UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
A JOURNEY THROUGH 
 
 THE CHINESE EMPIRE, 
 
 BY M, H U C, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF A JOURNEY THROUGH TARTARY 
 AND THIBET." 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 

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o7 
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 THE Author of these volumes is already favorably 
 known to the English public, by his " Travels in Tar- 
 tary and Thibet," but the present work is one of greater 
 interest and importance than the former. M. Hue has 
 enjoyed such opportunities of becoming acquainted with 
 China as have scarcely fallen to the lot of any European 
 before. During the journey here recorded a journey 
 through the very heart of the Empire, from the frontiers 
 of Thibet to Canton he stood under the immediate pro- 
 tection of the Emperor, traveling in all the pride and 
 pomp of a high Government functionary, attended hum- 
 bly by Mandarins, and surrounded by a military escort, 
 and he was brought into constant and intimate relation 
 with persons of the highest rank in the country. Dur- 
 ing a previous residence of no less than fourteen years 
 in various parts of China, he had been in habits of 
 familiar intercourse with all classes, but more especially 
 with the poor, and while laboring in his vocation in ob- 
 scurity and secrecy, had looked into the domestic life, 
 and watched the working of the hidden mechanism of 
 society in that mysterious Empire still so imperfectly 
 known, though extending over a surface greater than 
 that of all Europe, and comprising a population of one- 
 third of the human race. His knowledge of the institu- 
 tions, religion, manners, and customs of the Chinese, 
 was not taken on hearsay from the accounts of others, 
 but gathered from actual experience, and he has com- 
 municated his knowledge to the reader, not in a heavy, 
 
iv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 formal dissertation, but in a much pleasantcr manner, 
 (ijiropos to the various incidents of his extraordinary 
 journey. It will not probably be regarded as matter 
 of complaint that this journey, undertaken in such anom- 
 alous circumstances, should present some incidents, sur- 
 prising enough to be received with doubt did they come 
 before us without any guarantee. But the well known 
 and high character of M. Hue the auspices under which 
 the work has appeared and the internal evidence of 
 veracity that it every where presents, afford sufficient 
 warrant, even for what is most singular and unexpected. 
 
 It is to be noted also that on that subject on which, 
 of all others, the statements of a Missionary are usually 
 to be received with hesitation, on the effect, namely, of 
 the labors of himself and his brethren in the conversion 
 of the Chinese, M. Hue betrays no tendency to the cus- 
 tomary sanguine exaggeration ; and if he has resisted 
 the temptation so often yielded to, of representing the 
 prospects, from missionary labors, in a more favorable 
 light than is warranted by the fact, we may reasonably 
 give him credit for accuracy in cases where his personal 
 wishes and prepossessions are far less, if at all con- 
 cerned. The narrative is not at all less credible because 
 many scenes of it are as amusing as a comedy, and often 
 not unlike one in the curious game carried on between 
 the eternal shuffling trickeries of the Mandarins, and the 
 courage, humor, and audacity of the missionaries. In 
 several instances, from the peculiar character of the 
 Chinese, a kind of dashing effrontery afforded the only 
 means of escape from perils to which a more timid and 
 feeble traveler would probably have fallen a victim. 
 
 In matters of opinion it can not be expected that the 
 views of the author should always agree with those of 
 English Protestants ; he has of course looked at things 
 with his own eyes, and not with ours, but it is never 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. v 
 
 difficult to make allowance for the effect of the refract- 
 ing medium through which (as it appears to us) he has 
 regarded matters connected with the interests of his 
 Church. His religion, it may be added, is evidently 
 not worn as a garment, but interwoven with every 
 thought and occurrence of his daily life, and it will there- 
 fore often attract the spiritual sympathies of those who 
 may differ most widely from him on doctrinal points. 
 
 His account of the Chinese Empire, besides the infor- 
 mation and amusement it affords, suggests matter for 
 solemn thought, in the picture it presents of a civilized 
 nation, almost wholly removed from religious influence, 
 "without God in the world," and falling rapidly to de- 
 cay, from 110 other cause than that of internal moral 
 corruption. M. Hue mentions the (we believe) unpar- 
 alleled occurrence of a late Emperor having in an im- 
 portant state document passed in review all the systems 
 of religion known in China (Christianity included), and 
 forinally recommended his people to have nothing to do 
 with any. The whole system of society and govern- 
 ment appears to be calculated with as little reference as 
 possible to the moral and spiritual nature of man. As 
 one example, among many others, we may mention the 
 extraordinary idea entertained in China of the responsi- 
 bility of public officers, making the punishment for mis- 
 conduct in any department in the inverse ratio of the 
 rank of the offender ; clerks and other mere instruments 
 being punished most severely, and the highest officers 
 scarcely at all: thus making it evident that the law 
 takes cognizance only of the mere physical fact, and not 
 of the evil intention, in which the whole moral offense 
 consists. 
 
 Christianity alone, we conscientiously believe, can 
 heal this inward corruption, and arrest the downward 
 progress of this mighty nation, now no longer separated 
 
vi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 from us by almost impassable distance. Not merely the 
 statesman and the merchant, but the humblest among 
 us, are now often connected by strong and tender ties 
 with countries equally remote. A breach too has been 
 made in the hitherto impenetrable barrier surrounding 
 these distant Asiatic Empires. The United States have 
 obtained important commercial privileges in Japan ; Rus- 
 sia is striving for the same, and the secluded population 
 of China have come forth to mingle (in California and 
 Australia) in some of the busiest haunts of men, and 
 take part in the newest movements of the time.* Of 
 the tremendous insurrection that has broken out in the 
 bosom of the Empire itself, as well as of some mistaken 
 ideas entertained concerning it, the author has himself 
 spoken sufficiently. 
 
 A word of explanation may be permitted concerning 
 the plural pronoun constantly used by the author, the 
 nos inajesticim* as it is called, r.ot very correctly in this 
 instance, for it is obviously employed by M. Hue, as by 
 many others, rather to avoid the appearance of egotism 
 and vail the individual personality. Since it seemed in 
 some measure characteristic, the translator has not ven- 
 tured to change it for the more customary singular. 
 But whatever may be thought on this and other trivial 
 points, there is reason to hope from the subject of the 
 work, the means of information enjoyed by the author, 
 and his vivid and dramatic manner of conveying his im- 
 pressions, that his book will be received in this country 
 with favor, equal to that which has already welcomed it 
 in his own. 
 
 * Recent accounts from Melbourne mention the arrival of Chinese 
 immigrants in such numbers as to cause some serious apprehension on 
 the part of the English residents. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE, 
 
 WHEN in a former work we retraced the recollections 
 of our journey in Tartary and Thibet, we were com- 
 pelled to interrupt our narrative on the frontiers of the 
 Chinese Empire. We expressed, however, in a post- 
 script the wish to complete some day the task that cir- 
 cumstances compelled us then to leave unfinished. We 
 said, " We still have to speak of our relations with the 
 Chinese Mandarins and the tribunals, as well as to cast 
 a glance on the provinces that we traversed, and to com- 
 pare them with those that we visited on our former jour- 
 neys through the Celestial Empire." "This chasm," 
 we added, "we will endeavor to fill up, during what- 
 ever hours of leisure we may be able to spare from the 
 labors of our holy ministry. " * 
 
 The present opportunity has seemed extremely favor- 
 able for the accomplishment of this design, and, in de- 
 fault of any other merit, our observations on the Chi- 
 nese will at least have that of being well timed, since 
 we are making them public at an epoch when the polit- 
 ical situation of this great nation is exciting the most 
 general and lively interest. 
 
 This vast Empire, which for so long a time has ap- 
 peared to be sunk in the most profound political apathy, 
 and which even the warlike operations of the English 
 scarcely seem to have disturbed this Colossus, has 
 been suddenly shaken to its very foundations by one 
 * Recollections of a Journey through Tartary and Thihet. 
 
viii AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 of those terrible storms that can scarcely pass over a 
 nation without effecting some change in its ancient 
 forms ; which leave behind them sometimes better in- 
 stitutions, but always much of desolation and ruin. 
 
 If the original causes of the Chinese insurrection are 
 almost entirely unknown in Europe, its more immediate 
 occasion is not so. In the first instance, this was an 
 isolated act of highway robbery ; then followed the as- 
 sociation of several villains of that description, endeav- 
 oring to resist the efforts of the Mandarins to repress 
 them, and soon from the very dregs of the population a 
 little army was raised, which began to occasion serious 
 uneasiness to the viceroy of the province of Kouang-si. 
 At length the captain of this gang of robbers, now be- 
 come the chief of an armed force, proclaimed himself 
 Generalissimo, called in politics and religion to the as- 
 sistance of his revolt, summoned around him the secret 
 societies that swarm in the Empire, declared himself 
 the restorer of Chinese nationality, against the usurpa-' 
 tion of the Mantchoo Tartar race, assumed the title of 
 Emperor, under the pompous name of Tien-te (Celes- 
 tial Virtue), and denominated himself also the younger 
 brother of Jesus Christ. By means such as these has 
 an Empire of three hundred millions of men been 
 brought to the brink of destruction. 
 
 It may appear scarcely credible that a petty revolt of 
 banditti should have increased to such an extent as to 
 become formidable, and assume a sort of national char- 
 acter ; but for those who are acquainted with China and 
 its history it will not seem very surprising. This coun- 
 try has always been the classic ground of revolutions, 
 and its annals are but the narrative of a long series of 
 popular commotions and political vicissitudes. In the 
 period of time between the year 420, when the Franks 
 entered Gaul, and 1644, when Louis XIV. ascended 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. ix 
 
 the throne of France, and the Tartars established them- 
 selves in Pekin, a period of twelve hundred and twenty- 
 four years, China underwent fifteen changes of dynasty, 
 all accompanied by frightful civil wars. 
 
 Since the invasion of the Mantchoo Tartar race, the 
 nation has appeared, it is true, quite indifferent to the 
 political situation of the country, and altogether ab- 
 sorbed in material enjoyments ; but in the bosom ot 
 this skeptical and avaricious people, there has always 
 remained a powerful and vivacious spark that the Tar- 
 tar government has never been able to extirpate; secret 
 societies have been formed all over the Empire, the 
 members of which have seen with impatience the Mant- 
 choo domination and cherished the idea of overthrowing 
 it to obtain a national government. These innumerable 
 conspirators were all ready for revolt, and predeterm- 
 ined to support it, let the signal come from whence it 
 might, whether from a discontented viceroy, or a high- 
 way robber. On the other hand the agents of Govern- 
 ment had contributed not a little by their conduct to 
 provoke the outbreak. Their unheard-of exactions had 
 filled up the measure of wrong doing, and great numbers 
 of the Chinese, some driven by indignation, and others 
 by poverty and despair, joined the ranks of the insur- 
 gents for the sake of even a remote chance of amelior- 
 ating their condition, certain that they could not be more 
 oppressed let the new government be as bad as it might. 
 . It is also far from impossible that another cause, but 
 little apparent, may really have exercised considerable 
 influence in the explosion of this Chinese insurrection ; 
 namely, the latent infiltration of European ideas put in 
 circulation in the free ports and along the coast by the 
 commerce of the Western nations, and carried by the 
 missionaries into the very heart of the Empire, and to 
 the most remote provinces. The people at large care 
 
x AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 little enough about what is thought or done by Euro- 
 peans, whose very existence is all but ' unknown to 
 them ; but the educated classes do at present think 
 much of foreign nations, and cultivate geography with 
 great success. We have often in our journeys met with 
 Mandarins, who had very correct notions of European 
 affairs, and it is these learned men who give the tone 
 to opinion, and regulate the course of popular thought, 
 so that the common people may very well be following 
 the impulse of European ideas, without knowing so 
 much as the name of Europe. 
 
 One of the most remarkable aspects of the insurrec- 
 tion is the religious character that its chiefs have sought 
 from its very commencement to impress upon it. Every 
 one must be struck with the new doctrines with which 
 the proclamations and manifestoes of the Pretender and 
 his generals have been filled. The unity of God has 
 been distinctly expressed; and around this fundamental 
 dogma have been grouped a number of ideas borrowed 
 from the Old and New Testament. War has been de- 
 clared at the same time to idolatry and to the Tartar 
 dynasty ; for after having defeated the imperial troops, 
 and overthrown the authority of the Mandarins, the in- 
 surgents have never failed to destroy the pagodas and 
 massacre the Bonzes. 
 
 As soon as these facts became known in Europe, it 
 was eagerly proclaimed every where, that the Chinese 
 nation had decided on embracing Christianity, and tke 
 Bible Society did not fail to claim the merit and glory 
 of this marvelous conversion. 
 
 We do not, however, give the slightest credit to the 
 alleged Christianity of the insurgents, and the religious 
 and mystical sentiments expressed in these manifestoes 
 inspire us with no great confidence. In the second 
 place, it is by no means necessary to have recourse to 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xi 
 
 the Protestant Propaganda to account for the more o. 
 less Christian ideas remarked in the proclamations of the 
 revolutionary Chinese. There exist in all the provinces 
 a very considerable number of Mussulmans, who have 
 their Koran and their mosques. It is to be presumed 
 that these Mohammedans, who have already several times 
 attempted to overthrow the Tartar dynasty, and have 
 always distinguished themselves by a violent opposition 
 to the Government, would have thrown themselves with 
 ardor into the ranks of the insurrection. Many of 
 these must have become generals, and have mingled 
 in the councils of Tien-te. It is therefore not wonder- 
 ful to find among them the doctrine of the unity of God, 
 and other ideas of Biblical origin, though whimsically 
 expressed. 
 
 The Chinese have also for a long time had at their 
 command a precious . collection of books of Christian 
 doctrine, composed by the ancient missionaries, and 
 which, even in a purely literary point of view, are much 
 esteemed in the Empire.. These books are diffused in 
 great numbers throughout all the provinces, and it is 
 more probable that the Chinese innovators have drawn 
 the ideas in question from these sources than from the 
 Bibles prudently deposited by the Methodists on the 
 sea-shore. 
 
 The new faith proclaimed by the insurrectional gov- 
 ernment, though vague and ill-defined, does neverthe- 
 less, it must be acknowledged, indicate great progress ; 
 it is an immense step in the path that leads to the truth. 
 This initiation of China into ideas so opposed to the 
 skepticism of the masses, and their coarse tendencies, is, 
 perhaps, a symptom of that mysterious march of all 
 nations toward unity, which is spoken of by Count de 
 Maistre, and which, according to the expression which 
 he borrows from the sacred writings, we ought to "sa- 
 
xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 lute from afar;''* but for the present it appears to us 
 cliflicult to see in the chief of this Chinese insurrection 
 any thing else than a kind of Chinese Mohammed, seek- 
 ing to establish his power by fire and sword, and crying 
 to his fanatical partisans " There is no god but God, 
 and Tien-te is the younger brother of Jesus Christ." 
 
 And now, what will be the result of this Chinese in- 
 surrection ? Will its promoters succeed in their design 
 of establishing a new dynasty, and a new worship, more 
 in harmony with their lately adopted faith? Or will 
 the Son of Heaven have power to re-establish the throne 
 so roughly shaken ? The recent course of events is too 
 imperfectly known to us, and appears also too little de- 
 cisive, to enable us to determine these questions. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding the impossibility of forming 
 any well-grounded opinion on the probable issue of the 
 struggle, the journalists of Europe have declared that 
 were the Tartar dynasty once overthrown, the nation 
 would merely return into its traditional course. It 
 seems to us that this is an error. What is called the 
 Chinese system has really no existence ; for this ex- 
 pres^ion can be understood in no other sense than by 
 supposing it opposed to a Tartar system. Now there 
 is not, and never was a Tartar system. The Mantchoo 
 race has, indeed, imposed its yoke upon China, but has 
 had scarcely any influence on the Chinese mind ; it has 
 not been able to do much more than introduce some 
 slight modifications into the national costume, and force 
 the conquered people to shave their heads and wear a 
 tail. The Chinese have been governed mostly by the 
 same institutions after as before the conquest; they 
 have always remained faithful to the traditions of their 
 ancestors, and have, in fact, in a great measure, ab- 
 sorl it-el the Tartar race, and imposed upon it their own 
 * Soirees de St. Petersburg Premier Kntrctien. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xiii 
 
 manners and civilization. They have even succeeded 
 in nearly extinguishing the Mantchoo language, and 
 replacing it by their own. They have nullified the 
 Tartar action on the Empire, by engrossing the greater 
 part of the offices that stand between the governors and 
 the governed. Almost all employments, in fact, if we 
 except the chief military posts, and the highest dignities 
 of the State, have become the exclusive inheritance of 
 the Chinese, who possess, more frequently than the 
 Tartars, the special kinds of knowledge necessary to fill 
 them. As for the Tartars, isolated and lost in the im- 
 mensity of the Empire, they have retained the privilege 
 of watching over the security of the frontier, occupying 
 the fortified places, and mounting guard at the gates of 
 the imperial palace. 
 
 It is not at all surprising that the state of affairs in 
 China should have resisted the Mantchoo invasion, and 
 should not have been in the slightest degree altered by 
 the accession of a foreign dynasty. China differs in 
 this, as in other respects, widely from Europe. The 
 countless revolutions and political convulsions of which 
 it has been the theatre have destroyed nothing, and for 
 the simple reason, that one of the most distinctive feat- 
 ures of the Chinese character is a profound, in some 
 measure religious, veneration for ancient institutions, 
 and all things ancient. After every successive revolu- 
 tion this extraordinary people has applied itself to re- 
 constitute the past, and recall the antique traditions, in 
 order not to depart from the rites established by their 
 ancestors, and this is one of the circumstances that may 
 serve to explain how this nation, which at so early a 
 period attained so remarkable a degree of civilization, 
 has remained stationary and made no progress for cen- 
 turies. 
 
 Can it be hoped, nevertheless, that the present insur- 
 
Xiv Al'TIIOK'S I'KEFACE. 
 
 rection will bring any modification in this state of tilings ? 
 Wr must be permitted to doubt this. It is even prob- 
 able that the unsympathizing disposition of the Chinese 
 toward the nations of the West will remain what it has 
 always been. China is far from being open ; and what- 
 ever may be said, we believe that our missions have 
 very little to hope there. We must not forget, in fact, 
 that Christianity is in no way concerned in the crisis 
 which the Empire is now passing through. The Chris- 
 tians, too wise and prudent to hoist a political standard, 
 are also too few in number to exercise any sensible 
 influence on the affairs of the country, and they have 
 remained neutral. For this reason they have become 
 equally suspected by both parties, and we fear will be 
 hereafter equally exposed to punishment, which-ever 
 side may be ultimately victorious. Should the Mant- 
 choo Government triumph over the insurrection, which 
 already more than once has displayed the cross upon its 
 standards, it will have no mercy on the Christians, and 
 this long struggle will have only served to redouble its 
 suspicions and embitter its wrath ; if, on the contrary, 
 Tien-te should gain the victory, and succeed in driving 
 out the ancient conquerors of China, since he claims not 
 only to found a new dynasty, but also a new worship, 
 lie will, in the intoxication of victory, break through 
 every obstacle that may oppose his projects. 
 
 Thus the conclusion of the civil war may be to the 
 Christians the signal of a new persecution. These ter- 
 rible trials need not, indeed, induce us to despair of the 
 future prospects of Christianity in China : for we know 
 that the Almighty rules the nations at his pleasure, that 
 He can, when He pleases, bring good out of evil, and 
 that often, where men think all is lost, it is then pre- 
 cisely that all is saved. 
 
 In fact, notwithstanding the worship professed by 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xv 
 
 the Chinese for their ancient institutions if circum- 
 stances should at length force the European element to 
 quit its neutrality, and mingle in the affairs of the 
 Celestial Empire, this intervention would probably be 
 the source of remarkable changes, and might gradually 
 produce a complete transformation of China. It may 
 be even, apart from the hypothesis of an intervention, 
 that the new ideas introduced by the revolutionary Chi- 
 nese will of themselves prove active enough to exercise 
 considerable influence over the destinies of the Empire. 
 Then will regenerated China assume a new aspect, and 
 who knows whether it may not ultimately succeed in 
 placing itself on a level with European nations ? 
 
 These prospects, uncertain as they are, have encour- 
 aged us in the execution of our task. The moment, in 
 fact, when the Tartar-Mantchoo dynasty appears to be 
 tottering to its fall, and China on the eve of a great 
 social and political transformation, is the most suitable 
 for saying what we know concerning this great Empire. 
 Should it be destined to undergo a total change, we 
 shall have contributed to preserve the memory of what 
 it was, and to rescue from oblivion those ancient cus- 
 toms which have rendered it in our own day an enigma 
 to Europe. While the insurrection is proceeding in 
 its work of demolition, we will labor in construction ; 
 and if we can succeed in conveying an exact idea of 
 Chinese society, as it appeared to us in the course of 
 our long peregrinations, our object will have been at- 
 tained", and we shall have nothing more to say than, as 
 the authors of former days used to do, " Soli Deo honos 
 ct gloria." 
 
 In our former work, "Recollections of a Journey," 
 we related our travels across the deserts of Tartary, 
 and the incidents of our residence in Thibet a resi- 
 dence shortened by the ill-will of Chinese politicians, 
 
xvi At'THOH'S PllKFACK. 
 
 and finally, our return to China, under the escort of 
 Mandarins. 
 
 We are now about to resume our narrative where 
 we then laid it down ; that is to say, from the moment 
 when, having just crossed the frontiers of China, we 
 were carried by our conductors toward the capital of 
 Sse-tchouen to be there brought to trial. 
 
 This second part of our narrative will turn exclusive- 
 ly upon China, and we will endeavor to correct as much 
 as possible the erroneous and absurd ideas that have 
 prevailed from time immemorial concerning the Chinese 
 people. The efforts made by learned Orientalists, and 
 principally by M. Abel Remusat, to rectify the errors 
 of Europeans on that subject, have not had all the suc- 
 cess they merited, for the most contradictory statements 
 are constantly being uttered and printed concerning them. 
 It is not difficult to trace these errors and contradictions 
 to their sources, in the accounts published at various 
 epochs by those who have penetrated into China, and 
 also by those who have never set foot in it. 
 
 When, in the 16th century, the Catholic missionaries 
 arrived, bearing the message of the Gospel to the in- 
 numerable nations who form collectively the Chinese 
 Empire, the spectacle that presented itself to their ob- 
 servation was calculated to strike them with astonish- 
 ment, and even with admiration. Europe, which they 
 had just quitted, was in the convulsions of intellectual 
 and political anarchy. The arts, industry, commerce, 
 the general aspect of cities and their population, was 
 totally different from what we see at the present day. 
 The West had scarcely entered on the patli of material 
 civilization. China, on the contrary, stood in some 
 measure at the zenith of her prosperity. Her political 
 and civil institutions worked with admirable regularity. 
 The Emperor and his Mandarins were truly the "Fa- 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xvii 
 
 ther and Mother"* of the people, and by both high and 
 low the laws were faithfully observed. The imagina- 
 tions of the missionaries could not but be powerfully 
 affected by this immense Empire, with its numerous 
 and orderly population, its fields so skillfully cultivated, 
 its great cities, its magnificent rivers, its fine system of 
 canals, and its entire and prosperous civilization. The 
 comparison was certainly at that time not to the ad- 
 vantage of Europe, and the missionaries were inclined 
 to admire every thing they saw in the new country of 
 their adoption. 
 
 They often exaggerated what was good in it, and they 
 did not see the accompanying evil, and thus they have 
 often published, in perfect good faith, descriptions of 
 China that were much too flattering to be correct. 
 
 Modern missionaries have perhaps fallen into the con- 
 trary extreme ; Europe has been of late years marching 
 from progress to progress, and almost every passing day 
 has been signalized by some new discovery ; China, on 
 the contrary, is in a state of decay ; the vices that dis- 
 figured its ancient institutions have increased, and what- 
 ever good may have been mingled in them has almost 
 wholly disappeared. It has happened, therefore, that 
 the missionaries, setting out with magnificent ideas of 
 the splendor of Chinese civilization, and finding the coun- 
 try really full of disorder and misery, have come to con- 
 clusions respecting it the very reverse of those formed 
 by their predecessors three centuries ago. Under the 
 influence of these sentiments, they have given us pic- 
 tures of China drawn in gloomy colors. They have, 
 without intending it, exaggerated its evils, as their pre- 
 decessors had exaggerated what was good; and these 
 different estimates have produced contradictory accounts, 
 
 * A title by which in China the representatives of authority are des- 
 ignated. 
 
xviii AUTHOR'S PllEFACE. 
 
 which were not likely to throw much clear light on the 
 facts of the case. Mere tourists, too, have of course fur- 
 nished their contingent to increase the confusion. 
 
 Few of the travelers who have been attracted either 
 by curiosity or interest to visit the Chinese shore, have 
 not felt the desire to make the fact known to the world, 
 at least through the newspapers. They have seen little, 
 indeed, but that has not prevented them from writing 
 much, and often from slandering the Chinese, for no 
 other reason than that the missionaries formerly over- 
 praised them. Very frequently they have drawn largely 
 in their writings from the accounts of embassies, which 
 unfortunately are regarded as great authorities, although 
 M. Abel Remusat has more than once endeavored to 
 reduce them to their just value. " The ideas unfavor- 
 able to the Chinese," says this skillful and impartial 
 critic, " are not new, but they have been recently dif- 
 fused and credited. They are partly due to the authors 
 of the Narratives of the Dutch and the two English 
 Embassies." 
 
 " The missionaries had boasted so much of Chinese 
 manners and Chinese policy, that in order to say some- 
 thing new on the subject, it was necessary to take the 
 other side. There were also many persons disposed to 
 believe that, as they were professedly religious men, they 
 had yielded in their writings to the prejudices of then- 
 profession, and the interests of their calling. Lay ob- 
 servers are much less suspected, and in their eyes a 
 missionary is hardly a traveler. How could a man who 
 was neither a Jesuit nor a Dominican fail to be a model 
 of veracity and impartiality ? 
 
 " Nevertheless, if we consider the matter a little more 
 attentively, we shall see that the travelers, on whom so 
 much reliance has been placed, have not quite as many 
 claims to confidence as has been supposed. No one of 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xix 
 
 them was acquainted with the language of the country, 
 while the Jesuits could even write in Chinese, so as to 
 equal the best native literati. No one of them ever saw 
 the Chinese otherwise than on occasions of ceremony, iw 
 visits of etiquette, or at festivals strictly regulated by 
 the ' Rites,' while the missionaries made their way every 
 where, from the Imperial Court to the most remote prov-N 
 inces, and the most humble villages. These travelers 
 never fail to speak very well of the productions of the 
 country, the manners of the inhabitants, the genius of 
 the Government; for they had under their eyes, while 
 writing their narrative of their travels, the collection of 
 * Lettres Edifiantes,' 1 the compilation of Duhalde, and 
 the memoirs of the missionaries. You never find, there- 
 fore, an idea of any importance in one that has escaped 
 the others ; for they have copied faithfully, and that was 
 the best thing they could do. What could the most 
 able men have said in their place ? 
 
 " The situation of travelers in China is not usually 
 an enviable one. At their departure from Canton they 
 are imprisoned in closed boats ; they are guarded care- 
 fully from sight all along the great canal ; they are 
 what we may call put under arrest immediately on their 
 arrival at Pekin ; and, after two or three official recep- 
 tions and interrogatories, they are hastily sent back 
 again. As they are not allowed the slightest commu- 
 nication with the outer world, they can really describe 
 from their own knowledge nothing more than the hedge 
 of soldiers by which they have been surrounded, the 
 songs of the boatmen who have accompanied them, the 
 formalities employed by the inspectors who have search- 
 ed them, and the evolutions of the grandees who pros- 
 trated themselves with them before the Son of Heaven. 
 The history of the whole affair has been given by one 
 of these travelers with as much naivete as precision. He 
 
xx AUTHOK'S PKKFACE. 
 
 says, * They entered Pekin like beggars, staid in it like 
 prisoners, and were driven from it like thieves.'* 
 
 " This kind of reception, quite conformable to the laws 
 of the Empire, explains very well the feeling of aversion 
 to China mostly perceptible in these narratives. The 
 writers have enjoyed neither freedom nor pleasure there, 
 but have met with troublesome customs, inconvenient 
 furniture, and dishes that were not to their taste, and 
 bad dinners and bad lodgings will leave unpleasant re- 
 collections in the most impartial minds, "f 
 
 It is assuredly not by traversing the country in thia 
 fashion, or by residing some time in a port half Euro- 
 peanized, that it is possible to become acquainted with 
 Chinese society. For that you must be in some meas- 
 ure identified with the life of the Chinese ; you must 
 have lived long among them, and have almost become 
 a Chinese yourself. This is what we did for a period 
 of fourteen years, and we are therefore in a position to 
 speak with confidence concerning an Empire that we 
 had adopted as a second country, and that we entered 
 without thinking of a return. Circumstances have also 
 greatly favored us in our observations, for we have 
 been enabled to traverse several times the various pro- 
 vinces of the Empire, and compare them with each other, 
 as well as to become initiated into the manners of the 
 Chinese of the highest class, in the midst of which we 
 constantly lived during our journey from the frontiers 
 of Thibet to Canton. 
 
 Our readers must not, however, expect to find in our 
 narrative a great number of those edifying details which 
 have so great a charm for pious and believing souls, 
 and which, perhaps, they had a right to look for in the 
 pages of a missionary. 
 
 * Account of the Embassy of Lord Macartney, 
 t Melanges 1'ostliumcs, p. .ICG. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xxi 
 
 It is our purpose to address readers of all opinions, 
 and to make China known to all ; not merely to preserve 
 the memory of facts connected with our mission. These 
 interesting particulars must be sought in the "Annals 
 of the Propagation of the Faith," those veritable bulle- 
 tins of the Church militant in which are recorded the acts 
 of apostles, the virtues of neophytes, and the struggles 
 and sufferings of martyrs. Our object in these volumes 
 lias been to describe the theatre of this peaceful warfare, 
 and to make known the populations that the Church of 
 God desires to subject to her rule, and bring within her 
 fold. We hope it will then be more easy to understand 
 the long struggles of Christianity in China, and to appre- 
 ciate its victories. 
 
 One word more. Many things in these volumes will 
 perhaps appear improbable, especially if looked at merely 
 with European ideas, and without placing ourselves if 
 we may be permitted the expression in the Chinese 
 point of view. 
 
 We trust, however, that our readers will give us 
 credit for veracity, and dispense us from the necessity 
 of employing the language that the celebrated Marco 
 Polo thought himself obliged to address to his readers, 
 in the beginning of his interesting narrative : 
 
 " And we will put down the things we have seen as 
 seen, and the things we have heard as heard, in order 
 that our book may be honest and true without any lie, 
 and that every one that may read or hear this book may 
 believe it ; for all the things it contains are true."* 
 
 * Recueil des Voyages de la Socie'te de Geographic. Voyage dc 
 Marco Polo, 1. i. p. 2. 
 
 PARIS, 24th May, 1354. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Arrangements for our Departure New Costume Departure from Ta- 
 tsien-lou Farewell of our Thibetan Escort Aspect of the Road 
 Suspension-bridge over the River Lou Family of our Conductor 
 Palanquin-bearers Long Caravans of Porters Riot on our account 
 in the Town of Ya-tcheou Country assumes definitively a Chinese 
 Character Triumphal Arches and Monuments erected in honor of 
 Virgins and Widows Communal Palaces for traveling Mandarins 
 Discovery of a Christian Family Aristocracy of Khioung-tchepu 
 Introduction and Ravages of Opium in China Magnificent Monas- 
 tery of Bonzes Interview with a Christian of the Capital of Sse- 
 tchouen Arrival at Tching-tou-fou 27 
 
 CHAPTER, II. 
 
 Conversation with the Prefect of the Garden of Flowers Lodgings in 
 the Court of Justice Invitation to Dinner with the two Prefects of 
 the Town Conversation with two Persons of Distinction Two 
 Mandarins of Honor assigned to amuse us Solemn Judgment be- 
 fore the assembled Tribunals Various Incidents of the Trial Re- 
 port addressed to the Emperor concerning us, and the Emperor's An- 
 swer Imperial Edicts in favor of Christians, obtained by the French 
 Embassy in China Insufficiency of these Edicts Appearance before 
 the Viceroy Portrait of this Personage Dispatch of the Viceroy to 
 the Emperor Conversation with the Viceroy 60 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tching-tou-fou, the Capital of the Province of Sse-tchouen Numerous 
 Visits of Mandarins Constitutive Principle of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment The Emperor Curious Organization of Chinese Nobility 
 Central Administration of Pekin The six Sovereign Courts Im- 
 perial Academy Moniteur of Pekin Provincial Gazettes Admin- 
 istration of the Provinces Rapacity of the Mandarins Venality of 
 
xxiv CONTENTS. 
 
 Justice Family of a Magistrate His two Sons Their Tutor Pri- 
 mary Instruction very widely diffused in ( 'hina Chinese Urbanity 
 System of Instruction Elementary Books The four Classical Books 
 The five Sacred Books Arrangements for our Departure Last 
 Visit to the Viceroy 100 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Departure from Tching-tou-fou Letter thrown into our I'alanquin, at 
 the Gate of the Town Christianity in China Its Introduction in 
 the fifth and sixth Centuries Monument and Inscription at Si-ngan- 
 fou Progress of Christianity in the fourteenth Century Arrival of 
 the Portuguese in China Macao Father Mathew Ricci Depart- 
 ure of the first Chinese Missionaries Prosperity of the Religion 
 under the Emperor Khang-hi Persecution under the Emperor 
 Young-tching Abandonment of the Missions Numerous Depart- 
 ures of the new Missionaries Glance at the Present State of Chris- 
 tianity in China Motives of Hostility in the Government toward 
 Christians Indifferentism of the Chinese in matters of Religion 
 Honors paid to us on our Road Halt at a Communal Palace Trick- 
 ery on the part of Master Ting Navigation of the Blue River Ar- 
 rival at Kien-tcheou 1.11 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Disputes with the Mandarins of Kien-tcheou Intrigues to prevent us 
 from going to the Communal Palace Magnificence of this Palace 
 The Garden of Sse-ma-kouang Chinese Kitchen State of the 
 Roads and Channels of Communication Some Productions of the 
 Province of Sse-tehoucn Use of Tobacco, in Smoking and taking 
 Snuff Tchoung-tching, a Town of the first Order Ceremonies 
 observed by the Chinese in Visits and Conversations of Etiquette- 
 Nocturnal Apparition Watchmen and Criers of the Town Fires 
 in China The Addition of a Military Mandarin to our Escort 
 Tchang-cheou-hien, a Town of the third Order Release of three 
 Christian Prisoners Superstitious Practices to obtain Rain The 
 Dragon of Rain exiled by the Emperor 194 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Bad and dangerous Road Leang-chan, a Town of the third Order 
 Disputes between our Conductors and the Mandarins of Leang-chan 
 A Day of Rest Numerous Visits of Christians A Military Man- 
 darin of our Escort compromises himself He is excluded from our 
 Table Great Trial presided over by the Missionaries Details .f 
 this singular Trial Acquittal of a Christian, and Condemnation of 
 a .Mandarin Triumphal Departure from Leang-chan Servitude and 
 abject State of Women in China Their Restoration by Christianity 
 Ting i!i-f!.iivs tli.it Women have no Souls Induei:- < < f 
 
CONTENTS. xxv 
 
 Women in the Conversion of Nations Arrival at Yao-tchang Hotel 
 of the Beatitudes Lodgings in a Theatre Navigation of the Blue 
 Hirer Plays and Players in China 236 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Temple of Literary Composition Quarrel with a Doctor A Citizen 
 in the Cangue His Deliverance Visit to the Tribunal of Ou-chan 
 The Prefect and Military Commandant of Ou-chan Medical Ju- 
 risprudence of the Chinese Inspection of Dead Bodies Frequent 
 Suicides in China Considerations on this subject Singular Char- 
 acter of Chinese Politeness The Boundaries which separate the 
 Frontier of Ssc-tchouen from that of Hou-pe' Glance over Sse- 
 tchouen Its principal Productions Character of its Inhabitants 
 Kouang-ti, God of War, and Patron of the Mantchou Dynasty Offi- 
 cial Worship paid to him Wells of Salt and Fire State of Scien- 
 tific Knowledge among the Chinese State of Christianity in the 
 Province of Sse-tchouen 277 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Arrival at Pa-toung, a Frontier Town of Hou-pe Literary Examina- 
 tions Character of the Chinese Bachelor Condition of Writers 
 Written Language Spoken Language Glance at Chinese Litera- 
 ture The Celestial Empire an immense Library Study of Chinese 
 in Europe Embarkation on the Blue River Salt Custom-house 
 Smuggling Mandarin Dispute with the Prefect of I-tchang-fou A 
 Mandarin wishes to put us in Chains System of Customs in China 
 I-tou-hien, a Town of the third Class Amiable and interesting 
 Magistrate of that Town Geographical Knowledge of the Chinese 
 Narrative of an Arab who traveled in China, in the ninth Century 
 before the Christian Era .". 312 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Names given by the Chinese to the Kingdoms of Europe Origin of 
 the Words China and the Chinese Explanation of the various 
 Names that the Chinese give to their Empire Good and venerable 
 Prefect of Song-tche-hien Portrait of the ancient Mandarins 
 Holy Instructions of the Emperors A Khorassanian at the Imperial 
 Court Details concerning the Manners of the Ancient Chinese 
 Causes of the Decay of China Means employed by the Mantchou 
 Dynasty to consolidate its Power Foreigners not always excluded 
 from China Bad Policy of the Government General Presenti- 
 ment of a Revolution Navigation on the Blue River Tempest 
 Loss of Provisions Running aground three Times Shipwreck 
 The shipwrecked 349 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
xxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Chinese City in a State of Siege Nautical Sports on the Blue River 
 Quarrel between Victors and Vanquished Civil War at Kin-tcheou 
 Glance at the military Strength of the Chinese Empire Discovery 
 of two Soldiers in the Residence of the Missionary Description of 
 an extraordinary Review of Troops Policy of the Mantchou Dy- 
 nasty with respect to Soldiers Chinese Navy Cause of the Want 
 of Bravery in the Chinese during the last War with the English 
 Resources of the Empire for the Formation of a good Army and a 
 powerful Navy A Great Reformer needed Departure from Kin- 
 tcheou Route by Land Great Heat Journey during the Night by 
 Torch and Lantern 388 
 
 [It will be observed that in the Map a system of writing Chinese 
 names has been followed different from that of the text. . In the latter 
 the French orthography of M. Hue has been retained ; in the former 
 that adopted by Mr. Williams has been followed; both aim to express 
 in our characters the sound of the Chinese names. The terminations 
 fou, tcheou, and tsien found in the text are not inserted in the Map. 
 These terminations indicate the size of the town,ybw signifying a town 
 of the first order, tcheou one of the second, tsien one of the third.] 
 
A JOURNEY 
 
 THROUGH THK 
 
 CHIIESE EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Arrangements for our Departure New Costume Departure from Ta- 
 tsien-lou Farewell of our Thibetan Escort Aspect of the Road 
 Suspension-bridge over the River Lou Family of our Conductor 
 Palanquin-bearers Long Caravans of Porters Riot on our account 
 in the Town of Ya-tcheou Country assumes definitively a Chinese 
 Character Triumphal Arches and Monuments erected in honor of 
 Virgins and Widows Communal Palaces for traveling Mandarins 
 Discovery of a Christian Family Aristocracy of Khioung-tcheou 
 Introduction and Ravages of Opium in China Magnificent Monas- 
 tery of Bonzes Interview with a Christian of the Capital of Ssc- 
 tchouen Arrival at Tching-tou-fou. 
 
 Two years had passed since we bade adieu to the 
 Christians of the Valley of Black Waters. With the 
 exception of a residence of some months in the Lama 
 convent of Koumboum, and in the bosom of the capital 
 of Buddhism, we had been since then perpetually jour- 
 neying through the vast deserts of Tartary and over the 
 high mountains of Thibet. But these two years of in- 
 expressible fatigue were not sufficient : we were still far 
 from the end of our sufferings. Before we could hope to 
 enjoy any repose, we had to cross the frontiers of China, 
 and traverse this immense empire from west to east. 
 
 Formerly, upon our first entrance on the mission, we 
 
28 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 had traversed it throughout its entire extent from north 
 to south ; but that was secretly, by stealth along by- 
 paths and in darkness pretty much, in fact, in the 
 fashion of bales of contraband goods. 
 
 Now our position was altogether different. We were 
 to march openly in broad daylight, keeping the middle 
 of the Imperial high road. Those mandarins, the very 
 sight of whom used to throw us into a cold shiver, and 
 who would have been so extremely happy to put us to 
 the torture, if we had fallen into their hands, had now 
 to make up their minds to serve us for an escort, and to 
 overwhelm us with respect and politeness all along the 
 road. 
 
 We were about to become acquainted, in China, with 
 a civilization extremely unlike that of Europe, but not 
 less complete in its kind. The clijnate, too, would be 
 no longer the same, and the means of communication 
 would be greatly superior to those of Tartary and Thibet. 
 
 No more fear of snow, and rocks, and precipices of 
 wild beasts and robbers of the desert. An immense 
 population, provisions in abundance, a richly varied, 
 magnificent landscape, luxurious and agreeable, though 
 sometimes whimsical habitations this was what we 
 might look for during this new and long stage of our 
 journey. We knew the Chinese, however, too Avell to 
 feel quite at our ease in this altered position. Ki-chan* 
 had, indeed, given orders that we should be treated 
 kindly, but, in fact, we were, after all, given up to the 
 tender mercies of the mandarins. After having escaped 
 a thousand dangers in the wild countries that we had 
 just passed through, we felt no security that we were 
 not to perish of hunger and privation in the very bosom 
 of abundance and civilization, and we were convinced 
 
 * Chinese embassador at the Court of Lha-ssa, See " Recollections 
 of a Journey," etc., vol ii. p. Ii85. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 29 
 
 that our fate would greatly depend on the attitude we 
 should assume from the beginning. 
 
 We have observed elsewhere that the Chinese, and 
 especially the mandarins, are strong against the weak 
 and weak against the strong. To domineer over, and 
 crush all around them, is the object they constantly have 
 in view, and to attain it they have an inexhaustible re- 
 source in their native cunning and pliability of character. 
 Once allow them to get the upper hand, and it is all over c 
 with you; but if you can only succeed in mastering 
 them, you will find them ever after as docile and man-/ 
 ageable as children. You may turn and twist them 
 which way you will ; but beware of showing yourself 
 weak with them for a moment, for they must be ruled 
 with an iron hand. The Chinese mandarins are pretty 
 much like their own long bamboos. If one can but 
 manage to get hold of them in the right way, they are 
 easily bent double and kept so ; but if for a second you 
 let go, they are up again in a moment as straight as 
 ever. It was on a constant struggle, therefore, that we 
 were about to enter a struggle of every day, and all 
 day long, from Ta-tsien-lou to Canton. There was no 
 middle course: we must either submit to their will or 
 make them submit to ours ; and we determined to adopt 
 the latter mode of proceeding ; for we were by no means 
 inclined to have our long pilgrimage terminate in some 
 ditch behind the ramparts of a Chinese town ;* that was 
 
 * Our fears were not chimerical. On our arrival at Macao, we 
 learned that a French Lazariste, M. Carayon, had been recognized and 
 arrested in one of our missions in the north of China. According to 
 the decree obtained by M. Lagrenee, a missionary could not be con- 
 demned and put to death in the same summary manner as before ; but 
 was to be sent, in an honorable manner, to Macao. The honorable man- 
 ner in which M. Carayon was sent to Canton, was in chains, and in the 
 company of malefactors ; and he was exposed to such cruel ill-treatment 
 on the way, that he died veiy shortly afterward. 
 
 Another, an Italian missionary, sent there in the same manner, was 
 
80 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 evidently not the martyrdom that missionaries sigh after. 
 In the first place, we had to maintain a long and vehe- 
 ment dispute with the principal mandarin of Ta-tsien- 
 lou,* who would not consent that we should continue 
 our journey in palanquins : he was obliged to give way, 
 however, thanks to the energy and perseverance of our 
 protests. For these two years past we had had to be- 
 stride horses of every size, age, and quality, so that our 
 limbs longed at last to stretch themselves out at ease in 
 a palanquin. 
 
 After this first triumph, it was necessary to revolt 
 against the decrees of the il Tribunal of Rites," on the 
 subject of the costume that we were to adopt. We had 
 said to ourselves, in every country in the world, and 
 especially in China, clothes play a very important part 
 in the affairs of mankind ; and since we have to inspire 
 a salutary fear among the Chinese, it is by no means a 
 matter of indifference in what way we are to be dressed. 
 We cast aside, therefore, our Thibet costume the fright- 
 s ful wolf-skin cap, the checked hose, and the long fur tu- 
 \^_nic, that exhaled so strong an odor of beef and mutton 
 and we got a skillful tailor to make us some beautiful 
 sky-blue robes in the newest fashion of Pekin. We 
 provided ourselves with magnificent black satin boots, 
 adorned with soles of dazzling whiteness. So far the 
 aforesaid Tribunal of Rites had no objection ; but when 
 we proceeded to gird up our loins with red sashes, and 
 cover our heads with embroidered yellow caps, we caused 
 a universal shudder among all beholders, and the emo- 
 
 actually refused the smallest allowance of food, and died of starvation 
 the very day of his arrival at Canton. It would be too long to men- 
 tion the names of all the missionaries who, quite recently, have fallen 
 victims to the malice of the Chinese ; but, so lately as 1851, M. Vacher, 
 of the Foreign Missions, was arrested in the province of Yun-tian, and 
 thrown into prison, where shortly afterward lie was suffocated. 
 
 * The first town on the Chinese frontier that you meet with in com- 
 ing from Thibet. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 31 
 
 tion ran through the town like an electric current, till it 
 reached the civil and military authorities. They cried 
 aloud that the red sash and the yellow cap were the at- 
 tributes of Imperial Majesty allowable only to the fam- 
 ily of the Emperor, and forbidden to the people under 
 pain of perpetual banishment. On this point the Tri- 
 bunal of Rites would be inflexible, and we must reform 
 our costume accordingly. We, on our side, alleged, that 
 being strangers traveling as such, and by authority, we 
 were not bound to conform to the ritual of the empire 
 but had the right of following the fashion of our own 
 country, which allowed every one to choose the form 
 and color of his garments, according to his own fancy. 
 They insisted they became angry they flew into a 
 furious passion ; we remained calm and immovable, but 
 vowing that we would never part with our red sashes 
 and yellow caps. Our obstinacy was not to be over- 
 come, and the mandarins submitted as they ought 
 to do. 
 
 The military mandarin of Mussulman origin, whom 
 we had picked up at JLy-tang after the decease of the 
 Pacificator of Kingdoms,* was to escort us to Tching- 
 tou, the capital of the province of Sse-tchouen. It had 
 been agreed that his mission should end on the frontier, 
 but the mandarins of Ta-tsien-lou found us such crab- 
 bed and troublesome customers, that they declined the 
 honor of conducting our caravan. The Mussulman 
 seemed not at all ambitious of it ; but, like a true dis- 
 ciple of Mohammed, he knew how to resign himself to 
 his fate, and say calmly, "It is written." 
 
 At last we quitted Ta-tsien-lou, to the great satisfac- 
 tion of the mandarins of the place, who had begun to 
 despair of converting us to their ideas of civilization. 
 We kept the same escort that we had taken at JJia-ssa, 
 !_ * See " Recollections of a Journey," vol. ii. p. 398. 
 
32 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRIC. 
 
 only reinforced by some young recruits of the province, 
 commanded by a long, lean corporal, who with his robes 
 tucked up to his middle, his legs naked, a large um- 
 brella in one hand, and a fan in the other, had not, it 
 must be owned, a very strikingly military appearance. 
 As for ourselves, snugly ensconced in our dear palan- 
 quins, we were borne rapidly along by four vigorous 
 Chinese bearers, over excavations, rocks, and mud 
 holes, and we soon outstripped our escort, who could 
 by no means vie with the bearers in strength and agility. 
 
 After marching five li* we halted; the Chinese set 
 down our palanquin, and invited us to get out in very 
 polite terms, and with a slight smile that seemed to in- 
 dicate some mystery ; and, as soon as we were out, we 
 were agreeably surprised to find behind a rocky hill the 
 Lama Dchiamdchan, with his little Thibetan troop, f 
 These honest fellows had come to meet us in order to 
 bid us farewell once more in the manner of their coun- 
 try. They had prepared a collation of Chinese pastry, 
 preserves, apricots, and rice wine, which they had 
 spread on the grass, under the shade of some large 
 trees, and we were soon seated round it in a mood of 
 mingled joy and sadness. We were happy to find our- 
 selves once more together, but our joy was greatly 
 damped by the thought that we were again about to 
 separate and most likely forever. The escort that we 
 had left behind was not long in coming up, and after 
 having bade adieu to our dear Thibetans and said "A.u 
 revoir," we again got into our palanquins. 
 
 Au revoir those words so full of consolation, and 
 which so often dry the tears of parting friends how 
 many times had we pronounced them in the sure and 
 
 * A K is the tenth of a French league. 
 
 t The chief of the Thibet escort that had accompanied ns from Lha- 
 ssa to the Chinese frontier. See "Recollections," vol. ii. j>. 398. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 33 
 
 certain hope of seeing again one day those to whom 
 they were addressed! How many times in China, in 
 Tartary, in Thibet, in Egypt, in Palestine, had we ut- 
 tered them to friends whom we were to see no more ! 
 
 God hides the future from us : He will not permit us 
 to know his designs with respect to us and it is in ac- 
 cordance with his infinite goodness that he does not, 
 for there are separations that would kill us if we knew 
 them to be forever. These Thibetans, to whom we 
 were attached by so many ties, we never saw again; 
 but we shall always retain one great consolation we 
 can pray to God for these interesting populations, and 
 petition that the missionaries charged to preach the 
 Gospel to them, may succeed in guiding them from the 
 chill and darkness of Buddhism to the light and vivify- 
 ing warmth of the Christian faith. 
 
 The road that we had been following from Ta-tsien- 
 lou had been constantly descending, and we soon found 
 ourselves in a deep and narrow valley, watered by a 
 limpid stream, whose banks were fringed by willows 
 and bamboos. On either side arose, almost perpendic- 
 ularly, lofty and majestic mountains, ornamented with 
 stately trees, and an inexhaustible variety of plants and 
 flowers. Our eyes feasted on the brilliant colors, and 
 the exquisite verdure, and were filled with tears of de- 
 light as we inhaled the balmy fragrance of the air: our 
 whole being seemed to expand with rapture. One must 
 have lived for two whole years amidst ice and snow, 
 dreary arid mountains and sandy deserts to feel all the 
 intoxicating charm of such a landscape, and the deli- 
 cious repose aiforded by fresh green grass to an eye 
 wearied by the dead, monotonous whiteness of snow. 
 
 The road led along the course of the stream. Some- 
 times we passed from one bank to the other over little 
 wooden bridges covered with turf, and sometimes over 
 
84 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 large stones thrown into the bed of the rivulet. But 
 nothing relaxed the speed of our bearers ; on they went, 
 over every obstacle, and always with the same rapidity, 
 agility, and courage. Now and then they made a short 
 halt to wipe the sweat from their brows and smoke a 
 pipe, and then they resumed their march with redoubled 
 vigor. The narrow valley we were passing through 
 seemed but little frequented ; we met only from time 
 to time some parties of travelers, among whom it was 
 easy for us to distinguish the vigorous, energetic, and 
 barbarous Thibetan from the pallid, cunning-looking 
 faces of the civilized Chinese. On all sides we could 
 see nocks of goats and long-haired oxen, feeding on the 
 mountain pastures, while countless birds warbled amidst 
 the branches of the trees. 
 
 We passed the first night in an humble and badly pro- 
 vided innj but as the habitations we had met with in 
 Thibet had not accustomed us to much luxury, we were 
 very well pleased with what we found. The miseries 
 of every kind that we had suffered, had had the effect 
 of rendering us patient under all the trials of life. 
 
 On the following day, the road became more wild and 
 perilous. As we advanced, the valley closed in, and 
 became encumbered with enormous masses of rock and 
 great trees that had fallen from the crest of the mount- 
 ains. The stream that had borne us company the day 
 before, like a faithful friend, now gradually turned away 
 from us, and at last disappeared in a deep gorge. A 
 torrent that we had heard roaring for a long time, like 
 distant thunder, suddenly came in sight from behind a 
 mountain and dashed itself furiously over the rocks. We 
 followed it a long time in its erratic course, and saw it 
 descend from point to point in noisy cascades, or trail 
 its greenish waters like a huge serpent into dark hollows 
 of the mountains. On this day we had no longer the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. ;;5 
 
 pleasure of gazing on a peaceful and smiling landscape 
 of trees and flowers, but this wild and savage grandeur 
 of nature was not without its charms. 
 
 We left these rugged defiles at last behind us, and 
 having crossed a broad valley called Hoang-tsao-ping 
 (Yellow Grass Plains), where there is a great variety 
 of culture and vegetation, we arrived at the celebrated 
 bridge of Lou-ting-khaio^ which we had to cross on foot 
 and at a slow pace. This bridge was built in 1701. It 
 is 192 feet long, and only 10 wide, and is composed of \ 
 nine enormous iron chains, strongly stretched from one 
 bank to the other, and on which are laid transverse 
 planks, tolerably well fitted, but movable. The river 
 Lou, which it crosses, has such a rapid current, that it 
 has been found impossible to build a bridge of any other 
 kind. The two banks are very high, so that when you 
 are in the middle of the bridge, if you look below at the 
 swiftly running waters, it is prudent to keep fast hold 
 of the railing ; and as the bridge is extremely elastic, it 
 is necessary to walk very slowly, to avoid the risk of 
 pitching over. 
 
 On the other side of the river Lou is a little town, 
 where we were received very noisily by a great con- 
 course of people : it was the native place of our Mussul- 
 man mandarin, the conductor of the caravan ; and it was 
 decided that we were to stop there for a day. It was 
 certainly only fair that the mandarin, who had passed 
 two years at Ly-tang, on the road to Thibet, should 
 be allowed to pass one day with his family. The next 
 morning he presented to us with paternal pride his two 
 children, gorgeously attired, but with faces so flushed 
 and surprised, and arms and legs apparently so stiff 
 and awkward, that we could not help thinking they 
 were lodged for the first time in these fine clothes. 
 We appreciated, however, the courtesy of our mandarin, 
 
86 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EM TIKE. 
 
 gave the little things some sweetmeats and kind words, 
 and caressed them as well as we could, finding that after 
 all they were really very pretty and intelligent; while 
 their papa, smiling at one and the other, seemed quite 
 to expand with pleasure. 
 
 I wish we coidd give as good an account of the man- 
 darin's kitchen as of his nursery ; but perhaps the wor- 
 thy man thought the having admired and contemplated 
 his offspring for two hours was enough to satisfy us, 
 and that we should desire nothing more, for he served 
 us up a most detestable dinner. This suggested to us 
 that we had to do with a person who was inclined to 
 make some little profit out of our supplies on the road, 
 and that if we did not take care it might be likely 
 enough that famine and- death would be found at the 
 end of it. We therefore knitted our brows, and gave 
 our conductor to understand that we expected to live 
 rather differently here in China, to what we had done 
 in the mountains of Thibet. Excuses of course were 
 not wanting, but we had made up our minds never to 
 admit any. 
 
 Among the inhabitants of Lou-ting-khiao the Thi- 
 betan element is still observable in manners and cos- 
 tume; but by degrees, as you advance, this mixture 
 disappears, and there remains soon nothing but what is 
 purely Chinese. 
 
 We quitted this town early in the morning, and 
 crossed a high mountain, on the summit of which is an 
 immense plateau, with a lake half a league broad in the 
 middle. The paths that lead upward to this plateau 
 are so tortuous and difficult, that the Chinese Itinerary* 
 describes them by saying that they are only fit for 
 birds ; and on the following day AVC were favored with 
 a by no means pleasing reminiscence of the terrible as- 
 * See what is said of the Chinese Itinerary in the " Recollections." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 3? 
 
 cent of the mountains of Thibet. "We scaled the Fey- 
 yue-ling, " a gigantic mountain which rises almost per- 
 pendicularly, and whose peaks are painful to the eyes 
 of the traveler. During the whole year it is covered 
 with snow, and surrounded by clouds that reach to its 
 very foot. The road is frightful, and passes over rocks 
 and chasms ; it is one of the most difficult in all China, 
 and no place of rest can be found on it." This descrip- 
 tion, which we borrow from the Chinese Itinerary, is 
 perfectly correct. On this mountain we again found 
 snow, and the sight of it seemed to recall all the horrors 
 and miseries of the journey through Thibet and Tartary. 
 We felt like men who, after having climbed by pro- 
 digious exertions out of an abyss, find themselves cast 
 down into it a second time. The bearers of our palan- 
 quin performed prodigies of skill, strength, and courage. 
 In the most difficult places, we wished to get out, to af- 
 ford them a little relief; but they would very seldom 
 allow us to do so, for they felt a pride in climbing like 
 chamois over the steepest rocks, and passing along the 
 edge of the most tremendous precipices, while carrying- 
 on their shoulders our heavy palanquins, which seemed 
 always tottering over the abyss. Many times we felt 
 a cold shudder run through our veins, for a single false 
 step would have been sufficient to precipitate us to the 
 bottom of the gulf beneath, and dash us to pieces against 
 the rocks. But nothing can equal the steadiness and 
 agility of these indefatigable bearers ; and it is only 
 among the wonderful Chinese that it is possible to find 
 such people. While they are running panting along 
 these terrific roads, their bodies dripping with perspi- 
 ration, and every moment in danger of breaking their 
 limbs, you may hear them laugh, joke, and pun as if 
 they were seated quietly at their tea-table. Notwith- 
 standing the indescribable fatigues that they undergo, 
 
 1 
 
38 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 too, they are very badly remunerated. The rate of their 
 \vages is fixed at a sapeck a li, which comes to about 
 a halfpenny for a French league. Thus they can not at 
 the very utmost gain more than five pence a day, and 
 as there are many days in the year during which it is 
 impossible for them to exercise their employment, they 
 have not, on an average, more than three pence a day. 
 With that they have to feed, clothe, and lodge them- 
 selves, besides keeping enough to furnish them the 
 means of passing the greater part of the night in play 
 and smoking opium. 
 
 The food of the common people in China is, it is true, 
 almost incredibly cheap; and the palanquin-bearer is 
 by profession something of a marauder besides having 
 every where the privilege of taking up his quarters for 
 the night in a pagoda, an inn, or somewhere about the 
 courts of law. His toilet, too, is not very expensive or 
 complicated, for it consists of nothing more than a pair 
 of drawers reaching to the middle of the thigh, and 
 sandals of rice straw. He generally possesses also a 
 short jacket, but he very seldom puts it more than 
 half on. 
 
 The palanquin-bearer is one of the most original types 
 among the Chinese, and we shall often have occasion to 
 study him. 
 
 On the summit of the mountain ours allowed them- 
 selves a little rest, devoured eagerly some little cakes 
 of maize flour, and smoked several pipes of tobacco. 
 During this time we remained contemplating in silence 
 the great reddish-gray clouds that were sometimes float- 
 ing below, sometimes rolling down the sides of the 
 mountains, sometimes heaving and dilating themselves 
 as if they were going to rise up to us. Beneath the 
 clouds, decreased to miniature size by the distance, ap- 
 peared rocks and deep ravines, and foaming torrents, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 39 
 
 and cascades, and carefully -cultivated valleys, where 
 large trees of thick, dark foliage were clearly marked 
 out against the tender green of the rice-fields. The 
 picture was completed by some scattered habitations, 
 half-hidden in tufts of bamboo, whence rose at intervals 
 light wreaths of smoke. 
 
 Notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers of the 
 road across this mountain, it is much frequented by 
 travelers, for there is no other way to Ta-tsien-lou, a 
 great place of trade between China and the tribes of 
 Thibet. You meet every moment on these narrow 
 paths long files of porters carrying brick tea, which is 
 prepared at Khioung-Tcheou, and forwarded from Ta- 
 tsien-lou to the different provinces of Thibet. This tea, 
 after having been subjected to strong pressure, is made 
 up into bales in coarse matting, and fastened by leathern 
 thongs to the backs of Chinese porters, who carry enor- 
 mous loads of it. You even see among -them old men, 
 women, and children, who go climbing, one after another, 
 up the steep sides of the mountain. They advance in 
 silence, with slow steps, leaning on great iron-pointed 
 sticks, and with their eyes fixed on the ground ; and 
 beasts of burden would certainly not endure so well the 
 constant and excessive fatigue to which these slaves of 
 poverty are subjected. From time to time he who is 
 at tie head of the file gives the signal for a short halt, 
 by striking the mountain with his iron-pointed stick; 
 those who follow him imitate this signal in succession, 
 and soon the whole line has stopped, and each individual 
 placing his stick behind him, so as to relieve himself a 
 little of the weight, lifts up his head, and utters a long 
 whistling sound like a sigh of pain. In this way they 
 endeavor to recover their strength, and get a little air 
 into their exhausted lungs ; but after a minute or two's 
 rest, the heavy weight again falls on the back and head, 
 
40 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 the body is again bent toward the ground, and the car- 
 avan is once more in motion. 
 
 Whenever we met these unfortunate tea-porters, they 
 were obliged to stop and lean against the mountain, so 
 as to afford us a free passage. As our palanquin ap- 
 proached, they lifted up their heads and cast on us a 
 furtive and painfully stupid look. And this, said we 
 sadly, is what civilization, when corrupt and without 
 religious faith, is able to make of man created in the 
 image of God of man who has been " made a little 
 lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour 1 " 
 The words of the prophet, in which he raises so high 
 the dignity of man, recurred involuntarily to our minds ; 
 but they sounded like bitter mockery in presence of 
 these poor creatures, degraded to the level of beasts of 
 burden. 
 
 Brick tea, and the khata, or "scarf of*felicity," are 
 the great articles of trade between China and Thibet. 
 It is scarcely credible what a prodigious quantity of 
 these goods is exported annually from the provinces of 
 Kan-Sou and /Sse-tchouen. These are certainly not ab- 
 solute necessaries of life ; but they are so connected with 
 the habits and wants of the Thibetans, that they can 
 not now do without them, and they have thus rendered 
 themselves voluntary tributaries of that Chinese Em- 
 pire, whose yoke weighs so heavily upon them. They 
 might live in freedom and independence in the midst of 
 their mountains, and care nothing about the Chinese, 
 if they could only make up their minds to go without 
 brick tea and scarfs of felicity. But this they will prob- 
 ably not do, for factitious wants are those which weigh 
 most heavily upon us, and from which we have most 
 difficulty in freeing ourselves. 
 
 After crossing the famous Fey-yue-ling, which rises 
 on the frontiers of the Central Empire like an advanced 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 41 
 
 post of the mountains of Thibet, we found ourselves 
 once more in China, with its beautiful landscapes, its 
 towns and villages and numerous population ; the tem- 
 perature rose rapidly, and soon the Thibetan horses, 
 which had borne the -Chinese soldiers from the garrison 
 of Lha-ssa, became so overcome by the heat that they 
 went along with outstretched necks, napping ears, and 
 open, panting mouths. Several could not endure the 
 change, and died on the road; at which the Chinese 
 soldiers, who had reckoned on selling them for a good 
 price in their own country, became furious, and vented 
 their wrath in imprecations on Thibet and all that it 
 contained. 
 
 A little while before we arrived at Tsing-khi-hien, a 
 town of the third order, the wind began to blow with 
 such violence that our bearers had the greatest difficulty 
 in keeping the palanquins on their shoulders. But when 
 in the midst of this hurricane we entered the town, we 
 were much surprised to find the inhabitants attending 
 quietly to their customary occupations, and to hear from 
 the master of the inn where we alighted, that this was 
 the usual weather in this part of the country. We con- 
 sulted our Chinese Itinerary on the subject, and there 
 read, in fact, the following words: 
 
 "At Tsing-khi-hien the winds are terrible: every 
 evening there rise furious whirlwinds, which shake the 
 houses and occasion a frightful noise, as if every thing 
 was going to pieces." It is probable that these atmos- 
 pheric disturbances are attributable to the neighbor- 
 hood of the Fey-yue-ling and its vast and numerous 
 gorges. Since our departure from Ta-tsien-lou, we had 
 traveled pretty quietly, and without exciting much cu- 
 riosity among the Chinese. But as soon as we had 
 reached the great centre of the population, the sensation 
 we created began to be perceptible. 
 
42 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'IliK. 
 
 The cstafette who preceded us several stages to an- 
 nounce our arrival, did not fail to blow his trumpet and 
 rouse the inhabitants. The peasants abandoned their 
 iield labors, to run and post themselves on the road side 
 to see us pass by. At the entrance of the towns, espe- 
 cially, the curious came thronging about us in such 
 numbers that the palanquins could scarcely make their 
 way through the throng. Our bearers vociferated, the 
 soldiers who formed our escort tried to disperse them 
 by dealing out blows right and left with their rattans, 
 and while we advanced, as through the midst of an in- 
 surrection, all those thousands of little Chinese eyes 
 were peering into our palanquins with the most eager 
 curiosity. Loud remarks were made, without the small- 
 est ceremony, on the cut of our physiognomies, our 
 beards, noses, eyes, costume nothing was forgotten. 
 Some appeared pretty well satisfied with us ; but oth- 
 ers burst into shouts of laughter, as soon as they caught 
 sight of what seemed to them our burlesque European 
 features. A magic effect was, however, produced by the 
 yellow cap and red sash; those who first discovered 
 them, pointed them out to their neighbors with evident 
 amazement, and their faces immediately assumed a grave 
 and severe expression. Some said that the Emperor 
 had charged us with an extraordinary mission, and that 
 he had himself bestowed on us these Imperial decora- 
 tions. Others were of opinion that we were European 
 spies who had been arrested in Thibet, and that we 
 were to be tried as a preparatory ceremony to that of 
 having our heads cut off. These various opinions which 
 we heard expressed all around us, were sometimes amus- 
 ing, but more frequently, it must be owned, vexatious. 
 
 At Ya-tcheou, a fine town of the second order, where 
 we stopped after leaving Tsing-khi-hien, there was a 
 real insurrection on our account. The inn where we 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 43 
 
 were lodged possessed a large and handsome court- 
 yard, round which were ranged the chambers destined 
 to travelers ; and as soon as we were installed in those 
 prepared for us, our visitors began to arrive in such 
 crowds that the tumult soon became deafening. As we 
 had rather more desire to rest than to present ourselves 
 as a spectacle for the amusement of the public, we en- 
 deavored to turn them out of doors ; and one of us ad- 
 vancing to the threshold of our chambers, addressed to 
 the multitude a few words accompanied by energetic 
 and imperious gestures, which had a complete and in- 
 stantaneous success. The crowd appeared to be sud- 
 denly seized by panic terror, and set off as hard as they 
 could run ; and no sooner was the court-yard clear than 
 we had the great gate locked for fear of a second invasion. 
 
 But little by little the tumult began again in the 
 street. A sort of murmur was heard among the crowd, 
 and then the noise burst out again as loud as ever. 
 The worthy Chinese were determined to gratify them- 
 selves with a sight of the Europeans. They began to 
 knock loudly and repeatedly at our great gate, and at 
 last by dint of violent shaking burst it in, and the liv- 
 ing torrent rushed again with impetuosity into the court- 
 yard. 
 
 The matter was now becoming serious, and it was 
 evidently important to let them see who was master. 
 By a sudden inspiration we seized a long and thick 
 bamboo, which happened to be lying near the door of 
 the room, and the poor Chinese, imagining no doubt 
 that we intended to knock them down with it, tumbled 
 over each other in their haste to get away. We then 
 ran to the door of the room occupied by our Mandarin 
 conductor, who, not knowing what to do in the riot, 
 had bethought himself of the safe expedient of hiding 
 himself. But as soon as we had found him, without 
 
44 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 giving him time to speak, or even to think, we seized 
 him by the arm, clapped on his head his official hat, 
 and dragged him along as fast as we could run to the 
 gate of the inn. Then we thrust into his hands the 
 great bamboo with which we had armed ourselves, and 
 enjoined him to stand sentinel. "If," said we, "a sin- 
 gle individual passes that gate, you are a lost man ;" 
 and hearing us talk in this grand style, the poor man 
 took it seriously and did not dare to stir. The people 
 in the street burst out laughing ; for it was something 
 new to see a military Mandarin mounting guard with a 
 long bamboo at the door of an inn. Every thing re- 
 mained perfectly quiet up to the time of our going to 
 bed ; the guard was then relieved, and our warrior laid 
 down his arms and returned to his room, to console 
 himself by smoking some pipes of tobacco. 
 
 Those who do not know the Chinese, will doubtless 
 be scandalized at our behavior, and will blame us se- 
 verely. They will ask, what right we had to make this 
 Mandarin ridiculous and expose him to the laughter of 
 the people. The right, we answer, that every man has 
 to provide for his personal safety. This triumph, ab- 
 surd as it seems, gave us great moral power, and we 
 had need of it, in order to arrive safe and sound at the 
 end of our journey. It would be childish or insane to 
 talk of reasoning and acting in China as you would in 
 Europe ; the circumstance just related is a trifle, but 
 we shall find much stronger instances in the course of 
 our narrative. 
 
 Our departure from Ya-tcheou was almost imposing. 
 Our demonstration of the evening before had raised us 
 so high in public opinion, that we had not to encounter 
 on our passage the slightest inconvenience. The streets 
 were thronged with people; but their behavior was 
 civil, almost respectful. They stood aside quietly, to 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 45 
 
 let our palanquins pass, and every body appeared to be 
 earnestly engaged in the study of our physiognomy, 
 which we endeavored as far as possible to render ex- 
 tremely majestic, and quite in accordance with the 
 "rites" 
 
 It was the month of June the finest season for the 
 province of Sse-tchouen. The country we were travers- 
 ing was rich and admirably varied by hills, plains, and 
 valleys, watered by streams of enchanting freshness. 
 The country was in all its splendor, harvests were rip- 
 ening all around, the trees were loaded with flowers and 
 fruit, and the exquisite perfume of the air reminded us 
 that we were passing through plantations of lemon and 
 orange trees. 
 
 In the fields and on all the paths we found the in- 
 dustrious population of China, constantly busied in trade 
 and agriculture ; villages with their qurve-roofed pago- 
 das, farms surrounded by thickets of bamboo and ba- 
 nana, inns and houses of refreshment at short intervals 
 along the roads, small tradesmen selling to travelers 
 fruit, fragments of sugar-cane, pastry made with cocoa- 
 nut oil, soups, rice, wine, tea, and an infinity of Chi- 
 nese dainties. All this brought back vividly the recol- 
 lection of our former travels in the Celestial Empire ; 
 but perhaps the strongest reminiscence was afforded by 
 the powerful odor of musk, with which China and the 
 Chinese are every where so much impregnated. 
 
 Travelers in remote countries have often remarked, 
 that most nations have an odor which is peculiar to 
 them. It is easy to distinguish the negro, the Malay, 
 the Tatar, the Thibetan, the Hindoo, the Arab, and the 
 Chinese. The country itself even, the soil on which 
 they dwell, diffuses an analogous exhalation, which is 
 especially observable in the morning, in passing either 
 through town or country; but a new-comer is much 
 
40 JOUKNKV TlinOKGII TIIK CIIINKSK KMIMKK. 
 
 more sensible of it than an old resident, as the sense of 
 smell becomes gradually so accustomed to it as no lon- 
 ger to perceive it. 
 
 The Chinese say they perceive also a peculiar odor 
 in an European, but one less powerful than that of the 
 other nations with whom they come in contact. It is 
 remarkable, however, that in traversing the various prov- 
 inces of China, we were never recognized by any one 
 except by the dogs, which barked continually at us, and 
 appeared to know that we were foreigners. We had 
 indeed completely the appearance of true Chinese, and 
 only an extremely delicate scent could discover that we 
 did not really belong to the " central nation." 
 
 We noticed on our way a great number of monu- 
 ments of a kind peculiar to China, and which alone 
 would suffice to distinguish this country from all oth- 
 ers ; namely, triumphal arches erected to widowhood or 
 virginity. When a girl will not marry, in order that 
 she may better devote herself to the service of her par- 
 ents, or if a widow refuses to enter the marriage state a 
 second time, out of respect to the memory of her de- 
 ceased husband, she is honored after death with especial 
 pomp. Subscriptions are raised for the erection of a 
 monument to her virtue, to which all the relations, and 
 even sometimes the inhabitants of the village or district 
 where the heroine has dwelt, contribute. These arches 
 are of wood or stone, covered with sculptures, sometimes 
 very well executed, of flowers, birds, and fabulous ani- 
 mals. Many of the ornaments and fanciful mouldings 
 would do no discredit to the artists who decorated our 
 finest cathedrals. On the front is usually an inscription 
 in honor of virginity or widowhood, as the case may be ; 
 and on the two sides are engraved in small letters the 
 virtue of the heroine in question. These arches, which 
 have a very fine effect, are frequent along the roads, and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 47 
 
 even in the towns. At Ning-Po, a celebrated seaport 
 in the province of Tche-Kiang^ there is a long street 
 entirely composed of such monuments, all of stone and 
 of a most rich and majestic architecture. The beauty 
 of the sculptures has excited the admiration of all Eu- 
 ropeans who have seen them ; in 1842, when the English 
 took the town, there was some talk of their carrying off 
 these triumphal arches, and making with them a com- 
 plete Chinese street in London. Such an enterprise 
 would have been worthy of British eccentricity, but 
 whether from fear of irritating the people of Ning-Po, 
 or from any other motive, the project was abandoned. 
 
 After two days' march through this populous country, 
 we seemed to have quite recovered our former famil- 
 iarity with it. China entered into us at every pore, and 
 our Tatar and Thibetan impressions gradually faded 
 away. At Khioung-tcheou, a town of the second order 
 and pleasantly situated, the inhabitants appeared to be 
 living in the greatest abundance. We were not, as on 
 former occasions, lodged in a public inn, but at a small 
 palace decorated with great richness and elegance, and 
 where we had only to do with people of exquisite po- 
 liteness, most strict observers of the rites or Chinese 
 etiquette. On our arrival, several Mandarins came to 
 receive us at the door, and introduced us into a brilliant 
 saloon in which we found a luxurious and elegantly 
 served collation. Hotels of this kind are called koung- 
 kouans, or communal palaces ; they are found from stage 
 to stage all along the road, and are reserved for the use 
 of the great Mandarins, when traveling on public serv- 
 ice. Ordinary travelers are rigidly excluded from them. 
 A Chinese family has the office of maintaining each of 
 them in good order, and of making the necessary ar- 
 rangements when a Mandarin is about to occupy it. 
 The expenses are paid by the governor of the town, 
 
48 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 and he appoints the domestics for the service of the 
 palace. The koung-kouans of the province of Sse- 
 tchouen are particularly renowned for this magnificence, 
 and they were completely renewed under the adminis- 
 tration of Ki-Chan, who was governor of the province 
 for several years, and whose actions all bear the stamp 
 of his noble and generous character. 
 
 We were somewhat astonished at first, to find our- 
 selves lodged in this lordly abode, where a splendid 
 banquet was served up to us, and where we were waited 
 on by domestics in rich silk attire. 
 
 We talked a good deal with the Mandarins of the 
 town, who had the courtesy to come and visit us ; and 
 the result of these conversations was the clear conviction 
 that we had been completely the dupes of the little Mus- 
 sulman mandarin the chief of our escort. According 
 to the orders of Ki-Chan, which had been forwarded in 
 writing to the chief tribunal of Ta-tsien-lou, we were to 
 be lodged every day in the communal palaces, and treat- 
 ed in all things like Mandarins of the first degree. In 
 regulating matters thus, Ki-Chan had doubtless, in the 
 first instance, followed the impulse of his own generos- 
 ity; but besides this, he had also probably, from a very 
 excusable patriotic pride, wished to give us strangers a 
 high idea of the grandeur of his country ; he had wished 
 that we should be able to say that we had been received 
 in China with brilliant hospitality. But Ki-Chan had 
 reckoned without his little Mussulman, who did not par- 
 ticularly care about making the Empire and the Mant- 
 chou dynasty shine in the eyes of the two strangers, 
 and who had some little views of his own, connected 
 with our commissariat department. He had an under- 
 standing with the courier, who preceded us always by a 
 day's journey, and who declared to the Mandarins of all 
 the towns we passed through, that we had absolutely 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 49 
 
 refused to be lodged in the koung-kouans from some 
 caprice common among the men of our nation, who 
 never could be got to conform to the customs of the 
 central Empire. He requested, therefore, that they 
 would let him have the orders for our reception at the 
 various palaces, and he would then undertake to provide 
 for us in a manner more suitable to our taste and wishes. 
 The Mandarins and the keepers of the koung-kouan' 
 were, on their side, of course not unwilling to comply 
 witli a request that would save them all anxiety and 
 trouble ; and if our peculiar tastes led us to prefer lodg- 
 ing at poor inns and living on rice and water, salt herbs 
 and bacon, if wine was too heating and injurious to our 
 "Western stomachs, and that we found very poor weak 
 tea agree with us better, they of course could have no 
 objection. 
 
 In this manner our cunning little Mussulman foiuid 
 means to maintain us for about -a tenth of the sum 
 allowed him for the purpose, and quietly to pocket the 
 balance. This discovery was of the greatest importance 
 to us ; for it made us acquainted both with the extent 
 of our rights, and the value of the individual to whose 
 care we had been confided. 
 
 When we were about to retire to rest, our attention 
 was attracted by the behavior of some of the keepers 
 of the palace, who kept hovering about us in what 
 seemed a very mysterious manner. Presently they ad- 
 dressed to us a few words, insignificant enough in them- 
 selves, but which expressed their desire to enter into 
 communication with us. At length one of them, after 
 having looked well on all sides, to make sure that he 
 was not perceived, came after us into our room, shut 
 the door, and them kneeling down, made the sign of the 
 cross and asked our blessing. He was a Christian. 
 Soon there came a second and a third, and at last the 
 
 VOL. L C 
 
CO JOUltNEY TllKOUlill T11K ( IIINKSK E 
 
 whole family which had the care of the koung-kouan 
 was assembled round us. They were all Christians ; but 
 during the whole day they had not, for fear of compro- 
 mising themselves before the Mandarins, been able, l<> 
 make any demonstration to that effect. 
 
 It is impossible to form any idea of the emotions this 
 inciu- nt awakened in our minds ! The present writer 
 can not now, after the lapse of six years, recall it with- 
 out feeling his heart beat quicker and the tears rush into 
 his eyes. 
 
 These men were entirely unknown to us, yet we felt 
 immediately toward them like brothers and friends. 
 Their thoughts and feelings were in harmony Avith ours ; 
 we could speak to them with open hearts, for Ave were 
 closely united by the bonds of faith, hope, and charity. 
 This inestimable happiness of finding brothers every 
 Avhere is only for Catholics. They alone can traverse 
 the earth from north to south and from east to west, and 
 feel secure of finding every Avhere some member of the 
 great family. 
 
 There is much talk of uniA^ersal fraternity ; but let 
 those Avho have it in their hearts, and not merely on 
 their lips, exert themselves in the beautiful Avork of the 
 propagation of the faith. 
 
 On the day before our departure AVC received a great 
 number of visitors, all belonging to the highest society 
 of Khioung-tcheou. While AVC resided at the mission 
 AVC had been mostly in communication Avith the loAvcr 
 classes ; in the country with peasants, in the town Avith 
 artisans, for in China, as eA r ery Avhere else, it is among 
 the people that Christianity first strikes root. We Avcrc 
 happy therefore to have this opportunity of forming an 
 acquaintance Avith the higher classes of this curious na- 
 tion. The Avell-bred Chinese are very pleasing in their 
 manners. Their politeness is not fatiguing and tiresome 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 51 
 
 as is sometimes supposed, but has really something fas- 
 cinating in it, and only falls into affectation with the 
 pretenders to elegance, who know little of refined soci- 
 ety. Their conversation is sometimes even intelligent 
 and witty, and though the compliments, and elaborate 
 eulogistic speeches they make one another, are somewhat 
 wearisome at first, you soon become in some measure 
 reconciled to them, by the grace with which they are 
 uttered. There was especially a group of young men 
 among our visitors, who excited our admiration ; their 
 behavior was modest, though unconstrained, showing a 
 mixture of timidity and confidence which suited their 
 age perfectly. They spoke little, and only when they 
 were first spoken to, but showed their interest in the 
 conversation by the animation of their faces and their 
 graceful gestures. Their fans too were managed by our 
 guests with so much elegance and dexterity, that they 
 were quite becoming. Of course we also had on our 
 best manners, in order to show that French urbanity 
 was not inferior to the ceremonious politeness of China. 
 When we set off again, we remarked that our escort 
 was much more numerous than usual. Our palanquins 
 proceeded between a double line of lancers on horseback, 
 whom it appeared the governor of Khioung-tchcou had 
 given us to protect us from robbers. These robbers 
 were the smugglers of opium, and we were informed that 
 for several years past they had come in great numbers to 
 the province of Yun-nan, and even as far as Birmah, to 
 fetch the opium sent to them from India. They came 
 back with their contraband goods quite openly, but armed 
 to the teeth, in order to be able to defy the Mandarins 
 who might oppose their passage. Instances were men- 
 tioned to us, of murderous combats in which both sides 
 had fought desperately, the one to keep, the other to 
 get, the smuggled goods ; for Chinese soldiers are only 
 
52 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'IUK. 
 
 valiant against robbers and smugglers when they hope 
 to get possession of the booty themselves. When these 
 armed bands of opium traders meet any rich travelers 
 on the road, they seldom fail to do a little more business 
 by attacking and plundering them. 
 
 Every body is aware of the unfortunate passion of 
 the Chinese for opium, and of the Avar this fatal drug 
 occasioned in 1840, between China and England. Its 
 importance in the Celestial Empire is of rather recent 
 date, but there is no trade in the world the progress of 
 which has been so rapid. Two agents of the East India 
 Company were the first who, in the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, conceived the deplorable thought of 
 sending to China the opium of Bengal. Colonel Watson 
 and Vice-Pesident Wheeler are the persons to whom 
 the Chinese are indebted for this new system of poison- 
 ing. History has preserved the name of Parmentier ;* 
 why should it not also those of these two men ? Who- 
 ever has done either great good or great harm to man- 
 kind ought to be remembered, to excite either gratitude 
 or indignation. 
 
 At present China purchases annually of the English 
 opium of the amount of seven millions sterling; the 
 traffic is contraband, but it is carried on along the whole 
 coast of the Empire, and especially in the neighbor- 
 hood of the five ports which have been opened to Eu- 
 ropeans. Large fine vessels, armed like ships of war, 
 serve as depots to the English merchants, and the trade 
 is protected, not only by the English government, but 
 also by the Mandarins of the Celestial Empire. The 
 law which forbids the smoking of opium under pain of 
 death, has indeed never been repealed ; but every body 
 smokes away quite at his ease notwithstanding. Pipes, 
 
 * A distinguished French chemist, who introduced the culture of 
 the ]iotato into France, after the famine of 1 769. TRANSL. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 lamps, and all the apparatus for smoking opium, are 
 sold publicly in every town, and the Mandarins them- 
 selves are the first to violate the law and give this bad 
 example to the people, even in the courts of justice. 
 During the whole of our long journey through China, we 
 met with but one tribunal where opium was not smoked 
 openly, and with impunity. 
 
 Opium is not smoked in the same manner as tobacco. 
 The pipe is a tube of nearly the length and thickness 
 of an ordinary flute. Toward one end of it is fitted a 
 bowl of baked clay or some other material, more or less 
 precious, which is pierced with a hole communicating 
 with the interior of the tube. The opium, which before 
 smoking is in the form of a blackish viscous paste, is 
 prepared in the following manner: A portion, of the 
 size of a pea, is put on a needle, and heated over a lamp 
 until it swells and acquires the requisite consistence. 
 It is then placed over the hole in the bowl of the pipe, 
 in the form of a little cone that has been previously 
 pierced with a needle so as to communicate with the in- 
 terior of the tube. The opium is then brought to the 
 flame of the lamp, and after three or four inspirations 
 the little cone is entirely burned, and all the smoke 
 passes into the mouth of the smoker, who then rejects 
 it again through his nostrils. Afterward the same 
 operation is repeated ; so that this mode of smoking is 
 extremely tedious. The Chinese prepare and smoke 
 their opium lying down, sometimes on one side, some- 
 times on the other, saying that this is the most favor- 
 able position ; and the smokers of distinction do not 
 give themselves all the trouble of the operation, but 
 have their pipes prepared for them. 
 
 At Canton, at Macao, and at other ports open to 
 European commerce, we have heard people attempt to 
 justify the trade in opium, by the assertion that its ef- 
 
:,i JorKXKY TiiuorGii THE CIIINKSI; KMI-IUK. 
 
 fects were not so bad as was supposed ; and that, as 
 with fermented liquors and many other substances, the. 
 abuse only was injurious. A moderate use of opium, it 
 was said, Avas rather beneficial to the feeble and lym- 
 phatic Chinese. Those who speak thus, however, arc 
 commonly dealers in opium, and it is easy to suppose 
 that they seek by all possible arguments to quiet their 
 consciences, which can hardly fail to tell them they arc 
 committing a bad action. But the spirit of trade and 
 the thirst of gold completely blind these men, who, with 
 this exception, are generous in their conduct, keep their 
 purses always open to the unfortunate, and are prompt 
 in every good work. These rich speculators live habit- 
 ually in the midst of gayety and splendor, and think 
 little of the frightful consequences of their detestable 
 traffic. When from their superb palace-like mansions 
 on the sea-shore, they see their beautiful vessels return- 
 ing from the Indies, gliding majestically over the waves, 
 and entering with all their sails spread into the port-, 
 they do not reflect that the cargoes borne in these su- 
 perb clippers, are bringing ruin and desolation to num- 
 bers of families. With the exception of some rare 
 smokers who thanks to a quite exceptional organiza- 
 tion ! are able to restrain themselves within the bounds 
 of moderation, all others advance rapidly toward death, 
 after having passed through the successive stages of 
 idleness, debauchery, poverty, the ruin of their physical 
 strength, and the complete prostration of their intel- 
 lectual and moral faculties. Nothing can stop a smoker 
 who has made much progress in this habit ; incapable 
 of attending to any kind of business, insensible to every 
 event the most hideous poverty, and the sight of a 
 family plunged into despair and misery, can not rouse 
 him to the smallest exertion, so complete is the disgust- 
 ing apathy in which he is sunk. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 5i> 
 
 For several years past, some of the southern prov- 
 inces have been actively engaged in the cultivation of 
 the poppy and the fabrication of opium. The English 
 merchants confess that the Chinese product is of excel- 
 lent quality, though inferior to that of Bengal ; but the 
 English opium suffers so much adulteration before it 
 reaches the pipe of the smoker, that it is not in reality 
 as good as what the Chinese themselves prepare. The 
 latter, however, though delivered perfectly pure, is sold 
 at a low price, and only consumed by smokers of the 
 lowest class. That of the English, notwithstanding its 
 adulteration, is very dear, and reserved to smokers of 
 distinction ; a caprice which can only be accounted for 
 from the vanity of the rich Chinese, who would think it 
 beneath them to smoke tobacco of native production, 
 and not of a ruinous price ; that which comes from a 
 long way off must evidently be preferable. 
 
 " Tutto il mondo ej'atto come la nostrafamiylla." 
 
 It may be easily foreseen, however, that this state of 
 things can not last ; and it is probable that the Chinese 
 will soon cultivate the poppy on a large scale, and make 
 at home all the opium necessary for their consumption. 
 The English can not possibly offer an equally good ar- 
 ticle at the same price ; and when the fashion at present 
 in their favor shall have altered, they will no longer be 
 able to sustain the competition. When that happens, 
 British India will experience a terrible blow, that may 
 possibly even be felt in the English metropolis, and 
 then, who knows whether the passion of the Chinese 
 for this fatal drug may not decline ? It would be by 
 no means surprising if, when they can procure opium 
 easily and at a low price, they should gradually aban- 
 don this degrading and murderous habit. 
 
 It is said that the people of London, and many of the 
 
56 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 great manufacturing towns of England, have been for 
 some time addicted to the use of opium, both in its 
 liquid and solid form ; but the circumstance has at- 
 tracted little attention, though the progress of the habit 
 is alarming. Curious and instructive would it be, in- 
 deed, if we should one day see the English going to 
 buy opium in the ports of China, and their ships bring- 
 ing back from the Celestial Empire this deleterious 
 stuff, to poison England. Well might we exclaim in 
 such a case, "Leave judgment to God!" 
 
 After quitting the communal palace of Khioung-tcheou 
 we crossed a magnificent plain, in which we saw the 
 Chinese population displaying all the resources of their 
 agricultural and commercial industry. As we advanced 
 the roads became broader, the villages more numerous, 
 and the houses better built and more elegantly decor- 
 ated. The short garments worn by the people gave way 
 to long robes of state, and the physiognomies of travel- 
 ers bore the impress of a higher civilization. Among 
 the peasants, with their large straw hats and sandals, 
 appeared a great number of Chinese exquisites, with 
 their lounging and affected deportment, playing contin- 
 ually with their fans, and protecting their pale, mealy 
 complexions from the sun with little parasols of var- 
 nished paper. Every thing announced to us that we 
 were not far off Tchingtou-tbu, the capital of the prov- 
 ince of Sse-tchouen. Before entering the town, our con- 
 ductor invited us to rest for a short time in a Bonze 
 monastery that we came to on the road. In the mean 
 while, he said he would go himself, according to Chinese 
 ceremonial, to present himself to the viceroy and ask 
 his pleasure respecting us. The superior of the convent 
 came to receive us, with a profusion of salutations, and 
 introduced us into an immense saloon, where a repast 
 . was served of tea, dried fruits, pastry of all colors, fried 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 57 
 
 in sesame oil, which the Chinese call hiang-yoii ; that 
 is, odoriferous. 
 
 Several monks of the monastery assisted their supe- 
 rior in entertaining us, and keeping up the conversation ; 
 but we did not perceive among these Bonzes the frank- 
 ness and sincerity of religious conviction that we had 
 found among the Lamas of Thibet and Tartary. Their 
 manners were full of courtesy indeed, and their long 
 ash-colored robes irreproachable ; but we could not dis- 
 cover many signs of faith or devotion in their skeptical 
 and cunning faces. 
 
 This Bonze monastery is one of the richest and best- 
 maintained in China; and after we had taken tea, the 
 superior invited us to go over it. The solidity of the 
 building and the richness of its decoration attracted our 
 attention ; but we admired especially the gardens, groves, 
 and park by which it is surrounded. Nothing fresher 
 or prettier can be imagined. We stopped for some mo- 
 ments on the borders of a large fish-pond, where great 
 numbers of turtle were sporting amidst the broad leaves 
 of the water-lily which floated on the surface of the wa- 
 ter. Another pond, smaller than the first, was full of 
 black and red fish ; and a young Bonze, whose great 
 ears stuck out comically on each side of his newly shaven 
 pate, was amusing himself by throwing them little pel- 
 lets of rice-paste ; for which they appeared excessively 
 eager, crowding to the surface and opening their mouths 
 to receive them. 
 
 After this delightful walk, we were taken to the re- 
 ception-room of the monastery, where we found several 
 visitors, and among them a young man of lively, easy 
 manners, and remarkable volubility of tongue, whom, 
 before he had spoken many words, AVC discovered to be 
 a Christian. "You are undoubtedly," said we to him, t 
 "of the religion of the Lord of heaven?" For an an- 
 
 C* 
 
58 J<)1 KXKY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 swer he threw himself on his knees before us and asked 
 our blessing. Such an act, in the presence of the Bon- 
 zes and of a crowd of curious persons, indicated both a 
 lively faith and great courage ; and in fact he was a 
 man of very strong mind. He began, without the 
 smallest hesitation, to speak of the numerous Christians 
 in the capital, of the quarters of the town in which there 
 were most, and of the happiness it was to him to have 
 met us ; he then made a bold attack upon paganism and 
 pagans, defended the doctrines and practices of Chris- 
 tianity, appealed to the Bonzes themselves, rallied them 
 on their idols and superstitions, and summed up with 
 an estimate of the value of the theological books of Con- 
 fucius, Lao-tze, and Buddha. It was a flood of words 
 that seemed as if it would never stop ; the Bonzes were 
 disconcerted at such an impetuous attack ; the specta- 
 tors laughed, and looked pleased ; and we could not, on 
 our side, help being quite proud of seeing a Chinese 
 Christian proclaiming and defending his faith in public. 
 It was a thing as rare as it was delightful. 
 
 During the long monologue of our Christian orator 
 there was frequent mention made of a French embassy 
 that had arrived at Canton, and of a certain great per- 
 sonage named La-ko-nie* who in concert with the Im- 
 perial Commissioner Ky-yn, had arranged the affairs of 
 the Christians in China. In future it was said there 
 were to be no more persecutions of them ; the Emperor 
 approved their doctrine, and took them under his pro- 
 tection, etc., etc. 
 
 We did not place any great reliance upon all that, 
 but we endeavored to make out what it really meant. 
 Having, however, few data to proceed upon, we did not 
 
 * The Chinese name of M. de Lagrenee. This French embassy had 
 arrived during our long journeys through Tartary, and this was the first 
 time we had heard it mentioned. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 59 
 
 succeed in unraveling all these enigmas ; and just as we 
 were about to ask more precise explanations from our 
 fluent orator, four Mandarins Avho had arrived from the 
 capital, invited us to enter our palanquins and resume 
 our journey. 
 
 The bearers carried us at a run and without stopping 
 to take breath, as far as the walls of the town, where 
 we found the soldiers of our escort awaiting us. The 
 precaution was by no means unnecessary, for without 
 this help it- would have been impossible for us to get 
 through the streets, so compact and dense was the 
 throng that impeded our passage. Our hearts beat 
 somewhat quicker than usual, for we knew that we were 
 about to be brought to trial by order of the Emperor. 
 
 Were we to be sent to Pekin, to Canton, or to an- 
 other world? There had been nothing to alarm us 
 hitherto ; but in the absolute uncertainty of what we 
 had to expect, it was pardonable that we should expe- 
 rience a little emotion. 
 
 At length we arrived in front of a great tribunal, on 
 the massive portals of which were painted two monstrous 
 divinities armed with great swords. The two enormous 
 folding-doors were thrown open, and we entered, not 
 without a thought of in what manner we were to go out 
 again. 
 
 From Ta-tsien-lou, the frontier town, to Tching-tou- 
 fou,* the capital of Sse-tchouen, we had made twelve 
 days' march, and had traversed nearly a thousand li, 
 equivalent to about three hundred English miles. 
 
 * Fou signifies in China, a town of the first order ; tcheou, of the 
 second ; tsien, of the third : these three orders of towns are always in- 
 closed by ramparts. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Conversation with the Prefect of the Garden of Flowers Lodgings in 
 the Court of Justice Invitation to Dinner with the two Prefects of 
 the Town Conversation with two Persons of Distinction Two 
 Mandarins of Honor assigned to amuse us Solemn Judgment he- 
 fore the assembled Tribunals Various Incidents of the Trial Re- 
 port addressed to the Emperor concerning us, and the Emperor's An- 
 swer Imperial Edicts in favor of Christians, obtained by the French 
 Embassy in China Insufficiency of these Edicts Appearance before 
 the Viceroy Portrait of this Personage Dispatch of the Viceroy to 
 the Emperor Conversation with the Viceroy. 
 
 THE capital of the province of Sse-tchouen is divided 
 into three prefectures, charged with the police and ad- 
 ministrative duties for the whole town, Every prefect 
 has a tribunal palace, where he judges the affairs of his 
 own jurisdiction ; and there he dwells with his family, 
 his counselors, scribes, satellites, and his numerous do- 
 mestics. The prefectural tribunal unto which we were 
 now introduced, is called lloa-yuen, that is to say, the 
 Garden of Flowers ; and it was therefore with this flow- 
 ery prefect that we had first to do. He was a Manda- 
 rin of about forty years of age, short, broad, and round ; 
 his face was like a great ball of fat, his nose buried and 
 his eyes eclipsed, so that he seemed to have only two 
 little slits to look through. 
 
 When he entered the apartment in Avhich we were 
 awaiting his pleasure, he found us reading some sen- 
 tences in Mantchou with which the Avails were deco- 
 rated, and asked us in a very affable manner whether 
 we understood that language. "We answered that we 
 had studied it a little, and at the same time we endeav- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 61 
 
 ored to translate into Chinese, the Mantchou distich 
 that we had before us, which signified : 
 
 " If you are in solitude, be careful to meditate on your own faults. 
 If you are conversing with men, be careful not to speak of the faults 
 of your neighbors." 
 
 The prefect of the Garden of Flowers, "being by birth a 
 Mantchou Tartar, was at first astonished, and then ex- 
 tremely flattered, to find that we understood the lan- 
 guage of his country, that of the conquerors of China, 
 and of the Imperial family. His funny little squeezed- 
 up eyes twinkled with pleasure, and he made us sit 
 down on a red satin divan and talk to him. The con- 
 versation had no relation to our affairs. We spoke of 
 literature, of geography, of the winds, of snows, of bar- 
 barous countries and civilized countries. He asked us 
 many particulars concerning our manner of traveling 
 from Ta-tsien-lou, whether it was true that as far as 
 Khioung-tcheou we had been lodged in public inns, 
 etc., and after strongly inveighing against our Mussul- 
 man Mandarin, announced to us that he was going to 
 have us conducted to the house appointed for our resi- 
 dence. 
 
 At the door of the prefecture we found, not our trav- 
 eling palanquins, but others, larger, more convenient 
 and more elegant ; and our attendants also had been 
 changed. 
 
 The dwelling assigned to us was at a considerable 
 distance, and it was necessary, in order to reach it, to 
 traverse the principal districts of the town. At last we 
 reached a tribunal of the second class, where resides a 
 Mandarin, whose office a good deal resembles that of 
 the Juge de Paix, in France. We shall have occasion 
 in the sequel to say more of this Mandarin and his fam- 
 ily. After having exchanged a few polite phrases with 
 the master of the house, we were installed in our apart- 
 
G'2 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 ments, which were composed of a sleeping-room, and a 
 saloon for receiving visitors, for each of us; but besides 
 this the whole tribunal, with all its courts and gardens, 
 and a charming belvedere that overlooked the town, and 
 whence the view extended far into the country, were 
 placed at our disposal. 
 
 The night had long closed in ; and we were left to 
 ourselves, with leisure to meditate on the singularity of 
 our position. What a drama had our existence been 
 for the last two years! Our peaceable departure from 
 the Valley of Black Waters,* with Samdadchiemba, our 
 camels, and our blue tent ; our encampments and our 
 patriarchial life in the grassy wastes of Tartary ; the fa- 
 mous Lama monastery of Kounboom, and our long in- 
 tercourse with the religious Buddhists ; the great cara- 
 van of Thibet, the horrors and sufferings of that terrible 
 journey through the deserts of High Asia; our abode 
 at Lha-ssa; and those three frightful months, during 
 which we had to climb mountains of snow and ice and 
 scale precipices ; all these events, all these recollections 
 came crowding upon us at once so as almost to take away 
 our senses. And all was not yet over: we were now, 
 we thought, alone in the hands of the Chinese, without 
 protection, helpless and friendless. But we were wrong ; 
 we had God for a friend and protector. There are cer- 
 tain situations in life when, if we lose our trust in 
 God, we must fall into despair; but when we place our 
 whole reliance upon Him, we become inspired with in- 
 domitable courage. The Almighty, we said, many times 
 has saved our lives in the most miraculous manner in 
 Tartary and Thibet; it is not likely He would do that, 
 to allow a Chinese afterward to dispose of us at his 
 pleasure; and we concluded that we might make our- 
 selves perfectly easy, and allow our little affairs to be 
 * See Recollections of a Journey, etc. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 63 
 
 disposed of as best pleased his providence. The night 
 was far advanced ; we said our prayers, which, strictly 
 speaking, might have been the morning ones, and then 
 we lay down in peace. 
 
 On the following morning there was brought to us 
 from the prefect a large sheet of red paper, which proved 
 to be an invitation to dinner; and when the hour had 
 arrived, we once more entered our palanquins and were 
 carried to his house. 
 
 The tribunals of the Mandarins have seldom any 
 thing very remarkable about them in an architectural 
 point of view; the edifice is always low, consisting of 
 only one floor; and the roof, which is loaded with orna- 
 ments and little flags, alone indicates its public charac- 
 ter. It is always surrounded by a great wall, almost as 
 high as the building itself. Within this inclosure you 
 see vast courts and halls, and often gardens, which are 
 by no means unattractive; but the only thing which 
 bears the stamp of grandeur is a series of four or five 
 stately portals, placed in the same direction, and sepa- 
 rating the different courts. These portals are orna- 
 mented with grand historical or mythological figures, 
 coarsely painted, but always with very striking colors. 
 When all these great folding-doors are opened in suc- 
 cession with great noise and display, at the extremity 
 of this grand corridor, the hall where the judge is ad- 
 minstering, or rather selling, justice, the effect on the 
 imagination of a Chinese must be very striking. 
 
 On a raised platform in this last hall is placed a large 
 table covered with red cloth, and on the two sides of 
 the apartment are seen all kinds of weapons and instru- 
 ments suspended to the walls. The Mandarin is seated 
 behind the table, the scribes, counselors, and subaltern 
 officers standing round him. Below the platform is the 
 place reserved for the public, as well as for the accused, 
 
.-.I JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 and for the functionaries whose business it is to torture 
 the unfortunate victims of Chinese justice. Behind this 
 hall of audience are the private apartments of the Man- 
 darin andliis family. 
 
 Very often the tribunal is used also for a prison, and 
 the condemned cells are placed in the iirst court. We 
 saw here, when we entered, a crowd of unfortunate crim- 
 inals, with livid faces and wasted limbs, scarcely covered 
 by a few rags. They were crouching in the sunshine ; 
 some had on their shoulders an enormous cangue, a sort 
 of movable pillory ; others were loaded with chains ; and 
 some had only fetters on their hands and feet. 
 
 The prefect of the Garden of Flowers did not make 
 us wait long. As soon as we had entered, he presented 
 himself, and introduced us to the dining-room, where we 
 found a fourth guest, the prefect of the third district of 
 the town. A single glance served to recognize in him 
 the type of the true Chinese. He was of middling 
 height and sufficiently plump. His features were more 
 delicate than those of his Mantchou Tartar colleague, but 
 inferior in penetration and intelligence ; his eyes were 
 suspicious in their expression, and not so much arch as 
 wicked. 
 
 We were seated at a square table, missionary opposite 
 to missionary, and prefect to prefect ; and, according to 
 Chinese custom, the dinner began with the dessert. We 
 amused ourselves a long while with the fruit and pre- 
 serves, and our little glasses were kept continually filled 
 with warm wine. The conversation was supposed to 
 be quite free and easy ; but we were not long in per- 
 ceiving that our two magistrates were trying to subject 
 us to an examination, without our perceiving it. This 
 they found no very easy matter. We had been invited to 
 dinner, and so we intended to dine in pence and as gayly 
 as possible; and \vr were, therefore, obstinately and ma- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 6& 
 
 liciously bent on never going the way they wanted to 
 drive us ; and when they thought they had just got us, 
 we suddenly slipped aside, and made an innocent in- 
 quiry about the rice harvest, or the number of dynasties 
 counted in the Chinese monarchy. What especially 
 annoyed them was that sometimes we involuntarily fell 
 into speaking French between ourselves, and then they 
 glanced at us and each other with such eager anxiety, 
 that they seemed to be trying to seize with their eyes 
 the meaning that escaped their ears. The dinner passed, 
 therefore, in a very amusing manner ; and as it had be- 
 gun with the dessert, it may be considered to have been 
 quite in order that it ended with the soup. 
 
 We then rose from table ; every one took his pipe, 
 and tea was served. The Mantchou prefect left us for 
 a moment, but soon returned, carrying a European book 
 and a packet. He presented the book to us, and asked 
 us whether AVC were acquainted with it. It was an old 
 breviary. 
 
 " This is a Christian book," said we, " a prayer-book; 
 how comes it here ?" " I have lived a good deal among 
 Christians," was the reply; " and one of them made me 
 a present of it." 
 
 We looked at one another and smiled ; that was rather 
 more polite than saying, "You lie." "Here again," he 
 went on, "this was given me too;" and he opened an 
 old piece of silk stuff, in which the packet was wrapped, 
 and displayed a beautiful crucifix. The two prefects 
 must have observed the emotion we felt at the sight of 
 what were to us such memorable relics ; for on turning 
 over the breviary we had read on the first page the 
 name Monseigneur Dufraisse, Bishop of Tabraca and 
 Vicar Apostolic of the province of Sse-tchouen. This 
 holy and courageous bishop had suffered martyrdom in 
 the year 1815, in the town of Tching-tou-fou ; perhaps 
 
00 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 he had been condemned and put to the torture in the 
 very tribunal where we were now standing. 
 
 "These articles," said we to the Mandarins, "be- 
 longed to a Frenchman who was a chief of the Christian 
 religion, and whom you put to death in this very town, 
 thirty years ago. This man was a saint, and you killed 
 him like a malefactor." Our Mandarins appeared aston- 
 ished and confounded at hearing us speak of an event 
 that took place so long ago ; and, after a moment's si- 
 lence, one of them asked who could have deceived us 
 by relating so extraordinary a fable. " Probably," he 
 added, smiling, and in a careless tone, " they \vere only 
 joking with you." 
 
 "No," said we, "there is not much to joke about in 
 this business. It is known to all the nations in the 
 West that you have tortured and strangled a great num- 
 ber of Christian missionaries. Only a few years ago, 
 you put to death another Frenchman, one of our broth- 
 ers, at Ou-chang-fou* The two representatives of 
 Chinese justice protested aloud, stamped with their feet, 
 and maintained, with indescribable impudence, that our 
 information was false. This was, of course, not the 
 moment to insist upon its accuracy; and we, therefore, 
 contented ourselves with begging the prefect of the 
 Garden of Flowers to make us a present of the breviary 
 and the crucifix. But our entreaties failed of success. 
 This curious personage endeavored to make us believe 
 that he was keeping these things for a dear friend of 
 his, who was a Christian, and that to part with them 
 would be to violate all the rites of honor and friend- 
 ship; and thereupon he began to speak to us of the 
 numerous Christians existing in the province of Sse- 
 
 * The venerable Perboyre, missionary of the congregation of St. 
 Lu/.arc; martyred in 1840, at Ou-chang-fou, the capital of the province 
 
 (if //<>!!-}><?. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 67 
 
 tchouen, and to give us some interesting details con- 
 cerning them. 
 
 We had been aware that the Chinese Mandarins were 
 not ignorant of the progress of Christianity in their coun- 
 try ; that they knew the localities in which neophytes 
 were to be found, and that even the presence of numer- 
 ous missionaries was no mystery to them; we had sup- 
 posed that the Christians, cautious as they are, would 
 scarcely have been able to elude completely the vigil- 
 ance of the Chinese police, that even the times and 
 places of their meetings were well enough known ; but 
 we did not think that the Mandarins were quite as in- 
 timately acquainted with their affairs as we discovered 
 them to be. 
 
 At Lha-ssa the embassador Ki-Chan had informed 
 us, that in the province of Sse-tchouen we should find 
 many converts, and he even indicated the places where 
 they were to be met with in the greatest numbers. 
 During the time when he was viceroy of that province, 
 he had discovered that the environs of his own palace 
 were almost entirely inhabited by Christians, and he 
 could even sometimes hear the sound of their hymns, 
 Avhen they were singing on their festival days. " I 
 know too," he had added, "that the chief of all the 
 Christians in the province* is named Ma. I know the 
 house where he lives; every year he sends to Canton 
 for money and various articles of merchandise; and at 
 a certain time of the year, he goes to visit all the dis- 
 tricts where there are Christians. I never disturbed 
 him, because I have been assured that he is a virtuous 
 and charitable man." 
 
 It is evident from this, that if the Chinese wished to 
 seize on all the Christians and missionaries, it would 
 be no difficult matter ; but the Mandarins will not pro- 
 * Mgr. Perocheau, Bishop of Maxula. 
 
08 JOUKNKY THROUGH THE CHINESE KMl'lKK. 
 
 ceed to that extremity, for if they did they would iind 
 themselves overwhelmed with business that would bring 
 them no kind of profit, and they might even be ex- 
 posed to be degraded and sent to exile. The Emperor, 
 and the great tribunals at Pekin, would not fail to ac- 
 cuse them of negligence, and call them to account for 
 not having sooner been aware of what was passing in 
 their Mandarinates, and causing the laws of the Empire 
 to be put in force. 
 
 Thus the personal interest. of the magistrates is often, 
 for the Christians, the strongest guarantee of peace and 
 tranquillity. 
 
 The hour having come in which the prefect of the 
 Garden of Flowers had to administer justice, we took 
 our leave. The worthy Mantchou had had the com- 
 plaisance to treat us to an excellent dinner, and we 
 were grateful to him accordingly ; but we did not mean 
 to carry our gratitude so far as to give him the infor- 
 mation he wanted, and which he had hoped to obtain ; 
 so after having addressed each other reciprocally with 
 all sorts of salutations, and exhausted all the formulas 
 of Chinese politeness, we returned home. 
 
 During our absence our house had been set in order, 
 by command of the viceroy. Two clever and well-be- 
 haved young men had been appointed to be our valets de 
 chambre, and to two Mandarins of the lower class of the 
 " Gilt Copper Ball" had been assigned the office of keep- 
 ing us company, dissipating our ennui, and making them- 
 selves generally agreeable by the charms of their con- 
 versation. One of them, a most prodigious gabbler, 
 was, though young, quite decrepit from the immoderate 
 use of opium. The other was really old, and constantly 
 coughing and uttering great sighs, probably for the van- 
 ished joys of his youth. The first occupied himself 
 from morning till night with his pipe and his opium- 
 
JOURJS'EY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. GO 
 
 lamp ; the other sat crouched in a corner, picking out 
 seeds of the water-melon with his long nails, his little 
 withered hands looking exactly like those of an old 
 monkey. He ate a prodigious quantity of these seeds, 
 and moistened them with copious libations of tea, say- 
 ing that only this kind of diet suited the delicacy of his 
 temperament. 
 
 It may Ibe supposed that the conversational talents 
 of our two companions were not of the most brilliant 
 order ; in fact, the utmost they could do for us was to 
 make us regret the somewhat rough and rude manners 
 of our Tartar friends ; but fortunately we had, from time 
 to time, some visitors of distinction, whose refined and 
 elegant deportment served to remind us that we were in 
 the capital of the most civilized province perhaps of the 
 Celestial Empire. 
 
 Four days after our arrival at Tching-tou-fou it was 
 signified to us, at an early hour in the morning, that 
 the documents relating to us having been sufficiently 
 studied, we were to be brought to trial. This news, as 
 may well be supposed, was to us matter of great interest. 
 
 A trial in China, and by order of the Emperor, was 
 no trifle. Many of our now happy predecessors had 
 only entered the tribunals to be tortured, and left them 
 to suffer glorious martyrdom. This day, then, was to 
 be decisive of our fate, and to put an end to all anxieties 
 concerning the future, which for us had been so long en- 
 veloped in darkness. 
 
 Our position was not, however, the same as that of 
 the greater part of the missionaries who had had to ap- 
 pear before the Mandarins. We had not been arrested 
 in the Chinese territory, no Christian of the province had 
 been in any relation with us, no one was at all impli- 
 cated in our affairs, and we were sure that no one could 
 be compromised on our account. 
 
70 JOUKNKY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'lKE. 
 
 Samdadchiemba had been tlie only companion of our 
 fatigues and privations, the only witness of our desire 
 for the glory of God and the salvation of man. But 
 our dear neophyte was now no longer with us ; he was 
 in his own country, and sheltered from all danger. We 
 had only, therefore, to think of ourselves ; the Chinese 
 government had only our two heads to strike at, and 
 the question was much simplified. In this quite excep- 
 tional situation, we could, with God's help, present our- 
 selves before the court in a serene and equable state of 
 mind. 
 
 The general administration of each province is in- 
 trusted to two $se or commissioners, who have their 
 tribunals in the capital. These are the most important 
 after those of the viceroy. We were conducted to the 
 judgment hall of the first provincial commissioner, who 
 bears the title of Pou-tcliing-sse. His colleague, the 
 Ngan-tsha-sse, or Inspector of Crimes, a kind of attorney- 
 general, was associated with the principal Mandarins of 
 the town; for, as we were told, the trial was to be a 
 solemn and extraordinary one. 
 
 An immense crowd surrounded the tribunal ; among 
 this assemblage of the populace, eager to see the faces 
 of the "devils of the Western Sea," were a few sym- 
 pathetic-looking countenances, which seemed to say, 
 "You are in a very unfortunate position, and we can 
 do nothing for you." The dejection of these poor Cliris- 
 tians pained us, and gladly would we have infused into 
 their souls a little of the calmness and peace with which 
 our own were filled. The way was cleared by soldiers 
 armed with bamboos and rattans, the great doors were 
 opened, and we entered. We were placed in a small 
 waiting-room, with the two amiable companions that 
 had been assigned to us, and thence we could amuse 
 ourselves by contemplating the movement and the sen- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 71 
 
 sation that reigned in the tribunal. The Mandarins 
 who were to take part in the ceremonial arrived in suc- 
 cession, followed by suites of attendants, who had un- 
 commonly the appearance of gangs of thieves. The 
 satellites ran backward and forward, in their long red 
 robes, and hideous peaked hats of black felt or iron wire, 
 surmounted by long pheasant's feathers. They were 
 armed with long rusty swords, and carried chains, pin- 
 cer*, and various instruments of torture, of strong and 
 terrible forms. The Mandarins were collected in groups, 
 talking with one another, and interrupting themselves 
 frequently by bursts of laughter ; the subaltern officers, 
 scribes, and executioners, went and came, as if to give 
 themselves airs of importance ; and every one seemed to 
 anticipate a scene that would be curious and seasoned 
 by unaccustomed emotions. 
 
 All this agitation, and these interminable prepara- 
 tions, had in them something of extravagance and ex- 
 aggeration ; they were evidently intended to frighten 
 us. At length every one had found his place, and the 
 tumult was succeeded by a profound silence. A mo- 
 ment afterward a terrible cry, uttered by a great num- 
 ber of voices, was heard in the hall of audience ; it was 
 repeated three times, and our companions told us that 
 it was on the judges making their solemn entry and in- 
 stalling themselves in their seats. Two officers, deco- 
 rated with the Crystal Ball, then appeared, and made 
 us a sign to follow them. They came between us, our 
 companions placed themselves behind, and the two ac- 
 cused persons walked thus to judgment. 
 
 A great door was then suddenly opened, and we be- 
 held, at a glance, the numerous personages of this Chi- 
 nese performance. Twelve stone steps led up to the 
 vast inclosure where the judges were placed; on each 
 side of this staircase was a line of executioners in red 
 
72 JOrUM.Y TilKoKGlI TIIK CHINESE EMPIKE. 
 
 dresses ; and when the accused passed tranquilly through 
 their ranks, they all cried out with a loud voice, " Trem- 
 ble! Tremble!" and rattled their instruments of tor- 
 ture. We were stopped at about the middle of the 
 hall, and then eight officers of the court proclaimed in a 
 chanting voice the customary formula : "Accused! on 
 your knees! on your knees!" The accused remained 
 silent and motionless. The summons was repeated, but 
 there was still no alteration in their attitude. The two 
 officers with the Crystal Ball, now thought themselves 
 called on to come to our assistance, and pulled oiir arms 
 to help us to kneel down. But a solemn look and some 
 few emphatic words sufficed to make them let go their 
 hold. They even judged it expedient to retire a little, 
 and keep a respectful distance. 
 
 "Every empire," said we, addressing our judges, 
 "has its own customs and manners. When we ap- 
 peared before the embassador Ivi-Chan at Lha-ssa, we 
 remained standing ; and Ki-Chan considered that in do- 
 ing so we were only acting with reasonable conformity 
 to the customs of our country." 
 
 We waited for an answer from the president, but lit; 
 remained dumb. The other judges contented themselves 
 Avilh looking at us, and communicating among them- 
 selves by grimaces. The tribunal had apparently been 
 arranged and decorated expressly for the purpose of 
 giving us a high idea of the majesty of the Empire. 
 The walls were hung with red draperies, on which cer- 
 tain sentences were written in large black characters: 
 gigantic lanterns of the brightest colors were suspended 
 from the ceiling; and behind the seats of the judges 
 were seen the insignia of their dignity, borne by officers 
 in rich silk robes. The hall was surrounded by a great 
 number of soldiers in uniform and under arms, ami 
 along the. sides were seated a .select number -!' speeta- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 73 
 
 tors, who had probably obtained their places through 
 favor and patronage. 
 
 The Pou-tching-sse, or first provincial commissioner, 
 filled the office of president. He was a man of about 
 fifty years of age, with thick lips of a violet color, 
 flabby cheeks, a dirty white complexion, a square nose, 
 long flat shining ears, and a forehead deeply wrinkled. 
 His eyes were probably small and red ; but they were 
 so hidden behind large spectacles, which were tied in" 
 their place with a black string, that this could not 
 positively be ascertained. His costume was superb ; 
 on his breast glittered the large Imperial dragon, em- 
 broidered in gold and silver ; a globe of red coral, the 
 decoration of Mandarins of the first class, surmounted 
 his official cap ; and a long perfumed chaplet hung to 
 his neck. The other judges were attired in pretty near- 
 ly the same fashion, and they had all more or less gen- 
 uine Chinese faces, but none of them was comparable 
 to the president. His grand spectacles especially, pro- 
 duced on us an astounding effect, but perhaps not ex- 
 actly the kind of one he had calculated on. We saw 
 that this man was seeking to impose on us by a display 
 of his dignity. He had made no reply to the observa- 
 tion we had made when we refused to kneel down ; he 
 had not even made the slightest gesture, but had re- 
 mained, ever since we had entered, as motionless as a 
 statue. This somewhat burlesque behavior lasted long 
 enough to enable us to study quite at our ease the 
 curious society in which we found ourselves, and it was 
 so amusing that we began to gossip together in French, 
 though in a low voice, communicating to each other our 
 little momentary impressions. Had this lasted much 
 longer, it might have ended in upsetting our gravity; 
 but luckily the president made up his mind to break 
 his majestic silence. 
 VOL. I. D 
 
74 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMIMIJi:. 
 
 In a nasal, squeaking voice he began to speak, asking 
 us of what country we were. 
 
 "We are men of the French Empire." 
 
 " Why did you quit your noble country to come into 
 the Central Kingdom ?" 
 
 " To preach to the men of your illustrious Empire the 
 doctrine of the Lord of heaven." 
 
 " I have heard say that this doctrine is very sublime." 
 
 " That is true ; but the men of your nation are en- 
 dowed with intelligence, and with continued application 
 they may attain to the acquisition of this doctrine." 
 
 " You speak the language of Pekin ; where have you 
 learned it ?" 
 
 " In the north of the Empire ; the pronunciation is 
 best there." 
 
 "That is true, but where in the north? Who was 
 your master ?" 
 
 "Every one; we learned a little here, and a little 
 there, by speaking and hearing it spoken." 
 
 After these few questions the president called an at- 
 tendant, and ordered him to bring a little casket, care- 
 fully enveloped in skins and sealed in several places 
 with large red seals. He then opened it before us with 
 much solemnity, and showed us what it contained. We 
 recollected then that, when we were at Lha-ssa, and the 
 embassador Ki-Chan had examined our trunks, he had 
 expressed a wish to keep some articles by way of vouch- 
 ers, and we had given him some letters, and a few little 
 translations from Tartar and Chinese books. The pres- 
 ident now displayed these papers before us, inquiring 
 at the same time whether any thing was wanting ; and 
 in order to assist us in giving an accurate reply, he 
 furnished us with an exact list, made at Lha-ssa, and 
 signed by Ki-Chan and ourselves. Nothing was miss- 
 ing ; and they made us sign a declaration to that effect, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 75 
 
 drawn up in French and Chinese. We could not but 
 admire the exactness and regularity with which all this 
 was done. 
 
 While the president was interrogating us, which he 
 did with apparent good-nature and affability, we re- 
 marked that the person seated on his right hand, his 
 Ngan-tcha-sse, or Inspector of Crimes, a kind of at- 
 torney-general, a wrinkled old man with a face like a 
 polecat, who rocked himself about, muttered continually 
 between his teeth, and seemed vexed at the turn the 
 discussion was taking. After finishing the examination 
 of the little casket, the president became again silent 
 and motionless as before, and the malicious public ac- 
 cuser began to speak. He made great use of his oppor- 
 tunity ; discoursed with great volubility concerning the 
 majesty of the Celestial Empire, and the inviolability 
 of its territory; reproached us with our audacity, with 
 our vagabondizing life about the provinces and among 
 the tributary nations ; and then fired off at us a volley 
 of questions, which certainly proved his eager desire to 
 become acquainted with every particular concerning us. 
 He asked who had introduced us to the Empire ; with 
 whom we had entered into any relation ; whether there 
 were many European missionaries in China, where they 
 lived, what resources they could command for their sub- 
 sistence ; and finally, a crowd of questions that appeared 
 to us exceedingly impertinent. His tone and manner, 
 too, were by no means in accordance with politeness 
 and " the rites ;" and it became necessary to give this 
 man a lesson, and moderate his impetuosity. While 
 he was perorating at a great rate, and allowing his elo- 
 quence to overflow into all sorts of subjects, we listened 
 to him with great calmness and patience. When he 
 had finished, we said to him: "We men of the West, 
 you see, like to discuss matters of business with cool- 
 
76 JOUKNKY THROUGH THE ( HINKSi; KMI'IUK. 
 
 ness and method ; but your language has been so diffuse 
 and violent, that we have scarcely been able to make 
 out your meaning. Be so good as to begin again, and 
 express your thoughts more clearly and more peaceably." 
 
 These wqrds, pronounced with great slowness and grav- 
 ity, had all the effect we could have desired ; whispers 
 and significant smiles began to circulate through the as- 
 sembly, and the judges cast jocose glances at the *' In- 
 spector of Crimes," who was evidently quite disconcert- 
 ed. He wished to resume liis speech ; but his ideas 
 had become so confused, that he did not seem to know 
 what he had been saying. 
 
 We then addressed the president, saying that, as we 
 found nothing bnt disorder and confusion in the speech 
 of the Inspector of Crimes, we could not possibly reply 
 to it; and begging that he would himself continue the 
 examination, as "We men of the West admired dignity 
 and precision of language." 
 
 These words tickled the vanity of the president ; he 
 returned to us our cajolery with interest; and at last 
 inquired who had brought us to China, and with whom 
 we had lodged. 
 
 " Our hearts are saddened," we replied, "that we are 
 not able to satisfy you on this point. We will speak to 
 you of ourselves as much as you please; but of those 
 who have been in relation with us, never a word. Our 
 resolution on that point has been long since taken, and 
 there is no human power capable of inducing us to alter 
 it." 
 
 "But you must answer!" cried the Inspector of 
 Crimes, gesticulating violently; "you must answer! 
 How else would truth be found in this investigation ?" 
 
 "The president has questioned us in a noble and au- 
 thoritative manner, and we have replied to him with 
 simplicity and frankness. As for you, Inspector of 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 77 
 
 Crimes, we have already said that we do not understand 
 you." 
 
 The Assessor of the Left here cut short the dispute 
 by giving us a large sheet of paper to examine. It 
 contained nothing but an alphabet of European letters 
 coarsely drawn. Probably it had been obtained in the 
 pillage of some Christian establishment, where young- 
 Chinese were being brought up to the ecclesiastical pro- 
 fession. 
 
 "Do you know that paper?" asked the Assessor. 
 
 " Yes. They are the twenty-four radical signs, with 
 which all the words of our language are constructed." 
 
 " Can you read them, and let us hear the sound of 
 them ?" 
 
 One of us had then the complaisance to repeat sol- 
 emnly his ABC; and during the time, each of the 
 judges drew from his boot, which in China often serves 
 for a pocket, a copy of the alphabet, in which the pro- 
 nunciation of every European letter had been given, bet- 
 ter or worse, in Chinese characters. It seems that this 
 incident had been concerted and prepared beforehand. 
 
 Every judge had his eyes intently fixed upon the 
 paper, and doubtless promised himself to make in this 
 one lesson great progress in a European language. The 
 Assessor of the Left, keeping his eyes and the fore- 
 finger of his right hand fixed on the first letter, and ad- 
 dressing himself to the one of the prisoners who had 
 just said ABC, begged him to repeat the letters 
 slowly, and pause a little on each. 
 
 The prisoner, however, making four steps forward, 
 and politely extending his alphabet toward the philolog- 
 ical judge, observed : 
 
 " I had thought we came here to submit to trial; but 
 it seems we came to be schoolmasters, and you to be 
 our scholars." 
 
78 JOURNEY THROUGH T1IK CHINKSK K.Ml'IKK. 
 
 A peal of laughter shook the assembly, in which the 
 solemn president, and even the Inspector of Crimes, 
 took part ; and thus terminated their lesson in our lan- 
 guage. 
 
 It will be observed that this terrible trial had been 
 gradually assuming a less formidable and more amusing 
 aspect. The poor accused persons might at least hope 
 there was now no intention of tearing their flesh with 
 red-hot pincers, or sticking sharp reeds under their 
 nails. The faces of the executioners assumed a less 
 ferocious expression, and the instruments of torture be- 
 gan to look very much like an idle parade. 
 
 The president then asked us, what good it was to the 
 French to come and make Christians in China? what 
 advantage they could hope for from it ? " Material ad- 
 vantage ? None ! France has no need of gold or silver, 
 or of the productions of foreign countries ; she makes, 
 on the contrary, enormous sacrifices to them out of pure 
 generosity. She sends you the means of founding 
 schools, she collects your forsaken children, and often 
 feeds your poor in times of famine. But, over and 
 above all this, she sends you the truth. You say that 
 all men are brothers, and this is true ; this is why they 
 all ought to worship the same God, He who is the Fa- 
 ther of us all. The nations of Europe know the true 
 God, and they come to make Him known to you. The 
 happiness which consists in making the truth known 
 and loved, this is the profit sought for by the mission- 
 aries who come to you." 
 
 The president and the other judges, with the excep- 
 tion always of the Inspector of Crimes, then asked for 
 some information concerning the Christian religion ; and 
 this we gave them with the greatest eagerness. At 
 length the president said to us, in a very affable man- 
 ner, that doubtless we had by this time some need of 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 79 
 
 rest, and that this was enough for to-day. Thereupon 
 the Court rose, we made a profound bow, and the judges 
 departed on their side and we on ours, while the sol- 
 diers and satellites uttered yells that shook the founda- 
 tion of the building, this being, it appears, the custom- 
 ary ceremonial on the entrance and departure of the offi- 
 cial persons. 
 
 This first inquiry had then terminated in a favor- 
 able manner; at least, we concluded as much from the 
 congratulations we received in traversing the halls and 
 courts on our return. The Mandarins of the town, who 
 had attended the trial in order to increase the dignity 
 and splendor of the Court, saluted us in an affected 
 manner, saying that all was well, and that our affairs 
 were going on very prosperously. In the different quar- 
 ters of the town that we passed through, we met num- 
 bers of Christians, whose faces were expanded and beam- 
 ing with joy, and whom we recognized by their making 
 the sign of the cross as we went by ; and glad were we 
 to see confidence and courage reviving in the hearts of 
 these poor people, who had doubtless suffered much from 
 learning that we were in the hands of the deplorable 
 mockery of justice that exists in their country. 
 
 Our two Mandarins of honor, who during the long 
 sitting of the court had had to remain standing behind 
 us, no doubt also shared in the emotions of the day and 
 the general joy; but they were overcome by fatigue, 
 and as soon as we had reached our abode, they flung 
 themselves with impassioned eagerness, the one on his 
 pipe, the other on his melon seeds. In the evening 
 we received a great number of visitors of distinction, 
 and we endeavored to find out what there might still 
 be for us to fear or to hope. It was generally agreed 
 that we should be well treated ; but that our trial would 
 be greatly protracted, and that in all probability we 
 
80 JOURNEY TIIKOL'GII THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 should have to go to Pekin. Some said that the Em- 
 peror himself wished to question us, others thought 
 that the King-pou or grand tribunal of crimes, now sit- 
 ting at Pekin, would ultimately decide our fate. One 
 thing was certain, namely, that the Emperor had sent a 
 dispatch to the viceroy on the subject of our affairs. 
 We asked to see it ; but our request was refused, and 
 the Chinese were even scandalized at our audacity in 
 wishing to cast our eyes on what had been written by the 
 " Son of Heaven." The viceroy alone had read it, and 
 had mentioned something of its contents to his court- 
 iers. A year afterward, when we were at Macao, we 
 found means to procure the Report that the viceroy had 
 sent to court concerning us, and we found in that a por- 
 tion of this famous Imperial dispatch. The Report be- 
 gins thus : 
 
 "Report addressed to the Emperor, on the fourth day 
 of the fourth moon of the twenty-sixth year of Tao- 
 kouang (1846). 
 
 " In virtue of the powers conferred by a supreme 
 decree, Ki-Chan has announced to your Majesty that lie 
 has arrested certain strangers from Fou-lansi (France) ; 
 and that he has seized certain foreign books and writings 
 in strange characters. He has added, 'It appears from 
 the declaration of these strangers, that, by way of Can- 
 ton and other places, they have arrived at the capital 
 (Pekin) ; that returning thence by Ching-king (Moukden, 
 the capital of Mantchuria), they have traversed Mon- 
 golia and visited Si-tsang (Thibet) with the purpose of 
 preaching their religion.' That after having interro- 
 gated these strangers, he has charged a magistrate to 
 conduct them into the province Ssc-tchouen, etc. As 
 the aforesaid strangers understand the Chinese language, 
 and can read and WTite both Mantchou and Mongol, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 81 
 
 it has not appeared very certain to your Majesty that 
 they really were from France, and your Majesty has for- 
 warded to me a dispatch, sealed with the Imperial seal, 
 and inclosing the following orders : ' When they shall 
 have arrived at Sse-tchouen, inquire with care into all 
 the circumstances of their journey, as well as the names 
 of the places through which they have passed, and en- 
 deavor to discover the truth. The moment of their 
 arrival, send to me a copy of the first report, and of 
 their declaration. Have their letters and their books 
 in foreign languages examined, as well as the arti- 
 cles inclosed in the wooden case, and transmit to me, 
 at the same time, all necessary information. I ad- 
 dress to you this Imperial order that you may make 
 yourself acquainted with it. Respect this ! Respect 
 this!'" 
 
 According to this Imperial document, therefore, it ap- 
 peared that at the court of Pekin they had not quite 
 made up their minds on the subject of our nationality. 
 Since we knew how to read and speak Chinese, Mantchou, 
 and Mongol, the " Son of Heaven" was inclined to think 
 that we were not really Frenchmen, and had charged 
 the Viceroy of Sse-tchouen to clear lip this difficulty. 
 Our fate depended on the new information that was to 
 be given to the Emperor, and the opinion of those who 
 supposed we should have to go to Pekin did not seem 
 without foundation. For ourselves, the idea of traveling 
 to Pekin appeared by no means disagreeable ; we had 
 been so tossed about for the last two years, that no change 
 in our itinerary could well put us out of our way. A 
 particular circumstance, too, that had just come to our 
 knowledge, made us think with much pleasure of the 
 chance of seeing the court of Pekin, and finding ourselves 
 face to face with that astonishing monarch who governs 
 
82 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 "the ten thousand kingdoms, and the four seas which 
 are under heaven." 
 
 In returning from the palace of the provincial commis- 
 sioner, while we were crossing a kind of square thronged 
 with curious people, a little packet had been with great 
 adroitness flung into our palanquin, and of course we 
 made haste to conceal it. 
 
 In the evening, when we at length found ourselves 
 alone in our chamber, and had not to dread the indis- 
 cretion of visitors, we eagerly opened and examined the 
 mysterious missive. It proved to be a long letter from 
 the Chinese priest, charged with the care of the Chris- 
 tians of Tching-tou-fou. It gave us clear and precise 
 information concerning the embassy of M. Lagrenee, 
 and we immediately recognized in him the La-ko-nie 
 who had been mentioned to us in so vague a manner by 
 the young Christian we had met in the Bonze convent 
 before entering the town. In communicating to us the 
 memorial and the edicts in favor of the Christians ob- 
 tained by M. Lagrenee, this missionary warned us that, 
 notwithstanding all these important concessions, the posi- 
 tion of the Christians was in reality very little improved ; 
 and that in many localities the persecution was still go- 
 ing on with unabated severity. As very false impres- 
 sions have been created in France, on the subject of 
 the religious liberty obtained by the embassy sent by 
 M. Guizot to China, we will now enter into a few de- 
 tails with respect to it. 
 
 After having concluded a treaty of commerce between 
 France and China, a treaty which was the principal ob- 
 ject of the embassy, M. Lagrenee wished before his re- 
 turn to make some attempt to ameliorate the fate of the 
 Chinese Christians and missionaries in these unfortu- 
 nate countries. He had not, indeed, received from his 
 government any official commission to that effect ; and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 83 
 
 it must be acknowledged it was a very delicate and dif- 
 ficult business to undertake. The representative of the 
 French government might, certainly, protest against the 
 atrocious executions of many of the missionaries ; he 
 might require that in future Europeans arrested in the 
 interior should be sent back to one of the free ports, 
 without being subjected to ill treatment ; the English, 
 in their treaty of Nankin, had already carried this equi- 
 table measure. But to demand from the Emperor of 
 China the religious liberty of his own subjects, was 
 rather a more awkward thing ; for, in fact, what claim 
 had the nations of Europe to interfere in the govern- 
 ment of the Celestial Empire, and dictate to the Emper- 
 or the measures he should adopt for the government of 
 his own people ? It is evident that the French embas- 
 sador who should attempt to negotiate with the Impe- 
 rial commissioner with this view, would be considered 
 very officious, but not at all official, in his conduct. 
 M. Lagrenee could not possibly demand, in the name 
 of King Louis Philippe, that the Emperor Tao-kouang 
 should leave his subjects free to profess the Christian 
 religion. 
 
 The opportunity, nevertheless, was a very favorable 
 one. The Chinese were still smarting under the attack 
 of the English, and were perfectly well disposed to 
 promise any thing to Europeans of course with the 
 mental reservation of breaking their promises whenever 
 it should be found convenient. And that was in fact 
 precisely what took place. After long and earnest en- 
 treaties on the part of M. Lagrenee, which are a proof 
 of the interest he took in the cause of the Chinese mis- 
 sions, the Imperial commissioner Ky-yn, addressed to 
 his Emperor the following memorial. 
 
 " Ky-yn, Grand Imperial Commissioner and Viceroy 
 
fc-1 JOURNEY THBOUGH TIIK CHINESE K.MI'IR!.. 
 
 of the two provinces of Kouang-tong and Kouang-si, 
 presents respectfully this memorial. 
 
 "After a profound investigation, I have come to the 
 conclusion that the religion of the Lord of heaven,* is 
 that which is venerated and professed by all the nations 
 of the West. Its principal aim is to exhort to good and 
 to repress evil. Formerly, under the dynasty of Miny, 
 it penetrated into the Central Kingdom, f and at that 
 epoch it was not prohibited. Subsequently, as it often 
 happens, there were found among the Chinese who fol- 
 lowed the religion, men who abused it to do wrong, 
 and the magistrates sought out and punished the guilty. 
 Their judgments are recorded in the judicial Acts. 
 
 "Under the reign of Kea-Tdng, a special article of 
 the penal code was promulgated for the punishment of 
 these crimes. It was intended to prevent Chinese Chris- 
 tians from doing wrong, and by no means to prohibit 
 the religion venerated and professed by the nations 01 
 the West. I dare, therefore, to supplicate your Ma- 
 jesty for the future to exempt from chastisement those 
 Chinese who profess the Christian religion, and who 
 have not been found guilty of any crime or disorder. 
 
 "As for the French and the other foreigners who pro- 
 fess the Christian religion, they have been permitted to 
 build churches and chapels in the territory of the five 
 ports which are open to commerce ; but they must not 
 take the liberty of entering into the interior of the Em- 
 pire to preach their religion. If any one in defiance of 
 this prohibition should go beyond the assigned limits, 
 
 * The Chinese designate thus the Christian religion. 
 
 t Toward the end of the 16th century. Chrisliar.lty did, in fact, 
 penetrate into China as early as the f>th and Gth century; and espe- 
 cially in the 13th, it was very flourishing; at this epoch there existed 
 at J'ekin an archbishop with four suffragans. The Imperial commis- 
 sioner Ky-yn might be ignorant of this fact, but it is vexatious that no 
 one should be found to inform him of it. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 85 
 
 and make rash excursions into other districts, the local 
 authorities are to seize him and deliver him to the consul 
 of his nation, in order that he may be kept within the 
 bounds of his duty and punished. But he is not to be 
 chastised summarily, or put to death. 
 
 " By that means your Majesty will show your benevo- 
 lence and your affection for virtuous men ; the tares 
 will not be confounded with the good grain, and your 
 sentiments and the justice of the laws will be made 
 manifest. 
 
 "Supplicating your Majesty to exempt from all chas- 
 tisement the Christians who remain honest and virtuous 
 in their conduct, I venture humbly to present this peti- 
 tion, in order that your August Goodness may deign to 
 approve my plan, and command it to be executed. 
 
 " (Respectful Petition)." 
 
 THE APPROVAL OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 "On the nineteenth day of the eleventh moon of the 
 twentb-fourty year of Tao-houang (1844), I received 
 words written in vermilion : 
 
 "I ACQUIESCE IN THIS PETITION. RESPECT THIS!" 
 
 In conformity with this approval, an Imperial edict 
 was issued, addressed to the viceroys and governors of 
 provinces, eulogizing the Christian religion, and forbid- 
 ding for the future all pursuit of Chinese Christians on 
 account of it by any of the courts great or small. 
 
 The missionaries and Christians were transported with 
 joy when these edicts were made known ; they thought 
 they saw in them the dawn of the long-desired era of 
 religious liberty for the missions of China, and the con- 
 sequent rapid progress of Christianity ; and the blessings 
 and thanks of Europe and Asia were poured out on the 
 French embassy. 
 
86 JOUKXEY TIIliOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 Those, however, who had a practical knowledge of 
 the Chinese and the Mandarins, could foresee that in 
 reality the results of these edicts would be far from cor- 
 responding to these magnificent hopes. The Imperial 
 command Avas promulgated and made known to the five 
 free ports open to European commerce ; and M. Lagre- 
 nee desired that it should be published also in the inte- 
 rior of the Empire ; which was promised, but of course 
 not done. 
 
 Copies of the petition of the commissioner Ky-yn and 
 of the Emperor's edict were, however, distributed in 
 great numbers among the Christian communities of the 
 interior, and the neophytes were all able to read the 
 eulogium that the Emperor had pronounced on their re- 
 ligion, and the prohibition of any future persecutions 
 that he had addressed to the Mandarins, and they took 
 it all for earnest. The Christians believed themselves 
 perfectly free ; and were for a brief interval convinced 
 that, if the government of Pekin did not yet favor com- 
 pletely their mode of belief, it at least granted it perfect 
 toleration. 
 
 But the local persecutions went on, nevertheless, as 
 if neither embassador, nor petition, nor edict had ever 
 existed; and the Christians soon discovered that they 
 were building on shifting sands, and that the paper lib- 
 erty that had found its way to them, like a contraband 
 article, was a mere chimera. 
 
 Those who were dragged before the tribunals, and 
 who were so simple as to claim the protection of the 
 Imperial edict and of the French embassy, were silenced 
 in the most imperious manner. "What !" said the Man- 
 darins, "has a low fellow like you the impudence to 
 pretend to interfere in the transactions of the Emperor 
 with foreign nations !" 
 
 The negotiations in favor of religious liberty, that 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 87 
 
 took place between the French embassador and the cun- 
 ning Chinese diplomatists, were in fact of little value. 
 They had no official character. The French govern- 
 ment had made no demand of the Emperor of China, 
 and he had made no promise to France. All that had 
 passed was merely a personal communication between 
 M. Lagrenee and Ky-yn. The one had expressed 
 strongly his sympathy for the Chinese Christians, and 
 the other had courteously recommended them to the 
 protection of his Emperor. 
 
 The French embassador once gone, and Ky-yn recall- 
 ed, all these fine promises were scattered to the winds. 
 
 This is, in short, all that was obtained. In the peti- 
 tion of the Imperial commissioner he supplicates the 
 Emperor "to deign for the future to exempt from chas- 
 tisement, Chinese as well as foreigners who shall be 
 found professing the Christian religion* .but who have 
 not been guilty of any crime or disorder." But who 
 was to watch the Mandarins, and find out whether they 
 persecuted the Christians or not? Could the Chinese 
 government permit foreigners to overlook the conduct 
 of its own officers ? If complaints were made, could not 
 the Chinese always reply to them by falsehood ? Could 
 they not always say that the Christians detained in 
 prison, or sent into exile, were punished for other crimes 
 than that of their religious faith? And in fact this is 
 precisely what has been done, and what it was very 
 easy to foresee. 
 
 On the subject of the missionaries it is said in the 
 petition, "neither the French nor other foreigners are 
 to preach their religion in the interior of the Empire ; 
 and if any one, in defiance of this prohibition, should 
 venture to pass beyond the assigned limits, he shall be 
 delivered to the consul of his nation, in order that he 
 may be restrained within his duty and punished." 
 
ss JOUU.NKY Tm;or<;ii Tin: CHINKS*: EMPIRE. 
 
 Now, it is well known that our consuls would not 
 c.xactly punish a missionary for preaching the Gospel ; 
 but these expressions would lead the Chinese to believe 
 that we are disorderly men, stepping beyond the line 
 of our duty, and punishable by the Mandarins of our 
 own country; and it is evident such an impression is 
 not likely to increase the influence of the missionaries. 
 They may, perhaps, no longer be lawfully put to death 
 when they are arrested; but can one be surprised that, 
 on their painful journeys back to their consuls, they are 
 subjected to the contempt, the sarcasms, and the ill- 
 treatment of the Mandarins and their satellites? 
 
 If we should put it to the missionaries themselves who 
 are preaching the Gospel in China in the midst of great 
 sufferings and privations, whether they prefer the risk 
 of death that they were liable to in former days, or the 
 melancholy position in which they now find themselves, 
 we know them sufficiently to be sure of their answer. 
 We have never studied diplomacy ; but it certainly 
 seems that the excellent intentions of the French em- 
 bassador might have lent a more effectual support to 
 the propagation of the faith. At various epochs French 
 missionaries have suffered a martyr's death in various 
 parts of China. In 1840, M. Perboyre, an apostle and 
 a saint, was put to death by order of the Emperor, in a 
 grand ceremonial on the public square of the capital of 
 llou-pe ; not a word was said of this atrocious and ini- 
 quitous execution, or of any other. When France en- 
 tered into diplomatic relation with China, the Imperial 
 commissioner must have expected to be questioned con- 
 cerning these judicial assassinations, and the silence 
 of our embassador must have greatly surprised him. 
 France certainly had a right to ask of the- Chinese gov- 
 ernment some account of so many Frenchmen unjustly 
 tortured and put to death. She might have ventured 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 89 
 
 at least to ask the question, for what crime the Emperor 
 had strangled them ? A few inquiries on the subject 
 of the venerable martyr of 1840, might have helped the 
 Chinese to believe that France does take some interest 
 in the lives of her children. The Chinese government 
 ought, in our opinion, to have been strongly urged on 
 this point ; the moment was favorable, and it ought to 
 have been caught in the fact of its savage barbarism, 
 and public and honorable amends to the memory of our 
 martyrs inexorably demanded from it, in the face of the 
 whole Empire ; an apology ought to have appeared in 
 the Pekin gazette, and an expiatory monument have 
 been erected on the public square of Ou-tchang-fou, 
 where M. Perboyre was strangled. In this manner the 
 Christian religion would have been forever glorified in 
 the Empire, the Christians raised in public opinion, and 
 the life of a missionary rendered inviolable. It would 
 then have been needless to stipulate that, for the future, 
 the Chinese should not chastise them in a summary 
 manner, or put them to death. They would themselves 
 have taken very good care to do nothing of the kind. 
 This ought to have been the first business of the em- 
 bassy, on its arrival at Canton ; assuredly, in so doing 
 it would have had justice on its side ; and the parade, 
 the festivals, and the shakings of hands might have 
 come afterward. 
 
 Do not let it be thought, however, that we have the 
 slightest intention of throwing any blame on the embas- 
 sador. Since we have undertaken to speak of China, 
 we must do so truly and frankly, to the best of our 
 knowledge and belief ; but we are fully persuaded that 
 M. Lagrenee has himself the interest of the missions 
 much at heart, and that, if it only depended on him, all 
 the Chinese would be Christians, and would profess 
 their religion in perfect liberty. We know how diffi- 
 
90 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 cult and delicate was his task ; that he had to act on 
 his own responsibility, and without any official instruc- 
 tion from his government ; but we can not avoid speak- 
 ing of these things as they are. In 1844, people in Eu- 
 rope were generally convinced, and many are so still, 
 that China was at length open, and the Christian relig- 
 ion entirely free. 
 
 But the truth is, unfortunately, that the English hare 
 no more opened China, commercially speaking, than the 
 French embassador has obtained for the Chinese relia:- 
 
 O 
 
 ious liberty. The subjects of her Britannic Majesty 
 would not venture to set foot in the interior of the city 
 of Canton, although by treaty they are in possession of 
 this privilege ; they can not go beyond its environs, 
 for the intolerance and hatred of the native population 
 keeps them in sonic measure blockaded in their facto- 
 ries. As for the Christians, their situation is not in the 
 least ameliorated ; they are, as they were before, at the 
 mercy of the Mandarins, who persecute them, pillage 
 them, throw them into prison, torture them, and send 
 them to die in exile, just as easily as if there were no 
 representative of France in the Empire, and no French 
 ships of war on her coasts. It is only in the five free 
 ports that they do not dare to torment the neophytes, 
 thanks to the energetic and constant protection of our 
 legation at Macao and our consul at Chang-hai. 
 
 Although the Imperial edict in favor of the Christians 
 appeared to us insufficient, and almost delusive, on ac- 
 count of its non-promulgation in the interior of the Em- 
 pire, we resolved to take what little advantage we could 
 of i.t, whether for ourselves or the Christians, should any 
 good opportunity present itself. 
 
 Two days after our appearance before the tribunal 
 of the first commissioner, the Mantchou prefect of the 
 Garden of Flowers, who had become rather friendly, an- 
 
JOUENEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 91 
 
 nounced to us that our affair being sufficiently known, 
 we should not have to undergo another judicial exam- 
 ination; and that in the course of the day the viceroy 
 would have us summoned, in order to signify what had 
 been determined with respect to us. We had a long 
 and lively discussion on the question of the ceremonies 
 that we should have to observe before the chief of the 
 province and the representative of the Emperor. They 
 brought a crowd of arguments to convince us that we 
 ought to go down on our knees before him. In the 
 iirst place, it was a prodigious honor for us to be ad- 
 mitted to his presence at all, since he might be consid- 
 ered as a sort of diminutive of the Son of Heaven. 
 Then, to remain standing straight upright before him 
 would be to offer him an insult ; besides giving him a 
 very bad idea of our education, it would irritate him, 
 would alter the good disposition he had toward us, 
 would draw down his anger upon us ; and moreover, 
 they added, whether we liked it or not we should find 
 ourselves compelled to kneel. It would be impossible 
 for us to resist the influence of his majestic presence. 
 
 We ourselves felt pretty sure of the contrary, and we 
 declared to the prefect, that he might depend upon it 
 that would not happen. Nevertheless, we would cause 
 no scandal, nor give the viceroy any reason to think us 
 wanting in sentiments of respect and veneration toward 
 his person and his high dignity. We begged the pre- 
 fect of the Garden of Flowers, therefore, to inform the 
 viceroy that we positively could not appear before him 
 in an attitude that our manners did not require even in 
 presence of our own sovereign, but that we had no in- 
 tention of failing in respect toward him, and that we 
 would pay him every honor conformably to the rites of 
 the West ; but that we would rather submit to the irre- 
 mediable xmsfortune of being deprived of his presence 
 
92 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE E.MI'IUK. 
 
 than yield this point. It may readily be supposed that 
 in fact we cared little enough about this matter of going 
 down on our knees, since in China it is really nothing 
 more than a mark of respect and civility ; but we de- 
 termined to keep an upright position, because, if we had 
 once consented to bend the knee, we should have been 
 obliged ever after to prostrate ourselves before every 
 trumpery little official that we happened to meet, and 
 that would have been a source of exceeding annoyance ; 
 while we thought with reason that every one would 
 consider himself obliged to treat with politeness and 
 consideration the men who had not been obliged to 
 kneel, even in the first tribunal of the province. Our 
 obstinacy was completely successful, and it was agreed 
 that we should be presented in the European fashion. 
 
 Toward noon two handsome state palanquins were 
 sent to fetch us, and we betook ourselves, attended by 
 a brilliant escort, to the palace of the most illustrious 
 Pao-hing, viceroy of the province of Sse-tchouen. The 
 tribunal of this high dignitary of the Chinese Empire 
 had nothing to distinguish it from those that we had 
 seen before, except its superior size and somewhat bet- 
 ter preservation. It was in the same style of archi- 
 tecture, and had precisely the same combination of 
 courts and gardens. All the Mandarins, civil and mil- 
 itary, without exception, had been convoked; and by 
 degrees as they arrived they took their places according 
 to their respective ranks and dignities, in a vast hall on 
 long divans, where we were already placed, in company 
 with the two prefects of the town, who were to present 
 us. In a neighboring apartment an orchestra of Chi- 
 nese musicians was executing some soft but very whim- 
 sical symphonies, that were by no means unpleasing. 
 Very soon it was announced that the viceroy was in his 
 cabinet. A great door opened, all the Mandarins rose, 
 
JOUKXEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 93 
 
 fell into order, and denied in the most profound silence 
 as far as an antechamber, where they ranged themselves 
 according to rank. 
 
 Our two introducers now desired us to pass through 
 the files of Mandarins, and conducted us to the door 
 of a cabinet, which was open, but they stopped on the 
 threshold and made a sign for us to enter. At the 
 same time the viceroy, who was seated cross-legged on 
 a divan, beckoned us toward him in a very gracious 
 manner. We bowed low and advanced some steps. 
 .We were alone in the apartment with him; for all the 
 Mandarins, civil and military, were mounting guard in 
 the antechamber; but they were near enough to hear 
 what was spoken. 
 
 We were at first greatly struck by the simplicity of 
 the apartment, and of the high personage who inhabited 
 it. It was a narrow room papered with blue, and its 
 only furniture consisted of a small divan with red cush- 
 ions, a flower-stand, and some vases of flowers. The 
 illustrious Pao-hing was an old man of seventy or there- 
 abouts, tall and thin, but with a countenance full of 
 sweetness and benevolence. His small but still brill- 
 iant eyes were keen and penetrating; his beard long 
 and somewhat scanty, and his complexion very fair, 
 with a slight yellow tinge. Altogether his appearance 
 was not wanting in majesty, and the simple blue silk 
 robe he wore contrasted favorably with the richly em- 
 broidered habits of the Mandarins in attendance upon 
 him. Pao-hing was a Mantchou Tartar, and a cousin 
 and intimate friend of the Emperor. In their infancy 
 they had lived together, and had never ceased to feel 
 toward each other a lively and cordial affection. The 
 viceroy asked us, at first, whether we were suitably 
 lodged in the mansion he had assigned to us. " We 
 have been making inquiries," he added, "of the soldiers 
 
yt JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 of your escort ; and it appears that the military officer 
 who accompanied you from Ta-tsien-lou did not lodge 
 you in the communal palaces. I have dismissed that vile 
 man, who had no regard for the dignity of the Empire." 
 It was in vain that we endeavored to plead for him. 
 
 "And why, in fact," said the viceroy, crossing his 
 arms, "did they prevent you from residing in Thibet? 
 Why did they compel you to return ?" 
 
 "Illustrious personage," said we, "we understand 
 nothing of the matter, and should be very glad to know. 
 When we return to France, and our sovereign asks us 
 why we were expelled from Thibet, what must we an- 
 swer him ?" 
 
 Here Pao-hing burst out into a vehement attack upon 
 Ki-Chan ; he spoke of the difficulties that he was always 
 throwing in the path of the government, and ended by 
 calling him to-che ; an expression that can only be trans- 
 lated by " creator of embarrassments." 
 
 Pao-hing afterward requested us to come quite close 
 to him ; and then he set himself to take a deliberate 
 survey of our personal appearance, first of one and then 
 of the other, while he at the same time amused himself 
 by turning in his mouth fragments of the Areca nut, 
 which the Mantchous like so much to chew. He took 
 several pinches of snuff also, out of a little phial, and 
 had the courtesy to offer it to us, though without speak- 
 ing, and still seeming as profoundly occupied with ob- 
 serving our features as if he were about to take our por- 
 traits. We considered that he admired our beauty, for 
 he asked whether we had any medicine or recipe for pre- 
 serving that fresh and florid complexion. We replied 
 that the temperament of Europeans differed much from 
 that of the Chinese ; but that in all countries a sober 
 and well regulated course of life was the best means of 
 preserving health. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 95 
 
 "Do you hear?" he added, turning to the numerous 
 Mandarins in waiting, and repeating emphatically, "in 
 all countries a sober and well regulated life is the 
 best means of preserving health." All the balls, red, 
 blue, white, and yellow, bowed profoundly in token of 
 assent. 
 
 After having taken another long pinch, Pao-hing ask- 
 ed us what our plans were, and where we wished to go 
 to. This seemed rather a curious question, and we an- 
 swered, " Where we wish to go to is to Thibet and 
 Lha-ssa. 
 
 "Thibet and Lha-ssa! Why you have just come 
 from there." 
 
 " No matter ! We wish to go back to them." 
 " What do you want to do at Thibet and Lha-ssa ?" 
 " You know that our only business any where is to 
 preach our religion." 
 
 "Yes, I know ; but you must not think of Lha-ssa, you 
 would do much better to preach your religion in m your 
 own country. Thibet is a good-for-nothing place. I 
 would not have sent you away from it, since you wished 
 to stay ; but now that you are here, I must send you to 
 Canton." 
 
 " Since we are not free, send us where you please." 
 The viceroy then said, that since we were now in his 
 province, he would be answerable for our safety ; but 
 that it was his duty to forward us to the representative 
 of our nation. '* You may," he added, "remain for a 
 time at Tching-tou-fou, to rest yourselves and make 
 the necessary preparations for your journey ; and I shall 
 see you again before your departure. In the mean time 
 I will give such orders as will enable you to travel as 
 conveniently as possible." We bowed respectfully and 
 thanked him for his kind intentions with respect to our 
 accommodation. Just as we were taking our leave, he 
 
.loru.NKV TiuairGii THK CIIINKSI: 
 
 called us back to ask about our yellow caps and red 
 girdles. "Your costume," said he, "is not that of 
 the Central Nation, and you must not travel in that 
 fashion." 
 
 "Behold!" said we, "you have the right not only to 
 hinder us from going where we will, but even to prevent 
 our dressing ourselves according to our own fancy ! " 
 
 Pao-hing began to laugh at this, and said, as he 
 waved his hand in farewell, that since we were so fond 
 of that costume, we might keep it. The viceroy then 
 returned to his private apartments to the sound of mu- 
 sic; and the Mandarins accompanied us to the gates of 
 the palace, congratulating us on the benevolent and cor- 
 dial reception we had met with from the most illustri- 
 ous representative of the Son of Heaven, in the prov- 
 ince of Sse-tchouen. 
 
 We have already mentioned the report that Pao-hing 
 addressed to the Emperor concerning us, and we will 
 give here the sequel of it, which is a reply to the Im- 
 perial dispatch already cited: 
 
 "I, your subject," says the viceroy of Sse-tchouen, 
 "have carefully inquired into the purpose which the 
 said foreigners have in undertaking such long journeys 
 to preach their religion, and whence they derive the 
 resources necessary for their daily maintenance, why 
 they remain so long without returning to their country, 
 whether any definite period is assigned to their stay, 
 what number of proselytes they have made, what spe- 
 cial object they had in wishing to go to Si-tsang (Thi- 
 bet), which is the residence of the Lamas. 
 
 " The result of these inquiries is, that they are trav- 
 eling about only to preach their religion, and that their 
 mission is to be of uncertain duration. When, while 
 on a journey, they think they shall want the means of 
 supplying their necessary expenses, they write to the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 97 
 
 agent of their nation, who is at Macao, and he imme- 
 diately sends them money. In all the provinces of 
 China there are men of the same country, who have ex- 
 patriated themselves to preach their religion, and there 
 is not one of them who does not exhort men to do 
 good. They do not propose to themselves any other 
 object. They neither recollect the numbers nor the 
 names of the persons to whom they have taught their 
 doctrine. 
 
 "As to their journey to Thibet, they wished, after 
 having preached their religion there, to return from it to 
 their own country by the way of Nepaul ; but as they 
 were not ' sufficiently versed in the language of Thibet, 
 they were not able during their stay there to make any 
 converts. At this epoch the high functionary Ki-Chan, 
 who resides in the capital of Thibet, ordered an inquiry, 
 in consequence of which they were arrested and sent 
 under escort to Sse-tchouen. 
 
 " I have opened their wooden chest, and examined 
 the letters and papers it contained; but I have not been 
 able to find any one who could read those characters 
 and understand them. 
 
 " The strangers when interrogated on the subject, re- 
 plied that they were family letters, and authentic certif- 
 icates of their religious mission. 
 
 "I wished to inquire carefully whether the declara- 
 tion they made before Ki-Chan, was, or was not, the 
 expression of the truth; but I have not been able to 
 find any irrefragable proof. 
 
 "I then examined their beards and their eyebrows, 
 their eyes and their complexions ; and I found them all 
 different from those of the men of the Central Kingdom ; 
 so that it seemed to me demonstrated that they were 
 really strangers, coming from a distant country, and that 
 they are not to be mistaken for worthless persons from 
 VOL, L E 
 
98 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 the Interior Territory (China). Thereupon there does 
 not remain in my mind the slightest doubt. 
 
 "If it should be considered desirable to know the 
 contents of their letters and foreign books, they must, I 
 think, be sent to Canton, in order that a man versed in 
 those foreign languages may be found, who shall read 
 them and make known their contents. 
 
 " Should no further discovery be made concernin < - 
 them, these strangers may then be placed in the hands 
 of the consul of France, in order that he may recognize 
 them, and send them back to their own country. By 
 that means the truth will be brought to light. 
 
 "As for Samdadchiemba, as it appears from his ex- 
 amination that he was only attached to these strangers 
 in the quality of a servant receiving wages, it seems 
 proper to send him back to his native country ; namely, 
 the district of Nien-pe, in the province of Kan-sou. 
 There he will be delivered to the local magistrate, who 
 will immediately set him at liberty. 
 
 "If, hereafter, circumstances should arise that shall 
 appear to relate to the object of your first decree, I will, 
 as is my duty, write a faithful report concerning them, 
 which I will address to your Majesty. At the moment 
 when your instructions have reached me the weather 
 is excessively hot, and the clothing and provisions for 
 the said strangers not yet ready. I, your subject, after 
 having written and sealed this exact and circumstantial 
 report, have charged a public functionary to take the 
 Imperial road and conduct them to their destination, by 
 the province of Hou-pe and other places." 
 
 This report, which we were only able to procure a 
 year afterward, when we were at Macao, will serve to 
 show the frank and upright character of the viceroy of 
 Sse-tchouen. Not one single word is found in it to in- 
 dicate any thing of the inveterate antipathy which the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 99 
 
 Chinese so often cherish toward strangers and Chris- 
 tians, though he could not have imagined that what he 
 had written was ever likely to fall into our hands ; and 
 in pronouncing this eulogium on French missionaries, 
 he only yielded honestly to the impulse of genuine con- 
 viction. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tching-tou-foti, the Capital of the Province of Sse-tchouen Numerous 
 Visits of Mandarins Constitutive Principle of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment The Emperor Curious Organization of Chinese Nobility- 
 Central Administration of Pekin The six Sovereign Courts Im- 
 perial Academy Moniteur of Pekin Provincial Gazettes Admin- 
 istration of the Provinces Rapacity of the Mandarins Venality <>!' 
 Justice Family of a Magistrate His two Sons Their Tutor Pri- 
 mary Instruction very widely diffused in China Chinese Urbanity 
 System of Instruction Elementary Books The four Classical Books 
 The five Sacred Books Arrangements for our Departure Last 
 Visit to the Viceroy. 
 
 TCHING-TOU-FOU, the capital of the province of Sse- 
 tchouen, is one of the finest towns in the Empire. It is 
 situated in the middle of an admirably fertile plain, 
 watered by beautiful streams, and bounded toward the 
 horizon by hills of graceful and varied forms. 
 
 The principal streets are of a good width, paved en- 
 tirely with large flagstones, and so clean that you can 
 scarcely, as you pass through them, believe yourself to 
 be in a Chinese town. 
 
 The shops with their long and brilliant signs, the ex- 
 quisite order with, which the merchandise displayed in 
 them is arranged, the great number and beauty of the 
 tribunals, pagodas, and of what we must call literary 
 institutions, all contribute to make of Tching-tou-fou 
 a town in some measure exceptional; or at least this is 
 the impression we retained concerning it, when subse- 
 quently we had visited the most renowned cities of the 
 other provinces. 
 
 Our host the magistrate informed us that the present 
 capital of Sse-tchouen was quite a modern town, the old 
 
*. 
 
 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 101 
 
 one having been reduced to ashes by a terrible confla- 
 gration, and he related to us on this occasion an anec- 
 dote or a fable, that we repeat because it is quite in the 
 Chinese taste. Some months before the destruction of 
 the old city, a Bonze was one day seen in the streets, 
 ringing a small bell, and crying out with a loud voice : 
 I-ko-jen, leang-ho-yen-tsin, that is to say "One man, 
 and two eyes!" At first nobody paid much attention to 
 him. " One man, and two eyes" did not appear a very 
 remarkable phenomenon, and the existence of such a 
 one hardly seemed a truth that deserved to be pro- 
 claimed with such solemnity and perseverance. But as 
 the Bonze kept continually repeating his formula from 
 morning till night, people became at last curious to 
 know what he could possibly mean by it. To all ques- 
 tions, however, he would make no other answer than 
 his everlasting "One man, and two eyes." 
 
 At last the magistrates took up the matter, but they 
 could make nothing of it. Inquiries were made where 
 this Bonze came from, but nobody knew. No one had 
 ever seen him before ; he was never known to eat or 
 drink, and all day long he traversed the streets of the 
 city with a grave face and downcast eyes, ringing his 
 bell and incessantly refreshing the memory of the pub- 
 lic concerning " One man, and two eyes." In the even- 
 ing he disappeared, but no one knew where he went to, 
 to pass the night. 
 
 This went on for twp months, and people ceased to 
 take any notice of him, setting him down for a very ec- 
 centric individual or a madman. But one day it was 
 noticed that he had not made his appearance ; and on 
 ' that day, toward noon, fire broke out at once, in many 
 parts of the town, with such violence that the inhabit- 
 ants had only just time to snatch what they considered 
 most valuable, and rush out into the fields. Before the 
 
* 
 102 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'IKE. 
 
 end of the day, the town was a heap of ashes and 
 smoking ruins. 
 
 Every body then recollected the words of the Bonze, 
 which, it seems, were an enigmatical prediction of this 
 frightful catastrophe. 
 
 It would Tbe impossible to understand the riddle with- 
 out having an idea of the form of the Chinese characters, 
 in which the key to it is found. The following character 
 signifies, "man." In adding to it two points, or eyes, 
 
 A 
 
 you obtain another^XVwhich signifies "fire;" so that in 
 crying out " One man, and two eyes," the Bonze meant 
 to announce the conflagration that reduced the capital to 
 ashes. 
 
 The man who told us this story, could give no further 
 explanation, and we shall take good care ourselves not 
 to attempt any. " The city was entirely rebuilt," he 
 added, " and this is how you come to find it so hand- 
 some and regular." 
 
 The inhabitants of Tching-tou-fou, are fully worthy 
 of the celebrity of their city. The higher classes, who 
 are very numerous, are remarkable for the elegance of 
 their manners and attire ; the middle also rival the 
 higher in politeness and courtesy, and appear also to be 
 in quite easy circumstances. The poor are indeed very 
 numerous, as they are in all the great centres of popu- 
 lation in China ; but in general it may be said that the 
 inhabitants of this town enjoy a more considerable de- 
 gree of opulence than appears in any other place. 
 
 The very benevolent reception we had met with from 
 the viceroy, did not fail to procure us a great number of 
 friends, and place us in relation with the most distin- 
 guished persons in the city, as well as with the great 
 functionaries civil arid military, the first magistrates of 
 the tribunals, and the chiefs of the learned corporation. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 103 
 
 When we were living at the missions in the midst of 
 our Christian communities, we were obliged by our po- 
 sition to keep ourselves at a very respectful distance 
 from the Mandarins and their dangerous neighborhood. 
 The care for our own safety, and still more that of our 
 neophytes, made this caution indispensable. Like other 
 missionaries, we held intercourse with scarcely any other 
 class than that of peasants and artisans, and it was, there- 
 fore, difficult for us to become extensively acquainted 
 with the Chinese as a nation. We were familiar with 
 the manners and habits of the people, their means of 
 existence, ar>d the ties that unite them to each other; 
 but we had no very exact knowledge of the superior 
 classes, or of the aristocratic element that gives impulse, 
 life, and movement to the social body. We perceived 
 effects without knowing the causes. 
 
 But the constant communication we had with the 
 Mandarins and the cultivated classes, during our resi- 
 dence at Tching-tou-fou, enabled us to acquire a great 
 amount of useful information on these points, and to 
 study more closely the mechanism and organization, or 
 rather what constitutes the vitality and strength of a 
 nation. To become acquainted with man, it is not suf- 
 ficient to observe his movements, and dissect his limbs 
 and organs ; one must study and penetrate into his soul, 
 which is the principle of life, and the motive cause of all 
 his actions. 
 
 From the thirteenth century, when the first notidns 
 of China were brought into Europe by the celebrated 
 Venetian, Marco Polo, up to our own days, all parties 
 seem to have agreed in regarding the Chinese as a very 
 singular people a people unlike all others. But if we 
 except this one opinion, which is universally received, 
 we scarcely find in what has been written concerning 
 the Chinese, any thing but contradictions. Some are 
 
lol .101 K.NKY THROUGH THE CHJNKSK KMI'IKK. 
 
 in perpetual ecstasy with them ; others are constantly 
 heaping upon them abuse and ridicule. 
 
 Voltaire has drawn for us an enchanting picture of 
 China, its patriarchal manners, its paternal government, 
 its institutions based on filial piety, and its wise admin- 
 istration always intrusted to the most learned and virtu- 
 ous men. Montesquieu, on the contrary, has used the 
 darkest colors, and painted them as a miserable abject 
 race, crouching under a brutal despotism, and driven, 
 like a vile herd, by the will of the Emperor. 
 
 These two portraits, drawn by the authors of UJSsprit 
 des f^ois, and JJEssai sur les Mmurs, have very little re- 
 semblance to the original. There is gross exaggeration 
 on both sides, and the truth is certainly to be sought for 
 between them. 
 
 In China, as every where else, there is a mixture of 
 what is good and bad, of vice and virtue, that may give 
 occasion to satire or panegyric <is the attention is fixed 
 on one or the other. It is easy to find among a people 
 whatever you desire to see in them, if you set out with 
 a preconceived opinion and the resolution to preserve it 
 intact. Thus Voltaire was dreaming of a nation whose 
 annals should be in contradiction with Biblical tradition, 
 a people rationalistic, anti-religious, and whose days, 
 nevertheless, flowed on in uninterrupted peace and pros- 
 perity. In China he thought he had found this model 
 nation, and he did not fail to recommend it to the admi- 
 ration of Europe. 
 
 Montesquieu, on the other hand, was putting forth his 
 theory of despotic government, and wanted some example 
 to illustrate it. He took the Chinese for this purpose ; 
 and showed them trembling under the iron rod of a ty- 
 rant, and crushed beneath a pitiless system of legislation. 
 
 We intend to enter into some details concerning Chi 
 nese institutions and the mechanism of this government^ 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 105 
 
 which assuredly does not merit either the invectives that 
 have been poured out on its despotism, or the pompous 
 eulogies that have been pronounced on its antique and 
 patriarchal wisdom. In developing the Chinese govern- 
 mental system, we shall see that practice is often in con- 
 tradiction to theory; and that the fine laws found in the 
 books, are not quite so often seen in application. 
 
 The idea of the family is the grand principle that 
 serves as the basis of society in China. Filial piety, 
 the constant subject of dissertation to moralists and 
 philosophers, and continually recommended in the pro- 
 clamations of Emperors and the speeches of Mandarins, 
 has become the fundamental root of all other virtues. 
 
 All means are made use of to exalt this sentiment, so 
 as to make of it an absolute passion ; it assumes all 
 forms, mingles in all actions, and serves as the moral 
 pivot of public life. Every crime, every attempt against 
 the authority, property, or life of individuals, is treated 
 as filial disobedience ; while, on the other hand, all acts 
 of virtue, devotion, compassion toward the unfortunate, 
 commercial probity, or even valor in battle, are referred 
 to filial piety ; to be a good or a bad citizen, is to be a 
 good or bad son. 
 
 The Emperor is the personification of this grand prin- 
 ciple, which dominates and penetrates more or less deeply 
 all the strata of society, in this immense agglomeration 
 of three hundred millions of individuals. In the Chinese 
 language he is called Jloang-te, August Sovereign, or 
 Iloang-chou, August Elevation ; but his name par ex- 
 cellence is Tien-dse, Son of Heaven. 
 
 According to the ideas of Confucius and his disciples, 
 the great movements and revolutions of the Empire are 
 under the direct guidance of Heaven ; and it is the will 
 of Heaven only that overthrows some dynasties and 
 
 E* 
 
106 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 substitutes others. Heaven is the true and only mas- 
 ter of the Empire, it chooses whom it pleases as its 
 representative, and communicates to him its absolute 
 authority over the people. The sovereignty is a celes- 
 tial mandate, a holy mission intrusted to an individual 
 for the sake of the community, and withdrawn from 
 him as soon as he shows himself forgetful of his duty 
 and unworthy of his high office. It follows from this 
 political fatalism, that in epochs of revolution the strug- 
 gles are terrible, until some decided success and evident 
 superiority have become, for the people, a sign of the 
 will of Heaven. Then they rally at once round the new 
 power, and submit to it for a long time without any 
 hesitation. 
 
 Heaven, they imagine, had a representative, an adopted 
 son ; but it has abandoned him, and withdrawn its cre- 
 dentials ; it has chosen another, and he of course is the 
 one to be obeyed. This is the whole system.* 
 
 The Emperor being the son of Heaven, and conse- 
 quently, according to the Chinese expression, Father 
 and Mother of the Empire, has a right to the respect, the 
 veneration, the worship even of his children. His au- 
 thority is absolute ; it is he who makes and who abolishes 
 the laws, who grants privileges to Mandarins or degrades 
 them, to whom alone belongs the power over life and 
 death, who is the source of all administrative and judi- 
 cial authority, who has at his disposal the whole power 
 and revenues of the Empire ; in one word, the state is the 
 Emperor. His omnipotence, indeed, extends even far- 
 ther, for he can transmit this enormous power to whom 
 he pleases, and choose his successor among his children, 
 without any law of inheritance imposing a restraint upon 
 him in his choice. 
 
 * It is in consequence of this theory, that the present pretender 
 lias taken the name of Ti<-n-tf, that is, " Celestial Virtue." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 10 1 ? 
 
 The sovereign power in China is, then, in all respects 
 absolute ; but it is not, as has been supposed, for that 
 reason despotic. It is a strong and vast system of cen- 
 tralization. The Emperor is the head of an immense 
 family ; and the absolute authority that belongs to him 
 is not absorbed, but delegated to his ministers, who in 
 their turn transmit their powers to the inferior officers 
 of their administrative governments. The subdivisions 
 of authority thus extend gradually downward to groups 
 of families, of which the fathers are the natural chiefs, 
 and just as absolute within their sphere as any other. 
 It may well be supposed that this absolute power, being 
 thus infinitely divisible, is no longer equally dangerous; 
 and besides, public opinion is always ready to check 
 any excesses on the part of the Emperor, who would not, 
 without exciting general indignation, dare to violate the 
 rights of any of his subjects. He has also his private 
 and general councils, the members of which have the 
 right of expressing their opinions, and even remonstra- 
 ting with him on matters both of public and private con- 
 cern. One may read in the annals of China, how the 
 censors have often acquitted themselves of their duty, 
 with a freedom and vigor worthy of all praise. Finally, 
 these potentates, the objects of so much homage during 
 their lives, are often after death, like the ancient kings of 
 Egypt, subjected to a trial, the verdict from which is 
 attached to their name and descends to posterity. By 
 these posthumous names only do they become known to 
 history ; and as they are always either eulogistic or satir- 
 ical, they serve to give a brief estimate of the character 
 of their reign. 
 
 The greatest counterpoise of the Imperial power con- 
 sists of the literary aristocracy, or corporation of men of 
 letters ; an ancient institution, which has been estab- 
 lished on a solid basis, and the origin of which is at 
 
;us .lolKXKY THROUGH THE CHINKS!-: KMI'IRK. 
 
 least as early as the eleventh century before our era. 
 It may be said that the administration receives all it.i 
 real and direct intluence from this sort of literary oli- 
 garchy. 
 
 The Emperor can only choose his civil agents among 
 the lettered class, and in conformity with established ar- 
 rangements. Every Chinese may present himself for 
 the examination for the third literary degree ; and those 
 who obtain this, may then become candidates for the 
 second, which opens the way to official employment. 
 To fill the higher offices the prize must be obtained in 
 the competition for the first degree. 
 
 It seems, doubtless, a magnificent thing to organize 
 the government of a great Empire by literary qualifica- 
 tion ; but though it may be a subject of admiration, it 
 is not to be regarded as a model for imitation in all 
 countries. 
 
 The Emperor is recognized by the laws as the sole 
 proprietor of the soil of the Empire ; but this is a mere 
 theory, and it does not hinder the property in land from 
 being really as firmly established as it is in Europe. 
 The government, in fact, only possesses the right over 
 it in case of non-payment of the tax, or of confiscation 
 for state crimes. 
 
 The villages are collectively responsible to the Ex- 
 chequer for the discharge of all fiscal impositions, and 
 they have at their head a mayor called JSian-yo, who is 
 chosen by universal suffrage. 
 
 The communal organization is perhaps nowhere else 
 as perfect as in China ; and these mayors are chosen by 
 the people, without the Mandarins presenting any can- 
 didates or seeking in any way to influence the votes. 
 
 Every man is both elector and eligible for this office ; 
 but it is usual to choose one of advanced age, who both 
 by his character and fortune occupies a high position in 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 109 
 
 the village. We have known many of the Chinese 
 mayors, and we can affirm that in general they are wor- 
 thy of the suffrages with which they have been honored 
 by their fellow-citizens. The time for which they are 
 elected varies in the different localities ; they are charged 
 with the police duties, and serve also as mediators be- 
 tween the Mandarins and the people in matters beyond 
 their own competence. "We shall have occasion to re- 
 turn to this salutary institution which agrees very ill 
 with the ideas we commonly entertain of the heavy des- 
 potism which is supposed to weigh on the Chinese nation. 
 
 The corporation of lettered men, recruited every year 
 by the method of examination, constitutes a privileged 
 class, almost the only nobility recognized in China, and 
 it may be considered as the chief strength and nerve of 
 the Empire. Hereditary titles only exist for the Impe- 
 rial family, and for the descendants of Confucius, who 
 are still very numerous in the province of Chang-tong, 
 
 To the hereditary titles which the relations of the 
 Emperor enjoy, there are attached certain prerogatives, 
 as well as a very modest allowance, the right of wearing 
 a red or yellow girdle, of putting a plume of peacock's 
 feathers in their caps, and of having six, eight, or twelve 
 bearers to their palanquins. They can not, more than 
 any other citizen, pretend to any public office, without 
 having previously taken their literary degree at Pekin 
 and Moukden, the capital of Mantchuria. We have often 
 seen these Tartar nobles living in idleness and penury 
 on their small pensions, and having no other proof to 
 show of their illustrious origin than the red or yellow 
 girdle. A private tribunal, however, is charged \Q gov- 
 ern them and superintend their conduct. 
 
 The first civil and military Mandarins who have dis- 
 tinguished, themselves in the administration or in war, 
 receive the titles of koung, heon, phy, tze, and nan / 
 
110 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 which may be considered as corresponding with those 
 of duke, marquis, count, baron, and knight. These 
 titles or grades are, however, not hereditary, and give 
 no right to the sons of the individual rewarded by them, 
 but, what appears to us very curious, they may be car- 
 ried back to his ancestors. This custom was introduced 
 with reference to the funeral ceremonies and the titles 
 that the Chinese bestOAV on their defunct relatives. An 
 officer who has been raised in rank by the Emperor, can 
 not accomplish the funeral rites of his family in a suit- 
 able manner, if his ancestors have not been decorated 
 with a corresponding title. To suppose that the son is 
 of higher rank than the father, would be to overthrow 
 the hierarchy, and attack the fundamental principle of 
 the Empire. A nobility, not merely confined to the in- 
 dividual, but even retrograding to the ancestors, instead 
 of being transmitted to the descendants, does appear ex- 
 cessively whimsical to us, and one must be a Chinese to 
 have thought of such a thing. Nevertheless, it would 
 be interesting to inquire whether, in reality, it may not 
 be the better plan of the two. 
 
 All the officers, civil and military, of the Chinese 
 Empire are divided into nine orders, khiou-ping, distin- 
 guished one from the other by certain buttons, or rather 
 balls, of the size of a pigeon's egg, which are worn above 
 the official cap. This distinctive ball is of plain red 
 coral for the first order, of carved coral for the second, 
 of a transparent deep blue stone for the third, of pale 
 blue for the fourth, crystal for the fifth, of some opaque 
 white stone for the sixth, and for the seventh, eighth, 
 and ninth of gilt and wrought copper. 
 
 Every order is subdivided into two classes ; the one 
 active and official, the other supernumerary ; but this 
 makes no difference in the balls. All the official person- 
 ages comprised in these nine orders, are designated by 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. Ill 
 
 the generic term of kouang-fou. The name of Mandarin 
 is unknown to the Chinese ; it was invented by the first 
 Europeans who visited the country, and is probably de- 
 rived from the Portuguese word "mandar" to command, 
 out of which they made Mandarin. 
 
 The administration of the Celestial- Empire is divided 
 into three parts ; the superior administration of the Em- 
 pire, the local administration of Pekin, and that of the 
 provinces and colonies. 
 
 The entire government is under the direction of two 
 councils, attached to the person of the Emperor; the 
 Nei-ko, and the Kiun-ke-tchou. The first is charged 
 with the preparation of plans, and the dispatch of cur- 
 rent business. Its duty is, according to the official 
 book, " to put in order, and to make manifest the 
 thoughts and designs of the Imperial will, and to reg- 
 ulate the form of administrative decrees." It may be 
 regarded in some measure as the secretaryship of the 
 Empire. 
 
 The second council, named Kiun-ke-tchou, deliberates 
 with the Emperor concerning political affairs; it is com- 
 posed of members of the Nei-ko, and of the presidents 
 and vice-presidents of the superior courts. The Emperor 
 presides at its sittings, which generally take place very 
 early in the morning. 
 
 Below these two general councils are the six sov- 
 ereign courts or boards, Leou-pou, which correspond 
 with our ministries, and take cognizance of all the civil 
 and military affairs of the eighteen provinces of China. 
 At the head of each of these are placed two presidents, 
 the one Chinese, the other Tartar; and four vice-presi- 
 dents, of whom two are Chinese, and two Tartars. 
 Every board has special offices for the different depart- 
 ments of business, and in these are a great number of 
 divisions and subdivisions. 
 
112 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'JltE. 
 
 First. The highest sovereign court, called court of 
 civil employments, Li-pou, which has the presentation 
 to civil offices, on the nomination of the Emperor, and 
 the distribution of civil and literary employments through- 
 out the Empire; it has four divisions, which regulate 
 the order of promotions and changes, keep notes con- 
 cerning the conduct of official persons, determine their 
 salaries, and their leaves of absence in times of mourn- 
 ing, and distribute the diplomas of posthumous rank, 
 granted to the ancestors of officers admitted into the 
 ranks of the nobility. 
 
 Secondly. The 'court of public revenue, Hou-pou, 
 which is occupied with the imposition of taxes and 
 tributes, the distribution of salaries and pensions, the 
 receipt and expenditure of corn and money, and their 
 transport by land and water. 
 
 It is also the business of this court to divide the ter- 
 ritory of the Empire into provinces, departments, circles, 
 and cantons. It takes the census of the population, 
 keeps the registry of lands, and assesses the taxes and 
 military contingents. This financial court comprises 
 fourteen divisions, which correspond pretty well with 
 the ancient division of China into fourteen interior prov- 
 inces ; besides this, it superintends the tribunal of civil 
 appeal, which decides disputes concerning property and 
 inheritance; it manages the coinage, the manufactories 
 of silk, and the establishments for dyeing ; and it looks 
 to the provision of corn for the capital. 
 
 It is also this court that regulates the distributions 
 of corn and rice, and the gratuitous loans by which the 
 people are assisted in times of scarcity and famine. 
 Finally, it is honored with the office of presenting an- 
 nually to the Emperor the list of young Mantchou girls 
 who are ambitious to become inmates of his harem. 
 
 It is one of the officers of the 2Iou-j)ou who presides 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 113 
 
 every year at the celebrated agricultural festival, in 
 which the Emperor is seen to put his hand to the plow 
 in a field, trace the furrow, and sow it with corn. 
 
 Thirdly. The sovereign court of rites, Ly-pou, has 
 the business of regulating ceremonies and public solem- 
 nities, the minute details of which are so important in 
 the eyes of the Chinese. It has four divisions, which 
 are occupied with the ordinary and extraordinary cere- 
 monial of the court, with the rites of sacrifices in honor 
 of the souls of former sovereigns and illustrious men, 
 with the regulation of public festivals, and the form of 
 the robes and head-dresses worn by the officers of gov- 
 ernment. This court superintends schools, public acad- 
 emies, and literary examinations, and determines the 
 number, the choice, and the privileges of the learned of 
 various classes. Foreign diplomacy also lies within its 
 jurisdiction ; it prescribes the forms to be observed in 
 the intercourse with tributary princes and foreign poten- 
 tates, and whatever has relation to the embassies ; and, 
 finally, it has the general direction of music, which in 
 theory may perhaps be very fine, but does not in China 
 exactly strike one as such in the execution. 
 
 Fourthly. There is the supreme court of war, Ping- 
 2)ou, which has also four subdivisions, and regulates the 
 appointment and promotions of military officers, registers 
 the notes furnished concerning their conduct, and attends 
 to the commissariat department, and the punishments 
 and military examinations for the whole army. One of 
 these subdivisions has the special charge of the cavalry, 
 the camels, the relays of horses, and the transport of 
 provisions and ammunition of all kinds. 
 
 Fifthly. The court of chastisements or criminal juris- 
 diction, Iling-pou, has eighteen subdivisions, correspond- 
 ing with the eighteen provinces of the Empire, -attending 
 to the criminal business of each province ; a corps of 
 
114 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPJliK. 
 
 prison inspectors ; legislative chambers, which receive 
 the articles of the penal code on their promulgation ; and 
 a board of fines and penalties. 
 
 Sixthly. The court or board of public works, Koung- 
 pou, has the direction of all the works executed at the 
 expense of the state, such as the construction of public 
 buildings, the fabrication of utensils and clothing in- 
 tended for the troops and for public officers, the digging 
 of canals, the formation of dikes, the erection of funereal 
 monuments for the Imperial family and illustrious per- 
 sons. It also regulates weights and measures, and 
 directs the manufacture of gunpowder: this supreme 
 court has four divisions. 
 
 The superior administration at Pekin comprises also 
 the colonial office, Ly-fan-yuen^ which has the super- 
 intendence of "strangers from without;" a designation 
 applied to the Mongol princes, the Lamas of Thibet, 
 and the Mohammedan princes and chiefs of the districts 
 near Persia. The Ly-fan-yuen, which governs the 
 Mongol tribes, regulates, as well as it can, the rather 
 entangled affairs of the nomadic hordes ; and interferes, 
 in an indirect manner, in the government of Thibet and 
 the small Mohammedan states of Turkestan. 
 
 The Tou-tcha-yuen, or office of universal censorship, 
 is placed above the sphere of action of all these admin- 
 istrative wheels, and overlooks their movements. Its 
 office is to criticise the manners and morals of the peo- 
 ple, and the conduct of the employes. The ministers, 
 princes, even the Emperor himself, must, whether he 
 likes it or not, submit to the remonstrances of this 
 censor. 
 
 Finally. There is the Toun-tchin-sse, or palace of 
 representation, which transmits to the privy-council of 
 the Emperor the reports sent from the provinces and 
 the appeals against sentences pronounced by magistrates. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 115 
 
 This palace of representation, in which are united the 
 members of the six supreme courts and the office of 
 universal censorship, forms a kind of court of cassa- 
 tion to decide on appeals in criminal cases, and on sen- 
 tences of death. The decisions of these three courts 
 united are required to be unanimously given. In the 
 contrary case, it is the Emperor himself who must be 
 the judge in the last resort. 
 
 The famous Imperial academy of Han-Lin is com- 
 posed of literary graduates ; it furnishes orators for the 
 public festivals, and literary examiners for the provinces, 
 and is supposed generally to promote the cause of learn- 
 ing and science. It contains within itself a board for 
 the editing of official documents, and another for the 
 revision of the Tartar and Chinese works published at 
 the expense of government. Its two presidents inhabit 
 the Emperor's palace, and they overlook the studies and 
 labors of the academicians. The college of historiogra- 
 phers, and the whole body of annalists, depend on the 
 academy of Han-lin. The first are occupied with draw- 
 ing up the history of this or that remarkable reign or 
 epoch. The annalists, to the number of twenty-two, 
 write day by day the annals of the reigning dynasty; 
 which are only published when another has succeeded 
 it. They are on duty by turns, four at a time, and re- 
 main near the person of the Emperor, to take notes of 
 his actions, and even his words. 
 
 The official gazette of Pekin may also be counted 
 among the organs of the administration. It is a real 
 j^foniteur Universel, in which nothing can be printed 
 which has not been presented to the Emperor, or which 
 does not proceed from the Emperor himself; the editors 
 of it would not dare to change or add any thing, but 
 under penalty of the severest punishment. This Pekin 
 gazette is printed every day, in the form of a pamphlet, 
 
116 JOUKXEY THROUGH THE CHINESE KMIMKI.. 
 
 and contains sixty or seventy pages. The subscription 
 to it does not amount to more than twelve i'rancs a year; 
 and it is a most interesting collection, and very useful 
 in making one acquainted with the Chinese Empire. 
 
 It gives a sketch of public affairs and remarkable 
 events ; the memorials and petitions presented to the 
 Emperor, and his answers to them ; his instructions to 
 the Mandarins and the people ; the judicial proceedings, 
 with the principal condemnations and the pardons grant- 
 ed by the Emperor ; and also a summary of the deliber- 
 ations of the sovereign courts. The principal articles, 
 and all the public documents, are reprinted in the official 
 gazettes of the provinces. 
 
 Papers thus edited certainly serve to keep the Man- 
 darins and the people acquainted with public affairs ; 
 but they are little calculated to excite or encourage 
 political passions. In ordinary times, and when they 
 are not under the influence of any revolutionary move- 
 ment, the Chinese are not at all inclined to meddle with 
 affairs of government ; they are a delightfully quiet peo- 
 ple to deal with. In 1851, at the period of the death 
 of the Emperor Tao-kouang, we were traveling on the 
 road from Pekin, and one day, when we had been taking 
 tea at an inn in company with -some Chinese citizens, 
 we tried to get up a little political discussion. 
 
 We spoke of the recent death of the Emperor, an 
 important event which, of course, must have interested 
 every body. We expressed our anxiety on the subject 
 of the succession to the Imperial throne, the heir to 
 which was not yet publicly declared. " Who knows," 
 said we, " which of the three sons of the Emperor will 
 have been appointed to succeed him ? If it should be 
 the eldest, will he pursue the same system of govern- 
 ment ? If the younger, he is still very young ; and it 
 is said there are contrary influences, two opposing par- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 117 
 
 ties at court to which will he lean ?" We put forward, 
 in short, all kinds of hypotheses, in order to stimulate 
 these good citizens to make some observation. But they 
 hardly listened to us. We came Iback again and again 
 to the charge, in order to elicit some opinion or other, 
 on questions that really appeared to us of great import- 
 ance. But to all our piquant suggestions, they replied 
 only by shaking their heads, puffing out whiffs of smoke, 
 and taking great gulps of tea. 
 
 This apathy was really beginning to provoke us, when 
 one of these worthy Chinese, getting up from his seat, 
 came and laid his two hands on our shoulders in a man- 
 ner quite paternal, and said, smiling rather ironically, 
 
 " Listen to me, my friend ! Why should you trouble 
 your heart and fatigue your head by all these vain 
 surmises ? The Mandarins have to attend to affairs of 
 state ; they are paid for it. Let them earn their money, 
 then. But don't let us torment ourselves about what 
 does not concern us. We should be great fools to want 
 to do political business for nothing." 
 
 " That is very conformable to reason," cried the rest 
 of the company ; and thereupon they pointed out to us 
 that our tea was getting cold and our pipes were out. 
 
 The local administration of Pekin comprehends several 
 special institutions, the functions of which have relation 
 to the Imperial Court, or the district in which it resides, 
 to the direction of the sacrifices, the Imperial stud, and 
 the ceremonial of the Imperial audience-chamber. 
 
 The government of the palace is under the direction 
 of a special council, which comprises seven divisions, 
 charged with the provisioning and repairs of the palace, 
 the salaries and punishments for offenses committed in 
 it, the receipt of the revenues of the farms, and the su- 
 perintendence of the flocks and herds of the private do- 
 main. 
 
118 JOURNEY THROUGH THE rillXESE EMPIRE. 
 
 Three great scientific establishments are attached to 
 the court : the National College, where the sons of the 
 great dignitaries are educated ; the Imperial College of 
 Astronomy, charged with the astronomical and astro- 
 logical observations, and the preparation of the annual 
 almanac ; and the College of Medicine. Eight hun- 
 dred guards are attached to the person of the Emperor, 
 and the military service of the capital is confided to the 
 generals of the "Eight Banners," a corps composed of 
 Mantchou, Mongol, and Chinese soldiers, the direct de- 
 scendants of the army that conquered China in 1643-4. 
 The numerous body of eunuchs employed in the palace, 
 and who, under the preceding dynasty played so active 
 a part in the revolutions of which the Chinese Empire 
 has so often been the theatre, is at present reduced to 
 total inactivity. 
 
 Under the minority of Khany-hi, the second Emperor 
 of the Mantchou dynasty, the four regents on whom the 
 government devolved, destroyed the authority of the 
 eunuchs. 
 
 Their first act was to pass an express law (which they 
 had engraved on plates of iron of a thousand pounds 
 weight), prohibiting all Mantchou princes for the future 
 from elevating eunuchs to any sort of office or dignity. 
 This law has been faithfully observed, and it is perhaps 
 one of the principal causes to which we may attribute 
 the peace and tranquillity which China has enjoyed for 
 so long a time. 
 
 The provincial administration is constituted with as 
 much vigor and regularity as that of the whole Empire. 
 Every province is governed by a Tsoung-tou, or gover- 
 nor-general, whom the Europeans are in the habit of 
 calling viceroy, and also by a Fou-youen, or sub-gov- 
 ernor. The Tsoung-fou has the general control of all 
 civil and military affairs. The Fou-youen exercises a 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 119 
 
 similar kind of authority, but is more specially charged 
 with the civil administration, which is divided into five 
 departments, namely, the executive, the literary, that of 
 the salt duties, of the commissariat, and commerce. 
 
 The executive department is directed by two superior 
 officers, of whom one undertakes the civil administra- 
 tion properly so called, the other that of criminal law. 
 Under the inspection of these officers, who render an 
 account to the governor and under governor, every 
 province is divided into prefectures, administered by 
 civil officers, whose functions correspond with those of 
 our prefects and sub-prefects. 
 
 The Chinese distinguish, first, the great prefectures 
 named Fou, which have a special administration under 
 the inspection of the superior government of the prov- 
 ince; secondly, the prefecture called TcAeou, the func- 
 tionaries of which depend sometimes on the provincial 
 administration, and sometimes on that of the grand pre- 
 fecture; and, finally, the sub-prefecture Hien, below 
 both the Fou and the Tcheou. Each of these three, 
 the Fou and *Tcheou and the Hien, possess a kind of 
 chief town, surrounded by walls and fortifications, where 
 the authorities reside. 
 
 These are the towns of the first, second, and third 
 order, of which mention is so often made in the ac- 
 counts of the missionaries. 
 
 The chief officers of the prefectures and sub-prefec- 
 tures are charged with the collection of the taxes and 
 the police duty. 
 
 Secondly. The literary department of every province 
 is conducted by a director of instruction, who delegates 
 his authority to the principal professor residing in the 
 chief towns of the prefecture and sub-prefectures. They 
 have under them secondary masters, who are" distributed 
 throughout the cantons. Every year the director of in- 
 
120 Jui KM-;Y THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 struction makes a tour to examine students and confer 
 the lirst literary degree. Every three years examiners 
 are sent from the academy of the Han-Lin^ at Pekin, to 
 preside over the extraordinary examinations, and confer 
 the second literary degree ; and after that the literary 
 graduates have to go to Pekin to pass their examination 
 for the third degree. 
 
 Thirdly. The department of the salt duties has under 
 its inspection the salt-marshes, as well as the reservoirs 
 and wells, and also has to undertake the transport of 
 the salt. 
 
 Fourthly. The department of the commissariat has 
 to attend to the preservation of the corn, in which the 
 greater part of the taxes is paid, and to effect its trans- 
 port to the capital. 
 
 Fifthly. The department of commerce has to collect 
 the dues in the seaports and on the navigable rivers. 
 The maintenance of the dikes on the Yellow River is 
 intrusted to a special board, which forms, in the prov- 
 inces of Tc/ii, Chan-toung, and Jib-nan, a body inde- 
 pendent of the provincial administration. 
 
 The military government of each province, which is 
 placed, like the civil administration, under the authority 
 of the viceroy, has the command of the land and sea 
 forces. In general, the Chinese make little distinction 
 between the two services, and the several ranks have 
 the same names in both. The generals in the Chinese 
 army are called Ti-tou ; they are sixteen in number, 
 and two belong exclusively to the marine force. 
 
 These generals have each their head-quarters, where 
 they collect the greater part of their brigade, and they 
 distribute the rest through the different posts under 
 their command. Besides these, various fortresses of 
 the Empire 'are occupied by Tartar troops, commanded 
 by a Tsiang-kiung, who obeys no one but the Emperor, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 121 
 
 and whose business it is to watch over and keep in 
 respect the high civil functionaries, who might be med- 
 itating treason or revolt. The admirals (Ti-toii) anc! 
 vice-admirals (Tspung-ping) reside constantly on shore, 
 and leave the command of their squadrons to the sub- 
 ordinate officers. 
 
 Below these superior officers, in the various branches 
 of the administration, is an enormous mass of subaltern ' 
 functionaries, whose names and titles are scrupulous- 
 ly inscribed in the "Book of Places." This kind of 
 Imperial almanac, which is printed anew every three 
 months, and is perfectly authentic, would give an ex- 
 cellent idea of the entire personnel of Chinese adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 From this slight sketch of the political system of the 
 Empire, it will readily be perceived, that, absolute as 
 the government is, it is not on that account necessarily 
 tyrannical. If it were, it would probably long since 
 have ceased to exist ; for it is not easy to conceive that 
 three hundred millions of men could be ruled arbitrarily 
 and despotically for many successive centuries, let them 
 be ever so apathetic and brutalized and assuredly the 
 Chinese are neither the one nor the other. 
 
 To maintain order amidst these terrific masses of 
 people, nothing less was needed than that powerful 
 system of centralization which was invented by the 
 founders of the Chinese monarchy, and which the nu- 
 merous revolutions by which it has been agitated have 
 only modified, without ever disturbing from the founda- 
 tions. 
 
 Under shelter of these strong, energetic, and, one 
 may say, learnedly-combined institutions, the Chinese 
 have been able to live in peace, and enjoy some toler- 
 able sort of happiness, which after all is perhaps the 
 most that man in this world can reasonably pretend to. 
 VOL. I. F 
 
122 .IOIUNEY TlIKUtGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 The annals of China resemble those of most other 
 nations ; they contain a mixture of good and evil an 
 alternation of peaceable and happy periods with others 
 that were agitated and miserable : governments prob- 
 ably will never be found perfect, till the day when men 
 shall be born free from faults. 
 
 It is impossible, however, to disguise from one's self, 
 that the Chinese do appear at present to have arrived at 
 one of those epochs in which the evil has gained the 
 ascendant over the good. Morality, arts, industry, all 
 seem to be on the decline, and poverty and destitution 
 are making rapid progress. 
 
 We have seen the most frightful corruption pene- 
 trating the whole mass of society magistrates selling 
 justice to the highest bidder ; Mandarins of every de- 
 gree, instead of protecting the people, oppressing and 
 pillaging them by every means in their power. 
 
 But ought these disorders and abuses that have glided 
 into the exercise of power to be attributed to the form 
 of the Chinese government ? One can hardly think that. 
 These abuses depend mostly on causes that we shall 
 have occasion to point out in the course of our narra- 
 tive ; but however that may be, it can not be disputed, 
 that the mechanism of the Chinese government deserves 
 to be studied carefully, and without prejudice, by the 
 politicians of Europe. 
 
 We must not wholly despise the Chinese ; there may 
 be even much that is admirable and instructive in their 
 ancient and curious institutions, based upon literary 
 qualification, by which it has been found possible to 
 grant, in the communes, universal suffrage to three hun. 
 dred millions of men, and to render every distinction 
 accessible to all classes. During our stay at Tching- 
 tou-fou, we had an opportunity not only of making ac- 
 quaintance with the high functionaries of the city, but 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 123 
 
 of studying also the manners and habits of the Chinese 
 Mandarin in private life, and in the bosom of his family. 
 
 The magistrate in whose house we were lodged, was 
 named Pao-ngan, that is "Hidden Treasure." He was 
 a man of about fifty years of age, of a fine figure, robust 
 health, and plump enough to obtain the frequent com- 
 pliments of his colleagues. His strongly-marked feat- 
 ures, brown complexion, thick mustache, guttural pro- 
 nunciation, and continual complaints of the heat, pointed 
 him out as a native of the north. He was, in fact, from 
 the province of Chan-si / his father had held some high 
 offices, but he himself had never been able to rise above 
 the simple magistracy, and even that he had attained 
 only a few years before. He took good care not to at- 
 tribute this small progress to want of success in the 
 literary examinations, but, like most other men, pre- 
 ferred laying the blame on the injustice of men, and his 
 own bad star, which took a pleasure in throwing him 
 out of the road to honor and fortune. If you would be- 
 lieve him, his name was most exactly descriptive, and 
 he was, in the full extent of the term, a " Hidden 
 Treasure." 
 
 Although somewhat inclined to doleful lamentation, 
 Pao-ngan was, on the whole, a very goed fellow, and 
 took the trials and vicissitudes of this nether world pretty 
 easily. He had come into office rather late, and only 
 when his days were on the decline, but he certainly did 
 his utmost to make up for lost time. 
 
 He loved law to the bottom of his heart, and never 
 failed to make the most of it. He had two or three 
 kinds of myrmidons constantly employed in rummaging 
 up, in all quarters of the town, all the little affairs that 
 could be brought within his jurisdiction, and his good- 
 humor increased with the number he had on his hands. 
 
 Such an eagerness for the fulfillment of duties that 
 
124 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 are mostly considered troublesome and annoying, could 
 not but appear to us very edifying, and we found our- 
 selves charitably disposed to admire in Pao-ngan his ex- 
 traordinary passion for justice. But lie speedily un- 
 deceived us, by very frankly declaring that he wanted 
 money, and that a well-managed cause was the best 
 means of procuring it. "If it is allowable," said he, 
 "to make a fortune by trade and commerce, why may 
 one not also grow rich by teaching reason to the people, 
 and developing the principles of justice ?" 
 
 These not very elevated sentiments are common to 
 all the Mandarins, and they express them openly and 
 without scruple. The administration of justice has be- 
 come a regular traffic, and the chief cause of this abuse, 
 we really believe, is to be found in the insufficient re- 
 muneration allotted by government to magistrates. It 
 is extremely difficult for them to live in suitable style, 
 with the palanquins, and servants, and the costume 
 suitable to their position, if they have nothing more to 
 meet all these expenses than the slender resources grant- 
 ed to them by the State. Their subordinates have no 
 pay at all, and have to indemnify themselves as well 
 as they can, by exercising their industry on the unlucky 
 suitors who pass through their hands veritable sheep, 
 from whom every one snatches as much wool as he can 
 tear off, and who are not unfrequently at last completely 
 flayed. 
 
 Toward the commencement of the present dynasty, 
 these abuses had become so flagrant, and the complaints 
 on the subject so unanimous throughout the Empire, 
 that the cantons drew up a memorial against the coun- 
 try tribunals, and presented it to the Emperor Tchancj- 
 hi. The answer was soon given, and a curious one it 
 was. "The Emperor, considering the immense popu- 
 lation of the Empire, the great division of territorial 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 125 
 
 property, and the notoriously law-loving character of the 
 Chinese, is of opinion that law-suits would tend to in- 
 crease, to a frightful amount, if people were not afraid 
 of the tribunals, and if they felt confident of always 
 finding in them ready and perfect justice. As man," 
 continues the Imperial logician, "is apt to delude him- 
 self concerning his own interests, contests would be then 
 intenninable, and the half of the Empire would not suf- 
 fice to settle the law-suits of the other half. I desire, 
 therefore, that those who have recourse to the tribunals 
 should be treated without any pity, and in such a man- 
 ner that they shall be disgusted with law, and tremble 
 to appear before a magistrate. In this manner the evil 
 will be cut up by the roots ; the good citizens, who may 
 have difficulties among themselves, will settle them like 
 brothers, by referring to the arbitration of some old man, 
 or the mayor of the commune. As for those who are 
 troublesome, obstinate, and quarrelsome, let them be 
 ruined in the law-courts that is the justice that is due 
 to them." 
 
 One can not, perhaps, altogether admit the validity 
 of this Imperial reasoning, but it is nevertheless un- 
 doubtedly true, that in China, those who haunt the tri- 
 bunals, and get themselves ruined, and not unfrequently 
 knocked down also, by the Mandarins, are, with some 
 honorable exceptions, men of a vindictive and malig- 
 nant character, to whom no counsel can be of service, 
 and who have need to be chastised by their " father and 
 mother."* 
 
 Pao-ngan, the "Hidden Treasure," for his part, fol- 
 lowed scrupulously the gracious instructions of the Em- 
 peror Tchang-hL Since he had been installed in his 
 little tribunal, he dreamed of nothing but of fleecing 
 suitors ; but it is most likely nevertheless that this was 
 * A title given by the Chinese to their magistrates. 
 
126 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 not solely with the philanthropic purpose of diminishing 
 their numbers. One day, when we were asking from 
 him some information with respect to the capital of Sse- 
 lihuen, he mentioned to us a certain district as being the 
 worst in the town. We supposed, of course, that this 
 abominable quarter was the resort of all sorts of bad 
 characters, but it was precisely the contrary. 
 
 "Since I have been in the magistracy," said Pao- 
 ngan, with delightful naivete, "that district has never 
 given me a single suit ; concord reigns among all the 
 families in it." 
 
 This excellent magistrate had two sons, who aspired 
 to follow in their father's footsteps, but it seemed likely 
 they would never attain to the honor of placing any 
 kind of ball on their caps. The elder, who was twenty- 
 three years of age, and already the father of a little cit- 
 izen of the Chinese Empire, who trotted about and prat- 
 tled very prettily, had an exceedingly stupid though 
 conceited face, which afforded a very just idea of his 
 intellectual pretensions. He had been studying all his 
 life, and was apparently a student still, but the degree 
 of Bachelor was an honor he had not yet attained. His 
 papa, the "Hidden Treasure," frankly admitted that his 
 eldest son was not remarkably clever. 
 
 The younger, a lad of seventeen, was pale and feeble, 
 and evidently consumptive, but as amiable and interest- 
 ing as his elder brother was tiresome. He was well 
 informed too, and far from unintelligent, and he had a 
 soft, melancholy tone in his voice that added to the 
 charm of his conversation. 
 
 If to this "Hidden Treasure" and his family be added 
 our two guards of honor, the youthful consumer of 
 opium, and the ancient chewer of melon-seeds, a good 
 idea will be formed of the society^n which we found 
 ourselves. It was a curious thing enough for two 
 
JOURNEY THKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 127 
 
 French missionaries to be living thus familiarly with 
 Mandarins in the middle of a great Chinese town, on 
 the confines of Thibet, ten thousand leagues from their 
 own country, while their fate was being decided in a 
 discussion between the viceroy of the province and the 
 Court of Pekin. 
 
 The life of a Chinese Mandarin appeared to us a' very 
 leisurely one. At sunrise, Pao-ngan installed himself 
 on his judge's seat, and passed the first hours of the 
 morning in administering justice, or, more properly 
 speaking, in arranging and legalizing the extortions of 
 his scribes. After this rather superfluous labor came 
 the great affairs of the day, namely, breakfast, dinner, 
 and supper. Pao-ngan kept a very good table, as he 
 received an extra allowance on our account; but, ample 
 as it was, the unfortunate man could not, after the third 
 day, resist putting water into the excellent rice-wine, in 
 order to squeeze a little more profit out of us. It seems 
 as if a Chinese really must make use of some kind of 
 fraud and trickery; every unlawful gain has for him 
 such an irresistible attraction. In the intervals between 
 his meals, the occupations of Pao-ngan were not very 
 laborious ; he smoked, he drank tea, he amused himself 
 with munching dried fruits, or fragments of sugar-cane ; 
 or he dozed upon a divan, or fanned himself with large 
 palm-leaves, or possibly played a game of cards or 
 chess. Then some other Mandarin, as idle as himself, 
 would come sauntering in, and they would sit down to- 
 gether, and mourn over the inconveniences and toils of 
 public life. 
 
 Such was the life of our legal functionary. We never 
 surprised him so much as a single time with a pen or a 
 book in his hand. 
 
 It may be supposed that all Chinese official person- 
 ages are not precisely like Pao-ngan. We have known 
 
128 JOURNEY TlIllOUGU TJ1K CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 some who were, on the contrary, active, intelligent, and 
 studious, and constantly stimulated by the hope of ad- 
 vancement in their career. 
 
 During our residence in this family, we used, when 
 we became too weary of our habitual company, to go 
 and take refuge with a personage who passed the great- 
 er part of the day at the house. This was a venerable 
 graduate of letters, . the tutor of the " Hidden Treas- 
 ure's" children. We used to talk to him of Europe, 
 and he, in return, told us stories of China, which he 
 seasoned plentifully with sentences from the classic au- 
 thors of his country. This learned Chinese resembled 
 very much those erudite personages of former days whose 
 conversation was always bristling with quotations from 
 Latin and Greek. In France the race is almost extinct, 
 but it is still flourishing in full vigor in China. The 
 man of learning is accustomed to present himself with a 
 considerable amount of easy assurance, indeed with not 
 a little vanity and pomposity, so convinced is he of his 
 own value. 
 
 He is the diapason of every conversation, for he is 
 erudite, and moreover a fine speaker. His vocal organ 
 is mostly of a marvelous flexibility, and he has the habit 
 of accompanying his words with much stately gesticula- 
 tion, of emphasizing many of them, and indulging in 
 great variety of intonation. 
 
 His language, being in a very sublime style, is not 
 always very intelligible ; but that is perhaps rather an 
 advantage, as it gives him an opportunity of assisting 
 the comprehension of his hearers, by describing, with 
 his finger in the air, explanatory characters. If any 
 one else begins to talk in his presence, he listens to him 
 with a shake of the head, and a compassionate smile 
 that seems to say, "Well! Well! you have not the 
 gift of eloquence." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 129 
 
 But when one of these erudite gentlemen fills the 
 office of tutor, although at bottom he may have the same 
 amount of conceit, he is forced to put on a little mod- 
 esty over it ; for he understands very well the impru- 
 dence of displaying his pride before those who require 
 his services. 
 
 These magistri form in China an extremely numer- 
 ous class. They are usually men of no fortune, who, 
 not having been able to attain to the dignity of the 
 mandarinate, are obliged to resort to this method of ob- 
 taining their living. It is not necessary to have passed 
 all the examinations in order to become a magister, for 
 in China education is quite free, and any one is at lib- 
 erty to set up a school, without the government inter- 
 fering with him in any way whatever. The interest a 
 father must feel in the education of his children is sup- 
 posed to be a sufficient guarantee for his choice of a 
 master. 
 
 The heads of the villages and of the different districts 
 of the cities assemble when they wish to found a school, 
 and deliberate on the choice of a master, and the salary 
 that is to be allowed him. 
 
 They then prepare a local habitation for it, and open 
 the classes. If the magister does not contimie to please 
 those who have chosen him, they dismiss him, and 
 choose another. The government has only an indirect 
 influence over the schools, through the examinations of 
 those who aspire to enter the corporation of letters. 
 They are obliged to study the classical authors upon 
 Avhich they have to be examined ; but the uniformity 
 that is seen in Chinese schools is rather the result of 
 custom, and general agreement of the people, than of 
 legal prescription. In our Catholic schools the Chinese 
 professors explain the Christian doctrine freely to their 
 pupils, without any other control than that of the vicar 
 
 F * 
 
130 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 apostolic or the missionary. The rich are very much 
 in the Imbit of having for their children private tutors, 
 who give them lessons at home, and often lodge in the 
 family. 
 
 Of all countries in the world China is assuredly the 
 one in which primary instruction is most widely dif- 
 fused. There is no little village, not even a group of 
 farms, in which a teacher is not to be found. He re- 
 sides most frequently in the Pagoda ; and for his main- 
 tenance he has usually the revenue of a foundation, or 
 sometimes a kind of tithe paid by the farmers after the 
 harvest. 
 
 The schools are rather less numerous in the northern 
 provinces ; it almost seems as if the intellects of the peo- 
 ple were rendered duller and heavier by the rigor of the 
 climate. 
 
 The people of the south, on the contrary, are acute 
 and lively, and devote themselves with ardor to liter- 
 ary studies. With some few exceptions, every Chi- 
 nese knows how to read and write, at least sufficiently 
 for the ordinary occasions of life. Thus the workmen, 
 the peasants even, are capable of taking notes concern- 
 ing their daily affairs, of carrying on their own corre- 
 spondence, of reading the proclamations of the Manda- 
 rins, and often also the productions of the current lit- 
 erature. 
 
 Primary instruction has even made its way into the 
 floating dwellings, which cover by thousands the rivers, 
 lakes, and canals of the Celestial Empire. One is sure 
 of rinding in their little barques, a writing-desk, an arith- 
 metical machine, an annual register, some of the little 
 brushes that supply the place of pens, and some pam- 
 phlets which in their moments of leisure the mariners 
 amuse themselves by deciphering. The Chinese tutor 
 is charged not only with the instruction, but also with 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 131 
 
 the education of his pupils. He has to teach them the 
 principles of politeness, to train them to the practice of 
 the ceremonial of public and private life, to show them 
 the various modes of salutation, and the deportment they 
 have to observe toward their relations, their superiors, 
 and their equals. 
 
 The Chinese have been much reproached for their ab- 
 surd attachment to frivolous ceremonies, and the minutiae 
 of etiquette. People have been pleased to represent 
 them as always moving in a grave, solemn manner, after 
 the fashion of automata, executing in their friendly sal- 
 utations only certain manoeuvres prescribed by the law, 
 and addressing each other in stiff formulas of courtesy 
 learnt by heart from the ritual. The Chinese of the 
 lower class, the palanquin bearers, and street porters 
 of great towns, have been supposed to be always pros- 
 trating themselves to. each other, and asking ten thou- 
 sand pardons, after having been abusing or even knock- 
 ing each other down. These extravagances are not 
 really to be met with in China; they are to be found 
 only in the accounts of Europeans, who seem to think 
 themselves obliged, in speaking of a country so little 
 known, to relate many strange things. Setting aside 
 all exaggeration, however, it is certain that urbanity 
 is among the Chinese a distinctive sign of national char- 
 acter. 
 
 A fondness for polite and decorous observance may 
 be traced among them from the remotest antiquity, and 
 their ancient philosophers never fail to recommend to 
 the people a strict observance of the precepts establish- 
 ed for the relations of society. Confucius said that cere- 
 monies are the symbols of virtue, and destined to pre- 
 serve it, to recall it to memory, and even sometimes 
 to supply its place. These principles being among the 
 earliest inculcated by schoolmasters on the minds of 
 
i:\-l .JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 their pupils, it is not surprising that we find in all 
 ranks of society manners which display more or less of 
 that politeness which is the basis of Chinese education; 
 and even the country people and peasants certainly treat 
 each other with more respect and decorum than would 
 be manifested among the laborious classes of Europe. 
 
 In their official reports, and on solemn occasions, the 
 Chinese have certainly too much of stiffness and bom- 
 bastic grimace, and are too much the slaves of ceremo- 
 nious etiquette. The regulation tears and groans of 
 their funeral ceremonies, their emphatic protestations of 
 affection, respect, and devotion to people they despise 
 and detest, the pressing invitations to dinner, given on 
 condition of not being accepted ; all these are excesses 
 and abuses common enough, but which were even no- 
 ticed and blamed by Confucius himself. This rigid ob- 
 server of "The Rites," has somewhere said that, with 
 respect to ceremonies, it is better to be a miser than a 
 prodigal, especially if in practicing them one has not the 
 feeling in the heart that alone confers on them merit and 
 importance. 
 
 Apart from these public demonstrations, in which 
 there is often a good deal of constraint and affectation, 
 the Chinese are not deficient in openness and freedom 
 of deportment. When they have pulled off their satin 
 boots, and laid aside their robes of state and their offi- 
 cial hats, they become men of the world ; and in the 
 habitual intercourse of daily life they know how to re- 
 lease themselves from the bonds of etiquette, and in- 
 dulge in social recreation, in which the conversation is 
 seasoned, as among ourselves, with gayety and pleasant 
 trifling. Friends meet in an unceremonious way to tea 
 or warm wine, or perhaps to smoke the excellent tobacco 
 of Lcao-tong ; and sometimes on such occasions they 
 amuse themselves by guessing riddles and making puns. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 133 
 
 The chief branch of instruction in the Chinese schools 
 is that of reading and writing, or painting the Chinese 
 characters. To exercise the hand of the pupil, they 
 oblige him to practice first the elementary forms that 
 enter into the composition of the letter, and then to 
 proceed gradually to more complicated combinations. 
 "When he can make a firm and easy stroke with the 
 pencil, beautiful examples of various styles of writing 
 are given to him to copy. The master corrects the 
 work of the pupil in red ink, improving the badly 
 drawn letters, and pointing out the various beauties 
 and imperfections in the copy. The Chinese set great 
 value on fine writing ; and a good calligrapher, or, 
 as they say, "an elegant pencil," is always much ad- 
 mired. 
 
 For the knowledge and good pronunciation of the 
 character, the master, at the beginning of the lesson, 
 repeats a certain number to each pupil, according to his 
 capacity. They then all return to their places, repeat- 
 ing their lesson in a chanting tone, and rocking them- 
 selves backward and forward. The uproar and confu- 
 sion of a Chinese school, in which every pupil is vocifer- 
 ating his own particular monosyllables in his own par- 
 ticular tone, without at all troubling himself about his 
 neighbor, may easily be imagined. While they are thus 
 chanting and rocking about, the master of the school, 
 like the leader of a band, keeps his ears pricked and at- 
 tentive to all that is going on, shouting out his amend- 
 ments from time to time to those who are missing the 
 true intonation. As soon as the pupil thinks he has 
 his lesson perfectly impressed on his memory, he goes 
 up to the master, makes a low bow, presents his book, 
 turns his back, and repeats what he has learnt. This 
 is what they call pey-chou, "turning the back on a 
 book ;" that is, saying a lesson. 
 
134 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 The Chinese character is so large, and so easy to dis- 
 tinguish, even at a great distance, that this method 
 docs not appear superfluous, if the point is to ascertain 
 whether the pupil is really repeating from memory. The 
 bawling and rocking themselves about is considered to 
 lessen the fatigue of study. 
 
 The first book that is placed in the hands of scholars 
 is a very ancient and popular work, entitled San-dze- 
 Jdng, or Sacred Trimetrical Book. The author has 
 named it thus because it is divided into little couplets, 
 each verse of which is composed of three characters or 
 words. The hundred and seventy-eight verses contained 
 in the San-dze-king form a kind of encyclopaedia, in 
 which children find a concise and admirable summary 
 of the chief branches of knowledge that constitute Chi- 
 nese science. 
 
 It treats of the nature of man, of the various modes 
 of education, of the importance of the social duties, of 
 numbers and their origin, of the three great powers, of 
 the four seasons, of the five cardinal points, of the five 
 elements, of the five constant virtues, of the six kinds 
 of corn, of the six classes of domestic animals, of the 
 seven dominant passions, of the eight notes of music, 
 of the nine degrees of relationship, of the ten relative 
 duties, of studies and academical compositions, of gen- 
 eral history and the succession of dynasties ; and the 
 work concludes with reflections and examples on the 
 necessity and importance of study in general. It may 
 well be imagined that a treatise of this kind, well learnt 
 by the pupils, and properly applied by the master, must 
 greatly develop the intellects of Chinese children, and 
 favor their natural taste for the acquisition of serious 
 and positive knowledge. The San-dze-king is worthy 
 in all respects of the immense popularity it enjoys. The 
 author, a disciple of Confucius, commences with a dis- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 135 
 
 ticli, the profound and traditional sense of which is very 
 striking Jen-dze-tsou-sin-pen-chan, "Man in the be- 
 ginning Avas of a nature essentially holy." But it is 
 probable that the Chinese understand very little the 
 tendency and the consequences of the thought ex- 
 pressed in these two lines. 
 
 A. learned Christian has composed for the schools of 
 our missions 'a little theological encyclopedia on the 
 model of the San-dze-king. The verses are formed ot 
 four words ; and it is for this reason, he has given it the 
 title Sse-dze-king, or Sacred Book in Four Characters. 
 
 After the trimetrical encyclopaedia the Sse-chou, or 
 Four Classical Books, are placed in the hands of the 
 pupils. Of these we will endeavor to give some brief 
 idea. The first is the Ta-hio, or Grand Study ; a kind 
 of treatise on politics and morals, composed from the 
 very concise text of Confucius, by one of his disciples ; 
 and the grand principle inculcated in it is self-improve- 
 ment. These are the words of Confucius : 
 
 I. 
 
 "The law of the Grand Study, or practical philosophy, consists in 
 developing the luminous principle of reason, which we have received 
 from Heaven, for the regeneration of man, and in placing his final des- 
 tiny in perfection, or the sovereign good. 
 
 II. 
 
 "We must first know the goal toward which we are tending, or our 
 definitive destination. This being known, we may afterward maintain 
 the calmness and tranquillity of our minds. The mind being calm and 
 tranquil, we may afterward enjoy that unalterable repose which nothing 
 can trouble. Having then attained to the enjoyment of the unalter- 
 able repose which nothing can trouble, we may afterward meditate and 
 form our judgment on the essence of things ; and having formed our 
 judgments of the essence of things, we may then attain to the desired 
 perfection. 
 
 m. 
 
 " The beings of nature have causes and effects ; human actions, 
 principles, and consequences. To know causes and effects, principles 
 and consequences, is to approach very nearly to the rational method by 
 which perfection is attained. 
 
136 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 "The ancient princes who desired to develop in their states the 
 luminous principle of reason that we have received from Heaven, en- 
 deavored first to govern well their kingdoms ; those who desired to gov- 
 ern well their kingdoms, endeavored first to keep good order in their 
 families ; those who desired to keep good order in their families, en- 
 deavored first to correct themselves ; those who desired to correct them- 
 selves, endeavored first to give uprightness to their souls ; those who de- 
 sired to give uprightness to their souls, endeavored first to render their 
 intentions pure and sincere ; those who desired to render their inten- 
 tions pure and sincere, endeavored to perfect, as much as possible, their 
 moral knowledge, and examine thoroughly their principles of action. 
 
 V. 
 
 "The principles of action being thoroughly examined, the moral 
 knowledge attains the highest degree of perfection ; the moral knowl- 
 edge having attained the highest degree of perfection, the intentions 
 are rendered pure and sincere ; the intentions being rendered pure and 
 sincere, the soul is penetrated with probity and uprightness, and the 
 mind is afterward corrected and improved; the mind being corrected 
 and improved, the family is afterward better managed ; the family be- 
 ing better managed, the kingdom is afterward well governed; and the 
 kingdom being well governed, the world enjoys harmony and peace. 
 
 VI. 
 
 "All men, the most elevated in rank as well as' the most humble and 
 obscure, are equally bound to perform their duty. The correction and 
 amelioration of one's self, or self-improvement, is the basis of all pro- 
 gress, and of all moral development. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " It is not in the nature of things but that whatever has its basis in 
 disorder and confusion, should also have what necessarily results from 
 that. To treat lightly what is the principal or most important thing, 
 and seriously what is only secondary, that is a method of action we 
 ought never to follow." 
 
 As we have said, the Book of the Grand Study is 
 composed of the preceding text, with a commentary in 
 ten chapters by a disciple of Confucius. The commen- 
 tator exerts himself especially to apply the doctrine of 
 his master to political government, which Confucius de- 
 fines as what is just and right, and which he supposes 
 founded on the consent of the people. The formula in 
 the Grand Study is as follows : 
 
 " Obtain the affection of the people, and thou wilt obtain the empire \ 
 Lose the affection of the people, and thou wilt lose the empire !" 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 137 
 
 | 
 The Book of the Grand Study concludes in these 
 
 words : 
 
 " If those who govern states only think of amassing riches for their 
 personal use, they will infallibly attract toward them depraved men ; 
 these depraved men will make the sovereign believe that they are good 
 and virtuous ; and these depraved men will govern the kingdom. But 
 the administration of these unworthy ministers will call down the chas- 
 tisements of Heaven, and excite the vengeance of the people. When 
 matters have reached this point, what ministers, were they ever so good 
 and virtuous, could avert misfortune? Therefore, those who govern 
 kingdoms ought never to make their private fortune out of the public 
 revenues ; but their only riches should be justice and equity." 
 
 The second classical book, Tchoung-young, or The 
 Invariable Centre, is a treatise on the conduct of wise 
 men in life. It has been edited by a disciple of Con- 
 fucius, according to instructions received from the lips 
 of the master himself. The system of morals contained 
 in this book is based on the principle, that virtue is 
 always at an equal distance from two extremes In 
 media consistit virtus. This harmonious centre, Ching- 
 ho, is the source of the true, the beautiful, and the good. 
 
 I. 
 
 " The disciple Sse-lou inquires of his master concerning the strength 
 of man. 
 
 II. 
 
 " Confucius replies : ' Is it concerning manly strength in northern 
 or in southern countries that you wish to inquire ? Is it of your own 
 strength ?' 
 
 III. 
 
 "To have gentle and benevolent manners for the instruction of men 
 to have compassion toward those madmen who revolt against reason 
 this is the manly strength proper to southern countries ; it is that 
 which the wise endeavor to attain. 
 
 IV. 
 
 "To make one's couch on steel blades and skins of wild beasts to 
 contemplate without shuddering the approach of death this is the 
 manly strength proper to northern countries, and it is that which the 
 brave endeavor to attain. 
 
 V. 
 
 "But much stronger and much grander is the power of soul belong- 
 ing to the sage who lives always at peace with men, and who does not 
 
138 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 
 
 allow himself to be corrupted by passion. Much stronger and grander 
 is the power of soul in him who keeps always in the straight path, 
 equally distant from the two extremes. Much stronger and grander 
 is the power of soul in him who, when his country is in the enjoyment 
 of a good government, which is his work, does not allow himself to be 
 corrupted or blinded by a foolish pride. Much stronger and grander 
 is the power of soul in him who, when his country, being lawless, has 
 not a good government, remains immovable in his virtue till death." 
 
 Confucius, in his Invariable Centre, as in his other 
 treatises, endeavors to apply his ethical principles to 
 politics. These are the conditions on which he allows 
 to sovereigns the right of governing nations and giving 
 them institutions : 
 
 I. 
 
 " It is only the man supremely holy, who, by the faculty of knowing 
 thoroughly, and comprehending perfectly, the primitive laws of living 
 beings, is worthy of possessing supreme authority and commanding 
 men who, by possessing a soul, grand, firm, constant, and imperturb- 
 able, is capable of making justice and equity reign who, by his faculty 
 of being always honest, simple, upright, grave, and just, is capable of 
 attracting respect and veneration who, by his faculty of being clothed 
 with the ornaments of the mind and the talents procured by assiduous 
 study, and by the enlightenment that is given by an exact investigation 
 of the most hidden things and the most subtle principles is capable 
 of discerning with accuracy the true from the false, and good from evil. 
 
 II. 
 
 " His faculties are so ample, so vast, so profound, that he is like an 
 immense spring, whence all issues in due season. 
 
 III. 
 
 "They are vast and extensive as the heavens; the hidden source 
 whence they flow is deep as the abyss. Let this man supremely holy 
 appear with his virtues, and his powerful faculties, and the nations will 
 not fail to have faith in his words. Let him act, and the nations will 
 not fail to be in joy. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " It is thus that the renown of his virtues will be like an ocean, in- 
 undating the empire in every part. It will extend even to the bar- 
 barians of the north and the south. Wherever vessels or chariots can 
 reach wherever the power of human industry can penetrate in all 
 the places which the heavens cover with their immense canopy on all 
 points that the earth contains, which the sun and the moon enlighten 
 with their rays which the dew and the clouds of morning fertilize 
 all human beings who live and breathe can never fail to love and to 
 revere him." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 139 
 
 The third classical book, Lun-yu, or Philosophical 
 Conversations, is a collection of maxims put together in 
 rather a confused manner, and of recollections of the dis- 
 courses of Confucius with his disciples. Among a great 
 number of commonplaces on morals and politics, are 
 some profound thoughts, and some curious details con- 
 cerning the character and manners of Confucius, who 
 seems to have been something of an original. Thus, 
 the Lun-yu informs us that the master, in introducing 
 his guests, kept his arms stretched out like the wings 
 of a bird ; that he would never eat meat that was not 
 cut in a straight line ; that if the mat on which he was 
 to sit down was not regularly placed, he would not take 
 it ; that he would point to nothing with his fingers, etc. 
 
 Finally, the fourth classical book is that of Meng-tze, 
 or Mincius, as he is called by Europeans. This work, 
 divided into two parts, contains the summary of the 
 counsels addressed by this celebrated philosopher to the 
 princes of his time and his disciples. Mincius has been 
 decorated by his countrymen with the title of Second 
 Sage, Confucius being the first ; and they render to him, 
 in the great Hall of the Learned, the same honors as to 
 Confucius. This is what a Chinese author says of the 
 Book of Mineius : " The subjects treated in this work 
 are of various natures. In one part are examined the 
 virtues of individual life and of domestic relations ; in 
 another the order of affairs. Here are investigated the 
 duties of superiors, from the sovereign to the lowest 
 magistrate, for the attainment of good government. 
 There the toils of students, laborers, artisans, traders, 
 are exhibited ; and in the course of the work the laws 
 of the physical world, of the heavens and the earth, the 
 mountains and rivers, of birds, quadrupeds, fish, in- 
 sects, plants, trees, are occasionally described. A great 
 number of affairs that Mincius managed, in the course 
 
140 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 of his life, in his intercourse with men, his occasional 
 discourses with people of rank, his instructions to his 
 pupjLu his explanations of books, ancient and modern 
 all these things are incorporated in this publication. 
 
 "It is a collection of historical facts and of the 
 words of ancient sages, uttered for the instruction of 
 mankind." 
 
 M. Abel Remusat has thus characterized the two 
 most celebrated philosophers of China : 
 
 "The style of Meng-tze, less elevated and less con- 
 cise than that of the prince of letters, Confucius, is more 
 flowery and elegant, and also not deficient in nobleness. 
 The form of dialogue, which he has preserved in his 
 Philosophical Conversations with the great persons of 
 his times, allows of more variety than one can expect to 
 find in the apophthegms and maxims of Confucius. 
 The character of their philosophy also differs widely. 
 Confucius is always grave, even austere. He extols 
 the virtuous, of whom he draws an ideal portrait, and 
 only speaks of the vicious with cold indignation. Meng- 
 tze, with the same love of virtue, seems to have more 
 contempt for than hatred of vice. He attacks it by the 
 force of reason, and does not disdain even to employ the 
 weapon of ridicule. His manner of arguing approaches 
 the irony attributed to Socrates. He does not contend 
 with his adversaries ; but endeavors, while granting their 
 premises, to draw from them absurd consequences, that 
 he may cover them with confusion. He does not even 
 spare the princes and great men of his time, who often 
 only feigned to consult him, in order to have an oppor- 
 tunity of boasting of their conduct, or to obtain from 
 him eulogiums that they supposed themselves to merit. 
 Nothing can be more piquant than the answers he some- 
 times gives them on such occasions, and nothing more 
 opposed to the too generally entertained opinion of the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 141 
 
 baseness and servility of Orientals, and especially of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 " Meng-tze does not resemble Aristippus so much as 
 Diogenes, but without violating decency and decorum. 
 His liveliness does sometimes appear of rather too tart 
 a quality, but he is always inspired by zeal for the pub- 
 lic good. 
 
 " The pupils in Chinese schools learn these books at 
 first by heart, without troubling themselves with the 
 sense or meaning of the author ; and if they attach any 
 ideas to his words they are indebted merely to their own 
 sagacity. It is only when they are capable of repeating 
 the whole, from one end to the other, that the master 
 sets to work, with the assistance of innumerable com- 
 mentaries, to develop the text, word by word, and give 
 the necessaiy explanation; and the philosophical opin- 
 ions of Confucius and Meng-tze are then expounded, in 
 a manner more or less superficial, according to the age 
 and capacity of the pupil." 
 
 After the four classical books, the Chinese study the 
 five sacred books, Iing, which are the most ancient 
 monuments of Chinese literature, and contain the fun- 
 damental principles of the earliest creeds and customs. 
 The first in date, the most renowned, but the least in- 
 telligible of these sacred books is the Book of Changes, 
 y-King. This is a treatise on divination, founded on 
 the combinations of sixty-four lines (some entire, others 
 broken), and called koua, the discovery of which is at- 
 tributed to Fou-hi, the founder of Chinese civilization. 
 Fou-hi is said to have found these mysterious lines, 
 which he says are capable of explaining all things, on the 
 shell of a tortoise. But Confucius, whose capacity and 
 talents were so extraordinary, studied these enigmatical 
 koua very assiduously, and went through much labor in 
 editing the y-King, without being able to throw much 
 
142 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 light upon the matter. After Confucius, the number of 
 writers who have had the weakness to occupy themselves 
 seriously with the y-King, is almost incredible. The 
 Imperial Catalogue enumerates more than 1450 treat- 
 ises, in the form of memoirs, or commentaries, upon this 
 famous, but whimsical work. 
 
 The Chou-king, or Book of History, is the second 
 sacred book. Confucius has collected in this important 
 work the historical recollections of the first dynasties of 
 China as far as the eighth century before our era. It 
 contains the speeches addressed by several emperors of 
 these dynasties to their great officers, and furnishes a 
 great number of precious documents concerning the firs* 
 ages of the Chinese nation. 
 
 The third sacred book is the Che-king, or Book of 
 Verses ; a collection, made also by Confucius, of ancient- 
 national and official songs, from the eighteenth to the 
 third century before our era; and there is found ii> 
 it very interesting and authentic information on the an' 
 cient manners of China. The Book of Verses is often 
 quoted and commented on in the philosophical writings 
 of Meng-tze and of Confucius, who recommends it to hia 
 disciples. He says, in the Lun-yu, "My dear disciples, 
 why do you not study the Book of Verses ? The Book 
 of Verses is proper for elevating your sentiments and 
 ideas ; it is fitted for forming your judgment by the con- 
 templation of things ; it is good for uniting men in mutual 
 harmony, and for exciting regret without resentment." 
 
 The fourth sacred book is the Li-ki, or Book of Rites. 
 The original was lost in the conflagration of ancient books 
 ordered by the Emperor Thsin-che-Hoang, at the end 
 of the third century before our era. The present ritual 
 is a collection of fragments ; the most ancient of which 
 do not appear to date from an earlier epoch than that of 
 Confucius. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 143 
 
 Finally, the fifth sacred book is the Tchun-thsiou, or 
 the Book of Spring and Autumn, written by Confucius ; 
 and which takes its name from the two seasons of the 
 year in which it was commenced and finished. It 
 contains the annals of the little kingdom of Z/)u, the 
 native country of this philosopher, from the year 292 
 to 480 before our era. Confucius wrote it to recall 
 the princes of his time to respect for ancient customs, 
 by pointing out the misfortunes that had happened to 
 their predecessors since these customs had fallen into 
 desuetude. 
 
 These five sacred and four classical books are the basis 
 of all science among the Chinese. What one finds in 
 them is, it must be confessed, but little suited to the 
 tastes or wants of Europeans. It would be vain to seek 
 in them for scientific ideas ; and, with some truths of 
 great importance in politics and morals, one is confound- 
 ed by finding mingled the grossest errors and the most 
 absurd fables. Chinese instruction nevertheless, taken 
 on the whole, tends wonderfully to create in the mind 
 an attachment to ancient customs, and a profound respect 
 for authority ; two things which have always been the 
 twin pillars of Chinese society, and which alone can 
 serve to explain the duration of this ancient civiliza- 
 tion. We shall not enter here into any further details 
 concerning the education and literature of the Chinese, 
 since we shall have to return to the subject on several 
 other occasions. 
 
 We had been about fifteen days at Tching-tou-fou, 
 and, as we were beginning to be exceedingly tired of it, 
 we managed to intimate to the viceroy our desire to 
 resume our journey. He replied very graciously, that 
 it would give him pleasure if we would prolong our 
 period of repose, but that we were entirely free, and 
 might ourselves fix the day of our departure. The Mag- 
 
Ill .KM KNKV THUUt'GH THE CHINESE EMPIKE. 
 
 istratc Pao-ngan did liis utmost to detain us, and put 
 in operation all the resources of his insinuating and pa- 
 thetic eloquence, conjuring us to stay a little longer, if 
 we would not " rend his heart." We on our side had 1o 
 explain to him the depth of grief into which we should 
 be plunged, when we should be separated from him by 
 lakes and rivers, plains and mountains. Nevertheless, 
 in spite of this reciprocal wish to remain forever togeth- 
 er, it was decided that we should set off in two days. 
 Various little' intrigues immediately began ; all the Man- 
 darins who were at liberty set about manoeuvring to 
 obtain the office of our escort, and their visits from that 
 moment succeeded each other without interruption. It 
 was a perfect avalanche of white and gilt balls which 
 fell all at once into the halls of The Hidden Treasure. 
 All these candidates were, if you could take their word 
 for it, absolutely perfect men ; they possessed in the 
 highest degree the five cardinal virtues, and were also 
 perfectly familiar with all the laws of politeness ; they 
 all understood how much strangers of our importance 
 must have need of care and attention, during the toil- 
 some journey we were about to undertake. The coun- 
 tries we were about to traverse were well known to 
 them, and we might rely on their experience and de- 
 votion. They showed this eagerness to accompany us, 
 merely because a mission so glorious would render their 
 names illustrious, and their lives permanently happy. 
 
 What all these fine things really meant was, that 
 there was a little fortune to be gained by him who 
 should have the chance of escorting us. According to 
 the benevolent intentions of the viceroy, we were to 
 travel like government officers of rank. In that case 
 extraordinary contributions would be levied on all the 
 countries through which we passed, to provide for our 
 expenses and those of our escort ; and the gentlemen 
 
JOUKNEY THROUGH. THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 145 
 
 who desired so greatly to be our conductors thought to 
 profit by our inexperience in such matters, and retain 
 for their own share the greater part of the funds that 
 would be allotted for the purpose by the tribunals on 
 our road. There exist very minute regulations concern- 
 ing these sorts of journeys ; but they thought we should 
 know nothing about them. We took very good care, 
 however, not to choose our conductors ourselves ; we 
 preferred leaving the appointment to the superior au- 
 thorities, reserving in this manner the right of complain- 
 ing if things did not afterward turn out to our satisfac- 
 tion. We should want, it appeared, two [Mandarins ; 
 one of the literary class who would be the soul of the 
 expedition, and one military, with fifteen soldiers, to se- 
 cure the tranquillity and good order of our march. 
 
 On the evening before our departure, our friend the 
 Prefect of the Garden of Flowers paid us an official 
 visit, to present the two successful candidates. The 
 literary candidate, named Ting, was of the middle size, 
 very thin, marked with the small-pox, and worn out 
 with the use of opium ; a great talker, and exceedingly 
 ignorant. In our first interview he was careful to in- 
 form us that he was very much devoted to Kao-wang, 
 a kind of divinity ot the Chinese pantheon ; and that 
 he knew a great number of prayers, and especially some 
 very long litanies, which he was in the habit of reciting 
 every day. We are persuaded that it was with the in- 
 tention of being particularly agreeable that they favored 
 us with this learned Mandarin and his long litanies ; 
 and he was, it must be confessed, something of a cu- 
 riosity. 
 
 The military Mandarin, for his part, knew no prayers 
 
 at all. He was a young man with a broad face, and a 
 
 constitution naturally robust, but already suffering from 
 
 the effects of opium. His manners were more polished 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
146 JOUIiNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EM1MUK. 
 
 and courteous than those of his colleague, and he even 
 appeared to have made more progress in literary culture. 
 
 On the day of our departure we went at a very early 
 hour to pay our farewell visit to the viceroy. This re- 
 ception was not solemn and stately as on the former oc- 
 casion ; we had no music, and there was no assemblage 
 of the civil and military officers of the town. We were 
 accompanied only by the Prefect of the Garden of 
 Flowers, who remained standing at the door of the cab- 
 inet in which we were received. 
 
 The same simplicity appeared in the deportment of 
 the viceroy. He spoke to us with much kindness, and 
 was good enough to enter into the most minute details 
 on the subject of the orders he had given for our treat- 
 ment on the road ; and in order that we might be fully 
 aware of our claims, he presented us with a copy of the 
 regulations that our conductors were bound to see ex- 
 ecuted. 
 
 During this visit the viceroy mentioned in confidence 
 a circumstance that surprised us, and which tends to 
 show that the Chinese are by no means as good mathe- 
 maticians and astronomers as they are in Europe gener- 
 ally supposed to be. He told us that the government 
 would soon find itself in great embarrassment on ac- 
 count of the necessity of a revision of the calendar, 
 which was now no longer accurate. We knew very 
 well that the first missionaries, at the epoch of their fa- 
 vor at court, had been complaisant enough to correct 
 many grave errors that were found to exist in the Chi- 
 nese computation of the lunar year, as well as to make 
 for the government a kind of perpetual calendar for a 
 considerable period. This period, however, was now 
 nearly over, and the Office of Mathematics at Pekin had 
 humbly declared itself incapable of preparing another. 
 
 The viceroy } who had probably received particular 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 147 
 
 instructions on the subject from the Emperor, asked us 
 whether there would be no means of engaging the mis- 
 sionaries to labor in the reform of the calendar? We 
 replied that if the Emperor invited them to do so, they 
 would probably have no motive for refusing his request. 
 We took this opportunity, also, of reminding this high 
 dignitary of the services formerly rendered to the Em- 
 pire by the missionaries, in directing the works of the 
 Mathematical Office, preparing maps of the provinces, 
 and of tributary countries ; negotiating various treaties 
 with the Russians ; and in a number of other occasions 
 in which they showed as much talent as devotion to 
 the Chinese government. "How many missionaries," 
 said we, "have quitted their country to come and de- 
 vote themselves entirely to the Chinese ! And the Chi- 
 nese, in what manner have they rewarded so many 
 toils, and such great sacrifices ? When they thought 
 they no longer had need of the missionaries, they drove 
 them ignominiously from their country; they put others 
 to death; they seized on the establishments which they 
 had erected at great expense; they even outraged, quite 
 recently, the tombs of those learned and virtuous per- 
 sons who excited the admiration of the celebrated Em- 
 peror Khang-hi." 
 
 When we spoke of the recent profanation of these 
 tombs, the viceroy appeared struck with astonishment. 
 The French missionaries formerly possessed, in the en- 
 virons of Pekin, a magnificent piece of inclosed ground, 
 that had been given to them as a burial-place by the 
 Emperor Khang-hi. There repose many of our coun- 
 trymen, who died thus at the distance of ten thousand 
 leagues from their country, after having worn out their 
 lives in sufferings and privations in the midst of a peo- 
 ple who never knew how to appreciate either their vir- 
 tue or their knowledge. 
 
148 JOU11XEY TilKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 We visited this inclosure, known among the Chinese 
 as the French Burial Ground, several times, and could 
 never do so without feeling our hearts beat as if we 
 were about to set foot once more upon our native soil. 
 This is, in fact, French soil; it is an affecting and pre- 
 cious colony, conquered in the midst of the Chinese 
 Empire, by our departed brethren. The site of it is 
 one of the finest to be found in Pekin. The walls are 
 still in good preservation, but the house and the wood- 
 work, which are in a style half European half Chinese, 
 are greatly in need of repair. In the middle of a vast 
 garden, now running wild, there is a grove in which the 
 tombs of the missionaries have been placed by com- 
 mand, under some lofty forest trees ; but as Europeans 
 have now no longer a legal existence in China, the 
 French Burial Ground was intrusted to the care of a 
 Chinese Christian family, since sent into exile in conse- 
 quence of a recent persecution. The establishment was 
 then sacked and pillaged by the robbers of Pekin. 
 
 At present it is in possession of the government, and 
 the heathens lodged in it steal every day whatever they 
 like the trees, the materials of the chapel, even the 
 stones from the tombs. 
 
 The viceroy, as we said, was struck with astonish- 
 ment at hearing us speak of the pillage of the Burial 
 Ground, and inquired whether the French government 
 had been informed of it. " Possibly it may have been," 
 we replied; "but if not, we will take care to give the 
 information." 
 
 "And if I write to Pekin on the subject, and the Em- 
 peror should give orders to. restore the sepulchres, will 
 that satisfy the French ?" 
 
 " They will doubtless be glad to learn that reparation 
 has been made for the injury done to the tombs of their 
 brothers." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 149 
 
 The viceroy immediately called for a pencil, wrote 
 some words, and promised, as soon as possible, to ad- 
 dress to the Emperor a memorial relative to this affair. 
 We afterward talked with him a long time about Euro- 
 pean governments, the Christian religion, and the Impe- 
 rial decrees obtained by M. de Lagrenee. The worthy 
 old man evidently ffilt a good deal of anxiety concern- 
 ing the Mantchou dynasty, and he appeared to under- 
 stand that an epoch had arrived, in which, whether they 
 would or not, the Chinese must modify their ancient 
 institutions, and enter into relations with European 
 powers. Thanks to steam, these are now no longer at 
 so immense a distance from the Celestial Empire. 
 
 "I will go to Pekin," said he, "and I will myself 
 speak to the Emperor." 
 
 At length the viceroy put an end to the interview-, 
 by addressing us with the customary words, "I-lou- 
 fou-sing" " May the star of happiness accompany your 
 journey." We wished him a long and happy old age, 
 and left him to return to the house of the magistrate, 
 where we were to meet the Mandarins of our escort.* 
 
 We found a numerous company, composed of persons 
 with whom we had become acquainted during our stay 
 at Tching-tou-fou ; we sat down to table and Pao-ngan 
 served us up a regular feast according to " the Rites." 
 Very soon the ceremonious formalities of the farewell 
 began. They told us, in all sorts of tones, and with 
 every conceivable variation, that during our residence 
 with them they had annoyed us very much, and ren- 
 dered our lives extremely unpleasant. On our sides we 
 declared that on the contrary we had the greatest need 
 of their indulgence and their pardon, for we had been 
 
 * In 1850, we went from Macao to Pekin, with the intention of see- 
 ing the viceroy, whom the Emperor had summoned to remain near his 
 person. But, unfortunately, he died just a fortnight before our arrival. 
 
 Some short time afterward the Emperor died also. 
 
J50 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE E.Ml'lUK. 
 
 most troublesome and exacting guests. Every one of 
 course knew the value of this strange phraseology con- 
 secrated by custom, and which does sometimes happen 
 to be a very naive expression of the truth. At last we 
 entered our palanquins, and the procession, preceded by 
 twelve soldiers armed with rattans, opened for us a 
 passage through a dense throng of curious spectators. 
 All were desirous of getting a glimpse of these famous 
 "Western Devils," who had so strangely become the 
 friends of the viceroy and the Emperor; and of this 
 fact no one could doubt, since instead of strangling us, 
 they allowed us to wear the yellow cap and the red 
 ffirdlc. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Departure from Tching-tou-fou Letter thrown into our Palanquin, at 
 the Gate of the Town Christianity in China Its Introduction in 
 the fifth and sixth Centuries Monument and Inscription at Si-ngan- 
 f ou Progress of Christianity in the fourteenth Century Arrival of 
 the Portuguese in China Macao Father Mathew Eicci Depart- 
 ure of the first Chinese Missionaries Prosperity of the Religion 
 under the Emperor Khang-hi Persecution under the Emperor 
 Young-tching Abandonment of the Missions Numerous Depart- 
 ures of the new Missionaries Glance at the Present State of Chris- 
 tianity in China Motives of Hostility in the Government toward 
 Christians Indifferentism of the Chinese in matters of Religion 
 Honors paid to us on our Road Halt at a Communal Palace Trick- 
 ery on the part of Master Ting Navigation of the Blue River Ar- 
 rival at Kien-tcheou. 
 
 As we reached the southern gate of the town, we re- 
 marked among the mass of people assembled there a 
 great number of Christians. They made the sign of 
 the cross to enable us to recognize them, and also to 
 afford us, as well as they could, an expression of sym- 
 pathy. Their countenances showed satisfaction and 
 confidence ; for, they had doubtless imagined they saw 
 in the attentions that had been lavished on us by the 
 viceroy and the first magistrates of the town, the pre- 
 cursory signs of the religious liberty, the hope of which 
 had shone for a moment on their path. 
 
 Perhaps, also, they might hope that information af- 
 forded vivd voce to the representatives of France, con- 
 cerning the nullity of the Imperial Edicts, would draw 
 forth a protest that might force back the Chinese gov- 
 ernment into the path of justice and moderation. If 
 such were indeed their hopes on witnessing our depart- 
 ure for Macao, they must have been sadly disappointed; 
 
152 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 for their situation, instead of improving, became aggra- 
 vated from day to day. 
 
 Ajt the moment when we were passing through the 
 last gate, one of us caught in his palanquin a letter, 
 furtively flung in by a Christian who kept himself 
 crouched in a corner ; it was from M. Perocheau, Bishop 
 of Maxula, and vicar apostolic of the province of Sse- 
 tchouen. This zealous and learned prelate spoke to us 
 of numerous local persecutions, which were still deso- 
 lating his vicariate, and begged us to remind the Man- 
 darins we might meet with on the road, of the promises 
 made by the Emperor with respect to the Christians of 
 his Empire. 
 
 Our resolution was already taken in that matter, and 
 the recommendation of the venerable elder of the Chi- 
 nese Bishops could only confirm us the more in it. But 
 unfortunately our efforts had a very small effect. 
 
 The Chinese Christian communities r.re still, as they 
 were before, at the mercy of the Mandarins ; and they 
 have now, also, to dread the fanaticism and barbarity 
 of the insurgents. All seems to indicate that the mis- 
 sionaries will long have to sow the divine seed in tears 
 and sorrow. Truly lamentable is this obstinacy of the 
 Chinese people, in rejecting, disdainfully, the treasure 
 of faith, that Europe has never ceased to offer with so 
 much zeal, devotion, and perseverance. No other na- 
 tion has excited such lively solicitude on the part of the 
 Church ; no sacrifice has been spared for its sake ; and 
 yet it is the one, of all, that has proved most rebellious. 
 
 The soil lias been prepared and turned in all direc- 
 tions with patience and intelligence ; it has been watered 
 by sweat and tears, and enriched with the blood of mar- 
 tyrs ; the evangelical seed has been sown in it with 
 profusion ; the Christian world has poured forth prayers, 
 to draw upon it the blessing of Heaven ; and yet it is 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 153 
 
 still as sterile as ever, and the time of the harvest is not 
 yet come : for one can not give the name of harvest to 
 a few scattered ears, springing up here and there, and 
 gathered in haste, lest they should fall at the first breath 
 of the storm. It would not be impossible, perhaps, to 
 point out the principal causes which hinder the propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel in China; but it will be better to 
 give, first, a rapid sketch of the various attempts that 
 have been made, at different epochs, to Christianize this 
 vast Empire. 
 
 The first efforts to throw the light of faith on the cen- 
 tral and eastern parts of Asia were made at a very re- 
 mote period. 
 
 Already, as early as the fifth and sixth centuries, we 
 discover traces of the first missionaries who traveled by 
 land from Constantinople to what they called the King- 
 dom of Cathay ; for it was under this name that China 
 was first known in the West. 
 
 These apostles wandered on foot, their staves in their 
 hands, over mountains, along banks of rivers, through 
 forests and deserts, amidst privations and sufferings of 
 every kind, to carry the tidings of salvation to nations 
 unknown to the rest of the world. For a long time it 
 was supposed that the Gospel was not preached in China 
 till a comparatively recent period the time when the 
 celebrated and courageous Mathew Bicci penetrated into 
 the Empire in the latter half of the sixteenth century. 
 But the discovery of the monument and inscription at 
 Si-ngan-fou,* the former capital of China, proves incon- 
 testably that in the year 635, the Christian religion was 
 known and even flourishing there. This inscription 
 speaks of numerous churches which owed their erection 
 to the piety of the 'Emperors, and of magnificent titles 
 
 * A magnificent fac-simile of this celebrated inscription may be seen 
 in the Imperial Library at Paris. 
 
154 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMIMUK. 
 
 bestowed on the priest, Olopen,* who is designated as 
 the Sovereign Guardian of the Kingdom of the Great 
 Law ; that is to say, Primate of the Christian religion. 
 In 712, the Bonzes excited a persecution against the 
 Christians, who, however, after some transitory trials, 
 were again triumphant. "Then," according to the in- 
 scription, " the religion that had been oppressed for 
 some time, began again to raise its head. The stone 
 of doctrine that had been for a moment thrown off its 
 balance, recovered itself. In the year 744, there was a 
 priest of the kingdom of Ta-thsinf who came to China 
 to salute the Emperor; he ordered this priest Sohan, 
 and six others, with the one sent from Ta-thsin, to offer 
 Christian sacrifices in the palace of Him-kim. Then 
 the Emperor ordered them to suspend over the door of 
 the church an inscription written with his own hand. 
 This august tablet shone with a vivid splendor ; and 
 that is why all the earth conceived a great respect for 
 religion. All affairs were perfectly well managed, and 
 felicity, arising from religion, was profitable to the human 
 race. Every year the Emperor Tai-tsoung, on the day 
 of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, presented to the Church 
 celestial perfumes ; and he distributed Imperial viands 
 to the Christian multitude, to render the day more re- 
 markable and celebrated. The priest, Y-sou, a great 
 benefactor of the religion, and, at the same time, a great 
 person at court, lieutenant of the Viceroy of So-fan, and 
 Inspector of the palace, to whom the Emperor has pre- 
 sented a religious habit of sky blue, is a man of gentle 
 manners and mind, inclined to all sorts of good. As 
 soon as he had received into his heart the true doctrine, 
 he began to put it in practice. He came to China from 
 
 * There is every reason to believe that Olopen was a Syrian, 
 t The Itomau Empire was thus designated by the Chinese of this 
 e];och. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 155 
 
 a distant country, and he surpasses in industry all those 
 \vlio flourished under the three first dynasties ; he under- 
 stands perfectly the sciences and arts. In the begin- 
 ning, when he labored at court, he rendered excellent 
 services to the state, and acquired, in a high degree, the 
 esteem of the Emperor." 
 
 "This stone," concludes the inscription, "was pre- 
 pared and raised in the second year of the reign of Tai- 
 tsoung" (A. D. 781). "At that time the priest Niu-chou, 
 Lord of the Law" (that is to say, Pontiff of the religion), 
 "governed the whole body of Christians in the Oriental 
 countries. Liou-siou-yen, counselor of the palace, and 
 formerly Member of the Council of War, wrote this in- 
 scription." 
 
 This precious monument, of which Voltaire had the 
 audacity, or rather the bad faith, to dispute the authen- 
 ticity, speaks also of a person celebrated in China named 
 Kouo-tze-y. He was the most illustrious man of the 
 Tang dynasty, either in peace or war ; and several 
 times replaced on the throne Emperors who had been 
 driven from it by foreigners and rebels. He lived to 
 be eighty-four years of age, and died in 781, the same 
 year when this monument was erected. His name has 
 remained popular in China to the present time : he is 
 often chosen as the hero of dramatic pieces, and we have 
 heard his name pronounced with respect in assemblies 
 of Mandarins. 
 
 There is every reason to think that this man was a 
 Christian ; this is what is said of him on the monument 
 of Si-ngan-fou : 
 
 "Kouo-tze-y, the first president of the ministerial 
 court, and king of the city of Fen-yen, was in the be- 
 ginning generalissimo of the armies of So-fan, that is 
 to say, in the Northern countries. The Emperor Sou- 
 tsoung associated him with himself for his companion 
 
l.M, JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 in a long march; but although, by singular favor, he 
 was admitted familiarly even into the Emperor's cham- 
 ber, he was never more in his own eyes than a simple 
 soldier. He was the nails and the teeth of the Empire, 
 the ears and the eyes of the army ; he distributed among 
 them the pay and the presents that he received from the 
 Emperor, and never accumulated any thing in his own 
 house. He kept the ancient churches in repair, or he 
 enlarged them, raised their roofs and their porticoes to 
 a greater height, and embellished them in such a man- 
 ner that their edifices were like pheasants spreading 
 their wings to fly. 
 
 " Besides that, he served in every manner the Chris- 
 tian religion ; he was assiduous in the exercise of char- 
 ity, and lavish in the distribution of alms. Every year 
 he assembled the priests and the Christians of the four 
 Churches ; he entertained them zealously with suitable 
 viands, and continued these liberalities for fifty days in 
 succession. Those who were hungry came to him, and 
 he fed them. He took care of the sick, and restored 
 them to health ; he buried the dead, and put them to 
 rest. It has not been heard, up to the present time, 
 that the virtue of any one shone so brightly, even in the 
 Tlia-so, those men who devote themselves so religiously 
 to good works." 
 
 The whole life of Kouo-tzc-y appears to have been ad- 
 mirable, and offers details of the greatest interest. We 
 regret that the limits we are obliged to prescribe to our- 
 selves, do not permit us to give here the biography of 
 this illustrious Chinese Christian of the 8th century; 
 but we can not resist quoting the magnificent eulogium 
 that a Chinese historian has passed upon him. " This 
 great man," he says, " died in the eighty-fifth year of 
 his age. He was protected by Heaven on account of 
 his virtues ; he was beloved by men on account of his 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 157 
 
 beautiful qualities ; he was feared by the enemies of the 
 state on account of his valor ; he was respected by the 
 subjects within the Empire on account of his incorrupt- 
 ible integrity, his justice, and mildness; he was the 
 support, the counselor, the soul of his sovereigns ; he 
 was loaded with riches and honors during the course of 
 his long life ; he was universally regretted at his death, 
 and he left behind him a numerous posterity, the heirs 
 of his glory and his merits, as well^as of his fortune and 
 his name. The whole Empire put on mourning at his 
 death and this mourning was the same as that worn 
 by children for the death of those from whom they have 
 received life : it lasted three whole years." 
 
 There is no doubt, then, that the Christian religion 
 was flourishing in China in the 8th century, since it 
 contained within its bosom such men as Kouo-tze-y ; 
 but it is probable, nevertheless, that the faithful had 
 many contests to sustain with the Bonzes, and also with 
 the Nestorians, who, at this epoch, were scattered in 
 great numbers all over the regions of high Asia. 
 
 It is well known that toward the beginning of the 
 9th century, Timotheus, Patriarch of the Nestorians, 
 sent some monks to preach the Gospel among the Tartars 
 of Hioung-nou, who had taken refuge on the borders 
 of the Caspian Sea, and subsequently these monks pene- 
 trated into Central Asia, and as far as China. The 
 torch of faith grew pale afterward, no doubt, even if 
 it were not entirely extinguished, in those distant coun- 
 tries, but it revived in the most brilliant manner in 
 the 13th and 14th centuries, the epoch in which the 
 communications between the East and the West became 
 more frequent on account of the crusades, and of the 
 invasions of the Tartars gigantic events, whose effect 
 was to unite and mingle together all the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
158 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMIMKE. 
 
 The Church did not fail to take advantage of these 
 great political convulsions, to forward her pacific and 
 holy work, the propagation of the faith. From the time 
 of Tchingis-khan and his successors, missionaries were 
 sent to Tartary and China. They carried with them 
 ornaments of the church altars and relics, "to see," 
 says Joinville, "if they could attract these people to 
 our faith." They celebrated the ceremonies of religion 
 before the Tartar princes, who granted them an asylum 
 in their tents, and permitted them to raise chapels, even 
 Avithin the inclosures of their palaces. Two of these, 
 Plan-Carpin and Rubruk, have left us curious accounts 
 of these travels. 
 
 Plan-Carpin was sent, in 1246, to the great Khan of 
 the Tartars, by Pope Innocent the Fourth ; he crossed 
 the Tanais and the Volga, passed to the north of the 
 Caspian Sea, followed the northern frontiers of the re- 
 gions that occupy the centre of Asia, and took his course 
 toward the country of the Mongols, where a grandson 
 of Tchingis-khan had just been proclaimed sovereign. 
 About the same time, the monk Rubruk, charged by 
 St. Louis with a mission to the Western Tartars, fol- 
 lowed nearly the same route. 
 
 At Khara-Khoroum, the capital of the Mongols, he 
 saw, not far from the palace of the sovereign, an edifice 
 upon which was a little cross: "Then," says he, "I 
 was at the height of joy, and supposing that there 
 must be some Christians there, I entered, and found 
 an altar magnificently adorned. There were represent- 
 ations of the Saviour, the Holy Virgin, and of John 
 the Baptist, on cloths embroidered with gold, and two 
 angels, of which the body and the vestments were en- 
 riched with precious stones. There was a large silver 
 cross, with pearls and other ornaments in the centre, 
 and at the corners ; and a lamp with eight jets of light 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 159 
 
 burned before the altar. In the sanctuary was seated 
 an Armenian monk of a swarthy complexion, very thin, 
 wearing nothing but a coarse tunic, reaching only down 
 to the middle of his leg, and a black mantle fastened 
 with iron clasps."* Rubrak relates, that there were in 
 these countries a great number of JSTestorians and Greek 
 Catholics, who celebrated the Christian festivals with 
 perfect freedom. Princes and Emperors even received 
 baptism, and protected the propagators of the faith. 
 
 At the beginning- of the 14th century, Pope Clement 
 the Fifthf instituted an archbishopric at Pekin, in fa- 
 vor of Jean de Montcorvin, a French missionary, who 
 preached the Gospel in these countries for forty-two 
 years, and when he died left a very flourishing Christian 
 community. 
 
 An archbishopric at Pekin, with four suffragans in 
 the neighboring countries : surely these afford sufficient 
 proof that there were at this period a great number of 
 Christians in China. 
 
 These communications, however, were interrupted, 
 and by degrees Cathay and Zipangri,| whose wonders 
 so much excited the imaginations of the Western na- 
 tions, at the time when the curious narratives of the 
 noble Venetian, Marco Polo, made their appearance, 
 were entirely lost sight of by them. 
 
 The very existence of these empires began to be 
 
 * Tune gavisus sum rnultmn, supponens quod ibi esset allqidd Christian- 
 itatis. Ingressus conjidenter, inveni altare paratum vere pulchre. Erat enim 
 in panno aureo brosdate ymago Salvatoris et beate Virginis, et Johannis 
 Baptiste et duorum angelorum, Uneamentis corporis et vestimentorum dis- 
 tinctis margaritis, crux mayna argentea habens gemmas in angulis et in media 
 sui, ct alia philateria multa, et lucerna cum oleo ardens ante altare, habens 
 octo lumina ; et sedebat ibi unus monachus Armenus nigellus, macilentus, in- 
 dtitus tunica asperimma usque medias tibias, habens desuper pallium nigrum, 
 de seta fur ratum, vario ligatus ferro sub cilicio. (Recueil de Voyages et 
 de Me'moires public par la Societe de Geographic, torn. iv. p. 301.) 
 
 t The tomb of this celebrated Pope is to be seen in the cathedral 
 of Avignon. J China and Japan. 
 
160 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'lKK. 
 
 doubted; and the accounts of the famous traveler, 
 whose faithfulness and simple sincerity are now fully 
 admitted, were regarded as mere fables. 
 
 The discovery of China had to be made over again, 
 and this glory belongs to the Portuguese. These bold 
 navigators, having reached the Cape of Good Hope, 
 doubled it, and reached the Indies by a route that no 
 vessel had followed before. In 1517, the Viceroy of 
 Goa dispatched to Canton eight vessels under the com- 
 mand of Fernand 1 d'Andrada, who received the title of 
 Embassador. D'Andrada, who^was of a soft and pliant 
 character, managed to gain the friendship of the Vice- 
 roy of Canton, and made an advantageous treaty of 
 commerce with him, the commencement of the relations 
 of China with Europe. Subsequently, the Portuguese 
 rendered the Chinese a signal service by capturing a fa- 
 mous pirate, who had long ravaged their coasts ; and 
 in gratitude for this service the Emperor permitted the 
 Portuguese to establish themselves on a peninsula formed 
 by some sterile rocks. On this spot arose the city of 
 Macao, long the sole mart of the commerce of Europeans 
 with the Celestial Empire. At present Macao is a mere 
 remembrance ; the English establishment at Hong-Kong 
 has given it the mortal blow, and nothing is left of its 
 former prosperity but fine houses without tenants ; in a 
 few years more, perhaps, the European ships, as they 
 sail past this once proud and wealthy Portuguese colo- 
 ny, will see only a naked rock to which the Chinese fish- 
 erman will come to dry his black nets. Missionaries, 
 however, will still like to visit these ruins, for the name 
 of Macao will be always celebrated in the history of the 
 propagation of the faith; there, during many centuries, 
 were formed, as in a cenacle, the apostles who afterward 
 went to carry the glad tidings of the Gospel to China, 
 Japan, Tartary, the Corea, Cochin China, and Tonquin. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 161 
 
 While the Portuguese were laboring to develop the 
 importance of their colony of Macao, St. Francis de 
 Xavier was preaching at Japan, which the .Chinese 
 merchants of Ning-po annually visited, in their great 
 trading junks. 
 
 It was probably from them that he learned those par- 
 ticulars concerning China, which he wrote to Europe 
 toward the end of his life. Having formed the project 
 of carrying the faith into this vast empire, he embarked 
 for it, but he had not yet set foot on the land he had so 
 long sighed after, when he was overtaken by death on a 
 little island near the Chinese coast. 
 
 Other Apostolic men, however, took up his idea, and 
 heirs of his zeal for the glory of God threw themselves 
 into the path he had pointed out. The first, and most 
 celebrated, was Father Mathew Ricci, who entered China 
 toward the end of the 16th century. 
 
 Religious ideas do not, it must be owned, strike very 
 deep root in this country, and the seeds of the Christian 
 faith, cast into it in the earlier' ages, appear to have 
 entirely perished. With the exception of the above- 
 mentioned inscription at Si-ngan, no trace of the pas- 
 sage of former missionaries, or of their preaching, was 
 then to be found. Not even in the traditions of the 
 country was preserved the slightest trace of the religion 
 of Jesus Christ. A melancholy trait is it in the charac- 
 ter of this people, that Christian truth does but glide 
 over its surface ! 
 
 All was now to begin again ; but Father Ricci pos- 
 sessed all the necessary qualifications for this great and 
 difficult enterprise. " A zeal courageous and indefatig- 
 able, but wise, patient, circumspect slow, that it might 
 be more efficacious, and timid in order to dare the more ; 
 such should have been the character of him whom God 
 had destined to be the Apostle of a nation, refined, sus- 
 
162 JuriJNKY THUOUGII THE CII1NKSK KMI'IKF.. 
 
 picious, and naturally hostile to all that docs not arise 
 within itself. A character so truly magnanimous was 
 needed to begin over again a work so often destroyed, 
 'to know how to profit by the smallest resources ; his 
 superior genius, and his rare and profound knowledge, 
 were needed to render him respected by people accus- 
 tomed to respect nothing but themselves, and to teach a 
 new law to those who had not hitherto supposed that any 
 one could teach them any thing; and his modesty and 
 humility were also required, to soften to this proud peo- 
 ple the yoke of a superiority of mind, which is only vol- 
 untarily submitted to when it is not perceived. Most 
 of all was required the great virtue, and the continual 
 union with God, that distinguished this apostolic man, 
 to render supportable to himself, by the imvard grace of 
 the spirit, the toils of so painful a life as that which he 
 led in China, compared with which one may consider 
 that the longest martyrdom would have spared him niany 
 sufferings."* 
 
 After more than twenty years of labor and patience, 
 Father Ricci had reaped only cruel persecutions and 
 sterile applause-; but after he had been received favor- 
 ably at court, the conversions became numerous, and 
 Catholic churches arose in many places. Father Ricci 
 died in 1610, at the age of fifty-eight ; and he had' the 
 consolation to leave his mission at last in a flourishing 
 state, as well as missionaries animated with his own zeal, 
 who like him, calling the arts and sciences to the aid of 
 their ministry, continued to rouse the curiosity of the 
 Chinese in order to dispose them favorably toward the 
 object they had in view. 
 
 The most illustrious among them were tiro Fathers 
 Adam Schal and Verbiest. It is to the latter that the 
 are indebted for their entrance into China; it 
 
 * Preface to the Lett res AlijiantMS, t. iii. p. 5. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 1G3 
 
 was he who sent for them to Pekin, and induced the 
 Emperor to receive them and treat them with distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1684, an idea of sending missionaries to China 
 began to be entertained in France for the first time. 
 The Hoyal Academy of Sciences was then working, by 
 order of the king, at the reform of their geography. 
 They had sent members of their illustrious body into 
 all the French ports of the ocean and the Mediterranean, 
 as well as into England, Denmark, Africa, and America, 
 to make the necessary observations. But they were 
 much more perplexed when it came to sending persons 
 to India and China. Academicians, it was thought, 
 would run the risk of not being well received in those 
 countries and of giving offense. The Royal Academy 
 began, therefore, to think of the Jesuits. Colbert had 
 an interview on the subject with Father de Fontaney 
 and M. Gassini. The death of the great Colbert frus- 
 trated the project for some time ; but it was resumed 
 afterward by his successor M. le Marquis de Louvois. 
 Six missionaries the Fathers De Fontaney, Tachard, 
 Gerbillon, Le Comte, De Visdelou, and Bouvet em- 
 barked at Brest on the 3d of March, 1685, and landed 
 at Ning-po on the 23d of July, 1687. Thence they re- 
 paired to Pekin, where they had soon gained the esteem 
 and admiration of all classes of the people by their vir- 
 tue, their learning, and their apostolic zeal. They got 
 so completely into the good graces of the Emperor, that 
 he gave them a house even within the limits of the Yel- 
 low City, and quite near to his own palace, in order to 
 be able to converse with them more easily. A short 
 time afterward he also assigned to them a large space 
 for the construction of a church ; he contributed with 
 much liberality toward the expenses of the erection, and 
 in order to afford the French missionaries a striking 
 
164 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 proof of his devotion, he chose himself to compose the 
 Chinese inscription in honor of the true God, that was 
 to be placed on the front of it. 
 
 The Emperor Khang-hi declared himself openly as 
 the protector of the neAV religion ; influenced by his ex- 
 ample, the princes and great dignitaries showed themx 
 selves favorable to it, and the number of neophytes 
 increased, considerably not only in the capital, but also 
 throughout the extent of the Empire. The missionaries 
 who were scattered about the provinces, profiting by 
 the good disposition of the head of the State, redoubled 
 their ardor in preaching of the Gospel, and in a short 
 time there arose in every quarter, churches, chapels, 
 oratories, and flourishing Christian communities. The 
 Chinese no longer feared that by receiving baptism they 
 should incur disgrace and the persecutions of the Man- 
 darins. The Christians held up their heads and showed 
 themselves proud of their religion ; perhaps they did so 
 a little too much, for it is common with men who are 
 pusillanimous and cowardly in times of trial, to become 
 arrogant in a period of prosperity. It was to be feared, 
 however, that this success, based in some measure on 
 the Imperial favor, would not be of very long duration : 
 and thus it proved. 
 
 The unfortunate disputes of the missionaries on the 
 subject of the rights practiced in honor of Confucius and 
 of ancestors, tended greatly to cool the friendship of the 
 Emperor Khang-hi, and to excite his anger. At his 
 death a violent reaction took place ; his successor Young- 
 tching let loose against the Christians the hatred and 
 jealousy that had been held in check during the pre- 
 ceding reign. The celebrated father Gaubil* arrived in 
 China during this melancholy period, and he wrote thus 
 
 * Father Gaubil, born at Gaillac (Tarn), was the most illustrious 
 missionary of the period in China. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 165 
 
 concerning it (in 1722) to the Archbishop of Toulouse, 
 Monsieur de Normond : 
 
 " I have only been a few months in China, and I was 
 much grieved when I came, to find a mission which only 
 a short time ago held out such encouraging hopes, re- 
 duced to so melancholy a condition. The churches are 
 in ruins, the Christians dispersed, the missionaries ex- 
 iled and confined in Canton the first port in China, 
 without being permitted to advance further into the 
 Empire ; the religion itself is on the point of being pro- 
 scribed. This, my lord, is the mournful sight that met 
 my eyes at my entrance into a country supposed to be 
 so favorably disposed for receiving the Gospel." The 
 mournful predictions of Father Gaubil were not long in 
 being realized. Two years afterward Father de JVIailla 
 wrote to France, to one of his colleagues : " How can 
 we write to you in the overwhelming position in which 
 we find ourselves, and how can we make known to you 
 the particulars of the melancholy scenes that are pass- 
 ing before our eyes ? What we have been dreading for 
 so many years what we had so often predicted has 
 at last come to pass. Our holy religion is entirely pro- 
 scribed in China; all the missionaries, with the excep- 
 tkfn of those who were at Pekin,* have been driven from 
 the Empire ; the churches are demolished or put to pro- 
 fane uses ; edicts have been issued, in which the se- 
 verest penalties are threatened to those who shall em- 
 brace the Christian faith, or who having done so shall 
 fail to renounce it. Such is the deplorable state to 
 which a mission is reduced, that for two hundred years 
 has cost us so much labor and suffering." 
 
 Thus the prosperity that had sprung up under the 
 protection of one Emperor, disappeared at the first word 
 
 * The missionaries permitted to remain at Pekin were employed in 
 th Mathcmctical Office, under the title of artists and learned men. 
 
1 (',(, .lOntNEY TllliOl :UI1 THE CHINESE EMPIKE. 
 
 of persecution from his successor. The Church of 
 China had doubtless grand and beautiful examples of 
 constancy in the faith to record in its annals ; but 
 numerous and lamentable defections proved also that 
 Christianity had not struck deeper root in it that it had 
 done in past ages, and that the Chinese, so tenacious 
 and immovable in their attachment to ancient cus- 
 tom, had little energy and steadiness in the cause of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 To Young-tching, a prince, as we have seen, hostile 
 to Christianity, succeeded Kien-long, whose long and 
 brilliant reign seemed to have revived that of Khang-hi. 
 The missionaries recovered their credit at Court, and 
 the work of the propagation of the Gospel was resumed, 
 but amidst perpetual vicissitudes ; sometimes tolerated, 
 now and then openly protected, but more often fiercely 
 persecuted, especially in the provinces. The number 
 of Christians, however, was gradually increasing, when 
 the suppression of the religious orders and the political 
 commotions of Europe not only arrested the progress 
 of the missions, but gave cause to fear that the flame of 
 religion would be once more extinguished in the remote 
 East. ' The old missionaries were removed by death, 
 there were no new ones to take their places, and the 
 Christians, left to themselves, were betraying the great- 
 est weakness, when another persecution broke out under 
 Ki;i-king, the successor of Kien-long on the Imperial 
 Throne. During this unfortunate period the Christian 
 communities, in many cases, completely disappeared. 
 
 \Vi- have visited, in the provinces, a great number of 
 towns that formerly possessed Christian churches, where 
 we could not find a single Christian. In the country 
 some poor families still cling to the faith, as the Man- 
 darins have found nothing among them to tempt their 
 mjudity, or because, having no inheritance in this world, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EWIRE. 167 
 
 they the more felt the necessity of persevering in their 
 efforts to gain one in the world to come. 
 
 In vain, however, has China disappointed over and 
 over again the hopes of the Church, the Church is never 
 discouraged. The moment circumstances appeared in 
 the slightest degree more favorable, Evangelical labor- 
 ers presented themselves, no less zealous and devoted 
 than their predecessors. They crossed the ocean to 
 seek, in that land ravaged by so many tempests, the 
 few germs of faith that had not perished; they cher- 
 ished them with care, they watered them with their 
 tears, and scattered new seeds as they passed along in 
 their apostolic journeys. Their first care was to collect 
 the dispersed Christians, to induce them to resume the 
 practice of their duty, and to bring back to God and 
 to the faith the families that had had the weakness to 
 succumb during the persecution. For thirty years past 
 the number of missions has been continually on the 
 increase, the greater part of the ancient communities 
 have been re-organized, and the spark that had been 
 nearly extinct revived again in their bosoms. Little by 
 little also new ones have been formed to replace those 
 that disappeared in the storm. The great and beauti- 
 ful association for the propagation of the faith, with the 
 idea of which God inspired a poor woman of Lyons, has 
 made considerable progress; the Holy See has erected 
 the eighteen provinces of China into so many Vicariates 
 Apostolic, in which priests of foreign missions, Jesuits, 
 Dominicans, Franciscans, and Lazaristes labor without 
 ceasing for the extension of the kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Every vicariate possesses, besides, a great number of 
 schools for the education of both boys and girls, and a 
 seminary where young Chinese are brought up to the 
 ecclesiastical profession; in various parts of the coun- 
 try also pious associations have been formed with, the 
 
168 JOURNEY TIIKOUCII TIIK CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 purpose of bestowing baptism on dying children, or col- 
 lecting those who liave been abandoned; and nurseries 
 and asylums have been instituted on the model of those 
 that have prospered so well in France. 
 
 At the present time the propagation of the Gospel is 
 nevertheless not going on so well as before. The mis- 
 sionaries are no longer at court under the protection of 
 the Emperor and of men of high rank, going and coming 
 with the ceremonial of Mandarins, and appearing in the 
 eyes of the people in the imposing position of a power 
 recognized by the State. They are, on the contrary, 
 proscribed throughout the length and breadth of the 
 Empire; they have to creep into it by stealth, with all 
 kinds of precautions, and to conceal their abodes to 
 elude the vigilance of the magistrates. They even have 
 to avoid showing themselves to the infidels for fear of 
 exciting the suspicions of the authorities, and compro- 
 mising the safety of the Christians and the future pros- 
 pects of the missions. It may easily be supposed that, 
 thus fettered, it is impossible for the missionary to act 
 directly upon the population and afford his zeal free 
 play. Not only is he prohibited from proclaiming in 
 public the word of God, but it would not often be safe 
 for him so much as to mention the subject of religion in 
 private with an infidel of whom he was not sure. He 
 must circumscribe his zeal strictly within the limits of 
 his ministry. To go from one community to another, 
 to instruct and exhort the neophytes, administer the 
 sacraments, celebrate in secret the festivals of the holy 
 Church, visit the schools and afford what encourage- 
 ment he can to both masters and pupils this is the 
 circle within which he is compelled to confine himself. 
 In all the communities there are certain heads or elders 
 designated as Catecliists, who are chosen among the 
 most steady, U-st instructed, and influential Christians 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'lKE. 109 
 
 of the locality, and who are charged to instruct the ig- 
 norant, and to catechise and preside over the prayers in 
 the absence of the missionary. It is they who can act 
 most directly on the iniidels, instruct them in the truths 
 of religion, and exhort them to renounce the supersti- 
 tions of Buddhism. But, unfortunately, their zeal for 
 the conversion of their brethren is seldom very ardent, 
 and they need to be constantly kept up to the mark by 
 all kinds of encouragements. 
 
 Such is the method generally followed in China for 
 the propagation of the faith, and it may easily be con- 
 ceived that it leaves much to be desired. Here and 
 there a few conversions take place, and, on the whole, 
 the number of Christians does certainly increase but 
 so slowly, and with so many hindrances, that one scarce- 
 ly knows what to think of the future prospects of religion 
 in these countries. On the whole, there may be perhaps 
 at present 800,000 Christians in the Chinese Empire ; 
 but what is that out of 300,000,000 of inhabitants? 
 Such an amount of success is not, it must be owned, very 
 encouraging when it is remembered that it is the result 
 of many centuries of preaching, and of the efforts of 
 countless missionaries. 
 
 It is natural that our readers should ask what may 
 be considered the cause of this deplorable sterility. 
 First, then, it is indisputable that, as the Government 
 is opposed to Christianity, the timid and pusillanimous 
 Chinese will have no great inclination to profess it, to 
 brave the hostility of the Mandarins, and defying perse- 
 cution, to exclaim with pious daring, "It is better to 
 disobey man than God!" They will excuse themselves 
 by referring to the prohibition of the Emperor. But it 
 may be asked, " would it not be possible to induce the 
 Emperor to grant religious liberty to his subjects ?" 
 No, we think not. Not that the Chinese Government 
 VOL. L H 
 
170 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHIXKSH EMPIRE. 
 
 is in its own nature intolerant and persecuting not the 
 Irnst in the world ; in matters of religion it is completely 
 indifferent. It does indeed admit for the public func- 
 tionaries a kind of official worship, consisting in merely 
 external ceremonies, but it is itself profoundly skeptical, 
 leaving the people to adopt what ideas they please con- 
 cerning religion, and even from time to time recommend- 
 ing them to have none at all. The Emperor Tao-kou- 
 ang, some time before his accession to the throne, ad- 
 dressed to the people a proclamation, in which he passed 
 in review all the religions known in the Empire Chris- 
 tianity included and came at last to the conclusion that 
 they were all false, and that one would do well to despise 
 them altogether. 
 
 A Chinese may therefore please his fancy, and be- 
 come a disciple of Buddha, of Confucius, of Lao-tze, 
 or of Mohammed, without the tribunals troubling them- 
 selves at all about it ; the Government only proscribes 
 and pursues with severity certain sects, which are in 
 fact only secret societies, organized for the overthrow 
 of the reigning dynasty. Unfortunately it has placed 
 Christianity in this category, and it is veiy difficult 
 to correct this error, and introduce more just ideas. 
 Seeing that Christianity has been brought into China, 
 and propagated by Europeans, the Government has 
 persuaded itself that they have done this merely with 
 a view to obtain partisans, in order to be able some 
 time or other to seize on the Empire with more facility. 
 The greater the zeal of the Europeans, the greater is 
 the fear and suspicion of the Government. The sub- 
 mission and attachment, too, which the neophytes mani- 
 fest toward these missionaries, tend to strengthen these 
 chimerical terrors. We say chimerical, since assuredly 
 we know very well that missionaries do not leave their 
 country, and go to the end of the world to wear out 
 
JOURNEY. THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 171 
 
 their lives, in the hope of overthrowing a Mantchou 
 dynasty. But the Government of Pekin does not see 
 this ; being profoundly skeptical itself, it has no con- 
 ception of religious feeling, and can not at all compre- 
 hend why people should come so far, and endure so 
 many sufferings and privations, for no other purpose 
 than to teach gratuitously -to unknown persons, forms 
 of prayer, and the means of saving their souls. Such 
 a proceeding would appear to them so excessively ab- 
 surd, so great a folly and extravagance, that no one, 
 not even a European, could be guilty of it. The Chi- 
 nese, therefore, are thoroughly convinced that, under 
 pretense of religion, we are really manoeuvring for the 
 invasion of the Empire, and the overthrow of the dynas- 
 ty ; and it must be owned, that they have under their 
 eyes certain facts that have no tendency to convince them 
 of their mistake. Careful as they are to surround them- 
 selves with jealous barriers, and not to suffer an indis- 
 creet glance to be cast on their own doings, they like 
 very well to know what is going on among their neigh- 
 bors. And what do they see all around them? Euro- 
 peans, masters every where where they have introduced 
 themselves, and the natives subjected to a domination 
 little enough conformable to the precepts of the Gospel. 
 The Spaniards in the Philippine Islands, the Dutch in 
 Java and Sumatra, the Portuguese at their own doors, 
 and the English every where ! The French alone they 
 do not see, but they are perhaps malicious enough to 
 suppose that we are only seeking for an opportunity to 
 install ourselves somewhere. 
 
 This is no mere supposition of ours ; the Chinese 
 really have these notions, and they do not date from 
 yesterday. In 1724, when the Emperor Young-tching 
 proscribed the Christian religion, three of the principal 
 Jesuits who were at Court addressed a petition to him, 
 
.lol KNKY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 supplicating him to revoke his decision, and continue to 
 the Christains the protection they had enjoyed under 
 the previous reign. This is what is said on the subject 
 in a letter of Father Mailla, dated from Pekin : 
 
 " The Emperor sent for the three fathers to come to 
 him a favor we by no means expected. As soon as 
 they had been introduced to his presence he made them 
 a speech a quarter of an hour long, which he seemed to 
 have studied, for he repeated very fluently all that could 
 justify his conduct with respect to us, and replied to 
 the arguments alleged in the petition. This is the sub- 
 stance of what he said : ' The late Emperor my father, 
 after having instructed me for forty years, chose me in 
 preference to my brothers to succeed him on the throne. 
 It is my great endeavor to imitate him, and not to de- 
 part in any thing from his manner of governing. Cer- 
 tain Europeans* in the province of Fo-kien have been 
 endeavoring to defy our laws, and trouble our people. 
 The great men of the province have applied to me, and 
 I must repress this disorder. It is the business of the 
 government with which I am charged, and I neither can 
 nor ought to act now, as I did when I was a private 
 prince. 
 
 " ' You say that your law is not a false law, and I be- 
 lieve it. If I thought it were, what should hinder me 
 from destroying your churches and driving you from 
 the Empire ? False laws are those which under pretext 
 of virtue fan the spirit of revolt as the law of Pe-lien- 
 kiaof does. But what would you say if I were to send 
 a troop of Bonzes and Lamas into your country to 
 preach their law in it ? How would you receive them ? 
 
 u 'Le-ma-teou (the Chinese name for Father Ricci) 
 
 * Spanish Dominicans, settled in the province of Fo-kien. 
 t The sect of the "White Lily." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 173 
 
 came to China, in the first year of Ouan-ly. I will 
 not speak of what the Chinese did at that time ; that is 
 not my business ; but you were then in small numbers, 
 a mere nothing. You had not your people and your 
 churches in every province. It was only in my father's 
 reign you began to build churches and to spread about 
 your law every where with such rapidity ; we observed 
 it, though we did not dare say any thing ; but if you 
 found means to deceive my father, you need not hope to 
 deceive me in the same way. 
 
 '"You wish to make the Chinese Christians, and this 
 is what your law demands, I know very well. But 
 what in that case would become of us ? The subjects 
 of your kings ! The Christians whom you make, re- 
 cognize no authority but you ; in times of trouble they 
 would listen to no other voice. I know well enough 
 that there is nothing to fear at present ; but when your 
 ships shall be coming by thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands ; then, indeed, we may have some disturbances.'" 
 
 From all that we have been able to observe during 
 our long residence in China, it is certain that all Chris- 
 tians are regarded as the creatures of European govern- 
 ments. This idea has penetrated so deeply into the 
 Chinese mind, that they sometimes express it with 
 strange simplicity. 
 
 The Christian religion is designated in China as Tien- 
 tchou-kiao, that is to say, the religion of the Lord of 
 Heaven ; the idea of God being expressed by the word 
 Tien-tchou. One day we were speaking of religion with 
 a really superior sort of Mandarin, a veiy intelligent 
 fellow. He asked us who was that Tien-tchou, whom 
 the Christians adore and invoke, and who had promised 
 to render them rich and happy in such an extraordinary 
 manner. "Why," said we, "do you, a learned man 
 
171 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 of the first class, a well-instructed man, and one who 
 has read the books of our religion, do you ask this? 
 Do you not know who is the Tien-tchou of the Chris- 
 tians ?" 
 
 k > Ah, you are right," said he, putting his hand to his 
 forehead, as if to recall a half-vanishing recollection; 
 " you are right, I ought to know ; "but I really had for- 
 gotten all about this Tien-tchou." 
 
 " Well, you know now ; who is he then?" 
 
 " Oh, to be sure, every body knows he is the Em- 
 peror of the French ! " 
 
 All Mandarins perhaps are not so bad as this one, 
 but the conviction is pretty general among them, that 
 the propagation of Christianity is a political movement ; 
 and it would be extremely difficult to set them right, 
 and induce the Government to grant the liberty which 
 is so necessary for a favorable reception of the Gospel. ; 
 
 The frequent persecutions of all kinds; that the Gov- 
 ernment exerts against the Christians, form of course 
 one great and serious obstacle to the conversion of the 
 Chinese ; but it is not the greatest, for after all there 
 was a time when religion was not exposed to these 
 attacks from the authorities. Under the reign of the 
 Emperor Khang-hi, the missionaries were honored and 
 caressed by the Court ; the Emperor himself wrote in 
 favor of Christianity ; he had churches built at his ex- 
 pense, and the preachers, provided with an Imperial 
 license, might traverse the Empire freely from one end 
 to the other, and exhort every one to be baptized. No 
 Christian had any thing to fear; on the contrary, they 
 were sure to find, in; case of need, aid and protection 
 from the missionaries. No one dared to do them the 
 least injury or the 'slightest wrong; the Mandarins were 
 obliged to treat them with kindness and consideration ; 
 but notwithstanding these advantages, so greatly ap- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. m 
 
 predated by the Chinese, the conversions were by no 
 means as rapid, numerous, and steadily progressive, as 
 they were in Europe when the Gospel was first preached 
 there. With some few precious exceptions, it was met 
 every where with coldness and indifference. 
 
 It is not necessary, however, to go back so far, in 
 order to know what the Chinese character is, even when 
 there is nothing to be feared from the Mandarins. In 
 the five ports open to Europeans, religious liberty really 
 does exist, and it is protected by the presence of con- 
 suls and ships of war. Yet the number of Christians 
 does not increase more rapidly than in the interior of 
 the Empire. In Macao, Hong Kong, Manilla, Sinca- 
 pore, Pinang, Batavia, though they are under the do- 
 minion of Europeans, the great mass of the population 
 consists of Chinese, who for the most part are perma- 
 nently settled in these cities, and hold in their hands 
 the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and in- 
 dustry. It is certainly not the fear of persecution from 
 the European authorities that hinders them from em- 
 bracing Christianity. Yet the conversions are not more 
 numerous than elsewhere. 
 
 At Manilla, which is a Spanish colony, the number 
 of Chinese Christians is considerable ; but that may 
 probably be ascribed to the effect of a law passed by 
 the Spanish Government, which forbids a Chinese to 
 marry a Tagale* woman, until he has become a Chris- 
 tian. When the Chinese wish to marry, therefore, they 
 receive baptism just as they would go tlirough any other 
 ceremony that was required. But if, even after the 
 lapse of many years, the fancy takes them to return to 
 their own country, they leave the wife and the religion 
 behind, and go back as they came, perfect skeptics, and 
 not troubling themselves at all about things spiritual 
 * The Tagales arc the aborigines of the Philippine Islands. 
 
17ti JOl'llNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 and eternal. It is this radical, profound indifference to 
 all religion an indifference that is scarcely conceivable 
 by any who have not witnessed it which is in our 
 opinion the real, grand obstacle that has so long op- 
 posed the progress of Christianity in China. The Chi- 
 nese is so completely absorbed in temporal interests, in' 
 the things that fall under his senses, that his whole life 
 is only materialism put in action. 
 
 Lucre is the sole object on which his eyes are con- 
 stantly fixed. A burning thirst to realize some profit, 
 great or small, absorbs all his faculties the whole en- 
 ergy of his being. He never pursues any thing with 
 ardor but riches and material enjoyments. God the 
 soul a future life he believes in none of them, or, 
 rather, he never thinks about them at all. If he ever 
 takes up a moral or religious book, it is only by way of 
 amusement to pass the time away. It is a less seri- 
 ous occupation than smoking a p^e, or drinking a cup 
 of tea. If you speak to him of the foundations of faith, 
 of the principles of Christianity, of the importance of 
 salvation, the certainty of a life beyond the grave all 
 these truths, which so powerfully impress a mind sus- 
 ceptible of religious feeling, he listens to with pleasure, 
 for it amuses him and piques his curiosity. He admits 
 every thing, approves of all you say, does not find the 
 least difficulty, or make the smallest objection. In his 
 opinion, all this is "true, fine, grand," and he puts him- 
 self into an oratorical attitude, and makes a beautiful 
 speech against idolatry, and in favor of Christianity. 
 He deplores the blindness of men, who attach them- 
 selves to the perishable goods of this world ; perhaps he 
 will even give utterance to some fine sentences on the 
 happiness of knowing the true God; of serving him, 
 and of meriting by this means the reward of eternal life. 
 To listen to him, you would think him just ready to be- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 177 
 
 come a Christian, in fact, that he was such already ; yet 
 he has not advanced a single step. It must not, how- 
 ever, be supposed that his speeches are wholly insincere ; 
 he does really after a fashion believe what he says ; 
 at all events, he has certainly no conviction to the con- 
 trary ; he merely never thinks of religion as a serious 
 matter at all. He likes very well to talk about it ; but 
 it is as of a thing not made for him that he personally 
 has nothing to do with. The Chinese carry this indif- 
 ference so far religious sensibility is so entirely with- 
 ered or dead within them that they care not a straw 
 whether a doctrine be true or false, good or bad. Re- 
 ligion is to them simply a fashion, which those may 
 follow who have a taste for it. 
 
 In one of the principal towns of China, we were f 
 some time in communication with a lettered Chinese, 
 who appeared extremely well disposed to embrace Chris- 
 tianity. We had several conferences together, and we 
 studied carefully the most important and difficult points 
 of doctrine, and finally, by way of complement to our 
 oral instruction, we read some of the best books. Our 
 dear catechumen admitted, without any exception, every 
 thing we advanced ; the only difficulty was, he said, the 
 learning by heart the prayers, that every good Christian 
 ought to know, in order to say them morning and even- 
 ing. As he seemed nevertheless to desire putting off to 
 some indefinite period the moment in which he should 
 declare himself a Christian, every time he came to see 
 us we urged him to do so, and made the most earnest 
 representation of the duty of following the truth, now 
 that he knew where it lay. "By and by," said he; 
 " all in good time. One should never be precipitate." 
 One day, however, he spoke out a little more. " Come," 
 said he, "let us speak to-day only words conformable to 
 reason. It is not good to be too enthusiastic. No 
 
 H* 
 
178 .lol'KNEY TUKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 doubt the Christian religion is beautiful and sublime ; 
 its doctrine explains, with method and clearness, all 
 that it is necessary for man to know. Whoever has 
 any sense must see that, and will adopt it in his heart 
 in all sincerity ; but, after all, one must not think too 
 much of these things, and increase the cares of life. 
 Now, just consider we have a body; how many cares 
 it demands ! It must be clothed, fed, and sheltered 
 from the injuries of the weather; its infirmities are 
 great, and its maladies numerous. It is agreed on all 
 hands, that health is our most precious good. This 
 body that we see, that we touch, must be taken care of 
 every day, and every moment of the day. Now is not 
 this enough, without troubling ourselves about a soul 
 that we never do see ? The life of man is short and full 
 of misery ; it is made up of a succession of important 
 concerns, that follow one another without interruption. 
 Our hearts and our minds are scarcely sufficient for the 
 solicitudes of the present life is it wise then to torment 
 one's self about the future one ?" 
 
 "Doctor," we replied, "you said when you began, 
 that our discourse to-day .should be a reasonable one; 
 but take care, for it often happens, that we think we 
 are listening to the voice of reason, when in fact only 
 prejudice and habit are speaking. Our bodies are full 
 of infirmities, you say ; that is true, for they are perish- 
 able, and it is for that very reason we should do better 
 to concern ourselves about our souls, which are immortal, 
 and which certainly exist, though we can not see them. 
 Our present life, you say, is a tissue of paltry cares. 
 Undoubtedly it is and that is precisely why it is rea- 
 sonable to think of that future life which will have no 
 end. What would you think of a traveler who, on find- 
 ing himself at a dilapitated inn, open to all the winds 
 and deficient in the most absolute necessaries, should 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 179 
 
 spend all his time in trying how he could make himself 
 most comfortable in it, without ever thinking of prepar- 
 ing for his departure, and his return into the bosom of 
 his family? Would this traveler be acting in a wise 
 and reasonable manner ?" 
 
 " No! no !" replied the doctor; " one must not travel 
 in that way; but man, nevertheless, ought to confine 
 himself within proper limits. How can he provide for 
 two lives at the same time ? If the traveler ought not 
 regularly to take up his abode at an inn, neither ought 
 he to travel on two roads at the same time. When one 
 wishes to cross a river, one must not have two boats, 
 and set a foot in each ; one would run the risk of tum- 
 bling into the water, and drowning one's self." This 
 was all we could get out of the doctor, who neverthe- 
 less was really a worthy fellow enough, but a most 
 thorough Chinese. We shall, in the sequel, often have 
 occasion to refer to this indifferentism, the inveterate 
 and chronic malady of the Empire of China. 
 
 The reader may perhaps, by this time, have forgotten 
 that we were setting out from the Tching-tou-fou, and 
 that we received at the gate a letter from Monsiegneur 
 the Vicar Apostolic of the province of Sse-tchouen. It 
 was this letter that occasioned us to cast a glance over 
 the first introduction, the numerous vicissitudes, and the 
 present state of Christianity in China. 
 
 During the first hour of our march, we noticed all 
 along the road the hurry and activity that is always 
 seen more or less in the neighborhood of great towns, 
 but more especially in China, where traffic keeps every- 
 one perpetually in motion. Horsemen, pedestrians, por- 
 ters, thronged the road, and raised clouds of dust, that 
 soon completely enveloped us and our palanquins, and 
 threatened to suffocate us. By degrees, as we advanced, 
 all these busy travelers had to slacken their pace, and 
 
180 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE KMPIRE. 
 
 get out of the way, and, in fact, to stop, in order to al- 
 low us to pass. ' The horsemen alighted, and those who 
 wore large straw hats had to take them off. Those who 
 did not hasten to show these marks of respect to the il- 
 lustrious "Devils of the West/' were graciously invited 
 to do so, by a shower of thumps with the rattan, be- 
 stowed by way of reminder by two of our attendants, 
 who acquitted themselves con amore of so pleasant a 
 duty.. When people spared them the trouble by being 
 voluntarily mindful of "the rites," they walked off, look- 
 ing rather sulky, and eying with a disappointed look 
 their idle bamboos. 
 
 It is usual in China for the people to manifest their 
 respect for magistrates, when they pass them in the 
 streets, or on the roads, with their insignia of office. 
 No one is allowed to remain seated ; those who are in 
 palanquins have to stop, the horsemen to alight, the 
 wearers of broad-brimmed straw hats to uncover, every 
 body has to keep silence and to maintain a respectful 
 and filial attitude in presence of him whom they call 
 their " Father and Mother ;" and who passes proudly 
 before them, casting at them from his palanquin an 
 oblique and disdainful glance. Those who, from neg- 
 ligence or forgetfulness, fail to comply with this cere- 
 monial, are immediately and roughly recalled to their 
 duty, by some ill-looking, uncombed satellites, with sal- 
 low faces and fierce eyes, who are down upon them in a 
 moment with their whips and rattans, and endeavor in 
 the most energetic manner to inculcate on them a lesson 
 of filial piety. In general, the people submit with a 
 very good grace to these demands, to which they are 
 bent and fashioned by long habit, and the legitimacy of 
 which no one dreams of contesting. But it does never- 
 ilidess happen from time to time, that the Chinese do 
 not take these lessons with quite so much docility, and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 181 
 
 then quarrels and even regular battles take place, in 
 which every body takes part, the merely curious and 
 disinterested parties generally with the citizens against 
 the agents of authority. The satellites then become 
 humbled and trembling ; they are pushed about, hustled, 
 beaten, and pulled by their tails, and the Mandarin gen- 
 erally has at last to get out of his palanquin. to quell 
 the riot. If he is loved aaid esteemed by the people, 
 this is easy enough ; they listen to his exhortations, 
 and the seditious revolt dies away ; but if it happens 
 that they have any complaints against him, they profit 
 by this fortunate occurrence to give him a lesson in his 
 turn. They crowd round him, and load him with sar- 
 casm and abuse, the illusion of his omnipotence speedily 
 vanishes ; and the people, usually so respectful and sub- 
 missive, are earned by passion to the most violent ex- 
 cesses. 
 
 The viceroy Pao-hing, in framing the regulations to 
 be observed during our journey, had ordered that all 
 along the road the same honors should be paid to us as 
 to functionaries of the highest rank ; and we had scarcely 
 begun our journey, before we perceived that very ener- 
 getic measures were employed in the execution of the 
 prescribed orders. It was far from agreeable to us to 
 travel in this way. We fairly blushed with shame at 
 assuming thus the appearance of petty tyrants, and felt 
 a pang of remose, whenever our attendants gave way to 
 to their brutality against travelers who were not quite 
 quick enough in demonstrating their respect. Yet not- 
 withstanding our repugnance, it was necessary to rec- 
 oncile ourselves to these rather savage honors, "which 
 the Celestial Empire has but seldom lavished on for- 
 eigners. All that we could do was to beg the civil 
 Mandarin to desire our people to be as indulgent as pos- 
 sible to those who might fail in the observance of the 
 
Itt JOIKNKV THUOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 "Kites." lie did so; but our recommendation had 
 very little effect ; indeed it rather seemed to operate the 
 contrary way, for our satellites, seeing that we had taken 
 notice of their zeal in our honor, became even more zeal- 
 ous than before. 
 
 After a tliree hours' march we reached a Koung-kouan, 
 or communal palace, where we were to rest for a little 
 while and take some refreshments. The guardians of 
 the palace were waiting for us in their state dresses 
 at the door, the top of which had been hung with 
 draperies of red silk; and at the moment of our en- 
 trance, they set fire to a paquet of fire-works that had 
 been fastened to the end of a long bamboo ; and we 
 marched into the hall of reception to the sound of this 
 Chinese musketry, and in the midst of the profoundest 
 salutations, which we endeavored to return with in- 
 terest. Upon a brilliantly varnished table was placed 
 a magnificent collation of pastry and fruit, amidst which 
 rose conspicuously an enormous water-melon, the thick 
 black skin of which had been carved in fanciful designs 
 by a Chinese engraver. By the side of the table was a 
 gueridon, supporting an antique porcelain jar full of lem- 
 onade. 
 
 Before we sat down to table, one of the guardians of 
 the palace brought us a large copper tub filled with boil- 
 ing water, into which he plunged some small napkins, 
 and then, wringing them out, he presented one to each 
 of us. Linen towels are made use of in this way, hot 
 and smoking, to wipe the hands and face ; and the custom 
 of offering them to you after meals and on journeys is 
 universal in China. 
 
 At the beginning of our residence in the country we 
 had some difficulty in conforming to this practice. When 
 we went to visit our Christian converts, and immediately 
 on our arrival, they always hastened to present us with 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 183 
 
 a piece of wet linen, whence issued a boiling vapor ; and 
 we should have been very glad to dispense with the cere- 
 mony. But by degrees we got accustomed to it, and at 
 last really liked it. 
 
 The heat and the dust had annoyed us so much, that 
 we did not fail to do honor to the Chinese fruits, and 
 especially to the lemonade, which was deliciously cool. 
 We were rather surprised to find that it had been pre- 
 pared with ice, for this is by no means customary among 
 the Chinese, who, when they are parched with thirst, 
 can think of nothing more refreshing than swallowing a 
 cup of boiling tea. As we expressed our astonishment 
 at being served with a beverage so conformable to our 
 tastes and the customs of our country, the guardians of 
 the palace informed us that the viceroy had sent all 
 along the road, to the places where we were to stop, a 
 set of orders, which prescribed, even to the minutest 
 details, the manner in which we were to be entertained. 
 We asked to see these orders, and there truly we read, 
 that the viceroy commanded all the guardians of com- 
 munal palaces to provide us with juicy fruits, melons, 
 and iced water, flavored with lemon and sugar, because 
 " such are the customs of the people who come from the 
 western seas." It would certainly not have been easy 
 to find any one more polite and gracious than this Vice- 
 roy of Sse-tchouen. When he was questioning us con- 
 cerning our habits of life in our own country, we did not 
 imagine it was with the view of rendering our passage 
 through China more agreeable to us. In general, we 
 have met with much more devotion of character among 
 the Mantchous than the Chinese always more gen- 
 erosity and less treachery ; and now when the Man- 
 tchou Tartars are about to be driven from China 
 when they are attacked so violently in all the writings 
 that speak of the Chinese insurrection, we can do no 
 
184 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ClIINKSi: KM PIKE. 
 
 less than bear this sincere and just testimony to their 
 merits. 
 
 We resumed our march after a short halt, and ar- 
 rived a little before night at Kien-tcheou, a town of the 
 second order. In this our first day's journey, we al- 
 ready had occasion to be angry with our conductor, the 
 .Mandarin Ting ; and we took good care not to let him 
 escape. We had remarked as we came along* that our 
 palanquins were not the same that had been shown to 
 us before our departure, which were perfectly conven- 
 ient. Master Ting had indeed received the money to 
 purchase these, but he had not been able to resist the 
 temptation of keeping the half of it for himself, and had 
 accordingly got two old, narrow, broken-down palan- 
 quins varnished, and made to look like new. These. 
 were so narrow and. inconvenient, that we had had an 
 extremely uneasy journey. But it was not enough for 
 Master Ting thus to speculate on our palanquins ; he 
 wished to turn an honest penny also on our bearers. It 
 had been arranged that we were to have four a-piece ; 
 but this ingenious speculator had managed to make us 
 do with three ; two before, and one behind, so that he 
 pocketed the wages of the fourth. 
 
 We were not surprised at this, for we knew that a 
 Chinese can scarcely ever keep the straight path of him- 
 self, but has to be forcibly brought back to it. We did 
 not, however, expect to have to begin the very first day, 
 and it did not seem a good augury. 
 
 In the evening, when we were taking tea together, 
 we told our conductor that we had been arranging our 
 plans for the next day. "Oh, I understand," said he, 
 with the satisfied air of a man who considers himself 
 very sagacious; "you don't like the heat, and you would 
 rather set off at an earlier hour in order to enjoy the 
 freshness of the morning ; that's it, is it not ?" 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 185 
 
 " Not at all ! you are to set out alone, and to go back 
 to Tching-tou-fou." 
 
 "Have you, perhaps, forgotten something?" 
 
 " No ! we have forgotten nothing ; Ibut you will go 
 back, as we said, to Tching-tou-fou ; you will go to the 
 Viceroy, and tell him that we will have nothing more to 
 do with you." 
 
 AVe said this in so serious a manner, that Master 
 Ting could not possibly imagine there was any joke 
 meant. He started up, and stared at us open-mouthed 
 with an expression of astonishment ; and we went on. 
 
 "We will have nothing more to do with you; and 
 you will beg the Viceroy to send us another conductor. 
 If the Viceroy should ask why we will have nothing 
 more to do with you, you can tell him, if you please, 
 that it is because you have been cheating us in making 
 us travel in two bad palanquins, and giving us only 
 three bearers cacli, instead of four." 
 
 "That is true! that is true!" cried Master Ting, 
 whose animal spirits had now got into circulation again ; 
 " I noticed as we went along that your palanquins were 
 not at all fit for persons of your quality : what you want 
 are those fine, handsome palanquins with four bearers ; 
 who could doubt that ? I saw this morning that there 
 was some confusion in Pao-ngan's house ; and things 
 have not been managed as they ought to have been. 
 The Hidden Treasure is a man who loves lucre, as every 
 body knows ; but who could suppose he would carry 
 his avarice so far as not to provide you with suitable 
 palanquins ? One must have little regard for one's honor 
 and reputation to do such a thing as that. However, 
 we are rather different sort of people ; we will endeavor 
 to make amends for the evil doings of Hidden Treasure, 
 and give you good palanquins instead of those bad ones." 
 This speech was completely Chinese that is to say, a 
 
186 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 lie from one end to the other ; but it would have been 
 taking trouble to little purpose to endeavor to refute it. 
 " My Lord Ting," said we, " we know very well what 
 to think on the subject of this fraud ; but it does not so 
 much matter to us to know who has pocketed the money 
 for our palanquins, . as to know whether we shall have 
 any others. That is the question." 
 
 "Yes, certainly, you shall. How can personages like 
 you travel in this manner ?" 
 
 "When shall we have them?" 
 
 " Directly to-morrow." 
 
 "Mind what you say. Do not promise more than 
 you can perform." 
 
 " To-morrow ; certainly not later. We shall come to 
 a considerable place, where the traveler can find every 
 thing he desires." 
 
 " Since that is the case, let us set off together." 
 
 At dawn on the following morning, it was announced 
 to us that every thing was ready for our departure. We 
 entered our narrow traveling prisons, and, after a very 
 circuitous course through the streets of the town, the 
 procession reached a great gate, on the banks of the 
 famous Yang-tze-kiang (the "river which is the Son of 
 the Sea"), and which the Europeans call the Blue River. 
 Master Ting approached us now, and said, in the most 
 gracious manner in the world, that since the way by 
 land was long, mountainous, toilsome, and dangerous, 
 from passing by many precipices, he had taken the lib- 
 erty to hire a boat, in order to render that part of our 
 journey more agreeable and rapid. We had been jour- 
 neying so long on terra firma, that a little trip by water 
 promised to be uncommonly pleasant. The pure calm 
 .sky foretold apparently a delightful day, and we already 
 enjoyed in anticipation the pleasure of feeling ourselves 
 borne along by the majestic current of the finest river in 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 187 
 
 the world ; while we contemplated at leisure the splen- 
 dor and magnificence of its shores. We immediately, 
 therefore, ascended the deck of the junk, and our palan- 
 quins were brought on board after us. 
 
 Those who have not a tolerably good stock of pa- 
 tience, or who do not desire an opportunity of acquiring 
 it, should certainly not think of traveling to the Celes- 
 tial Empire to enjoy the pleasure of a voyage in a 
 junk. They might run the risk of going mad before 
 they weighed anchor. 
 
 Scarcely had our procession reached the place of em- 
 barkation, than every body hastened to get on board, 
 and to install himself there according to his own pecul- 
 iar notions of comfort. 
 
 It has always seemed to us, that the nature of a Chi- 
 nese, body and soul, had an astonishing resemblance to 
 that of India-rubber. The suppleness of their minds 
 can only be compared to the elasticity of their corporeal 
 frames; and it is worth seeing how, when they have 
 found a snug corner, be it ever so small, they will man- 
 age to stuff themselves in, and curl themselves round, 
 and make a perfect nest of it ; and when they have once 
 taken up such a position, they are settled in it for the 
 day. 
 
 We were no sooner on board than our numerous trav- 
 eling companions all contrived to get themselves housed. 
 The palanquin Tbearers seemed to us to have taken up a 
 position one upon the other in the kitchen, to which air 
 and daylight could only enter by a very small aperture. 
 But ^hese people really appear to regard air and light 
 as mere superfluities. No sooner, too, had they crouch- 
 ed down in this hole, than they set to work eagerly to 
 play at cards. 
 
 The soldiers, our servants, and those of the Manda- 
 rins had, in the meanwhile, stowed themselves away 
 
188 JOUKNKY TIIKOUGII THE CHINESE EMPIKK. 
 
 between decks in all sorts of impossible and unimagin- 
 able postures, and were busy regaling themselves with 
 tea, tobacco, and noisy gossip. Our two conductors, 
 Ting and the military officer Leang, had taken refuge 
 in an alcove closed in with curtains, through the nu- 
 merous slits of which we could distinguish the feeble 
 rays of a lamp and much white vapor, which exhaled 
 a foetid odor, giving us plainly to understand that the 
 chiefs of our escort were engaged in intoxicating them- 
 selves with opium. As for ourselves, alone and tran- 
 quil on the deck of the junk, we were pacing backward 
 and forward, drawing the fresh morning air into our 
 lungs, and watching the bustle of the port, and the 
 smiling faces of a crowd of the townspeople, for whom 
 we appeared to present the most astonishing spectacle 
 they had ever seen. As for the crew of the vessel, not 
 a man was there to be seen, with the exception of an 
 old fellow, rolled up like a pin-cushion, near the helm, 
 but who did not appear to concern himself at all about 
 things below, and most likely still less about those 
 above. He was hugging his knees, on which his chin 
 rested; and since we had come on board, he had not 
 quitted, for a single moment, this comfortable and ele- 
 gant attitude. 
 
 We asked him whether we were not soon going to set 
 off. Then he rose up, and answered, looking all the 
 while at the sky, "Who knows* that? I am not the 
 master I am only the cook." 
 
 "Where is the master, then? Where are the sail- 
 ors ?" 
 
 "The master is at home, and the 'sailors are at the 
 market." 
 
 On this information we resumed our walk, and the 
 cook his favorite attitude. A European, who was still 
 a novice in the Celestial Empire, might perhaps have 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 189 
 
 become impatient, and made, as the phrase is, bad 
 blood, on such an occasion. 
 
 After the lapse of two long hours, the sailors seem to 
 have remembered that they had a junk in port, and, 
 slowly and quietly, one after another made his appear- 
 ance. The master at length called over their names, 
 and the crew being found complete, the plank between 
 the deck and the shore was taken away. That was 
 something; but we were still a long way off starting. 
 Our two Mandarins now came out of their opium den, 
 and went to rind the master; and then began a dispute 
 that seemed interminable, for no arrangement had yet 
 been made about the price for our passage. By the 
 time all these difficulties were smoothed, it was nearly 
 noon ; the sailors began their nasal song, as they work- 
 ed at the capstan and unfurled the large matting sails ; 
 the great iron-wood anchor was soon up, and the breeze 
 and the current bore us swiftly away, while a Chinese 
 sailor kept up a sonorous tune, striking the tam-tam by 
 way of salute to the shore. 
 
 We had promised ourselves an agreeable indeed a 
 magnificent day. The morning, as we said, left no- 
 thing to desire, but the fine weather did not last. The 
 sky soon became covered with clouds, and we had hard- 
 ly been sailing a quarter of an hour before a pouring 
 rain forced us to quit the deck and take refuge below, in 
 the midst of a deafening noise and an air close to suffo- 
 cation. 
 
 As we had but a short time before quitted the frozen 
 mountains of Thibet, we suffered much in this species 
 of stew-pan, where we seemed to breathe only the burn- 
 ing and nauseous vapors of tobacco and opium. After 
 having been so often in danger of perishing from cold, 
 we were now apparently likely to die of heat. 
 
 While we were thus being cured in a corner of this 
 
190 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 
 
 great smoking-room, our Chinese appeared perfectly at 
 their ease. They panted a little from time to time; 
 but we saw that on the whole they were happy, and 
 that this state of things was perfectly agreeable to them. 
 .Master Ting especially seemed to be in a state of the 
 highest self-satisfaction. After having smoked abund- 
 antly both tobacco and opium, and swallowed a consid- 
 erable number of cups of tea, he began to warble his 
 long litanies, doubtless to thank his patron, Kao-wang, 
 for having thus far prospered his honest endeavors. We 
 understood perfectly well, however, that the cause of 
 his extreme satisfaction was the handsome profit he ex- 
 pected to make out of the journey ; this being the case, 
 his delightful humor was quite intelligible. 
 
 A young Chinese, named Wei-chan, who had been 
 given to us for a private servant, and who appeared very 
 much devoted to us, probably because he thought it his 
 interest to do so, kept us a little au courant to the 
 diplomatic manosuvrcs of our conductors. 
 
 This trip on the water we found had only been un- 
 dertaken in consequence of a little prudent calculation. 
 At every stage, the Mandarin of the place where we 
 stopped was obliged to supply all the wants of the party, 
 as well as the expenses of the road to the next stage ; 
 and to furnish bearers for the palanquins, and horses 
 for the soldiers. These corvees cost considerable sums. 
 Now Master Ting had made his little arrangements 
 thus ; he sent forward his scribe along the route we 
 were to have followed, to gather the appointed tribute, 
 but graciously to inform the Mandarins that he would 
 spare them all the trouble of the affair by proceeding by 
 water. It was easy, as we were going down the river, 
 to do in one day the distance of four stages, and as the 
 hiring of a boat costs very little, the profits became 
 enormous. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 191 
 
 This is why Master Ting was reciting the litanies of 
 Kao-wang with such a beaming countenance. 
 
 If our voyage had been but tolerably agreeable, we 
 should have been happy to give him an opportunity of 
 realizing this little fortune ; but it was abominable, and 
 more than once perilous. The rain never left off for a 
 single moment ; and as we had set off so late, night 
 came on before we had gone half the way. The navi- 
 gation of the Blue River, so safe and easy in the inte- 
 rior of China, when it has acquired its full development, 
 and rolls its majestic volume of waters through vast 
 plains, presents serious difficulties in the mountainous 
 province of Sse-tchouen. Its course has sometimes the 
 rapidity of a perfect torrent ; and its bed is winding, 
 and full of shoals which demand great skill and pru- 
 dence in the navigation. This is why the viceroy had ' 
 ordered that we should make the journey by land ; but 
 he had reckoned without his Master Ting, who could 
 not resist speculating on our lives and his own. We 
 did not utter a word of complaint or reproach ; but we 
 contented ourselves with forming, on our side, our little 
 plan for the next day, which would, we flattered our- 
 selves, check any inclination he might feel in future to 
 follow the suggestions of his enterprising genius. 
 
 It was past midnight when we arrived at Kien-tcheou, 
 a town of the third order. The night was profoundly 
 dark, and the rain still falling heavily ; the anchor was 
 dropped as near as possible to the shore, where we could 
 perceive a great deal of bustle, and many lanterns mov- 
 ing about in all directions ; these were the persons sent 
 from the various tribunals, and Ting's scribe, who were 
 waiting for us. 
 
 The disembarkation was effected amidst tremendous 
 vociferation and indescribable confusion. As soon as 
 our palanquins had been put ashore, we entered them ; 
 
li.U JOl'KNKY THKOl (ill TI1K CHINKS!-: KMI'IKK. 
 
 and our bearers, feeling doubtless, after their thirty 
 hours' rest, the want of a little exercise to put their 
 blood into circulation, set off with us at a round pace. 
 At the moment when they started, Master Ting bawled 
 to them, at the top of his voice, to be sure and take us 
 to the Hotel of Accomplished Wishes. 
 
 At the corner of the street, however, we stopped the 
 bearers, and desired them to proceed to the communal 
 palace, for we intended to lodge there, and at no hotel ; 
 and they immediately obeyed, while our escort probably 
 directed their steps to the above-named Hotel of Accom- 
 plished Wishes. We soon arrived ; but there was no 
 appearance of our having been expected, for all the 
 gates of the palace were shut. We told the bearers to 
 make a noise ; and it must be proclaimed to their honor, 
 that they acquitted themselves of this duty in a manner 
 there could be no mistake about, and fairly stunned us. 
 A heap of great stones lay just handy, and in a moment 
 they were sent flying against the door, which was soon 
 opened, and a guardian of the palace made his appear- 
 ance, in a very incomplete costume indeed, and not hav- 
 ing, evidently, the most distant notion what the riot 
 was about. When he had a little recovered from his 
 consternation, we were able to enter into some explana- 
 tions, from which it appeared, as we expected, that the 
 guardians of the Koung-houan had not been informed 
 of our arrival, and that there was nothing in readiness 
 for our reception. This was, then, another manoeuvre, 
 a la Chinoise, of Master Ting, and we had nothing for 
 it, but to betake ourselves to the Hotel of Accomplished 
 Wishes, the name of which, as far as we were con- 
 cerned, certainly had rather a satirical sound. We 
 found there all the escort assembled, and Master Ting, 
 and the officer Leang, hastened to assure us, that if no 
 one had been drowned on the way, it was entirely owing 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 193 
 
 to our merit ; that every one had been sheltered under 
 our good fortune, and so forth ; and then they tried to 
 explain to us how it was quite impossible that we should 
 have been lodged at the communal palace. " Well," 
 said we, "we are tired and hungry ; let us have some- 
 thing to eat, and then go to bed, for it is long past mid- 
 night; we can settle other affairs to-morrow." 
 VOL. I. I 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Disputes with the Mandarins of Kicn-tcheou Intrigues to prevent us 
 from going to the Communal Palace Magnificence of this Palace 
 The Garden of Sse-ma-kouang Chinese Kitchen State of the 
 lloads and Channels of Communication Some Productions of the 
 Province of Sse-tchouen Use of Tobacco, in Smoking and taking 
 Snuff Tchoung-tching, a Town of the first Order Ceremonies 
 observed by the Chinese in Visits and Conversations of Etiquette 
 Nocturnal Apparition Watchmen and Criers of the Town Fires 
 in China The Addition of a Military Mandarin to our Escort 
 Tchang-cheou-hien, a Town of the third Order Release of three 
 Christian Prisoners Superstitious Practices to obtain Rain The 
 Dragon of Rain exiled by the Emperor. 
 
 DAY had scarcely dawned, when Master Ting took it 
 upon him to interrupt our first sleep, to announce to us 
 that it was time to set off. 
 
 "Take yourself off, Master Ting," said we, "as 
 quickly as you can ; and, moreover, if any one else has 
 the impudence to come disturbing us, we will get you 
 degraded." 
 
 The door closed, and we turned round and went to 
 sleep again, for we were worn out with fatigue. At 
 noon we rose, quite refreshed and ready to begin the 
 war with the Mandarins. 
 
 We turned our steps toward a neighboring apartment, 
 from which proceeded a whispering sound, as of a con- 
 versation carried on in a low voice. We opened the 
 door, and found ourselves in the presence of a numer- 
 ous and brilliant assembly, composed of the principal 
 magistrates of the town. After saluting the company 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 195 
 
 with the utmost solemnity, we perceived in the middle 
 of the room a table, on which were arranged some little 
 dishes for a dessert, the prelude obligate of every Chi- 
 nese repast. Without any other explanation, we drew 
 forward an arm-chair, and begged the company to be 
 good enough to be seated. Our assurance seemed to 
 create some astonishment ; but a great fat Mandarin, 
 the prefect of the town, pointed out the places of honor, 
 and invited us to take them, which we immediately did 
 without hesitation. This was not very modest on our 
 part, nor quite conformable to the Chinese rites ; but 
 we needed, for the moment, to make an imposing im- 
 pression. 
 
 The guests were numerous. The dessert was attack- 
 ed in silence, every one contenting himself with ex- 
 changing a few forms of politeness in a low voice. 
 They glanced at us by stealth, as if to make out from 
 our countenances the nature of our sentiments. There 
 was evidently a feeling of general embarrassment. At 
 length a young civil functionary, probably the boldest 
 of the troop, ventured to reconnoitre the ground. 
 
 "Yesterday," said he, "was a. disagreeable day; the 
 navigation of the Blue River must have been far from 
 pleasant ; but to-day the weather is splendid. It is a 
 pity that you did not set out at an early hour in the 
 morning ; you would have arrived at Tchoung-tching 
 before nightfall. Tchoung-tching is the best town in 
 the province." 
 
 "Certainly," repeated the others in chorus ; "there 
 is nothing comparable to Tchoung-tching. One finds 
 there every thing one can wish for. What a difference 
 between this country and that ! Here poverty is ex- 
 cessive we live only in privation." 
 
 "It is not yet very late," resumed the young func- 
 tionary ; " you can get as far this evening as the com- 
 
1% JOUUNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIIM;. 
 
 mun.il palace on the road, pass the night there, and ar- 
 rive to-morrow at Tchoung-tching before noon." 
 
 "Oh!" added another, "the thing is easy enough; 
 for the roads are as flat as my hand, and the country is 
 enchantingly beautiful ; you travel constantly under the 
 shade of large trees." 
 
 "Have the bearers of the palanquins been told?" 
 cried the fat prefect of the town, addressing the numer- 
 ous domestics who filled the hall. "Quick! let some 
 one go and see for them, for our two illustrious guests 
 are determined to set off as soon as they have eaten 
 their rice. They are in a great hurry, and can not 
 honor us any longer with their presence." 
 
 "Wait a moment," said we; "we are in no hurry. 
 It does not appear that any one here is acquainted with 
 our affairs. In the first place, we have to change pal- 
 anquins. Those that were given us at Tching-tou-fou 
 will not do. Eh? Blaster Ting! Is it not here that 
 we were to get the good palanquins with four bearers ?" 
 
 "No, no!" cried all the Mandarins in concert; "a 
 little place like this ! How in the world could you find 
 good palanquins ready here? You must order them 
 beforehand." 
 
 "Very well; order them, then. We are in no hurry. 
 Whether we get to Canton a moon sooner or later 
 makes very little difference to us. In the mean time 
 we can amuse ourselves here, by visiting the town and 
 its environs." 
 
 "In such a poor place as this," said the prefect, 
 "there are no skillful workmen to be found. Nobody 
 here knows how to make any other palanquins than 
 those little bamboo ones for two bearers. The people 
 of this part of the country know nothing of luxury ; 
 very few of them have enough to live on. You must 
 go to Tchoung-tching to find great manufactories." 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE QHINESE EMPIRE. 197 
 
 " Yes, yes ! you must go to Tclioung-tching," was 
 echoed from all quarters ; " Tchoung-tching is the place 
 for fine palanquins. Every one knows that the Manda- 
 rins, for eighteen provinces round, all send for their 
 palanquins to Tchoung-tching." 
 
 " Is that true ?" said we, turning to Master Ting. 
 
 " Certainly it is true. Who here would dare to utter 
 lies ?" 
 
 "In that case, then, find a man who understands 
 these things, and send him directly to Tchoung-tching 
 to get some palanquins. We will wait here. We need 
 a little rest, and we will profit by this opportunity. We 
 speak calmly ; but this decision is irrevocable. We 
 shall not alter it." 
 
 The Mandarins looked at one another quite stupefied. 
 
 During the whole of this interesting discussion, the 
 dinner had been going on ; and having taken our last 
 cup of tea, we rose to return to our chamber and leave 
 the Mandarins to settle the matter among them. 
 
 They had a long debate, which ended in the Chinese 
 fashion, by sending deputations to endeavor to make us 
 change our minds. First came the civil Mandarins, 
 then the military ones, then both orders united ; but all 
 found us inflexible. They invented the most absurd 
 tales ; they heaped lie upon lie to prove to us that we 
 must set out immediately. But to all this we had but 
 one answer: "When men like us take a resolution, it 
 is irrevocable." 
 
 At last it was announced to us that palanquins had 
 been brought, and they begged us to come down into 
 the court-yard to examine them. We made no objec- 
 tion ; and, after casting a glance at them, said, " Very 
 well ; let them be bought." 
 
 But thereiipon arose a new question. The Manda- 
 rins looked at one another, and asked, "Who is to pay?" 
 
V 
 
 .101KNKV TIIKOrcil Till: CIIININI. l.MPIRE. 
 
 The discussion became lively, and although we were 
 quite uninterested in it, we asked permission to state 
 our opinion. 
 
 " It is very evident," said we, "that the town of Kien- 
 tcheou is not obliged to provide us with palanquins." 
 
 "That is conformable to reason," exclaimed eagerly 
 the Mandarins of Kicn-tcheou. 
 
 " That ought to have been done at Tching-tou-fou, 
 whence we began our journey ; but it would seem that 
 the person who procured us palanquins there, did not 
 act in conformity with the rules of honor." 
 
 "That's the thing," cried the Mandarins; " doubtless 
 he kept for himself a part of the money that was allotted 
 for them." 
 
 "Well, we must repair this error, and it does not 
 seem to us that there is any great difficulty. Yester- 
 day, in our passage on the Blue River, we made two 
 days' journey. Master Ting ppt the money for two 
 stages, and only had to pay for the hire of a boat. It 
 does seem to us, therefore, that he both can and ought 
 to pay the price of the palanquins." 
 
 The Mandarins of Kien-tcheou burst out laughing, 
 and said our solution of the problem was capital. Mas- 
 ter Ting was foaming with rage, and uttering yells a.s 
 if his inside were being torn out. 
 
 " Compose yourself," said we, " and pay the dealer 
 the price of these palanquins with a good grace ; other- 
 wise we must immediately write to the viceroy that you 
 made us travel on the Blue River." This threat had a 
 wonderful effect, and our conductor began mournfully to 
 count out the cash. 
 
 The evening had come, and still there was no talk of 
 our going away ; but the Mandarins of Kien-tcheou ap- 
 }>r;uvd pvatly diverted at the misadventure of Master 
 Ting, not at all suspecting Unit their turn was coining next 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 199 
 
 On the following day, as soon as it was broad day- 
 light, Master Ting presented himself very modestly, to 
 ask whether he might send for the bearers, and at the 
 same time he delivered to us some visiting cards, by 
 which the principal Mandarins of the town expressed to 
 us their good wishes for our journey. 
 
 We replied, that he might send the bearers ; because 
 it was our intention to go to the communal palace and 
 pass the day there, as we declined lodging at the Hotel 
 of Accomplished Wishes. Our conductor, who had 
 not yet recovered from the shock of the evening before, 
 looked at us with so astonished a face that we were 
 obliged to repeat our words with a little more emphasis. 
 The moment he was sure of our meaning, he left the 
 room and gave Jhe alarm to the Mandarins, who came 
 running one after the other to assure themselves of the 
 truth of the incredible report. 
 
 It was the prefect of the town whom we most wished 
 to see; so, as soon as he arrived, we mentioned that he 
 ought to have received from Sse-tchouen a dispatch, in 
 which it was directed that we were to be lodged in the 
 communal palace ; and that we could not understand 
 why, at Kien-tcheou, the orders of the viceroy had not 
 been executed; that for various reasons we wished to 
 quit the hotel, and go and pass a day at the communal 
 palace: first, not to establish a bad precedent, and 
 create the temptation to do elsewhere what had been 
 done here ; secondly, because, being obliged to write 
 afterward to the viceroy, to give him an account of the 
 manner in which we had been treated on the road, it 
 would be painful to us to have to point out that at 
 Kien-tcheou they had not executed his orders. "Be- 
 sides," we added, "the route we have before us is long 
 and fatiguing; we suffered much inconvenience on the 
 Blue Hiver, and we should be very glad of a day's rest." 
 
200 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 All these were excellent reasons, but the prefect could 
 see nothing but the expense of entertaining so numer- 
 ous a party for a whole clay at the palace. He did 
 not dare give his true reason, however, and say at once 
 that it would cost too much ; the Chinese always prefer 
 less angular methods ; a lie, is much more convenient. 
 The prefect declared that we should be conferring upon 
 him infinite happiness by remaining another day at 
 Kien-tcheou. Men from the great kingdom of France ! 
 that was indeed a rarity! Moreover, our presence 
 could not fail to bring good fortune to the country; but 
 the communal palace was uninhabitable, it was in so 
 horrible a state that a man of the lowest class could 
 not be lodged in it. It was full of workmen and of the 
 materials for repairs that were about to be made in it. 
 Besides this, there were in the grand saloon seven or 
 eight coffins, containing the dead bodies of official per- 
 sons of the district, waiting till the members of their 
 respective families should come and take them away to 
 bury them in their native places. 
 
 The prefect calculated a good deal on the moral ef- 
 fect of this last argument. While he was speaking in 
 the most sombre and lugubrious manner of these coffins 
 and dead bodies, he looked attentively into our faces, 
 to see whether he had not alarmed us. But we were 
 rather more inclined to laugh, for we were convinced 
 there was not one word of truth in all that he had been 
 saying. 
 
 We replied, in a somewhat ironical tone, that since 
 probably the viceroy was not aware of the communal 
 palace having been converted into a cemetery, it would 
 be well to write to him to that effect ; since if he hap- 
 pened to travel this way himself, he might not, perhaps, 
 find it pleasant to take up his abode among coffins and 
 dead bodies ; but that as far as we were concerned it did 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 201 
 
 not make the slightest difference, as we were not much 
 afraid of the living, and not at all of the dead. We 
 should go to the palace, therefore, and did not doubt 
 but that we should be able to make ourselves very com- 
 fortable there. The prefect did his utmost to deter us 
 from this " almost insane" project ; and at last, to have 
 done with him, we told him that he might settle the 
 matter at his good pleasure, provided only that he would 
 write and sign a statement that we, having wished to 
 rest for a day at the communal palace of Kien-tcheou, 
 had not been allowed to do so on account of its being 
 in an uninhabitable state. The prefect perfectly under- 
 stood our meaning ; and turning to some subaltern offi- 
 cers who were in waiting, he said: "I am of the same 
 way of thinking as our guests ; it is absolutely neces- 
 sary they should have a day of repose. Let orders be 
 immediately sent to the Koung-kouan to take away the 
 coffins and put things as they ought to be, and let the 
 guardians take care not to be again guilty of the same 
 fault." Ten minutes afterward we were proceeding in 
 state, in our new palanquins, to the communal palace. 
 As we went out we just whispered in the ear of Master 
 Ting, " Kemember, if we are not properly treated, we 
 will remain two days instead of one." Strange country, 
 in which it is necessary to behave in this way in order 
 not to be oppressed and ill-treated yourself. 
 
 It would have been really a pity to leave Kien-tcheou 
 without seeing this magnificent palace ; and when we 
 had gone over it, we could not help thinking that the 
 Mandarins had been unwilling to let us come in, lest, 
 charmed by its beauty and convenience, we should be 
 unwilling to go out again. After traversing a vast court 
 planted with trees, we ascended to the main building 
 by thirty beautiful cut stone steps. The apartments 
 were spacious, lofty, exquisitely clean, and deliciously 
 
202 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 cool and fresh ; the furniture was richly ornamented 
 with gilding, in an infinite variety of patterns ; the 
 hangings were of gorgerous red or yellow silk, the car- 
 pets made of woven bamboo-peeling, and painted in the 
 liveliest colors ; there were antique bronzes, immense 
 porcelain urns, vases of the most elegant forms, in which 
 flowers and shrubs of the most whimsical appearance 
 were growing : such were the ornaments that we found 
 in this superb abode. Behind the house was an im- 
 mense garden, in which Chinese industry had exhausted 
 its resources to imitate the freedom and even the ca- 
 pricious sports of nature. It would be difficult to give 
 an exact idea of these curious creations, the taste for 
 which prevailed for a long time in Europe, and on which 
 the rather unsuitable name of English garden has been 
 bestowed by us. There is a little Chinese poem entitled 
 "The Garden of /Sse-ma-kouang," in which that illus- 
 trious historian and great statesman of the Celestial Em- 
 pire,* has been pleased to describe all the wonders of 
 his rural retreat ; and it will give us much pleasure to 
 offer a translation of this pretty fragment of Chinese lit- 
 erature, which will at the same time throw some light 
 on the character of its author, that famous Sse-ma- 
 kouang who played so important a part under the dy- 
 nasty of the /Song, in a social revolution hereafter to be 
 mentioned : 
 
 " Let others," says Sse-ma-kouang, " build palaces 
 to contain their vexations, and display their vanity ; I 
 have made myself a retreat to amuse my leisure, and 
 converse with my friends. Twenty acres of land have 
 sufficed for my purpose. In the midst is a great hall, 
 in which I have collected 5000 volumes, to interrogate 
 
 ^~i -ma-kouang was first minister of the Empire, toward the end of 
 the eleventh century, under the dynasty of Song. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 203 
 
 the wise and converse with the ancient. Toward the 
 south is a pavilion, in the midst of the waters of a 
 rivulet that falls from the hills on the west. Here it 
 forms a deep basin, which afterward divides into five 
 branches, like the claws of a leopard, and innumerable 
 swans swim on its surface or sport on its banks. On 
 the borders of the first, which flings itself down in re- 
 peated cascades, there rises a steep overhanging rock, 
 curved like an elephant's trunk ; and the top of this sus- 
 tains an open pleasure-house to take the fresh air, and 
 see the rubies with which morning adorns the sun at 
 his rising. The second branch divides itsejf, a little 
 way off, into two canals, round which winds a gallery, 
 with a double terrace bordered with rose and pome- 
 granate trees. The branch from the west bends in the 
 form of a bow toward the north of a solitary bower, 
 where it forms a little islet, covered with sand and 
 shells of various colors ; one part is planted with trees 
 always green, the other is adorned with a cottage of 
 reeds and thatch, resembling those of fishermen. The 
 other two branches seem alternately to seek and to fly 
 from one another, as they follow the declivity of a mea- 
 dow enameled with flowers, which they keep ever fresh: 
 sometimes they diverge from their beds to form little 
 pearly basins, framed in errfbrald turf; then they leave 
 the level of the meadow, and descend in two narrow 
 channels, and the waters break against the rocks that 
 oppose their passage, and roar and dash into foam, and 
 then roll off in silver waves, through the winding course 
 they are obliged to take. 
 
 "North of the great hall are several summer pavil- 
 ions, scattered at random about hills which rise one 
 above the other, like a mother above her children ; some 
 hang on the declivity of a hill, some are nestled in little 
 gorges, and are only half seen. All the hills are shaded 
 
20-1 JOUKNKY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 by groves of tufted bamboo, and intersected by gravel 
 paths to which the sun's rays never penetrate. 
 
 " To the eastward spreads out a small plain divided 
 into flower beds, square and oval, and defended from the 
 cold winds of the north by a wood of ancient cedars. 
 All these beds are filled with odoriferous plants, medic- 
 inal herbs, flowers, and shrubs. Never does spring 
 leave this delicious spot. A little forest of lemon, pom- 
 egranate, and orange trees, always loaded with flowers 
 and fruit, completes the prospect. In the midst of this 
 forest, is a mount of verdure which you ascend by a 
 gentle winding slope, that passes several times round 
 it, like the volutes of a shell, and which gradually dimin- 
 ishes to the summit. Here and there, at short distances, 
 you find scats of soft turf, which invite to repose, and 
 to the contemplation of the garden from various points 
 of view. 
 
 " On the west, an avenue of weeping-willows, with 
 their long pendent branches, guides you to the banks of 
 a .stream, which falls a few paces further from the brink 
 of a rock covered with ivy and wild grasses of various 
 colors. The environs exhibit a barrier of pointed rocks, 
 fancifully heaped together, and rising in an amphitheatre 
 in a wild and rustic manner. At the bottom of these is 
 a deep grotto, which enlarges as you advance into it, till 
 it forms a kind of irregular saloon with a dome-like roof. 
 The light enters this apartment by an aperture tolerably 
 large, but vailed by branches of the honeysuckle and 
 wild vine. This grotto affords a cool retreat from the 
 burning heats of the dog-days ; masses of rock scattered 
 here and there, or broad platforms cut out of the solid 
 rock, form the seats. A little fountain issues from one 
 side, and falls in trickling threads upon the floor, where, 
 after winding about through many crystal rills, it unites 
 again in a reservoir which forms the bath, and after- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 205 
 
 ward discharges itself into a pond below the grotto. 
 This pond leaves only a narrow path between the shape- 
 less grotesque rocks by which it is inclosed ; and these 
 are inhabited by a whole nation of rabbits, that startle 
 the countless swarms of fish in the pond as much as 
 they are startled by them. 
 
 " How charming is this solitude ! The broad surface 
 of its watery basin is sprinkled with little islets of 
 slirubs, the larger of which serve as 'aviaries, and are 
 filled with all kinds of birds. You can pass easily from 
 one to the other by blocks of stone that rise out of the 
 water, and little wooden bridges, some straight, some 
 arched, some in zigzag, that cross it. When the lilies 
 with which the borders of the pond are planted produce 
 their flowers, it appears crowned with purple and scarlet 
 like the horizon of the seas of the South, when the 
 sun rests on it. 
 
 " To leave this solitude you must either turn back or 
 cross the chain of steep rocks by which it is surrounded. 
 You can ascend to the summit of it by a sort of rude 
 staircase roughly hewn with the pickax ; and there you 
 find a simple cabinet, iinadorned indeed, but yet adorned 
 enough by the view of an immense plain through which 
 the Kiang rolls its flood through rice fields and villages. 
 The innumerable barks with which this mighty river is 
 covered, the laborers tilling the ground, the travelers 
 who are passing along the highways, animate this en- 
 chanting prospect ; and the azure mountains which term- 
 inate the horizon afford repose and recreation to the 
 sight. 
 
 " When I am weary of writing and composing in the 
 midst of my books in my great hall, I throw myself 
 into a boat which I row myself, and go and seek the 
 pleasures of my garden. Sometimes I land on the fish- 
 ing-island, where, with a broad straw hat on my head 
 
206 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'IKE. 
 
 to protect me from the ardent rays of the sun, I anni.-*; 
 myself with enticing the fish that sport in the water, 
 and study our human passions in their mistakes ; or at 
 other times, with my quiver on my shoulder, and my 
 bow in my hand, I climb over the rocks, and there, ly- 
 ing in wait, like a traitor, for the rabbits, as they issue 
 forth, I pierce them with my arrows at the entrance 
 of tneir holes. Alas ! they are wiser than we are, and 
 they fly from what is dangerous to them ; if they spy 
 me coming, not one will show himself. 
 
 " When I walk in my garden I gather the medicinal 
 plants that I wish to keep ; if a flower pleases me, I 
 pluck it, and enjoy its scent ; if I see one suffering 
 from thirst, I water it, and its neighbors profit by the 
 shower. How many times have ripe fruits restored to 
 me the appetite that the sight of luxurious dishes had 
 taken away. My pomegranates and my peaches are 
 the better for being gathered by my own hand, and the 
 friends to whom I send them are always pleased by my 
 doing so. Do I see a young bamboo that I wish to 
 leave to grow, I cut it, or I bend and interweave its 
 branches to free the path. The summit of a rock, the 
 banks of a stream, the depths of a wood, all are welcome 
 to me when I wish to repose myself. I enter a pavilion, 
 to watch a stork making war on the fish ; but scarcely 
 have I entered, than forgetting what brought me there, 
 I seize my kin,* and challenge the birds around to 
 rivalry. 
 
 "The last rays of the sun surprise me sometimes 
 while I am contemplating in silence the tender anxieties 
 of a swallow for her little ones, or the stratagems of a 
 hawk to gain possession of his prey. The moon rises, 
 and I am still sitting there ; this is an additional pleasure. 
 The murmuring of the waters, the rustling of the leaves 
 * A sort of Chinese violin. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 207 
 
 in the wind, the beauty of the heavens, plunge me into 
 a delightful reverie ; all nature speaks to my soul ; I go 
 wandering about, and listening, and night has reached 
 the middle of its course before I have reached the thresh- 
 old of my door. 
 
 "My friends come too, occasionally, to interrupt my 
 solitude, to read to me their works, or to hear mine. 
 Wine enlivens our frugal repasts, philosophy seasons 
 them ; and while, at court, men are seeking voluptuous 
 pleasure, fostering calumny, forging fetters, and laying- 
 snares, we are invoking wisdom, and offering her our 
 hearts. My eyes are constantly turned toward her, but 
 alas ! her rays only beam on me through a thousand 
 clouds: let them be dispersed, even were it by a storm, 
 and this solitude will become for me the temple of felic- 
 ity. But what do I say? I, a husband, a father, a 
 citizen, a man of letters I am bound by a thousand 
 duties, my life is not my own. Adieu, my dear garden ! 
 adieu! the love of kindred and of country calls me to 
 tlie city; keep thy pleasures, that they may some day 
 dissipate anew some new cares, and save my virtue from 
 their temptations." 
 
 The garden of the communal palace of Kien-tcheou 
 did not certainly present all the superb features de- 
 scribed by the pencil of Sse-ma-kouang, but it was nev- 
 ertheless one of the finest we had seen in the Celestial 
 Empire. We passed the remainder of the morning in 
 it, and were never tired of admiring the patience of the 
 Chinese, in cutting, out of shrubs and fragments of rock, 
 all the eccentric figures suggested by their whimsical and 
 fertile imaginations. 
 
 We were seated under the portico of a miniature 
 pagoda, when Master Ting came to inform us that din- 
 ner was ready. The principal functionaries of the place, 
 
208 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 in rich and brilliant costume, were already assembled in 
 the hall, and their reception of us was most amiable and 
 gracious. We overwhelmed each other with compli- 
 ments and courtesy, and invited each other reciprocally 
 to the most honorable places. To put an end to this 
 polite contest, we said that the Koung-kouan being the 
 house of the traveler, we ought to be considered as at 
 home, and should, therefore, of course, treat our guests 
 according to the rites. We assigned, therefore, to each 
 of the company a place according to his rank, reserving 
 the lowest for ourselves, and this proceeding was very 
 graciously received. They began to think we were not 
 quite such uncivilized barbarians as they had taken us 
 to be the evening before. 
 
 The banquet was splendid, and served according to 
 all the formalities of Chinese etiquette. On the part of 
 the guests, there could be nothing more desired ; in- 
 deed, they were so excessively amiable, that we could 
 not for a moment doubt of their having the most lively 
 and earnest desire to get rid of us on the next day. 
 
 We will not attempt to describe a Chinese dinner; 
 not but that it might present some details^ capable of in- 
 teresting Europeans, but they are already pretty well 
 known, and we should fear trying the reader's patience 
 too far. We remember, also, seeing in the "Melanges 
 Posthumes" of Abel Remusat, the following passage, 
 which would prevent us from attempting to give the no- 
 menclature of the dishes, even had we been so inclined : 
 
 "Some years ago (says this clever and learned Ori- 
 entalist), the officers of a European embassy returning 
 from China, where they had cause to applaud them- 
 selves for the success of their operations, thought prop- 
 er to favor the readers of the ' Gazette' with a descrip- 
 tion of a repast that had been given to them, they said, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 209 
 
 by the Mandarins of some frontier town. Never, ac- 
 cording to their account, had people Tbeen better enter- 
 tained; the quality of the dishes, the number of the 
 services, the play performed in the interval, all was ex- 
 actly described, and produced an admirable effect. But 
 it happened, that some persons who were readers of old 
 books, had a kind of recollection of having seen some- 
 thing like that before, and, on inquiry, it appeared that 
 more than a hundred years back, exactly the same din- 
 ner, composed of the very same dishes, and served in 
 precisely the same manner, had been given to some 
 Jesuit missionaries, who had written an account of it. 
 There were many people, however, for whom it was all 
 quite^new, and though it may be true, in general, that 
 * a warmed-up dinner is good for nothing,' in this par- 
 ticular case it was found very acceptable ; and the pub- 
 lic, always fond of particulars concerning manners and 
 customs, and even of culinary details, cared very little 
 to know who had been the real diners. Whoever they 
 might have been, it found just the same amusements in 
 the singularities of the Chinese table etiquette, and the 
 gravity with which the guests, while eating their rice, 
 executed manoeuvres and evolutions that would have 
 done honor to a well-trained regiment of infantry." 
 
 Since the time when M. Abel Remusat alluded thus 
 playfully to this famous Chinese dinner, it has been 
 served over again many times, especially after the last 
 war of China with England. But the new editions of 
 it that have been published both in English and French, 
 have been unfortunately so much corrected and revised 
 as a little to damage its accuracy. Under pretense that, 
 in the course of a hundred years, the Chinese may have 
 made some discoveries in the culinary art, it has been 
 found amusing to make the public believe that they 
 
210 JOURNEY THROUGH TIIK CJIINKSE K.MIMKK. 
 
 prepared dishes with castor-oil, and that some of their 
 favorite dainties were shark's fins, fish-gizzards, goose- 
 feet, peacock's combs, and other delicacies of the same 
 description. 
 
 Such dishes as these could scarcely have been met 
 with by any one who had made acquaintance with Chi- 
 nese cookery elsewhere than at Canton, a few 'yards 
 from the English factories ; or, in fact, as Europeans 
 newly landed in China are always very anxious to get 
 invited to a Chinese dinner, in the hope of meeting with 
 some extraordinary things, it is by no means impossi- 
 ble that some of the Canton merchants may have been 
 mischievous enough to amuse themselves at their ex- 
 pense, and serve them up dishes invented expressly for 
 them, and which had never before made their appear- 
 ance at a Chinese table. 
 
 Peacocks are so rare in China that we have ourselves 
 never seen any there. The feathers of this bird are 
 sent to the court by tributary kingdoms, and the Empe- 
 ror gives them as a special favor to the highest function- 
 aries, with permission to wear them in their caps on 
 state occasions, as an ornament. How, then, can we 
 imagine that dishes made of the peacock's combs can be 
 common at Chinese dinner parties ? The castor-oil plant 
 is not unknown in China; it is cultivated extensively 
 in the northern provinces, but the oil is used merely for 
 lighting, and so far is it from being regarded as a favor- 
 ite condiment, that when one day, at a Mission not far 
 from Pekin, we wished to give a small dose of it to one 
 of our brothers who was ill, our Chinese converts vehe- 
 mently opposed our doing so, saying that this oil was a 
 poison. We do not deny, nevertheless, that Europeans 
 may have seen it on dinner-tables at Canton, but we 
 (I quite sure that, in that case, they have been made 
 the victims of some mystification, and that when they 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 211 
 
 were amusing themselves with the absurd tastes of the 
 Chinese, the latter were in their turn laughing at the 
 credulity of the Europeans. 
 
 It is certain, however, that a real Chinese dinner 
 would be a very odd thing in the eyes of a stranger, 
 especially if he were one of those who think, as some 
 people do, that there is only one way of living. To 
 begin dinner with the dessert, and end it with the soup ; 
 to drink the wine smoking hot, out of little china cups, 
 and have your food brought to you ready cut up into 
 small pieces, and to be presented with a couple of sticks, 
 instead of a knife and fork, to eat it with ; TO have, in- 
 stead of napkins, a provision of little bits of colored silk 
 paper by the side of your plate, which, as you use, the 
 attendants carry off; to leave your place between the 
 courses, to smoke or amuse yourself; and to raise your 
 chop-sticks to your forehead, and then place them hori- 
 zontally upon your cup, to signify that you have finished 
 your dinner all these things would doubtless seem 
 very odd, and create the curiosity of Europeans. The 
 Chinese, on the other hand, can never get over their 
 surprise at our way of dining. They ask how we can 
 like to drink cold fluids, and what can have put it into 
 our heads to make use of a trident to carry food to our 
 mouths, at the risk of pricking our lips or poking our 
 eyes out. They think it very droll to see nuts put on 
 the table in their shells, and ask why our servants can 
 not take the trouble to peel the fruit, and take the bones 
 out of the meat. They are themselves certainly not 
 very difficult in the nature of their food, and like such 
 tilings as fried silk-worms and preserved larva?, but they 
 can not understand the predilection of our epicures for 
 high game, nor for cheese that appears to belong to the 
 class of animated beings. 
 
 One day, at Macao, we had the honor to be seated at 
 
212 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 the dinner-table of a representative of a European pow- 
 er, when a magnificent dish of snipes was brought in. 
 But what a disappointment ! The Chinese Vatel had 
 taken out the entrails of this incomparable bird. He 
 knew not what a perfumed and savory treasure the snipe 
 holds in its stomach. The cook was forced to appear 
 before the arbiters of taste, who received him with 
 wrathful looks, and the delinquent was struck with con- 
 sternation on hearing that he had committed a culinary 
 crime too heavy to be a second time pardoned. Hoping 
 to make amends, the unfortunate cook, a few days after- 
 ward, took care to serve up in all their integrity some 
 birds that were not snipes, and thereupon a new storm 
 of wrath fell on the devoted head of the poor Chinese, 
 and was followed by his dismissal, in a state of utter 
 despair that he should ever be able to exercise his art 
 in a manner conformable to the astoundingly capricious 
 tastes of Europeans. 
 
 All the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, without 
 exception, are gifted with a remarkable aptitude for 
 cookery. If you want a cook, it is the easiest thing in 
 the world to supply the want ; you have but to take the 
 first Chinese you can catch, and after a few days' prac- 
 tice he will acquit himself of his duties to admiration. 
 
 What appears most surprising, is the extreme sim- 
 plicity of means with which these marvels are performed. 
 One single iron pot suffices to execute promptly the most 
 difficult combinations. The Mandarins are in general 
 pretty much of gourmands, and carry the business and 
 refinements of the table to a tolerably high pitch. They 
 have in their service cooks who possess a vast store of 
 receipts, and secrets to disguise dishes in a thousand 
 ways, and change their natural flavor ; and when they 
 desire to show off their skill, they really perform sur- 
 prising feats. The cook at Kien-tcheou gave us some 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 213 
 
 most incontestable proofs of talent, and his dinner mer- 
 ited and received the praises of all the guests. During 
 the whole day, the Mandarins of Kien-tcheou behaved 
 in the most admirable manner, and on the following 
 morning we resolved, by way of return, to afford them 
 the satisfaction of seeing us go away. We parted most 
 excellent friends, but without any very particular wish 
 to meet again. 
 
 The roads that we now traversed were far from being 
 equal to those in the environs of Tching-tou-fou, and in- 
 deed the system of roads in China is far from being per- 
 fect. The communication by land is generally inconven- 
 ient, and often dangerous. 
 
 In the neighborhood of the great towns the roads are 
 sufficiently wide, but by degrees as you advance they 
 grow narrower, till at last they sometimes vanish alto- 
 gether. Then the travelers make their way wherever 
 they can, through fields, quagmires, and rocky barren 
 tracts. 
 
 If you come to a brook over which the local govern- 
 ment has not thought proper to make a bridge, you 
 must take off your shoes and stockings and wade 
 through it. But very often you find some poor creat- 
 ures stationed on the banks, who make a business of 
 carrying travelers on their shoulders, from one side to 
 the other, for the value of a few sapecks. All this 
 route, nevertheless, still bears the name of a great high 
 road. 
 
 This deplorable state of things has not always exist- 
 ed in China ; formerly, it appears, there were means of 
 communication that left nothing to desire, and in almost 
 all the provinces you may still see remains 'of these fine 
 roads, paved with broad flag-stones, and bordered with 
 magnificent trees. In the Annals, especial mention is 
 made of the superb roads that, under the Song dynasty, 
 
214 JOUKNKY TJIKUL'UII THE CllINKSK KMl'IKE. 
 
 traversed the Empire from one end to the other ; and 
 the dynasty of Yuen added to this an admirable system 
 of canals, that increased still more the facility of travel- 
 ing, and the transport of merchandise. But these great 
 works have "been abandoned under the Mantchou-Tartar 
 Emperors, who, instead of maintaining them, have even 
 hastened their destruction. Trees have been cut down, 
 flag-stones torn up, and the land annexed to the neigh- 
 boring fields ; indeed, with the system of pillage that 
 prevails at present all over the Empire, we were almost 
 surprised to find a single tree standing, or a flag-stone 
 in its place. The canals have suffered less, and the 
 government has even occasionally taken some pains to 
 maintain them. They are, however, rapidly deteriora- 
 ting; the famous Imperial canal, which traverses the 
 Empire from north to south, is dry the greater part of 
 the year, and scarcely serves any other purpose than 
 that of transporting the tributes of corn and other natu- 
 ral productions to the public granaries at Pekin. 
 
 At the distance of one day's journey from Kien-tcheou, 
 the road becomes mountainous and irregular, and the 
 country less beautiful and less rich. The aspect of the 
 population, too, is no longer the same; their appearance 
 is rougher and coarser, and their manners are by no 
 means so polished. The dilapidation of the farms and 
 the dirtiness of the villages show that the condition of 
 the people is less prosperous. 
 
 The mountains, nevertheless, have nothing wild and 
 rugged in their aspect ; their summits are crowned with 
 flowers, and their slopes and valleys present abundant 
 harvests of Jcao-leang maize, sugar-cane, and tobacco. 
 .The kao-leang is a variety of the JIolcus Sorghum, of 
 which we in France make nothing but brooms ; but it 
 is cultivated on a large scale, and with great care, in 
 China. 'It attains an astonishing size; its stalks are 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 215 
 
 solid enough to be used with advantage in the construc- 
 tion of farm-houses and palings ; the ears furnish a con- 
 siderable quantity of large seeds, which the poor eat in- 
 stead of rice ; and from which, by distillation, a liquor 
 may be obtained containing a large proportion of alco- 
 hol. The Chinese attach in general little importance to 
 the culture of maize, and it is almost always of indiffer- 
 ent quality. They gather the ears before they are com- 
 pletely ripe, and when they are still quite milky,- and 
 devour them thus, after slight roasting. Sugar is very 
 common in China, and is obtained from the cane, which 
 grows luxuriantly in the southern provinces ; but the 
 Chinese do not know how to- purify it and give it the 
 whiteness and brilliancy it obtains in the European re- 
 fineries. Their factories deliver it in the state of moist 
 sugar, or simply crystalized. The cultivation of tobacco 
 is immense, although this plant, which is at present 
 spread over the whole surface of the globe, and is in use 
 among all nations, even those least in contact with civil- 
 ized life, was not known in China, it is said, till a very 
 recent period. It is stated to have been imported into 
 the Central Empire by the Mantchous ; and the Chinese 
 were much astonished when they first saw their con- 
 querors inhaling fire through long tubes, and "eating 
 smoke." It cost them a good deal to imitate the accom- 
 plishment ; but now they are passionately, enthusiast- 
 ically devoted to it. By a curious coincidence this plant 
 is called in the Mantchou language tambdkou, but the 
 Chinese designate it simply by the word meaning smoke, 
 Thus they say they cultivate in their fields the " smoke 
 leaf;" they chew smoke, and they name their pipe the 
 "smoke funnel." 
 
 The use of tobacco has become universal through- 
 out the Empire ; men, women, children, every body 
 smokes, almost without ceasing. They go about their 
 
216 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 daily business, cultivate the fields, ride on horseback, 
 and write, constantly with the pipe in their mouths. 
 During their meals, if they stop for a moment it is to 
 smoke a pipe ; and if they wake in the night, they arc 
 \. sure to amuse themselves in the same way. It may be 
 easily supposed, therefore, that in a country containing 
 300,000,000 of smokers, without counting the tribes 
 of Tartary and Thibet, who lay in their stocks in the 
 Chinese markets, the culture of tobacco has become 
 very important. The cultivation is entirely free, every 
 one being at liberty to plant it in his garden, or in the 
 open fields, in whatever quantity he chooses, and after- 
 ward to sell it, wholesale or retail, just as he likes, 
 without the Government interfering with him in the 
 .slightest degree. The most celebrated tobacco is that 
 obtained in Leao-tong, in Mantchuria, and in the pro- 
 vince of Sse-tchouen. The leaves, before becoming ar- 
 ticles of commerce, undergo various preparatory pro- 
 cesses, according to the practice of the locality. In the 
 south they cut them into extremely fine filaments ; the 
 people of the north content themselves with drying them, 
 and rubbing them up coarsely, and then stuff them at 
 once into their pipes. 
 
 Snuff-takers are less numerous in China than smok- 
 ers ; tobacco in powder, or, as the Chinese say, " smoke 
 for the nose," is little used except by the Mantchou 
 Tartars and Mongols, and among the Mandarins and 
 lettered classes. The Tartars are real amateurs, and 
 snuff is with them an object of the most important con- 
 sideration. For the Chinese aristocracy, on the con- 
 trary, it is a mere luxury a habit that they try to ac- 
 quire a whim. The custom of taking snuff was intro- 
 duced into China by the old missionaries, who resided 
 ^ at the court. They used to get the snuff from Europe 
 for themselves, and some of the Mandarins tried it, and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 217 
 
 found it good. By degrees the custom spread ; people 
 who wished to appear fashionable liked to be seen tak- 
 ing this "smoke for the nose," and Pekin is still, par 
 excellence, the locality of snuff-takers. The first dealers 
 in it made immense fortunes. The French tobacco was 
 the most esteemed ; and as it happened at this time 
 that it had for a stamp the ancient emblem of the three 
 fleur de Us, the mark has never been forgotten ; and the 
 three fleur de Us are still in Pekin the. only sign of a 
 dealer in tobacco. 
 
 The Chinese have now for a long time manufactured 
 their own snuff; but they do not subject it to any fer- 
 mentation, and it is not worth much. They merely 
 pulverize the leaves, sift the powder till it is as fine as 
 Hour, and afterward perfume it with flowers and es- 
 sences. The Chinese snuff-boxes are little vials made 
 of crystal, porcelain, or precious stones. They are some- 
 times very elegant in their form, and are cut with great 
 taste and sold at immense prices. A little silver or ivory- 
 spatula, with which the pinch is taken out, is fitted to 
 the stopper. 
 
 The sun had not quite set when we arrived at 
 Tchoung-king, a town of the first order, and, after 
 Tching-tou-fou, the most important of the province of 
 Sse-tchouen; it is advantageously situated on the left 
 bank of the Blue River. On the other side, opposite to 
 Tchoung-king, is another great town, which would only 
 make one with the first mentioned, but for the great 
 breadth of the river. It is a great centre of commence, 
 and a depot for the merchandise of almost all the prov- 
 inces of the Empire. 
 
 There is also here a numerous and flourishing Chris- 
 tian community, as the Embassador Ki-chan, and the 
 Viceroy Pao-king, had already informed us. We ex- 
 pected consequently to receive visits from the principal 
 VOL. I. K 
 
218 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 Cliristians, as they could not fail to have been aware of 
 our arrival, but no one appeared. In the evening we 
 expressed our surprise at this to Master Ting, who thru 
 admitted that in fact a great number of persons had 
 presented themselves, but that they had not been per- 
 mitted to enter, as they wore no costume of ceremony, . 
 and had the appearance of being tiresome, vulgar peo-' 
 pie. "They did say, indeed," added he, "that they 
 belonged to your illustrious and sublime religion, the 
 religion of the Lord of Heaven, but we did not believe 
 them." 
 
 The guardians of the communal palace were cer- 
 tainly in some measure to blame in this matter; but 
 we did not wish to complain, as it was possible they 
 might think themselves in the right. It had been 
 agreed, in order to protect us from the annoyance of 
 incessant crowds of visitors, that no one should be ad- 
 mitted to us in the communal palaces without their 
 observing all the forms and ceremonies prescribed by 
 the Rites for official visits of etiquette. In the "Me- 
 langes" of Oriental literature by M. Abel Remusat, 
 some tolerably exact details are given concerning the 
 manner of making ceremonious visits in China, borrow- 
 ed from a Chinese manuscript in the Imperial library. 
 
 " Much has been said concerning Chinese politeness, 
 the formalities which it imposes every moment, and on 
 the smallest occasions. It has been asserted, not quite 
 without truth, that, in accordance with these, a con- 
 versation between men not connected by friendship be- 
 comes a mere preconcerted dialogue, in which each re- 
 peats a part he has learnt by heart ; but the specimens 
 of this polite dialogue that have been inserted in some 
 accounts- are not in general very accurate. Those which 
 Fourmont has given, after Father Varo, are full of or- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 219 
 
 ror. Although most people know something of the ex- 
 aggerated forms of expression, which among ancient 
 nations appear to be the product of long-continued hab- 
 its of social life, it is still curious to see in detail how 
 far it is possible to carry these refinements of urbanity, 
 by which every one endeavors to show his own good 
 breeding." 
 
 To judge of this point as relating to the Chinese, we 
 must translate literally the customary forms of speech ; 
 and in order to compare the manners of different na- 
 tions, in this respect, we must have an exact interpreta- 
 tion of a Chinese conversation. But I will first explain 
 the general principles of visiting, for a matter of this 
 importance deserves to be treated methodically. 
 
 It is a custom in China, as it is in Europe, to get rid 
 of a visitor you do not wish to see, by saying you are 
 not at home, without being over anxious that he should 
 really believe it ; or you have it stated that you are in- 
 disposed, overwhelmed with business, and so on. The 
 servants are instructed, on such occasions, to take the 
 visiting cards, and inquire the addresses of the visitors, 
 in order that the master may, in a few days, return the 
 visits he has not received. 
 
 In a Chinese romance there is a scene of three lettered 
 Chinese, who are amusing themselves with making verses, 
 and drinking warm wine, when a very troublesome and 
 disagreeable old Mandarin is announced. 
 
 " Stupid fellow," says the master to his servant ; 
 " why didn't you say I was not at home ?" 
 
 "I did," replies the servant, "but he saw the palan- 
 quins of these two noble visitors before the door, and he 
 would not believe me." 
 
 . Thereupon the master rises, puts on his cap of cere- 
 
JiiO .loriJNKY THROUGH THE CHINKSK K.MI'IKE. 
 
 mony, and runs with affected eagerness to meet the dis- 
 agreeable visitor, whom he overwhelms with compli- 
 ments, while the two learned guests, who detest him, 
 vie with the master of the house in their polite welcome. 
 Would any one believe that this scene, which is well 
 described, was represented as passing at a hundred and 
 four degrees of longitude from Paris ? 
 
 He who intends paying a visit usually sends a serv- 
 ant some hours before, with a note to the person he 
 wishes to see, to inquire whether he is at home, and to 
 beg him not to go out if he has leisure to receive the 
 visit. This is a mark of deference and respect for those 
 whom you wish to see in their own houses. The note 
 is on a sheet of red paper, larger or smaller according to 
 the rank and dignity of the persons, and the degree of 
 respect to be testified. The paper is folded once or 
 twice, and you only write on the second page, in such 
 words as these, "Your disciple, or your younger brother, 
 So-and-so, has come to bow his head to the ground be- 
 fore you, and to offer you his respects." 
 
 This phrase is written in very large letters when you 
 wish to mingle a certain air of stateliness with your 
 courtesy ; and the characters become smaller and small- 
 er in proportion to the interest that one has in appear- 
 ing humble and respectful. 
 
 This note having been presented to the porter, if the 
 master accepts the visit, he replies, verbally, "It will 
 give me pleasure, and I beg him to come." If you are 
 busy, or have some reason for not receiving the visit, 
 the answer is " I am much obliged ; I thank him for 
 the trouble he proposes to take." But if the visitor be 
 a person of superior rank, it is "My lord does me an 
 honor that I had not dared to hope for." 
 
 These sorts of visits are seldom declined in China. 
 
 If no note has been received to announce the visit. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 221 
 
 which only happens with common people, or in case of 
 pressing business, the visitor may be requested to wait, 
 but he is to be told what occupation prevents the host 
 from receiving him : " My master begs you to be seated 
 for a moment he is combing his hair or dressing him- 
 self." But if the visit has been announced previously 
 by a note, the master of the house must put on fine 
 clothes, and hold himself in readiness . to receive the 
 guests at the door of the house, or as he alights from 
 his palanquin, saying, "I beg you to enter." The two 
 leaves of the centre door must be opened, for it would 
 be impolite to allow the guest to enter by a side one. 
 Great people have their palanquins carried in, or even 
 ride in on horseback to the foot of the staircase, which 
 leads to the hall of reception. The master of the house 
 then places himself at their right hand, and afterward 
 passes to their left, saying, " I beg you to go first," and 
 accompanies them, keeping, always a little behind. 
 
 In a room where company is received, the seats ought 
 to be arranged in two parallel lines, one before the other. 
 In entering you begin, from the very bottom of the 
 room, to make your bows that is to say, you turn to- 
 ward your host, making one step backward, and bow 
 till your hands, which are kept clasped, touch the 
 ground. In the provinces of the south of China, the 
 south side is the most honorable ; but in the north it 
 is quite the contrary. Of course, the most honorable 
 side is to be offered to the guest ; but he, by an ingen- 
 ious piece of courtesy, may in two words change the 
 state of things, and say, Pe li, that is, " We are now 
 observing the ceremony of the north country," which 
 implies, " I hope that in placing me to the sputh you 
 are assigning me the least distinguished place." 
 
 But the master of the house politely hastens to frus- 
 trate the humble intentions of his guest, by saying, 
 
222 JOURNEY THROUGH TIIK rillNKSr KMI'IIJE. 
 
 Nan li, "Not at all, sir; it is the ceremony of the 
 south, and you are, therefore, in your proper place." 
 Sometimes the visitor himself affects to take the least 
 honorable, but then the host excuses himself, saying, "I 
 should not dare ;" and, passing before his guest, taking 
 care not to turn his back on him, he proceeds to his 
 proper position, a little behind. Then they both bow, 
 and if the master of the house has any relations who 
 live with him, the bows have to be repeated as many 
 times as there are persons to salute. These manoeuvres 
 last for some time, and as long as they do, nothing else 
 is said than Pou-kan, pou-kan, "I should not dare." 
 
 One piece of politeness, which is the due of great 
 people, and which does not displease those of inferior 
 rank, is to cover the chairs with little carpets made on 
 purpose. Then there are more antics to be performed. 
 The guest refuses to take the chair of state ; the host 
 insists ; he makes a feint of wiping the chair with the 
 skirt of his robe ; and the stranger does the same for 
 the chair that he is to occupy : finally, the guest bows 
 to his chair before sitting down, and neither party takes 
 his place till he has exhausted all the resources of cere- 
 mony and good education. 
 
 Scarcely are you seated before the servants bring the 
 tea, in little porcelain cups ranged on a tea-board of 
 varnished wood. Among rich people, tea-pots are not 
 used, but the quantity of tea required is put into the 
 cup, and the boiling water poured upon it. The in- 
 fusion is highly scented, but is taken without sugar. 
 The master of the house approaches the most import- 
 ant of his guests, saying, as he touches the tea-board, 
 Tsing-tcha,*" I invite you to take tea," and then every 
 one advances to take his cup. The master takes one in 
 both hands, and presents it to the most distinguished 
 guest, who receives it also with both hands. The rest 
 
JOURXEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 223 
 
 of the company take their cups, and drink together, 
 though inviting each other, by gestures to drink first. 
 When every one is served, the visitors, holding their 
 cups in both hands, bow to the ground, taking care not 
 to spill the smallest drop of the tea, which Avould be 
 very indecorous ; and to lessen the liability to such an 
 accident the cups are only half rilled. The most ele- > 
 gant manner of serving tea is to give with it a little' 
 dried sweetmeat and a small spoon used only for this 
 purpose. The guests drink their tea at many sips, and 
 very slowly, though all together, in order to be ready 
 at the same moment to put down their cups. However 
 hot it may be, you must not exhibit any annoyance, but 
 politely burn your throat or your fingers. 
 
 When the weather is very warm, the master of the 
 house, as soon as the tea is drunk, takes his fan, and, 
 holding it in both hands, bows to the company, as if to 
 say, Tsing-chen, " I invite you to make use of your 
 fans." Every one, accordingly, takes his fan ; and it 
 would be exceedingly rude not to bring one with you, 
 as you would then prevent others from using theirs. 
 
 The conversation must always begin on indifferent, 
 and mostly insignificant, subjects, and this is, perhaps, 
 the most difficult part of the ceremonial. In China you 
 generally have to pass about two hours in saying no- 
 thing, and then, at the end of the visit, you explain in 
 three words what really brings you there. 
 
 The visitor rises and says, "I have been troublesome 
 to you a very long time ;" and, doubtless, of all Chinese 
 compliments, this is the one that most frequently ap- 
 proaches the truth. 
 
 Before leaving the room, you bow in the same man- 
 ner as on entering it, the master keeping to the left and 
 a little behind, and following as far as the horse or the 
 palanquin. Before mounting, the stranger entreats the 
 
-1 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 master to leave him, that he may not be guilty of so 
 great a disrespect as turning his back; but the other 
 contents himself with turning half round, that he may 
 not see him mount. When the visitor is seated on his 
 horse, or that his bearers have raised the poles of his 
 palanquin, the tsing-leao, or adieu, is exchanged, and 
 this is the last civility. 
 
 Such is the almost invariable order observed in visits 
 between people of equal condition, though of course it 
 is liable to modification, according to particular circum- 
 stances, such as the rank, the age, the occupation, the 
 amount of personal distinction, etc. A volume might be 
 written to describe all the variations, and it may easily 
 be supposed that in China such books have not been 
 wanting. On the whole, however, it is easier to be 
 polite in China than elsewhere, as politeness is subject 
 to more fixed regulations, and every one knows what he 
 lias to do in any given situation. It is, of course, a 
 great restraint, but still it has its advantages. 
 
 The degree of etiquette that we had adopted, in con- 
 formity to the advice of the viceroy, prescribed to our 
 visitors to send in advance a card of large dimensions, 
 and when they came, to present themselves in full 
 dress. By this means, we were enabled to avoid many 
 troublesome visits, without exposing ourselves to the 
 charge of rudeness. We regretted, however, to find 
 that this plan kept away the Christians, whom our 
 Mandarins took care not to inform previously of the 
 conditions required, in order to be received. 
 
 We explained to Master Ting how glad we should 
 be to see the worshipers of the Lord of Heaven, and 
 we begged him to use his good offices to bring us to- 
 gether ; but as we had no great reliance on his wish to 
 oblige us, we endeavored to adopt, on our own parts, 
 some more effectual means. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 225 
 
 The night that we passed at Tchoung-king was 
 marked by an incident so strange and fantastic, that 
 the narration of it might A'ery well pass for a ghost 
 story. We declare, therefore, beforehand, that it is 
 not a fiction, and that we were not the victims of any 
 hallucination. We were in bed, and sound asleep, when 
 we seemed to hear, as if in a dream, a measured and 
 sonorous sound, moving at intervals through the courts, 
 the gardens, and the different apartments of the com- 
 munal palace. The sound seemed sometimes far off, 
 and sometimes in our own room. We thought we 
 could distinguish a slight crackling of the bamboo mats, 
 as by the steps of some one walking cautiously, so as 
 not to be heard ; sometimes we seemed to be in a 
 strong light, then, again, in profound darkness ; a voice 
 that was turned toward our ear articulated some words 
 that we could not make out, and then the peculiar 
 measured sound moved away, to approach us again 
 after a time. We were still quite asleep, but with 
 something of the oppressive feeling of a nightmare, for, 
 notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not either 
 open our eyes or utter a word. -At length we felt some- 
 thing like a blow on the shoitlder, and afterward a vio- 
 lent shock, that awakened us at once with a start, and 
 we found ourselves surrounded by a dazzling light, and 
 saw opposite us a hideous face that began to laugh, 
 and showed us its long and yellow teeth. The spectre 
 stretched out a naked withered arm, and presented us, 
 with a grave air, a paper, on which Avere written Euro- 
 pean characters. 
 
 We drew back instinctively, and not knowing very 
 well where we were. The spectre began to laugh again, 
 drew back his arm, took in his left hand the torch he 
 had been holding in his right, and made the sign of the 
 Cross. And now that our eyes had become capable of 
 
 K* 
 
226 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 distinguishing objects a little more clearly, we saw that 
 we had to do with a real living Chinese, very ugly, 
 strangely attired, and naked to the waist. 
 
 When he saw that we were awake, he bowed toward 
 us, and said in a low voice, that he was a Christian, and 
 that lie had brought us a letter from Monseigneur do 
 Sinite, coadjutor of the Vicar Apostolic for the province 
 of Sse-tchouen. He then lit a lamp that stood on a lit- 
 tle table by the side of the bed ; we opened the letter 
 that had reached us in so curious and phantasm agorical 
 a manner, and while we read, our Christian retired, and 
 began again to pace the apartments of the communal 
 palace, striking the floor from time to time with a piece 
 of bamboo. This man, it appeared, filled the office of 
 night watchman. 
 
 Monseigneur Desfleches, Bishop of Sinite, whom we 
 had known at Macao, in 1839, had his residence in the 
 town of Tchoung-king. After having expressed his re- 
 gret at not being able to quit the retreat in which he was 
 hidden, to pay a visit to his countrymen, he entered into 
 some details concerning the persecutions that the Cliris- 
 tians were still suffering, notwithstanding the edicts of 
 religious liberty obtained by the French Embassador. 
 His lordship pointed out to us, that in a town of the 
 third order, called Tchang-cheou, in which we were to 
 pass some days, the first magistrate had just sent three 
 Christians to prison ; and he gave us all the information 
 necessary to claim their release, when we should have 
 arrived in the town. 
 
 The Christian who had brought us the letter had taken 
 care to deposit some paper, a Chinese pen and an ink- 
 stand on the table by the bedside, and we replied imme- 
 diately to the communication of Monseigneur Desfleches, 
 assuring him that we would do all that depended on us 
 to obtain the release of his dear prisoners. We profited 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 227 
 
 at the same time by this opportunity, to beg him to warn 
 the Christians, who might wish to visit us at the com- 
 munal palace, of the necessity of conforming to the reg- 
 ulations of " the rites." 
 
 We wrote this letter under a feeling of the deepest 
 dejection. A missionary a Frenchman, one whom we 
 had known, and had not seen for so long was here, 
 almost close to us, yet we could not join him, embrace 
 him, nor converse with him on any of those topics that 
 tluill the soul of the missionary, such as the sufferings 
 of the Christians, the trials of those who preach the 
 Gospel, nor of our country, that France, from which we 
 had had no news for three years. So sweet a consola- 
 tion was denied us, and we were reduced merely to 
 writing a few lines to him in haste and secrecy in the 
 middle of the night. 
 
 In the life of the missionary, hunger, thirst, the in- 
 clemencies of the seasons, all the tortures of the body, 
 are as nothing in comparison with these moral sufferings, 
 these privations of the heart, to which it is so difficult 
 to accustom one's self. While we were thus carrying on 
 this singular and contraband correspondence, our cun- 
 ning Christian continued his rounds through the dif- 
 ferent quarters of the communal palace, not forgetting 
 from time to time to strike with his bamboo instrument 
 the various watches of the night. When we had fin- 
 ished the letter, he concealed it carefully in the folds 
 of his girdle, and tranquilly resumed his march. 
 
 The Chinese have, in all circumstances, an inexhaust- 
 ible store of tricks and artifices at their disposal, and 
 the Christians of Tchoung-king, wishing to convey to 
 us secretly M. Desfleches's letter, had contrived to in- 
 troduce one of their number into the palace. A poor 
 artisan, an unlikely person to excite any suspicion, of- 
 fered himself to the guardians in the quality of night 
 
2:>8 JOUKNEY TIIKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 watchman, taking care to ask much lower wages than 
 are commonly given to the people who exercise this 
 kind of industry. The offer was accepted to the great 
 satisfaction of the Christians of Tchoung-king, who were 
 glad to be able to send us the letter, and perhaps at the 
 same time not sorry to play the police a trick, for the 
 Chinese are fully awake to this favorite amusement of 
 old civilized nations. 
 
 Night watchmen are much in fashion in all the prov- 
 inces of China ; they are especially regularly employed 
 in the pagodas, the tribunals, and the hotels, and rich 
 private persons have them also in their service. These 
 men are obliged to walk all night in the places confided 
 to their vigilance, and to make a noise by striking at 
 intervals on a tam-tam or an instrument of bamboo. 
 The purpose of this noise is politely to intimate to the 
 thieves that people are on their guard, and that conse- 
 quently the moment is not favorable for breaking open 
 doors or through walls. In some towns the Government 
 also maintains watchmen organized as a patrol to trav- 
 erse the streets, maintain public tranquillity, and give 
 notice in case of fire. They stop for a moment in each 
 quarter, and after having struck three times on their 
 bronze tam-tams, they cry in unison Lou-chan lou-hia 
 siao-sin-ho, that is to say, "Beware of fire on the 
 ground-floor beware of fire on the upper-floor." 
 
 Fires are very frequent in China, especially in the 
 southern provinces, where the houses are mostly built 
 of wood. The practice of smoking continually too, and 
 of having fire almost always in readiness for making tea, 
 must be the cause of many accidents ; indeed, when 
 you have lived some time among them, and seen how 
 careless the Chinese are, and what a disorderly state 
 ilu-ir houses arc in, you are surprised that fires do not 
 happen oftener. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 229 
 
 The first thing they dread when fire does break out, 
 however, is, not the fire, but the thieves, who come 
 running in from all quarters, under the pretense of ex- 
 tinguishing the fire, but really to increase the confusion, 
 forcing themselves in every where, and carrying off what- 
 ever they can lay hands on, as if to snatch it from the 
 flames. It is a regular pillage, and what people are 
 most anxious about whose house is on fire, is to prevent 
 the public from coming to their assistance. They hasten 
 to move away their goods as fast as they can, and the 
 neighbors are obliged to do the same, for the plunderers 
 have the ready pretext of stopping the progress of the 
 fire, for dismantling the houses, and appropriating even 
 the very building materials, when they can get nothing 
 else a small profit is better than none. It may easily 
 be 'imagined what a fire is with such helps as these; a 
 few hours are generally sufficient for the disappearance 
 of two or three hundred houses. 
 
 In many towns, however, the administration does 
 show some anxiety to stop these abominable attempts. 
 They maintain, as we have said, a patrol in the streets 
 to give warning. They have large tubs standing filled 
 with water, and there even exist in some places a more 
 or less well organized body of firemen. 
 
 The moment a fire is perceived to have broken out, it 
 is the duty of the Mandarins to repair to the spot, with 
 this troop, and the agents of police, in order to drive 
 away the populace, who seem always disposed by in- 
 stinct to become transformed into a band of robbers. 
 The Chinese fire-engines are constructed very much like 
 our own, but they bear the name of "Aquatic, or Ma- 
 rine Dragon" loung or yang loung. 
 
 The word yang loung might, perhaps, be more cor- 
 rectly translated European Dragon, which would tend 
 to show that they are of European importation, and that 
 
JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE K.Ml'IRK. 
 
 the Chinese can sometimes be prevailed on to adopt the 
 customs of foreign countries. 
 
 One thing that always excited our admiration was 
 the surprising activity with which the Chinese begin to 
 rebuild their houses after they have been burned down. 
 Scarcely have the firemen disappeared, than the masons 
 and carpenters take possession of the still smoking 
 ground. They are not, however, usually the same pro- 
 prietors who rebuild houses ; these are mostly ruined, 
 and vanish, going wherever they can ; but such is the 
 eagerness for trade and speculation in this country, that, 
 while the flames are still devouring the houses, a crowd 
 of purchasers present themselves to buy the ground, and 
 build new ones ; and the contract of sale is drawn up 
 almost by the light of the fire. 
 
 Immediately the ground is cleared, as if by enchant- 
 ment; and it is usual to carry the rubbish to the spot 
 where the fire first broke out, and heap it up there, 
 throwing the expense of clearing it off upon the person 
 whom the law supposes guilty of negligence, and there- 
 fore ordains this practice as his punishment. You fre- 
 quently see in the interior of towns great heaps of ruins 
 that have no other origin than this. 
 
 We left Tchoung-king rather late on the following 
 morning, to go and pass the day at the neighboring 
 town. We had only to cross the Blue River, though 
 it was possible that its very rapid current might pre- 
 sent some difficulties ; but we arrived quite safely at 
 the other side, and Master Ting did not fail to claim all 
 the merit of the success. He had made choice, he said, 
 of a boat of the most perfect construction, and boatmen 
 of tried intelligence ; moreover, he had repeated litanies 
 to Kao-wang all the time he was smoking his opium ; 
 and Kao-wang, in return, had commanded the river to 
 carry us quietly over. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 231 
 
 Our little adventure at Kien-tcheou had, it seems, 
 made some noise, and the Mandarins, seeing that we 
 were not inclined to favor their manoeuvres at our own 
 expense, thought proper to submit. As soon as we 
 got to Tchoung-king, we could perceive the good ef- 
 fects of our firmness. We found the communal palace 
 completely ready, and in full trim, and every one en- 
 deavoring to make themselves agreeable ; so that, of 
 course, we did what we could to reward this friendly 
 attention, by taking ourselves away again as quickly as 
 possible. 
 
 The authorities here added to our escort a military 
 Mandarin and eight soldiers ; and they did not fail to 
 inform the people in the town that they did so in or- 
 der to increase the grandeur of our appearance, or, as 
 they say in China, " to display the character of haughty 
 majesty." 
 
 We thanked the prefect for his courtesy, and left him 
 all the merit of his pretended generosity, though we 
 knew that the measure had really been ordered by the 
 viceroy on account of the gangs of thieves that infest 
 the road we were about to traverse, as far as the bound- 
 aries of the province. The new Mandarin was one 
 of the heroes of the famous expedition sent to Canton 
 against the English in 1842 ; but, although he had 
 been engaged in the war against the " Western Devils," 
 his appearance was not very warlike. He had a loose, 
 shambling gait, a face that looked as if it were made of 
 papier mac/ie, and a mouth always foolishly half open. 
 As there was, too, a considerable amount of self-import- 
 ance in his manners, we had some suspicion that we 
 should not get on very well together. From our very 
 first interview, on the strength of having, during his stay 
 at Canton, often taken a walk before the European fac- 
 tories, he gave himself such airs of familiarity, that we 
 
-:;ii .inCKNT.Y T1I1:OUGH THE CIIINKSK KMl'IRK. 
 
 were obliged to recall him to the observance of the 
 llites. 
 
 After leaving the banks of the Blue River, we arrived 
 at Tchang-cheou-hien, a town of the third order. This 
 was where the three Christians of whom M. Desflechcs 
 had spoken were imprisoned. As soon as we were in- 
 BtaUed in the communal palace, the prefect of the town 
 came with all his staff to pay us a visit according to 
 the established rules. We received him with all pos- 
 sible solemnity, in presence of our Mandarin conductors ; 
 and when we had exhausted the commonplaces of con- 
 versational etiquette, we inquired whether there were 
 many Christians in the district. " They are very nume- 
 rous," he replied. 
 
 "Are they worthy people endeavoring to improve 
 their hearts and to live according to the precepts of 
 Christian virtue ?" " How can the people be otherwise 
 than good who follow your holy doctrine?" "You 
 are right ; those who follow faithfully the doctrine of 
 the Lord of Heaven can not fail to be virtuous men. 
 Your great Emperor, in an edict that he addressed to 
 all the tribunals, has proclaimed that the Christian re- 
 ligion has no other object than to teach men to fly from 
 what is evil and to practice what is good. He per- 
 mits his subjects, therefore, throughout the extent of 
 the empire to follow this religion ; and he forbids all 
 Mandarins, great or small, to seek after or persecute 
 the Christians. Doubtless, the Imperial edict has reach- 
 ed the town, and you are acquainted with it ?" " The 
 will of the Emperor is like the heat and light of the sun 
 it penetrates every where ; it has reached even this 
 poor town." 
 
 " So we supposed ; but the common people, in their 
 moments of idleness, like to invent silly stories, quite 
 without reason ; and they pretend, that in the tribunal 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 233 
 
 | 
 
 of Tchang-cheou-liien, you pay no respect to the Im- 
 perial will. Foolish tongues have even gone so far as 
 to say that three Christians of the town of Tchang- 
 cheou-hien have been arrested within these few days, 
 and are now shut up in your tribunal. What are we 
 ;to think of these rumors ?" " That they are idle and 
 false. The people of these countries are given to lying, 
 and one must pay no attention to what they say. It is 
 well known that the Cliristians are most virtuous men. 
 Who, then, should dare to put them in prison, espe- 
 cially after the edict that the Emperor has issued ?" 
 
 "It is indeed difficult to believe that a man like you 
 could be guilty of such a rash action." 
 
 " The wise listen to the talk of the multitude, but 
 they know how to discern truth from falsehood." 
 
 After this aphorism, we returned to the common- 
 places again, to the great satisfaction of the prefect, 
 who was, doubtless, pluming himself in his own mind 
 on having so completely mystified us. He retired quite 
 in a state of self-glorification, distributing majestic sa- 
 lutes to the company, and strutting and swelling like a 
 turkey-cock. 
 
 As soon as he had left the palace, we said to Master 
 Ting, "Now take a pencil, and write." We dictated 
 to him the names, the ages, and professions of the three 
 Christians who were lying in prison ; and we then begged 
 him to go immediately to the tribunal, and present this 
 paper to the prefect, telling him at the same time that 
 the three men thus indicated were now shut up in his 
 prisons : that he had just now been lying most impu- 
 dently ; but that we had been willing to spare him, and 
 not put him to shame before the public since the au- 
 thority of a magistrate has always need to be surrounded 
 with honor. 
 
 The prefect's tribunal was quite close to the commu- 
 
234 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CIIIXF.SE EMI'IIJE. 
 
 nal palace, and as soon as Master Ting arrived, we 
 heard the sound of the tam-tam, and the clamor made 
 according to custom by the satellites as the judge takes 
 his seat to administer justice. Almost immediately 
 afterward the tliree Christians, restored to liberty, came 
 to pay their respects to us, and express their gratitude, 
 and the prefect's scribe was commissioned at the same 
 time to inform us that his master had been wholly igno- 
 rant of their imprisonment ; that the fault lay entirely 
 with a subaltern officer, an audacious man, and ignorant 
 of the law, who had already before committed similar 
 mistakes, and whom he would not fail to punish. Ac- 
 cording to the law of Chinese politeness, we were obliged 
 to listen to these new lies as if they were indisputable 
 truths. 
 
 The immediate motive for imprisoning these Chris- 
 tians was, that they had refused to conform to certain su- 
 perstitious practices of the Chinese in times of drought, 
 the object of which is to obtain rain from the Dragon of 
 Water. When these droughts are prolonged, and occa- 
 sion any fears for the harvest, it is customary for the 
 Mandarin of the district to make a proclamation, pre- 
 scribing the most rigorous abstinence. Neither fer- 
 mented liquors, meat of any kind, fish, eggs, or animal 
 food of any description is allowable ; nothing is to be 
 eaten but vegetables. Every housekeeper has to fasten 
 over his door strips of yellow paper, on which are printed 
 some formulas of invocation, and the image of the Dragon 
 of Rain. If Heaven is deaf to this kind of supplication, 
 collections are made, and scaffolds erected, for the per- 
 formance of superstitious dramas ; and, as a last re- 
 source, they organize a burlesque and extravagant pro- 
 cession, in which an immense dragon, made of wood or 
 paper, is carried about to the sound of infernal music. 
 
 Sometimes it happens that, do what they will, the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 235 
 
 dragon is obstinate, and will not give rain, and then the 
 prayers are changed into curses ; he who was before 
 surrounded with honors is insulted, reviled, and torn to 
 pieces by his rebellious worshipers. 
 
 It is related that under Kia-king, fifth Emperor of 
 the Mantchou-Tartar dynasty, a long drought had deso- 
 lated several provinces of the North; but as, notwith- 
 standing numerous processions, the dragon persisted in 
 not sending rain, the indignant Emperor launched against 
 him a thundering edict, and condemned him to perpet- 
 ual exile on the borders of the river Hi, in the province 
 of Torgot. The sentence was about to be executed, and 
 the criminal was proceeding with touching resignation 
 to cross the deserts of Tartary and undergo his punish- 
 ment on the frontiers of Turkestan, when the supreme 
 courts of Pekin, touched with compassion, went in a 
 body, to throw themselves at the feet of the Emperor, 
 and ask pardon for the poor devil. 
 
 His Imperial Majesty then deigned to revoke the sen- 
 tence, and a courier was sent off at full gallop to carry 
 the news to the executors of the Imperial decree. The 
 dragon was reinstated in his functions, but only on con- 
 dition that in future he would acquit himself of them a 
 little better. Do the Chinese of our days, it will be 
 asked, really put faith in such monstrous practices? 
 j^ot the least in the world. All this is merely an ex- 
 ternal and completely lying demonstration. The inhab- 
 itants of the Celestial Empire observe these ancient su- 
 perstitions without at all believing in them. What was 
 done in times past, they continue to do in the present 
 day, but solely because their ancestors did so, and what 
 their ancestors have established they are always unwill- 
 ing to change. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Bad and dangerous Road Lcang-chan, a Town of the third Order 
 Disputes between our Conductors and the Mandarins of Lcang-chan 
 A Day of Rest Numerous Visits of Christians A Military Man- 
 darin of our Escort compromises himself He is excluded from our 
 Table Great Trial presided over by the Missionaries Details of 
 this singular Trial Acquittal of a Christian, and Condemnation of 
 a Mandarin Triumphal Departure from Leang-chan Servitude and 
 abject State of Women in China Their Restoration by Christianity 
 Master Ting declares that Women have no Souls Influence of 
 Women in the Conversion of Nations Arrival at Yao-tohang Hotel 
 of the Beatitudes Lodgings in a Theatre Navigation of the Blue 
 River Plays and Players in China. 
 
 ON leaving Tchong-cheou-liien we remarked that the 
 bearers were taller, more vigorous, and more agile than 
 usual; and they carried us away with an ease and 
 rapidity that were perfectly astonishing. Master Ting 
 told us, as he passed by, that these were men selected 
 on purpose, as the road was likely to be toilsome and 
 dangerous. 
 
 We were not, in fact, long, before we entered a mount- 
 ainous district, intersected by deep ravines, where the 
 roads were nothing more than narrow sloping paths cut 
 in the clay, and moistened by an abundant rain, that 
 had fallen incessantly during the previous night. We 
 Avould much rather have proceeded on foot ; but it would 
 have been impossible for us long to maintain our equilib- 
 rium on this slippery ground. 
 
 We were assured that of the two, there was less dan- 
 ger in remaining in the palanquins. 
 
 The bearers, being in the habit of passing along these 
 miserable roads, begged us to trust in the steadiness of 
 
JOUKNHY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 237 
 
 their legs ; and we did confide a little in them, and much 
 in Providence. 
 
 These poor bearers advanced, supporting themselves 
 as well as they could on an iron-pointed staff, which 
 they stuck from time to time into the clay ; but although 
 of course this manoeuvre was of a nature to slacken their 
 march, they proceeded, nevertheless, with such a rapidity 
 as to make us fairly giddy. Now and then they in- 
 voluntarily made some odd capers, and the palanquin 
 rocked from side to side in a very undecided manner, 
 and appeared to be slipping from their shoulders. At 
 those moments our position was by no means a pleasant 
 one, for we ran imminent risk of rolling to the bottom 
 of the ravine, and breaking our limbs against the enor- 
 mous flint stones. 
 
 When we quitted these horrible paths, it was only to 
 climb steep and very slippery hills, which were equally 
 difficult in the ascent or descent. But in these circum- 
 stances there was not the same danger ; and a fall could 
 have had no farther ill consequence than that of retard- 
 ing our progress. To obviate this inconvenience, how- 
 ever, two long ropes were attached to the palanquin, to 
 which about a dozen persons were harnessed, who thus 
 helped to draw it forward ; and when it was necessary 
 to descend, the ropes were placed in an opposite direc- 
 tion, in order to moderate the speed of the bearers. 
 
 This strange team was recruited all along the road in 
 a manner somewhat tyrannical it must be owned, but 
 conformable to the customs of the country. When the 
 attendants of the escort perceived any wood-cutters in 
 the forests, or laborers in the fields, they ran to them, 
 and summoned them, in the name of the law, to come 
 and give their assistance for five li. It was curious to 
 see the various stratagems put in practice in this chase, 
 which to us was of so new a kind. When the fugitives 
 
238 J01 KM V THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 found themselves circumvented by the knowing and 
 .skillful evolutions of the Mandarin's people, they often 
 surrendered at discretion, and came laughing to submit 
 to this unprofitable labor. We were at first distressed 
 to see these poor villagers snatched thus from their nec- 
 essary work, and compelled to give us gratuitously the 
 use of their legs and arms ; but we were obliged to leave 
 all these things to be settled according to the custom of 
 the country, for we were by no means called upon as we 
 Avent along to reform the abuses that we might happen 
 to meet with in the Celestial Empire. 
 
 By God's help we passed in safety through all the 
 dangers of the road"; but we arrived at Leang-chou-hien 
 quite worn out with fatigue; for, though we had had 
 much less physical suffering than our bearers, we had 
 had more of the mental kind. Though we had not 
 taken a hundred steps, our limbs were to the last degree 
 weary. The constraint we had had to impose on our- 
 selves, and the efforts we were obliged to make, to main- 
 tain perfect immobility in our palanquins, and avoid 
 giving them the least shake, produced all the effect of a 
 forced march. As soon as ever we reached the com- 
 munal palace, therefore, we hastened to get a little rest, 
 leaving Master Ting to say to the visitors that we were 
 not at home. 
 
 Our Mandarins and the people of our escort, Avho 
 probably were not so tired as we were, never left off 
 making a most abominable noise with the guardians of 
 the palace. During the whole night we had the pleas- 
 ure of hearing them quarreling, though what about we 
 could not exactly discover ; all that appeared clear was, 
 that it was a question of gain and loss, of trickery and 
 fraud. By the time it was daylight again, our servant 
 came to explain to us all the details of these very 
 Chinese doings. Our conductors, it appeared, had, at 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 239 
 
 i 
 
 the instigation of the new military Mandarin whom we 
 had taken at Tchoung-king, attempted to make the 
 tribunals of Leang-chan pay a more considerable sum 
 for the expenses of our journey than they were really 
 bound to furnish. In order to support their pretensions 
 in the most effectual manner, they had even not shrunk 
 from falsifying the orders signed by the viceroy; but, 
 unfortunately for their little speculation, the Mandarins 
 of Leang-chan had already been furnished with a copy, 
 so that it was easy for them to ascertain the fraud. 
 This was the origin of the interminable quarrels we had 
 heard, and since the night was not, it appeared, long 
 enough to settle them, the morning dawn found them 
 still disputing with the same fury as before. Master 
 Ting endeavored to get us into the quarrel, and had 
 represented us to the Mandarins of the place as most 
 terrible fellows ; but the affair did not concern us, and 
 we took care not to meddle in it. We merely exhorted 
 them to come to an agreement as well as they could, 
 and as quickly as they could, for we certainly did not 
 intend to set out in the hottest part of the day. 
 
 When at last they had exhausted all the tricks and 
 stratagems of Chinese polemics, peace was concluded; 
 on what conditions we were not informed ; but that did 
 not matter to us. Toward eleven o'clock they came to 
 inform us, with an air of triumph, that at last we were 
 going to set off; but we replied it was too late, and we 
 would not go till the next day. " We have certainly," 
 we added, "no right to prevent you from quarreling; 
 but neither have you any right to make us the victims 
 of your disputes, by forcing us to travel during the 
 greatest heat." The people of our escort understood 
 immediately that there was no help for it ; and that we 
 should not change our resolution ; but it was not so 
 with the Mandarins of Leang-chan, who -could not make 
 
jln .IMIKNKY THKOIM! TIIK CJIINKSK KM PI UK. 
 
 
 
 up their minds to it till after they had exhausted all the 
 resources of Chinese diplomacy. The military com- 
 mandant tried to seduce us with a jar of fine old wine, 
 Avhich he accompanied with most touching and fraternal 
 exhortations. We tasted the wine, which we found 
 delicious ; but we declared our conviction that we could 
 nowhere drink it in such good company as at Leang- 
 ehan. 
 
 As soon as it became known that we were not going 
 to set off that day, the communal palace was invaded 
 by a crowd of traders, who came to offer us the curios- 
 ities of the country. What we found most remarkable 
 in these displays of Chinese merchandise were the blinds 
 or awnings often used in these warm countries to fix 
 over doors and windows. They are made of little sticks 
 of bamboo, joined together with silk cord, and orna- 
 mented with paintings of flowers, birds, and fanciful pat- 
 terns. The beautiful varnish that covers them height- 
 ens the brilliancy of the colors, and renders this light 
 trellis-work extremely gay and pretty. There are also 
 in this town a great variety of odoriferous necklaces for 
 sale. 
 
 The Christians .are numerous enough at Leang-chan, 
 and we were astonished that none of them had yet 
 showed themselves. We could not help thinking that 
 the Mandarins of the place had forbidden them to enter, 
 in order to be a little revenged upon us for our refracto- 
 riness. As we were walking in the outer court, how- 
 ever, we noticed among the crowd at the door, a man 
 who made the sign of the Cross ; and we walked straight 
 up to him, and invited him to follow us into the hall 
 of reception. The long military Mandarin who had ac- 
 companied us from Tchoung-king, endeavored to make 
 us send him back; but he was entreated to moderate a 
 zeal so untimely nd so little to our taste. After hav- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 211 
 
 ing listened with the most lively interest to the details 
 that this Christian entered into concerning the state of 
 the mission, we Ibegged him to give his brethren notice 
 of the necessity of presenting themselves with a visit- 
 ing note, and a dress of ceremony. We also went our- 
 selves to give notice to the porter, and, the news Toeing 
 soon spread abroad among the Christians, our visitors* 
 shortly afterward began to arrive in numerous detach- 
 ments. How can we express the ineffable delight that 
 these meetings afforded us ? These men were all un- 
 known to us, yet they were brothers and friends. We 
 felt as it were a Christian magnetism, a current of fra- 
 ternity passing from them to us and from us to them. 
 We loved without having ever seen each other, for we 
 had one faith and one hope.*.. We had so long been 
 wanderers among indifferent or hostile people, that the 
 sympathy by which we were now surrounded, even 
 though it was a little Chinese in its expression, ex- 
 panded our hearts, and filled them with sweet emo- 
 tions. It seemed while we were conversing with Chris- 
 tians, that we were but a little way from France. The 
 Mandarins were quite surprised at these spontaneous 
 intimacies, and the friendship which it seemed to them 
 must be of long standing. They looked puzzled and 
 uneasy, and it was evident they were obliged to exer- 
 cise some self-command to restrain their ill-humor. An 
 incident very unimportant in itself, a mere trifle, was 
 near making their anger burst forth, and might have led 
 to more serious consequences. 
 
 Just before nightfall, as we were repeating our brevi- 
 ary while walking in an avenue of the garden, and the 
 three Mandarins of our escort were smoking their pipes 
 under a large oleander and enjoying the delicious fra- 
 grance of the evening, our servant crossed the garden 
 with a letter and a small packet, and took the way to- 
 VOL, I. L 
 
1213 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 ward our room. The military Mandarin whom we had 
 taken at Tchoung-king immediately followed him, and 
 though he had chosen his time well, we did nevertheless 
 perceive his move, and ran to our room to see what the 
 audacious spy was doing. We caught him inflagrante 
 delicto reading our letter and rummaging in the parcel 
 addressed to us. As soon as he saw us he tried to bolt, | 
 keeping possession of the parcel ; but we barred his pas- 
 sage, drove him back into the room, shut the door, and 
 sprang upon him, crying thieves ! thieves I When he 
 saw that we took hold of a rope as if to tie him, he cried 
 out in his turn for help, and all the inmates of the pal- 
 ace in a moment came running to our room. 
 
 We had no inclination to do any thing more than 
 laugh at the adventure ; but in China it was neces- 
 sary to go into a violent passion, and accordingly we 
 did so. 
 
 The packet, which was open, contained only some 
 dried fruits and perfumed necklaces, which a Christian 
 family had the kindness to offer us. The letter had no- 
 thing in it which could compromise them, and was as 
 follows : 
 
 "The humble family of the Tchao prostrate them- 
 selves to the earth before the Spiritual Fathers coming 
 from the great kingdom of France, and beg them to call 
 down the blessing of Heaven upon them. It is by the 
 merciful will of God that they have obtained your pre- 
 cious presence in our poor and obscure country. 
 
 " Soon rivers and mountains will separate us, but the 
 sentiments of the heart can traverse infinite spaces in a 
 moment. Day and night we will think of our Spiritual 
 Fathers. 
 
 "At Leang-chan all the friends of religion* unite to 
 * "Kiao-you." The Chinese Christians call themselves by this name. ' 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 243 
 
 pray to the Lord of Heaven for them, and to beg him to 
 grant them perpetual peace for their souls and bodies. 
 We raise toward you some fruits of our country. 
 Deign to lower your hands to receive them. This little 
 offering is that of our hearts. These characters have 
 been traced by the sinful men and women of the family 
 
 of Tchao." 
 
 j 
 
 The zealous military Mandarin, confused at not hav- 
 ing discovered any kind of plot, trembled in every limb 
 at the expression of OUT pretended anger. The prefect 
 of the town arrived with his staff to restore peace, but he 
 took such a wrong way to obtain it that he produced pre- 
 cisely the opposite result. He was stupid enough to tell 
 us that he had ordered the head of the family of Tchao, 
 as the original cause of the disturbance, to be impris- 
 oned. 
 
 " A trial ! a trial!" we exclaimed; " we must have a 
 trial ! If the head of the family of Tchao has committed 
 any offense, let him be punished according to the laws 
 for an example to the people. But if the head of that 
 family is innocent, then it is the military Mandarin of 
 Tchoung-king who is the guilty party, and he must be 
 punished. The peace has been broken in the communal 
 palace ; we, who travel under the safe conduct of the 
 Emperor, have been insulted by one of his officers ; order 
 must be restored, and every one be put in his proper 
 place good or bad, according to his conduct." 
 
 The prefect of Leang-chan, who did not well under- 
 stand what we would be at, tried to persuade us that 
 the affair might be considered as terminated that no 
 more need be said about it that the head of the family 
 of Tchao was pardoned and about to be set at liberty, 
 and that consequently " all the emotions of our souls 
 might be tranquillized." But to all his exhortations and 
 
244 JOUKXKY THKOUGII THE CIIIXKSK KMPIKK. 
 
 those of his colleagues we replied always in the, suinc 
 words, "A trial ! a trial! If the head of the family of 
 Tchao is innocent, he has no need of pardon ; his con- 
 duct must be investigated ; he has been ill-treated in the 
 eyes of the world. Our honor and that of all Christians 
 is concerned. There must be a public trial in order that 
 the principles of justice and equity may be explained to 
 the people with clearness and method. Those who know 
 us," we added, turning to the prefect, " know that we 
 are not men of light words and unsteady resolutions, 
 and we here declare that we will not leave Leang-chan 
 till there has been a, public trial, at which AVC will be 
 present. It is already late, but orders can be given 
 directly to make the necessary preparations." Address- 
 ing ourselves afterward to Master Ting, we told him, 
 that as it was siipper-time we must sit down to table, 
 and in order not to prolong the discussion, and to induce 
 every one to go about his business, Ave made the prefect 
 a low bow, and retired to walk in a little solitary garden 
 that was situated behind our room. 
 
 Some few minutes afterward all the curious people 
 whom the adventure of the dried fruits had attracted 
 to the communal palace had disappeared, and it was 
 announced to us that the warm wine was on the table. 
 As we entered the room where the supper was served, 
 we remarked that the Mandarin Tchoung-ting was at 
 his post among the rest of our fellow-commoners, and 
 \vc made him a sign to go out, declaring that henceforth 
 it would be impossible for us to take our meals in his 
 .company. He thought proper at first to affect to take 
 this for a joke ; but we soon made him understand that 
 we were perfectly serious, and, by the persuasion of his 
 colleagues, he at length withdrew, though with a very 
 bad grace, and went to oat his rice elsewhere. 
 
 Our supper, as maybe imagined, was not rematkably 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 1245 
 
 gay. The company helped themselves from the dishes 
 right and left, but all in perfect silence ; the chop-sticks 
 seized and let fall often the same morsel before carrying 
 it off. The guests swallowed, as if in mere absence of 
 mind, several little glasses of warm wine ; they glanced 
 at each other out of the corners of their eyes, but said 
 nothing. Every one seemed to be thinking of this grand 
 trial. It occurred to us now and then that we had gone 
 on rather too boldly, and that if there had been at Leang- 
 chan a prefect of a little energy of character it would 
 have been prudent to think of an honorable retreat. But 
 fortunately we had to do with a fearful man, of a soft 
 nature, whom we were very sure of being able to bend. 
 It was of importance, therefore, to march on without hes- 
 itation, and we were also glad to profit by this oppor- 
 tunity to encourage and raise the spirits of the Christians, 
 whom the disappointment of their hopes of religious lib- 
 erty had greatly dejected. 
 
 As there was not much time wasted in conversation, 
 we had soon arrived at the end of the repast, tea and 
 pipes were brought, and then it was found necessary to 
 relax a little from perfect dumbness, since, the occu- 
 pation not being of so active a nature as dinner, there 
 was no longer the same pretext for keeping silence. We 
 therefore plunged immediately, and without preamble, 
 into the business that was occupying every one's thoughts 
 that is to say, the proposed trial. 
 
 We were the first to speak. "We presume," said we, 
 "that by this time every tiling is in readiness for the 
 trial that is to take place this evening. Has the hour 
 been fixed yet ?" 
 
 " Yes, certainly," replied Master Ting ; "every thing 
 shall be arranged according to your desire. The prefect 
 has undertaken it, and he is renowned for his skill in 
 discussing the most difficult points of law. All will be 
 
246 JOURNEY THIJOIHMI TIIK CIIIXKSK KMI'IKK. 
 
 well, make yourself easy ; you can not, however, be 
 present at the trial ; the laws of the Empire are opposed 
 to it. But that is no matter." 
 
 ' ' On the contrary, it matters very much : mind, we 
 warn you that if the trial takes place without our being 
 present, it will count for nothing." 
 
 After a long and stormy discussion, we found our- 
 selves no nearer the point at issue. The emissaries of 
 the tribunal went and came incessantly, but without 
 bringing its any solution of the problem. But as we 
 had no wish to pass the night in parleying, we told 
 Master Ting that he might undertake to negotiate on 
 the following basis : If at ten o'clock in the evening 
 the trial had not commenced, we should go to bed, and 
 then we should certainly remain the next day at Leang- 
 chan ; if the affair were not decided the next day, we 
 .should remain till the day after, and so on indefinitely, 
 for we were firmly determined not to leave the place till 
 after the trial. 
 
 Furnished thus with his instructions, Master Ting be- 
 took himself to the tribunal. Ten o'clock arrived, and 
 we went to bed and slept profoundly, though on the eve 
 of a grand battle ! 
 
 Toward midnight, we were awakened from our sleep 
 to receive a deputation from the first magistrate, inform- 
 ing us that all was arranged, and in readiness for the 
 trial, and that they were awaiting us at the tribunal. 
 The hour did not appear to us particularly convenient ; 
 but, considering that the Mandarins had had a. good deal 
 to get over on their side, we thought we could do no less 
 than make some concessions on ours. "VYe rose there- 
 fore immediately, and, after having put on the finest 
 clothes we had, we repaired to the tribunal in a palan- 
 quin, and escorted by numerous attendants bearing in 
 their hands torches of resinous wood. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. -47 
 
 We knew what a Chinese trial was. What we had 
 undergone at Lha-ssa and Tching-tou-fou had served 
 to make us acquainted with the form of procedure : and 
 we had traced out for ourselves, in accordance with these 
 recollections, a nice little plan, which it was only neces- 
 sary to carry out with steadiness. 
 
 We were introduced into the hall of audience, which 
 was splendidly lit with large lanterns of variously color- 
 ed paper. A multitude of curious spectators, among 
 whom were probably many Christians, thronged the 
 lower end of the hall. The principal Mandarins of the 
 town and our three conductors were seated at the upper 
 part on a raised platform, where were several seats ar- 
 ranged before a long table. The judges gave us a most 
 gracious reception, and the prefect begged us to be seat- 
 ed immediately, in order that they might commence pro- 
 ceedings. The question now arose, where were we to 
 be seated? Xobody knew, and our presence appeared 
 to create in the mind of the prefect himself some serious 
 doubts on the subject of his prerogatives. He certainly 
 bore an Imperial dragon, riclily embroidered in relief 
 on the front of his violet silk tunic, but then we had a 
 dragon on a beautiful red girdle : the prefect had a blue 
 ball ; but then we had a yellow cap ! 
 
 After a few moments of hesitation we felt a sudden 
 energetic inspiration to assume the direction of the affair 
 ourselves, and, accordingly, we marched proudly up to 
 the President's seat, and coolly motioned the others to 
 the places they were to occupy, each according to his 
 dignity. There was a movement of surprise, and even 
 of hilarity among the Mandarins, but no opposition. 
 They seemed so taken by surprise as to be completely 
 put out, and mechanically assumed the places indicated. fc 
 
 The sitting was then commenced. W r e placed before 
 us on the table the corpus delicti that is to say, the 
 
JOUKNEY THKon.H THE CHINESE EMi'IKE. 
 
 letter and the little parcel. After having read and com- 
 mented on the letter, we passed it to the military Man- 
 darin, of Tchong-king, who was in the last place on the 
 right hand, and asked him whether that was the letter 
 lie had opened. The reply was in the affirmative. We 
 then passed on the parcel with the necklaces perfumed 
 with cloves and sandal-wood. Its identity having been 
 also confirmed, we desired an officer of the court, who 
 wore a cap of black felt in the form of a sugar-loaf and 
 ornamented with long pheasant's plumes, to present the 
 letter and the parcel to each of the judges, that they 
 might all examine them. 
 
 These preliminaries being over, the order was given 
 to introduce the accused, and bring him to the bar, and 
 we soon saw advancing between four ill-looking attend- 
 ants a Chinese of elegant deportment and most intelli- 
 gent countenance. A chaplet, at the end of which shone 
 a large bright copper cross, was p3sed round his heck. 
 Immediately on seeing him, AVC began to feel great hopes 
 of success ; it would have been very disagreeable and 
 embarrassing to us to have to do with a timid, stupid 
 man, incapable of giving us any support in the singular 
 position in which we had placed ourselves ; but we 
 could not have met with a more suitable person. The 
 head of the Tchao family appeared expressly cut out for 
 our purpose. 
 
 As soon as he had arrived at the bottom of the plat- 
 form, he cast a rapid glance round the court, but one 
 that was sufficient to enable him to perceive that he was 
 to be judged by one who was not a Mandarin of the 
 Celestial Empire. lie prostrated himself smiling, and, 
 after having saluted the president by striking the earth 
 three times with his forehead, he rose to salute each 
 judge with a low bow. "When he had performed these 
 salutations in the most graceful manner, he knelt down; 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 249 
 
 for, according to the Chinese law, it is in this posture 
 the accused have to appear before their judges. We 
 begged him to rise, telling him we should be pained to 
 see him on his knees before us, since that was not con- 
 formable to the customs of our country. 
 
 "Yes," said the prefect, "stand upright, since you, 
 have been permitted to do so ; and now," added lie, 
 "since the men from those distant countries will doubt- 
 less not understand your language, I will myself under- 
 take your examination." 
 
 " No, no !" we said, " that can not be ; your fears are 
 without foundation ; you will sec that we shall come to 
 a very good understanding with this man." 
 
 "Yes," said the accused; "this language is for me, 
 whiteness and clearness itself. I understand it without 
 a moment's hesitation." 
 
 " Since that is the case," said the prefect, a little dis- 
 concerted, " you must reply with simplicity and upright- 
 ness of heart to the questions that will be addressed to you. " 
 
 We proceeded then to the examination in the follow- 
 ing form : 
 
 " What is your name ?" 
 
 " This quite little person* is Called by the vile and 
 despicable name of Tc/iao / the name that I received in 
 baptism is Simon." 
 
 "What is your age, and where do you come from ?" 
 
 " For eight-and-thirty years I have endured the mis- 
 eries of life in the poor country of Leang-chan." 
 
 "Are you a Christian ?" 
 
 " I, sinner as I am, have obtained the grace of know- 
 ing and adoring the Lord of Heaven." 
 
 " Look at this letter. Do you know it ? By whom 
 was it written ?" 
 
 * The Chinese of the lower order always qualify themselves thus in 
 the presence of Mandarins. 
 
 L* 
 
250 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHIN KM. KM I 'I HE. 
 
 "I do know it. It is this quite little person who 
 traced these awkward characters with his unskillful 
 pencil." 
 
 " Examine this packet. Do you recognize that ?" 
 
 "I do recognize it." 
 
 " To whom did you address this letter and this 
 parcel ?" 
 
 " To the Spiritual Fathers of the great kingdom of 
 France." 
 
 "What was your purpose is sending these things?" 
 
 " The humble Tchao family wished to express to the 
 Spiritual Fathers the sentiments of their filial piety." 
 
 " How can that be ? We do not know you, and you 
 do not know us. We have never seen you." 
 
 "That is true; but those Avho are of the same religion 
 are never strangers to one another ; they make but one 
 family, and when Christians meet, their hearts easily 
 comprehend each other." 
 
 " You see," said we to the prefect, " that this man 
 perfectly understands our language. He replies with 
 the utmost clearness to all our questions ; you know 
 also now, that Christians only form one family; it is 
 written in your book^ and you yourselves often repeat, 
 that all men ar.e brothers that is to say, all men have 
 the same origin ; let them come from the North or the 
 South, the East or the West, they have all proceeded 
 from the same father and mother ; the root is one, the 
 branches are innumerable. This is what we must un- 
 derstand when it is said that all men are brothers, and 
 that signifies also that there is but one sovereign Lord, 
 who has created and governs all things. He is the great 
 lather and mother of the ten thousand nations who are 
 on the face of the earth. The Christians alone adore 
 this sovereign Lord, this great Father and Mother, and 
 that is why they are said to form among themselves but 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 251 
 
 one family. Those who are not Christians belong also 
 by their origin to the same family ; but they live apart, 
 and forget the principles of paternal authority and filial 
 piety." 
 
 "All that is founded in reason," said the Chinese 
 judges. "Here is the true doctrine in all its purity." 
 
 After this short theological discussion, we returned 
 to the trial. 
 
 "We ourselves," said we, addressing the accused, 
 "are strangers, not born in the Central Empire, but we 
 have lived in it long enough to become acquainted with 
 the greater part of your laws. It may be, nevertheless, 
 that some have escaped us. Answer, therefore, accord- 
 ing to your conscience. 
 
 "In sending us this letter, and the packet of dried 
 fruit, did you think that you were acting contrary to 
 the laws ?" 
 
 "I did not think so. On the contrary, I believed 
 that I had done a good action, and that is what our 
 laws do not forbid." 
 
 "As you are a man of the people, you may be mis- 
 taken in this," and not understand aright the laws of the 
 Empire." 
 
 Addressing ourselves then to the magistrates, who 
 were seated near us, we asked them whether this man 
 had committed a reprehensible action? All replied 
 unanimously that his conduct was worthy of praise. 
 "And you," we said to the Mandarin of Tchoung-king, 
 named Lu, "what is your opinion?" 
 
 "There can be no doubt that the action of the Tchao 
 family was virtuous and holy. Who would be absurd 
 enough to say the contrary, and maintain that it was 
 reprehensible ?" 
 
 "The matter has now been made clear," said we to 
 the accused; "the truth has been carefully separated 
 
252 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 from error. According to the testimony both of the su- 
 perior and inferior Mandarins, you had a right to obey 
 the dictates of your heart, and make the offering to us. 
 In that case we accept it here openly, and in presence 
 of every one ; and we will preserve your letter with care 
 as one of our most precious possessions." 
 
 The trial w r as now over, and we might immediately 
 have pronounced a verdict of "not guilty," and sent 
 home the accused in triumph; but as we had taken a 
 fancy to playing the part of Mandarin, we prolonged 
 the sitting a little. We requested the honorable Tchao 
 to give us some information concerning the Christian 
 community of Leang-chan, and in language that was 
 full of spirit, though decorous, he entered into a num- 
 ber of details that were most interesting to us, though 
 probably not quite as much so to the otJier judges. At 
 length we ventured to ask this question "Are the 
 Christians of Leang-chan faithful observers of the laws? 
 Do they set a good example to the people ?" 
 
 "We Christians," said Tchao, "are miserable sin- 
 ners, like other men, but we do endeavor to act virtu- 
 ously." 
 
 "Do so," said we; "exert yourselves to become vir- 
 tuous, to make your conduct conformable to the purity 
 and holiness of the doctrine of the Lord of Heaven, and 
 you will see that the Mandarins and the people through- 
 out the Empire will at last do you justice. Already 
 the Emperor has issued an edict declaring that the ob- 
 ject of the Christian religion is to train men to the prac- 
 tice of what is good, and the avoidance of what is bad, 
 and he has consequently forbidden either the great or 
 the small tribunals of the eighteen provinces to perse- 
 cute the Christians. This edict has not yet been pro- 
 mulgated in all localities, but its existence is authentic ; 
 you may announce it to all the friends of religion : you 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 253 
 
 are permitted to say your prayers and observe all Chris- 
 tian ordinances without any fear, and in perfect liberty. 
 Who would be audacious enough, by troubling you, to 
 incur the anger of the Emperor ?" 
 
 After this little speech, we asked the prefect if we 
 might send back the head of the Tchao family to his 
 home. " Since it is manifest," said we, "that his con- 
 duct has been in all respects virtuous, he ought now to 
 be allowed to go and cany the consolation of his pres- 
 ence to his relations and friends." 
 
 The meeting was just about to disperse, but we ex- 
 tended our arms, and begged permission to express one 
 more thought. "Since," said we, "the action of the 
 Tchao family has been conformable to the laws and 
 irreproachable, it is evident that the conduct of the 
 Mandarin Lu has been culpable ; he introduced him- 
 self secretly into our apartment, and has covered his 
 face with shame, by opening a letter that was addressed 
 to us. 
 
 " The, Mandarin Lu was appointed to be our military 
 escort from the town of Tchoung-king to the frontiers 
 of the province ; but, as you see clearly that he has 
 not received a good education, and his ignorance of the 
 rites may lead him into still greater faults, we here 
 declare that we will have nothing more to do with him : 
 our declaration shall be made in writing, and sent to 
 the superior authorities of Tchoung-king." At these 
 words we rose, and the sitting was over. Our admi- 
 rable Christian came to us, threw himself on his knees, 
 and asked our blessing. He also received the congrat- 
 ulations of the Mandarins, who had been present at 
 these curious proceedings, and he well deserved them. 
 It seemed to us that by his dignified deportment, and 
 the courageous propriety of his language, he had done 
 honor to the name of Cliristian in the eyes of his coun- 
 
254 JOriJNKY TllltOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 try men. We felt, nevertheless, some anxiety, con- 
 cerning his future prospects, and the joy of our little 
 triumph was somewhat abated by feelings of distrust. 
 We feared that, after our departure, the tribunal of 
 Lcang-chan, might seek to take its revenge on the Chris- 
 tians. We recommended to Simon Tchao therefore 'the 
 utmost prudence, in order to afford no pretext to the 
 malevolence of the Mandarins, and we begged him to 
 send us word how he was going on. A year afterward 
 we received at Macao a letter from Leang-chan, inform- 
 ing us that since our departure the Christians had en- 
 joyed the most profound tranquillity, and no one had 
 ventured to persecute the worshipers of the Lord of 
 Heaven. 
 
 It was almost morning by the time we returned to 
 the communal palace, but we went to bed not indeed 
 to sleep that would have been difficult but to rest 
 ourselves a little, recover our composure, and prepare 
 to set out in a few hours. We had need of some in- 
 terval of rest, that our thoughts might return into their 
 wonted channel, from which they had been so suddenly 
 driven. We had hardly quitted the tribunal, before all 
 that had passed appeared like a dream. We could hard- 
 ly conceive how the Mandarins and the people could 
 have been in earnest in this extraordinary trial ; the 
 part of president of the court played impromptu by 
 a French missionary in a Chinese town, in the presence 
 of Chinese magistrates, and that without any opposition, 
 as if it had been the most natural thing in the world ! 
 Two strangers, two barbarians, to be allowed to master 
 for a moment all the rooted prejudices of a people jealous 
 and disdainful of strangers to excess ; and that even to 
 the point of arrogating to themselves the authority of a 
 judge, and exercising it officially ! How could this be 
 possible ? 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 255 
 
 These facts prove, however, how much the principle 
 of authority is usually respected by the Chinese people. 
 Our red girdles had been our most powerful spell ; they 
 were influenced by them, without being very well aware 
 of it, as by an emanation of the Imperial power. 
 
 The fear of compromising themselves is also a sen- 
 timent universal among the Chinese, and which one may 
 easily turn to account. Every one thinks first of pro- 
 viding for his own safety, and then letting things take 
 their course. Prudence, or perhaps it may be called 
 pusillanimity, is one of the most remarkable qualities 
 of the Chinese; and they have an expression, which 
 they make use of on all occasions, which very well 
 characterizes this sentiment. In the midst of all diffi- 
 culties and embarrassments, the Chinese say siao-sin, 
 that is to say, " Lessen" or " draw in your heart." 
 Those who are fond of comparing the characters of vari- 
 ous nations, as they manifest themselves in their lan- 
 guages, might find a curious contrast in this respect be- 
 tween the French and the Chinese. At the approach 
 of danger, while the latter says, trembling, "Draw in 
 your heart," the former starts up, crying " Prends 
 garde" He makes use of an expression that could 
 only suit a warlike race, who, in presence of an enemy, 
 instinctively lay the hand on the sword. 
 
 On our departure from Leang-chan, we were honored 
 with a magnificent ovation. The news of this strange 
 nocturnal sitting of the first tribunal, under the presi- 
 dency of a "Devil of the West," had spread abroad, 
 enriched, of course, by the imaginations of the narra- 
 tors, with a number of most wonderful circumstances. 
 As soon, therefore, as the sun appeared above the ho- 
 rizon, all the inhabitants of the town began to hurry 
 eagerly to the spot that we should have to pass. All 
 the Mandarins, in their robes of state, were assembled 
 
25 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CIIINKSK KMl'IKK. 
 
 at the communal palace to bid us farewell, and to over- 
 whelm us with the most extravagant compliments. 
 They accompanied us into the street, and would not go 
 back till they had seen their unlooked-for colleagues of 
 the preceding night properly installed in their palan- 
 quins. All the way we went along, the crowd was im- 
 mense, and animated by the most noisy and feverish 
 eagerness to catch a glimpse of us or, at least, of our 
 yellow caps. Here and there were assembled groups 
 of Christians, who, we saw with pleasure, were assum- 
 ing a tolerably courageous deportment. All wore their 
 chaplets round their necks, and when we came up to 
 them, threw themselves on their knees, and begged our 
 blessing in chorus, making, as they did so, a bold sign 
 of the cross. We did not perceive that this religious 
 act excited among the pagans the least inclination to 
 hostility or mockery. They kept a respectful silence, 
 or contented themselves with saying, " Here are Chris- 
 B tians who are asking the masters of their religion to call 
 down felicity from Heaven upon them." 
 
 In the last street, before we left the town, we saw a 
 long line of women, who appeared also to be waiting the 
 passing of the men with yellow caps and red girdles. 
 When our palanquins came opposite them, after having 
 tottered a few seconds on their little lame feet, they 
 ended by kneeling down, and making also the sign of 
 the cross. They were Christian women of Leang-chan, 
 who, under these circumstances, had judged it proper 
 not to " draw in their hearts," but to shake off, at least 
 for once, the hard yoke of servitude which Chinese prej- 
 udice imposes on their sex. The people of our escort 
 seemed rather surprised at such an audacious demon- 
 stration, but we did not hear any improper remark. 
 One of them cried, on seeing the women kneel down, 
 "Well, there are Christian men, that I have known a 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 257 
 
 long time, but I never knew before there were Christian 
 women /" to which his comrade responded, " Nobody 
 ever thought you knew much about any thing." 
 
 At length we got out of Leang-chan, a town of the 
 third order, which will always hold a place in the nu- 
 merous recollections of our long peregrinations. We 
 forgot to say that when we left the communal palace, 
 we found that the Mandarin of Tchoung-king was no 
 longer among the number of our conductors. After dis- 
 missing him at the close of our judicial sitting, we never 
 saw him again, and no one ever spoke to us of him ; 
 only at the moment of our departure, the prefect in- 
 formed us that Lu had been replaced by a young mili- 
 tary Mandarin, whom he presented to us, and who, far 
 from exposing himself to be brought to trial, always 
 behaved in a very amiable and prepossessing manner. 
 The above-mentioned conduct of the Christian women 
 of Leang-chau, was one of the things that struck us 
 most during our journey through* the province of Sse- 
 tchouen. That women should collect in the street to 
 see two persons pass, who were reputed curious and 
 extraordinary, who, though said to be bom in Europe, 
 had traversed Tartary, Thibet, and China there was 
 nothing in that but what was quite natural. If these 
 women were Christians, it was natural enough that they 
 should kneel down, and cross themselves, and ask a 
 blessing of a minister of their religion. All this would 
 be simple enough in Europe, but in China it was some- 
 thing prodigious ; it was a defiance to all custom, a run- 
 ning counter to the most established ideas and principles. 
 Such prejudices arise from the lamentable state of op- 
 pression and slavery to which women have always been 
 reduced among nations whose sentiments have not been 
 ennobled and purified by Christianity. 
 
 The condition of the Chinese woman is most pitiable ; 
 
258 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'IUK. 
 
 suffering, privation, contempt, all kinds of misery and 
 degradation, seize on her in the cradle, and accompany 
 her pitilessly to the tomb. Her very birth is commonly 
 regarded as a humiliation and a disgrace to the family 
 itu evident sign of the malediction of Heaven. If she be 
 not immediately suffocated (according to an atrocious 
 custom which we shall speak of by and by), she is re- 
 garded and treated as a creature radically despicable, and 
 scarcely belonging to the human race. 
 
 This appears so incontestable a fact, that Pan-lioui- 
 j)an, celebrated, though a woman, among Chinese wri- 
 ters, endeavors, in her works, to humiliate her own sex, 
 by reminding them continually of the inferior rank they 
 occupy in the creation. "When a son is born," she 
 says, " he sleeps upon a bed ; he is clothed with robes, 
 and plays with pearls ; every one obeys his princely 
 cries. But when a girl is born, she sleeps iipon the 
 ground, is merely wrapped up in a cloth, plays with 
 a tile, and is incapable of acting either virtuously or 
 viciously. She has nothing to think of but preparing 
 food, making wine, and not vexing her parents." 
 
 In ancient times, instead of rejoicing when a child was 
 born, if it happened to be of the inferior sex, they left 
 it for three whole days on a heap of rags .on the ground, 
 and the family did not manifest the slightest interest in 
 so insignificant an event. When this time had expired, 
 they performed carelessly some trivial ceremony, strik- 
 ingly contrasting with the solemn rejoicings that took 
 place on the biivi of a male child. Pan-houi-pan refers 
 to this ancient custom, and vaunts its propriety and wis- 
 dom, serving so well to prepare woman for the proper 
 feeling of her inferiority. 
 
 Thi.s public and private servitude of women a servi- 
 tude that opinion, legislation, manners, have sealed with 
 their triple seal has become, in some measure, the cor- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 259 
 
 ner-stone of Chinese society. The young girl lives shut 
 up in the house where she was born, occupied exclusive- 
 ly with the cares of housekeeping, treated by every body, 
 and especially by her brothers, as a menial, from whom 
 they have a right to demand the lowest and most painful 
 services. The amusements and pleasures of her age are 
 quite unknown to her ; her whole education consists in 
 knowing how to use her needle ; she neither learns to 
 read nor to write ; there exists for her neither school nor 
 house of education ; she is condemned to vegetate in the 
 most complete and absolute ignorance, and no one ever 
 thinks of, or troubles himself about her, till the time 
 arrives when she is to be married. Nay, the idea of 
 her nullity is carried so far, that even in this, the most 
 important and decisive event in the life of a woman, 
 she passes for nothing ; the consulting her in any way, 
 or informing her of so much as the name of her hus- 
 band, would be considered as most superfluous and ab- 
 surd. 
 
 The young girl is simply an object of traffic, an article 
 of merchandise to be sold to the highest bidder, without 
 her having the right to ask a single question concerning 
 the merit or quality of her purchaser. On the day of 
 the wedding there is great anxiety to adorn and beauti- 
 fy her. She is clad in splendid robes of silk, glittering 
 Avith gold and jewels ; her beautiful plaits of raven hair 
 are ornamented with flowers and precious stones ; she 
 is carried away in great pomp, and musicians surround 
 the brilliant palanquin, where she sits in state like a 
 queen on her throne. You think, perhaps, on witness- 
 ing all this grandeur and rejoicing, that now, at last, 
 her period of happiness is about to begin. But, alas ! 
 a young married woman is but a victim adorned for the 
 sacrifice. She is quitting a home where, however neg- 
 lected, she was in the society of the relations to whom 
 
200 JOUUNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE E.MI'iUE. 
 
 she had been accustomed from her infancy. She is now 
 tlirown, young, feeble, and inexperienced, among total 
 strangers, to suffer privation and contempt, and be alto- 
 gether at the mercy of her purchaser. In her new fam- 
 ily, she is expected to obey every one without exception. 
 According to the expression of an old Chinese writer, 
 " the newly-married wife should be but a shadow and 
 an echo in the house." She has no right to take her 
 meals with her husband ; nay, not even with his male 
 children: her duty is to serve them at table, to stand 
 by in silence, help them to drink, and fill and light their 
 pipes. She must eat alone, after they have done, and 
 in a corner; her food is scanty and coarse, and she 
 would not dare to touch even what is left by her own 
 sons. 
 
 It may be thought, perhaps, that this does not agree 
 very well with the much-talked-of principle of filial 
 piety; but it must not be forgotten that in China a wo- 
 man counts for nothing. The law ignores her exist- 
 ence, or notices her merely to load her with fetters, to 
 complete her servitude, and confirm her legal incapac- 
 ity. Her husband, or rather her lord and master, can 
 strike her with impunity, starve her, sell her, or, what 
 is worse, let her out for a longer or shorter period, as is 
 a common practice in the province of Tche-kiang. 
 
 Polygamy, which is allowable in China, aggravates 
 the sufferings of the married woman. When she is no 
 longer young, when she has no children, or none of the 
 male sex, her husband takes a second wife, of whom 
 she becomes in some measure the servant. The houser 
 hold is then the seat of continual war, full of jealousies, 
 animosities, quarrels, and not unfrequently of battles. 
 When they are alone, they have at least the liberty of 
 weeping in secret over the cureless sorrows of their 
 destiny. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 261 
 
 The state of perpetual humiliation and wretchedness 
 to which the women of China are reduced does some- 
 times drive them to frightful extremities ; arid the judi- 
 cial annals are full of the most tragical events arising 
 from this cause. The number of women who hang 
 themselves, or commit suicide in various ways, is very 
 considerable. When this catastrophe occurs in a family, 
 the husband shows usually a great deal of emotion, for, 
 in fact, he has suffered a considerable loss, and will be 
 under the necessity of buying another wife. 
 
 The hard condition of the poor Chinese women is, as 
 will be supposed, considerably ameliorated in the Chris- 
 tian families. As it is remarked by Monseigneur Gerbet, 
 " Christianity, which strikes at the very root of slavery, 
 by its doctrine of the divine fraternity of all men, com- 
 bats in a special manner the slavery of women, by its 
 dogma of the divine maternity of Mary. How should 
 the daughters of Eve remain slaves from the fallen Adam, 
 since the restored Eve, the new mother of all living, has 
 become the Queen of Angels. When we enter those 
 chapels of the Virgin to which devotion has given a spe- 
 cial celebrity, we remark with pious interest the ex voto 
 suspended there by the hand of a mother Avhose child 
 has been cured of a sailor saved from shipwreck by 
 the patroness of mariners. But the eyes of reason and 
 history see in the worship of Mary an ideal temple which 
 Catholicism has constructed for all times and for all 
 ages ; an ex voto of a higher social and universal signi- 
 fication. Man had pressed with a brutal sceptre on the 
 head of his companion for forty centuries ; but he laid 
 it down on the day when he knelt before the altar of 
 Mary he laid it down with gratitude ; for the oppres- 
 sion of his wife had been his own degradation, and he 
 was delivered then from his own tyranny." (Monseig- 
 neur (jrerbet. Keepsake Iteliyieuse.) 
 
262 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ( IIINKSI. EMPIRE. 
 
 The recovery of women in China from this abject 
 slate is going on slowly, it is true, but in a most strik- 
 ing and effectual manner. In the first place, it need 
 hardly be said that the little girl born in a Christian 
 family is not murdered, as is often the case among the 
 pagans. Religion is there to watch over her at her 
 birth, to take her lovingly in its arms, and say, Here is 
 a child created in the image of God, and predestined, 
 like you, to immortality. Thank the Heavenly Father 
 for having given her to you ; and implore the Queen of 
 Angels to be her patroness. 
 
 The young Christian girl is not permitted to stagnate 
 in ignorance; she does not vegetate, forsaken by every 
 one, in a corner of the paternal mansion ; for since she 
 must learn her prayers and study the Christian doc- 
 trine, it is necessary to renounce in her favor the most 
 inveterate prejudices of her nation. Schools must be 
 founded for her, where she may be enabled to develop 
 her intellects, to learn in the books of her religion those 
 mysterious characters which are for other Chinese wo- 
 men an inexplicable enigma. She will be in the society 
 of numerous companions of her own age ; and at the 
 same time that her mind is becoming enlarged and her 
 heart formed to virtue, she will learn in some measure 
 in what consists the life of this world. 
 
 It is more especially by marriage contracted in the 
 Christian form that the Chinese woman shakes off the 
 frightful servitude of pagan customs, and enters on the 
 rights and privileges of the great family of humanity. 
 Although the power of prejudice and habit may not 
 even yet always permit her to manifest her inclinations 
 openly, and choose for herself him who is destined in 
 this life to partake her joys and her sorrows, her wishes 
 do nevertheless count for something ; and we have our- 
 selves, more than once, known instances of young girls 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 263 
 
 who, by their energetic resistance, have induced their 
 parents to break off engagements entered into without 
 their participation. Such a fact would be regarded as 
 absurd and impossible among the pagans. The Chris- 
 tian women also always possess in their families the 
 influence and the prerogatives of wives and mothers ; 
 and it may be observed that they enjoy greater liberty 
 out of doors. The practice of assembling on Sundays 
 and festival days at chapels and oratories to pray in 
 common, and be present at the divine offices, creates and 
 maintains relations of intimacy among them. They go 
 out oftener to visit each other, and form from time to 
 time those little social parties which are so useful in dis- 
 sipating care and vexation, and in helping one to sup- 
 port the burden of life. Pagan women know nothing 
 of these comforts and consolations ; they are almost al- 
 ways secluded, and nobody cares if they wear out their 
 souls in languor and ennui. Master Ting, in speaking 
 with us concerning the Leang-chan demonstration, men- 
 tioned it as such an enormity, that it is evident what is 
 the value of women in the estimation of the Chinese. 
 
 "As we were leaving Leang-chan," said he, "when 
 we passed through that street where there were so many 
 women assembled, I heard it said that they were Chris- 
 tians. Isn't that nonsense ?" 
 
 "No, certainly; it was the truth. They were Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 Master Ting looked stupefied with astonishment, and 
 his arms fell down by his side. "I don't understand 
 that," said he. "I have heard you say that people be^ 
 come Christians to save their souls. Is that it ?" 
 "Yes; that is the object we propose to ourselves." 
 " Then what can the women become Christians for?" 
 "What for? To save their souls, like the men." 
 " But they have no souls," said Master Ting, stepping 
 
-..I JUUJNKY TIIKOUGH TIIK CIIINKSK K.MPIKI:. 
 
 back a pace, and folding his arms; "women have no 
 H>ii Is. You can't make Christians of them." 
 
 We endeavored to remove the scruples of the worthy 
 man upon this point, and to give him some few sounder 
 ideas on the subject of women's souls ; but we are by 
 no means sure we succeeded. The very notion tickled 
 his fancy so much, that he laughed with all his might. 
 "Nevertheless," he said, after having listened to our 
 dissertation, "I will be sure to recollect what you have 
 been telling me, and, when I get home again to my fam- 
 ily, I will tell my wife that she has got a soul. She 
 will be a little astonished, I think." 
 
 The Chinese Christian women feel deeply how much 
 they owe to a religion that is releasing them from the 
 hard bondage in which they have hitherto groaned, and 
 which, while guiding them on the way to eternal life, 
 procures for them even in this world joys and consola- 
 tions that seem made expressly for them. They show 
 themselves grateful too ; they are full of fervox and zeal ; 
 and one may say that the progress that has been made 
 in the propagation of the faith in the Celestial Empire is 
 principally owing to them. They maintain the regular- 
 ity and exactness of the prayers in the Christian com- 
 munities ; they may be seen braving the prejudices of 
 public opinion, and practicing with much self-devotion 
 works of Christian charity, even toward the pagans, 
 taking care of the sick, collecting and adopting the 
 children abandoned by their mothers. It is they who, 
 in times of persecution, confess the faith in presence of 
 the Mandarins, with most courage and perseverance. In 
 general, indeed, the zeal of women in the cause of relig- 
 ^ion has been remarked in all ages and countries. 
 
 " History informs us, that whenever the Gospel has 
 been preached in any country, women have always 
 shown a particular interest in the Word of Life, and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 265 
 
 habitually preceded men in their divine eagerness to re- 
 ceive and propagate it. One would say that the response 
 of Mary to the angel, 'Behold the handmaid of the 
 Lord,' finds a stronger echo in their souls. This was 
 prefigured in the very commencement of Christianity in 
 the persons of the holy friends of the Virgin, who, hav- 
 ing run before even the well-beloved disciple to the tomb 
 of the Saviour, were the first to become acquainted with 
 the fact of the resurrection, and to announce it to the 
 Apostles. Women have always held a high rank in the 
 preaching of the Gospel. 
 
 "At the commencement of all great religious epochs, a 
 mysterious celestial form the form of a saint is seen 
 heralding its progress. When Christianity issued from 
 the catacombs, Helena, the mother of Constantine, pre- 
 sented to the ancient Roman world the recovered cross, 
 which Clotilda soon erected over the Frank cradle of 
 modern society. The Church owes in part the greatest 
 triumphs of St. Jerome to the hospitality offered to him 
 by Saint Paula in her peaceful retreat at Palestine, where 
 she instituted an academy for Roman Christian ladies. 
 Monica, by her prayers, brought forth the true Augus- 
 tine. In the middle ages, Saint Hildegarda, Saint 
 Catherine of Sienna, Saint Theresa, preserved much 
 better than the greater part of the learned doctors of 
 their time the tradition of a mystic philosophy so good, 
 so vivifying to the heart, the spring to which, in our own 
 age, more than one soul, dried and withered by doubt, 
 has come to bathe and refresh itself, and seek to return 
 to truth by the way of love." (Monseigneur Gerbet, 
 Keepsake Iteligieuse.} 
 
 After the triumphal night at Leang-chan, we had a 
 
 magnificent journey by a fine road across an enchanting 
 
 country. The rays of the sun, indeed, were somewhat 
 
 too powerful, but we were beginning to get accustomed 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
266 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'IKE. 
 
 to this high temperature, as we had got accustomed to 
 the frost and snow of Tartary. 
 
 Toward the end of the day we stopped at a certain 
 place named Yao-tchang. This town, though rather 
 a considerable one, was not surrounded by ramparts. 
 No Mandarin appeared to have a fixed residence there ; 
 there was no communal palace, and consequently we 
 were obliged to look out for the best lodging we could 
 find. At first we made the experiment at an old inn, 
 called on its sign the Hotel of the Beatitudes, and the 
 chief of this establishment conducted us with great cer- 
 emony to what he called his chamber of honor. It was 
 situated immediately over the kitchen, and it is very 
 possible that it was for various reasons a very honorable 
 apartment. But experienced travelers must not think 
 only of vain glory, and it appeared to us that this cham- 
 ber of honor, to which air and light only entered by a 
 narrow skylight, was not altogether an eligible abode 
 for us. In fact it Avas, to speak plainly, an abominable 
 den, haunted by legions of mosquitoes, which on our 
 entrance issued forth full of wrath from every corner, 
 and began to whirl and buzz around us, and declare 
 implacable war. There exhaled also from this gloomy 
 hole such a noisome vapor of mouldy, fusty antiquity, 
 that the very idea of passing the night there made one 
 sick. We were assured, nevertheless, that this was the 
 best hotel at Yao-tchang, and it is by no means impos- 
 sible, judging from the general aspect of the locality, 
 that it might be so. Whether we liked it or not, there- 
 fore, it seemed we should have to put up with it ; and 
 we were making our preparations to manage as well as 
 we could, when the smoke from the kitchen chimney, 
 after having- climbed slowly up the steps of the black 
 narrow staircase, began to invade our chamber of honor 
 in such quantities Iliat it was not possible to remain 
 
JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIKE. 267 
 
 there any longer. The acrid nature of the smoke pained 
 our eyes, so that we descended weeping to the kitchen, 
 in search of Master Ting, whom we found stuffed into a 
 corner, intoxicating himself with opium. As soon as he 
 saw us he raised his head a little from his bamboo pillow, 
 and asked whether we were comfortable up stairs. " Not 
 very; we are suffocated by foul air, blinded by smoke 
 and devoured by mosquitoes." 
 
 " Those three things are very bad," responded Master 
 Ting, laying down his pipe, and exerting himself so far 
 as to raise himself into a sitting posture ; " but what is 
 to be done ? there is no communal palace in this place, 
 and the other inns are worse than this. The case is 
 very difficult." 
 
 " No, not very difficult ; what we want is a little cool 
 fresh air. We will go into the country, and take up our 
 lodging under a tree. We were accustomed to sleep 
 thus in the open air for a long time." 
 
 " Yes ; it is said that this custom exists among the 
 Mongols, in the Land of Grass, but here, in the Central 
 Kingdom, it is not received. Men of quality can not 
 pass the night in the fields with birds and insects ; the 
 rites are opposed to it. But wait a moment ; I think 
 I know a good place ; I will go and see about it :" and 
 thereupon our dear Mandarin rose up, put out his little 
 smoking-lamp, took his fan and went out. 
 - We waited for his return at the door of the inn, and 
 a short time afterward we saw him coming back, taking 
 as long strides as he possibly could, and addressing to 
 us from a distance, with his two arms, some telegraphic 
 signs, which, on account of their multiplicity and their 
 extreme complication, we could not understand. We 
 were inclined to think, nevertheless, that Master Ting 
 had made a discovery. As soon as he was near enough 
 to make us hear, he cried, in his sharp nasal tones, 
 
2C)S j o r i ; M ; v T 1 1 KC > r < ; 1 1 T 1 1 1<; cm N ESE EMPI KE. 
 
 "Let us move directly; we can go and lodge at the 
 theatre: it's an excellent place for seeing and breath- 
 ing!" 
 
 Without asking for any more explanation we went 
 Lack into the house. A porter appeared, who took up 
 our baggage, and, in the twinkling of an eye, we had 
 left the Hotel of Beatitudes to become tenants of the 
 theatre of Yao-tchang. This theatre formed part of a 
 great Bonze convent, and was situated in an immense 
 court-yard opposite to the principal pagoda. Its con- 
 struction was rather remarkable, in comparison with the 
 numerous edifices of this kind to be met with in China. 
 Twelve great granite columns supported a vast square 
 platform surmounted by a pavilion richly ornamented, 
 and supported on pillars of varnished wood. 
 
 A broad stone staircase, situated at the back of the 
 building, led to the platform, first into an apartment in- 
 tended for the actors, and thence to the stage by two 
 side doors, which served for entrances and exits. Upon 
 the stage were placed some chairs and a table, and there 
 we supped by the light of the moon and stars, as well 
 as of a number of lanterns, which the directors of the 
 theatre had had kindled in our honor; it was really a 
 charming spectacle, and one altogether unlocked for. If 
 we had not taken the precaution to have the great gate 
 of the Bonze convent shut, we should soon have had 
 the whole population of Yao-tchang in the space that 
 was intended to serve for a pit. It is certain that the 
 inhabitants of this place had never seen on their stage 
 any thing they would think as curious as ourselves. 
 We heard a tumultuous mob outside, demanding with 
 loud cries to be allowed a sight of the two men from 
 the Western seas at supper. They seemed to think 
 we must have some quite peculiar and extraordinary 
 nut hod of eating. Some succeeded in getting upon the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE L5JPIRE. 269 
 
 roof of the Bonze convent, and some had climbed over 
 the inclosure and up into some high trees, whence they 
 could command a view of us, and where we saw them 
 jumping about among the leaves like large monkeys. 
 These curious and intrepid persons must have been 
 much disappointed to see us eating our rice with chop 
 sticks, quite in the established Chinese fashion. 
 
 The evening was delightfully fine, and the air de- 
 licious on this platform, where we begged our servant 
 to place our beds, as we desired to pass the night there. 
 All was made ready, and we wished to go to bed; but 
 our watchful observers manifested no inclination to quit 
 their posts, and at last we bad to put out the lanterns, 
 in order to drive them home. As they departed, we 
 heard some of them say, "Why, these men are just 
 like us!" "Not quite," said another; "the little devil 
 has very large eyes, and the tall one a very pointed 
 nose. I noticed that difference." 
 
 At break of day, Master Ting arrived, presented him- 
 self on the stage, and was so obliging as to set about 
 waking us, by giving a roll on an enormous drum which 
 stood in a corner, and, doubtless, served for the orches- 
 tra, when there was a performance. 
 
 After having thus exhibited his talents as a drum- 
 mer, he bethought himself to give us, also, a specimen 
 of his dramatic capabilities. He, therefore, placed him- 
 self in the middle of the stage, threw himself into a 
 theatrical attitude, sang a song with much gesticulation, 
 and then undertook, solus, a very animated dialogue, 
 changing his voice and his place when the turn of the 
 supposed interlocutor came. When the dialogue was 
 finished, he was not tired, but favored us, also, with a; 
 taste of his quality as a tumbler. "Now," said he, 
 " do you pay attention, I am going to show you some 
 tricks of agility ;" and in a moment, there he was, leap- 
 
270 JOUliNEY TIlKOUGIl THE CIIINT.SK KMI'JUE. 
 
 ing, gamboling, pirouetting, and tumbling head over 
 heels. But, just as he was at the height of his perform- 
 ance, a door of the Bonze convent was heard to open, 
 and he immediately stopped short, and rushed off into 
 the slips, saying it would never do to allow the people 
 to sec a Mandarin mimicking the play-actors. 
 
 \Vc profited by his absence to get up, and very soon 
 all the people of our escort, who the preceding night 
 had been obliged to disperse and seek a lodging, were 
 assembled at the gates. The palanquin bearers and 
 porters arrived shortly after, and all was made ready 
 for our departure. 
 
 Yao-tchang is built on tbe banks of the Blue River, 
 whose tranquil and majestic course we could perceive 
 from the top of the Bonze convent ; and, although we 
 had more than once protested against traveling -by 
 water, we thought we would make one more experi- 
 ment, and see whether we could not manage to make it 
 more agreeable than it had been the first time. 
 
 In a very long journey, some change in the mode of 
 traveling is always desirable, as the uniformity becomes 
 at last excessively wearisome : the palanquin has, doubt- 
 less, its advantages, which are not to be despised ; but 
 to be for a long time together shut up every day in a 
 cage, and balanced upon the shoulders of four unfortu- 
 nate fellows, whom you see panting, and perspiring 
 Avith heat and fatigue one does, sometimes, get rather 
 tired of that. 
 
 We proposed, therefore, to our conductors to make a 
 stage by water ; the proposal was received with enthu- 
 siasm, and, for fear we should change our minds, every 
 body made as much haste as possible in preparing for 
 the embarkation: as they knew that we had a horror ot 
 dawdling, they displayed a really marvelous activity. 
 According to our recommendation, two boats were hired, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 271 
 
 one for ourselves and the Mandarins, the other for the 
 soldiers, attendants, and palanquin bearers ; and as 
 soon as ever we came on board they weighed anchor, 
 and we set off, the beauty of the weather and the calm- 
 ness of the water affording us hopes of a pleasant jour- 
 ney. The cabin we occupied was spacious, and pretty 
 well ventilated; and if not absolutely clean, was at 
 least tolerably dirty. 
 
 We had not yet had time to offer Master Ting our 
 compliments on the brilliant theatrical abilities he had 
 developed, and we now expressed to him the happiness 
 we felt in admiring in him a talent that we had not ex- 
 pected. Our little dose of flattery had a magical effect. 
 After having replied, with due modesty, that he had no 
 talent of the sort, he immediately proposed to go through 
 a little dramatic piece in the cabin, with the assistance 
 of the two military Mandarins, who also volunteered to 
 take a part. There was no need of any long prepara- 
 tion ; the proposal was scarcely made before the two 
 functionaries had begun their comedy, if one may give 
 that name to a buffoonish dialogue, seasoned with grim- 
 ace and contortion. 
 
 Their repertoire appeared inexhaustible, and, now 
 they had once begun, AVC had great difficulty in inducing 
 them to resume a language and manners more in accord- 
 ance with their official dignity. To say the truth, how- 
 ever, our Mandarins really only wanted a little more 
 practice, and a rather better memory, to make excellent 
 actors. There is, perhaps, not a people in the world 
 who carry so far their taste and passion for theatrical 
 entertainments as the Chinese. We said just now that 
 they were a nation of cooks, and we might also assert, 
 with truth, that they are a nation of actors. These men 
 have minds and bodies endowed with so much supple- 
 ness and elasticity, that they can transform themselves 
 
272 JOURNEY THUorCII THE CHINESE EMI'IKE. 
 
 at will, and express by turns the most opposite passions. 
 There is, in fact, a good deal of the monkey in their na- 
 ture, and, when one has lived some time among them, 
 one can not but wonder how people in Europe could 
 ever take it into their heads that China was a kind of 
 vast academy, peopled with sages and philosophers. 
 Their gravity and their wisdom, exclusive of some offi- 
 cial proceedings, are scarcely found out of their classical 
 books. The Celestial Empire has much more resem- 
 blance to an immense fair, where, amidst a perpetual 
 llux and reflux of buyers and sellers, of brokers, loung- 
 ers, and thieves, you spe in all quarters stages and 
 mountebanks, jokers and comedians, laboring uninter- 
 ruptedly to amuse the public. Over the whole surface 
 of the country, in the eighteen provinces, in the towns 
 of the first, second, and third order, in the burghs and 
 the villages, rich and poor, Mandarins and people, all 
 the Chinese, without exception, are passionately addicted 
 to dramatic representations. There are theatres every 
 where ; the great towns are full of them, and the actors 
 play night and day. There is no little village that has 
 not its theatre, which is usually placed opposite to the 
 pagoda, and sometimes even forms a part of it. In some 
 circumstances the permanent theatres are not found suf- 
 ficient, and then the Chinese construct temporary ones, 
 with wonderful facility, out of bamboo. The Chinese 
 theatre is always extremely simple, and its arrangements 
 are such as to exclude all idea of scenic illusion. The 
 decorations are fixed, and do not change as long as the 
 piece lasts. One would never know what they were in- 
 tended for, if the actors themselves did not take care to 
 inform the public, and correct the motionless character 
 of the scenes by verbal explanations. The only arrange- 
 ment that is ever made with a view to scenic effect is the 
 introduction of a kind of trap-door in the front of the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 273 
 
 stage, that serves for the entrances and exits of super- 
 natural personages, and goes by the nanre of the " Gate 
 of Demons." 
 
 The collections of Chinese dramatic pieces are very 
 extensive ; the richest is that of the Mongol dynasty, 
 called the yuen, and it is from this repertory that various 
 pieces, translated by learned Europeans, have been taken. 
 With respect to their -literary merit, we may quote the 
 judgment pronounced on them by M. Edouard Biot. 
 " The plot of all these pieces," says that learned Chinese 
 scholar, " is very simple ; the actors themselves an- 
 nounce the person they represent ; there is seldom any 
 connection between the scenes, and very often the most 
 burlesque details are mingled with the gravest sub- 
 jects.* 
 
 " In general, it does not appear that these pieces 
 deserve to be rated above our old booth plays ; and we 
 may believe that the dramatic art in China is still in its 
 infancy, if we can trust the accounts of travelers who 
 have been present at theatrical performances at Canton, 
 and even at Pekin. 
 
 " It may be that its imperfect state depends in a 
 great measure on the degraded condition of the Chinese 
 actors, who are mere servants, hired for wages by a 
 speculator, and who have to please an ignorant mob, in 
 order to earn their wretched subsistence. But, if we 
 find little intrinsic merit in the Chinese chefs-cTosuvres 
 which have been presented to European readers, they 
 can not but be curious, regarded as studies of manners ; 
 and, in this point of view, we sincerely thank the learned 
 men who have introduced them to us." 
 
 The companies of Chinese actors are not attached to 
 any theatre in particular ; they are all of the itinerant 
 
 * It might have been added that Chinese dramas are full of very 
 equivocal jokes, and often of revolting obscenity. 
 
 M* 
 
iiT-1 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 class, going wherever they are wanted, and traveling 
 with an enormous apparatus of costumes and decorations. 
 The appearance of these caravans is very peculiar, and 
 recalls the picturesque descriptions of our gangs of 
 gipsies. You often meet with them on the rivers, 
 which they travel on by preference, for reasons of 
 economy. 
 
 These wandering bands are usually hired for a cer- 
 tain number of days ; sometimes by Mandarins or 
 rich private persons, but more frequently by associa- 
 tions formed in the various quarters of towns and in 
 villages. 
 
 There is always some pretext for getting up a play 
 the promotion of a Mandarin, a good harvest, a lucrative 
 speculation, a danger to be averted, the cessation of a 
 drought, or of rain; every event, whether fortunate or 
 unfortunate, must always be celebrated by a theatrical 
 performance. The heads of the district assemble, and 
 decree that there shall be a play, lasting so many days, 
 and then every body has to contribute to the expenses 
 in proportion to his means. Sometimes this is done by 
 one person, who wishes to offer a treat to his fellow 
 citizens, or to obtain for himself the character of being 
 a generous man. 
 
 In commercial transactions of importance there is 
 often a stipulation that, over and above the price, 
 there shall be a certain number of dramatic entertain- 
 ments given by one or other party. Sometimes dis- 
 putes arise concerning this article of the treaty, and he 
 who is declared by the arbiters to have been in the 
 wrong, has to pay one or two representations by way of 
 fine. 
 
 The lower classes of the people are always admitted 
 gratuitously to the theatre, and they never fail to profit 
 by the permission. Some theatre or other is always to 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 275 
 
 be found open at every hour of the day or night in the 
 great towns. The villages are not so favored, and as 
 they have but few subscribers, they can only afford to 
 have the actors at certain periods of the year. If they 
 hear, however, that there is a play to be performed any 
 where in their neighborhood, the villagers will often, 
 after all the toil of the day, walk five or six miles to 
 see it. 
 
 The spectators are always in the open air, and the 
 place assigned to them has no precise limit. Every one 
 chooses the best post he can find, in the street, upon 
 the roof of a house, or up a tree, so that the clamor and 
 confusion prevailing in these assemblies may easily be 
 imagined. The whole audience eats, drinks, smokes, 
 and talks as much as it pleases. The small dealers in 
 provisions move about incessantly among the crowd ; 
 and whilst the actors are exerting all their talents to 
 revive before the public some great national or tragic 
 event, these merchants are howling themselves hoarse 
 to announce the bits of sugar-cane, sweet fried pota- 
 toes, and other dainties contained in their ambulatory 
 shops. 
 
 It is not the custom at theatres in China to applaud 
 or hiss. Women are forbidden to appear on the stage, 
 and their parts are played by young men, who imitate 
 so well the feminine voice and dress, that the resem- 
 blance is perfect. Custom does, however, permit the 
 women to dance on the rope, or perform equestrian feats ; 
 and they show, especially in the northern provinces, pro- 
 digious skill in these exercises. One can hardly con- 
 ceive how, with their little feet, they can dance on a 
 tight rope, stand firmly on horseback, and perform many 
 other difficult feats. 
 
 As we have before had occasion to remark, the Chi- 
 nese succeed wonderfully well in all that depends on ad- 
 
276 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 dress and agility. Jugglers are very numerous, and the 
 skill of many of them would astonish our most celebrated 
 sleight-of-hand practitioners. 
 
 Our voyage on the Blue River was rapid and extreme- 
 ly pleasant. We arrived at Fou-ki-hien in the after- 
 noon, having gone 150 li, or about 45 miles, in four 
 hours and a half. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Temple of Literary Composition Quarrel with a Doctor A Citizen 
 in the Cangue His Deliverance Visit to the Tribunal of Ou-chan 
 The Prefect and Military Commandant of Ou-chan Medical Ju- 
 risprudence of the Chinese Inspection of Dead Bodies Frequent 
 Suicides in China Considerations on this subject Singular Char- 
 acter of Chinese Politeness The Boundaries which separate the 
 Frontier of Sse-tchouen from that of Hou-pe' Glance over Sse- 
 tchouen Its principal Productions Character of its Inhabitants 
 Kouang-ti, God of War, and Patron of the Mantchou Dynasty Offi- 
 cial Worship paid to him Wells of Salt and Fire State of Scien- 
 tific Knowledge among the Chinese State ol Christianity in the 
 Province of Sse-tchouen. 
 
 FOU-KI-HIEN is a town of the third rank, built on the 
 left bank of the Blue River. We were struck on our 
 arrival by the distinguished and elegant appearance of 
 its inhabitants. It is said that literature is here held 
 in great honor, and that the district of Fou-ki-hien con- 
 tains immense numbers of students and lettered men of 
 every grade. 
 
 As the communal palace is situated in a not very 
 airy quarter, a very cool and pleasant lodging had been 
 prepared for us in the Wen-tchang-koun, or Temple of 
 Literary Composition, where the assemblies of the liter- 
 ary corporation are held, and the examinations for de- 
 grees take place. 
 
 We found this Wen-tchang-koun larger and richer 
 than any edifice of the kind that we had ever visited ; 
 it contained several halls devoted to special purposes, 
 which were wainscoted with varnished wood, and fur- , 
 nished in the ornamental style of Chinese luxury -ind 
 grandeur. These saloons are destined for literary n^et- 
 
278 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'IUK. 
 
 ings, as well as for banquets; for in China the ad- 
 mirers of the belles lettres by no means disdain gas- 
 tronomic indulgences, and are as well inclined to criti- 
 cise a good dish as a literary composition. When the 
 company has become somewhat elevated with poetry 
 or rice wine, they are invited to a stroll by a magnifi- 
 cent garden ; on one side of which is seen, amo^ig great 
 trees, a pretty pagoda, erected in honor of Confucius, 
 and on the other a range of little cells, where, during 
 the examinations, students are shut up, to write on the 
 questions assigned them. No one is to have in his cell 
 any thing more than an inkstand, some of the little 
 brushes used for pens, and some blank paper ; all com- 
 munication with the outer world is interdicted until 
 they have finished their composition, and to guard 
 against the infraction of this important rule, a sentinel 
 is placed at the door of each student. 
 
 An octagonal tower with four floors rises in the mid- 
 dle of the garden, and as we were known to be very 
 fond of fresh air, they were so kind as to lodge us in 
 the uppermost one, whence we enjoyed an enchanting 
 prospect of the various quarters of the town, with its 
 inclosure of embattled walls ; beyond them the country, 
 scattered over with farms, and covered with rich and 
 varied vegetation, and the noble Blue River, whose 
 windings we could trace far. through the plain, till, after 
 hiding itself for a little while behind green hills, it re- 
 appeared, and then finally was lost to sight in the ho- 
 rizon. 
 
 As soon as we were installed, like feudal lords, in 
 our donjon keep, the literary graduates and the func- 
 tionaries of the town hastened to pay us a visit. We 
 could not, however, afford more than a few hours to the 
 demands of ceremony, for we much desired repose. The 
 gentle rocking motion of the boat and the monotony of 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 2?w 
 
 the languid conversation had both contributed to over- 
 power us with sleep. As soon as possible, therefore, 
 we told our servant to say we could not be seen any- 
 more, locked our door, and lay down on our reed mats. 
 
 While we were still in the transition state between 
 sleeping and waking, we heard a voice riot far from our 
 door, anjl, listening, could distinguish the voice of our 
 servant quarreling, as it seemed, with a visitor who 
 would take no denial, and insisted on seeing us, whether 
 we would or not. 
 
 The visitor was alleging his title of doctor, and as- 
 serting that as the Wen-tchang-koun was the property 
 of men of letters, it gave him the right of visiting, and 
 even scrutinizing, those who had taken up their lodging 
 in it. Wei-chan resisted courageously, till at length the 
 other, offended at an opposition so lively and unexpect- 
 ed, went so far as to strike him. The vociferation now 
 became louder, the curious, as usual in such cases, came 
 running from all quarters, and it was evidently neces- 
 sary for us to get up, and give a lesson in the " Rites" 
 to this impertinent doctor. 
 
 As soon as the door was opened, it was easy to see 
 how the matter stood, for Wei-chan, fairly boiling over 
 with anger, seemed ready to fly at the doctor, and eat 
 him up. He, on his side, was so occupied with his 
 antagonist, that he did not notice us, till he felt himself 
 seized strongly by the arm, and, turning suddenly, was 
 petrified at rinding himself face to face with a Western 
 devil in a yellow cap. We dragged him into our 
 chamber, where he was summoned to give an account 
 of himself. 
 
 " Who are you ?" 
 
 "I am a doctor of this town." 
 
 44 No ! you are not a doctor, you are a rude and igno- 
 rant man. What do you want ?" 
 
280 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 ' I came to walk in the Temple of Literary Composi- 
 tion, to recreate my mind and iny heart." 
 
 " Go and recreate yourself elsewhere, and don't come 
 here disturbing our rest. Take yourself quickly out of 
 our presence ! If you like you can tell your friends that 
 you have seen us, and that we drove you out because 
 you understood nothing of the social virtues." 
 
 The doctor showed some symptoms of resistance. 
 "But who then," cried he, "is master in the Wen- 
 tchang-koun ?" 
 
 " In our room we are masters, and, consequently, you 
 must get out as fast as you can ; and if you don't go by 
 the staircase, we will throw you out of the window. 
 Will you go ?" 
 
 The doctor, doubtless, thought we were in earnest in 
 this threat, for he disappeared in a moment, and we 
 heard him running down the stairs at a "great rate. 
 This might be, perhaps, a good opportunity to say some- 
 thing of the pedantry and arrogance of the lettered Chi- 
 nese ; but we shall have occasion to speak on the sub- 
 ject by and by. 
 
 This little incident had quite taken away our inclina- 
 tion to sleep, so, after the doctor had departed, we came 
 down from our tower to explore the Temple of Literary 
 Composition. 
 
 We were crossing the garden in the direction of the 
 pagoda of Confucius, when we perceived, at the end of 
 a long corridor that led to the street, an unfortunate 
 man on his knees, and loaded with a great cangue. 
 The cangue, as is well known, is an enormous block of 
 wood, with a hole in the middle, through which the 
 head of the criminal is passed ; it presses with all its 
 weight upon his shoulders, so that this atrocious tor- 
 ture makes a man, as it were, the foot of a huge heavy 
 table. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 281 
 
 We walked toward him, and the miserable creature 
 immediately began to implore our mercy, and begged us 
 to pardon him. 
 
 We came nearer, and were greatly affected to see in 
 this horrible situation a very respectable-looking man, 
 with an honest face, who was shedding tears copiously, 
 and imploring our forgiveness. It was a heart-rending 
 spectacle. 
 
 We came nearer to read the sentence, which, accord- 
 ing to custom, was written in large letters on strips of 
 white paper, pasted on the cangue ; and scarcely had 
 our eyes glanced over the inscription, than we felt a cold 
 perspiration covering our foreheads. This is what we 
 read on several strips of paper : 
 
 " Condemned to fifteen days of cangue, the nights 
 not excepted, for the offense of disrespect toward the 
 strangers of the West, who are under the protection of 
 the Emperor. Let the people tremble, reflect, and cor- 
 rect their faults!" 
 
 On each of the three strips there was the red seal of 
 the prefect of Fou-ki-hien. 
 
 Fortunately the tribunal was only a feAV yards off; 
 we ran thither, and obtained a short interview with the 
 prefect, who immediately came back with us, to set the 
 unfortunate man at liberty. But before taking off the 
 cangue, the prefect thought proper to address to him a 
 long speech, first on the merciful nature of our hearts, 
 and then on the practice of the three social relations. 
 We had hardly patience to listen to him, and there were 
 some moments when we really should have been glad to 
 see the untimely speechifier in the place of the sufferer, 
 whose whole crime, it appeared, was the having said to 
 one of the guardians of the temple, " Some years ago 
 the Western devils came from the South, but now they 
 come from the North too." The poor fellow had, it is 
 
282 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE KMI'IKK. 
 
 true, applied to us a not very polite nickname, but he 
 was not the inventor of it. It is under this malignant 
 denomination the Europeans are best known in China ; 
 and if all those who use it were to be put in the canguc, 
 the whole Empire would soon find its way there, begin- 
 ning with the Mandarins. 
 
 As soon as the poor man had been released, we in- 
 vited him to come to our room, and served him with 
 tea and a little collation, explaining to him as well as 
 we could, how grieved we were to have been the invol- 
 untary cause of his deplorable adventure. Our recon- 
 ciliation was already complete, when an old man with a 
 white beard and two very young men were introduced 
 to us ; they were the father and the sons of the person 
 who had become our friend in so singular a manner. 
 
 They threw themselves on their knees to express 
 their gratitude, for what they had the simplicity to call 
 our benefits. They burst into tears, and seemed not to 
 know what to say to express their feelings, till at last 
 we really could not bear it any longer. We had to do 
 indeed with Chinese, whose sincerity may always be a 
 little suspected; but it is a horrible thing to see an old 
 man sobbing and shedding tears. We rose, therefore, 
 and bid farewell to these good people, for whom our 
 passage through their country had been the occasion of 
 such lively and painful emotions. 
 
 We quitted Fou-ki-hien with a certain feeling of re- 
 gret; for it was not with this town as with so many 
 others which left us no profound recollections, and 
 which we traversed and left almost with the same in- 
 difference as our temporary encampments in the desert. 
 We had only passed half a day at Fou-ki-hien, but we 
 had felt there such strong and varied emotions, that it 
 seemed as if we had made a long stay. The Temple of 
 Literary Composition ; that tower from the top of which 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 283 
 
 we commanded a view of the town and country; the 
 rash enterprise of the intrepid doctor; the unfortunate 
 citizen sinking under the cangue, his deliverance, the 
 pathetic visit of his father and children all this seem- 
 ed to make an epoch, and to leave behind it the most 
 _vivid remembrance. Time is a profound mystery, and 
 i the human soul alone is capable of estimating its dura- 
 tion. To live long is to think and feel much. 
 
 We had now to choose between the route by water 
 and that by land, for the course of the Blue Biver 
 would take us as far as our next stage. The last ex- 
 periment had succeeded so well, that we had a mind to 
 try it a second time; and we felt sure beforehand of 
 finding the people of our escort quite of our opinion. 
 In a boat we went faster, more conveniently, and with 
 much less expense ; they could, therefore, realize enor- 
 mous profits which they divided among them, though 
 always in such n, manner that the Mandarins had the 
 greatest part. The palanquin bearers also found their 
 advantage in it; for after having passed the day in 
 playing at cards, they still received their customary 
 wages; and provided the navigation was not danger- 
 ous, and that they would give us a good boat, we on 
 our part were happy to be able to procure our conduct- 
 ors these advantages. 
 
 This second experiment was also crowned with com- 
 plete success, and quite reconciled us to the Blue River 
 for which we had before felt so great an antipathy. We 
 came, from time to time, to some rather difficult places, 
 reefs of rocks on a level with the water ; but the skill 
 and experience of our mariners always carried us past 
 them without damage. It was almost night when we 
 arrived at Ou-chan, where we were conducted to the 
 communal palace, well received and well treated. The 
 evening wore on, however, and we had not yet seen any 
 
284 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINKS)- K.MI'IliK. 
 
 of the authorities of the place, except an officer of very 
 interior rank, who held an appointment at the port, in 
 the Salt Custom-house. This was by no means con- 
 formable to established rule ; and as we were always on 
 our guard to suffer no encroachment on the privileges 
 that had been granted to us, and which constituted our 
 strength and our security, we begged to have it ex- 
 plained why we were deprived of the honor of a visit 
 from the Mandarins of Ou-chan ? The reply was that 
 the prefect was absent. "And his deputy?" "Absent 
 too." "And the military commandant of the district?" 
 " He set off this morning. All the functionaries, civil 
 and military, are absent on government business." We 
 treated this as a bad joke, and thought we should have 
 to put to rights, every day, a machine that was con- 
 stantly threatening to get out of order. 
 
 We ordered our palanquin, and invited Master Ting 
 to be good enough to accompany us immediately to the 
 prefect's tribunal. He made no objection, and we set 
 off. The tribunal was closed, we had it opened. All 
 the lights were out, we had them kindled. We entered 
 the saloon of reception, and the servants of the prefect 
 hastened to offer us tea ; but no ball, of any color what- 
 ever, was to be seen. At last, the sse-ye presented him- 
 self. These sse-ye are counselors or pedagogues, whom 
 magistrates choose for themselves, to aid and direct 
 them in the management of affairs ; they are paid by 
 the magistrate, and do not belong officially to the ad- 
 ministration, but their influence is immense ; they arc 
 in fact the springs that set the wheels of the tribunal in 
 motion. The sse-ye of Ou-chan assured us that the 
 prefect and the other principal functionaries had been 
 absent for several days, engaged in the investigation of 
 a cause of the highest importance. We begged his 
 pardon for coming to disturb him at so late an hour; 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 285 
 
 but added, that having to see the prefect we would, 
 since he was absent, await his return. No doubt that 
 would in some measure delay our arrival at Canton ; 
 but that this would be of no great consequence, as our 
 business allowed of a certain latitude ; and thereupon 
 we returned to the communal palace. 
 
 Master Ting had heard our conversation with the 
 sse-ye ; and he needed no more to convince him that 
 we were about to take up our quarters at Ou-chan, to 
 await the return of the prefect, and that until then no- 
 thing would induce us to move. He had by this time 
 become a little accustomed to the barbarism of our char- 
 acter arid the inflexibility of our resolutions. We had 
 hardly, therefore, returned to the communal palace be- 
 fore he began laughingly to warn the travelers that 
 they might sleep in peace, for that it was our intention 
 to fix ourselves definitively at Ou-chan. 
 
 The next day, when the sun was tolerably high, all 
 the inhabitants of the palace were still plunged in sleep ; 
 the most profound silence reigned all over it. Nothing- 
 was to be heard but the sound of a torrent, which, be- 
 hind the house, was dashing over great rocks that op- 
 posed its passage. 
 
 This tranquillity rather flattered us, for it showed the 
 attention that had been paid to what we had said the 
 evening before. 
 
 Soon after noon, however, we heard, all on a sudden, 
 a great clamor mingled with the sound of the tam-tams 
 and the noisy detonations of fire-works. An officer of 
 the tribunal now came to inform us, that the prefect had 
 arrived with the other Mandarins of the town. We 
 made no delay in receiving his visit, and he presented 
 himself, accompanied by the military commandant of 
 the district, who was decorated with the Blue Ball, and 
 bore the title of tou-sse. He was of the same rank as 
 
286 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 .Ly, the "Pacificator of Kingdoms," who, after having 
 long served us for an escort across the frightful route of 
 Thibet, died so miserably without ever seeing his coun- 
 try again. 
 
 The Chinese have so elaborately developed their sys- 
 tem of lying and deceit, that it is very difficult to believe 
 them, even when they do speak the truth. Thus we 
 were persuaded that this absence and return of the pre- 
 fect and the Mandarins of Ou-chan was only a trick, 
 yet we were nevertheless mistaken ; and the Chinese, 
 extraordinary as it may seem, had not told a lie. As 
 soon as we saw the prefect and the military command- 
 ant, it was easy for us to perceive that they really had 
 just come from a journey; the exhaustion evident in 
 their faces, the dust with which they were covered, their 
 disordered garments, all announced that they had been 
 passing many hours in their palanquins. 
 
 The prefect was a man of about sixty years of age, 
 with a gray beard, a short thick-set figure, and a merely 
 moderate amount of embonpoint. His face had an ex- 
 pression of simplicity and good-nature extremely rare 
 in Chinese physiognomies, and especially in those of 
 the Mandarins. The tou-sse was about the same age, 
 and rather above the middle size, though a little bent ; 
 his countenance also was very open, but he did not 
 belong to the Chinese race. He was of Mongol origin, 
 and had passed his youth in the Land of Grass, leading 
 a nomadic life in the deserts ; several of the countries 
 he had wandered over were perfectly well known to us. 
 When we spoke the Mongol language to him, he seemed 
 quite affected, and would certainly have shed some 
 tears, if he had not feared to compromise his character 
 as a soldier. These two personages pleased us ; we were 
 VCI 7 glad we had waited for them, and they, on their 
 , seemed very well satisfied to see us, which we be- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 287 
 
 lieved so much the more, because they did not endeavor 
 to express it by any of the emphatic formulas of Chi- 
 nese politeness. We read it on their faces ; and this 
 method afforded us a far more satisfactory proof than 
 the other would have done. 
 
 The prefect of Ou-chan entered into some details con- 
 cerning the motives of his absence. He had gone with 
 his assessors to a village under his jurisdiction, to in- 
 quire into the case of a man found dead in a field, and 
 determine whether the death had been a natural one, or 
 the result of a murder or suicide. We addressed sev- 
 eral questions to hkn, on a certain method employed by 
 Chinese justice, in order to make the wounds and con- 
 tusions of a dead body appear, even after decomposition 
 has begun, and thus to ascertain the mode of death. 
 
 We had heard a great deal of the measures adopted 
 by magistrates on such occasions, and, indeed, some 
 such extraordinary things, that we were very glad to 
 get some information about them from an authentic 
 source. 
 
 The prefect had not now time to satisfy our curiosity 
 on all points ; but he promised to come back in the 
 evening, and bring with him the book entitled Sl-yuen 
 that is to say, " The Washing of the Pit ;" a work on 
 medical jurisprudence, very celebrated in China, and 
 which should be in the hands of all magistrates. The 
 prefect kept his word ; and the evening Avas devoted to 
 a rapid examination of this curious book, upon which 
 also the Mandarins of Ou-chan did not fail to furnish 
 many commentaries, as well as to relate a number of 
 anecdotes that we will not repeat, as we have no means 
 of testing their truth. 
 
 In all times the Chinese government has shown great 
 solicitude for the discovery of homicide and the examin- 
 ation of bodies found dead. After the conflagration and 
 
288 JOUHNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'IKE. 
 
 destruction of the libraries by the famous Tsing-che- 
 hoang, there remained no work on medical jurisprudence 
 of older date than the dynasty of Song, which began in 
 the year 960 of our era. 
 
 The Mongol dynasty of Yuen, which succeeded that 
 of Song, had the work remodeled, and enlarged it with 
 the accounts of a number of ancient customs that tra- 
 dition had preserved in various parts of the Empire. 
 After the dynasty of Yuen, that of Ming instituted re- 
 searches and examinations on this important question, 
 and had many successive works published for the in- 
 struction of magistrates. The Mantchou dynasty has 
 published a new edition of the Si-yuen, or "Washing 
 of the Pit." To dig this pit a dry and, if possible, 
 clayey soil must be chosen ; the pit must be made five 
 or six feet long, three wide, and as many deep ; it is 
 then to be filled with dry branches of trees and brush- 
 wood, and a fire kept up in it, till the sides and the bot- 
 tom are heated almost to a white heat. The ashes arc 
 then taken out, a quantity of rice wine poured in, and 
 the dead body placed over the opening, on a hurdle 
 made of osier twigs ; then the whole is covered with 
 tiles placed in a hollow form, so as to leave every part 
 of the body free to be acted upon by the vapor of the 
 rice wine. Two hours afterward, every mark of a wound 
 or a blow will appear quite distinctly. The Si-yuen de- 
 clares that the same operation may be performed with 
 the bones, and the same results obtained ; and it adds, 
 that if the blows have been of a nature to cause death, 
 the marks will always appear on the bones. 
 
 The Mandarins of Ou-chan asserted that all this was 
 perfectly correct ; but we have ourselves had no oppor- 
 t unity of verifying their assertion. 
 
 It is the duty of the Mandarins to perform this opera- 
 tion c\cry time that there arises the least suspicion con- 1 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 289 
 
 cerning the death of an individual ; they are even obliged 
 to have the body disinterred if it has been buried, and to 
 examine it carefully, even though the exhalations from it 
 should be likely to endanger their lives ; " for," says the 
 Si-yuen, " the interest of society requires it, and it is 
 not less glorious to brave the danger of death, to defend 
 one's fellow-citizens from the knife of the assassin, tha 
 from the sword of the enemy. He who has no courage, 
 ought not to be a magistrate, and should resign his of- 
 fice." 
 
 The Si-yuen passes in review all imaginable methods 
 of causing death, and explains the mode of ascertaining 
 them by examination of the body. 
 
 The Chinese appear to have invented a terrific va- 
 riety of modes of murder. The article " Strangling," 
 especially, is very rich ; the author distinguishes those 
 " Strangled by hanging," " Strangled on the knees," 
 " Strangled lying down," " Strangled with a slip knot," 
 and " Strangled with a turning knot." He describes 
 carefully all the marks likely to appear on the body, 
 and indicates the differences where the individual has 
 strangled himself. On the subject of drowning he says, 
 that the bodies of the drowned are very different from 
 those thrown into the water after death. The first have 
 the abdomen much distended, the hair sticking to the 
 head, foam in the mouth, the hands and feet stiff, and 
 the sole of the foot extremely white. These signs are 
 never found in those thrown into the water after being 
 suffocated, poisoned, or killed in any other way. As it 
 often happens, in China, that a murderer endeavors to 
 conceal his crime by a fire, the Si-yuen, under the 
 chapter of the "Burned," teaches how to find out, by 
 inspection of the body, whether the deceased has been' 
 killed before the fire or suffocated by it ; among other 
 things it says, that in the first case, neither ashes nor 
 VOL. I. N 
 
2UU JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 vestiges of fire are found in the mouth and nose, while 
 these signs are always found in the latter. 
 
 The last chapter treats of the various kinds of poison, 
 and their antidotes ; but however skillful and vigilant 
 magistrates may be, it may easily be supposed that all 
 these practices make a very imperfect substitute for the 
 opening of the body, which ancient and inveterate pre- 
 judices forbid to be done in China. 
 
 It is impossible to read the Si-yuen without being 
 convinced that the number of attempts against life in 
 this country is very considerable, and especially that 
 suicide is very common. The extreme readiness with 
 which the Chinese are induced to kill themselves, is 
 almost inconceivable ; some mere trifle, a word almost, 
 is sufficient to cause them to hang themselves, or throw 
 themselves to the bottom of a well; the two favorite 
 modes of suicide. In other countries, if a man wishes 
 to wreak his vengeance on an enemy, he tries to kill 
 him ; in China, on the contrary, he kills himself. This 
 anomaly depends upon various causes, of which these 
 are the principal : In the first place, Chinese law throws 
 the responsibility of a suicide on those who may be sup- 
 posed to be the cause or occasion of it. It follows, 
 therefore, that if you wish to be revenged on an enemy, 
 you have only to kill yourself to be sure of getting him 
 into horrible trouble; for he falls immediately into the 
 hands of justice, and will certainly be tortured and 
 ruined, if not deprived of life. The family of the sui- 
 cide also usualjy obtains, in these cases, considerable 
 damages ; so that it is by no means a rare case for an 
 unfortunate man to commit suicide in the house of a 
 rich one, from a morbid idea of family affection. In 
 killing his enemy, on the contrary, the murderer exposes 
 his own relatives and friends to injury, disgraces them, 
 reduces them to poverty, and deprives himself of funeral 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 291 
 
 honors, a great point for a Chinese, and concerning 
 which he is extremely anxious. It is to "be remarked 
 also, that public opinion, so far from disapproving of 
 suicide, honors and glorifies it. The conduct of a man 
 who destroys his own life, to avenge himself on an 
 enemy whom he has no other way of reaching, is re- 
 garded as heroic and magnanimous. 
 
 Finally, we may say that the Chinese dread suffer- 
 ing much more than death. They will sell their lives 
 very cheaply if they can hope to get rid of them in an 
 expeditious manner ; and it is, perhaps, this considera- 
 tion that has induced Chinese justice to render the trial 
 of a criminal almost more frightful and terrible than 
 death. 
 
 China is the country of contrasts ; all that you see 
 there is the opposite of what you see any where else. 
 Among barbarians, and even in civilized countries where 
 true notions of justice have not sufficiently purified the 
 public conscience, you see the strong, the rich, the pow- 
 erful, making the poor and weak tremble, oppressing 
 them and sporting with their lives with frightful care- 
 lessness ; in China, it is often the weak who make the 
 strong and powerful tremble, by holding suspended 
 over their heads the threat of suicide, and forcing them 
 by that means to do them justice, spare them, and 
 help them. The poor have recourse sometimes to this 
 terrible extremity, to avenge themselves for the hard- 
 heartedness of the rich, and it is by no means unusual 
 to repel an insult by killing yourself. It would be in- 
 teresting to compare this mode of dueling a la Chi- 
 noise, with that which is in use among European nations ; 
 there might be traced some curious analogies, and one 
 would be forced to agree that there is pretty much the 
 same extravagance and absurdity in the one case as in 
 the other. 
 
292 JOUKNKY THROUGH THE CHINKSK KM1MKK. 
 
 The functionaries of Ou-chan treated us with remark- 
 able affability, and our talk was prolonged far into the 
 night ; each one reported concerning the manners and 
 customs of his country ; China, Mongolia, and France 
 asserted their respective pretensions, by the mouth of 
 their representatives ; and it was at last agreed that all 
 countries have a fund of good and bad qualities, which 
 pretty well balance each other ; though we endeav- 
 ored, nevertheless, to prove that Christian nations are, 
 or might be, more virtuous than others, since they were 
 always under the influence of a holy and divine religion, 
 tending essentially to develop good qualities and stifle 
 bad ones. The Mandarins declared our reasoning quite 
 conclusive ; and asserted, if not from conviction at least 
 from courtesy, that France occupied incontestably the 
 first rank among the ten thousand kingdoms of the 
 earth. Their good-will toward us was even earned so 
 far as to invite us seriously and sincerely to stop an- 
 other day at Ou-chan ; the temptation was great, but 
 we resisted it, because it was essential to preserve for 
 our extraordinary halts the peculiar character that we 
 had endeavored to give them. Besides, since the Man- 
 darins of Ou-chan had had the politeness to invite us to 
 stop, we were so much the more bound to have the po- 
 liteness to go. Politeness before every thing! It is 
 quite the custom in China to give the most pressing in- 
 vitations, but only on condition that they shall be re- 
 fused ; to accept them would be to show that you had 
 had a very bad education. 
 
 During the time when we were at our Northern 
 Mission, we were witnesses of a most curious fact, 
 which was wonderfully characteristic of the Chinese. It 
 was one of_our festival days, and we were to celebrate 
 Ilic Holy Office at the house of the First Catechist, 
 where there was a tolerably large cluipd. to which the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 293 
 
 Christians of the neighboring villages were in the habit 
 of coming in great numbers. After the ceremony the 
 master of the house posted himself in the middle of 
 the court, and began to call to the Christians who were 
 leaving the chapel : " Don't let any body go away. 
 To-day I invite every one to eat rice in my house;" and 
 then he ran from one group to another urging them to 
 stay. Bat every one alleged some reason or other, for 
 going, and went. The courteous host appeared quite 
 distressed ; at last he spied a cousin of his, who had 
 almost reached the door, and rushed toward him. saying, 
 " What, cousin ! are you going too ? Impossible! this 
 is a holiday, and you really must stop/' " No," said the 
 other, "do not press me, I have business at home that I 
 must attend to." "Business ! what, to-day, a day of rest ! 
 Absolutely you shall stop, I won't let you go;" and he 
 seized the cousin's robe and tried to bring him back by 
 main force, while the desired guest struggled as well as 
 he could, and sought to prove that his business was 
 too pressing to allow of his remaining. "Well," said 
 the host at last, "since you positively can not stay to eat 
 rice, we must at least drink a few glasses of wine to- 
 gether. I should be quite ashamed if my cousin went 
 away from my house without taking any thing. " " Well, " 
 replied the cousin, " it don't take much time to drink a 
 glass of wine," and he turned back ; they re-entered the 
 house and sat down in the company-room. The master 
 then called in a loud voice, though without appearing 
 to address any one in particular: " Heat some Avine, and 
 fry two eggs !" 
 
 In the mean time, till the hot wine and fried eggs 
 should arrive, the two lighted their pipes and began to 
 gossip, and then they lit and smoked again, but the 
 wine and eggs did not make their appearance. 
 
 The cousin, who most likely really had some business, 
 
29-1 JOUHXKY TIIIJiUCI! TIIK CHINESE EMHIJK. 
 
 at last ventured to inquire of his hospitable entertainer, 
 how long he thought it would be before the wine was 
 ready. 
 
 " Wine ! " replied the host, " wine ? Have we got any 
 wine here? Don't you know very well that I never 
 drink wine? it hurts my stomach." 
 
 " In that case," said the cousin, " surely you might 
 have let me go. Why did you press me to stay ?" 
 
 Hereupon the master of the mansion rose, and as- 
 sumed an attitude of lofty indignation. 
 
 " Upon my word," said he, k ' any body might know 
 what country you come from ! What ! I have the po- 
 liteness to invite you to drink wine, and you have not 
 even the politeness to refuse ! Where in the world have 
 you learned your rites ? Among the Mongols, I should 
 think." And the poor cousin, understanding that he 
 had been guilty of a terrible solecism, stammered some 
 words of apology, and filling his pipe once more, de- 
 parted. 
 
 We were ourselves present at this delightful little 
 scene; and as soon as the cousin was gone, the least we 
 could do was to have a good laugh ; but the master of 
 the house did not laugh, he was indignant. He asked 
 us whether we had ever seen such an ignorant, stupid, 
 absurd man as his cousin, and he returned always to 
 his grand principle, that is to say, that a well-bred man 
 Avill always render politeness for politeness, and that one 
 ought kindly to refuse what another kindly offers ; " other- 
 wise," he cried, " what would become of us ?" We list- 
 ened without deciding the question for or against him ; 
 for in what depends upon the customs of nations, it is 
 very difficult to have one sure and certain rule applicable 
 to all ; and in looking closely at the matter, we thought 
 we could make out their peculiar views of politeness. 
 Both parties by this means obtain at small cost the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 295 
 
 satisfaction of appearing generous and obliging to every 
 body, and on the other hand, every body can obtain the 
 satisfaction of knowing that he receives a great many 
 kind invitations, and yet has the delicacy to refuse them. 
 Yet, after all, it must be owned this is mere Chinesery. 
 
 The pressing solicitations of the Mandarins of Ou-chan 
 notwithstanding, we next day resumed our march, like 
 men who had been in good society, and studied the rites 
 elsewhere than in the deserts of Mongolia. This day's 
 journey was a very toilsome one ; first, because it was 
 two days since we had been in a palanquin, and our legs 
 had lost the habit of bending ; and secondly, because we 
 had to traverse a mountainous country. Its aspect was 
 not at all pleasing, but wild and melancholy. The soil 
 was gravelly and sandy, and ill adapted to cultivation ; 
 we saw few villages, and when some miserable-looking 
 farm-houses did appear here and there in the bottom of a 
 valley, the inhabitants generally ran to us to ask for a 
 few sapecks by way of alms. 
 
 Toward the afternoon, we climbed a rather steep hill, 
 Master Ting marching at the head of the column. As 
 soon as he had reached the summit, he got out of his 
 palanquin, and by degrees, as the others arrived, he 
 made them stop too. We did not comprehend quite 
 well the meaning of this manoeuvre ; but when we too 
 reached the top of the hill, Master Ting invited us to 
 alight from our palanquins, saying, " Come and see ! 
 Here finishes the province of Sse-tchouen. We are 
 about to enter Hou-pe. This little ditch is -the bound- 
 ary of the two provinces, and I did not like to cross 
 the mountain without pointing it out to you. " See," 
 he added, striding with one leg across the ditch, " now 
 I have one leg in Sse-tchouen, and another in Hou-pe:" 
 and he stood motionless for a minute, in order to enable 
 us fully to conceive this astounding fact. 
 
MM JOUUXKY THROUGH TI1K CJllMISK JCMI'IKK. 
 
 Several palanquin hearers, who seemed to think it 
 very strange to have one leg in Sse-tchouen, and the 
 other in llou-pe, repeated several times the same inter- 
 esting experiment, and succeeded just as well as the 
 civil Mandarin. Then after we had rested a short time, 
 and looked eagerly to the right and the left, the way 
 we had come and the way we were going, we set oft* 
 again, and arrived shortly afterward at Pa-toung. 
 
 Sse-tchouen (Four Valleys) is the largest province in 
 China, and perhaps also the finest. So at least it ap- 
 peared to us, after having compared it with the other 
 parts of the Empire that we have had occasion to study 
 in our various journeys. From the frontiers of Thibet 
 to the boundaries of Hou-pe are reckoned forty days' 
 inarch, equivalent nearly to an extent of three hundred 
 leagues. Besides a great number of forts and war sta- 
 tions, there arc counted in this province nine towns of 
 the first class, and a hundred r.rscl fifteen of the second 
 and third. 
 
 Its temperature is moderate, both in winter and sum- 
 mer, and neither the long and terrible frosts of the north- 
 ern nor the stifling heats of the southern provinces are 
 ever felt in it. 
 
 Its soil is, from the abundance of rivers by which it 
 is watered, extremely fertile, and it is also pleasantly 
 varied.* Vast plains covered by rich harvests of wheat and 
 other kinds of corn, alternate with mountains crowned 
 with forests, magnificently fertile valleys, lakes abound- 
 ing in fish, and navigable rivers. The Yang-tse-kiang, 
 one of the finest rivers in the world, traverses this prov- 
 ince from southwest to northeast. Its fertility is such, 
 that it is said the produce of a single harvest could not 
 be consumed in it in ten years. Great numbers of tex- 
 tile and tinctorial plants arc cultivated in it ; among 
 others the herbaceous indigo, which gives a line bine 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 297 
 
 color, and a kind of hemp or thistle, from which ex- 
 tremely fine and delicate fabrics are produced. On the 
 hills are fine plantations of tea, of which all the most 
 exquisite kinds are kept for the epicures of the province. 
 The coarsest are sent off to the people of Thibet and 
 Turkestan. 
 
 It is to Sse-tchouen that the pharmacists from all the 
 provinces of the Empire send their travelers to lay. in 
 their stocks of medicinal plants; for, besides that im- 
 mense quantities are collected in the mountains, they 
 have the reputation of possessing more efficacious virtues 
 than those found in other countries. A considerable 
 trade is also carried on here with the rhubarb and musk 
 brought from Thibet. 
 
 It would seem as if the richness and beauty of Sse- 
 tchouen had exercised a great influence on its inhabit- 
 ants ; for their manners are much superior to those of 
 the Chinese of the other provinces. The great towns are, 
 at least relatively, clean and neat. The aspect of the 
 villages, and even of the farms, bears witness to the com- 
 fortable circumstances of their inhabitants ; and through- 
 out Sse-tchouen you hear nothing of the unintelligible 
 patois so common in the other provinces the language 
 is nearly as pure as that spoken in Pekin. 
 
 The Sse-tchouennese are of a robust temperament and 
 a more masculine physiognomy than that of the Chinese 
 of the south ; though at the same time not so harsh as 
 that of the northerns. They have the character of being 
 good soldiers, and it is mostly from among them that 
 the greater number of military Mandarins is chosen. 
 The province is rather proud of its warlike genius, and 
 of having given birth to a famous general, of whom they 
 have made a god of war. This Chinese Mars is the cele- 
 brated Iiouang-ti, whose name is so popular throughout 
 the Celestial Empire, and who was born in Sse-tchouen 
 
298 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'UJK. 
 
 in the third century of our era. After gaining many 
 splendid victories over the enemies of the Empire, he 
 was killed, with his son Kouang-ping, who has been 
 made his aide-de-camp. 
 
 The Chinese, who have of course not failed to fabricate 
 a number of extravagant legends concerning him, pre- 
 tend that he did not really die, but ascended to heaven, 
 where he took his place among the gods, in order to pre- 
 side over the fortunes of war. The Tartar Mantchou 
 dynasty, in ascending the Imperial throne of China, 
 performed the apotheosis of Kouang-ti, and solemnly 
 proclaimed him tutelary spirit of the dynasty. A great 
 number of temples have been raised to him in all the 
 provinces of the Empire, where he is usually represented 
 sitting in a calm, but proud attitude. 
 
 His son Kouang-ping, armed cap-a-pie, stands at his 
 left hand ; and on his right hand is seen his faithful 
 squire, holding a large sword, knitting a pair of very 
 thick eyebrows, opening great, round, bloodshot eyes, 
 and apparently intent on nothing but frightening all 
 who look at him. 
 
 The worship of Kouang-ti belongs to the official state 
 religion of China; the people trouble themselves very 
 little about it, and care no more for their god of war 
 than for any of the other Buddhist divinities. But the 
 public functionaries, and especially the military Man- 
 darins, are obliged, on certain days, to go and prostrate 
 themselves in his temple, and burn sticks of incense in 
 his honor. The Mantchou dynasty, after having taken 
 the trouble to make a god of him, appoint him to be the 
 protector of the Empire, and raise magnificent pagodas 
 in his honor, is of course not going to put up with in- 
 diilerencc or want of devotion to him in its own serv- 
 ants. 
 
 The Mantchous, who, in establishing the worship of 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 299 
 
 Kouang-ti, probably had in view nothing more than a 
 political object, and regarded it only as a means of in- 
 fluencing the minds of the soldiers, have not neglected 
 to lend their authority to the fable of his appearance in 
 all the subsequent wars of the Empire. At various 
 epochs, especially during the war against the Eleuts, 
 and more recently against the rebels of Turkestan, he 
 has been plainly seen, hovering in the air, supporting 
 the courage of the Imperial armies, and overwhelming 
 their enemies with invisible arrows. It is certain, they 
 say, that, with so powerful a protection, they can never 
 fail of victory. One day, when a military Mandarin 
 was relating to us with great naivete, stories of the 
 prowess of the famous Kouang-ti, we bethought our- 
 selves to ask him whether he had appeared in the last 
 Avar that the Empire was engaged in with the English. 
 This question seemed to vex him a little, and after a 
 moment's hesitation he said : " They say he did not, no 
 one saw him." 
 
 " It was a very serious aifair though, and his presence 
 was by no means unnecessary." 
 
 "Don't let us talk any more of that war," said the 
 Mandarin ; " Kouang-ti certainly did not appear, and it 
 is a very bad sign. They say," he added, lowering his 
 voice, " that this dynasty is abandoned by Heaven, and 
 that it will be soon overthrown." 
 
 This idea that the Mantchou dynasty has finished its 
 appointed career, and that another will shortly succeed 
 to it, was very widely diffused in China in 1846; during 
 our journey we several times heard it mentioned, and 
 there is little doubt that this kind of vague presentiment, 
 prevailing for several y^ears, was a very powerful auxil- 
 iary to the insurrection that broke out in 1851, and 
 since then has made such gigantic progress. 
 
 The wonder of Sse-tchouen, and one that deserves to 
 
MO .lol'UNEV THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 be placed even before the famous Kouang-ti, is what the 
 Chinese call the Yen-tsiny and ho-tsing, wells of salt 
 and wells of fire. We saw a great number of them, 
 but without having time to examine them attentively 
 enough to give a full description of them, and we will 
 therefore quote on this subject a letter of M. Imbert, 
 long a missionary in this province, but subsequently 
 appointed Vicar Apostolic in Corea, where he had the 
 honor to be martyred in 1838. The minute details con- 
 tained in this letter are very fit to give an exact idea of 
 the patient and laborious industry of the Chinese. We 
 will therefore give the passage as it stands. 
 
 "The number of salt wells is very considerable ; there 
 are some dozens of them in a tract of country of about 
 ten leagues long by four or five broad. Every one here 
 who has made a little money, looks out for a partner, 
 and begins to dig one or more wells. Their manner of 
 digging is not like ours ; these people do every thing in 
 miniature ; they have no idea of carrying on any opera- 
 tion on a grand scale, but with time and patience they 
 attain their objects, and at much less expense than we 
 do. They have not the art of opening rocks by blast- 
 ing, and all these wells arc in the rock. They arc 
 iisually from fifteen to eighteen hundred French feet 
 deep, and only five or six inches in diameter. The 
 mode of proceeding is this. If there be a depth of three 
 or four feet of soil on the surface, they plant in this a 
 tube of hollow wood surmounted by a stone, in which 
 an orifice of the desired size of four or five inches has 
 been cut. Upon this they bring to work in the tube a 
 rammer of three or four hundred pounds weight, which 
 is notched, and made a little coucave above and convex 
 below ; a strong man, very lightly dressed, then mounts 
 on a scaffolding, and dances all the morning on a kind 
 of lever, thai raises this rammer about two -feet, and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 301 
 
 then lets it fall ,by its own weight. From time to time 
 a few pails of water are thrown into the hole, to soften 
 the material of the rock, and reduce it to pulp. The 
 rammer is suspended to a rattan cord, not thicker than 
 your finger, but as strong as our ropes of catgut. 
 
 "This cord is fixed to the lever, and a triangular 
 piece of wood is attached to it, by which another man 
 sitting near gives it a half-turn, so as to make the ram- 
 mer fall in another direction. At noon this man mounts 
 on the scaffold, and relieves his comrade till the even- 
 ing; and at night these two are replaced by another 
 pair of workmen. 
 
 "When they have bored three inches they draw up 
 the tube, with all the matter it is loaded with, by means 
 of a great cylinder, which serves to roll the cord on. In 
 this manner these little wells or tubes are made quite 
 perpendicular, and as polished as glass. Sometimes the 
 ground is 'not rock all through, but beds of coal and 
 other materials are found, and then the operation be- 
 comes more difficult, and sometimes even entirely use- 
 less ; for, as these substances do not all offer equal 
 resistance, it may happen that the well loses its perpen- 
 dicularity; but these cases are rare. Sometimes the 
 large iron ring that suspends the rammer breaks, and 
 then five or six months' labor are needed before it is 
 possible, with the help of other rammers, to break up 
 the first and reduce it to a pulp. When the rock is 
 good, the work advances at the rate of two feet in 
 twenty-four hours, so that about three years are re- 
 quired to dig a well. To draw water from it, a tube 
 of bamboo, twenty-four feet long, is put down, at the 
 bottom of which there is a valve or sucker ; when it 
 has reached the bottom, a strong man sits on the rope, 
 and shakes it, so that every shake opens the sucker, 
 and makes the water rise. The tube being full, a great 
 
:\trj> JOU11NEY THROUGH THE CHINESE K.MI'IUK. 
 
 spindle-shaped cylinder of fifty feet in circumference, 
 upon which the rope is wound, is worked by two, three, 
 or four buffaloes, till it is drawn up. This rope also is 
 made of rattan. These poor buffaloes, however, are 
 very ill suited to this labor, and they die in great num- 
 bers. If the Chinese had our steam-engines, they 
 would be able to perform the work at less cost, but 
 thousands of working people would die of hunger. 
 
 " The water of these wells is very salt ; it gives, on 
 evaporation, one-fifth, or even sometimes one-fourth. 
 The salt is also of very acrid quality, so much so as 
 often to inflame the throat to a painful degree ; and it is 
 then necessary to make use of sea-salt, which is brought 
 from Canton or Tonquin. 
 
 " The air that issues from these wells is highly in- 
 flammable. If when the tube full of water is near the 
 top you were to present a torch at the opening, a great 
 flame twenty or thirty feet in height would be kindled, 
 which would burn the shed with the rapidity and ex- 
 plosion of gunpowder. This does happen sometimes 
 through the imprudence of workmen, or in some cases 
 from a malicious desire to commit suicide in company. 
 There are some wells from which fire only, and no salt, 
 is obtained ; they are called Jfo-tsiny, fire wells. A 
 little tube of bamboo closes the opening of the well, and 
 conducts the inflammable air to where it is requii-ed ; it 
 is then kindled with a taper, and burns continually. 
 The flame is of a bluish color, three or four inches high, 
 and one inch in diameter. Here the fire is not suffi- 
 cient to boil the salt, but at about forty leagues off there 
 are much larger fire wells. 
 
 " To evaporate the water, and prepare the salt, they 
 make use of large brass tubs, about five feet in diame- 
 ter, and only four inches deep. 
 
 " The Chinese have found out that, in presenting a 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 303 
 
 larger surface to the fire, the evaporation goes on more 
 quickly and the fuel is economized. This tub, or cal- 
 dron, is surrounded by other deeper ones, containing 
 water, which boils at the same fire, and serves to feed 
 the large tub, so that the salt, when evaporated, com- 
 pletely fills the tub, and takes its form. The block of 
 salt weighs two hundred pounds and upward, and is as 
 hard as stone ; it has to be broken into three or four 
 pieces for the purposes of commerce. 
 
 " The fire is so strong, that the caldron becomes 
 red hot, and the water throws up great bubbles to the 
 height of eight or ten inches. When the fossil fire 
 from the wells is made use of, the ebullition is still 
 more violent, and the caldron is calcined in a short 
 time, although those employed in that case are three or 
 four inches thick. 
 
 " For all these salt wells great quantities of coal are 
 consumed, and various kinds of it are found in the 
 country ; but the thickness of these beds of coal varies 
 from only one inch to five. The subterranean path 
 leading to the mine is so steep, that bamboo ladders are 
 placed in it. The coal is in large pieces. The greater 
 part of these mines contain much of the inflammable 
 air of which I have spoken, and it is impossible to use 
 lamps in them. The miners either grope about in the 
 dark, or make a kind of light with resin and saw-dust, 
 which bums without flame, and does not go out. When 
 a salt well has been dug to the depth of a thousand feet, 
 a bituminous oil is found in it, that burns in water. 
 Sometimes as many as four or five jars of a hundred 
 pounds each are collected in a day. This oil is very 
 fetid, but it is made use of to light the sheds in which 
 are the wells and caldrons of salt. The Mandarins, 
 by order of the Prince, sometimes buy thousands of jars 
 of it, in order to calcine rocks under water, that render 
 
304 JOURNEY TIIROUCMl TIIK CHINESE EMl'IltE. 
 
 the navigation perilous. When a shipwreck takes place, 
 the people make a kind of lamp of this oil, which they 
 throw into the water near the spot; and then a diver, 
 and oftener still a thief, goes down to search for any 
 article of value that he can carry away, the subaqueous 
 lamp lighting him perfectly." 
 
 "If I knew a little more of physical science, I could 
 tell you what this inflammable and subterraneous air of 
 which I have spoken really is. I do not believe that it 
 is produced by a subterranean volcano, because it needs 
 to be kindled, and when kindled it never goes out, 
 unless in a most violent gust of wind, without the tube 
 being stopped up by a ball of clay. Showmen often fill 
 bladders with it, and carry it about the country ; they 
 make a hole in the bladder with a needle and kindle it 
 with a taper, to amuse simpletons. I believe that it is 
 a gas, or spirit of bitumen, for the fire is very fetid and 
 gives out a thick black smoke."* 
 
 "These coal mines and wells of salt afford occupa- 
 tion to large masses of the population, and there are 
 some wealthy persons who have as many as a hundred 
 wells belonging to them; but these colossal fortunes 
 are soon dissipated. The father amasses, and the chil- 
 dren spend all in gambling or debauchery. 
 
 "On the 6th of January, 1827, I arrived at Tse-liou- 
 tsing (that is 'wells flowing of themselves'), after a 
 march of eighteen leagues made in my thick shoes with 
 iron nails an inch long, on account of the mud that ren- 
 ders the roads slippery. 
 
 "This little Christian community only contains thirty 
 communicants; but I found there the most beautiful 
 wonder of nature, and the greatest effort of human in- 
 dustry that I have met in all my travels a subjugated 
 V volcano. 
 
 * Tliis is no doubt what chemists call carbureted hydrogen. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 305 
 
 "The place is in the mountains, on the borders of a 
 little river. It contains, like Ou-tong-kiao, salt wells 
 dug in the same manner, that is to say, with an iron 
 rammer of three hundred pounds weight. There are 
 more than a thousand of these wells or tubes containing 
 r-alt water; and, besides this, every well contains in- 
 ilammable air, which is conducted through a bamboo 
 tube, lit with a taper, and can not be put out without 
 vigorous blowing. When they wish to get the salt 
 water they extinguish the fire tube, for otherwise the 
 inflammable air, coming up in great quantity with the 
 water, would cause an explosion in the mine. In one 
 valley there are four wells which yield fire in terrific 
 quantities, and no water; that is doubtless the centre 
 of the volcano. These wells at first yielded salt water: 
 and the water having dried up, about twelve years ago 
 another well was dug to a depth of three thousand feet 
 and more, in llic expectation of finding water in abund- 
 ance. This hope was vain, but suddenly there issued 
 from it an enormous column of air, filled with blackish 
 particles. I saw it with my own eyes. It does not re- 
 semble smoke, but the vapor of a fiery furnace, and it 
 escapes with a frightful roaring sound, that is heard far 
 off. It blows and respires continually, but never in- 
 spires; but it is possible that its inspirations may be 
 made in some lake, perhaps the great lake of Hou-kou- 
 ang, two hundred leagues off. There is, on a mountain 
 about a league off, a small lake, about half a league in 
 circumference; but I can not think that sufficient to 
 feed the volcano. This little lake has no communica- 
 tion with the river, and is only fed with rain water. 
 
 "The opening of the well is surrounded by a wall of 
 freestone, six or seven feet high, to guard against the 
 well being set on fire by accident or malice, a misfor- 
 tune which did really happen last August. The well 
 
300 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 is in the middle of an immense court, with large sheds 
 in the centre, where the caldrons are placed for the 
 boiling of the salt ; and on that occasion, as soon as the 
 iirc touched the surface of the well, there arose a terrific 
 explosion, and a shock as of an earthquake, and at the 
 same moment the whole surface of the court appeared in 
 i lames. These flames, however, though about two feet 
 high, seemed to flutter over the surface of the ground 
 without burning any thing. Four men, with great self- 
 devotion, went and rolled an enormous stone over the 
 surface of the well, but it was thrown up again imme- 
 diately into the air. Three of the men were killed; the 
 fourth escaped; but neither water nor mud would ex- 
 tinguish the fire. At length, after fifteen days' labor, 
 a sufficient quantity of water was collected on a neigh- 
 boring mountain, to form a large lake or reservoir, and 
 this was let loose all at once upon the fire, by which 
 means it was extinguished ; but at a cost of thirty thou- 
 sand francs, a large sum for China. 
 
 "At the depth of a foot below the ground, four 
 enormous bamboo tubes are fixed in the four sides of 
 the Avell, and these conduct the inflammable air beneath 
 the caldrons. More than three hundred are boiled by 
 the fire from a single well, each of them being furnished 
 with a bamboo tube, or fire conductor. On the top of 
 the bamboo tube is one of clay, six inches long, with a 
 hole in the centre six inches in diameter ; this clay 
 hinders the fire from burning the bamboo. Other tubes, 
 earned outside, light the large sheds and the streets. 
 There is such a supply of fire, that it can not all be 
 used ; and the excess is carried by a tube, outside the 
 inclosure of the salt-works, into three chimneys, out of 
 the tops of which the flame leaps to a height of two feet. 
 
 "The surface of the ground within the court is ex- 
 tn-mely hot, and seems to burn under the feet; even in 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 307- 
 
 January the workmen are all half-naked, having no- 
 thing on but a short pair of drawers. I had, like other 
 travelers, the curiosity to light my pipe at the fire of 
 the volcano, and found it extremely active. The 
 caldrons here are four or five inches thick, and they 
 are calcined and unfit for use at the end of a few 
 months. 
 
 " The- water is received through bamboo tubes into 
 an enormous cistern ; and a chain pump, worked night 
 and day by four men, forces it into an upper reservoir, 
 whence it is conducted in tubes to feed the caldrons. 
 Four-and-twenty hours' evaporation produces a cake of 
 salt six inches thick, and as hard as stone. This salt 
 is whiter than that of Ou-tong-kiao , and affects the throat 
 less ; possibly the coal employed at Ou-tong-kiao may 
 make the difference, or it may be in the water itself. 
 The latter contains a greater amount of salt than that 
 of Tse-liou-tsing / it produces three or even four ounces 
 of salt for every pound of water ; but at .Ou-tong-kiao 
 the coal is dear, while at Tse-liou-tsing the fire costs 
 nothing. These two districts have to sell their salt in 
 different towns, and custom-house officers see that this 
 arrangement, which has been approved by the govern- 
 ment, is not disturbed. 
 
 " I forgot to tell you that this fire produces scarcely 
 any smoke, but a strong bituminous vapor issues from 
 it, which I could perceive at two leagues off. The 
 flame is reddish, like that of coal ; it does not seem to 
 issue directly from the orifice of the tube, as that of a 
 lamp might, but it begins about two inches above it, 
 and then rises about two feet. In the winter the poor, 
 to warm themselves, dig a round hole of a foot deep in 
 the ground, in which they place a handful of straw and 
 set light to it, and a dozen of these poor creatures will 
 then seat themselves round it. When they have warm- 
 
;;us JOL-KXKY THROUGH THE CHINKSK KMI'I UK. 
 
 cd themselves sufficiently they fill up the hole with sand 
 and the fire is put out." 
 
 From this account we may form some idea of the 
 character of Chinese industry. The physical sciences 
 are among them still in the elementary stage, and only 
 cultivated with a view to immediate practical applica- 
 tion ; but the Chinese supply in some measure the place 
 of knowledge by their most prodigious patience. It is 
 remarkable that, with modes of proceeding so extremely 
 simple and resources so limited, they are able to obtain 
 results that would elsewhere require a considerable 
 amount of science. Their turn of mind tends always 
 to simplification ; scientific machinery would only em- 
 barrass them, and they would perhaps not succeed so 
 well ; but with their sagacity and perseverance they 
 contrive to effect the most difficult things. They take 
 
 time for their fulcrum and patience for their lever ; these 
 are ttie two great principles of Chinese physical science. 
 It is, nevertheless, true that a certain amount of this 
 kind of knowledge has existed among the Chinese from 
 the most remote antiquity, and has descended from 
 generation to generation, sometimes in the form of a 
 family secret, sometimes disseminated in a receipt book. 
 With these very simple aids, they attain results that 
 with us are only the fruits of science and study. Thus 
 the Chinese are able to work mines, and to amalgamate 
 metals and work them in all sorts of ways: they cast 
 bells and statues in bronze and other metals ; they man- 
 ufacture enormous porcelain vases ; they build towers, 
 and construct on their rivers magnificent and remark- 
 ably solid bridges : they have dug a fine canal from one 
 end of the Empire to the other. At two different epochs 
 they have undertaken gigantic works of extreme diffi- 
 culty to change the course of the Yellow River; and 
 they know how to produce all colors and combine them 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 309 
 
 in a wonderful manner. We might pass in review all 
 the products of their arts and industry, which have 
 often a great deal of merit, and we should be compelled 
 to acknowledge, that in China, as elsewhere, there are 
 chemists, mathematicians, and natural philosophers. 
 
 Their systems, it is true, arc not scientifically arranged 
 and based upon fixed general principles. The Chinese 
 would be unable to say according to what laws they ob- 
 tain certain chemical combinations ; they would content 
 themselves with showing you some old receipt, which, 
 as experience has taught them, will attain the end in 
 view. Their miners could not assuredly explain in a 
 satisfactory manner why that combination of saw-dust 
 and resin which they make use of for a light will not 
 kindle the gas in the mines, and produce an explosion ; 
 but assuredly it answers for them the purpose of Davy's 
 celebrated safety-lamp. 
 
 Although, however, scientific results may thus be ob- 
 tained by them without science, yet the knowledge of the 
 Chinese must always remain scattered and desultory. It 
 is very difficult for them to make any progress, or indeed 
 to avoid retrograding from the point already attained. 
 Their decay in many departments has begun years ago, 
 and they acknowledge that they could not now do many 
 things that were easy to them in times past. The natural 
 sciences have no part whatever in their system of in- 
 struction, and since the knoAvledge slowly gathered from 
 experience during a long course of ages has no other 
 guardians, for the most pa^, than ignorant workmen, 
 many very useful and important ideas are unavoidably 
 lost. A more intimate relation with Europe can alone 
 preserve from perishing many of these precious germs, 
 which may one clay develop themselves under the in- 
 fluence of modern science. 
 
 Sse-trhouen, the most remarkable, in our opinion, of 
 
310 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 the eighteen provinces of China, is also that in which 
 Christianity is the most flourishing. It counts nearly a 
 hundred thousand Christians, mostly zealous and faith- 
 ful in the fulfillment of their duties ; their numbers also 
 are obviously on the increase from year to year. 
 
 The prosperity of this mission arises from its never 
 \ having been entirely abandoned like many others. At 
 the period even of our most disastrous revolutions, while 
 France herself, without priests and without a worship, 
 could hardly be supposed to occupy herself with the 
 religious interests of China, the Christians of Sse-tchouen 
 still had the happiness of retaining in the midst of 
 them apostles full of zeal and fervor, who watched 
 with care over the precious sparks of faith, while wait- 
 ing till better times should permit new missionaries to 
 come and revive the sacred fire of religion in those 
 countries. The. province of Sse-tchouen has now been 
 intrusted to the care of the Society of Foreign Mis- 
 sions, which is gathering the fruits of its zeal and per- 
 severance. 
 
 The Christian community of Sse-tchouen, besides be- 
 ing the most numerous in China, presents also some 
 peculiar features. Every where else* the neophytes, 
 in town and country, have been mostly recruited from 
 among the most indigent classes ; but it has not been 
 thus in Sse-tchouen ; for, although the propagation of 
 the faith has not yet reached the summit of society, 
 the greater number of Christians are found in its mid- 
 dle ranks. 
 
 Of course, in a religious point of view, the poor are at 
 least of as much consequence as the rich, and we must 
 not forget that shepherds came before kings to adore the 
 Saviour of the world in his manger ; but it happens that 
 many of the Chinese are simple enougli to believe that 
 
 * The province of Kiang-nan must he excepted. 
 
JOL'RNEi" THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 311 
 
 a certain sum is always given to catechumens on the 
 day of their baptism, and that people thus become Chris- 
 tians from motives of worldly interest. It is advanta- 
 geous, therefore, to do away with this idea, and let them 
 see that Christianity is professed by people in easy cir- 
 cumstances, who have no need of alms. It is also well 
 that the missions should be self-supporting, and be able 
 to found schools and build chapels for themselves. 
 
 Sometimes, it is true, the prosperity of the missions 
 has this disadvantage, that it tends to excite the cu- 
 pidity of the Mandarins, who are willing enough to let 
 the poor alone, but keep up a most watchful superin- 
 tendence over those houses where there is any thing 
 to take. On the whole, however, the balance of ad- 
 vantage may be said to be on the side of prosperity in 
 the missions. 
 
 The families may, by uniting their strength, obtain 
 a certain amount of influence, intimidate the satellites, 
 and compel the Mandarins to spare them ; for in China, 
 in order to make yourself respected, it is sufficient to take 
 a formidable attitude. In traversing the province of 
 Sse-tchouen, we remarked that the Christians appeared 
 to enjoy a greater amount of liberty than elsewhere; 
 or at least make greater efforts to assert their claim to 
 what has been granted them. They venture to assemble 
 and proclaim publicly that they are Christians. One day 
 we saw a number of them in their Sunday clothes, walk- 
 ing in procession with a banner at their head, to the 
 celebration of a festival in a neighboring village; and 
 it was Ting himself who pointed out the fact to our ob- 
 servation. 
 
 We are persuaded that if all the Christians of China 
 stood on the same footing as those of Sse-tchouen, it 
 would not be so easy as it has been to subject them to 
 persecution. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Arrival at Pa-toung, a Frontier Town of Hou-pe' Literary Examina- 
 tions Character of the Chinese Bachelor Condition of Writers 
 Written Language Spoken Language Glance at Chinese Litera- 
 ture The Celestial Empire an immense Library Study of Chinese 
 in Europe Embarkation on the Blue Kiver Salt Custom-house 
 Smuggling Mandarin Dispute with the Prefect of I-tchang-fou A 
 Mandarin wishes to put us in Chains System of Customs in China 
 I-tou-hien, a Town of the third Class Amiable and interesting 
 Magistrate of that Town Geographical Knowledge of the Chinese 
 Narrative of an Arab who traveled in China in the ninth Century 
 before the Christian Era. 
 
 AFTER leaving Sse-tchoucn "behind us, a few hours' 
 march brought us to Pa-touny, a little town of Hou-pe. 
 Although we were now no longer in the country subject 
 to the jurisdiction of the Viceroy Pao-hing, we were re- 
 ceived as we had been in all the towns of Sse-tchouen ; 
 for the orders that had been given respecting us Avere to 
 remain in force till we should arrive at Ou-tehang-fou, 
 the capital of Hou-pe. The authorities of Pa-toung 
 treated us there with the accustomed ceremony ; but 
 scarcely had we reached it before AVC noticed the most 
 complete and extraordinary change in the tone and man- 
 ner of the people of our escort. Mandarins, satellites, 
 and soldiers all appeared metamorphosed with that elas- 
 tic suppleness which is the most striking feature in the 
 Chinese character. They had all at once become peace- 
 able and modest to a degree that was really admirable. 
 The reason of this was, that they had now entered what 
 they regarded in some measure as a foreign country, 
 and they had loft all their domineering pride on the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 313 
 
 frontiers of their own province, of course with the full 
 intention of resuming it when they went back. For the 
 present, however, their business was to avoid compro- 
 mising themselves, and "draw in their hearts" so as to 
 continue their journey in safety. 
 
 The Viceroy of Sse-tchouen had warned us that, in 
 the province of Hou-pe, the communal palaces were few 
 in number, and not convenient for us. At Pa-toung 
 we found none at all, but we lost little by that, for we 
 went to lodge in the Kao-pan, that is to say, " the In- 
 stitution." The Kao-pan, or theatre of examinations, 
 is, like the wcn-tchang-koun, a palace of literary compo- 
 sition, an edifice belonging to the learned corporation. 
 That of Pa-toung had nothing remarkable in its con- 
 struction, but as it was exquisitely clean and had vast 
 apartments, it was fresh and cool. The examinations 
 had taken place only a few days before, and we found 
 the various decorations still arranged as for the cere- 
 mony. In the evening we had visits from a crowd of 
 the literary personages, among whom were several who 
 We must own appeared to us exceedingly stupid. 
 
 This literary corporation was organized as early as 
 the eleventh century before the Christian era, but the 
 system of examinations existing at present does not 
 date farther back than the eighth century before the 
 commencement of the great dynasty of Tang. Before 
 this epoch the magistrates were elected by the people ; 
 but at present, as we have said, umversal_suftrage has 
 been preserved only in the communes, in the election 
 of the mayors, who bear the name of ti-pao in the south, 
 and of sian-yo in the north of the Empire. 
 
 The literary examinations are, like every thing else, , 
 degenerating and sinking to decay. They have no* 
 longer the grave, earnest, impartial character that was 
 doubtless impressed on them at the time of their in- 
 VOL. I.O 
 
;,H JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 stitution. The corruption which has spread through 
 every thing without exception in China has also found 
 its way among both examiners and examined. The 
 rules that ought to be observed in the examinations are 
 extremely stringent, with a view to prevent any kind 
 of fraud, and discover the true merit of the candidate ; 
 but, by certain financial methods, a way has been found 
 to neutralize the effect of these precautions. A rich 
 man can always find out beforehand the subjects pro- 
 posed for the various compositions ; and, what is worse, 
 even the suffrages of the judges are sold to the highest 
 bidder. 
 
 A student who knows he is not capable of going 
 through the examination, or who has not been able to 
 procure the programme of the questions, coolly goes 
 with a certain sum in his hand to some poor graduate 
 who has the requisite ability, and who merely takes the 
 name of the candidate for honors, assumes his place, 
 and brings him back the diploma. It is a regular 
 branch of industry, which is carried on almost publicly 
 in China ; and the Chinese, in their picturesque lan- 
 guage, have given to the gentlemen who have obtained 
 their degree in this fashion, the name of crupper bach- 
 elors. 
 
 ^Tlie number of bachelors is very considerable ; but, 
 for want of resources, pecuniary as well as intellectual, 
 there are very few who attain to the higher degrees 
 which fit them for public offices. Those who are in 
 easy circumstances, however, may at least enjoy the 
 incomparable happiness of wearing a gilt ball in their 
 caps. They are fond of public ceremonials, parades, 
 and assemblies, at which they may display their pre- 
 tensions. Sometimes, too, they occupy their leisure 
 with literature, and compose novels, or pieces of poetry, 
 which they read to their colleagues, and receive plenty 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 315 
 
 of compliments, of course on conditions of reciprocity. 
 Poor literary graduates, who hold no public office, form 
 in the Empire a class apart, and lead a kind of life that 
 it is difficult to describe. Heal laborious work is not 
 at all accordant to their tastes and habits. To occu- 
 py themselves with industry, commerce, or agriculture, 
 would be much beneath their dignity. Those who wish 
 in earnest to gain a livelihood become schoolmasters or 
 doctors, or endeavor to fill some subaltern office in the 
 tribunals ; others become mere adventurers, and live on 
 the public in various ways. Those who live in the 
 large towns have very much the aspect of ruined gen- 
 tlemen, and they have little other resource than to visit 
 and bore each other at their common expense, or ar- 
 range plans to avoid dying of hunger. Very often J;hey 
 contrive to extort money from the rich and the Manda- 
 rins, who having always plenty of administrative sins 
 upon their consciences, do not care to have for enemies \ 
 a set of idle, hungry bachelors, always ready to weave " 
 some intrigue or lay a trap for the man in office. Law- 
 suits are also a grand resource for this useful class of 
 society. They apply themselves assiduously to foment- 
 ing quarrels, and embittering the parties against each 
 other; and then they undertake for a certain little rea- 
 sonable consideration to appease and reconcile them, or, 
 as they say in their language, to give them some com- 
 mentaries on law. Those whose imaginations are not 
 sufficiently lively and fertile to suggest all these modes 
 of industry, endeavor to live by their pens, which they 
 manage with admirable skill. They drive a little trade 
 in sentences finely written on strips of colored paper, 
 such as the Chinese consume in large quantities for the 
 decoration of their doors and the interior of their apart- 
 ments. It is almost superfluous to add, that these 
 literary geniuses, " i.ncompris 1 ' 1 of the Celestial Empire, 
 
31G JOUKNKY TIIKOrGH THE CHINESE KMPIKK. 
 
 arc also the agents of secret societies, and the agitators 
 in times of revolution. The proclamation, the placard, 
 and the pamphlet, arc weapons that they know how to 
 manage just as well as their brethren of the West. 
 
 Although literature is in China very much encour- 
 aged by the government, and by public opinion, this 
 encouragement does not proceed so far as to afford an 
 income to its professors. Nobody here makes a fortune 
 ^>y writing books ; more especially such boolcs~as"novels7 
 romances, and poetry or dramatic pieces. However 
 good these may be, very little value is attached to 
 them. Those who arc capable of appreciating them 
 read them of course, but merely as an amusement. No 
 one thinks of the author, who indeed on his side never 
 dreams of putting his name to his productions. People 
 in China read very much as they take a walk in a gar- 
 den, for the sake of a momentary recreation ; they ad- 
 mire the trees, the A^erdure, the splendor and variety of 
 the flowers, but all this without ever thinking of the 
 gardener, much less asking his name. 
 
 The Chinese are full of veneration for "sacred and 
 classical books," and their esteem for great works on 
 history and morals is in some measure a religion with 
 them, the only one perhaps that they profess seriously ; 
 for they are accustomed to consider literature from the 
 point of view of serious utility. The class whom we 
 call authors are in their eyes only idle persons who pass 
 their time in amusing themselves by making prose or 
 verse. They have no objection to such a pursuit. A man 
 may, they say, " amuse himself with his pen as with his 
 kite, if he likes it as well it is all a matter of taste." 
 
 The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire would never 
 recover from their astonishment if they knew to what 
 extent a work of this kind may be in Europe a source 
 of honor and often of wealth. If they wnv told that 
 
JOL'UNEY TIIKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 317 
 
 any one may obtain great glory among us by composing 
 a drama or a romance, they would either not believe it, 
 or set it down as an additional proof of our well known 
 want of common-sense. How would it be if they should 
 be told of the renown of a dancer or a violin player, and 
 that one can not make a bound, or the other draw a 
 bow any where, without thousands of newspapers hast- 
 ening to spread the important news over all the king- 
 doms of Europe ! 
 
 The Chinese are too decided utilitarians to enter into 
 our views of the arts. In their opinion a man is only 
 worthy of the admiration of his fellow-creatures when 
 he has well fulfilled the social duties, and especially if 
 he knows better than any one else how to get out of a 
 scrape. 
 
 You are regarded as a man of genius if you know 
 how to regulate your family, make your lands fruitful, 
 traffic with ability, and realize great profits. This at 
 least is the only kind of genius that is of any value in 
 the eyes of these eminently practical men. 
 
 In a preceding chapter we endeavored to give an idea 
 of the system of instruction adopted in China ; and since 
 we are now at the Kao-pan it will be a good opportunity 
 for completing the survey, by casting a glance over the 
 Chinese language and literature, concerning which many 
 very inaccurate ideas prevail. 
 
 "A curious and frequent contrast," says M. Abel 
 Remusat, " is presented by the lively curiosity with 
 which we inquire into all that relates to the manners, 
 the character, and the creed of Oriental nations, and the 
 profound indifference with which the Asiatics regard 
 our intellectual progress, or institutions, and even the 
 master-pieces of our industry. It seems that we have 
 always need of others, and that the Asiatics alone 
 suffice to themselves. The European?, so disdainful, 
 
318 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 so proud of the progress they have made in the arts 
 and sciences, during these three hundred years, are con- 
 tinually asking what is thought and felt by men whom 
 they regard as so far inferior to them in every respect. 
 The Asiatics care nothing about what the Europeans 
 think ; whether they think at all, or whether they exist 
 at all. In Paris and in London there are many people 
 studying Oriental literature ; at Teheran or Pekin no- 
 body knows whether the West has a literature or not. 
 The Asiatics do not dream of contesting our intellectual 
 superiority; they simply ignore it, and never trouble 
 themselves about it, which is incomparably more morti- 
 fying for men so much inclined to value themselves 
 upon it as we are." 
 
 In Europe, in France and England especially, a live- 
 ly interest has been felt now for some years in all that 
 passes in the Celestial Empire. All that comes from 
 this country excites curiosity ; and we are determined 
 to make acquaintance with the eccentric nation, which 
 is so bent on living by itself in the world. 
 
 Now, it seems to us, that the primary cause of the 
 eccentric character of this people is to be found in the 
 extraordinary character of their language. It is most 
 emphatically time of the Chinese that the literature is 
 the expression of society. 
 
 That which distinguishes the Chinese language from 
 all others, is its surprising originality, its great antiquity, 
 its immutability, and, above all, its prodigious extension 
 over the most populous countries of Asia. Of all the 
 primitive languages, not only is it the only one still 
 spoken in our own day, but it is also the most in use of 
 all living modes of speech. Chinese, with various mod- 
 ifications, is spoken in the eighteen provinces of the 
 Empire, in Mantchouria, Corea, Japan, Cochin China, 
 Tonquin, and several islands of the Straits of Sunda. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 319 
 
 It is unquestionably the language the most widely dif- 
 fused throughout the world, and that which transmits 
 the ideas of the greatest number of men. 
 
 The Chinese language is divided into two quite dis- 
 tinct parts, the written and the spoken. The written 
 language is not composed of letters combined together 
 for the formation of words ; it is not alphabetical; it is 
 a collection of an immense number of written charac- 
 ters, more or less complicated, of which each expresses 
 a word and represents an idea or an object. The prim- 
 itive characters used by the Chinese were signs or rather 
 coarse drawings, which imperfectly represented material 
 objects. 
 
 These primitive characters were two hundred and 
 fourteen in number. There were some for the heavens ; 
 others for the earth and for man ; the parts of the body ; 
 domestic animals, such as the dog, the horse, the ox ; 
 for plants, trees, quadrupeds, birds, fish, metals, etc. 
 Since this first invention of Chinese writing, the forms 
 of these coarse paintings have been changed ; but, in- 
 stead of improving, they have corrupted them ; only the 
 primitive strokes have been preserved, and it is with 
 this small number of figures that the Chinese have com- 
 posed all their characters and found means to satisfy the 
 numerous requirements of their civilization. 
 
 The first Chinese must have soon discovered the in- 
 sufficiency of their two hundred and fourteen primitive 
 signs ; by degrees, as society advanced and the circle of 
 their knowledge enlarged, new wants must have made 
 themselves felt, the number of characters had necessarily 
 to be increased ; and for that a new method adopted, for 
 it would not do to have a number of new figures that, 
 as they were multiplied, would be confounded together. 
 How with thesa rude sketches could it be possible to 
 distinguish a dog from a wolf or a fox ; an oak from an 
 
;^<) JOUUNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE E.Ml'Jl;!.. 
 
 apple or tea tree? How especially would it be possible 
 to express human passions, anger, love, and pity, ab- 
 stract ideas, and operations of the mind ? 
 
 In the midst of these difficulties there does not seem 
 to have been at any time an idea of introducing an al- 
 phabetical or even syllabic system ; the Chinese could 
 obtain no knowledge of such a one among the barbarous 
 and illiterate nations by whom they were surrounded ; 
 and, besides, they have always had the highest opinion 
 j of their written language, regarding it as a celestial in- 
 vention, the principle of which was revealed to Fou-hi, 
 the founder of their nationality. They were forced, 
 therefore, to have recourse to combinations of the primi- 
 tive figures ; and by this means they formed an im- 
 mense multitude of signs, composed for the most part 
 arbitrarily, but which sometimes present ingenious sym- 
 bols, lively and picturesque definitions, and enigmas, 
 the more interesting as the solution has not been lost. 
 Natural objects, and many others which can be assim- 
 ilated to them, are all classed under the animal, tree, or 
 plant, which was the type of them in the two hundred 
 and fourteen primitive characters ; the wolf, the fox, the 
 ram, and the other carnivora, were referred to the dogs ; 
 the various species of goats and antelopes, to the sheep ; 
 the deer, the roebuck, and the animal that produces 
 musk, to the stag ; the other ruminants, to the ox ; the 
 rodentia, to the rat; the pachydermata, to the pig; the 
 hoofed, to the horse. The name of every creature is 
 thus composed of two parts ; one relating to the kind, 
 the other determining the species by a sign indicative 
 cither of the peculiarities of conformation, the habits of 
 the animal, or the use that may be made of it. By this 
 / ingenious method are formed real natural families, which, 
 I with the exception of a few anomalies, might be acknowl- 
 edged by modern naturalists. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 321 
 
 With respect to abstract ideas and acts of the under- 
 standing the difficulty was greater ; but it was not less 
 ingeniously met. To paint anger, they make a heart 
 surmounted by the sign of a slave ; a hand holding the 
 symbol of the middle designates the historian, whose 
 first duty it is to incline to neither side ; the character 
 signifying straightness and also that of walking repre- 
 sented the government, which should be rectitude itself 
 in action ; to express the idea of a friend, they placed 
 two pearls, one beside the other, because it is so diffi- 
 cult to find two pearls exactly matching one another. 
 For many of the words the figure is entirely arbitrary : 
 but there are great numbers of which the analysis 
 would be very interesting. The ancient missionaries 
 mention several ; but they are far from having exhausted 
 the subject, or even studied it under its most curious 
 relations. It would be impossible to calculate the tra- 
 ditions, the allusions, the unexpected analogies, the pic- 
 turesque and epigrammatic features which are thus in- 
 closed in these characters ; and it is incredible what 
 light would be thrown on the ancient moral and philo- 
 sophical opinions of the primitive nations of Oriental 
 Asia by studying carefully, while guarding against too 
 hasty theorizing, these symbolical expressions ; in which 
 they have painted unconsciously, themselves, their man- 
 ners, and the whole order of things under which they 
 have lived, and with which history has made us so im- 
 perfectly acquainted, since they date from a time when 
 history was not. 
 
 Chinese characters were at first traced with a metallic 
 point upon little bamboo tablets ; and it was with a view 
 of facilitating their execution, that by degrees the primi- 
 tive form was modified, until the figurative type was 
 almost lost. The stiffness of their strokes also was 
 much softened three centuries before our era, after two 
 
 o* 
 
- JOl HNKV THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 important discoveries ; the art of making paper with the 
 v bark of the mulberry or bamboo, and the not less pre- 
 cious one of preparing the substance we call Indian ink. 
 The small brush or pencil then took the place of the 
 metallic graver, successive modifications were again in- 
 troduced in the figure, till at .last they arrived at the 
 present character, formed from the combination of a 
 certain number of strokes, either straight or slightly 
 curved. 
 
 Chinese writing is at first sight disagreeable, from its 
 strangeness ; but when one is accustomed to it, one soon 
 begins to think it pretty and even graceful. All these 
 characters firmly drawn with a pencil acquire a degree 
 of delicacy and beauty ; a really good Chinese hand- 
 writing is both graceful and bold ; and the slender, 
 bony fingers of the Chinese manoeuvre their pencils 
 with surprising dexterity. They write their characters 
 one above another in a vertical line ; and this arrange- 
 ment does not allow the reader to see the whole phrase 
 at once as in horizontal writing : they begin their lines 
 by the right of the page ; in a word, they proceed in 
 exactly the contrary way to the European. The num- 
 ber of characters successively introduced by the com- 
 bination of strokes amounts to thirty or forty thou- 
 sand in the Chinese dictionaries ; but two-thirds of 
 these are seldom used, and, by cutting off the synonyms, 
 / five or six thousand characters, with their various signi- 
 l fications, would amply suffice to understand all original 
 \texts. 
 
 It has been said, and repeated over and over again, 
 that the Chinese pass their lives in learning to read, and 
 that even the old learned men depart this life with- 
 out having accomplished the difficult enterprise. The 
 notion is amusing, but fortunately for_the Chinese very 
 incorrect. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 323 
 
 If to know a language it were necessary to know 
 every word in it, how many Frenchmen would be able 
 to boast of being acquainted with their native tongue ? 
 llow many people are familiar with the innumerable 
 technical phrases that fill up the greater part of our 
 dictionaries ? It has been imagined and asserted in 
 very serious works that Chinese writing is purely 
 ideographic. This is an error. It is ideographic and 
 phonetic at the same time ; but as the demonstration 
 of the truth could not very well be made intelligible 
 to those who have not a considerable knowledge of 
 the mechanism of the language, we will content our- 
 selves with giving one proof that will be understood 
 by all. 
 
 The Chinese characters are so far phonetic, that in all 
 our missions those who learn to serve the mass have 
 for their use a little book in which the Latin prayers 
 are written out in Chinese characters. How could that 
 be if they were simply ideographic ? How could they 
 render and express exactly the sounds of our European 
 language ? 
 
 In tlie Pagoda Libraries, what are the greater part 
 of the books of prayer that the Buddhist priests have 
 to learn from one end to the other, but Chinese tran- 
 scriptions of Sanscrit books ? The Bonzes study them, 
 and repeat them without at all comprehending their 
 meaning, because by means of these so-called ideograph- 
 ic characters they have translated the sound without 
 the sense. It may be said, that every Chinese charac- 
 ter is composed of two elements, which may in general 
 be easily distinguished one ideographic, the other pho- 
 nographic. Is not this the case with all writing? It 
 belongs to philologists and not to vis to determine these 
 questions. 
 
 The Chinese in their written language have three 
 
:>2i JOI'KNKY TJ1HOUGI1 TUK CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 distinctions of style : the antique or sublime style, the 
 type of which is to be found in the ancient literary 
 monuments, and which exhibits very rare grammatical 
 forms; the common or vulgar style, remarkable >r a 
 great number of ligatures, and the employment of words 
 composed to avoid homophony and facilitate conversa- 
 tion ; and, finally, the academic style, which partakes 
 of the two preceding, being less concise than the antique 
 and less prolix than the vulgar. A profound acquaint- 
 ance with the antique style is necessary for reading the 
 ancient books ; and in general all the works that treat 
 of historical, political, or scientific subjects, since they 
 are always written in a style that approaches the antique. 
 The vulgar style is employed for light productions, the- 
 atrical pieces, private letters, and proclamations intended 
 to be read aloud. 
 
 The spoken language is composed of a limited number 
 of monosyllabic intonations ; namely, four hundred and 
 fifty, which by the very subtle variation of the accents 
 arc multiplied to about sixteen hundred. It results 
 from this that all Chinese words are necessarily grouped 
 in homophonous series, whence a great number of double 
 meanings may arise either in reading or speaking ; but 
 this difficulty is avoided by coupling synonymous or 
 antithetic words. In this manner the ambiguities dis- 
 appear, and the conversation is no longer embarrassed. 
 
 The language called llouan-hoa, that is to say, com- 
 mon universal language, is that which the Europeans 
 wrongfully designate by the name of Mandarin lan- 
 guage, as if it were exclusively reserved for the Man- 
 darins or functionaries of government. 
 
 The Houan-hoa is the language spoken by all in- 
 structed persons throughout the eighteen provinces of 
 the Empire, and in this a distinction is made between 
 the language of the north and that of the south. The 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 325 
 
 first is that of Pekin ; it is marked by a more frequent 
 and sensible use of the guttural or aspirate accent. It 
 is spoken in all the provincial government offices ; the 
 officers of which affect to imitate the pronunciation of 
 the capital, which in China, as elsewhere, is regarded as 
 the regulator of propriety of language. 
 
 The common language of the south is that of the in- 
 habitants of Nankin, who can not give utterance to the 
 guttural accent, like those of the north; but whose 
 more flexible voices give the varieties of intonation 
 with greater accuracy. Very likely when Nankin was 
 the capital of the Empire* its pronunciation was the 
 most esteemed. 
 
 Besides the two subdivisions of the universal, or, as 
 the Europeans say, the Mandarin language, there exist 
 in the various provinces of China particular local idioms 
 or patois, in which the pronunciation differs much from 
 that of the universal language. It happens sometimes 
 that one side of a river does not understand the other ; 
 but, as it is only on account of difference of pronuncia- 
 tion, recourse can always be had to writing. There are 
 also, in addition to these patois, dialects peculiar to the 
 provinces of Kouang-tong and Fo-Jden. 
 
 The literature of China is certainly the first in Asia, 
 by the importance of its monuments, the number of 
 which is prodigious. Some estimate may be formed of 
 it by the catalogue of the Imperial Library of Pekin, 
 which contains 12,000 titles of works with tables of 
 contents. In the principal catalogues Chinese litera- 
 ture is divided into four great sections. The first is 
 that of sacred or classical books, of which we have al" 
 ready spoken in a preceding chapter. The second is of 
 those on history. The Chinese count, on the whole, 
 twenty-four complete histories of the different dynasties 
 
 * Pekin means court of the north, and Nankin that of the south. 
 
KM JOUUNKY THROUGH THE CHINESE KMl'IKK. 
 
 anterior to the Mantchou, without counting chronicles 
 and memoirs. 
 
 The first great collection of ancient historical monu- 
 ments in China and the neighboring countries is due 
 to the celebrated /Sse-ma-tsien, an Imperial historian of 
 the first century before our era. It is composed of 130 
 books divided into five parts. The first comprehends 
 the fundamental chronicle of the Emperors ; the second 
 consists of chronological canons ; the third treats of the 
 rites of music and astronomy, the division of time, etc. ; 
 the fourth contains biographies of all the families which 
 have been possessors of principalities; and the last, 
 which is composed of seventy books, is devoted to 
 memoirs concerning foreign countries and biographies 
 of illustrious men. 
 
 In the middle of the eleventh century Sse-ma-kouang, 
 whose Poetic Garden we have already mentioned, edited 
 a complete series of annals from the eighth century be- 
 fore Christ to the year 960, the date of the accession of 
 the dynasty of Song, under which he lived. Father de 
 Mailla has given a translation of them under the title 
 of General History of China, continuing it also to the 
 first Emperor of the Mantchou dynasty. 
 
 Toward the end of the thirteenth century Jtfa-touan- 
 lin published his celebrated historical encyclopaedia, en- 
 titled Profound Researches into Ancient Documents of 
 every Kind. 
 
 This famous historian does not content himself with 
 registering documents; he discusses and explains them, 
 \/ and his work is the richest mine that can be consulted 
 upon all that relates to government, political economy, 
 commerce, agriculture, scientific history, geography, and 
 ethnography. 
 
 The third section is that of special works relating to 
 the arts and sciences. It comprises, first, moral treat- 
 
JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPI1JE. 327 
 
 ises, the familiar dialogues of Confucius, the element- 
 ary lessons and conversation of the celebrated Tchu-lii, 
 treatises on the passions and on the education both of 
 men and women ; secondly, works on the military art ; 
 thirdly, special treatises on the penal laws; fourthly, 
 on agriculture and the management of the silk-worm; 
 fifthly, on medicine and natural history, comprehending 
 the descriptions of animals, vegetables, and minerals ; 
 sixthly, practical treatises on astronomy and mathemat- 
 ics; seventhly, on the science of divination; eighthly, 
 on the liberal ants, namely, painting, writing, music, 
 and the art of drawingjtkejbow ; ninthly, essays on the 
 coining of money, on making ink, and the preparation 
 of tea; tenthly, general encyclopedias, with illustra- 
 tions; eleventhly, works descriptive and illustrative of 
 ancient and modern nations; twelfthly, treatises on the 
 Buddhist religion; thirteenthly, numerous treatises by 
 adepts of the sect of Tao; fourteenthly, mythological 
 works. 
 
 The fourth and last, section comprehends works of 
 light literature, such as poetry, the drama, romances, 
 and novels. 
 
 In China there are not, as in Europe, public libraries 
 and reading-rooms; but those who have a taste for 
 reading and a desire to instruct themselves can satisfy 
 their inclinations very easily, as books are sold here at 
 a lower price than in any other country. Besides, the 
 Chinese find every where something to read; they can 
 scarcely take a step without seeing some of the char- 
 acters of which they arc so proud. One may say, in 
 fact, that all China is an immense library; for inscrip- 
 tions, sentences, moral precepts, are found in every cor- 
 ner written in letters of all colors and all sizes. The 
 trades of the tribunals, the pagodas, the public monu- 
 ments, the signs of the shops, the doors of houses, the 
 
328 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE K.MI'IKK. 
 
 interior of the apartments, the -corridors, all arc full of 
 fine quotations from the best authors. Tea-cups, plates, 
 vases, fans, are so many selections of poems, often cho- 
 sen with much taste and prettily printed. A Chinese 
 has no need to give himself much trouble in order to 
 enjoy the finest productions of his country's literature. 
 He need only take his pipe and walk out, with his noso 
 in the air, through the principal streets of the first town 
 he comes to. Let him enter the poorest house in the 
 most wretched village ; the destitution will often be 
 complete, things the most necessary -will be wanting; 
 but he is sure of finding some fine maxims written out 
 on strips of red paper. Thus, if those grand large char- 
 acters, which look so terrific in our eyes, though they 
 delight the Chinese, are really so difficult to learn, at 
 least the people have the most ample opportunities of 
 studying them, almost in play, and of impressing them 
 ineffaceably on their memories. 
 
 The study of Chinese was long regarded in Europe 
 as a thing extremely difficult, if not impossible. Who, 
 indeed, with the conviction that the Chinese themselves 
 could not succeed in learning properly to read, would 
 have been willing to engage in so hopeless an enter- 
 prise ? But the prejudice has at last been overcome, 
 and philologists have found out that Chinese may be 
 ( learned as easily as other foreign languages. M. Abel 
 Ilemusat is perhaps the first who had the resolution to 
 attempt in earnest to conquer the obstacles which seem- 
 ed to forbid access to it ; but when this learned Orient- 
 alist had in some measure smoothed the way, and shown 
 by his example that it was possible to acquire a knowl- 
 edge of the language of Confucius, many learned men 
 threw themselves eagerly into the route that he had 
 pointed out, and at present there may be counted in 
 Europe several distinguished Chinese scholars ; at the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 329 
 
 head of whom stands M. Stanislas Julien, who has at- 
 tained to so thorough a knowledge of this language, 
 that we are persuaded very few, even of the Chinese 
 themselves, are equally capable of understanding the 
 more abstruse productions of their literature. 
 v . With respect to the spoken language, Chinese does 
 'not present as many impediments and difficulties as 
 many of the languages of Europe. 
 
 The pronunciation alone requires some pains, espe- 
 cially in the beginning ; but by degrees you become 
 familiar with the exigencies of accents and aspirates, 
 especially when you live in the country, and have no 
 intercourse with any but natives. In making these few 
 remarks on the Chinese language, we have thought that 
 we should probably meet the wishes of our readers ; 
 but it is now time to resume our itinerary. 
 
 Master Ting had often predicted to us, that when we 
 reached Hou-pe we should look back with regret on 
 Sse-tchouen. We should, he said, find the inhabitants 
 coarse in their manners, unobservant of the Rites, and 
 speaking an unintelligible language. Then the roads 
 were detestable ; there was seldom a communal palace 
 to be met with, but in its place only a very bad inn. 
 Our first halt at Pa-toung, however, by no means justi- 
 fied these sombre previsions. We were in the province 
 of Hou-pe, and we found ourselves just as well off as 
 before. We were treated with civility, and the Kao- 
 pan or Theatre of Examinations, which served us for a 
 lodging, was certainly as good as a communal palace. 
 We had, nevertheless, gathered some information on 
 the road that was by no means agreeable ; the Manda- 
 rins and literary men whom we met were unanimous in 
 declaring that we should find the journey from this 
 stage toilsome and difficult; that the roads were badly 
 kept, and that we should find no good palanquin 
 
380 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 bearers. All this proceeded from the proximity of the 
 Blue River. The navigation of that river, they said, 
 was so cheap and easy, that both travelers and mer- 
 chandise generally went by water ; and although always 
 on our guard against the deceit and falsehood of the 
 Chinese, their arguments this time appeared plausible 
 enough ; and it was agreed that we should follow the 
 course of the river as long as possible ; on condition, 
 however, of landing every evening, and passing the 
 night at the towns previously marked out for our halts. 
 
 The first night after leaving Pa-toung we stopped at 
 Kouei-tcheou, where, except a good deal of commercial 
 bustle in the port, we found nothing remarkable. The 
 next day we embarked very early ; and our escort was 
 increased by the addition of a military officer and some 
 soldiers, to protect us, it was said, against the pirates. 
 We passed without accident a place dangerous from its 
 numerous reefs ; some of the last met with on this fine 
 river, which beyond this place goes on increasing from 
 day to day, and spreading richness and fertility around 
 it. There is certainly no one in the world to be com- 
 pared with it for the multitude of men whom it feeds, 
 and the prodigious number of vessels that it bears on its 
 waters. Nothing can be more grand and majestic than 
 the development of this river during its course of 1980 
 miles. At TcJioung-king, 900 miles from the sea, it is 
 already a mile and a half broad ; at its mouth it is no 
 less than twenty-one. 
 
 Before we reached I-tchang-fou, a town of the first 
 class, we passed a little custom-house for the salt duties, 
 and our boats had to stop for the visit of the officers. 
 We thought it rather strange that Mandarins' boats 
 should be subjected to these visits ; but Master Ting 
 assured us it was all according to rule. These visits," 
 lie said, " arc on account of the crews of the boats, who 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 331 
 
 sometimes profit by the presence of public functionaries 
 to do a great deal of smuggling ; you must, therefore, 
 resign yourselves and have patience." 
 
 We resigned ourselves therefore, and had patience 
 accordingly. The custom-house officers first visited the 
 boat in which the soldiers were, and, having found in it 
 no more salt than was necessary for culinary purposes, 
 allowed it to set sail again and continue its passage. 
 
 Afterward, they came on board of ours ; and, when 
 they had politely saluted the passengers, they requested 
 the master of the vessel to take them down into the 
 hold. " The hold !" he exclaimed, with an air of the ut- 
 most astonishment ; " you would spoil your fine clothes. 
 I have ballasted my vessel with mud, and you know 
 very well that when one carries Mandarins one does 
 not carry merchandise." 
 
 " Who knows," cried the little military Mandarin 
 whom we took up at Kouei-tcheou ; " perhaps these two 
 noble Europeans come here to smuggle salt ;" and then 
 he applauded his own wit by a shout of laughter. The 
 officers, however, did not allow themselves to be discon- 
 certed by this hilarity, but quietly began their search ; 
 and shortly afterward we heard a tremendous uproar. 
 There in the hold, sure enough, had been found, not mud, 
 but a considerable cargo of salt ! and the chief smuggler 
 w T as no other than the said military Mandarin who had 
 been put on board to protect us against pirates. The affair 
 now became serious ; an embargo was immediately laid 
 on the vessel, and every one on board became compro- 
 mised. Every one, therefore, master, sailors, custom- 
 house officers, Mandarins, and our intrepid smuggler 
 with the gilt ball, began to vociferate at once. We 
 were the only listeners ; but it was by no means easy to 
 make out what any one was saying. All we could under- 
 stand was, that the sailors were exclaiming against the 
 
r,:i2 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EM1MUF, 
 
 skipper, the skipper against the smuggler, the smuggler 
 and the custom-house officers against every body else. 
 Master Ting was perfectly sublime in his wrath; he 
 rushed from one to the other, bawling and gesticulat- 
 ing vehemently, but without seeming to know or care 
 whether any one listened to him. When and how was 
 all this to finish ? That was what we were trying to 
 find out, but we could not succeed. 
 
 During this inconceivable uproar the vessel of course 
 was standing still. It was already late, and it appeared 
 we should not get to the port, though it was but a little 
 way off. To wait till all parties were agreed was evi- 
 dently out of the question ; and we saw no other re- 
 source than to throw ourselves into the melee. We 
 seized, therefore, upon Master Ting, the custom-house 
 officers, and the smuggler, and drove them before us 
 down the ladder into our cabin. As soon as we had 
 secured our men, we forbade them to say another word 
 about salt. The boat, we said, had been hired to take 
 us us to I-tchang-fou. We had already been subjected 
 to a long delay, and it mattered to us very little whose 
 fault it was, we should make them all responsible. 
 "Let us set off again," we said; "and when you arc 
 once in port, you may take as long as you like to 
 settle your quarrel." They were about to recommence 
 their explanations, but one of us kept them blockaded 
 in the between-decks, while the other went up and gave 
 orders to the master to set sail again ; and he did so, 
 carrying with him the custom-house officers in despair 
 at leaving their station. 
 
 As soon as we had reached the port we hastened to 
 effect our disembarkation, leaving the salt question to 
 be discussed by those whose business it was. It was 
 !il most dark when we entered the town of I-tchang-fou. 
 We had for a guide a very ill-looking fellow, whom the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 333 
 
 prefect had sent to meet us on the shore, and who took 
 us to what he called a communal palace. In this fine 
 large town of the first class they could find for two 
 Frenchmen traveling under the protection of the Son 
 of Heaven no better lodging than a damp hole, without 
 doors, windows, or furniture, and already serving as a 
 barrack to legions of rats, whose noise and foul odor 
 made us shudder. We restrained our indignation ; for 
 what was the use of saying any thing to that man, who 
 doubtless had done nothing but obey orders ? 
 
 After having, with the aid of a lantern, attentively in- 
 spected this pretended communal palace, we gave orders 
 to carry ourselves and our baggage immediately to the 
 prefect's tribunal. We were introduced there into a 
 great hall, where we hastened to have our palanquins 
 deposited and our trunks arranged, giving our servant 
 Wei-chan to understand that he might set up his little 
 menage in a corner. While we were quietly occupied 
 with these arrangements the people of the tribunal went 
 and came perpetually ; but without ever addressing a 
 word to us, and merely interrogating Master Ting, who 
 replied always by a series of little cringes, but without 
 saying a word, for fear of compromising himself either 
 with us or the authorities of the place. At last the 
 Hall of Guests was opened, and the prefect entered at 
 one end and we at another ; and after having recipro- 
 cally performed some profound salutations, we went and 
 sat down on the divan. Directly afterward, tea, and 
 some fine slices of water-melon were served. The con- 
 versation did not get on very well ; but fortunately we 
 could get over part of the embarrassment by busying 
 ourselves, the prefect with his tea, and we with our 
 melon. 
 
 The magistrate of I-tchang-fou perceiving that we 
 manifested a decided taste for this refreshing fruit, en- 
 
:;:;i JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 delivered to make use of it as a bait to entice us away 
 from his house, and make us go and lodge where he had 
 intended to put us. "This fruit is excellent in this 
 warm weather," said he. "Delicious," said we. "I 
 ;nn going to select two," he continued, " which I will 
 send for you to the communal palace. You have seen 
 it, I suppose ; I gave orders to have you taken there." 
 
 "We were taken to a damp, dilapidated place, swarm- 
 ing with rats ; we could not lodge there." 
 
 "Yes, I have been told it was not very dry; but 
 that's an advantage in summer the damp keeps it 
 cool. Besides, it is the best place we have for guests. 
 I-tchang-fou is a great town, it is true, but it is very- 
 poor ; there are no good lodgings in it ; you may ask 
 the people here." 
 
 "We never said I-tchang-fou was not a poor town, 
 we are persuaded it is ; we only said we could not lodge 
 there." 
 
 "In that case," said the prefect, sulkily, "will you 
 lodge in my house ?" 
 
 Since he had had the politeness to invite us to re- 
 main, we ought, according to the rites, to have had 
 the politeness to go immediately ; but we were not Chi- 
 nese. 
 
 "Yes, thank you," we replied; "we shall be very 
 comfortable here;" and then we complimented with 
 great prodigality of expression the beauty and magnifi- 
 cence of his tribunal. The prefect now rose, saying 
 that it was late, and that it would be necessary to pre- 
 pare our beds. He added, with a bow, that we had 
 done him great honor in not disdaining to lodge in his 
 miserable habitation ; but we saw in his face that he 
 was furious. 
 
 As soon as he 'had gone, we established ourselves 
 very commodiously in a large room, next to the hall of 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 335 
 
 reception ; and the first part of the night was passed 
 very peaceably : but not so the last ; toward midnight 
 we were awakened by a noisy conversation. The func- 
 tionaries of I-tchang-fou, who probably had also been 
 supping at the tribunal, had gone afterward into the 
 saloon which was next our chamber ; and there they did 
 not hesitate to criticise us very freely. The smallest 
 details of this piquant conversation were distinctly audi- 
 ble to us. They analyzed us completely, morally and 
 physically. Some had the charity to consider us as 
 endurable, and not to say too much against us ; others 
 said that we had not been long enough in the Central 
 Kingdom to become acquainted with the rites, and that 
 it was easy to see in us the signs of the bad educa- 
 tion people get in the West. There was one who ap- 
 peared especially excited against us, and did all he 
 could to bring his comrades to his own way of think- 
 ing ; so that, if they had listened to him, our journey 
 would not have been continued in a very agreeable man- 
 ner. 
 
 " They are treating these people a great deal too 
 well," said he ; " they pretend that the Viceroy of Sse- 
 tchouen treated them with distinction ; but in my opin- 
 ion he was quite in the wrong ; he would have done 
 much better to put a cangue upon them. These men 
 who go wandering about out of their own country ought 
 to be punished. They must be treated with severity. 
 That's the way ! If our prefect was not afraid of them, 
 they would be more obedient. Let him only put them 
 into my hands and you shall see. I will load them with 
 chains, and take them in that way to Canton." We 
 thought we recognized the voice of the gentleman who 
 promised us these little favors. It was a military Man- 
 darin, who had been boasting with much pride and ar- 
 rogance of having been in the war against the English, 
 
836 JOURNEY TIIi:ol (ill THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 and of having seen the Western devils 'near enough not 
 to be afraid of them. 
 
 The talk of this person, to say the truth, annoyed us. 
 There was certainly no cause to fear ; we were in favor 
 with the Government, and no one probably would ven- 
 ture to lay hands on us ; nevertheless, we had still a 
 long way to go, and they might occasion us a great deal 
 of trouble. It was well to be on our guard, not certain- 
 ly by " making our hearts small" in the Chinese fashion ; 
 but, on the contrary, by enlarging them. We got up, 
 therefore, very quietly ; and, after having put on our 
 robes of state, abruptly opened the door, and bounced 
 out upon our fiery warrior. "Here we are," we said; 
 "go and fetch your chains, since that is the way you 
 mean to take us to Canton, you shall do so immediately; 
 go and fetch them, do you hear ?" Our sudden appear- 
 ance disconcerted the conspirators ; but AVC pursued our 
 future conductor, roaring to him to go for his chains, 
 while for every step we made forward he drew one back. 
 At last we fairly drove him into a corner of the room, 
 looking terribly frightened. "But," stammered he, "I 
 don't understand what all this is about. Who wishes 
 to chain you? Who could have the right to do so?" 
 " You, of course ; you said so just now, we heard you. 
 Chain us then directly, if you like." "I do not under- 
 stand, I do not understand," still repeated the valiant 
 Mandarin. " Nobody here ever said such a word. How 
 could we think of such a thing as chaining you ? Are 
 we not here to serve you ?" 
 
 By degrees the rest of the company began to join in 
 the conversation, every one protesting that what we had 
 ourselves heard had never been spoken. That was all 
 we wanted. Our sortie had been as successful as we 
 could desire, and we now returned to our room, con- 
 vinced that we need not make ourselves at all uneasy 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 337 
 
 about the braggings of the Mandarins of I-tchang-fou. 
 The council did not assemble again, and as soon as we 
 had retired every one went home. 
 
 In the morning the prefect hastened to express his 
 regrets for the vexatious occurrence of the night. He 
 assured us that the Mandarin whose conversation had 
 annoyed us had a bad tongue, but a good heart; and 
 that every one there felt the greatest regard for us. 
 
 "We are perfectly convinced of that," we replied; 
 "but the circumstance that took place last night was 
 very scandalous. All the servants in the house were, 
 witnesses of it, and the news has, probably, by this 
 time, been spread all over the town. Every one knows, 
 no doubt, that one of the military officers of the town 
 undertook to put chains iipon us ; and, under these cir- 
 cumstances, we do not think it would accord with our 
 dignity to set off again directly. We will repose here 
 for a day. It must not be thought that we hastened to 
 get away because we were afraid. For the sake of our 
 own honor and yours, every one must know that we have 
 been treated properly by the authorities of I-tchang-fou/' 
 
 The prefect was evidently vexed to hear us speak in 
 this way ; but he admitted the legitimacy of our rea- 
 soning, and resigned himself to the hard necessity of 
 keeping us another day in his tribunal. 
 
 The day passed in peace, and even rather agreeably. 
 We saw again the Mandarins with whom we had made 
 acquaintance during the night, with the exception, how- 
 ever, of the formidable antagonist of the English army. 
 It was in vain that we invited him, and assured him 
 that we had no more inclination to chain others than to 
 be chained ourselves, he would not come ; but he sent 
 us his visiting card, alleging his innumerable occupa- 
 tions as the cause that would prevent his waiting on us 
 in person. 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
.NirUNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 We profited by this day of rest to see the toAvn ; but 
 we found nothing remarkable in it. In general, all the 
 groat towns of China are much alike : there are crowds 
 of people running about, and pushing against one an- 
 other, but no public monuments, or any thing to interest 
 a traveler, such as he would find in Europe. 
 
 We quitted I-tchang-fou, however, as free men, with- 
 out either handcuffs or chains on our feet; and we felt 
 sure that they would not in any tribunal venture to 
 make such a proposal in future, for fear of seeing their 
 prisoners metamorphose'd into unwelcome guests. 
 
 We continued our journey still down the river, as 
 this was decidedly the most convenient, pleasant, and 
 expeditious mode of traveling. On our way we passed 
 another custom-house, but without being stopped. The 
 officers were tranquilly smoking their pipes in front of 
 it, and watched us passing without disturbing them- 
 selves. Master Ting said, that they had come to visit 
 us before, because they had had information of there 
 being contraband goods on board. 
 
 The custom-houses in the interior of China are not 
 numerous, or at all severe in their proceedings. At the 
 time when we had been in the same position as other 
 missionaries traveling as native Chinese, and, conse- 
 quently, subject to the same laws as any one else, we 
 traversed the Empire from one end to the other, without 
 having any where had our trunks searched, which con- 
 tained European books, sacred ornaments, and many 
 other prohibited articles. The officers of the customs 
 used to present themselves ; we declared that we were 
 not merchants, and carried with us no contraband goods ; 
 we then offered our keys in a very calm and stately 
 manner, and requested them to examine our trunks, 
 which they never did. If they had been as rigid and 
 active in the performance of their duty as those of 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 339 
 
 France, for instance, the poor missionaries would not 
 have Ibeen able to get off so well ; "but one can mostly 
 extricate one's self from any difficulty of this kind in 
 China by means of a small pecuniary offering. 
 
 The greater part of the custom-houses are established 
 solely for salt, the trade in which, in most of the prov- 
 inces, is a government monopoly. The Chinese make 
 a great consumption of this article ; their food is full of 
 it. In almost every family you find an abundant pro- 
 vision of herbs and of salt fish, as it i$ the ordinary 
 food of the lower classes ; and even those of a higher 
 rank always have it served on their tables. It is with 
 salt, also, that they correct the insipidity of their rice 
 boiled in water. The Chinese are small eaters, and live 
 on very little ; we have always thought that, as salt is 
 a nutritive substance, the quantity they take of it must 
 supply the want of more food ; but with this kind of 
 diet it may be supposed they must be continually 
 thirsty, and that accounts for their drinking tea at all 
 hours of the day. 
 
 Since the last war with the English, the government 
 has established a great number of custom-houses along 
 the line that European goods have to follow to reach 
 the interior of the Empire. The Chinese being forced 
 to permit the trade which the English opened for them- 
 selves with their artillery, have no other way than this 
 to oppose their invasion ; and consequently the further 
 their goods proceed into China, the heavier become 
 the duties to which they are subjected. Too weak 
 to repel force by force, and say we will have none of 
 your merchandise, this is the only expedient they have 
 been able to hit on, in order to protect the native in- 
 dustry. 
 
 We arrived early at I-tou-hien, a town of the third 
 class, where we were received in a charming commu- 
 
340 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'IUK. 
 
 nal palace by a Mandarin no less charrying. The iirst 
 magistrate of I-tou-hicn is, unquestionably, the most ac- 
 complished person we ever met among the Chinese func- 
 tionaries. 
 
 I le was quite a young man, somewhat weakly, with 
 a pale face, apparently attenuated by study. He had 
 obtained the degree of doctor in Pekin, when he was 
 scarcely more than a child ; and his gentle and spirit- 
 ual-looking countenance was rather set off than other- 
 wise by a parj of gold-rimmed spectacles of European 
 manufacture. His conversation, full of good sense, re- 
 finement, and modesty, was really delightful ; and the 
 exquisite politeness of his manners might have recon- 
 ciled any one ever so averse to them, to the Chinese 
 Rites. On our arrival we found a splendid collation 
 of delicious fruit, laid out in a cool, fresh pavilion, in 
 the midst of a garden shaded by large trees. Among 
 the rarities of this rich dessert we remarked with pleas- 
 ure cjierriejL of a brilliant red color, finepeaches, and 
 other fruits that do not grow inTtTic" province of Hou-pe, 
 and we could not help expressing our surprise at the cir- 
 cumstance. " How could you possibly procure such 
 rare fruit ?" said we to our amiable Mandarin. 
 
 " When one wishes to please friends," said he, " one 
 always finds means to do so. The resources of the heart 
 are inexhaustible." 
 
 We passed the whole day and part of the night in 
 talking to this interesting Chinese. He had many ques- 
 tions to ask concerning the various nations of Europe ; 
 and he always made his inquiries in a serious, judi- 
 cious manner, worthy of a man of high intelligence. 
 He did not ask one of the puerile, silly questions to 
 which his brother Mandarins had accustomed us so 
 much. Geography appeared to be the subject that most 
 interested him, and he had a great deal of very accurate 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 341 
 
 knowledge concerning it. He surprised us very much 
 by asking, whether the European governments had not 
 yet realized the project of cutting tlirough the Isthmus V 
 of Suez, so as to connect the Mediterranean with the ' 
 Indian Ocean ; and we found him very well informed 
 concerning the extent and importance of the five parts 
 of the world ; and the space that China occupies upon 
 the globe. 
 
 The Europeans are quite in error when they attribute 
 to the Chinese a total ignorance of geography, because 
 they find among them absurd maps, a kind of caricature 
 of the earth, manufactured for the amusement of the 
 lower classes; from these it has been concluded that 
 even the studious men know no better. At all times 
 the Chinese have given proofs of having great interest 
 in geographical knowledge. It is very evident that 
 with their present system of remaining at home, and 
 refusing admittance to foreigners, it must be very diffi- 
 cult for them to acquire precise and circumstantial in- 
 formation concerning other countries, but much valuable 
 knowledge may, notwithstanding, be found in their writ- 
 ings ; and Klaproth has availed himself of the assist- \ 
 ance of Chinese geographers, to throw a great deal of \ 
 light on the geography of Asia in the middle ages. The 
 recent important publication of H. Stanislas Julien, 
 upon the travels of a Chinese in India in the sixth cen- 
 tury, shows how much there might be to learn in the 
 works of men who could observe so well and describe 
 what they had observed so faithfully. 
 
 We found in an Arab book entitled "The Chain of 
 Chronicles," composed in the ninth century, a passage 
 capable of giving a good idea of what was known in 
 China at a time when European knowledge was exceed- 
 ingly small. We will quote this fragment from the 
 Arab writer, as it seems likely to interest the reader : 
 
312 JOUKXKY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIKK. 
 
 "There was at Bassora a man of the tribe of Core- 
 ishites, called Ibn- Vahab, and who was descended 
 from Habbar, the son of Al-Asvad. The town of 
 Bassora having been ruined, Ibn-Vahab quitted that 
 country, and went to Siraf. At that time there was a 
 ship just setting sail for China, and it occurred to Ibn- 
 Y.-iliab that in these circumstances he would embark in 
 this ship. When he arrived in China, lie wished to sec 
 the supreme king ; and he therefore set out for Khom- 
 dan,* and from the port of Khan-fou f to the capital is a 
 journey of two months. He had to wait a long time at 
 the Imperial gate, although he presented petitions in 
 which he announced himself as being come of the same 
 blood as the prophet of the Arabs. At length the Em- 
 peror placed a house at his disposal, and ordered that 
 he should be provided with every thing necessary ; at the 
 same time he charged the officer who represented him at 
 Khan-fou to make inquiries about this man, and consult 
 merchants concerning him who asserted himself to be of 
 the family of the prophet of the Arabs, to whom may 
 God be propitious! The governor of Khan-fou an- 
 nounced in his answer, that the pretensions of this man 
 were well founded. Then the Emperor admitted him 
 to his presence, and made him considerable presents, 
 and he returned to Irak with what the Emperor had 
 given him. 
 
 " This man had grown old, but he retained the use 
 of his faculties. He related to us that when he was 
 with the Emperor, that prince asked him many ques- 
 tions on the subject of the Arabs, and the means they 
 
 * At present Si-ngan-fou, the capital of the province of Jlo-nan, where 
 was found the inscription of which we have spoken, and which really 
 was, at this epoch, the residence of the Emperors of the dynasty of Tang. 
 
 t Khan-fou is a sea-port in the province of Tche-hiang. We once 
 made the same journey as the Arab traveler, and took about the same 
 time fur it. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIUE. 343 
 
 had employed to overthrow the Empire of Persia. This 
 man had replied, 'The Arabs have always been con- 
 querors by the help of God, whose name be praised ! 
 because the Persians have been plunged into the idol- 
 atrous worship of the sun, the moon, and the fire, in- 
 stead of the Creator.' The Emperor said, 'The Arabs 
 triumphed on that occasion over the noblest of empires, 
 containing the most cultivated lands the most abound- 
 ing in riches the most fertile in intelligent men, the 
 country of him whose renown has extended farthest of 
 all.' Then lie continued, 'What is in your opinion the 
 rank of the principal empires in the world ?' The man 
 replied that he was not able to give an opinion on such 
 matters. Then the Emperor ordered the interpreter to 
 say to him these words : ' We ourselves count five great 
 sovereigns. The richest is he who reigns in Irak ; that 
 is situated in the middle of the world, and the other 
 kings are placed around him. He. bears among us the 
 title of King of Kings. After this empire comes our 
 own: the sovereign of which is named the King of 
 Men ; because there is no king who maintains better 
 order in his states, or exercises better vigilance over 
 them. Also there is no people more submissive to its 
 prince than ours. We then are really the kings of men. 
 Next comes the King of Wild Beasts, who is the King 
 of the Turks, and whose states are contiguous to those 
 of China. The fourth king in rank is the King of Ele- 
 phants, that is to say the King of India. He is called 
 among us also the King of Wisdom, because wisdom 
 originated among the Indians. Lastly, there is the 
 Emperor of the Romans, called among us the King of. 
 Fine Men, because there is not on the earth a better-- 
 made race of men, nor with more handsome faces than 
 the Romans. These are the principal kings. The 
 others hold only a secondary rank.' 
 
341 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 "The Emperor afterward ordered the interpreter to 
 say these words to the Arab: 'Would you recognize 
 your master if you were to see him?' The Emperor 
 meant the Apostle of God, to whom may God be merci- 
 ful! I replied, 'And how should I see him, when he 
 is now on high with God ?' The Emperor replied, ' I 
 did not mean that, I was speaking only of his face.' 
 Then the Arab answered, 'Yes!' Immediately the Em- 
 peror had a box brought to him, and placing it before 
 him, he took from it some pieces of paper and gave 
 them to the interpreter, saying, 'Let him see his mas- 
 ter.' 
 
 "I recognized on these pages the portraits of the 
 prophets, and, at the same time, I repeated prayers for 
 them, so that my lips moved. 
 
 "The Emperor did not know that I had recognized 
 the prophets, and he asked the interpreter why I moved 
 my lips. The interpreter askc.T me, and I answered, 
 'I was praying for the prophets.' The Emperor asked 
 how I had known them, and I answered, 'By the at- 
 tributes that distinguish them. Thus, there is Noah 
 in his Ark, he who saved himself with his family when 
 the Most High God commanded the waters, and all the 
 earth with its inhabitants was submerged. Noah only 
 with his family escaped the deluge. At these words 
 the Emperor began to laugh, and said, ' You have 
 guessed rightly, when you recognized Noah ; but as to 
 the submersion of the whole earth, that is what we do 
 not believe. The deluge only covered a part of the 
 earth; it did not reach either this country or India.' 
 Ibn-Vahab reported, that he was afraid to refute what 
 the Emperor had said, or urge the arguments that he 
 might have used, but which the prince would not have 
 admitted. He resumed, however, saying, 'There is 
 Moses and his rod, with the children of Israel.' 'That 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 345 
 
 is true ; but Moses showed himself on a very little the- 
 atre, and his people were not always well disposed to- 
 ward him.' I then said, 'There is Jesus sitting upon 
 an ass, and surrounded by the Apostles.' The Emperor 
 said, 'He appeared only for a very short time: his mis- 
 sion did not last more than thirty months.' 
 
 " Ibn-Vahab continues thus to pass in review the 
 diiferent prophets ; but we will confine ourselves to 
 repeating a part of what he said to us. Ibn-Vahab 
 added that above each prophet's face there was a long 
 inscription, which he supposed to contain the name of 
 the prophets, their country, and the circumstances that 
 accompanied their mission. Afterward he continued 
 thus : ' I saw the face of the Prophet (upon whom be 
 peace !) ; he was mounted on a camel, and his companions 
 were also mounted on camels, placed around him. All 
 wore on their feet Arab coverings ; all had tooth-picks 
 attached to their_girdles. As I began to weep, the 
 Emperor fold the interpreter to ask me why I shed 
 tears; I replied: " That is our Prophet our Lord, and 
 my cousin. Peace be upon him !" the Emperor replied, 
 " You have spoken truly. He and his people raised the 
 most glorious of empires, only he was not to see with 
 his own eyes the edifice he had founded. The edifice 
 was only seen by those who came after him." 
 
 " I saw also a great many other pictures of prophets, 
 some of whom were making a sign with their right 
 hands, joining the thumb and the fore-finger ; as if by 
 this movement they had wished to attest some truth. 
 Some were represented standing, and making a sign 
 with their finger toward heaven. There were also 
 others, whom the interpreter told me were prophets of 
 India. 
 
 "Afterward the Emperor interrogated me concerning 
 the caliphs and their customs, as well as upon our re- 
 
346 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 ligion, manners, and customs, and such things as I was 
 capable of answering. Then he added, ' What in your 
 opinion is the age of the world ?' I replied, ' People are 
 not agreed about that. Some say six thousand years, 
 others more, but the difference is not great.' 
 
 " Thereupon the Emperor laughed very much, and 
 the Vizier, who was standing near him, signified also 
 that he was not of my opinion. The Emperor said, ' I 
 do not think your prophet said that.' Then my tongue 
 turned, and I said, * Yes! he did say so.' Immediately 
 I saw signs of disapprobation on the Emperor's counte- 
 nance, and he charged the interpreter to transmit to me 
 these words. 
 
 " ' Pay attention to what you say. Men do not speak 
 to kings till they have well weighed what they are going 
 to say. You have affirmed that you are not all agreed 
 upon this point ; you are not then agreed upon what 
 your prophet has asserted, and you do not accept all 
 that your prophets have established. It is not right to 
 be divided in such cases ; on the contrary, such affirma- 
 tions should be received Avithout dispute. 
 
 " ' Take care of that, and do not commit the same 
 imprudence again.' 
 
 " The Emperor said many more things which have 
 escaped my memory, on account of the length of time 
 that has elapsed since. Afterward he added, ' Why did 
 you not go rather to your own sovereign, who, both 
 from his residence and his race, would suit you much 
 better ?' I replied : ' Bassora, my native place, was in 
 desolation. I was at Siraf. I saw a ship going to set sail 
 for China. I had heard of the splendor of .the empire of 
 China, and of the abundance of all things that are found 
 iu it. I wished to- come to this country, and see it with 
 my own eyes. Now I am about to return to my own 
 country, to my sovereign, and my cousin, and I will 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 347 
 
 apeak to him of the splendor of this country, to which 
 I have been a witness. I will speak to him of the vast 
 extent of this country, of all the advantages I have 
 enjoyed in it, of all the goodness that has "been shown 
 to me.' These words pleased the Emperor. He ordered 
 that a rich present should "be given to me, and that I 
 should return to Khan-fou on post mules. He even 
 wrote to the governor of Khan-fou to recommend him 
 to treat me well, to give me the preference over -the 
 officers of his government, and to provide me with every 
 tiling I wanted up to the moment of my departure, 
 and I lived in abundance and satisfaction until I left 
 China.' 
 
 " We questioned Ibn-Yahab on the subject of the 
 town of Khomdan, where the Emperor resided, and on 
 the manner in which it was laid out. He spoke to us 
 of the extent of the town, and of the number of the in- 
 habitants. The town, he said, is divided into two parts, 
 separated by a long broad street. The Emperor, the 
 Vizier, the troops, the Cadi of Cadis, the eunuchs of the 
 court, and all persons who belong to the government, 
 occupy the right or eastern side. No person of the 
 lower class is to be found there, nor any thing like a 
 market. The streets are traversed by rivulets, and 
 bordered by trees, and they contain vast mansions. 
 
 " The part situated on the left, or west side, is des- 
 tined for the people, for merchants, shops, and markets. 
 In the morning, at day-break, you see the stewards of 
 the Imperial Palace, the servants of the court, of the 
 generals and their agents, entering on foot and on horse- 
 back the part of the town where the shops and markets 
 are ; you see them buying all that is wanted by their 
 masters, and after that they return to their own quarter, 
 and you see nothing of them till the next morning. 
 " China possesses many agreeable things, delightful 
 
;;1S JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 groves with rivers winding through them, but you never 
 find the palm-tree." 
 
 In reading these accounts of the Arab travelers, it is 
 easy to be seen that they have really been in China, and 
 apart from the exaggerations inherent in the Oriental 
 character, it is also easy to recognize the country of 
 which they speak. There exhales, as it were, a certain 
 odor of China from their writings, that can not be mis- 
 taken. Strange that this people, so often overtlirown 
 by long and terrible revolutions, should still have pre- 
 served that peculiar stamp that will always distinguish 
 them from every other. 
 
 The Chinese of the ninth century, of whom these 
 Arabs speak, are certainly the same that Marco Polo 
 found in the thirteenth, although they were then sub- 
 ject to the dominion of the Mongol Tartars. Three 
 centuries later, when the Portuguese doubled the Cape 
 of Good Hope, and again discovered China, they recog- 
 nized the people whom the illustrious Venetian traveler 
 had previously made known in Europe, and in our own 
 days we may only be said to have renewed acquaint- 
 ance with the same old Chinese that were discovered 
 by the Arabs and Marco Polo. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Names given by the Chinese to the Kingdoms of Europe Origin of 
 the Words China and the Chinese Explanation of the various 
 Names that the Chinese give to their Empire Good and venerable 
 Prefect of Song-tche-hien Portrait of the ancient Mandarins 
 Holy Instructions of the Emperors A Khorassanian at the Imperial 
 Court Details concerning the Manners of the Ancient Chinese 
 Causes of the Decay of China Means employed by the Mantchou 
 Dynasty to consolidate its Power Foreigners not always excluded 
 from China Bad Policy of the Government General Presenti- 
 
 ^ ment of a Eevolution Navigation on the Blue Eiver Tempest 
 Loss of Provisions Running aground three Times Shipwreck 
 
 .' The shipwrecked. 
 
 THE young prefect of I-tou-liien, after having gathered 
 with liveliest interest all the information we could give 
 him concerning the different countries of Europe, be- 
 thought himself to ask us how we called his country in 
 our language. When he heard that we gave it the name 
 of China, and its inhabitants that of Chinese, he could 
 hardly recover from his astonishment. He insisted upon 
 knowing what these words meant, the sense attached to 
 them, why the words China and Chinese should have 
 been chosen to designate his country and his country- 
 men. "We," said he, "call the happy inhabitants of 
 your illustrious country Si-yang-jin ; now Si means 
 West, yang sea, and jin man, so that the word means 
 Olen of the Western Seas;' that is, the general denom- 
 ination. To designate the several nations, we transcribe 
 their names as faithfully as our characters will allow of. 
 Thus we say Fou-lang-sai, that is to say homme-faran- 
 cais. When we speak of the Westerns we sometimes 
 
S50 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 seize on a striking trait of the people whom we wish to 
 point out. Thus we call the In-ki-li (English) Houng- 
 mao-jin, that is, ' Men of Red Hair,' because it is said 
 they have hair of that color ; and we give to the Ya- 
 iiie-ly-kien (Americans) the name of * MenpftheGaudy 
 Banner,' because it is said that they carry at the masts 
 oTtiieir vessels a flag striped with various colors. You 
 see that all these denominations have a sense, a mean- 
 ing for the mind. That must be the case also with 
 your words China and Chinese ; since those words do 
 not belong to our language, they must necessarily sig- 
 nify something in yours." 
 
 These expressions very strange, certainly, in. the ear 
 of a Chinese seemed to trouble our worthy magistrate 
 so much, that to prevent him from imagining that they 
 had any satirical and malevolent sense, we were obliged 
 to enter on a little historical dissertation, and prove to 
 him that these words did belong radically to the Chi- 
 nese language ; that it was the name they formerly gave 
 themselves, but that we have altered it to suit our own 
 mode of speech, as they out of Francais have made 
 fbu-lang-sai. 
 
 It is, in fact, indisputable that these words do come 
 from the country itself. The Chinese have always had 
 the habit of designating their empire after the reigning 
 dynasty. It is thus that in remote times they gave it 
 the names of Tang, of Yki, and of Ilia. The great ex- 
 ploits of the Emperor of the dynasty of Han, brought 
 this name into use, and after that time the Chinese bore 
 the name of Ilan-jin, or Men of Han, which is still 
 common, especially in the northern provinces. 
 
 The dynasty of Thang having distinguished itself 
 still more by its conquests than that of Han, the name 
 of T/iang-jin was for several centuries in use to desig- 
 nate the Chinese. In -our time China, being governed 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 351 
 
 by the Mantchou dynasty, which lias adopted the title ] 
 
 of Thsing "pure," the Chinese call themselves Thsing- 
 jin, or men of Thsing, as they bore the name of Ming- 
 jin, under the dynasty of Ming. It is precisely as if 
 the French had taken successively the names of Car- 
 lovingians, Capetians, and Napoleonians, according to 
 the dynasties that have reigned at different epochs in 
 France. 
 
 The name of China, by which we designate this vast 
 country, is in almost general use in Eastern Asia. We 
 get it from the Malays, who call this Empire Tchina. 
 The Malays became acquainted with the Chinese in the 
 second half of the third century before our era, when 
 the famous Emperor Thsing-che-kouang subjected the 
 southern part of China and Tonquin, and even carried 
 his conquests as far as Cochin China. 
 
 The people of the Malay Islands, having direct rela- 
 tions with these countries, then met the Chinese, who 
 bore at the time the name of Thsing, after the reigning 
 dynasty. The Malays, not having precisely the letters 
 required, pronounced the word Tchina, adding an a to 
 it. The pilots and some of the sailors, who afterward 
 took the Portuguese ships into Chinese ports, were of 
 Malay origin, and it was quite natural that the Por- 
 tuguese should adopt the name that their guides gave to 
 China. Thus the first Europeans called it Tchina, and 
 this name was afterward slightly modified, according to 
 the language of the various nations who adopted it. 
 
 It is equally certain that the first relations of the 
 Chinese with India .date from the time of. the Thsing 
 dynasty. This name was changed by the Hindoos 
 also into Tchina, for the same reason as among the 
 Malays ; and they substituted tch for ths. The Arabs 
 received the word from India, and wrote it Sin-Sina to 
 accommodate it to their language, and thence probably 
 
352 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 came the Latin Since- -jSinenses, used to designate the 
 Chinese. 
 
 Although the Arab navigators, and the first Portu- 
 guese who went to India, had adopted the Sanscrit and 
 Malay name of Tchina for Southern China, the northern 
 part of this country not bearing the same name among 
 the neighboring nations, was also differently named in 
 the West. Under the dynasty of Han, that is to say, 
 in the two centuries before and after our era, the Chinese 
 conquered all Central Asia, as far as the banks of the 
 Oxus and the Jaxartes. They established their mili- 
 tary colonies, and their merchants traversed those coun- 
 tries to exchange their merchandise for other produc- 
 tions from Persia and the Roman Empire. They brought 
 principally silk and tissues of that material, which found 
 an excellent market in Persia and Europe. According 
 to Greek authors, the word ser signifies the silk-worm, 
 and the inhabitants of jSerica the country from which 
 the silk came. This fact shows that the name of /Seres 
 denoted the valuable article of trade that the Western 
 nations obtained from them. In Armenia the insect 
 that produces silk is called chiram, a name that has 
 some resemblance to the ser of the Greeks. It is natu- 
 ral that these two words should have been borrowed 
 from the Eastern nations, and that is what the Mongol 
 and Mantchou languages make it easy to demonstrate. 
 
 We may infer from this, that the names of silk, among 
 the ancients "and moderns, originated in the eastern part 
 of Asia. Silk is called sirk among the Mongols, and 
 sirylie by the Mantchous. As these two nations in- 
 habit the north and northeast of China, is it likely 
 that they received these denominations from the people 
 of the West ? On the other hand, the Chinese word see, 
 winch signifies silk, has not only a resemblance to sirk 
 and sirghe, but also still more to the ser of the Greeks. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 353 
 
 This analogy will appear so much the more striking, 
 when we consider that in the Chinese language the 
 letter r is not pronounced. The Corean word for silk 
 is identical with that of the Greeks. Silk has then, 
 it seems, given its name to the people who first fabri- 
 cated it, and sent it to the West ; and the Seres of the 
 Greeks and Romans were evidently the Chinese,* whose 
 Empire was formerly separated by the Oxus from that 
 of Persia. 
 
 Among the different names that the Chinese give to 
 their country, the most ancient and the most in use is 
 that of Tchoung-kouo, that is to say, the Empire of the 
 Centre. The Chinese historians relate that this denom- 
 ination dates from the time of Tching-wang, the sec- 
 ond Emperor of the dynasty of Tcheou, who reigned to- 
 ward the end of the twelfth century before our era. At 
 this epoch China was divided into several principalities, 
 which all took the title of kingdoms. Tcheou-Jcoung, 
 uncle of the Emperor, gave to the town of J^o-yang, in 
 what is now the province of Ho-nan, where the Chinese 
 monarch resided, the name of Central Kingdom, be- 
 cause it was, in fact, situated in the midst of the other 
 kingdoms of China. Since that time, the portion of 
 the Empire possessed by the Emperors, or the whole 
 of it, has borne this title. Such is the true and only 
 origin of that denomination, which has been preserved 
 to our own day ; yet most of the European books that 
 treat of China, jest about this name, and boldly infer 
 from it, that the Chinese are completely ignorant of 
 
 * "It would be curious," says Klaproth, who has furnished the 
 greater part of these considerations on the different names of China, 
 " to know at what period the word silk was introduced into the 
 English language. It appears to be the same as the llussian chclk, 
 which I believe to be derived from the Mongol sirk : this is so much 
 the more likely as Russia was for a long period under the Mongol 
 yoke." 
 
354 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPI15K. 
 
 geography; wliile it would be nearer the truth to say, 
 that we ourselves are ignorant of their traditions. " I 
 have no need," says Klaproth in his Memoirs, " to re- 
 fute the absurd idea of those who pretend that the Chi- 
 nese believe their country to be situated in the middle 
 of the world, and that it is for this reason they give it 
 the name of the Central Kingdom." A sailor or a porter 
 of Canton might, perhaps, give such an explanation ; 
 but it remains for the intelligence of the questioner to 
 adopt or reject it. 
 
 The Chinese also give to their country the name of 
 Tehoung-hoa, or Flower of the Centre ; of Tien-chao, 
 the Celestial Empire, or Heaven's Empire ; and of Tien- 
 Aia, the "Beneath th'c Heavens," or the world, as the 
 Romans called their dominions Orbis. 
 
 Of course, we did not give our Mandarin all the 
 details into which we have been now entering, or speak 
 to him of the Greeks, the Romans, or even the Arabs ; 
 but we told him enough to make him understand Avhy 
 we call his countrymen the Chinese, and not Tchoung- 
 Jcouo-jin, or Men of the Central Empire. 
 
 Our explanations satisfied him completely, arid he 
 appeared quite happy to see that the word Cliinese was 
 not an abusive nickname, as he had been at first inclined 
 to think. 
 
 We were at last obliged to take leave of this interest- 
 ing doctor, and it was not without regret. Most gladly 
 would we have remained another day, but the Rites 
 were there to forbid it, and we could, not show ourselves 
 wanting in politeness toward a man who had treated 
 us with so much delicate attention. 
 
 From I-tou-hien we went by land to Song-tche-hicn, 
 not a long stage, and by a tolerably agreeable road. We 
 stopped at this last town on the recommendation of the 
 young prefect of I-tou-hien. lie had informed us that 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 355 
 
 we should find there one of his friends filling the office 
 of first magistrate, with whom we should be well satis- 
 fied. He had had this prefect informed of our arrival 
 over night, and he must have written some wonderful 
 things concerning us, for we were received with ex- 
 traordinary pomp. A triumphal arch was erected at the 
 gate of the communal palace, ornamented with hangings 
 of red silk and artificial flowers, glittering with tinsel, 
 and gleaming with colored lanterns. As soon as we had 
 entered the first court we were welcomed by a noisy 
 discharge of innumerable fire-works, which the guardians 
 of the palace had been holding suspended by long strings 
 at the end of bamboo canes. On the threshold of the 
 saloon of reception stood awaiting us a worthy old gen- 
 tleman still vigorous, who, on seeing us, appeared all 
 sparkling with joy. This was the first magistrate, on 
 whom so high a eulogium had been pronounced at I-tou- 
 hien. Our presence put him apparently quite beside 
 himself with joy. He clasped us in his arms, looked at 
 us smilingly, went and came and gave orders to every 
 body, and then began again his little salutations and 
 caresses. At length he grew more calm, and we seated 
 ourselves to take tea while awaiting the collation that 
 he had given orders to serve to us. It was rather late, 
 as we had arrived sooner than we had been expected. 
 
 This respectable magistrate had not the refinement of 
 mind and the distinguished manners of his young col- 
 league at I-tou-hien, but he appeared to us endowed 
 with great penetration. His conversation was agreeable, 
 and the absence of elegance in its forms was well com- 
 pensated by a tone of frankness and good-humor that 
 suited his advanced age wonderfully well. We learned 
 from his sse-ye, or privy counselor, that he had sprung 
 from a poor peasant family, and that his youth had been 
 spent amidst labor and privation. He had passed the 
 
3S6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMHUK. 
 
 literary examinations with so much applause, that, not- 
 withstanding the obscurity of his birth and his total 
 want of patronage, he had obtained the degree of Bach- 
 elor, and subsequently, at Pckin, that of Doctor. After- 
 ward he had toiled painfully up the lower grades of the 
 magistracy until, by merit alone, he had reached the 
 office of prefect of a town of the third order. To attain 
 still higher dignities it would have been necessary to go 
 to considerable expense, and make costly presents to 
 ministers and persons influential at court. He could 
 not, therefore, pretend to any higher employment, be- 
 cause he was poor, and he was poor because he would 
 not fleece the people under his jurisdiction, and because 
 he administered justice gratuitously, and shared his 
 modest revenue with the poor of his district ; but every 
 one loved and blessed his rule. 
 
 As soon as we were installed in the communal palace 
 we remarked that the people entered freely into all 
 parts of it, invading the courts, the gardens, the apart- 
 ments, and even taking the liberty of entering the one 
 where we were talking with the prefect. Master Ting 
 having made an observation that we did not like these 
 tumultuous assemblies, " Let them come," said the pre- 
 fect, smiling and looking at us with an air of supplica- 
 tion ; " pray do not send them away ; they will not in- 
 commode you, they only want to see you. If you should 
 find them troublesome, I need only make a sign to them 
 and they will retire immediately." 
 
 We took very good care not to vex this good magis- 
 trate by having put in force at Song-tche-hien the strict 
 orders that we had given in other places. On that day 
 there was absolute free admission for all, and every one 
 was at liberty to come and study as much as he pleased 
 the physiognomies and appearance of the men of the 
 Western Seas. While the curious contemplated its 
 
IiV TIIKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 357 
 
 with open mouths and staring eyes, the good Mandarin 
 watched them with great delight, and we on our parts 
 were greatly pleased to observe his good-natured face, 
 and to be able to afford so much gratification to the 
 public. Every thing went off very peaceably, and with- 
 out occasioning us the least trouble. 
 
 When one set had stared enough they retired, and 
 made room for others, and if ever there occurred the 
 least noise or disorder among them, their prefect had 
 but to say a word or make the slightest gesture of dis- 
 approbation, and they were all quiet in a moment ; his 
 smallest orders were obeyed in a manner at once re- 
 spectful and filial. 
 
 The Prefect of Song-tche-hien, surrounded by his 
 people, was the very image of a father in the midst of 
 his children, the most to aching realization of the funda- 
 mental idea of the laws and institutions of China, which 
 are always based on the principle of paternity, and 
 which suppose that every functionary is a father to his 
 people and they as children with respect to him. At 
 present this magnificent system is only a vain theory, 
 and, with some few rare exceptions, it is never found 
 but in books ; the Mandarins are scarcely any thing- 
 else than a formidable association of little tyrants and 
 great thieves, strongly organized for the pillage and 
 oppression of the people. We repeat, however, that 
 this disorder is not the necessary consequence of Chi- 
 nese institutions ; it is not inherent in the principle of 
 the government, bat, on the contrary, it is a flagrant 
 violation of that principle. 
 
 In reading the annals of China we remarked that un- 
 der certain dynasties the Mandarins were good magis- ' 
 trates, occupying themselves paternally with the inter- 
 ests of those confided to their care. They went out 
 often to visit the people under their government ; they 
 
858 JOUIIM.Y illl;)l (ill THE CHINESE EMPIUK. 
 
 inquired for themselves into the wants of the poor and 
 the sufferings of the unfortunate, in order the better to 
 succor them ; they traversed the rural districts to ex- 
 amine the state of the harvests, to encourage the labori- 
 ous farmers, and reprimand those who showed negligence 
 in their work. If an inundation or any other public 
 calamity took place, they hurried to the spot to investi- 
 gate the evil and inquire into the remedy. On the first 
 and the fifth day of each moon they gave instruction to 
 the people who were eager to receive it, and especially 
 they administered justice with strict impartiality. Every 
 oppressed man, every one whose rights had been inter- 
 fered with, might present himself at the tribunal ; he 
 had but to strike on a great cymbal, placed expressly 
 for that purpose in the interior court, and the Mandarin, 
 as soon as he heard the sound, was obliged to appear 
 and listen to the complainant at any hour of the day or 
 night. 
 
 Now things are managed in a very different manner ; 
 there are indeed in all the localities places appointed 
 where the Mandarins ought to instruct the people; they 
 are called Chan-yu-ting or "Hall of Holy Instructions;" 
 but on the appointed day the Mandarin does but just 
 walk in, smoke a pipe, drink a cup of tea, and walk out 
 again. Nobody is there to listen to him, and if there 
 were he would not trouble himself to say a word. In 
 the tribunals the " Cymbals of the Oppressed" are still 
 to be seen ; but the oppressed take good care not to 
 strike upon them, for if they did they would be imme- 
 diately fined or whipped. 
 
 The conduct formerly observed by the Mandarins to- 
 ward the inhabitants of a district was only a repetition, 
 on a small scale, of that of the Emperor toward his sub- 
 .^jects. It has always been a custom with the Chinese 
 sovereigns to publish from time to time instructions 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIIMv S.V.* 
 
 to their subjects on morals, agriculture, and industry. 
 This practice dates from the most remote times of the 
 monarchy. The Emperor of China is not only the su- 
 preme head of the state, the great sacrifice!- or high 
 priest, and principal legislator of the nation, he is also 
 the chief of the Literary aristocracy, and the first doctor 
 in the empire ; he is not less bound to instruct than to 
 govern his subjects, or rather governing and instructing 
 ought to be in his empire the same thing. All decrees 
 are instructions ; orders are given under the form of 
 lessons, and bear that name ; chastisements and pun- 
 ishments are the complement of the lesson; the Em- 
 peror is regarded strictly as a father whose duty it is 
 to teach his children, and who is compelled sometimes 
 to chastise them. 
 
 The chan-yu, or holy edicts, emanating from the Im- 
 perial pen for the instruction of the people, are ordered 
 to be read and explained, on the first and the fifteenth 
 day of every month, with great state, and according to 
 the ceremonial that regulates these solemnities. In 
 every town or village, the civil and military authorities, 
 attired in their state costume, assemble in a public hall ; 
 the master of the ceremonies, a personage always indis- 
 pensable in Chinese meetings, cries in a loud voice to 
 all present, to file off according to their rank; and he 
 warns every one not to fail to perform before a tablet, 
 inscribed with the sacred names of the Emperor, the 
 three genuflexions, and nine knockings of the head. 
 This ceremony over, they pass into the hall, named 
 chan-yu-ting, where the people and the soldiers standing 
 in silence, the master of the ceremonies says, "Begin 
 with respect." The magistrate, who has the office of 
 reader, then advances toward an altar, on which per- 
 fumes are placed, kneels down, and takes, with every 
 demonstration of respect, the tablet, on which is writ ton 
 
;;iiO JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 the maxim t licit has been chosen for the explanation of 
 the clay, and then mounts upon the platform. 
 
 An old man receives the tablet, and places it on the 
 platform opposite to the people ; then commanding si- 
 lence with a little wooden instrument in the form of a 
 bell, he reads the sentence in a loud voice. Afterward 
 the master of the ceremonies cries, " Explain that sen- 
 tence of the Holy Edict ;" and the orator rises, and ex- 
 plains the sense of the maxim, which usually turns on 
 some commonplace of the moral books of the Chinese. 
 
 This custom, if seriously carried out, can only be 
 laudable and useful, but as it is done now, it is merely 
 a vain ceremony. The case is the same with the cele- 
 brated festival in which, in the first days of spring, the 
 Emperor goes with all his court into the country to 
 cultivate a field himself, by way of encouraging agricul- 
 ture ; and eveiy Mandarin is required to repeat the 
 same ceremony in his district. It is indisputable that 
 these fine institutions had formerly great influence, when 
 they were seriously carried out by the Mandarins and 
 the people. We could bring a crowd of examples, 
 drawn from the annals of China, to give an idea of what 
 this nation was in times past ; but we prefer leaving 
 the already quoted Arab author to speak, since his tes- 
 timony will be less suspected than that of a Chinese 
 writer. 
 
 "A man Avho was a native of Khorassan, had come 
 from Irak, and bought there a great quantity of mer- 
 chandise ; then he embarked for China. This man was 
 very avaricious and selfish, and there arose a dispute 
 between him and the eunuch whom the Emperor had 
 sent to Khan-fou, the rendezvous of the Arab merchant, 
 to choose among the merchandise newly arrived what- 
 ever should be suitable for him. . This eunuch was one 
 of the most powerful men of the empire ; it was he who 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 361 
 
 kept the treasures and riches of the Emperor. The 
 dispute took place on the subject of an assortment of 
 ivory and other merchandise, the merchant refusing to 
 yield his goods at the price offered ; the discussion grew 
 warm, and at last the eunuch carried his audacity so 
 far as to put aside what was best among the merchan- 
 dise, and to seize upon it by force, without troubling 
 himself at all about the claims of the proprietor. 
 
 " The merchant set off secretly from Khan-fou, and 
 went to Khom-dan, the capital of the empire, two months' 
 journey or more, taking his way to China, already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 " The custom is, that he who rings the bell over the 
 head of the king* should be conducted immediately ten 
 days' journey off, to a kind of exile. There he is kept 
 in prison for two months, and then the governor of the 
 place sends for him and says : ' You have taken a step, 
 which, if your claim is not well founded, will bring on 
 you ruin and loss of life ; the Emperor has established 
 for you, and persons of your class, viziers and governors 
 of whom you may, when you please, ask justice. Know 
 that if you persist in addressing yourself directly to the 
 Emperor, and that your complaints should not be found 
 to be such as to justify such a step, nothing can save 
 you from death. 
 
 " ' It is good that every man who should be inclined 
 to do as you have done, should be deterred from follow- 
 ing your example. Desist then from your claim, and 
 return to your proper business.' When a man in such 
 a case withdraws his complaint, they give him fifty 
 blows with a stick and send him back to the country 
 whence he came, but if he persist, he must be conducted 
 
 * The Emperor has in his palace a bell for the use of the oppressed 
 who claim his protection, but it is now as much off duty as the cymbal 
 of the Mandarins. 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
362 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 into the presence of the Emperor. All this was done 
 with the Khorassanian, but he persisted in his com- 
 plaint, and still asked to speak to the Emperor. He 
 was, therefore, brought back to the capital, and taken 
 before the Prince, and the interpreter questioned him as 
 to the purpose he had in view in what lie had done. [ 
 The merchant then related how a dispute had arisen be- } 
 tween him and the eunuch, and how the eunuch had 
 taken his goods from him by force. The affair, he 
 said, had made a noise in Khan-fou, and had become 
 public." 
 
 "The Emperor ordered that the Khorassanian should 
 be again put in prison, but that he should be provided 
 with every thing he required to eat and drink; at the 
 same time he wrote by the Vizier and his agents to 
 Khan-fou, to desire them to obtain information concern- 
 ing the merchant's story, and endeavor to discover the 
 truth. 
 
 "The same orders were given to the Master of the 
 left, the Master of the right, and the Master of the cen- 
 tre, the three persons on whom, after the Vizier, the 
 command of the army depends; it is to them the Em- 
 peror intrusts the guardianship of his person, and when 
 that prince goes to war, or on similar occasions, each 
 of the three takes the place that his title indicates. 
 
 "These three functionaries therefore wrote to their 
 subordinate officers. 
 
 "All the information they received tended to justify 
 the recital of the Khorassanian, and letters to the same 
 effect came from various parts of the empire. Then 
 the sovereign sent for the eunuch, and as soon as he 
 arrived, his goods were confiscated, and the Emperor 
 withdrew from his hands the treasure that had been 
 intrusted to him. At the same time he said, 'You 
 would well deserve that I should put you to death. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 363 
 
 You have exposed me to the censure of a man who 
 came from Khorassan on the frontiers of my empire, 
 Avho has visited the country of the Arabs, after that, 
 the countries of India, and lastly my states, in the hope 
 of enjoying my benefits. You would then, that this 
 man, in returning to these countries, and revisiting the 
 same nations, should say, "I have been the victim of 
 injustice in China, and they have stolen my goods." I 
 will refrain from shedding your blood, in consideration 
 of your former services, but I shall appoint you to be 
 the guardian of the dead, since you have not respected 
 the interests of the living.' By the order of the Em- 
 peror, this eunuch was then charged to watch over the 
 royal tombs, and to keep them in good order." 
 
 "One of the proofs of the admirable order that reigned 
 formerly in the empire, and the great difference there is 
 at present,* is the manner in which the judicial decis- 
 ions were given, the respect for the law which animated 
 all hearts, and the anxiety shown by the government 
 for the administration of justice and in the choice of 
 persons who had given sufficient proofs in the legisla- 
 tion, of sincere zeal, an invincible love of truth, a firm 
 resolution not to yield what was right for the sake of 
 persons of importance, and a most scrupulous regard to 
 the rights of property of the weak, which might fall into 
 their hands. 
 
 "When the Cadi of Cadis was to be appointed, the 
 government, before investing him with the office, sent 
 him into all the cities, which by their importance are 
 regarded as the pillars of the empire. He remained in 
 each city one or two months, and made inquiries into 
 the state of the country, its customs, and the disposi- 
 tion of the inhabitants. He inquired after persons on 
 whose testimony he could rely to such a degree, that 
 
 * At this epoch the empire was in a state of revolution. 
 
364 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 when they had spoken, it was useless to seek for more 
 information. When this man had visited the principal 
 towns of the empire, and that there remained no consid- 
 erable place where he had riot sojourned, he returned 
 to the capital, and they put him in possession of his 
 office. 
 
 " This was the Cadi of Cadis, who chose and govern- 
 ed his subordinates. His knowledge of the different 
 provinces of the empire, and of the persons who in 
 each district were worthy of being charged with judicial 
 functions, whether they were natives of the country 
 or not, was a well-grounded knowledge, which made 
 it unnecessary for him to have recourse to the recom- 
 mendations of people who, perhaps, might have had 
 partialities, and have replied in a manner contrary to 
 the truth. There was no cause to fear that any Cadi 
 \vould venture to write to his superior things whose 
 falsehood he would immediately have detected, and 
 would then have dismissed his informant. 
 
 "Every day a crier proclaimed at the door of the 
 Cadi these words, * Is there any one who has any com- 
 plaint to make, whether against the Emperor, whose 
 person is withdrawn fronTTfie^sight o? Ins subjects, or 
 against any of his officers, or agents, or his subjects in 
 general ? For these things I stand in the place of the 
 Emperor, in virtue of the powers he has conferred upon 
 me.' The crier repeated these words three times. It 
 is an established principle that the Emperor does not 
 disturb himself from his occupations, unless some gov- 
 ernor has been guilty of evident iniquity, or that the 
 supreme magistrate has neglected to administer justice, 
 and to watch over the persons confided to his care. 
 Now as long as he keeps himself from these two 
 things that is to say, as long as the decisions given 
 at his tribunals are conformable to equity, and that 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 365 
 
 the functions of the magistracy are confided to persons 
 who are friends of justice, the Empire is maintained 
 in the more satisfactory state." Chain of Chronicles, 
 p. 106. 
 
 This last observation of the Arab writer is still ap- 
 plicable to China at the present day. It is because 
 the magistracy is no longer confided to persons who 
 are friends of justice, that this empire, once so flourish- 
 ing and so well governed, is sinking rapidly to decay, 
 and advancing toward certain, and perhaps speedy, 
 destruction. 
 
 In seeking for the causes of this general disorganiza- 
 tion, of this corruption that has obviously penetrated 
 into every stratum of Chinese society, and is working 
 its ruin, it seems that we find it partly in a very im- 
 portant modification of the ancient system of govern- 
 ment, which was introduced by the Mantchou dynas- 
 ty. It decreed, namely, that no Mandarin should hold 
 office in the same place more than three years ; and 
 that no one should be appointed in his own province. 
 The motive that dictated such a law may easily be 
 guessed. 
 
 As soon as the Mantchou Tartars saw themselves 
 masters of the empire, they were terrified at their small 
 number ; lost as they were in some measure in the 
 midst of the countless multitude of Chinese, they must 
 have asked themselves what means they had of govern- 
 ing this immense nation, naturally hostile to a foreign 
 dominion. 
 
 To fill all public offices with Mandarins chosen from 
 among the Tartars would not have been sufficient ; and 
 it would also have been no very good method of pacify- 
 ing the minds of a people so jealous, and so convinced 
 of their own merit. It was, therefore, decided that 
 
368 JOURNEY TIIROUGII THE CHINESE EMI'IUK. 
 
 the vanquished party should not be excluded from pub- 
 lic functions ; but the offices of the Supreme Courts 
 of Pekin were doubled, and divided between the Tar- 
 tars and Chinese. These latter had in great part the 
 administration of the provinces, with the exception, 
 however, of the first military Mandarinates and the com- 
 mand of the fortified places, which were reserved for the 
 Tartars. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these precautions, it was still dif- 
 ficult for the conquering nation to consolidate its power, 
 and it was in constant fear of conspiracy. There could 
 not but be among the high officers some partisans of the 
 fallen dynasty ; and the authority which they enjoyed 
 in the provinces must give them great influence in any 
 attempt to raise the people. It was easy for them to 
 weave plots, and have an understanding with those un- 
 der their authority to undermine and finally overthrow 
 the new government. It is, therefore, probable that it 
 was with the view of paralyzing these attempts at coun- 
 ter revolution, that it was determined that no one should 
 be a Mandarin in his own country ; and that no magis- 
 trate should exercise his functions more than three years 
 in the same place. 
 
 The JVIantchou dynasty did not fail, of course, to color 
 this innovation with specious pretexts, relating to the 
 public advantage and its solicitude for the welfare of the 
 people, and forgot not to allege that the magistrates be- 
 ing far from their relations and friends, would be more 
 free to devote themselves entirely to their functions and 
 the interests of the country. 
 
 Such were the motives publicly avowed to render this 
 alteration in the institutions of the empire acceptable ; 
 but in fact the object was to hinder influential men 
 from taking root any where, and creating themselves 
 partisans. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 367 
 
 The conquerors of China have perfectly succeeded in 
 this object for the space of two hundred years. As the 
 great Chinese Mandarins have been always wandering 
 from province to province, without being able to fix 
 themselves any where, all concert between them has 
 become impossible; and as the heads of parties the 
 representatives of Chinese nationality, could never rely 
 upon agents whose authority was but temporary, con- 
 spiracies among them were easily crushed. This policy, 
 judicious perhaps for the consolidation of a rising pow- 
 er, could not fail to be in the end a source of disorder. 
 In making into a law of the empire what ought to have 
 been a mere transitory expedient, the imprudent con- 
 querors of China deposited in- the very root of their 
 power a poisonous germ, that has developed itself grad- 
 ually, and borne fatal fruits. 
 
 The magistrates and public functionaries, having only 
 a few years to pass at the same post, live in it like 
 strangers, without troubling themselves at all about the 
 wants of the people under their care ; no tie attaches 
 them to the population ; all their care is to accumulate 
 as much money as possible wherever they go, and con- 
 tinually repeat the operation, till they can return to their 
 native province to enjoy a fortune gained by extortion 
 in all the rest. It is in vain to cry out against their 
 injustice and their depredations ; it matters little to them 
 what is thought of them, they are only birds of passage ; 
 the next day they may be at the other extremity of the 
 empire, and mil hear no more of the cries of the victims 
 they have despoiled. 
 
 The Mandarins have thus become utterly selfish, and 
 indifferent to the public good. The fundamental prin- 
 ciple of the Chinese monarchy has been destroyed ; for 
 the magistrate is no longer a father living in the midst 
 of his children, he is a marauder who comes one knows 
 
JOUBNEH TliKonm TI1K CIIINKSK KMI'IHK. 
 
 not whence, and who is going one knows not whither. 
 Thus since the accession of the Mantchou Tartar dynasty 
 every thing in the empire has fallen into a languishing 
 and expiring condition. You see no more of those great 
 enterprises, those gigantic works, which arc indicative 
 of a powerful and energetic life in the nation that exe- 
 cutes them. 
 
 You find in the provinces monuments that must have 
 required incredible efforts and perseverance : numerous 
 canals, lofty towers, superb bridges, grand roads over 
 mountains, strong dikes along rivers, etc. But now, 
 not only is nothing of the kind ever imdertaken, but 
 even what has been done under former dynasties is suf- 
 fered to go to ruin. 
 
 Man, especially if he be not a Christian, can seldom 
 free himself from his selfishness ; he likes to enjoy the 
 fruits of his labor himself, and seldom lays the founda- 
 tion of an edifice but in the hope of seeing its comple- 
 tion. "Why," might one of these Mandarins of pas- 
 sage say to himself, " should I undertake what I shall 
 never have time to finish? Why sow, for another to 
 reap the harvest ?" And with these views, the interests, 
 moral and physical, of the population, are entirely aban- 
 doned. There are, we doubt not, governors of prov- 
 inces, and prefects of towns, capable of effecting useful 
 reforms, of creating beneficial institutions, and execu- 
 ting works often much wanted;, but considering that 
 they are only there for a day, they have not courage to 
 put then: hand to the work ; egotism and private inter- 
 est easily gain the upper place in their thoughts ; they 
 occupy themselves exclusively with their private affairs, 
 leaving the interests of the public to be looked after by 
 their successors, who in* their turn leave it to those who 
 may come after them. 
 
 This system, supposed to be established with the 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 369 
 
 object of withdrawing the Mandarins from private and 
 family influence, and rendering their administration 
 more free and independent, has had the very opposite 
 effect. The functionaries succeed each other so rapidly 
 in the various localities, that they are never acquainted 
 Avith the affairs submitted to their administration ; and 
 often enough they even find themselves flung into the 
 midst of a population whose very language they do not 
 understand. They are often unacquainted with the 
 manners and customs of the country ; for it would be a 
 great mistake to suppose that the Chinese 'are all alike. 
 The difference is, perhaps, more strongly marked be- 
 tween the various provinces of China, than between 
 many separate kingdoms of Ewope. When the magis- 
 trates arrive at their Mandarinate, they find, fixed at 
 their posts, the interpreters and subaltern functionaries, 
 who, as they know all about the affairs of the locality, 
 can easily render their services indispensable. In the 
 smallest circumstances, the magistrates would be inca- 
 pable of acting without the help of these agents, who are, 
 in fact, the real governors. 
 
 The papers relating to all the lawsuits are in their 
 hands ; they alone draw them up, and settle beforehand 
 the tenor of the judgment to be given. The magistrate 
 has only to promulgate in public what they have ar- 
 ranged in private, and without his participation. Now, 
 all these immovable factotums are on the spot ; they 
 have with them their relations and friends ; and it is 
 therefore not at all surprising that judicial and admin- 
 istrative affairs are conducted chiefly through intrigue 
 and cabal. The tribunals are full of these vampires, 
 incessantly occupied in draining away the substance of 
 the people, first for the Mandarins, and then on their 
 own account and that of their friends. W T e have often 
 been .brought into relation with these gentry ; we have 
 
 Q* 
 
370 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 seen them at their dirty work, and we can hardly say 
 whether the sight inspired most indignation or disgust. 
 
 Thus it appears, that since the accession of the 
 .Mantchou dynasty, Chinese society has undergone great 
 alteration for the worse. 
 
 In Europe, people have strong ideas of the immo- 
 bility of this people. These innovations, introduced by 
 the conquering race, are regarded as customs dating 
 from the most remote antiquity, and necessarily result- 
 ing from the Chinese character. Who, for instance, is 
 not convinced that this people has a natural antipathy 
 to foreigners, and has always endeavored to keep them 
 away from its frontiers ? Yet nothing can be more in- 
 correct. This exclusive %nd jealous spirit belongs par- 
 ticularly to the Mantchou Tartars ; and it is only since 
 the commencement of their rule that the empire has 
 been hermetically sealed to foreigners. 
 
 In past ages the Chinese kept up constant relations 
 with all the countries of Asia. Arabs, Persians, In- 
 dians traded in their ports without any hindrance ; they 
 even penetrated into the interior, and freely traversed 
 the provinces. That Khorassanian, and that Arab who 
 journeyed in peace to the capital of the empire to de- 
 mand an audience of the Emperor, are in themselves a 
 proof of this. The monument of Si-ngan-fou (the in- 
 scription on which we have mentioned) testifies that 
 foreign missionaries had then preached and practiced 
 the Christian religion in all freedom. In the thirteenth 
 century, Marco Polo was, with his father and his uncle, 
 very well received in China at two different epochs. 
 Although Venetians, they exercised there public func- 
 tions of the highest importance, Marco Polo havii^ been 
 made governor of a province. About the same epoch, 
 an archbishop existed at Pekin, and Christian religious 
 ceremonies were publicly performed. Toward the end 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 371 
 
 of the first Chinese dynasty, when Father Ricci and the 
 first Jesuit missionaries recommenced their labors, it 
 does not appear that they had to contend with the same 
 difficulties as at the present day ; they were honorably 
 received at court, and the fir^t Tartar Emperors only 
 tolerated what they found already existing. 
 
 All this proves that the Chinese have not always 
 had such a great aversion to foreigners as is imagined. 
 Many Mandarins, with whom we have had occasion to 
 discuss this question, and to whom we have endeavored 
 to show how anti-social and insulting to other nations 
 the Chinese policy was, have declared to us that the. 
 real Chinese had never repulsed foreigners, ' and that all 
 the severe measures taken against them date only from 
 the commencement of the present dynasty. 
 
 The Mantchous, it is evident, were, on account of the 
 smallness of their numbers in the midst of this vast 
 empire, compelled to adopt stringent measures to pre- 
 serve their conquest. For fear that foreigners should 
 be tempted to snatch their prey from them, they have 
 carefully closed the ports of China against them, think- 
 ing thus to secure themselves from ambitious attempts 
 from without ; and in the interior of the empire they 
 have sought to keep their enemies divided by their 
 system of rapid and constant change of public officers. 
 These two methods have been crowned with success up 
 to the present time ; and it is really an astonishing fact, 
 and one, perhaps, not sufficiently considered, that a 
 mere handful of nomades should have been able to ex- 
 ercise, for more than two hundred years, a peaceable 
 and absolute dominion over the vastest empire in the 
 world, and over a population which, whatever may be 
 the common opinion respecting them, are really ex- 
 tremely stirring and fond of change. A policy, at the 
 same time adroit, supple, and vigorous, could alone have 
 
372 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'lRE. 
 
 obtained a similar result ; but there is every reason to 
 think that the methods which once contributed to estab- 
 lish the power of the Mantchou Tartars will ultimately 
 tend to overthrow it. 
 
 These strangers these, barbarians whom the govern- 
 ment of Pekin appears to despise because it dreads 
 them will sooner or later grow impatient at seeing its 
 gates obstinately closed against them ; and some fine 
 day they will burst them open, and find behind them a 
 population, countless, it is true, but disunited, without 
 any cohesive force, and at the mercy of any one strong 
 enough to seize them, wholly or in part. 
 
 The venerable Mandarin of Song-tche-hien, that 
 "fine old Chinese gentleman," uttered many lamenta- 
 tions over the decay of his country. "Since the sacred 
 traditions of our ancestors," said he, "have fallen into 
 oblivion, heaven has abandoned us. Those who watch 
 attentively the march and the progress of events, those 
 who observe how great is the selfishness of our magis- 
 trates, how profound the degradation of the people, feel 
 a dark and mournful presentiment. We are on the eve 
 of an immense revolution this is felt by numbers ; but 
 will the impulse come from without or from within? 
 No one knows no one can foresee. One thing is cer- 
 tain; this dynasty has lost divine protection, and the 
 people have now only feelings of contempt and anger for 
 those who govern them. Filial piety exists no longer 
 among us, and the Empire must fall."* 
 
 The Mandarin who talked in this way was, it is true, 
 of a very advanced age, and consequently we w T ere not 
 surprised to find him somewhat inclined to grumbling 
 and taking a sombre view of things. Horace's old man 
 is a cosmopolite. The young and fascinating prefect 
 
 * It is to be observed that these Recollections were written in 1849 
 from notes collected during 184(5. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 373 
 
 
 
 of I-tou-hien saw the evil, we doubt not, as clearly as 
 his respectable friend of Song-tche-hien, but he did not 
 despair, or think that the Chinese nation had arrived at 
 the end of its career. He remarked, indeed, that all 
 was out of order; there was not a wheel in the state 
 machine that did not grind ; but he loved the machine, 
 he thought it well and learnedly put together, and that 
 it might be possible to make it do its work for cen- 
 turies longer. But for this a wise and skillful mecha- 
 nician was indispensable. Upon this last point, how- 
 ever, he was very reserved, and evidently did not say 
 all that he thought: his position as a high government 
 officer demanded great prudence, and we took good care 
 not to press him on a question of so much delicacy; 
 however, he said enough for us to suspect that the fall 
 of the Tartar dynasty would not altogether break his 
 heart. He seemed to think it quite reasonable and 
 natural that the Chinese nation should be governed by 
 a Chinese Emperor, and several Mandarins have ex- 
 pressed the same feeling in our presence, but it does 
 not exist among the masses, who, as we said, think it 
 very absurd to occupy yourself gratuitously with polit- 
 ical questions. Such a feeling may, however, exist in 
 a latent state, and, to awaken it, there needs only an 
 event an opportunity, such as has occurred at several 
 of the most celebrated epochs in the history of China. 
 
 The Prefect of Song-tche-hien, a great admirer of an- 
 tiquity, studied to fulfill toward us the duties of liospi- 
 tality, in a manner truly patriarchal. We were not 
 merely for him travelers and strangers, whom it was 
 necessary to take care of, because the law and the Vice- 
 roy of Sse-tchouen had ordered it. We were his guests 
 in the full force of the term, and not only his guests, 
 but also the guests of his friends of his colleagues in 
 the civil and military administration; the guests, in 
 
374 JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CII1NKSK K.MIMIIK. 
 
 
 
 1'uct, of all the inhabitants of Song-tche-hien. We were, 
 of course, obliged to show ourselves sensible to these 
 frindly demonstrations, and live in some measure in 
 public. The utmost privacy we could obtain was only 
 just what was sufficient for repose and prayer. The 
 prefect would leave to no one else the care of arranging 
 our departure. He went himself to the port to choose ( 
 our boats, and he hired a third for his chief secretary 
 and some domestics, who were to accompany us as far 
 as Kin-tcheou, where we were to stop. He had also 
 shown us the attention of sending his cook on board 
 with a rich assortment of provisions, in order to con- 
 tinue his generous hospitality as long as he could. 
 
 We quitted Song-tche-hien very early in the morn- 
 ing. As the greater part of the night had been spent 
 in gossiping, we felt as soon as we came on board that 
 a small appendix to the very limited portion of sleep 
 we had been permitted to take would be very accepta- 
 ble. A good breeze diffused a refreshing coolness over 
 the deck. Our servant made our traveling bed under a 
 great sail, and we fell asleep very comfortably, lulled 
 by the sound of the waves a they dashed against the 
 junk. During nearly an hour we enjoyed this delight- 
 ful repose, but after this the post became untenable. 
 The breeze continuing to freshen, the vessel acquired 
 an uneasy jerking motion sometimes to the right, some- 
 times to the left ; and as the horizontal position became 
 extremely difficult to keep, we rose and tried how we 
 could maintain the vertical one^ The river already, at 
 this part of Hou-pe, is a league wide, and presented a. 
 magnificent aspect to the eye; but one not altogether 
 satisfactory for our navigation, as the wind was blowing 
 with extreme violence, and the movement of the junk 
 was very disagreeable. 
 
 We went below, and found, as usual, our dear Man- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIEE. 3*75 
 
 darins lying side by side on mats, and smoking their 
 accursed opium. As soon as we appeared, they extin- 
 guished their little lamps. " It seems," said we, " that 
 opium is food enough for you no one appears to be 
 thinking of dinner; but we must do honor to the pro- 
 visions sent us by the kind prefect of Song-tche-hien." 
 At these words, very simple and natural, we thought, 
 as it was late, and we had as yet taken nothing, our 
 Mandarins looked completely bewildered. No one an- 
 swered a word. "When it is convenient," said we, 
 "will you give orders to the servants? It will not do 
 to put it off too long, the wind is still increasing, the 
 junk will soon be shaken so that it will be impossible 
 to keep our feet." 
 
 Master Ting cast on us a compassionate .look ; he 
 half opened his mouth, but no words came out. We 
 saw that something vexatious had happened, but we 
 could not guess what. At length, collecting all his ener- 
 gies, he burst out in a despairing tone, with "What shall 
 we do, we have no victuals ! The junk that carries the 
 prefect's provisions is far on before us perhaps we 
 shall overtake it. If you like, we will amuse ourselves 
 in the mean time with taking tea ; that will give us 
 something to do." The kind of recreation that our in- 
 genious conductor proposed to us was, certainly, a very 
 innocent one ; but we knew from long experience, that 
 it is not very strengthening for the stomach. To amuse 
 one's self by drinking tea, when one is exceedingly hun- 
 gry, is absolutely to open a gulf instead of filling one up. 
 We came up on deck again, rather disappointed, and 
 looked over the vast surface of the river, in hopes of 
 discovering the bark that bore our cook and his acces- 
 sories. A large yellow flag, we were told, floated at the 
 mast, by which we should know the vessel. We looked, 
 however, in vain. We saw many trading junks with 
 
376 JOURNEY THROUGH THK CHINKS!; K.MI'IKK. 
 
 their large mat sails, driven by the wind and tossed by 
 the waves ; but vainly on every side did we look for our 
 provisions there was nothing for it but resignation, 
 nobody was to blame. The place had, indeed, been 
 mentioned where the other junk was to have waited for 
 us ; but, very likely, the violence of the wind had not 
 permitted it to stop. Probably, we said, we saw those 
 provisions embarked with too lively a feeling of satis- 
 faction, and this disappointment has been permitted to 
 give us a lesson. 
 
 We went below again to preach patience and resigna- 
 tion to our staff ; but we were followed by the master 
 of the boat, who, seeing our distress, had the kindness 
 to offer us a ration of the rice that was boiling in the 
 great kettle belonging to the crew. We accepted his 
 offer with gratitude, and were soon dining on rice boiled 
 in water and seasoned with salt herbs. This was of 
 course not very dainty fare, but we had had worse. 
 While we were performing thus an instrumental piece 
 in the rice bowl with our little chopsticks, we had the 
 wisdom to call to our minds the epoch when, in travers- 
 ing the deserts of Tartary and the mountains of Thibet, 
 we had no other food than some handfuls of barley flour, 
 moistened with a little tea, or flavored with suet. 
 
 "Heavens!" said we, "if we had every day found 
 such a dinner as this under our tent ! Fine white rice, 
 well boiled and abundant in quantity, besides a plate 
 of salt herbs, and preserved red pepper! Why, such 
 a feast would have seemed a miracle! How Samdad- 
 chiemba's large face would have expanded at the sight 
 of such a store of food. What fine stories he would 
 have told us over it!" 
 
 The recollection of the incredible repast prepared for 
 us in those days by our dear camel driver, was an ex- 
 cellent seasoning, and gave us quite an appetite to our 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 377 
 
 present fare. We did not dine so well certainly as 
 many persons in the world, but assuredly better than a 
 number of unfortunate people who did not dine at all. 
 Our estimate of our welfare here below mostly depends 
 upon comparison. How many people live in constant 
 suffering and distress, because they persist in always 
 looking above instead of below them ! 
 
 Dinners past and present, however, and even Tartary 
 and Thibet, were forgotten not long afterward, in cares 
 of a different kind. During the whole morning the wind 
 had been constantly increasing, and toward noon it came 
 on to blow so violently, that we had to take in nearly 
 all the sail, and keep only what was just necessary to 
 steady the junk. The river was like a great arm of the 
 sea lashed by a gale. The waves, though shorter and 
 lower than in the open sea, were more impetuous, and 
 dashed furiously against each other. Our poor junk 
 rolling and pitching, at the same time groaned and 
 creaked in every plank. Sometimes she seemed to be 
 lifted high above the water, then plunged heavily down 
 into the midst of it. We were driven about by sudden 
 and violent gusts, occasioned by the inequalities of the 
 shore, and now and then we were within a hair's breadth 
 of destruction, for the poor junk, almost on her beam 
 ends, seemed, as she trembled and shook all over, to be 
 hollowing out a tomb for herself in the waters. The 
 position was critical; but the chief danger arose from 
 the want of solidity in our vessel, as, like most of the 
 river junks, it was of very imperfect construction. The 
 sailors appeared, nevertheless, quite easy, and we pre- 
 ferred attributing their calmness to their experience 
 rather than to their indifference. 
 
 While we were thus driven at the mercy of the winds 
 and waves (but under the care of God), our Mandarins 
 had taken refuge in a narrow cabin, where they cowered 
 
878 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 down without daring to move. We did not at all per- 
 ceive on the faces of our two military gentlemen the 
 haughty dignity that is proper to a soldier in a moment 
 of danger. That Master Ting should want it was ex- 
 cusable : his quality of literary man gave him the right 
 to be afraid. The fact was, all our conductors were 
 affected by sea-sickness ; and as they had never felt it 
 before, nor even heard it mentioned, they all thought 
 they were going to die. It was in vain we assured 
 them it was a mere momentary inconvenience, occa- 
 sioned by the motion of the vessel ; they persisted in be- 
 lieving it was all over with them. "And you two," 
 said Master Ting, with a faint voice, " does not the 
 vessel move for you as well as for us, and you are not 
 ill?" "Oh, that's a different case," said we, "we don't 
 smoke opium." 
 
 " What ! do you think it is the opium that is killing 
 us?" 
 
 " Who knows ? We could not venture to say that, 
 but it is certain that opium is a poison, and that by 
 degrees it must destroy the energy of the constitution 
 in all smokers." Thereupon Master Ting began to 
 curse the day when he had allowed himself to yield to 
 the temptation of this detestable drug, and promised, 
 that if he escaped with his life this time, he would 
 throw pipe, lamp, and opium overboard. "Why not 
 do it now," said we, "what's the use of waiting?" 
 
 " Oh, I am too ill now, I have not strength to move. 
 "Well, we are not at all ill, we can see to this little 
 matter for you," and we turned toward the place where 
 he kept his smoking tools : but Master Ting was there 
 before us. Suddenly awakened from his lethargy, he 
 had made but one bound to the spot where his beloved 
 casket was placed. The movement had been so nimble, 
 and so totally unexpected, that his companions coull 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 379 
 
 not help laughing, though they were certainly not at all 
 in the humor for it ; and leaving him brooding over his 
 treasure, we returned to the deck to see how we were 
 getting on. 
 
 The water was less rough, and the breeze less vio- 
 lent; and though there was scarcely any sail set, the 
 junk was moving swiftly on. " If this lasts," said the 
 master, "we shall be soon at Kin-tcheou." And glad 
 we were to hear him say so, for the weather looked ugly, 
 and we wished very much to be in port again. But 
 alas ! though the distance was small, we were still far 
 off the port. 
 
 Toward four in the afternoon, we reached a point 
 where the river makes a bend in another direction, and 
 instead of continuing its course to the south, turns 
 abruptly to the west. At this point we met several 
 junks that were tacking to get through the difficult 
 passage, where the side wind became a contrary one. 
 Here we saw the two other boats of our flotilla, those 
 containing the soldiers, and the provisions ; they had 
 probably been there a long time before us, but had not 
 been able to get any further. We began now to per- 
 form in our turn the same manoeuvres as the other 
 junks, crossing the river from one side to the other. 
 But it was in vain we sailed quite close to the wind, as 
 the sailors say, and that our junk lay almost on her 
 side, we could not succeed ; we were continually driven 
 back, and had to go through the same work all over 
 again. 
 
 For those who are quiet on shore the sight of such 
 manoeuvres is very attractive; we contemplate with 
 interest every movement of the vessel, we follow her 
 progress with anxiety, we calculate her rate of motion, 
 and consider what she will have to do under certain 
 circumstances. When there are several vessels engaged 
 
380 Jol KNKV TJIKOrUIl THli CHINESE EMl'JUK. 
 
 in the .same, way, we compare their relative speed in 
 sailing, their difference of build, and of behavior ; and 
 there is mostly some one in which AVC are, in spite of 
 ourselves, particularly interested. If she excels the 
 rest, we are quite pleased, and as proud as if we had a 
 share in her merit. 
 
 But, to enjoy all this, one must be on shore quite 
 at one's ease, and perhaps smoking a pipe ; for those 
 on board it is quite a different affair, and not at all 
 amusing. The first and even the second time the 
 manoeuvres have to be repeated, one can keep one's 
 patience tolerably well, but then one begins to get 
 tired ; and when the weather is bad, and the naviga-^ 
 tion dangerous when you go on tacking and tacking, 
 without ever advancing a step you really are in dan- 
 ger of losing your temper ; at least, , if you are so un- 
 fortunate as not to be able always to resign your- 
 self to the will of God, in small as well as in great 
 things. 
 
 We had been more than an hour thus tacking about, 
 without any one of the vessels being able to pass the 
 point in question ; but at last, though the gale had in,- 
 creased, some of the junks did succeed in doubling the 
 headland, and disappeared. 
 
 We thought then that our turn was coming, but 
 we were mistaken ; backward and forward we went, 
 always in 'the same track, until all at once a sudden 
 gust seized us, and threw us, not past the point, but on 
 the opposite shore, which, fortunately, was only sand 
 and mud, so that the junk was not broken ; and after 
 the crew had vociferated for a long time, they endeav- 
 ored to get her afloat again. Every one set to work, 
 sailors, Mandarins, and missionaries, and with much 
 toil, in the sweat of our brow, we got her out of the sand, 
 and re-commenced our hopeless manoeuvres. This time 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 381 
 
 we did not even get as far as before, and presently the 
 wind caught us again, and flung us once more on the 
 shore we had just left. 
 
 Prudence now certainly required that we should re- 
 frain for the present from making any new attempt. 
 We tried to convince the master that he would run 
 the risk of losing his junk, as well as drowning us, 
 which would be an unpleasant incident for botli parties. 
 Even supposing that we did manage to get round the 
 point, should we be much better off with the foul wind 
 we should find on the other side ? We were of opin- 
 ion, therefore, that it would be best to wait in patience 
 for a more favorable opportunity. The vanity of our 
 master, however, prevented him from adopting this 
 prudent resolution. He could not bear the idea that 
 all the other junks had passed, and that he should be 
 the only one left behind. He made a horrible noise on 
 board, cursed the sailors, swore at winds and waves, 
 and heaven and earth, and was in a perfect fury. Go 
 on he would, or try to go on, let the wind blow as it 
 might ; so away went the poor junk, tacking to this side 
 and that again, and struggling to do what was impossi- 
 ble, till we were, for the third time, dashed ashore on 
 the sands. 
 
 The master was now at his wit's end, and, rather 
 overpowered than resigned, he gave it up. It was 
 almost dark, too, and it would have been madness to 
 endeavor to reach Kin-tcheou that night, with winds 
 and waves against us. Instead, therefore, of forcing 
 back the boat into the channel of the river, they 
 plunged her still farther into the sand, in order to 
 withdraw her from the action of the waves, which were 
 dashing 'against her side with a fury that threatened 
 every moment to break her to pieces. 
 
 When this operation was over, the junk was lashed 
 
382 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CIIlNKfjK KMI'IIIK. 
 
 to some neighboring trees, by means of strong bamboo 
 cables; the anchors were driven firmly into the ground; 
 in short, all precautions were used to prevent her being 
 carried away again. After this every body tried to 
 settle himself as well as he could for the night. There 
 was neither town nor hamlet near the spot where we 
 had gone aground ; we could only perceive a farm or 
 ivfo scattered about, where we could not hope to pass 
 the night any more comfortably than in our own boat. 
 
 Our dinner, as it may be remembered, had not been 
 very sumptuous, but circumstances were now far more 
 unfavorable to us than they had been at dinner-time. 
 We augured, therefore, that we should sup much worse, 
 and were by no means deceived in our expectations. 
 We had neither a great pyramid of rice, nor salt herbs, 
 nor red pepper. On leaving Song-tche-hien the crew 
 had only provided for a day's voyage ; they had not, 
 indeed, made a very close calculation, and had provided 
 abundantly for their number, but they could not have 
 supposed they would have so large a party, or that our 
 provisions would be likely to fail. There could not, 
 therefore, be much food of any kind on board, and on 
 inspection of the rice sack, it appeared that there was 
 not enough to afford a meal for the crew, who, after the 
 fatigue and trouble they had undergone, must have been 
 greatly in need of it. 
 
 These worthy fellows, nevertheless, generously offered 
 us a part of what there was, but we could not think of 
 taking it ; the rice that these poor people wanted would 
 certainly have done us no good, if we had eaten it. Wo 
 had made up our minds, therefore, resignedly to go to 
 bed without supper, when Master Ting came to whisper 
 to us that there was a cargo of pumpkins on board in 
 the hold. The master, on being interrogated, admitted 
 the fact, and said, that as Song-tche-hien produced 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 383 
 
 enormous pumpkins, one of his friends had commis- 
 sioned him to bring a quantity to the market at Kin- 
 tcheou. We proposed to him to buy them all ; the bar- 
 gain was quickly concluded, and the cargo passed im- 
 mediately from the hold to the kitchen. We had them 
 boiled in large slices in the kettle belonging to the 
 crew, and then distributed among the whole ship's com- 
 pany. So after all we got some supper, taking care to 
 add to our slices of pumpkin a little meditation upon 
 oatmeal. 
 
 The night passed without accident. Every one slept 
 profoundly, except the watchman charged to strike the 
 hours upon the tam-tam, and the next morning at day- 
 break, the crew were all in motion again. The wind 
 had fallen very much, and, what was still better, it had 
 changed its direction. We were, however, a long time 
 in getting afloat again ; for the junk had got so deep 
 into the sand, that it was no easy matter to set ner free. 
 At last we got once more into the channel of the Blue 
 River, and, with the wind behind us, dashed on in full 
 sail toward the port of Kin-tcheou. We were all on 
 deck, enjoying the freshness of the morning, and the 
 pleasure of a smooth and rapid navigation, and contem- 
 plating the rich panorama that was unfolded before our 
 eyes. All the faces that had been so sad and gloomy 
 the evening before, were now radiant and saucy enough. 
 Our Mandarins were once more convinced of the value 
 of a life, which, when they were sea-sick, they were 
 quite ready to part with. Master Ting was exulting to 
 find himself still a member of this breathing world, and 
 would have required very little pressing to act us a play. 
 "Master Ting," said we, "you have, you see, escaped 
 with your life, and you can move about quite well, so 
 you must not forget to fulfill your promise : go and get 
 your opium box, and let us pitch it overboard." He 
 
384 .MM li.NKI TIIU.iM.I! 1I1K CHINKS!'. K.MI'IKK. 
 
 only replied by cutting a caper, saying he had only said 
 that in fun ; and to show how little disposed he was to 
 throw his pipe into the water, he went down and began 
 to smoke with more ardor than ever. 
 
 In the midst of this general enjoyment the master 
 alone was still out of humor. That arrival in port that 
 we were all longing for, was precisely what he dreaded, 
 for he feared to encounter the raillery of the other junks. 
 "How shall I dare to show myself?" he kept repeating. 
 " I have lost my face''' (that is, been dishonored). Vain- 
 ly did we try to encourage him : to all we could say he 
 had but one answer, " I have lost my face I" 
 
 At last we reached the port of Kin-tcheou, and as we 
 entered, there arose a general sensation. All the junks 
 got into motion, shouts were uttered, arms extended, 
 the tam-tam sounded from every quarter ! Our skipper 
 could not stand this : it was evidently nothing but 
 raillery and sarcasm. Very soon our junk was sur- 
 rounded by little boats, and the most curious of their 
 occupants began to climb on board, and then we learned 
 the real cause of these lively demonstrations, which 
 were by no means satirical, but cordially congratulative. 
 They had believed us lost. The greater part of the 
 junks that had made the point, which AVC had endeav- 
 ored in vain to pass, had suffered shipwreck on the other 
 side, in the midst of a tremendous gale. 
 
 Those that had arrived in port were entirely disman- 
 tled ; they had announced that we were coming, and as 
 we had not appeared, every body was persuaded that we 
 had been swallowed by the waves. The numerous mis- 
 fortunes that they related to us, with many lamentable 
 details, made us wonder at and bless the goodness of 
 God toward us. , It was indeed providential that we had 
 run aground three times, for we had been thus prevented 
 from reaching the point of danger. What we had re- 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 385 
 
 garded as a trial, was in truth a blessing of God, an evi- 
 dence of his goodness and mercy. While we were en- 
 deavoring to resign ourselves to what we thought a dis- 
 appointment, we ought to have been returning thanks 
 for a signal benefit. In many events of life men com- 
 mit the same mistake, and are deceived by false appear- 
 ances. We often see them inconsiderately yielding 
 themselves a prey to gloom and sadness, when they' 
 should calmly bless the perpetual watchfulness of Prov- 
 idence over them. 
 
 The joy that we felt- at having so wonderfully escaped 
 shipwreck was not, however, unmingled with grief. Our 
 two transport boats that we had been so jealous of, be- 
 cause they had got before us, had been lost ; the one had 
 been wrecked upon the reefs that border the shore, the 
 other had foundered and gone down, when quite near the 
 port. Three men were drowned, two soldiers and the 
 Head Secretary of the prefect of Song-tche-hien. The 
 others had been saved by the mariners of Kin-tcheou, 
 who had hastened to their assistance on their little bam- 
 boo rafts. 
 
 After listening to these melancholy details, we made 
 what haste we could to the communal palace, whither 
 our poor shipwrecked men had been taken ; and on en- 
 tering the court-yard we saw a great display of clothes 
 spread to dry in the sun, hung to doors and windows, 
 or stretched upon cords. Our first care was to pay a 
 visit to the proprietors of these garments. We found 
 them lying on mats in the great hall, and wrapped in 
 coverings that had been sent to them from the tribunal. 
 When we entered they were as must astonished as if 
 they had seen so many ghosts appear; no doubt they 
 had supposed us drowned, and by this time thought no 
 more of us. The irreproachable condition of our cos- 
 tume especially seemed to surprise them. Being dry 
 VOL. I.R 
 
886 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 from head to foot, we did not look at all like men who 
 came from the bottom of the Blue River; but a fc.w 
 words served to explain how very fortunate for us h.-id 
 been our vexations of the preceding evening. We vis- 
 ited all the men in succession, and did not find one 
 dangerously ill ; they were only much exhausted, and 
 in need of repose. 
 
 What troubled them most was the loss of their little 
 baggage. They had saved from the shipwreck nothing 
 but the garments that were drying in the sun, not even 
 their pipes, which had disappeared in the tempest. 
 This loss, however, the authorities of Kin-tcheou had 
 hastened to make good, by sending each of them a pipe, 
 and an abundant provision of tobacco immediately. A 
 Chinese can not remain long without smoking, moro 
 especially when he is in grief. We soothed our ship-* 
 wrecked mariners by promising to endeavor to come to 
 some arrangement with the Mandarin of the town by 
 which their losses might be repaired before leaving Kin- 
 tcheou. 
 
 But what could not be repaired was the death of the 
 two soldiers, and of the secretary. What a blow it 
 would be for the good prefect when he should learn this 
 catastrophe ! The thought that this kind old man would 
 be made responsible for this fatal accident grieved us 
 deeply. We knew the customs of the Chinese, and that 
 this death would in all probability be the cause of much 
 persecution to him. The relations of the secretary would 
 not fail to profit by the event, to demand enormous 
 damages. We could fancy we saw them now, rushing 
 to the tribunal with loud lamentations, tearing their 
 luiir, rending their garments, and demanding their rela- 
 tive with great outcries. It was evident that the Prefect 
 of Song-tche-hien was in no way guilty of this misfor- 
 tune; nothing could be imputed to him, but no matter. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 387 
 
 The man had been in his service, he was responsible for 
 him, he must restore him to his family. " He is dead," 
 you may say ; " the victim of an accident." 
 
 "We, his relations, know nothing about that," will 
 be the reply. "He was at your house yesterday; to- 
 day he has disappeared. You must restore him to us, 
 you must answer for him, life for life ; or, if you do not 
 wish to have a lawsuit commenced against you, and 
 to be accused of homicide, let us come to some agree- 
 ment." Such a circumstance is often enough to inter- 
 rupt the career of a Mandarin, and ruin him completely. 
 
 Such is the way they manage these matters in China, 
 if not always, at least very often, and this monstrous 
 abuse proceeds, perhaps, from an excellent principle, 
 which is the safeguard of the lives of many men. This 
 principle is that of rigorous responsibility of the supe- 
 rior for the inferior ; but at present the Chinese carry it 
 to a vicious extreme, and, driven by their insatiable 
 cupidity, they find means to pervert even the best in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 We could never find out what was the result of this 
 affair. We hope, however, that the popularity enjoyed 
 by the Prefect of Song-tche-hien, and possibly also the 
 integrity of the Secretary's family, may have preserved 
 him from much harassing. We should be grieved in- 
 deed to think that this most worthy and venerable Man- 
 darin should have fallen into serious trouble in endeav- 
 oring to provide for our comfort. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Chinese City in a State of Siege Nautical Sports on the Blue River 
 Quarrel between Victors and Vanquished Civil War at Kin-tcheon 
 Glance at the military Strength of the Chinese Empire Discovery 
 of two Soldiers in the Residence of the Missionary Description of 
 an extraordinary Review of Troops Policy of the Mantchon Dy- 
 nasty with respect to Soldiers Chinese Navy Cause of the Want 
 of Bravery in the Chinese during the last War with the English 
 Resources of the Empire for the Formation of a good Army and a 
 powerful Navy A Great Reformer needed Departure from Kin- 
 tcheou Route by Land Great Heat Journey during the Night by 
 Torch and Lantern. 
 
 t 
 
 SINCE we had left the frontiers of Thibet, our pas- 
 sage through every Chinese town had been a kind of 
 little event; the Mandarins and the people, every one 
 we met, seemed anxious about the Europeans who had 
 been to Lha-ssa; they crowded to see them, sometimes 
 they even got up a little riot in their honor, and were 
 sometimes so excited as to fail in respect to the author- 
 ities. Our arrival at Kin-tcheou, following that of a 
 number of shipwrecked mariners, could not but excite 
 still more the curiosity of the inhabitants of this great 
 town ; and the uproarious reception we had met with in 
 the port induced us still more to expect a great scjisa- 
 1 ion in the town. But we were quite mistaken ; we 
 passed unnoticed, and nobody seemed to trouble them- 
 selves about us. The reason of this was, that Kin- 
 tcheou was at the moment the scene of an important 
 event that left little room for curiosity in the minds of 
 the inhabitants. The town was, so to speak, in a state 
 of siege, in consequence of a bloody battle that had 
 taken place two days before, between the Chinese and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 389 
 
 the Mantchou Tartars. When we entered, all was calm 
 and gloomy. We traversed long streets that were silent 
 and almost deserted; the shops were closed, or only 
 half open, the few persons whom we met hurried along 
 with rapid steps, sometimes forming little groups in 
 which they spoke in a low voice, and with great anima- 
 tion. We saw that all minds were in a state of fer- 
 mentation, every thing seemed to breathe of civil war. 
 
 This conflict between the Chinese and the Tartars 
 had had its origin in some nautical sports. It is cus- 
 tomary in China, at certain seasons of the year, to have 
 junk races, and for the towns near navigable rivers, and 
 the sea-ports, this is an occasion of great rejoicing ; the 
 magistrates, and sometimes the rich merchants of the 
 locality, distribute prizes to the victors ; and those who 
 wish to enter the lists organize themselves into a com- 
 pany, and appoint a chief. The junks that serve for 
 these games are very long and narrow, so that there is 
 only just room for two benches of rowers; they are 
 mostly richly carved and ornamented with gilding and 
 designs 4 in bright colors. The prow and the poop re- 
 present the head and tail of the Imperial Dragon ; they 
 are therefore called loung-tchouan, that is to say, dragon 
 boats. They are hung with silks and tinsel, and along 
 their whole length are displayed numerous streamers ; 
 bright red pennants float in the wind : and on each side 
 of the little mast that supports the national flag are 
 placed two men, who never leave off striking the tam- 
 tam, and executing rolls on the drum, while the marin- 
 ers, leaning over their oars, row on vigorously, and make 
 the dragon junk skim rapidly along the surface of the 
 waters. 
 
 While these elegant boats are contending with one 
 another, the people throng the quays, the shore, the 
 roofs of the neighboring houses, and the vessels that are 
 
890 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 lying in the port. They animate the rowers by their 
 cries and plaudits ; they let off lire-works ; they perform 
 at various points deafening music, in which the sono- 
 rous noise of the tam-tam, and the sharp sound of a sort 
 of clarionet giving perpetually the same note, predomi- 
 nate over all the rest. The Chinese relish this infernal 
 harmony. 
 
 It happens sometimes that a dragon boat is upset in 
 a moment, and emptied of its double line of rowers ; but 
 the crowd greets the incident Avith a shout of laughter ; 
 nobody is at all disturbed, for the men who row are 
 always good swimmers. You soon see them emerge 
 from beneath the water, sw T imming about in all direc- 
 tions to catch their oars again, and their rattan helmets ; 
 the water springs up beneath their abrupt and rapid 
 movements, you might take them for a troop of por- 
 poises disporting in the middle of the waves. When 
 every man has found his oar and his hat again, the 
 dragon boat is placed once more on her keel, the stream- 
 ers are put to rights as well as circumstances will per- 
 mit, and then comes the grand difficulty of how to get 
 into her again ; but these people are so agile, adroit, and 
 supple, that they always manage it somehow. The 
 public has often the satisfaction of witnessing these 
 little accidents on fete days, for the boats are so frail 
 and light that the slightest fault in the movements of 
 the rowers may capsize them. 
 
 These nautical games last for several days together, 
 and are continued from morning till night, the specta- 
 tors remaining faithfully at their posts all the time. The 
 ambulatory kitchens and the dealers in provisions cir- 
 culate through all parts of the crowd to feed this im- 
 mense multitude, which, under pretext of having no reg- 
 ular meal at home that day, is eating and drinking con- 
 tinually, while rope-dancers, jugglers, pickpockets, and 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 391 
 
 thieves of every species, profit by the opportunity to 
 turn their talents to account, and vary the amusements 
 of the day. The official fete is terminated by the dis- 
 tribution of the prizes, and the rowers wind up with 
 merrymaking, and sometimes also with quarreling and 
 fighting. 
 
 This had taken place at Kin-tcheou a few days before 
 our arrival. As it is the most important garrison town 
 of Hou-pe, the soldiers and sailors are there in great 
 numbers. During the celebration of the last nautical 
 games, the Chinese and Mantchous had divided them- 
 selves into two camps, and had long disputed the prize 
 for the dragon boats ; but the Mantchou Tartars had 
 at last gained the victory, and this had been solemnly 
 proclaimed with unaccustomed formalities by the prin- 
 cipal Mandarins of the garrison, so that the vanity of 
 the Chinese had been much wounded. Pieces of silk, 
 jars of wine, roast and boiled pigs, and a certain sum 
 of money, had been distributed to the victors, who di- 
 vided among them the money and the silk, and then ar- 
 ranged an immense banquet for the consumption of the 
 pigs and the wine. 
 
 In these banquets it is usual for the defeated party to 
 drink to the health of the conquerors, and the ceremony 
 is gone through as it ought to be among good comrades ; 
 after these few cups of wine have been drunk in the pre- 
 scribed manner, a fusion of the two parties is effected, 
 and victors and vanquished take their places indiscrim- 
 inately at the table. On this occasion, however, the 
 Chinese, who had long borne ill will to the Tartars, 
 drank to them with a very bad grace ; there were even, 
 it is said, injurious expressions uttered, and murmurs 
 against the partiality of the judges of the nautical race. 
 By degrees a quarrel arose, and the Tartars, excited by 
 wine and the taunts of the Chinese, thought proper to 
 
392 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CIIINKSK EMI'IIU*. 
 
 remind their adversaries that they were the masters of 
 China, and that the conquered owed respect and obedi- 
 ence to the conquering race. The battle then began, 
 and some of the Chinese were soon stretched dead and 
 horribly mangled on the ground. Immediately the agi- 
 tation spread over the whole town ; the Chinese rushed 
 about tumultuously without knowing very well where 
 they were going, but uttering frightful cries. Without 
 having lived in the midst of such a population as this, 
 it is scarcely possible to conceive the disorder and con- 
 fusion that reign in a Chinese town in times of trouble. 
 While the Chinese were vociferating and rushing 
 about the streets of Kin-tcheou, the Tartars had taken 
 refuge in their cantonments, called the Tartar town, 
 where is the palace of the kiang-kiun, or commandant 
 general of the military division of the province. This 
 important post is always occupied by a Tartar. The 
 Mantchous concentrated themsc'vc.; to the number, it is 
 said, of 20,000, in the tribunal of their grand Mandarin, 
 and then they barricaded all the gates. The Chinese, 
 persuaded that they were afraid of them, poured into 
 the Tartar town, and surrounded the tribunal as if to 
 besiege it. A general attack commenced, not indeed 
 with murderous weapons, but with thousands of voices, 
 furiously demanding to have delivered up to them a 
 number of Mantchous equal to the Chinese who had 
 been killed, in order that they might revenge themselves 
 upon them by killing and mutilating them at discretion. 
 While they were making these demands, which, horri- 
 ble as they were, were nevertheless in accordance with 
 Chinese custom, not a sound was heard from the inte- 
 rior of the tribunal, not one of the besieged was to be 
 seen. The Chinese, more and more persuaded that 
 they were become formidable to the Tartars, resolved to 
 break open the gates. At the first attempt, however, 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 393 
 
 the gates were abruptly flung back, and the Mantchous 
 rushed out, pouring a hail of balls and arrows over the 
 unarmed multitude, and then throwing themselves upon 
 them sword in hand. The rash assailants scoured nim-^ 
 bly back to their quarters, and hurried into their houses, 
 not forgetting to shut the door ; and doubtless not prom- 
 ising themselves to begin again to-morrow ; but about 
 thirty Chinese were left dead upon the spot, and the 
 number of wounded was very considerable. 
 
 On the two following days there was no new collis- 
 ion, for every one prudently remained at home ; but 
 the still and lugubrious aspect the town presented when 
 we entered it, denoted that the public mind was still 
 a prey to great anxiety, and that under this apparent 
 calm were brooding irreconcilable antipathy and hatred. 
 Immediately after the murderous affair that had taken 
 place at the gates of the Tartar tribunal, the military 
 commandant and the prefect of the town had each sent 
 off dispatches to Pekin^ in which the events were doubt- 
 less represented in a very different manner. A decis- 
 ion was now expected from the capital, and it was gen- 
 erally supposed that the Chinese would be reprimanded, 
 the Mantchou general recalled, but only to be sent to a 
 better post, and that then the matter would be allowed 
 to drop. 
 
 It may be conceived that in such circumstances, it 
 would have been an easy thing for the Chinese of Kin- 
 tcheou to exterminate this handful of Mantchous. It 
 was only necessary to surround them, and drive them 
 in one upon another to suffocate them. -After the first 
 charge that took place at the gate of the tribunal, if 
 that innumerable multitude had not run away, the Man- 
 tchous would have been lost, but, as we have already 
 remarked, the Chinese are unorganized, without chiefs, 
 and therefore without strength or courage. There is no 
 
 R* 
 
394 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIKK. 
 
 one to communicate an impulse to the whole body ; every 
 one has to give it to himself, and it consequently has 
 reference only to his private interest, and never to that 
 of the public. 
 
 The government maintains in some of the most im- 
 portant towns of each province of the Empire a garri- 
 son composed in great part of Mantchou soldiers, under 
 the command of a great military Mandarin, who belongs 
 also to this nation. His power can not be controlled 
 by any civil functionary, not even by the Viceroy of the 
 province. He corresponds directly with the Emperor, 
 and it is to him alone he is responsible for his adminis- 
 tration. This body of troops remains entirely separate 
 from the population in every toAvn where they are sta- 
 tioned, and the quarter they inhabit bears the name of 
 the Tartar town. 
 
 With the exception of these bands of Tartar soldiers 
 in some of the towns, you may traverse the provinces 
 in every direction without being sensible of the presence 
 of the Mantchou element in the population. You see 
 only Chinese, who are entirely absorbed in the interests 
 of commerce, industry, and agriculture, while the foreign 
 soldiers are guarding the frontiers, and watching over 
 the public tranquillity. The Tartars really seem, in 
 fact, less like a conquering people than an auxiliary 
 tribe that has obtained by its valor and its victories the 
 privilege of mounting guard in the Empire. The ad- 
 ministrative influence has remained with the Chinese ; 
 it is they who fill the greatest number of civil offices ; 
 and if they have been conquered by the Mantchous, they 
 have imposed on their conquerors their language, their 
 manners, their civilization, and, in a great measure, their 
 customs. 
 
 Having but recently issued from the forests and 
 steppes, where they led a nomadic life, maintaining 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 395 
 
 themselves by their flocks and the chase, the Tartars 
 could not but yield to the influence of the celebrated 
 country into which they had opened for themselves a 
 way, partly by valor, but still more by stratagem and 
 perfidy. They were willing to leave the details of gov- 
 ernment to the Chinese, since they had taste, talent, 
 and experience for them ; but they have always taken 
 good care to retain in their own hands the direction of 
 the land and sea forces. The administration of the War 
 Department has always remained exclusively in the 
 hands of the Tartars. 
 
 It is impossible to make even an approximate calcu- 
 lation of the strength of the Chinese army in ordinary 
 times, for of course we can not speak of its actual state, 
 which must have undergone most important modifica- 
 tions during the progress of the present formidable 
 insurrection. According to the official Almanac, the 
 total number of troops maintained by the Emperor 
 amounts to no less than one million two hundred and 
 thirty-two thousand Chinese, Mantchous or Mongols, 
 quartered in the interior of the Empire, as well as 
 thirty-one thousand sailors. Such a figure as this is evi- 
 dently too high, and a mere calculation of the Chinese 
 Almanac. We traversed China in all directions for 
 several years, and could not help asking ourselves where 
 was this mighty army, of which we nowhere saw any 
 signs ? China is doubtless a vast country, its popula- 
 tion greater than that of all Europe put together ; yet if 
 the soldiers were as numerous as they are said to be, it 
 would still be possible to see something of them. Now, 
 with the exception of the towns already mentioned, 
 where there are some organized and stationary troops, 
 we never saw any but the militia necessary for the 
 service of the tribunals. M. Tembowski, who in 1821 
 conducted a Russian embassy to Pekin, collected the 
 
:;..(-, JOUKNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 most exact information possible concerning the effective 
 force of the Chinese army ; and the total amount lie 
 gives is that of 740,900 men, including Chinese, Mant- 
 chous and Mongols. It is probable that this statement 
 is much nearer the truth, at least as far as relates to 
 the number of soldiers registered as belonging to the 
 army ; but it by no means follows that there are in 
 China actually seven hundred thousand men on active 
 military service. We believe that even this num- 
 ber must be reduced two thirds, if we wish to get at 
 the number of men who really follow the trade of 
 arms. 
 
 We have ourselves lived long enough in Tartary to 
 become acquainted with what are called the Mongol 
 troops ; they are composed of nomadic shepherds, who 
 pass their lives in keeping their flocks, and never 
 trouble themselves about military exercises. They 
 have indeed in their tents a long matchlock, and some- 
 times a bow and arrows, but they make use of them 
 only to kill yellow goats and pheasants. If they have 
 a lance, they never touch it but to run after the wolves 
 that make war upon their flocks of sheep ; for this 
 Mongol division of the Imperial army consists of fam- 
 ilies of shepherds, including infirm old men and infants 
 at the breast ; they are all counted in, as every male is 
 born a soldier, and begins immediately on his birth to 
 receive his pay. 
 
 The Chinese troops are almost as fictitious as the 
 Mongols. Their number is estimated at five hundred 
 thousand men, but they are composed chiefly of artisans 
 and laborers living in the midst of their families, and 
 occupying themselves quite at their ease with the culti- 
 vation of their fields, or with working at their trade, 
 without appearing to suspect the least in the world that 
 they belong to the class of warriors. From time to 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 397 
 
 time, they have to put on what passes for a uniform 
 when they are summoned to a general review, or re- 
 quired to go and root out gangs of thieves. But apart 
 from these rare occasions, when also they can generally 
 find a substitute for a few sapecks, they are left in per- 
 fect tranquillity at home. As, however, they are all 
 counted as soldiers, and the Emperor has the right to 
 convoke them in case of war, they receive annually a 
 small sum, very insufficient though for them to live 
 upon, if they did not add to it the produce of their daily 
 toil. 
 
 In certain localities, regarded as the strong places 
 in the Empire, all the inhabitants are enrolled in this 
 manner. 
 
 During the last year of our former abode in China, 
 we were once charged with the care of a little Mission 
 in a southern province. There was a chapel to cele- 
 brate the holy mysteries, and assemble the neophytes 
 in the hours of prayer and religious instruction ; near 
 the chapel a small house with a garden, the whole sur- 
 rounded by great trees, a high flint wall, and thickets 
 of bamboo. We lived in this retreat with two Chinese, 
 one about thirty years old, the other nearly twice that 
 age. The first bore the title of Catechist ; he assisted 
 us in the functions of the holy ministry, overlooked our 
 small house-keeping, and instructed the Christian chil- 
 dren and the catechumens in the manner of chanting the 
 public prayers. In his moments of leisure, which were 
 not a few, he occupied himself with sewing, for in fact 
 he was by trade a tailor. He was a very worthy fel- 
 low, of gentle, quiet manners, uttering very few un- 
 necessary words, and only rather too fond of medicine 
 and medical books. This mania had come to him be- 
 cause, from seeing himself always pale, meagre and 
 miserable-looking, he thought he must be ill, and that 
 
398 JOUKNEY T11KOUUII THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 he would like to doctor himself, and had consequently 
 plunged into the study of medicine. 
 
 The elder Chinese had no official title in the Mission ; 
 but he looked after a great many things concerning the 
 cleanliness and good order of the chapel and the presby- 
 tery, and the digging and watering of the garden, where 
 he succeeded more or less in raising a few flowers and 
 vegetables. He was also our cook, when there was 
 any tiling to be cooked, and he had besides the self- 
 imposed duty of holding long conversations with all 
 who came to our abode, and his generosity in offering 
 tea and tobacco made him very popular. He had formerly 
 been a smith, and since his new functions were not very 
 well denned, we had continued to call him Siao, the smith. 
 
 One day these two companions of our solitude pre- 
 sented themselves in our chamber with a certain air of 
 solemnity, to ask our advice. An inspector extraordi- 
 nary had, it appeared, arrived from Pekin, and there 
 was shortly to be a general review. What the old smith 
 and the tailor wanted to know, was whether they should 
 go to it. " That must depend upon yourselves," replied 
 we ; "if you think it will amuse you, and that you like 
 to go, we will keep the house. We do not care to see 
 the show; we saw quite enough of those things in the 
 north of the Empire." 
 
 "We have never been there yet," said the cateclust; 
 " we have always been able to get off easily ; but they 
 say the new inspector is strict in requiring every one 
 to come. Every body that does not will be put down, 
 and then condemned to 500 strokes of the rattan and a 
 heavy fine." 
 
 We thought this inspector must be the most extraor- 
 dinary man we had ever heard of, to require every body 
 to come and see his review under pain of 500 strokes of 
 the rattan and a heavy fine. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 399 
 
 "Why, if that be the case," said we, "we must go 
 too." 
 
 " Our Spiritual Father may go to see it if he pleases, 
 but we soldiers of the Emperor are bound to be pres- 
 ent." 
 
 "You soldiers!" we exclaimed, contemplating our 
 two Christians from head to foot. We thought we must 
 have misunderstood them, and that they had said " sub- 
 jects of the Emperor;" but not at all, they were really 
 soldiers, and had been for a long time. For more than 
 two years that we had known them we had never had 
 the smallest suspicion of the fact, though this does little 
 credit to our sagacity; for when there had been any 
 reviews, exercises, or forced labor, they had been in 
 the habit of going away, and leaving as their substitutes 
 any persons they happened to meet with. Our catcchist 
 confessed to me, nevertheless, that he had never touched 
 a gun in his life, and that he should be afraid to do so. 
 He did not think he should have courage to fire off a 
 cracker. 
 
 Being now sufficiently enlightened as to the true social 
 position of these two functionaries of the Mission, we 
 told them that as they bore the title of soldiers and 
 received the pay they must fulfill the duties, at least on 
 extraordinary occasions ; that the threat of the rattan 
 and the fine was an unequivocal proof of the will of the 
 Emperor on the subject, and that, as Christians, they 
 were specially bound to set a good example of obedience 
 and patriotism. It was then agreed that they should 
 go where honor called, and on our side we determined 
 to be present at a display which promised to be so mag- 
 nificent. 
 
 The appointed day having come, our two veterans 
 of the Imperial Army took, at an early hour, a very 
 solid "breakfast, and emptied a large jug of hot wine to 
 
400 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMI'lUE. 
 
 keep up their spirits. After this they set about dis- 
 guising themselves as soldiers. This did not take 
 long. They had but to substitute for their little black 
 caps a straw hat of a conical shape, with a tuft of 
 red silk at the top, and to put on over their ordinary 
 clothes a black tunic with a broad red border. This 
 tunic had, before and behind, an escutcheon of white 
 linen, upon which was drawn, very large, the character 
 jping, meaning soldier. The precaution was by no 
 means a useless one, for without such a ticket one 
 might easily have made a mistake. This little tailor, 
 for instance, with his pallid face, feeble diminutive body, 
 and tearful looking eyes, always modestly cast down, 
 had not such a decidedly martial aspect that there was 
 no mistaking him ; but now when you looked either at 
 his breast or his back there was the inscription, as plain 
 as possible, "this is a soldier," and you knew what he 
 was meant for. 
 
 . When their costume was quite complete, our two 
 heroes took, the one a gun and the other a bow, and 
 set off for the field of Mars. The very moment they 
 were gone we locked our street door, and set off after 
 them to see what was to be seen. 
 
 This great military display was to take place outside 
 the town in an immense sandy plain, to which the war- 
 riors were already hastening in little groups, accoutred 
 in various ways according to the banner they belonged 
 to; their arms, which did not trouble themselves to 
 gleam in the sun, were also in great variety; there 
 were guns, bows, pikes, sabres, pitchforks, and saws 
 fastened to the end of a long handle, as well as rattans, 
 shields, and iron culverins, which had for a carriage the 
 shoulders of two individuals. In the midst of this med- 
 ley there was, nevertheless, one thing in which the 
 army displayed the most admirable uniformity. Every 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 401 
 
 man without exception had a pipe and a fan. As to 
 the umbrella, that did not seem to be strictly according 
 to regulation, for those who carried umbrellas also were 
 in a minority. 
 
 At one extremity of the field there was raised, on a 
 slight elevation of the ground, a platform shaded by 
 an immense red parasol and ornamented with banners, 
 streamers, and some large lanterns that did not seem 
 particularly necessary, as the sun was shining in full 
 splendor; but perhaps they were intended to be sym- 
 bolical, and to signify to the soldiers that they were in 
 the presence of enlightened judges. 
 
 The Inspector Extraordinary of the Imperial Army, 
 and the principal civil and military Mandarins of the 
 town, were on the platform, seated in arm-chairs before 
 little tables covered with tea things and boxes filled 
 with excellent tobacco. In one corner was a seryant 
 holding a lighted match, not, however, to fire cannon 
 with, but to light pipes; and at various points of the 
 field we saw formidable detached forts made of bamboo 
 and painted paper. The moment arrived to begin. A 
 little culverin that stood near the platform was fired off, 
 the military judges covering their ears with their hands 
 to protect them from the frightful detonation; then a 
 yellow flag was hoisted to the top of one of the forts, 
 the tam-tams sounded a furious charge, and the sol- 
 diers rushed together pell-mell, uttering terrible cries 
 and grouping themselves round the flag of their com- 
 pany; then they seemed to be trying to get into some 
 sort of order, in which they were not very successful, 
 and after that they had a mimic fight, and the melee, 
 which was certainly the most effective, soon followed. 
 It is impossible to imagine any thing more whimsical 
 and comic than the evolutions of the Chinese soldiers ; 
 they advance, draw back, leap, pirouette, cut capers, 
 
402 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 crouch behind their shields, as if to watch the enemy, 
 then jump up again, distribute blows right and left, and 
 then run away with all their might, crying "Victory! 
 victory!" 
 
 One would really take them for an Army of mounte- 
 banks, every one of which was playing tricks in his own 
 fashion. We saw many soldiers who did nothing what- 
 ever but run sometimes to one side, sometimes to the 
 other, probably because they did not know very well 
 what to do else ; and we could not get it out of our 
 heads that our two Cliristian warriors belonged to this 
 class. 
 
 All the time the battle lasted two officers, placed at 
 each extremity of the platform, were continually shaking 
 a standard, and indicating by the greater or less ra- 
 pidity of their movements the degree of heat of the 
 action. Whenever the flags stopped the combatants 
 stopped too, and then every one returned to his post, 
 or somewhere near it, for they are not too exact in these 
 matters. 
 
 After the grand battle there were manoeuvres of cer- 
 tain chosen companies, who appeared tolerably well ex- 
 ercised, though even their evolutions had an extremely 
 whimsical character. 
 
 The English artillery must have had easy work with 
 enemies whose chief skill consists in cutting capers and 
 balancing themselves a long time on one leg in the man- 
 ner of the Hindoo penitents. Afterward the fusiliers and 
 archers went through their exercise in a very creditable 
 manner. 
 
 The Chinese muskets have no stock; they have 
 merely a handle like a pistol, and when you lire you 
 do not rest the weapon against the shoulder ; you hold 
 it on the right side about the height of the hip, and be- 
 fore drawing the trigger, which contains a lighted match, 
 
JOURXEY THKOUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 408 
 
 you content yourself with fixing your eyes well on the 
 object you mean to aim at. We have remarked that 
 this method was very successful, which would go to 
 prove, perhaps, that it is less necessary to keep your 
 eye on the end of your weapon than on the mark you 
 wish to hit, exactly as you would do in throwing a 
 stone. 
 
 The most amusing thing in the whole review was un- 
 questionably the firing with the small culverins. We 
 have said that these pieces have no carriages ; they are 
 borne solemnly by two soldiers, having each an end of 
 the culverin leant on his left shoulder, and keeping it in 
 its place with his right hand. Nothing can be imagined 
 more comic than the faces of these poor fellows when 
 the machine was to be fired. They took pride in show- 
 ing a magnanimous serenity on the occasion, and it was 
 easy to see that they were making immense efforts to be 
 quite at their ease ; but the position was critical, and 
 the muscles of their faces would take such unaccustomed 
 forms that they produced the most astounding grimaces. 
 The Imperial Government in its paternal solicitude for 
 these poor human gun-carriages, orders that, before the 
 firing, their ears shall be carefully stuffed with cotton ; 
 and, although at considerable distance, it was easy for 
 us to see that on this occasion the injunction had been 
 liberally obeyed ; but under these circumstances it may 
 be imagined that it is not very easy to take aim correct- 
 ly, and the Chinese seldom trouble themselves with at- 
 tempting it. The ball goes where it likes, but during 
 these exercises the artillerists were prudent enough to 
 fire with powder only. 
 
 In the wars in Tartary, or any other countries where 
 there are camels, it appears that these quadrupeds are 
 made to form a battery, by placing the culverins between 
 their humps. In a series of pictures representing the 
 
404 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMl'IUI.. 
 
 campaigns of the Emperor Khang-lii in the country of 
 the Oeleuts, we saw many of these camel batteries ; and 
 it may be supposed from this specimen of management, 
 how much difficulty European troops are likely to expe- 
 rience in a war Avith the Chinese. The review ended 
 with a general attack on the forts, which it is impossible 
 for us to give an account of, as we understood absolutely 
 nothing of the proceedings. All we know is, that long 
 and unimaginable evolutions were performed, and that 
 at several periods a most deafening clamor was raised. 
 At length the banners ceased to be shaken, the judges 
 on the platform rose shouting "victory!" the whole 
 army repeated the acclamation three times, and one of 
 our neighbors, who doubtless understood what had taken 
 place, informed us that all the forts without exception 
 had been carried with astonishing intrepidity. 
 
 We returned to our residence, to which our two 
 heroes, covered with dust, sweat, and glory, speedily 
 followed us. We questioned them a good deal about 
 the military exercises they had been performing with so 
 much success ; but they could give us no very precise 
 information ; they could not even tell what part they 
 had themselves played in all this brilliant aftair ; and, 
 according to them, two-thirds of the soldiers were not 
 better informed than themselves. They had merely fol- 
 lowed and imitated the movements of a few select com- 
 panies. It is evident, therefore, that a pretty consider- 
 able reduction may be made from the force of 500,000 
 men composing what is called the Chinese division of 
 the army. 
 
 The number of Mantchou troops is estimated at 
 60,000 men. These soldiers, we believe, are habitually 
 under arms, and are assiduous in their profession. The 
 government watches over them with great anxiety, for 
 the Emperor has a strong interest in not allowing these 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 405 
 
 troops to stagnate in inaction ; lie takes care that they 
 shall preserve at least something of the warlike charac- 
 ter to which they owe their conquest of the Empire. 
 They are treated, it is said, with considerable severity, 
 the smallest infraction of rules or neglect of duty is rig- 
 orously punished, while the Chinese or Mongol troops 
 are left nearly to do as they like. It is not improbable 
 that the reigning dynasty favors, up to a certain point, 
 the ignorance and inactivity of the Chinese and Mon- 
 gols, in order to preserve the relative superiority of the 
 Mantchous, and to retain an easy means of defense in 
 in case of sedition or revolt. If the 500,000 Chinese 
 soldiers were trained to the management of arms and 
 military discipline as well as the Mantchous, a moment 
 would suffice to sweep the conquering race from the 
 Chinese soil.* 
 
 The navy of the Chinese Empire is about on a level 
 with its land forces ; it is composed of about 30,000 
 sailors, distributed over a considerable number of war 
 junks. These vessels, very high in the prow and poop, 
 of a rude construction, and rigged with sails of bamboo 
 matting, are very difficult to manoeuvre, and incapable 
 of undertaking long voyages. They merely, indeed, run 
 along the coasts, and up and down the great rivers, to 
 chase the pirates, who appear to have very little fear of 
 them. The forms of the war junks, and especially of 
 those found in the interior of the Empire, are very vari- 
 ous. It is to be observed, that, with some few excep- 
 tions, the Blue River has always been the principal the- 
 atre of the naval battles sustained by the Chinese. At 
 the time when the Empire was divided into two, these 
 battles were very numerous. 
 
 The names borne by these junks seem sometimes in- 
 
 * We did not think it right to alter any of these remarks, which 
 were written before the Chinese insurrection. 
 
406 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 1 ended to give an idea of their form; thus the Centipede 
 is the name of one with three rows of oars, representing 
 Ihe numerous feet of that hideous insect; the Hawk's 
 Beak has the two extremities equally curved, and each 
 provided with a helm, so that they can move backward 
 or forward without going about. The Four- Wheeled 
 junk lias two wheels at the prow and two at the stern, 
 which are turned by two men with a crank. These 
 Avheeled vessels are said to be of great antiquity, and 
 there only needed the application of steam power to 
 give this ingenious people ages ago the discovery of 
 Fulton. 
 
 i The whimsicality of the paintings with which they 
 arc decorated is another peculiarity of these junks. An 
 attempt is mostly made to give them the aspect of 
 a fish, a reptile, or a bird. Generally there are two 
 enormous eyes at the prow, charged, doubtless, with 
 the duty of looking fierce to frighten the enemy. All 
 these monstrosities, however, are not so surprising to 
 a stranger, as the disorder and confusion that reigns on 
 board. You find several different households assembled 
 in them, and not unfrequcntly on the deck little houses, 
 absolutely built of masonry. European sailors admire 
 nevertheless one idea in the construction of these ves- 
 sels, that of dividing the bottom into various water- 
 tight compartments, so that a leak can never occasion 
 more than partial damage. It is, perhaps, because this 
 method has been found efficacious, that it has not been 
 thought necessary to have pumps on board. 
 
 The military government of each province, placed 
 like the civil under the direction of the viceroy, has the 
 command of both land and sea forces. In general the 
 Chinese make very little difference between the services, 
 and the various ranks in each have the same names. 
 Tim generals aro railed ti-ton ; they are sixteen in 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 407 
 
 number, and two belong exclusively to the sea service. 
 These superior officers have each their head-quarters, 
 where they assemble the greater part of their brigade, 
 and distribute the rest in the various places under their 
 command. There are, besides, as we have remarked, 
 many fortified places occupied by Tartar troops, and 
 commanded by a Tartar kiang-kiun, who obeys only 
 the Emperor. The admirals, ti-tou, and the vice-ad- 
 mirals, tsoung-ping, reside habitually on shore, and 
 leave the command to inferior officers. The ranks of 
 the military Mandarins correspond to the civil, and are 
 equally conferred in accordance with the result of ex- 
 aminations which candidates have to undergo, either in 
 the provinces or at Pekin, and which are varied with 
 the importance of the degree ; thus there are Bachelors 
 and Doctors in War as well as Bachelors and Doctors 
 of Letters. The aspirants to the military degrees are 
 examined on certain books of tactics, and also especial- 
 ly on their ability to draw the bow, mount on horse- 
 back, raise and throw enormous stones, scale walls, 
 perform feats of strength, and execute a great number 
 of gymnastic exercises, invented to delude and terrify 
 the enemy. Literature is nevertheless not entirely ex- 
 cluded from these examinations ; Bachelors of War are 
 required to be able to explain the classical books, and 
 produce some little literary composition. 
 
 From what we have said, some idea may be formed 
 of the Chinese army. There do not, perhaps, exist in 
 the world more wretched troops, worse equipped, more 
 undisciplined, more insensible to honor, in a word, more 
 completely absurcf; they may be able to crush bands of 
 robbers, or the hordes of Turkestan; but they have 
 proved in the last war with the English that they are 
 quite incapable of resisting European soldiers, even in 
 the proportion of fifty to one. 
 
.ins .liUUNKV THKOUdll THE ('II INKSK K.MHKE. 
 
 This complete nullity of the Chinese army depends 
 on many causes, of which the principal are the long 
 peace the Empire has enjoyed a peace that may be said 
 to have now lasted for several centuries, since the petty 
 Avars in which it has been engaged have been insuffi- 
 cient to revive the warlike spirit the policy of the 
 Mantchou dynasty, which seeks to perpetuate in the 
 Chinese the feebleness that prevents them from shak- 
 ing off its yoke the obstinacy of the government in 
 refusing to admit any reform in the tactics and Aveapons 
 of ancient times ; and finally, the discredit that for 
 some time past has been thrown on the military pro- 
 fession. A soldier is, according to the Chinese expres- 
 sion, an antisapeck man, that is, a man of no value a 
 man whose worth can not be represented by the small- 
 est coin. A military Mandarin is nobody by the side 
 of a civil officer, and can only act according to the im- 
 pulse given to him ; he is the representative of force 
 of brute matter, a machine that must -be guided by the 
 superior intelligence of the literary man. 
 
 These causes, however, are adventitious, and we by 
 no means believe that the Chinese are radically inca- 
 pable of making good soldiers. They are capable, cer- 
 tainly, of much self-devotion and courage. Their annals 
 are as full of traits of heroism as those of the Greeks, 
 the Romans, or any other of the most warlike races. 
 In going through the history of their long revolutions 
 and their intestine wars, you are often struck witli ad- 
 miration at seeing whole populations, men, women, and 
 even children, supporting with heroic fortitude all the 
 horrors of a siege, and defending the w*alls of their cities 
 to the last extremity. How often have the recitals of 
 these grand struggles brought us back to modern times, 
 reminding us of the sublime defense of Saragossa, and 
 of the famous Russian who had the stern and terrible 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 40'J 
 
 courage to reduce Moscow to ashes to save his country. 
 In the first period of the Mantchou dynasty the Chinese 
 had the patriotism and resolution to lay waste their 
 own coasts as far as twenty leagues up the country, 
 and destroy villages and cities, Iburn woods and corn 
 fields ; in fact, to create an immense desert, in order to 
 annihilate the power of a formidable pirate, who for a 
 long time had held in check the whole strength of the* 
 Empire. 
 
 There has been much joking about the manner in 
 which the Chinese soldiers behaved before the English 
 troops. After firing their pieces once, they threw them 
 down, and fled as a flock of sheep might do if a bomb 
 should burst in the midst of them ; and it was thence 
 inferred that the Chinese were men essentially cowardly, 
 deficient in energy, and incapable of fighting; but this 
 judgment appears to us over hasty. In these circum- 
 stances the Chinese soldiers simply showed their good 
 sense. The means of destruction employed by the two 
 parties were so entirely disproportioned, that there could 
 be no room for the display of valor. On one side ar- 
 rows and matchlocks, on the other good muskets, and 
 cannon loaded with grape. When a maritime town was 
 to be destroyed, it was the simplest thing in the world. 
 An English frigate had only to heave-to at the proper 
 distance, and then, while the officers, seated quietly at 
 dinner on the poop-deck, manoeuvred the Champagne and 
 Madeira, the sailors methodically bombarded the town, 
 which, with its wretched cannon could only send a few 
 balls about half way to the enemy's vessel, while their 
 houses and public buildings came tumbling down on all 
 sides as if struck by lightning. The English artillery 
 was for these poor people so terrible, so supernatural a 
 thing, that they at last believed they had to do with 
 beings more than mortal. How could they be expected 
 VOL. L S 
 
410 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 to be brave in so unequal a contest ? An enemy whom 
 they had no means of reaching, was blazing away at 
 them quite at his ease ; what could they do but run 
 away? They did so, and in our opinion they showed 
 their wisdom in so doing. The government alone was to 
 blame, for driving thousands of men almost unarmed and 
 defenseless to a certain and useless death. The English 
 troops are assuredly very brave, but if ever, which God 
 forbid, they should have to defend their country against 
 a European army with nothing better than bows and ar- 
 rows, and matchlocks taken from the Chinese, they 
 would soon, we are convinced, find some of their valor 
 oozing away. 
 
 It may be that it would be possible to find in China 
 
 Jail the elements necessary for organizing the most for- 
 midable army in the world. The Chinese are intelligent, 
 ingenious, and docile. They comprehend rapidly what- 
 ever they are taught, and retain it in their memory. 
 They are persevering, and astonishingly active when 
 they choose to exert themselves, respectful to authority, 
 submissive and obedient, and they would easily accom- 
 modate themselves to all the exigencies of the severest 
 discipline. 
 
 The Chinese possess also a quality most precious in 
 soldiers, and which can scarcely be found as well devel- 
 oped among any other people, namely an incomparable 
 / facility at supporting privations of every kind. 
 
 We have often been astonished to see how they will 
 bear hunger, thirst, heat, cold, the difficulties and fa- 
 tigues of a long march, as if it were mere play. Thus, 
 both morally and physically, they seem capable of meet- 
 ing every demand ; and with respect to numbers they 
 might be enrolled by millions. 
 
 The equipment of this immense army would also be 
 no very hard matter. There would be no occasion to 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 41 1 
 
 have recourse to foreign nations. Their own country- 
 would furnish in abundance all the material that could 
 be desired, as well as workmen without number, quick 
 at comprehending any new invention. 
 
 China would present also inexhaustible resources for 
 a navy. Without speaking of the vast extent of her 
 coasts, along which the numerous population pass the 
 greater part of their lives on the sea, the great rivers 
 and immense lakes in the interior, always covered with 
 fishing and trading junks, might furnish multitudes of 
 men, habituated from their infancy to navigation, nimble, 
 experienced, and capable of becoming excellent sailors 
 for long expeditions. The officers of our ships of war 
 that have visited the Chinese seas have often been aston- 
 ished to meet, far away from any coast, their fishermen 
 braving the tempests, and guiding their miserable vessels 
 in safety over enormous waves that threatened every 
 moment to swallow them. The Chinese would very soon 
 be able to build vessels on the model of those of Europe, 
 and a few years would enable them to put to sea with 
 such a fleet as has never been seen. 
 
 No doubt the reader will think the notion of this im- 
 mense army, this avalanche of men descending from the 
 high table-land of Asia, as in the time of Tchinggis 
 Khan, these innumerable Chinese vessels plowing all 
 seas, and coming even to blockade our ports, an ex- 
 ceedingly fantastic one, and we ourselves are certainly 
 far from thinking it likely to be realized. But when 
 you become thoroughly acquainted with this empire of 
 300 millions of inhabitants, when you know what are 
 the resources in soil and population of these rich and 
 fertile countries, you can not but ask what should prevent 
 such a nation from exercising great influence over the 
 affairs of the human race. What it wants is a man of 
 genius, a man truly great, capable of assimilating the 
 
41^ JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 power and vitality of this nation, more populous than 
 all Europe, and which counts more than thirty centuries 
 of civilization. Should an Emperor arise among them 
 possessed of a great intellect, a will of iron, a reformer 
 determined to come at once to a rupture with the ancient 
 traditions, and initiate his people into the progressive 
 civilization of the West, we believe that the work of 
 regeneration would proceed with rapid strides, and that 
 perhaps those Chinese who now appear such a very 
 ridiculous people, might be thought of somewhat more 
 seriously, and might even occasion mortal uneasiness to 
 those who covet so eagerly the spoils of the ancient 
 nations of Asia. 
 
 The young Mantchou prince who in 1850 ascended 
 the Imperial throne, will probably not be the great and 
 powerful reformer of whom we have spoken. He com- 
 menced his reign by degrading and putting to death the 
 statesmen who, during that of his predecessor, had seen 
 themselves compelled, under the English cannon, to 
 make some concessions to the Europeans. The high 
 dignitaries who form his council have been chosen among 
 the most obstinate partisans of the old regime, and the 
 ancient traditions ; and in place of the tolerant senti- 
 ments manifested by those who opened the five ports, 
 have come all the old traditional antipathies. Every 
 device has been tried to elude the obligation of treaties ; 
 under the influence of the new policy, the relations be- 
 tween the Consuls and the Mandarins have become, em- 
 bittered, and the concessions of the late Emperor almost 
 illusory. 
 
 It is evident to the least clear-sighted, that the object 
 of the Mantchou government is to disgust Europeans, 
 and break off all intercourse with them ; it would gladly 
 have nothing to do with them at any price. China has, 
 however, now been brought too near to Europe for it to 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 413 
 
 be permitted any longer to lead this isolated life in the 
 midst of the world ; and if the Tartar dynasty does not 
 itself take the initiative in a change of policy, it will be 
 forced to it, sooner or later, by its contact with the 
 Western nations, or perhaps by the insurrection that 
 has broken out in the southern provinces, and which, as 
 it has been making the most rapid progress, may any 
 day become a social revolution, and produce a complete 
 change in the aspect of affairs throughout the Empire. 
 Our sojourn in the town of Kin-tcheou, after the riots 
 originating in the nautical games, proved to us that 
 the Mantchous are any thing but popular, and that the 
 Chinese would ask nothing better than an opportunity 
 of shaking them off. 
 
 We stopped two days at Kin-tcheou, to afford our 
 shipwrecked men time for rest, and for restoring, as 
 well as they could, their lost equipments. With the 
 authorities of the town we had only the most indispens- 
 able intercourse. As their attention was entirely occu- 
 pied by the serious events that had taken place, we did 
 not wish to disturb them ; but we succeeded in induc- 
 ing them to indemnify the people of our escort, who had 
 lost their baggage in the Blue River ; and they did so 
 with such unexpected generosity, that the men found 
 themselves richer than they had been before. 
 
 Our last voyage had been so unfortunate that no one 
 had the least wish to make another attempt of the kind ; 
 even Master Ting himself thought it prudent to restrain 
 his accumulative ardor; he seemed to doubt whether 
 the profits he should realize would compensate him for 
 the two-fold danger of drowning and sea-sickness, and 
 to consider that small and sure gains on dry land were, 
 on the whole, a better thing. The Mandarins of Kin- 
 tcheou, also, would have scarcely been willing we 
 should embark, for fear of falling into the same trouble 
 
411 .loriiNKV TllKonii! T!IK CIIINKSK KMI'IUK. 
 
 as the 1'rcf'cct of Song-tcholiirn. \Ve ourselves, thougli 
 we had found traveling "by water rather less fatiguing 
 than by land, were persuaded that the dangers and in- 
 conveniences were pretty equally balanced. We agreed 
 to continue our journey, either in a boat or a palanquin, 
 as Master Ting thought proper, and the final decision 
 was for the palanquin. 
 
 AVe left the town of Kin-tcheou in much the same 
 state as we had found it on our arrival : its commercial 
 movement was not yet restored ; the shops- remained 
 half closed, and the small number of inhabitants we met 
 in the streets looked full of distress and discontent. 
 This sullen and gloomy expression did not, however, 
 extend beyond the limits of the town. Outside the 
 Avails we found the Chinese as gay, alert, and busy as 
 usual ; in the country every one was going about his 
 work, seeming to care very little about the quarrel of 
 the nautical games, and all nature looked smiling and 
 gracious, as if to make us forget the sad and anxious 
 aspect of the town ; the flowers, still glittering with 
 dew, were expanding in the first rays of the sun ; the 
 birds were frolicking among the leaves, or, perched upon 
 a branch apart, were greeting each other with delicious 
 melody. All along the road we met groups of little 
 Chinese children, with large straw hats, leading goats, 
 asses, or enormous buffaloes, to feed on the grass that 
 grew in the ditches. You could hear the prattling of 
 the little creatures quite far off, and see them capering 
 and jumping, some trying to climb on the backs of the 
 buffaloes, and seat themselves astride there, others teas- 
 ing the animal, to induce him to throw off the little suc- 
 cessful cavalier, without at all troubling themselves 
 with the quarrels of the Chinese and Tartar races. 
 When our palanquins came up, they assumed a grave, 
 modest attitude, and preserved a" perfect silence ; but it 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 415 
 
 was easy to see arch and mischievous glances through 
 all their demure looks, and as soon as ever we had 
 passed, they resumed their gambols, even more noisily 
 than before. After our disagreeable adventures on the 
 Blue River, and the two days passed in a town still 
 agitated by civil discord, the aspect of the beautiful 
 country, ahvays delightful enough, seemed really to do 
 us good, and the sweetness and serenity of the air to 
 pass into our thoughts. 
 
 This pleasant state of mind did not, however, last 
 longer than the expansion of the flowers of the field. 
 What a strange mixture of energy and weakness is the 
 heart of man! If it requires little to elevate and 
 strengthen it, a breath also is sufficient to cast it down. 
 The sight of the country, and the delightful freshness 
 of the morning, had seemed to give us new life ; yet as 
 soon as the heat of the sun, and the weight of the at- 
 mosphere, had bowed down the plants and withered 
 the flowers, we also fell into dejection. By degrees, as 
 the air and the earth became heated, the breeze that 
 had been blowing in the morning died away, and toward 
 noon was entirely gone, and we seemed to be actually 
 breathing fire. Even the Chinese, accustomed as they 
 are to these terrible heats, were almost suffocated. 
 From time to time we went to rest in the shade of 
 large trees that we came to at the road-side ; but, 
 wherever we went, we found ourselves in a furnace, 
 and even in the shade there was scarcely a perceptible 
 difference. 
 
 This frightful day was followed by a night still more 
 fatiguing, except that the weather had somewhat cooled ; 
 for we were tormented incessantly by swarms of mos- 
 quitoes, which turned our hours of rest into 'hours of 
 torture. 
 
 We were now in a flat, damp, marshy country, where 
 
416 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE KMI'IKK. 
 
 these abominable insects increase and multiply in an 
 incredible manner ; and as they too dread the great 
 heats, they go in the middle of the day to take refuge 
 among the grass at the borders of water, or in the dark- 
 est recesses of woods ; but when the night comes, they 
 issue from their lair, wrathful and hungry, and throw 
 themselves with fury on their unhappy victims. It is 
 impossible to protect one's self from them, for they 
 can insinuate themselves into the smallest openings, 
 and the mosquito-net soon becomes loaded with them. 
 Those who have ever had an opportunity of becoming 
 acquainted with these creatures will know what it is to 
 pass a night in their company. There was every sign 
 that this weather would last for several days, and we 
 felt so incapable of continuing the journey in such a 
 season, that we resolved to stop at the first convenient 
 station, and allow this tremendous heat to pass before 
 proceeding farther. We were on the point of announc- 
 ing that plan to our conductors, when our servant was 
 inspired with a grand idea. 
 
 "It seems to me," said he, "that for several days 
 past you have not been very comfortable." 
 
 "You are right, Wei-chan," we replied; "we are 
 suffering very much. Our strength is quite exhaust- 
 ed." 
 
 "Who can doubt it? When one has great fatigue 
 in the day, and no rest at night, where should the 
 strength come from ? This is the season at which the 
 rays of the sun and the stings of mosquitoes are most 
 terrible ; but we might easily protect ourselves from 
 both one and the other." 
 
 " Do you really think we could find any way to man- 
 age that ?" 
 
 " Yes ; and a very simple one ; one that the mos- 
 quitoes themselves have taught me. These insects 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 417 
 
 in the day and travel at night. Why shouldn't we do 
 so too ? By that means we should avoid both the sun 
 and the mosquitoes." The idea seemed excellent. 
 
 " Capital !" said we ; " why you are quite a man of 
 resources. Your advice is as wise as it is simple, and 
 you shall see that this very evening we will put it in 
 practice." 
 
 The moment when Wei-chan received this sudden il- 
 lumination was, perhaps, the hottest of the day, and we 
 were seated in the vestibule of the little pagoda of a 
 village. We had made the half of our day's journey, 
 and were resting a little before going on ; while the 
 peasants of the place hastened to bring us provisions, 
 and to prorit by our passage to earn a few sapecks. 
 While we were seeking to extinguish the fire that con- 
 sumed us by swallowing great cups of tea, and chewing 
 pieces of sugar-cane, our Mandarins were refreshing 
 themselves wiih smoking opium, in a narrow cell be- 
 longing to a Bonze. The soldiers and the palan- 
 quin bearers, stretched at the road-side, were sleep- 
 ing soundly under the burning rays of the sun ; and 
 our servant was alone with us, under the shadow of the 
 broad roofed pagoda, when he communicated his admira- 
 ble plan. 
 
 As soon as we reached the station where we were to 
 pass the night, we communicated our project to Ting, 
 and to the first magistrate of the place. At first, of 
 course, it met with opposition. It was a very bad 
 thing to travel after twilight it was quite unusual it 
 was turning night into day, and day into night, etc. 
 They could not help seeing that there were great ad- 
 vantages in the innovation; but what would people 
 think ? What would people say ? All that we could 
 allege went for nothing against this powerful argu- 
 ment. 
 
 S* 
 
418 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 \\Y In-thought ourselves, however, of a very simple 
 method of bringing the magistrate over to our side, 
 which was to say very gravely that since we found it 
 impossible to travel in the middle of the day in this 
 summer heat, we should, if we did not travel at night, 
 have to wait for the cooler days of autumn ; but we 
 gave him at the same time to understand, that we came 
 from a country where it was the custom to travel by 
 night more than by day, and we did not at all like 
 having to break through our established customs. This 
 argument was found sufficient, and an estafette was im- 
 mediately mounted and sent off, to give notice along 
 the road that in future w r e should do the stages by 
 night. 
 
 Many people in Europe imagine in the Chinese char- 
 acter the calmness and gravity of the philosopher, but 
 we have always found in it, on the contrary, the light- 
 ness and versatility of the child. Thus in the pres- 
 ent case, the people of our escort had appeared gen- 
 erally repugnant to our new plan of traveling; but no 
 sooner was our determination taken, and it was settled 
 that we should begin this very evening, when every 
 body was full of impatience. Mandarins and soldiers 
 laughed, sung, frolicked, and promised themselves in- 
 finite pleasure. They would hardly give themselves 
 time to take their evening meal, or make the necessary 
 preparations ; every moment they came to tell us it was 
 dark, and to ask whether we should not set off. Master 
 Ting burst abruptly into the room into which we had 
 retired to say our prayers, and throwing down at our 
 feet, with great noise, a bundle of pieces of wood that 
 he had been carrying on his shoulders, exclaimed, 
 " There ! there's a fine collection of torches of resinous 
 wood to light us on our way;" and as he spoke, he 
 fairly jumped about with joy, like a little child. \Ve 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 419 
 
 pointed out to him, however, that he was disturbing 
 us, and then he took up his bundle again and went 
 away. 
 
 At last, toward ten o'clock in the evening, we quitted 
 the communal palace. As we passed tlirough the streets 
 of the town, our manner of traveling did not seem at all 
 extraordinary. The Chinese streets are so well lighted 
 up with lanterns of all sizes, shapes, and colors, that the 
 little illumination we carried with us became mingled 
 with the other numerous lights by which our eyes were 
 almost dazzled. When we got out into the country, 
 however, we could contemplate at our ease our own 
 splendor, without being distracted by the lanterns of the 
 public, and the varied and fantastic spectacle that was 
 displayed all along the road delighted us for a long 
 time. 
 
 The horsemen who led the march were furnished with 
 large torches that cast a red light with abundance of 
 smoke ; then came the foot passengers, each with his 
 own lantern, of peculiar form and dimension, and the 
 palanquins were also illuminated by four red lanterns 
 suspended to the four corners of their canopy. All 
 these lights, rising and sinking with the inequalities of 
 the ground, crossing each other in all directions, accord- 
 ing to the movements of the travelers, presented such 
 an amusing spectacle that we never noticed the length 
 of the way : and the gleaming lights from our grand 
 illumination, falling on and partially lighting up farms, 
 and corn-fields, and trees, and every object on the road, 
 produced the most singular and striking effects. All 
 the caravan was in the highest spirits ; they sung, they 
 joked, they amused themselves with letting off crackers, 
 and firing rockets into the air, for in China there is no 
 such thing as happiness without fire-works. Our serv- 
 ant Wei-chan was, as it was fair lie should be, the 
 
420 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIKK. 
 
 happiest of the whole band. He came from time to 
 time frisking about our palanquin, and we never failed 
 to give him what he was looking for, repeated compli- 
 ments on his happy discovery. 
 
 Never, in fact, had we seen a journey performed with 
 more pleasure, and, besides the perpetual amusement of 
 the spectacle, we rejoiced in a tolerably pleasant tem- 
 perature ; the night was not very cool, but at least it 
 was possible to breathe. Toward one o'clock in the 
 morning we saw advancing toward us an illumination 
 a good deal resembling our own, except the resinous 
 torches ; and presently the two became mingled and 
 confounded with one another. AVe had reached a little 
 town where we were to stop to dine, and the magis- 
 trate of the place, who was expecting us, had sent 
 all the lantern-bearers of his tribunal to increase our 
 escort. The matter had been so well arranged that 
 there was not a moment's delay. We found the din- 
 ner quite ready : every one had an excellent appetite, 
 and after having saluted the functionaries who had come 
 to bear us company, we resumed our nocturnal pere- 
 grination. 
 
 We arrived at the next stage before sun-rise, and as 
 soon as we were installed in the communal palace, we 
 received the visits of the Mandarins, and then, with- 
 out troubling ourselves to ask what o'clock it was, we 
 supped in a manner that might not have led any one 
 to suppose we had dined very well at one o'clock in 
 the morning. 
 
 The time having come, at which, as we were told, 
 the mosquitoes are in the habit of going to bed, we pre- 
 pared to go to bed also, and the observation of Wei- 
 chan proved to be extremely accurate, for these redoubt- 
 able insects, after having vagabondized all night, have, 
 doubtless, need of repose ; and they allowed us to sleep 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 421 
 
 soundly and peaceably till the end of tlie day. We 
 continued to follow this new plan of traveling, and found 
 ourselves all the better for it; but our strength had 
 been so completely exhausted by the long duration of 
 our fatigues, that at Kuen-kang-hien, a town of the 
 third order, we fell seriously ill, and were compelled to 
 interrupt our journey. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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