the
+instances of _leucoma_ and loss of sight resulting from the disease appear
+to have been very numerous.
+
+Dr. Hobson, who in 1851 had published a volume of Physiology in the Canton
+dialect, has also completed a handbook of Practical Surgery, with 400
+woodcuts, and, like the preceding, had had it printed by native workmen.
+Even the drawings were drawn on the wood and cut by native artists after
+English originals. Many of the scientific phrases contained in these works
+must have required to be entirely reconstructed, or else expressed by a
+circumlocution. Dr. Hobson intended to follow up these two splendid
+undertakings with a fresh work upon Pharmacology, as also a treatise upon
+the diseases of women and children, both, like their predecessors, to be
+in the Canton dialect, as that most universally used.
+
+The Chinese, however, possess themselves a pretty comprehensive medical
+literature, whence we may infer that from the earliest times they paid
+special attention to the science of medicine. According to a Chinese
+tradition, the Emperor Schi-nung, 3200 years before our era, collected a
+"Materia Medica," and 570 years later, the Emperor Hwang-te is said to
+have written a work with the title "Sonwan" (open questions in medicine).
+The celebrated work, "the Doctrine of the Pulse," by Wang-shu-fo, was
+written in the reign of Tsche-Hwang-te (the book-burner), about 510 B.C. A
+second edition of this work was published in the reign of Kang-he, in the
+year 1693 of our era. About A.D. 229 the Chinese physician Tschang-kae-pin
+wrote the first Chinese work which, in addition to the theory of medicine,
+also contained prescriptions. The great "_Materia Medica_" of China was
+compiled by Li-tschi-kan, and was published by his son during the reign of
+Wan-Leih, about A.D. 1600. The most important medical work in Chinese is
+the E-tsang-kin-ksen, or "the Golden Mirror of Medical Authors," collated
+by Imperial authority from the best works of earlier native authors,
+especially from the "Nan-king," and the writings of Dr. Tschang-kae-pin.
+This was published in 1743 (the seventh year of the reign of Keen-lung),
+and consists of thirty-two volumes 8vo, with upwards of 400 woodcuts.[143]
+
+The information furnished us by Dr. Hobson with reference to the terrible
+forms of leprosy in China are of so much interest, general as well as
+special, that we believe we shall not transcend the scope of this work, if
+we give in these pages the valuable data upon the subject in all their
+completeness.
+
+The Chinese consider leprosy as the most appalling of diseases, since,
+while resisting all means of cure itself, it attacks others, and they
+accordingly avoid in the greatest terror all those who are smitten with
+it. Like the people whom Moses brought out, the Chinese regard leprosy as
+a direct consequence of impiety, an expiation for sin committed. For this
+reason those afflicted with leprosy are rarely regarded with pity. No hand
+of sympathy is stretched forth to give aid, no heart feels itself impelled
+to alleviate their hopeless condition, and thus the most wretched of all
+are in the eyes of the masses simply objects of disgust and of horror.
+Leprosy is called Lae in Chinese. In the Imperial dictionary of Kang-he
+Lae, is described as a very evil kind of disease, which breaks out upon
+the skin in the form of blotches and pustules. Gutzlaff and others
+acquainted with Chinese make use however of the words Ma-fung to express
+leprosy, which is also used by native writers to indicate the disease.
+
+The Chinese physicians consider leprosy as a subtle, penetrating,
+poisonous effluvium which has infected the blood. They profess to
+recognize 36 different kinds of leprosy, among which they enumerate every
+form and variety of Lichen, Scabies, Psoriasis, and Syphilis. Common as
+the disease is in Southern China, it is unknown in the North; its area of
+manifestation seems to be confined within the tropics. It is, however,
+related of many Chinese in good circumstances, that when attacked by
+leprosy they have removed to Pekin, where after a two years' residence
+they have lost all trace of the infection, which, however, broke out anew
+immediately on their return to the South.
+
+Leprosy does not seem by its physical effects to shorten life. There are
+in China numbers of aged people attacked with this disease, and in the
+Lazar-house at Canton there is still living an old leper upwards of
+eighty, who has long found an asylum in that hospital as an incurable.
+Suicide is not uncommon among those thus sorely smitten, when they usually
+poison themselves with an over-dose of opium, hang themselves, or drown
+themselves, for death, they say, makes them once more clean. Although the
+Chinese believe in the hereditary transmission of leprosy, they
+nevertheless think that the disease becomes of a milder type in the third
+generation, and entirely disappears in the fourth. Marriages never take
+place with the offspring of leprous parents or grand-parents, but on the
+other hand the lepers and their children intermarry among themselves. A
+leper however of the fourth generation would only ally himself with a girl
+of the same degree of exemption. The children of such a union would be
+considered sound and free from leprosy, and would no longer be excluded in
+any way from social rights.
+
+But the Chinese believe leprosy not alone hereditary, but also infectious
+through the very slightest contact. Hence the father abandons his own
+child; the children flee from their parents: they will not eat and drink
+with them, will not sit in their company, will not use the chairs which
+have been sat upon by the leper, until at least the surrounding atmosphere
+has been fumigated with a torch. Even the law declares leprosy to be a
+contagious disease. A wealthy leper durst not venture to leave his own
+room, where he is excluded from all communication with the outer world,
+without exposing himself to the danger of being arrested by the police,
+and mulcted in a heavy fine, or else sent to what is called the Leper
+village near Canton, an abode of human woe and misery, which even the
+leprous regard with horror.[144]
+
+As the Chinese physicians regard leprosy as a taint of the blood, and in
+their treatment adopt Hahnemann's principle of _similia similibus
+curantur_, they prescribe by way of remedies the most repulsive and
+disgusting substances which they can select from their _Materia Medica_,
+such as the saliva of the toad, beetles, snakes, worms, scorpions,
+centipedes, &c. &c.
+
+Dr. Hobson considers leprosy, when once fully developed, to be incurable.
+Such remedies as arsenic, salts, acids, in short alteratives, occasionally
+prove efficacious at an early stage of the malady, as also Iodine baths,
+and mercurial friction. External remedies however are usually found to be
+unavailing in reaching the root of the disorder, its seat lying deeper
+than an ordinary affection of the skin.
+
+Of late years the seeds of the Tschaul or Tscharul Mugra (one of the order
+of _Flacourtiaceae_), have been administered for leprosy by several English
+physicians in India, and certainly, in some instances, with such results
+that the most sanguine hopes were entertained of its efficacy in all cases
+of leprosy. Dr. Hobson informed us that Dr. Mouatt, of the Medical
+College, Calcutta, who was the first to discover the remarkable properties
+of this plant, sent him, when he was at Canton, a considerable quantity of
+these seeds for the purpose of experimenting with them.[145] They were
+ground into a coarse powder, and in that state administered twice a day
+at considerable intervals in doses of about 60 grains, the external sores
+being at the same time rubbed with the oil pressed out of the seeds. The
+cure must be persevered in without interruption for six months, and must
+be from time to time aided by saline purgatives. The first symptom of
+improvement shows itself in an abatement of the prominence and redness of
+the eruption, and the appearance of white scales all round it. This remedy
+has long been known to the Chinese, but those who are acquainted with the
+active curative principle contained in the seeds of the Tscharul Mugra,
+keep the secret to themselves in their own interest.[146] Dr. Hobson
+assured us that he had cured two cases of leprosy taken early, and in a
+very mild form, by the administration of these seeds, and had seen several
+greatly improved by their use; but this experienced physician is, like
+others, distrustful of the efficacy of the seeds of Tscharul Mugra in
+cases of fully developed leprosy, which, according to his view, is
+pre-eminently a taint of the blood,--a poison which can never again be
+eradicated from the system. In cases of scrofula, these seeds have been
+found serviceable.
+
+Like their brethren of the London Missionary Association, the various
+missions of the United States of North America display the most
+praiseworthy zeal and activity of co-operation upon every question.
+
+That eminent philanthropist, Dr. Bridgman, who had, for more than a
+quarter of a century, been an active and highly esteemed missionary, was
+in 1858 at the head of the American Episcopal Mission, and was one of the
+oldest, as also among the most highly respected, denizens of the little
+foreign settlement. This meritorious citizen died at Shanghai, on the 29th
+of November, 1861, after having spent upwards of thirty years in China in
+the promotion of the Christian faith and the advancement of knowledge,
+deeply lamented by foreigners, as well as by the Chinese, who always found
+him their true and confident friend. This gentleman had the kindness to
+assemble under his simple but kindly roof the various members of his
+mission, who are no less useful in increasing our acquaintance with the
+Chinese language and literature than in diffusing the blessings of the
+gospel, thus furnishing the members of the _Novara_ Expedition with an
+opportunity of personal intercourse with these gentlemen. We here became
+acquainted with Mr. Wells Williams, so highly esteemed and so widely known
+for his profound historical and philological works[147] respecting China,
+as also with Messrs. Syle, Aichison, Macy, Jones, and Blodgett,
+missionaries distinguished for their extensive acquirements in Chinese;
+and in the course of this agreeable and interesting intercourse were so
+fortunate as to obtain information respecting a variety of topics, many of
+them suggested by Dr. Pfitzmaier, and recommended by him to our
+investigation. On most of these topics accurate intelligence was in the
+course of our voyage transmitted to the Imperial Academy of Sciences; of
+the remainder elaborate and comprehensive particulars are reserved for the
+scientific publications of the Expedition.
+
+We may, however, more closely investigate here one topic of universal
+interest, namely, the latest researches respecting the very remarkable,
+little known, half-savage tribe, known as the Miau-Tze.
+
+These extraordinary human beings are usually encountered in the provinces
+of Kwei-chan, Yun-nan, Szechuen, Hunan, Kwang-si, and the western part of
+Kwang-tung. The wild tribes of the island of Formosa belong, on the
+contrary, to an entirely different race. In the Imperial Dictionary of
+Kang-hi, the sign [Chinese character(s)], _miau_ (a compound of the words
+"flower" and "meadow"), signifies "germinating seeds," "blades of grass
+springing from the seed-vessels." The sign [Chinese character(s)], _tsz_,
+on the other hand, is that usually employed to express son, or descendant.
+In accordance with this explanation, the Chinese also seem to consider the
+Miau-tze as children of the soil, as aborigines, or indigenous inhabitants
+of the country. In their descriptions of this singular people they divide
+them into "Sang" and "Schuh." _Sang_, ordinarily used when speaking of
+fruit, signifies "green, unripe,"--_schuh_ again means "ripe," or, when
+speaking of food, the former signifies "raw," the latter "thoroughly
+cooked." By these means they discriminate them into the savage independent
+"green" Miau-tze, and the subjugated more civilized "ripe" Miau-tze. The
+subjection and civilization of these latter are however as yet very
+problematical. As in days long gone by, so up to the present hour, the
+Miau-tze are restless and troublesome neighbours to the Chinese. Dr.
+Bridgman has lately translated into English the sketches made by a Chinese
+scholar upon the Miau-tze, during his travels in the province of
+Kwei-chan, by which he has added greatly to our stock of information
+respecting those "children of the soil;" the work consists of two volumes
+in 8vo, containing about 82 sketches or delineations. Each of these fills
+one page, the handwriting being condensed or expanded according to the
+amount of the contents, while that opposite contains an illustration
+elucidatory of the text. This very rare work divides the Miau-tze into 82
+tribes according to their customs, more or less savage, very few of whom
+possess any trace of a written language, recording the most important
+events simply by certain marks on a stick, or by what are called
+"tallies," and subsisting upon wild fruit, fish, and the flesh of wild
+animals. They usually go about barefooted, are very scantily clad, lead a
+life full of privation and hardship, and in all their troubles have
+recourse to the invocation of the evil spirits. Only very few of their
+race follow agriculture, or any branch of industry, or worship Buddha in
+their festivals.[148] Some of these however seem to be more or less
+crossed with Chinese blood, as, for example, the Tsche-Tsai-Miau, in the
+district of Kutschan, whither the rebel Ma-san-pai formerly fled with 600
+of his followers, when his attempt, under his feudal leader, Mu-san-Kwei,
+to overthrow the reigning dynasty, failed of success. Many of these
+fugitives formed connections with the native women, and their descendants
+are now known by the name of the six hundred savage Miau families.
+
+Adjoining Dr. Bridgman's residence, is a school maintained at the expense
+of the mission, in which twenty-four Chinese girls are during five years
+instructed in reading and writing their mother tongue, in arithmetic, and
+in the rudiments of Christianity, after which they are provided with a
+small portion and married to Chinese Christians of good character.
+Selected under the idea that very favourable results may be anticipated,
+if the various subjects in which the scholars are instructed are imparted
+to them in their native language, English is entirely omitted. Interesting
+and extraordinary, however, as it is to hear American ladies imparting
+instruction in the Chinese language, this method of teaching has many
+drawbacks, and the mission itself and society in general would derive far
+more advantage, if these poor females should be instructed in English,
+thus widening the horizon of their knowledge.
+
+In the boys' school, also supported by the mission, another method of
+teaching is in use. The children learn an epistle first in Chinese,
+afterwards in English, when they are called upon to translate the Chinese
+into English. Thus we heard one lad rehearse the Book of Ruth, first in
+Chinese, and then in English. He was then examined in English upon the
+meaning of certain passages, when he replied with great accuracy in the
+same language. Education in these schools is mainly intrusted to ladies.
+Two of these, Miss Jones and Miss Conover, displayed remarkable
+attainments in Chinese, besides their really marvellous store of
+information. None of the teachers are married, while none of the wives of
+the missionaries interfere with the school, but employ themselves in
+superintending the education of their own children. We found forty Chinese
+boys receiving their education at the expense of the mission, whose
+parents have to sign a written engagement that they will not withdraw
+their children from the institution for a period of ten years, in fact,
+till the completion of their education. This precaution is absolutely
+necessary, owing to the fickle nature of the Chinese, else it would be a
+by no means rare occurrence for the parents to insist on the child
+returning home, possibly just at the critical moment when the beneficent
+influence of Christian culture is beginning to spring up in the soul. On
+the whole, this mission has splendid results to show. We saw one scholar,
+who at present forms one of the staff of teachers, and speaks and writes
+English absolutely better than his native language. Another young Chinese,
+sent out at the expense of the mission, spent eight years at Yale College
+in Massachusetts, and at present earns his maintenance by translating
+English documents into Chinese and _vice versa_, for the mercantile houses
+of the place.
+
+Dr. Bridgman is at once founder and president of the first scientific
+association in Shanghai, the "North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
+Society," including among its members almost all the foreigners resident
+in Shanghai, who assemble regularly every winter for intellectual and
+literary recreation, and publish from time to time in a periodical of
+their own, details of the efforts, adventures, and experiences of their
+colleagues in promoting the objects of the association.
+
+An extraordinary meeting was held in honour of the _Novara_ voyagers, at
+which about forty persons were present. The President, Dr. Bridgman,
+welcomed our commander and his subordinates with a few cordial remarks,
+which was responded to by Commodore Wuellerstorff, after which the writer
+of these lines had the honour to deliver in English a brief address,
+touching on the chief aims of the Expedition and its scientific objects,
+stating that its chief purpose was less the promotion of purely scientific
+knowledge, than by ample, long-continued practice to provide material of
+suitable quality for our youthful budding navy, to unfurl the standard of
+Austria in localities where it had never before been seen, to effect
+treaties of commerce with foreign nations, to knit the various capitals
+which we should visit in our cruise by the tie of science, to open
+correspondence with their various institutes, and to make collections,
+chiefly of those objects of natural history, the acquisition of which,
+owing to their great value or the difficulty of transport, is almost
+impossible to the single traveller. The hearty reception which had been
+accorded the Expedition in Shanghai rendered it doubly incumbent on us to
+explain the various purposes we had in view, and the original points of
+inquiry to which we were restricted by the track definitely assigned to
+us, as also to account for the shortness of our stay in each port, and the
+fact that our prescribed route led us sometimes to visit places either
+politically or nautically well known.
+
+After the close of this short lecture, several of those present rose to
+speak, amongst others the United States Plenipotentiary, Mr. Reed, who
+expressed his sincere pleasure at having been privileged during his stay
+in China to meet with the commander of an Austrian frigate engaged with
+his gallant companions in so grand a mission.
+
+Mr. Reed spoke in high terms of the scientific exertions being made by
+Germany, and recalled in animated terms the splendid services of A. von
+Humboldt, whom the news of the death of Washington (14th Dec. 1799) found
+already occupied in scientific research in the primeval forests of South
+America, and who still (August, 1858) continued to display such marvellous
+intellectual activity.
+
+Besides Mr. Reed, we also made the personal acquaintance of the French
+Plenipotentiary, Baron Gros; the ambassadors of England and Russia were
+already gone, the former to Japan, the latter to the Amur. We were
+introduced to Baron Gros at the house of M. de Montigny, the French
+Consul, who during a residence of many years in China has occupied himself
+not alone with upholding the prestige and influence of "_la grande
+nation_," but has also rendered conspicuous services to science and
+agriculture. To him is due the credit of having in 1847 dispatched to
+Europe the first seeds of what is called the Chinese sugar-cane (_Sorghum
+saccharatum_), and of having introduced to agriculturists that remarkable
+species of grass, with which, in consequence of its many useful qualities,
+hundreds of thousands of acres have since that period been planted in
+various parts of the globe. M. de Montigny distinguished the members of
+our Expedition in every way, and presented them with numerous specimens of
+seeds from Northern China.[149]
+
+The visit paid to Baron Gros by two of the naturalists left by no means an
+agreeable impression. The French ambassador is a tall, commanding,
+powerfully-built man, about fifty years of age, with a full, round,
+beardless face covered with freckles, and hair of a light colour. He
+seemed pleased to speak of himself and his connections, and repeatedly
+proclaimed himself an admirer of German men of science, who was in
+correspondence with M. von Humboldt. "You know," quoth the Baron,
+apparently desirous of explaining his meaning, "he that wrote the Kosmos."
+The two members of our Expedition coloured up; to pronounce the name of
+Humboldt to German men of science, and deem it necessary to state his
+literary claims, was sufficiently embarrassing. One of them endeavoured to
+turn the conversation to the gulf of Petchi-li, whence Baron Gros had just
+returned after the ratification of the treaty of peace. He showed them a
+hasty sketch of a portion of the great wall of China, to which he had paid
+a visit when in the gulf of Petchi-li, and had made the sketch on the
+spot. The natives with whom he came in contact during his stay in the
+North he described as destitute and poor to an extraordinary degree, but
+anything but hostile to foreigners. They asked for with eagerness and
+seized with avidity the entrails of animals which the sailors were about
+to throw away; on empty bottles being thrown overboard, they swam a
+considerable distance to rescue them. With respect to the political events
+in the Pei-ho and Tien-Tsin, his Excellency, whether out of diplomatic
+reserve or for other reasons we do not know, preserved profound
+silence.[150]
+
+A variety of circumstances, however, may have contributed to make the
+Baron less susceptible to every other thing than his everlasting "I."
+Baron Gros had in fact been subjected to the very great inconvenience of
+the Propellor _Audacieuse_, which had been brought from France, having
+suddenly become unseaworthy, so that he had to abandon her. She was making
+from 100 to 140 tons of water per diem, and there was nothing for it but
+to have the vessel taken with all speed to the docks at Whampoa for
+repairs, while the envoy had to return to Europe by another opportunity.
+Moreover, the Baron had been attacked by a disorder of common occurrence
+in hot countries, namely, a furuncle, which is exceedingly painful, and
+obstinately resists every remedy. Whoever is of a constitution liable to
+such attacks is never free from them till he gains a colder climate. In
+the case of the unfortunate Baron, these went on continually increasing,
+and on one of his compatriots being asked in society what was the cause of
+the absence of the French ambassador, replied with an arch look, "_le
+pauvre baron a quatre-vingt cloux_." In fact, the annoyance caused by this
+malady is redoubled by the little sympathy accorded to those afflicted
+with it, who are only rallied or laughed at.
+
+Another personage who, at the period of our stay in Shanghai, attained a
+rather unenviable notoriety by his strange conduct, and did but little to
+raise the reputation of France in these latitudes, was the Marquis de
+Chassiron. By his marriage with one of the Princesses Murat (since dead),
+he was allied to the Emperor of the French, whom he occasionally spoke of
+in an off-hand way as "mon neveu, l'Empereur." Meagre, wizen,
+spindle-shanked, and ringletted, in coloured check pantaloons, blue
+frock, open-work cravat of Gros de Naples, and dancing-master's pumps,
+resembling much more a second-rate Paris dandy than a diplomatist, it
+seemed as though he must have been dispatched to this out-of-the-way part
+of the world for quite other than a diplomatic object, although he took
+great pains to spread the report that he had been appointed the successor
+of Baron Gros in the Embassy.
+
+One day the Commodore and some members of the Expedition received an
+invitation from the kind and hospitable English Consul, Mr. Brook
+Robertson, to be present at a reception at the Consulate of the Tau-Tai,
+or highest Chinese official of the city.[151]
+
+We the more readily congratulated ourselves on this invitation, as, owing
+to the sudden departure of the Tau-Tai, we missed the opportunity of
+paying him a visit in his own palace in the city. Punctually at the
+appointed hour, 2 P.M., a formal procession was seen approaching the
+buildings of the English Consulate. In front were carried numerous titles
+and insignia, then the Tau-Tai in a large and handsome sedan-chair, and
+finally a noisy "following," in the shape of a rabble of servants. Mr.
+Robertson received the Tau-Tai at the threshold of his house, and greeted
+him with the customary Tschin-Tschin, moving the hands closely folded a
+few times over the breast.
+
+All present kept the head covered, making in like manner a few
+Tschin-tschins, and then accompanied the visitor to the reception-room, in
+which were five stools, the seat of honour being on the left. As soon as
+the Tau-Tai was seated, the rest took their seats, and a proposition was
+made in consequence of the truly tropical heat, contrary to Chinese
+notions of courtesy, to divest one's self of one's head-gear. The
+Mandarin, at all events, seemed as little loth to lay aside his
+funnel-shaped straw-cap, with its blue button and peacock's feather, as
+the Europeans present to doff their uniform caps.
+
+The presentation of the commander and the author of this narrative by Mr.
+Meadows, who acted as interpreter, gave the Tau-Tai an opportunity of
+inquiring of the English Consul whether our frigate had been at the gulf
+of Petcheli. Mr. Robertson replied that the _Novara_ was the first
+war-ship of a German power which had ever visited the Yang-tse-Kiang and
+Wusung rivers, and that the frigate was bound on a voyage of scientific
+discovery. This led to a running fire of questions and answers, during the
+course of which two attendants were engaged alternately in filling a small
+pipe with tobacco, which they handed to the Tau-Tai. The latter drew a few
+puffs, permitted the smoke to escape through his nostrils, after which
+his pipe was again replenished with a small supply of tobacco.
+
+We next had an example of the custom, already mentioned, of wiping the
+face with a hot damp towel, one of the attendants dipping a rather thick
+piece of linen cloth in a tub of hot water, which was then wrung out, when
+the cloth was presented to the Mandarin, who, without in any way
+interrupting the conversation, from time to time wiped the perspiration
+from his brow.
+
+The Tau-Tai had a well-made, handsome figure, pleasing, rather
+intelligent, features, a round, smooth, delicate face, without any trace
+of beard, eyes as usual drawn up at the outer corner, small elegant hands,
+and beautifully tapered fingers, with very long nails. His dress was very
+simple; he wore, for the sake of coolness, a shirt made of thin bamboo
+shoots, with a long, yellowish, loose surcoat, white drawers, and, instead
+of the usual Chinese shoe with its high cork soles, or white thick
+gaiters, he wore light shoes of European make. His head was covered with a
+cone-shaped straw-hat of very fine texture, with a red tassel and blue
+knot in the midst, and a dark green peacock's feather, extending
+horizontally backwards.
+
+Business over, a table was covered, and the Tau-Tai invited to partake.
+According to the Chinese custom, only confectionery, preserves, and fruit
+were handed round. The liquids consisted of sherry, liqueurs, Chinese wine
+or Samschoo (made from rice and imbibed from cups in lieu of glasses), and
+green and almond tea. The Mandarin drank to all present, and seemed to
+take more to sherry and Maraschino than to his own native drinks. The slim
+liqueur bottle, with its neat gilt label and the thick cork stopper,
+seemed especially to attract his attention.
+
+After a few commonplace observations, the Tau-Tai once more turned the
+conversation upon Austria, and remarked he had never before heard of that
+power. Mr. Meadows endeavoured to prompt the memory of the Chinese
+official, produced Muirhead's universal geography translated into Chinese,
+turned up therein the section relating to Austria, and handed the book to
+the Tau-Tai, who had the entire passage read to him by one of his
+attendants, that he might "get up" the country from which the strangers
+had come who were seated on his left and right hands.
+
+The inquisitiveness of every Chinese now displayed itself in a series of
+inquiries as to the principal products and articles of export of the
+Empire, and he expressed a hope he should ere long see more of the
+"Austrian Mandarins" in Shanghai. The _Novara_ travellers on their side
+with a patriotic pride, readily pardonable under the circumstances,
+endeavoured through the medium of the Government interpreter to leave the
+best possible impression of their native country upon the mind of the
+Tau-Tai, by giving a glowing description of the Austrian Empire, its
+natural advantages, and its people. Of numbers the worthy man seemed to
+have no definite idea, for the remark that the Empire contained (1st
+August, 1858) very nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants seemed greatly to
+astonish him, although this is probably barely one-tenth of the population
+of the Chinese Empire.[152]
+
+Just as the Tau-Tai was preparing to set out on his return, a tremendous
+tumult was suddenly heard in the street. It seemed like a popular
+insurrection, and servants were forthwith sent out to ascertain the cause
+of this unexpected shindy, who came back presently with the intelligence
+that an English sailor had struck a coolie of the suite a blow on the face
+with his fist, so violent that he was seriously injured, and was bleeding
+profusely. The Tau-Tai made his appearance on the portico. As soon as the
+injured man saw his master approaching, he flung himself before him
+imploring aid, and exhibiting his face streaming with blood, and the wound
+gaping open. The Tau-Tai ordered the man to rise, and delivered him to the
+Chinese police. Occasionally when a Chinese receives a wound in a quarrel
+of this nature he will abstain from wiping off the blood-stains from his
+face for weeks together, finding, it should seem, some satisfaction in
+being able to exhibit them. This done, the procession resumed its march.
+In front strode a man who from time to time administered a sounding thwack
+to the gong, after which he rushed through the streets bawling like a
+Stentor, that the people might crowd on one side and leave the Tau-Tai
+space to pass unobstructed. The rear was brought up with police,
+catch-poles with long bamboo poles, and the executioner with his axe--the
+never-failing attendant on such occasions,--who accompanies it, however,
+only as a sort of allegorical personage, to impress upon the yelling
+crowds around the consequences of disobedience, and of rebellion against
+constituted authority.
+
+The only important excursion we made from Shanghai was to the Jesuit
+Mission of Sikkawei, twelve miles distant. Our excellent host, Mr. James
+Hogg, of the well-known firm of Lindsay and Co.,[153] and Consul for the
+Hanse towns, to whose great kindness we are deeply indebted, was so kind
+as to order his pretty little yacht _Flirt_ to be got ready for our
+accommodation, and we set off, accompanied by the heroic Mr. Gray, of the
+American house of Russell and Co., who lost one foot while fighting
+against the Tai-ping rebels before the very gates of Shanghai. As the
+Europeans are in the habit of using these pleasure-boats as residences
+during their visit to the interior, so as not to be dependent upon the
+somewhat uncertain hospitality of the Chinese, they are provided with
+every accessory to comfort, being fitted with a neat cabin, a small
+library, boudoir, berth-cabin, &c. They usually carry an immense spread of
+canvas, and during calms are propelled like the native boats with one big
+oar from the stern, which serves at the same time as a rudder. The sail up
+the Wusung, in which upwards of a hundred sail of merchantmen, and above a
+thousand junks, were lying at anchor, was very interesting. Many of the
+junks lying off the Catholic cathedral of Tonka-du displayed a flag with a
+white cross on a black ground, in token of the religious faith of the
+crew. Here also we saw for the first time some Siamese ships, built in
+Siam, for the most part on European models. Of these we counted eleven. By
+way of ensign, they had an elephant rather nicely drawn, sometimes on a
+red, sometimes on a blue field, according to the fancy or the taste of the
+owner. These vessels have Siamese crews and English captains, and are
+armed with ten or twelve cannon, so that his Siamese Majesty can at a
+moment's notice use his little fleet of merchantmen for warlike purposes.
+
+The channel, 200 or 300 fathoms wide, which unites the Wusung with the
+internal network of small rivers, is called the Wuang-Po, a designation
+which some authorities assume to be the name of its constructor, while
+others maintain that it is derived from _wong_, yellow, and applies to the
+colour of the water, just as Whampoa, near Canton, signifies the yellow
+anchorage. Nothing has so much contributed to that immense activity of
+commerce, which we marvel at among the Chinese, as their vast canal
+system, the introduction of which was pursued with such energy in the 7th
+century.[154] The innumerable artificial canals, with which the whole
+north of China is intersected, and which by their admirably planned system
+of arrangement unite all the lakes and navigable rivers of the Empire with
+each other, make it possible to voyage through every province of the
+Empire without having once to leave the boat. They atone for the great
+want of good roads, and even make the absence of railroads less
+perceptible in a country where the value of labour is so unprecedentedly
+low.
+
+As soon as we leave Shanghai behind, with its immense commercial fleet,
+the scenery beyond becomes tame. The banks on either side are low, and far
+as the eye can reach not a single hill is to be seen, not even a rising
+slope--nothing but a flat alluvial soil, every inch of which seems
+diligently tilled, or otherwise made useful.
+
+After we had sailed several miles in the _Flirt_ we came to a branch of
+the great canal, where we shifted into a smaller but not less elegant
+boat, the property of Mr. Gray, which drew less water, and in which we
+were to reach the Jesuit mission. At this season, however, owing to the
+lowness of the water, navigation was only continued with great difficulty,
+and notwithstanding the astonishing dexterity with which our worthy Lau-tu
+(the old chief) conned our craft through the sharp bends of the river, we
+were at last compelled to halt, and perform the rest of the distance,
+about two miles, on foot.
+
+We now found ourselves strolling through fields planted with rice and
+cotton, through cabbage and vegetable gardens, occasionally even over
+graves, which rose in mounds here and there along our path. Sometimes in
+the distance we could descry small villages and solitary farm-houses.
+
+In Sikkawei we found about twenty Jesuits, French and Italians, all of
+genuine Chinese appearance, with heads half-shaved, long queues stretching
+to the ground, loose yellow clothes, and velvet shoes with thick cork
+soles. This had a striking, almost theatrical effect. We were ushered into
+the reception-room, and there offered refreshment. The conversation soon
+became brisk, which added to the singularity of the scene, as the seeming
+Chinese, sitting in a circle round the table, and smoking perfumed tobacco
+out of small long-stemmed pipes, began, in fluent French or liquid
+Italian, to discuss Paris, Naples, Vienna, or politics and art.
+
+This Mission is supported by the Propaganda of Rome, as also by voluntary
+contributions. About 80 pupils, chiefly children of poor parents, are
+instructed in the Chinese language and literature, in reading, writing,
+arithmetic, and drawing, and in the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith; on
+the other hand, little anxiety is manifested for their instruction in
+French or English, or in providing them with any practical mechanical
+instruction. In this mode of education the main object seems to be to
+enable the students more readily to reach the highest offices in the state
+by imparting to them a thorough grounding in Chinese literature, and by
+these means to ensure for them religious influence and protection.
+Accordingly, strenuous efforts are made to increase the number of
+scholars, and in order to facilitate this aim, as in the case of the
+Indians of Central and Southern America, their observance of various
+heathen rites is connived at, as, for example, the worship of their
+ancestors, the ceremonies at the death of a relation, &c. &c.
+
+One branch of art, in which some of the scholars have, owing to their
+having naturally a turn for it, attained considerable proficiency, is
+wood-engraving. In the church attached to the Mission are shown a number
+of altar-ornaments, chiefly figures very beautifully carved in wood, the
+work of a Jesuit of Spanish extraction, whose talent and enthusiasm seem
+to have laid the foundation of this school of image-carvers. In what is
+called the model-room are numbers of figures and busts designed by the
+practised hand of the brother alluded to. Here too are some heads of the
+Saviour, very beautifully executed in clay by the Chinese scholars, as
+also Madonnas, busts of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Emperor
+Napoleon III. These are doubly extraordinary, when we remember the slight
+instruction and very scanty assistance bestowed on them while in course of
+execution; their actual value however is small, for at present, as none of
+the Jesuits in the Mission have any very decided taste for the art,
+instruction in it has almost entirely ceased.
+
+The achievements of the present members of the Society of Jesus, in China,
+suffer greatly, measured by the standard of what was accomplished by their
+renowned brethren in previous centuries; one looks in vain for the high
+attainments, the self-sacrificing zeal, the practical talents of other
+times, and Sikkawei, with its present spiritual occupants, cannot leave a
+very pleasing impression on any unprejudiced Catholic. There is an utter
+lack of all those qualities which once formed the renown and the title to
+admiration of the Jesuits in China. One looks for, but fails to find, a
+library corresponding to the dignity of the Mission, or mathematical or
+medical instruments, or a chemical laboratory: in lieu of these there seem
+to prevail a deficiency of Christian toleration for these unmistakeable
+adjuncts of true education and enlightenment. At all events, we judged as
+much from a remark made by the brother who accompanied us round the
+building, who spoke some words in Chinese to the gaping crowd of
+long-tailed scholars, who kept pressing upon us, and then turning to us,
+observed in French,--"I have informed our pupils that our present guests
+are Roman Catholics, and therefore _true_ Christians, because we
+occasionally have English visitors at the Mission, and they are heretics."
+Apparently the intolerant padre was reckoning without his host, for there
+were several Protestants among the party!
+
+Throughout the province of Kaing-su there are at present 80,000 Chinese
+Catholics, that is to say, who profess Catholicism, though having but a
+very superficial idea of its spirit and its reality.
+
+In returning to our boat we availed ourselves of the mode of conveyance in
+most common use in China, the sedan-chair, or couch. The ordinary
+sedan-chair differs little in exterior form and interior arrangement from
+those still occasionally used in some of the out-of-the-way, old-fashioned
+towns, both of Germany and England. Owing to the extreme cheapness of
+labour, the least well-to-do classes of Chinese are able to avail
+themselves of these convenient conveyances, the use of which is doubly
+agreeable in such a hot climate. Indeed, long journeys are very frequently
+made by this mode of transport. As a rule, the sedan-bearers get over from
+twenty to twenty-five miles per diem, charging for that distance one
+dollar, in addition to their food, consisting of tea, rice, vegetables,
+and cakes. Baggage and merchandise of all sorts are conveyed by coolies,
+each carrying with ease 110 _catties_, equal to 146 lbs. With such a
+burthen he will trudge over lofty mountain passes, and without much effort
+will cover thirteen miles a day. If special dispatch is required, the
+burthen must be reduced one-half, when the coolie, keeping at the trot,
+will get over double the distance in one day; what is gained in speed
+being lost in power.
+
+On our return to Shanghai, we visited the celebrated six-storied Pagoda,
+Long-Sah, which is traditionally said to have been erected about A.D. 250,
+during the period of the Three Empires. Of all the Pagodas hitherto known,
+not even excepting the well-known specimen at Canton, it is the best
+preserved, and forms one massive, wide quadrangular tower, about 150 feet
+high, arranged in six stories, one of which has running around it a richly
+carved balcony. The pyramidal roof has turned-up angles, to which are
+suspended bells, which when agitated by the wind give forth their music.
+From the highest story, to which access is obtained by a stone staircase,
+there is a rather agreeable, pretty extensive view over the country, and
+its cultivated surface, stretching away till, at 200 miles from Shanghai,
+to the north and north-west, rises a range of mountains, of which of
+course not a glimpse is to be seen hence, the prospect in this direction
+having no defined limit. This panoramic view gives an excellent idea of
+the characteristics of a Chinese landscape, the various methods of
+cultivation, the situation of the valleys, and, above all, the ceaseless
+tide of traffic, as evidenced by the almost innumerable artificial
+water-channels which intersect the country in every direction. Quite close
+to the Pagoda is a Buddha temple, the well-known Lung-hwo, erected A.D.
+230. Of the seventy Buddhist and Taouist temples of the province this is
+the largest and most beautiful. The rear of the edifice is adorned with
+countless figures, sometimes of colossal dimensions, in wood, plaster, and
+porcelain, richly carved and gilt. There is also a female statue among
+these Chinese saints, the attitude strongly suggestive of a Madonna.
+
+This temple is plainly in connection with the Pagoda, and the various
+small chambers behind it seem to have been destined for the accommodation
+of priests and devout pilgrims. According to an old Chinese tradition this
+temple owes its erection to the following circumstance:--a queen from the
+south, who had anchored her boat one night in the Whampoa Channel near
+Wusung, suddenly beheld a light shoot up amid the tall grass, and rise
+towards heaven, in consequence of which she gave orders for a temple to be
+built on the site.
+
+One of the most interesting episodes of our stay at Shanghai consisted in
+a genuine Chinese banquet, given by a wealthy native merchant, named
+Ta-ki, a warm friend of all foreigners, in honour of the Austrian
+Expedition. The huge invitation cards, written, according to the usual
+practice of the country, in Chinese characters upon blood-red paper, and
+folded in envelopes of the same brilliant hue, were sent round to the
+residences of the guests some days beforehand.
+
+At 8 P.M. the feast began. Ta-ki's house, like those of all the wealthy
+Chinese, is surrounded by a massive wall, six or seven feet in height, and
+painted white. After passing through a narrow gateway, the visitor finds
+himself at once in the usual apartments. These were adorned for the
+occasion with large coloured lanterns, which despite their numbers shed a
+mild and most agreeable light.[155] Along the walls, which were richly
+gilt, hung quantities of sententious native maxims, written with Indian
+ink, sometimes in Chinese characters, sometimes in Tartar, on white or
+yellow rolls of paper. The greatest attention appeared to have been paid
+to the preparation of the reception-room, whose form was a rather narrow
+oblong, in which at the far end was erected a platform, where a strolling
+company acted Chinese theatricals. The musicians sat on the stage. The
+company belonged to one of those innumerable wandering troops which are
+engaged for a day or two now by the community, now by wealthy Mandarins,
+to give some theatrical representations, which it seems must in China
+form the accompaniment of every important event, whether joyous or
+sorrowful.
+
+At those performances which are given in public, the multitude is admitted
+gratis, and of this privilege they avail themselves to the utmost. Each
+man selects the best seat for himself, on the street, in a tree, or on a
+roof. Mandarins, however, and rich private individuals have their own
+little stage scenes in the interior of their usually spacious mansions, in
+which from time to time they have theatrical representations for the
+amusement of a small circle of friends. Some Mandarins even go the length
+of having their own players, who receive regular annual pay, and form part
+of the household.
+
+Notwithstanding the very extensive collections of Chinese plays, with
+several of which the learned classes of Europe have been made acquainted
+by the valuable labours of Julien, Bazin, Remusat, and others, there are
+but a very few of true literary value. The plot of most of them is
+exceedingly simple, the actors themselves specify the characters they are
+to play; between each scene there is usually a lack of connection, and
+frequently the most telling scenes and situations are marred by the most
+arrant trash, or the coarsest jests. Only a very small number of these
+rise above the level of the buffoonery of former ages, and judging by the
+accounts given by travellers, who have been present at such entertainments
+in even the large cities, including Pekin itself, the dramatic art would
+as yet seem to be in its infancy in China.[156] The company which was
+assembled in the hospitable mansion of Ta-ki, to do honour to the members
+of the _Novara_ Expedition, was not calculated to impress them favourably
+with the scope of the Chinese drama. The piece appointed consisted of
+events in the ancient history of China, for which Chinese dramatic poets
+have a special predilection, owing to the abundance of material from which
+to choose, although the multitude seem to have but little sympathy with
+it. Even our host, who spoke the Canton-English, as it is called, could
+give us but little explanation or enlightenment as to the plot, and
+contented himself with repeatedly remarking that the piece related to
+"old, old times!"
+
+Notwithstanding the universal custom, according to which women are not
+permitted to enter a theatre, so that even the female characters have to
+be played by men dressed to represent the part, the majority of the
+present troupe were girls of from 14 to 20 years of age, who, stained red
+or white, and elegantly arrayed, appeared mostly in Mandarin dresses on
+the stage. The most outrageously absurd of the scenes were those most in
+favour with the numerous domestics who, besides the invited guests, formed
+the audience. Thus, there was a roar of laughter when a nurse entered with
+a child in her arms, which had the face of an old soldier, with grey
+beard, whiskers, and moustachios. They sang a long, rather melancholious
+ditty, and then retired, without there appearing to be the slightest
+connection between this and the following scene. We noted the evident
+predilection of the Chinese actors for a high-pitched falsetto tone of
+voice when speaking, which, by the way, must render their assumption of
+female parts much more easy, and on the present occasion they probably
+were desirous of giving us a specimen of their skill in this
+accomplishment. The music on such occasions is, if possible, even more
+discordant and monotonous than the delivery, and is not confined to merely
+accompanying the couplets, but continues to play during the intervals till
+the ear is utterly wearied.
+
+At the close of each act a large board covered with a red cloth was
+brought on the stage and placed beneath the feet of the actors; on this
+the steward of the house placed a present for the troupe about four
+dollars' worth of copper _cash_, which was forthwith carried away. This
+was apparently the only intimation to most of the spectators that a piece
+was ended, and a fresh one about to begin.
+
+After these theatrical representations had lasted about an hour and a half
+a long pause ensued. One longed to escape outside into the fresh air, to
+get rid of the wearying sensation of the performances, and the stifling
+heat which prevailed in the room. The guests were at liberty to walk
+without obstruction through the various apartments of the extensive
+residence, and accordingly stumbled upon rooms which are usually, as it
+were, hermetically sealed to a foreigner, viz. the apartments of the
+women. Ta-ki carried his hospitality even this length, and presented us to
+his wives, as also to his grey-haired mother, seventy years old, for whom
+he showed the utmost love and respect. Ta-ki's wives, four or five in
+number, had "assisted" at the theatrical performances, each seated on
+elevated seats expressly prepared for them, and behaved with the greatest
+courtesy and ease of manner. They seemed not to have the slightest thought
+of showing off, or of tittering or joking with the strangers. All were
+attired in silk, and most tastefully decorated with jewels; all had the
+usual painfully distorted small feet, which greatly interfered with their
+powers of locomotion. They did not attend at the banquet, but had their
+food served in the private apartments.
+
+For supper the quondam theatre was converted into a banqueting-hall. But
+there was no long wide table set out as in Europe, only small
+four-cornered tables covered with red cloth, at each of which three
+Europeans and one Chinese took their seats; the duty of the latter being
+to do the honours to his companions in the name of the host, who took his
+seat beside the Commodore, and to minister to their comfort.
+
+As it was the object to give us the most accurate idea possible of a
+genuine Chinese repast, everything was eliminated which could in any way
+interfere with the design, and we had accordingly to begin with dessert
+and conclude with the soup, as also to convey the various descriptions of
+food to our mouths with thin strips of ivory ("chop-sticks"), instead of
+knives and forks.
+
+The peculiarity of Chinese usages, so directly opposed to those of Europe,
+became likewise strikingly apparent in the course of the meal. And as in
+China the mark of courtesy is to keep the head covered instead of removing
+the hat, so the place of honour is on the left hand; the ancestors are
+ennobled instead of the descendants (which is at once more sensible and
+more economical); the characters in writing run from right to left instead
+of the reverse; the mourning colour is white instead of black; the natives
+carefully extirpate every sign of a beard, instead of cherishing it as a
+symbol of mature, dignified manhood; thus also meals begin with the food
+with which we terminate ours, confectionery and fruit. When we were all
+seated, each table was forthwith covered with a profusion of the most
+varied dishes on beautiful plates of stained porcelain, and while we were
+still engaged in attempting to discover the mysterious ingredients of
+these, the Chinese who was doing the honours at our table was exerting
+himself to select and lay before us the most dainty morsels of each dish.
+In performing this part of his functions he thought only to act with more
+care and attention, in drawing each of the twain chop-sticks between his
+own lips and withdrawing them before he fished up a fresh piece and laid
+it on our plate! The dexterity with which all Chinese use these
+chop-sticks, which are usually made of ivory, ebony, or bamboo, borders
+on the marvellous. In their hands, held between their fingers, they become
+like a pair of pincers, with which they can pick up the smallest objects,
+and can eat rice-grains, beans, or peas as easily as they can separate the
+flakes of a fish from its skin, or remove the shell of a hard-boiled egg.
+
+As to the ingredients of the dishes presented, we must frankly avow that
+by far the greater number were utterly unknown to us, for the Chinese
+cuisine, oddly enough, sets great store on making the materials
+unrecognizable, and altering their natural flavour by various recipes and
+culinary mysteries. According to the inquiries which we made of our
+carver, our host seemed so anxious to fulfil to the letter his promise to
+give us a real Chinese repast, that he had resolved on not sparing us a
+single one of the rarer dainties of Chinese epicures. Thus we not only had
+swallows' nests, lapwings' eggs, and steamed frogs, but also roasted
+silk-worms, shark-fins, stag and buffalo tendons, biche-de-mar, bamboo
+roots, sea-weed, half-fledged chickens, and various other natural
+delicacies. The table was supplied at least three times with fresh
+delicacies, and we believe we do not exaggerate when we estimate the
+number of different dishes at not less than half a hundred. Meat of all
+sorts was at a discount, and was served up in small morsels ready
+carved;[157] on the other hand, rice and vegetables were presented in
+every imaginable form. During the meal one young girl, who had played a
+part in the dramas, was incessantly occupied with filling for each guest a
+very small cup with a warm beverage distilled from millet, thus carrying
+out the code of Chinese civility, that the cup should never be suffered to
+be empty, and therefore, that however little has once been drunk it must
+forthwith be replenished. Of the juice of the grape the Chinese make no
+use, although there are many districts in the country which are eminently
+adapted to the growth of the vine. All the native drinks consist of
+nothing but poor-flavoured, highly-perfumed drinks, chiefly distilled from
+millet and rice, and known by the general name of Samshoo, although this
+name is solely applicable to that obtained from rice, which somewhat
+resembles arrack. After the meal is over there are no spirits presented,
+but only tea, usually the common green tea, or else a tea prepared from
+almonds. The Chinese are, on the whole, a very temperate people, and even
+their passion for smoking opium is rather a vice among the masses of the
+coast provinces and the large towns, than of the interior of the kingdom.
+During the banquet, as well as after it, there were further theatrical
+exhibitions, but the guests, who had been sufficiently wearied with the
+first of these, preferred to retire quietly to their own residences, and,
+seated in a rocking-chair on the delicious verandah, to recall all the
+peculiarities of the entertainment at which they had been present.
+
+The rites of hospitality to strangers were not, however, limited in
+fulfilment to Ta-ki, since the various consuls settled at Shanghai, as
+well as several of the English, American, and German merchants, invited
+the members of the Expedition to dinner-parties given in their honour,
+each vying with the rest in refined courtesy. An especially pleasant
+memory attaches to one indication of this feeling, the spontaneous
+offering of a number of Germans to our commander and his associates. We
+were sitting in the house of Mr. James Hogg, the Hanseatic Consul, when
+from the garden there suddenly arose a serenade of men's voices, singing
+German melodies. Surprised and deeply affected, the entire company rose
+from table and strolled into the garden, but the serenaders were concealed
+behind a group of trees, and as they withdrew, singing, the last cadence
+of a thrilling patriotic song was heard melting in the distance!
+
+The Germans already constitute a by no means inconsiderable portion of the
+foreign community of China, and it is painful to observe what slender
+encouragement and support their energy and industry have as yet met with
+from the various governments of Germany. The number of Bremen ships which
+visited the harbour of Shanghai has of late years equalled that of the
+United States, and would be very greatly increased if the German
+mercantile community and the home-shippers to the Chinese market could
+depend upon protection such as the English and French can rely upon. The
+German States, such, for instance, as the Hanseatic Towns, Prussia,
+Oldenburg, have indeed unsalaried Consuls here, but the shrewd, material
+Chinese people require something more than an empty intercession--they
+require to be convinced by an unmistakeable physical ability to back these
+representatives. Many a crying injustice, which the helpless German
+merchants and ship captains have to put up with without hope of redress in
+the various ports of China, would not and dare not occur if but a single
+German ship-of-war were stationed in Chinese waters. What the effect is,
+under similar circumstances, of even one single small boat was well
+illustrated by Mr. Alcock, formerly the English Consul at Shanghai,[158]
+who with a small English brig blocked the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, and
+did not suffer one single "junk" of the many hundreds stationed in the
+river to put to sea under threat of firing into them until the Chinese
+Government had paid attention to his demands, and surrendered for trial by
+an English tribunal the murderers of an English missionary. The bare
+menace of closing the river sufficed to secure the Consul in his rights,
+and he speedily saw his various demands complied with. Only a month or two
+later a Bremen captain sustained such severe losses through the wilful act
+of the Chinese Government that he had to sell his ship, the energetic
+protest of his Consul to the native authorities meeting no other
+attention than an insulting chuckle over the powerlessness of the German
+empire.
+
+In consequence of the Treaty of Pekin securing to Europeans the
+unobstructed navigation of all canals and rivers throughout the Celestial
+Empire, the trade with China is becoming so rapidly developed, that some
+remedy of this sort is imperatively needed,--if German commerce and
+industry would avoid receiving a serious check, if she would not be
+supplanted by other and more fortunate nations, in the endeavour to avail
+herself of the great alteration for the better in the facilities for trade
+in China.
+
+The activity and energy of the English in opening up new outlets for their
+native manufactures were here astonishingly visible. Hardly are the
+ratifications of peace exchanged, opening the most important rivers and
+harbours of the Empire to free commerce with the subjects of England, ere
+the country has been surveyed and explored in every direction. A number of
+English merchants ascended the Yang-tse-kiang as far as Hang-kow[159]
+(mouth of trade), a city containing several millions of inhabitants,
+which, in consequence of its extraordinarily advantageous site, has
+already been described by Huc as the chief emporium of the 18 Provinces,
+and whence all the foreign trade radiates into the interior. Others
+undertook a land journey from Canton to Hang-kow; a third company ascended
+the Pei-ho and visited Tien-Tsin, while yet a fourth were contemplating
+the formidable undertaking of boating it up the Yang-tse-kiang from
+Shanghai to Hang-kow, whence they thought of penetrating via Thibet into
+British India.[160] Already information has been obtained from a variety
+of these excursions, which were undertaken specially in the interests of
+commerce, such as justify the most glowing expectations as to the trade
+with the Yang-tse-kiang and the Pei-ho.[161] Hang-kow promises to be a
+most important depot for the exportation of tea, while Tien-Tsin promises
+to be not less important as an entrepot for the importation of
+manufactures of every description. By the opening of these two additional
+harbours, Shanghai and Canton will fall off in their ratio of increase
+hitherto, but general commerce will on the whole receive a new impulse.
+
+To the merchant and shipper, the latest intelligence from China as to the
+enormous development of commerce and trade at numerous spots of the
+Central Empire, hitherto undisturbed by European civilization, must be
+positively astounding. It is a rich mine of the most valuable material,
+which the _China Overland Trade Report_ and the _North China Herald_
+presents to its readers, rendered doubly valuable through the influence
+of that Freedom of Speech, which makes every mercantile nation participate
+in the very latest information as to these experiments and their results.
+For, so far as concerns our present direct intercourse with China, a time
+must come, when more accurate notions will penetrate into even Austrian
+commercial circles as to the wants of a population, and the natural wealth
+of an empire, which embraces a superficial area of 3,000,000 square miles,
+with a population of 400,000,000 souls, and whose entire foreign commerce
+already amounts to L36,000,000, apart from the impulse which recent events
+must lend it.
+
+Notwithstanding the immense variety of natural products of the Chinese
+Empire, the chief articles of export hitherto have been tea and silk, and
+we shall therefore confine our attention to a few important particulars as
+to those two articles.
+
+The introduction of silk cultivation into China, one of the most ancient
+industrial pursuits of the Empire, is due, if we are to believe a native
+legend, to the consort of the Emperor Hwang-te, who reigned B.C. 2640. The
+first mention of the mulberry tree and of silk occurs in the
+Schoo-kiu,[162] "the Book of exalted solid learning--the Book of Books,"
+as it were, a collection of the most ancient historical annals of the
+Chinese Empire, which was compiled B.C. 484, by Confucius, from the
+memoranda of former writers of history, as well as from the information
+furnished by ancient monuments. Even empresses in those halcyon times did
+not deem it beneath their dignity to collect mulberry-leaves and feed the
+silk-worms, while various treatises were composed by imperial pens,
+respecting the cultivation of that most useful plant. The interest taken
+in silk-rearing by these the highest personages in the Empire, has
+remained unbroken to our own day, and quite recently a Chinese governor
+enriched the already copious literature upon this subject with a
+comprehensive work, written with the laudable object of stimulating the
+inhabitants of the silk-producing districts to a more extensive and
+improved system of silk cultivating.
+
+The two best species of mulberry, those which are best adapted for the
+consumption of the worm, are: "Loo" (_Morus alba_), with long leaves,
+little fruit, and firm roots, which flourishes chiefly in North China, and
+"King" (_Morus nigra_), with narrow leaves, more abundant fruit, and
+altogether a hardier plant, which grows chiefly in the South.
+
+According to old Chinese notions, there are eight different species of
+silk-worm, which spin their cocoons at various periods[163] of the year
+between April and November.
+
+The chief silk districts lie in the northern part of the province of
+Tsche-Kiang, and the principal silk marts are the following cities:
+Hoo-chow-foo, Hang-chow-foo, Keahing-fu, Nantsin, and Shoo-hing, which lie
+in a sort of semi-circle about 150 miles from Shanghai.
+
+The silk is not grown in China by wealthy landed proprietors, and "thrown"
+in huge establishments, but by millions of husbandmen, each of whom calls
+but a small patch of land his own, and plants it with mulberry trees,
+thus, like the bee, contributing his own share towards increasing the
+universal stock. During the season specially devoted to the silk-worm, old
+and young, lofty and lowly, throughout the silk districts, are busily and
+earnestly engaged night and day in tending the worms and winding off the
+silk. When the crop is being gathered in, the chief merchants send their
+agents to all parts of the chief silk districts, in order to collect and
+buy up these small quantities (varying greatly in value, as may be readily
+imagined), and depositing them in regularly assigned warehouses, where
+they can be sorted according to quality. This done, the silk is packed in
+bales of 80 _catties_, or about 106 lbs. weight, and conveyed to Shanghai
+for sale, where it is once more subjected in each mercantile house to the
+examination of the special "silk Inspectors," or "Testers," after passing
+through whose hands, it is sorted according to quality for shipment to
+Europe.
+
+Three distinct qualities of raw silk are known in commerce, viz. Tsatli
+[Chinese character(s)], Taysam [Chinese character(s)] (the big worm), and
+Yuen-wha, or Yuen-fa [Chinese character(s)] (the flower of the garden).
+These three leading descriptions are again subdivided into a great number
+of sorts, which are usually known by the name of the trader, or his "hong"
+(business).
+
+The annual production of silk in China is estimated to amount to from
+200,000 to 250,000 bales, or from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 pounds' weight.
+This, however, is a very superficial estimate; that silk cultivation,
+however, must be enormously developed in China is obvious, not alone from
+the immense home consumption of the article, but also from the
+circumstance that, notwithstanding the immense increase in exports during
+the last ten years, the price of silk has not merely remained stationary,
+but is on an average absolutely less than at a period when barely
+one-fourth of the quantity now exported found its way to England and
+France. The price of silk is usually reckoned in Taels,[164] on the
+estimate of a bale averaging 100 lbs. English. Between Shanghai and London
+the bale loses on the average three per cent. in weight. There is also
+usually an allowance made of 15 per cent. for cost of transport and
+incidental charges from Shanghai to any English port.
+
+On the average only one-fourth of the entire quantity of silk produced in
+China, or about 6,000,000 lbs., is exported annually, of which by far the
+largest quantity, perhaps as much as nine-tenths, goes to England and
+France. In 1843-44, the total export from all China was only 5100 bales.
+In 1859, the export of raw silk from Shanghai alone was 75,652 bales!
+
+Besides the raw silk there are annually exported from China a large
+quantity of silk-stuffs manufactured in China, crape shawls, &c. &c., to
+the value of from L400,000 to L500,000, the majority of which find a
+market in the United States.
+
+The social condition of the Chinese silk-spinner is not less deplorable
+and poverty-stricken than that of the workmen of Europe, who are similarly
+engaged in the preparation of this costly article of luxury. As in Lyons,
+in Spitalfields, or among the Silesian Mountains, the Chinese silk-weaver
+lives and dies in the most abject misery, and the delicate and beautiful
+fabrics of his loom are produced in a wretched hut of such mean
+dimensions, that he is sometimes compelled to dig a hole in the soil in
+order to find room for the treadle. However, the Chinese weaver appears in
+so far better off than the same handicraftsman in Europe, that he has less
+to dread from the severity of the climate, and can purchase more food,
+even though his remuneration be smaller, than the weaver can possibly do
+in Europe, owing to the much higher price of even the commonest
+necessities of life.
+
+The recent revolution in Chinese foreign relations will exercise a
+permanent influence on the silk culture of China, and, considering the
+exceedingly low rate of wages in that country, the time cannot be far
+distant, when one may purchase Chinese silk in Europe more cheaply than
+home-grown silk, when manufacturers will find it more profitable to
+purchase this most important raw material in China, than in Italy or the
+South of France. Acute business men in Hong-kong and Shanghai assured us
+that it only needed an impulse from without to increase the silk
+manufacture of China tenfold, and supply the annual demand for silk of the
+entire globe, which, if we are to believe encyclopedias and such like
+authorities, amounts to from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 lbs. What makes
+Chinese silk especially suitable for the European market is its possessing
+in great perfection the two chief qualities of substance and colour,
+while, on the other hand, it is inferior to that of Europe in the fineness
+and glossy feel of its fibre. In Europe the silk is wound off from a
+limited number of cocoons, whereas in China it is left to the discretion
+of the workman to spin it from few or many cocoons as he pleases. Hence
+results that inequality and unevenness in the texture of the thread, a
+defect which cannot possibly be remedied by after-manipulation, and which
+accordingly completely prevents its employment in the manufacture of the
+more costly fabrics. This drawback, which is the main reason why Chinese
+silk does not rule the European market, will however admit of being
+remedied without any difficulty, so soon as the silk districts become more
+easily accessible, by the introduction of European labour and machinery,
+when this valuable and costly product will gain materially both in
+fineness and suitability.
+
+Only a few years since German and Austrian merchants attached but a small
+value to Chinese silk as suited to our market, and it seemed to them a
+positive absurdity, when any one spoke, as we ourselves repeatedly have
+done from a profound conviction of its truth, of the future influence
+exercised over the silk markets of the world by the influence of this
+Chinese raw material. Now-a-days we hear that there is scarcely one single
+silk factory which can hold its ground, unless, in addition to French and
+Italian silk, it imports Chinese silk, while the demand for that material
+increases from year to year, and has very probably not yet attained the
+one-hundredth part of the development of which it is susceptible.
+
+Tea (_Cha_[165]) ranks next to silk among the articles which have raised
+the trade with China to such an importance. The cultivation of the tea
+plant is of far later date than that of the mulberry tree, and its leaves,
+although used by the Chinese as a curative from the third century of our
+era, only came into general use, as providing a universal drink, towards
+the end of the sixth century.[166] Statesmen and poets sounded the
+praises of the new beverage, and while the one employed this excellent and
+beneficial gift of nature to fill the treasury by the imposition of a tax,
+the others chanted the praise of the plant in their hymns and songs, and
+thus, probably without intending it, contributed to increase the revenue
+of the Government.
+
+"Tea," writes one of the older Chinese authors, "soothes the spirit,
+softens the heart, dispels languor, restores from fatigue, stimulates the
+intellect, and arouses from indolence; it makes the body lighter and more
+brisk, and quickens the faculty of observation."
+
+The tea plant first attracted the attention of Chinese naturalists in
+Wu-yi, or, as the English term it, the Bohea[167] district, which enjoys
+to this day a great reputation for the exquisite quality which grows on
+its hills.
+
+At present the cultivation of the tea plant extends northward as far as
+Tang-tschao, in the province of Shantung, southward as far as Canton and
+Kuang-si, and westward as far as the province of Yun-nan. As, moreover,
+the tea plant likewise abounds in Japan, the Corea, and the Loo-Choo
+Islands, as also in Chusan, Tonquin, and Cochin China, we may assume that
+it flourishes over about 28 deg. of latitude and 30 deg. of longitude, within
+which it can be cultivated without being affected by severe alternations
+of temperature. That part of North China, however, which lies between 27 deg.
+and 33 deg. N., seems on the whole to furnish the finest sorts,[168] where the
+mean annual temperature ranges between 61 deg.7 and 68 deg., and in which fine
+weather with a rise of temperature follows upon a heavy rainfall; the
+latter being as necessary for the speedy and luxuriant growth of the
+leaves, as the former is for eliciting their fragrance and other valuable
+qualities.
+
+To form an idea of the enormous amount of tea which is annually cultivated
+in China, it suffices to remark that, after deducting the immense quantity
+consumed, there are more than 70,000,000 lbs. exported annually.
+
+It is not our intention to give a disquisition upon the cultivation and
+preparation of the tea, the drying (_poey_), roasting (_tschoo_),
+perfuming and colouring of the leaves, in short, the long tedious process
+to which this valuable article of commerce is subjected from its
+collection on the fertile green slopes of the bush-covered hills of Bohea,
+till its arrival at the port of shipment in a form suited for exportation.
+We prefer here to confine our attention to a consideration of those
+experiments which have recently been made in China with respect to tea
+cultivation.
+
+There are of the tea plant an almost endless variety of qualities, but
+only two species, viz. _Thea viridis_ (green tea), and _Thea Bohea_,[169]
+and even these two have such few points of difference, that quite lately
+they were described by Fortune as one and the same species. Thus, too, it
+has been asserted in our own day that the green and black varieties of tea
+sold in Europe do not, as is universally supposed, belong to two different
+species of tea, but that the difference of colour, shape of leaf, flavour,
+&c., is exclusively due to varieties in the mode of preparing them for the
+market, and that the manufacturer is able to make from the leaves every
+description, black or green, which is required in commerce. Thus in the
+celebrated tea district of Ning-tschan, where in former days black tea was
+exclusively grown, there is now procured green tea from the same species
+of plant, apparently because its cultivation pays better, while the
+quality remains in its olden repute.
+
+The black tea, which constitutes four-fifths of the entire export to
+England, is grown of a particularly fine quality in the district of
+Kien-ning-foo in the province of Fo-kien, and is known to commerce by a
+variety of names, chiefly derived from the localities in which it is
+grown, or those of their proprietors. On the other hand, the green sort
+selected for exportation is chiefly met with on the slopes of the chain
+of hills between Che-kiang and Ngan-hwui. Besides those descriptions
+actually prepared on the spot where they grow, there are also an immense
+variety of teas manufactured in Canton from all sorts of black and green
+tea. The tea-growers of Canton are reputed to colour their green teas
+artificially, by sprinkling them with a mixture of Prussian blue and
+pulverized chalk, after which they subject them to a rolling motion for a
+considerable time in heated copper pans.[170]
+
+One most important element in tea cultivation is the method adopted to
+impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrance, which it does not possess
+in the natural state. This process of "scenting," as it is called, which
+is practised exclusively for the foreign market, is termed by the Chinese
+_Hwa-hiang_. The flowers which are used for imparting this fragrance, and
+the growth of which, like the invisible fields of odoriferous herbs near
+Cannes, in the South of France, forms a most important branch of
+cultivation near Canton, are chiefly _Jasminum sambac_, _Jasminum
+paniculatum_, _Aglaia odorata_, _Olea fragrans_, _Sardenia florida_,
+orange-blossom, and roses. The method of "scenting" consists simply in
+placing a definite quantity of the flower-blossoms, varying according to
+the strength or feebleness of the odour, in juxtaposition with about 100
+lbs. of dried tea-leaves, where they are suffered to remain from 24 to 48
+hours. Thus 40 lbs. of orange-blossom, 50 lbs. of Jasmin, 100 lbs. of
+_Aglaia odorata_, are reckoned the equivalent respectively of 100 lbs. of
+tea-leaves. The extraordinary costliness of these fragrant blossoms[171]
+has caused a very general suspicion to prevail, that the leaves thus
+"scented" are afterwards adulterated with large quantities of the common
+teas. And as it is an ascertained fact that 60 lbs. of such tea can impart
+a similar fragrance to 100 lbs. additional by merely mixing the two
+together, without any apparent diminution of fragrance, it seems more than
+probable that similar admixtures, very possibly in a still more profitable
+proportion, are being silently carried on every day in the warehouses of
+the tea districts.
+
+Since the suppression of the East India Company's monopoly, and the
+opening of the Five Ports, tea has somewhat fallen in price, but has in
+consequence gained in far greater ratio in respect of quantity shipped.
+The value of a picul of tea is at present about 18 or 20 taels (L5 12_s._
+6_d._ to L6 5_s._), so that the pound costs 1_s._ 1_d._ to 1_s._ 2_d._
+Notwithstanding the unexampled cheapness of hand labour (60 to 70 cash, or
+2-1/2_d._ to 3_d._, per diem), it is not possible to procure _good tea_
+below this limit, although the various descriptions vary extraordinarily
+in price according to their quality and the districts they come from. The
+lower classes in the tea districts purchase for themselves the raw
+unprepared leaves just as they are plucked, for about 1_d._ per pound,
+and as it takes about 4 lbs. of the fresh leaves to make 1 lb. of dry
+leaves, it may be calculated that the tea, as drunk by this class, must
+cost from 4_d._ to 5_d._ per lb. Moreover, it is customary to add some of
+the less costly descriptions, more especially in districts at some little
+distance where the tea plant is cultivated.
+
+The first historical document referring to the introduction into England
+of tea as a beverage, is an Act of Parliament in the year 1660 (the year
+of the Restoration). At that period China tea cost sixty shillings the
+pound, which of course limited its use to a very narrow circle. At present
+there are 30,000,000 lbs. imported into England[172] annually, or more
+than one half of the entire export from the Central Empire, the consumer
+in London paying about 3_s._ per pound on the average.
+
+Of late years attempts have been made to cultivate the tea plant at the
+foot of the Himalayas, in Java, and in the United States. In Hindustan,
+whither only a few years ago that well-known and enlightened gentleman,
+Mr. Robert Fortune, dispatched 24,000 plants, selected from among the
+finest tea districts, the experiment has already proved successful, and
+even remunerative. The cost of growing is about 10-1/2_d._ per lb. for
+one description, which fetches 2_s._ per lb. in the London market. That
+grown in Java has hitherto been viewed with disfavour in Europe, but in a
+few years more it must make its way. The result of the experiments in the
+United States we have yet to learn. Mr. Fortune, who was intrusted by the
+Patent Office at Washington with superintending the introduction of the
+tea cultivation into the Southern States, and who in virtue of many years'
+scientific researches in China may be regarded as an authority upon this
+subject, is of opinion that the possibility of cultivating tea in the
+United States does not admit of a doubt, since the plant not only
+successfully resists frosts, but even, in a measure, benefits by them, it
+being a well-known fact that it flourishes better in the northern than the
+southern climates of China. It is questionable, however, whether its
+cultivation can prove remunerative in a country where labour is still so
+exceptionally high. Will the tea plant repay the immense cost of
+cultivation, and compete successfully with the product of China? The next
+few years will settle this question, if it be not choked by this unholy
+fratricidal war, which is raging within the freest and most glorious
+confederacy of modern times.
+
+We enjoyed the good "fortune" while at Shanghai of becoming personally
+acquainted with Mr. Fortune, and of gathering these valuable particulars
+from the very lips of that distinguished naturalist and traveller. While
+reserving for consideration elsewhere the subject of various little known,
+but most important, articles of export from the vast Empire of China, we
+cannot refrain from indulging in a few remarks upon some useful products
+of that country, which seem to us of more than merely commercial
+importance. Among these we shall notice first one of the most valuable
+rewards bestowed by Nature on human industry, the so-called Chinese
+sugar-cane (_Sorghum_, or _Holcus saccharatus_), which deserves the
+earnest attention of all European proprietors of land, as it grows in its
+native country quite in the northern districts, in fact in latitudes where
+the ordinary cane (_Saccharum officinale_) no longer flourishes; because
+frost and cold are much more conducive to its growth than the opposite
+extreme, so that it would seem to be specially adapted for cultivation in
+Southern Europe.
+
+The first attempt to cultivate this cane in Europe was made, if we are
+rightly informed, at the Hyeres islands by Count David de Beauregard, from
+seeds which M. de Montigny had sent home to the Geographical Society of
+Paris, while other attempts were made at the same time in various parts of
+France by the _Societe d' Acclimatisation_. The results surpassed the most
+sanguine expectations. From the stem there was obtained a juice from which
+sugar and alcohol, syrup and brandy, can be easily made. The abundant
+leaves, five or six feet long, furnished a considerable quantity of cattle
+with most nutritive food; the seeds were used as food for poultry, and
+were even substituted with advantage for barley in the provender supplied
+to horses, so that the experiment at once repaid its cost, while in
+addition to the foregoing, the flour obtained from the seeds was found to
+furnish a highly nutritive, wholesome article of diet for man. Dr. Adrian
+Sicard, to whom the agricultural world is indebted for a very exhaustive
+analysis of the Chinese sugar-cane, has established, by conclusive
+researches, that its leaves are also specially adapted for the manufacture
+of paper, as well as for various colours or dye stuffs. As to the
+remunerative value of the _Sorgho_, it is more than 230 per cent. more
+productive than beet-root, which in France produces on the average 2160
+kilogrammes per hectare, while the _Sorgho_ makes a return of 5000
+kilogrammes.
+
+The mode of cultivating this useful plant differs in no respect, as we
+repeatedly had occasion to observe, from that of maize or Indian corn. The
+season for sowing varies with the temperature of the country, between the
+months April and July. The seed when sown in the beginning of April will
+be ripe about the middle of August, or in 135 days, while that sown in
+mid-July will not be ripe before the end of November, or about 140 days.
+In France the experiment has been made of bathing the seeds in tepid water
+for periods varying from 24 to 48 hours before sowing, which resulted in a
+much more speedy bringing forward of the plant. In like manner experiments
+were made of sowing the seeds with and without their husk, the result of
+which was that the former took 15 days, and the latter only 10 days to
+sprout. It is recommended to plant the seeds in furrows sufficiently
+separated from each other according to the conditions of soil and
+irrigation, so far as is possible.
+
+The period of germination of the _Sorgho_ is rather long, but once that
+period is passed, the most favourable results are sure to follow, even
+should the most unusual alternations of temperature ensue, provided the
+thermometer does not descend below 27 deg.5 Fahr. The _Sorgho_ requires about
+five months to attain its full ripeness, when it is usually of a
+pale-yellow colour, streaked with red. It is occasionally subject to
+different maladies, some of which attack the root, others the pith. In
+like manner the larvae of certain noxious insects have been remarked on
+occasional specimens. But the origin of all these drawbacks has been as
+yet far too little inquired into, and they are of too rare occurrence to
+permit of any definite information respecting them being as yet available.
+
+On the whole, the cultivation of the _Sorgho_ may be regarded as eminently
+successful in the South of France, as well as in Pennsylvania, U. S.
+(which has a much severer climate than Venetia, Dalmatia, or the lower
+course of the Danube). Very probably we may also succeed in naturalizing
+the _Sorgho_ in suitable parts of Austria, and introducing there the
+cultivation on a commensurate scale[173] of a plant, which bids fair not
+merely to prove far more profitable in cultivation than any other member
+of the vegetable kingdom in any part of the earth, but at the same time
+seems destined at no distant period to be the means of supplying the
+civilized world with one of its most vitally necessary articles of food,
+by means of free white labour, without the assistance of slavery![174]
+
+Another plant, which it seems likely might be advantageously introduced
+into the southern districts of Europe, is the _Mo-chok_, one of the most
+graceful kinds of bamboo found in the forests of China, which grows in
+greatest luxuriance on the limestone slopes of the province of
+Tschi-Kiang, in a climate ranging between 90 deg.5 in summer, and 20 deg.3
+(Fahr.) in winter. The erect, smooth, elegant stem shoots up to a height
+of from 60 to 80 feet. The lower part of the tree is usually free from
+branches, which usually begin to spring from the trunk about 20 feet from
+the ground, and are very delicately leaved. These and two other species,
+the _Long-sin-chok_ and the _Hu-chok_, are used in the manufacture of
+sieves, baskets, furniture, &c., while the tender shoots form a most
+nutritious and delicately flavoured vegetable. The stem of the plant is
+moreover available for the manufacture of paper.[175]
+
+Writing paper is manufactured from it as well as packing paper, and one
+very coarse quality is mingled with the mortar by the Chinese masons. Mr.
+Fortune has introduced the Mo-chok into China, where, especially in the
+north-west provinces, it promises to come on well upon the slopes of the
+Himalaya.
+
+Of the other plants which grow in China, which are not indeed suited for
+transplanting to a colder climate, yet merit attention on account of
+their produce, we shall briefly notice the varnish tree, the tallow tree,
+and the wax shrub.
+
+The varnish tree (_Vernix vernicia_), a sort of sumach, which grows in
+greatest luxuriance in the provinces of Kiang-si, Chi-kiang, and Szechuen,
+furnishes that varnish which, partly in a semi-fluid, partly in a dry
+state, comes to market in whitish cakes, and is worth, according to
+quality and demand, from 40 to 100 dollars per picul of 133 lbs. In the
+preparation of this lacquer, the reputation of which has extended over the
+globe, 6-2/3 lbs. varnish, 13-1/2 lbs. water, 41-2/3 lbs. nut-oil, 16-2/3
+lbs. of pigs' gall, and 33-1/3 lbs. of vinegar, are mixed together till
+the whole assumes the consistence and appearance of a shining black paste.
+The fact that many Chinese lacquered wares, especially those prepared in
+Foo-chow, vie with the renowned manufactures of Japan in beauty and
+lustre, leaves room to suspect that the Chinese workmen have received some
+instruction from their Japanese fellow-craftsmen.
+
+Vegetable tallow (_Schulah_, or _Schu-kau_, tree fat) is obtained from the
+_Stillingia sebifera_, the so-called tallow tree, and, judging by the
+experiments made with it, promises under an extended system of cultivation
+to become a tolerably profitable article of export. The tallow tree
+flourishes throughout the southern provinces, but is chiefly found in the
+island of Chusan and the coasts adjacent. The tallowy substance procured
+from the seeds, which externally resemble nuts, is sold in cakes of from
+90 to 130 lbs. at from 7 to 12 dollars.
+
+Vegetable or tree wax (_peh-lah_) is a waxy substance, which the _coccus
+pela_ or _flata limitata_ deposits, apparently as a protection to its
+eggs, on a sort of ash tree, on whose twigs and boughs it is deposited
+like snow-flakes. It is gathered after the first frost, and purified by
+melting it in a cloth held over hot water. Apparently the process is
+varied by dipping what has been collected in a silken sack into hot water.
+It melts at 81 deg. Fahr., and in consequence of its unusual stiffness is much
+used for admixture with bees-wax and other descriptions of fats used in
+the manufacture of tapers. The candles hitherto made in England of this
+substance have commanded a large sale, and only the circumstance that as
+yet but a small quantity has found its way into commerce, prevents its
+being much more extensively cultivated. The price of _Peh-lah_ is rather
+high, as it fetches about L11 10_s._ per 133 lbs.
+
+Passing from the various natural products furnished for export by China to
+a consideration of those articles[176] of European industry, for which the
+Chinese market supplies an ample demand, we find that their number is
+considerable, while they represent a value of upwards of L5,000,000. In
+these pages, however, we propose to notice only that article which is the
+most profitable, and undoubtedly forms the chief staple of import in all
+the harbours opened to foreign commerce, viz. opium. Opium (_a-pien_), the
+solidified sap of _Papaver somniferum_, was, as every one knows, up to
+quite a recent period, a monopoly of the Anglo-Indian Government, by whom
+it was cultivated under the superintendence of agents in the various
+provinces of Hindostan, and sold to the trade by public auction in large
+quantities at a time in the markets of Calcutta and Bombay. It seems to
+fulfil among the Chinese the function of the various spirituous liquors of
+Europe; at least every attempt to introduce among the Chinese a taste for
+ale, whisky, sherry, port, champagne, and claret, has hitherto entirely
+failed. Indeed there is probably no country of the globe where, in
+proportion to population, there is so little spirituous liquor introduced
+as into China, what is imported being almost exclusively for the
+consumption of foreigners. The Chinese is emphatically a born
+"tea-totaller," or friend of abstemiousness, for the native drinks,
+substitutes for wine, which are obtained chiefly from rice and millet, are
+only used on special occasions, and then only in small quantities. During
+our entire stay in Chinese waters, we never saw one single Chinese drunk,
+and heard in every quarter that any such cases are rare and quite
+exceptional. On the other hand, the consumption of opium is continually
+increasing, and the quantity of solidified poppy-juice annually imported
+amounts to from 75,000 to 80,000 chests, which at current rates represent
+a value of from L7,500,000 to L10,000,000. There are four descriptions of
+opium that come to the Chinese market, viz. Benares (_Ku-ni_), Patna
+(_Kung-ni_), Malwa (_Peh-pi_), and Turkish (_Kiu-ni_ or golden dung). Of
+these the Patna and Benares are reckoned of finer quality, and
+consequently are more sought after, than that imported from Malwa, but
+both descriptions are preferred by the Chinese to the Turkish, and even to
+that produced at home.[177]
+
+The custom of opium-smoking is of comparatively modern introduction among
+the Chinese. It was about the commencement of the 18th century,[178] that
+the practice of mingling opium with tobacco as an antidote against
+toothache, headache, and pains in the body first began to prevail. Chinese
+sailors and merchantmen, returning from the islands of the Bornese
+Archipelago, had learned from the natives to inhale it as an anaesthetic,
+which, depriving them of all activity, brought the most delightful visions
+before their eyes. It is unquestionably the prohibition of wine to the
+believers in the Koran which first directed their attention to this
+narcotic substance, which the Western Asiatics swallow in pills, the
+Hindoos chew, and the Chinese smoke. In 1750, there were imported into
+China from Turkey, Persia, and Bengal, chiefly by Portuguese merchants,
+some 200 to 250 chests according to official return (of 140 lbs. each),
+ostensibly for medical use. Nothing could be more welcome to the entire
+Empire than a means of passing the intervals of relaxation from the hurry
+of business, in a state of absolute exemption from all anxiety, rocked in
+the most delightful slumbers! In 1773 the East India Company sent a small
+portion of opium to China by way of speculation. Seven years later they
+founded an Opium Depot in Larke's Bay. In 1781 the Company sent 2800
+chests (of 140 lbs. each) at one single shipment to Canton, where it was
+purchased by a "Hong," or Association,[179] for trading purposes. The
+Company found itself compelled, however, to re-export a quantity, as at
+that period there was not in China a sufficient demand for such a supply.
+The first regular shipments began in 1798, when 4170 chests were sent to
+the account of the Association in China, and then sold at Rs. 415 (about
+L41 10_s._) per chest.[180] Since that period the import and consumption
+have been steadily increasing at a geometric ratio, and a table now before
+us, drawn up with great labour and industry by Dr. Medhurst, informs us
+that between 1798 and 1855 there were imported altogether 1,197,041 chests
+of opium from Bengal, which, after deducting all expenses of cultivation
+and shipment, represented a net gain to the East India Company of
+L67,851,853.[181]
+
+Relying on the splendid profits secured to the East India Company, and its
+colleagues settled in China, by the opium traffic, no one troubled himself
+in the slightest with the many protests of the Chinese Government, any
+more than the anathemas launched at opium dealers and opium-smokers by
+English missionaries and philanthropists. The dealers, growing richer day
+by day, contented themselves with laconic replies to the more virulent of
+their antagonists, to the effect that they were but supplying a want
+originating in a national custom, and that it was as futile to attempt to
+prevent the Chinese from smoking as to restrain Europeans from the use of
+spirituous liquors. Both when abused are productive of much evil, and even
+then opium was productive of far less destructive ravages on the human
+organism, and was never followed by such appalling catastrophes as those
+resulting from alcohol. The dark side of the opium traffic has since been
+so fully exposed, that but little more remains to be said, and although
+even the most sanguine persons have ceased to hope that the trade can
+ever be entirely suppressed, yet it is at least consolatory to know that,
+according to the best calculations, the number of opium smokers throughout
+China, in a population that is to say of 420,000,000, is not above
+4,000,000 to 5,000,000, and that an ordinary smoker does not on an average
+consume more than one mace or about one drachm[182] of opium, worth about
+90 cash, or 3-1/2_d._ The provisions of the new tariff, by which opium may
+be imported unrestrictedly on payment of a fixed duty of 30 taels (about
+L10) per chest when water-borne, and 20 taels (about L6 10_s._) when
+imported by land, must materially effect the opium trade as hitherto
+carried on, and may very possibly alter the views at present entertained
+by the Chinese Government with reference to this important article of
+commerce, in proportion as its treasury begins to be replenished by such a
+high rate of duty.
+
+Although for European readers the chief interest of China is to be found
+in its relations with foreign countries, we yet cannot take leave of it
+without a few remarks on the momentous political movement which has been
+on foot since 1849 in several provinces of China, and claims, in
+consequence of its peculiar religious nature, universal interest.
+
+Hung-sin-Tsuen, the originator and head of this rebellion, was born in
+1813, in a village near Canton, and while yet in his early youth was, in
+consequence of his precocity, removed from tending his father's flocks to
+be a scholar in the village, where he pursued his studies with such zeal,
+that a year later he took several degrees as a teacher. On one of his
+visits to Canton, he made the acquaintance of a Protestant missionary,
+with whom he long corresponded, and from whom he received a variety of
+tracts translated into Chinese, and books, by way of presents. In the
+course of a serious illness with which he was assailed about this period,
+he had numerous visions, and is said in his delirium to have insisted on
+being hailed Emperor of China. Gradually Hung and his friend and zealous
+adherent Fung-Yun-San became, through erroneous or wilful
+misinterpretation of the works of various missionary societies, the
+founders of a new creed, a sort of free, semi-Christian sect, which, as it
+could not long subsist without coming into collision with the reigning
+Government, very speedily assumed a political character. It is an
+indubitable fact that at first the religious movement was supported by the
+Protestant missionaries, and the views of its founders forwarded by every
+means in their power, with the object of using it to prepare the soil for
+the promulgation of Christianity. When about entering his forty-first
+year, Hung formed an alliance with American missionaries stationed at
+Canton, studied their books, after which he returned to the province of
+Kuang-si, where he published writings descriptive of the alleged
+manifestations of the Deity, gave himself forth as a poet,[183] and at
+the same time issued proclamations under the designation of the "Heavenly
+King." The severity with which the regular Government treated the
+insurgents, and all who consorted with them, only served to augment their
+ranks, to which the mysticism of their doctrine contributed in no small
+degree; for the credulous masses have in all lands the same love of the
+marvellous and unintelligible. Such a result only increased the courage,
+the energy, the arrogance of Hung. He no longer was content to announce
+himself as "the mouth through which God the Father, and Jesus the Elder
+Brother, declared their will;" he now proclaimed boldly the intention of
+himself and his followers to overthrow the unworthy Mantchoo dynasty, and
+raise to the throne a new native dynasty, that of the Tai-ping, or
+universal peace. Although stigmatized by the official _Pekin Gazette_ as
+"local banditti," they were nevertheless strong enough in March, 1852, to
+storm even such a populous city as Nankin, where they set up a
+provisional government, and have since fortified it as their
+head-quarters. At the time the Tai-ping rebellion first broke out, Yeh,
+the then Governor of Canton, thought he would readily be able to suppress
+it by the summary process of chopping off the heads of all who were
+supposed to be in correspondence with them, and thus had as many as 800
+executed daily.[184] It was no longer quite safe for a native to show
+himself in the streets of Canton, unless provided with a paper of
+identification. For this purpose, four-cornered pieces of a sort of white
+cotton fabric were worn, on which was printed a sign in red. These cotton
+strips served as countersigns for those friendly to the reigning dynasty,
+and were worn concealed from view, but so as to admit of being at once
+shown in case of need. Dr. Pfitzmaier, who has examined this sign, is of
+opinion that it is simply a union of the three signs [Chinese
+character(s)] which, so far as the two last are concerned, seem to have
+been compressed together and abbreviated, so that only the initiated could
+understand its significance. The learned sinologue is of opinion that this
+hieroglyphic, signifying "to offer hand and heart," or "to offer the
+original (own) heart," has nevertheless no meaning apart from the centre
+figure, which, however, is unusually distorted, so that the whole may
+also mean [Chinese character(s)] Kia-hoei, "to yield grace and
+benevolence," or may be applicable to him who wears it, "one who enjoys
+the all-embracing Imperial clemency."
+
+The religious direction of the Tai-ping movement, coupled with its
+apparent Christian tendencies, its results, and, above all, the last
+hostile proclamation of the Pekin Government against foreigners, roused
+the sympathies of both Europeans and Americans in favour of the
+insurgents; and in the English papers of Hong-kong and Shanghai, the
+policy was vigorously and repeatedly advocated of turning the insurrection
+to their own advantage; while in a religious point of view it was
+recommended to avail themselves of the favour shown to the Scriptures by
+the Christian sect of the Tai-ping, which was also so amicably disposed to
+foreigners, who at all events were more likely to prove a bulwark and
+support to English Protestantism than the deceitful, promise-breaking,
+idol-worshipping Mantchoos. Letters and communications, which from time to
+time were published on the visit of Protestant missionaries in the
+insurgent camp, were apt to propound the most favourable ideas about the
+insurgents and their strivings after religious truth, and to attach to
+their victories and successes the most glorious hopes with respect to the
+spreading of Christianity in China. Fortunately the English Government did
+not suffer its policy to be affected thereby, but continued to observe the
+strictest neutrality. Only in those cases where, owing to the advance of
+the rebels, the interests of British subjects or of universal commerce
+seemed to be endangered, communications were held with the "Heavenly King"
+or his ministers, or to protest against the injury and limitation of trade
+with the earnestness and depth of impression which Armstrong guns are apt
+to impart to diplomatic dispatches. Thus the insurgents were prohibited
+from approaching within 10 Li of the city of Hang-kow, by this measure
+protecting not alone their own property, but the entire city from pillage
+and destruction. During the last war the interests of the insurgents were
+kept entirely in the background, and during the stay of the _Novara_ at
+Shanghai, which had likewise been repeatedly threatened by the insurgents,
+we could gain but little enlightenment as to the nature and direction of
+the movement.
+
+However, since the Treaty of Pekin has thrown open the navigation of the
+most important rivers, and thus facilitated communication with the
+interior, there has been a better opportunity than hitherto for
+intercourse with the Tai-ping, as also for obtaining a clearer insight
+into its present condition, as well as the object and inevitable
+consequences of their tenets. People are beginning to consider it more
+calmly, and even the missionaries seem gradually abandoning the
+expectations they had formed, of finding in it a means of helping the
+cause of Christianity, albeit a former missionary, Rev. J. C. Roberts, who
+in 1847 had spent several months with Hung, is at the present moment a
+sort of minister of foreign affairs in the insurgents' camp at Nankin. The
+latest information respecting the Tai-ping enters so fully into the
+character of the whole movement, and so clearly develops its tendency,
+that no apology is needed for laying before the readers of every class a
+brief sketch of the more important and significant dogmas.
+
+The Tai-ping translations of the Old and New Testament, though in the
+whole tolerably correct, yet are in certain parts so imperfect that they
+implanted the most erroneous ideas in the head of the "Celestial King." He
+conceived his own visions and revelations as far more important, and of
+far higher authority, than those of Holy Writ. His mission, as he himself
+states it, is to be followed by a new revelation, accompanied by numerous
+miracles, and a third book will be given to the world, which is to
+supersede the Old and New Testaments, and be called the "_True_
+Testament." According to Hung, both God and Christ have appeared in the
+human form. Christ is not equal to the Father, that is solely God; he is
+also brought into connection with other redeemers, and has a wife and
+children in heaven.
+
+The Celestial King and his son form with God and Christ a Quaternity in
+Unity. The corporeal presence of the Celestial King is that of the
+Godhead, and in the distempered imagination of the Tai-ping the government
+now existing in Nankin is assuredly that of heaven itself!
+
+The Tai-ping suffer no one to preach against their creed, because that
+would be to diminish the authority of their chief, and damp the ardour of
+their hopes. In their various proclamations it is expressly declared that
+Hung-sin-Tsuen is the brother of the Saviour, the Son of God, without any
+other distinction than such as must exist between an elder and a younger
+brother. They maintain that there is a celestial mother as well as Father,
+a heavenly sister as well as a heavenly Brother, and that the recently
+defunct King of the West, Fung-yun-san, one of Hung's oldest adherents, is
+now married to the heavenly sister. They hold to the opinion that not one
+of such of their revelations as clash with the Old and New Testaments, can
+be decided by such ancient books of religion. Their revelations being the
+newest, are on that account the most entitled to belief.
+
+In a letter of greeting addressed by Hung to Roberts[185] the missionary,
+on the occasion of the arrival of the latter at Nankin, in October, 1860,
+Hung narrates his heavenly journey in 1837, the repeated miraculous
+interference of the Father and the Son in his favour, as also the
+revelations made to the Eastern King. He professes to have seen the Father
+and Christ, the heavenly mother and the heavenly sister. He is himself
+"the Way, the Truth, and the Life," just as Christ is. He warns Roberts
+repeatedly, that implicit belief in this is of the highest importance, as
+otherwise he can neither be useful in this world nor blest in the next.
+After such an exposition, Christian missionaries will scarcely be suffered
+in the insurgent's camp if they dare to preach against such errors, not to
+say blasphemies.
+
+There are but few religious ceremonies. The Tai-ping, indeed, call one
+day of the week the day of prayer, and it happens more through oversight
+than intention to be fixed upon the Saturday, but so far as external
+sanctity goes there seems to be no special attention paid to it. They buy,
+and sell, and delve just as on other days. On the previous night about ten
+o'clock two or three cannon-shot are fired to announce the approach of the
+hour of prayer, and that the day of worship is at hand. Every family is
+engaged for an hour in devotion and praise. All strangers who have been in
+communication with the Tai-ping in Nankin state that, even in the capital
+where he has been resident for seven years past, that dignitary does not
+observe the Sabbath in any way, either by preaching, prayer, or expounding
+of the Scripture; there are no exhortations or pious admonitions; they
+have neither church nor temple; their sole divine service consists in each
+one reciting in his own house English hymns, and repeating a few prayers,
+while divers offerings are made, such as tea, rice, and the flesh of slain
+animals. They offer their prayers kneeling, after which they close the
+proceedings by singing a hymn standing. An English missionary, who arrived
+at Nankin with the conviction that the insurgents were genuine sincere
+Christians, made, after a short stay, the following severe but just remark
+concerning them: "I found to my regret no trace of Christianity, but a
+system of the grossest idolatry substituted for it, and arrogating its
+name. Their notion of God is so distorted, that it is, if possible, still
+more erroneous than that entertained of the Supreme Being by other
+idol-worshipping Chinese. Their conception of the Redeemer, to whom they
+pay equal honours, is crude, and thoroughly material. Their prayers, far
+from giving the impression of a true reverence of God, have much more the
+appearance of an idolatrous mockery of sacred things!"
+
+An English merchant, who accompanied Sir Hope Grant on his reconnoitring
+excursion up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and spent a week in what used to be
+called Nankin, now the celestial capital of the Tai-ping, gives the
+following characteristic sketch of them: "The insurgents take no interest
+in and do not encourage trade, except in muskets and ammunition. To our
+representations how unwise it was to lay waste towns and villages, and
+shut out commerce, they promised, after peace was concluded, to erect
+schools and other similar institutions, and professed their willingness to
+promote trade, but 'for the present,' they went on, 'we must, before
+anything else, make the hills and the rivers subject to our power.' On the
+whole I found the condition of the rebels far better than I had expected.
+They are comfortably clothed and well fed. The population of Nankin
+consists exclusively of officials. No one not connected with the
+administration of the army is admitted within the gates of the city. The
+majority of the inhabitants, who number about 20,000, are prisoners and
+slaves from every part of the empire. Although employed in most arduous
+work, they get no pay, but are simply clothed and fed. I remarked an
+extraordinary number of beautiful young women in elegant silken stuffs
+from Sutschan. There were also prisoners of war from Sutschan and other
+places, who, however, were by no means inclined to lead a very Christian
+and moral life in the celestial capital. The city of Nankin, as well as
+its suburb, the beautiful ancient cemetery of the Ning dynasty, and the
+far-famed porcelain Pagoda, are all utterly destroyed; instead of the
+broad well-paved streets of former times the stranger has now to pick his
+steps through heaps of bricks and rubbish. The palaces of the kings of the
+Tai-ping dynasty are glaringly conspicuous among all these ruins. They
+must have been entirely rebuilt, for the old Yamuns and temples, like the
+whole of the Tau-Tai City, have been demolished utterly.
+
+"The rebel chief inhabits a large palace. His household consists of 300
+female attendants. He also, in virtue of his rank, has 68 wives supported
+for him. No one but the kings (of whom there are 11 or 12, but only two
+are resident in Nankin) is permitted to approach his sacred person.
+Probably Hung is little more than a mere puppet in the hands of his
+ministers. It is he who mainly keeps the rebellion on foot. Discipline is
+far better maintained among the long-haired insurgents than the imperial
+troops, and many of the younger soldiers have pleasing manners.
+
+"The kings or Wangs, on the other hand, seem exceedingly lazy and
+vicious, and when they make their appearance, with a theatrical attempt at
+assuming a dignified deportment, clad in the yellow costume of a
+mountebank, and with a tinsel crown upon their heads, they present a most
+ludicrous aspect. Not one of these so-called kings understands the
+Mandarin dialect, so widely diffused among the educated classes;--not one,
+except Hung himself and Kan-wang, has a better education than one of his
+coolies.[186] They have linguists at their elbow, who do their reading and
+writing for them.
+
+"The arms of the Tai-ping are very wretched, and the bare fact that they
+are able to make head against the Imperial troops, speak volumes for the
+utter helplessness and incapacity of the Imperial Government. I have not
+the slightest expectation that any advantage will accrue to civilization
+or Christianity from the religio-political movement of the Tai-ping. No
+Chinese will have anything to do with them. Their whole activity consists
+in burning, murdering, and devastating. They are universally detested by
+the people; even those inhabitants of the city who do not belong to the
+'Brotherhood' detest them. For eight years their head-quarters have been
+at Nankin, which they destroyed, nor have they as yet made the slightest
+attempt to rebuild it. Trade and industry are forbidden. Their taxes are
+three times higher than those of the regular Government. They take no
+measures to staunch the wounds which they have inflicted on the people,
+nor do they occupy it as though they had any permanent interest in the
+land. They take no pains to tap those slow but sure springs of revenue, or
+to increase the resources of the state. They lay themselves out to
+maintain themselves by plunder. Nothing in their organization gives hope
+for any amelioration of the present or consolidation of power in the
+future; there is nothing in the entire history of the Tai-ping to enlist
+sympathy or compel confidence in a movement which, under the mask of
+religious reform, conceals the most hateful self-interest and terrorism,
+and under the pretext of spreading peace amongst men, brandishes the
+scourge of destruction and desolation among the provinces through which it
+has passed."[187]
+
+On the 11th of August the _Novara_ quitted her anchorage off Shanghai, and
+with the steam-tug _Meteor_[188] fastened to her side availed herself of a
+spring-tide to make her way into the Yang-tse-Kiang. Off Wusung we awaited
+the arrival of the post, after receiving which we were on 14th August
+towed as far as Gutzlaff's Island. Here we had once more to lay to, owing
+to calms and currents, till at last on the 15th August a fresh breeze
+sprang up from the S.E., and enabled us to make an offing.
+
+The temperature had materially altered during the last few days. After a
+cycle of oppressive heat the weather had suddenly changed to severe
+squalls, with a marked fall in the barometric column. The thermometer,
+which while we were lying off Shanghai marked from 86 deg. to 93 deg.2 Fahr., now
+indicated in the morning only 68 deg. Fahr., and during the day never rose
+above 77 deg. Fahr. The number of fever cases, which had reached the number of
+seventy, began gradually to fall off. Several cases of dysentery forthwith
+began to show symptoms of amendment.
+
+Considering the latitude we were in, and the season of the year, the
+barometer stood unusually high (30 deg.100), and although this might be
+attributable to the constant prevalence of easterly winds, we nevertheless
+knew we were approaching the period when the monsoon changes, and little
+reliance was to be placed on the steadiness of that from the S.E.
+Accordingly on the 17th the wind shifted round to N.E. by E., while our
+course was due S.E. This however rendered it necessary to tack, if we
+wished to pass to the northward of the Loo-Choo group, whereas we could
+run free and with a fair wind through the southern channel. The sun set
+behind a bank of dense clouds on the horizon. The western sky was tinged a
+deep red, and the stars shone out with uncommon brilliancy, but with a
+sort of trembling ray. The barometer fell slowly but steadily; the sea
+began to heave perceptibly. Our course was now changed to S.E. by S.
+
+The following morning the breeze freshened, and drew somewhat further aft;
+the sky was covered with clouds massed together, those to the N.E. of a
+very dark, almost black, colour. Wind and sea were now rising, the sky
+became more and more obscure, the barometer kept falling--there was every
+indication of the approach of heavy weather.
+
+The 18th August, the birthday of our Emperor, was duly celebrated far on
+the open ocean, in the middle of the China Sea. All was prepared for
+Divine worship, which was to be celebrated at 10 A.M. on the gun-deck, in
+presence of the staff and the entire crew. The Commodore had invited
+several gentlemen of the staff to dinner. On land no one thinks of
+consulting the elements, when such a festival is to be observed, nor do
+the guests waste many thoughts on wind, rain, and heavy seas, as they
+assemble in their comfortable chambers. At sea, on the other hand, the
+conditions are altered. Wind and weather are the masters here, whose
+behests the sea-farer must attend to. This was our case on this 18th of
+August.
+
+First, Divine service had to be dispensed with, because the sea became too
+heavy, rendering it necessary to close the port-holes in the gun-deck,
+where, as already mentioned, the service was to be performed. As the hour
+for the festival drew nigh, the elements gave unmistakeable evidence of
+their determined hostility; there was no room any longer to doubt that we
+were about to do battle with a regular Typhoon.[189] This species of
+storm, which is very customary at the change of the monsoons in August,
+September, and October, when the N.E. trade suddenly veers round and
+becomes the S.W. monsoon, is, like the tornado of the West Indies, the
+Pampero of the eastern coast of South America, and the hurricane of the
+Mauritius, a whirlwind of the most colossal proportions and most
+tremendous fury, by which the atmosphere is swept in a circle at an
+astonishing velocity around a central point more or less calm, which does
+not, however, remain stationary, but is continually progressing, and hence
+they are usually termed _cyclones_, or circular storms, to distinguish
+them from those other storms in which the wind moves in a straight line.
+It has been reserved for scientific investigation to explain the
+extraordinary regularity of the laws in obedience to which the masses of
+air, in the case of such storms occurring in the Southern hemisphere, move
+in the direction of the hands of a clock, whereas in the Northern
+hemisphere they are rotated in an opposite direction. In like manner, the
+direction of the centre round which the _cyclone_ is raging has been
+definitely ascertained, so that, provided with these data, it is not
+merely possible for the navigator to hold aloof from the dangerous
+central point of these circular storms, where the best and stoutest ship
+that ever floated must almost to a certainty be swallowed up, but even to
+avail himself of the wind to reach the edge of the _cyclone_ (the breadth
+of whose path is from 300 to 1000 miles), and thus make a rapid and
+prosperous passage. By mid-day the wind had increased to such an extent
+that we had to take in most of our sails, and reef the rest. The sea now
+rose, and many of its waves came thundering upon our decks. The vessel was
+tossed to and fro with such violence that everything which had not been
+made fast, or was attached to the vessel, began to lurch from side to
+side. Nevertheless, the invited guests sat down to table, made the seats
+and the table fast, and, such at least whom the violent rocking did not
+make sea-sick, partook of a pleasant and joyous meal. But even these
+precautions did not prevent numerous unpleasant accidents. One tremendous
+lurch of the ship, which took us unawares, suddenly set adrift a number of
+our mess, who rolled over and over each other upon that unstable floor,
+amid a hideous chaos of tumblers, bottles, plates, and crockery. Chairs
+and _fauteuils_ had their legs broken, everything breakable went into
+irretrievable smash, the convives escaping serious injury only by a
+marvel. Once more they took their seats at table, where only the bare
+cloth gave promise of security, and endeavoured to anchor themselves more
+firmly. When, at the conclusion of the meal, our Commodore gave the usual
+toast, and his guests emptied their glasses to the health of the reigning
+monarch, the band attempted to strike up the National Anthem, and a hearty
+cheer resounded above the groaning of the ship, the howling of the wind,
+and the sullen roar of the ever-increasing waves, as they lashed against
+the ship's sides.
+
+The sun went down behind clouds, as we went careering along under
+close-reefed main sail and storm stay-sail over a confused sea, running
+mountains high, and with huge heavy grey masses of cloud and mist close
+overhead; the barometer was still falling, and as night closed in the wind
+sung mournfully, yet with almost deafening noise, through the masts and
+rigging. The wind now shifted and sprung up from N.E. by N., which being
+an additional sign that the centre of the _cyclone_ was receding, we felt
+assured that we were on the right side to keep clear of it. By midnight
+the wind came still further round, till it stood steadily at N.E., when it
+acquired fresh strength, and blew a most violent hurricane. The centre of
+the _cyclone_ had once more altered its course, and begun to move in our
+direction.
+
+Our position at noon (27 deg. 25' N. and 125 deg. 23' E.) was the most
+unfavourable possible. We had a N.E. wind, and were in the N.E. section of
+the typhoon, whose centre, as is customary in these storms, was moving in
+a N.W. or W. direction, and therefore threatened the more readily to
+overtake us, that our course lay S.E. through the wide channel, which
+leads from the Chinese Sea into the open ocean between the Loo-Choo
+Islands and the Meiaco-sima group. There was now no other egress possible
+than by steering W. by S. to get away from the advancing centre of the
+whirlwind, on which course we would have to steer for the N. extremity of
+the Island of Formosa.
+
+The night of 18th and 19th of August was, in the fullest sense of the
+word, a night of storms. Towards midnight we once more set double-reefed
+foresail in order to lie our course of west by south. Had we calculated
+aright the course of the centre of the _cyclone_, the wind as we advanced
+should have drawn ahead, as we were now keeping it on our larboard beam.
+
+Daybreak of the 19th found us beneath a gloomy, angry-looking, cloudy grey
+canopy on every side, the clouds hanging quite low, till they seemed to
+brood upon the surface of the sea, now lashed into fury by the violence of
+the storm. The look-out could scarcely see a cable's length clear of the
+ship. Deluges of rain, lashes of spray, driven on board by the tremendous
+violence of the wind, enveloped us in a strange, half-mysterious
+obscurity. Towards the N.E. a compact bank of bluish grey clouds indicated
+the centre of the _cyclone_. The motion of the ship was so violent that
+one of her quarter-boats got filled with water, which at every lurch was
+washed upon the frigate's quarter-deck like a small cascade. Sometimes
+they became so full that they threatened to wrench the davits from their
+fastenings. The gun-deck was afloat with spray lashed on board with each
+pitch of the ship, while the foam flew high up upon the mast. The waves
+crossed each other in every direction, huge conical masses rising suddenly
+to a height of 25 or 30 feet, as far as one might guess, and then as
+suddenly subsiding. It was the genuine pyramidal sea of the true
+_cyclone_, of which vessels caught in these furious circular storms are
+even more apprehensive than the fury and strength of the hurricane.
+
+The wind, which now began to draw to the westward, indicated that thus far
+we had shaped a proper course, and that the course of the _cyclone_ lay
+towards the N.W. Under these circumstances it was deemed most prudent to
+make the Marianne Islands, and to avail ourselves even of the hurricane in
+order to perform a rapid voyage. We accordingly now laid our course to
+steer S.E. by S., through the centre of the channel south of the Loo-Choo
+Islands. Considering the width, 120 nautical miles, of this channel, there
+was reason to hope that, despite the errors in reckoning which were to be
+expected amid so many man[oe]uvres, and considering the impossibility of
+getting astronomical observations, and the influence of the sort of
+currents which those hurricanes usually set in motion for a short period,
+we might make our way through it in safety.
+
+The wind remained steadily in the N.W., and at first was on our port
+quarter. Towards noon, however, it came round to N.W. by W., so that we
+were now running dead before it. We now set double-reefed foresail so as
+to make quicker progress. Towards 6 P.M. the hurricane woke up to its full
+strength; squall followed squall, the universal covering of cloud in
+which the heavens seemed wrapped looked as though it reached to the very
+waters, and the air was quite filled with spray, till when standing at the
+ship's stern it was barely possible to distinguish the forecastle. The
+storm, sweeping along above the seething water, had a singular piercing,
+almost metallic, note, quite unlike the singing and whistling made among
+the sails and cordage. Staggering along under close-reefed fore and main
+sail, and double-reefed top-sail, the frigate pressed on through the thick
+night, going 14 miles an hour, through the strait between Loo-Choo and
+Meiaco-sima, out of the China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, whither she was
+being hurried along with such impetuous, irresistible violence by the
+wind, that not even the most experienced seaman could make head against
+it, but had, when passing from one part of the ship to the other, to warp
+himself along by means of a rope made fast fore and aft.[190] At 4 P.M.
+the barometer stood at its lowest (29 deg.302, the temperature at the same
+period being 66 deg.02 Fahr.), where it remained without sensible alteration
+for several hours. At last, towards 9 P.M., it began slowly to rise, the
+surest indication, and therefore most welcome one, that we were increasing
+our distance from the central point of the storm. About 11 P.M. the
+clouds suddenly lifted on S.S.E., the horizon began to widen; there was no
+longer a doubt that the worst was over.
+
+At dawn on the 20th the masts and cordage showed a thick incrustation of
+salt, thus giving unmistakable evidence of the great height to which the
+spray had been driven. The wind was now W.S.W., and the barometer had
+risen to 29 deg.5, so that we had now merely an ordinary gale to deal with,
+and might look upon the _cyclone_ as expended. Science had indicated the
+method of evading the centre of the circular storm, and even of making the
+very hurricane subservient to our ends in driving us along our destined
+course!
+
+At 8 A.M. the sun began to be visible by fits and starts, long enough,
+however, to permit us to make an occasional observation. According to this
+we were only one mile out of our position by dead-reckoning. During the 24
+hours, inclusive of the period during which we lay to, we had run 218
+miles in a general direction of S.E. by E. During the afternoon the sky
+cleared. The sea was still high, but the atmosphere gradually became
+clearer and more transparent, till by sundown even the large banks of
+clouds on the N.E. which continued to mark the centre of the _cyclone_ had
+entirely disappeared. The _Novara_ during this tremendous storm had proved
+herself a thorough sea-boat, nor was there any particular damage
+noticeable on the occasion of the careful inspection to which her sails,
+masts, and rigging were subjected, immediately that the weather became
+more favourable. Her masts and sails, which in such a warfare of the
+elements she might so readily have had carried away, were all found to be
+uninjured, and only a few plates of her copper sheeting had been loosened
+by the fury of the waves, while those still clinging to the ship had been
+rolled up like so much paper, by the tremendous pitching of the good ship.
+The quarter gallery too, which when the frigate was running before the
+wind was exposed to considerable danger, had sustained but little damage.
+Such unfortunately was not the case with a small menagerie of rare birds
+and monkeys, which had been placed in cages carefully covered with linen
+in this, ordinarily the most sheltered, part of the vessel. The covering
+had been torn away by the hurricane, and the wind had so tossed the poor
+things about, that all their feathers were knocked off, and they presented
+a most pitiable appearance. The quadrupeds too, whose cries and lowings
+during the storm had already testified to their misery, were found to have
+suffered severely. Two oxen and several sheep died on the 19th. All the
+surviving animals lost flesh terribly during 48 hours, while those that
+had been the wildest and most untameable were now quite tame and docile.
+
+An analysis of the phenomena observed during the continuation of the
+_cyclone_, shows that on the 18th it formed its vortex, being then about
+opposite the rather lofty and tolerable-sized island of Dkinawasmia of the
+Loo-Choo group, which must have occasioned an alteration in the direction
+of the wind. Owing in part to the influence of the N.E. trade, which
+enters the northern part of the China Sea, and at this season is gradually
+veering round till it completely displaces the S.W. monsoon, as also
+during the S.W. monsoon itself, which blows from Formosa on the south,
+there appears to exist to the northward of the latter-named island,
+favoured probably by its natural configuration and physical features, a
+well-defined space within which the barometer is always depressed, and in
+which the atmosphere in immediate contact with these N.E. and S.W. winds
+is compelled to assume a sort of whirling motion, like that of the hands
+of a clock, thus forming the germ as it were of a _cyclone_.
+
+So long as the S.W. wind was blowing strongly, the centre of the _cyclone_
+moved in an easterly direction, or in other words, in the direction of
+least resistance. But arrested in its advance by the various island
+groups, as also by the gradually increasing pressure of the S.E. and E.
+winds, the _cyclone_ must, in consequence of the obstacles opposed to its
+path, have swung round with a sort of whirl, which once more impressed
+upon it a N.W. direction to the coasts of China, there to expend itself,
+apparently in consequence of the ever-increasing pressure of the
+surrounding atmosphere. During forty-eight hours, namely from 6 P.M. of
+the 18th to the same hour on the 20th, we were within the range of the
+typhoon itself, and on the 19th were at the nearest point to its vortex;
+nevertheless, judging by our lowest barometrical reading, we must have
+been at least 100 miles distant from the centre. It was the first typhoon
+that visited Chinese waters in 1858, and had been predicted weeks before
+in the "North China Herald," while the Thousand Years Almanac of the
+Chinese calendar assigned its date for the 10th of August.
+
+Our course was now shaped for the Marianne Archipelago. For several days
+after the typhoon, the weather remained unsettled, and the swell was both
+heavy and broken, when on 26th August we came in sight of the island of
+Guam or Guaham, the most southerly of the Marianne group. In twelve days
+we had run 1860 miles, with the aid of the typhoon it is true, but there
+was the fact, the distance had been accomplished, and as to the How? Jack
+gives himself little concern, so long as he reaches his goal swiftly and
+in safety.
+
+On the morning of the 27th we stood into the Bay of Umata, although it was
+very doubtful whether we should find a secure anchorage here, considering
+the S.W. wind that was blowing full into the roadstead, which is quite
+un-sheltered in that point of the compass. In fact, as we came nearer the
+land, we speedily became aware of the impracticability of anchoring here
+even in the best weather; while, on the other hand, it did not seem very
+advisable, owing to the difficulty of getting in, to make for the
+excellent harbour of San Louis de Apra, it being by no means easy, during
+the prevalence of the S.W. monsoons, for a large ship to beat out, so that
+they are occasionally detained there for several weeks. The order was
+accordingly given to luff up, so as to make tacks against the freshening
+west wind, out of this bay, studded as it is with numerous coral reefs.
+This proved to be a work of much time and trouble, ere we succeeded,
+after many hours of anxious care, in weathering the reef.
+
+The island of Guam, with its lofty green mountain-ridges, numberless
+valleys, and thickly-wooded glades, had a cheerful and friendly aspect,
+but seems but little cultivated. At Umata, where we perceived a few
+houses, the Spanish flag was waving from a small fort adjoining the
+settlement, which had been hoisted on the approach of the frigate.
+
+On 30th August, in 149 deg. 53' E., we reached the eastern limit of the S.W.
+monsoon, and--although not more than four days' sail from the object of
+our next visit, the island of Puynipet, had we met with favourable winds
+to waft us a little further--it was 15th September ere we came in sight of
+that lovely island, for, stormy and boisterous as the beginning of this
+section of our cruise had proved, not less annoying were the fickle calms,
+which kept us lying for weeks motionless, our sails idly flapping with the
+roll of the ship. It is a wretched depressing state of inactivity and
+discomfort, of which only those can form an idea who have been caught in a
+calm on the open ocean, on board of a sailing ship,--
+
+     "Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luftgefluester; Wenn Meer und
+        Himmel schweigend sich umschlingen, Und fromm, fast wie zwei
+      betende Geschwister."
+
+Which may be freely translated as follows:
+
+              "When ocean smooths his wrinkled face,
+              And sea and sky in pray'rful silence bend,
+                As when, in mutual fond embrace,
+              Two loving sisters' vows on high ascend!"
+
+The original is by Nicolas Lenau.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[126] Compare Gutzlaff's "History of the Chinese Empire," published by K.
+Neumann; Stuttgart and Tuebingen, 1847.
+
+[127] The copper cash is the sole currency in use, and consists of a
+mixture of copper, iron, and tin. Its value, reckoned by the string of
+100, is variable, and is calculated according to the proportional traffic
+in foreign merchandise. On the average, from 1250-1300 cash are about
+equal to $1.00 American, or 4_s._ 2_d._ English.
+
+[128] In Shanghai the medium of exchange in common use is not as at
+Hong-kong reckoned in dollars, but in taels, an imaginary currency of the
+value of about $1.33, so that 100 taels = $133-1/3, or about L27 15_s._
+Most accounts are rendered in taels, whence they are reduced into Mexican
+dollars, the only foreign silver that is current. When European merchants
+first came in contact with the children of the Flowery Land, the latter
+used to pay a sort of premium for American dollars, while for those
+bearing the effigies of Charles III. (known as the Karolus dollar), quite
+a special price was paid. Gradually, however, the value sank till, as
+already mentioned, 75 taels=$100. What has so often been reported of a
+special Shanghai dollar coinage is quite erroneous. There are neither gold
+nor silver coins struck in China, but solely of copper, and in some
+provinces of iron. The term Shanghai dollar is equivalent to tael, which,
+as already remarked, is, like the guinea in England, unknown to commerce.
+1 tael=5_s._ 7_d._ English, but in trade it is taken as 6_s._ It
+occasionally rises as high as 6_s._ 6_d._, when the proportion between the
+dollar and the tael is as 100 to 72.
+
+[129] An English translation of one of these reports will be found in the
+1845 number of Morrison's admirably edited, but now rather rarely met
+with, monthly periodical, "The Chinese Repository."
+
+[130] We occasionally saw the Queen of Heaven (Kwan-Yin) represented with
+a child in her arms, and have in our possession a piece of carved work
+representing such a group, which we purchased in a shop at Shanghai. This
+elegant figure seems to be a favourite deity with the Chinese, as it
+frequently adorns their little domestic altars, and is especially
+reverenced by the women who are desirous of the honours of maternity. The
+striking similarity between this exhibition and that of the Holy Virgin,
+as we see her represented in Catholic Churches, with the infant Jesus in
+her arms, must involuntarily suggest the idea that there has been an
+infusion of Catholicism intermingled here with the rites of Buddha. If the
+resemblance between the two is not accidental, it may readily be assumed
+that the same thing has occurred here as in the case of certain Christian
+legends, which the traveller encounters among various races, on whom the
+beams of Christian civilization have never been shed.
+
+[131] The price of each meal is as follows:--
+
+  1 bowl of rice,                                   12 cash (1/2 _d._)
+  1    "    vegetables,                              "  "   (1/2 _d._)
+  1 cup of tea,                                      6  "   (1/4 _d._)
+  Breakfast, consisting usually of rice,
+      vegetables, and tea,                          30  "   (1-1/4 _d._)
+  Bed, fire, and attendance,                        20  "   (7/8 _d._)
+
+[132] This sacrificial paper, coloured and written upon, is usually called
+"Joss" or "Sycee"-paper in Canton-English, because the prayers addressed
+to the Divinity are usually for riches and silver ingots (_Sycee_), which
+the suppliants hope to obtain by entreaty.
+
+[133] Properly spelt _Kong-fu-tseu_, from which the Europeans have
+constructed the Latinized name Confucius. _Kong-fu-tseu_ (sometimes also
+written _Kong-tse_) was born 550 B.C. in the city of Kio-siu-bien, in the
+modern province of Shantung.
+
+[134] Lao-tse (Lao-tseu), born B.C. 504, in the village of Knio-schin, in
+the kingdom of Thsu, held the post of keeper of the archives of the palace
+under the Tscheu dynasty. In his Book of Philosophy (Tao-te-king) the
+following remarkable words occur: "The rule of antiquity has been, not to
+shed light on the people, but to keep them in ignorance. A people that
+comprehends is difficult to govern. On this subject men say, Whoso governs
+a kingdom in knowledge, the same is the destroyer of that kingdom; whoso
+governs a kingdom assigning no reason, the same maintains that kingdom. In
+the family, in the school, children are brought up among idols. When they
+enter school in the morning they are taught to do honour to the image of
+Kong-tse. This custom must be forthwith dispensed with." (Compare J. R.
+Kaeuffer's History of Eastern Asia, for "Friends of the History of
+Mankind," Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1859, vol. ii. p. 64, and K. F. Neumann's
+Eastern Asiatic History, Leipzig, W. Engilmann, 1861, p. 129.)
+
+[135] Copper coins, struck by a ruler with whose reign any memorable
+occurrences are associated, command a high price as health-giving amulets.
+Some of these, those, for instance, of the Ming and Sing dynasties, have
+very special healing virtues attributed to them. The currency of
+Tsching-ta (1506-1522) are unfailing preservatives against the perils of
+pregnancy, and the illnesses consequent thereon. Others are held in great
+honour as prophylactics. The mode of application consists in the invalid
+dragging them by a cord over various parts of his body in a certain
+prescribed order.
+
+[136] The Chinese attribute the most marvellous healing powers to water,
+and accordingly apply it in a variety of forms, in numbers of maladies of
+the most dissimilar character. Water, cold, tepid, warm, and hot, as also
+snow and iced-water, figure among the list of medicaments, as do also
+rain-water, well and river-water, brackish water, dew, water from any eddy
+or whirlpool, or a stream, boiling water, and steam.
+
+[137] The Chinese women are for this reason anxious to keep their children
+at the breast for two or three years and even longer, partly by way of
+speculating upon their having a constant breast of milk, and in this
+singular manner make up for any deficiency of cow's milk, between the
+market demand and the actual supply. A Chinese who possesses five or six
+concubines in addition to his legitimate spouse, may thus boast of a
+regular dairy farm. As sailors on arriving in port are usually excessively
+fond of milk, which they drink in large quantities, we were not a little
+amazed on learning from a physician at Hong-kong the source whence in all
+probability had been derived the milk that was so plentifully supplied!
+
+[138] In German _Bruch-porzellan_, in French _porcelaine-craquelee_.
+
+[139] _Description generale de la Chine._
+
+[140] Not alone this oil-cake, but ground horns and bones, hair from the
+beard, and nail-parings, rust, ashes, and even human excrement are used as
+manure. And it is a singular fact that the price of the latter varies
+according to the race of men by whom it has been evacuated. The
+succulently nourished flesh-eating English and Americans are in this
+respect in far greater demand than the more sparely-fed cross-breeds;
+while the Chinese, subsisting almost exclusively upon fish and vegetables,
+are in respect to the value of their _faeces_ as manure, behind every other
+race inhabiting the country. The price of this manure varies with the
+quality from one dollar to three dollars the _picul_. This custom of
+collecting and disposing of human excrement for manure is much more
+extensively observed in the interior of the Empire than in the provinces
+along the coast. "If," writes M. Huc, the well-known missionary,--"if we
+were not aware to what perfection the denizens of the Celestial Empire
+have carried the art of manuring, one would be at a loss how to reconcile
+the fondness of John Chinaman for making money with the conveniences free
+of all charge which the proprietors of the soil everywhere erect for the
+comfort of travellers. There is not a city nor a village in which this is
+not universally the case. In the most crowded streets, or the most
+out-of-the-way abandoned spot, one frequently marvels to find these
+"cabinets" in cane-work, earth, or even masonry. One is almost tempted to
+believe he is in a country where the care to provide plenty of public
+latrines is pushed to the extreme. Utilization, however, furnishes a
+sufficient explanation of all these edifices."
+
+[141] In every part of this extensive empire, travellers encounter these
+national tributes to the memory of distinguished women, and Dr. Medhurst,
+as also Fortune and other authorities upon China, relate numerous
+instances of these remarkable memorials. One of these, an archway of
+stone, is spoken of by Medhurst as of singular beauty. It is half a mile
+from the city of Kwang-Tib, and was erected by the community of that
+region, with the approval of the Emperor, in honour of a lady of that
+city, of singular piety and benevolence. Over the portico are inscribed
+the words "Kin-sin-tsae-tschung" (a golden and perfect heart precisely in
+the middle).
+
+[142] In the hospital, in what is called the western suburb of Canton,
+which was under the charge of Dr. Hobson from 1848 to 1858, the annual
+number of patients of both sexes under treatment averaged upwards of
+20,000. During the most unhealthy season (May and June) the number
+imploring assistance frequently amounted to from 3000 to 3400. In the
+dispensary there were, moreover, from 200 to 250 patients, who received
+medical advice three times a week, and were supplied with medicaments
+gratuitously.
+
+[143] We saw this huge work in the private library of the chief of the
+medical staff at Hong-kong, Dr. W. A. Harland, who had conceived the idea
+of publishing a more important work upon Chinese drugs, when death struck
+down this distinguished and most industrious gentleman while in the active
+discharge of his duties.
+
+[144] In the Leper village near Canton, which is under the superintendence
+of a Chinese physician, there are about 100 lepers of both sexes, each of
+whom receives about 20 cash (not quite one penny) daily for his support.
+The superintendents stated to Dr. Hobson, who repeatedly visited the
+village, as the result of their many years' experience and observations,
+that leprosy is not in every case transmitted from parents to children;
+that several wives of leprous persons have no trace whatever of the
+disease, but that these women in all probability belong to those of the
+third and fourth generation, who wholly escape. The Chinese overseers and
+attendants, however, can have had as little opportunity for remarking upon
+the breaking out of leprosy among the children of those whose parents were
+entirely exempt from it as they had of informing themselves with accuracy
+as to the various forms and rapid diffusion of the disease in the case of
+the one, or its mild type and gradual disappearance in the other.
+Perspiration or suppuration in the diseased parts are never remarked in
+these patients.
+
+[145] At the Refuge for the Destitute (_Monegu choultry_) at Madras, where
+Dr. Mudge was at the same time instituting experiments lasting over two
+years, exhibiting these same remedies in every form and shape of
+elephantiasis, to which cases a special ward had been set apart, rarely
+entertaining fewer than 100 patients, that gentleman found it to be
+perfectly inoperative, and he accordingly entirely ceased prescribing it.
+In lieu of the Tscharul Mugra, the Hindoos in cases of leprosy make use of
+what are known as the "Asiatic pills," consisting of arsenic, pepper, and
+the root of the _Asclepia gigantea_.
+
+[146] In an old Chinese medical work occurs the following remarks upon the
+plant: "Tae-fung-tzi. Taste, acrid and burning: imported from the South
+(this obviously alludes to the Straits of Malacca). Acts as an alterative
+on the blood, and is accordingly useful in cases of leprosy, when the
+blood is corrupted. The oil pressed from the seeds is also used as a
+remedy in ulcers, eruptions, and psoriasis, and for killing worms. This
+drug must be exhibited in the form of pills."
+
+[147] Geography, Statistics, and Natural History of the Chinese
+Empire--New York, 1847; Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese language--Canton,
+1856; Chinese Commercial Guide. Fourth edition--Canton, 1856.
+
+[148] In the figures of the Chinese original, which represents the
+Lo-hau-miau or Buddhist aboriginal, Buddha is represented in a cavity of a
+rock. Two burning lamps are standing beside him, one on each side, and in
+front are two worshippers in devotional attitudes, while at a short
+distance one perceives a woman with a little child, who is approaching the
+divinity. The men wear fox-tails as ornaments to the head, and their long
+locks hang loose and dishevelled, far below the shoulders. Every year on
+the third day of the third moon, our Chinese traveller goes on to state,
+old and young, man, woman, and child, bring offerings of fruit to Buddha,
+and for that and the three next succeeding days, they sing and dance, and
+at the same time make offerings of all manner of _cooked_ food. From their
+custom of wearing a fox-tail on their heads, which was also common among
+the ancestors of the present Mantchoos, and that these wild tribes
+reverence the image of Buddha, Dr. Bridgman is disposed to class them
+amongst foreign nations.
+
+[149] Among these there were, besides a small quantity of Sorghum, several
+species of vegetables, which are suited for cultivation in temperate
+climates, such, for example, as Poussen, Pa-tse, Pon-ta-tse, with which
+since our return experiments have been instituted in various parts of the
+Austrian Empire. M. de Montigny has also since our return sent, quite
+lately, a large quantity of Chinese seeds by way of souvenir, and despite
+illness, is so much interested in forwarding the objects of the Imperial
+Expedition, that he was a short time ago decorated with an Austrian order.
+
+[150] We are however in a position to furnish an extract from the
+note-book of an English sailor, left in charge of the yacht of an English
+merchant at Shanghai, who accompanied the expedition of Lord Elgin to the
+Pei-ho as coxswain. Notwithstanding the occasional _naive_ expressions
+made use of, it is a valuable narrative, such as may call up many strange
+reflections in the mind of the reader:--
+
+"1858. May 30th.--The river Pei-ho is about 150 yards wide at its mouth,
+and at dead low water varies from 1-1/2 to 4-1/2 fathoms in depth. On the
+bar, which is two miles wide, the difference between the ebb and the flood
+is from 9 to 10 feet. Easterly winds cause the highest tides. In the
+interior, near Tien-Tsin, the river is from 3 to 6 fathoms deep, and from
+50 to 100 fathoms wide. Countless villages stud the banks. The houses are
+built of clay or straw. The boys run about naked to an age of eight years.
+It is a very wretched population. The coolies plunge into the water after
+the empty bottles which are swimming about. They seem exceedingly willing
+to be serviceable to foreigners. At Tien-Tsin, ten and a half hours from
+the mouth of the river, the thermometer marks 89 deg. Fahr. in the shade. Lord
+Elgin is living in a private house on shore. The interpreters live in a
+passenger-junk. Provisions are on the whole cheaper than at Shanghai. An
+immense number of natives keep crowding open-mouthed round the
+"barbarians" and their ship during the entire day, hundreds following us
+at every step. Almost all the shops are shut, through dread of the
+barbarians."
+
+"4th June.--Thermometer 95 deg. The people very willing to supply the
+strangers with water, tea, &c. The natives are on the average from five to
+five feet three and well-proportioned. Some of them are "tremendously"
+fat, with huge heads. Among the entire lot I could not see one single
+woman. The streets are narrow, filthy, and uneven. Saw several hand-carts,
+which were used to convey water from the river to the village. On each
+barrow there could be from six to eight buckets of water. There were also
+plenty of mules and donkeys, but very few horses."
+
+"June 18.--This day the Russian minister concluded his treaty. A Russian
+courier starts to-morrow for St. Petersburg with dispatches."
+
+"June 26th.--At 6 P.M. to-day the treaty with England was signed. Went in
+procession to the town. All the shipping dressed with flags, and manned
+yards. The festivities went off in the Yamun. Lord Elgin sat at the middle
+table, with a Mandarin on each side of him. I hear their names were
+Wa-schu-nau and Kwei-liang. The first-named is a strong, corpulent man of
+about 45; the latter is much older, and seemed very much dejected; he has
+however just recovered from sickness, which may account for it. After the
+ceremonies of signing and sealing had been gone through, they all partook
+of refreshments provided by the Mandarin. Lord Elgin proposed a toast to
+the health of the Emperor of China, and to the future friendship of the
+two nations, which was responded to by the Mandarins. Shortly after the
+assembly broke up, and we all marched home to the excellent music of the
+flag-ship's band and the bugles of the marines. The whole affair lasted
+about three hours and a half. It was full moon, and a splendid night.
+
+"June 27th.--This afternoon the treaty with the French was signed.
+Returned to their ships by torch-light, port-fires, &c. &c. Ki-ying, the
+Mandarin who assisted in bringing about the treaty, was sentenced to be
+decapitated, as he was blamed for opening the door to the barbarians, but
+he has since been pardoned."
+
+"July 3rd.--News came from Pekin that Ki-ying has committed suicide by
+cutting his throat."
+
+"July 4th.--Thermometer 96 deg. on board, despite awnings and sprinkling the
+roof of the wheel-house with water!"
+
+"July 6th.--Left Tien-Tsin. After a long, tedious, and tiresome passage of
+15 days we reached Shanghai once more on 21st July, all well.
+
+"Price of provisions at Tien-Tsin, as contracted for on 28th May, for the
+supply of the English fleet:--
+
+  Oxen (average weight 4 piculs, or 533 lbs.), the carcase      $10
+  Sheep,                                         "                2
+  Hens,                                        per dozen          1
+  Geese and ducks,                               "                2
+  Eggs,                                        per thousand       3
+  Vegetables,                               picul=133-1/2 lbs.  1.50
+  Rice,                                          "                5
+  Sugar,                                         "                6
+  Yams,                                        per dozen          1
+  Pears,                                       per hundred        1
+  Apples,                                        "              1.50
+  Ice,                                         per lb.           16
+
+"All articles to be delivered of the best quality. The prices are reckoned
+in American dollars. Every morning a boat was sent off to the
+_Coromandel_, on board which the purchases took place."
+
+[151] The Tau-Tai, whose authority extends over the three prefectures of
+Soo-Chow, Sung-Kiang, and Tai-tsing in the north-east of the province of
+Kiang-ti, is under the governor of Soo-chow, and has resided at Shanghai
+ever since that port was thrown open to trade. His salary by law is only
+4000 _taels_ (L1445), but the various perquisites and emolument attached
+to it make his actual income about 365,000 _taels_ or L105,000 per annum;
+out of which he has, however, to defray all expenses of subordinates, &c.;
+so that the net annual income of this post is estimated at from 25,000 to
+30,000 _taels_ (L7000 to L8700). Besides the Tau-Tai there is only the
+Tschi-hien, a sort of magistrate who lives in Shanghai, and trades with
+the foreigners.
+
+[152] As another example of an interview with the highest class of Chinese
+officials, we must briefly describe one enjoyed by some of our Expedition
+with a Mandarin named Li-hoi-wan. He received them in a chamber of his
+house, in which were a few small tables and chairs, while at the other end
+was an elevated cushioned seat on which sate Li-hoi-wan, a large stout
+man. He wore a Mandarin hat, with a blue button, and a greyish blue coat
+reaching to the ground. He saluted the foreigners by folding his palms
+across his breast, invited them to be seated on the dais beside him, and
+ordered cigars and tea to be brought. Afterwards sweetmeats of every
+description, confectionery, and fruit were served, as also Chinese wines,
+the latter, to judge by their flavour and their fragrance, seeming as
+though they must have hailed from a perfumery store rather than a wine
+cellar. Two days after the Chinese, with delicate courtesy, returned the
+visit at their quarters in the residence of M. Probst, the Consul for
+Oldenburg. Punctually at the appointed hour three far-resounding taps of
+the gong were heard, a foot-soldier of police presented a flaming red
+"_carte de viste_," bearing the name and titles of Li-hoi-wan, who
+forthwith was received by the travellers at the threshold, in compliance
+with Chinese customs. He was attired in heavy silk clothes, his fan in an
+elegantly worked sheath, a gold lever watch in his girdle, and was in
+excellent spirits. The hospitable host had, according to the custom of the
+country, prepared a chow-chow, or collation, at which, however, instead of
+Samschoo, champagne was the prevailing beverage. A few days later the
+Mandarin visited his newly acquired friends on board the frigate, and
+begged their acceptance of a variety of presents, such as silks, nuts,
+tea, dried fruits, and Chinese maxims and proverbs, written on long rolls
+of paper, that, as he naively expressed it, we might think of him "as a
+brother."
+
+[153] Mr. Hogg has since left that firm, and with his brother, Mr. Edward
+J. Hogg, has established the firm of Hogg Brothers, in Shanghai.
+
+[154] Under the Emperor Yang-ti of the Tsin dynasty, which filled the
+throne during the 6th century, more than 1600 miles of canals were partly
+constructed, partly rebuilt and repaired, the immense works being
+distributed among the soldiery and the inhabitants of the cities and
+villages. Each family was bound to furnish one man, between the ages of 15
+and 20, whom the Government only found in provisions. The soldiers, on
+whom devolved the heaviest portion of the work, received higher pay. Some
+of these canals, which were the making of the commerce of the interior,
+and thus were of the utmost service to the welfare of the Empire, were
+forty feet wide, and were planted on either bank with elms and willows.
+
+[155] These lanterns, often beautifully carved and otherwise adorned, are
+among the most characteristic furniture of a Chinese room. Into their
+manufacture enter not alone glass, horn, silk, paper, &c., but also the
+glutinous matter derived from a species of sea-tangle (_Gigartina
+tenax_--called by the Malays _Agar-Agar_), with which the paper employed
+in covering the sides of the lantern is fastened on. In the silk and paper
+manufactures too this omnipresent Agar-Agar paste plays so important a
+part, that above 500 piculs at $2 a picul, are annually imported from the
+Indian Archipelago.
+
+[156] Vide Huc's Chinese Empire, Vol. I.
+
+[157] The Chinese find it not less inexplicable that we use such
+murderous-looking instruments to divide and convey our food to our mouths,
+with which they think we must every moment be in danger of wounding our
+lips or putting our eyes out, than that we should remove the bones from
+the flesh, or crack the shells of nuts and almonds, both which operations
+seem to them excessively absurd. In fact, it is no mere bon-mot which
+represents a Chinese gazing in astonishment at Europeans playing
+billiards, or nine-pins, waltzing, or "polking," and remarking, with an
+ill-concealed assumption of superiority, that wealthy people ought to
+leave such fatiguing things to be done by their servants!!
+
+[158] Since the well-known minister and envoy to Japan.
+
+[159] Since sacked by the Tai-ping rebels.
+
+[160] Abandoned after a large part of the course of the Yang-tse had been
+explored. Lieutenant-Colonel Sarel published lately a most interesting and
+valuable pamphlet on this expedition, of which he was the leader, under
+the title, "Notes on the River Yang-tse-kiang from Hankow to Ping-Shan.
+Hong-kong, Printed at Noronka's office."
+
+[161] Report of the deputation, appointed by the British Chamber of
+Commerce in Shanghai, on the commercial capabilities of ports and places
+on the Yang-tse-kiang visited by the expedition under Vice-Admiral Sir
+James Hope, K.C.B., in February and March, 1861. Supplement to the China
+Overland Trade Report of 28th Feb. and 27th May, 1861, and Supplement to
+the Overland China Mail, No. 237 of 12th June, 1861.
+
+[162] According to Dr. W. H. Medhurst's translation of this rare work, for
+a copy of which, rescued from the last great conflagration at Canton, we
+are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Wylie, the portion especially
+referring to this runs as follows: "The mulberry ground having been
+supplied with silk-worms, the people descended from the hills and dwelt in
+the plains," (p. 91,) and further on, "their tribute baskets were filled
+with black silks and checkered sarsenets" (p. 96). See Ancient China,
+[Chinese character(s)] The Shookin, or the Historical Classic. Being the
+most ancient authentic Records of the Annals of the Chinese Empire.
+Illustrated by later commentators. Translated by Dr. W. H. Medhurst, Sen.
+Shanghai, 1846.
+
+[163] Thus Yuen-tschin in the third month (April of our calendar), Chay
+and Yuen in the fourth month (May), Gae-tschin in the fifth month (June),
+Sai in the sixth month (July), Han-tschin in the seventh month (August),
+Sze-tschan in the ninth month (October), and Hau in the tenth month
+(November).
+
+[164] The value of a tael, as already stated, varies from 6_s._ to 6_s._
+6_d._ It is estimated that a bale of silk, until it is shipped at Shanghai
+for England, has cost from L80 to L100 sterling.
+
+[165] The word _Cha_ is, however, used by the Chinese to designate not the
+tea plant alone, but every description of _Camelia_.
+
+[166] Arabian travellers who visited China in the 9th century, A.D. 850,
+speak thus early of tea, as of a beverage in universal use. According to
+Kaempfer tea was introduced from China into Japan about A.D. 519, by a
+native prince named Daeme, who, during his residence in China, had learned
+its invaluable properties. The Japanese, however, do not drink their tea
+as an infusion, but grind the leaves into powder, pour hot water upon
+them, and stir them with a bamboo-stick till they are thoroughly mingled
+together, when they swallow the decoction and the powder together, as is
+done with coffee in some parts of Asia.
+
+[167] The term "Bohea" is in fact only a corruption of the Chinese Wu-yi,
+which again is derived from Wu-i-kien, a well-known Chinese divinity.
+
+[168] In Java, where the tea plant has been cultivated for a series of
+years, the mountain region from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea, and with
+an average temperature of from 58 deg.1 to 73 deg.7, Fahr., has been found best
+adapted for the growth of the plant.
+
+[169] The first scientific arrangement of the tea plant according to dried
+specimens was made in 1753 by Linnaeus, who in his _Species Plantarum_
+included among these one species, which he called _Thea Sinensis_. But by
+the time the second edition of his renowned work made its appearance in
+1762, Linnaeus found himself compelled to make two species of it, and to
+assign them the names by which they are known to the present day. The
+first living tea plant was brought to Europe in October, 1763, by a ship
+captain named Ekeberg, and planted in the Botanic Garden of Upsala.
+
+[170] According to Fortune ("A Residence among the Chinese." London, 1857.
+Murray), the various sorts of tea have added to them from two to four
+spoonfuls of a mixture in which the plant _ma-ki-holy_ largely enters, as
+also indigo and pulverized _gypsum_, in order to increase the green tinge
+of the leaves.
+
+[171] A picul, 133-1/3 lbs., of these leaves costs on the average 15 to 18
+dollars, though it occasionally ranges as high as 30 dollars.
+
+[172] In the year 1859, the exports into England were 30,988,598 lbs.
+(viz. 22,292,702 lbs. black, and 8,695,896 lbs. green), out of a total
+export of 55,328,731 lbs. Within the same period 19,952,147 lbs. went to
+the United States, 1,879,584 lbs. to Australia; to Hong-kong, and other
+ports along the coast of China, 1,261,347 lbs.; to Montreal, 510,600 lbs.,
+and to the entire continent of Europe 736,455 lbs.
+
+[173] Some experiments on a small scale were made with the _Sorgho_ at
+Aquileia near Goerz, by M. Karl Ritter, a well-known merchant and sugar
+refiner, of Trieste. We were shown samples of refined sugar, extracted
+from the _Sorgho_, which promised the best results. A large quantity of
+seeds which were sent a year ago to one of the members of the _Novara_
+Expedition by M. de Montigny, had been made use of to institute a series
+of experiments in cultivation, in those parts of the Empire, the climatic
+conditions of which promised to be most favourable for the growth of the
+_Sorgho_.
+
+[174] During our stay at Shanghai we also made inquiries as to an alleged
+new species of potato, concerning which there have been current for years
+such contradictory accounts in the European and American journals, that
+the foreign community of Shanghai was beset with inquiries from all parts
+of the world, begging for more accurate information as to this newly
+discovered tuber, which promised to supply a much-needed substitute for
+the apparently effete, worn-out, disease-smitten potato of Peru. No one,
+however, could furnish us with the slightest information on the subject,
+and ultimately it became apparent that the rumours hitherto current were
+founded on an erroneous impression. It would seem, according to the
+opinion of Mr. Fortune, that the rumour first arose from mistaking for a
+new sort of potato, the _Calladium esculentum_, which is quite commonly
+exposed for sale in the streets of Shanghai, and the small tubers of
+which, both in flavour and external appearance, resemble those of the
+potato, when, without taking the slightest further trouble to inquire into
+the matter, the pretended new discovery, fraught with such important
+results for the poorer classes, was duly trumpeted to the entire world. In
+no part of China hitherto accessible was there at the time of our visit
+any other description of potato in use than the common Peruvian. Officers
+of the English and American navies, who at the time of the first Peace of
+Tien-Tsin were eating potatoes in the Gulf of Petcheli, assured us that
+they were precisely identical with those that have so long been
+acclimatized in Europe. Of edible tubers there are at Shanghai, besides
+potatoes, the yam (_Dioscorea_ sp.) and the Yucca (_Jatropha_ sp.).
+
+[175] The following is the process as we observed it: the bamboo strips
+are first soaked for a considerable period in water, after which they are
+peeled, and again saturated with lime-water, until they are perfectly
+flexible. After this, they are converted, according to the method in use
+at that special locality, either by water power or hand labour, into a
+fluid of a pap-like viscosity, after which it is boiled till it has
+attained the requisite fineness and consistency for conversion into paper.
+
+[176] These consist chiefly of cotton and woollen goods of every
+description, steel cutlery, iron-ware, glass, clocks, watches, musical
+clocks, tin-ware, &c.
+
+[177] The quantity of home-grown opium, chiefly produced in the province
+of Yun-nan, cannot be accurately ascertained, as the returns are not made
+at certain points; but the quantity must fall far short of the amount
+imported from India.
+
+[178] According to MacCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, opium had been
+introduced into China and India by the commencement of the 16th century by
+Mahometan merchants, and it sounds like an apology when the learned and
+patriotic author, in treating of the part taken by England in the
+much-to-be-lamented traffic in this noxious drug, adds by way of
+palliation--"A century and a half before the English had _anything_
+whatever to do with its _cultivation_."--(Latest edition, p. 939.)
+
+[179] Only a certain number (originally twelve) of wealthy Chinese
+merchants, "Hong," were permitted by law to trade with foreigners at
+Canton. They had not only to account to Government for all duties and
+taxes, but were likewise responsible for the good behaviour of the
+strangers!
+
+[180] It is a coincidence worthy of notice, that simultaneously with the
+rise of the opium trade with China, the importation of slaves into America
+began to increase, and that European commerce in these two infamous
+traffics seemed to be ever increasing and gaining ground in Eastern Asia
+and in America! At the end of last century the number of slaves in the
+Southern States of the Union was little greater than that of opium-smokers
+in China: at present the number of the former is about 4,000,000, and the
+latter may be put at about the same figure; the latter, slaves of their
+own intemperate passions,--the former, of the covetousness and cold
+calculating selfishness of their masters. The opium question and the slave
+question--these two seem destined to be solved simultaneously!
+
+[181] A very similar result is arrived at by MacCulloch, who calculates
+that the Company cleared 7_s._ 6_d._ per lb. on opium, which they bought
+by their agents from the Bengal ryots at 3_s._ 6_d._ per pound, and
+retailed at 11_s._ per pound.
+
+[182] There are indeed smokers who smoke their two, four, five, and even
+eight drachms per diem, but these are solitary instances, while the very
+costliness of the article forbids the use of the narcotic to the great
+mass of the population, except in the very smallest quantities.
+
+[183] One poem of the Chinese Imperial Pretender, which is not included in
+Dr. Medhurst's collection of the writings published by the insurgent press
+at Nankin, and for a copy of which we have to thank Mr. Meadows,
+Government interpreter at Shanghai, has lately been translated by our
+learned countryman, Dr. Pfitzmaier. The splendidly got up binding of this
+little book is of a golden yellow on the title page, and red on the
+reverse; the river Yang-tse-kiang appears to pay homage to the Tai-ping,
+whose residence it surrounds. The title printed on the exterior of the
+wrapper runs as follows: "Imperial announcements in theses upon the words
+of the Heavenly Father, the Most High Ruler." The title within is: "Ten
+poems upon Supreme Felicity," although these so-called poems are simply
+strophes, never exceeding four verses of seven feet. The writing bears
+date the number _Kuei-hao_ (50), corresponding to A.D. 1853, the third
+year of the reign of the Heavenly King, Tai-ping. The whole production is,
+if that be possible, yet more bombastic, unintelligible, and stupid than
+Chinese poems usually are to Western readers.
+
+[184] Between February and September, 1855, there were executed in Canton
+70,000 persons all told. Many of the rebel leaders were, in conformity
+with the _penal laws_, hewed in numerous pieces while yet living; a
+certain Kausin in 108! See K. F. Neumann's History of Eastern Asia, from
+the first Chinese war to the Treaty of Pekin, 1840-1860. Leipzig,
+Engelmann, 1861.
+
+[185] We extract from the _London and China Telegraph_ of 31st March,
+1862, the following severe but just criticism on this gentleman, whose
+letter, which we also quote, shows him to be a person of but limited
+education:--"Even the Rev. J. Roberts, who, as our readers are aware, has
+lived with the rebels at Nankin, and has to his discredit defended their
+conduct in the strongest possible manner, has at length discovered that
+they are nothing better than robbers and murderers. This change of opinion
+in a man who on all occasions so confidently urged the claims of the
+Tai-pings, arose from a very simple cause:--he at length suffered,
+personally, from their barbarity. A servant to whom he was attached was
+killed before his eyes; and considering his life in danger, he fled to
+Shanghai, and wrote the following letter, dated 22nd January, 1862,
+reprobating the conduct of his former friends:--'From having been the
+religious teacher of Hung Sow-chuen in 1847, and hoping that
+good--religious, commercial, and political--would result to the nation
+from his elevation, I have hitherto been a friend to his revolutionary
+movement, sustaining it by word and deed, as far as a missionary
+consistently could, without vitiating his higher character as an
+ambassador of Christ. But after living among them fifteen months, and
+closely observing their proceedings--political, commercial, and
+religious--I have turned over entirely a new leaf, and am now as much
+opposed to them, for good reasons, I think, as I was ever in favour of
+them. Not that I have aught personally against Hung Sow-chuen, he has been
+exceedingly kind to me. But I believe him to be a crazy man, entirely
+unfit to rule, without any organized government, nor is he, with his
+coolie-kings, capable of organizing a government of equal benefit to the
+people of even the old Imperial Government. He is violent in his temper,
+and lets his wrath fall heavily upon his people, making a man or woman 'an
+offender for a word,' and ordering such instantly to be murdered without
+'judge or jury.' He is opposed to commerce, having had more than a dozen
+of his own people murdered since I have been here, for no other crime than
+trading in the city, and has promptly repelled every foreign effort to
+establish lawful commerce here among them, whether inside of the city or
+out. His religious toleration and multiplicity of chapels turn out to be a
+farce, of no avail in the spread of Christianity, worse than useless. It
+only amounts to a machinery for the promotion and spread of his own
+political religion, making himself equal with Jesus Christ, who, with God
+the Father, himself, and his own son constitute one Lord over all! Nor is
+any missionary, who will not believe in his divine appointment to this
+high equality, and promulgate his political religion accordingly, safe
+among these rebels, in life, servants, or property. He told me soon after
+I arrived that if I did not believe in him, I would perish, like the Jews
+did for not believing in the Saviour. But little did I then think that I
+should ever come so near it, by the sword of one of his own miscreants, in
+his own capital, as I did the other day. Kan-Wang, moved by his elder
+brother (literally a coolie at Hong-kong) and the devil, without the fear
+of God before his eyes, did, on Monday the 13th inst., come into the house
+in which I was living, then and there most wilfully, maliciously, and with
+malice aforethought, murder one of my servants with a large sword in his
+own hand in my presence, without a moment's warning or any just cause. And
+after having slain my poor harmless, helpless boy, he jumped on his head
+most fiend-like and stamped it with his foot; notwithstanding I besought
+him most entreatingly from the commencement of his murderous attack to
+spare my poor boy's life. And not only so, but he insulted me myself in
+every possible way he could think of, to provoke me to do or say something
+which would give him an apology, as I then thought and I think yet, to
+kill me, as well as my dear boy, whom I loved like a son. He stormed at
+me, seized the bench on which I sat with the violence of a madman, threw
+the dregs of a cup of tea in my face, seized hold of me personally, and
+shook me violently, struck me on my right cheek with his open hand; then,
+according to the instruction of my King for whom I am ambassador, I turned
+the other, and he struck me quite a sounder blow on my left cheek with his
+right hand, making my ear ring again; and then perceiving that he could
+not provoke me to offend him in word or deed, he seemed to get the more
+outrageous, and stormed at me like a dog, to be gone out of his presence.
+'If they will do these things in a green tree, what will they do in the
+dry?'--to a favourite of Teen Wang's, who can trust himself among them,
+either as a missionary or a merchant? I then despaired of missionary
+success among them, or any good coming out of the movement--religious,
+commercial, or political--and determined to leave them, which I did on
+Monday, Jan. 20th, 1862.' Mr. Roberts adds that Kan-Wang had refused to
+give up his clothes, books, and journals, and that he had been left in a
+state of destitution. Most persons will agree that he fully deserves any
+amount of suffering that may be inflicted on him. Mr. Roberts has done his
+utmost to delude Europeans as to the true character of the Tai-pings; he
+has kept back some facts, has falsified others, and has acted throughout
+in a manner utterly inconsistent with his assumed character of a Christian
+missionary. On such conduct no comment can be too severe."
+
+[186] Nankin accordingly is usually called now-a-days the "City of the
+Coolie-Kings."
+
+[187] Very similar are the reports made by the English who, in Dec. 1858,
+accompanied Lord Elgin on his voyage of discovery up the Kiang, and
+remained a considerable period among the Tai-ping. "The tenets of their
+religion," says Mr. Laurence Oliphant (vide Earl of Elgin's Mission to
+China and Japan, vol. ii. p. 463), "consist of a singular jumbling of
+Jewish ordinances, Christian theology, and Chinese philosophy. Like the
+Jews in the Old Testament they wage wars of extermination, they live like
+the worst professing Christians, and they believe like--Chinese."
+
+[188] The charges forwarded by the owners of the little _Meteor_ for
+towing, and which are calculated according to the draught of water of the
+ship towed, was as follows:--
+
+  +--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
+  |Itinerary or  |15 feet   |15 to     |17 to     |18 to     |19 ft. &   |
+  |vice versa.   |and under.|17 feet.  |18 feet.  |19 feet.  |all beyond.|
+  +--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
+  |              |          |          |          |          |           |
+  |From Shanghai |300 taels,|350 taels,|450 taels,|450 taels,|500 taels, |
+  |to Gutzlaff's |or        |or        |or        |or        |or         |
+  |Island.       |L90.      |L105.     |L135.     |L135.     |L150.      |
+  |              |          |          |          |          |           |
+  |Shanghai to   |150 taels,|175 taels,|200 taels,|225 taels,|250 taels, |
+  |Wusung.       |or        |or        |or        |or        |or         |
+  |              |L45.      |L52 10_s._|L60.      |L62 10_s._|L75.       |
+  |              |          |          |          |          |           |
+  |From Wusung   |225 taels,|250 taels,|275 taels,|300 taels,|350 taels, |
+  |to Gutzlaff's |or        |or        |or        |or        |or         |
+  |Island.       |L62 10_s._|L75.      |L82 10_s._|L90.      |L105.      |
+  +--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
+
+[189] Typhoon, or _Tei-fun_, a strong wind. While some authors derive this
+word from the Arabic _Tufan_, a violent wind, others see in it the giant
+_Typhos_ of Greek mythology, who was begotten by Tartarus of Earth, and
+from whom proceeded all that was disastrous and destructive. Whoever has
+experienced a typhoon will most readily acquiesce in the latter
+derivation.
+
+[190] During this storm, we made the not uninteresting observation in a
+physiological point of view, that when the gale was at its worst, even the
+least hard-a-weather of us seemed quite free from sea-sickness, apparently
+the result of extreme excitement. For similar reasons, men who have been
+bitten by a snake, and who have had raw spirits administered as an
+antidote, seem able to take four or five times the quantity which they can
+on ordinary occasions.
+
+
+        [Illustration: Distant View of the Island of Puynipet.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVI.
+
+                       The Island of Puynipet.
+
+                        18th September, 1858.
+
+    Native boats in sight.--A pilot comes on board.--Communications
+    of a white settler.--Another pilot.--Fruitless attempts to tack
+    for the island.--Roankiddi Harbour.--Extreme difficulty in
+    effecting a landing with the boats.--Settlement of Rei.--Dr.
+    Cook.--Stroll through the forest.--Excursions up the Roankiddi
+    River.--American missionaries.--Visit from the king of the
+    Roankiddi tribe.--Kawa as a beverage.--Interior of the royal
+    abode.--The Queen.--Mode of living, habits and customs of the
+    natives.--Their religion and mode of worship.--Their festivals
+    and dances.--Ancient monumental records and their probable
+    origin.--Importance of these in both a historical and geological
+    point of view.--Return on board.--Suspicious conduct of the
+    white settler.--An asylum for contented delinquents.--Under
+    weigh for Australia.--Belt of calms.--Simpson Island.--"It must
+    be a ghost!"--Bradley Reef.--A Comet.--The Salmon Islands.--
+    Rencontre with the natives of Malayta.--In sight of Sikayana.
+
+
+While yet, on 16th September, 1858, five or six knots distant from the
+island of Puynipet,[191] first discovered in 1828 by the Russian Admiral
+Luetke, and just as we found ourselves off what is called "Middle Harbour,"
+we remarked a boat of European construction making for the frigate. Two
+hours later it came alongside, with four natives and a white man, the
+latter of whom came on deck and offered his services to the Commodore as
+pilot. He proved to be a Yankee named Alexander Tellet, who had lived 20
+years on the island as smith and carpenter, to which he added the
+functions of pilot for the harbour in which he lived. Presently we were
+surrounded by a considerable number of natives in elegant canoes streaked
+with red, and formed of hollowed-out trunks of trees with outriggers,
+which have very peculiar scaffold-like supports, so that there is a kind
+of platform formed in the centre of the canoe, whereon the master usually
+seats himself, but which serves on occasion for festive meetings, and even
+for a small dance! The sails, made of mats, are triangular, the most acute
+angle being confined between two long bamboos, while a third serves as a
+mast, the whole capable of being shifted to either end of the boat by one
+of the crew, according to the direction of the wind. While some were doing
+what they could in their small boats to keep within the speed of the
+frigate, though we were going pretty fast, just as parasites make fast to
+the shark, others followed us a little distance, like dolphins, those
+faithful companions of ships, as far as the nearest harbour. With the
+exception of a short apron of cocoa-palm leaves, the natives were quite
+naked, and seemed pretty well made. On their heads they wore a sort of
+projecting pent-hat, also of palm-leaves, obviously intended to shield
+the eyes from the vertical rays of the sun, and in form most resembling
+those lamp shades which old men or youths with weak eyesight are with us
+in the habit of using to ward off the full glare of artificial light.
+Among the natives who favoured us with their escort, there were two who
+from their personal grace, their light colour of skin, and thoroughly
+European cast of features, especially attracted our attention. They were
+the sons of an Englishman named Hadley, who had been for many years
+resident on Mudock island, E. of Puynipet, where he supported himself by
+fishing and pilotage, and had married a native woman. Shortly before our
+arrival, Hadley had started with several hundred pounds of tortoise-shell
+for Hong-kong, whence he intended to sail for England. He had intrusted
+his two sons to the care of a European settler, who succeeded him as pilot
+on Mudock island. According to all appearance, however, Hadley had little
+intention of returning to this island, notwithstanding the family tie that
+should have bound him to it.
+
+As we were coasting along the west side of the island about 1 to 17 miles
+from the reefs, Tellet was overwhelmed with questions on every hand and on
+every possible subject, and among other subjects of information we
+presently found that the chief intercourse of foreign ships was carried on
+with Roankiddi or Lee Harbour, some 15 or 20 miles distant, and Metetemai
+or Foul-weather Harbour, which lies six or seven miles E. of Roankiddi.
+During the N.E. trade (November to April), from 50 to 60 American whalers
+put in to Puynipet to take in wood and water, and fresh provisions,
+chiefly yams, taro, sweet potato, poultry, and pigs. Many ships, moreover,
+bound from Sydney for China prefer at that season the voyage through the
+Pacific to passing round the south of Australia, and thence through the
+Straits of Sunda, or the yet more dangerous passage through Torres
+Straits, and usually make a tolerably fast run. Thus the Swedish corvette
+_Eugenie_, on her voyage round the globe, performed in November, 1852, the
+astonishing feat of making the passage from Sydney to Hong-kong, 5000
+miles, in the unprecedentedly short space of 37 days!
+
+The number of aborigines on this island, which is about 60 miles in
+circumference, was estimated by Tellet at about 2000. Formerly it was as
+many as 5000,[192] but the small-pox had since then committed fearful
+ravages among the population. The circumstances under which this frightful
+scourge was first introduced into Puynipet, throw considerable light upon
+the history of the spread of that disease, as well as much useful
+information upon the question of vaccination.
+
+In 1854, the English barque _Delta_ arrived at Roankiddi Harbour, with
+one of her crew ill with small-pox. The white settlers then on the island,
+who were well acquainted with the virulence of the disease, implored the
+native chief to forbid the captain's remaining, and insist on his putting
+to sea forthwith. The latter, however, seemed determined to leave the
+patient on the island. When he learned the hostile feeling of the
+population to himself and the crew, and found that they would neither take
+his sick man off his hands, nor supply himself and ship's company with
+provisions, he availed himself of the silence and obscurity of night to
+deposit the sick man on the shore with all his property, and at daybreak
+made off under full sail. Next morning the natives found the unfortunate
+wretch stretched suffering and utterly helpless on the strand, while the
+barque was no longer in sight. Hostility to the captain was now converted
+into sympathy with, and active compassion for, the sick man; a couch was
+prepared in an adjacent hut, and as much attention lavished on him as was
+possible under the circumstances; but his effects, consisting chiefly of
+linen and upper clothing, were speedily appropriated by the thievish
+natives. A few weeks later the small-pox broke out with frightful
+violence, and raged five months with undiminished severity all over the
+island. Almost every one of the natives was attacked, and of 5000
+inhabitants 3000 succumbed to the virulence of the epidemic. The sailor,
+however, with whom first originated this terrible fatality, completely
+recovered. His clothing, scattered through every part of the island, had
+no doubt essentially contributed to the speedy diffusion of the malady. Of
+the thirty white settlers, who had all been inoculated, only one was
+attacked, and he soon got well again. In August, 1854, the destroyer
+disappeared almost as suddenly as he came, and has since then spared
+Puynipet a second visit, but wherever one goes the traces of the disease
+are visible in the faces and on the bodies of the natives.
+
+While picking up this information, we were getting nearer and nearer to
+Roankiddi Harbour on the S.W. of the island, and Tellet now stated he
+could not undertake to conduct us further, as there resided a pilot in the
+harbour whom he was not unwilling to give a job to. Another boat was now
+approaching the frigate, which had on board the regular pilot of Roankiddi
+Harbour, a Virginia Negro, named Johnson. Our man Tellet now took his
+leave, and set out in his boat on his return to Middle Harbour. Many a
+longing glance did we cast at the spot, where for the first time we were
+to be privileged to examine the wonders of the coral beds of the South
+Sea. For Puynipet is one of the finest examples known of a lofty island of
+the great ocean regularly hemmed in by wall-like reefs, by far the
+majority of the other islands being mere low "atolls." Unfortunately the
+breeze was unsteady and very light; the sky looked so gloomy and
+threatening that we had to haul off again from the island, and steer to
+the S.E., so as not to approach the reef too closely during the night. In
+the morning we once more neared the island, under the influence of a
+gentle west wind, having run 15 miles out during the night. Gradually the
+small wooded or rocky islets hove in sight again, which, stretching
+northward from the great central mass, 2860 feet in height, surround the
+lofty island like a ring, inside of the wall-reef, which encompasses it at
+a distance of from one to two miles. We tacked about during the whole day
+with light variable winds from the west, and by evening had got
+sufficiently near our anchorage, that every one expected by a last tack to
+fetch it ere night set in, when the breeze suddenly shifted, died away,
+and once more compelled us to withdraw to a safe distance from the island,
+and pass the night under easy sail. At length, on 18th September, a fresh
+leading wind from the westward promised to carry us in without further
+delay.
+
+Right in front of us, and with not a cloud to interrupt the view, lay this
+extinct volcano of an island, densely covered with the most luxuriant
+verdure. Only at its N.E. corner there sprang suddenly into the air a
+naked, castellated rock, about 1000 feet high or so, cut off horizontally
+above, and with perpendicular sides, which we were informed was a small
+island (Dochokoits), separated by a narrow channel from the main island.
+Gradually, on either side of the isle, several rocky points became
+visible, which steadily increased in dimension, and began to stretch
+towards each other, till they looked like a row of pearls densely
+sprinkled in the air above the horizon; after which a number of thin,
+small, white clouds suddenly rose and disappeared above the dark blue
+surface of the sea, flickering here and there like flames. This was our
+first glimpse of the island-reef and the surf-beaten coral, seen under the
+influence of a mirage, when, as is very frequently the case in tropical
+climates, the temperature of the surface of the water, and consequently of
+the immediately adjacent strata of atmosphere, is higher than those next
+above. Having got within about a couple of miles, the dark points resolved
+themselves into verdant cocoa-groves, patches of which adorn the outermost
+reef, while the small clouds now proved to be the tumultuous lash of a
+tremendous blinding surf, on the reef which separated the rise and fall of
+the ocean outside from the smooth placid surface of the broad channel,
+which inside the ring-shaped coral reef forms those singular natural
+canals, on which the natives in their frail canoes can sail right round
+the island, sheltered from the violence of the waves, and which, at those
+places where there is sufficient depth, and a breach in the line of reef
+admits of ingress from without, affords for even large-sized ships a
+secure harbour, according to observation in 6 deg. 47' N., 158 deg. 13' 3'' E.
+
+We now endeavoured to enter between Nahlap Island on the west, covered
+with cocoa-palms and bread-fruit, and Sandy Island on the east, surrounded
+with a belt of raging foam, its coral masses clothed with low scanty
+brushwood. But almost immediately "Halt" was once more the order. In order
+to get into the harbour proper, which lay between two majestic banks of
+coral rising from the level of the sea like an elegantly hewn dock, we
+had to pass through a very narrow channel in the reef, barely 50 fathoms
+wide, which indeed was pretty plainly indicated by the colour of the
+smooth water, besides being well marked out by regular buoys, but winds in
+a direction first westerly and then northwards, and accordingly was
+inaccessible to us with a west wind blowing. There was no alternative but
+to let the anchor go among the naked coral rocks forming the sub-marine
+plateau over which we now lay. But anxiety for the safety of the ship did
+not admit of her being suffered to remain in circumstances so dangerous.
+While therefore the frigate once more made sail, a survey of the island
+and harbour was ordered by a boat expedition.
+
+About 9 A.M. the Commodore, accompanied by some of the scientific staff,
+set off for land in a slim, flat-floored, Venetian gondola, admirably
+adapted for such purposes. When we had passed the twin Nahlap Islands and
+Sandy Island, we found ourselves in a channel about 100 fathoms in length
+by not quite 80 in width, which led directly into the interior of this
+huge basin constructed exclusively by insects, and surrounded by a triple
+wall of coral, an unfathomable, mirror-like pool, in which a ship lies
+calm and motionless as though in a dock. A buoy at the S.W. angle of the
+channel indicates some sunken rocks. On the further side of the coral reef
+one perceives the low-lying group of the Ants' Islands, thickly covered
+with trees. Although our Venetian boat drew hardly any water, we
+nevertheless found great difficulty in advancing in proportion as we
+approached the shore. The fact too that it was ebb-tide served to increase
+the obstacles that beset our progress. Every moment the gondola touched
+upon sand-bank or rock. The utmost caution had therefore to be exercised,
+as we steered for some huts which were visible under the cocoa-palms quite
+close to the shore. Following the deeper more navigable channels, we
+reached the mouth of a river running from N.E., the low swampy soil on
+either side being covered with dense mangrove bushes, but all our efforts
+to push through the thickets so as to reach the huts proved unavailing,
+while the whole soil seemed to be beset with the stumps of the mangrove,
+like so many sharp stakes. After pushing a short distance up this mangrove
+channel, from which on either side smaller channels diverged, we retraced
+our steps, as there was no appearance of the scene changing, nor any
+appearance of human habitation, and endeavoured to reach the land near the
+huts already mentioned, by some of the deeper channels. Just then a white
+settler came to our assistance, who, standing on the shore, indicated to
+us by manual signs the clue out of this labyrinth of coral, and enabled us
+by a less shallow channel to reach one of the few points at which a
+landing is practicable. For at almost every point of the shore the
+mangroves, by the tenacity of their roots, prevent, or at any rate impede,
+the approach of boats, the natives themselves being confined to the use of
+those few spots where rivers or other natural channels afford means of
+access. Close to the shore appeared three wooden huts thatched with
+bamboo and palm-leaves. This was a small colony of whites, whom a singular
+freak of destiny seemed to have cast away upon these islands, where they
+earned their subsistence as wood-cutters, smiths, fishermen, &c. They call
+their settlement Rei. The first hut we entered was inhabited by a
+Scotchman, who called himself "Dr. Cook," and practised as a physician. He
+had lived 26 years on the island. His dwelling consisted of three large
+apartments, which up to a certain height were shut off from each other by
+thin wooden walls, so that the air could circulate freely overhead
+throughout the entire length of the hut. Everything was neat and orderly:
+in the first room, which apparently was used as a surgery, stood a number
+of medicine bottles duly labelled, and crucibles, which at the very first
+glance revealed the avocation of the possessor. Cook, who seemed far past
+the half century, with pale, faded, expressionless features, and a long
+silver-grey beard, clothed in a coarse woollen jacket, and with the huge,
+broad-brimmed, worn-out straw-hat pulled low upon his wrinkled forehead,
+had quite caught the listless, motionless deportment of the natives.
+Nothing roused him, nothing surprised him; it took considerable time to
+elicit from him any reply to our questions. The other white settlers in
+the adjoining islands were not much more communicative; all showed in
+their conduct a certain embarrassment, which left little doubt that theirs
+had not been an altogether blameless life in former days. Most of them
+were surrounded by a number of native wives, who had covered their bodies
+with a powder of an intense yellow, prepared from the _Curcuma longa_,
+and wore merely a piece of calico round the loins, while splendid yellow
+blossoms set off the raven blackness of their long hair.
+
+We now followed up a narrow footpath, which led to a gently-sloping
+eminence behind the huts, and soon found ourselves surrounded by
+bread-fruit trees and banana, while from time to time a black basaltic
+rock cropped out from among the red, marl-like soil, and beautiful small
+lizards with sapphire-blue tails that shone with a metallic lustre, shot
+about with the velocity of an arrow among the stones. The prevailing
+formation, as in almost all the volcanic islands of the Pacific, is an
+amorphous basalt-lava, full of olivin and porphyry. On gaining the summit
+of the hill, we found there a solitary, wretched-looking hut. A dog, a few
+hens, and a phlegmatic native worn away to a shadow, whom the sudden
+appearance of a number of European strangers hardly seemed to rouse from
+his apathy, were the only living creatures visible. On our requesting to
+be furnished with a light, a wrinkled old hag crept out of the hut, and
+handed us a piece of lighted wood. The dusky old woman was presented with
+a cigar, which she forthwith lit, and proceeded to smoke with
+unmistakeable satisfaction. To our request for fresh cocoa-nuts with which
+to quench our thirst, the man, without moving from his place, shouted a
+few words in the direction of the forest, which was speedily replied to,
+when some young girls came forth giggling and romping, who brought us what
+we had asked for, fresh plucked from the slender cocoa-stem, as well as a
+sugar-cane, and some ginger (_Zingiber officinalis_); all these
+refreshments were handed us amid much hilarity by a lot of daughters of
+Eve, young, not the least shy, but by no means attractive, whom a present
+of two small mirrors in return sent away in a state of enthusiastic
+delight. On our return to Dr. Cook's hut on the shore, several natives had
+approached who bartered mussels and fresh fruit for tobacco, which they
+preferred to everything, besides a number of young females, who were
+retailing, from small bags hung round their persons, the different animals
+they had collected the same morning at ebb-tide among the coral reefs.
+
+One of the white settlers offered his services as guide, to pilot us up
+the Roankiddi river as far as a village of the natives about two miles
+inland, where the chief of the nation dwelt, and several American
+missionaries had formed a settlement. Before reaching the main stream,
+which is about 100 feet wide and is densely wooded on either side, we had
+to pass various small branches and canals, which appeared to be
+artificially constructed, and wind about in a succession of extraordinary
+meanderings beneath an elastic covering of conical mangrove roots. For
+about a mile inwards there was nothing but dreary, swampy, unlovely
+mangrove forest, after which the vegetation on either shore began to
+assume an unusually variegated but thoroughly tropical appearance. Palms,
+bread-fruit trees, pandanus trees, papayas, caladias, Barringtonias, were
+the chief representatives of this abounding forest flora. The animals on
+this island seem to be less numerous and less varied; there are no large
+ones at all. Of doves, as also of sand-pipers and parrots, we saw some
+very beautiful species, of which the fowling-pieces of our sportsmen
+furnished numerous specimens for our zoological collection. All along the
+bank of the river and around the hills lay scattered at will, under the
+shade of the most beautiful and abundant vegetation, the dwellings of the
+natives. Near where the pretty Roankiddi falls into the sea, rises on the
+left bank the handsome mission house built of wood, which serves the
+missionaries for school, church, and residence in one. Close by is a stone
+building, which serves as a larder. Unfortunately, the sole missionary,
+Mr. Sturges of Pennsylvania, was absent on a tour of inspection, and only
+his assistant (a native of the Sandwich Islands, who had received his
+education in the States) was at home with his family. A third missionary,
+also a native of the Sandwich Islands, lives at what is called
+Foul-weather Harbour, where he also occupies his time with meteorological
+observations.
+
+The mission, which has been in the island since 1851, is supported at
+considerable expense. A schooner, the property of the American Missionary
+Society, keeps up regular communication with the neighbouring islands and
+the Sandwich Islands, and supplies the missionaries with provisions and
+other necessaries. These industrious, energetic men have quite recently
+made experiments in planting several sorts of vegetables, as also tobacco
+and sugar-cane, nearer their houses, in the hope, if successful, of
+inciting the natives to similar exertions. The great resources at the
+disposal of the Protestant missionaries, and the circumstance that they
+attend to the temporal as well as the eternal weal of their dusky
+neophytes, exhausting their medical skill in illness, educating their
+children, ministering to their wants both by advice and co-operation, must
+be regarded as the main causes of the rapid spread of Protestantism
+throughout the races of the Pacific Ocean. We have seen missions, of which
+the schools, places of worship, and dwelling-houses, constructed of iron,
+were imported from the United States ready made, while the expenses of
+maintenance were defrayed by an annual grant of 20,000 dollars. What a
+gratifying contrast to the wretched appliances with which Catholic oversea
+missions are compelled to eke out a precarious existence!
+
+We landed at a spot where the Roankiddi promised to be navigable for
+vessels of a better class than the hollowed-out canoes of the natives, and
+for the remainder of the distance to the chief's residence we followed a
+footpath through the forest. Close to the landing-place is a large,
+hall-like building, which is used as an assembly-room by the natives on
+the occasion of their festivities. Around the interior of this are ranged
+couches stuffed with straw for families of rank, not unlike berths round a
+ship's cabin. The centre of the hall is set apart for slaves and servants,
+who during these rude reunions are busily employed preparing food and
+drink for strangers. As often as a meeting is deemed necessary,
+invitations are sent off to the various chiefs requesting their
+co-operation. On very important occasions these are intoned through a
+conk. As soon as all are assembled the king lays the subject-matter of the
+debate before them, when every one present is at liberty to express his
+opinion. Frequently these discussions become very animated, especially
+when the orators happen to have partaken too freely of Kawa, when only the
+interference of the less excited chiefs can prevent the disputants from
+coming to blows. When we saw it, there were in the hall of justice, as it
+might be termed, a number of huge, lengthy, but elegant canoes, painted
+red, which gave it rather the appearance of a shed than a festive hall.
+
+The footpath to the chief's residence led through a most beautiful
+tropical landscape. The estate of the Nannekin (as the natives designate a
+king in their own language) was laid out quite in the European fashion,
+and the entrance was indicated by a wooden gateway. The house itself, a
+lengthy oblong of wood and cane-work, with a roof of palm-leaves, and
+built upon a sort of platform of two or three courses of stone, and
+furnished in every part with numerous large apertures serving as windows,
+presented from without a very comfortable, even imposing appearance; but
+the interior was bare, ill-equipped, and sadly out of order. A row of
+wooden columns, irregularly cut, and partially covered with gay-coloured
+stuffs, running parallel with the thin exterior walls, formed a narrow
+passage, a closer view of which was, however, shut off by cotton hangings
+stretching across. The clothes and other property of the family hung here
+at random, suspended from pegs and lines all round the wide hall, and in
+the middle a hole had been excavated, which apparently was intended for a
+fire-place. Among the articles of furniture we specially noticed a large
+iron chest, with iron clampings, and a very singular-looking loom, on
+which a fabric was being woven in variegated colours. The chief was not at
+home, and had to be summoned, his timely absence affording an excellent
+opportunity for examining the environs of the palace a little more
+closely. In immediate proximity were a number of bread-fruit trees
+(_Dong-dong_), the fruit of which forms the staple diet of the natives,
+and has long been prepared by them in quite a unique manner.
+
+The bread-fruit, so soon as it is ripe, is stripped of its husk, and cut
+into small pieces. These the natives place in pits dug for the purpose
+about three feet deep, in which they are placed in layers carefully
+wrapped in banana leaves so as to prevent moisture reaching them. Thus
+prepared, the pits are filled up to within a few inches of the surface,
+covered with leaves, and weighted with heavy stones so distributed as to
+diffuse an equal pressure throughout. Thus each pit is both air and water
+tight. After a short time fermentation sets in, till the whole is
+converted into a substance resembling cheese. The original idea of thus
+storing the bread-fruit is said, according to tradition, to have been
+suggested to the natives by a violent hurricane having at a remote period
+levelled all the bread-fruit trees on the island, thus causing a great
+famine. The fruit thus treated continues fit for consumption for years,
+and, despite its sour taste and nauseous odour when exhumed, it is
+regarded by the natives as a most palatable and nutritive dish, when well
+kneaded, placed between two banana leaves, and baked between two hot
+stones. Besides the bread-fruit, the principal articles of food in use
+among the natives are cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, yams, pigeons, turtle, fish,
+and trepang, the sort of sea-cucumber of which we have already given a
+description, and which the natives eat in the raw state.
+
+They also eat taro (_Caladium esculentum_), a beautiful bulbous-rooted
+plant of the _Aroidea_ tribe, with its broad elegant leaves, which,
+together with wild ginger and turmeric (which is used sometimes for food,
+sometimes for anointing the person, or dyeing their dresses) and the plant
+they call Kawa (_Piper Methysticum_), grow in great profusion on the
+property of the Nannekin.
+
+As in all the South Sea Islands, the juice of the Kawa is used in Puynipet
+for distilling an intoxicating beverage, which indeed plays a conspicuous
+part in all their solemnities. But the mode of preparing it is somewhat
+better calculated to tempt the palate, since it is not, as elsewhere,
+first chewed by the women, but rubbed between two large stones, wetted,
+and then drawn off in cocoa-nut shells. The leading chief is entitled to
+the first shells of the prepared Kawa, or, if he is not present, the chief
+priest, who mutters a few prayers over it ere drinking it.
+
+The liquid, as thus procured from this species of pepper, is of a
+brownish-yellow colour, somewhat like that of coffee into which milk has
+been poured. The taste is sweet and agreeable, producing a glow in the
+stomach, and induces a sort of intoxication, widely different however from
+the form that alcoholic inebriations assume with us. Men in the habit of
+drinking Kawa neither stagger about, nor speak thick and loud, when under
+its influence. A sort of shiver affects the whole frame, and their gait
+becomes listless and slow, but they never lose consciousness. In its last
+stage, the person affected feels an extraordinary weakness in all his
+joints; headache and an irresistible inclination to go to sleep supervene,
+and a state of most complete repose becomes an absolute necessity.
+
+The custom of Kawa drinking is diffused over the whole of the islands of
+the Pacific. It even appears to have become a necessary of life among the
+natives of Polynesia, just as betel-chewing and palm-wine are to the
+Malays and Hindoos, opium-smoking and samchoo to the Chinese, chicha to
+the Mexican races, and coca to the South American Indians.
+
+In former times, on certain of the islands, the chiefs had regular
+watchers, whose duty it was to guard their monarchs from being disturbed
+when thus reposing. A dog which dared to bark, a cock that was venturesome
+enough to crow, were forthwith put to death. The too liberal or
+long-continued indulgence in Kawa seems to generate a peculiar cuticular
+disease. Inveterate Kawa drinkers seem haggard or melancholy, their eyes
+are sunk, their teeth of a bright yellow, their skin dry and chopped, and
+the whole body is covered with boils; but those in whom such sores heal up
+again, point with pride to the cicatrices that mark where they occurred.
+The more of these scars a Kawa drinker can show, the higher is his
+character. Besides producing unconsciousness, Kawa also induces
+exceedingly erotic dreams.
+
+According to the information which the white settlers gave us respecting
+the method of cultivation of the soil of Puynipet and its climate, it
+seems that sugar-cane, coffee, cotton, rice, tobacco, &c., would be
+certain to succeed. Sugar-cane is found even now in the wild state; and to
+a certain extent it forms an article of food of the natives, who suck the
+juice.
+
+The chief of Roankiddi is a handsome young man of lofty stature, strong
+frame, of dark brown almost bronze skin, and agreeable, winning
+expression. With the exception of the usual apron of palm-leaves, and a
+bright red belt, he was naked, and wore a green circlet on his fine,
+lustrous black hair, and a piece of sugar-cane in his right hand. His arms
+and legs were very neatly tattooed. He seemed quite to understand the use
+of a red Turkish fez with blue tassel, which we presented to him, and took
+from his head its own exceedingly picturesque covering. Having been
+apprized of the friendly nature of our visit, he begged us to enter his
+house, which was not so easy a process as it seems, since the only access
+was by one of the windows, about three feet from the ground. The Nannekin,
+however, set us the example, and we followed. He first invited us to sit
+upon European chairs, and ordered his pretty young wife to fetch us
+cocoa-nut milk. It was the first time we had ever tasted this drink of the
+natural man in the goblet of civilization! How differently did this
+invaluable drink taste, when quaffed from the fresh green shell, than in
+the artificial vessel of human manufacture! The natives of Puynipet did
+not, like those of Nicobar, show their dexterity in opening the young
+cocoa-nut by means of a slash. Here the husk is peeled off, and an opening
+bored with much trouble till the fluid contents gush out--a process so
+tedious, and manifesting so little ingenuity, that one would rather expect
+it to be adopted by a European, who for the first time in his life was
+opening a cocoa-nut, than from a child of the tropics. After the queen had
+presented with her dainty little hands the cocoa-nut drink to the foreign
+guests, she squatted herself smiling and laughing on the earth beside the
+monarch, occasionally hiding herself with much natural grace behind her
+youthful husband, when she could not restrain a burst of mirth at the
+interest with which we seemed to regard many of the objects in her simple
+household. Nothing surprised her more than that we should attach such
+value to some baskets, plaited work, boxes, &c., as to be willing to
+exchange articles of European make for them. Like all the other females
+we saw, the young queen wore nothing but a piece of yellow linen (_liku_),
+about five feet long, round her loins, which reached to her knees, and was
+attached by one extremity to the haunch. Her splendid black hair was
+adorned with a chaplet of yellow flowers, and her body, smeared with
+cocoa-nut oil, was plentifully besprinkled with turmeric (called by the
+natives _Kitschi-neang_). Her legs and forearms were beautifully tattooed.
+
+The gown, or rather apron, worn by the men is made of the fresh leaves of
+the cocoa-palm, which, bleached and cut into narrow strips, are fastened
+at the upper end with a string, and then adorned with numerous flaps of
+red cloth. This gown stretches from the hips to about the knees, and is
+about two feet long. To be in the fashion at Puynipet, a dandy must wear
+at least six of these round his body! The ladies of the island stain white
+calico with turmeric, yellow being apparently the favourite colour of the
+country. A bright-coloured light handkerchief usually covers the upper
+part of the body, and they adorn their long beautiful black tresses with
+the delicate flowers of the cocoa-palm. On high days the ladies wear red
+clothes hemmed with white calico. Such of the natives, however, as are
+converted to Christianity, appear in clothes made after the European
+fashion, although many a part of dress would still have to be remedied,
+ere a native of Puynipet or his better half would be presentable in a
+saloon.
+
+Men and women alike are tattooed from the loins to the ancles, and from
+the elbows to the wrist. This curious practice is performed on both sexes
+at from ten to twelve years of age by old women, with whom it is a regular
+profession. The blue colouring matter used is obtained from the abundant
+nut-like fruit of the _Aleurites triloba_, which they heat on the fire,
+and then peel off the hard crust which forms upon it. The operation is
+performed with the sharp point of a species of pine, or with a pointed
+instrument[193] made from fish-bone, which is placed upon the skin, when
+it is driven in with a slight blow, till the whole design comes out upon
+the body. Besides the turmeric already mentioned, we saw but one colouring
+stuff, dyeing red, which seemed to be obtained from _Bixa Orellana_, and
+is used by the natives to paint their canoes with.
+
+Many of the natives are subject to a very disgusting scaly eruption of the
+skin (_Ichthyosis_), but do not seem to feel any discomfort from it. Some
+travellers ascribe this to the immoderate use as an article of diet of raw
+uncooked fish. It is singular that this malady is found on all the islands
+near the equator, and was also found by Captain Cheyne among the Pellew
+Islanders. That shrewd observer once had on board for four months a native
+of Puynipet as servant, whose whole body was covered with this eruption,
+but who speedily lost every trace of it as soon as his chief diet was salt
+meat and vegetables. Beside this cuticular malady, the natives are
+greatly afflicted with scurvy and intermittent fever. Most of their
+infants too suffer from Yaws[194] (_Framboesia_), a disgusting eruption,
+called by the natives "_Keutsch_," which, however, disappears when the
+child has attained about its third or fourth year. The marks left by this
+malady when cicatrized might easily be mistaken for those of inoculation.
+
+The Nannekin, although the king of his tribe, nevertheless seemed on the
+whole to exercise but little influence over his subjects. Thus, for
+example, we were eye-witnesses of how he vainly attempted to induce two
+native boys to carry our bananas as far as our place of disembarkation. On
+the other hand, in all that concerned trading with foreigners he seemed to
+be thoroughly alive to his own interest. One native who was driving a
+bargain with us for something, was informed forthwith of the value which
+the Nannekin assigned to it.
+
+Money is as yet but little used at Puynipet as a medium of exchange, only
+the whites resident there and the chiefs take a few English and United
+States coins; and many a native would generally not part for a silver
+dollar from an object which he will readily give for a piece of chewing
+tobacco or a common knife. The most useful articles for barter are pieces
+of bright-coloured calico, red shirts, hatchets, knives, axes, straight
+swords, muskets, ammunition, biscuit, old clothes, and tobacco.[195]
+
+Of the latter article American Cavendish or negro-head in longish pieces
+is the most in repute. The Puynipetanese have no special fondness for
+cigars, nor do they use pipes, but only chew passionately tobacco. As they
+are unacquainted with the use of the Betel, their teeth are universally
+beautiful, and of a brilliant white.
+
+There are on the island five tribes, wholly independent of each
+other,--the Roankiddi, the Metelemia, the Not, the Tchokoits, and the
+Awnak, none, however, numbering much above 1500 souls, the most numerous
+and important being the Roankiddi.
+
+Each king, we are told, has a minister whose power almost rivals his own.
+Next in rank to the minister are the nobles, who bear the following
+strange-sounding titles: Talk, Washy, Nane-by, Noatch, Shoe-Shabut, and
+Groen-wani; after these come such as are not of noble birth, but have
+earned them through illustrious deeds, and have been rewarded with
+estates. On the death of the king he is succeeded by whichever of his
+nobles has the title of Talk, the others rising one grade. The monarch
+has the right of freely disposing of his property. As a rule he leaves it
+to his sons, but if he have none he usually bequeaths it to the next
+sovereign. Between the monarch and his courtiers some quaint patriarchal
+customs prevail. Thus the first ripe bread-fruit is brought to the king.
+Whenever a chief uses a new turtle or fish net, the prey during a certain
+number of days is sent to the king. Another mark of the respect paid to
+the king, as also by all ranks to their superiors, is to be found in the
+custom for a native who meets another of higher rank in a canoe,--he
+cowers down in his own boat till the other has passed by, the two canoes
+approaching on the side opposite the outrigger, so that the person of
+superior condition may, if he see fit, satisfy himself of the identity of
+the other.
+
+The Awnaks and Tchokoits had, at the period of our visit, been at war with
+each other for six months, and it is significant of the ferocity and
+courage of both parties, that not a single combatant had thus far been
+wounded on either side! Their weapons are chiefly spears of hard wood, six
+feet long, the barb, instead of iron, being made of fish-bones, thorns, or
+ground mussel-shells, which they throw with great dexterity; also
+hatchets, long knives, and old muskets, obtained from the whale-fishers in
+return for yams and tortoise-shell. At present there are about 1500
+muskets in all on the island, and each native possesses at least one, some
+of the chiefs having as many as three, besides ample ammunition. Singular
+to say, these formidable auxiliaries are rarely called into play in any
+of their wars, the fatal effect of fire-arms having contributed not a
+little to the promotion of harmony and peace between the various tribes!
+Their warriors are selected from among the most powerful men of the tribe,
+and as a rule they behave with much consideration to the women and
+children, whom they almost always spare. When either party sues for peace,
+a neutral party is sent to the monarch of the opposite tribe with a few
+Kawa roots. If these are accepted, the struggle is considered over, and a
+succession of friendly visits are thereupon exchanged between the chiefs
+of the two tribes, which are usually followed up by festivities and much
+consumption of Kawa.
+
+As to the narratives of most earlier travellers that the island is
+inhabited by two entirely distinct races, the one yellow the other black,
+we could neither see nor hear of anything which would confirm such a
+statement. It seemed more probable that the diversity of skin and hair
+among the various tribes was exclusively caused by a variety of crosses,
+which are still frequent, and in former times must have been still more
+prevalent. The present population consists of whites, negroes, and
+yellow-coloured aborigines, who, as speaking a dialect allied to that of
+Polynesia, seem to belong to the Malay-Polynesian _stirps_. The present
+white settlers are English and North Americans; formerly they were chiefly
+Spanish and Portuguese who traded with the natives. Negro slaves and free
+blacks have also occasionally visited the island, or been left there for
+good and all. These considerations alone suffice to explain certain
+appearances among the natives, such as brown or yellow skins, with crisp
+woolly hair, and very full lips, without any more marked characteristics
+of the Ethiopian race. We noticed one native with woolly hair of a reddish
+hue, but otherwise of strongly-marked Malay features, and on inquiring
+into his ancestry, were informed in reply that his father was a Portuguese
+(negro understood), and his mother a native.
+
+The daughter of Doctor Cook, the Scotchman already mentioned, of whose
+union with a native woman of the island there was issue a handsome
+well-shaped _mestiza_ of a light yellow colour, strongly recalling the
+stately, elegant quadroons of New Orleans and St. Domingo, had
+intermarried with a full-blooded negro of the district of Columbia, U. S.,
+from which resulted a new and entirely dissimilar admixture. Their
+children had the face of the mother, with the woolly head of the father.
+
+At all events it may be laid down with some degree of certainty, that the
+aboriginal races, especially those inhabiting the Caroline Archipelago,
+are not of the Pelagian Mongols, nor are they an offshoot of the Mongolian
+race of the Asiatic continent, as Lesson maintained; also that Puynipet
+has not been peopled by the Papuan negroes; that the woolly crisp hair of
+so many of its inhabitants is mainly explained by the intimacy between the
+black crews of the whalers (it being well known that a large proportion of
+the crews of the American whalers are negroes), some 50 or 60 of which
+visit the island every year, and often remain for several weeks taking in
+provisions and other stores.
+
+Puynipet has been for some years past the chief rendezvous of the whalers
+in the Caroline Archipelago, because it is of all the islands the most
+accessible, has the best and safest harbours, and because fuel and water
+are procurable thence in unlimited quantities.
+
+The complexion of the natives is of a clear copper hue, and the average
+height of the males is 5 feet 8 in.; the women are much smaller than the
+men, with delicate features and flexible forms. The sons of the chiefs are
+usually well formed, and lighter in colour than the majority of the
+population, the consequence of their being less exposed to the weather,
+and in any part of the world would pass for elegant men. The nose is
+arched, the mouth wide with full lips and dazzling teeth. The flap of the
+ear is bored in both sexes, but is rarely much enlarged by artificial
+means. Both men and women have beautiful black hair, which they take great
+care of.
+
+The men have neither beard nor mustachios. They eradicate the hair so soon
+as it makes its appearance on the cheeks by means of mussel-shells, or two
+little pieces of tortoise-shell sharpened. The women are usually pretty,
+but as the girls marry very young they soon lose the freshness of youth.
+Their complexion is much fairer than that of the men. The cause of this is
+to be found in their wearing a sort of upper robe of calico; a large
+piece of stuff with a hole in the centre through which to put the head,
+which thus protects their bodies somewhat from the direct rays of the sun.
+
+The natives are said to be very temperate and methodical in their habits
+of life. They rise at daybreak, bathe in the river, take a little
+vegetable food, anoint their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, after which they
+sprinkle themselves plentifully with powdered turmeric. This done, they
+address themselves to some simple avocation, which they prosecute till
+noon, when they once more withdraw to their huts, bathe, and partake of
+another equally frugal repast. The rest of the day is spent in amusements
+and mutual visiting. Towards sunset they take a third meal, and as they
+have neither torches nor artificial light of any sort, they usually retire
+early to rest, unless fishing or dancing by moonlight.
+
+Much respect and consideration is paid to the weaker sex throughout the
+island, they not being put to any work which does not come within their
+regular sphere of duty. All outdoor work is done by the men, who build the
+huts and canoes, plant yams and Kawa, fish, transport the food from the
+plantation to the house, and even cook it.
+
+The women are chiefly occupied within-doors, in fishing, or cleaning the
+vegetables, most of their time being taken up with preparing head-dresses,
+weaving girdles, sewing together palm or pandanus leaves for clothes,
+plaiting elegant baskets, and looking after the house and children.
+
+Never at any time patterns of virtue and chastity, the importation of
+European trinkets and luxuries of all sorts has greatly increased the
+spread of immorality among the native women, who are actuated by an
+insatiate, irresistible craving to possess articles of European
+manufacture.
+
+When a native wishes to marry, he makes a present to the father of the
+girl he wishes to marry; if not returned, it is understood his addresses
+are accepted. Thereupon invitations are issued to a merry-making, with
+feast, and dance, and revel, after which the bridegroom conducts his bride
+to his dwelling. When she dies the widower marries her sister, the brother
+in like manner being required to marry his widowed sister-in-law in the
+case of the death of the husband, even though he may happen to be already
+married. Under certain circumstances a man is at liberty to divorce his
+wife and take another; a woman, on the other hand, enjoys no such
+privilege, unless she happen to be of higher rank. The chiefs usually have
+several wives, polygamy, as among the Mormons, being only limited by the
+means of providing subsistence. The women are of an unusually gossiping,
+talkative turn, they are quite incapable of keeping their own secrets, and
+many a delinquency is generally known at the very moment of its
+commission.
+
+The funeral ceremonies seem to have undergone some modification since the
+natives began to have intercourse with Europeans. In former times the dead
+were enveloped in straw mats, and kept for a considerable time in the
+huts: through the influence of the missionaries, apparently, they have
+adopted the European custom of interring their dead in certain special
+places. On the death of a chief or any exalted person, the female
+relatives of the deceased assemble to mourn for a specific period, and
+betray their sorrow by loud sobs and lamentations by day and dances by
+night. The connections of the deceased cut off their hair as a mark of
+their sorrow. All the goods and clothes of the defunct are carried away by
+whoever is nearest or first possesses himself of them, and this custom is
+so universal that objects thus obtained are thenceforth considered as
+lawful property.
+
+The natives usually pray to the spirits of their departed chiefs, whom
+they implore to grant them success in fishing, rich harvests in
+bread-fruit and yams, the arrival of numerous foreign ships with beautiful
+articles for barter, and a variety of similar matters. The priests of
+their idols profess to be able to read the future, and the natives place
+the most implicit confidence in these predictions. They believe that the
+priest is inspired with the spirit of a deceased chief, and that every
+word they utter when in this excited state is dictated by the departed.
+When any of these prophecies fail, as is often enough the case, the
+cunning priest pretends that another more powerful spirit has interfered,
+and forcibly prevented the accomplishment of what they had foretold.
+
+The religion of this primitive people is very simple. They have neither
+idols nor temple, and although they believe in a future state after death,
+they seem to have no religious customs or festivals of any sort. Their
+notion of a future state is under such circumstances exceedingly
+extraordinary.
+
+Their abode after death they believe to be surrounded by a colossal wall
+amid a fathomless abyss, in fact a sort of fortress. The only portal into
+this Elysian abode is guarded by an old woman, whose duty it is to hurl
+back into the yawning deep the shadows of the departed, who are compelled
+to spring upwards from the abyss. Such of the shadows as succeed in
+eluding the evil spirit and effecting an entrance are for ever happy; on
+the other hand, those whom the malicious female demon succeeds in
+precipitating into the abyss sink into the region of endless woe and
+torture.
+
+The native festivals, as a rule, take precedence of every other business,
+no matter how pressing. Every year the king visits the various villages
+and settlements of those of his tribe, at which period the chief
+festivities take place, the chiefs vieing with each other in entertaining
+him. Enormous quantities of yam and bread-fruit are on such occasions
+cooked two days previous, and Kawa is drunk to excess.
+
+Their dances are far from unbecoming, and are quite free from those
+lascivious gestures which are so often seen at the festivals of the other
+inhabitants of the South Sea. The dancers are usually unmarried lads and
+girls, who stand opposite each other in long rows. While keeping time with
+their feet to the music, they accompany the dance with graceful motions of
+the arms and upper part of the body. Occasionally they throw their arms
+out, snap their fingers, and then clap the hands together. Every movement
+is performed with extraordinary precision, and at the same moment by all
+the dancers. Their sole musical instrument is a small flute made of
+bamboo-cane, the notes of which they draw forth by inserting one end in
+the nostril and blowing gently, while their hands are busy fingering the
+holes in the usual way.
+
+Their drum is a piece of hollowed-out wood with the skin of a shark
+stretched over it, of the shape of a sand-glass. This is struck with the
+fingers of the right hand, the instrument being hung on the left side. The
+sound somewhat resembles the Tom-tom of the Hindoos. The drummer sits
+cross-legged on the ground, and accompanies the beat of the drum with
+apposite words.
+
+As to the monumental ruins of the interior of Puynipet which have never
+yet been visited and described by scientific travellers, we were informed
+that they consisted of nothing more than a large number of colossal
+rough-hewn blocks of basalt in the heart of the forest, near Metelenia
+harbour. The simplicity of the native, in the absence of all means of
+accounting for them naturally, sees in these the grand forms of the
+spirits of departed chiefs. Experienced travellers, on the other hand, are
+of opinion that in this primeval forest, where now only rocky debris lie
+scattered about, there once stood strong fortifications, such as indeed no
+savage people could have erected, and that the character of the ruins
+evidences a high state of civilization in those who erected them. Some of
+the blocks are 8 or 10 feet long, hexagonal, and must evidently have been
+brought from some other country, since, with the exception of these, there
+are no other stones of a similar description found in any part of the
+island. Streets are laid out at various points, and the whole settlement
+seems to have consisted of a range of strongly fortified dwellings.[196]
+
+These columns and blocks, however, possess a special interest not merely
+in the history of civilization, but of geology, as a part is at present
+under water, and can only be reached in canoes, a difficulty which cannot
+have been in existence at the period of their erection. What once were
+streets are now passages for canoes, and were the walls, built of massive
+basalt blocks, to be pulled up, the water would obtain access to the
+inclosed space. This has induced later geologists to refer this phenomenon
+to a sinking of the entire group, so that Puynipet is perhaps the only
+spot on the earth where Darwin's ingenious theory of the construction of
+perpendicular reefs and atolls being the result of a sinking of the soil
+on which the coral-animal had begun to erect his edifice, receives
+confirmation from the existence of the remains of man's handiwork within
+the historic period.
+
+As even the "oldest inhabitants" could give us not the slightest
+information as to these ruins, and their origin and history are plunged
+in the utmost obscurity, it seems not improbable that these stone masses
+were once the fortified retreat of pirates, and were built by Spanish
+corsairs 200 or 300 years back. This hypothesis receives confirmation in
+the fact that in 1838 or 1840, a small brass cannon was found on a hill in
+the interior, which was brought home as a curiosity by H.M.S. _Larne_.
+Occasionally, too, at various parts of the island clearings are found,
+some of which are several acres in extent. In one of these, still in
+existence near the harbour of Roankiddi, the traveller is shown an
+artificial mound of about 20 feet wide, 8 feet high, and a quarter of a
+mile long, which has obviously been thrown up as a defence, or else has
+been the place of interment for such as have fallen in a severe contest.
+
+This conjecture adopted, it follows that the present population is of
+quite recent introduction, and the rumour of a black race inhabiting the
+interior must necessarily be treated as a myth.
+
+While we were asking questions and getting up information, evening was
+beginning to draw on, and we could not remain longer on the island, as it
+was necessary to return on ship-board before nightfall, the frigate having
+meanwhile been kept cruising under easy sail, about three or four miles
+off the island. Another reason for our immediate departure was to be found
+in our narrow flat-bottomed craft, which in any sort of sea-way would have
+some difficulty in escaping swamping. Had the wind during our return
+voyage freshened ever so little, we should have found ourselves in a
+serious dilemma. Numbers of herons, white, black, and mottled, were
+fishing in the shallow water along the edge of the reefs, the sea-raven
+flew in vast flights among the lagoons, while high overhead the graceful
+frigate-bird swept along, every now and then darting rapidly down to
+secure his booty.
+
+One of the whites whom we employed as our guide in the island, accompanied
+us on board, and asked as his reward some tobacco and clothes, with which
+he departed much satisfied. In him, too, we observed a marked and quite
+peculiar shyness, especially when on board the frigate. He seemed as
+though he dreaded some avenging hand. His glance was timid, his gait and
+motions betrayed a sense of insecurity, and he might have readily been
+mistaken for some repentant sinner, who in consequence of some evil deed
+had fled from civilized society and sought out this distant asylum, where
+he had scarcely to fear any other persecution than that of his own
+conscience! Hardly any spot, indeed, can be named more suitable for thus
+expiating crime than this remote island, where the white man, face to face
+with nature in a new and unwonted aspect, and at the mercy of a savage
+people, often deprived for months of the consolations and support of
+civilization, finds in his solitude ample opportunity to reflect upon the
+enormity of his guilt, and to mourn over his own evil fortune.
+
+As the west wind, which still blew, effectually prevented the frigate
+from entering the harbour of Roankiddi, and there was no reason to hope
+for any speedy change, our original intention of spending several days
+there was abandoned, and the same evening we resumed our course for
+Australia.
+
+As our brief stay of barely five hours on the island of Puynipet
+necessarily led to our observations and remarks being of the most
+superficial nature, whereas the island has of late years begun to acquire
+an unusual importance both in a maritime and a commercial sense, we must
+content ourselves with referring the reader for a more detailed account to
+Captain Cheyne's admirable and comprehensive account of the island.
+
+"The Ant Islands (called also Fraser's Islands) lie in a S.W. direction
+from the harbour of Roankiddi, from which they are about 12 nautical miles
+distant.
+
+"They consist of a group of low coral islets covered with cocoa-palms and
+bread-fruit trees, and surrounded by a coral reef, which makes a lagoon in
+the centre. Between the two longer islands at the east end of the group
+there is a channel. The entire group from N.W. to S.E. measures seven
+miles in width, is only inhabited from May to September, during the period
+when the cuttle-fish are caught, and is the property of the chief of the
+Roankiddi tribe. However the islands are frequented at all seasons by the
+natives of Puynipet, who procure here cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit. The most
+north-easterly point lies in 6 deg. 42' N., 158 deg. 3' E.
+
+"Next the Ant Island is Pakeen, the sole adjoining island. It lies about
+22 miles W. of Tschokoits, its central point lying in 7 deg. 10' N. and 157 deg.
+43' E. It consists of five small coral islets, completely inclosed in a
+reef, which forms an inaccessible lagoon in the interior.
+
+"The entire group is about five miles in length from west to east, and
+from north to south three miles in width. The islands are very low, but
+produce an enormous quantity of cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit, while the
+lagoon abounds with excellent fish. The westernmost island is inhabited by
+about thirty persons in all, mainly of the family and attendants of the
+Chief of Puynipet, who claims proprietorship of the whole group. This
+scanty population is chiefly engaged in the construction of mats and
+canoe-sails made of the leaves of the _pandanus_. In fine weather the
+denizens of Pakeen are fond of running over to Puynipet to exchange their
+own products for tobacco and other foreign articles.
+
+"What are marked on the charts as Bottomless Group and St. Augustine's
+Islands have no existence. Pakeen and Ant's Islands are the same groups
+adjoining each other to the westward of Puynipet."
+
+Our progress now began to be very slow, and the equatorial zones with
+their vexatious calms, and variable light breezes alternating with violent
+squalls, became a sore trial for our patience. An unusual and most
+oppressive heat, from which we vainly sought shelter; tropical rains,
+which often fell in unbroken torrents for hours at a time, and obscured
+the daylight with clouds almost as suddenly at times as though there were
+an eclipse; a long heavy swell, which knocked the good ship about with an
+unceasing and most disagreeable motion, without nevertheless our being
+able to advance one single mile in the twenty-four hours; the depressing
+monotonous flapping and filling of the sails, which, with the rolling and
+pitching of the ship, now bellied out and then fell idly back against the
+masts and yards, straining the rigging and cordage, and keeping a constant
+indescribable but most irritating noise--such is a faint sketch of the
+miseries of voyagers caught by an equatorial calm in a sailing vessel! How
+one longs for a good hearty storm, if only to drive us out of this truly
+dismal plight! How in the monotony of such an existence does a quite
+insignificant circumstance at once assume the proportions of an important
+event! The most trifling incident on board, the most imperceptible object
+which becomes visible in either atmosphere or water, attracts universal
+attention, and gives rise to discussions by the hour. One day some one
+perceived a dark object floating in the distance; when the frigate got
+near this proved to be the trunk of a tree, almost 100 feet long, and
+though at best we could only have used it as firewood, a boat was
+forthwith manned and dispatched to tow it alongside. A few black
+Albatrosses suffered themselves to be hauled contentedly along upon the
+floating trunk, somewhat astonishing us by their being found so near the
+equator. Only by dint of considerable exertion was the huge unwieldy
+piece of wood brought on board, when the zoologists got a famous lesson in
+conchology, from the shell-fish that had fastened on it, and the sailors
+chuckled with delight at finding some occupation in cutting up the
+vegetable colossus into sizeable pieces.
+
+At 6.30 P.M. on the 29th Sept., we crossed the equator for the sixth time
+in 161 deg. 57' E., and in the Southern hemisphere found we still had to
+contend with calms and contrary winds.
+
+             "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
+              Crept in this petty pace from day to day,"
+
+without our making any perceptible progress. When we had reached 4 deg. 15'
+S., and 160 deg. 24' E., a circumstance occurred to break the uniformity of
+our existence, as according to the charts we were using of the
+Hydrographic Institute of England for the year 1856,[197] we must have
+been quite close to some coral reefs, known as Simpson's Island. But
+although by our observations, after due allowance made for currents, we
+were, about 4 P.M. of the 5th October, off the N.W. extremity of the
+islands, there was no land of any sort visible on either side even from
+the royals, and we accordingly had to conjecture that Captain Simpson,
+after whom these islands were named, must have sighted one of the Le Maire
+or Tasman group, which lie 40 miles further to the west and 10 miles
+further to the north, and had, owing to false reckoning, imagined to have
+discovered a new cluster; for on the following day at 6 P.M., when by our
+course, which was south-easterly, the island ought to have lain W.N.W. ten
+miles distant, not a vestige of land could be descried from the deck, nor
+even from the mast-head, so that we felt positive the Simpson group were
+neither at the spot laid in the general chart of the English Admiralty,
+nor within ten miles of it in either an easterly or westerly
+direction.[198]
+
+A few days after this interlude, an incident of a very peculiar character
+took place, which excited universal attention, and more especially greatly
+exercised the souls of the superstitious. The occasion was nothing less
+than a dread whisper that there was a ghost on board. From time to time,
+in fact, dull rumbling sounds were said to be audible, which some
+professed to hear above them, others below, some in the fore part of the
+ship, others aft. It was a noise like the roll of thunder, or of
+cannon-balls that had got loose. The shot-racks were carefully examined,
+but everything there appeared to be in its usual order. The sound was
+repeated the following days, when there was hanging over us a sky as black
+and murky, accompanied by heavy pelts of rain, as though all the clouds
+of heaven were lavishing their contents upon us. All on board indulged in
+every possible hypothesis that could explain these sounds, and exhausted
+themselves in conjectures. Some maintained that one of the volcanoes of
+the Solomon group, in the vicinity of which we were at the time, was in a
+state of activity, and was the cause of these sub-marine thunders; but the
+sailors, sailor-like, insisted it was ghosts playing pranks, and the
+attendants refused any longer to remain in the cock-pit, alleging it was
+haunted! However, when a second examination was made of the shot-racks, it
+was found that no fewer than eighty thirty-pound iron shots had broken
+through the wooden bulk-head of the ordnance room, whence they had made
+their way into the bread-depot, as it was called, and on its metal floor
+had produced the resonance peculiar to the impact of metal against metal.
+The mystery was at once solved in the most natural manner, and the
+"each-particular-hair-on-end" ghost stories which during the last few days
+had been flying from mouth to mouth, forthwith dropped. Thus might many a
+"marvel" prove to be the result of some very ordinary cause, if people
+would but take the trouble to examine its natural causes, instead of
+ascribing everything which they cannot understand or explain to some
+supernatural influence.
+
+At noon of the 7th October, in 6 deg. 37' S., 161 deg. 8' E., we were, according
+to chart, 12 miles distant from Bradley's Reef. But although both seamen
+and midshipmen were stationed at the mast-heads, in order the more
+readily to make it out with the advantage of such an elevation, there was
+not the slightest trace perceptible of rocks or shoals, and we sailed
+without obstruction over the very spot at which, according to the English
+charts, Bradley's Reef rises from the waves. This reef was discovered by
+Captain Hunter in May, 1791, two days after he had passed Stewart's Island
+(Sikayana), and is doubly dangerous in a climate where the sea rarely runs
+so high as to make it easily observed by the surf breaking over it.
+According to our observations, collated with those of Captain Cheyne,
+Bradley's Reef must lie in about 160 deg. 48' E.[199]
+
+The same day about 7 P.M., when we were about 120 miles distant from the
+N.W. part of the Solomon group, there suddenly and altogether unexpectedly
+blazed forth in the western sky an immense and most brilliant comet, with
+a yellow, rather bright nucleus, and an enormous tail, sweeping over some
+15 deg. or 20 deg. It was about 8 deg. or 10 deg. above the horizon when we observed it.
+
+This rare phenomenon, during the fourteen days it continued visible,
+presented a most excellent opportunity for astronomical observations. Upon
+the sailors, usually so superstitious, this splendid celestial visitor
+made a much less profound impression than we had anticipated. But few were
+apprehensive that the end of the world was at hand, while the majority
+seemed quietly to indulge the pleasing anticipation that the wine of the
+present year would be good and plentiful.
+
+At last, on the 8th of October, we sighted the Solomon Islands. Some reefs
+which were said to lie a little to the north, adjoining Ontong-Java, we
+looked for in vain in the positions assigned them on the charts. On the
+other hand we could see the lofty, forest-covered Carteret Island directly
+before us. Gower Island lay nearly due west, about four miles distant.
+This flat low island, which also is not quite accurately laid down on the
+English chart, appears to be about eight miles long, the highest point of
+its ridge not exceeding 180 feet above the sea. Its S.E. and N.W. points,
+upon which beats a furious surf, extend a full half mile into the sea. We
+could nowhere perceive any huts of natives. Nevertheless it is highly
+probable, if the island is inhabited at all, that the population would
+have settled on the W. side, which is more sheltered against wind and
+weather.
+
+From the hills on Carteret Island smoke was issuing at different points,
+but the natives did not put off in their boats, although on the afternoon
+of 8th October the frigate was becalmed off the land. When it was found
+that in consequence of the violence of the S.E. winds, which alternated
+with calms and N.E. squalls accompanied by rain, it would be impossible
+for us to pass through "Indispensable Straits," fringed as they are with
+coral reefs, it was resolved to range along the N.E. side of the entire
+chain of islands, so as to fetch the open passage between San Christoval
+(the most south-easterly of the Solomon Islands) and the Nitendi group. We
+thus had to beat with much difficulty against a S.E. wind and a strong
+current, so that we barely made 15 miles a day.
+
+On the 13th October, towards evening, we found ourselves about opposite
+the large mountainous island of Malayta. This island presents fine
+richly-wooded mountain scenery, but without any traces of volcanic
+contours. The natives do not appear to dwell near the shore, but among the
+hills we could observe cleared spots and huts. Curiously enough the
+highest peak of the island, 3900 feet high, is named Kolowrat, a renowned
+Austrian name, although it could hardly have been an Austrian navigator
+who gave it to this mountain. Many others of these islands, however, have
+German names, though the majority indicate their discovery by the French
+navigators, Bougainville, Senville, and Dumont d'Urville, to whom the
+sea-faring world are indebted for their first acquaintance with this
+interesting group. During the afternoon a heavy blow came on from the
+S.S.E., upon which we put about and steered E. by S., but had hardly made
+the alteration, ere it came on to blow from N.N.E., with such fearful
+violence that the cross-jack-yard, which was already sprung, broke in two,
+and the sheet of the main try-sail gave way. It was the heaviest squall we
+encountered during the voyage. Fortunately the cross-jack-yard had as a
+precaution been firmly lashed, so that the two ends continued to hang in
+the air. Consequently what might have been a serious calamity was avoided,
+and the result of the accident was confined to the difficult task of
+disengaging the unwieldy shattered yard. Towards evening a heavy rain
+fell, and the wind went down. In the course of the profoundly calm night
+which followed, the current swept us so close in shore, that by morning we
+were not more than two or three miles distant. A few small boats with
+natives were about, which endeavoured to approach us, but only one of
+their number succeeded. These boats were not ordinary canoes, but
+regularly decked and deep-waisted boats, with high stem and stern, not
+unlike the boats in use at the Island of Madeira.
+
+The one which came alongside was manned by five brownish-black men,
+perfectly naked, with thick crisp hair resembling a wig, which seemed to
+be stained red with ochre. By way of special adornment, some wore in their
+side hair a yellowish-red tuft, something like a tassel, and apparently
+made of strips of stained bast. One wore a wild boar's tooth in the tip of
+the ear, two others had small cylinders neatly carved out of mussel-shells
+passed through the nostrils, as well as rings of the same material around
+the upper arm and below the knee. When the boat had got within about a
+pistol shot from us, one of the natives rose, and in clear strong tones
+shouted to us some unintelligible words, while at the same time he pointed
+towards the land with very eager, energetic gestures. He seemed desirous
+of inviting us to come on shore and visit the islands. At the close of
+his address there arose those peculiar reverberating shouts, such as one
+would have expected rather to hear among the Styrian Alps than from a
+Papuan of the Solomon Islands! Upon this the rest of his companions rose
+likewise, and waving in their long arms a piece of tortoise-shell, they
+kept shrieking Matte-Matte! for an indefinite period. Not one of them knew
+a single word of English, nor could we make ourselves intelligible even
+with a vocabulary of the dialects used in the adjoining islands. Although
+distant in a direct line N.W. only 60 miles from Stewart's Island and its
+inhabitants, they spoke an entirely different idiom, and were likewise
+distinguished widely from any of the latter in colour, make, and
+physiognomy. Notwithstanding a repeated and pressing invitation to come on
+board, they could not be induced to mount the frigate's side, even by the
+most tempting promises, nor even by presents of linen-stuffs, tobacco,
+articles of clothing, &c. They seemed to have had but little intercourse
+with vessels. At length, on our repeated signs, they slowly and shyly came
+so near that we could throw a rope on board. The most courageous of their
+number planted his foot on the side rope, but made no attempt to proceed
+one step further. But we were by this means at all events able to examine
+these singular beings more closely. They all had oval faces, and broad,
+flat, long noses. Two were full-grown men, of tall powerful frame, while
+the rest seemed not above from fourteen to sixteen years old. None of
+them were tattooed, but the practice of anointing the body and the want of
+cleanliness left many coloured marks upon the skin. One of the lads had a
+sort of scaly eruption all over his skin. Beyond the pieces of
+tortoise-shell already mentioned, and the ornaments they wore upon their
+bodies, they had absolutely nothing in their boats, not even fruit or
+other natural products. They rowed a considerable distance after empty
+bottles which were pitched into the sea, and one of them seemed to attach
+such importance to the possession of these, that he plunged into the water
+to swim after them, and thus secure them the more readily.
+
+Unfortunately our intercourse with these islanders of the Solomon group
+was confined to the little episode above related, and as a favourable
+breeze once more sprang up, we soon lost sight of these simple savages and
+their island. On this occasion the members of the Expedition were
+unanimously of opinion (which is not always the case in matters of
+personal impressions), that the inhabitants of Malayta were the wildest,
+most uncivilized race of men we had as yet encountered in our voyaging to
+and fro round the globe.
+
+During the night numerous watch-fires were visible on the peaks of the
+island. Were they lit for the protection of the slumbering inhabitants
+against the cold and damp of the night, or were they alarm signals for the
+entire population of the island, warning them against dangers that menaced
+them? If any apprehensions were entertained by the natives of Malayta
+that we had visited their shores with hostile intent, they must have been
+of short duration, for the same wind which prevented our making Port Adam,
+wafted us the following morning--it was the 16th October, 1858--in sight
+of Sikayana.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[191] Occasionally called Bonabe, Bonibet, Funopet (by the French,
+Ascension). It lies in 6 deg. 58' N., and 158 deg. 20' E., and, with the two low
+atolls adjacent of Andema and Paphenemo (called by the English Ant's
+Island and Pakeen respectively) were named by their discoverer, Admiral
+Luetke, the Senjawin group, after the name of his ship.
+
+[192] Captain Andrew Cheyne, of the English mercantile service, to whom
+the sea-faring world is indebted for a very complete and excellent account
+of the islands of the West Pacific, and who last visited Puynipet in 1846,
+reckoned the population of the island at that period at from 7000 to 8000.
+See a description of islands in the Western Pacific Ocean, North and South
+of the Equator, with sailing Directions, &c. p. 94. London, J. D. Potter.
+1852.--Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China and Japan.
+Compiled from the most Authentic Sources. By Andrew Cheyne, first Class
+Master, Mercantile Navy. p. 136. London, J. D. Potter. 1855.
+
+[193] The natives of the Engano Islands, to the west of Sumatra, use
+precisely similar instruments for the same purpose.
+
+[194] Yaws is a very common disease among the lower class of the western
+and eastern _coast_-population of England. It is unknown almost in
+Ireland, where the poorer classes rarely eat fish.
+
+[195] Captain Cheyne adds to the foregoing lists the following articles;
+fish-hooks, butcher's-knives, chisels, hand-saws, bill-hooks, planes,
+augers, piles, iron-pots, razors, needles, twine, drills, gay
+parti-coloured cotton cloths, cotton hose, woollen cloths, trinkets, glass
+beads, straw-hats, chests with lock, key, and handles, spirits. The
+equivalents as laid down by Captain Cheyne are as follows:--
+
+  12 hens               =  24 sticks of negro-head tobacco, or 4 ells
+  100 yams              =  10    "           "         "       of calico.
+  100 bread-fruit       =  10    "           "         "
+  100 cocoa-nuts        =  10    "           "         "
+  1 cluster of bananas  =   2    "           "         "
+
+[196] Similar ruins are described by Captain Cheyne as having been also
+found in the forests of Nalan (Strong Island) in the Caroline Archipelago,
+5 deg. 21' 30'' N., 163 deg. 0' 42'' E.
+
+[197] From 1st October, 1856, upon which were marked all the improvements
+known up to 1857.
+
+[198] Compare Captain Cheyne's sailing directions, p. 68: "Captain Simpson
+of Sydney reported to me in 1845, that a group of low coral islands,
+covered with cocoa-nut trees and inhabited, had been seen in 4 deg. 52' S.,
+and 160 deg. 12' E. This may probably be the same group seen by Captain
+Wellings in 1824, which is laid down in Mr. Arrowsmith's chart in latitude
+4 deg. 29' S., 159 deg. 28' E." It is matter of surprise in any case that
+considering the uncertainty which prevails as to the precise locality of
+the reef, its position on the English Admiralty Charts should not at least
+be marked _doubtful_.
+
+[199] A. Cheyne--Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China and
+Japan. London, 1855, page 68.
+
+
+         [Illustration: Barrier Reef and Atoll of Sikayana.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVII.
+
+                    The Coral Island of Sikayana.
+
+                         17th October, 1858.
+
+    Natives on board.--Good prospects of fresh provisions.--An
+    interment on board.--A night scene.--Visit to the Island Group.--
+    Faole.--Voyage trip to Sikayana.--Narrative of an English
+    sailor.--Cruelty of merchantmen in the South Sea Islands.--
+    Tradition as to the origin of the inhabitants of Sikayana.--A
+    king.--Barter.--Religion of the natives.--Trepang.--Method of
+    preparing this sea-slug for the Chinese market.--Dictionary of
+    the native language.--Under sail.--Ile de Contrariete.--Stormy
+    weather.--Spring a leak.--Bampton Reef.--Smoky Cape.--Arrival in
+    Port Jackson, the harbour of Sydney.
+
+
+The short distance at which we found ourselves from Sikayana, called
+Stewart's Island by the English, as also the prospect of procuring there
+fresh provisions for the crew, among whom after 66 days' confinement on
+board ship, some symptoms of scurvy began to appear, determined our
+Commodore on spending a day there, and effecting a landing. Towards
+afternoon, when we were about four or five miles distant from the western
+island, two splendid large canoes approached the ship, in which were
+fifteen men stark naked, except for a piece of linen round their loins.
+They were all tall, robust, powerful men, five and a half to six feet
+high, some with long, others broad faces, all having long noses, of a
+light brown colour, and the greater number with glossy black hair. With
+the exception of one who had whiskers, they were beardless; almost all
+being tattooed from the elbow to the shoulder. They spoke broken English,
+and even had English names. We never saw among the savage races such
+finely built, well-proportioned, healthy-looking men, as these inhabitants
+of the coral reef of Sikayana. Their free, unaccustomed, familiar
+deportment was something surprising. But our astonishment reached its
+height when one of these apparently savage children of nature, happening
+to find on a table on the gun-deck a draught-board lying open, immediately
+challenged one of the by-standers to a game, which it seems he understood
+so well that he beat his antagonist two games out of three. We afterwards
+heard that the natives at Sikayana have learned draughts, as also an
+English game at cards known as "odd fourth," of which they seemed
+passionately fond, from some English sailors, who several years before had
+spent five months on these islands, preparing Trepang, or _biche-de-mar_,
+for the Chinese market, those sea-slugs having formerly been found here in
+large quantities.
+
+To our question whether they had fresh provisions for sale, and of what
+description, they replied that they possess on the island plenty of Taro,
+cocoa-nuts, bananas, pigs, and poultry, which they would willingly
+exchange for fish-hooks, tobacco, calico, gunpowder, ammunition, biscuit,
+playing-cards, and ornaments for their wives. For money they did not show
+the slightest desire, and of the value of gold they seemed to be utterly
+ignorant. They showed the utmost eagerness for playing-cards and trinkets.
+
+We now also learned that there was on the island one white settler, an
+English sailor. This man attempted to come off to the frigate in a small
+canoe, but owing to night setting in, he could not reach her. As these
+hearty people were taking their leave, we promised to pay them a visit
+early next morning, with which they seemed highly delighted.
+
+There still remained the same evening one mournful duty for those on board
+the _Novara_. During the afternoon one of our sailors had died after
+protracted sufferings consequent on dysentery, and we had now, for
+sanitary reasons, to commit his remains to the deep the very evening of
+his death. It was already dark when the officers and crew were mustered on
+deck, to pay the last honours to the departed. The captain gave the
+customary orders, the ship's bell tolled, the narrow plank, on which lay
+the body of the deceased sewn up in his hammock, was brought to the
+gangway, where an iron weight was attached to the body by the feet, and
+last of all the plank being tilted up, the heavy body plunged into the
+waves with a hollow splash, and the watery tomb closed over him.
+
+We looked down into the abyss and beheld myriads of stars reflected in
+all their lustre in the smooth mirror of the ocean; the deep, blue,
+unfathomable ocean appearing like a second firmament beneath our feet!
+Nothing in the gay scene around seemed out of harmony with the mournful
+act which the community of Christians on board the _Novara_ had been
+celebrating. Everything about us--the brightly glistening stars, the
+whispering ripple of the waves, the balmy atmosphere, all left an
+impression of a higher state of felicity and tranquil happiness, and
+seemed to remind us that everything in the universe, even the poor remains
+we had just committed to the waves, obeyed but one eternal, immutable law!
+
+On the morning of 17th October, three boats put off from the _Novara_ with
+some of the officers and all the naturalists of the Expedition, bound for
+Sikayana, between three and four miles distant, while the frigate cruised
+about in the vicinity.
+
+Stewart's Atoll (8 deg. 22' S., 162 deg. 58' E.) is a semi-lunar coral reef of
+about sixteen miles in circumference, with a deep lagoon in its centre,
+and five small wooded islands on the reef itself, which are visible from
+the deck of a ship about twelve miles away, and were first discovered by
+Captain Hunter, in May, 1791. These islands are named Sikayana, Faole,
+Manduiloto, Barena, and Maduawe, and are so overgrown with cocoa-nut
+palms, that they appear capable of supporting a population of about 1000
+souls (with the wants and requirements of men in the tropics).
+
+The two largest islands, Sikayana and Faole, lie exactly at the sharp
+horns of the lune-shaped atoll. Here we again had an opportunity of
+observing the configuration of which all known atolls furnish examples,
+viz. that the islands found adjoining these reefs are almost invariably at
+the projecting extremities, where the surf rages on either side, and where
+consequently the conditions are most favourable for the heaping up of
+detached fragments of coral. The area of habitable dry land is to the
+extent of the reef in the proportion of 1 : 21. As may readily be assumed
+from the physical conditions of the islands, there is no drinkable water
+to be found upon them; the liquid contents of the cocoa-nut when fresh is
+almost the only beverage of the inhabitants, and hence the first thing the
+natives asked for when they came on board was for some "drinking-water,"
+since, except of course during the wet season, when they catch the
+rain-water, this is a rarity with them--we might almost say an article of
+luxury.
+
+Sikayana, the Big Island of the English, the most easterly and largest of
+the islands, is about 1 1/6th statute mile in length, and lies in 8 deg. 22'
+24'' S., and 163 deg. 1' E. The reef which surrounds the island sinks at
+certain points sheer downwards, so that a ship may in perfect safety
+approach within a cable's length. We had to sail for a considerable time
+along this line of reef, on which the sea beat with a thundering surf, ere
+we came to one of those spots on the N.W. side where it is practicable in
+a boat to pass the atoll reef into the tranquil lagoon, which it encloses.
+At all times, even in the calmest weather, a tremendous surf roars against
+the reef, and even this point is inaccessible when there is a fresh breeze
+blowing. Here we found some of the canoes of the natives awaiting our
+approach, who now, as though they had been on the look-out for our
+arrival, came off to us, some in their boats, others swimming, to inform
+us that, it being ebb-tide, the entry into the lagoon was not very easy,
+but that at high-water one could pass right over the reef, in even larger
+boats than ours. It was accordingly arranged that two of the boats should
+anchor outside the reef, and only one should be hauled inside the lagoon
+with a rope for our further use. But even this could not be managed until
+by removing all baggage and transhipping almost her entire crew, she had
+been made sufficiently light.
+
+The passage between the coral reefs and the lagoon is at high-water about
+three feet deep, but at lowest ebb it is barely a foot in depth, and three
+to four feet wide, and then the reef juts up at most points to such
+extent, that a skilled equilibrist may (although not to the advantage of
+his soles) easily reach the interior of the lagoon without wetting his
+shoes. As soon, however, as this narrow entrance, which is about 300 feet
+long, has been passed, the navigation becomes easier. The appearance of
+the reef was very peculiar. Corals of every description, _Astraeae_,
+_Maeandrinae_, _Madriporae_, form a sort of series of clusters of
+stone-bushes, among which beautifully mottled fish swim about, while
+starfish of an exquisite indigo blue, and mussels of the most
+extraordinary forms, people the ground.
+
+The atoll presents some very remarkable geological features. At its N.W.
+side, close to the reef and as it were growing to it, stand two singular
+vase-shaped rocks, from 8 to 10 feet in height. While their base is
+bathed by the sea, their upper portions, which are about 20 feet in
+diameter, present the spectacle of luxuriant grass, brushwood, and one or
+two fruit-bearing cocoa-nut palms, so that the two crags looked like two
+gigantic flower-pots attached to the reef. They seem to be all that
+remains of an island which Ocean had first thrown up, and was now busy
+wearing away.
+
+Another geological peculiarity is the occurrence of heaps of pumice-stone.
+These are found about the size of walnuts over the entire interior of the
+island of Faole at those places which the swell of the waves cannot reach
+even in the stormiest weather, where they occur in such immense quantities
+(though there are no traces of them on the sand or shingle of the actual
+beach) that we may take for granted that the convulsion which brought them
+here must have occurred in times long gone by, the more so as this
+superposed pumice-stone exercises a marked and obvious influence upon the
+vegetation of the island. So far as its soil consists of heaps of
+fragments of coral and mussel-shells, the cocoa-nut palm reigns almost
+alone, whereas as soon as the pumice-stone region is reached, there begins
+an exceedingly luxuriant growth of lofty forest trees with huge trunks and
+umbrageous foliage, and an astonishingly abundant _flora_ of species
+apparently peculiar to these Atoll islands. The English naturalist Jukes,
+who accompanied Captain Blackwood on his survey of Torres Straits, found
+beds of pumice along the entire east and north coasts of Australia, over
+an extent of 2000 miles, and under numerous special conditions, but most
+frequently on flat grounds elevated about ten feet above high-water mark
+and more or less distant from the beach--never upon the beach itself. The
+occurrence of pumice in such vast quantities is of no slight interest in a
+geological point of view. It must have been some tremendous natural
+convulsions, an earthquake wave of enormous lateral dimensions, which
+threw up this pumice-stone, and deposited it throughout this entire region
+at the same height above high-water mark. Since this phenomenon occurred,
+the general level of the coasts and islands on which this deposit of
+pumice is found, can scarcely have undergone any considerable alteration,
+if one is not inclined to assume for the entire region a perfectly equal
+elevation or depression.
+
+The whole party of Excursionists had wandered along the reef to a spot at
+which we could embark once more, so as to row over to the next island,
+Faole, which, however, the natives do not much frequent, except
+occasionally to collect cocoa-nuts and pandanus fruits. But as one main
+object had to be accomplished, namely, the supply of the ship with fresh
+provisions, which were not found here, some of the party went off to the
+principal settlement on the island of Sikayana, to barter some goods they
+had brought, against as much private supplies for themselves as could be
+conveniently conveyed to the boats and so taken on board.
+
+While the natives were paddling along in their elegant canoes, escorting
+us as far as Sikayana, we offered a seat in our boat to the only white man
+on the island, the English sailor already mentioned. This man was named
+John Davis, about forty years of age, a native of Greenwich, and was,
+according to his own story, left behind against his will by Captain Ross,
+a "sandal-wooder," who had visited this group in 1858. He stated he had
+just before been with Captain Ross at the Tonga Islands, where the captain
+sent two sailors on shore to fell sandal-wood. These men, however, got
+into a quarrel with the natives, who would not permit them to rob them of
+their property, in the course of which they lost their lives. The captain
+immediately proceeded to the islands himself with some of his crew well
+armed, attacked the unfortunate natives, shot five, and then sailed off.
+Davis had become obnoxious to the captain, because in consequence of
+over-work he had fallen ill with intermittent fever, and could not work,
+upon which his remorseless superior cast about how to get rid of the now
+useless seaman, and resolved to put him ashore by force on the next island
+which came in sight. What a fearful doom! To be abandoned, sick and
+helpless, on a lone island far from the highways of the world, where ships
+but seldom touched, and amid savages with whose tongue he was
+unacquainted! If even one were disposed to doubt the possibility of such
+inhuman cruelty, it would find mournful confirmation in many similar
+instances. To this charge the "sandal-wooders" are especially amenable,
+who visit the islands of the South Sea to collect the costly sandal-wood,
+and in the prosecution of their enterprise seem to go upon the exclusive
+principle that the coloured man has no property over the natural wealth
+of these islands, and has no right to resist the wishes of the white man!
+
+Commander Erskine of H.M.S. _Savannah_, mentions a case in which an
+English merchantman, engaged in the sandal-wood traffic, entered into an
+engagement to employ his whole crew in assisting one native tribe to
+overpower its neighbour, in return for which timely assistance certain
+places were pointed out where the coveted sandal-wood was found in great
+abundance. A battle took place, and a number of prisoners were carried on
+board the ship, of whom, during the passage to the sandal-wood-producing
+islands, several were in the presence of the European crew coolly
+slaughtered and eaten by their cannibal foes of the Fee-jee Islands!!
+
+Davis, whom the natives for distinction's sake called simply "the white
+man," could not expatiate enough on the cordiality and kind treatment he
+received from the poor inhabitants of Sikayana during his stay. Since
+April no ship had called at the island, or even been visible from it. He
+begged the favour of a passage to Sydney, which was readily accorded him
+on condition he would first repay all his obligations to the natives, and
+that on their side there should be no objections made to his leaving. On
+our arrival in Sydney we learned that Captain Ross, who had put Davis
+ashore at Sikayana, had been tried for another still greater atrocity; he
+had inflicted Lynch-law, by hanging some of the natives of New Caledonia
+at his yard-arm. Ross was somewhat later acquitted by the judges at
+Sydney, but public opinion reversed the verdict.
+
+After a row of an hour and a half we at last reached the island of
+Sikayana, having previously met three canoes, one of which was manned by
+twelve rowers, who now entered on a sort of regatta contest with us. These
+canoes, not more than a foot and a half wide, glide with uncommon velocity
+through the water, but despite their outriggers, they are not adapted for
+carrying much provisions. We found it quite easy to land at the place, and
+drew up our boat upon the sandy beach.
+
+The world of these islanders, the entire area of dry habitable land upon
+this coral reef, is about one-eighth of an English square mile; no stream,
+no mountain, no eminence adorns the island, the highest part of which is
+just sufficiently elevated to enable the winds and waves to heap up sand
+and debris; around it on every side is the boundless ocean, and its
+mineral wealth is reduced to one single mineral, carbonated chalk,
+deposited in the brine by thousands of millions of coral-animals. Hither
+too the ocean in some extraordinary cases wafts pumice and other stones
+lighter than water, which somewhat improve the soil, or occasionally
+stones are transported, entangled in the roots of floating trees, with
+which the denizens of this little place can grind the mussel-shells, of
+which they make all their tools, as well as knives and hatchets.
+
+The immense vegetable kingdom has but 20 or 30 representatives here, whose
+seeds have been transported hither by the sea from richer and more
+congenial soils, and thrown up by it upon the strand. Animals are still
+more scarce. A few sea-swallows and insects form the whole Fauna of the
+group. The sea furnishes the only supply of animal food, in the shape of
+fish, crabs, and shell-fish. One may well ask, what degree of moral or
+spiritual development can be attained by a race of men whose sphere of
+action is confined to a solitary coral reef! Yet the mode of existence of
+the inhabitants of Stewart's Islands is by no means of the most primitive
+or simple nature; through the occasional visits of ships they have
+obtained much, by which they have sensibly improved their condition. They
+now possess swine, poultry, and various tubers, which seem greatly to
+thrive on the island, and which they can now exchange for other articles
+of prime necessity.
+
+Sikayana is the only member of the group which is permanently inhabited,
+and that by a sincerely hospitable, most friendly race. Their origin is
+variously accounted for.
+
+Among the natives themselves there is a dim tradition that Captain Cook
+transported hither the first settlers. Another version is, that the first
+inhabitants came from South Island, 130 miles W. of Stewart's Islands, and
+that they were brought hither by whalers, which latter, when they no
+longer needed the services of these poor people, sought how most easily to
+get rid of them. At the same time several English and American sailors,
+who at various times have been left in these islands in consequence of
+sickness, want of further employment, love of adventure, or quarrels with
+their captains, must have largely contributed to the present quite
+peculiar mixture. The practice of leaving upon any suitable island such
+natives of the South Sea groups as may take service with English or
+American whalers, is very common, and sufficiently explains the mode of
+first settling many of these islands of Oceania.
+
+When Captain Cheyne, who has greatly contributed to our more intimate
+knowledge of the islands of the West Pacific, visited Sikayana in
+September, 1847, the population amounted to 48 men, 73 women, and 50
+children, who inhabited a small village lying on the lagoon at the eastern
+end of the island. Although eleven years had elapsed ere we visited this
+simple community, their numbers did not appear materially to have
+increased.
+
+Considering the powerful, healthy appearance of the natives, it should
+seem that we must ascribe this stagnation in amount of population less to
+the influence of climate, than to the ravages of the various diseases
+which are from time to time introduced by foreign ships. Thus we saw one
+woman whose whole body was deeply marked with small-pox, and presented a
+living example that the fell scourge of all uncivilized races is no longer
+unknown in Sikayana.
+
+At the landing-place we were received by the king of the island, a very
+aged man with grey hair and silver beard. He sat on the grass close to the
+shore under the shade of cocoa-nut palms, driving away with his hand the
+flies which were stinging his naked body. After a brief welcome he
+invited us to be seated beside him on Nature's own soft green carpet.
+
+The natives whom we met here were all tall handsome men, with good
+features, decidedly of a European cast. The hair was black, very crisp,
+but not the slightest appearance of being woolly. Many had shaved it till
+there only remained a long tail; most of them had their arms and legs
+tattooed, but wore no ear or nose ornaments like the Solomon Islanders.
+Round the loins they wore a sort of girdle, four or five inches wide, of
+strips of plants plaited by the women. In addition to this, most of them
+wore some piece of European clothing; drawers, old caps, but most commonly
+a sort of jacket without sleeves made of calico, which only covered the
+back and chest. Like the natives of the Nicobars, they showed great
+curiosity to learn our names, and kept repeating them over and over,
+apparently to impress them upon their memory. They had beyond a doubt
+taken their own names from sailors and ship captains, with whom they had
+once been in communication.
+
+Close to the shore, among some scattered palm-trees, stood a few wretched
+huts, compared with which the bee-hive huts of the Nicobar Islanders
+appear like palaces. They consisted of a roofing woven of cocoa-nut
+palm-leaves, planted upon the naked soil which serves as a floor, and
+closed in front and rear with mats of similar texture. The interior was no
+less poverty-stricken than the exterior. We could see no articles of
+furniture beyond a few baskets and battered boxes, in which the islanders
+stow away their small property.
+
+A crowd of eager expectants had gathered round the crates of merchandise
+which our sailors had brought on shore, and the barter began.
+
+The natives had swine, poultry, a few eggs, papayas, Taro, cocoa-nuts, and
+bananas to offer, while we had an assortment of knives, hatchets, saws,
+flints, fish-hooks, calico, linen, blue cloth, ribbons, linen-thread,
+needles, coarse tobacco, biscuit, red coral, glass beads, empty bottles,
+&c. &c.
+
+This commerce was something higher than a mere barter--it had also a
+psychological interest of its own. Useful goods and tools found a much
+less demand than baubles and objects of personal adornment; and for a
+string of glass beads only fit to hang round the neck of a wife, or to put
+as a bracelet upon the arm of some little dusky daughter, provisions
+enough were given away to have supported an entire family for days.
+
+Red and green seemed the colours most in demand, and the small beads were
+in far more request than the larger and heavier descriptions, even if
+these latter were more costly and neat. It seemed the women were not
+permitted to show themselves at market, which must have been a sore enough
+disappointment for many; but the men earnestly requested before closing
+with an offer to be permitted to carry off the coveted prizes, leaving
+their own articles of barter in pledge, apparently with the gallant
+attention of first of all obtaining the advice and consent of their
+better halves. Hence it frequently happened that the article first
+selected was exchanged for some other widely different, or the whole
+bargain given up.
+
+The women whom we afterwards saw in their huts were all tall and
+powerfully built, but very unattractive, the majority appearing
+prematurely old. The sole covering was a piece of gay-coloured calico
+tolerably wide, which they wore around their loins. Their lower limbs and
+faces were tattooed, the latter however with only a few cross-bars.
+
+The two hampers of assorted articles, which was our stock in trade, were
+ere long nearly emptied, and as the sailors would have found it hard work
+to bring off the provisions we had purchased in our small boat, it was
+agreed to break up our improvised exchange, and return to Faole with our
+valuable cargo of fresh provisions.[200]
+
+While the barter was going on, the author of this narrative occupied
+himself with making some anthropometrical measurements, and at the same
+time noting down a few cursory remarks respecting these interesting
+people.
+
+The chief food of these islanders consists of fish, cocoa-nuts, taro, and
+the fruit of the pandanus (_dawa_); only at rare intervals do they taste
+pork or poultry. The rearing of pigs and poultry is chiefly carried on for
+the purpose of trading with foreign vessels, so as to obtain in return the
+products of a higher civilization. Their fish-nets are prepared from the
+rind of their trees. A few looms which they also possess have been given
+them by whale-fishers. The cincture round the loins, which is their sole
+article of apparel, is also prepared from the inner bark of the tree.
+
+When the king dies, the oldest member of the community is elected his
+successor. At their festivals they sing in a sort of monotonous drone, and
+blow at the same time through mussel-shells.
+
+When mourning for the dead, they stain their faces red with the seeds of
+the _Bixa orellana_, and wear a piece of white calico, shaped something
+like a capuchin's hood, which reaches down till it covers the shoulder.
+One native, who was wearing one of these head coverings, could not be
+induced to traffic, nor even to approach the place where our improvised
+market was being held, because, as he made us understand, one of his near
+relatives had lately died. Altogether the inhabitants of Sikayana struck
+us as a primitive, very moral, and honourable race, and it made us almost
+melancholy to think that these excellent people should be without the
+blessings of Christianity. To our great amazement, however, we learned
+that the natives themselves strenuously opposed the settlement in their
+midst of any missionaries of any Christian denomination,--"Because," said
+they, "all their Kai-kai (i. e. their food) would belong to the
+missionaries." This naive reply reminds us of a similar remark on the part
+of the Quiche Indians, which we once overheard in the highlands of
+Guatemala, in whose language a missionary or priest is known as
+Ki-sol-re-le-ak-uch, which being interpreted means "devourer of all hens!"
+And just as among the Mormons every care is taken to keep certain
+professions out of their community, as, for instance, the physician, in
+order to prevent illness, or the lawyer, with the intent to keep away
+law-suits, thus in their simplicity the natives of Sikayana have fallen
+into the error of viewing the missionary, that moral physician, as only of
+importance or of necessity in those places where there are really
+spiritual and moral evils to cure!
+
+The liquors of Europe are as yet but little known to the inhabitants of
+Sikayana. In none of the huts could we discern any sort of spirituous
+fluids, nor was any offered to us. Even during the trading, amid the
+demands for every sort of article, no desire was expressed for them, not a
+question even was asked respecting them, whereas hitherto all the wild or
+semi-savage races with which we came in contact at once clamoured for
+"Brandy," and not seldom presented themselves in a riotous condition.
+That there is as yet no demand for spirits at Sikayana shows how little
+intercourse they can as yet have had with civilization. In former years
+this group was occasionally visited by American and English merchantmen,
+owing to the abundance of Trepang. Since the year 1845, however, when one
+American captain collected 250 Chinese piculs[201] (about 15 tons), and
+ten years later when Captain Cheyne in the course of nine months gathered
+265 piculs (about 16-3/4 tons), the business is no longer profitable and
+at present years sometimes slip by without a ship lying to off Sikayana.
+
+As these worm-like animals,[202] which in the dried state command, like
+the Salangan swallows' nests, a high price as a costly delicacy in China
+and Japan, form an important article of commerce and employ a considerable
+number of ships annually, we shall indulge in a few remarks on the very
+laborious operations of preparing the Trepang.
+
+Of the large number of varieties of Trepang which are found among the
+coral reefs of the Pacific, there are only ten suited to the Chinese
+market, which are accurately distinguished by their special names. As they
+fetch a price according to quality of from 6 to 35 dollars per picul, it
+is a matter of great importance to obtain the very highest qualities.
+
+The four species most in demand are known in China by the following
+names,--_Bangkolungan_, _Kiskisan_, _Talipan_, and _Munang_, each of which
+has a distinctive appearance, and is found at various depths on the coral
+reefs.
+
+_Bangkolungan_, when captured, is from 11 to 15 inches in length, of an
+oval form, brown on the back, white on the belly, incrusted with chalk,
+and with a row of papillae or warts along the side. This species is hard,
+stiff, and possesses hardly any means of progression beyond expanding and
+contracting at will. They are found on the inner edge of the coral reef in
+coral-sandy ground, under water of from 2 to 10 fathoms, and are difficult
+to get at without diving. Kiskisan is from 6 to 12 inches long, oval, very
+black, smooth on the back, dark grey belly, and with a row of papillae
+along its side. This description is found in shallow water near the
+highest portion of the reef, and on a bottom of coral and sand. _Talipan_
+varies in length from 9 inches to 2 feet, and is the most peculiar-looking
+of all the Trepang species. This sort is found in all parts of the reef,
+but chiefly in water of from 2 to 3 fathoms. It is of a dark red colour,
+and less bulky than either of the sorts already described. The back is
+covered with large red spots, which readily distinguish it from all other
+species. It is more flexible than the black sort, and more difficult to
+prepare. _Munang_ is oval, small, quite black, and rarely measures above
+eight inches in length. It has neither warts nor other excrescences, and
+is found in shallow water on the coral flats, and frequently also among
+the sea-tangle along the shore. It is this sort which the Americans
+usually catch at the Fee-jee Islands. In the Chinese markets, a picul of
+_Munang_ is worth 15 to 25 dollars. Besides these four principal species,
+there are a variety of less valuable descriptions, such as Zapatos-China,
+Lowlowan, Balati-blanco, Matan, Hangenan, and Zapatos-Grande.
+
+In order to prepare these four sorts of Trepang for commerce, they are
+first soaked in a large iron kettle for from 5 to 10 minutes in boiling
+water, and when thoroughly heated through, are taken out. The portion of
+the animal which is cut off, when well boiled, should be of an amber
+colour tinged with blue, and feel somewhat like Indian rubber.
+
+A certain degree of dexterity and practice are requisite for boiling
+Trepang to the proper point and afterwards drying it. While it becomes
+puffed out through too sudden an application of heat, and porous like
+sponge, too low a temperature or too short a time destroys it on the other
+hand, and in 24 hours it becomes quite tainted. Trepang dried in the sun
+is more valuable than that dried on the island, nor does the native ever
+care for those he dries over his wood fire. Probably the former mode of
+preparing it would not pay for a ship, since at least twenty days are
+necessary to dry Trepang in the sun, whereas over a wood fire the same
+end is attained in four days.
+
+On the whole, the precautions requisite properly to prepare Trepang are so
+manifold and require such an expenditure of time, that only those who for
+years have been exclusively devoted to the business can secure a
+successful result. Consequently the trade is exceedingly remunerative, and
+numbers of captains have within a very few years realized a competency and
+even affluence by preparing Trepang for the Chinese market.
+
+We employed our time, when sailing back to the island of Faole, in
+finishing a small vocabulary of the language in use by the inhabitants of
+the Stewart Island group, which we accomplished with the last stroke of
+the oar that brought our heavily-laden boat back to Faole, where the rest
+of our companions already anxiously awaited our return. We had occasion to
+remark with surprise the perseverance and readiness of comprehension of
+one native named Karosi, to whose assistance we are entirely indebted for
+the preparation of this vocabulary.
+
+After a stay of about four hours on the island, we returned to the ship
+about 4.30 P.M., and by sundown were again under weigh for Sydney.[203] If
+the inhabitants of the Solomon group were the most savage race of men we
+encountered throughout our cruise, these amiable Sikayanese left on us the
+impression of being the most moral and peacefully disposed race of
+aborigines that we became acquainted with, and even to this day the few
+fleeting but highly suggestive hours we spent with these primitive people
+are among the most singular, yet delightful, on which memory rests, when
+recalling the incidents of our circumnavigation.[204]
+
+A fresh breeze hurried us rapidly to the southward during the 18th, but we
+soon entered once more upon the region of squalls[205] and calms, and on
+19th and 20th October we were lying listlessly about 15 miles E., by
+chart, from Sesarga,[206] called also _Ile de Contrariete_ (9 deg. 49' S.,
+162 deg. 13' E.), condemned to inactivity to the northward of San Christoval.
+We could now satisfy ourselves that it is quite erroneous to identify this
+island with that seen by Pedro de Ortega in 1567, round in shape, and with
+a lofty volcano in its midst continually throwing up smoke and steam. _Ile
+de Contrariete_, as seen from the deck of our frigate, presented the
+appearance of a long wooded ridge, averaging about 800 feet in height,
+whereas some of the peaks of San Christoval, 3000 or 4000 feet in height,
+presented all the configuration peculiar to a volcanic island; this was
+especially the case with one remarkably regular cone of about 2000 feet in
+height, which rises quite close to Cape Surville. So that Burney's theory
+seems the most probable, that Ortega's Sesarga is no other than Mount
+Lammot, 8000 feet high, on Guadalcanar (9 deg. 50' S., 160 deg. 20' E.).
+
+At last, on 21st October, we succeeded in weathering Cape Surville. Thus
+the Solomon's group too were what seamen call "hull-down," and we might
+look forward to a speedy termination to this most tedious and unpropitious
+voyage. For a long month we had, while to the northward of the Solomon's
+Islands, vainly sighed for a fresh breeze, and now all at once the S.E.
+trade was blowing so strong that the ship could only lay her course to the
+southward under reduced sail, close-hauled, and had now to plunge
+laboriously through the heavy seas, which the stiff breeze was knocking
+up. On the 25th and 26th October it blew a regular storm from the S.E., we
+forging along under double-reefed square-sails, till it almost seemed that
+the end of our voyage was destined to be as stormy as its commencement
+"away in the China seas." The ship's timbers creaked and groaned, as
+though they would break into a thousand pieces, while the whistling and
+moaning of the wind, the raging and roaring of the sea, the tremendous
+crash of the waves against our bulwarks, left no peace night or day for
+the "non-effectives," as all passengers not regularly borne upon the
+ship's books are called on board a man-of-war. As though to increase the
+discomfort of their position, it happened that the frigate began to make
+water to such an extent, that in what was fortunately but a very small
+portion of the hold, the water rose to fifty inches within four hours! It
+was supposed that during the typhoon on the China sea, some of the copper
+plates had been wrenched off, and that the water was finding entrance
+through some leak in her outer timbers, but the most rigid examination
+failed to discover its whereabouts. At all events it must have been at or
+above the water line, as when the sea rose higher than usual, or the ship
+lurched much, the water was sure to gain. We were compelled consequently
+to vary from our original course by the open sea-way along the west coast
+of New Caledonia, and steer for the coral sea, thickly studded with
+reefs, which lies between New Caledonia and "Sandy Cape" on the shores of
+Australia, as by adopting this dangerous route we should at least have
+smoother water and more favourable winds. Meanwhile, every possible
+precaution was taken in handling the ship, so as not to increase the leak,
+and a sail was kept ready to be fothered from without over the leaky part
+in case of necessity.
+
+On 28th October we had expected to be in sight of the great
+horse-shoe-shaped Bampton Reef. But there was no surf discernible from the
+mast-head, only the change to smooth water, which we at once felt, proving
+that the reef really existed, and that we were to leeward of it. Its
+position is so variously laid down on the charts, that while by one chart
+we must have been upon the very reef itself, we were, according to a
+second, four miles, and, according to a third, fourteen miles to the
+eastward of it! The last-mentioned seemed to be the most correct, since at
+four miles the surf must have been visible, whereas it would be impossible
+to see it at fourteen miles.
+
+By 30th October we had passed the latitude of Sandy Cape, and could now
+steer direct for Sydney, the capital of the colony of New South Wales. The
+same day we also crossed the tropic of Capricorn. The temperature, which
+had been falling regularly ever since we left the Solomon Islands, in 28 deg.
+S., was as low as 64 deg.4 Fahr., so that we found it advisable to resume our
+woollen clothing.
+
+Ten months we had now spent in the tropics, in the hottest seas of the
+globe, and we now felt, on a beautiful November morning in the southern
+tropics, as on a clear spring morning at home. On 4th November we had our
+first peep of the coast of Australia at Smoky Cape, a fresh easterly
+breeze filling our sails, as we bowled along at 10 knots an hour,
+constantly nearing the next station of our voyage. On the 5th, at 2 P.M.,
+the not very high land round Port Jackson came in sight, and we had not to
+alter her course by one spoke, so that our chronometer had given
+unmistakeable proof of its accuracy. The coast is for the most part rather
+flat and monotonous, but we soon recognized the entrance by North Cape,
+which rises sheer out of the water at the harbour mouth, where we also
+took a pilot on board. The light-house here, 420 feet above sea-level, had
+been visible from the deck of the frigate 15 miles away! During the whole
+voyage we had only seen one vessel, an American clipper off the Marianne
+Archipelago, and were greatly amazed to find not a single sail in the
+vicinity of the port. At last, just as we got abreast of the entrance, we
+saw a steamer and some small boats making for the land. At 6 P.M., after a
+voyage of 82 days, during which we had sailed 5930 miles, the anchor was
+let go in the magnificent harbour of Port Jackson, off Garden Island, to
+the N.E. of the city of Sydney. We had reached in safety the fifth quarter
+of the globe!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[200] As it is not uninteresting to know the course of exchange at
+Sikayana existing between the products of European industry and its native
+products, we subjoin a few of the most important equivalents:
+
+  For 5 lbs. tobacco                               one pig.
+   "  20 Steel fish-hooks                             "
+   "  5 Strings of red corals                         "
+   "  5 Strings of green and red glass beads          "
+   "  5 Packets of needles and thread                 "
+   "  10 Ells of calico                               "
+   "  5 Fish-hooks                                 ten eggs.
+   "  5 Fish-hooks                                 two hens.
+   "  10 Fish-hooks                                30 pieces of Taro.
+   "  2 Packets needles and threads                30 pieces of Taro.
+   "  1 Packet old playing-cards                   4 hens.
+
+[201] One Chinese picul = 133-1/2 lbs. English, whereas one Dutch picul =
+135-3/5 lbs. English.
+
+[202] Called Trepang by the Malays, _hai-schni_ by the Chinese, and
+_Biche-de-mar_ by both English and French. Of this _holothuria_ or
+sea-cucumber (_Holothuria edulis_), there are about 400 tons annually
+imported into China from the various islands of the Southern Ocean.
+
+[203] During our excursion, there were taken on board the frigate, which
+cruised to and fro in short tacks off the island, about 200 readings of
+the temperature, at depths of every 50 fathoms. It was also intended to
+experiment as to soundings, but the state of the weather prevented this,
+as there were continual squalls, and the threatening state of the weather
+did not admit of a boat being launched. However at a distance of half a
+mile from the reef, no bottom was found with 200 fathoms of line.
+
+[204] It is perhaps a duty to our gallant companions of every grade to
+vindicate the Expedition once more, and finally, from certain malignant
+calumnies which, upwards of a year after we had left Australian waters,
+were circulated in the columns of even respectable newspapers, accusing
+the crew of the _Novara_ of having been guilty of most scandalous excesses
+and wanton robbery while at Sikayana. It seems however needless to insist
+that not the slightest pretext for such infamous aspersions was furnished
+by any of the party who spent these few hours in Sikayana, of which we
+have sketched the details in the present chapter. But the fact that they
+could be circulated without its being possible to contradict them on
+official authority points to a serious defect in our diplomatic position
+abroad. True, that no respectable member of the community accredited the
+idle mischievous report; true that the leading inhabitants, English,
+American, and German, strenuously combated it on every possible occasion,
+and in every possible manner. Yet had Austria been a recognized power,
+instead of a friendly guest, it needs but little acquaintance with the
+etiquette of public and official life to know that the calumny must have
+been stifled in its birth, by the prompt action of those specially
+appointed to protect the fair fame of their country in these distant
+waters. Not till her flag floats regularly to the breeze in the most
+distant countries, instead of being that of a casual visitor, will
+Austria, and through her the entire German nation, receive that respect,
+and occupy that position among the family of nations, to which her
+intelligence, her energy, and her important influence upon the progress of
+civilization alike entitle her.
+
+[205] The quantity of rain that falls in these latitudes is something
+almost incredible. One single squall from the N.W. was accompanied by a
+rainfall of _three_ inches, in the course of _five hours_, whereas the
+_entire rainfall_ for the _year_ in London, for instance, is only 18.07
+inches.
+
+[206] The native name is Ulatua.
+
+
+                            END OF VOL. II.
+
+
+                    JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+                          List of Modifications
+
+Transcriber's Note: Blank pages have been deleted. Captions indicated in
+the original publication's list of illustrations have been added to the
+illustrations themselves. Illustrations omitted from the list of
+illustrations have been added there. To these illustrations, new captions
+have been added. Illustrations may have been moved. The footnotes have
+been moved. We have rendered consistent on a per-word-pair basis the
+hyphenation or spacing of such pairs when repeated in the same grammatical
+context. We have corrected inconsistencies in the application of accents
+to the same word when repeated. The publisher's inadvertent omissions of
+punctuation have been corrected. Some wide tables have been re-formatted
+to narrower equivalents with some words replaced with commonly known
+abbreviations and possibly a key. Some ditto marks have been replaced with
+the words represented. The publisher's corrections listed at the end of
+Volume III have been applied. Duplicative front matter has been removed.
+Other changes were made as listed below:
+
+   23: the poor people having been over whelmed[overwhelmed]
+   62: first the island of Meroe, than[then] the two
+  193: Javanese was their conversion to Brahmaism[Brahmanism]
+  205: of which is manufactured Manilla[Manila] hemp)
+  205: the plant in its orginal[original] climate,
+  206: beautifully situated Hotel Belleuve[Bellevue],
+  226: such as Gunnug[Gunung] Guntur and Gunung
+  236: caves.["] (The meaning of the above Javanese words is
+  236: name of _Njai[Njai]-Ratu-Segor-Kidul_,
+  270: Radhen[Raden] Saleh cherishes
+  281: Plans for canalization.--Arrival at Los Banos[Banos].
+  292: The two hotels lately started [to] levy,
+  301: was born 24th November, 1778, at Navianos[Navianos],
+  320: Athough[although] altogether more tobacco
+  345: the church was considered as descerated[desecrated]
+  353: owing to the attitude[altitude] of the hills
+  418: and wicker[-]work numerous skulls of rebels
+  451: In the dispensary there were, morever[moreover],
+  508: impart a certain bloom, an artificial fragrancy[fragrance],
+  529: clearly developes[develops] its tendency,
+  543: the centre of the _cylone[cyclone]_,
+  550: Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luft gefluester[Luftgefluester]
+  550: Und fromm, fast wie zwei betende Geschwester[Geschwister].
+  617: with the seeds of the _Bixa ocellana[orellana]_,
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of
+the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #38462 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38462)