% / ^ ^ *• ^ * k/-^ v A p,* "bo" ** <^ d>*+ '*<$ ■ % " V ^ -S^S- ■<&•?£ CHINA AND JAPAN fjedoM of ObgeiV&tioi^ MADE DURING A RESIDENCE OF SEVERAL YEARS IN CHINA, AND A TOUR OF OFFICIAL VISITATION TO THE MISSIONS OF BOTH COUNTRIES IN 1877-78. REV. \:>W. WILEY, D. D., ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. B79. .**; OF W^V^V :INCINNATI: HITCHCOCK ANDWALDEN NEW YORK: PHILLIPS & HUNT. 1879. J~*^ £^)~ -++-t7t Copyright by HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, 1879. DEDICATION t$o my W\te, WHO ACCOMPANIED ME DURING THE JOURNEYINGS RECORDED IN THESE PAGES, WHOSE CHEERFUL PRESENCE RELIEVED THE TEDIOUSNESS OF LONG VOYAGES, LIGHTENED THE BURDEN OF MANY CARES AND LABORS, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE Sutior. PREFACE. <\lc jfHE author of this volume was appointed in 1850 by the Missionary authorities of the fif Methodist Episcopal Church as Missionary physician to their mission in Foochow, China. He reached the field of labor in 185 1, and remained till 1854. The mission was then in its formative stage, but has since become one of the most successful mission stations, not only in China, but anywhere in the heathen world. The history of its growth and its present condi- tion are detailed in this volume. During these years spent in China a quarter of a century ago much time was necessarily spent in studying the language, institutions, customs, religions, etc. , of this people, as a preparatory work for in- troducing among them the Gospel of Christ. 6 Preface. Much of the results of the studies and observa- tions made in those years are embodied in the present work. In 1877 the writer was appointed by the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church to make an official visitation to all our missions in China and Japan. This visitation occupied nearly a year, and embraced a tour along nearly the whole coast of China from Peking to Canton, and five hundred miles up the Yang-tsze-kiang, and a visit to all the open ports of Japan from Hakodate to Nagasaki. The nature of his vis- itation gave him ready access not only to the missions and missionaries of his own Church but to all the open ports and to all the missionaries and to the representative men of our country in those lands, so that his observations are by no means confined to the missions of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. The present volume is thus made up of personal observations in both countries during his former residence in China and his recent visitation. The book is written mainly from a missionary point of view, and is chiefly designed to give such facts as will inspire Preface. 7 deeper interest and greater zeal on the part of Christian people for the evangelization of these great empires ; but it will be found to contain, also, much information on topics of general interest in both these countries, such as their manners, customs, institutions, religions, and foreign relations. The author's observations of twenty-five years ago, combined with those of the tour but recently completed, enable him to view these great questions of progress in mis- sions and in civilization by way of contrast, which will interest and encourage those who are really laboring for the regeneration of these peoples. These chapters are by no means a mere re- publication of certain letters which the author wrote while making the journey. Those letters have all been re-written, and incorporated with a great amount of material and with many subjects that were not at all referred to in the letters. If the book will serve to quicken the zeal of Christians in the work of evangelizing these great empires, and will have some influence in getting 8 Preface. the people of America to understand better both our political and Christian relations towards these neighbors, whose empires are only separated from our own western borders by a steam-ferry, the writer will be compensated for all his labor in giving these facts to the public. Cincinnati, March, 1879. PRONUNCIATION. |T is impossible by any system of English spelling to represent exactly the pronunciation of Chinese *JU or Japanese words, yet by an easy system an ™|* approximation can be made sufficiently accurate I for all the purposes of the reader. In this vol- ume there are scarcely any foreign words used except names of persons or places. A few general princi- ples will render their pronunciation easy. The Chinese language is monosyllabic; but in names, generally, two or more of these monosyllables are used, as Shang-hai; and in English writing they are generally combined, as Shanghai, Hongkong, etc. Every vowel or diphthong creates a syllable; and this is true in both languages, as To-ki-o, Yang-tsze- kiang. The two vowels of the Kiang in this word create what in English would be two syllables; but it is only one Chinese character, and would be con- sidered a monosyllabic word. There is no alphabet in either of the languages; but the Japanese have a system of syllabic spelling, and all their syllables 9 I O PR ON UN CIA TIGN are open, as Yo-ko-ha-ma, Na-ga-sa-ki, etc. For- tunately the missionaries and scholars of both coun- tries have adopted nearly the same system of En- glish orthography for representing the sounds of both languages. The power of consonants is the same as in our own language. G is always hard; ch as in chief ; ng, as an initial in the Chinese, is im- possible to a foreigner without hearing and practicing it. The following table will exhibit the power of the rowels : A as vs\. father — as Ha-ko-da-te. E as in there — as Te, earth, as English ta. I long as in machine — as Ki-o-to, Kami. I short as in sing — as Peking. O long and short as in English — Hong-kong, To-ki-o. U as oo in moon — Shan-tung. Ai as long i in aisle. Aou very long, as in cozu — Taou. Au as in now — Foochow, formerly Eu-chau. Iu as eau in beauty — as Kiu-kiang. Syllables are occasionally closed in the Japanese by a final n or m, sometimes changed to p for euphony. CONTENTS, PAGE. I. From San Francisco to Shanghai, 15 II. From Shanghai to Peking, 44 III. Our North China Mission, 62 IV. The City of Peking, 72 V. Public Buildings of Peking, 91 VI. In the Southern City, 107 VII. From Peking to Shanghai, 120 VIII. From Shanghai to Kiukiang, 132 IX. Our Mission at Kiukiang, 141 X. Adieu to Shanghai, 150 XL From Shanghai to Foochow, 161 XII. The City of Foochow, 173 XIII. Foochow — A Visit to the City, 184 XIV. Foochow — Historical Sketch, 195 XV. A Visit to the Country, 205 XVI. A Conference Organizkd, 223 XVII. Chinese Wedding in High Life, 239 XVIII. Among the Temples, 251 XIX. Confucius, 268 1 1 i2 Contents. PAGE. XX. Monastery of the Bubbling Spring, .... 275 XXI. From Foochow to Hongkong, 292 XXII. Canton, 302 XXIII. From China to Japan, 328 XXIV. Yokohama to Nagasaki, 358 XXV. Nagasaki, 373 XXVI. Yokohama, 385 XXVII. The City of Tokio, 404 XXVIII. Sights in Tokio, 418 XXIX. Christianity in China, 436 XXX. Christianity in Japan, 462 XXXI. Religions of Japan, 458 XXXII. Religions of China, 491 XXXIII. The Women of China and Japan, 520 ILLUSTRATIONS. rAGE. View from the Forbidden City, Peking, . Frontispiece. Our Ocean Palace, 21 Scene on the Pacific Ocean, 27 First Sight of Japan, 3$ The Jinrikisha, 39 Map of Eastern China, 45 Li Hung Chang, 57 A Native on the Peiho, 59 A View in Peking, 65 The Great Wall, 75 The Peking Chariot, 83 Urn in Cloisonne, 99 Platter in Cloisonne, 101 Thirteen Storied Pagoda, 103 Temple of the Seasons, 109 "Hall of Instruction/' 115 Porcelain Tower, 135 Shanghai Merchant's Wife, 151 Wheelbarrow Traveling in Shanghai, 153 A Mandarin, 155 Map of Fokien, 165 foochow on the rlver, 1 75 FOOCHOW ON THE HlLL, 1 99 Field Laborers, 217 Bridal Procession, 243 >3 14 Illustrations. PAGE. The Veiled Bride, 247 A Temple of Confucius, • • • . . 259 Buddhist Monastery — Kushan, 279 Bonzes at Prayer, . 287 A Chinese Boy, 295 Pleasure Boat at Canton, 304 Itinerant Barber, 309 A Street in Canton, 315 Canton Peddler, 323 Map of Japan, 329 Old Japan, 335 Ainos-Aborigines of Japan, 341 Shinto Temple at Hakodate, • 349 Daimio at Home, 353 City of Kobe, 359 Buddhist Shrine at Kobe, 363 Belfry at Ozaka, 367 Young Lady of Ozaka, 370 Women of Nagasaki, 377 Shinto Shrine near Yokohama, 389 Plowing and Sowing Rice, 395 Daibutzu, 401 Daimio and Followers, 407 A Shinto Temple, 413 Atago Yama, 422 Temple of Hachiman, 429 Jimmu Tenno, 470 Interior of Shinto Temple, 475 A Wayside Shrine, 479 Chinese Field Woman, 521 Chinese House Woman, 525 A Chinese Lady, 527 The Little Foot and Shoe, . . 530 Japanese Court Lady, 539 Japanese Girls, 547 Ch INA AND JAPAN. J, I. ^l'om $&*\ J^an&^do to $lfai^l\kL ^k^ jjN the 24th of July 1877, accompanied by my wife and little daughter, I started on a tour of official visitation to the Methodist Episcopal Missions in China and Japan. On the way across the continent I attended the Colorado, Utah, and Southern California Conferences, and on the first day of September was in San Francisco, awaiting the sailing of our steamer. Here I already came in contact with genuine missionary work, and it is not in- appropriate to introduce here a passing notice of our mission among the Chinese in California. At the head of this mission is the Rev. Otis Gib- son, D. D., formerly of the mission in Foochow. Mr. Gibson brought to this mission the ex- perience of several years' labor among the Chinese *5 1 6 China and Japan. at home, and a deep sympathy for them. Our mission here was founded about nine years ago. It has met with a very encouraging degree of success. More than sixty adults have been bap- tized, and several hundred men and women have received more or less of Christian education and influence. The mission owns a fine building, which cost about fourteen thousand dollars, on a lot of ground, costing twelve thousand more. The property is fully worth to-day all that it has cost, and is admirably adapted to its purposes, and is well located in its relation to the most thickly settled Chinese part of the city. It is a large, square, double building of wood, of which most of the buildings of this city are made, on account of the earthquake shocks. One part of the house is occupied by the missionary and his family and American teachers, and still a part of it yields a little revenue from rents. The other half of the building is arranged for school and chapel purposes, and the boarding of the "girls." There are now about twenty -five of these "girls," rescued from the life of shame that was before them, making their home in this building. Nearly all of them are Christians, and all are receiving Christian education. The history of each one of them is a story in itself. They are Dr. Gibson's Mission. 17 all refugees, by their own choice, for some of whom Dr. Gibson has had to do good battle to maintain their security in his house from their owners; that is, from "the company' ' that has imported them into this country. Fortunately the law is on their side whenever they choose voluntarily to escape from their masters ; or rather, there is no law that demands that they shall be returned to their owners. They are, therefore, usually safe whenever they find their way into Dr. Gibson's retreat. Quite a number of " girls" have been thus saved, soul and body. They have become good Christians and have married Christian husbands. In about two weeks from this time there was to be another of these weddings in the mission building. These are always interesting occasions, attended by a num- ber of ladies and friends, who are interested in this department of the mission work. The most of these "girls" are supported through the con- tributions of "the Woman's Missionary Society" of this coast. Besides these "girls," women are sometimes brought here by the men who intend to marry them, and they are supported by their intended husbands, while they are receiving six months' or a year's training in the home and school. Then they are married like "Mellikan man," and live virtuous lives. < 1 8 China and Japan. The great influence of a mission like this can not be measured by counting just so many bap- tized or taught in the school; its very presence is a light to the whole Chinese community and a constant blessing. Dr. Gibson is working in a most difficult, not to say hazardous, field. His mission is between two lines of enemies. The " Chinese companies," and many of the Chinese people are bitterly hostile to him, while the whole force of the hatred to the Chinese, on the part of the whites, breaks around him and his mission. His house has been assailed by the mob; he has been burned in effigy; his life has been threatened, and there is no doubt that he has been in real personal danger. It is not to his shame or ours that his name and our mission stand in the front of the battle on both sides, receiving the brunt of the prejudice of the whites on the one side, and the maledictions of the bad Chinese on the other. But the Chinese of all classes have at last learned that the mission is their true friend, and in every time of need they resort to Dr. Gibson as a counselor and friend. We spent two days in the mission building, attending a part of the exercises and observing its workings. It deserves much more of the sympathy, confidence, prayers, and gifts of the people throughout the whole Church, than it has Chinese Services. 19 yet received. Wednesday night is devoted to singing and a Bible-class. With the singing I was surprised and delighted. In my own mis- sionary labors among this people, in the early days of Chinese Missions, I really feared that the Chinese would never be able to sing well, and that this would be a serious defect in their relig- ious life; but here they were, male and female, singing correctly, heartily, and sweetly. In the Bible-class they gave evidence of a very clear appreciation of the temptation of Christ, which was the lesson for the evening. Last Sabbath was their quarterly-meeting. In the morning they held their love-feast, in which tea and crackers were served, instead of bread and water, and about thirty gave their testimony for Christ. After this came the sacrament of the Lord's- supper, which was a very impressive occasion. The excitement at this time was at a glowing heat in San Francisco, and the mission was at its most critical point. It is destined, however, to triumph, and to be an important element in the wise and just settlement of this vexed "Chinese question." On the 1 2th of September we sailed from San Francisco, in the steamship City of Peking, of the Pacific Mail Company, a magnificent ves- sel ; indeed, a vessel like this might well rank 20 China and Japan. first among the modern wonders of the world. She is about four hundred feet long, fifty feet wide, and about fifty feet from keel to upper decks. She carries three square-rigged and one fore and aft mast, and a full set of sails. She is of five thousand tons burden, and is freighted now to her full capacity. She carries twelve hundred tons of coal, and usually makes the run from San Francisco to Hong Kong in from twenty-five to thirty days. Her engine is a mag- nificent specimen of modern genius and skill. We have six huge boilers, four of which only are in use. She has six cylinders, three low and three high pressure. The power is equal to that of four thousand horses. Our screw or pro- pelling wheel is twenty-four feet in diameter ; and thus, with the power of four thousand horses driving this great wheel, this huge vessel, weigh- ing in all about eight thousand tons, is impelled through the water at the rate of about ten miles an hour. When the winds are favorable, the sails are set, and then we have made as high as four- teen miles an hour. The steering apparatus is also under the control of steam, so that a man can turn this mountain of a ship in whatever di- rection he wishes by a single finger, and can direct the whole great engine by a single hand. So with this great and still more complicated '■Vf-lTWl'.M" 1 ''!,' ■ili:.;!'i' ''■i |l |,'i|,|'.!"l ! : l| ; Out at Sea. 23 machine, which we call man, a single thought or a single volition sends it where we will, and makes of it what we choose. The ship is well manned and under strict dis- cipline. The officers dress in uniform, and are strictly under naval regulations. We have had two false alarms of fire, the object of which is to practice the men. In a very few moments, every man was in his place, and four streams of water were playing on the pretended fire. It is quite an exciting occasion, but things would hardly move so smoothly in a real fire. We have plenty of pleasant company, — Mr. H. H. Lowry, wife, and children, and Mr. W. G. Benton, our own missionaries going to China, the former returning to Peking, and the latter going to Kiukiang. We have also Rev. Mr. Pierson and wife, and his sister, returning to Paoting Fu, about a hun- dred miles from Peking, and five young ladies, missionaries of the American and Presbyterian Boards, going to various parts of China and Japan. We have naval officers going to join the Pacific squadron ; consuls from several countries, going to Japanese and Chinese ports ; and nearly every nation of the world is represented, either in the cabin or in the steerage. We have six hundred and thirty Chinese in the steerage, re- turning home. These vessels arc now carrying 24 China and Japan. nearly as many Chinese back home as they are bringing over. If politicians and excited and unreasonable men would let "the Chinese ques- tion' ' alone, like a great many other questions, it would soon regulate itself. We have had, all the way, what sailors would call good weather, but what novices would con- sider pretty rough. The sea has been high most of the time, and we have had strong winds and a large share of rainy and misty weather. Our course has been as far north as 46 ° 48' of lati- tude, on the principle that the farthest way around is the nearest way across — which, in this case, is literally true. A direct line from San Francisco to Yokohama would measure four thousand seven hundred and forty-six miles ; by our semi-circular sweep of more than ten degrees, we make it in about four thousand five hundred miles ; while side-wheel steamers, which must run to the south, in order to find lighter winds and smoother seas, make the distance about five thousand two hundred miles. But, altogether, it has been what would be called a rough pass- age, but still favorable for making a quick one. Judging from our voyage, I can not tell why this should be called the Pacific Ocean. It has certainly not been very pacific any time since we left San Francisco. It has been fully as rough Sights on the Ocean. 25 most of the time as we usually find the Atlantic, and at times, I have seen the waves almost as high as any I ever saw on the other sea ; but then this is the month of September, and in the midst of equinoctial times. It is needless to describe the monotonous scenes and incidents on board the vessel. It is enough that we had all the variety that is offered by the boundless and ever-changing sea, by all kinds of weather, from the dead calm to the gale and squall that lash the sea into foam, by the never-ending changes that accompany sunrise and sunset, by the starlit and the moonlit nights, by sea-sickness and by good company. To me, there is no weariness in a sea voyage. The sea itself, and the ship, are exhaustless subjects of interest, even for a long voyage. To-day the great ocean lies around us, calm, smooth, motion- less, except great heavy swells, as if it were tak- ing deep, long-drawn breaths. There is scarcely a ripple to be seen on all its bright bosom. Nu- merous nautili pass by us, with their tiny, trans- parent sails spread out, at once catching sufficient of the gently moving air to push them along the water, and decomposing the light that falls upon them, like a prism, reflecting the colors of the rainbow ; thus serving at once as instruments of motion and organs of beauty. They reminded 26 China and Japan. us of the miniature boats we made in younger years, and started off on some fancied peril- ous voyage, on some stream or meadow pond ; though in the success with which they sail along, they surpass our little crafts in skillful navigation, and merit well their name of "Portuguese men- of-war.' ' Another day, and how all this peace- ful scene is changed! The sky, that yesterday was so clear, to-day is covered with heavy black clouds, rapidly scudding above us, with their ragged borders fringed with gold, and now and then permitting a little blue sky to appear be- tween them. The sea, scarcely exhibiting a rip- ple yesterday, to-day presents a wild and varied scene. Yesterday, a sleeping infant ; to-day, a giant, enraged to fury, rolling in large, irregular, broken waves ; here breaking and throwing high in air their briny spray, and there raising up their high summits, flashing in the sunbeams, like crests of silver; now seeming to hush down to rest, and then, in a little while, becoming doubly wild and broken. It is a grand sight, in- deed, to look out upon this vast circle of waters, heaving, falling, splashing, and foaming like some enraged monster. Our ship, too, that sat proudly erect on the smooth water of yesterday, to-day is tossed about wildly on the excited waters. Proudly still she SCENE ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN'. Battle with the Waves. 29 moves, and gracefully, but with what majesty does she plow through the mad waters, now lifting her head high above the waves, now dart- ing fiercely into the deep sea, now bending far over to leeward, straining every brace, and her shrouds creaking before the pressure of the wind, and in a moment, like a living giant, roused to resistance, she rights up again, and darts along, erect and noble, triumphing over the sea and the storm. The sky, too, is a per- petual study to the voyager, as it bends above him, like a changeable chart, every day and night, an arched dome dipping down on every side to meet the waters. Now it is an immense concave of bright blue, a gorgeous azure canopy ; now it is obscured by hazy or black or dense or broken clouds. Now it is made glorious by the ris- ing or the setting of the sun, its beams flashing all across the wide ocean. Now it is studded with stars. These stars, and the moon, too, seem like the faces of old familiar friends, that when every thing else of home and country has passed away, seem still to follow our track, and to watch us with their flashing eyes from their lofty homes. The schools of large fishes, some of them large enough to be dignified with the name of whales, come leaping and swimming about us. 30 China and Japan. Sometimes they leap clear of the water and plunge into the sea again, throwing great masses of water about them. Porpoises, albicores, dol- phins, bonitos, and black fish abound. Gulls and petrels give us their company for nearly all the voyage. We almost fell in love with the stormy petrels, familiarly known under the name of "Mother Carey's chickens. " They are small, not exceeding the size of our robins; their color is black, their breast and belly being covered with white feathers. Their wings are long and their bills are curved like those of birds of prey. It is astonishing to witness these little creatures, hundreds of miles from land, as if they made their perpetual home, not on, but above the waters of the ocean, flying about us from morning to night, and we have seen them far on into the night, without seeming to rest for a mo- ment. Some say they are more numerous in stormy weather, but our sailors disputed this, and said that they are but seldom seen in very stormy weather, some lone wanderer only being seen to dart across the dark sky, as if eager to escape the storm. Prominent among all the birds that follow us, through size, beauty, and gracefulness, is the albatross. If the eagle has appropriated the name of king of birds, the albatross is entitled to The Albatross. 31 that of queen. Not so majestic as the eagle, it surpasses it in beauty, and is its superior in the agility and grace of its motions. One species is a creamy white, from which it receives its name. Others are of a beautiful glossy brown color, and white underneath. The feet are webbed, and they are duck-billed. Their wings are enormous in length. They vary in size, presenting a stretch of wing of from eight to twelve feet. While these huge birds are graceful almost as a swan, while sitting on the water or gliding over the waves, their most captivating appearance is when they have their broad pinions stretched to their utmost extent, and sail, apparently without the least effort, with grace and swiftness, through the air. We have often watched them for many minutes skimming in their rapid flight above the waves, sometimes mounting high in the air, and at others dipping down between the billows, fre- quently changing their direction, whirling in large circles and darting forward in straight lines, and during all this time we have not been able to detect the movement of a single muscle. We have plenty to keep our minds occupied, and a fine opportunity to rest and read. We have a daily Bible study, and three religious services on the Sabbath ; the first one consisting of the reading of the Protestant Episcopal serv- 32 China and Japan. ice, by the captain. The question of the preced- ence given to this Protestant Episcopal service, insomuch that it must be read by an irreligious captain, and all hands mustered to attend the serv- ice, while five ordained ministers of other Christian Churches sit and hear, might admit of some re- flection. The only reason given is, "It is the rule of the company.'' However, in the after- noon we have our Bible study, and in the even- ing a sermon. By a wise arrangement, much time is spent every day, on shipboard, at the table, and our living, considering that we have no access to the daily markets, is very good. One interesting phenomenon of our journey is the dropping of a day, at the one hundred and eightieth degree of longitude from Greenwich. Up to that time we daily fell behind New York time until we had lost about six hours, making us twelve hours behind Greenwich time. We then take up the Asiatic day, jumping from Monday to Wednesday, and putting us about eighteen hours ahead of New York, or exactly twelve hours ahead of Greenwich time. When we get fairly to China we will be thus about twelve hours ahead of New York time, and our day will be the American night. As we come back we will pick up this lost day again, and all will be even. At Yokohama. 35 Almost every body on a first ship voyage keeps a journal, and after the voyage is over is generally ashamed of it. As this is not my first voyage I am saved from that labor, but, in consequence, have few details to write, most of which, however, would be of little importance, if I had. But a single vessel has been seen by us on all our way, and that so far away on the horizon that we could make out nothing but her white sails. We only know by faith that there is any other world than sky and ocean. It seems strange to hear nothing by mail or paper or gossip for three weeks. It is a feeling somewhat as if the world had consented to stand still for a while — a feeling that arises not only from the absence of every thing but the far-away sky and deep sea, but from the stillness that is every- where around us. The world is so quiet now ; when we touch Yokohama it will wake up again, and all the noise and bustle and stir of life will be about us. October 3d. — We are sailing into the harbor of Yokohama. A beautiful ride of four hours takes us up the bay, on each side of which was the new, interesting scenery of Japan, very beautiful in itself, but made more charming by having seen no land for three weeks. On the one side of us is a smoking volcano ; on the 36 China and Japan. other, the sublime Fuji-yama, an extinct vol- cano, a perfect cone, nearly thirteen thousand feet high, with its summit capped with snow, glistening in the sunbeams. It was one of the grandest sights I ever saw, and is the pride and glory of Japan. All along, on both sides of the bay, are strung the Japanese villages. At two o'clock we anchored in the bay of Yeddo, before Yokohama, a mixed city of foreign and Japan- ese life. We spent twenty-four hours here with Mr. Maclay and Mr. Correll, our missionaries in this city. We expect to spend some time on our way back, and make our visitation to Japan on our homeward way; so I will not write it up now. The most novel and the jolliest thing here was a ride in the jinrikisha, which, inter- preted, means " man-pull carriage," hence called sometimes by foreigners "the Pullman car of Japan," and which is about as near a very large two -wheeled baby -carriage as any thing I can think of. They are drawn by men, who trot along about as fast as we ordinarily drive in a pleasure ride. The ride of an hour in one of these, and which is really delightful, costs ten cents. Thursday, October 4th, about six o'clock P. M., we embarked by the steamer Tokio Mam, which is a fine side -wheel steamer of three thousand On the Coast of Japan. 37 tons, one of a line of more than forty steamers belonging to the "Mitsu Bishi Company," a native Japanese company, over which the Japa- nese Government has large control. We had a pleasant sail of three hundred miles along the coast ; and then, on Saturday morning, reached Kobe, the port of entry for Ozaka. Kobe is almost a new town, and nearly all foreign ; the old or Japanese part of the town is Hiogo. It is beautifully situated at the base of a high range of mountains, contains fifty thousand inhabitants, and is very neat and clean, contrasting in this respect with Chinese towns. It is wonderful how many foreign ways and things have been already adopted by the Japanese. The government buildings, post-office, telegraph office, governor's home, etc., are very fine. Jihrikishas> draw T n by nearly naked men, are flying in every direction. The speed of these man-horses is remarkable ; and the movement of their limbs, too, bears a close resemblance to the movements of a thorough- bred horse in trotting. A fine narrow-gauge railroad runs from here to Kioto, about sixty miles, and telegraph lines to various parts of the country, all owned and managed by the govern- ment. The railroad is a model of neatness and completeness. It was built by the English, at very heavy expense, and with no attempt at 3 38 China and Japan. economy. Indeed, one can not help feeling that the inexperienced natives have been greatly imposed on by needless extravagance in all these public works. The cars are of fine, hard wood, about the size of street cars, doors in the sides, and of three classes — the first class quite a Pullman parlor car. The principal roadways cross the road on tunneled bridges of brick faced with stone. The depots are superior in style, and very neat and clean. The sides of the road are graded and sodded. We rode on it twenty miles to Ozaka, the "New York of Japan," a city of five hundred and sixty thousand registered inhabitants, with a neater depot than any in Cincinnati. It is a very fine city, on a river which intersects it in various directions. Hundreds of junks are anchored in the river. It is crossed by several excellent bridges, one of iron. The Mint is a fine build- ing ; so is the City Hall. A part of us dined at the Japanese Hotel, on seven courses, — an excellent dinner for fifty cents each; after which we rode two hours through the city, in about ten jinrik- is has, the admired of all admirers. It is a live city. We brought about one thousand tons of freight here, and carried six hundred tons away. Many of the Japanese now dress in foreign cloth- ing ; many of them can hardly be said to dress The Inland Sea. 41 at all. There is a good corps of missionaries here at Ozaka, and also at Kobe. We left Kobe on Monday, October 8th, at four A. M., and sailed a day and night through the ''Inland Sea," than which I think nothing on earth can be more beautiful. Our course lay among more than a thousand islands, of every conceivable shape, some of them entirely bare, but most of them covered with the richest ver- dure, and nearly all cultivated and terraced to their very summits. All of them are mountain- ous, full of peaks and water -washed ravines. Towns and cities, some of them fortified, are seen hid away in every little bay. It has been like traveling through fairy land. The weather was beautiful and balmy as June. On Tuesday, the 9th, at daylight, we passed through a very narrow strait, and then anchored for three hours before Shimonoseki, the scene of a very unright- eous and needless battle between foreign ships and the native forts, a few years ago. The forts were demolished. This morning we passed the last of the clustered islands among which we have been sailing. It was the most beautiful of the group, a perfect little paradise, in the heart of which nestled a little town, as beautiful and peaceful as a New England village. O Japan, what wonderful things nature and the God of 42 China and Japan. nature have done for thee! At nine o'clock P. M. we anchored at Nagasaki. Wednesday, October lotk. — The Bay of Na- gasaki lies before us, and all around it the city. For situation it is the perfection of beauty. Imagine the Ohio River to fill all the valley of Cincinnati, from the hills in the north to the hills of Kentucky, and all the hills around such a bay to be covered with tropical green, and cultivated and terraced to their very summits, while all around their bases spreads a strange city, and you have the scene that lies before us. About ten o'clock a heavy rain set in, and we could go about but little. We went ashore, however, and spent the day with Mr. Davison and wife, our only missionaries here. His home is on the hill-side, from which we have a fine view of the city and bay. Some fine foreign residences are here, and good public buildings. The population is about thirty thousand natives, and of foreigners about one hundred and fifty. It is one of the proud and aristocratic cities. The people are slow in their sympathy for for- eigners. Three missionary families are here — Methodist, American Reformed, and Church of England ; but they have not yet met with great success. This was headquarters for the govern- ment during the rebellion which has just now In the China Sea. 43 been suppressed. On last Sunday the governor of the province was beheaded for unfaithfulness; to-day his successor died of cholera. On Thursday, the nth, we steamed out of the bay and harbor of Nagasaki, and immedi- ately found ourselves in a fierce gale, blowing outside; the gale and the very high sea kept up all day; all the party but myself were in bed, seasick — what a contrast with our sail through the inland sea! But such is human life, — always and every-where, mingled joy and sorrow. Friday y October \2tJ1. — High winds and seas have kept up all night. Our ship was tossed about on a stormy sea, creaking and groaning in every joint. The sunshine is bright to-day, and the wind and sea are fast going down. We have now been just a month at sea, and we are within a day's sail of Shanghai. II. jVom $Vai^ai to Peking. ||||ATURDAY, October 13th.— Here we are, p^ at the mouth of the Woosung, twelve miles Ak from Shanghai, which we will reach in & about two hours. As we turned from the 1 Yang-tsze-kiang into the Woosung, and " steamed slowly up the narrow and crooked river, we were impressed with the changes that twenty-five years had made. Then Shanghai was just becoming a port of foreign trade. A few infe- rior hongs and dwellings were stretched along the river, and the stream was literally crowded with native junks of all sizes and classes, with here and there only a sailing ship or two from foreign lands. Now every thing is changed. As we entered the river we saw a huge fortification, into the construction of which foreign ideas and foreign skill had largely entered. A little far- ther up the river was an arsenal, where natives, instructed and guided by foreigners, are manu- 44 Up the Woosung. 47 facturing all kinds of large and small firearms. Near it is a ship-yard, where the natives are manufacturing steam and sailing vessels and gun- boats. Two fine, symmetrical gunboats, built entirely by Chinese, were lying here at anchor. As we ascend the river I see but few of the old, cumbersome junks, and notice that they have been displaced by steamships, many of them owned by the "Chinese Merchants' Steamship Company." The harbor now presents quite a foreign, instead of a Chinese, appearance. Along the banks of the river were beautiful villas; and when we reached the city, instead of the few bungalows and hongs of twenty-five years ago, there was a magnificent foreign city, with some as fine buildings as the eye could wish to see. To be sure, beyond this foreign city there was the old native Shanghai, shut up within its walls, as immovable, as noisy, as dirty as ever. But we expect to visit Shanghai several times yet before leaving Northern China, and will reserve what we have to say till we have seen more of it. When we reached the city we were welcomed and entertained by Rev. J. W. Lambuth, of the Methodist Church South Mission, a brother be- loved, to whom and his excellent wife most American travelers owe a great debt for their generous and hospitable attention and services 48 China and Japan. rendered to them. We had but two days' stay in Shanghai at this time, and one of them was the Sabbath and the other was a rainy Monday. On Sabbath day we met many of the mission- aries and a pleasant congregation in Union Chapel, and preached to them. We spent most of the day on Monday riding about the new and foreign city, the famous jinrikishas hav- ing also been introduced here. Old Shanghai, within the walls, we did not enter, but learned that it is precisely the same crowded, filthy city that it was a score of years ago. There is a large missionary force in Shanghai, their work reaching far out into the interior. Of these mis- sionaries we will speak again. Our brethren of the Methodist Church South have a very pros- perous mission, whose headquarters are in this city. They have work in Shanghai, Kahding, Naziang, Wangdoo, Soo Chow, Fahuho, Sing- kyung, and Tsungsoo ; four foreign missionaries and six native preachers, four deacons and two elders, nine schools and the " Clopton Girls' Boarding School," with over a hundred children in their schools. On Monday evening, October 15th, we went on board the Chinese steamer Hae Shin ("sea gem"), one of a line of steamers which a Chinese company have purchased from Russell & Co., a An Act of Courtesy. 49 very nice little propeller of about one thousand tons. Our missionary company was all the pas- sengers we had, and we had the whole neat little cabin to ourselves. It is worthy of being re- marked that when this company of native mer- chants purchased these ships and began running the line of vessels up and down the coast of China, and up the Yang-tsze-kiang River, they at once reduced the fare for all travel, and sent circulars to all the missionary families, offering to them a still further reduction of one-third on these already reduced rates for all the travel they wished on their vessels. It is evident from this that these more advanced Chinese appreciate the difference between missionaries and mer- chants, and comprehend, to a very considerable extent, the purposes for which these missionaries are in China. It might be well to remark, also, that the president of this Chinese company, al- though not a Christian, had in early life received much education and training under the hands of a missionary, Dr. Brown ; and probably these early influences had something to do in the gen- erous action induced by the president of the company. About four o'clock, Tuesday morn- ing, we got under way, and had a most delight- ful sail up the Chinese coast. All the way from the mouth of the Yang- So China and Japan tsze-kiang to Taku, at the mouth of the Peiho, the coast of North China is rocky and bold ; but this mountainous strip does not extend far into the interior. Immediately beyond it, through this same length of territory, stretches a great plain a thousand miles long, and as many wide, perhaps one of the largest sweeps of prairie land on the earth. The whole vast territory is subject to be overflowed by the rising of the two great rivers, the Yellow, and the Yang-tsze-kiang. It is through the region of this great plain, too, that there occur so frequently great droughts, and in consequence great famines. A terrible famine had been raging for two years, at the time of our visit. It is supposed that five mill- ions of people perished of starvation in the provinces of Shansi and Shantung. As we passed up the coast I was surprised to discover that the Yellow River had changed its place of embouchure into the ocean. Years ago it dis- charged its great volume of yellow, muddy water, into the Yellow Sea, a hundred miles below the great Shantung promontory; now it has cut out for itself a new channel, and empties into the Gulf of Pi-chi-li, a hundred miles north of the promontory. All along this northern coast, for seven hun- dred miles, are out-stations, where native or for Mission Stations on the Coast. 51 eign missionaries are laboring. The Shantung promontory extends far out into the sea, and is a couple hundred miles in width. All over that region are mission out-stations, of the American Southern Baptist, American Presbyterian, and the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. After rounding the promontory we reached the city of Chi-foo, a city made famous by the recent settlement there of the difficulty, growing out of the murder of Mr. Margery, an English Consul, and which is also a kind of Cape May, or Long Branch, for the merchants of Shanghai. It is also a great missionary center. The American Presbyterians, the United Presbyterians of Scot- land, the English Baptists, and the American Southern Baptists have flourishing missions here. We remained here only a few hours, and the same afternoon passed Tung-Chow, another im- portant missionary center. Our course thus lay along the Chinese coast for about six hundred miles, and my companions were constantly indi- cating to me missionary points and out-stations along the whole coast. The weather was de- lightful and the moon was full, so that this part of our journey was very pleasant. On Friday morning we reached the mouth of the Peiho River. Here w r e met "the bar," and had to be partially unloaded before our vessel 52 China and Japan. could get over. While lying here, a heavy gale came up and we did not get over the bar till Saturday morning, when we entered the river at Taku, a city made famous by the battle, in which the French destroyed the native forts, and threat- ened Peking, and thus opened Northern China. While we were there the Chinese authorities were witnessing experiments with American tor- pedoes, being about to purchase some for the defense of the mouth of the river, — a very use- less expenditure of half a million of dollars. At eleven o'clock we started up the river, having fifty miles yet to Tientsin. It was a very pleasant sail through the narrow and winding river, running through the midst of the vast plain, reaching from the Peiho to the Yellow River. It was to me a new part of China, interesting from the different style of houses, of tombs, of products, and of modes of travel. About six o'clock in the evening we ran aground, and had to wait till four o'clock on Sunday morning for the tide, when we again got under way and came within five miles of Tientsin, when we grounded again. The water in the river is generally low at this season of the year, but now unusually so, because of the north-west wind which keeps the tide from flowing up. We have, therefore, the prospect of lying here an indefinite length of At Tientsin. S3 time, waiting for the water to become deep enough to float us over this shallow reach, or seek some other method of completing the jour- ney. The latter alternative was adopted. Mr. Lowry, myself, and his two boys, hiring a don- key for each, made our way across the fields to our "mission compound." The day was a lovely one, and the ride, of a little more than an hour's duration (through fields of the peculiar cabbage of China, of gar- lic, and of millet, and among the unique mound- like tombs), brought us to the foreign settlement. On arriving, we found that Mr. Pyke, our missionary at Tientsin, had already gone down the river in a small boat, to meet and receive us, knowing that by this time we must be tired of steamer life. In a few hours after we reached Tientsin, he returned, and brought with him the ladies. On Monday morning another trip had to be made to the steamer for our baggage, for the steamer itself did not get to the wharf until Tuesday. Thus did the refusal of the govern- ment, either to improve, or to permit the im- provement of the navigation of this shallow and crooked stream, compel the Gem of the Ocean, one of their own steamers, to consume four days in making a distance of fifty miles. Tientsin is the great emporium for the north 54 China and Japan. of China, as Canton is for the south. It extends for several miles on both sides of the river, on the banks of which are many quays and docks, with large public buildings, chief of which are the custom-house, warehouses and temples. The stores are handsome and well furnished, but the private houses are no ornaments to the streets, being built, as in all large Chinese cities in the north, within a court, inclosed by a brick Avail. We find here a busy scene. All the vessels of the "Chinese Merchants' Company' ' were engaged in hurrying up rice, to be conveyed from this port into the interior, to relieve the terrible fam- ine. Here we see the weakness of Chinese civ-, ilization. Tens of thousands of bags of rice were piled up on the docks, with no means but donkeys and donkey carts to convey any of it two hundred miles into the interior to touch the famine-stricken district. This was, in part, the cause of the great amount of suffering; not the lack of food, but the inability to convey it to the starving people. At Tientsin, we were done with all foreign things, and had to take to Chinese methods. We were then eighty miles by land, or one hun- dred and twenty by water from Peking, and had to take our choice between either mule carts by land, or Chinese boats by the river. We chose Up the Peiho. 55 the boats; so we chartered five Chinese house- boats, each about thirty feet long and six broad, two-thirds of the length covered with boards and bamboo work, under which was a little room, six by eight feet to sit in, and another of about the same size to sleep in. One of these boats we used for our traveling dining hotel, in which we had our cooks and provisions. Each family had a boat, and we all took our meals, in true picnic fashion, on our dining boat. Thus, on Tuesday, accompanied by Mr. Pyke and family, and Mr. Lowry and family, who had been our companions all the way, we started for Tung Chow, one hundred and twenty miles away. We had to proceed under difficulties, for the adverse winds were so strong that for twenty-four hours we were still in sight of Tientsin, and it was not un- til Saturday morning that we were ready to leave the boats. For each boat we had four Chinese men for horses to pull us up the most winding river you ever saw. The wind continued heavy and ahead for three days, and we made very slow progress, but we got on very pleasantly. Except for the wind, the weather was clear and fine, the scenery was novel and interesting, our little boats were comfortable, we had plenty of time by day and night to read and to think, had good Chinese cooks, and a delightful time 5 6 China and Japan. three times a day when we met together for our meals. The number of barges or junks continually passing up and down this busy stream is a proof of the wealth and populousness of the country, many of them being engaged in commerce, and many of them are government boats, employed chiefly in conveying to the capital grain and other produce of the land, collected from the people of the neighboring provinces, who pay their taxes or rents chiefly in kind. The junks are strongly built, and curve upward at each extremity, one end being much higher than the other. The sails are of matting, — sometimes of cotton — somewhat fan shaped, and fold up much like a fan. Great labor is required in setting them, as the Chinese have no proper machinery for that purpose, so that all their maneuvers in working a ship are performed by actual strength. Most sailors, with their families, live constantly on board the junks, having no other home on shore. As we were passing up the river we were pleased to see one striking evidence of a concession on the part of the Chinese: Li Hung Chang, the viceroy of the province of Chili, in which is situated the Capital City, Peking, passed us in a beautiful little steam barge, owned by himself, and kept for his own purposes of trav- A Leader in China. 57 LI HUKG CHANG. eling up and down the river. He is one of the most progressive men of China, and is cautiously and judiciously effecting important changes. We give a portrait of this man, undoubtedly the most influential and advanced mandarin in China. In putting down rebellions at home, or in mak- ing treaties with foreign nations, he is the man of all others on whom the government relies. 58 China and Japan While believing that his own nation is capable of great things, he is at the same time deeply conscious of the power of Christian countries, and very much desires to fathom the secret of their greatness. Once when filled with admira- tion of the beauty and genius shown in some foreign instruments, he exclaimed, "How won- derful! How comes it that such inventions and discoveries are always foreign ?" On account of head winds, and a strong cur- rent against us, most of our way had to be "tracked" by human horses. Four men at the end of a long rope pulled us nearly the whole length of the way, and from Friday morning till Saturday morning pulled in one continuous stretch for twenty-four hours, except when they stopped for their meals and their tea. At length, by hard and steady pulling, they brought us to Tungchow, one hundred and twenty miles from Tientsin, about daylight, Saturday morning. Here we found a warm welcome from mission- ary friends, unloaded our baggage, and packed it on the peculiar wheelbarrows of North China, got a good dinner, and at one o'clock, in a cavalcade of carts, wheelbarrows, chairs, and one pony, we started for Peking. I had the honor of riding the pony, but found, before I had finished the fourteen miles, that in this case, as in all others, Tung Chow to Peking. 59 A NATIVE ON THE PEIHO. I was paying dearly for the honor. The prin- cipal road between Tung Chow and Peking, is a government highway, built many hundred years ago. It is broad, bordered on each side, in many places, by trees of immense size, and paved with large, flat stones. The pavement is in the middle of the road, instead of at the sides, as with us, which is easily accounted for by the rarity of wheel carriages, even in long journeys. The natives say of this famous road that it was the delight of one century, and the curse of all centuries since. The government 60 China and Japan pays no attention to keeping the road in any kind of order. In consequence, the large flag- ging stones are smooth, broken, many of them out of place, and all of them greatly worn ; so that it is almost impossible to pass over the way in a wheel vehicle. On account of this, we turned aside from the public way and took by ways through the country, presenting to us a pleasant and inter- esting ride. About five o'clock in the evening we caught sight of the great walls of Peking, and, in a little while, entered through the south- eastern gate into the ancient capital of China. This is the extreme end of our journey, and when we leave here, in about ten days, our course will lie in the homeward direction. On Sabbath morning, we attended a very pleasant service in the Chinese chapel, when Mr. Lowry preached to about one hundred natives. At night I preached in the "Union Chapel/' to about all the foreigners that are here. When I retired to my room that Sunday night, and realized that I was within the venerable capi tal of China, of which I had read and thought so much, but which I had never hoped to see, and that I was surrounded by a goodly band of missionaries, peacefully and safely sowing the seeds of the Redeemer's kingdom, I could not but In' the Great City. 6i exclaim — how great things has God wrought in so short a time! Twenty-five years before, my most sanguine dreams could not have reached the thought that in this brief time missionary stations would be established along the north- ern coast of China from the Yang-tse to the head of the Gulf of Pi-chi-li, and that the minis- ters of Christ would be building chapels within the " Imperial City," and establishing schools within the shadow of the Imperial residence it- self. But here it is, a realized fact; and from this great center the "Glad Tidings" are sound- ing forth through nearly all Northern China. III. Oul c ]\foftl\ C^iifa Minion. OCTOBER 27th, which was Saturday, we reached Peking, and appointed Tuesday, the 30th, for our annual meeting. On Monday, we visited various parts of the city, and on Tuesday, the 30th, just twenty days behind the time we had appointed we organized the annual meeting. The work we are doing in the North China mission was re- ported as follows : Peking is divided into two stations, the Tartar and Chinese cities. For the last two years Mr. Walker has been operating in the Tartar city. In this part of the city is our mission compound," consisting of two pieces of property, on the oldest of which is built, first, two moderately fair, one-story brick resi- dences, in one of which lives Mr. Walker, and in the other, Mr. Pilcher. Secondly, the girls' boarding-school, and the residence, belonging to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, under 62 North China Mission. 6$ the direction of Miss Campbell. Miss Porter, her co-laborer, was on her way back to China. We met her, at Shanghai, on our return. Thirdly, our domestic chapel, a very pleasant, good-sized building, used for the more private and orderly services of the Church members. It is all that is needed, except that it ought to have a board floor instead of a brick one. On the second piece of property, unfortunately separated from the first by two or three intervening Chinese properties, we have, first, a very comfortable and well built brick residence, occupied by Mr. Davis. Secondly, a neat and pleasant home and comfortable hospital and dispensary, hitherto oc- cupied by Miss Combs, M. D., but now delivered over to Miss Howard, M. D., Miss Combs being removed to Kiukiang. This last property be- longs to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. Our property is thus in Peking, three chapels, $6,500; three parsonages, $14,000; Woman's Foreign Missionary buildings, $9,500. Mr. Walker reported seventy-eight in his Sabbath-school, nine boys in the day-schools, nineteen members, eleven probationers, and five baptized during the year. He organized this year, the first board of stewards and the first quar- terly conference. Te Jui has been the native assistant, and they have had a good year. 64 China and Japan The Chinese city has been in the charge of Mr. Davis. In this city, we have a miserable substitute for a chapel, because the authorities will not allow us to build one. We have been holding possession here, however, and have had almost daily preaching for five years. It is a hard location, and yet we are hopeful of victory some day. Mr. Davis thinks he finds increasing friendship of the natives, but increasing hostility of the officials and gentry. The average congre- gation is about twenty; there are nine boys in the school, eight members of the Church here, and three baptized children. This is the only chapel of any kind, in the southern city, and meets with much opposition. Chen Ta Yung, a native local preacher, had been laboring here. Tientsin was reported by Mr. Pyke, who has had charge there for three years. This I look upon as a very important missionary point, a city of, perhaps, a hundred thousand population, and of considerable foreign interest. It is the head of navigation for vessels of much size, and is, therefore, the entrepot for Peking and all North China. Many Chinese, from all parts of North China, come here. It is occupied by the Amer- ican Board, with two families and a single man ; by the London Missionary Society, by two fami- lies ; by the English new connection Methodists, Progress in North China. 67 with four families ; and by us, with one family. The New Connection Methodists have two good properties, for residence and schools. We have a fine compound, about three hundred by two hundred feet, with one good home on it. As soon as possible, there should be another house built here, and another family from Peking put into it ; while a new man should be sent to Pe- king. To re-enforce Tientsin, is the most press- ing need that I saw in North China. There is a pretty fair chapel within the city walls, where service is kept up every day. We have fifteen members and twelve probationers. The work here is prosperous and hopeful. Our brethren have not been idle in spreading out into the country, having some appointments as much as four hundred miles away from Peking, reaching up north to the great wall, and south into the province of Shantung. This country work, especially in the south, is very promising. There seems to be a real giving way of all the people of these more interior regions. All our missionaries take their part in this intinerant work. Other societies are also doing a good work in those provinces lying about the Yellow River ; so that there are now one thousand two hundred and forty-eight native members reported in North China. A good report was given of the 68 China and Japan woman's work by Misses Combs, Campbell, and Howard. In the afternoon of October 30th, we had a Sunday-school anniversary of all the Sunday- schools in Peking. About one hundred and thirty children were present, and about one hun- dred adults. The exercises consisted of singing and a lesson on the blackboard. It was a beauti- ful, interesting, and suggestive occasion, under the direction of Mr. Pilcher. During this annual meeting, four new men were licensed to preach : First, Wen Yung, a very promising man, who stood ninety-five in his examination ; second, Wang Cheng Pei, who stood a hundred in the examination on the first three books of the Old Testament, and first two of the New Testament, but his character was held, for quite a time, on the subject of ancestral worship. No one can imagine the depth and intensity of the hold of this ancestral worship on the Chinese mind. He promises well for the future. Third, Shang Ching Yuen, examination ninety; and, fourth, Wang Ching Yuen, examination ninety-five. I was most favorably impressed with the character, the piety, and the attainments of all these men. On Saturday afternoon, after a sacramental service, conducted by Mr. Lowry, we read out the appointments for the year. On Sabbath Missionary Results. 69 morning the annual sermon in Chinese was preached by Mr. Pyke, after which Te Jui and Chen Ta Yung, previously elected by the North Indiana Conference, were ordained deacons. These are two excellent men. The first is brill- iant and scholarly; the second is solid, and rich in good sense. They are the first ordained men of our North China Mission. May God keep them faithful ! The following are the statistics of our North China Mission : Missionaries, 5 ; Assistant Mis- sionaries, 5 ; Woman's Foreign Missionary Soci- ety, 4 ; preachers on trial, 2 ; licensed preachers, 4; exhorter, 1; total agents, 21 ; members, 59; probationers, 87; total, 146; baptisms, 17; deaths, 2; baptized children, 14; girls' boarding school, I ; pupils, 17; boys' schools, 2; pupils, 18; Sab- baths chools, 3 ; scholars, 118 ; chapels, 5 ; value, $6,500; parsonages, 4; value, $19,000; Woman's Foreign Missionary school building and home, $4,000; hospital and house, $5,500. I need hardly speak of the importance of our North China Mission, in its relation to the evan- gelization of China. Its center of operations is in Peking, the venerable capital of the empire, rich in its history and traditions, and powerful in its influence over the whole country. Of course, it is full of national pride and prejudice, 5 70 China and Japan. and the work must be more slow in its progress, but eventually more powerful in its influence over the other parts of the country. From this center our work has radiated nearly to the Great Wall on the north and east, and to the Yellow River in the south. The language that our mis- sionaries are learning and using enables them to address one hundred millions of people. They are now able to preach in the language with ease and impressiveness. They are devoted men and women, in whom the Church may repose the utmost confidence ; and they have all met with a degree of success beyond what we had a right to expect from the few years that they have been working in this part of China. The other great missionary societies of the world are well repre- sented in Peking. The London Missionary So- ciety, the American Board, the Presbyterian Church, the Church of England, the Protestant Episcopal, are here in strong force. Many of the missionaries are old, experienced men, having come from other parts of the work — some of whom, in scholarship and ability, will take rank with the ablest ministers of the world. Our missionaries must act wisely and cautiously in all their work in and about Peking, as they are there only by sufferance, and probably, on a strict rendering, have no real treaty rights to be Appointments. 7 1 in the city ; but we can safely trust our interests in their hands. Our force in this mission ought to consist steadily of six families, four in Peking and two in Tientsin. We lack yet one family, and the work is undoubtedly suffering for want of it. The following are the appointments for 1878 : H. H. Lowry, Superintendent; Peking — Tartar City, W. F. Walker, Te Jui ; Chinese City, L. W. Pilcher, Chen Ta Yung ; Tientsin, H.- H. Lowry; Tsunhua Chow Circuit, supplied by Wen Yung ; Tsang Chow Circuit, J. H. Pyke, Wang Cheng Yuen ; Nankung Circuit, Shang Cheng Yuen ; Tai-an-fu Circuit, G. R. Davis, Wang Cheng Pei ; Girls' Boarding School and Women's Work, Misses M. Q. Porter and L. S. Campbell; Medical Department, Miss L. S. Howard, M. D. IV. ¥l}e City of Peking. |EKING disappoints the expectations of the visitor. He has read so much about it, from the glowing descriptions of Marco Polo to the statistical tables of recent mis- sionaries, that it has grown on his imagi- nation as to size, magnificence, and beauty, so that his expectations are high when he first catches sight of its ancient walls. But the en- chantment is instantly broken when he discovers that the words, great, magnificent, beautiful, etc., are not filled with the same ideas as when we use them in the West ; and yet what other words can we use? And so this very chapter, like all others, will go on its mission conveying a wrong impression, while intending to be very truthful. First, then, the disappointment lies in the fact that it is not so large as you supposed, is not nearly so populous as is generally thought, 72 Bad Government. 73 and all its walls, buildings, and homes give evi- dence of terrible neglect and consequent decay, and in many places ruin. In fact, about two hundred and thirty years ago, the Manchu Tar- tars found here a magnificent city of palaces, temples, public buildings, parks, walls, etc., which they took possession of, and to which they have added scarcely any thing, but have allowed al- most every thing to fall into decay, and to be- come covered with filth ; and for the last thirty years the government has been in the hands of minors, ruled over by regents, mothers, and mothers-in-law, who, with the whole official corps of the empire, seem bent only on enriching themselves from the spoils of the people. The same thirty years have also been characterized by great distress, famines, floods, rebellions, and foreign wars ; so that the capital, and most other parts of the empire, give evidence of impover- ishment. Still, in many respects Peking is one of the most interesting cities in the world, as it is, perhaps, the oldest existing capital on the globe. It first appears in B. C. 1121, under the name Chi. In the fifth century, B. C, it was the cap- ital of a small kingdom, called Yen, and hence called Yenking. It was destroyed in B. C. 221, under the reign of Shih-Hwang-Ti, but was soon 74 China and Japan. rebuilt, and in the fourth century, A. D., became the capital of a small Tartar state. Then it be- came the chief city of a department, under Chi- nese government, and again assumed its old name of Chi or Yen. In 936 A. D. it was again taken by the Kitan Tartars, and was made again the capital of their state, till the fall of their dy- nasty, under "the Golden Horde," or Kin Tar- tars, in 1 125, who gave it the name of Chung-tu, or Yenking, the wall of which is still traceable near the south-west corner of the present city. The Kin dynasty gave way before the all - con- quering Mongols, under the famous Zenghis Khan, in 121 5, and Yenking was degraded to a subordinate city. But the grandson of the great conqueror, Kublai Khan, made it his capital, and built the new city, and called it Khan Baligh, "the City of the Khan?'' This is the great city so grandly and so truthfully described by Marco Polo, under the name of Kambalu. It must have been then, in its newness, a magnificent city, of great wealth and beauty. It is remarkable how many of the statements of Polo, supposed for a long time to be extravagant dreams, are being verified by the better opportunities for observa- tion which have been furnished during the past few years. It was larger in its walls, especially longer, than the present city, the remains of the The Manchu Conquerors. 77 ancient northern wall being traceable a little more than a mile north of the present wall. From this date the greater part of the present palaces and public buildings have their origin, having changed very little, and the succeeding dynasties contenting themselves with keeping them from falling into actual ruin ; hence the appearance of great age and universal decay. The Ming dynasty succeeded the Mongols in 1368, and removed the capital to Nanking, where it remained* till 1409, when Yung-Lo transferred it again to Pei Ching, "the Northern Capital/' from which we get Peking, through the Jesuits. He repaired and rebuilt the public buildings from the neglect of half a century, and rebuilt the present walls, shortening the east and west walls by more than a mile. In 1544 the southern suburbs, which had been growing since the conquest of the Mongols, were inclosed by another wall, and became "the Southern City." The Manchus took possession in 1644, the con- querors taking the Northern City, and assigning the Southern City to the Chinese. As we have said, but little has been done in public building and in repairs by the Manchus, except by the most famous of them all, the great Kang-Hi, some of whose monuments still remain. The city consists really of four walled cities: the 78 China and Japan. southern, called the Chinese City, with walls about five and one-half miles long and two and a half wide; the northern, or Tartar City, with walls four miles long and about three miles wide; then within this northern city is the "'Imperial City," and within this Imperial City is the ' ' Forbidden City," or place of the palaces and imperial of- fices. Into this last a foreigner never enters, and indeed he is not a welcome guest anywhere within the "Imperial City." The whole city cov- ers an area of twenty-five square miles, and has a population of about one million. It lies in 39 56' north latitude and 116 28' east longitude, in a vast plain, with mountains in the distance, north and west, and partly to the east. The climate is excellent, the temperature ranging about the same as that at Philadelphia. The walls of the Northern City are forty feet high, fifty feet thick at the base and thirty feet at the top, strengthened at small distances by heavy brick buttresses. In this city there are nine gates, each surrounded by a semicircular enceinte, of the same height and thickness as the walls, and both the inner and outer gates covered by towers nearly a hundred feet high. This wall and these towers must have been very grand and imposing about a hundred years ago, but they are all much neglected and dilapidated now. The Tartar City. 79 The Tartar city contains the residences of the grandees of the court, the halls of the "six tribunals," the Hanlin College, several superb temples, a Mohammedan mosque, two Roman Catholic cathedrals, and many other public build- ings. The principal streets are long and wide, and contain numerous shops, as well as private houses, the private houses nearly all being hid away behind high walls. The streets are not paved, which is a great inconvenience . in wet weather, and from the clouds of dust which arise a great annoyance when the weather is dry. An abortive attempt is made to light some of them, by erecting, here and there, posts, on the top of which are semi-transparent paper lanterns, in- side of which, are burning candles, making about light sufficient to make the darkness visible. As but few people are found abroad after dark, un- less on particular occasions, it is not of much importance that the streets should be lighted, particularly as any one who is obliged to go out, and every vehicle, must carry a lantern. Large spaces of ground in this part of Peking are occupied by ornamental gardens, belonging to rich mandarins, and as these courts are always surrounded by high walls you feel as if every thing in Peking was walled up. In the northern part of the imperial city, and 80 China and Japan. partly surrounding the forbidden city, is a beau- tiful lake, a mile and a half in length, and more than a quarter of a mile in breadth, crossed by a bridge of nine arches, constructed entirely of white marble. In the Summer this lake is cov- ered with the magnificent lotus, or water-lily, and presents a most beautiful appearance. Its banks are bordered with trees, among which the droop- ing willow bends it graceful branches. In the midst of the lake is an island, adorned with a temple and an elegant pagoda, the never-failing ornaments of Chinese scenery. The view from the center of the marble bridge, in all directions, is exceedingly interesting and beautiful, except that on all of it is the appearance of neglect and decay. Rising from the top of a hill, in one direction, is a singularly shaped monument, erected, magnanimously, by the conquering Man- chus, to the memory of the last emperor of the Ming dynasty. When the Manchus had entered the city, and the case had become hopeless on the part of the Chinese, the Ming emperor, with his daughter, escaped from the palace, within the forbidden city, and fled to a building on the top of this hill, and there took the life of his daughter and killed himself. So passed away the last of the Chinese emperors. Some histo- rians, however, insist that the wounds inflicted Gardens and Flowers. 8i on the daughter were not mortal, and that she escaped, and was afterwards married, and her de- scendants are still found in China. Peking is, therefore, by no means devoid of natural beauties, and even the old Chinese town, which is the commercial part of the capital, con- tains large gardens and fields, where vegetables are grown for the daily supply of the markets, and also many nursery grounds, where flowers are cultivated expressly for the adorning of the ladies of Peking, who wear them in their hair. This simple and elegant mode of decorating the hair is generally adopted in all parts of China, and when natural flowers are not to be obtained, artificial ones, of exquisite manufacture, are sub- stituted, and a female head is seldom seen with- out the one or the other, which, among the higher classes, are mixed with golden bod- kins, jewels, and other ornaments. The tem- ples in this part of the capital are very magnifi- cent, especially those dedicated to heaven and agriculture. The surroundings of the Tartar city are under the control of the general of the nine gates, whose headquarters lie about half-way between the imperial city and the northern wall, and who is made especially responsible for the peace and good order of the Tartar city. The post is con- 82 China and Japan. ferred only on Manchus, and is regarded as a high office. Near this point, standing in the avenue leading to the north gate, is a high tower, containing an immense bell and drum, which are struck to announce the night watches. The edifice that covers it is one of the most conspic- uous objects seen in approaching the capital, being higher even than the towers over the gate- ways. The huge bell is about eighteen feet high, eight feet in diameter, and more than a foot in thickness. It weighs one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. Its whole exterior surface is covered with raised Chinese characters. The streets of Peking are crowded, noisy, and bustling; for there, as in all other cities of China, it is quite customary for men of the lower orders to work at their several trades in the streets, where they sit with their tools around them, as if they were in a workshop, — cobblers, tinkers, and blacksmiths set up their establish- ment wherever they obtain a job, and worse than all, even butchers perform their office of slaugh- tering animals in the very streets. Medicine ven- ders, who are generally fortune-tellers also, estab- lish themselves, with their compounds arranged in order before them, in any convenient locality. There are also a great number of peddlers, ballad-singers, and mountebanks, who contribute Street Sights. 85 no less to the noise than to the throng. Every here and there an auctioneer, on the side of the street-way, is calling out to the- crowd around him, and to the passers-by, selling his. goods. Their method is very different from ours, the auctioneer himself being the bidder. Instead of asking, how much will you bid for this article, he says, will you bid so much, and then con- tinues falling from his highest price, till he finds some one who will bid at the price he names. Among the most remarkable persons who exer- cise their callings in the public streets are the barbers, who are all licensed, and who shave the heads and plait the tails of their customers, with the utmost gravity, in the open air. All the men of the lower orders, as well as some of the higher classes, have these operations performed in the street. All the shops and stores have open fronts, gayly painted and ornamented, and above the door of each is a wooden pillar, covered with gilt characters, describing the nature of the goods sold within ; and as these sign-posts are often decorated with gay streamers, floating from the top, they might be compared to a line of ship masts, with colors flying. Near the northern gate of the northern city, there is constantly pre- sented a busy and exciting scene. Through this 86 China and Japan. gate are brought the animals used in the city, and a great many articles of trade — donkeys, sheep, camels, wheelbarrows, carts, in great pro- fusion, are found crowding about the gate, and flowing up the wide street which leads from it. The windows of all the houses in Peking are made of semi-transparent paper, very frequently of a rose color, and held by a frame-work of bamboo ; for there is yet no window glass in northern China. The houses in Peking are seldom more than one story in height, except the store buildings immediately along the street way. They have flat roofs, which are often covered with flowers and shrubs. As there are no fire-places, so there are no chimneys, the rooms being warmed by pans of lighted charcoal, of which fuel great quantities are brought from Tartary on camels, and these animals are constantly seen thus laden in the streets of the city. The sleeping arrange- ments are generally a raised dais on one side of the room, with tile covering, . underneath which a fire is kindled in the Winter, and on the top of which is spread the bedding, usually consist- ing of a large, quilted cotton coverlet, in which the sleeper rolls himself up, resting his head on a round piece of wood, or, in better circumstances, on a peculiarly shaped leather pillow. Large The Forbidden City. 87 quantities of bituminous coal, in later days, are also brought into the city, from the mines in the north-west, by the camels. The imperialpalace at Peking is a vast assem- blage of buildings, both large and small, built within a variety of courts, among which they are dispersed, along with pavilions, porticoes, and canals, and the detached buildings are connected by galleries and covered passages. The roofs of all the imperial buildings are covered with tiles of yellow porcelain, giving an effect, when the sun shines upon them, of burnished gold. Extensive gardens are annexed to the royal hab- itation, and the whole being inclosed within a substantial brick wall it is more like a city than a palace. The wall has small towers at the an- gles and over each gate, and is surrounded on all sides by a moat. The gardens and pleasure grounds attached to the palace are said to be most beautiful. The hills are embellished with lofty trees, which encircle retreats and summer- houses dedicated to pleasure and retirement. Stores of every thing necessary for use or orna- ment, during war or peace, are kept within the palace walls, and workmen and artificers of every description are resident, and constantly employed within its precincts. Beyond the moat on the north side of the forbidden city is a hill, gen- 88 China and Japan. erally known as " Prospect " or "Coal Hill," which is surrounded by a wall, entered by nu- merous gates. It is said by some to be really a vast accumulation of coal, placed there by the government to meet the emergencies of a time of siege. It is, however, covered over with turf and grass and trees, making a beautiful pleasure garden. The southern city has only six gates, the southern wall of the northern city, forming in part the northern wall of the Chinese city. Within the northern city are all the great pal- aces, temples, monuments, etc., except what, to me, was the most interesting and beautiful of them all, the famous "Temple of Heaven," and also the Hall of Agriculture, both situated near the southern wall of the Chinese city. But little general business is done within the Tartar city, the great burden of trade being con- fined to the Chinese city. When we enter into this part of Peking, we come more nearly to the characteristics usually found in other cities of China, the northern city being influenced in almost all respects by the presence of the Man- chu Tartars. The streets in the Chinese city are much narrower and much more irregular. The houses are rarely more than one story above the ground-floor, the front part of the building being Trade of Peking. 89 always appropriated to the store or the shop. Hence as you pass through these narrow and crooked streets you find almost all objects ex- posed to your view. In one part of this southern city is the general market, in which are thou- sands of slaughtered sheep hung up, great quan- tities of dried mutton, and innumerable quantities of dried and smoked chickens and ducks. In another part of the southern city is the mart for the fur trade. Immense quantities of furs of all kinds, descriptions, and values are spread out on the ground, making literally two great fields of fur. Nearly all of this is brought from Mon- golia, Manchuria, and some varieties from Thibet. They are very low in prices, and if it were not for the duties at both ends of the line, and the great cost of freightage, might be brought into this country and sold at very low figures. An extensive trade is carried on with Thibet, Mon- golia, and Manchuria, far off beyond the great wall, and great droves of camels start out from here loaded with brick-tea to traverse the deserts and cross the mountains lying between here and Russia. The brick-tea is prepared especially for the Russian trade. It is the ordinary tea steamed and moistened, and then subjected to immense pressure until it becomes very solid and is packed away in packages of about fourteen inches in 90 China and Japan length, and twelve inches in depth — a very con- venient form of packing them for carriage by the camels. The tea is used by the Russians, not as a drink, as among us, but is prepared into a kind of soup. Men engaged in this trade with Russia, and Tartary, and Thibet, in teas and furs, often make great fortunes. The trade in litera- ture is also lucrative; some of the finest stores in Peking are the book-stores. The literati form among themselves the aristocratic class, and are really the class most prejudiced against the for- eigner, and most in opposition to the introduc- tion of Christianity. Publk Building of Pekii^. »E must now describe, in what must neces- sarily be a very imperfect manner, some of the scenes of the city of Peking. A fine bird's-eye view of the entire city may be had from the top of the wall separa- ting the Tartar and the Chinese cities. Facing the north, you immediately observe the division of the Northern city into its three parts, the Tartar, the Imperial, and the Forbidden City. Within the Forbidden City you observe the roofs of the imperial palaces, temples, and pavilions, all of them covered with yellow tiles, and see plain indications that the grounds within the walls are finely arranged and beautifully ornamented. In all parts of the city you see high, symmetrical, and many of them beautiful, pagodas, rising far above the roofs of the houses and the tops of the wall. Projecting above the western wall, on your right hand, you observe 9* 92 China and Japan. the place of the ancient " Observatory/ ' Not far from this, to the left, you discover a large low space of flat-roofed buildings, covering a territory of more than two acres, and which con- stitute the Examination Halls for the final exami- nation for the third literary degree. Not far from this you see again the roofs and grounds of the Confucian temple. To the left of this, is the "National Academy." Beyond this you see the rising spire of the Roman Catholic Ca- thedral. The complete circuit of the wall is be- fore your eyes, the towers rising a hundred feet above it, and the vast gates are distinctly visible. Turning southward, the great Chinese city is stretched out before you. Away off at its south- ern extremity, you discover the extensive grounds and magnificent buildings of the "Temple of Heaven," and to the right of this the "Hall of Agriculture." Almost at your feet is another Catholic building, usually called the Portuguese Church. Descending into the city our first visit was to the famous "Observatory," consisting of a court and brick towers leaning against the western wall of the Tartar city, and slightly overtopping the wall in height. It is venerable in age, being mentioned by Marco Polo in the thirteenth cen- tury, and was probably founded and built under The Observatory. 93 the direction of the Persian astronomers under Kublai Khan. It is nearly certain that the first elements of astronomy were introduced into China by these Persian astronomers. It was at one time thought that the astronomical records, reaching far back into the past, were a demonstration of the great antiquity of the Chinese people. Astronomical events, eclipses of the sun and moon etc., were recorded as having occurred thousands of years ago. But it is now generally believed that the Chinese, when first instructed in the methods of making these astronomical calculations, and especially of calculating the times of eclipses, were so greatly delighted with their new found power that they calculated the occurrence of eclipses far back into the past, and far forward into the future, exercising their new found skill in mathematical astronomy. The Observatory was enlarged, and several new instruments were added by the Jesuits, under Father Verbiest, in 1674, during the reign of the great Manchu emperor, Kang-Hi. The large and very fine bronze azimuth instrument, on the top of the towers, was a present from Louis the XIV of France to Kang-Hi. There are in the court and on the towers some very excellent instruments, all wonderfully unique in their ornamentation, all made of bronze of so 94 China and Japan. excellent a quality that they have stood centu- ries of exposure without damage. A very beau- tiful and massive bronze celestial globe on the top of the towers seems to be invulnerable to any attacks of the elements. Two planispheres and an astrolabe, in the court below, are very grotesque in their supports by the universal Chinese dragon, three huge bronze dragons sup- porting each of the instruments. The Observa- tory has long been disused, though the instru- ments are still left in place, and by a gracious indulgence, may be visited, but not touched by foreigners. There is said to be another Observatory within the forbidden city, where all necessary observa- tions for the Imperial almanac are made. This almanac is not only Imperial in name, but Impe- rial in all rights, and is a great monopoly of the government. No astronomical books or calcula- tions are allowed to be issued apart from this almanac, and much of the prestige of the ruling powers among the common people arises from the wonderful fact that within the Imperial pal- ace is found sufficient knowledge to arrange the seasons, distribute the year, and foretell to a minute the coming of eclipses of the sun and moon. Not far from the Observatory is the great Foreign Education. 95 " Examination Hall," consisting of a vast num- ber of cells and avenues, into which the students from all parts of the empire enter for the great "triennial examinations" for literary honors. They are literally cells, small, damp, cheerless, in which the candidates remain from two to five days, their food being carried to them, and their theses being furnished to them after entering the cells. We can not now enter into the great lit- erary system of China, in some respects the grandest, but in most respects the poorest, of national systems. Near this, in the same part of the city, is the Tungwen College, or the ' ' Imperial College for United Education," now under the presidency of our old-time friend, Dr. W. A. P. Martin, an American missionary of twenty - seven years' standing in China. This college is the first grand concession to foreign science and learning made by the government, and is an important and promising institution, the West Point of China, in which the students are cadets, paid and sup- ported by the government, to which all owe their services for a term of years after gradua- tion. There are now in it one hundred students. The number in the institution is limited by the fact that they are on government pay, and train- ing for government service. They are all young g6 China and Japan. men, from the age of eighteen to twenty-four. The school is under the direction of eleven pro- fessors, seven of whom are foreigners, and four Chinese. A printing office, with six presses, has lately been erected in connection with the col- lege, with a view to the printing and circulation of scientific works. These are expected to be supplied in part by the professors and students, who are at present largely occupied with the translation of useful books. The Course of Study lies before me, and is literary and scien- tific, running from reading and writing to the highest sciences, and the Chinese, English, French, German, and Russian languages. The pamphlet is entitled, "Course of Study in the Tungwen College." The circular says: "The full course, literary and scientific, extends over eight years, the first three being given exclusively to foreign lan- guages, and the remainder to the acquisition of scientific and general knowledge through the medium of those languages. The foreign lan- guages taught in the college are four — English, French, German, and Russian — each pursued in a separate school, and, for the most part, by distinct classes of students. Those who acquire a knowledge of English have the advantage of being able to employ it in 'all the subsequent Course of Foreign Study. 97 stages of their curriculum while students in the other departments must depend more or less upon Chinese as a vehicle for scientific instruc- tion, it not having been found practicable to in- stitute parallel courses in several languages. "First Year — Reading, Writing, and Speak- ing. Second Year — Reading, Grammar, and Translation of Sentences ; Exercises in Speaking continued through the Whole Course. Third Year — Geography, History, Exercises in Trans- lation. Fourth Year — Arithmetic, Algebra, Trans- lation of Dispatches. Fifth Year — Natural Phi- losophy, Geometry ; Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical; Exercises in Translation. Sixth Year — Mechanics, Theoretical and Practical ; the Calcu- lus, Differential and Integral ; Navigation and Surveying ; Exercises in Translation. Seventh Year — Chemistry, Astronomy, International Law, Translation of Books. Eighth Year — Astronomy, Geology, and Mineralogy, Political Economy, Translation of Books. "To complete the above course in the pre- scribed time, a good knowledge of the Chinese written language and fair abilities are indispen- sable conditions. Wanting the first, the time would require to be greatly extended; and want- ing the latter, no amount of time would insure success. After the completion of the general 98 China and Japan course, students who feel inclined to do so, may remain in the college or be sent abroad, at the option of the government, for the pursuit of special studies with a view to professional use. "A course of five years is given in the Chi- nese text, for the benefit of those who do not acquire any foreign language. Those who study foreign languages are expected, by suitable exer- cises, to keep up the knowledge of their own ; and the younger students in the department of languages are required to devote one-half of each day to the study of Chinese. In addition to the studies laid down in the curriculum, lectures are from time to time given on anatomy and physiology.' ' In remodeling her national education, Japan has begun with her schools, and, however reluct- ant, China is beginning to feel compelled to do the same. Thus far her efforts in that direction have been few and feeble, all that she has to show being a couple of schools at Canton and Shanghai, with about fifty students in each ; three or four schools in connection with the arsenal at Foochow, with an aggregate of about two or three hundred ; and at the capital, as we have seen, the ' i Imperial College for Western Science," with an attendance of about one hun- dred. The Chinese concede that we are superior The Lama Temple. 99 to them in arts and sciences, but still claim su- periority in literature. Near the northern extremity of the city, on one of the great thoroughfares, is Yung-Ho-Kung, the great La- ma temple of the Mongol branch of Buddhism, which is fa- vored by the reigning Tar- tar dynasty. The place was formerly the residence of an imperial prince, and was once in- habited by the son of Kang-Hi. It was presented to the Mongol priests for this purpose, and w r as rebuilt in 1725-30. The grounds are very extensive, and the buildings were very fine one URN IN CLOISONNE. ioo China and Japan. hundred years ago. There are several of them, all after the universal Chinese fashion, an oblong square, with four -gabled roofs, with elevated corners and widely projecting eaves, the roofs in this instance being of blue and yellow glazed tiles. The interesting objects within these build- ings and grounds are two elephants of gilt bronze, two huge bronze lions, and an innumerable host of idols, an incense urn eight feet high, a rich Thibetan carpet, bronze instruments for worship, among which are some beautiful vases in email cloisonne*, which now, if they could be brought into the market for sale, would be of immense value. Above all, there is here a gigantic statue of Buddha, seventy-two feet high, of wood covered with bronze. The proportions of the giant are really very fine. We can ascend, by several flights of steps, up to a level with his head, examining each part of the body from different platforms as we go up. He is in a sitting posture, with folded legs, his huge arms resting in his lap. A man could easily sit upon his giant thumb. His atti- tude is that of profound rest and quiescence. The expression of his face is placid and full of content. Walking out of this building into an- other on a level with the idol's head, you find an immense prayer wheel or cylinder, fixed upon a revolving machine, on which is said to be A Gigantic Idol. ioi A PLATTER IN CLOISONNE. engraved the whole Mongol ritual ; so that by one revolution the sum of all prayers is said. But it is now sadly out of repair, and the prayers are at a discount. This great idol is said to be "the coming Buddha ;" but what that is I do not know. The temple or monastery is occupied by about one thousand Mongol and Thibetan priests, ruled over by a " living Buddha," which seems to mean a priest into whom the spirit of a preced- ing living Buddha entered when he died ; so that this succession seems to be kept up by a trans- mission of souls. Perhaps it is quite as real as some other successions of which we read. The 7 102 China and Japan. priests were at their evening worship when we were there, which seemed to consist of a monot- onous chanting, in a very deep bass voice, in the presence of the idols. Still farther north, about half a mile, and outside the walls, is another old Buddhist tem- ple, connected with the Mongol Lama service. Here we found another huge bell, presenting to us the inexplicable phenomenon of being cov- ered with raised Chinese characters, both out- side and in. Within the grounds is a celebrated marble monument to "a living incarnation of Buddha, " who died a hundred and seventy years ago in Peking. He had been invited from Thibet by the emperor, was a man of great sanctity, second only to the great Lama himself. He died of small -pox, and his body was sent back to Thibet, and over his clothes was built this mag- nificent mausoleum. It is really a wonderful structure of solid marble, ninety-nine feet high. You ascend the flight of nine steps and reach the first terrace, out of the center of which rises first an octagonal monument, on the sides of which is engraved in bas-relief the history of the saint, his birth, his call to the priesthood, his retirement to solitude, his sore temptation by the demons, and his death and ascension to heaven. The carving is really superb. Above this rises THIRTEEN STORIED PAGODA. The Marble Bridge. 105 a great marble urn, and overtopping this, the great lotus flower and a gilt marble globe. It is held in great veneration by the Mongols and Thibetans who come to Peking. Two strangers, who had ridden up to the grounds on dromeda- ries, from their far away journey from Thibet, were worshiping on the terrace when we were there, measuring their length on the ground, around the entire monument. On our way back, we rode through the impe- rial city, walked over the famous marble bridge which crosses the lake, running along the western borders of the imperial grounds, from which is a view, which, in some seasons of the year, must be very grand ; but lies, like every thing else, sadly neglected, covered with dirt and going to ruin. This magnificent bridge was described by Marco Polo, six hundred years ago. Beyond the bridge is a very fair Roman Catholic cathe- dral, built of brick, erected about seven years ago, in which was held the only imperial audience ever really given to modern foreigners. As it stands near to the forbidden city, the government has built two great walls to the north and east of the cathedral, hiding it from the view of the imperial grounds. Connected with the cathedral is a very interesting museum, collected by the earlier Jesuits. It is very rich in Chinese birds 106 China and Japan. and insects. We returned over the marble bridge, cast longing eyes at the mausoleum erected over the remains of the last of the Ming emperors, stole all the glances we could get of " Prospect Hill" and its pavilions, walked along the moat skirting the north wall of the forbidden city, beheld the roofs of some buildings and towers within it, with curious eyes ; but este procid pro- fani y was written on it all, and so we mounted our carts and rode away. VI. Iq tl\e $otitl\efn City. *€*^ S8T another time we made the tour of the southern city. By far the most interesting thing here is "the Temple of Heaven/' as it is called by foreigners in China, and which represents the ancient and State re- ligion. It is situated near the southern wall of the southern city, the grounds occupying much more than a square mile. The whole is surrounded by a high brick wall, divided into compartments, by intersecting walls within, in- closing extensive green pastures, cypress groves, elm avenues, and a large number of buildings. It is very old, the present buildings having been made by the Ming emperor, Yung-Lo, and they must have been very beautiful when new. One feels thoroughly indignant when he sees such magnificent structures and delicate workmanship utterly neglected, covered with dust and dirt, and going to ruin. A mere accident within 107 108 China and Japan the temple of heaven revealed to us the fact, after scraping away with our feet more than an inch of dirt, that the floor consisted of the most beautiful mosaic work of porcelain tiles. A most interesting object is the open altar of heaven, a triple, circular terrace, two hundred and ten feet in diameter at the base, one han- dred and fifty feet across the middle terrace, and ninety feet on the top. It is all built of white marble. The height of the terraces is, respect- ively, 5.72 feet, 6.23 feet, and five feet, making the elevation about seventeen feet, each elevation being ascended by nine steps from four different directions. In the center of the topmost ter- race is a circular stone, about three feet in diameter, surrounded by nine concentric circles of stones, and these surrounded by a marble bal- ustrade, as is also each of the other two terraces. The whole is constructed on the principle of nine and its multiples. There are nine steps to each terrace, nine concentric circles on the top, the upper balustrade has nine times eight, equals seventy-two pillars, or rails; the second or mid- dle balustrade has nine times twelve, equals one hundred and eight, and the lower balustrade has nine times twenty, equals one hundred and eighty, being three hundred and sixty in all, the degrees of a perfect circle. i&uLaJt y' ii ft-^i . iji'nv — Ji-^j^ v-jsk^^-ai EiA,:i*.^, ^h...:^-. ^.^ The Al tar of He a ven. i i i On the central stone on the top the emperor stands, before the dawn of day at the Winter solstice, to make confession of his sins and the sins of the nation, and to acknowledge his infe- riority to heaven and his allegiance to Shang-ti. A little to the south-west of the altar are high poles for lanterns to illuminate the altar at the time of this service. To the north of the altar is a large furnace, nine feet high, circular in form, and faced with beautiful green porcelain tiles. In this is burned a whole ox, as a burnt offering, while the emperor is worshiping on the altar. To the west of the altar is the Chai King, or "Palace of Abstinence/ ' a very beautiful build- ing, an oblong square, covered with blue, glazed tiles, the whole building surrounded by por- ticoes, the projecting roof supported all round by carved columns, the ceilings of the porticoes taste- fully frescoed, the entire building surrounded by a moat, crossed by four marble bridges, and this again surrounded by a marble balustrade. Here the emperor comes and spends the night before the morning worship in fasting and penitence. But of all this wonderful and imposing service, and its significance, we must treat in another place. The gem of the whole inclosure is that which is usually called "the Temple of Heaven, ,, but 1 1 2 China and Japan which is really the altar for prayers and thanks- giving for good seasons, harvests, etc. It is some two or three hundred yards north of the open altar. It is a circular building ninety-nine feet high. It is triple-roofed, each roof being covered with blue glazed tiles. The windows are shaded by Venetians made of thin blue glass rods. The cornices are, of course, widely pro- jecting, and are richly carved and frescoed, and are protected all round by thin wire gauze. The building is reached by two terraces, both of which are surrounded by a marble balustrade. Near it, on the south-east, is another green glazed furnace similar to the one already described, in which also a whole bullock is consumed. Eight iron urns stand on each side of it, in which are made offerings of silk, cloth, grain, etc. On the east, is another building through which you enter a beautiful winding passage, or cloister of sev- enty-two compartments, of ten feet each, mak- ing in all seven hundred and twenty feet, leading to a slaughter-house. Several other buildings, of the same general style of architecture, are found within the walls for the tablets, instru- ments, etc. Opposite the Temple of heaven, on the west, is the hall of agriculture, occupying about half as much space as the grounds we have just described, that is, about a half of a Temple of Confucius. 113 square mile. Here the emperor and some of his highest officers come once a year, to perform the act of plowing as an imperial homage to labor, and especially to agriculture. Within the for- bidden city are mulberry groves, in which, it is said, the empress cultivates the silk-worm, gath- ers and spins a certain amount of silk, to give equal prestige and encouragement to silk culture, and to the industry of women. Within the Tartar city, toward the northern walls, is the great temple of Confucius, the rep- resentative of the second phase of Chinese re- ligion. The inclosure contains some very fine buildings, son^e of them dating back to the thir- teenth century. The pavilion within the grounds is really a gem of ornamental architecture. The present temple was erected during the reign- ing dynasty. Within are tablets to Confucius, speaking of him in terms of the most exalted praise, and also tablets to his four sages and six disciples, and on each side of the court an ar- rangement of cloisters, where there are large stone tablets to more than one hundred cele- brated scholars. In the front of the court, are ten celebrated stone drums, engraved in the an- cient or seal character, and claimed to be two thousand five hundred years old, and some even insist that they originally fell down from heaven, ii4 China and Japan. as we also observed some other stones in the inclosure of the Temple of Heaven, said to have come from the same mysterious source. In front of this is the court of the final triennial exam- inations, where the highest degree is conferred, and on stone tablets are inscribed the names of all the doctors for five hundred years. To the west of Ae Confucian temple, within another inclosure, is the "Hall of Instruction/' sometimes called by foreigners, "the National Academy," in which is a very fine building sur- rounded by a moat, or rather by six marble cis- terns with marble balustrades and bridges. Near this is a most beautiful yellow porcelain pilau, or arch, with three portals. In clusters around the court are two hundred upright stone tablets, on which is engraved the text of the whole an- cient classics. The shortness of our time did not allow us to visit any of the interesting places outside of the city walls. The country, for twenty miles around the city, contains interesting places and monuments, as the emperor's Summer residence, Yuen-ming-yuen, and his pleasure and hunting grounds, all now in ruins, the result of the dev- astation of the English and French army, on its march to Peking. Farther away are the fa- mous Ming tombs, and still farther, the great Altars of the Sun and Moon. 117 wall, for all of which we had to content our- selves with photographic views. At the northern extremity of the city is an- other remarkable altar, corresponding with the Altar of Heaven in the southern city. This one is dedicated to the earth, as the former one is to heaven. The one in the northern part is square in form, ascended by two instead of three ter- races, surrounded by square balustrades, ar- ranged in such a way as to surround the altar with square cisterns of water. This is called the " Square Poor' by the natives, as the other in the south is called the "Round Hillock." Here, at the time of the Summer solstice, the emperor performs a very striking service to the earth, as the great producer and giver of all earthly blessings. In another place we will recur to this service and give it in minute detail. On the east side of the city is another altar, dedicated to the sun, circular in form, reached by two terraces, surrounded by marble balus- trades, the building much resembling the circu- lar building, which we described as the temple of heaven, only that it is double roofed, instead of triple. On the west side of the city is still another altar, of very beautiful construction, con- secrated to the moon, thus completing the circle of a very evident nature-worship. 1 1 8 China and Japan. The first religion of China was evidently na- ture worship, represented by these open altars to heaven, earth, sun, moon, etc. Then came the Miaus, or covered buildings, commonly called temples, for the worship of ancestors, Confucius, the kings and emperors of all dynasties, and, at length, not idols, but tablets. The third stage came in with Buddhism and Tauism, when the monasteries were introduced, and temples con- taining idols to real or imaginary Hindoo or Chinese philosophers and ascetics, and to imag- inary demons and spirits. And since then, for eighteen centuries, China has been given up to idolatry and superstition. Before leaving the city of Peking we ought to mention what is probably the oldest paper in the world, the Pekt7tg Gazette. It is called by the Chinese, " Metropolitan Announcements/' is published daily in two editions, one in manu- script and one in wooden types. It is mentioned in the annals of the Emperor Kai Yun, A. D. 713-74, and is therefore at least eleven hundred years old. It is entirely under the control of the government, and its announcements are rec- ognized as official and authoritative throughout the empire. It can scarcely be called a news- paper ; but is in reality indicated by modifying a little its Chinese name, and calling it a daily Peking Gazette. 119 issue of government announcements, reporting, especially to the metropolis, official events, or- ders, decrees, and reports from different parts of the empire. It is a government monopoly, as is the Imperial almanac, and no no one is al- lowed to reproduce its contents in any form. VII. A S^om Peking to $ljkqgt|hi. |N Tuesday, the 6th of November, we left the great city, regretting that we had not time to see it more and to study it better, but the cold weather was hastening on, and threatening to freeze up the Peiho River, and thereby close navigation to southern ports. We had, therefore, to hasten away, to avoid being locked up for the Winter in Northern China. We left Peking in a chair and a cart, accompanied by Mr. Davis on a pony, and came on to Tungchow. As we passed through the long street leading to the southern gate we met a large funeral procession. I had noticed the day before, standing on this same street, two crimson poles, each about thirty feet long and six inches in diameter, resting on trusses, and surmounted by a sort of pavilion rich in color and ornaments, and being different from any thing I had seen in other parts of China. 1 20 Funeral Procession. 12 1 I inquired what it was, and was informed that it was the litter or palanquin on which was to be placed the coffin of some important person who would probably be buried on the next day. It was this funeral procession we now met, passing toward the southern gate, as no burials, not even of the highest persons, are allowed within the city walls. The procession consisted, first, of a number of soldiers or lictors to clear the way; then came the pavilion, gaudily trimmed in white and scarlet silk, borne by about twenty men dressed in habits of mourning. On this rested the coffin, which looked like a huge chest, richly gilded and varnished. This was followed by a considerable number of men, probably relatives and friends, walking, and followed by what seemed to be servants, bearing in their hands small figures of various kinds made of paper. Then came some bonzes, or priests, bearing some implements of worship, and accompanied by a band of music. Walking behind these, dressed in mourning white, were the near male relatives of the deceased ; and then, borne in large sedans, the female relatives, who were fill- ing the air with heart-rending cries. As well as I could learn, it was the funeral of the wife of an important mandarin, and it was an imposing sight. 122 China and Japan As we passed out of the eastern gate of the southern city, we met a noisy crowd with great droves of sheep hastening in before the closing of the gates. We took great interest in noting the country scenes as we slowly rode over the fourteen miles between Peking and Tungchow. First of all, we found we had touched the north- ern terminus of the Grand Canal, which reaches first from Peking to Tungchow, and then, making use of the Peiho River as a part of the canal, extends to Tientsin. Here it starts southward, sometimes making use of river streams, at others the great channel dug out for the canal ; crosses the Yellow River, and extends southward to the Yang-tsze-kiang ; then it pursues its course on the southern side of the river until it reaches one of the ancient capitals, Hang-chow-foo, to the south of Shanghai. It is quite deep, and in some places is nearly one hundred feet wide. The boats on it are generally "tracked" by men pulling on the shore. There are no locks to ac- commodate the different levels ; but in some places the boats, by great force, are drawn up sluices into the upper level. In other parts of the canal the boats must be entirely unloaded in the lower level, and all their freight deposited on boats on the upper level. Between the river at Tungchow and the terminus of the canal at The Grand Canal. 123 Peking, only fourteen miles in length, the flat- boats that are used for carrying government supplies have to be unloaded and reloaded five different times, on account of different levels. How easily all this could be remedied by five locks ! a thought which seems never to have oc- curred to the Chinese, and which, if suggested to them, would be repelled with the indignant, and to them all-sufficient, reply, "Chinaman does not do it that way." The country, all along the way, was rich in soil and varied in appearance. The busy far- mers were gathering in and disposing of their Fall crops. We rode by immense fields of the peculiar cabbage, pei-chai, which grows in China, and which is really more succulent and better flavored than ours. Great fields of millet were growing on all sides of us, here and there a field of wheat, and occasionally a few acres of Indian corn. Many people seemed to be busy in gath- ering what was to them the fuel for the Winter, which consisted of all the dried vegetable matter that could be gleaned from the fields or road- way. A reed that attains the height of about ten feet, and seems to be a prolific grower in this part of China, is gathered in immense quan- tities, and piled up in great stacks, for the fuel of the Winter. The houses are all low, one- 124 China and Japan. story buildings, built of clay, or occasionally of bricks. As we passed along we observed sev- eral farmers engaged in the work of threshing out their millet. The process consisted simply of the ancient method of laying the bundles together in a large circle, the heads toward the center, and tramping out the grain with asses, buffaloes, and occasionally a horse. They seem to pay but little attention to the old Scripture injunction not to yoke together the ox and the ass. I passed several teams consist- ing of a horse, a buffalo, an ass, and a cow. I constantly felt that I was passing through scenes that might have been enacted three thousand years ago. The methods of farming, the wooden plows, the tramping out of the grain, the rude implements, all remind one of scenes and meth- ods described in old Bible times. Many a Scripture passage finds a beautiful and striking illustration in the lives and customs of these Chinese. The road along which we were passing can hardly be said to have been made, but to have made itself. No attention at all seems to be given toward keeping it in repair. In many places it is cut down fifteen feet below the level of the ground on each side ; and often in passing through the little country villages you would A Disabled Chinaman. 125 seem to be passing through a deep cut, while the houses were ten or twelve feet above you. About sunset we reached the walls of the city of Tungchow. On entering this city and turning into the narrow street that led to the home of Mr. Chapin, we found a poor cartman whose cart in passing over the irregular street, had thrown him off from the place where the Chinaman usually sits on the shafts of his cart, and the heavy wheels had passed over and broken his leg. Quite a crowd had gathered around the poor fellow, and were in consternation when they found that he was unable to stand or to use his broken leg. They seemed in helpless de- spair. We had him carried to Mr. Chapin's house, and there set his leg for him, but with little hope that the bandages would be allowed to remain. Even as early as the next morning, a brother of the injured man appeared, earnestly requesting that the bandages might be removed for a little while. We stated the case to him, assuring him that if his brother would endure the pain for a few days it would pass away, and that if for six weeks he would leave the bandages on and not use the limb, he would have a good sound leg, but could certainly depend upon the result to be lameness for life if he removed the bandages for a single hour. 126 China and Japan. We stopped over night with Mr. Chapin, a missionary of the Presbyterian Board, who with Mr. Sheffield and his family, and two ladies of the Presbyterian Woman's Missionary Society, are all the missionaries occupying this city of a hundred thousand inhabitants. One of their members, a young married woman, had just died, and we found the ladies of the mission in a state of great anxiety, and in a world of trouble with the mother and mother-in-law of the deceased woman. Poor child-wife ! for we saw her laid out in her wedding-dress, and she had only been married a few months, and looked like a child of only thirteen or fourteen years of age. She had been taught in one of the mission schools, and was an excellent Christian girl. She married a young man, a licentiate of this mission. Neither the mother nor the mother-in- law was a Christian ; hence the great contest over the matter of her funeral and the distribu- tion of certain presents that had been given her at the time of her marriage, both claiming them, but neither of them entitled to them, as nearly all of them had been presented by the foreign missionaries. We suggested that the dispute should be settled between the two mothers by not allowing either of them to have the pres- ents, but for the ladies who had given them to Back to Tientsin. 127 take possession of them. The suggestion was adopted, and both mothers were better satisfied than if either had got the presents instead of the other. The next morning we were rejoined by Mr. Lowry and his family, and by Mr. Davis, the former accompanying us to his new appointment at Tientsin, and the latter going to Tientsin to accompany Miss Porter to Peking, as she was now expected to return. About three o'clock in the afternoon, with a fleet of five house-boats, we left Tungchow, and had a very beautiful run down the winding river, as both wind and cur- rent were in our favor, and on Friday morning we arrived at Tientsin. On Saturday, we visited the walled city, and found it, in many respects, an interesting and well built city, but one of the most filthy that we found in all China. The life of the Chinese sets at defiance all sanitary laws. Around the city walls is a moat about ten feet wide. Into this moat pours as much of the drainage of the city as can find its way into the channel. The effluvia that arises from it, as you cross over to enter into the 'gate, is most offensive, and yet thousands of Chinese are living all along its sides. The streets themselves are filthy in the extreme. Dogs and pigs seem every-where to dispute the possession of the 128 China and Japan. streets with the men and women. Unlike south- ern cities, asses are passing to and fro in all parts of the city, instead of the sedan chair of South- ern China. We greatly prefer the chair. Some of the native stores in Tientsin are fine looking in appearance, and seem to be neatly kept. A French store we also visited, in which watches, clocks, and music-boxes, set with Chinese tunes, and a variety of other foreign things are kept, and out of which the proprietor seems to be making a good business. In the western part of the city, on the river bank, we saw the ruins of the Roman Catholic cathedral, left after the massacre and fire of 1870. They have refused to rebuild it, but after receiv- ing a large amount of indemnity, far more than they lost in money value, left these ruins stand- ing as a monument of the persecution and the martyrdom of their priests and nuns, and went into another part of the city to erect their build- ing. Some twenty-two persons lost their lives in this outbreak in Tientsin in 1870, most of them Catholic priests and nuns. The port was first entered by missionaries in 1 861. A "Concession" was given without the city walls, and extending along the river, and some very pleasant foreign homes and fine busi- ness houses are built in this concession. A neat Services in Tientsin. 129 union chapel, in which the Church of England service is read and a sermon preached every Sabbath morning, has been built on a part of the concession belonging to the New Connection Methodists. It seems to be a settled arrange- ment that in all these union chapels at the va- rious ports, the English Church service is to be read, which arises from the fact that foreigners, most of them Englishmen, have contributed gen- erously toward the building, and always on the condition that this service shall be read. There is also a fine public hall in the concession, in which we witnessed a large and enthusiastic temperance meeting. On Sabbath morning we preached in the " union chapel," and in the afternoon went to our own chapel in the city, where Mr. Davis, of Peking, preached to seven- teen natives, all members of the Church. After the sermon we had an interesting experience meeting, in which the Chinese were asked to con- fine themselves in their remarks to the reasons why they believed and accepted the Gospel. In the years to come this city of Tientsin will be a very important mission center. On Tuesday, the thirteenth of November, we left Tientsin on the steamer Shantungs one of the Chinese Merchant vessels, and had a deightful run down the river, but about eight P. M. stuck 130 China and Japan. on "the bar" at the mouth of the Peiho. This bar is an immense obstacle in the way of navi- gation which could be soon remedied, but the Chinese will not allow it, "as it is a natural de- fense which heaven has placed there for the pro- tection of Peking/ ' On board we had a Chinese admiral and his suite of followers, and had many instances during the passage of the profound deference which the inferior pays to the superior in that land. The old gentleman was quite in- firm and moved about but little, and suffered considerably from seasickness. His dress was of the richest material and of the gaudiest style. He seemed to be perpetually smoking, his at- tendants filling and lighting his pipe for him. He never moved but an attendant was at his side, and his servants always stood in his pres- ence, and never uttered a word except when ad- dressed by him. A number of Chinese gentle- men and officials took their leave of him on the boat, just before we departed from Tientsin, and it was interesting to witness the wonderful bow- ings and immeasurable courtesies that passed between the two parties. It was not until Thursday morning that we were able to again get under way, and then we met with a strong head wind that kept with us almost all the way down the coast; so that we A Missionary Wedding. 131 did not reach Shanghai until Sunday afternoon, the eighteenth. Here we found very pleasant quarters awaiting us at the "Astor House," under the hospitality of Consul-general G. Wi- ley Wells, a very pleasant Christian gentleman, a member of our Church, and a delegate to the General Conference of 1872. On Monday we performed the marriage cere- mony for Mr. Stritmatter, of our Kiukiang mis- sion, and Miss Combs, of our Peking mission, who had accompanied us to this city. The mar- riage was performed at the home of the Rev. J. W. Lambuth, that prince of hospitality, who, with his excellent wife, arranged a very pleasant occasion and entertainment for the young couple. VIII. , ptfa , 5Sfon\ $V a *t#T ai to lliukihi\g. jjN Tuesday evening we came on board the steamer Kiang Yung for Kiukiang, and sailed at six o'clock the next morning. We had now before us a delightful sail of sixty hours and about five hundred miles, up the wonderful river, the Yang-tsze-kiang, on a fine river steamer. This river is the great artery of China, running in an easterly direction. Rising in the mountains far off in the western part of China, and, in its winding course, reach- ing more than two thousand miles across the continent, it opens into the China Sea, a few miles east of Shanghai, with an embouchure so wide as not to be seen across. It runs through a wealthy and populous part of the country, is the outlet for the produce of thousands of square miles to the north of it, and an equally large ter- ritory on the south. Large and important cities are stretched along its whole course. Through 132 The Great River. 133 a thousand miles of its length it is from one to nine miles wide, and in places thirty fathoms deep. It is perpetually pouring out vast streams of muddy water which discolors the ocean for many miles out. Large steamers regularly run up the river to Hangkow, about six hundred and fifty miles, and large sized vessels can go four hundred miles more to Ichang, and then smaller native craft ascend it for a thousand miles more. The scenery at first is flat and uninteresting, but about one hundred miles up it begins to grow mountainous and picturesque, and as you still ascend the scenery becomes really grand. The first large city we reach is Ching Kiang, an open port and a very enterprising city. Above it, on one side, the grand canal, running north, here terminates in the river, and on the other side, the canal opens and runs on to the south. We next reach the famous city of Nan- king, the old Ming capital. It was greatly dam- aged by the Tai-ping rebels. The famous Porce- lain Tower was completely destroyed. There are but few remnants or indications of the former imperial residence. It is now rapidly recovering from its ruins. It lies about four miles back from the river. It was once the most celebrated city in the empire, both in regard to its extent, its 9 134 China and Japan. buildings and manufactures, and the character of its inhabitants. It was again made famous for being the place where the English, at the close of the opium war, compelled the Chinese to submit to their terms of peace, in August, 1842, and thus opened the ports of China, never to be closed again to foreign trade or missionary work. There are remains of the ancient or true wall here, which can be traced for about thirty-five miles, but how much of this immense space was formerly occupied by houses can not now well be determined. The walls of the present city are not nearly so great; and of the space inclosed within them perhaps not more than one- eighth is actually occupied by the town. The town is still occupied by two peoples, the Man- chus and the Chinese, separated by a cross wall. From the hills on the east one gets a fine view of the entire city and of the surrounding coun- try. On the eastern face are three gates. The land near the two gates toward the river is a morass, and the gates are approached on stone causeways. A deep canal or ditch runs up from the river, directly under the walls on the west, a characteristic of most walled Chinese cities, streams of water, by rivers or intersect- ing canals, being thus carried through them. PORCELAIN TOWER, NANKING. The Porcelain Tower. 137 The streets are not so broad as those of Pe- king, but are, on the whole cleaner and better paved, and bordered with handsome shops. The ancient palaces have nearly all disappeared. The only monuments of royalty which remain are some sepulchral statues not far from the walls, and near an ancient cemetery which the foreigners call the tombs of the kings, and they form an avenue leading up to the sepulchers. They consist of gigantic figures, like warriors, cased in a kind of armor, and stand on either side of the road, across which at intervals extend finely carved Pilaus. The ruins also of colossal figures of horses, elephants, and other animals, may still be seen scattered about. Nothing has made Nanking more celebrated abroad than the " Porcelain Tower," of which, alas ! we have now to speak in the past tense, and say that it stood pre-eminent above all other buildings in China for its elegance, the quality of the material of which it was built, and the quantity of gilding with which its exterior was embellished. This gilding, and the report that the tower was covered with gold, and that the great gilded ball at the summit was also of solid gold, led to its destruction by the iconoclastic and avaricious rebels. Its form was octagonal, divided into nine equal stories, the circumference 138 China and Japan. of the lower one being one hundred and twenty feet, and decreasing gradually to the top. Its base rested upon a solid foundation of brick work ten feet high, up which a flight of twelve steps led into the tower, whence a spiral staircase of one hundred and ninety steps carried the vis- itor to the summit, two hundred and sixty-one feet from the ground. The outer surface was covered with tiles of glazed porcelain of various colors, principally green, red, yellow, and white. The body of the edifice was of brick. At every story there was a projecting roof covered with green tiles, and a ball suspended from each cor- ner. The interior divisions were filled with a great number of little gilded images, placed in niches. This remarkable structure was built in 1430, having been nineteen years in building. Nanking has extensive manufactures of fine satin and crape, and the cotton cloth which for- eigners call nankeen, but of which very little now reaches foreign coasts, derives its name from this city. Paper and ink of fine quality, and beautiful artificial flowers of pith paper, are produced here. Nanking is renowned for its schools and literary character as well as its man- ufactures, and in this particular still stands among the first places of learning in the country. It has large libraries and bookstores, all indicating Cities on the River. 139 and assisting literary pursuits, and the superior care and elegance of the editions of the classics published here combine to give it this distin- guished place. A little farther up we reach a new city, grow- ing up on the southern banks, called Wu-hu, which, in its wide streets, two-story buildings, and its better-styled stores, indicates that this part of China has been influenced by ideas of foreign civilization. It is, we think, destined to be a very important city for foreign trade. Our missionaries from Kiukiang extend their visita- tions to all these cities, Wu-hu, Nanking, and Ching-kiang, and are quite anxious to open a mission at Wu-hu. Still farther up the river we come into the region of islands, some of them very beautiful and picturesque. The Chinese have wonderful tact in selecting these romantic and picturesque spots for building temples and erecting pagodas. One of these islands in the midst of the river, called "Golden Island," pre- sents an exceedingly interesting appearance, with its monastery on the top, a high pagoda, and nu- merous buildings around the base. Another peculiar Chinese characteristic is their intermina- ble walls. On the south side of the river we saw another city, Ranchak, built at the base of a semicircular range of very high and broken 140 China and Japan. mountains ; and yet this city must have its wall, running along the crest of this mountain. It presents a very picturesque appearance, the great wall with its bastions winding its way over the elevations and into the depressions of the mount- ains. As the natives rarely disturb them, we are constantly meeting with immense flocks of water- birds, wild geese, ducks, etc., which rise in great clouds from the river as the steamer approaches them. But here is Kiukiang. -dBsPG&S IX. Ouf ]Ytij^ior| at iKitikikqg. fN Friday, November 23d, at four P. M., we arrived at the city of Kiukiang, which is the head-quarters of our Central China * Mission. It stretches for two or three f miles along the great river, and is about *■ five hundred miles west of Shanghai. It is in the province of Kiang-si, one of the largest and richest of the provinces of China, extending several hundred miles to the south-west, till it touches the Kwang-tung or Canton province, and running the whole length of the western border of the Fuhkien province, and stretching far to the west along the river. It is the chief river town of the province, and to it from nearly all parts of the great province, by water-courses, vast quantities of manufactures and produce are brought. Kiang-si is exceedingly rich in its water resources. Rivers crossing in almost all directions, and terminating in the Yang-tsze- 141 142 China and Japan. kiang, spread a net-work almost over the whole province. But a short distance below Kiukiang by turning into a narrow opening, we enter the Po-yang Lake, one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world, about one hundred miles long and ranging from five to ten miles wide. It is surrounded by beautiful and picturesque mountain scenery, and its borders are occupied by a vast number of towns and villages. A little to the west of Kiukiang we enter another lake, about half the size of Po-yang. By means of a neat little boat, presented to our missionaries by a foreign merchant, these lakes and streams may be entered, and our missionaries have been brought already into contact with perhaps eight millions of people. It is one of the most indus- trious and enterprising provinces in China, and is celebrated for its porcelain and silk. The city of Kiukiang is very pleasantly situ- ated on the south bank of the river, and is nearly surrounded by a series of small lakes. It is a walled city, about four miles in circuit. A ride around the top of these walls presents some very interesting views and a fine bird's-eye view of the city. The mountains rise in the distance about ten miles off, and lakes and water- courses seem to flow about the intervening spaces. From the towers on the walls you take in the KlUKIANG, 143 entire city. It was greatly damaged by the Tai- ping rebels several years ago ; but it is rapidly recovering and filling up with new buildings, which gives to the city an unusually new and clean aspect when compared with the old Chi- nese cities. It has the appearance of a com- fortable and thriving city of well-to-do and con- tented people. The foreigners are located outside the walls, along the river bank, and have a very beautiful "bund," or river street, stretching about a mile along the river. Our mission property is admirably located, partly within the walls and partly outside, in the foreign "con- cession." Kiukiang is admirably located for a mission center, being surrounded in every direction, for many miles, by towns or cities, nearly all of which can be reached by river or lake. The climate is very mild, and gives every indication of healthfulness. None of these cities opened on the river are fulfilling the hopes of foreigners as places of foreign trade, but are found to be very thriving and enterprising places for native manufactures and trade, and very important and promising for missionary operations. We have reason to congratulate ourselves on the success and hopeful increase of our mission on the great river. Our missionaries entered Kiukiang late 144 China and Japan in 1868. We are the only mission operating in and around the city, except an occasional itiner- ant visitation from representatives of the ' * Inland Mission," and we have had all the success that could reasonably have been expected in the ten years that have elapsed since it was opened. Our missionaries are faithful, zealous, hopeful men and women, and are reaching out into the regions beyond as rapidly as they can and should. We opened the exercises of our Annual Meeting, on Saturday afternoon, with a native prayer -meeting conducted by Mr. Hykes. It was an interesting meeting, quite Methodistic, even to calling on one of the native sisters to lead in prayer. On Sabbath we preached to the missionaries and to a pleasant little company of foreigners, in the English chapel. In the after- noon Mr. Cook preached the annual sermon in Chinese for the mission, in the domestic chapel, to a fine congregation of natives, including about twenty young girls from the boarding school of the women's mission. On Monday we went into the city and wit- nessed a very interesting exhibition of our schools, in the pleasant boarding-school building of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, under the direction of Misses Hoag and Howe. This is a good two-story building, the lower part devoted School Exhibition, 145 to a double school -room, dining-room, and kitchen, and the upper part to dormitories. They have in it now thirty-one girls as boarders. The ladies have also a girls' day school of thir- teen girls at Kunglung, thirteen miles off from Kiukiang, taught by the wife of our native helper there. Thirty girls and forty boys were gathered into the school-room, and we had an interesting occasion of singing, recitations, and questioning on Scripture subjects. The boys and girls sent some unique messages to the boys and girls of America. One little girl said, "Tell them that w r e worship God, and love to do it." At three P. M. we had an impressive bap- tismal service, conducted by Mr. Hykes, when I was permitted to baptize four native children and four adults. On these occasions we were impressed with the earnestness and sincerity of these people in giving themselves and their chil- dren to God. No one can doubt the honesty of purpose and the genuineness of the conver- sion of these Christian men and women. If some of them should eventually fall away, we are sure it will not be because they have never been converted, but because they have been led astray and fallen by temptation. On Tuesday, the 27th, we held the Con- ference Meeting. Our mission force here con- 146 China and Japan. sists of V. C. Hart and wife, A. Stritmatter and wife, J. R. Hykes, A. J. Cook, and W. G. Benton ; and of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Miss Lucy H. Hoag and Miss Gertrude Howe ; and of native helpers, Shi Tsa Ru and Hu Pei San. There are also one Bible woman and five school teachers ; in all, a working force of sixteen. We have thirty-five native members and thirty-two probationers, and eleven baptized children — total, seventy-four. In the girls' school there are forty-four, and in the boys' school thirty- five children, and attending Sunday-school eighty. Our property consists of three good parsonages, valued at twelve thousand dollars ; two without and one within the city walls, and all very pleas- antly and healthfully located. Adjoining these houses, we have other lots for building purposes, valued at one thousand dollars, and four chapels valued at fifty-five hundred dollars. The Wom- an's Foreign Missionary Society has a pleasant parsonage within the city, worth thirty-six hun- dred dollars, and an excellent school building which cost about twenty-five hundred dollars. Besides the work going on in the three chapels and schools at Kiukiang, the outside work is divided into three circuits or districts, extending up and down the river, and along the beautiful Po-yang lake. These circuits are the Hwang A Social Meeting. 147 Mei, Nan Kang, and Shui Chang. The mission- aries make frequent journeys by water to distant points on the rivers and lakes, preaching and selling books at first cost in the cities and towns. These visits, in former years, were fraught with danger, and our missionaries have often met with violence. They are now able to make these excursions without any fear of boisterous oppo- sition or violence, the people wherever they go giving them a quiet and attentive hearing. This is a great gain at least. There have been twelve baptized during the year, to which should be added the four that we had the pleasure of baptizing. On Tuesday evening we had a very pleasant social gathering in Mr. Hart's parlor, at which were present a score of native preachers and the girls from the school. Some refreshments were served to the natives, three of Mr. Hart's chil- dren were baptized, and altogether it was a de- lightful, Christian, home-like gathering, the most pleasing feature of all being the evident appre- ciation and gratitude of the natives for what the Church at home is doing for them, and for the sending of one of our bishops to visit them, an appreciation which was manifested in presenting to us a pair of the elegant Kiang-si porcelain vases, a neat impromptu speech, and a very 148 China and Japan grateful letter written in Chinese, which was read to me in translation. The letter I have pre- served, but, alas, am no longer able to read it. On Wednesday morning we closed these very- interesting exercises with a sacramental service, when about thirty natives and missionaries joined around the common table of our Lord, and I felt that out of these will come some who will join in that innumerable company about the throne, out of every nation and kindred and tongue under the whole heaven. It is difficult for the Church at home to estimate or rightly appreciate the results in this young mission. For they can only see the figures in the annual statistics, when, in fact, these are only a small part of the results. The leaven is at work. The public prejudices are giving way; the whole region round about is practically open to missionaries, and ten men could have congregations every day in the year, within easy reach of Kiukiang. The appointments for 1878 were as follows: V. C. Hart, Superintendent. Kiukiang, Do- mestic Chapel, V. C. Hart; City Chapel No. 2, A. J. Cook, A. Stritmatter and Shi Tse Ru assistant; City Chapel No. 3, J. R. Hykes, V. C. Hart ; Hwang Mei Circuit, A. J. Cook, A. Stritmatter, and Hu Pei San assistant ; Nan Kang Circuit, V. C. Hart, W. G. Benton ; Shui Missionaries' Children. 149 Chang Circuit, J. R. Hykes, A. J. Cook ; Wom- an's Foreign Missionary Society, Misses Howe and Hoag. At five P. M., on Wednesday, November 28th, we were obliged to take leave of these friends and this interesting mission, and accom- panied by all the missionaries, and a number of native members, we came on board the Kiang Yung on her return trip down the river, and at eight P. M. started again for Shanghai, which we reached at one P. M. on Saturday, and again found our home in the family of Mr. Lambuth. They had just been made happy by the return of their son, Dr. J. W. Lambuth, and his young wife, a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Kelley, a former missionary at Shanghai, of the same Church. It is a very singular and promising fact that many of the children of missionaries are devoting them- selves to this work. The young people seem ear- nest and consecrated to the mission in which their parents lived, and seem rejoiced to make it their life work. Dr. Nelson, of Shanghai, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, has also a young daughter of about twenty years, enthusi- astically devoted to missionary work. At Amoy, we found a son and daughter of Dr. Talmage, and at Canton, a son and daughter of Dr. Hap- per, all engaged in the same work. X. Sdieu to $lfan^ki. j|N Sunday, the 2d of December, we preached in the Union Chapel to a pleasant congre- gation of foreigners, and heard a sermon in the evening from Mr. Muirhead, of the Scotch Presbyterian Mission, on the second coming of Christ. On Saturday evening, I attended an enthusiastic temperance meeting at Temperance Hall, when Mr. Muirhead read a very stirring essay on the subject. Mr. Muir- head is the oldest missionary in Shanghai, and is an enthusiastic, zealous, consecrated, white- haired old man. It is a benediction to be in his presence, and an inspiration to see him at his work. As we are now done with Shanghai, this is the place to give our readers our impressions of this city. Shanghai is situated on the right bank of the Woo Sung, which flows into the great river, the Yang-tsze-kiang, " Child of the 150 Shanghai. '5 1 Ocean," which is called by many the main artery of China, as it flows through many of the prov- inces and some of the most wealthy cities of China are built upon its banks. The town is situated about twelve miles from the mouth of the river, and con- tains a popula- tion of about one hundred ^m and fifty thou- § sand. Along | the river you see gj the fields of (I rice, beans, corn, jjj cotton, etc., every foot of lj land being in- dustriously cul- tivated. The wall of the city is about three miles in circumference, and is entered by six gates. The houses are low, built of wood, the large projecting roofs overhanging the narrow streets. A canal flows around the outside of the city walls, which is about twenty-two feet in SHANGHAI MERCHANTS WIFE. 152 China and Japan. width, and there are also three canals led from the river, which run through the heart of the city, with small streams branching off from them in various directions. The city is built in nar- row, filthy streets or alleys, and crowded with shops and people actively engaged in business. It is, perhaps, the filthiest city in the world, and yet this is just what you feel like saying of each successive Chinese city into which you enter. The narrow streets not being paved or flagged with stone like most other Chinese cities, but cov- ered with tiles or bricks, placed with their edges upward, and as the drains, ditches, and moats are all uncovered and choked up with refuse mat- ter and stagnant water, the smell is sometimes suffocating. The vast plain of Shanghai is cultivated to an extent that no one will believe without seeing it ; in fact, it is one vast garden. The soil is com- posed of rich loam, iti which are raised crops of various descriptions, cotton being the principal one. Within a few miles of Shanghai are many splendid gardens, and some nursery gardens, which contain many curious specimens of the tree peony or moutan, as the Chinese call it. From the summit of the hills lying back of Shanghai, some beautiful views are to be ob- tained of the surrounding country, over which Shops of Shanghai. i53 WHEELBARROW TRAVELING AT SHANGHAI. villages are thickly scattered. The hills are par- tially built upon, and many temples and joss houses, devoted to the worship of Buddh, are located on them. The merchandise which is exposed for sale in the shops is composed of plain, embroidered, and flowered silks, satins, and crapes, cottons, white and colored, carved bamboo ornaments, pictures of native scenes, bronzes, jade-stone or- naments, antique porcelain, and a hundred other articles of curiosity or comfort. The shops that are devoted to supplying tea and cooked food are numberless, as well as tea gardens and haunts for opium smoking. They are generally well crowded with the various grades or classes of in- 154 China and Japan. habitants from the mandarin and the wealthy, in their silken robes, who frequent opium shops and tea gardens, down to the poor mendicant, with scarcely a rag to cover his nakedness, who goes to the itinerant cook-stand where he can pro- cure the largest quantity of rice and fish for his few cash. Many of the shops that sell provi- sions, cooked and uncooked, present very un- pleasant sights, from the quantities of disgust- ingly flabby, fat pork that is exhibited for sale. In some parts of the narrow streets it is almost impossible to pass between the stands, which are placed before the houses, and on which these edibles are exposed for sale. A large portion of land in the vicinity of the city is appropriated to the burial of the dead. The tombs differ greatly from the horseshoe, or omega-shaped, tombs found in the south of China ; and one passing up the river might easily mistake the thousands of them which he sees on each side of the river for stacks of hay. The numbers of coffins literally encumber the earth, as multitudes of them are not buried, but placed upon short posts, thatched over with rice straw, and are often allowed to crumble into dust before the friends can find a lucky place, or perhaps, better still, the means with which to bury them. Some, indeed, have a strange dislike to placing A MANDARIN. The Foreign City. 157 their dead in the earth at all. Mounds after mounds meet the eye, of a conical or round form, and of every size, from the little hillock that covers the remains of some child, to the huge mound, twenty or thirty feet high, in which the fathers and the wealthy are deposited; and as most of them are very old and overgrown with long grass, the effect is not unpleasing. Shanghai is really a triple city, native, foreign, and mixed. The native city is surrounded by the universal wall, dark, gloomy, and dirty, every-where wearing the aspect of squalor and want No foreigners live inside the walls. In- deed, one can hardly think of a more miserable imprisonment for a foreigner than to be com- pelled to live within those walls. All the mis- sionaries are, however, working within the city, while dwelling outside. The foreign city con- sists of three "Concessions" — English, Amer- ican, and French — stretching for three miles along the curve of the river, and separated from each other by narrow creeks. This foreign city is really beautiful and quite unique, as it differs from all other cities by combining the European and Oriental style in its buildings and general appearance. There are some very magnificent buildings. The Hongkong and Shanghai banking company's building is one of the finest in all the 158 China and Japan. East. A public garden runs for quite a dis- tance along the river. The long, beautiful, curved street -way bordering the river is called "the Bund/' and is open all along one side to the river, and is built up with very imposing buildings on all the other side, nearlly all of them having tasteful front yards, filled with semi- tropical vegetation. The British consulate buildings are very fine. America can afford nothing but mere passable, rented buildings, and is not able to allow her consul enough to live on, and he boards at the hotel. The fact is, the representation of Amer- ica in China is not calculated to minister much to an American's pride or loyalty. With as good men as any nation in the world sends here, they are confined to such quarters and styles of living as make an American rather hang his head in the presence of the establishments of all other nations. Republican simplicity may be a very good thing, but republican meanness does not pay, here or elsewhere. A very interesting establishment is the French consular buildings, and the Germans and Russians are well repre- sented in Shanghai. The simple fact is, Amer- ica presents a mean appearance in the presence of these other establishments. It is a suggestive fact that the Chinese are Missionary Force. 159 every -where pressing in among the foreigners with their homes and business, most of them building Chinese homes and stores in an im- proved Chinese style, showing that they can ap- preciate an improvement on even Chinese houses and comforts, while some of them come boldly to the front and build fine large stores and hongs, and enter into direct competition with foreigners, even in matters of foreign trade. The foreign population is supposed to be about twenty-five hundred or three thousand, distrib- uted as follows : English, one thousand ; Ameri- can, five hundred ; German, five hundred ; French, three hundred ; Parsees, one hundred ; other na- tionalities, about one or two hundred. It is a busy, thriving place, reminding one of Chicago by its busy activity, but from its semi-tropical climate, and cosmopolitan population, still more of New Orleans. The missionary force working in and about Shanghai numbers about thirty, English, Scotch, and Americans. Drs. Yates, Muirhead, Nelson, Young, Lambuth, Roberts, and Farnham seem to be leaders among them. The Church of England has a fine cathedral, as an architectural structure, but almost worthless to speak or hear in. The Presbyterians have a neat church- building for English services; and the " Non- 160 China and Japan. Episcopals " have a union chapel for English service. The Presbyterian Publication House is an extensive building, and is doing a great and good work in publishing the Scriptures and many other works in the Chinese language. From Shanghai as a center these missionaries are oper- ating far out in the country, — all the missions having " out-stations, " some of them a hundred miles away. wy* xr. N Tuesday, December 4th, at seven A. M., we got under way for Foochow in the snug little English steamer Europe, of the Jar- dine, Mattheson & Co. line. We were accompanied on our way down the coast by Mr. Delano, Consul at Foochow, whose acquaintance we were glad to make, and whose genial sociability and hospitality we were after- ward permitted to enjoy in the city of Foochow. He is a gentleman and a good man, having the unqualified respect of all the foreigners at Foo- chow, and the entire confidence of the native authorities. We had also a number of English passengers, going from Shanghai to Foochow to attend the Winter races. It is simply amazing the amount of wine and spirits these English- men can drink ; and yet they do not get drunk. As we passed down the coast we had in view nearly all the time the wild broken coast -line, 161 1 62 China and Japan and as the weather was clear and fine we had a very pleasant sail. On our right hand, as we went down, we left the very beautiful and important Chinese city, Ningpo, one of the most flourishing centers of missionary operations along the coast of China. It was one of the first ports opened to foreigners by the treaty of 1 844, and was very soon entered by foreign missionaries, and has been well occu- pied and worked since. The societies repre- sented are, the Church of England mission, the United Methodist Free Church, the American Baptist, the American Presbyterian, and the Inland Mission. There are out -stations spread largely over the great peninsula on which Ningpo stands, and also across the channel into the Chusan Island. At the mouth of the river which empties into the great bay, just north of Ningpo, stands one of the famous cities of Chinese history, Hang- chow. It is one of the later opened ports, and has been rapidly and successfully occupied by the missionaries. Here are found the Church of England, the Southern Presbyterian, the American Baptist, and the American Presby- terian missions. On Thursday morning we found ourselves entering the mouth of the River Min, on which Portuguese Lorchas. 163 is situated the city of Foochow. The sun was just rising, and poured a flood of golden light over the beautiful scenery which skirts the em- bouchure of the river. We suddenly tacked about from our course and bore into the Min, winding our way through a picturesque group of islands, called the White Dogs, and which seem like savage sentinels, guarding the entrance of the river. We can not express our feelings as we again entered this river after an absence of twenty-five years. Twenty-five years ago the city of Foochow was only accessible to the for- eigner by means of the Portuguese lorchas, small, schooner-like crafts, owned and manned mostly by the Portuguese of Macao, and by which a lucrative trade was conducted, in con- voying or guarding native junks along the Chi- nese coasts, to preserve them from the attacks of the native pirates which then infested all parts of the China seas. For several years these war- like crafts, themselves bearing no small resem- blance to piratical brigantines, thoroughly armed from bow to stern, and manned by mixed crews of daring Portuguese and unscrupulous natives, constituted the only means available to the mis- sionary for passing up and down the coast, and were the only vessels, other than native craft, that navigated the river Min. 164 China and Japan. In the Summer of 185 1 we chartered one of these vessels at Hongkong, and a voyage of eight days along the bleak and barren coast of China brought us to this same outlet of the river. Now three or four lines of steamers are running up and down the coast of China, and regular steam communication is kept up between Foochow and Shanghai on the north and Hongkong and Can- ton on the south, The scenery of the river Min inspires uni- versal admiration. Travelers have frequently compared it to the picturesque scenery of the Rhine, but Americans find a better comparison in the beautiful scenery of the Hudson, which it equals in grandeur, and surpasses in the beautiful blending of rich lowlands, cultivated rice-fields, and tributary streams. The principal entrance to the river is narrow, bounded on each side by ranges of lofty and undulated hills, most of which, however, have been made to yield in many places to the ingenuity of Chinese cultiva- tion, and exhibit in numerous spots along their steep sides beautiful verdant terraces, producing on their level surfaces a large variety of articles of food. This beautiful and striking feature, exhibiting the industry and ingenuity of the Chinese husbandman, is constantly repeated along the steep and naked sides of the high The River Min. 167 mountain range which extends along the north- ern side of the river, as well as on the more gentle slopes of the numerous hills which range in varied scenery along the southern bank of the stream, and the effect is too beautiful to weary the observer by its repetition. This narrow pass is now strongly fortified by the Chinese government. After passing between the two hills, which almost meet together at the mouth of the river, the stream widens into what appears to be a beautiful, hill -bound lake, enlivened along its banks with numerous villages, and dotted over its surface with a multitude of small boats, con- stituting the homes of a large number of natives who make their living by fishing and disposing of their supply to the people of the villages along the river. On the right bank of the river is a large village, Kwantow, where there is a military establishment and a custom-house which used to be the general clearance office for the city of Foochow. Continuing to ascend the stream the traveler reaches another narrow pass, called the Mingang, with columns of rocks on either side piled up to the height of a thousand feet, between which the deep waters rush with great velocity. Beyond this the stream again widens into a beautiful, broad, and deep river, 1 68 China and Japan. skirted on the north by a high, broken range of mountains, glittering every here and there in the sun's rays, with the torrents and cascades which rush down its precipices. On the south side it is adorned by alternating hills and large, level areas of paddy fields, through which, in one place, is seen winding a large creek, leading back into the fertile country, and in another, opening out into a deep ravine, through which flows a large branch of the river, which here returns to meet again its parent stem, from w T hich it had separated a few miles above the city of Foo- chow. In the north-western extremity of this view of the river are seen two beautiful and, in this warm climate, evergreen islands, lifting their hemispherical forms from the bosom of the river; and about three miles to the south of this, at the other extremity of the scene, is discovered a large, triangular island, on the upper extremity of which rises the seven-storied pagoda, which has given its name to this island. This part of the river constitutes the principal anchorage for vessels of large tonnage. In it were now lying a number of sailing vessels and several steamers. After ascending above the Pagoda island, the river separates into two large branches, the principal of which, taking a north-eastern direc- China in Progress. 169 tion, leads to Foochow; while the other ascend- ing more to the south and west, again joins with the principal branch about eight miles above the city, after encircling a large and fertile island about thirty miles long, and which, opposite the city, is six or seven miles In width. As soon as we rounded the head of Pagoda Island, we felt that the old Foochow of twenty-five years ago had wonderfully changed. As we turned toward the right bank to look for our venerable friend of twenty-five years ago, the high, picturesque mountain range of Kushan, we beheld, stretch- ing along the line of the river, for quite a mile in extent, a large number of foreign buildings, heard the puff of steam-engines, and the clatter of hammers, which indicated to us another great arsenal and ship-yard, owned and directed by the Chinese government. Lying in front of these buildings were four very fine-looking gunboats, that had been built by the Chinese. As we ascend the river the range of mount- ains recedes from the stream, and in irregular and broken masses sweeps along the northern boundary of the large amphitheater in which lies the city. On the southern bank of the other branch of the river is another high range of exceedingly irregular hills, whose dark out- lines are visible from Foochow, thus completing 170 China and Japan. the beautiful basin in which the city is situated. One of these hills, quite abrupt and mountain- ous, called Tiger Hill, which towers up in the distance, just opposite the city, is supposed to have a strange influence over the destinies of Foochow. It is said that an early prophet de- clared that when this hill, which terminates in an abrupt precipice on the river's edge, should fall, the city would be destroyed. To prevent this great catastrophe two large granite lions are set up within the city walls, immediately facing this threatening hill, which are supposed to coun- teract all evil influences of this rugged elevation. As we come nearer to the city we discover that another wonderful change has taken place. All along the southern side of the river we now see a number of foreign houses, many large merchant hongs and many beautiful homes on the sides of the hill back from the river. A for- eign population of about two hundred, and a foreign trade of millions of pounds per year, has sprung up in this city since we left it, twenty-five years ago. But old China is still the same. As we approach the city, hundreds of "sampans , " or small row-boats, and larger vessels more per- manently located, here throng the river, and serve as residences for their owners. These water residences are one of the striking features of River Sights. 171 Chinese life, and are found in all parts of the empire. The river population of Foochow must amount to several thousand souls, born and reared and spending their lives on these boats. Here, too, are the many junks of the olden time, of all forms and sizes, from the massive, uncouth vessels coming down from Shantung, to the neat little, black painted crafts of Ningpo; and these vessels pursue the same old method of sailing down the coast during the early Fall and Winter by the aid of the north-east mon- soon, and then lying here for nearly six months to sail back again, when the monsoon shall have changed to the south-west. Here, too, in the center of the river, is the same Tongchiu, or middle island, connected with the banks on each side by stone bridges and densely covered with buildings, and occupied by a busy, thriving mul- titude numbering several thousands. Several na- tive, official residences are found on this island, and formerly we made our own home upon it, accompanied by two mission families. Here, too, are the same stone bridges, the great bridge of "ten thousand ages" and the bridge of "a myriad sounds," the one reaching from the southern suburbs to Tongchiu, and the other extending from the other side of the island across the larger stream to join the main-land, 172 China and Japan, on which stands the city. Both are interest- ing specimens of Chinese ingenuity and labor. Across these bridges seemed to be moving the same old noisy, bustling crowd, busy with their multifarious traffic. The bridges are of solid stone, not arched, but consisting of huge blocks of granite, more than thirty feet in length, and about three feet square, laid side by side, from pier to pier, thus constituting a solid stone floor- ing, which is covered by level flagging stones, firmly cemented together. An ingenious balus- trade runs along each side, consisting of flat blocks of granite, about twelve feet long, two feet wide and four inches in thickness, having their extremities set in heavy granite columns, which are terminated on their summits by rude figures of Chinese sculpture, such as lions, ti- gers, dragons, etc. Of course, these are only foot bridges, for the simple reason that the Chi- nese do not use horses and carriages, but accom- plish all necessary transportation of persons and goods by the shoulders of men and women. xir. ¥l\e City of jWt^ow. *&mz¥> fgpplND now we have reached the city. Foo- chow is the provincial city of Fuhkien. It lies in latitude 26 ° J f north, and longi- tude 109 east, on the banks of the river Min, about thirty miles from the sea. Fuhkien is one of the richest and most en- terprising provinces of Southern China. It has a territory of fifty-seven thousand square miles, and a population of fifteen millions of the most hardy and adventurous natives of the empire. The scenery of the country is beautifully diver- sified throughout the whole province, which is swept along its eastern boundary by the waters of the Pacific, presenting throughout its whole length a bold and rugged coast, faced by nu- merous islands, and indented by coves and bays, affording ample shelter to the native shipping. On the west it is, to a considerable extent, sep- arated from the other parts of the empire by the 173 174 China and Japan. towering chains of hills which skirt its western border. The bay and harbor of Amoy, which is also in this province, furnish an excellent out- let for its valuable productions at the southern extremity, and foreigners have not been slow to discover its great importance as a center of trade, from its near connection with the Bohea Hills, the great tea district of China, which enrich it in the north and form its northern boundary. The people of the province are peaceful and indus- trious, and are among the boldest and most enterprising of all the Chinese. Their trading crafts are found in nearly all of the ports of China, and their commerce extends to Japan, Loo Choo, Cochin China, and to most of the islands of the Indian Archipelago. Foochow is about five hundred miles up the coast from Canton, and about four hundred miles down the coast from Shanghai. The population of the city and its suburbs will not fall far short of a million souls. On the south side of the river is a large suburb called Ato, divided into several districts, stretching for some miles along the river bank. In the lower part it expands over a level plain, presenting a mass of build- ings and a dense population, with some of its streets stretching far back towards the rice fields of the country. Throughout the greater part The Cemeteries. 177 of the length of this suburb the ground grad- ually rises from the bank of the river into broken hills, the faces of which are occupied with build- ings and numerous temples, and the summits fringed with pine and fir trees. Along the north face of these hills most of the foreigners have built their homes, while along the river front of this suburb, they have erected their hongs and places of trade. Stretching for miles along these hills, in the rear of the population, is the city of the dead, the principal burying-ground of Foochow, now being invaded by the irrepressible foreigner. Here we may wander for hours among thousands of tombs of every size, from the small, conical mound, covered with plaster, beneath which rest the remains of the humble poor, to the spacious, well-paved, and ornamented monument, covering an area of several hundred square feet, which indicates the resting-place of the wealthy and important. Here, too, in a little secluded valley, covered with grass and shaded by clusters of olive and guava trees, marked by their sim- ple granite tombs, differing from the thousands around them, and only separated from those cu- rious graves of the natives by low brick walls, the foreigners, too, have found a resting-place for their dead in two small cemeteries, the one 178 China and Japan. used by the missionaries and the other by the foreign residents. A population of perhaps fifty thousand is found in this great suburb, consisting chiefly, as far as the natives are concerned, of moderate artisans and traders, whose shops and stores are ranged along the main street, and of boatmen, sailors, and merchants, the traders of Ningpo and other places, who come to the city in trad- ing junks. An extensive market in fruit, fish, and vegetables is carried on largely by women throughout the length of the principal street skirting along the river. This suburb seems to abound, too, in temples, some of them con- structed on a scale of great magnitude, and one known as the Ningpo Temple, dedicated to the worship of Matsoo Po, the "goddess of the sea," is one of the most massive and interesting in the city. The gongs and bells and musical instruments of these idolatrous temples keep up a perpetual din throughout this suburb. Circumstances have fixed this locality as the chief center of our mission at Foochow. Here, on an extensive compound on the southern face of the hill, we have five excellent residences, one of them owned by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. We have a large three- story girls' boarding-school, also belonging to the Mission Buildings. 179 Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. We have another large three-story building, with basement, the lower part of which may be called the "Methodist Book Concern " of Foochow, and the remaining two stories may be designated the "Theological Institute'' of the Foochow Con- ference. On the front face of the hill we have a fine brick building, known as the Tieng-Ang-Tong, the "heavenly rest church," divided into two compartments, the one for English and the other for Chinese service. A little removed to the west of this interesting group of buildings in this great compound is located the home and hos- pital of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Soci- ety, under the direction of Miss Sigourney Trask, M. D. From the summit of this hill also float the flags of America and England from the res- idences of the consular representatives of these nations. A little to the south and west of our compound and mission buildings are two excel- lent residences of the Church of England mission. We have already spoken of the large popula- tion of Tong Chiu, the island in the middle of the river. After passing over this and the long- bridge on the other side we come to the north bank of the river, where lies a still more exten- sive suburb, stretching along the stream for two 180 China and Japan. miles above and a mile below the bridge, and reaching back a distance of nearly three miles to the walls of the city. In some places it spreads out for a considerable distance over the plain, and in others is contracted to a single winding street leading to the city gate. A population of not far from one hundred thousand occupies this suburb, and it presents one of the most busy and interesting scenes about Foochow. Stores, shops, factories, markets, banks, temples, arches, and public buildings are found in abundance, and the main thoroughfare which connects the whole suburb with the city is thronged from morning to night with a noisy, busy multitude. In a very fine, elevated locality in this suburb, called Pona Sang, two missionary families of the Amer- ican Board have fixed their residences ; and here Dr. Osgood, of the same board, was constructing a large hospital when we visited him ; and here, also, Miss Payson, of the Presbyterian Woman's Missionary Society, was conducting a fine school. On the thronged thoroughfare they also have chapels and schools. On this thoroughfare, too, the Methodist Episcopal mission has a very in- teresting center of operation in the district, long Tau ; and in still another part of this suburb this mission has erected a very good, neat, and commodious church, dedicated to the worship A Bird's- eye View. 181 of the true God, Ching-Sing-Tong. It was the first church erected in Foochow. Leaving this great suburb by passing through the south gate we enter the city proper, a vast and densely crowded metropolis, spreading over an area of many square miles, encircled by a massive stone wall about seven miles in extent, and flanked every few rods with towers and bas- tions. The best bird's-eye view of the city is to be had from the tower over the north gate. It stands on a dark, rocky eminence, a little to the west of the extreme north part of the city, w T hich rises, first by a gentle acclivity, and then by a steep and abrupt ascent, until its dark summit, over which runs the wall, is crowned with a high, three -story tower, thus bringing you far above all the surrounding city. From this point may be contemplated one of the finest views in China, embracing the whole vast amphitheater encircling Foochow, bounded on all sides by the broken and irregular mountains, intersected by the winding branches of the river, and numerous canals and water- courses, dotted every here and there with little hamlets and villages, animated by the wide- spread city and its suburbs, and enlivened here and there by large paddy fields and cultivated gardens, all luxuriant in tropical vegetation. On 12 1 82 China and Japan. the right, at the foot of another hill, He the romantic and picturesque grounds formerly oc- cupied by the British consulate ; and a little farther to the right, on a bold eminence known as " Black Stone Hill/' after many a struggle, the Church of England still succeeds in holding its place, and its two buildings rise above all the plain as a city set upon a hill. At your feet lies the populous city of Foochow, with its teeming masses of living idolatry. Only a few buildings rise above the general level to diversify the monotonous scene of the tile roofs. Beautiful pagodas, lifting themselves up within the city walls, and towering high above all other surrounding buildings, are prom- inent objects to the eye. Every here and there the eye is arrested by the tall poles of honor, indicating the yamins, or residences of the great mandarins of the city, or by the bright red color of some remarkably massive buildings, which bespeak the localities of the various temples scattered over the whole city. To your left, on another hill, not far from a pagoda, you discover two beautiful dwellings occupied by the Amer- ican Board Mission. The fantastic form of the city watch-towers, and the more regular, square form of the public granaries, impart some little relief to the fatiguing similarity of the objects. Life in the City. 183 The city is richly supplied with large, wide- spreading shade -trees, which, rising above the buildings and spreading their branches over the roofs, give to the city the appearance of being embosomed in a vast grove ; but the noise and din perpetually ascending from below, the out- cries and bells from the crowded streets, the beating of gongs, drums, and cymbals from the precincts of the temples, the noise, of fireworks and crackers accompanying the offerings of the devout, soon convince us that it is not a grove of solitude, but is animated by a full tide of population. XIII. iWljow — S Vi^it to % City. ||jrfT Foochow the traveler is done with the pp horse, the donkey, the cart, the wheel- barrow, and the jinrikiska, and must take to the chair, or sedan, as his mode of conveyance. Mounting one of these, borne by three men, in company with some of the missionaries, we made a visit into the heart of the city and made the tour of the walls surrounding it. We crowded our way through the long, crowded street leading from the southern suburb to the city wall. The street was crowded through all this great length. No horses, or beasts of burden, or carriages for men or goods, are used here, and all movable articles are borne to and fro upon the shoulders of men, women, and children. You can easily fancy the thronged and noisy character of such a Chinese street, — sedan-chairs jostling against each ether, borne by rough, boisterous coolies, huge baskets 184 Street Sights. 185 of salt fish, boxes of tea, bags of rice, and a countless variety of manufactured articles, vege- tables, poultry, live and slaughtered animals for the market, and other things too numerous to mention, borne on the shoulders of men and women thronging and crowding each other, each struggling for room and jostling his neighbor out of the way, and each panting, sweating, toiling bearer helping to keep up a perpetual noise by crying to his neighbor to "look out," or " take care," or "walk straight," or "keep to the right," and the din of gongs and bells, inter- mingled with angry and vulgar epithets of men, women, and children, make up the every -day scenes of this great thoroughfare. Along this narrow street, not more than ten feet wide, are arranged the homes, stores, and shops of the Chinese. These, in a vast majority of instances, are nothing more than one -story bamboo or mud-plastered hovels, without window or chimney, without ceiling or plastered parti- tions, with a rough tile roof, dark and dirty, hanging overhead, a ground floor, and black and filthy walls, with a store or workshop in front. An open clay furnace, set in any part of the house, the smoke being left to find its way out through the cracks and crevices of the roof and walls, a few four-legged benches or odd -shaped 1 86 China and Japan chairs, some narrow boards laid side by side on stools, covered with pieces of matting, and pro- vided with a round piece of wood to rest the head upon, intended for a bed, or in some in- stances a huge and clumsy bedstead, carved and gilded, but filthy and smoke -stained, constitute the furniture. This, to be sure, is not univer- sally the case, but it is so much so as to consti- tute the general type of houses and homes in Foochow. Even the houses of those whose circumstances appear to be easy, the houses of well-dressed merchants, who, on the streets and in their stores, are richly dressed in silks and satins, crape and broadcloth, still are but small, one-story establishments, destitute of cleanliness, neatness, or comfort. Here and there we find these one-story dom- iciles spreading over a considerable area, and embracing a number of apartments, constituting the homes of the proud and affluent mandarins. Here may be found painted or carpeted floors, ceilings stuccoed and frescoed, and adorned with painted birds and flowers. Some of these are inclosed by plastered walls, and in some in- stances these inclosures present to us beautiful gardens, filled with choice plants in every variety, dwarfed shrubs, trained in the forms of birds, animals, trees, etc., and decorated with artificial The Stores and Shops. 187 ponds, rocks, caverns, winding passages, orna- mental bridges, and Summer-houses. In the houses of the highest classes may be seen the rich divans, carved and inlaid tables, gay and beautiful lanterns, embroidered tapestry, gilded vases, fishes and birds in vases and gaudy cages, large mirrors, bureaus and bedsteads, with mat- tresses and rich coverings and hangings, all ele- gantly and tastefully arranged ; but such scenes are few and far between in this or any other Chinese city. A lively picture, indeed, is presented by the stores and shops so profusely arranged along the narrow streets, all presenting a full open front, and displaying the operations and contents within. Here are to be seen the artisans of the various branches of native industry, plying their busy work and vending the products of their labor in one and the same room, serving the purpose of workshop and salesroom. Here in one part are crowded together in their narrow dwellings, amid the din of forges and hammers, little groups of wire-drawers, brasiers, button-makers, and smiths with four men alternating their rapid blows on a single anvil. Here, again, are to be seen image- makers, lamp makers, cabinet-makers, carpenters, trunk -makers, wood -turners, curriers, shoe -mak- ers, tailors, gold and silver leaf beaters, umbrella- 1 88 China and Japan. makers, cotton-beaters, grocers, druggists, stone- cutters, engravers, and decorators, — all working away in the public gaze at the numerous arts which supply the necessities or luxuries of Chinese life. Thickly interspersed with these are the more gay and lively porcelain shops, rice and tea stores, curiosity shops, silk dealers, trinket makers, ar- tificial-flower shops, lantern stores, and book rooms. Restaurants are found all along the way ; and at nearly every corner are to be seen portable kitchens, steaming away, supplying sundry hungry expectants the savory materials of a hasty meal, while for the more aristocratic a succession of cook-shops, wine -stores, tea- rooms, pastry-cooks, and fruiterers line the way. Along these thoroughfares one of the first things to arrest the attention of the foreigner is the numerous temples and buildings erected for religious purposes. Their incredible number contrasts strangely with the appearance of gen- eral neglect and the evidences which most of them present of desertion and decay. Nearly every street, and indeed sometimes every block or square, contains one or more of these idol- atrous temples, their peculiar architecture and elevation above the other buildings every -where arresting the eye, They abound in the suburbs, are found in every village, are scattered along Deserted Temples. 189 the public highways, and are often seen standing out alone in the solitary fields, and, as if these still were not enough, we discover, almost every mile on the roadside, and every few hundred yards on each street, small chapels or joss houses, in which are niches occupied by idols, and vases perpetually containing burning incense. Judging from such sights, the stranger natu- rally concludes that the people of Foochow are devoted in their attachment to their national religions, and are wedded to their idols and superstitions. But closer examination, however, will soon convince him that such is not the case, and that the condition of these masses, except in times of distress or necessity, is rather that of religious indifference, that their idolatrous and unmeaning systems seem rather to be worn out and effete, and no longer capable of satisfying the wants and commanding the interest of the people. Not the least evidence of this is pre- sented by these very temples and places of wor- ship themselves. Nearly every one of them ex- hibits evidences of desertion and decay. Many of them seem never to be opened at all, and are covered with dust and filth ; others, entirely aban- doned, are crumbling into ruins. Their walls are fallen and overgrown with weeds and mosses. Their spacious courts are empty and desolate, 1 90 China and Japan and their huge idols are broken and crumbling to dust on their deserted shrines. As we pass along this thoroughfare we must now turn aside into a little nook or corner, to allow a noisy wedding procession to pass by. The sedan chair is preceded by about a dozen musicians playing on various instruments, what, it is to be supposed, is a Chinese tune, but what seems to the foreigner the veriest combination of noise and discord. Then come some men and women bearing presents, which are to be given to the bride ; then a few more relatives of the bride ; and then a guady sedan chair, in which, entirely shut out from all inquisitive gazers, sits the bride. She is on her way to the home of the bridegroom, whom she may or may not have ever seen. Now we move a little further, and again must turn aside to let a mandarin, with his retinue, pass by. Before him is a herald on a rough, uncurried horse, with a trumpet, which he occasionally blows to clear the way for his approaching excellency. Behind him are a num- ber of strangely dressed soldiers, the body-guard of the officer ; then a large, gayly trimmed sedan chair, borne by four men, and in it, sitting with pride and dignity, and looking upon us poor foreigners- with the utmost contempt, as outside barbarians, sits his majesty. He is followed by Military Drill. 191 a retinue of larger or smaller number, according to his official rank and standing. Soon we reached the south gate of the city wall, passing through which and also through the second gate of the interior wall, and turning to the right, an inclined way leads up to the top of the wall. As we reach it, our attention is immediately attracted by an interesting and ex- citing scene, outside the city and a little to the west. It is the drill ground for the native sol- diers, and about two thousand soldiers were being reviewed and put through their military maneuvers. Large multitudes of people had gathered on the top of the wall, and on some of the hill-tops overlooking the wall, to watch these military movements. For some years the government soldiers have been under the train- ing of French and English military officers. We can not stop to describe their military maneuvers, except to remark that all they did seemed to be done with promptness, order, and precision, al- though some of their movements, even when admirably executed, do not appear to be very for- midable. Their firing was prompt and in excel- lent order. When we entered into the city, after our ride on the wall, we met a number of soldiers returning from their drill, and were interested at hearing these Tartars shouting in our own Ian- 192 China and Japan. guage, "shoulder arms/' ' 'forward march," etc. — another indication that China is becoming a more dangerous foe. The ride around the wall is exceedingly inter- esting, your eye resting now on the multitude of attractive objects which appear in the city, and then on the beautiful and varied scenery of the country and suburbs without. Every now and then you pass through one of the great towers, erected over the gates on each side of the city. These towers are generally two stories high and covered with the universal square roof, with broad eaves. Old, neglected cannpn are found in all of them, which would really be of very little use in time of war. Now you pass by hot springs, on the east side of the city, in the warm waters of which multitudes are bath- ing. At the foot of the wall, on the inside, are many of the best dwellings of the richer people, surrounded by gardens and fruit orchards. Now you reach the north gate, and as you look from the tower you see on the outside of the wall a square territory, the place at which capital punishments are usually inflicted. Years ago we stood on this same spot and saw nine- teen men and women, including in their number two or three children, their hands tied behind them, on their knees, with an executioneer at Executions. 193 each end of the line ready to take off their heads. We stood it long enough to see one head decapitated at each end of the line and then turned away. These were a company of pirates that had been captured by an English vessel on the coast, and delivered to the Chinese government. When the time came for their punishment, the British Consul was notified of the time and place and requested to be present. At his desire I accompanied him to witness the execution. Thus, as we pass around these walls, a hundred familiar objects and a thousand memo- ries of years ago press upon us. The city ranks among the finest in China, having some wide thoroughfares, contrasting pleasantly with the usual very narrow streets, and some large stores and shops and spacious public buildings. As we descend again into the city, we pass through several of the most impor- tant streets. Here we came upon the Yamen, or official quarters, of the Kwang-tow, or viceroy of the city, a series of buildings and courts, into which, with a degree of impertinence that was only justified by our curiosity, we entered, and passed up till we came to the great painted and gilded doors, beyond which was the ordinary residence and official quarters of his excellency. By this time the attendants, whose business it 194 China and Japan was to guard the gates and passage ways, had recovered from the consternation into which they had been thrown by our sudden entrance, and with forcible politeness requested us to leave. The business of the city is largely distributed into quarters appropriated to each industry. We now pass through " curiosity street" where all the remarkable productions of China are offered for sale at very high rates to the foreigners, but at very low ones to the native Chinese. We next ap- proach the "Chatham Street" of Foochow, along which are hundreds of clothing stores exhib- iting for sale the various articles of dress for both men and women. This one is cabinet- makers' street ; that one is kept by the makers of lanterns, and so, as we pass through these various streets, we find them appropriated, each to its specific business. It is a busy, enterpris- ing place. XIV. iWtjow — fii^toficTal gketd\. pOOCHOW was scarcely known to foreign- !|li ers before the treaties of 1842-4; it was even but little disturbed during the Anglo- Chinese war which preceded those trea- ties. It had been, however, for several years a profitable depot for the opium traffic, two extensive British houses having their receiving ships and station at the mouth of the river, and their agents residing in the suburbs of the city. Through the influence of these houses it was chosen as one of the ports opened to foreign trade and residence by the treaties, and was immediately occupied by a British con- sular establishment. Some years, however, were permitted to pass before this vast city attracted attention as a place of trade, or a desirable point for missions. The magnitude and importance of the city were first made publicly known by i95 196 China and Japan. Captain Collinson of the British navy, who vis- ited it officially in 1843. In the following year the Church Missionary Society of England sent out the Rev. George Smith, afterward Bishop of Victoria, for the ex- press purpose of visiting the open ports of China, and reporting on their comparative claims and feasibility as mission stations. In December, 1845, Mr. Smith reached Foochow, and spent nearly a month in exploring the city and sub- urbs, and in investigating the question of its eligi- bility as a point of missionary action. He was at once convinced of the importance and promise of this great city as a missionary field, and strongly recommended it to the Church Mis- sionary Society for immediate occupancy. Its favorable situation and vast resources and oppor- tunities for foreign trade were only partially made known by this visitor, whose great business was to discover fields for missionary activity, and consequently several years more passed before the advantages of the city were discovered and made available for foreign commerce. On the second day of June, 1846, the first Protestant missionary entered Foochow. This honor belongs to Rev. Stephen Johnson, who had already been laboring for several years among the Chinese at Bangkok in Siam, and who, as The First Missionaries. 197 the Chinese at Bangkok were from the province of Fuhkien, and spoke that dialect, was thought to be a valuable pioneer, and was directed to enter this port by the American Board, under whose auspices he was acting. Mr. Johnson gave nearly six years of earnest, pioneer, mis- sionary activity to this infant field, and then under prostrated health returned to his native land. His practiced eye soon saw in Foochow a most desirable missionary station, and he rec- ommended its rapid occupancy by the American Board. In a few months Rev. L. B. Peat and family, who had been fellow laborers with Mr. Johnson in Siam, rejoined him in Foochow. For about ten years Mr. Peat and his estimable lady labored efficiently in Foochow, and then Mrs. Peat laid down the armor and slept with the precious ones who had gone before. Mr. feat gave about ten years more to the mission, and then returned in old age and broken health to his native land, and even while we were writing these words was dying and passing away to his rest. In 1846 the attention of the Methodist Epis- copal Missionary Society was directed toward China, and after very considerable investigation of the claims of the various ports the missionary authorities decided on Foochow for the location 198 China and Japan. of their infant mission, which was really the first venture the Methodist Church had made in a real foreign mission. Accordingly, Rev. M. C. White and wife and Rev. J. D. Collins sailed for that port on the 15th of April, 1847, m the ship Heber, from Boston, and arrived at Foochow early in September of the same year. Just one month after the arrival of these missionaries at Foochow, on the 13th of October, 1847, Rev. Henry Hickok and wife and Rev. R. S. Maclay embarked for the same port, and reached Foo- chow early in 1848. About a month after the sailing of these missionaries to re-enforce the Methodist mission, another company sailed from Philadelphia, and arrived at Foochow on the 7th of May, 1848, to join the mission of the Amer- ican Board, the little band consisting of Rev. C. C. Baldwin and wife and Rev. Seneca Cummings and wife and Rev. William Richards. Mr. Rich- ards remained three years, and in broken health started for home, but died at sea. Mr. Collins remained about four years, and in broken health returned and died in America. Only one year after the arrival of Mr. White Mrs. White died on the field, and rests in the Foochow cemetery. Mr. Hickok remained only a year, when his health also failed, and he was obliged to return to America. In 1850 Mr. Maclay welcomed to Re-enfor CEMENTS. 2 o T his home and heart Miss H. C. Sperry, and he and his excellent wife served the mission till 1872, when they were transferred to our newly organized mission in Japan. C. C. Baldwin and wife still live, after thirty years of service, doing good Avork for the mission. On the 31st of May, 1850, the American Board Mission was again strengthened by the arrival of Rev. J. Doolittle and wife, who were accompanied on their voyage from Hongkong by the Rev. Messrs. Welton and Jackson, who came under the auspices of the Church of Eng- land Missionary Society. After more than twenty years' service Mr. Doolittle returned permanently to America, and is now living in very broken health. In 1856 Dr. Welton retired, and in 185 1 Mi;. Jackson was removed to Ningpo. Just be- fore the leaving of Dr. Welton, Rev. Mr. Macaw and wife and Rev. Mr. Fernley arrived to re- enforce and continue the Church of England Mission. Early in the year 1850, also, the Rev. Messrs. Fast and Elquist, the first missionaries sent out to a foreign land from Sweden, by a recent society formed through the agency of Rev. Mr. Fielsteatt, long a missionary in Smyrna, arrived at Foochow. The history of these young and promising missionaries is brief and melancholy. After 202 China and Japan. much and troublesome negotiation, they obtained a promise of a permanent residence in the neigh- borhood of the city walls; and in October, 1850, only a few months after their arrival, they visited an English vessel at the mouth of the river, to obtain the funds necessary to complete the con- tract. As they were returning in their small boat they were suddenly attacked by a Chinese pirat- ical craft, filled with armed men, which had put off from one of the villages along the shore. Dur- ing the encounter Mr. Fast was mortally wounded, and fell from the boat into the river, which was at once his death-bed and his grave. His re- mains were never recovered. Mr. Elquist, when his friend had fallen, threw himself into the river, and by diving under the water succeeded in reaching the shore, having received several wounds. For two days, smarting under his in- juries, and enduring the intensest mental agony, he wandered on the mountains which skirt the shore of the river, when he finally reached a point of land near one of the receiving ships, and was discovered and taken on board. One of the pirates, reputed to be the leader of the gang, was fatally wounded by a pistol shot from Mr. Fast, of which he shortly afterward died. The neighboring piratical haunt, from which these murderers had put off, was subsequently destroyed My First Arrival in China. 203 by a military expedition dispatched from Foo- chow. Mr. Elquist sank under the consequences of the frightful scenes through which he had passed, and in declining health visited Hong- kong early in 185 1, in the hope that the change of climate and association would restore him to health. This result not having been realized, in 1852 he embarked for Sweden. Thus terminated this first attempt of the Swedes to establish a mission in China. On the 9th of July, 185 1, the writer and his wife, accompanied by Rev. James Colder and his wife and Miss M. Seely, who afterward became the wife of M. C. White, arrived at Foochow, and on the 9th of June, 1853, the mission of the American Board was strengthened by the arrival of the Rev. Charles Hartwell and wife, the latter being a sister of Mrs. Cummings, already in the field. Mr. Hartwell and wife still continue in the service of the mission. In 1855 the Meth- odist Episcopal Mission was re-enforced by Rev. Dr. Wentworth and wife, the latter of whom soon died, and now sleeps in the cemetery of Foochow. The same year the mission was joined by Rev. Otis Gibson and wife, who after many years of efficient service returned to this country, and are now doing valiant missionary work in our mission among the Chinese in California. 204 China and Japan. We have thought it well to give in this more detailed form the occupancy of this mission-field in its earlier years. By successive arrivals since 1855 our mission at Foochow has been re-en- forced by Messrs. Baldwin, Hart, Todd, Wheeler, Lowry, Martin, Binkley, Sites, Plum, Ohlinger, Edgell, Chandler, and their wives. In 1867 Messrs. Hart and Todd left Foochow to inaugu- rate our mission at Kiukiang, and in 1869 Messs. Wheeler and Lowry went to Peking to establish our mission there. Mr. Martin died, and Mr. Edgell was obliged to return home, while the others still remain at Foochow. In 1858 three young ladies, the Misses Woolston aad Miss P. E. Potter, subsequently married to Dr. Wentworth, arrived to take charge of the Woman's work. After the organization of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society these ladies were transferred to that organization ; and in 1875 Miss Trask, M. D., came to inaugurate the medical department of the woman's mission. XV. S Vi#t to % dotii|tfy. |N Thursday, December 6th, we arrived at the city of Foochow, and on- Friday and Saturday convened the mission to consider and settle some preliminary questions for | the organization of an Annual Conference. ** On Sabbath Mr. Baldwin preached in the morning in Chinese, giving a historical statement of the mission in this locality, and in the after- noon I preached in the chapel in English. Monday and Tuesday were spent in various ex- cursions about the city, and on Wednesday, at five o'clock in the morning, we started up the river Min, to make an excursion to a part of our country work. I was accompanied by Mr. Bald- win, superintendent of our mission, and Mr. Chandler, in charge of the work on the Kucheng Circuit. Through the courtesy of one of the merchants we were favored with a steam launch, on which we ascended the river for sixty miles, 205 2o6 China and Japan. accomplishing the distance by four o'clock in the afternoon, instead of taking two or three days, as is usually required in a Chinese boat. The river Min is the glory and the treasure of this province. In beauty of scenery, along its whole length of about three hundred miles, it is unsurpassed, while down its rapid tide thou- sands of boats carry the vast products of the whole northern and western parts of the prov- ince. The scenery is mountainous, and the mountains are high and rugged, but all covered with vegetable or timber growth. At four P. M. we reached the village of Chui Kau, where we had to spend the night. We found passable quarters in the "upper room" of the chapel of the Church of England mission, but did not sleep much, on account of the noise of a set of gamblers in the adjoining house, who, strange to say, were keeping up these noises to propitiate the gods and secure their blessing on their rascally business. At daylight, after a breakfast prepared by our own cook, of food that we were carrying with us, as it is necessary in all these country trips to have your own cook and provisions, we started for Kucheng, still thirty miles distant. It was raining, but in twenty minutes after we rounded the mountain point, at the upper part of the village, I saw that we Mountain Scenery. 207 would be grandly paid for even riding in an open chair in the rain. Our first move was to climb the mountain side, a thousand -feet high, by a winding way on the sides of the hill, terraced nearly to the top, while down the mountain sides were leaping streams of water in every di- rection. In the valley below were the rapids of what we have called the Kucheng River. The scenery in every direction was grand, and through it we traveled all the day, up and down the mountains, sometimes on precipices five hun- dred feet high, the river roaring and dashing be- low, the mountain sides covered with pines or bamboos, or orchards of tea oil trees or tallow trees, and where these were not, the mountains terraced sometimes a thousand feet high. The mountains, in shape, remind one of the Sierra Nevadas, but are covered from base to summit with the richest verdure. The terracing of these mountain sides to bring them into level ground, on which the paddy or rice may be cultivated, is really remarkable. For thirty miles we ride along this winding stream, and on these mountain sides, and yet in all the distance did not observe a straight line. All these terraces are bounded by little elevated sides, all running in grace- ful curves, and rising one above the other, for hundreds of feet up the mountains. Mountain 208 China and Japan. streams in countless numbers break out on these hill-sides, and, being caught up by the industrious farmers, are turned into these terraces, and the terraces opening one into another, send the water leaping down the sides of the mountain in a thousand broken streams. The effect is really charming. The river is very wild, and at one place has a cataract about fifty feet high and as many broad. With much labor and no little peril, we climbed over the rocks to the edge of the cataract. As it falls from the summit into the abyss below, it sends up a great cloud of vapor, which the na- tives declare is the breath of a dragon, living under the falls. Our chair-bearers most firmly believed this, and declared that the dragon had several times been seen, and that at night his breath often emitted light and flame. As addi- tional proof that the dragon was there, it was positively asserted that nobody who fell into the abyss had ever been seen again. This part of the story we can easily believe. At one o'clock we arrived at Hok To Liang, fifteen miles on our journey. Here our cook soon prepared us a fair dinner in the "book-room" of our own chapel, which is simply a common Chinese house, which we rent for two dollars and fifty cents per year. We were soon on our way Village Nastiness. 209 again, and, at four o'clock, halted for the night at a miserable little village called Chau long, in another small, rented native house, used as a chapel by the Church mission. I can no more give an idea of the noise, the filth and stench, and the general nastiness of a Chinese village, than I can of the magnificent natural scenery. By day we sang praises, riding through the one, and by night we groaned, suffered, and sickened in the other. In the morning, every thing was drenched in the rain, and we were unable to move forward till ten o'clock ; then we started, still fully com- pensated for our rainy ride by the wonderful landscapes that every moment were opening be- fore us. Through all this valley laborers were at work in the rice fields preparing them for the Spring sowing. We were constantly meeting burden-bearers carrying great loads on bamboo poles on their shoulders to Chui Kau to be shipped by the river. Two miles outside of Kucheng, we were met by a delegation of native Christians, and when we had reached the last resting place, a mile out of the city, we met the presiding elder and some ad- ditional members, who welcomed us to the city. At one o'clock we reached the chapel and found comparatively pleasant quarters in the back part of the chapel and part of the parsonage. We 2 to China and Japan. could see and feel at once the presence and in- fluence of Christianity. Hu Yong Mi is presid- ing elder and pastor, and is a saintly man, who, in former years, endured great persecution in himself and family for the name of Christ. We enjoyed an interesting native prayer-meeting in the evening. On Saturday morning we had a prayer meet- ing, and at ten in the forenoon a general meet- ing in the interests of the district. In the after- noon we held a short examination of the girls' school, numbering fourteen girls, and then vis- ited three places with a view to finding a better location for our chapel. One of the places vis- ited impressed me favorably as to location, size, and availability of the buildings. We are glad to learn that this property has been purchased by the mission, and the buildings upon it have been remodeled under the genius and labors of Hu Yong Mi, and now gives us a very excellent central property for the city of Kucheng and for the entire district. There is room upon it for a good church and parsonage for the presiding elder, a parsonage for the preacher, and a home for the foreign missionary when he visits the city, two or three rooms for school purposes, and a street chapel and book room on the main street fronting the property. Chinese Homes. 211 The second place we visited was a dilapidated house, which, at one time, must have been very fine, in the Chinese sense, but is now going to ruin, a result of opium and polygamy. The grounds are large and buildings extensive. There are two large gardens and a fish pond. The building is two stories, surrounded by galleries, contains some very fine carved wood work, and the walls are finished in ornamental stucco. We felt sad as we looked upon this establishment going thus to ruin, and knew well the causes that were producing it, the proprietor having become reduced so low that he actually had torn away parts of the beautifully carved wood work and sold them to buy opium. The third was a neat and better kept house, being a series of one-story buildings surrounding the court. In the court were some fine speci- mens of plants and dwarfs. Hanging up in the ancestral hall our attention was called to an old picture, painted in the time of the Ming dy- nasty. We noticed the absence of the queue from the figure, indicating that this appendage to a Chinaman's head was not in existence until enforced upon them by the conquering Manchus. In the court we observed a fine large tree, twelve feet high and more than six inches in diameter, which was a Camellia Japonica, full of buds, 2 1 2 China and Japan. ready to burst out into those gorgeous flowers. We also visited a fine college building outside of the city walls, dedicated to the memory of Chu Foo Tsze, a famous philosopher of five hundred years ago, one of the most noted commentators on Confucius, who taught school in this place. An examination hall occupies nearly the entire front of the building. A room in the rear of this seems to be dedicated to Kwanyin and her attendants, whose images are there in a glass case. On both sides of these rooms are cells for students. The scenery from the college, up and down the river, is very fine. As we sat in our room in the rear of the chapel, on Saturday afternoon, we observed, hanging on one side, two gilt mottoes on scar- let crape, presented by the traveling preach- ers of Hu Yong Mi's district to him, which is quite a characteristic of Chinese etiquette and appreciation. One of these mottoes reads, "For a thousand li, the sound of his traveling feet brought glory to Christ." The other reads, ' ' For six years we received his instructive care, and grace was divided through the pasture." Sunday, the 16th, was a high day for Ku- cheng Methodism. The members and preachers from the district were assembled for a united meeting, and the Christian Experience. 2 1 3 whole day was well put in. Morning prayer- meeting at six ; Sunday-school at half-past eight ; love-feast at half-past nine, with sweet -cake and tea, led by Chiong Taik Liong, who read part of the fifth chapter of Galatians, and gave out the hymn, " Oh, for a heart to praise my God;" then prayer; then singing, "Happy Day;" and then followed about twenty relations of Christian experience. Chiong Taik Liong said: " My heart is in agreement with the third verse of the eighty- ninth hymn. Now I take my life and existence, and all I have that is precious, all my friends, and consecrate my whole person to God. I am very happy in my Savior." Ting Ming Tong said: "In the last two months I have had great peace in my work. I desire all your prayers." Ling Oi Hing said : "My peace is very great, very wonderful. I suddenly obtained peace. My grief is little ; my peace is much. My grief is to see so many still unconverted. I constantly pray for the Kucheng Church, and feel thankful for the Savior's answers." Chaing Ki La said: "My constant prayer is that Christ will take my life into his own hands, and do with me as he will." Another said: "I shall serve Christ to the 14 214 China and Japan. end." Another: "At my station I have con- stant peace. I desire that all this country may be given to God." Ting Kieng Sing said : tl I have received very great grace from God. Within these few days I have received something very precious. What is it ? God has assured me that I am his child, and that I am brother to these foreign and native Christians. I am very happy." Another said: "I am praying God to help me. All that I am afraid of is that I will fall again into sin. I want you to pray for me, that I may be faithful to the end." A brother who had attended us as a burden- bearer from Foochow said : "I am from Ngu- keng. What I see in Kucheng is very wonder- ful. Outside of the Church of Christ you can not see such a sight — foreign teachers and natives all assembled together to join in the service of God. Over ten years ago I became a Christian. I wish you all to pray for our Ngukeng class." San Kwang Hung said: "I have used many measures to destroy the carnal mind within me, and have prayed earnestly, and have partly suc- ceeded. Now I am like one waiting, like Paul on the wayside, to know what the Lord wants me to do." Another said : " Last year there was no peace A Love-feast, 215 in our household. Now we have great peace, and we have come to know the Savior. My heart is full of thankfulness." Yong Hung Sing said: "My soul and body have been entirely at peace. If Jesus had not come to the earth we would not have had any thing to . assemble together for to-day. We are here because of Jesus. In these few days I have obtained great happiness. It seems as though I had come to the last days and begun to taste the joys of paradise." Another said: "I am very happy in God's grace. What I meet in the world I am able to bear through Christ." Hu Yong Mi, the elder, said: "I see many here whose lives were not given into the Savior's hand. I was very sad. Christ told me, Look to me and not be sad. I have already over- come. Now, trusting in him, I have seen great grace bestowed. I very much love you, my brethren. I want, like John, to lay my head on the Savior's bosom, and, like Mary, to sit at his feet." While Yong Mi spoke all were greatly affected, and many were in tears. At the conclusion of the love-feast I had the pleasure of baptizing four children and two adults — one of the children being a little found- ling, picked up and adopted by our Bible woman. 2 1 6 China and Japan. At eleven o'clock Mr. Baldwin preached in Chi- nese, and after the sermon we had the Lord's- supper, when fifty -two natives communed, of whom eight were women. At three o'clock sev- eral of the preachers went out into the streets, and at various points had street preaching; and in the evening we had preaching and prayer- meeting, with which the native Christians of the Church of England Mission also joined with us, the services being conducted by Mr. Chandler. So passed a Sabbath with a body of Chris- tian Chinese, in a manner we shall never forget. Kucheng is a district walled city of about tw r enty thousand inhabitants, and, though wet and muddy now from the excessive rains, we could easily see that it is one of the neatest and clean- est Chinese cities I have ever been in. The Methodist Mission, and also that of the Church of England, have good success here and in this district. The Church Mission has a very good chapel in this city. We, also, will soon have one. At five o'clock on Monday morning we break- fasted, and about seven got off, in our chairs, on our return, accompanied by the presiding elder and the preachers of his district. We were again enchanted by the scenery and the many strange things of Chinese life and custom which we met on the way. FIELD LABORERS. Country Scenes. 219 Here were natives, with their bamboo poles on their shoulders, and their burden at each end of the pole, making their way into the villages, or carrying their burdens from the city over to the river. Here were laborers, plowing in the rice-fields, or digging up the stubble of last year's harvest, preparing the ground for the early Spring rice. Here we make our way through a deep ravine, crossed by the only stone -arched bridges that we saw in China. Here are some strange -looking urns, hid away in a romantic little spot, which our attendant rather wittily called "potted ancestors." They are urns containing the ashes of cremated Chi- nese. Here are ingenious methods of conduct- ing the streams of water for miles through bamboo pipes. Now we are winding around a precipice five hundred feet high, actually grow- ing dizzy as we look into the raging river below. Here is a camphor -tree, six feet in diameter. Here is a large banian, of the form peculiar to China, ten feet in diameter in its trunk. Now we pass over the long, strangely constructed, wooden bridge. And thus, through changing scenery of this kind, we travel all day. About five o'clock in the evening we left our chairs, and took a Chinese boat for a dashing ride of about seven miles down the rapids of the 2 2 o China and Japan. river. It was a very exciting ride ; and about six o'clock we entered our own house-boat on the Min, at Chui Kau, and floated down the rapid river all night; and about ten o'clock the next day reached our homes in Foochow, feeling abundantly repaid for all my labor and exposure. During our entire visit to Kucheng we were attended by an enthusiastic Chinaman, Lau Yong Ming, an exhorter in the Kucheng Church. Wherever we went Yong Ming was with us. Two miles out of the city he met us, and when we left he conducted us more than two miles on our way. He seemed to take immense delight in anticipating every wish, and in ministering in every possible way to our happiness and com- fort. He brought down, from the loft over the chapel, three large, smoke -covered idols, and presented them to me as the former objects of his worship. To satisfy his good feeling, we carried them as far as Foochow, but were not able to bring them with us to America. I be- came very much interested in him, and asked him to give me a little sketch of his history. He wrote it out, and Mr. Chandler translated it for me. It is not unworthy of a place in this volume, and will be interesting to the reader. It is as follows : "I am a native of Kucheng city. All my Sketch of a Convert. 221 ancestors have lived here for many generations past. My family being poor my work, as a child, was to watch cows in the field. When I was grown up, I opened a tobacco store. Thirty- three years ago, in the twenty-third year of the Emperor Tau Kwang, I became a Buddhist vegetarian, zealously worshiping the gods, and refraining from eating meat. Seven years ago, in the first year of the Emperor Tung Te, being avaricious, I began gambling, hoping to get great profits in it, but instead of realizing my hopes, I lost all my money, even including the capital which I had invested in my shop. I was in very great distress, having no rest because of my loss. "I continued thus until the third year of the reign of Tung Te, when, thanks be to God's grace, his true word was first preached in Ku- cheng city. In the seventh month of that year a chapel was opened here, and I first heard the commandments of God. Hearing these com- mands and listening to the voice of prayer and singing, I was deeply moved and convinced of my sinfulness. Four months later I gave my name as a probationer in the Church. Thence- forward I listened to and obeyed the Word of God, receiving the unseen aid of his Holy Spirit. On the sixth day of the sixth month of the follow- 222 China and Japan. ing year, thirteen years ago, I was baptized and received into the Church by Dr. Maclay, at Hok- Ing-Tong, in Foochow city, and now, by the grace of God, I have come out of death, and have entered into life, and by the constant help of the Holy Spirit have been enabled to leave darkness behind me and enter into the life of God. "Thus my body and soul have both found rest and peace, relying on this Scripture : ' Let us hold fast the profession of our faith, without wavering; for he is faithful that hath promised/ I believe that I shall be forever with the Lord, and I can say with the Psalmist, ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept thy Word.' My strong desire is, under all circumstances, to offer myself, as a living sacrifice to God, hoping that when I have been tried, I shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. I pray God ; let me not forsake thy commandments. Trusting in Jesus, I desire always to offer from a sanctified heart ceaseless praises to God for the great grace vouchsafed to me. This is my heart's real longing. Amen." xvr. S Confei'er^e Oi'gkqi^ed. IfHE main purpose of our visit to Foochow and this interesting mission field, was to organize the work of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in Fuhkien province, into an annual conference. The exercises of this conference may be said to have opened by the preaching of the annual sermon by Mr. Chan- dler, on Wednesday evening, December 19th, in Tieng Ang Tong, in the city of Foochow. The conference assembled on Thursday morn- ing for organization. It was an occasion of intense interest to myself as well as to all. Twenty-seven years ago, I had come to this city among the earlier missionaries. Twenty- three years ago I had left the city with but very little encouragement, or indication of what was to be the grand result. Then there was not a single merchant here, all the foreign trade that there was at that time being carried on 223 224 China and Japan. by two opium ships, located near the mouth of the river. Now I find a large mercantile settlement, filled with elegant residences and busy hongs. Then there was not a Church nor a native Christian ; now there are in this city three large churches of our own mission, be- sides several of other missions. Then w r e could not, by treaty rights, pass more than five miles beyond the city ; now our missionaries and native preachers have their districts and their circuits, reaching one hundred and fifty miles to the north and west, and two hundred miles to the south and east. Now there are over four thousand na- tive Christians in the three missions, and in this church I now see before me eighty native Chi- nese preachers, and between two and three hun- dred native Chinese Christians, representing a Church membership of more than two thousand, ready to be organized into an annual conference ! After appropriate devotional services we trans- ferred five missionaries and fifteen native preach- ers from the conferences in which they had held their membership in the United States, and declared the Foochow Annual Conference duly organized. Hu Sing Mi and N. J. Plumb were elected secretaries. Committees were appointed on Self-support, Opium, Sunday-schools, and on the Observance of the Sabbath. The charac- An Affecting Scene. 225 ters of the presiding elders were examined and approved. There was an affecting scene when we began the examination of character. S. L. Baldwin, who had been superintendent of the mission, stood first on the list, and Hu Po Mi was called upon, as presiding elder, to represent him. The venerable brother arose, and said : "I can not do it, I can not do it;" and the tears began to roll down his cheeks, and he said again, "I can not do it. The like was never seen in China ; these foreign teachers have come here to teach us of Jesus, and now we are in an annual confer- ence, and I am called upon to represent the teacher. I can think of nothing like it but when the Savior insisted on washing the disci- ples' feet." The whole conference was much affected. S. L. Baldwin and Hu Po Mi represented the Foochow District; Mr. Plumb and Li Yu Mi represented the Hokchiang District ; Mr. Sites and Sia Sek Ong, the Hinghwa District. Sia Sek Ong said that about eighty had been kept on trial for not keeping the Sabbath fully. One brother said that Sia Sek Ong's character was his law and his example. Mr. Ohlinger and Yek Ing Kwang represented the Yongping District. It has been a hard year there ; much persecution 226 China and Japan. and opposition. These two brethren are as Jona- than and David. Mr. Chandler and Hu Yong Mi represented the Kucheng District. Yong Mi said he always carried this brother (meaning Mr. Chandler) in his heart. After this we closed the first session of the Foochow Conference. In the afternoon there was an enthusiastic Sunday-school anniversary, addressed by Hu Sing Mi and Hu King Mi, the last of which was a most spirited address. He is the fifth son of the Hu family, a local preacher in our Church, an enthusiastic worker in the Sunday-school cause, and has a flourishing Sunday-school at Ching Sing Tong, where over a hundred of the heathen boys of the neighborhood now regularly assem- ble every Sunday. On Friday morning we determined to admit on trial in the conference an equal number from the ranks of the local preachers, as we had trans- ferred of the native preachers from the home conferences, and consequently fifteen of the most promising young men were admitted on trial. A very impressive memorial service was held in memory of Ling Ching Ting, who had died dur- ing the year. He had been ordained by Bishop Kingsley in 1869. When he heard of the bish- op's death he wept like a child. He endured trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, more- A Departed Hero. 227 over, of bonds and imprisonments. His was the blessing of those who are "persecuted for right- eousness' sake." Under his labors very many were received into the Church on trial. He had a remarkable power of winning people from their idols to earnest inquiry into Christianity. He gave his best strength to the Church for sixteen years. Broken in health a year ago, he had still taken his appointment and gone to his work. But entirely breaking down in the Spring, he de- sired to be taken to his field of labor, wishing to die where he had worked most and suffered most. His death was triumphant. It was difficult for his brethren to speak of him, as their fast flow- ing tears and strong emotions prevented their utterance. A meeting on the observance of the Sab- bath in the afternoon showed that the native preachers were not disposed to lower the stand- ard of Sabbath observance, and that those of the members who are faithful in this duty are pros- pered of God and lose nothing by their observ- ance of the Sabbath-day. In the evening a "self-support" meeting was held, at which meas- ures looking to the real accomplishment of entire self-support in the old circuits were heartily approved by the leading native preachers. Saturday morning was taken up by the elec- 228 China and Japan tion of native preachers to deacons' and elders' orders. One of the local preachers elected to deacon's orders was an old man, Sia Kai Lwang, the venerable father of Sia Sek Ong. A frater- nal meeting was also held this morning with delegates from the American Board and Church of England Mission. An interesting incident also happened this morning, in the presence of a committee of seven boys, representing the Ching Sing Tong Sabbath-school, desiring to see the kangtok, or bishop, and present the compliments of the school. A neat little speech was made by one of the oldest boys, who afterward presented to the bishop one hundred cards on crimson paper, which contained the names of the mem- bers of the school. It could not have been more neatly done in any country in the world. On Saturday evening a service of consecration was held, Mr. Ohlinger presiding and preaching, followed by an earnest and profitable prayer- meeting. The Sabbath of the conference was a day of full work and blessed enjoyment. The love- feast commenced at half-past eight in the morn- ing, in which a large number of the brethren gave excellent and interesting testimonies to the reality, the value, and the blessedness of the religion which they enjoyed. Some of them had The Native Ministry. 229 endured serious trials and persecutions during the year for the cause they had espoused. To this day, it is not a matter of gain, but of very serious loss in every temporal and earthly re- spect to the Chinese who become Christians. It is not, therefore, for the hire, which is but a little pittance, which these native preachers get from the missionary society, that they enter into this work, but always with great pecuniary sacrifice and with opposition every-where, and with perse- cution in most places. They enter into this work, being called by the Holy Ghost, and sus- tained by a conscious, personal, Christian expe- rience. Every one of our presiding elders could immediately retire from his Christian and official character, and make three or four fold the amount of money he is receiving in the Christian work. The love-feast was a very precious occa- sion, but it is needless to put on our pages the testimonials of these Christian men, though many of them were translated for us. At half-past ten Hu Yong Mi, presiding elder of the Kucheng District, preached an excellent, expository sermon, encouraging and inspiring to the ministers, from several verses of the twelfth chapter of John. We were able to understand many sentences of this sermon and to follow the general subject throughout, but even more than '5 230 China and Japan with the subject were we pleased with the sweet and godly spirit manifested by these Chinese Christians. After the sermon the deacons were ordained. This was an impressive ceremony, the entire service being read in the Chinese lan- guage, except the pronouncing of the words of ordination by the bishop, which he uttered in English, and which was immediately repeated by Mr. Baldwin in Chinese. In the afternoon, the native preachers preached in several places about the city, and the writer preached in English in Tieng Ang Tong. At night, Sia Sek Ong preached a very practical sermon to the preachers and five elders were ordained. On Monday morning we went through the usual routine of business of an annual confer- ence, the various committees bringing in stirring reports on all the important subjects that had been submitted to them. In the afternoon quite a regular cabinet meeting was held, in which the native elders entered and took their place and part like old, experienced presiding elders. The entire work was divided into five districts, and a native elder appointed to each, with a foreign missionary assigned to each district as general counselor with the elder. On Tuesday we held the final session of the conference. Among other reports a very satis- Close of the Conference. 231 factory statistical statement was presented, show- ing two thousand six hundred and eighty as the number of members, probationers, and baptized children. This being Christmas Day, we could not but think of the celebrated Christmas Con- ference of 1784, for the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, and could not but feel that, though in a humbler measure, we were now organizing the Methodist Episcopal Church in the great empire of China. It is not an impossible thing that, in the next hundred years, there may be an almost equally great and powerful Methodist Episcopal Church in this greatest empire of Asia. After the general business of the Conference had been finished we had a Christmas sermon by Mr. Baldwin ; then the baptism of a child each for Mr. Sites, Mr. Ohlinger, and Mr. Chan- dler; then the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's-supper, under the direction of that venerable and heroic man of God, the eldest of the Hu family, Hu Po Mi. Then we sang the parting hymn, and a most feeling prayer was offered by Hu Yong Mi, and we then called upon Sia Sek Ong to read out the appointments. And so closed the first session of the Foochow Annual Conference. The following will present to the reader the 232 China and Japan answers to the usual conference questions and the appointments of the preachers, from which, and the map of a part of Fuhkien Province which we present, the reader will gain an excel- lent knowledge of the extent and distribution of the work of this infant conference in China: Foochow District. — Li Yu Mi, P. E. S. L. Baldwin, Missionary. Tieng-ang Tong Circuit, S. L. Baldwin, F. Ohlinger. Ching-Sing Tong Circuit, Li Yu Mi. Hok-ing Tong Circuit, Sia Heng To. Yek-yong Circuit, Wong Eung Chiong.* Hung-Moi Circuit, Ting Siu Kung. Lek-tu Cir- cuit, Hu Sing Mi, Chung Ka Eu,* Wong Meu Tang.* Biblical Institute and High School, F. Ohliiiger. Fookien Church Gazette, S. L. Baldwin. Mission Press, N. J. Plumb. Hok-ciiiang District. — Hu Po Mi, P. E. N.J. Plumb, Missionary. Hok-chiang Circuit, Siek Chiong Tieng,* Sie Po Mi.* Teng-tiong Circuit, Ting Kie Hwi.* Ngu-ka Cir- cuit, Ting Teng Nieng.* Ngu-cheng Circuit, Ngoi Ki Lang, U Sieu leu. Keng-kiang Circuit, Ting Neng Chiek, Ling Chiong Ling.* Au-ngoi Circuit, Sie Hwo Mi, U Sieu E.* Siek-keng Circuit, Ngu Muk Ong,* Ung Kwong Koi.* Hai- tang Circuit, Hwong Taik Chiong, Siek Chong Hong.* Kong-ing Circuit, Hu Ngwong Tang.* Hing-hwa District. — Sia Sek Ong, P. E. N. Sites, Mis- sionary. Hing-hwa Circuit, Wong Kwoh Hing, Hu Ngwong Ko.* Siong-tai Circuit, Ting Ing Cheng, one to be supplied. Pah-sai Circuit, Ting Ching Kwong, one to be supplied. Hang-keng Circuit, Li Cha Mi, U Sing Tung.* Keng-kau Circuit, Ting Soi Ling. Kia-sioh Circuit, Tang Taik Tu.* Pwo-hia Circuit, Ling Tang Kie.* Paek-ko-leu Circuit, Ting Ung Chu, Ling Hiong Chung.* Ping-hai Circuit, Tiong Tiong Mi,* one to be supplied. Nang-nik Circuit, Yong Taik Cheu. Sieng-iu Circuit, Ling Seng Eu.* Kie-tieng-li Circuit, :: '- Those marked thus are locnl prenchers, but assigned to regular appointments as the others. Sl'ATISTICS. 233 Ting Kiu Seu,* Wong KingChu.* Lieng-chu-li Circuit, Ngu Ing Siong, one to be supplied. Ing-chung Circuit, one to be supplied, Cheng Chong Ming.* Taik-hwa Circuit, Ling Ching Chieng, Hwong Pau Seng.*' YoNG-PiNG District. — Yek Ing Kwang, P. E. F. Ohlin- ger, Missionary. Yong-ping Circuit, Taing Kwang Ing, one to be supplied. Chiong-hu-pwang Circuit, Ling Ming Chiong. Yu-ka Circuit, Tiong Seuk Pwo f * Tiong Ung Chieu.* Ta-i- cheng Circuit, Taing Kieng Ing, one to be supplied. Song- chiong Circuit, Hwong Taik Lik,* Ting Chai Wok.* Sa- kaing Circuit, Pang Ting Hie. Ing-ang Circuit, Tang King Tong,* Sieu Ing Tong.* To-ngwong Circuit, Sia Lieng Li. Ku-cheng District. — Hu Yong Mi, P. E. D. W. Chandler, Missionary, Ku-cheng Circuit, Hu Yong Mi, Sie Seng Chang,* Tiong Ming Taik.* Lwang-leng Circuit, Ngu Ing Hwak,* Ling Hieng Seng.* Lo-kang and Hwang-te- yong Circuit, Ting Hung Ngwong,* Chung Ka- La.* Teng- yong Circuit, Tiong Ming Tung. Keu-teng Circuit, Ting Kieng Seng.* Sek-chek-tu Circuit, Chiong Taik Liong 3 Ngu Pwo Ing.* Tong-hwang Circuit, Li Nga Hung.* Ku-te Circuit, Lau Kwang Hung, Ting Tieng Ling,* Ting Teng Nguk.* Seng-yong Circuit, Wong Hok Ku.* The statistics of the Conference are as fol- lows: Preachers in the Conference, 35: native preachers actually appointed to the work, 72 ; local preachers, 60; members, 1,235; proba- tioners, 776 ; deaths, 22 ; baptized children, 542 ; baptized adults, 145 ; churches and chapels, 60; value, $10,190.58; parsonages for native preach- ers, 15; value, $1,601.70; contributed for sup- port of preachers, $341 ; for support of presiding elders, $280; for church building, $1,024; for the poor, $98.13; for Church expenses, $294.84; 234 China and Japan Sunday-schools, 42; scholars, 1,019; total con- tributions, $2,041.30. When we consider that the scale of wages and prices in China is less than one-tenth of the standard in the United States, and that ten or twelve cents a day is large wages for a China- man, this amount should be justly considered as a large and generous contribution, being equal to ten times the amount in a country where the scale of wages is at least one dollar a day. Immediately after the adjournment of the Conference we had a consultation with the mis- sionaries and presiding elders as to the distribu- tion of the missionary money appropriated to the native preachers. The rate was fixed at three dollars a month for each of the preachers, a dollar and a half for his wife, and seventy-five cents for each child. As large a part of this as is possible is paid by each circuit and district, and the balance is then paid by the mission. The Conference itself passed a resolution that all the circuits in the older work ought to be able to support their own preachers in five years from this time, and recommended that missionary money should not be paid to the preacher, but to the stewards of the charge, as supple- mentary to whatever they could do, and to be administered by the stewards ; and they also Preachers' Salaries. 235 passed a rule that the amount appropriated to any circuit should gradually diminish from year to year, and cease entirely within a limited period. At this scale of prices it really looks strange to an American to see such men as Hu Yong Mi, Hu Po Mi, and Sia Sek Ong, men who, in char- acter and ability, if they had the same experience and acquaintance with American life as they have with that of China, would be qualified to fill the highest places in the Church in the United States, receiving as the compensation for their labor three dollars for themselves, one dollar and a half for their wives, and seventy-five cents for each child, making, in the case of the saintly Hu Yong Mi, six dollars a month for his inval- uable services. Sia Sek Ong for some years has refused to receive any missionary money, and has depended entirely upon the contributions of his district, which has been able to contribute to him about this same rate of pay. Surely these men can not be suspected of secular or merce- nary motives in engaging in this Christian serv- ice. We were profoundly impressed with the godly sincerity and earnest devotion of all these native preachers. No one can look upon them for a moment without believing that God is with them, and that he is using them as his chosen 236 China and Japan. instruments for the accomplishment of great re- sults in China. At one of the sessions of the Conference an interesting report was made of the theological school under the charge of brother Ohlinger. This school is in the same building as the print- ing and book establishment — a large, three-story building, with basement, situated immediately to the west of Tieng Ang Tong. There were then in the school thirteen young men, most of them licensed local preachers, and the rest exhorters — a fine-looking body of youth, who sat from day to day with us, observing the doings of the Con- ference. These young men are preparing for the ministry, and are bright and promising, se- lected from different parts of the work. It was a pleasure to look upon them, and see that God was preparing young men to take the places of some of these fathers, who will soon now begin to pass away. The Conference considered the cases of seven different young men, and recommended their admission into the school. There is also, in connection with it, a "high school," in which there are ten or twelve smaller boys, some of them sons of the preachers. Hu Po Mi and Hu Yong Mi have each a son, grown to young manhood, in the theological school. Indeed, we have touched the fourth generation The Girls' B oarding-School. 237 of Methodists in this remarkable Hu family. The venerable father of all, among the first of our Christian converts, passed several years ago to his reward in heaven. Four of his sons are now active in the ministry — three of them in the Conference, and one a local preacher. A son, as we have seen, of Po Mi and of Yong Mi is in the theological school, and we had the pleas- ure of seeing a bright little boy at Kucheng baptized into the Christian Church, a son of the son of Hu Yong Mi. The girls' boarding-school, under the charge of the Misses Woolston, was also reported to the Conference and visited by the preachers. This is a very fine, large building of two stories and basement, situated in the mission compound. The kitchen, wash-room, etc., are below, and on the first floor are the school-rooms, dining-room, and two bedrooms. The second floor is divided into four sleeping rooms. The beds are very simple, and two or three girls sleep in each. Every thing about the building and school shows neat- ness and good order, and the presence of good discipline. There are thirty -one girls in the school, seventeen of whom are foundlings, or cast-off girls. This school has done excellent service in our mission, and has trained up a large number of Christian young ladies, some of 238 China and Japan. whom have become wives of our native preach- ears, and some have become Bible-women, doing good service for the cause of Christ. A report was also made of the hospital and medical service, under the direction of Sigourney Trask, M. D. She has a fine residence and hos- pital building, situated at some distance to the south-west of the mission compound. Miss Trask has done excellent service, and has won golden opinions in the mission and among the natives. XVII. dl|ii\e^e Wedding ii\ Si^ I-"^T.;^ Wesley an Mission. 325 out alone and at his own expense. We remem- bered with delight the enthusiasm, hopefulness, and zeal of this young man, as we saw him be- ginning his work among the Chinese at Hong- kong, and now were especially delighted to find him at Canton, the recognized father of the Wes- leyan Missions in China and at the head of an ex- tensive and flourishing mission work in the city and ' extending out into the country ; and that from this central mission a branch had gone forth and opened another mission in Central China at Hankow, on the Yang-tsze-kiang. His heroic example soon won the favor of the Wes- leyan Missionary Society, and they adopted him and his work, and the Lord has blessed their labors and has given them success among the Chinese. At Canton they have five families and three single ladies, and about one hundred and fifty members. They have out-stations one hun- dred miles in one direction and eighty in another. They have two ordained native preachers, and their schools are very flourishing. The oldest of their native preachers was in very infirm health when I was there. We vis- ited him. He had been laid prostrate by severe suffering several times during the year. At one time there seemed to be no hope for him, and he himself thought that he was Hearing his end, 21 326 China and Japan. but his feet were on the rock and his eye upon the crown. Through Mr. Piercy, we held some conversation with him, and though he was con- vinced that his days were but few, there was no fear, no faltering, but a joyful anticipation of a glorious salvation when it should please God to call him away. It was a bright and beautiful testimony to the depth and genuineness of his conversion, and to the peaceful and hopeful state of mind before God and in view of death. The Presbyterian Mission, under the leader- ship of our old friend, Dr. Happer, whom we also met at Canton twenty-seven years before, has had as much success as we could expect, under all the great difficulties and prejudices which exist at Canton. This mission has about the same number of missionaries and out-stations, and in all about three hundred members. Dr. Carrow is doing an excellent medical and hospital work. The several young ladies of the missions are doing valuable work in the schools and in visitation among the native women. The mis- sionaries are all hopeful that a brighter and more successful future lies immediately before them. They are beginning to work out into the coun- try regions, and as they get farther away from the city and its influences are finding greater Adieu to China. 327 acceptance on the part of the people, and greater success in the conversion of souls. A very hard and impracticable class, which it seems as if no missionary effort can reach, are the boat people of Canton. They seem to a very great extent to be separated from the dwellers on the land, and are almost a different class of people. Very little intermarrying is done between them and the landsmen, and they are a very hard class to reach in any way. But very little missionary work is done among these people anywhere in China, and yet they form a vast part of the great empire; On the 30th of June we bade farewell to Canton, and therefore to China proper, and re- turned to Hongkong. XXIII. jVoir\ dl|ink to Jkcpkq. |N the 1st of February we set sail on the fine steamer Oceanic, of the Oriental and Occidental Line, and after a splendid run of five days and eighteen hours we reached the city of Yokohama. On the morning of the 7th, at daybreak, I caught sight of the six small mountainous islands which look like outposts of the Gulf of Yedo. The sun soon rose on the horizon, and presented through the sea -fog the appearance of a crimson globe, and looked for all the world like nature's great symbol of the national arms of Japan ; or per- haps because of the frequency of this gorgeous sunrise the Japanese have adopted this view of a crimson globe depicted on a white ground as the armorial representation of their country, whose proper name declares it to be "the Land of the Rising Sun." Its first rays light up the point of Cape Idsu, on the main -land of Nipon, the 328 Gulf of Yedo. 331 great island from which we get the name of Japan, by the way of China, the two characters representing it being read by the Chinese as Jipon, which we corrupt into Japan. This large island is now called Hondo. As we rounded this cape we beheld on the north-east the smoke ascending from the crater of the island of Ohosima. The town of Simoda, at the extremity of a little bay in the promon- tory of Idsu, is the first but least important of the cities of commerce which is met in ascend- ing the Gulf of Yedo. Here the Americans first obtained permission from the government to form a settlement in 1854. Subsequently the road- stead was destroyed by an earthquake, and this town was not included in the treaty of 1858. Along the coast we saw a number of fishing- boats and many larger native crafts, indicating the busy native trade along the coast of the main island and the multitude of surrounding smaller ones. It is an animated picture as w T e round the cape and enter the bay. The sun is now clearly up, and the sky is of a dazzling azure ; and the sea, no longer of that dark blue color which indicates great depth of water, is of a green shade, and so limpid that we can see to its depths, which is a characteristic of the waters along this rocky coast of Japan. 33 2 China and Japan As soon as we .turn the cape we catch sight again of that grandest of all objects in Japan, glorious Fujiyama ; and now we see the culti- vated fields and villages scattered all along the coast. We double Cape Sagami, and enter the narrow channel called the Uraga Canal. Uraga is a town which Commodore Perry visited with his squadron in 1853. Our envoy pursued a very judicious and patient method in obtaining the great object of intercourse with Japan. The commodore demanded nothing and threatened nothing, but simply requested a brief interview with certain representatives of the government. To these delegates he cautiously and courteously explained the object of his mission, and then gave them, as he thought, and as all thought, a letter to the emperor, with which the President of the United States had intrusted him, inform- ing them at the same time that he would return for an answer in the following year. This letter, of course, never reached the real emperor, or Mikado, the seat of whose government was at Kioto, in the center of Japan, but was consid- ered by the Shogun, whose real position was that of commander-in-chief of the armies of Japan, but whose position de facto, for two hun- dred and fifty years, had been ruler of Japan. On the commodore's second visit, in 1854, Bay of Ye do. 333 he found it necessary to resist the attempts of the governor of Uraga to detain him before that port, and pressed on with his squadron toward Yedo, the Shogun's capital ; but still acting prudently, and not wishing to offend the national feelings, he cast anchor eight miles south of the capital. Six weeks later, on the 31st of March, 1854, he signed the treaty of Kanagawa, which inaugurated new relations be- tween Japan and the western world. The recollection of this important and suc- cessful mission is preserved in the names of the various places which we pass in ascending the bay. Above Uraga is Susquehanna Bay. Op- posite, on the eastern coast, is Cape Saratoga, named from the flag-ship of the fleet ; and higher up, on the eastern side, is Mississippi Bay. These three names are the names of the prin- cipal vessels which formed the squadron. Perry and Webster Islands, on the west coast, perpet- uate the fame of the Commodore of the expe- dition and of the celebrated Secretary of State who was the originator of the great movement. The Bay of Yedo extends to the north-east and south-west for about thirty miles in length, and terminates in a great semicircle twenty-two miles in diameter from east to west, on the eastern side of which is situated the immense capital of Japan. 334 China and Japan At last we double Treaty Point, a picturesque promontory, where the treaty was signed be- tween Commodore Perry and the Shogun, now acting under the assumed title of Tycoon, or great king; and then the town of Yokohama, extending along a flat, marshy shore, but now well w r alled in and inclosed on the south and west by wooded hills, bursts suddenly on our sight. Ships of war, merchant vessels of various kinds, steamers of as great tonnage as any that float in the world, are riding in the harbor. Multitudes of native junks are anchored at a little distance from the pier head and custom- house stores. We steam slowly past the low Japanese city, the houses in which, with the exception of some warehouses, are low and of wood, consisting of only one story above the ground-floor ; and now we drop our anchor, the ship swinging upon it, head on, towards glorious Fujiyama, as if this great mountain sentinel were every-where pres- ent, either to threaten or to invite the visitor. It is still sixty miles away, and is completely isolated, with the exception of a chain of hills at its base. It is almost impossible to describe the effect of this enormous, solitary pyramid, now at this season covered with snow from sum- mit to base. It gives an air of great solemnity Hakodate. 337 to the landscape of the whole Bay of Yedo. In a few moments we were welcomed by our mis- sionaries of Yokohama, Dr. Maclay and Mrs. Correll. Instead of calling together our missionaries from their several stations in Japan, I judged it best to visit them at their homes, and see the work in the different fields. We reached Yoko- hama from China on Thursday, February 7th, and Dr. Maclay, the superintendent of our mis- sions in Japan, anticipating our desire in the matter, had all things ready for a trip to Hako- date. Accordingly, on Friday, the 8th, Dr. Maclay and myself embarked on a neat little steamer of the Mitsu Bishi Line for Northern Japan, and on Monday evening we came to an- chor in the harbor of Hakodate. It was a pleasant sail of five hundred and seventeen miles along the rugged coast, the weather gradually growing colder, and the bare and bleak rocks covering themselves with snow, till we rounded the extremity of the main island of Japan, and sailed to the westward along the southern coast of the great northern island of Yezo. Here we found genuine Winter. Cold, north-westerly winds, constant squalls of snow, and the ground every-where covered with from two to three feet; altogether it was a sudden transition from the 3 38 China and Japan. almost Summer weather of Hongkong to the three feet of snow covering every thing at Hakodate ; but we found warm and hospitable entertainment with Mr. M. C. Harris, our mis- sionary stationed here. We found here, also, W. C. Davisson and wife, who arrived in No- vember, and in a few days were going over to Hirosaki. Mrs. Harris was in America. We found a city of about thirty thousand inhabit- ants, stretching around the head of a land-locked harbor. Behind the city and all around the bay rise mountain peaks, one of them thirteen hun- dred feet high, and off in the distance another, sending out volumes of smoke. Hakodate is the chief city of the island of Yezo, a large island, to which the Ainos, the aborigines of Japan, have been finally driven, and where*, like our American Indians, a few thousands of them still live as uncivilized barba- rians. Many Japanese, however, are now on the island, and the government is greatly encourag- ing immigration, and at large expense is devel- oping the resources of the "province." The city is on the southern point of the island, on the straits which separate Yezo and Nipon. It has not yet yielded much return to foreign trade, and there are but few foreigners there. It is well located, however, for future missionary Missions. 339 operations, commanding Southern Yezo and Northern Nipon. Our mission, consisting of only Mr. Harris and wife, the Church of Eng- land Mission, the missions of the Greek Church and those of the Catholic Church, make up the missionary force. We have there now thir- teen members and five probationers, one native preacher, and two student helpers. South of this, sixty miles across the strait, and twenty-four miles inland, is Hirosaki, where Mr. Ing has had remarkable success, through the agency of an ex-daimio school. A hundred miles north-west is Sapporo, where is the gov- ernment Agricultural school, and where we have met with most encouraging success among the students. The Greek Church has been here about fifteen years, and has about five hundred converts on the whole island. The French Cath- olics have been operating in the island about ten years, , and have about two hundred converts. The Church of England entered Hakodate about the same time we did, but has not yet had very much success. They have baptized seven. Alto- gether, at Hakodate, Hirosaki, and Sapporo, we have about one hundred baptized members. This I look upon as most encouraging success for a mission of so brief a history. We greatly need here a good school. A 340 China and Japan score of young men have been lost to us from this want; and still more urgent and promising is the opening for a girls' school, and for work among the women. We are glad to note that the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society has recognized this pressing need, and has sent for- ward a young lady to enter this field. The Greek Church Mission has good schools, and sixty or seventy young people in their primary school. Some young men among them are studying for the ministry. The Catholics are also busy in this direction, having a girls' school and a boys' school. Re -enforcements for all departments are greatly needed for Hakodate. On Sunday, the 17th, we held a field day in the city. The day opened clear, bright, and warm for this latitude. The exercises consisted first of a baptismal service at half- past nine A. M. I addressed the candidates in English, and Mr. Harris translated into Japanese. Then he read the baptismal service in Japanese, and I performed the baptism of four adult males. After this, at eleven, I preached in English to about a dozen foreign persons and about thirty Japanese, many of whom understood much that was said. At three P. M. Dr. Maclay preached, and the new chapel was dedicated, all the service being in Japanese except the dedicatory prayer. i ■ill!!!;'™ III III i IRNPll 11111 im ■■■ ATNOS, ABORIGINES OF JAPAN. Missionary Sunday. 343 A number of foreigners were present, and fifty- four Japanese. The chapel is a very neat little building, excellently located on one of the more quiet and retired streets. It is built in foreign style. In the evening Mr. Honda, a native of Hirosaki, preached, and afterward was ordained deacon, having been elected previously thereto by the Newark Conference. He is a most ex- cellent man, sweet spirited, pure in his history and character, and scholarly, and has been bap- tized about six years. He is our leading man at Hirosaki, and is director of the daimio school in which Mr. Ing has been teaching, and to which Mr. M. C. Davisson now goes, and from which forty young men and women have been bap- tized and brought into the Church. I think the Church may hope much from this first ordained Japanese preacher of our Church, and the first ordained preacher in Northern Japan of any denomination. The whole influence of the day must have been very valuable to the missionary work in that region. The Japanese attended every serv- ice, and were very orderly, polite, and attentive. They all joined heartily in the singing. The congregations were really very impressive, and it is certainly very suggestive to have such con- gregations and such services in a large heathen 344 China and Japan. city. The church is a neat frame building, fifty by forty feet, painted white, circular-topped win- dows, with alternate panes of colored glass. The audience-room is forty by thirty-nine feet, and pleasantly seated. Mr. Harris has also se- cured for it a neat organ, and the natives are delighted with the music. There were some in- teresting customs exhibited by the Japanese in connection with their service. As they enter the door their sandals are laid aside, and they enter the audience-room in their stocking-feet. Every member of the Church kneels prostrate on the floor, in the peculiar Japanese fashion, bending the head also over to the floor. Every person, whether a member or not, old and young, at- tracts the attention of the preacher sitting in the pulpit, and very reverently bows to him. If there is any occasion for any one to retire from the audience during the service, he rises, attracts the attention of the speaker, bows very rever- ently, and quietly walks out of the room. When the preacher has closed his sermon, he bows to the audience, as if expressing thanks for their good order and attention, and the entire audience bend forward in a very low bow toward the preacher, as if expressing their thanks to him for the discourse he has delivered to them. It was an encouraging day for Mr. Harris and for our Island of Yedo. 345 new missionaries, Mr. Davisson and wife, who a week later left for their new home in Hirosaki. On Monday evening we held a sacramental service in the new chapel. Mr. Kikutchi, a li- censed local preacher of Hakodate, preached an impressive sermon an hour long, from the text, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me," and seemed to hold the interest of the natives all the time. He is an excellent man, of upright char- acter, and well esteemed by all his neighbors, and is quite a Japanese and Chinese scholar. His discourses are said to be very instructive and interesting to the Japanese, though not de- livered with much earnestness. After the ser- mon, the Lord's-supper was administered, four- teen natives, of whom five were women, partak- ing thereof. Mr. Honda gave the natives an admirable explanation of what is meant by the Lord's -supper. It was from a decidedly Prot- estant stand-point. This is our most northern station in Japan, about five hundred miles north of Yokohama. The island of Yezo is large, and as yet but thinly settled. The government is giving great atten- tion to the settlement and development of the island, encouraging immigration into it from other parts of Japan, and spending much money in opening roads, planting schools, and in devel- 346 China and Japan oping what are supposed to be its great agri- cultural advantages. Being far north, it has a climate resembling that of our own country in the same latitudes, from 40 ° to 44 ° north, and it is thought will prove the great farming region of Japan, especially for the cultivation of the foreign grains and fruits, and for raising much better breeds of stock than they now have in Japan. Coal and iron ore is remarkably abun- dant in the province, well distributed and of fair quality. Gold and silver occur in small quanti- ties, and copper, zinc, and lead are found, but not in rich deposits. Petroleum issues in a few places. On the whole, Yezo is poor in mineral wealth, except iron and coal, in which it seems to be rich. The undoubted wealth of this prov- ince, which is called Hokkaido, is in timber, fish- eries, furs, and agricultural products. It has been already proven that Yezo is capable of yielding good crops of hardy cereals and vegetables, and is eminently adapted to supporting sheep and the finest breeds of cattle. Sapporo is the capital of the province, and contains about eight thousand inhabitants. It is about one hundred miles due north-west from Hakodate. Here the government has estab- lished an Agricultural College, where students are sustained and taught free of expense, and The Agricultural College. 347 are considered cadets of the government. The town is quite foreign in character, containing the capitol, the college buildings and several public buildings, all in foreign style. With the college building is connected the college farm of two hundred and fifty acres. William S. Clark, Ph. D., LL. D., late of Amherst, Massachusetts, was at this time president and director of the college and farm. The number of students is limited to fifty in the college. The students are required to become employes of the government in this province, and to remain in its service for five years. The course of study occupies four years, ^nd embraces the Japanese and English lan- guages, elocution, composition, drawing, book- keeping and forms of business, algebra, geom- etry, trigonometry, surveying, civil engineering, physics, astronomy, chemistry, physiology, bot- any, zoology, geology, political economy, and mental and moral science. There is also a pre- paratory department with a three years' course. This department now contains twenty-six stu- dents. In connection with this college an impor- tant work has opened up among the students. Mr. Harris, our missionary, visits them as often as possible. He has baptized fifteen young men and enrolled them as probationers. What may we not expect from the Christian influence of 348 China and Japan. this school, out of which are to go the young men who are to be the future leaders in this great island of Yezo ? To the north of the island of Yezo is another large island called Saghalien, and running off to the north-east of Yezo is a group of islands called the Kuriles. All these formerly were included among the Japanese islands. The Rus- sians, however, began years ago to get a footing in these northern islands, and disputes arose between the two authorities, finally settled a few years ago by the cession of the island of Sagha- lien to the Russians in return for the undisturbed possession of the Kuriles by the Japanese. It well becomes American and European nations to keep an observant eye on the movements of this rapacious bear in the eastern world. It should at once be the settled policy of nations that no outside nation should be permitted to get and hold territorial possession of any part of Japan, especially should the United States firmly oppose any such occupancy of Japanese territory by any outside nation whatever. South of the city of Hakodate, sixty miles across the strait, is the city of Hirosaki, with a population of thirty-eight thousand, a beautiful city in a rich agricultural region. I deeply regret that it was impossible for me to reach it, every HlRCSAKl. 35 r thing then being snow-bound, and no means of travel but the native pack-horse, which, under the best circumstances, is a very laborious and uncomfortable means of travel, but still more so in the condition in which the roads were at this time. I took, however, great care in studying the situation there through our missionaries and 1 Mr. Honda, of whom I shall speak hereafter. Here we have, no doubt, a great work. There is located in this city an old damio school, one hundred and twenty years old, the pride and pet of a princely family, which founded it more than a century ago and has sustained it till the present time. The representative of the family is now an ex-damio, Mr. Tsugaru, living in Tokio, and still taking a great interest in the school, and furnishing the means for its support. Mr. Ki- kutchi, formerly the president of the school, is a thorough Christian and a devoted member of our Church. Here is also his mother, one of the principal teachers in the school, and 'his wife at this time was only waiting till "she had studied the doctrine better," to become a member of the Church. The present president is Mr. Honda, whom I had the blessed privilege of ordaining a deacon in our Church. Chiefly through his instrumentality, the Lord began a most gracious and important Christian work in the school, out 352 China and Japan. of which about fifty young men and women have been baptized, and are living exemplary and ear- nest Christian lives. In 1874 Rev. John Ing, formerly of our mis- sion in Kiukiang, China, was called to this school as a teacher, and began at once active labor as teacher and preacher, and has had good success, his wife also teaching in the female department, and co-operating in the mission work. In 1876 Mr. Ing was formally attached to our mission, and his whole work was transferred to us by the hearty choice of all the members. The work is still prosperous in every respect. Mr. Ing and wife have now returned to America on account of her health. They are succeeded in the school by the Rev. W. C. Davisson and wife. I scarcely know how to write about this remarkable work at Hirosaki. I wish it were in my power to make the Church see and feel it as I do. There is a large school, venerable in its history *of a hundred years, the pride and joy of the whole ken in which it is located ; entirely free from government competition; with nearly four hundred pupils, one hundred and twenty of them being young ladies ; Christianity thor- oughly tolerated by the ex-damio who owns it, himself having presented the school with a number of Bibles as text -books; its officers A DA1MIO AT HOME. A Christian School. 355 thorough Christians and most of the teachers ; its whole department of higher education placed in our hands ; its course of study equaling that of our highest conference seminaries ; its pre- pared students going to our colleges in America to complete their education ; its whole tone and tendency as thoroughly permeated with Christian influence as any school in America, and fifty of its students, young men and women, members of our Church. Outside the school, in and around the city, we have other preaching places and are meeting with success. It will be interesting to the reader to know more of Mr. Honda, the moving spirit in this school, and our first ordained Japanese preacher. I asked him for a short sketch of his life, and here present it as written by himself in English, and I give it just as he wrote it: 4 'In the Summer of 1870 I saw a Chinese Old Testament in Hirosaki, which one of my friends had brought down from Yokohama se- cretly, and I read a few chapters of Genesis. It showed me at first time that Christianity is not Kirishitan (the Roman Catholic religion), as we supposed before it was. It was enough for me to make think of whether there is a God or not. On the last of the said year I was sent to Tokio to study English, by our prince, Mr. Tsugaru, 356 China and Japan. whose nearest attendant I was. Since that I lived in Yokohama, I was taught a few days by Mrs. Goble and after by Mrs. Brown to the Sum- mer of 1 87 1, and then after by Rev. Mr. Ballagh, and after heard him lecture Bible in Japanese. But at that time darkness was over me. T was rather sorry to see Christianity is just coming to Japan. In the Winter of the said year I returned to my home, and went down to Yokohama again in the first of 1872. I have found a Christian society already organized, most of whom were not in the school when I was there in. I won- dered very much that rapid progression, and at that time I was discouraged with several disap- pointments of my ambitious purposes. " These circumstances made me humble so much as I was able to listen to Gospel preach- ing, and soon after it was sweeter than any music, and on the first Sabbath of May, 1872, I received holy baptism, by Rev. Mr. Ballagh in Yokohama. During the Summer of 1874, I commenced to preach, and visited several vil- lages of Kadzusa and Boshu. In the October of said year was elected as one of elder of 'Church of Christ' in Yokohama, a special na- tive Church organization. In the last of Novem- ber I returned to my home with Rev. John Ing, and preached in Toogi Juku, the college at Mr. Honda. 357 Hirosaki. In July, 1875, I was ordained as lay- elder of ' Church of Christ, ' and in October of said year, having organized a society in Hirosaki, writing to ' Union Church of Tokio and Yokohama/ I was transferred to Hirosaki Church by letter, and was elected as elder of her. On the December, 1876, the Church of Hirosaki changed her Church relation, and joined the Meth- odist Church. Then I was elected as exhorter, and then as local preacher. On the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1878, I was ordained as deacon by the laying on of hands of Bishop Wiley in Hako- date. I am twenty-nine years old. Have a wife and three children. Y. Honda/' On Thursday we held a very interesting fare- well meeting in the chapel, and Friday morning we left on the steamer for Yokohama. All the little band of Christians met us in the church, and accompanied us to the water's edge, and waved us adieus as we pulled out in our little boat to our ship in the harbor. How often in these Oriental countries, and by the manners of these people, I was reminded of apostolic times. We have seen the beginning of the kingdom of God in the island of Yezo. 2 3 XXIV. Yokol|kir\k to ]\faga^kki. $A VING had only one rainy day at Nagasaki, on our way over to China, and desiring to see all our mission work in Japan, I de- termined to return there from Yokohama. Accordingly on Saturday, March 2d, I re-embarked on the steamer Tokio Maru> the same that had carried us, five months be- fore, from Yokohama to Shanghai. That strange feeling of sadness that comes over us when we realize that certain things have come and gone forever came over me as I saw again the empty places of my former traveling companions, and realized in memory the pleasant scenes and com- panionship we had enjoyed on the former trip; but they are all well and at work in the different parts of China. Sunday was a clear and quiet day, coasting along the eastern shores of Japan with glorious Fujiyama, crowned with snow and glittering in 358 Kobe and Hiogo. 361 the sunshine, most of the day in full view, until in the afternoon, when about one hundred miles distant, it faded away behind the horizon. As our vessel belonged to a native company no Christian services were allowed on the Sabbath. Monday brought us to Kobe, the foreign seaport of the great city of Ozaka, lying eighteen miles away. It is three hundred and forty-two miles from Yokohama. It is the same as when we passed it before, but not so beautiful, being now in Winter instead of Autumn dress. Until 1868, this handsome foreign city, now called the "Model Settlement," was only a strip of sand to the north and east of the old native city of Hiogo. It now contains a foreign and native population of about fifty thousand, is beautifully situated at the base of a range of high, irregular mountains, and is very neat and clean — a great contrast with the cities of China. High up on one of the mountain peaks there is a famous temple, built on the foundation of one erected sixteen centuries ago, by the Amazonian empress, Jingu Kogo, on her return from her invasion of Corea. It is visited by many pilgrims. Across a narrow canal lies the city of Hiogo, the "Gate of God." It is an old city. It was founded seven hundred years ago by the famous Taira family. Within it is the tomb of Kiyomori, 362 China and Japan. the last of that great family. On the site of his palace now stands the Yoshiwara, the great licensed house of prostitution. Over his grave, which is on a raised plat of ground, stands a monolith about twenty feet high. We saw many men and women here doing reverence, muttering prayers, and offering money and grains of rice. Also, near by is a large Buddhist temple, at which many, especially women, were worshiping. Buddhism is a live religion in Japan. At Mina- togawa, just back of Kobe, Kusunoki Masashige, one of the most loved and honored of Japanese heroes, met his death. A small temple is here dedicated to his spirit. To the north and east of Kobe is a very beautiful waterfall. In the center of the city is one of the finest Shinto temples in the country. In one part of Kobe is a large Buddhist temple, in the main hall of which, in the Spring of 1868, an officer of the Prince of Bizen committed the horrible act of hara-kiri, in the presence of native and foreign officers. He had ordered the soldiers under his command to fire on the foreign settlement at Hiogo, and was condemned to this mode of death, which consists of suicide by cutting open the abdomen, a swordsman immediately cutting off the head after the dagger had been plunged Iff &' III ' J^" iff. '"JN O'ZAKA. 365 into the bowels. This horrible mode of punish- ment has now passed away. We again ran over the eighteen miles of rail- road between Kobe and Ozaka. This is one of the oldest and most interesting cities of Japan. It is mentioned in the history of Jimmu Tenno, the first Mikado of Japan, and has been the center of the most important events of Japanese history ever since ; especially during the great contests of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu. It is about twenty miles from Kioto, for centu- ries the Mikado's capital. The great Shoguns, whose battles have raged around this city, are no more, and the sole ruler is the Mikado, with his capital at Tokio ; but the walls of its famous old castle, where many a battle was fought, are still standing intact. It is a vast structure, over- spreading many acres, and is surrounded by a walled moat a hundred feet wide, and is divided into various compartments by strong walls inter- secting it in various directions, some of the com- partments being themselves also surrounded by walled moats. The walls are about forty feet high. The corners, and some parts of the wall, are made of immense blocks of granite. One measures forty feet long, twenty feet wide, and ten feet thick ; another, which I measured my- self, is thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and 366 China and Japan. ten feet thick, containing six thousand cubic feet of stone. How these immense blocks were got there and put in place is an unsolved problem. The interior of the castle, its palaces and houses, were burned and destroyed many years ago. It is now used as a barracks for the soldiers. Many modern buildings are inside the walls, occupied by the soldiers, who are drilled after the English methods of military service. Not far from the castle is the mint, an exten- sive modern building. Japan has adopted, to a very great extent, our system of money, and is creating gold and silver coin in amounts from twenty dollars in gold to ten cents in silver. The custom-house is also a very fine building, erected in foreign style. At the other end of the city I visited a fa- mous Buddhist temple, which was once a strongly fortified place, when Buddhist priests took a large share in the wars and contests of Japan. It is now magnificent only in the extent of its grounds and in the number of its buildings. Within the 1 inclosure are several temples, shrines, pagodas, and one of the finest belfries that I saw in Japan. It seemed to be a gala day when I was there. Thousands of people were within the grounds, gayly dressed, all of them worshipers, especially the women and children. A brisk trade was BI1LFRY AT UZAKA. Buddhist Ceremonies. 369 carried on by the priests, selling and consecrat- ing scrolls in shavings and paper. The process seemed to consist in the parties appearing first at a little wooden booth, and paying a few cash for the shaving on which their names were written. This was carried to one of the great temples, at which were two priests, one holding a huge rope, which reached up to the bell on the top of the temple, and another to receive these shavings and present them, with religious ceremonies, to the god. When the worshipers appeared the bell-ringer pulled the rope and tolled once on the bell, as if to call the attention of the god, then passed the shav- ings to the hands of the priest, who, bowing, laid them before the idol ; then in a little while returned them to the bell-ringer, who, taking the end of the bell-rope, touched the forehead of each worshiper, and returned to them the shav- ings. I was curious to know what was then done with these shavings. They passed over to another small building, covering a living spring, around which was a stone-walled cistern, into one side of which the limpid water was constantly pouring from a bamboo pipe. The shavings were thrown into this water, but with what pur- pose, or to what effect, I could not find out. Hundreds of booths were erected on tlv- 37o China and Japan. YOUNG LADY OF OZAKA. grounds for selling articles of food and fancy. A few side-shows were also going on. A new Shimokoseki. 3 7 1 building is being erected, for which we were told all this money, received in these various ways, is appropriated. Ozaka is the Japanese Venice. It is crossed and recrossed in every direction by rivers and canals, over Avhich are constructed some very excellent, and one or two beautiful, bridges. A lively scene is kept up every night on these various streams, on the banks of which, and in boats also, are multitudes of places for entertainment and amusement. The city is beau- tifully situated, lying in a vast basin, surrounded by mountains. Kobe, Ozaka, and Kioto are well occupied by the missionary force of the American Board. All day Tuesday, the 5th, we sailed through the Inland Sea, than which nothing can be more beautiful, even in spite of the drizzling rain, which covered the islands with a veil of mist. On Wednesday morning we were again at Shim- onoseki, the terminus of this famous sea. The town lies on one side of an almost circular basin, which can only be entered or passed out of by narrow, rocky passes. Here one of the most disgraceful affairs took place in 1864, when the forts and city were bombarded by the English, French, Dutch, and Americans. A demand was made afterwards of Japan for an indemnity of three millions of dollars. The United States 372 China and Japan. received six hundred and forty-five thousand of it. Congress has since declared that this claim was unjust ; but I think the money has not yet been returned to Japan. Here, also, seven hun- dred years ago, was fought one of the most ter- rible sea fights of Japanese history, when the two great families of Minamoto and Taira fought for mutual extirpation. The Minamotos prevailed, and the Tairas were annihilated. Thousands per- ished in the water — men, women, and children. Shimonoseki is a town of great commercial im- portance, from its position at the entrance to the Inland Sea. It consists chiefly of one long street, of about two miles, at the base of a range of low, steep > hills. Across the narrow straits here a submarine telegraph cable connects the wires of Nagasaki through Siberia to St. Peters- burg, and from Shanghai to London and New York, with those of Tokio and Hakodate, thus placing Japan in connection with all the world. -^ XXV. SN Thursday night, March 7th, we reached Nagasaki. Just before entering the bay we had one of the most beautiful displays of the phosphorescence of the sea I ever saw. A fresh breeze was blowing, and the night was cloudy and dark. The track of the ship was a glowing stream of light. The paddle-boxes seemed as if on fire. Around the bow appeared a stream of silver light, and the crests of the wavelets were dancing flames. The dazzling and tremulous light was such as to make it exceedingly difficult for our skillful captain and his first officer to guide the ship into the narrow entrance of the harbor. Nagasaki is as beautiful as ever. Our first move was to take a long walk over the hills, terraced, some of them, to their summits, from five hundred to fifteen hundred feet high. They have been cultivated for two thousand years. 2 4 373 374 China and Japan. From the top of one of these hills a magnificent view is had of all the bay and its mountainous surroundings, and far out to sea on the south and west. Below us, on the east, is the city, and immediately at the foot of the hill the Yoshiwara, the most extensive series of build- ings in the city, and on a greater scale than any other that we saw, except at Tokio. Into these houses of infamy many young girls were for- merly sold by their parents. This is now forbid- den under the age of fourteen, and then only with the consent of the girl. Many girls for- merly, and some yet, voluntarily enter these houses to relieve pecuniary distress in their fam- ilies, and serve here a term of years, and then frequently go out, and sometimes marry well. This is esteemed an act of filial devotion. Nagasaki is the only open port on the island of Kiushiu, the large southern island of the Japan group. It is most beautifully situated on a land-locked bay, surrounded on every side by broken hills. The population is about forty thousand ; of foreigners, about one hundred. There are some fine foreign residences and good public buildings. The city is neat and clean. Most of the houses are two-storied, all of them as clean as new pins. Among the native public buildings the government houses, supreme court, Temple of the Fox. 375 JAPANESE INTERIOR. city court, custom-house, and post-office are tasteful, and exhibit evidences of the presence and influence of foreign ideas. Cleanliness is a marked feature of Nagasaki. Most of the streets are paved with large flagging -stones, some of them hard, macadamized ways, and the streets are kept remarkably clean. In one part of the city is a magnificent temple, with extensive and beau- tiful grounds, called the Temple of the Fox. It stands high up on a hill, reached by two or three flights of stone steps, and then passing through the huge tori-i, which consists of two upright pieces of heavy wood, much like the trunks of trees, united together by two cross-pieces at the top. From the upper cross-piece there were 376 China and Japan dangling a large number of ropes made of twisted straw. On the right-hand side, after entering the court, stands a good-sized bronze horse, and on the other a bath-tub and spring of water. The temple was closed, and we could not enter. A stroll through the grounds exhibited various plays and games, and booths for selling articles of use and amusement There are many temples throughout the empire dedicated to the fox, and he figures largely in native romances and legends. In these grounds I saw many specimens of the magnificent Camellia Japonica, grown into large trees thirty feet high and a foot in diameter, and loaded with flowers. In the city is published a native daily paper, the Sat Kai Shin Bun, "the West and East Newspaper/' printed with movable types, the font embracing about seven thousand different characters. The same establishment also pub- lishes a number of native books. Nagasaki is the center of a wonderful history, especially of the history of the introduction and final extirpation of Christianity, under the Jes- uits, in the seventeenth century. Just outside the harbor is a beautiful little cone-shaped island called Papenberg, Dutch for "Papist's Rock," on which took place the last terrible scene of this history of persecution. Goaded to desper- Roman Catholics. 379 ate resistance, the Christians gathered at Shima- bara, not many miles south-east of Nagasaki, and offered battle. They were soon vanquished and routed, and kept retiring till the last frag- ment, said to have numbered about three thou- sand, were driven to Papenberg, and finally over the precipitous rock into the sea. In another place we will recur to this terrible history, the influence of which remains here still, and mani- fests itself in opposition to foreigners and in hatred of Christianity. For the same reason, too, it is the center of great interest to the Catholics, who are laboring industriously here to replant on this bloody soil the seed so thoroughly destroyed two hundred and forty years ago. About four miles beyond Nagasaki, above the head of the bay, is a Roman Catholic settlement of about five hundred fam- ilies, fragments of the old history and inheritors of the old persecutions — a large number having been exiled from here in 1870, but returned in 1872. Exactly facing this historical ground, but four miles away in the southern part of the city, is the Catholic church and grounds. The situa- tion is beautiful. The church is plain and sub- stantial. Before it stands, on a granite pedestal, a stone image of the Virgin, "erected to the memory of the martyred native Christians ;" on 380 China and Japan. the front of the pedestal is engraved, " Our Lady of Japan, pray for us;" on one side, " Queen of the martyrs, pray for us;" on another, "Pro- tector of Christians, pray for us." Inside of the church, on each side of the alcove in which the altar stands, are two large paintings, one repre- senting the trial and vain attempts to induce the early Christians to recant, and the other showing thirty-two of them dying by crucifixion. With what a subtle instinct these Romanists adapt the picturesque and the sensuous to the genius, char- acter, and sentiments of a people! It was Lent when we were there, and daily scores of their members walked the weary four miles to con- fession and communion. But old Japan is dead. Across the bay is a vast system of boiler and machine shops under government control. The work is done by na- tives under foreign supervision. Close by is a magnificent granite dock-yard, just finished, one hundred feet wide and five hundred feet long. At Nagasaki are concentrated the telegraphic lines, which put new Japan in instant commu- nication with the heart throbs of the world, these are great civilizers. The beating of these hammers, the noise of this vast machinery, and the steam vessels and gunboats lying in the harbor, and the bells on the Christian churches Q UAR TERL Y MEE TING. 38 1 in the city are all giving the death knell to the past. Beautiful Nagasaki, terrible Kiushiu, the long-suffering Christ, whom you persecuted two centuries ago, has come again to call you to new life. On Tuesday, March 9th, we held a quarterly conference at Nagasaki ; present, Rev. J. C. Da- vison, our only missionary here ; Mr. Asuga Kenjiro, a local preacher, who has been recom- mended to the Newark Annual Conference, a very bright, scholarly, fluent man, and Kucumbai Serizo, a student helper, a brother of Asuga. Mr. Davison reported five members, four proba- tioners, and three baptized children. The Meth- odist mission has a very neat church or chapel building on Desima, the famous residence of the Dutch in old-time history. It is sixty by thirty- five feet ; the audience-room is thirty-two by forty-eight, with a fine, strong, open roof; the outside is frame and plaster, surmounted with a steeple, the whole height being one hundred feet. The Church of England Mission has also a pleas- ant chapel, and is building a residence on this island. On the hill-side w r e have a pleasant, healthful location, with one house upon it, and room for another. On Sunday we had an interesting day in the chapel. In the morning a baptismal and sacra- 382 China and Japan mental service. I addressed the candidates, Mr. Davison interpreting, who also read the service in Japanese, and I baptized two women, one the wife of our student helper, and the other the mother of the wife of Mr. Asuga. After this we had the sacrament of the Lord's-supper, four natives par- taking. The native congregation numbers thirty- four. At night Mr. Asuga preached a short sermon, I made a short address, which Mr. Da- vison interpreted, and followed by an earnest speech. The subject of all the addresses was a statement of the purposes and aims of Christian missions in Japan. The congregation was very attentive, at one time numbering eighty-seven. More than one hundred natives were in the church during the evening. My heart was profoundly won in behalf of our mission work in this important city. The missionary force at Nagasaki is entirely too small. The Reformed Church of America is represented by Mr. Stout and wife, and the Church of Eng- land by Mr. Maundrill and wife, who also expect a re-enforcement in the Autumn of one family. This is merely wasting the means and energies of the Church, and subjecting the missionaries to an isolation that is cruel. The field is a most inviting, though a difficult one. I am convinced a wise providence has lead us into it. Out of The Future of Nagasaki. 383 the terrible history of the past, God will here gather a people unto his name. It is one of the most important, powerful and influential portions of the empire. It is called by many "the New England of Japan." In a little while the mighty sentiment that has pervaded this island for two centuries, first in favor and then against a false form of Christianity, will perceive the difference between the true and the false, and will turn toward that name for which tens of thousands of their ancestors suffered martyrdom. But if true Christianity is to reap in this country the real harvest, the whole Church must show a much stronger front than now. Each of these three missions in Nagasaki should be at once re-enforced. The various women's missionary so- cieties should immediately establish schools in this beautiful city, and send ladies also, whose business should be solely to work among the native women. Would to God the Church in America and Europe could be made to appre- ciate the state of things in Japan. In my delib- erate opinion there has never been any thing like it in the history of missions; and yet, in the midst of all these great birth-throes of a nation of thirty-five millions, coming forth into a new and better life, all that the great Methodist Church of the United States has been doing for 384 China and Japan. five years, is to sustain one family in each of four great centers, and two families in another. On Saturday, the 16th, I again embarked on the Tokio Maru } on her return voyage from Shanghai, and on Thursday, the 21st, arrived at Yokohama. 1 XXVI. Yokol|krqa, qv T/'- |p|OMMODORE PERRY entered the bay of l|fP Yedo in the Summer of 1853, delivered Atk his messages to the authorities, and in i8^zl i: his messages to the authorities, and in 1854 returned to receive their answers, when, for the first time in Japanese history, a " treaty was made with a foreign Christian nation, and Japan was opened to foreign trade and intercourse. Other nations soon followed, and three places (subsequently increased to six) were designated where foreigners might live and do business. One of these original places was Kanagawa, a little town on the border of the bay of Yedo, separated from what has since become Yokohama by a narrow stream. The foreigners were not well pleased with this con- cession, and supposed it to be an evasion on the part of the Japanese, who wished to place them on an island, instead of on the main-land, that it might still be said foreigners were not 386 China and Japan. living in Japan. The foreigners preferred the city of Yokohama, then only a little fishing vil- lage on the shore of the bay. It is now a great city and port of trade, with a native population of seventy-five thousand, and of foreigners about twelve hundred. It is eighteen miles from Tokio, the capital, and may be considered the great entrepot for Japan. It is divided into the " Bluff," the "Settle- ment," and "the Native Town." The Bluff is on the crown of a semicircular range of hills back of the plain. It is the residence of most of the foreigners, who have pleasant and taste- ful, though not substantial or costly buildings for their homes, generally surrounded by some grounds, neatly cultivated, and planted with the semi-tropical plants of the country. There are about three hundred of these houses or cottages on the Bluff, and with the neat, clean avenues and the broken hills and valleys make a beau- tiful and picturesque place. "The Settlement" is the foreign business part of the city, and about a mile square. Along the water front is the Bund, with a wall of masonry on the water side. The Japanese town spreads out back of the settlement, and along the shores of the bay and canal. The harbor is large and fine, and generally has from Yokohama. 5S7 thirty to fifty vessels in it. The streets are wide and well macadamized, and are kept in good order and clean. Not many horses or vehicles are seen, men here, as in all the East, being the beasts of burden. Two-wheeled carts, heavy AT HOME. and clumsy, but carefully balanced in the center and hauled by two or four men, carry enormous loads. The Jinrikisha is the carriage for nearly all classes. The foreign stores are numerous, and keep all kinds of foreign goods, and sell about as cheaply as in America. There are now many native stores running strong competition in the retail trade with foreigners. The Chinese are the money changers of the city. There are several foreign banks with a large capital, branches of the " Oriental," "Hong Kong and Shanghai," and others. The Japanese houses and stores 388 China and Japan. are small, very simple, entirely open in the front, clean, and appear for all the world as if the people are children playing at housekeeping, storekeeping, etc. The English give tone to every thing. They are of two classes, the best and the vilest and meanest representatives of old England. The aggregate foreign influence here and nearly all through the East is unchristian. The foreign residents number about twelve hundred, but sol- diers, sailors, and so forth make up a floating population of about fifteen hundred more. A narrow gauge railroad runs to Tokio. Yokohama is telegraphically connected with all the world. A very pleasant ride in the Jinrikisha carried us over the hills, through the inevitable race- course, near to which is also a large American farm and dairy, down into a picturesque valley, through which runs a canal cut by the govern- ment, completely surrounding Yokohama, mak- ing it still true that the foreigners live on an island. Our ride then passes out to Mississippi Bay, a beautiful alcove looking far out toward Cape King in the distance. We retrace our course along this shore, visiting a very pic- turesque Shinto temple, hid away among bam- boos and pines, on a rocky eminence at the head of the bay. Then we pass through several vil- *W Influence of Foreigners. 391 lages and rice and wheat fields back to the city. The country is rich and highly cultivated. It is a matter greatly to be regretted that there is but little harmony or sympathy between the general foreign community in these Oriental cities and the missionaries. It is not, however, strange that this should be the case. Their pur- suits are entirely different, and the objects which they wish to obtain very frequently cross lines, the missionary seeming to be in the way of the objects and purposes of the merchant, and many of the ways and transactions of the merchants and traders being obviously in the way of the work of the missionaries. While but little is said on the part of the missionaries against the foreign tra- ders, except in sorrowful recognition of the fact that the general influence of the lives and trade of these foreigners is, to say the least, unchris- tian, if not directly anti-Christian, the traders seldom mention the missionary except to speak of him and his work in very low terms, and make a very unjust and erroneous impression on the minds of new-comers, and even by their let- ters and reports on many minds in the countries from which they come. There is also an un- happy tendency in the newspapers published in these cities to take a very unjust and unappre- ciative view of the lives and work of the mis- 392 China and Japan. sionaries. The simple fact is, these merchants, traders, and editors actually know scarcely any thing of the work or methods or successes of the missionaries. The most of them never visit a mission church or chapel or school. A great many of them never attend any religious service of any kind, and thus are, of course, entirely incompetent to offer an opinion on the doings or successes of missionaries. It will not be out of place here to quote from a very excellent and fair observer, who spent a number of years in Yokohama and Tokio, Mr. Griffis, late of the Imperial University of Tokio, and author of the "The Mikado's Empire/' his estimate of this disputed question between the general foreign community and the missionaries : "Scarcely one person in a hundred of those who so freely indulge in and so keenly enjoy the gossip and criticism about missionaries real- izes their need of human sympathy, or shows that fair play which teaches us that they are but men like ourselves. The men of business and leisure, for every thing except their tongues, are utterly unable to understand the missionary's life, work, or purposes. Apart from the fact that a man who strives to obey the final and, perhaps, the most positive command of the great founder of Christianity, to ' preach the Gospel Opposition to Missionaries. 393 to every creature,' should win respect so far as he obeys that command, it is also most unques- tionably true that some of the very best, most conscientious, though quiet work, in the civiliza- tion of Japan has been done by missionaries. They were the first teachers, and the first coun- selors whose advice was sought and acted upon by the Japanese were the missionaries ; and the oldest, ripest fruits of scholarship, the aids to the mastery of the Japanese language, were and are the work of missionaries. The luster shed upon American scholarship by missionaries in China and Japan casts no shade even in the light of the splendid literary achievements of the English civil service. Besides this, a community in which the lives of the majority are secretly or openly at variance with the precepts of the Great Teacher can not, even on general principles, be expected to sympathize very deeply with, or even comprehend, the efforts of men who are social heretics. It is hard to find a foreign trader in Japan who has any clear idea of what the missionaries are doing or have done. Their dense ignorance on this whole matter borders on the ridiculous." The missionary force is represented at Yoko- hama, by the American Baptist, three; American Board, one ; Methodist Episcopal, two ; Amer- 394 China and Japan. ican Presbyterian, four ; American Reformed, five; and American Women's Union, seven, — in all, twelve families and ten single ladies. Among these are some who have made themselves illus- trious in missionary labor, both in China and Japan, such as Dr. R. S. Brown, of the Amer- ican Reformed Church ; Dr. N. Brown, of the Baptist Mission; Dr. Greene, of the American Board ; Dr. Hepburn, of the American Presby- terian ; Dr. Maclay, of the Methodist Episcopal, and others that we might name. The report of the Methodist Mission is as follows : Missionary families, 2 ; preachers on trial, 5 ; Student helpers, 3 ; Bible women, 2 ; total agents, 14; members, 46; probationers, 54; total, 100: girls' school, 1; pupils, 11; boys' schools, 2; pupils, 115: Sunday-schools, 3; scholars, 131; chapels, 1; worth, $2,000; preaching places, 12; parsonages, 2; value, $8,000; school-houses, 1; value, $600; building lots, value, $800. The great business of the city is done by the " merchants" and in the " hongs," the distinc- tion between merchant and storekeeper, and be- tween hong and store, being immense in these eastern countries. With us a shopkeeper is a man and brother; in Yokohama, in the eye of the clubs, and with the elect of wealth and Foreign Trade. 397 fashion and the professions, and the owners and managers of the great hongs, he is but a heathen and a publican. The streets in which the hongs or large business houses are situated are rather gloomy when compared with the lively main street on which the business of the stores is done. Most of them are solid buildings of stone, and many of them are fire-proof godowns, or store-houses. Most of the largest and wealth- iest business houses are owned and managed by old companies, long since settled in China, their establishments here being branches of the Chi- nese houses. These large firms control nearly all the export trade of Yokohama and, indeed, of Japan, The foreign trade of Japan has al- ready assumed very considerable proportions. The total exports for 1877 were, in value, $3,- 433,847. The value of the imports for the same year was $2,978,588, leaving a comfortable ex- cess of exports of $455,000. The Japanese charge both import and export duties. The duties realized from their exports in that year amounted to $142,157; on imports, $126,695. The whole duty received from the foreign trade, including storage, clearance, etc., was $272,057. The chief port for all this trade is Yokohama ; some of it, however, being carried on at other cities, which we have already mentioned. The 398 China and Japan. principal article of export is raw silk, $1,841,700. Tea is the next highest, $427,573. Silk-worms' eggs, $160,000; ginseng, $31,000; cuttle-fish, $17,420; cocoons, $60,931. There is also a great export of gold and silver coin, the Japa- nese coin being so pure as to command a pre- mium abroad. The specie and bullion exported amounts to $1,128,000. Rice, also, amounts to $321,379. Of imports, the chief articles are, cotton yarn, cotton manufactures, blankets, man- ufactured iron bars, kerosene oil, sugar, woolen cloth, watches, leather, and Mexican dollars. Perhaps there is nothing that will more strik- ingly show the remarkable advance of Japan toward a higher civilization than the wonderful development of their postal system, which was first adopted only seven years ago, and which now extends throughout the empire, and fur- nishes the people as perfect advantages for com- munication as any other country affords. The seventh annual report shows that the Japanese have not been slow to avail themselves of their privileges. The number of letters, books, news- papers, etc., sent through the mail for the year was 47,192,286, over 25,000,000 of which were letters, and nearly 10,000,000 native newspapers. The people are evidently given to reading and writing. In addition, there were 10,036,960 Postal System. 399 postal-cards used. The aggregate length of the mail routes is 35,545 miles, with 3,792 post- offices, and 6,455 receptacles for mail matter. There are street letter-boxes in all the principal cities, and a system of free delivery, employing 1,971 carriers. The expenses of the department for the year were $768,494, and the receipts $813,778.21, showing it to be a profitable insti- tution. Money orders were issued to the num- ber of 204,367, and to the amount of $2,790,303, a decrease from the preceding year, caused by the increase in the number of national banks. There is also a system of postal savings-banks that is evidently very popular with the people; for the sum placed in the keeping of the 282 places that received deposits reached $208,994, an increase of 517.7 per cent over the preceding year. The number of depositors was 48,358, and the average amount deposited by each was a little over $17. Yokohama is situated in about the same lat- itude as San Francisco, but in climate and tem- perature resembles those of a much lower lati- tude in our country. The range of temperature does not reach any great extreme, either in Winter or in Summer. The highest heat in August is ninety degrees ; the lowest in January, twenty degrees. Steady hot weather, when it is 400 China and Japan. considered safe to change to light Summer cloth- ing, does not generally set in till the latter part of June or the first of July, and ends, often very abruptly, by the middle of September. The winds of Japan are at all seasons very irregular, frequently violent, and subject to sudden changes. The north-east and easterly winds are generally accompanied by rain, with a high and falling barometer, and are usually not violent. The south-west and westerly winds are generally high, often violent, and accompanied by a low barometer. It is from the south-west that the cyclones or typhoons almost invariably come. On clear and pleasant days, which are in excess of all others, there is a regular land and sea breeze at all seasons. The snow-fall is for the most part light, not often exceeding two or three inches. The ice seldom exceeds one inch or one and a half inches "in thickness. Fogs are rarely noticed; so also is hail. Thunder-storms are neither frequent nor severe. Earthquake shocks are frequent, averaging more than one a month; but during the residence of foreigners in Yoko- hama no very severe or dangerous shocks have occurred. A delightful ride of about twelve miles from Yokohama brings you to the ancient city of Kamakura, the famous capital of the Shogunate GREAT IMAUR OF DAIBUTZU. The Great Buddha. 403 preceding the line established by Izeyasu. All that now remains of a city, which must have been one of great magnificence, is a cluster of large temples, in which are preserved numerous trophies taken from the Coreans, Mongols, and Chinese, and also articles taken two hundred years ago from the Portuguese colonies and the Roman Catholic Christians in Japan. A few years ago it was dangerous to visit these ancient relics, but now foreigners can visit the neighborhood and gaze upon the temples in safety, and they can also have a view of the greatest curiosity in Japan ; namely, the statue of Daibutz, or the Great Buddha. This immense image stands about two miles from the temples, in a garden and grove of bamboos. It is of the finest bronze, and executed with wonderful skill. It is so large that it contains a chapel and altar inside of it, and a full-grown man can sit inside of its nose ! Its height is about sixty- five feet, and its diameter thirty feet. It was made about six hundred years ago ; and the lofty temple which inclosed it has long since disappeared, and for centuries this statue has been exposed to the storms which come in from the neighboring sea ; but it is as fresh and un- injured as when first erected. XXVII. ,;^ . ¥tie dity of Vokio, VERY excellent narrow -guage railroad, with rather extravagant appointments in the way of cars, depots, and bridges, and about eighteen miles in length, carries you from Yokohama to Tokio. The road is a very pleasant and beautiful one, skirting around the shore of the bay, and presenting every moment, to one acquainted with Japanese history, spots and sites of intense interest. A very magnificent and costly iron bridge, whose splendid architecture you can not but admire, but over the extravagant waste of money in the building of which you can not help but feel in- dignant, crosses one of the chief rivers of Japan, the Rokugo. The railway passes through rice lands, and several times crosses the Tokaido, the famous public road extending from old Yedo to Kioto, the mikado's capital. The last station is at Shinigawa, the highest point up the bay, to 404 SHO G UN AND MlKAD O. 40 5 which vessels of any considerable tonnage can ascend. In the bay here may be seen a number of forts, now dismantled, built by the Japanese, under the direction of French engineers, for the defense of Yedo. Beyond this is the anchorage of the imperial navy. At length we reach Shimibashi, the quarter of the great Japanese capital in which the railway station is situated. The depot is a magnificent building. A ride of another mile in the jinrikisha will bring us to the region called Tsukiji, the foreign quarter in Tokio, in which nearly all the homes of foreign- ers residing at Tokio are located. Till a few years ago the city now known as Tokio was known to the outside world as Yedo, the capital of the Tycoon, who was then sup- posed to be the emperor of Japan, and Yedo its real capital. All this has been changed within about ten years ; and it is now known that the real capital for many centuries was Kioto, and the real emperor was the mikado, who resided there, and that the Tycoonate, or, more properly, the shogunate, was a usurpation of more than six hundred years' duration, in which successive shoguns, whose real position was that of commanders-in-chief of the army, had assumed regal style and authority, holding the mikado as a very useful and honorable 26 406 China and Japan figure-head, while the real power was in the hands of the shogun. For nearly five centuries this usurpation was held in the famous success- ive families of the Yoritomos, Ashukagas, and Hojos, the whole period being one of strife and bloodshed and internecine war. Then, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, came the celebrated houses of Nobunaga, Hfdeyoshi, and Iyeyasu, who crushed the Hojo family. Out of a long series of contests the famous Iyeyasu came superior, and founded the line of Tokugawa shoguns, which reigned in fact over all Japan for more than two hundred and fifty years, hav- ing their capital at Yedo. At length their power began to break, the coming of foreigners being the entering wedge. A party rose in favor of the mikado. Most of the daimios, or princes, joined it. A few una- vailing battles were fought by the adherents of of the shogun, the final one at Uyeno, in Yedo, in 1868, after which the last of the shoguns re- tired into private life, at Shidzuoka. The mikado moved to Yedo, changed its name to Tokio, the Eastern Capital, and inaugurated a series of won- derful changes, which are perpetually converting Tokio, and, indeed, all Japan, into a modern civ- ilized nation. The present mikado, named Mitsuhito, is the Beginnings of Yedo. 409 one hundred and twenty-third lineal descendant of Jimmu Tenno, the founder of the dynasty twenty-five hundred years ago. He is about twenty-eight years old, and is the first mikado who, for seven hundred years, has had any real power in the government, though recognized all the time as the supreme head of the nation and the dispenser of all authority and honor. His predecessors lived in Kioto, shut up in a castle called Dairi, never, except under the most ex- ceptional circumstances, leaving it during their life-time. The present emperor and his wife now travel ad libitum, and are both frequently seen on public occasions. The empress is said to be a charming woman, and is taking quite an interest in the modernizing changes which are going on in the empire. For the last two hundred and fifty years, however, the glory and power of Japan centered under the Tokugawa shoguns at Yedo. To this place Iyeyasu, the founder of the line, came in 1590, and found there a castle of no great extent, built about one hundred and fifty years before by Ota Dokuan, under the Ashikaga shogunate. It was surrounded by a few villages, and was in the midst of a locality flat, marshy, and over- grown with weeds. Iyeyasu was then only first general under Hideyoshi, but he soon became 41 o China and Japan. shogun himself, and fixed his capital at Yedo, and began to rebuild and greatly enlarge the castle, and the city rapidly grew up around it. It is now a vast city, nine miles long and eight miles wide, about an eighth of its area being occupied by rivers, canals, and moats of the castle. The shiro or castle is nearly in the cen- ter of the city, now dismantled, the palace hav- ing been burned in 1873. The mikado now lives in the yashiki or mansion of the daimio of Kishiu. The present population is about a million, and it probably never greatly exceeded that number, though we used to have it in the old geographies at two and a half millions. About two hundred and fifty foreigners, mostly English and Americans live in the city, and most of them in government employ. Tsukiji, in the south- eastern part, is the foreign "Concession," and no foreigners are yet allowed to live outside of this, except those employed by the govern- ment. Many of these latter live in the heart of the city, in foreign houses, built on the ruins of the old yashikis, or mansions of the daimios. Every one engaged in teaching a native school is, by a happy subterfuge, supposed to be in government service, and therefore some mission- aries who are teaching part of the time are also Old Ye do. 411 preaching part of the time, and thus gain a residence in the city proper. In former times it was a great, brilliant, wicked metropolis. Many of the daimios or no- bles, from all parts of the empire, built here great yashikis or castles, and with their vast retinue of retainers spent most of their time in the regal city. Great changes have taken place since 1868, when the mikado took possession of the government. The city is now in that unset- tled and unsatisfactory state always incident to a time of transition. One can not help regretting the perishing of the past, nor can one refrain from rejoicing over the better future that is rap- idly coming. Old Japan is passing away, and the new order of things is rapidly taking its place. In a little while its ways and customs will be forgotten, and Tokio will be a modern- ized and foreignized city. Instead of the old castles and yashikis, we now have courts, schools, colleges, machine shops, banks, telegraphs, and post-offices. The whistle of the locomotive is heard at one end of the city and the puffing of the steamships at the anchorage. After each great fire, and they have at least one every year, the burned district is rebuilt in more modern and substantial style. Native officials of every grade are now seen walking and riding about 4i2 China and Japan. in European dress. The two swords formerly dangling at the side of every samurai, have dis- appeared, and in the stead of this half-civilized grandee has arisen a scholarly, courteous, Amer- ican dressed gentleman. To the antiquarian, the places of interest in Tokio are the castle, shiba, uyeno, asakusa, and the various temples ; to the Christian and philan- thropist, the public buildings, which indicate so strikingly the wonderful changes taking place in Japan. The castle, or shiro, surrounded by its moats and massive walls, was the residence and citadel for the last two hundred and fifty years of the last line of shoguns, or tycoons as they were erroneously called by foreigners. It is near the center of the city and is divided and subdi- vided by walls and moats. Formerly its vast spaces and avenues were occupied by the ya- shikis or palaces of the princes of the empire and officers of the city, and the daimios or provincial barons. Many of these yashikis were themselves magnificent, princely establishments. Within the inner walled and moated inclosure were the pal- aces of the shogun and his family. In one part of the inclosure were the Fukiage gardens, beau- tifully laid out in forests, mounds, and plains. Their magnificent itrees, miniature cascades and lakes, and many little picturesque shrines are still A SHINTO TEMPLE. A Shinto Temple. 415 left — the palaces are gone. It is now simply a vast pleasure ground, open every Saturday to visitors by ticket. Every body now freely goes where a few years ago it was death even for a daimio to enter without special permission. Its great avenues, on which formerly stood the man- sions of the daimios, are now thoroughfares, and many old and princely grounds are now occu- pied by public buildings, schools, government arsenals, soldiers' barracks, etc. On a fine avenue to the north is the best Shinto temple in the city. It was built by the present emperor in memory of the soldiers of the imperial army who were slain during the recent war which restored the mikado to power. It is built in the simple style of architecture peculiar to the Shinto temple, a style derived from the primeval hut, the rafters projecting above the top, the ridge-pole and cross-ties of the hut be- ing easily traced in this structure. It is of un- painted, white wood, like all Shinto temples. The interior is very plain. There are no idols, the symbols being a circular mirror and strips of white paper, called the go-hei. At the begin- ning of the wide avenue leading to it is the ever present Tori-i, in this case made of whole tree trunks of cedar. Its appearance is near that' of two huge, double-armed crosses, joined 416 China and Japan. together by their arms. It means "bird's-rest," and was originally a perch for the fowls offered to the gods, not as food, but to give warning of the daybreak. It was erected on any side of the temple indifferently. In later times its meaning was forgotten, it was placed in front of the tem- ple only, and was supposed to be a gateway. The Tori-i gradually assumed the character of a general symbol of Shinto, and the number which might be erected to the honor of a deity became practically unlimited. The Buddhists made it of stone or bronze, and frequently of red painted wood, using it almost entirely as a gateway to their temples. As a rule, when pure, Shinto temples are of unpainted wood. Shinto is the ancient national religion of Japan. The climate of Tokio is, in general, very agreeable, though wind and dust at some inter- vals, and excessive rain at others, make traveling very unpleasant. It is situated on a large plain about nine miles long and eight miles wide. The Japanese emperor, Yamato Dake No Mikoto in the second century conquered and tranquilized this great plain of Eastern Japan. Many tem- ples in his honor are to be found here. In 1355 Ota Do Kuan, a famous warrior and vassal of the shogun, Sadamasa, whose capital was Kamakura, twelve miles from Yokohama, built a castle, Former Sights. 417 which still constitutes the western circuit of the present stronghold. The famous Iyeyasu is the real founder and builder of Yedo. The name Yedo means the "door of the bay," it being situated at the head of the bay and shutting it like a door. It is greatly changed, in all re- spects, since 1868. The castle and many yashikis and temples have been burned, demolished and fallen to decay. New houses in what is called the foreign style, and stone and brick barracks have been built. Beggars, naked coolies, men wearing two swords, daimios, processions, and many other characteristic sights and scenes, some very attractive and others very repulsive, have passed away. <2^P xxvur. $igW in ¥okio. jjjJHIBA and Uyeno are the ancient burial §|§ll places of the shoguns of Yedo, one in the aL southern, and one in the northern part I of the city. They are considered the most £ beautiful places in Japan except Nikko, ^ ninety miles north of Tokio, where Iyeyasu, the founder of the line, and his grandson, Iyemitsu, are buried. Both have been greatly changed since 1869, both by neglect and by the fact that in each place the great main temple has been burned down, one in 1868, and the other in 1873. The magnificent temples which were the pride of Yedo, are no more, but the beautiful grounds and gorgeous shrines, which it is almost useless to attempt to describe, the imposing but simple tombs, some in bronze, some in carved granite, the stone and bronze lanterns, the splendid gilding, carving, painting, and lacquering are still here. Of the shoguns, the second, fifth, sixth, 418 Shiba. 419 seventh, ninth, twelfth, and fourteenth are buried at Shiba. The fourth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, and thirteenth are buried at Uyeno. Five wives of the shoguns and the father of the eleventh are buried at Uyeno, and three wives at Shiba. In visiting Shiba, which retains more of the magnificence and picturesque beauty of the olden time, we pass through a handsomely gilded and carved gateway. We enter another court-yard, the sides of which are gorgeously adorned. A pebbled court lies before us, in which are over two hundred large stone lanterns about eight feet high. We pass another gate and are within an area, in which are a large number of bronze lan- terns of equal height, the gift of the daimios of a higher caste than those who presented the stone lanterns. On our left hand is a stone lavatory, and to the right is a depository of sa- cred utensils, such as bells, lanterns, etc., used only on festival days. Passing through still another handsome gate, we enter a roofed gal- lery like a series of cloisters, and in front of us is a shrine. Entering this the attention will at once be attracted by the walls and ceilings. Each panel of the wall is richly wrought in figures in high relief, the pattern and objects in each one being different. You ascend some steps and enter another room, in which are splendid gilded 42 o China and Japan. reliquaries, in which the posthumous titles of the deceased are treasured. Descending from the shrines, which are themselves beautifully gilded and carved, we pass up another court, ascend a flight of steps, and enter another pebbled court, in which is a smaller building called a Haiden. or place of prayer, formerly used by the living shogun as a place of prayer and meditation when making his annual visit to the tombs of his ancestors. Behind it is another flight of stone steps, and in an inclosure surrounded by a stone balustrade is a monumental urn, and this is the burial-place of the dead shogun. Entering the cemetery from the court -yard, to the right of the site of the temple, three tombs, side by side, are seen. From the last of these three tombs, facing east and looking to the left, we see two other tombs, those of the seventh and ninth shoguns. Descending the steps and reaching the next stone platform, by looking down to the left, we see the tomb of a shogun's wife and of two of his children. These are all fully as magnificent as the one we have described. Apart from the others, surrounded by stone walls and pebbled courts, and preceded by two or three magnificent buildings, is the tomb of Hidetacla, who died in 1623, the second prince Fujiyama. 421 of the line, and whose name is intimately asso- ciated with the terrible history of the persecu- tions of the Christians in the seventeenth century. Take it altogether, it impressed me as the most beautiful of the whole. It is very finely laquered in gilt. The tomb was a most costly one, and it is in an almost perfect state of preservation. But it is in vain to attempt a full description of the magnificence of these resting-places of the dead rulers of Japan. As we quit Shiba and move on toward the east, near by is a hill called Atago Yama, reached by two flights of stone steps, one direct and one oblique, one for men and one for women, from which is a fine view of all parts of the city, the castle walls, the large cemetery, the river and the bay, and in the distance peer- less Fujiyama, with its crown of snow. The native tradition of Fuji is, that in the year 286 B. C. the earth opened in the province of Omi, near Kioto, and Lake Biwa, sixty miles long and eighteen broad, was formed as the result, in the shape of the Biwa, or four-stringed lute, and at the same time Fuji rose as a flaming volcano, the last eruption of which was in 1707. It is a great mountain, almost perfectly pyra- midal in shape, is 12,365 feet high, and may be seen a hundred miles at sea. 27 422 China and Japan On reaching the top of the flight of steps we find a large number of tea -booths, and the sprightly waitresses proffer you a cup of tea to Uyeno. 423 refresh you after climbing the steps. The offer seems very courteous and kind, but the expecta- tion is that you will pay well for the courtesy. On the top of the hill is a small Shinto shrine, containing a kami, or god, who protects against fire. Under a shed to the left are some old pic- tures and tablets, and the portrait of a celebrated marksman, much honored by soldiers and others who wish to become marksmen. Those who honor or bow to him usually cast balls of chewed paper at his picture. If it sticks it is a good omen ; and, indeed, this is a custom prevailing in nearly all the temples, and many idols will be found well stuck over with these dry spit-balls. The natives resort to Atago Yama in great num- bers, and, especially at night, thousands assem- ble to enjoy the moonlight. At Uyeno the tombs are in the northern part of the grounds, surrounded by a cut-stone fence, and fronted by a gorgeously beautiful shrine. The shrine and tombs here are being preserved, but the whole place is now being converted into a great and beautiful park. The approach to Uyeno from the south is through a wide street, and within a few hundred feet of the black gate at the entrance are three bridges, crossing a small stream. The central bridge was the scene of the adventure of Sogoro, who hid himself in 424 China and Japan. the timbers of the bridge, and thrust his petition into the norimono, or chair of the shogun, as the latter was passing over this bridge when return- ing from a visit to the tombs of his ancestors. The shogun accepted the petition, and the com- plaint of Sogoro was read and his grievance re- dressed, but himself and wife and three children had to suffer death by crucifixion to pay for his temerity. It forms one of the most interesting and suggestive stories in Japanese history, under the name of "the Ghost of Sakura." After the breaking out of the civil war in 1868 a number of the adherents of the shogun made a stand at Uyeno, and a battle was fought here, July 4, 1869. The mikado's troops con- centrated on the three bridges in front of the black gate the evening before. The adherents of the shogun were strongly posted inside the inclosure, on rising ground. The battle lasted several hours ; but, by planting two field-pieces on the roof of a neighboring tea-house, the mi- kado's troops were enabled to force the gates and to drive their enemies into the temple, which they then set on fire, And thus was de- stroyed one of the most magnificent temples of Japan. This great temple was founded in 1625. A relative of the mikado always resided here, and was primate over the east of Japan. The Museum. 425 A temple is here in the inclosure still, very beautifully and richly carved and gilded, conse- crated to the memory of the founder of the Tokugawa line, Iyeyasu, who was a devoted Buddhist and a fierce persecutor of the Chris- tians. His shrine is now in the hands of Shinto priests. In one place you will find, also, a huge image of Buddha, twenty-two feet high, made of bronze, and filled with clay. Working-men were repairing the lips, nose, and arms of the dilapidated god. A beautiful avenue is also here, with an extensive walk, flanked on each side by a row of stone lanterns, and overarched by fine old trees. Out of courtesy, also, the government has erected a very magnificent new bronze monumental urn to the memory of the line of Tokugawa shoguns. This is a concilia- tory measure towards those who still sigh and long for the good old days of old Japan. From one point, running close along a high precipice, a magnificent view of the whole city is had, from north to south. In the center of this great park ne -. w .ipan comes face to face with the old. Here is a large brick building, intended to be a permanent art exhibition, in which are pictures and statues from Europe and America, and the finest art productions of Japan. Here, on the site of the 426 China and Japan. grand old temple, stood last year "the exposi- tion building," in which were gathered the pro- ducts of nature and art from all parts of Ja- pan, and many thousand specimens of foreign manufacture. Here is a large two-story foreign building and museum, with educational, scien- tific, and philosophical materials and apparatus used by foreign nations in the work of education. On the second floor is a very fine collection of natural objects, woods, fruits, animals, flow- ers, skeletons, fossils, etc., and a very fine library of foreign books, and an open illustrated Bible. Scriptural mottoes are hung up on the walls. The whole influence of the entire exhibi- tion is in favor of Christian civilization, and all this is open and free to all the Japanese, and visited daily by hundreds. Farewell to old Ja- pan and to idolatry when such light breaks upon the scene. On the left of Uyeno is a large pond covered in season with blooming lotus. In the pond is an island dedicated to Benten, a Japanese goddess. She is the patron of women, of lovers, and of the beautiful. The common people be- lieve that a dragon lives under the pond, of whose doings many wonderful stories are told. Just outside the grounds is a "hotel kep in forin stile" ASAKUSA. 427 To the north-east of Uyeno is Asakusa, which designates a district of the city, but to foreigners generally means a famous Buddhist temple found there, the most popular in Tokio, and, in some respects, the most celebrated in Japan. It is dedicated to Kuanon (Chinese, Kwanyin), here a female deity, but in other places sometimes considered a male deity. What a strange mixture of things is found in these heathen cities ! In this same region, near the temple, are found monasteries and nunneries full of vice and sin, the tea and dance houses, the Eta quarters, who are the outcasts of Jap- anese society, the yoshiwara or prostitutes' quar- ters, and the execution grounds ; and here have been murders, suicides, revenges, debaucheries, etc., enough to curse the whole empire. Many of the stories found in the novels and light lite- rature of Japan center around this terrible re- gion. It is still the most frequented place in all Tokio. The main hall of the temple is sixty feet square. It is approached by a stone-paved avenue four hundred yards long, lined on both sides with booths for traffic in all sorts of cut ornaments, curios, dolls, sweetmeats, cakes, etc. At the end of the avenue is a huge gate, guarded on each side by a colossal statue, open eyed, rude, and 428 China and Japan. hideous in aspect. In the roof of this gateway hundreds of pigeons make their nests. You are expected to buy at the booth near by some beans to throw to these sacred pigeons, which come flocking down by hundreds. Entering the court- yard numerous shrines of the gods are seen on every hand. To the left, in a neat stall, is seen a well kept, cream-colored pony, sacred to the goddess. Within the temple are images of the gods, lanterns, incense burners, a huge money box, and tablets representing the famous gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines of the olden time. The main altar is richly adorned and lighted, but is protected by a screen of iron wire. To the right of the altar is a wooden image of Binzuru, one of the sixteen original disciples of Buddha, rubbed beyond all recogni- tion by believers in his power to heal diseases. Behind the temple is a broad space called Okugama, where maidens offer tea and sweet- meats. Here, too, are all sorts of sights to be seen, wild beasts, performing monkeys, conjurers, acrobats, etc. On one side is the famous Ningiyo, or show of tableaux. Within it are some horrible repre- sentations in life size and moving figures of the pains of the Buddhist hell, too horrible to be described, and yet the whole scene, after passing TEMPLE OF HA CHI. MAN. Temple of Hachiman. 431 around the circle, ends with an amusing moving tableau, representing a court noble and the ladies of his harem. Another very interesting temple in Tokio is the temple of Hachiman, the Japanese god of war. Many mediaeval heroes and generals of Ja- pan resorted hither to worship at this shrine, whose chief deity is the son of the famous empress, Jugo Kogo, who conquered Corea in the second century. Ojin, her son, was deified, and is now worshiped under the name of Hachi- man. Almost every village in Japan has a temple in his honor. Passing under several Tori-i, as under an extensive bridge, we come to the tem- ple, which is under Shinto control. The white paper and mirror, symbols of Shinto, in its modern form, attract attention. To the right, on a mound, is a primeval hut, the model of Shinto architecture. On the right of the temple are also several minor shrines, one dedicated to Kobo Dai Shi, the inventor of the Japanese alphabet or syllabary ; one to Tensho Dai Jin, the famous goddess mother of Japan, the divine ancestress of the mikados. Behind the main temple are still other shrines, and an artificial hill in imita- tion of Fujiyama. Further to the left are gar- dens, now beginning to be verdant in this early Spring. 432 China and Japan. The Temple of Five Hundred Sages, or disci- ples of Buddha, is about two miles from Rio- goku bridge. Entering the first building the visitor sees on the floor, near the main image, a representation of the Hichi-men Sama, having three eyes, horns in the back, long hair like a woman, and hoofs like a horse. The images at each corner, in iron cages, are the Japanese gods Daikoku and Ebisu. Ebisu, the god of hap- piness and daily food, has a fish, the almost daily food of the Japanese, under his arm. Daikoku, sitting on two bags of rice, has a mallet in his hand, which, when he shakes it, sends wealth to worshipers. The number of prayers on strips of paper tied to the rail, betoken the great popularity of these gods, whose images are also found in almost all Japanese households. There are many dilapidated images of thousand-handed Kuanon, and a number of gold-lacquered effigies, two-thirds life size of the disciples of Buddha. In the second building the objects are of greater interest. From the floor of earth rises a colossal throne of weather-worn bowlders, volcanic rock and masses of lava, on which is a colossal gilt image of Buddha in the repose of Nirvana. On one side of him appears a representation of an elephant, and on the other of a lion. On his right stands Kasha, his best disciple, who col- Ne w Japan. 433 lected all the discourses and bright sayings of his master, and formed the original Buddhist canon. On his left stands Anan, who, gifted with a won- derful memory, remembered all that his master said and taught. The number of original dis- ciples of Buddha was sixteen, but these five hundred were later converts, who devoted them- selves to the priesthood, and became the mis- sionaries who propagated Buddhism through the countries east of India. A little inside the railing to the left is a dark-colored image of Yema, the lord and judge of hell. But these things all belong to the Japan that is passing away. The future Japan is indicated by the exposition of last year, held in the grounds of Uyeno ; the grand permanent museum now in the beautiful park, a remnant of "the exposition" in a yashiki in the city ; the fine modern buildings, which would do no discredit to any city of Amer- ica; the Tokio Dai Gakku (University of Tokio), with fourteen American and English professors, and a medical department under eleven German professors ; the Gwai Koku Gogakku (foreign lan- guage school), with nine professors; the Yei Go- gakku (English language school), with four instruc- tors ; the Rikugunsho (military school), with its naval department under French, and its military department under English instruction ; the Kobu 434 China and Japan Dai Gakku (college of engineering), with fifteen professors, and its departments of engineering, mines, telegraphy, etc. ; the Empress's Normal School and Kindergarten, where one hundred and twenty little children are fed, clothed, and taught, and four hundred bright -looking girls are being trained for teachers ; and the chapels, churches, and schools of the devoted band of missionaries, — these are the things that show that the true light has at last risen on the Land of the Rising Sun. Tokio is a most important missionary center. A concession is made for foreign residence, and many foreigners, in government employ, are living in the heart of the city, and missionaries can also do so by employing part of their time in teaching. The missionary force at present is as follows: American Episcopal, four; Meth- odist Episcopal, three ; American Presbyterian, eight ; Methodist Church of Canada, two ; En- glish Church, one ; Evangelical Association, two, — in all, twenty men and nine unmarried ladies. Our mission reports one family, Rev. J. Soper and wife ; Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, two ladies, Misses Schoonmaker and Whiting ; preachers on trial, 2 ; exhorter, I ; total, 7 ; members, 41 ; probationers, 38 ; total, 79; baptized children, 8; girls' boarding-school, Missions in Tokto. 435 40; Sunday-schools, 2; scholars, 100; preaching stations, 3; value of missionary property, $10,- 700. We have a very pleasant parsonage for our missionary, a fine home and boarding-school build- ing for the girls' school, and a very neat church surmounted by a steeple, and a bell on the way to occupy it, and three or four chapels in differ- ent parts of the city. There are also several out -appointments, and the work has radiated rapidly into the country from the city. Two devoted young ladies have been sent to re- enforce the mission by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society since we were there, and the numbers given above have been considerably in- creased in every department within the present year. XXIX. dl\i c i^tiknity it[ C5f(it(St. gT is now certain that in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries missionaries were suc- ji cessively sent to China by the Nestorian JL Church in Arminia, and that their efforts T toward the conversion of the Chinese were attended with considerable success. Christian communities were founded in numerous places, with ramifications extending throughout the em- pire. They appear to have been but little inter- fered with until they met with a fierce persecu- tion at the hands of the great Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan, from which ,time they rapidly dwindled away in numbers, and disappeared with the downfall of the Mongol dynasty in A. D. 1369. During the last century of their residence in China the Nestorians were joined by missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church. The first Rom- ish missionary to settle in China was Jean de 436 In the Fourteenth Century. 437 Corvin. Owing to the jealousy and opposition of the Nestorians — who, according to one author- ity, cited by M. Hue, numbered about thirty thousand — some years elapsed before he suc- ceeded in establishing any footing in the coun- try. At length, in 1307, he succeeded so far as to be appointed archbishop by Pope Clement V, who dispatched several other monks to assist him in his mission. According to M. Hue, Corvin at his death left behind him a flourishing Christian community. Forty years later, how- ever, no trace of it was left. Dr. Williams is of opinion that the Roman Catholic missionaries, like the Nestorians, were concentrated chiefly around the Mongol court, on which they relied for protection, and that they shared the fate of their patrons on the overthrow of that dynasty. Thus ended the first two attempts at the intro- duction of Christianity into this great empire. The third, and for a time more successful, effort was made in the latter part of the six- teenth and through the whole of the seventeenth centuries, chiefly by the Jesuit missionaries. It is not necessary to enter extensively into the history of these early missionary attempts of the Jesuits in China. For a few years they met with very considerable success, on account of their learning and, perhaps, their devout and 28 43 8 China and Japan faithful lives, and stood high in favor with some of the early emperors of the Manchu dynasty. They had gained quite a considerable following in the capital city, had imparted considerable knowl- edge of Western science as it then existed, had taught the high officials of China the science of astronomy, had perfected their observatory, and had introduced among them a system of math- ematics. They had also spread considerably through the northern and western parts of the empire, and had mission stations in many large and important cities. They soon, however, be- gan to dispute among themselves on certain principles of their own work, particularly with regard to the term that should be used for the Divine Being in preaching and in the books ; and especially on the question of the relation of the ancestral worship which had existed for ages among the Chinese and their own reverence for the dead and worship of departed saints. These contests brought them into disrepute with the emperor and his grandees, and they soon began to suspect them of plots and intrigues with reference to the government and country, especially as in their contests among themselves they had on more than one occasion appealed to the pope, who had sent back his decisions and decrees, requiring their enforcement in China. The Jesuits. 439 This was a new and strange thing for such a man as Kang Hi, who was every inch a king, and could not appreciate the right of any body else to issue decrees to be executed in his em- pire. As a result, the Jesuit scholars were ban- ished from the court, all foreign associates driven from the city, and the natives forbidden to be- come Christians. All the foreigners retired from China, and nearly all the native followers went back from their adherence to the new religion, leaving here and there over the empire a few scattered fragments, whose descendants nearly two hundred years afterward formed good nuclei for the reopening of the Roman missions, after the treaties of 1844. In the last thirty years the Catholics have been working vigorously, and have their mis- sions in almost all parts of the empire. They report themselves to be operating in sixteen of the nineteen provinces of China, and also in Manchuria and Mongolia. They report two hundred and fifty -four European missionaries, one hundred and thirty-eight native priests, and nearly five hundred thousand members. The presence and apparent success of these Romish missionaries is not favorable to the real Christianization of China. As stated in a pre- vious chapter, they are practicing many injustices 440 China and Japan and much oppression in many parts of China. Their priests are assuming official rank and pre- rogatives. They act in the character of magis- trates, deciding disputes between the so-called members of their Church and other natives, even taking their followers out of the hands of the native authorities, and deciding cases of crime or debt according to their own judgment or prejudice. They even, in some places, assume to arrest natives who are not members of their Church, but who have committed a crime against their members, or fail to pay debts which they owe them. Under a very unrighteous clause in the French treaty, by which they were to receive the lands formerly held by the Jesuits in the seventeenth century, they claim large possessions of land which they undoubtedly never held, and large compensations for grounds which it is im- possible for them now to recover. All these things tend greatly to increase and intensify in the minds of the Chinese, and especially of the authorities, what is really the greatest obstacle to more liberal foreign intercourse and trade, and to more generous treatment of missionaries and their work, which is a fear on the part of the government that the final object of all for- eigners in China is to get possession of their government and country. If this fear could be Protestant Missions. 441 removed from the minds of the Chinese, and they could be made to feel that there are no ulterior plots or schemes looking to the endan- gering of their country or the disruption of their government, all other obstacles would soon give way, and we might have free intercourse in all parts of China to live and trade and preach the Gospel. The Roman Catholic missionaries made no effort to give the Chinese a translation of the Word of God, and the honor of first attempting this great w r ork for the millions of Chinese be- longs to Rev. Joshua Marshman, of the English Baptist Missionary Society, who in 1799 had gone to the East and had made his residence at Serampore, where he found a large number of Chinese. But the real pioneer of the work in China was the Rev. Robert Morrison, a repre- sentative of the London Missionary Society, who commenced his labors in Canton in 1807. He gave twenty -seven years of the most excel- lent service, and under the greatest possible dif- ficulties. He translated into Chinese the entire Bible, translated into English the celebrated Chi- nese dictionary of Kang Hi, prepared and printed Christian tracts, established schools, and privately taught the people, besides serving as interpreter in the commercial and diplomatic intercourse 44-' China and Japan. between Western nations and the Chinese, which service secured him the right of residence at Canton, though through most of his life he was forced to live in the Portuguese settlement of Macao. In missionary work he at first pursued his course in disguise, took his walks by moon- light, and taught a few disciples in secret. In 1813 he was joined by the Rev. William Milne, of the same society, and of similar spirit. He also was engaged mainly in the work of mas- tering the language and translating parts of the Sacred Scriptures. Mr. Milne can scarcely be said to have found a home in China, but was forced to take up his residence in Malacca. In 1817 Rev. W. H. Medhurst, of the same society, arrived, and, being unable to find solid footing in China, made his home in Batavia. Mr. Med- hurst lived to the age of sixty, and spent forty years in efficient labor in the China mission. Several other missionaries of the London Mis- sionary Society followed these, most of whom gave but a few years of service to the work, and none of whom found a home in China. This was the only society that sent missionaries to this work till 1827, when Rev. Charles Gutslaff, of the Netherland Society, arrived, and took up his residence at Macao and Hongkong. America moved in this great work in 1 830, Dr. Willliams. 443 the American Board sending out in that year Rev. C. C. Bridgeman, who went to Canton, and in the following year Rev. David Abeel, who went to Amoy.' In 1833 Rev. S. W. Wil- liams, of the same society, entered China at Macao and Canton. Dr. Williams gave forty years of most valuable service to the work in China. He had the superintendency of the press at Canton, printed the Chinese Repository, pub- lished several valuable works in Chinese and English, to aid the foreign student in learning the Chinese language. In 1848 he published, in New York, "The Middle Kingdom," a work in two volumes of six hundred pages, which is one of the most valuable and reliable books of refer- ence which has been published on China. He was also for many years interpreter and secre- tary to the American legation. Full of years and honors, he has returned to his native land. A son of Dr. Medhurst, the missionary, ren- dered a like number of years of service to the English government in China ; and when, the same year, he had finished his work and re- turned to England, he was immediately knighted as Sir William Medhurst, and placed on the pay roll for a substantial pension. Dr. Williams returns after an equal service to his country and government, and there is nothing for him but a 444 China and Japan. nominal professorship, without pay, of Oriental languages in Yale College ! Rev. Peter Parker, M. D., also of the Amer- ican Board, arrived in 1834;' and, in addition to effective service as a missionary, did good work for our country by several times filling the office of Charge d' Affaires of the United States of America. He retired in 1847, an d is living in good age and honors in the city of Washington. Up to the war of 1836 about thirty Protestant missionaries had endeavored to enter and occupy points in China, none of them being able to secure permanent and safe residences within the empire, but nearly all of them living on the bor- ders outside, at Macao, Malacca, Batavia, and the islands of the Archipelago. They were able to effect scarcely any thing but preparatory labor, in acquiring a knowledge of the language, preparing books that would be of use to after missionaries, translating parts of the Scriptures, and circulat- ing some Christian tracts among the people. The work, of course, of even these scattered missionaries was almost entirely suspended dur- ing the period of six or eight years while the war was raging, until the treaties were formed in 1842-4. By these treaties the island of Hong- kong was ceded outright to the British Govern- ment, and five commercial ports along the coast The New Movement. 445 of Southern China — Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai — were opened to foreign trade and missionary labor. Immediately after the opening of these ports several of the great missionary societies of Europe and America began to move more vigorously in entering this great field ; so that by the year 1850 eighteen great societies were represented in Hongkong and the five open ports. And now Protestant missionary work, in reality and in ear- nest, may be considered to have begun in China. Notwithstanding the excellent services that had been rendered by the missionaries who had la- bored under so great difficulties before the war, their services were of but little benefit to the new missionaries, who had come and had dis- tributed themselves in the different ports. Each little company in each city had to begin its pioneer work almost de novo. The dialects were different in each city, and the language had to be learned anew, the books of the earlier mis- sionaries being of but little value in these new centers of operations. Five years is not too long a time to give to this preparatory w T ork and to the readiness of the new missionaries to begin actual work among the people. It would not be far from historically correct to say that actual missionary labor among the Chinese in China, in 446 China and Japan. the various ports, began about 1850, and all the great results which have been achieved in that country may not very improperly be consid- ered the results of twenty-five years of actual missionary work. During that twenty-five years the open ports have been increased from five to sixteen, extend- ing along the whole coast of China from Canton to Peking, and a thousand miles up the great Yang - tsze - kiang ; and the places where mis- sionaries actually reside have increased in that time from six to ninety-one, and in addition to these places of residence there are five hundred and eleven " out-stations" where the Gospel is preached. The little company of about thirty missionaries in 1850 has grown to four hundred and seventy-three, and the eleven missionary societies operating in 1850 have become thirty in 1877. Of these, eleven societies are American, thirteen British, three Continental, and three are Bible societies. The missionary force is now three hundred and forty-four married mission- aries, sixty-six single males, sixty-three single females, a total of four hundred and seventy- three. Of these, two hundred and nine are American, two hundred and twenty-two British, thirty-three Continental, and eight representatives of the Bible societies. There are nine English Statistics. 447 and ten American physicians, three of the latter being ladies. There has been an increase within the last ten years of five societies, thirty-five stations, one hundred and fifteen missionaries, and more than one hundred and fifty out-stations. But my readers will be glad to have these and other interesting items in tabular form: PROTESTANT MISSIONS. Stations, Out-stations, Organized Churches, . Self-sustaining " Partly self- sustaining, 91 312 18 243 13.035 Scholars, . . . School teachers, Colporteurs, . . Ordained native pre; Assistant " Bible women, . . Church buildings, Chapels, .... Hospitals, . . . Patients, .... Out-door patients, Dispensaries, . . Applicants, . . . Money raised, . . 2,605 290 76 achers, 73 5ii ' 90 243 437 16 3.780 87,505 24 44,281 #9,271 Communicants, INI ales, Females, ..... 4,967 Boys' schools, .... 407 Pupils, 3,602 Girls' schools, .... 120 Pupils, 2,084 Theological schools, . 2C Students, 231 Sunday-schools, ... 1 15 These figures represent in China a Christian community of at least fifty thousand souls. It will not be inappropriate to present to the reader here an epitomized history of Methodist missions in China. The Methodist Episcopal Church was the first branch of Methodism to enter this country. This she did in 1847, our first missionaries reaching their destination in September of that year. They have been suc- ceeded by a goodly band of missionaries during 443 China and Japan. the thirty-one years that have passed since then, and God has wonderfully blessed them in their labors. Our present missionary force at Foo- chow consists of five families and three ladies of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, one of whom is a -physician who is conducting a very successful hospital. The girls' boarding- school has a fine large building, and consists of thirty-one girls, some of whom are foundlings, though but few of this class are now received. The school has done a good work, and several of the girls, on reaching womanhood, have be- come wives of our native preachers. Another fine large building contains the printing and book establishment, the theological school of about twenty young men, and a high school of twelve smaller boys, some of them sons of our preach- ers. On the 19th of December, 1877, our mis- sion work in Fuhkien was organized into the first Annual Conference in China, consisting of fifteen native members, fifteen native proba- tioners, and the five foreign missionaries. In addition to these thirty native preachers in the conference, there are also sixty native preachers, about forty of whom are regularly appointed to the work. The work is divided into six presid- ing elders' districts with about fifty circuits. These circuits will fully average four appointments Methodist Missions. 449 each, making at least two hundred preaching places. Our next mission is at Peking, commenced in 1869. We have here five missionary families and three ladies of the Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society, one of whom is a physician. The work of this mission has three centers, the Tartar City, the Chinese City, and Tientsin. There are four native preachers, two ordained deacons, four local preachers, one exhorter, fifty- five members, eighty-seven probationers, four- teen baptized children, three Sabbath-schools, one hundred and eighteen scholars. The work is divided into seven circuits, and extends many miles north and south of Peking embracing about thirty-five preaching places. Our third mission centers at Kiukiang, on the great river, and was opened in 1868. We have here two missionary families, three single men and two ladies of the Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society. There are two native preach- ers, one Bible woman, five teachers, thirty-five members, thirty-two probationers, eleven bap- tized children, girls' school forty, boys' school thirty-five, Sunday-school eighty. In 185 1 Rev. George Piercy entered Canton, and opened the way for the English Wesleyans to enter China. They now occupy Canton, 450 China and Japan Wuchang, and Hankow as centers, and have twenty-nine missionaries and four single ladies operating in these places. They have six chapels, ten preaching places, seven native preachers, eleven school teachers, three hundred and one members, sixty-eight probationers, fifteen schools, five hundred and nineteen scholars. The Methodist Episcopal Church South occu- pies Shanghai as its center. The work is divided into five districts — Shanghai, Naziang, Kading, Soochow, and Chingpoo. They have four mis- sionary families, eight native preachers, one hun- dred and twelve members, two boarding-schools, thirty-two pupils, seven day schools, with ninety- five pupils, five Sunday-schools, one hundred and sixty-one scholars, three Bible women, and fourteeen preaching places. The Methodist new connection of England have a very flourishing mission at Tientsin, and are rapidly extending their w r ork southward into the provinces of Shantung and Shansi. They have a fine property in Tientsin, an excellent building for the school and theological institute. Their missionary force is four families and fifteen native preachers. They have ten out-stations, eleven organized Churches, four hundred and twenty-nine members, seven day schools, one hundred pupils, two theological schools, twenty- Tabular View, 451 four students, seven Sunday-schools, one hundred and ten scholars, and twenty-five chapels. The United Methodist Free Church of Eng- land is located at Ningpo. They have one missionary family and two single men. They have six out-stations, one hundred and fifty- one members, four schools, forty-nine pupils, and eight native preachers. The reader will be pleased to see these fig- ures of Methodism in China tabulated : M. E. C. M. E. C. S. BRIT. M. TOTAL. Stations, 4 2 8 14 Out-stations, 83 4 22 109 Organized Churches, 76 4 23 103 Members, 1,346 1 12 861 2,319 Probationers, 604 62 250 1,016 Schools, 3$ 9 24 71 Pupils, 59S 127 561 1,288 Theological schools, 2 ... 2 4 Students, 20 3 28 51 Sunday-schools, 57 5 16 78 Scholars, 914 161 400 1,375 Ordained preachers, 19 4 2 25 Assistant preachers, 78 2 33 113 Bible women, 13 3 5 21 Church buildings, 25 5 13 43 Chapels, 66 9 29 114 Hospitals, 2 ... I 3 Indoor patients, 23 ... ... 23 Outdoor patients, 604 ... ... 604 Dispensaries, 2 I ... 3 Patients, 681 .. . . 681 Missionaries, 24 4 29 ^7 Wives, 12 4 14 30 XXX. dt|ri$tikiiity iq Japan . |N a work so small as this it is impossible to give more than the barest outlines of the attempt on the part of the Jesuits to intro- duce Christianity into Japan in the sixteenth [^ century. For most of the facts which are contained in the brief history which follows, we are indebted to a very admirable paper on this subject, read by John H. Gubbins, Esq., before the Asiatic Society of Japan, in October, 1877, and published in the Japan Mail in No- vember of the same year. It is to Portuguese enterprise that Chris- tianity owes its introduction into Japan in the sixteenth century. As early as 1542 Portuguese trading vessels began to visit Japan, where they exchanged western commodities for the then little known products of the Japanese islands ; and seven years afterwards three Portuguese mission- aries, the famous Saint Francis Xavier, Torres, 452 The Portuguese. 453 and Fernandez, took passage in one of these merchant ships, and landed at Kagoshima, in the province of Satsuma, in the southern island of Japan, Kiushiu. The leading spirit of the three was, of course, Xavier, who had already acquired much reputation by his missionary la- bors in India. After a short residence the mis- sionaries were forced to leave Satsuma, and after a short stay in the island of Hirado, which was a rendezvous of trade between the Portuguese merchants and the Japanese, they crossed over to the Triain island, and settled down in Yama- guchi in Nagato, the chief town of the terri- tories of the prince of Choshiu. After a visit to the capital, which was productive of no result, owing to the disturbed state of the country, Xavier left Japan with the intention of founding a Jesuit mission in China, but died on his way, in the island of Sancian. In 1553 fresh missionaries arrived, some of whom remained in the island of Bungo, where Xavier had made a favorable impression, while others joined their fellow missionaries in Yama- guchi. After having been driven from the latter place by the outbreak of disturbances, and hav- ing failed to establish a footing in Hizcn, we find the missionaries in 1567 collected in Bungo, and this province appears to have been their 29 454 China and Japan. headquarters from that time. In the course of the next year Vilela, the chief of the mission, made a visit to Kioto, Sakai, and other places, in the course of which he is said to have gained a convert in the person of the daimio of the small principality of Omura, who displayed an imprudent excess of religious zeal in the de- struction of idols and other extreme measures, which could only tend to provoke the hostility of the Buddhist priesthood. The conversion of this prince was followed by that of Ari- ma-no-kami. Other missionaries arrived in 1560, and the circle of operations was extended, but shortly afterward a revolution headed by Mori com- pelled Vilela to leave Kioto, where he had set- tled, and a simultaneous outbreak in Omura necessitated the withdrawal of the missionaries stationed there. Mori of Choshiu was, perhaps, the most powerful noble of his day, possessing no fewer than ten provinces, and as he was throughout an open enemy to Christianity, his influence was cast against it with much ill result. On Vilela's return to Kioto from Sakai, where a branch mission had been established, he suc- ceeded in gaining several distinguished converts. Among these were Takayama, a leading general of the day, and his nephew. He did not, A Century of Strife. 455 however, remain long in the capital. The re- currence of troubles in 1568 made it necessary for him to withdraw, and he then proceeded to Nagasaki, where he met with considerable success. In this same year w r e come across Valegnani preaching in the Goto Isles, and Torres in the island of Seki, where he died. Almeida about this time founded a Christian community at Shimabara, afterward notorious as the scene of the revolt and massacre of the Christians. It was, perhaps, unfortunate that this attempt at the introduction of Christianity into Japan happened during one of the most disturbed and unsettled periods of Japanese history. Through all this century a series of contests was waged between contending generals, successively aiming at the shogunate, or supreme administration. Takayama, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu were successive generals, each with his intrigues and battles and boundless ambition, until the struggles of a hundred years ,ended in peace under the triumph of Iyeyasu. These generals successively played with the Christians, their whole course toward them being determined al- most solely by political considerations. Taka- yama, hated by the Buddhists, saw a strong arm of assistance in the Christians, among whom 45 6 China and Japan. were some powerful nobles numbered as con- verts. Nobunaga, his successor, saw a great ad- vantage in using the same arm of assistance, and Hideyoshi played off and on with the Christian princes and their followers, as the changing ne- cessities of the contest seemed to require. As early as 1570 the Prince of Bungo made open profession of Christianity, and retired into private life, and thousands of the subjects of Arima-no-kami followed him in accepting the new religion. Soon after this, however, the Christian interests sustained a great loss in the disgrace of Takayama, who was banished to Kaga for taking part in an unsuccessful in- trigue against Nobunaga which was headed by the Prince of Choshiu. Takayama's nephew, Ukon, however, declared for Nobunaga, and the latter gave a further proof of his friendly feeling toward Christianity by establishing a Church in Adzuchi-no-shiro, the castle town which he had built for himself in his native province of Omi. In 1582 a mission was sent to the papal see, on the part of the princes of Bungo and Omura and Arima-no-kami. This mission was accompanied by Valegnani, and reached Rome in 1585, returning five years later to Japan. In the following year Nobunaga died; and Hideyoshi, who succeeded him in the chief Duplicity, 457 power, was content for the first three or four years of his administration to follow in the line of policy marked out by his predecessor. Chris- tianity, therefore, progressed in spite of the fre- quent feuds between the southern daimios, and seminaries were established, under Hideyoshi's auspices, at Ozaka and Sakai. During this pe- riod Martinez arrived in the capacity of bishop. Hideyoshi's attitude toward Christianity at this time is easily explained. The powerful southern barons were not willing to accept him as Nobunaga's successor without a struggle, and there were other reasons against adopting too hasty measures. Two of his generals, Kondera and Konishi, the governor of Ozaka, and numer- ous other officers of state and nobles of rank and influence, had embraced Christianity, and the Christians had, therefore, among them influ- ential supporters. Hideyoshi's first need was to secure his position. For this purpose he marched into Kiushiu at the head of a large force, and was every -where victorious. This done, he threw off the mask he had been wear- ing up to this time, and in 1587 took his first step in his new course of action by ordering the destruction of the Christian church at Kioto and the expulsion of the missionaries from the capita). 453 China and Japan The Jesuit writers attribute the sudden change of Hideyoshi's attitude to several different causes ; but it is simply clear that Hideyoshi was unfa- vorable to Christianity, and that he only waited for his power to be secure before taking decided measures of hostility. Even before his accession to power he had ventured to remonstrate with Nobunaga for his policy toward the Christians. Hideyoshi's next act was to banish Takayama Ukon to Kaga, where his uncle already was ; and he then, in 1588, issued a decree ordering the missionaries to assemble at Hirado and pre- pare to leave Japan. They did so ; but, finding that measures were not pressed to an extremity, they dispersed, and placed themselves under the protection of various nobles who had embraced Christianity. The territory of these princes of- fered safe asylums, and in these scattered districts the work of Christianity progressed secretly, while openly interdicted. In 1593, in conse- quence of an indiscreet statement of the pilot of a Spanish vessel, which, being driven by stress of weather into the port of Tosa, was seized by Hideyoshi, nine missionaries were arrested in Kioto and Ozaka, and, having been taken to Nagasaki, were there burned. This was the first execution carried out by the government. Hideyoshi died the following year, 1594, and Beginning of Persecution 459 the civil troubles which preceded the succession of Iyeyasu to the shogunate, in which the Chris- tians lost their principal supporter, Konishi, who took part against Iyeyasu, favored Christianity in so far as it diverted attention from it to mat- ters of more pressing moment. Iyeyasu's policy toward Christianity was a repetition of that of his predecessors ; but it is known that in reality he was an intense Buddhist, and secretly a hater of the Christians. Occupied entirely by military campaigns against those who refused to acknowl- edge his supremacy, he permitted the Jesuits, who now numbered one hundred, to establish themselves in force at Kioto, Ozaka, and Naga- saki ; but as soon as tranquillity was restored, and he felt himself secure in the seat of power, he at once gave proof of the policy which he intended to follow, hy issuing a decree of expul- sion against the missionaries. This was in 1600. The year 1610 is remarkable for the arrival of the Dutch, who settled in Hirado, and for the destruction in the harbor of Nagasaki of the only Portuguese ship sent annually by the traders of Macao. In this latter affair, which arose out of a dispute between the natives and the people of the ship, Arima-no-kami was concerned, and his alliance with the missionaries was thus terminated. 460 China and Japan. In 161 3 Christianity was finally proscribed by Iyeyasu. The decree of expulsion directed agaainst the missionaries was followed by a fierce outbreak of persecution in all the provinces in which Christians were to be found, which was conducted with systematic and relentless sever- ity. That this edict of expulsion was the effect of no sudden caprice on the part of Iyeyasu, is clear from the general view we have of his whole policy, which was similar to that of his prede- cessors, and from the evidence which his life and subsequent acts gave of his intense devotion to Buddhism. His early tolerance of Christianity was a mere temporary policy. His mind was evidently made up, and he was only biding his time. As regards the condition of Christianity at this time, the Jesuit accounts supply us with facts which show that, numerically speaking, the Christian cause was never so flourishing as at this period. There were some two millions of converts, whose spiritual concerns were adminis- tered by no fewer than two hundred foreign missionaries, three-fourths of whom were Jesuits. There were Christian Churches in every province of Kiushiu except Hiuga and Osumi, and also at Kioto, Ozaka, Sendai, Kanagawa, Kaga, and it was only in eight provinces of Japan that The Missionaries Expelled. 461 Christianity had gained no footing. But strong as the Christians were numerically, we must not judge of the strength of their cause merely by the number of their converts or the number of missionaries resident in Japan. If we con- sider the facts before us, we find that Chris- tianity in these trying times lacked the most important of all earthly strength, influence in the state. All its principal supporters among the aristocracy were either dead or had renounced their faith or were in exile ; and here we have the real weakness, politically speaking, of the Christian cause. While, therefore, circumstances combined to draw attention to its progress, it was in a state that could ill resist any renewed activity of persecution which might be the result of the increased interest which it excited. With- out influence in the country, except what slight influence the mass of common people scattered throughout the country in the various provinces who were Christians might be said to pos- sess, Christianity presented itself assailable with impunity. In 16 14 the edict was carried into effect, and the missionaries, acccompanied by the Japanese princes who had been in exile in Kaga, and a number of the native Christians were made to embark from Nagasaki. Several missionaries re- 462 China and Japan. mained concealed in the country, and in subse- quent years not a few contrived to elude the vigilance of the authorities and re-entered Japan ; but they were all detected sooner or later, and suffered for their temerity by their deaths. Per- secution did not stop at the expulsion of the missionaries, nor at the death of Iyeyasu was any respite given to the native Christians ; and this brings us to the closing scene in this his- tory, the tragedy of Shimabara. In 1637, the peasantry of a Christian district in Hizen, driven past endurance by the ferocity of the persecution, assembled to the number of thirty thousand, and fortifying the castle of Shimabara, declared open defiance to the gov- ernment. Their position was soon overborne, troops were sent against them, and after a short but desperate resistance, all the Christians were put to the sword. With the rising at Shimabara, and its terrible suppression by the government, the curtain, dripping with blood, drops on the early history of Christianity in Japan. In a little more than two hundred years it rises again on what, we trust, will be a more glorious history. Immediately after the trea- ties of 1854 the interest of the Protestant mis- sionary societies turned toward Japan, and as soon as practicable Protestant missionaries were Protestant Missions. 463 sent into this newly opened field. In 1859 the Protestant Episcopal, the American Reformed, and the Presbyterian missionary societies sent their representatives, who were rapidly followed by others ; so that now nearly all prominent mis- sionary societies of Europe and America are operating in different parts of the country. It is impossible here to give even a faint idea of the marvelous changes that have taken place in Japan in the twenty years that have thus passed. A nation seems to have been born in a day. The missionaries of Japan are distributed and are operating in the following places : The Amer- ican Reformed Church is at Yokohama, with five missionaries, and at Nagasaki, with one; the American Board, at Yokohama, Kobe, Ozaka, and Kioto, with twenty-four male and female mis- sionaries ; the American Episcopal, at Tokio and Ozaka, with eight missionaries and one bishop ; the Methodist Episcopal, at Yokohama, Hako- date, Nagasaki, and Hirosaki, with nine missiona- ries; the American Presbyterian, at Yokohama and Tokio, with thirteen missionaries ; the Amer- ican Baptist, at Yokohama, with three missiona- ries ; the American Woman's Union Mission, at Yokohama, with seven ladies ; the Methodist Church of Canada, at Tokio, with four missiona- ries ; the English Church Mission, at Tokio, 464 China and Japan Ozaka, Nagasaki, Hakodate, and Niigata, with nine missionaries ; the Evangelical Association of America, at Tokio and Ozaka, with three mission- aries ; the Scotch Presbyterians, at Tokio, with five missionaries. The Roman Catholics are at Tokio, Yokohama, Hakodate, Niigata, Ozaka, Kobe, and Nagasaki, with three bishops, thirty- three priests, and twelve sisters of charity — all are French. The Russian Greek Church has six missionaries. We thus have Protestant mission- aries, males sixty and unmarried ladies thirty-one, distributed as follows: At Tokio, twenty fami- lies and nine single ladies; Yokohama, twelve families and ten ladies ; Kobe, three families and five ladies ; Ozaka, eleven families and four la- dies ; Kioto, four families and three ladies ; at Nagasaki, four families ; Hakodate, four fami- lies ; and at Hirosaki, two families. All these societies have out-stations and circuits radiat- ing from the centers in which the missions are located. The Methodist Episcopal Mission was author- ized in 1872, and Rev. R. S. Maclay, D. D., who for more than twenty years had been super- intendent of our first mission in China, was appointed to the work of opening our mission in Japan. In having such a leader, having such experience, we were greatly blessed. With him Methodist Missions. 465 were appointed Revs. J. C. Davison, Julius So- per, and M. C. Harris. Dr. Maclay and family arrived in Yokohama in June, 1873, and two months later Bishop Harris, accompanied by Rev. Irwin H. Correll and wife, who had been appointed to Foochow, China, were retained in Japan. In August Messrs. Soper and Davison and their wives arrived. During the month, Bishop Harris had been studying Japan, and on the arrival of the last missionaries, August 8, 1873, a mission meeting was held, and wisely and providentially it was determined to dis- tribute our men, rather than to concentrate all our force in one place ; and yet we can only say " wisely determined" to do so, on the supposi- tion that the Church will vigorously support her missions in these different stations. It is, cer- tainly, not wise to attempt to carry on a mission in any place with only one family, except as a temporary arrangement till re-enforcements can be sent. Of course, every body in 1873 supposed that these re-enforcements would soon come ; but six years have passed and they have not come yet. The missionary society, however, has authorized the sending of four additional families during the present year. Our men were distributed as follows : Dr. * Maclay superintendent, and I. H. Correll at Yo- 466 China and Japan. kohama; Julius Soper at Tokio; M. C. Harris at Hakodate ; and J. C. Davison at Nagasaki. Providence sent us Rev. John Ing, from China, for the wonderful work opened in Hirosaki. Rev. W. C. Davisson, in 1877, succeeded Mr. Ing during his absence. This is our missionary force in Japan. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society entered the field in 1874; and Miss Dora E. Schoonmaker arrived in October of that year, and was stationed at Ozaka. She has been a very efficient and perhaps too laborious worker, and has succeeded in establishing an excellent school in Tokio, and has now two Bible women at work. In September, 1876, she was strength- ened in her work by the arrival of Miss Olive Whiting. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society has sent out four additional missiona- ries — two to Tokio, one to Yokohama, and one to Hakodate. In addition to the centers of missionary oper- ations which I have mentioned, the Methodist Episcopal Church has out -stations at Nishiwo, Hachoji, Matsumoto, Ajiki, Nagoya, Hama- matsu and Sapporo. The membership of the Church is over two hundred, and there are about an equal number of probationers. The missionaries of Japan are a body of The Field in Japan. 467 scholarly and cultured gentlemen and ladies. They have already accomplished a great work for Japan. They have translated portions of the Bible. They have produced a large number of religious books. They have made the standard dictionaries of the language. They have orig- inated a Christian popular literature and hymnol- ogy. They have organized Christian Churches, introduced theological seminaries, and are the real originators of the girls' schools in Japan. In 1870 there were not ten Protestant Christians in the empire. There are now more than a score of Churches, with a membership of more than fifteen hundred. Gently, but surely, Christianity is leavening the nation. The only limit that I can see to the extent of most hopeful and promising mission- ary labor in Japaii 4 is the will and ability of the Church at home. The great, pressing, immedi- ate need is, re -enforcement of all the missions. It seems to me that God is really trying the zeal and faith of American Christians by opening up at their very door this beautiful Land of the Rising Sun, with its thirty-five millions of people all at once breaking away from centuries of bar- barism and semi -civilization, and reaching out their hands imploringly for light, and truth, and knowledge, and art, and science. XXXI. Hsfe- i^eligioi^ of Jkpkq. ^HE study of the religions of Japan is in- tensely interesting, but exceedingly diffi- cult. The two principal religions of the country are Shintoism and Buddhism, and besides these Confucianism has been rap- idly gaining ground of late years. As we shall treat more fully of Buddhism in another article, it will only be necessary in this one to give a brief history of its introduction into Japan. The original and native feligion of Japan is Shintoism, a term derived from two Chinese words, Shin, gods, and To, road (the way of the gods). Its Japanese equivalent is Kami-no-michi, about equal in meaning to our term theology. We can do no more than give a bare outline of it, for most of the facts in which we are indebted to Mr. C. Pfoundes, a resident of Tokio, and a liberal contributor to the Japan Mail. The Shinto idea of creation is, that out of 468 Cosmogony. 469 chaos, the earth was the sediment precipitated, and the heavens, the ethereal essence that as- cended. Their cosmogony is very similar to that of China, and undoubtedly many principles of Chinese philosophy have quietly insinuated themselves among the old traditions of Japan. Chaos, like an egg or embryo, was the normal condition of all things before the separation of the two principles, In (Chinese, Yin), the female principle, and Yo (Chinese, Yang), the male principle. The ethereal ascended, and became the heavens ; the sediment was precipitated, and became the earth, from which sprang a young shoot of a tree. This shoot grew until it became the first of the Kami, now called Kuni-toko- tachi, the first being of the country, followed by the appearance of Toyokunu and Kuni-sazu-chi, who represented the first fruits of the earth after chaos. Then successively appeared a number of gods representing different departments of life and activity. Up to this period the male principle, Yo, being paramount, the sexes had not appeared. The five elements, wood, fire, metal, earth, and water, were now divided, and in due order ful- filled their respective uses. The Kami, with one exception, are historical persons who have been deified and are worshiped, and petitions arc 47° China and Japan. JIMMU TENNO. offered to them. At length the human race appeared, male and female, under the name of The First of the Gods. 471 Isanagi and Isanami, who begot Tenshoko - dai * jin, the first of the five gods of the earth, and who is really the great sun -goddess of Japan, and the mother of the line of emperors or mi- kados. From her, by divine descent, came Jimmu Tenno, the first mikado, B. C. 660, and from the date of his accession the Japanese era commences, two thousand five hundred and thirty-eight years ago. The present mikado is the one hundred and twenty-third of the direct line. Isanagi and Isanami constituted the first cou- ple. The names are derived from the meaning of the first words spoken upon the earth. They stood on the celestial bridge which spans the ethereal vault. The thought arose that there might be substance beneath the face of the un- stable waters; and Isanagi plunged his mighty spear into the watery depths, and the drops which trickled from it, when withdrawn, formed the dry land. To this they both betook them- selves, designing to make it the pillar of the future continent, and started to make the circuit of it, the woman turning to the right and the man to the left. They met at the other side, when the woman spoke the first words ever ut- tered upon earth, "O joy, to meet a lovely man !" but the man was displeased that the 47 2 China and Japan. woman spoke first, and insisted that the journey around the island should be repeated; and when they again met the man said, "O joy, to meet a lovely woman!" Thus was the creation of man perfected, and the island grew into the great Nipon. The woman, Isanami, conceived and brought forth a female child, either as a punishment for having spoken first, or because the female prin- ciple, In, was more powerful. The man was greatly displeased that a son was not born. This female child became the famous Tenshoko-dai- jin, which to the ancient Japanese mind un- doubtedly represented the sun. Isanami brought forth a second female child, called Tsuki-yomi, the goddess of the moon, undoubtedly repre- senting the moon itself; and again a third child, a male, named Hiro-ko. At the age of three, being still unable to walk, his parents made for him a boat of the camphor-tree, in which he was sent adrift, and became the first fisherman. He is called Yebisu, and is greatly worshiped in Japan. A fourth child was born to them, Sosano, a goodly shaped boy, who was doubly welcome after the former female children and the cripple, and their hopes rested on their last born to pop- ulate the country. But, like many other parents, Births of the Gods. 473 they were fated to disappointment, as the boy proved a reckless, unruly fellow, perpetually get- ting into difficulties, and the older he grew the worse he became, and they were compelled to condemn him to banishment. He returned, however, and continued his wild career, and so tormented his famous sister, Tenshoko, that she finally retired and hid in a cave, and left the earth in darkness, until by a wonderful series of maneuvers and performances before the cavern in which she was hid away, all of which are minutely related in the Japanese books, she was finally enticed back again into the visible world, and gladdened all hearts with the presence of her beauty and light. Isanami brought forth a fifth child, a male, called Hinokamikaku-tsuchi, god of fire, and on that day she was consumed by fire herself. In the agonies of death she brought forth Tsuchi- no-kami, the goddess of the earth and hills, also Midzuhanome, the goddess of water. Kako- tsuchi took Hani-yama to wife, and in due time she bore him Wakamusubi, the first produce of man and earth, on whose head grew the mul- berry and silk -worm, and from whose navel sprang the five cereals — rice, wheat, beans, millet, and sorghum. Isanami's tomb is in Arima-no-mura, in the 474 China and Japan. province of Kishiu, and when blossoms appear on the trees flowers are taken to the tomb. From these old legends, mingling with them the history of subsequent human heroes, and, intermixed with these, many Buddhist thoughts and ceremonies, come Shintoism and the priest- hood, the national or established religion of Japan. The kami, or gods, number many thou- sands, of which more than three thousand are known to have shrines in the empire. To the more celebrated of these kami temples have been erected throughout the empire. Those to Inari, the god of husbandry, for instance, may be found in every town and district, and in every land-owner's residence, noble and peasant. Each province has its great temple, and each district, and sometimes each hamlet, may have one or more local kami. They are worshiped by peti- tions offered up at the Miya, or shrine, by thanksgiving for favors granted, and by songs of praise. Each kami has an annual festival, and many have particular days in each month, in which it is usual to visit the Miya, besides which visitors visit the shrines at all times, but rarely after sundown. The ceremonies and observances are most minute, and vary for each kami. Drums are beaten on festive occasions, and at some temples the devotee calls the attention of INTERIOR OF SHINTO TEMPLE. Shinto Worship. 477 the kami by shaking a thin metal globe sus- pended above him, containing several pellets, which rattle when so shaken. All Miyas have a mirror on the altar as an emblem of purity. It is said that the word kami, the modern name for the gods, is derived from kagami, a mirror, omit- ting the repetition of the first syllable. All Miyas have one or more tori-i, which are usually offerings made by devotees, or petition- ers in thanksgiving. He who approaches the Miya must pass under the tori-i, and the Haiden or place of prayer is reached, at the rear of which is another building, the true Miya. With few variations, the same style of architecture prevails throughout the empire. The Go-hei, made of paper cut in a peculiar form, inserted in the split end of a piece of bamboo, is an emblem of purity, and is inclosed in a box, thus forming the shintai, which is placed in the innermost shrine. The offerings are generally made in beautiful vases, with paper inserted in them, and consist of cleaned rice in unglazed pottery, cakes of boiled and pounded rice, and, on special occa- sions, rice boiled with small red beans, fruit and vegetables of all kinds in season, and fish of several kinds throughout the year. Tenshoko is the first and principal of the kami, and the only one of whom there is no 47 8 China and Japan. historical record of life on this earth. This god- dess is highly venerated as the ancestress of Jimmu, and therefore of the imperial family. Her principal temples are in Ise. There are shrines throughout the empire, but there is no regular distribution of them, all depending on the local popular fancy. Formerly every household pro- cured a shintai, consisting of a small box of paper and wooden frame-work, containing paper cut and stuck in a slip of bamboo, every year from Ise. There is an annual festival, but the number of pilgrims is greatest in the Spring. All devout men and women are supposed to go at least once, and pilgrims from the remotest corners of the empire resort thither and receive the shintai to take home. Inari is the god of the produce of the soil, and his shrines may be recognized by the tori-i or portals being colored red, with carved stone foxes on either side. Besides the larger shrines, met with at almost every turning, each land- holder or farmer has one on his property. The Kitsune, the fox, became gradually associated with Inari. To the fox are erected many tem- ples throughout the empire. Hachiman, the sixteenth mikado, the son of the famous Jingu Kogo, who reigned from A. D. 270 to 309, is the god of warriors. There is no province or The Wayside Shrine. 479 town without one or more shrines dedicated to Hachiman. The latest important object of deifi- cation or canonization, known under the name of Gongen, who received the honor A. D. 1627, is the famous Iyeyasu, the first Tokugawa sho- gun. There are many shrines throughout the empire dedicated to him. Good works consist in repairing or improving 480 China and Japan. the miya; but a number of Buddhist ideas are intermingled by the common people, who often hang up pictures, locks of hair, and other offer- ings such as those in the temples. No idols are ever found in the Shinto temples. The rites of Shintoism connected with death and burial are very few and simple. When life has passed away, the body is moved with the head to the north and a white cloth is placed over the face. Word is then sent to the officers of the ward, and to the Kannushi of the miya in the vicinity. The Kannushi perform the cere- monies for the dead, called Shokonsai. A desk is placed near the head of the corpse, on which is laid the offerings, consisting generally of a little water, rice, sake, cakes, fish, fruit, and vege- tables. The Rejie is prepared, consisting of a mirror, on the back of which the name of the deceased is written, and it is placed in a small tub, which is again covered with a white ma- terial, and is, for the space of forty-nine days, daily supplied with offerings, and prayers are daily repeated before it by the members of the family of the deceased. Not sooner than twenty-four hours after death the body is placed by the immediate relatives in a long coffin in a reclining posture, unlike the Buddhists. The kan or coffin has placed inside Funeral Ceremonies. 481 of it a cotton quilt and a pillow of tea leaves or chaff, and the corpse is robed in a shroud of white material, shaped like an ordinary dress. With the body is placed a garment suited to the season, a girdle, a suit of full dress, a head-dress, and an over-dress of the ancient pattern. The funeral cortege varies with the rank and the means of the family, and upon arrival at the cemetery the funeral service is performed. Over the grave a small mound is formed and a square post is fixed in the center, on the front of which is written the name and age, and on the sides the date of death, place of birth, and other par- ticulars. The grave is fenced in with a paling of bamboo and wood, and at the gate is placed a small tori-i of rough wood stripped of its bark ; and plants of the sakaki are placed on each side of it, and inside a cherry tree is planted on each side of the grave. After one hundred days have elapsed the wood post is changed for a pillar of stone. According to native accounts Buddhism, to- gether with the appertaining idols, descriptive books, etc., was introduced from Hakusai, Corea, in the year A. D. 552, being the thirteenth year of the reign of Kin Mei Tenno, the thirtieth of his line from the reign of Jimmu. The idols, books, etc., were given by the mikado to his 482 China and Japan. chief counselor of State, who deposited them in a part of his palace. In the year 577 the para- phernalia of the religion were again brought to Japan, and its doctrines found favor at court. In A. D. 585 a terrible pestilence raged in the country, and the counselor of state expressed to the monarch his fear that the visitation was sent expressly by the gods to mark their anger that the old faith should have been set aside or alloyed with the doctrines of the new creed. He was, however, unable to gain full credence, though successful in obtaining an order that the rites of the new religion should not be cele- brated. The temples were accordingly burned and the idols cast into the rivers. The history of the origin of Buddhism and its tenets were soon disseminated through the medium of the Chinese literature, which the priests received. They or their disciples appear to have been the first to make use of the Chinese characters, Chinese writing not having been gen- erally known at the date of the introduction of the new religion. The Chinese character now forms a large part of the language of Japan. In A. D. 624 two priests again arrived in Japan from Hakusai. One was raised to the rank of chief priest, and the other was constituted vicar- general. In A. D. 700 Do Sho, the chief priest Buddhist Sects. 483 of the temple, died and was cremated, and this was the first time that cremation was prac- ticed in Japan. In A. D. 889 Uda Tenno, the fifty-ninth mikado, became a Buddhist priest, and Buddhism had now gained a firm establish- ment and was largely disseminated throughout the empire. From the very beginning Buddhism has been characterized in Japan by the formation of va- rious sects and the inculcation of various creeds, so that there are now, perhaps, a score of differ- ent sects of Buddhism in the country, some of them very far degenerated from the principles of original Buddhism, and some having pro- gressed to even a higher degree of morality, and a broader view of religion than the Buddhists of the middle ages. Of these sects, six still hold a most prominent place. The Tendai sect has over six thousand temples ; the Shingon over fifteen thousand ; the Zen over twenty-one thou- sand ; the Yodo over nine thousand ; and the Shinshiu, one of the latest founded, over thir- teen thousand. This last sect, which may be called the Protestants of Japanese Buddhism, was founded by Shinran in 1262. He was a pupil of Honen, the founder of the Yodo sect, and was of noble descent. He taught by example as well as by precept, that marriage was honor- 484 China and Japan. able, and that celibacy was an invention of the priests not warranted by pure Buddhism. Pen- ance, fasting, prescribed diet, pilgrimages, sepa- ration from society, whether as hermits or in the cloister, nunneries and monasteries, amulets and charms, have all been set aside by this sect. The family takes the place of monkish seclusion. Devout prayer, purity, and earnestness of life, and trust in Buddha himself as the only worker of perfect righteousness, are insisted upon. The other sects teach the doctrine of salvation by works. Shinran taught that it is faith in Buddha that accomplishes the salvation of the believer. The Shin sect hold a form of the Protestant doc- trine of salvation by faith, believing in Buddha instead of Jesus; but it is not at all uncertain that this conception and many others were bor- rowed from Christianity. The followers of Shin- ran have always held a high position, and have wielded a vast influence in the religious develop- ment of the people; there is now prevailing among them what might be called a revival, inspired and intensified by the presence of Chris- tianity in the country, and the perception of its great and rapid success. The Shinshiu sect are reviving their zeal, building new temples, imitat- ing the activity of Christian missionaries, and have even sent missionaries of the sect over to Ranters of Buddhism. 485 China to arouse new life and activity in the Buddhism of that country. Another famous sect is composed of the fol- lowers of Nichiren. Its founder was born in 1222. His sect has grown to be one of the lar- gest, wealthiest, and most influential in Japan, 1 ' and excels them all in proselyting zeal, polemic bitterness, sectarian bigotry, and intolerant arro- gance." This sect in the six centuries of its history has probably furnished a greater number of brilliant intellects, uncompromising zealots, unflinching martyrs, and relentless persecutors than any other in Japan. Among them are to be found more prayer-books, drums and other noisy accompaniments of revivals than in any other sect. They excel in the number of pil- grimages and in the use of charms, spells, and amulets. Their priests are celibates, and must abstain from wine, fish, and all flesh. They are just the opposite of the Shinshiu sect, and have well been called the ' ' Ranters of Buddhism. " To this sect belonged Kato Kiomasa, a bloody persecutor of the Christians in the sixteenth cen- tury, now canonized as a holy saint in the calendar of Buddhists. There are now, perhaps, one hundred thou- sand Buddhist temples in Japan. They have seventy-five thousand priests ; many of them are 3* 486 China and Japan married, and with their families number nearly one hundred thousand. There are nearly forty thousand students of Buddhism, making a priest- hood of two hundred thousand, with followers of perhaps twenty millions. The temples in Japan are inferior in size and architectural beauty to those found in most other Asiatic countries. The immediate surroundings of their temples, however, are generally superior to those found elsewhere. Much money is expended and con- siderable taste is shown in beautifying the locali- ties in which their sacred buildings stand, and multitudes are attracted to these spots by the beautiful shade trees, shrubbery, and sometimes even flower gardens that are attached to them. Occasionally, in the great cities, a temple is met with worthy to be compared with those found in other countries. Especially is this the case in Kioto, the old capital, and the famous temples of Shiba and Uyeno, at Yedo, were very mag- nificent buildings ; but both were destroyed by fire, and there is now no temple of any great size or peculiar beauty in Tokio. The funeral rites of the Buddhists are much more imposing than those of Shintoism. After death and after the official inquest has taken place, the priests are introduced and all is made pleasant for the soul of the deceased, and the Buddhist Obsequies. 487 peace of mind of the survivors. The priest selects the Kai-mio or posthumous name, and writes it on a slip of white paper, pasted on a small tablet of unstained wood. The deceased is then placed so that the head is toward the north, and a folding screen turned upside down is placed at the head of the body. A new desk, about a foot in height, occupies the space between the head of the corpse and the screen, on which cakes of raw rice flour are laid out, and also a single rush-wick light in a saucer of oil, with a saucer of unglazed ware, in which joss-sticks are placed. The eating-tray, cups, saucers, and chopsticks used by the deceased are filled with vegetable food and placed at the side of the corpse. Forty-eight hours after death the corpse is arranged for the coffin by ablution in warm water. Unless the deceased has otherwise directed, the head is shaved, the priest, while he is reciting certain customary prayers, making the first three movements with the razor, which he afterwards relinquishes to the barber. The corpse is then dressed for interment, those that have been shaved being clothed as priests, and those that have not been shaved in the ordinary dress. In all cases the shroud is white, of silk, linen, of cotton, and of the same make as the common 488 China and Japan. outet dress of the deceased, the wealthy being attired in the same number and pattern of dresses as they were in that season on gala and official occasions — the full dress, in fact, but entirely white. The hair of the females, when not shaven, is tied behind, and falls down after the fashion of the ladies of the court, and stockings are either put on their feet or are put in the coffin. Clogs or sandals, however, are discarded, as they are not worn in paradise. The body is then placed in the coffin in the usual sitting posture, the hands of those who have been shaved being joined as in the act of prayer. The coffins are of various kinds, the commonest being a kind of tub, large enough to sit in ; others a square box, or an inner and outer box of unstained wood, commonly pine or shinoki. The latter wood is considered the most suitable for sacred purposes, being commonly used by such as can afford it. Earthenware jars are also used by the nobility and the wealthy. The better classes fill in the vacant spaces of the coffin with chaff or tea leaves. Those who are shaven have a cap placed upon the head. The bier is then laid upon tressels, the face of the corpse being turned toward the north, and a tem- porary altar is raised, upon which offerings are placed. The people of the house of mourning The Future World. 489 do not retire to rest the night before the funeral, which is occupied by the priests of the family temple in reciting prayers. On the day of the funeral the body is con- veyed to the temple where preparations have been made to receive it, and prayers are recited. The ceremonies vary for each sect, and are, be- sides, regulated by the wishes of the survivors, and their expenditure of money on display. The prayers being ended the body is carried to the grave, accompanied by the priest, who recites prayers until the interment is completed. The poorer classes often bury their dead by torchlight to avoid the exposure of their poverty. For- merly cremation was largely resorted to, but it is now forbidden. There are five states of the good when their souls pass into the future world. The first and highest state is that of absorption into Buddha ; then in succession follow the state of Bosatsu, which is that of awaiting absorption ; the third state, probationary to admission among the Bo- satsu ; the fourth state, which is on the road to paradise; the fifth, the normal state of ordinary sinning humanity, not actually guilty of any great sin, — if a good, devout liver, the soul goes to Ten jio, and successively works up to the highest state. But if a person of indifferent life, a scoffer 49° China and Japan. at religion, or a brawler and bloodthirsty man, his soul flies to the purgatory of the Buddhists. If guilty of uncleanness, of inhuman conduct, such as adultery, rape, incest, or eating forbidden food, the soul, after death, is punished by the great judge, Yemma, by transformation into a beast, and is condemned to live on the earth. This is the state of the transmigration of the soul into inferior animals, birds, reptiles, etc. The final punishment is that of perpetual hunger and starvation in pandemonium. There are eight modes of torture in the future world: First, the wicked are alternately beaten to death and resuscitated. Secondly, they are dragged limb from limb, chopped to pieces, pounded in a large mortar, sawn or planed into various shapes, eyes gouged out, and the tongue and nails plucked out. In the third the crowd of the wicked are beaten about like animals in a pen. The fourth is weeping ; the fifth is great lamentation ; the sixth, burning and roasting ; the seventh, hills covered with large needles, over which the wicked are driven .; the eighth, be- ing thrown into the bottomless pit of perdition. xxxir. %o f}eligioi$ of Cliink. fm l^pEVERAL religions exist at the present day among the Chinese, but what was the first form of religious culture is now difficult to <$ determine. It is very probable that in the i beginning the Chinese, after the example ^ of all the people of Asia, adored the heav- enly bodies ; this system of worship seems also to have had its priests, who formed at one time a powerful and formidable college under the name of the Tribunal, or Court, of Celestial Affairs. But, to set out from the times of reliable history, as early as we can trace the history of the nation, we can discover already established a religion recognizing the existence of a Supreme Being, who was supposed to overrule the general affairs of the empire, and to whom the emperor, assisted by his highest mandarins, offered once a year cer- tain sacrifices, and addressed prayers and thanks- givings. This Being seems to have been known 491 49 2 China and Japan. and worshiped under the name of Shang-ti — the Supreme Ruler. All the ancient philosophers appear to be united in the belief of the existence of a powerful Creator, who formed the universe. " Before the existence of chaos, which preceded the origin of the heavens and the earth/' says Lao-tsze, " there existed a solitary Being, im- mense and silent, immutable and always acting without changing in himself, This Being we should regard as the parent of the universe. I am ignorant of his name, but I designate him by the word Reason" Most generally, however, this Being is known under the name of Shang-ti, or T'ien-ti, both in the ancient books and in the religious ceremonies still directed to this object of worship. The rites by which at least the remembrance of this ancient religion is kept up among the Chinese consist in the offering of sacrifices in the national temples or in public places on stated occasions, which are carefully prescribed, together with all the ceremonies attending them, in the "Book of Rites." On these occasions the emperor himself offi- ciates as high-priest, assisted by his chief man- darins as his subordinates, there being no regular priesthood connected with the state religion. In other cities throughout the empire the man- darins and the literati perform certain ceremonies. Imperial Worship. 493 The heavens, earth, sun, and moon are the great objects of worship. When the heavens are wor- shiped the emperor, or officiating high -priest, arrays himself in magnificent robes of silk of an azure blue color ; in the worship of the earth his robes are saffron colored ; the sun is worshiped in crimson, and the moon in robes of spotless white. The sacrifices to the heavens are made on the day of the Winter solstice ; those to the earth on the day of the Summer solstice ; the others are offered according to the inclination or pleasure of the emperor. The victims offered are cows, pigs, bullocks, and sheep, which are cut up and cooked, and afterward placed on altars dedicated to heaven and earth ; the altars used in the service of the former being round, those used in the sacrifices to the earth being square. Before participating in any of these sacrificial rites it is necessary for the emperor and all his assistants to lead a life of rigid self- denial for several days. A strict fast must be maintained for three entire days, abstaining from food, and neither listening to music, conversing with wives, nor mourning for the dead during that period. The mode of worship is very simple, consisting in offering sacrifices, burning incense, making prayers and confessions, and prostrations before the altar. These ceremonies are wholly 494 China and Japan. confined to the imperial family and officers of state. Their observance is rigidly enforced, and the neglect of them is followed by the severest punishment. If the Taouist or Buddhist priests attempt to imitate the ceremonies of this wor- ship it is deemed a sacrilege, and they are se- verely punished ; and the same is the case with any unauthorized or common person who at- tempts to hold communication w T ith the gods after the manner adopted in this religion. This, then, is emphatically a state religion. And now let us contemplate briefly the im- port of these ceremonies. The first question that meets us here is, What are the objects con- templated in this system of worship ? To answer this question fully, it would be necessary to enter into the labyrinths of Chinese theology and cos- mogony, and to draw out, if possible, a consist- ent system from the gorgeous speculations, sub- tile pantheism, and materialistic atheism with which their books abound. We prefer to limit ourselves to the question, What are the objects recognized by the people in this state religion ? To this question the Chinese answer, Shang-ti or T'ien-ti, Te, Shin, Yin, and Yang. When we inquire more minutely wtih reference to these ob- jects, Shang-ti, we are told, is a shin (god), and is not a shin, and is the father, or parent, or Shang-ti. 495 ruler of all the shin. T'ien is the visible heaven, is all the heavenly bodies, is the ruling power on high, or the intelligent, active being above. Te is the earth, the visible material world, the ruling power of the world, or the vivifying and reproductive power of the earth. Shin embraces all the gods, celestial and terrestrial. Yang is the male germinating principle of nature, repre- sented by the sun. Yin is the female principle of nature, represented by the earth. If we leave the people and turn to the books we receive answers more carefully expressed, but not less confused. With regard to T'ien -ti and Shang-ti, we learn from one philosopher that "Shang-ti is the same as heaven; if we collect all the gods of heaven and name them we call them Shang-ti;" that is, the rulers on high. Here the ti seems to have a plural import, and T ? ien-ti and Shang-ti appear to be collective names, embracing all the celestial gods or rulers. From another we learn that "the greatest of the celestial gods is called Expansive Heaven, and Shang-ti. He is also called the celestial, august, great ruler; also the Great One." Here both titles have a singular import, referring to one great personal deity, who is the ruler of all the celestial gods. With reference to T'ien-ti, more particularly, we arc told that "T'ien [heaven] 496 China and Japan. and ti [the ruler] are the same. Heaven refers to its substance, and ti, the ruler, to its ruling. Because of the immensity of its substance we call it expansive heaven ; because its ruling seat is on high we call it Shang-ti." Here these terms seem to be only the titles of the active representative of a pantheistic monotheism. In the Shoo -king, the historical classic of Confucius, we are told "Shang-ti is the god of heaven," and by Mencius that "Shang-ti is the most honorable of all the gods." From the "Book of Rites," which prescribes these cere- monies, we learn that ' ' the celestial gods are six in number ; they are sacrificed to nine times in a year. Expansive Heaven, or Shang-ti, who is sacrificed to at the Winter solstice, is the first." The remaining five are called the Woo-ti, or five celestial rulers. The philosophers of China, like those of Christendom, are unwilling to rest satis- fied with the plain teachings of the sacred books, and have thrown around these definitions the mists of speculation. As an example of their style, I shall present the following passage from Choo-foo-tsze : "Men," says the philosopher, "must see and distinguish for themselves; some- times it [Tien] means the material heavens, sometimes it means the ruling power, and some- times merely destiny or fate. Considered in the Shin. 497 abstract, it is simply reason ; but if you regard its properties, then, as to its form or figure, it is called heaven, and as to its active energy and manifestation, it is called spirits and gods." With regard to the shin, or gods, we find the objects of religious worship in the national rites enumerated under these three names : Shin, ce- lestial gods ; K'he, terrestrial gods ; and Kwei, human manes. "That which is most pure and spiritual," says one of the classics, "is called Shin. Every shin is originally from heaven. If we speak of them separately, heaven is called Shin, man is called Kwei, and earth is called K'he ; that is, when we speak of heaven, earth, and man, spiritually. The gods are the product of the Yang, or male germinating principle, and the spirits of men of the Yin, or female princi- ple. But if we regard man alone, his soul must be considered shin, and his animal life the kwei. Hence the Li Ki [Book of Rites] says, 'The life of his soul is from the abundance of the divine principle, and his animal life is from the abundance of the secondary principle.' Of the five treasuries of man, it is the heart which treasures up the divine principle. If we speak of that which is divine, without regarding man alone, then every pure spiritual substance which possesses a transforming and unsearchable nature 49 8 China and Japan may be called divine. And thus the Yih-king [First Sacred Book] says, 'The divine nature, in a proper description, is of all things the most admirable.' " We are now prepared to learn also from these books the import of the sacrifices con- nected with the national religion. In the second of the "four books" it is said, "The rites of the Kiau and Shie are the means whereby we serve Shang-ti, the supreme ruler, and the sov- ereign of earth." The commentator says: "In the Kiau [the sacrifice at the Winter solstice] they sacrifice to heaven, and in the Shie [the sacrifice at the Summer solstice] they sacrifice to earth ; that the sovereign of earth is not men- tioned is owing to brevity of style." Here a very obvious distinction seems to be made be- tween the ruler on high and the sovereign of earth ; a distinction which is made still more plain in the Chau-li, which says: "The heaven worshiped at the Winter solstice is the god of heaven ; and this is Shang-ti, the ruler on high. Hence that which is sacrificed to in the sacrifice to heaven is called the god of imperial heaven ; but that which is sacrificed to in the sacrifice to earth is called the K'he of imperial earth." Again it is said : "In the sacrifice to heaven the three-vear old bullock is used, but in the sacrifice Expansive Heaven. 499 to earth, a full-grown ox. The god of heaven is most honorable, and with him nothing can be compared ; therefore, in the sacrifice to heaven the perfect offering is used — the three -year old bullock." Another writer, speaking of the force and import of these sacrifices among the ancients, remarks " that in the * Chau-li ' (B. C. 1100) we read that they used the pure offering to sacrifice to Expansive Heaven, the supreme ruler. Thus in the pure offering they offered a sacrifice to Heaven alone ; it did not belong to any other god ; and we read also that the officer, when sacrificing to Bright Heaven, wore the great robe and imperial cap ; hence Expansive Heaven, the supreme ruler, is the most honorable of the hun- dred gods." As far, then, as we are able to learn from the Chinese themselves, three objects of veneration and worship appear to be included in the sacri- fices of the national religion : first, Heaven, or the god of heaven, or the supreme ruler; sec- ondly, Earth, or the gods of the earth ; and, thirdly, the manes of men, — the last giving rise to all the ceremonies of the worship of ancestors. To Shang-ti, or the god of heaven, great vener- ation has been given by the Chinese in all ages, and many excellent attributes are predicated of him ; yet the speculations of the philosophers 500 China and Japan have so mystified the idea or conception of this being, confounding him with the material heavens, with the primitive reason, and with destiny or fate, while the perpetual tendency of the heathen mind to polytheism has led the people so to mingle his name with the inferior deities, that, whatever may have been the case in the early ages of the empire, at present we must conclude that Shang-ti, as conceived by the Chinese, is a being very different from the Jehovah of the Christian. At present Shang-ti, when viewed as a personal existence, occupies, in relation to Chinese theology, about the same position as was occupied by Jove in the mythology of Greece and Rome. We are glad to believe that many things may be adduced from the ancient books to prove that, in the extreme antiquity of the empire, the religion of China was monothe- istic ; but at the present day it is painfully obvi- ous that they have "gods many and lords many." We should not, however, fail to remark that in the national religion there is no idolatry, as far as idolatry includes the sensible representa- tion of an object of worship. There is no at- tempt to represent by images or idols the sup- posed gods which they worship, and the sacrifices and ceremonies of the annual offerings are per- formed away from all the temples, in the open air. Atheism. 501 But, indeed, in this system of" worship, an obvious representation of their gods by an image or idol would be altogether superfluous and out of place ; for each has his visible representation, with which, indeed, the Deity himself is con- founded. Thus the visible heavens are the rep- resentations of Shang-ti and T'ien-ti; so much so that, as we have seen, it is difficult to deter- mine whether any thing else than the material heavens are considered in the worship. And the earth visibly represents the terrestrial divinities addressed in the Summer sacrifices, if, indeed, the earth in its vivifying and productive powers be not the real object of worship. But it is only in this state religion — in this strange system of mysterious and abstract wor- ship, offered to objects of which the worshipers themselves form no distinct conception, and per- petuated through the mere force of custom — that no images or idols are found. In every other system they abound ; and these same worshipers, after stepping aside from the formalities and mysteries of the state religion, often seek for something more tangible in the more purely idol- atrous systems w r hich exist among them. But this is by no means the case with all of these official and literary worshipers. The majority of them are atheists with reference to all religions, 32 502 China and Japan. and have sunk into the most immovable indiffer- entism with regard to all systems. And no wonder; their very connection with this obscure and undefined state religion almost necessarily leads to atheism. The national authorities who prescribe these forms, and the philosophers whose books they must study, teach them to look with the most profound contempt on the religious systems which exist among the people, while they offer them no substitute but the un- meaning and objectless forms of the state wor- ship, which is addressed to mere names, the import of which no one pretends to understand. Thus by their official and literary position they are driven away from the gods of the people, and in the religion which belongs to them as officers and men of letters they find no god, but serve a shadow that has no substance, and ven- erate a series of sacred names which have no object or meaning. Some are in the habit of speaking of Confu- cianism as a system of religion ; but it is a pain- ful fact that, in a system of virtue and order so well calculated in other respects for the govern- ment of a great nation, there is to be found but very little of religious sentiment or belief. In- deed, it is not a system of religion, but a system of politico -moral philosophy, applying to the Confucianism. 503 pressing wants and circumstances of man, and excluding as much as possible all reference to spiritual and divine things and the wants of the future. Confucius is never religious in any of his writings ; he contents himself with recom- mending in general the observances of the an- cient practices of filial piety and paternal love, and the bringing of the conduct into conformity with the laws of heaven, with which human, ac- tions ought always to harmonize. His books, which are studied by the Chinese as sacred vol- umes, teach them that the true principles of social order and virtue are, obedience to parents, elders, s.nd rulers, and the practice of justice and equity among themselves. The duties of the sovereign are as strictly laid down as those of his subjects, and while they are taught to obey him as a father he is enjoined to take care of them as his children. If Confucius gave no religious system to the Chinese, neither did he call in question or mod- ify any of the religious sentiments or practices of the people. He left untouched the national re- ligion, and changed nothing in the great sacri- fices offered to the Supreme Being by the em- peror, nor in the national religious observances among the people, nor in the rites observed in the worship of ancestors, — and thus came into 504 China and Japan no collision with the popular beliefs and customs. Indeed, all these he recognized and enjoined, in- terweaving them with his philosophy and moral- ity; and consequently his system became early and rapidly the acknowledged religion of the empire and the controlling system of the people. It is because of this associating of the ancient religious rites and customs with the philosophy and morality of Confucius that we so often speak of Confucianism as a system of religion. Of Confucius himself, and the quasi worship ren- dered to him, we have spoken in another place. Two systems of religion in China still remain unnoticed, and as they are intimately blended together in their practical manifestations — the people availing themselves of the superstitous riteS and customs of each system according to their pleasure or convenience — we have thought we could most successfully treat of them by first examining the historical and doctrinal features of the two systems, and then taking a general view of the religious rites and ceremonies of the Chinese people. These two systems are known among us under the names of Taouism, or Ra- tionalism, and Buddhism. In China they are known as Taon-kia and Fo-kia. The former of these is of native origin, and is but little known or understood outside of China ; the latter Laou-tsze. 505 originated in India, and was introduced into China toward the end of the first century of the Christian era. 1. Taouism. — The author of this system is known among the Chinese by the name of Laou-tsze, or Laou-kiun, a name derived from a fabulous story connected with his birth He is believed to have been carried in the womb of his mother for eighty -one years, and to have been born an old man, toothless, w r ith white hair and eyebrows, and shriveled features ; hence the titles, "aged child/' and "venerable prince,'' which the above names signify. He was born, B. C. 604, in the kingdom of Tsu, now the province of Hupeh, about fifty-four years before Confucius. But this is not supposed to be the first appearance of the great sage ; for he is be- lieved to have already appeared several times upon the earth, not after the manner of an in- carnation, but on the principles of metempsycho- sis he is supposed to have animated other bodies besides the one above mentioned. His parents were poor, but he soon became known as one devoted to study, and gave early indications of his genius. When yet young he was appointed librarian by the emperor, in which capacity he diligently applied himself to the study of the ancient books, and became acquainted with all 506 China and Japan the rites and histories of former times. Tradi- tion reports that he made an extensive journey through Central Asia, and that he visited Ta-tsin, a country which, in Chinese writings, is generally believed to be the Roman Empire. Some sup- pose Ta-tsin to be Judea, and conclude that many of his ideas were received in that country. M. Hue and other French writers think favora- bly of the opinion that he actually visited Greece, and drew from the same sources as the masters of ancient philosophy ; basing the opin- ion on some striking points of similarity between the leading features of his philosophical system and those of the Pythagorean and Platonic phi- losophers. It is doubtful, indeed, if Laou-kiun ever left China. The tradition appears only in the form of one of those fables with which the lives of ancient sages are so often adorned by their disciples ; namely, that in one of his trans- formations his soul descended many ages ago into the western countries, and converted the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, about, accord- ing to the Chinese dates, six hundred years be- fore the building of Rome ! The philosophy of Laou-kiun is an extremely subtle system of metaphysics, the leading idea of which is the development of all things under the energetic influence of an eternally existing Taouism. 507 principle, which he calls taou, generally rendered reason. We have no good ground for believing that the philosopher looked upon this principle or power as a personal being, or even as a ma- terial or spiritual essence ; he seems to view it rather as an abstract principle — an eternal law or rule — existing before all things, necessitating the existence of things, and determining the properties, forms, and states of all beings and things as they now are ; in a word, a primitive reason or rule — the abstract fitness of things — under the requirements of which the universe must exist and must develop itself. He has written but one philosophical work, under the name of Taou Teh King — ''Book of Reason and Virtue." We find in this system a more distinct recog- nition of the individual existence of gods, spirits, and demons, than in the national religion, or in any of the teachings of Confucius. The separate existence of the human soul is distinctly taught; all spirits are supposed to emanate from the bosom of reason, and all good beings find their highest fruition and eternal existence in return- ing again to that place of harmony and rest ; but the wicked must endure the misery of suc- cessive births and transmigrations till finally sub- dued and fitted for this rest. 508 ' China and Japan. The morality taught by Laou-tsze is confess- edly of a high order, and is the source of many of the best maxims and precepts of the great Confucius. He does not, like Confucius, draw his morality from the opinions of ancient sages, nor from ancient models or personages; his ideas of reason and virtue seem to spring entirely from his own conceptions. According to him, perfec- tion consists in a complete subordination of the passions, affections, and emotions to the dictates of reason, without which he conceives it impos- sible to be happy, or to contemplate the har- mony of the universe. "There is not," says he, "any greater happiness than that of being without passion, as there is no greater sin than ill-regulated desires, nor any greater misfortune than the torments which are the just punishment of them." To accomplish this subjugation of the passions, he recommends retirement and contemplation as the most effectual means of purifying the spiritual part of our nature, and finally returning to the bosom of Reason. Unfortunately for the doctrine of Laou-kiun, it has been greatly altered and corrupted by his followers, who have long since ceased to be speculative philosophers, and who, though still bearing the title of Taou-tse, or Doctors of Rea- son, have established a system of religion full Buddhism. 509 of superstitions and absurdities. The purity of the ancient dogmas disappeared little by little, and the sect, although still having among the lower classes a very great number of partisans, is fallen into disrepute. Two truths which stood out prominently in the system of Laou-kiun — namely, the existence of gods, demons, and spirits, and the separate existence of the human soul after death — are still found among the Taou-tse, but greatly modified, and made the basis of many absurd opinions and ridiculous practices. The Taou-tse have numerous temples through- out China, have gods many and lords many, mingle idolatrous and religious rites with their pretended skill in magic, and perform, in fact, all the functions of the priests of a dreadfully superstitious sect. 2. Buddhism. — This system of religion, as is well known, is of Indian origin, and was intro- duced into China about A. D. 66, during the Han dynasty, by means of an embassy sent to the west, at the suggestion of the Taouists, to seek for a wise man, said to have appeared there, and whose fame had reached China. From the period at which this event took place, some have ventured to suppose that some indis- tinct tidings of the advent and death of Christ 510 China and Japan. may have reached China. The messengers, however, went no farther than India, where Buddhism then prevailed, but where there were no teachers of Christianity ; therefore, they con- cluded that Buddhism must be the religion they were in search of, and returned to China, bring- ing with them a number of bonzes, or priests, of that persuasion. Thus introduced under im- perial auspices, it was eagerly embraced by the people, and rapidly spread throughout the empire. Though long since avowedly abandoned by the emperor and the official and learned men of the empire, it has always been tolerated by the Chi- nese Government, and is now the most popular system of religion among the masses. It is ex- tended throughout nearly all the countries of the East. In Ceylon, Thibet, Siam, and Burmah it exists in almost undivided sway, and under gov- ernment patronage. In China, Cochin -China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Corea, Lew -chew, and Japan it is extensively diffused, having multi- tudes of adherents, priests, nuns, temples, mon- asteries, etc., though receiving no support from government. The head of the system, who holds the same rank among the votaries of Buddhism as the pope does among Romanists, resides, with much state, in Thibet, and is called the Grand Lama. He is supposed to be infallible The Grand Lama. 511 and immortal, — not, however, by living perpetu- ally in one body ; but when the Grand Lama dies it is given out that his soul has passed into the body of some child, whom the priests pre- tend to identify by certain signs, and who is brought up in the belief that the same spirit which animated the form of his predecessor ex- ists within himself. Hence, the office of Grand Lama always commences with infancy and lasts till the close of life. "The word Buddha," says M. Hue, "is a very ancient generic name, having in Sanskrit a double root. The one signifies being, existence; the other, wisdom, superior intelligence. It is the name by which was originally designated the creative, omnipotent God ; but it has been ex- tended to those w r ho worshiped him, and sought to raise themselves to him by contemplation and holiness. All the Buddhists, however, whom we have met in China, Tartary, Thibet, and Ceylon, intended by this name to denote an actual his- torical personage, who has become celebrated throughout Asia, and who is regarded as the founder of the institutions and doctrines com- prised under the general name of Buddhism." By the Buddhists this personage is sometimes viewed as a human being who attained a high state of excellence by retirement and contem- Si2 China and Japan plation ; sometimes as a god, a god-man, or in- carnation ; by many he is considered the last avatar, or incarnation of Vishnu, who lived among men about iooo B. C, illustrating in his life the highest state of purity and perfection, and spend- ing his life in teaching his doctrines, which were so well received that before his ascension to heaven, at the age of eighty years, they had spread over all India, Ceylon, Siam, and Burmah. Buddha was born in Bahar about 1029 B. C, and died about 950 B. C. He was the son of Soutadanna, King of Magadha, in southern Bahar, and of Mahamaia, to whom tradition says Soutadanna was married, but did not consum- mate his marriage with her. She is supposed to have conceived by divine influence, and on the fifteenth day of the second month of Spring she brought into the world a son, whom she had borne in her womb three hundred days. His name is said to have been Sarvarthasidha, or Ardhasidha ; but he was frequently called by what appears to be a sort of patronymic desig- nation, Gaudama, and by the complimentary surnames, Sakya-sinha and Sakya-muni — " the lion or the penitent of Sakya." The title of Buddha does not appear to have been given to him till after he had attained eminent sanctity as a teacher of religion. His tor y of B uddha. 5 1 3 Conformably to the prevailing usage of the country, the infant Ardhasidha was, a few days after his birth, presented before the image of a deity, which is said to have inclined its head when the infant was brought near its shrine, as a recognition of his greatness. His mother, taking him in her arms from the shrine of the deity, presented him to a king, who was also an incar- nation of Brahma, and who enveloped him in a piece of precious cloth, and lavished upon him the most tender care. Another king, an incar- nation of Indra, baptized the young god in divine water, and he was immediately recognized as a divine person, it being foretold that he would surpass in holiness all preceding incarnations. In his tenth year he was placed under the guid- ance of a celebrated spiritual teacher, whose name was Bah-Burenu Bakshi. He soon devel- oped faculties of the first order, outstripping and embarrassing his distinguished master, and be- came equally celebrated for the uncommon beauty of his person. When twenty years of age he was urged to marry, but refused to do so unless a wife possessing thirty-two virtues and perfections could be found for him, which was secured in the person of a noble virgin called Yasodhara Devi, by whom, in the following year, he had a son, and soon after a daughter. 5 i 4 China and Japan. At this period of his life it is related that earnest meditations concerning the depravity and misery of mankind began to occupy his mind, and he conceived the plan of retiring from hu- man society and becoming a hermit. His friends earnestly dissuaded him from this step, and endeavored by force to frustrate his design. Buddha escaped the vigilance of the guards placed over him, and fled to the banks of the river Narasara, in the kingdom of Udipa. Here he took upon himself the title and order of a priest, shaved his head, assumed the costume of a penitent, and lived alone in his desert contem- plations. He soon afterward chose a still wilder retreat, taking with him only two disciples, who became afterward celebrated in Buddhism. At the expiration of six years he presented himself as a religious teacher at Benares, a sacred town which had already been the residence of the founders of three religious epochs. Here he began to unfold his doctrines, immediately gath- ering around him great multitudes of hearers from all classes. At first doubts were enter- tained as to the soundness of his mind ; but his doctrines soon gained credit, and were propa- gated so rapidly that Buddha himself lived to see them spread all over India. At the age of eighty years he quitted the earth, " casting off his mate- Buddhism. 515 rial envelop, to be reabsorbed into the universal soul, which is himself/' Buddhism, as it exists in China, is but little known or studied, either by the Chinese people or by the bonzes themselves, as a doctrinal sys- tem. It exists principally as a form of worship, in which the priests participate — of various rites and superstitious ceremonies which they perform for the people, and of fulfilling a large number of priestly offices according to the wants and wishes of a people almost wholly destitute of a systematic religion. There is a remarkable fea- ture common to all the religious sects of China ; they have lost their identity as distinct systems, and every-where run into each other ; the philos- ophy or theology on which they were originally constructed has become obsolete, and nothing is left but the outward shell of practical manifesta- tion — certain acts of worship, certain rites, cere- monies, forms of prayer, festivals, etc., which are practiced by the priests, and used by the people when circumstances seem to require them. There are no teachers of doctrine, and nobody studies either Taouism or Buddhism. To become a priest is much more learning to practice an art than studying to comprehend a philosophy or a theology. The priest will never be asked to ex- pound his system, or to give light to an anxious 516 China and Japan. and inquiring soul ; but he will be often called upon to perform certain religious ceremonies and magic arts — to offer prayers, conduct festivals, lead processions, tell fortunes, etc. The bonzes are much less priests of Buddha than priests of the Chinese people. Their system allowed the incorporation of the deities and spirits of other religions, and permitted the priests even to wor- ship the gods of other pantheons, so that they could adapt themselves to the popular supersti- tions of the countries they entered, and ingraft into their own calendar all the foreign spirits they chose. This they have done in China and in Japan. Into this country they had an auspi- cious entrance under imperial favor ; the rites which they brought presented nothing cruel or revolting; they adopted all the superstitious opinions and practices already existing among the people ; sanctioned and co-operated with the national religion, applauded Confucianism, en- tered into the ancestral worship, indorsed and performed the funeral rites and ceremonies, and thus offered themselves, and were accepted, as the priests of the people. These circumstances will relieve us from the necessity of studying here the metaphysical as- pects of Buddhism. It is sufficient for our pur- pose to name the following features: It is built Images. 517 upon the basis of an immaterial pantheism ; every thing is but the transient manifestation of the Deity, without real or permanent existence ; creation is an illusion ; life is an evil ; non-exist- ence is bliss ; God, the infinite and eternal, is all and in all, are the great features of Buddhism. Humanity accomplishes its highest end when it discovers the delusion of all visible things, and by retirement and the most profound abstraction becomes weaned from all worldly things, and fitted to be reunited with God. This is the blissful portion of the good. The wicked must still continue to pass through successive births and states and forms of life, till fitted for this divine annihilation. Buddha is worshiped by some sects simply as a man, who, by his holy and contemplative life, had raised himself to the highest possible excel- lence ; by most Buddhists, however, he is adored as an incarnation of the Divine Being. He is represented in all Buddhist temples in the form of a colossal image, in a sitting posture, wearing a very happy countenance ; generally built of clay, and gayly painted and gilded. Near him is usually found their favorite goddess, Kwan- yin — "the hearer of cries" — also called "Holy Mother," and "Queen of Heaven," seated on a lotus -flower, and securing almost an equal 33 518 China and Japan. share of worship and veneration with Buddha himself. This brings us to notice a very prominent feature in the practical exhibitions of Buddhism, which we should not overlook; namely, its strik- ing resemblance to the ecclesiastical institutions and ceremonial observances of the Roman Cath- olic Church. This is one of the first things that arrests the attention of the observing foreigner. He is at once attracted by its great show of tem- ples, monasteries, nunneries, wayside joss-houses, frequent processions, and multiplied festivals. The long -robed and shaven - headed priest, with his slow and measured tread, his pusillanimous air, and his Jesuitical cunning, strikes him as a quite familiar personage. Even when he enters the Buddhist temple or monastery, things wear a familiar aspect. The images, the statue of the "Holy Mother," or "Queen of Heaven," with her babe, the walls adorned with paintings — some exhibiting passages in the life of Buddha, but more displaying the adventures of the Holy Mother — the altar with its numerous vessels and instruments of service, the burning candles, the smoking incense, the ringing bells, the service in a foreign tongue, the prostrations, the mock so- lemnity, the muttered prayers, and the monoto- nous chantings — all forcibly remind him of scenes Buddhism and Romanism. 519 in Romish chapels. Nor will it aid in dispelling the illusion to find here and there, in the different apartments of the establishment, devout -looking priests counting over their beads, and repeating over and over again the same brief sentences, till he fancies he can almost catch the familiar sounds of " ave-marias" and "paternosters.'' A visit to the library will still aid in the delusion, especially when permitted to examine the collec- tion of sacred relics — Buddha's tooth, the bones of saints, the urns containing the ashes of de- parted priests, etc. — all sacredly kept and looked upon with the profoundest veneration. Nor will the resemblance be less complete by discovering it to be a great ecclesiastical organi- zation, extending its authority through various countries, having its infallible head in the Grand Lama, its pontifical court, its high functionaries, its priests, its monks and nuns of various schools and orders, its ordinances of celibacy, its holy water, its sales of charms, amulets, and indul- gences ; its masses for the dead, its worship of relics and canonization of saints, and its woman- olatry in the worship of Kwan-yin — "the Queen of Heaven." We leave to those whom it may concern the task of accounting for these resemblances. XXXIII. y £l\Q Won\en of Cl\irfa kr\d Jkpkrj. jN contemplating the women of China, they present themselves to us, as in our own ji country, in various grades of society, from JL the humble boat-woman and the noisy bur- t den-bearer to the modest and retiring wife of the wealthy merchant, and the secluded but gaudy wives and daughters of the mandarins. She is found degraded and ignorant in her contracted home on a little boat that lies moored by the river bank, or plies to and fro on its broad bosom, gaining her livelihood by fishing, and rearing her children in want and ignorance. She is found beneath the rays of a broiling sun, laboring in the fields, sowing, planting and gathering, and bearing her products on her shoulders to the market, her careless husband in the mean time often amusing himself with the children, or smoking his tobacco or opium at home. She is found thronging the streets, bearing heavy 520 Classes of Society. 5 21 burdens, performing the most menial services, competing with rough, half-naked men in feats of strength and labor, herself as boisterous and as masculine as they. She is found, in another grade of society, in the secluded retirement of her home, called by the name of wife, but used as her master's slave, having the duties of a miserable household to dis- charge, with none of the rewards of love or gratitude. Still higher in life she is found as the tinseled and ornamented inmate of the "inner apartments," secluded from society, bear- ing the hollow title of wife, or filling the char- acter of the purchased handmaid, free from degrading employments, but left to amuse her- self as she can with music, embroidery, and dress, and always expected to amuse and gratify THE FIELD WOMAN. 522 China and Japan. the wishes of her master, without dreaming that she has a right to be considered his equal and companion, or expecting any return for her affec- tion and kindness. She is found, too, in the wretched hovels of vice and infamy, the most miserable and degraded of her kind, because often her degradation is involuntary, and she occupies her wretched position because unfeeling and poverty-stricken parents have sold her to a monster. As found in these various positions, her per- sonal appearance and dress differ considerably. In the middle and lower ranks of society the Chinese female possesses but few attractions. Her dress is always modest and seasonable, but not always clean and tasteful. Her naturally tawny complexion is made more dark and rough by exposure to the sun, and her consciousness of degradation and her conflicts with rough and boisterous men have made her bold and mascu- line. The laboring women of China have often been mistaken by recent visitors for men, and we have heard those who had but just arrived in China remarking that they found no women in the streets, when, perhaps, a third of all they met were the tawny, toiling, noisy daughters of China. In all ranks of society the hair of the women of China is always beautiful ; it is always Female Dress. 523 black, glossy, and luxuriant, arranged with taste and beauty, adorned with flowers, or often put in the shape of their favorite but fabulous bird — the Chinese Phoenix — a long fold of rich dark hair reaching out behind the head, representing its tail, with two others extending from the sides of the head representing its expanded wings, while another cluster gracefully bends over the forepart of the head, terminated by a bright metallic appendage representing the bird's bill, which rests upon the forehead. In scarcely any grade of society is this beautiful ornament of the head found disheveled or neglected. Much attention is paid by the females of China to dress, and their outward adornments are always fully up to the measure of their pecu- niary ability. The dress in all ranks of society is strikingly modest, concealing all parts of the person except the face. This, with the head, is usually left uncovered. No hats are worn by the ladies, as these would interfere with the beau- tiful arrangement of their glossy hair, and their place is supplied with flowers, both natural and artificial, tastefully set. Along with these, among the wealthy, may often be seen pearls and other rich and gaudy ornaments. An interesting ele- ment in the Chinese character is their fondness for flowers, and in this their females largely 524 China and Japan. participate. Every little boat that floats upon the water will have at least one flower-pot, and as many more as can be afforded ; and- every hut, however dismal and dark it may be, will have something green and beautiful about it. The poorest boat-woman and the toiling daughter of the field, as well as the high and wealthy, will have a flower to adorn their heads; and nearly every little shop, as well as the rich store, will have some pots of green and flourishing plants. Chrysanthemums, camellias, lilies, polianthes, magnolias, oleanders, azaleas, orange flowers, and the blossoms of early Spring are universal fa- vorites. This is a pleasing and, we think, a promising trait in the character of the Chinese female ; we have hope in the heart, though it may be hardened by the folds of heathenism, in which there is a love for the beautiful, and par- ticularly for the softer and gentler beauties which God has made in the flowers. The dress of the poorer females is usually grass-cloth or cotton — black among the laborers, and usually light blue among those of indoor occupations. Among the higher classes we find grass-cloth, silk, crape, etc., ornamented and em- broidered. The dress is made tight about the throat, with large sleeves, sometimes exposing the hands and wrists strung with bracelets. Un- The Small Feet. 525 derneath this outside dress or tunic is, among the wealthy, a richly embroidered skirt, extending nearly to the feet, from which appear, below the embroidered panta- lets, the tiny feet which can not be dispensed with in ^\ the Chinese lady. vJS When or how this cruel custom of compressing the feet originated, it is probably impossi- ble now to deter- mine; but at the present day it is the mark of the Chi- nese lady and indis- pensable to a suit- able betrothal. Be- trothal takes place very early in life, and a little girl whose feet are permitted to attain the usual size would not be chosen as the first or principal wife, and could not be introduced into any of the higher classes of society, except by being purchased as the second, third, or fourth wife of some mandarin or wealthy merchant. HOUSE WOMAN. 526 China and Japan. Females who have been saved from the tor- tures of this compression can thus only expect a life of toil or degradation, and they find their homes upon the water, or in the fields, or as bearers of burdens in the close and filthy streets, or as the subordinate inmates of some rich man's " inner apartments." For these reasons, the custom prevails extensively in all parts of the country and in all ranks of society — the poorest family striving to secure the honor of at least one small-footed lady. The other sex appear to be very warm in their admiration of these little deformed appendages of the ladies, speaking of them often in conversation, and praising them in poetry, and supposing the large feet of foreign ladies to detract greatly from what they ac- knowledge, the surpassing beauty of their faces. These "waving willows," as they poetically call them, may often be seen in the lower walks of life tottering along the street, supporting themselves by one or two sticks, or resting on the shoulder of a little boy or girl. They are rendered unfit for any laborious employment ; but, in poor families, it is often necessary for them to do a large amount of outdoor as well as indoor labor, and they frequently display considerable inge- nuity in devising ways and means to accomplish their objects without the use of their feet. Polygamy. 527 A CHINESE LADY. We sometimes hear of polygamy among- the Chinese, but as far as we can learn this does not, in strict truth, exist among them. There is but one wife and one wedding j all the other females of the establishment occupy subordinate posi- 528 China and Japan. tions, and are purchased with money and received into the house without any marriage ceremony. The position of the "second wife" does seem to be somewhat different from that of a mere handmaid. She is usually only taken with the consent of the first wife, and very frequently only in cases where there is no male offspring. Male descendants are looked upon by the Chinese as the highest good ; they perpetuate the family name, serve, obey, and cherish their parents dur- ing life, and pay idolatrous reverence at their tombs and before their tablets after they are dead. To be deprived of male children is the highest affliction, and to avoid it they will add wife to wife, until the cherished object is obtained. These additional wives are still, however, differ- ent from the first. When taken thus they are not purchased as are the handmaids, but, as is also the case with the first wife, a marriage fee is paid to their parents, and they are received into their new homes with certain ceremonies, differ- ing considerably, however, from those of the first and only real marriage. The husband and proprietor of the establish- ment may gather around him as many handmaids as his income will allow, but even this is far from being looked upon with general approba- tion, and the man does not, as in some countries The First Wife. 529 of the East, rise in estimation in proportion as he adds numbers and beauty to his harem. It is easy to determine who is the first and principal wife in the establishment. She is more dignified in her appearance, and more easy and free in her manners, taking the lead in every thing, doing the honors of the house and table, issuing orders to servants, evidently not considering the "smaller wives," as they are sometimes called, on an equality with her. She claims to be the mother of the household, and looks upon all the children born in the house as her own. In the higher walks of life, where wealth gathers around these inmates of the rich man's house all the luxuries and elegancies which the country can afford, it might be thought an en- viable position to be the first wife of such an establishment. To the daughter of China it is an enviable position, for to her it is the highest and best she can attain, but to a woman possess- ing intellect and heart it must be unsatisfying in the extreme. The women of China possess in- tellect, though it wants cultivation, and hearts, though they need softening and refining ; and we can only look upon even these highest of the females of China as occupying a pitiable posi- tion. Whatever may be the establishment of which she is the mistress, she herself has a mas- 53° China and Japan. ter, and can only feel that she is not the com- panion but the instrument of the man to whom her life is linked. At her marriage she becomes THE LITTLE FOOT. AND SHOE. a part of another family, and is entirely given up by her own, thus severing all the ties of affec- tion which existed between herself and her own family, and condemning her to a secluded life in the " inner apartments" of a man whom she The Mother-in-law. 531 has never seen, and therefore never loved. She is not his associate, for they are but seldom together ; he receives and entertains his own com- pany, and transacts his own business according to his own pleasure, thinking no more of consulting the views and wishes of his wife than consulting those of his canary that hangs in his store. Though the first wife is superior to the 4 'smaller wives" or handmaids, whichever we may choose to call them, she herself is inferior to her husband's mother, and as long as this worthy survives is expected to serve her with faithfulness and devotion. Much is written in Chinese books on the subject of filial devotion and obedience, and in all ranks of society great stress is laid upon it, and the outward appearance is pretty generally secured. Nor is this devotion to parents allowed to cease at death. The sur- viving children feel it resting upon them as a religious duty to provide for their deceased par- ents a becoming burial, to worship regularly before their tablets, to burn incense and sacri- ficial paper at their graves, and, in accordance with their superstitious opinions, to provide for their wants in the spirit land by burping artificial money, furniture, clothing, etc., at their tombs, all of which is supposed to be transformed by the fire into a spiritual form adapted to the 53 2 China and Japan wants of their deceased friends. While apparent obedience and subordination are rendered to par- ents while living, and these duties are religiously discharged after their death, we have much rea- son to doubt if much of it springs from the genuine feelings of the heart. Be this as it may, the principle extends into the married life, and always where parents still survive gives an inferior position to the wife, and, in many cases, produces for her a sad and toilsome life. In not a few instances she is the mere servant of her husband's parents. She can do nothing of importance without consulting her mother-in-law, and is expected, in all cases, to yield in deference to her opinions and wishes. In the higher circles of life the wife seems to take pride in thus waiting upon the mother of her husband, consulting her upon all occa- sions, never being seated while her mother-in-law stands, anticipating her wishes, helping her first at table, etc.; but it is very evident that this does not spring from filial respect and affection, but from regard to the position she occupies. Were she the devoted wife of the man whom her heart had chosen, we might conceive a high degree of respect and veneration for her hus- band's mother, and probably a glad and cheerful acquiescence in this custom of her country, but The Poor Maa's Wife. 533 in this respect we can only look upon and pity her as the hireling, whose place and character depend upon the faithful discharge of this duty, the violation of which would be a sufficient ground for her dismissal. In the lower walks of life this subordination of the wife to the mother is the fruitful source of many broils and much unhappiness, the irritated husband often beating his wife for neglecting his mother, and sometimes turning her away from his house, by sending her back to her parents, or by selling her as the inferior wife or concubine of another. The position of the wife in China, in the lower grades of society, is still more pitiable. Here she is the same unloved and neglected creature as is found in the seclusion of the rich man's home; but here she must also serve as the selfish husband's wife and as the mother of his children, and at the same time as his creature of toil and labor. He may hire her to service and come daily to receive her wages ; she toils in the fields, she fishes upon the river, she carries burdens in the street, she returns weary and worn to her dark and cheerless home, she eats alone her scanty meal, she cares for the wants of the children to whom she has given life, and no gentle word of encouragement falls upon her ear; no look, no expression of love greets her 34 534 China and Japan. coming ; no smile, no gratitude repays her for her toil, for she is a daughter of China, she is a woman, she is a wife in the East, she is a heathen, and a heathen wife and mother. O ye daughters of Christian lands, on which heaven has showered its choicest benedictions, how little do you know of the sighs and tears, of the lone- liness and desolation of these unloved daughters of the East. If this be the domestic condition of the wives, what must be the position occupied by the purchased handmaids of the grandees of China? These are found principally in the se- cluded apartments of men of wealth and official standing ; but they are found also in a still more humiliating character as the purchased hand- maids and slaves of humbler men. The daugh- ters of China by hundreds and thousands are in the market, and whoever has the means to pur- chase, and the ability to keep or the hardihood to work them, may have them for the buying. In the houses of the high and wealthy these females are freed from low and degrading labor; they are handsomely dressed, and spend their time in as much pleasure as they can find in the retired quarters which are assigned them. They exhibit in their manner and bearing a sense of inferiority, and sometimes of degradation, painful Handmaidens. 535 to witness. Their very manner betrays an empty and unsatisfied heart, and their deportment, in many cases, proves that they realize their hu- miliating condition, and shows that they are sen- sible of the real state in which they live, which is one of servitude, from which they may be dis- charged at the pleasure or caprice of their mas- ters. They are subordinate in every thing to the first or principal wife, and to her belongs the children that they bear to him she calls her hus- band. If sent away the inferior wife can not remove her children w r ith her, unless it be the pleasure of her master, who can compel her to take them if he does not wish the trouble or expense of maintaining them, which is often the case if the children be girls ; and thus when dis- charged, she either goes forth in loneliness and desolation worse than widowhood, to enter into new degrading relations, or burdened with her offspring, to seek as she can a livelihood for her- self and them. In the higher circles of life she is the gaudy ornament of the rich man's house and the instrument of his pleasure ; in the lower walks of life she is, unquestionably, the victim of a form of slavery which finds no parallel in enlightened or Christian lands — purchased and sold at her master's pleasure, and used at once as his instrument and his slave. 536 China and Japan. In such circumstances of degradation no won- der that we find suicide existing to a large extent among the females of China. Since the intro- duction of opium into the country, a drug which secures by its narcotic power an easy death, this dreadful practice is becoming fearfully common, and the oppressed and degraded female feels that she has in her power the means of freeing herself from the dominion of her master, and of putting a perpetual end to all her sorrows; and many a heartless husband now suddenly loses the wife that he degrades, and many a master loses at once the pleasure and the profits of his handmaid or slave. Nor when we look at woman's condition in this great empire, and realize it in all its as pects, need we wonder "that before her female offspring have drawn but few inhalations of a heathen atmosphere, with the prospect placed before the child, which the mother knows and feels in all its force, she quenches the fire of ma- ternal love, and closes its existence by suffo- cation." This dreadful practice of infanticide pre- vails extensively throughout the empire. Parents destroy their female infants in many cases imme- diately after birth, and perhaps it is most gen- erally done as soon as the child is known to be a female, for, in the beautiful language of Mrs. Infanticide. 537 Bridgman, "they do not wait for the eye to sparkle, and the smile of the expanding infant to work upon the maternal bosom — this would be too much for a mother's heart, even for a heathen Chinese mother." In cases of poverty and want female children of riper age are often cast off and left to die of starvation. These little abandoned infants, some dead, some dying, scattered along the wayside, or, with a dim hope of eliciting sympathy, placed on the public thor- oughfares, are by no means rare sights in China. Indeed, the birth of female children is looked upon in nearly all families as an affliction, and all the care required by them is viewed as profit- less trouble and vexation. Three ways are used to get rid of them whenever they become too numerous or burdensome — infanticide, abandon- ment, and sale. In rich men's houses the most genteel method of saving the family from too large a number of females is to suffocate them as soon as born. This is also practiced among the poor, but not, I imagine, when there is a prospect of realizing any thing by their sale, and this is preferred for its profits, no matter into what circumstances of degradation and infamy it may bring their offspring. I do not feel as well qualified to speak of the women of Japan as of those of China, 538 China and Japan. having had much less opportunity of observing or studying them. Yet even in a hasty trip through Japan the stranger at once sees that the condition of women here is, in many re- spects, superior to that of women in any other Asiatic country. The general principles which regulate the position of woman in relation to man, such as her unquestioned inferiority and dependence, her absolute subjection to her hus- band if married, to her eldest son if a widow, to her father as a girl, and to her elder brother if fatherless, and the general laws and customs in regard to marriage, concubinage, and divorce, are about the same as prevail in China. But mar- riage, the home, and the family are certainly much more significant in Japan. The little family circle is much more left to itself, more free from the interference and demands of fathers- in-law and mothers-in-law ; the husband and wife manifest more affection for each other, heartily love their children, both male and female, and seem mutually to work together to create a pleasant and happy home. Among the masses of the people their wants are few and easily supplied ; their homes are very simple and their furniture very limited and cheap, and their clothing scant and inexpensive. The house is built of wood, light and airy, and JAPANESE COURT LADY. The Japanese Home. 541 generally only one story high. They are parti- tioned into rooms, not by permanent walls, but by sliding frames or folding screens, so that they can alter almost at will the size and shape of the rooms. The floors are covered with mats made of straw and rushes, and several inches thick, so that they serve at once for seats after the peculiar fashion in which the Japan- ese sit, and for beds, a Japanese simply fold- ing himself in his outer coat and stretching himself on the matted floor, resting his head on a peculiarly shaped pillow. The window frames are all movable, filled with oiled paper instead of glass. The furniture of the house is on the same simple plan. A Japanese, no matter what his rank or wealth, has but little furniture. The room looks always bare and empty. A few shelves hold some cups and saucers, and there are generally several small trays on stands. There are no chairs, and the tables are low, small, and plain. As to the kitchen, one or two small movable stoves, a few pans of metal, and some brooms are all that are needed. Every-where, however, you will admire the cleanliness observed in these homes. Marriage is universal, the great problem which disturbs so many in western countries — how to keep a wife and home — being unknown 542 China and Japan. here. Their future house is taken, containing three or four little rooms, in which clean mats are put. Each then brings to the housekeeping a cotton-stuffed quilt and a box of wearing ap- parel for their own personal use ; a pan to cook the rice, a half-dozen large cups and trays to eat off, a large tub to bathe and wash in, and the great problem of home and family is solved. The Japanese young women have very pleas- ant features, a complexion in general of a soft pale brown, which, in the higher ranks of so- ciety, becomes still paler, and by no means so pleasant. The features vary greatly from heavy, stolid coarseness, to a shape and expression of delicacy and refinement, showing that the Jap- anese are evidently a mixed race. I do not think the young women add at all to their natural charms by their arts of adornment. On a gala day they may be seen by thousands about the temples richly and even beautifully dressed, but their faces, necks, and busts besmeared with white paint or powder, several brownish trian- gular spots painted on their necks, and the natural pink of the lips rendered disgusting by a layer of red paint. Owing to a miserable cus- tom which has prevailed for centuries in Japan, the handsome, pleasant featured girls are soon transformed into ugly hags, so that, until you Old Customs. 543 study the case, you are surprised that a country having multitudes of really pretty girls is full of the most homely and forbidding married women. The married women coat their faces and bosoms with powder, paint their lips, pluck out their eyebrows, and blacken their teeth, thus giving them a really repulsive appearance. Thanks to the new influences that are now oper- ating so vigorously in Japan, these customs are rapidly passing away, and another generation will undoubtedly show less contrast between the handsome daughters and the homely mothers. The traveler will at once be impressed by the far greater freedom of action and publicity enjoyed by the Japanese women than those of the other Asiatic countries, and by the greatly less burdens of labor imposed on them. Indeed, she has been treated for ages in Japan as a hu- man being of a gentler sex than that of the man. She has always received more or less of education, has been taught various arts and accomplishments, can write and read, play several instruments of music, and some have raised themselves to positions of high consideration in literature and art. The new civilization finds ready acceptance among the women and girls, and the new and greatly enlarged movement in the direction of female education finds a pre- 544 China and Japan. pared people among the women, who enter into it with enthusiasm and success. It was to me a most pleasing sight to see a half-dozen bright, pleasant looking girls in the car from Ozaka to Kobe buy the daily papers, and sit down quietly to read them, and not at all unhuman to see the same girls now and then cast coquettish glances at two or three fine-looking young Japanese gen- tlemen in the same car. Mr. Griffis pays a not unmerited tribute to these daughters of Japan, when he says: "In the records of the Japanese glory, valor, fortitude in affliction, greatness in the hour of death, filial devotion, wifely affec- tion, in all the straits of life when codes of honor, morals, and religion are tested in the person of their professors, the literature of history and romance, the every-day routine of fact, teem with instances of the Japanese woman's power and willingness to share whatever of pain or sor- row is appointed to man. In the annals of per- secution, in the red roll of martyrs, no names are brighter, no faces gleam more peacefully amidst the flames, or on the cross of transfixing spears, or on the pyre of rice-straw, or on the precipice's edge, or in the open grave about to be filled up, than the faces of the Christian Jap- anese women in the seventeenth century." Another feature in the life of Japanese women Female Characters. 545 we ought not to pass unnoticed, because we be- lieve it is greatly misunderstood, and therefore often wrongly stated. It is believed by some that licentiousness is the first and characteristic trait of these women, and that ordinary chastity is next to unknown in Japan. This is certainly a mistaken view. Wifely infidelity is punishable by death, and there is no reason to believe that there is any more infidelity among the wives of Japan than in other semi-civilized nations. The Japanese maiden is an anomaly among Asiatic women. She is bright, gay, affable, free ; seems to have but little if any sense of delicacy in the exposure of her person ; in former years would be found with other girls and women pro- miscuously mixed with men in the public baths, and multitudes of them, (many however, invol- untarily) are leading lives of shame. These last, however, are scarcely ever seen on the streets. The Yoshiwara is an institution in many of its features peculiar to Japan. Most of the inmates are purchased for life or hired for a term of years. Of this institution we have nothing to say here, except to affirm our belief of the truth as stated in these words of Mr. Griffis : ''The Japanese maiden, as pure as the purest Christian virgin will, at the command of her father, enter the brothel to-morrow and prostitute herself for 546 China and Japan. life [or for a term of years]. Not a murmur escapes her lips as she thus filially obeys. To a life she loathes, and to disease, premature old age, and the grave, she goes joyfully. The staple of a thousand novels, plays, and pictures in Japan is written in the life of a girl of gentle manners and tender heart, who hates her life and would gladly destroy it, but refrains because her purchase money has enabled her father to pay his debts, and she is bound not to injure her- self." A case of exactly this kind came under my own notice in Hakodate in 1878, and thou- sands of such cases exist in the great cities of Japan. As to the Japanese maiden outside of these houses, she is as much misunderstood by for- eigners and other Asiatics as our bright, free, loquacious American girl generally is in Europe. Out of the public bath she will come with her toilet completed, a very picture of womanly re- serve and modesty. Certainly no women can be more decently clad than those of Japan. As to their indifference to personal exposure, we can only say it is a custom of the country. They live in a climate and country where men, women, and children have been indifferent for ages to the covering of their persons. Fathers, brothers, and husbands all sanction it, and, as Sir Ruth- The Japanese Girl. 547 JAPANESE GIKLS. erford Alcock says, '/from childhood the feeling- must grow up as effectually shielding them from self-reproach or shame as their sisters in Europe in adopting low dresses in the ball-room or any generally adopted fashion of garments or amuse- 54$ China and Japan ments. " There is in them no consciousness of wrong. It is to be remarked, however, that the sense of indelicacy is now springing rapidly into life in the presence of the full-clad foreigner, and the lightly-covered maiden or woman, perfectly unconscious of any thing wrong in the presence of her own countrymen, will draw up her dress or conceal herself when the foreigner appears. In taste and neatness of dress, in politeness, courtesy, and etiquette, the Japanese lady is not easily surpassed in any country. In her love of her children and care for them, in her care for her home, its cleanliness and adornment, in the free- dom and affectionateness of her nature, she will compare well with the women of any nation. Still in her whole character she suffers the repression and consequent degradation of her subordinate po- sition. Her whole life and duty is summed up in one word — obedience, first to her father, then to her husband, and then, if widowed, to her oldest son. It is my profound conviction there is not in the world another field for missionary and philanthropic effort so hopeful, so promising and inviting, and so ripe for an immediate and glo- rious harvest, as is now offered among these daughters of Japan. *2 ,* oer £ ■**, ^ * A >>'