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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of

STARLING W. CHILDS
YALE 1891

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)mvluik IJ..Ap|)leli.iiiX.I

WILLIAM H. SEWARD'S

TRAYELS AROUND THE WORLD.

EDITED BY
OLIVE RISLEY SEWARD.

" A mighty maze, bat not without a plan." Pope.

WITH TWO HUNDBED I L L V S T B A T I 0 N S.

NEW TOEK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
649 & 551 BROADWAY.
1873.

Enteeed, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873,'by William H. Sewaed, Jr., Executor,
and Olive Kisle3T Sewaed, Executrix, of the last Will and Testament of William
H. Sewaed, deceased, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

CONTENTS,

PART I.
UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
Chap. I. Auburn to San Francisco: Mr. Seward's Companions. — His Farewell to his
Neighbors. — Western New York. — Niagara. — Canada and its Destiny. — Influ
ence of Immigration. — Africo-Americans. — Detroit. — Chicago. — President Grant.
— Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. — Cedar Rapids. — Omaha. — New Classification
of States.— Council Bluffs. — Bridges over Navigable Rivers. — Settlement of
Western States. — Cheyenne. — The Rocky Mountains. — Influence of Mountain
States. — Sherman. — Separation. — Mountain Nomenclature. — Weber Canon. —
Salt Lake City. — The Mormons, their Doctrines, Secular Priesthood. — Brigham
Young's Sermon. — His Family. — Polygamy. — The Irrepressible Conflict in
Utah. — The Shoshones. — Destiny of the Indians. — Sierra Nevada. — Reno. —
Railroads; — Result of Abolition of Slavery. — Sacramento. — Arrival at San Fran
cisco. — Civilization of California. — Chinese Immigration, .... 3
II. From San Francisco to Japan : The Vessels of the Pacific Mail Line. — Our Fel
low-Passengers. — " The Great Company of the Preachers." — The Chinese Pas
sengers. — The Great Event of the Voyage. — The Moods of the Sea. — A Still
Greater Event. — The Loss of a Day. — The Gyascutus. — The Beginning of the
End. — The Coast of Japan. — The Ocean-Fisheries,  29
PART II.
JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
I. Yokohama and its Vicinity : The Bay of Yokohama. — Natives and Foreigners.
— Native Costumes. — Japanese Barbers. — The Tokaido. — Japanese Cemeteries,
Gardens, and Temples. — Monks and Monasteries.— Kamakura. — The Great
Statue of Buddha.— The Daibutz  37
II. Visit to Yeddo. — Interview with the Mikado: Interview with the Japanese
Prime-Minister. — Tremendous Storm. — Some Points of History. — The Mikado
and the Tycoon. — Japanese Foreign Office. — Minister Sawa. — The Question of
Saghalien. — The Tombs of the Tycoons. — A Speck of War. — The Delmonico
of Yeddo. — Sketches of Yeddo. — The Interview with the Mikado, . 49
III. From Yeddo to Shanghai : Hiogo. — The Place of Massacre. — A Japanese Steamer.
—The Gulf of Osaka.— A Harem on a Picnic— The City of Osaka.— The Ty
coon's Castle. — Japanese Troops. — Nagasaki. — Beautiful Scenery. — Christians
of Nagasaki. — Japanese Character. — Departure for China. — Concluding Re
flections on Japan,  76

iv CONTENTS.
Chap. IV. The Coast of China: Woosung.— TJ. S. Ship Colorado.— Shanghai.— European
"Concessions." — A Mandarin Procession.— Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen.— Euro
pean and Chinese Civilization. — Foreign Prejudices against the Chinese. — The
Shan Tung.— The Yellow Sea.— The News from France.— Chee-Foo, the New
port of China. — A Rough Voyage,  94
V. Up the Pei-ho River : Mouth of the Pei-ho.— Chinese Forts. — American Guns. —
The Most Crooked and Mean of Rivers. — Chinese Dogs.— A Misunderstanding.
—Captain Wang.— Our Flotilla.— The City of Tien-Tsin.— Aspect of the Coun
try.— Our Boat-Life. — Absence of Animals. — A Messenger from Peking. — A
Chinese Trader.— Tung-Chow,  109
VI. Arrival at Peking : Passing through Tung-Chow. — Good Behavior of the People.
— The Road to Peking. — A Dangerous Highway. — Daniel Webster and John
Adams. — A Review of Our Party. — A Grotesque Procession. — The Eastern Gate
of Peking. — The Separation of the Party. — Anxiety for Mr. Seward. — In Woful
Plight. — An Explanation. — Arrival at the U. S. Legation, . . . 124
VII. Residence in Peking : Aspect of PekiDg. — The Walk on the Wall. — The Foreign
Population of Peking. — Two American Chinese. — Native Wares. — The Foreign
Ministers. — The Russian Minister. — The British Legation. — Influence of the
United States. — The Hall of Science. — Mr. Seward's Audience with the Imperial
Cabinet. — A Ladies' Day. — Chinese Ladies. — A Chinese Mansion, . 131
VIII. Residence in Peking ( Continued) : The Decay of China. — The Temple of Heaven.
— The Temple of Agriculture. — The Temple of Buddha. — The Chinese Bonzes.
— The Temple of Confucius. — The Religion of China. — A Pleasant Reunion. —
The Birds of Peking. — An Official Dilemma. — Interview with Wau-Siang. — In
fluence of Burlingame, . .  153
IX. Visit to the Great Wall : Preparations for the Trip. — Our Vehicles. — The
Summer Palace. — Pagodas. — First Night under a Chinese Roof. — A Chinese
Tavern. — Approach to the Great Wall. — The Mongolians. — The Cost of the
Wall. — Inquisitive Chinese. — The Second Wall. — The Ming Tombs. — A Mis
guided Mule,  1*72
X. Last Days in Peking : Cham-Ping-Chow. — A Chinese Inn. — The Roman Catho
lics in China. — The Cathedral. — The Tien-Tsin Massacre. — Christian Policy. —
Interview with Robert Hart. — A Letter from Sun-Tajen and Chi-Tajen. — Letter
from Prince Kung. — Interview with the Prince. — The Prince's Present. — De
parture from Peking  194
XI. The Return to Shanghai : Once more on the Pei-ho. — The Ladies at Tien-Tsin.
— The Shan Tung. — Pigeon English. — Tempestuous Weather. — Visit to the
Flag-ship Colorado. — Departure of Mr. and Mrs. Randall. — On board the Plym
outh Rock  205
XII. Up the Yang-tse-Kiang : The Mississippi of China. — Ching-Kiang. — Large Freights.
— Nanking. — The Porcelain Tower. — A Specimen Brick. — Abundance of Game.
— Scenery on the River. — Ku-Eiang. — Conversation with Mr. Drew. — Policy of
the United States. — Han-Kow. — Ascent of the Promontory. — Magnificent View
— Cheerful Aspect of Han-Eow. — Excursion to Woo-Chang. — A Disagreeable
Adventure, ............ 210
XIII. Return to Shanghai: Departure from Han-Eow. — Chinese Military Art.  A
Marvellous Echo. — The Imperial Canal. — Approach to Chin-Eiang. — The
United States Steamer Alaska. — Running down a Junk. — An Apology from
the Viceroy. — The Comprador. — Chinese Ladies. — Embark on an English
Steamer,  223

CONTENTS. v
Chap. XIV. From Shanghai to Hong-Kong : Bad Weather. — Cold Weather. — Variety of Sea
men. — The Ship's Accommodations. — Hong-Kong. — Beautiful Scenery. — Old
Acquaintances renewed. — Native and Foreign Population, . . 230
XV. From Hong-Kong to Canton : The Chinese Coasting-Trade. — Chinese Smugglers.
— Canton River-Banks. — Aspect of Canton. — The British Concession. — The
American Hongs. — The Consul and the Tou-tai. — The Diet of the Cantonese.
— Manufactures of Canton. — The Temples of Canton, . . . 233
XVI. Canton {Continued): A Chinese Villa. — The Hall of Ancestors. — A Chinese
School-Room. — Another Villa. — An Opium-Den. — Extent of Opium-Smoking. —
The Chinese Chronometer. — The Street of Malefactors. — The Place of Exe
cution. — A City of the Dead. — Canton at Night, .... 244
XVII, At Hong-Kong again : Chinese Emigration to the United States. — The Canton
Fisheries. — American Houses in China. — A Combination of Gamblers. — A
Dinner at the United States Consulate. — Mr. Seward's Speech. — Oriental and
Eastern Civilization. — Policy of China. — Prospects of China, . . 253
XVIII. A Glance at Cochin China : The Steamer Provence. — Island of Hainan. — Our
Fellow-Passengers. — The Mouth of the Saigon River. — The City of Saigon. —
French Aptitude for Colonization. — French Photographs. — The Queen of Cam
bodia, ... .  262
PART III.
THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, STRAITS OF MALACCA, AND
CEYLON.
I. The China Sea, Singapore, and the Straits of Sunda : Our Distance from
Home. — Calm Seas and Temperate Breezes. — Singapore. — A Dispatch from
Boston. — The People of Singapore. — Their Habitations. — Life in the Tropics.
— A Dutch Steamer. — Our Crew. — A Question of Races. — Rather Hot. — Banca
and Sumatra. — The Straits of Sunda, .... 271
II. The Capital op Java: The City of Batavia. — The Hotel des Indes. — A New-
England Sabbath. — Malay Servants. — The King's Plain. — Population of Java.
— The Queen of the East. — Departure for Buitenzorg. — Manner of Travelling.
— The Vice-Regal Residence. — The Climate of Java. — The Baths of Buiten
zorg,  280
III. Excursion into the Interior : A Balking Horse. — Cultivation of Rice. — Tropical
Flowers.— Surabaya. — The Regent Prawiro. — Dutch Colonization. — How Java
is governed. — Bandong. — The Regent and the Interpreter. — A Gouty Monarch.
— The Regent's Income. — How he spends it,  293
rV. Mr. Seward at Bandong : Excursion to the Cascade. — A Perilous Road. —
The Water-Fall. — An Evening at the Palace.— The Bayaderes. — Two Dwarfs.
— A Chorus of Peasants. — The Little Princesses. — An Excursion to Tankoe-
ban. — Peruvian Bark. — The Top of the Volcano. — An Enchanting Scene. —
The Japanese Prince,  302
V. At Batavia again. — The Malays: Farewell to Bandong. — A Tropical Break
fast. — A Breakfast in the Botanical Gardens. — A Princely Native Artist. —
Dutch Colonization. — Character of the Malay Race. — Chinese Immigration, 310
VI. From Batavia to Madras : An Uncomfortable Steamer. — An Accident. — At
Singapore. — British Hospitality. — The Port of Penang. — A Loyal Englishman.
— Bay of Bengal. — Half- Way Round the World. — Arrival at Ceylon. — Point de
Galle. — A Short Visit to the Shore. — A Hindoo Crew. — Off Pondicherry, 315

vi CONTENTS.
PART IV.
BRITISH INDIA.
Cdap. I. Madras : Madras from the Sea. — Governor Napier. — The Government House. —
A Hindoo Girls' School. — Bishop Heber. — British Dominion in India. — Rear-
Admiral Cockburn. — Machinery of Government. — A Meeting of the Executive •
Council. — Lord Cornwallis. — The Legislative Council. — Hindoo Music, . 327
II. Madras ( Continued) : An Excursion to Arcot. — Railroads in Hindostan. — Ap
pearance of the Country. — The Homage of Flowers. — Cauverypak. — The Na
tive System of Cultivation. — Visit to a Bramin. — Schools. — A Car of Jugger
naut. — The Dutch Reformed Mission. — Back to Madras. — The Portuguese
Settlement. — Gindy Park. — A Diamond Merchant. — Lord and Lady Napier. —
The Normal School, .  338
III. From Madras to Calcutta : The Surf at Madras. — On the Bay of Bengal. —
The Lion- Whelps.— The Hoogly.— The Viceroy's Invitation.— Earl and Count
ess Mayo. — Glimpses of Calcutta. — The Baboo. — The Baboo's House and
Harem. — The Government House,  .350
IV. Calcutta {Continued): The Maharajah of Putteeala.— Oriental Magnificence. —
Kali Ghaut— The Temple.— Hindoo Idols.— Kali.— Siva.— A Mohammedan
Mosque.— The Reading of the Budget— Indian Finances.— The King of Oude.
— The Prince of Oude,  . 360
V. Barrackpore and Serampore : Barrackpore Park and its Beauties. — Magnifi
cent Trees.— The Menagerie.— The Lion-Whelps.— Serampore.— Its Mission
aries and Mission-Schools. — Return from Barrackpore.— Fort William. — The
Woman's Union Missionary Society and its Schools, . . . 368
VI. From Calcutta to Benares : Courtesy of the East India Railway Company.—
Unattractive Scenery.— The Scenery improves.— Aspect of the Country and
the People.— A Stop at Patna.— A Tiger Hunter.— The Cultivation of the
Poppy.— The Maharajah of Benares.— A Night on the Ganges.— A Brilliant
Display.— Glory Hallelujah. — A Compliment to Mr. Seward, . . 372
Vn. Benares : The Sacred City of the Hindoos.— The Cradle of Buddhism.— Sarnath.
—Remarkable Towers.— The Holy River.— The Ghauts.— Singular Architecture.
—The Mosques and their Minarets.— A Picturesque Scene on the River-Bank.
—Siva and Doorga.— Manufacture of Idols.— Magnificence of Benares, . 378
VIII. Allahabad, Lucknow, and Agra : Allahabad, the City of God.— Caw'npore.—
Lucknow, the Capital of Oude.— Extent of the Country.— Arrival at Agra.— A
Marvellous Monument of Arms, Arts, and Empire.— Akbar the Great.— His
Vast Architectural Works.— The Pearl Mosque.— Futtehpore Sikra.— Its Great
Wall.— The Tomb of Sheik Selim Chishti.— The Panch Mahal.— Akbar's. Tomb.
—His Wealth.— His Horses and his Elephants.— Weighing his Presents' 385'
IX. Secundra and the Taj-Mahal: The Tomb of Akbar.— Derivation of the' Name
of Secundra.— The Taj-Mahal, the Tomb of the Banoo Begum.— Description
of the Taj.— The Tomb of Eing Cotton.— The Inferiority of Indian Cotton.—
Mode of packing it,  „.„
X Delhi, the Mogul Capital : A Vivid Contrast to Agra.— Ludlow Castle.— Brief
Sketch of Hindoo History.— The Persians.— The Greeks.— The Arabs.— Sultan
Mahmoud. — The Mongols or Moguls. — Foundation of Delhi. — Successive
Changes of Site.— The Kootub Minar.— A Singular Iron Shaft.— The Mogul
Tombs.— The Tomb of Jchanara.— The Jumna Musjid.— The Imperial Palace
— Farewell to Delhi, . .'
'  404

CONTENTS. vii
Chap. XI. Umballa and Putteeala : Meerut, the Scene of the Outbreak of the Great
Mutiny. — Hindoo Pilgrims. — First View of the Himalayas. — Invitations to
Putteeala. — Journey thither. — The City of Putteeala. — Coaches or Elephants ?
— Entrance into Putteeala. — A Magnificent Procession. — Our Palace, . 414
XII. Putteeala ( Continued) : Oriental Displays and Diversions. — The Menagerie. —
The Prisons. — The Heir-Apparent. — An Elephant-Fight. — Jesters and Jug
glers. — The Royal Palace. — Magnificence of the Maharajah. — The Durbar. —
The Young Prince. — Superb Presents. — A Magnificent Salon. — The Maha
rajah's Conversation with Mr. Seward. — An Exhibition of Fireworks, . 420
XIII. A Glance at the Himalayas : Departure from Putteeala. — Along the Banks
of the Jumna. — Protection from the Sun. — Reception at Pindarrie. — An Il
lumination. — Kalka and Kussowlee. — The British Commissioner. — A View of
the Himalayas. — An Irish Home,  431
XIV. Allahabad and Jubbulpoor : An Interesting Debate. — Earl Mayo, the Viceroy
of India. — His Murder. — The Vindhya Mountains. — Industrial Activity of Jub
bulpoor. — An Elephant-Ride. — A Night Voyage on the Nerbudda. — Romantic
and Beautiful Scenery. — Hindoo Tenderness for Animals, . . . 437
XV. Bombay : The Ghaut Mountains. — A Cosmopolitan City. — The Natives of Bom
bay. — A Mixed Population. — Chinese, Siamese, Javanese, Cingalese, Sikh,
Afghan, and Cashmerian. — The Races of the South and the North, of the East
and the West. — Parsee Customs, — Parsee Religion. — Hindoo, Mohammedan,
and Parsee Disposal of the Dead. — Admiral Cockburn. — The Great Heat. — An
Excursion to Elephanta,  442
XVI. An Excursion to Goa : A Voyage on the Coast of Malabar. — A Perilous Pre
dicament. — Dubious Navigation. — Situation of Goa. — Official Courtesies. —
History of Goa. — The Old City. — St. Francis Xavier. — Miraculous Cures. —
Character of Xavier. — Public Institutions. — The Governor's Villa. — Historical
Reminiscences. — A Goa Poet. — A Cordial Farewell, .... 451
XVII. Last Days in Bombay : The Byculla Club.— Mr. Seward's Speech. — His Grate
ful Acknowledgments to his Entertainers. — The Indies of the East and the
Indies of the West. — Growing Civilization of the East. — A Progress irresisti
ble. — The New Concord. — Policy of the Anglo-Saxon Race. — Miss Wessner.
— Departure from Bombay,  460
XVin. From Bombay to Aden : Once more at Sea. — The Steamer Deccan. — Mr. Sew
ard's Remarks on India. — Natural Religion. — The Characteristics of the Hin
doo Mind. — England's Hold on India.— The Regeneration of India. — The Island
of Socotra. — Arrival at Aden. — An Extinct Volcano. — Wise Old England! —
A New Stage of the Voyage. — Red-Haired Negroes, . . . 465

PART V.
EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
I. The Red Sea and Suez Canal: The Gate of Tears. — The Rock of Perim. —
The Port of Mecca. — Imaginary Terrors. — Pleasant Weather. — The, Coasts of
the Red Sea. — The Division of the Races. — A Refreshing Atmosphere. — The
Track of the Israelites. — Suez. — The Ancient Canal. — The New Canal. — Its
Inauguration. — Its Prospects, ... .... 479

viii CONTENTS.
Chap. II. From Suez to Cairo: The Bedouin Arabs.— A Wady.— Goshen.— Nubian Troops.
—A Splendid Sunset— The Palace of Repose.— The Khedive.— The Popula
tion of Egypt— The Khedive's Improvements.— A Visit to the Harem.— The
Female Slaves. — Egypt and Utah,  488
III. Cairo and the Pyramids : The Road to the Pyramids.— The Style of the Vice
roy—Interior of the Great Pyramid.— The Sphinx.— Mariette Bey.— Use of
the Pyramids.— Rapacious Arabs.— The Phoenix.— The Site of On.— Ruins of
Heliopolis.— The Tree of the Holy Family.— Mohammed Tauphik. — The Amer
icans in Egypt — The Citadel of Cairo. — A Museum of Antiquities. — Modern
Cairo.— The Copts.— The Nilometer.— The Tombs of the Caliphs.— The Ceme
teries of Cairo.— The Mosques. — The Dancing Dervishes. — Ghezireh. — Polyga
my.— The Cairo of To-day,  498
IV. Up the Nile : Embarkation at Ghizeh.— The Pyramids of Saccara. — The Two
Deserts. — Siout. — The American Vice-Consul. — Sultan Pacha. — Character of
the Nile.— Slave-Boats.— Arab Villagers.— The Birds of the Nile.— The Popu
lation on the Banks. — Domestic Animals. — Personal Arrangements. — A Tip
pling Monkey, ........... 617
V. From Abydos to Thebes : The Ruins of Abydos. — The Sheik of Bellianeh. — A
Misunderstanding. — A Dinner in the Ruins. — A Night in the Temple. — Explor
ing the Ruins. — By whom were they built ? — Germs of Religious Ideas. — The
Temple of Dendera. — Mr. Seward's Birthday,  520
VI. Thebes and its Ruins : What Thebes is now. — A Grand Reception. — A Fed-
eral Salute. — The Scenery of the Nile. — The Temple of Luxor. — The Houses
of the Consuls. — History of Luxor. — Karnak. — The Hall of the Gods. — King
Shishak. — Sphinx Avenues. — We dine with the Vice-Consul. — The Colossi. —
The Ancient Tombs. — The Tombs of the Kings. — Animal Worship.— The Ra-
meseum. — Grandeur of Thebes,  534
VII. Esneh, Edpou, Assouan, and Phil^e : The Coptic Convents. — Youssef and his
Donkey. — Our Steamer aground. — The Ruins of Esneh. — The Temple of Edfou.
— Assouan. — Its Surprising Activity. — Its African Population. — The Ancient
Quarries. — Philse and the Cataracts of the Nile. — A Monument of the First
French Republic,  552
VIH. Last Days in Egypt: The Vice-Consul's Harem. — Kenneh and its Pottery. —
The Sugar of Egypt. — Memphis. — Its Ruins. — The Downfall of Idolaters. —
Again at Cairo. — Conversation with » Pacha. — Alexandria. — Aspect of the
City. — Interview with the Khedive. — Sir Henry Bulwer. — Pompey's Pillar. —
The Khedive's Yacht. — Concluding Reflections on Egypt, . . . 563
IX. Jerusalem : A Levantine Coasting-Steamer. — The Green Fields of Sharon. — Jaffa.
— Ramleh. — Lydda. — Rural Population. — First View of Jerusalem. — Mr. Sew
ard's Reception. — The Sultan's Firman. — Church of the Holy Sepulchre. —
Religious Intolerance, — Mount Calvary. — The Via Dolorosa. — The Mosque of
Omar. — The Mosque El-Aksa,  578
X. Jerusalem 'and its Neighborhood: Bethlehem. — The Grave of Rachel. — The
City of Jerusalem. — The Mount of Olives. — The Tomb of Zachariah. — The
Tomb of Absalom. — An American Jew. — Bethany. — Pilate's Palace. — The
Greek Church in Palestine. — The Jews of Jerusalem. — Their Wailing-Place. —
The Jewish Sabbath. — Attendance at the Synagogue. — Bishop Gobat. — De
parture from Jerusalem. — Jaffa and Beirut,  594

CONTENTS. ix
Chap. XI. From Palestine to Greece : Impressions of Palestine. — The Egyptian Race. —
Egyptian Civilization. — Phoenicia and Palestine, — The Four Religions. — What
we owe to the Jews. — Present State of Palestine. — The Island of Cyprus. —
The Cesnola Collection. — Smyrna. — An Excursion to Ephesus. — The Seven
Sleepers. — Mr. Wood's Researches. — The Temple of Diana. — The Isles of
Greece. — Tinos. — The City of Syra. — An Illumination, ... 607

PART VI.
EUROPE.
I. Athens and Constantinople: Athens. — The Pirseus. — The Hymettus. — The Hys-
sus. — Mr. Tuckerman. — Queen Olga. — Grecian Ruins compared with those of
Egypt and Hindostan. — Modern Greece, the Mexico of Europe. — The Sea of
Marmora. — Taking Constantinople by Surprise. — A Contre-temps. — -All's Well
that Ends Well. — The Sultan Abdul- Aziz. — A Busy Day. — Excursions. —
Charms of Constantinople. — The Old Seraglio. — Fourth of July. — Robert Col
lege. — The Bosporus. — Turkish Women. — The New Palace. — Untimely Visit.
— Eiamil Pacha. — Audience with the Sultan. — Departure from Constanti
nople, . . .... .... 627
II. Hungary and Austria: On the Danube. — Varna. — Rustchuk. — Wallachia. — .
German Travellers. — What shall we say of Turkey ? — Reflections on the Future
of the Turks. — Orsova. — The Iron Gate. — Hungarian Loyalty. — Buda-Pesth.
— Contrast of European and Asiatic Civilization. — The People of Pesth. — The
Bridge of Buda. — The Buildings of Buda. — The History of Hungary. — The
Danube. — Vienna. — John Jay. — Count Von Beust. — Polities of Austria, 654
III. Italy : Venice. — American Enights Templars. — Florence. — Attractiveness of the
City. — Rome. — The Coliseum. — Cardinal Antonelli and the Pope. — Interview
with the Pope. — The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. — The Schools of Art.
— Naples. — Vesuvius. — Early Civilization on the Mediterranean Coast. — Na
ples, the Newport of the Roman Empire. — Genoa. — Susa. — Prospects of
Italy,  669
IV. Switzerland and France : Geneva. — The Alps. — The Tunnel of Mont Cenis. —
Passports. — American Fondness for Switzerland. — Berne. — Swiss Statesmen
and Politics. — Distress of France. — The Franco-German War. — Lord Lyons. —
Mr. Washburne. — Versailles. — The French Assembly. — President Thiers. — A
Dinner with President Thiers. — Condition of France. — M. Drouyn de Lhuys. —
M. Laboulaye. — Dr. Evans and the Empress Eugenie. — Aspect of Paris. — Pros
pects of France,  685
V. Germany, England, and Home: Belgium. — Berlin. — Mr. Bancroft. — Humboldt.
— The German Empire. — Its Rise and Grandeur. — Its Policy. — Hamburg. — A
Free City. — A Handsome City. — On the Thames. — Activity of its Commerce. —
Greatness of London. — Government Machinery in Great Britain. — Its Slow
Working. — Rural Beauty of England. — On Board the Java. — Her Passengers. —
Montrose-on-Hudson. — Return to Auburn. — Mr. Seward's Speech to his Neigh
bors   708
Index,  721

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.

PAGE
Portrait op Mr. Seward (on steel)
Frontispiece
Mr. Seward's Garden at Auburn  1
Mr. Seward's Home  4
New Suspension Bridge, Niagara Falls. 5
Cheyenne  10
Summit  ;. . . . 11
Wahsatch Range  12
Leutze's " Course of Empire."  13
Devil's Gate, Weber Canon  13
Pulpit Rock  14
Thousand-Mile Tree  15
Salt Lake Valley  16
Mormon Tabernacle  17
Brigbam Young's Residence  19
The Remnant of a Tribe  23
Mouth of Big Cottonwood Canon  24
San Francisco  26
Cliff House, San Francisco  27
Golden Gate  28
Meeting of the Steamers in Mid-ocean. 31
Fusi Yama, Coast of Japan  34
Yokohama, Japan  38
Japanese Barbers  39
Japanese Girls  40
Japanese Cemetery  41
A Japanese Garden  43
Tea-house on the Tokaido  44
Group on the Tokaido  45
Temple at Kamakura  46
Daibutz  47
Japanese Bonzes  48
American Legation at Yeddo  62

PAGE
Japanese Officer of State  65
Japanese Interpreter, in Court Dress . . 57
Interior of Sheba  59
Tombs of the Tycoons  60
Nippon-Bas, Yeddo  61
British Legation, Yeddo  61
Hamagoten  63
Japanese Musician  64
A Book-store at Yeddo  66
Daimios' Quarter, Yeddo  69
United States Consulate, Hiogo  76
Temple at Osaka  78
Street in Osaka  80
Entrance to Nagasaki  83
Nagasaki Harbor  84
Temple of Buddha at Nagasaki  85
View of Decima  86
Woosung  94
Mandarin Procession  96
Custom-House, Shanghai  98
Mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang  103
Promontory of Shan-Tung  104
Chinese Fishing-smack  105
Chinese Dogs  Ill
Boats on the Pei-ho River  114
Chinese Agriculture  . 119
Western Gate, Peking  132
Lupis-lazuli Cat  135
Ancient Observatory, or Hall of Science 139
Prince Kung  142
Yang-Fang  147
Wife of Yang-Fang. (From a Photo
graph by himself.)  148

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

page
Long Nails  149
Yang-Fang's Smoking-room  151
Chinese Gate-way  152
Temple of Heaven  155
Tablet Hall  157
The Temple of Confucius  161
Gate of the Temple of Confucius, Pe
king  162
Image of Confucius  163
Chinese Cart  173
The Litter  174
Summer Palace  176
Bridge on the Grounds of the Summer
Palace  177
Nan-KowPass  180
The Great Wall  182
Gate at Nan-Kow  183
Gate-way at Ming Tombs  189
Avenue to the Ming Tombs  192
Bridge at Nanking, and Porcelain Tow
er before its Destruction  211
The Upper Yang-tse-kiang  212
Little Orphan Island  213
Chinese Theatricals  220
Silver Island, on the Yang-tse-kiang. . . 225
Scene on the Imperial Canal  229
Hong-Kong  231
Trading-Junk  232
Street in Canton  236
Entrance to the Temple of Honan. . . . 240
Poon-ting-gua's Villa  245
Opium-Smokers  247
Chinese Tombs  252
View in Hong-Kong  253
Saigon, at the Mouth  263
Native of Saigon  265
Artisan's House at Saigon  267
Queen of Cambodia  268
Singapore  279
Street in Batavia  281
Married Woman of Java  282
A Javanese Girl  284
Scene in Java  286
Government House, Java  287
Lily Pond, Palace Grounds, Java  288
Tropical Foliage, Java  290
Javanese Fruit  291
'Scene in Java  292
The Regent Prawiro da Kedya;  296
The Regent of Bandong, with his Offi
cers  300

PAOK
A Hostelry in Java  301
Dancing-Costume  304
Dancing-Girl  305
Bath at Sindanlaya  311
Javanese  314
Government House, Madras  328
Madras  337
The Surf at Madras  349
Residence of Richard McAlister, Cal
cutta  353
The Maharajah of Putteeala, Grand
Commander of the Star of India. . 361
Palace of the King of Oude  366
Barrackpore  ,  371
Maharajah of Benares  375
Nautch Girls  377
Benares, from the Ganges  378
Great Buddhist Tower at Sarnath  379
Carving on Buddhist Tower at Sarnath. 380
Ghauts at Benares  382
Temples at Benares  384
Queen's College, Benares  384
Residency at Lucknow  386
Exterior of the Fort  388
Inlaid Screen, Tomb of Mina Begum,
Agra  389
Scene on the Road to Futtehpore Sikra. 390
Saracenic Gate  391
Pillar in Akbar's Council-Chamber. . . . 393
Panch Mahal  393
Carved Pillars in the Ruins of Futteh
pore Sikra  394
Akbar's Tomb at Secundra  395
Taj-Mahal  398
Cotton-Merchants, Agra  402
The Taj, from the Fountain  403
The Kootub Minar  407
Elephants on the March at Putteeala. . 418
A Conjurer at Putteeala  423
Elephants with Howdahs  425
The Prince of Putteeala  427
The Himalayas  436
TheNerbudda. ..'  441
Parsee Children  ¦  445
Entrance to the Caves of Elephanta. . . 449
Aden  471
IsmaHia  484
View on the Nile  489
A Girl of Cairo  497
The Pyramids of Gizeh  499
The Sphinx  501

Xll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
A Street in Cairo  507
Street in Cairo. . . . :  509
Mosque and Houses in Cairo  510
Interior of a Mosque, Cairo  512
Cairo, from the East  516
A Woman on the Nile  524
Temple of Dendera  530
Thebes  534
Obelisks at Karnak  536
Columns at Karnak  539
Gate at Karnak  540
Capitals of Columns at Esneh  551
Youssef and his Donkey  553
Phihe  . 560
Pompey's Pillar  572
Jaffa  579
Our Caravan  580
Dome of the Church of the Holy Sep
ulchre  586
Mosque of Omar  v.. . 591
Bethlehem  595
Mosque on the Mount of Olives  598

PAGE
Jews' Wailing-Place  601
Tower of David, Jerusalem  606
Ancient Syra and Modern Hermopolis. 621
A Greek Official  622
A Group of Heads from the Cesnola
Collection  623
Athens  627
A Greek Woman  628
Bridge at Eleusis  629
The Temple of Victory, Athens  631
Albanian Costume  635
Ancient Pillar at Constantinople  639
Fountain of the Seraglio  640
Turkish Woman in Street Dress  643
Turkish Girl in a Harem  645
Count von Beust  666
Cardinal Antonelli  674
Genoa  683
Drouyn de Lhuys  702
Hamburg  712
A Map showing Mr. Seward's Route
through Asia, Africa, atd Europe. . 720

PART I.
UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.

CHAPTER I.
AUBURN TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Mr. Seward's Companions. — His Farewell to his Neighbors. — Western New York. —
Niagara. — Canada and its Destiny. — Influence of Immigration. — Africo-Americans. —
Detroit. — Chicago. — President Grant. — Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. — Cedar
Rapids. — Omaha. — New Classification of States. — Council Bluffs. — Bridges over
Navigable Rivers. — Settlement of Western States. — Cheyenne. — The Rocky Moun
tains. — Influence of Mountain States. — Sherman. — Separation. — Mountain Nomen
clature. — Weber Canon. — Salt Lake City. — The Mormons, their Doctrines, Secular
Priesthood. — Brigham Young's Sermon. — His Family. — Polygamy. — The Irrepres
sible Conflict in Utah. — The Shoshones. - Destiny of the Indians. — Sierra Nevada.
— Reno.— Railroads Result of Abolition „f Slavery. — Sacramento. — Arrival at San
Francisco. — Civilization of California. — Chinese Immigration.

Auburn, August 9, 1S70.— Every study must have a beginning
and an end. These notes begin at Mr. Seward's embowered home,

4: UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
whence our journey will begin, and they will end here, where, with
God's blessing, the journey will end.
Mr. Seward is accompanied by Olive Risley Seward, his adopted
daughter, and by her sister, Miss Risley. The former, in writing
these notes, records his political, social, moral, and philosophical
observations and reflections, in his own words. Hanson A. Risley
accompanies him only to the Pacific. Mr. Alexander ~W. Randall
and Mrs. Randall, and Mr. George F. Seward and Mrs. Seward,
will join him at San Francisco.
A thousand neighbors and friends are gathered around, whose
parting words are made more touching by the fears and anxieties
which they express concerning Mr. Seward's impaired strength.
His resolute nature suggests the encouragement they need : " Travel
improves health instead of exhausting it." " The journey, though
long, is now made easy by steam on land and sea." "vWhen I
come back, remember to meet me at the eastern door of the railway-
station, though we part at the western one."
Niagara Falls, August \§ih. — Leaving the pleasant shore of the
Owasco Lake, we crossed the Cayuga, passed around the foot of the
Seneca, with its beautiful village of Geneva, looked upon the
Canandaigua from its encircling hills, and came to a rest at Roch
ester, where the branches of the Central Railroad unite. Thence,
this morning, along the shore of Lake Ontario to Niagara.
The plain of "Western New York, gently descending from the
lakes to the Hudson, and, under a traditional policy, well improved
with canals and railroads, has, from the earliest period of colonial /
settlement, been a national thoroughfare.
The enlightened political economy, as well as the liberal princi
ples and elevated social sentiments for which the State of New York
is distinguished, is strongly reflected in the constitutions, laws, and
manners, of the new "Western States.
We see, at Niagara, for the first time, the new bridge which has
been built just below the great cataract. Like the old one, it is
graceful enough ; but, " insatiate " bridge-makers, " could not one
suffice?" George P. Marsh is right. Civilization is a constant

w0X if>aa <wtocd 2

CANADA AND ITS DESTINY. 5
warfare of man against Nature. Nature, however, was made for
man, not man for Nature.
Chatham, Canada, August 10th. — It was rather a surprise to
meet a United States consul at Clifton when we were less than

NEW SUSPENSION BEIDGE, NIAGABA FALLS.

twenty-four hours from home. But why do we go through Canada
instead of keeping our own lake-shore ? Because the Canadian
route is the more direct one to Detroit. Moreover, have we not
come abroad to see foreign countries, rather than our own ?
Canada, though no less fertile, is more thinly inhabited than
the American shore. Immigration obeys political instincts. It
prefers the established equality and social security of the United
States. It will be long before either Canada or Mexico can realize
its invigorating power. This may seem hard, but it is clear that
only one great nation can be built on one continent at one time.
The remedy for both of those countries is the same — accession to
the United States. Canada has hesitated long, but it will see and
feel this truth at last — that it is better to be an equal constituent
member of a great, powerful, and free nation, than a small, feeble,
and isolated stale, even though equally free.
At Chatham, mainly a colored settlement, Mr. Seward has been

6 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
received with much respect and -kindness" by the people, who seem
comfortable and respectable. They are fugitives who made their
escape from slavery in the United States, years ago, on the " un
derground railway." Now that slavery has been abolished there,
doubtless the burden of their song is, "Carry me back to ole
Virginny, to ole Virginny shore." The Africo- American popula
tion is the last one that will desire to leave our country. A hun
dred freedmen, about Fortress Monroe, were induced by high offers
and great persuasion, during our civil war, to colonize the Isle-a-
Yache, in Hayti. They complained, moaned, sickened, and lan
guished, and the government was obliged to bring them back.
Detroit, August 11th.— The interesting incident of our stop
here, has been a visit to Mr. Seward of a daughter of Dr. Abel F.
Fitch, a client of his who died of a broken heart, while Mr. Seward
was struggling to save him from an unjust conviction for conspiracy.
In the "War of 1812, Detroit was the theatre of a humiliating
surrender and capitulation, which were hardly retrieved — just as
Bull Run was the scene of a humiliating rout, the evils effects of
which only the mighty issues involved enabled the nation to sur
mount during a four-years' conflict.
The city grows steadily in opulence and refinement.
Chicago, August 14th. — Without a prototype, a marvel not
merely of American progress, but of all civilization. We asked an
English lady in New York, who had passed two weeks here, which
of our sea-coast towns she admired most. She answered, " Chicago."
Though an inland, border town, it seems nevertheless a city by the
sea. Built in a lagoon like Venice, it has raised itself high and dry
above the flood. As mercantile as Amsterdam or Liverpool, it has
neither the hoarding avarice of the one nor the unscrupulous
cupidity of the other. Just now grasping, with an iron arm, the
broad and fertile shores of the North Pacific, how splendid seems
the destiny of Chicago !
We meet here the President of the United States. His charac
teristic modesty has until now been a theme of universal praise.

CEDAPv EAPIDS. ¦ 7
But mankind have always expected demonstration of power, pomp,
or speech from their rulers. Will they excuse the want of it even
in the great General of the Civil War ?
Omaha, August l&th.
" It's over the river, and over the sea,
And it's over the water to Charlie."
It is over the Mississippi River, and it is over the Missouri
River, and over a sea of prairie five hundred miles, from Chicago to
Omaha. Seventy years ago, the Mississippi River divided the
United States from the dominion of France. Sixty years ago Lewis
and Clark found only wild Nature and savage men beyond the
Missouri. Fifteen years ago, the States of the Union were politi
cally as well as geographically classified as the Northern States
and the Southern States. To-day, it is not a parallel of latitude,
but an uncertain and shifting meridional line, that determines their
classification. Of the towns which have sprung up on the plains, we notice
Cedar Rapids— not for its superiority to others, but as a specimen
of an inchoate Western city. During ten minutes' stay there, we
saw the suburban cottages, with pointed roofs, of the Norwegian
settlers, surrounded by dark-green meadows, covered with flocks
of geese and eider-ducks. We heard airs from " Trovatore " on a
Chickering piano, in a dwelling-house not yet painted or plastered.
We saw a Mansard mansion of the speculator in city lots, its lawn
graced with a bevy of croquet-players. There seem to be all sorts
of churches for all sects of Christians — one surmounted with a
Catholic cross, and one with dome and minaret borrowed from the
Mohammedan mosque. There are restless express-agents, nimble
telegraph-messengers, noisy baggage-men and porters. Even the
Washington City colored boy is seen there, sauntering lazily
through the crowd, and repeating, "Black your boots and shine
'em up ? " with the poetical variation, " A shine for a dime." Two
young lady-cousins come into the cars, and soon let us into more
secrets of matrimonial engagements and other interesting events

8 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
which are occurring in the "society" of Cedar Rapids than we
have room to relate.
Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River, the connecting station of
the Eastern railroads with the Union Pacific, is fifteen miles below
the historical Council Bluffs, where the first treaty between the
United States and the Indians of the plains was celebrated. Will
not Congress its " canon fix 'gainst " this practice of confounding
history by transposing geographical names %
There is a fierce competition here between Council Bluffs and
Omaha for the transshipment of passengers and freight. The new
bridge, which is being built over the Missouri, is likely to decide it
by bringing the two flourishing towns into one.
By-the-way, how rapidly the construction of this " mighty maze "
of railroads is breaking up the ancient idea of the sacredness of
river navigation against interruption by bridges ! It cost a long
and exhausting litigation to ascertain whether the Legislature of a
State, or even the Congress of the United States, could authorize
the throwing of a bridge across the Hudson or the Ohio, or even
across a boatable inlet of Delaware Bay.
While, however, they are building a bridge here, we must be
content to cross the Missouri by a ferry. A huge and heavy steam
boat, a double-ender, starts from a point high above Council Bluffs,
and is skilfully steered first downward, then upward, through the
dashing, muddy waters, to a landing-place far below Omaha. The
passengers of several converging Eastern trains rush promiscuously
toward the broad deck with their baggage, movables, and " things."
Do you see that little wooden shanty, on the receding bank, with
two bottles of whiskey in the window, and the monitory words over
the door, « Last Chance ? " Everybody tells his business to every
body, and everybody asks everybody his opinions and prospects.
Boston, New York, and Chicago merchants, bankers, and printers,
are going to establish branches, agencies, and printing-presses, along
the railroads in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Cali
fornia; lithe, active, and bright, all-loquacious, and at the same
time dogmatic politicians, who fasten themselves tenaciously upon
"the stranger," whether lawyer, priest, trader, or farmer, to gain

CHEYENNE. 9
an opinion on the probable result of the presidential election, yet
three years distant, of the prospect of an early resumption of specie
payments, or of the duration, the immediate result, and the ulterior
consequences of the war which broke out only a week ago in Europe.
Did not our servant, William Freeman, who has just come to his
political rights under the fifteenth amendment, feel his importance
when called on to expound these high mysteries ? See that group
of juvenile Italians, with violins and harps realizing a profuse con
tribution in reward for a rather doubtful performance of " II Bacio."
Hear this strong-minded woman narrate to a skeptical audience
her successful achievement in establishing woman's suffrage in
Wyoming and Utah. An express-agent tells Mr. Seward that he
has just sent to Auburn the largest pair of elk-horns in the velvet
that could be found in Nevada. That cluster standing near the
wheel-house, have sold out their farms in Missouri, and are going
to look for new ones in Willamette Valley or Southern California.
This group of Indians, gay with feathers and paint, are Dakota
chiefs returning to their tribe, to relate the wonders they saw when
sitting around the " big kettle " which the " great father " hung
over the fire for them at Washington. This sturdy fellow in blue
is an Irish recruit of the United States Army, going to join his
regiment at Laramie, accompanied by a wife, six rosy-cheeked chil
dren, a spaniel, terrier, two brindle cats, and a speckled hen. It is
altogether too much to expect that the entire family will escape the
perils of Indian warfare. It is a notable feature of the motley
crowd that it contains not one mere laboring man or woman.
Whence, then, and how is the labor to come which is to irrigate the
deserts, build the roads, and open the mines ? We may safely leave
the question to its practical solution. American progress and civi
lization " know no such word as fail."
We record our thanks to General Auger for the kind atten
tions shown us at the garrison, and for his orders providing for
our safety and comfort through his wide department ; and to the
judges, members of the bar, and other citizens for their public
and private hospitalities.

10 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
Cheyenne, August 17th. — Onward and upward, a night and a
day in a distance of five hundred miles ; we have gained a height
of five thousand feet on the slope of the Rocky Mountains. The
country seems, nevertheless, a level plain. There is neither crag,
nor rock, nor dell; and even the flow of the beautiful Platte River,
though quick and free, is without cascade or rapids. We have passed
almost imperceptibly from a landscape of Indian corn and wheat
fields, orchards, and vineyards, to an endless slope covered with
short and grayish, but nutritious blue-grass, late the pasturage of
countless buffalo-herds, now replaced by scattered droves of lank

cattle, driven here from Texas and Mexico. The gopher freely dis
ports himself in our way ; the antelope, as if under a fascination,
shyly gazes upon us with his soft blue eyes ; and the prairie-dogs,
sitting erect at the doors of their tenements, solemnly review us
from their thousand cities. We expected, on arriving here, to see
the towering Black Hills, and perhaps the more distant Snowy
Range ; but the thermometer has fallen to 36°, and the barometer
we know not how low. Heavy clouds rest on the earth all around
us, and nothing can be seen beyond or over them.

INFLUENCE OF MOUNTAIN STATES.

11

The Territory of Wyoming, of which Cheyenne is the capital,
has a population outside of the town not exceeding two thousand
Cheyenne grew rapidly during the construction of the Pacific Rail
road, but now, suffering a decline, it may number twenty-five hun
dred. It has, however, just been connected by railroad with
Denver, and so with St. Louis. The territorial government, there
fore, seems a machine prepared for future rather than immediate
use. The army secures the people against intrusion by Indians,
and keeps the peace. Governor Campbell, with the Secretary of
State and the Surveyor-General, received us at the station, and,
apologizing for the straitness of their dwellings, delivered us over
to General King and General Bradley, who have cordially conferred
upon us the freedom of the mess.

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l?™^gpg

What is to be the political influence of these new mining and
mountain States ? Their founders are energetic, enterprising and
persevering men. Mountaineers are always frugal and brave, as
well as intense lovers of freedom. Their loyalty will never fail, if
the Union shall continue to deserve it.

12 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
Sherman, August 19th.— Sherman, eight thousand feet above
the sea ! We have made a winding way between the crests of the
Black Hills, and these are only a lower tier of the snow-clad moun
tains. The pass is treeless, shrubless, flowerless ; the rocks on the
mountain-sides massive, brown, monotonous. What were the Rocky
Mountains made for? Some of their uses are obvious. A water
shed, they irrigate the continent, while they stimulate human
activity by obstructing movement and hiding mineral treasure.
Now gently descending the western slope five hundred feet, we
come upon the great grassy plain of Laramie, on which civilization
is making rapid advancement. Five hundred feet lower, through
beds of crumbling red sandstone, we land on a broad floor of cannel-

WAHSATOH RANGE.

coal. Prudent Nature foresaw the Pacific Railroad and the mining-
shaft. Onward forty miles, downward how many feet we do not
know, in the Wahsatch Valley, we come to a settlement which bears
the ominous name of Separation. It is the parting between the
tributaries of the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.

a,owenK
o0

MOUNTAIN NOMENCLATUKE.

13

How odd and yet how significant is the nomenclature of the
mountain scenery : " Red Desert," " Table Rock," " Black Butte,"
" Bitter Creek ! " Now, slowly by winding grades, we climb the
Wahsatch Range, only five hundred feet lower than Sherman ; we
stand on the eastern rim of the central basin of the continent. We

DEVIL'S GATE, WEEEE CA^ON.

recognize and hail the rugged yellow cliff and far-reaching plain,
which, under the light of a gorgeous sunset, Leutze has copied in his
great fresco in the Capitol, " Westward the Course of Empire takes
its Way." Hence we hurry rapidly downward toward the reservoir

u

UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.

of the basin, the broad, blue Salt Lake. The face of the Wahsatch
Mountains wears no resemblance to Atlantic scenery. These dis
jointed masses of rocks, fractured and shivered, look as if they had
resisted lightning, tempest, ice, and flood, for ages. Sublime devas
tation ! The Weber River, here only a foaming torrent, has worked
out for itself an arched passage darker and more majestic than
Gothic art ever designed. The mountain-dwellers call it the Devil's
Gate. There are miles where a declivity, otherwise unbroken, pre
sents at irregular intervals a high, conical basalt rock, standing like
the tower of a castle whose domes and walls have been swept away,
and buried in the earth. One of these bears the name of Pulpit

PITLFIT ROCK.

Rock, and, though inaccessible, it is believed by the credulous that
Brigham Young from its level summit rallied his hosts to repel the
army of General Johnson.
In the Weber Canon, at the foot of the Wahsatch Range, the
torrent subsides into a quiet stream. On its bank is an old and
solitary pine-tree, which bears a board on which is inscribed,

SALT LAKE CITY. 15
" One thousand miles from Omaha." Here all travellers rest and
meditate ; and many, proud of the great achievement, record their
names. Let no one suppose that, because Salt Lake Plain is called
a valley, it is therefore level, smooth, or grassy. The plain is
but a table-land, broken by mountain-spurs, and hilly ranges rise
from the bosom of the lake itself, affording pasturage for herds of
wild-horses. .

THOUSAND-MILE TEEE

Salt Lake City, August 20th.— At Ogden, where the Salt Lake
Valley Railroad intersects the continuous Pacific Railroad, and
where many other railroads are soon to meet it, we were taken by
a special train, which Brigham Young had sent for us. On arrival
at the station here, we were received by General De Trobriand.
Wearied and worn with mountain-travel, a hostelry even less
neat and cheerful than the Townsend House, managed by an Eng
lishwoman, the second of four wives, would have been acceptable
to us. The town, though so unique and isolated, is full of visitors from

16 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
all parts of the United States and Europe, animated by a common
sentiment, curiosity concerning the Mormons-how they came to
be here ; how they live and act ; with what woes they threaten the
nation and mankind, and by what means, moral, judicial political,
or military, the anomalous sect shall be brought to an end.

SALT LAKE VALLEX.

We attended divine service this morning in a small and plain
Episcopalian chapel. In the afternoon, we were accompanied to
the Tabernacle by Mr. Hooper, Territorial Delegate in Congress.
The congregation, composed chiefly of women and children, " with
here and there a traveller," must have numbered seven or eight
thousand. On the platform were seated the entire hierarchy, con
sisting of the president, the apostles, and the high council, the sev
enties, the high-priests, the elders, the priests, teachers, and deacons.
Among these dignitaries we recognized merchants, railroad men,
mechanics, and farmers, and it is quite manifest that the priesthood
is a shrewd, sagacious body of secular persons. The communion is
celebrated every Sunday, every worshipper participating. The

THE MORMONS, THEIR DOCTRINES, ETC.

17

ceremony, though attended with less solemnity, is conducted in
the same manner as in the more popular Protestant denominations,
with the difference that water is used in place of wine, a special
prayer being offered that the substitution may be approved. The
first preacher argued that, according to divine promise, the kingdom
of God came upon the earth immediately after the departure of the
Saviour ; that this kingdom has a key ; that the Church early lost it,
and that the Latter-Day Saints have found it ; that it is nothing
less than the true principle of marriage, namely, that marriage is
not merely a union for earthly life, but a spiritual bond extending
through time and eternity : the Mormons having unlocked the gates
with the newly-discovered key, are inviting and expecting all nations
to enter and build up the kingdom of God.

MORMON TABERNACLE.

During the service thus far, Brigham Young sat a silent and
meditative observer. He now rose, and a profound stillness came
over the congregation. He dwelt briefly on the devotion, zeal,
faith, constancy, conflicts, and sufferings, of the founders of the

18 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
Mormon Church. From its past triumphs, and its present security,
he inferred the favor of the Divine Author of the Christian religion.
Like the previous speaker, he seemed to avoid the subject of po
lygamy, while he claimed for the new church a close conformity
to. the practices of the early Christians, and the enjoyment of new,
special, and continuous revelations. No Christian teacher claims for
the writings of Isaiah or Jeremiah, or of Matthew, Luke, or John,
more divine illumination or infallibility than the speaker demanded
for the attested manuscripts of Joseph Smith. After descanting, in
a few glowing words, upon the certain acceptance of the new faith
immediately, and throughout the whole world, he warned the saints
of the danger of falling from the faith, saying, with all the vehemence
of prophetic denunciation, "Hell awaits the backslider ! " After a
kind allusion to Mr. Seward's presence, the sermon ran to incoher
ent and pointless exhortation. The service ended, Brigham Young
greeted Mr. Seward, and asked leave to visit him in the evening.
The veneration which a Roman Catholic, Episcopalian or Method
ist congregation manifest toward a prelate of their order, at whose
hand they have received a sacrament, is indifference itself compared
with the awe and reverence paid to the President of the Latter-Day
Saints as he retired from the Tabernacle.
Brigham Young, accompanied by four sons and three elders,
passed the long evening in conversation, religious, political and
secular, with Mr. Seward. At the close, with an air as free from
embarrassment as the patriarch Jacob might have shown in a like
case, he invited Mr. Seward to visit some of his houses the next
day, and see his family.
August 22d.— The President came with carriages, and drove us
first to visit his wife Emeline, a matron of fifty, with her ten chil
dren, from the ages of twenty-five downward. Thence to the house
of Amelia, who seems thirty-five years. She has been married two
or three years, and has no children. She invited the ladies to try
her new piano. We then drove to the dwelling of the 'first wife.
This house, the first which Brigham Young built in the city,
shows him to be a skilful mechanic, with a considerable knowledge

BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FAMILY.

19

of architecture. She was surrounded by her sons, Hiram Young,
Brigham Young, Jr., and their several wives, who all seemed to
regard their aged mother with proper filial affection. Thence we
repaired to the " Bee-hive," a complex building, or group of build
ings, in which the remaining families of Brigham Young reside.
They have different suites of apartments, connected by corridors
or piazzas with the garden, a common dining-room, and a saloon
used as a music-hall and chapel. The furniture and appointments

BEIGHAM YOUNG'S RESIDENCE.

of the " Bee-hive," like those of the other houses, are frugal but
comfortable, and order and cleanliness prevail in them all. We
were received here by eight wives and their children. The chil
dren, a large proportion of whom are girls, with blue eyes and
flaxen hair, strongly resemble their father and each other. All are
educated upon the academic standard of the Western country. All
we saw were healthful, intelligent, sprightly, happy and mutually
affectionate, without regard to the difference of mothers ; equally
free from boldness and awkwardness. The mothers, women of

20 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
sad deportment, are entirely devoted to their children. All the
wives are uneducated, except Amelia, who was before marriage an
accomplished school-teacher. If there is any jealousy among them,
it escaped our penetration. The mind of the first wife is impaired
either by age or by trouble. She spoke severely of Gentile censo-
riousness. We were served at every house with the choicest of
native fruits and native wine. Except the coachman, we saw no
servants. At the " Bee-hive," each mother sits with her children
at table, and the several families are served in the order in which
they are arranged. Family worship is conducted night and morning
by the patriarch, and attended by the entire household. Brigham
Young's manner toward his wives is respectful, and toward his
children dignified and affectionate. In presenting them severally
as they came in groups, with a kind smile for the particular mother,
he spoke in this way : " This is our delicate little Lucy," " This is
our musical daughter," " This is our son George, who has a mathe
matical genius," and so on. At the end of the visit here, Brigham
Young said to Mr. Seward : " You have seen eleven of the sixteen
wives with whom I live, and nearly all of my forty-nine surviving
children." " But," said Mr. Seward, " you are represented as saying that
you do not know how many wives you have." The President
explained that, besides the wives who are married for time, the
Mormons believe in sealing other wives only for eternity, and, in
regard to such women, he may have made the remark attributed to
him. Polygamy, not at first adopted by the Mormons, is an adventi
tious feature of their system. It was authorized by a revelation to
Joseph Smith, which was posthumously published. The Church
at first desired to suppress it, but it bore the requisite official attes
tation of the prophet, and therefore could not be rejected without
shaking the foundation of the whole system. The apologies which
they make for it are not altogether destitute of plausibility. It
promised to stimulate population when the sect in a Territory, new
and isolated, expected no accession by immigration, either foreign
or domestic, except of European converts. More women than men

POLYGAMY. 21
came as such converts. Polygamy provided shelter and material
comforts for supernumerary women who might otherwise fall into
neglect, want, and possible infamy. So far it has not proved in
compatible with the education and training of children in public
schools, nor with the maintenance of order and tranquillity among
the people. Time enough, however, has not elapsed, perhaps, nor
are the conditions of the community sufficiently matured, fully to
develop the evils of the institution. Marriage is not exclusively a
matter of religious belief. It is a social institution. To ascertain
the just and needful relation between the sexes in social life has
been one of the experimental studies of mankind, from the earliest
ages, in all countries. The marriage of one man with one woman,
constituting what we call the family relation, is the result of that
great study of civilization. It is universally accepted by Christian
nations, the only nations which enjoy a matured civilization. Po
lygamy is antagonistic to, and incompatible -with, the existence of
the family. When the two institutions are brought into contact in
any country, an irrepressible conflict ensues. In all the nations of
the East the harem has hitherto prevailed in that conflict, with the
results of not merely the degradation but the enslaving of woman,
and the demoralization and corruption of the entire social body.
This is the conflict which is just now beginning in Utah. The end
is not doubtful, and, with the rapid increase of what is called the
Gentile population, coming to develop the mineral and agricultural
resources of the central regions of the continent, that end cannot
be distant. The Mormons, as a religious sect, soon to cast off the heteroge
neous and obnoxious institution of polygamy, may survive, and,
like other religious and ecclesiastical associations, enjoy a long exist
ence. How long, may depend upon the persecution it may pro
voke. The field of purely religious inquiry is infinite, and the spirit
of search is eternal. It demands, and will in all civilized states
henceforth command, toleration.
In the aspect of political economy, Utah is a wonderful success.
A population of nearly one hundred thousand, doubling every ten
years, occupying a soil naturally destitute of vegetation, has, by irri-

22 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
gation and other processes, produced an abundant granary for sup
plying the wants of immigrants on their way to the new mountain
States and Territories on every side. Whatever may be the future of
Utah and the Mormon sect, Brigham Young will have an historical
character. He was originally an uneducated carpenter, in youth a
townsman of Mr. Seward's at Auburn. The latter, while seeing no
reason to question Young's sincerity in his eccentric religious faith
and practices, deems it unjust to deny him extraordinary ability,
energy, and perseverance, as a founder of an American State. His
failure, however, in one of his designs, perhaps at the time the most
cherished of all, will serve as a warning to future American colo
nizers. Leading his exiled and persecuted band from the banks
of the Mississippi across the wilderness, he refused to stop until he
had found an asylum outside of the territory and jurisdiction of the
United States. Scarcely, however, had he discovered this land of
refuge in Mexico, before the Government acquired title, and ex
tended its authority over not only that region, but the whole coun
try to the Pacific Ocean.
Elcho, August 23d. — Brigham Young, attended by a group of
wives and children, took leave of Mr. Seward at the station in Salt
Lake City ; and a committee, composed of Mormon elders, came
with us by special train to Ogden. There two palatial cars awaited
us, which had been sent across the Sierra Nevada by Mr. Seward's
friends at Sacramento. These are furnished with a dining-room,
well-supplied pantry, kitchen, and sleeping-apartments.
Salt Lake, though fed by saline springs, is the reservoir of many
mountain-streams, the Weber River, Bear River, Blue Creek, and
others. Its waters are shallow and unwholesome; but we saw
cattle feeding near it, and land-birds flying over it. Its beach is
always thickly incrusted with salt, produced by solar evaporation.
Large timber grows in the mountain-canons, and the soil, wherever
irrigated, is prolific of cereals, grasses, and fruits. The peach,
plum, and grape, are unsurpassed, even in California. Our last
sunset view of the lake, taken a hundred miles west of Ogden, was
one which we are not likely to forget. The great orb, suspended

DESTINY OF THE INDIANS.

23

over the waters, kindled them to a dazzling blaze, while the sky
Avas clothed in a drapery of purple and gold, which extended in
broad and graceful festoons across the entire horizon.
Here, at Elcho, we find a wretched and squalid remnant of the
Shoshones, once the proprietors of the region we are surveying.
Must these Indian races indeed perish before the march of the
white man ? It would seem so ; they could only be saved by con
version to the usages and habits of civilization, but all past efforts
to that end, from the Atlantic to the centre of the continent, have

THE REMNANT OF A TRIBE.

failed. The experiments of the same sort on the Pacific coast are
no more promising. The Aztec race, though it has not increased
in numbers, has not diminished under Spanish conquest and coloni
zation. Exalted to citizenship, suffrage, and education, the Indians
of Mexico may be saved ; but it is noticeable that intermarriages be
tween the pure Indians and the Creoles and European immigrants
have practically ceased, and that Mexico exhibits therefore a nation
divided by castes, of which the native one is the most numerous,

24

UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.

while the foreign one is the most wealthy and intelligent. One
cannot but hope that the Aztecs of Mexico may prove an exception
to the elsewhere universal process of extermination.
Reno. — On leaving Elcho, we followed a mountain-pass which
is barricaded with basalt columns, more picturesque than the ad
mired Palisades of the Hudson, and this pass brought us out on
the bank of the Humboldt River. We have followed its wild and

f^iiiililfSP

MOUTH OF BIG- OOTTOH-WOOD CA^ON.
winding way as it flows over an alkaline bed, destitute of vegeta
tion, two hundred and fifty miles, until it spreads its waters over
a broad and sterile plain and sinks into the earth. From this
plain we began the eastern ascent of the Sierra Nevada. The
poisonous mineral dust, raised by the whirlwind, was excoriating
as we passed over this desert of the desert, seeing neither tree nor
stream after leaving the lost river.

SACRAMENTO. 25
We declined here a pressing invitation to diverge and visit
Virginia City, as we had declined at Salt Lake, Ogden, Cheyenne,
and Omaha, to diverge to other points of mining and political in
terest. The frequency of these invitations is strongly suggestive
of the rapidity with which branch railroads and common roads are
entwining the giant limbs of the new members of the republic.
What is the secret of this sudden and prodigious increase of
national energy in the prosecution of internal improvements ? It
is one of the first fruits of the abolition of slavery. Conservatism
of the constitutional compromises in the interest of slavery, of
course in practice, became conservatism of slavery itself, and this
principle, developed in 1800, and gaining strength during fifty
years, has been effectually obstructive of material improvement
and national progress.
Sacramento, August 25th. — The desert is passed at Reno. The
mountain scenery becomes fresh and cheerful with plentiful ever
green forests, and, where they have been removed, rich meadows.
Mr. Stanford, Mr. Crocker, and Mr. Mills, met us on the way,
and accompanied us down the western slope of the Sierra Nevada,
a long journey, though the distance is short. The highest en
gineering skill must have been employed in effecting this passage
through mountains so rugged, steep and wild. This morning the
engineer whistled " Down brakes ! " to avoid collision with a train
which seemed to be coming from the opposite direction, but which
proved to be the end of our own train. We left massive brown
mountains, deep-blue lakes, and canons clothed in evergreen, and
entered a broad plain, lightly shaded with groups of laurel and live-
oak. Newly-harvested wheat-fields, and fields yet covered with
native oats, are boundless. Although the engineer had brought us
here in advance of the appointed hour, Mr. Seward was neverthe
less greeted with a salvo, and it was not without difficulty that we
made our way through the friendly mass who were gathered to
welcome him.
A drive through city and suburbs, and over the race-course, a
dinner at Mr. Stanford's, and an evening reception at Mr. Crocker's,

28 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
closed the day, giving us a pleasing acquaintance with the refined
and spirited society of the capital of California.
San Francisco, September 1st.— Ex. Seward, desirous to avoid
an appearance of seeking a renewal of the hospitalities extended to
him here last year, on his tour to Alaska and Mexico, effected a
quiet entrance into the town, and we have been the guests, since

"S-/THBK -*'l

SAN FRANCISCO.

our arrival, of his old friend and travelling-companion, Mr. Hastings.
We have visited the Cliff House ; and made for all, but Mr. Seward,
a first acquaintance with the Seal-Rocks, their amphibious inhabi
tants, and the Pacific Ocean. We could not describe, if we should
attempt, the bewildering land excursion of two days, and the
magnificent entertainment at Belmont, which Mr. Ralston gave us,
or our beautiful steam-yacht excursion around the harbor and bay.

CIVILIZATION OF CALIFORNIA." 27
General Scofield, late Secretary of War, now at the head of this
department, and Admiral Winslow, the hero of the Kearsar°-e,
commanding the Pacific squadron here, have entertained us gener
ously. These and other hospitalities, all crowded into one short
week, closed last night with a ball at the house of Mr. Avery.
What caprices have marked the civilization of' California !
Wrested from the native Indians, one hundred and fifty years ago,
to enlarge the dominion of Spain ; parcelled fifty years afterward^
in large tracts, among bookish priests devoted to the conversion
of the dispossessed proprietors— hardly had the cathedrals and

CXIFF HOUSE, SAN FRANCISCO.

schools been established, when revolution tore the territory from
the hold of Spain, and the Republic of Mexico confiscated and
seized the entire domain. Then came purchase, conquest, and
rapid colonization, by the United States. These have left, with few
exceptions, neither Mexican proprietors to occupy, nor Spanish
priests to teach, nor Indians to be taught. The Catholic churches
were founded chiefly in 1776-'78. How little did their builders

28 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
understand the mighty revolution that had just then broken out
on the other side of the continent — a revolution that was destined
to modify not only the civil but also the ecclesiastical systems of the
earth !
San Francisco, though only twenty years old, already assumes
the aspect, tone, and manners of an inter-continental emporium, a
counterpart to the Atlantic metropolis.
The absorbing topic here is, Chinese immigration. Mr. Seward
has declined an invitation given him by the anti-Chinese party to
explore the Chinese quarter, and see how unfit its inhabitants are
to become citizens of the United States ; and also a like invitation
from the Chinese settlers to make the same exploration, to see how
harmless and profitable that colonization is. The Republican party
have lately acquiesced in the policy of exclusion, which has been
insisted upon so long and so strenuously by the Democratic party.
Mr. Seward protests firmly against this, and teaches that immigra
tion and expansion are the main and inseparable elements of civili
zation on the American Continent, and nowhere more needful or
beneficent than on the Pacific coast. He says confidently, to both
parties, that all attempts will fail to suppress or stifle either of those
invigorating forces.

GOLDEN GATE.

CHAPTER II.
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO JAPAN.
The Vessels of the Pacific Mail Line. — Our Fellow-Passengers. — " The Great Company
of the Preachers." — The Chinese Passengers. — The Great Event of the Voyage. —
The Moods of the Sea. — A Still Greater Event. — The Loss of a Day. — The Gyas-
cutus. — The Beginning of the End. — The Coast of Japan. — The Ocean-Fisheries.
Steamer China, Pacific Ocean, September 1, 1870. — Our party
having received its promised accessions, we enibarked at noon.
More kind friends could not have come on board to take leave if
we had been long residents of San Francisco. If Mr. Seward had
been thirty years younger, such a parting would even then have
taxed his strength.
We passed the sometimes turbulent, but always majestic Golden
Gate, with scarcely a disturbance of the ship's balance, and began
our voyage on a calm sea and under a bright sky.
September ith. — The vessels of the Pacific Mail Line are side-
wheel steamers, and in accommodations and appointments are sur
passed only by the palatial boats on the Hudson River and Long
Island Sound. The China, four thousand three hundred tons bur
den, is the smallest of them all. We enjoy an uninterrupted
promenade seven hundred feet in circuit on the upper deck. We
have sixty cabin-passengers, and might carry comfortably twice
that number. Among them are General Vlangally, the Russian
Minister returning from St. Petersburg to Peking, and half a
dozen English civil officers coming from " home " to their posts in
Japan and China. "Great," it must be confessed, "is the com
pany of the preachers :" Fifteen American missionaries with their

30 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
wives and children ! — the elder families returning, and the younger
going for the first time to fields of labor in Japan, China, Siam,
and India ; United States naval officers, on their way to join the
Asiatic squadron, four English and as many American youths just
emerged from college on an Eastern tour ; a United States Treas
ury agent, going to inspect the Oriental consulates ; and one Amer
ican office-seeker, at least, proceeding to lay his claims before the
Emperor of China at Peking. The gentlemen amuse themselves
with gymnastic games, the ladies with music and books. An ex
pert Japanese juggler entertains us in the cabin. In the steerage,
are five hundred Chinese returning home. They pay less than half,
price, and are fed with the simple fare of their country. Knowing
no use of beds, they sleep on the floor. In the middle of their
cabin they have made, with canvas, a dark room for opium-smoking.
When on deck, they appear neatly clad, and amuse themselves with
unintelligible and apparently interminable games of chance. The
annual immigration of Chinese to the United States is twelve thou
sand. They are invariably successful. Half the number go back
to China, either on visits or to remain. Our freights consist, of
Mexican silver dollars, manufactured goods, agricultural machines,
carriages, furniture, flour, butter, fruits, drugs, and patent medicines.
These go in exchange for teas, silks, rice, and Chinese emigrants.
September 6th.— The great event of the voyage occurred this
morning. All were on deck, in a state of pleasant excitement.
At seven o'clock, precisely the hour which the captain had fore
told, the ship America, eighteen days from Yokohama,, appeared
in a direct line before us, under full pressure, and' with square
sails set. Signals were promptly exchanged, and, to avoid colli
sion, each ship turned slightly from its course and stopped. The
America has eighty cabin-passengers and four hundred Chinese.
The cabin-passengers on either vessel cheered loudly,, the Chinese
looking on silent and thoughtful. A well-manned gig, with an
officer in the stern, came bounding over the waves, and deliv-;
ered to us Chinese and Japanese (European) newspapers, with a
bag of letters from her passengers. We, in return sent on board

THE GREAT EVENT OF THE VOYAGE.

31

the latest American newspapers, and a mail well charged with
letters to our friends at home. The America's boat was then
hoisted to its davits, the walking-beams of the two giant ships

MEETING OF THE STEAMERS IN MID-OCEAN.

gracefully bowed to each other, the wheels gently revolved, the
passengers repeated their cheers, and a gun from either deck an
nounced that the meeting was over. Each vessel resumed its
course, and in a few moments not even a spy-glass could discover
the waving of handkerchiefs or other signal on the deck of the
America.* If we gave to the eastern-bound travellers the first news of the
European war, and of the death of Admiral Farragut, they in ex
change gave us intelligence of an expected war between the Euro
pean powers and the Chinese Government, in consequence of the
recent dreadful massacre at Tien-Tsin. Every one is astonished
that Mr. Seward persists in his purpose of visiting Peking. He
says that France, in her present disabled condition, cannot make
war against China, and, without the lead of France, no Western
nation will.
* The telegraph from Shanghai reports that the America was burned in the haiboj
of Yokohama, August 25, 1872.

32 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
September 14th. — Those who would know the sea, have need to
study its varying moods and aspects. They must see it in the later
hours of cloudless night, when it reflects the bright stars and con
stellations ; they must see it in the morning twilight, when its
broad surface seems contracted to a small, dark lake, and then un
der the illumination of the dawn it resumes its illimitable expanse.
Doubtless it is terrible in its more serious moods by reason of its
vastness, darkness, and powerful agitation, all elements of the sub
lime. Happily for us, we have not yet witnessed those moods.
September 16th. — It was a mistake to pronounce our meeting
with the America, on the 6th, the event of the voyage. A
greater one has just occurred. Our last date is the 14th. This
note is written on the 16th. The former entry certainly was
made yesterday. The chronometer marked eight o'clock at
night at Greenwich, at the very hour when our clock, which
keeps the running time, marked eight o'clock in the morning. We
are half-way around the world from Greenwich, and have lost just
half a day. It is quite clear that, if we should continue onward
making the same discrepancy of time, we should have lost a whole
day on arriving at Greenwich. We might postpone the readjust
ment of our ship's time until we reached Greenwich, but the
scientific world has wisely decided that this readjustment shall
be made in every case by compromise on the 180th meridian, and
therefore, instead of striking out a half-day here, we strike out a
whole one.
If the absolute loss of one whole day out of our lives is a dis
tressing thing to think of, we may console ourselves with Red
Jacket's profound reflection. When a missionary had delivered be
fore the Seneca nation, in council, a homily in the usual style on
the shortness of life, and the necessity of improving its fleeting
hours, he called on them for an expression of their sentiments on
that important subject; Red Jacket, having duly consulted with
the chiefs, head men, women, and warriors, responded in their be
half: "Red men have all the time there is going; they do not
see that white men have any more."

THE COAST OF JAPAN. 33
September 20th. — Four thousand miles from San Francisco.
The sea has come down from the long, surging swell of a few days
past, and is now smooth and glassy. We have entered the outer
belt of the hot circular current which warms the coasts of Japan,
Siberia, and Alaska.
A brig under full sail is seen, though at a great distance, mov
ing eastward. Everybody tries the spy-glass to make her out.
When all have failed, a passenger, noted for controversialism, pro
nounces that the brig is the Gyascutus, from Macao, bound for
Valparaiso, freighted with coolies. We all start at once, and ask,
" How do you know ? " "I assert it to be the fact," he replies ;
" let him prove the contrary who can. If this is not sufficient
proof, it is at least the same form of argument that our preacher
used in his sermon last night."
September 23d. — The beginning of the end ! Every inch of the
deck, bulwarks, stanchions, rigging, and boats, has been scoured,
tarred, or painted, and the whole ship is clean as a Shaker meeting
house. Our five hundred steerage-passengers are confined within
a rope-enclosure on the forward-deck — they appearing in new and
shining cotton clothes, with pates freshly shaven. A dozen women
are seen for the first time. All are engaged, especially the women,
in dropping handfuls of rice and small pieces of colored paper into
the sea, to propitiate the gods for a safe arrival. Flying-fish sur
round us ; one white-breasted gull has come to attend us into port ;
and a whale, the only one we have seen on the voyage, is spouting
in the distance.
September 24th. — The coast of Japan rises in a long, gray outline
over the dark sea, but Fusi Yama veils his head, and refuses to take
notice of our coming.
We have crossed the Pacific Ocean. How much it is to be re
gretted that we must make such long stretches, and yet see so little !
How profitable it would be to study the North-Pacific American
coast, the shores of Puget Sound, the Territories on the Columbia
River, and Alaska, in a near future the great fishery, forest, and
4

34 UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC OCEAN.
mineral storehouses of the world !— the Aleutian chain of islands
hereafter to be the stepping-stones between the two continents.
We have lost a sight, also, not only of the Sandwich Islands, but
of Australia, a fifth continent on which a kindred people are devel-

rtJSI TAMA, COAST OF JAPAN.

oping a state that may at some future day challenge comparison
with our own republic.
The Northern fisheries known in commerce are chiefly above
the 34th parallel. The United States and Russia own more than
half of the coast on both sides of the Pacific, north of that parallel.
Mr. Seward left, as a legacy in the State Department, an inchoate
negotiation of a treaty for reciprocity in those fisheries. Its im
portance may be estimated by recalling the controversies and con
flicts between the United States and Great Britain, during the last
hundred years, which have arisen out of the fisheries on the Atlan
tic coast.

PART II.
JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

CHAPTER I.
YOKOHAMA AND ITS VICINITY.
The Bay of Yokohama. — Natives and Foreigners. — Native Costumes. — Japanese Bar
bers. — The Tokaido. — Japanese Cemeteries, Gardens, and Temples. — Monks and
Monasteries.— Kamakura. — The Great Statue of Buddha. — The Daibutz.
Yokohama, September 25th. — Night closed with more than
moonless darkness. With a true seaman's solicitude for the good
name of his ship, Captain Freeman still promised that we should
anchor before midnight. Who could think of sleeping when the
lights of our first Asiatic port were so near ? We walked the deck
around and around, from stem to stern ; we tried whist, we drew
uncounted symphonies from the piano — but no consolation. The
ship scarcely moved, and the equinoctial 24th day of September
became the longest of all the days in the year. Time lagged more
and more tediously between the hours of eleven and twelve. At
last we gave it up, and went to rest. We were wakened by the
ship's gun, and the slow dropping of the anchor. The morning
brought an explanation. The ship's clock had been retarded, and
did not announce the hour of twelve until the chronometer marked
half-past two.
The bay of Yokohama is as spacious, and its surroundings are
as beautiful, as those of Hampton Roads. The landscape recedes
gracefully from the shore, and high above the beautiful scene Fusi
Yama's sacred brow reflects the glowing smile of the morning sun.
The hills and valleys wear all the freshness of spring. It is Sun
day ; the harbor is gay with the flags of many nations on men-of-

38 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
war and merchant-ships, and is made more animated by the quaint
Japanese craft and their shouting, grotesque, native managers.
Yokohama, September 26th. — The United States minister, Mr.
De Long, Captain McCrea, of the Asiatic squadron, Mr. Shepard
the consul at Yeddo, Mr. Walsh, and other American citizens, came
on board, and after kind expressions of welcome and congratulation
conducted us to Mr, Walsh's residence.
Captain McCrea received Mr. Seward and his friends with na
tional honors on board the United States steamship-of-war Monocacy.
Accustomed at home to the intermingling of all classes, condi
tions, and races, in subjection to one system of laws and tribunals,
with common standards of morals and manners, we are as yet un
prepared for the different constitution of society we find here :
instead of one community, two, standing side by side, each inde
pendent of the other — the one native, the other foreign.
The native population of Japan is forty millions, all of the Mongo
lian type ; * the so-called European population, five thousand, tempo
rarily residing here from various nations, including the United States.
These foreigners are gathered upon tracts of land, one, three or six
miles square, called concessions, adjacent to native cities in the chief
ports of this maritime empire. These foreign settlements are cor
porations, regulated and protected by the several foreign nations, and
are copied in all respects from Western models, while the unpaved
native cities, built of firs and cedars, thatched with bamboo and cane,
are as perfectly Japanese as if a European had never touched the coast.
It may be conceived that it is difficult for the transient traveller,
who always sojourns among his countrymen, and speaks with the
natives only through an interpreter, to study Japan or its people.
The Japanese, however they may have been heretofore, are not now
jealous or suspicious. They labor cheerfully on the wharves, serve
faithfully in foreign families within the concessions, and manufac
ture, in their own districts, articles of furniture and fancy goods for
foreign markets. They are polite, sagacious, and skilful traders.
* The Prime-Minister- informs Mr. Seward that the census recently taken gave thirty-
five (35) millions, but that it was erroneous. He estimates the population at fifty millions.

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.

NATIVE COSTUMES.

39

September 27th. — The representations of native costumes on the
Japanese porcelain and lacquer-work, which are found on our tables
and in our parlors at home, are not less accurate than spirited.
The coarse, black hair is a chief object of pride and care. The

JAPANESE BARBERS.

barber with his scissors, combs, razors, and pomatum, is seen at all
hours of the day in the most public places. The women brush the

40

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

hair away from the temples d la Pompadour, and gather it up under
a small smooth puff at the back of the head with gilt and vermilion
pins. The hair of the men is shorn entirely off the crown, leaving
enough at the sides and back to be drawn upward and fastened
in a graceless and meaningless knot. The effect is simply shock
ing. The barber-work being performed only three times a week,
care is taken to prevent disarrangement in the intervals. They
use, instead of a pillow, a wooden block adjusted to the shape of the
neck. The pomatum so lavishly applied is extracted from an herb,
which, growing in the eaves of the houses, makes a pretty green
fringe for the brown thatched roofs. They say that one of the em
perors, for sumptuary reasons, forbade the cultivation of this plant
in the fields. Thus the people, while evading the law, beautify
their dwellings.
Here, as in Alaska and in ancient Mexico, civil economy re-

'/ \

.iWWggJJ!1'

W®%mW'

JAPANESE GIRLS.

quires that the married and unmarried women shall wear distin
guishing badges. The girl, with full hair tastefully arranged, with
white teeth, and with the free use of cosmetics, and a scrupulously
modest costume, is attractive; when married, her eyebrows are
immediately shaven off, her teeth are stained jet-black, the orna
ments are removed from her hair, and she becomes repulsive,

JAPANESE CEMETERIES.

41

Wherever a city of the living is, there is also a greater city of
the dead. The Japanese bury on the hill-sides. Though cremation

JAPANESE CEJfETEEY.

is sometimes practised, the body is more generally interred in a
sitting posture, cramped within a plain, white, square box, borne to
the grave on men's shoulders. All who attend, wear white mourn
ing-badges. Women do not appear in the processions. Burial is
without pomp and pageantry. A black or gray stone obelisk is
raised over the grave.
All the cemeteries are crowded, but doubtless this is due to the
economy of land required by so dense a population. They are,
however, always shaded and green.

42 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
September 28th. — We made an excursion, by boat, to-day, on
the bay of Yeddo, to Kanagawa, and its precincts. The Tokaido,
the high-road which traverses the island of Niphon, passes through
the town. A crowd of both sexes and all ages gathered and stared
at our landing. The architecture of Japanese towns and villages
is monotonous. The buildings, public and private, are small and
huddled together. It was a pleasing surprise to find the railroad
to Yeddo in process of construction. It is undertaken by a native
company, using only Japanese capital, credit, and labor. By-the-
way, the projectors are becoming timid in prosecuting the work,
under an apprehension that, when it shall be completed, foreigners
will base extortionate claims on any accidental injuries they may
suffer. Ascending a high hill, just beyond the town of Kanagawa, we
enjoyed our first interior view of Japanese rural scenery. Thence
forward we had a path only five or six feet wide, which winds
across the plains and around the hill-sides, not on any principle of
road-making, but simply for the convenient use of the soil. The
hill-tops are covered with majestic cypresses and yew-trees, inter
mingled with the chestnut, holly, pine, persimmon, and camphor.
At their bases are thick groves of the slender bamboo, which, be
sides being highly ornamental, is the most variously useful of all
the woods in the East.
The althea, the lily, the japonica, the arbor-vitse, the wisteria,
the passion-flower, and many other shrubs and creepers, which re
quire so much care and labor in our gardens and greenhouses, are
luxuriant here. There is no waste, either by rock, marsh, or jun
gle ; every hill is terraced, every acre irrigated, every square foot
of land covered by some tree, cereal, or esculent. Instead of farms,
there are small plots, and each is tilled with cotton, flax, wheat,
barley, sugar, beets, peppers, sweet-potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and
other vegetables, by a single family, with care equal to that which
is bestowed on our flower-beds. No allowance is made for even
accidental waste of the crop. The individual wheat-stalk which is
bent down by the storm is restored and supported. Each head of
rice, each particular boll of cotton, is kept in its place until care-

ftSsfe

fgffl

Sim

m

Mi

V

in

A JAPANESE GARDEN.
MONKS AND MONASTERIES. 43
fully removed by the husbandman's hand. There is no loss of
time in gathering the crops into garners ; as fast as the product
ripens, it is harvested and immediately prepared for the market.
Despotism, though often cruel, is not always blind. A law of the
empire obliges every one who fells a tree to plant another. In
the midst of this rich and beautiful landscape, within an enclosure
of two hundred acres, stands a Buddhist temple, with an adjoining
monastery, surrounded by groves such as Downing might have
designed. We came upon the base of the temple by successive
flights of steps, each reaching from a platform below to a more con
tracted one above. The edifices are constructed of wood, which is
generally used in Japan, for greater security against earthquakes.
The temple has an overhanging roof and portico, which are
unique and graceful. The columns, architraves and cornices are
elaborately, though grotesquely carved. The bonzes received and
conducted us through the sacred edifices with ceremonious polite
ness, requiring us to leave our boots at the door, not as a re
ligious observance, but as a regulation of domestic economy. These
priests are vowed to celibacy and temperance, and in- their ton
sure and habit they resemble Carmelite friars, except that their
spotless white raiment is not of wool, but of soft silk. The monas
tery is divided into numerous apartments by sliding paper doors,
but all these were thrown open to us. A fine, clean bamboo mat,
two inches thick, is spread on every floor, and serves for " bed and
board." There is no other furniture. While we were enjoying
our collation in one apartment, the bonzes were taking tea and
smoking in the next one. Each bonze, before lifting his teacup or
bringing his pipe to his lips, brought his head half a dozen times •
to the floor by way of compliment to his several companions. We
inferred that some of the party were pilgrims, enjoying the hospitali
ties of the house. The temple is a square enclosure, with an open
corridor on every side. Nearly the whole floor is covered with a
dais, in the centre of which is a large altar, with a smaller one on
either side. Over each a carved image — the middle one, Buddha ;
on his right, the mythological mikado, on the left an apostle or
lawgiver. No space is allowed for worshippers. They prostrate

44

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

themselves at the porch, and are content with throwing small coins
into the treasury just within the door. A cemetery near the tem
ple is crowded with monuments of pilgrim princes and saints.
Take away from this temple its pagan devices and emblems, and
the whole place would seem to be pervaded with the very spirit of
religious devotion. It combines seclusion, repose, and silence with
solemnity. The good monks dismissed us with many blessings,
after having obtained Mr. Seward's leave to visit him at Yokohama.
On our return, we found the bay highly agitated. Discarding the
life-boats of the Monocacy, we crossed in a native craft, rowed by
a vigilant and active though excited and vehement crew.
September 30th. — A second excursion, this time overland to
Kanagawa, southward on the Tokaido. A hundred years ago, no
part of the United States, perhaps few countries in Europe, afforded
a road equal to this in firmness and smoothness. At intervals, hot

TEA-HOUSE ON THE TOKAIDO.

tea in tiny cups, with cakes and sugar-plums, waa. brought out to us
by pretty girls, artistes in dance and song. The beverage might not
be declined, though we were not allowed to pay for it. In many
places we found circular benches arranged under trees five hundred

GROUP ON THE TOKAIDO.

45

years old. This frequent provision for rest and refreshment is due
to the circumstance that travel in Japan is principally performed by
pedestrians, with the occasional use of chairs. Daimios have always
used horses, and recently foreigners have introduced vehicles.

GROUP ON THE TOKAIDO.

The Japanese are a busy as well as a frugal people. Thickly-
clustering houses, booths, and work-shops nearly close the road
on either side, making it difficult to distinguish where a rural
district begins or ends. Occasionally a vacant space opens a beau-
5

46

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

tiful vista. At the end of twenty miles we sent our carriages back
to Yokohama, and proceeded in chairs by a narrow path over a
lofty hill, and then came down on the ocean-beach. The feet of
our coolie bearers sank deep in the sand, but we enjoyed the re
freshing spray which dashed in our faces. Then leaving the shore,
and following a rugged mountain-path, we came upon a high plain,
where once stood the renowned ecclesiastical capital, Kamakura.
Practically speaking, Japan has no ruins. An extensive and hand-

It

TEMPLE AT KAMAKUILA,

some temple, which still maintains its prestige, is the only monu
ment of the ancient city. A few miles beyond this temple, we left
our chairs, and, diverging from the road, we confronted a high
wooden arch, fantastically painted with bright green, blue and yel
low colors. On either side of the arch is a carved bronze demon,
fifteen feet high, protected by an iron railing. These figures, de
signed to be terrific, are simply hideous. They are plastered over
with moistened paper pellets, which have been cast on them by pass
ing pilgrims. The adhesion of the pellet is taken as an assurance

THE GREAT STATUE OF BUDDHA.

47

that the monster is appeased, and consents to the visit of a votary.
Trusting that the missiles which our bearers had thrown upon
the demons had propitiated them in our favor, we boldly en
tered the gate. Ascending a solid flight of steps, we reached a
paved court, three sides of which are graced with monumental
shrines of stone and bronze. On a pedestal six feet high, in the
centre of the square, is the gigantic statue of Buddha (famous as
the Daibutz), sitting with crossed legs, on a lotus-flower. Though
description by measurement is not poetical, we must use it to con
vey an idea of this colossal idol. It is fifty feet high, a hundred

feet in circumference at the base, and the head is nine feet long ;
the hands are brought together in front, with thumbs joined ; the
head is covered with metallic snails, which are supposed to protect
the god from the sun. Some travellers find in the face an expres-

48

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

sion of sublime contemplation ; to us it seems dull and meaning
less. The statue being made of bronze plates, is hollow; the
interior is shaped and fitted as a temple. We are inclined to be
lieve that the Japanese have lost their early reverence for the
Daibutz ; we find the walls covered with the autographs of pilgrims
and travellers. The bonzes invited us to register our own names,
and they offer to sell the god to any purchaser for the price of old
copper.

JAPANESE BONZES.

CHAPTEK II.
VISIT TO YEDDO.— INTERVIEW WITH THE MIKADO.
Interview with the Japanese Prime-Minister. — Tremendous Storm. — Some Points of
History. — The Mikado and the Tycoon. — Japanese Foreign Office. — Minister Sawa.
—The Question of Saghalien.— The Tombs of the Tycoons.— A Speck of War.— The
Delmonico of Yeddo. — Sketches of Yeddo. — The Interview with the Mikado.
On board the Monocacy, Bay of Yeddo, October 1st. — On Mr.
Seward's arrival at Yokohama, the Japanese Government at Yeddo
invited him to a banquet in the palace of the Hamagoten. The
Japanese ministry, with other official persons, in all six hundred,
were to be present, and the prime-minister was to preside. Mr.
Seward excused himself on the ground that the condition of his
health and his habits oblige him to forego large assemblies. He
wrote, at the same time, that he intended visiting the capital in a
private manner, and that it would afford him pleasure if allowed to
pay his respects to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This morn
ing, we set out on the excursion thus proposed, in the Monocacy,
accompanied by Mr. De Long ; we arrived at the anchorage before
Yeddo, at five o'clock, expecting to land immediately, under the
ship's salute.
Since our arrival at Yokohama the weather has been intensely
hot, and everybody has been predicting some fearful convulsion of
earthquake or tempest. A wind with heavy rain gave us a rough
voyage; but the sea has now calmed, though the rain continues.
Mr. Seward, protesting against delay, asked for boats when the
anchor dropped. The ladies shrank from exposure; even the

50 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
United States minister became demoralized, and Mr. Seward was
overruled ; so here we are, lying five miles from Yeddo, under the
guns of a long line of Japanese forts, built on shoals, midway be
tween our anchorage and the city. The naval officers are to give
up their quarters to us for the night, in expectation of a calm sea
and cloudless sky to-morrow ; an expectation which Mr. Seward
desires it to be distinctly understood he does not share. In the
mean time they are entertaining us with music and conversation.
Yeddo, October 2d.— Mr. Seward was right. We retired at
eleven o'clock, to the very narrow " regulation berths," imprisoning
ourselves with close mosquito-nets, in the smallest of state-rooms,
looking through the open ports at a very silvery moon, bright stars,
and a smooth sea, the ship drawing nine feet on an anchorage of
three fathoms. Between us and the forts, the harbor was covered
with vessels, including a large number of Japanese steamers and
other boats, as well as Chinese junks. Some of these lay quite near
to us. There was no sleep. At four o'clock in the morning, a phos
phorescent wave, pouring through the open ports, deluged our
state-rooms. At this juncture, the order came down the hatch
way, "Close the ports," The steward informed us that there was
" something of a high sea." Wrapping ourselves in our now
thoroughly-wetted garments, we rushed into the dark cabin, and
there overheard low conversation on the deck, which expressed
apprehension of a fearful storm.
We were on deck at break of day. The sky wore a copper hue ;
the air grew intensely hot ; the barometer fell from 30° 50' to 28° ;
a violent wind seemed to come from all quarters, and, in the midst
of a deluge of rain, blew the sea from underneath the ship, causing
her continually to bound and rebound on the sandy bottom. It
was the typhoon ! Nevertheless, we remained on deck, lashed fast
in our seats, preferring the open tempest there to the close and
nauseating cabin. The captain was self-collected ; he ordered the
top-masts down, and every spar well secured. Three anchors, the
ship's entire ground-tackle, were thrown out ; every vessel, and
every other object on sea and land, now disappeared from our view.

STORM IN THE BAY. 51
With confused fears that some ship might be driving against us, or
that we might be dragging toward a lee-shorc, we put our engines
in motion, to keep the Monocacy up to her anchors. The more
juvenile officers, of whom, of course there were many, enlivened the
dark and dreary hours by whispered accounts of all the ships which
had been wrecked, or escaped wreck, in all the typhoons, and all
the tidal waves, and all the earthquakes that have raged in Asiatic
waters, or in any other seas, within the memory of man.
At twelve o'clock, we were driven from the dsck by alarms that
the guns were breaking loose from their fastenings, that the bul
warks and stanchions were giving way, and the bending masts and
spars would crush us. We took refuge once more in the cabin,
uncertain whether the ship was parting her anchors, or breaking
to pieces in her berth. All the hatchways being closed, exclud
ing air except through a convoluted funnel, a lethargy came over
us, which made some helpless, and nearly all hopeless. About two
o'clock, an officer, anxiously and carefully consulting the glass, said
in a low voice, " It is rising," and, after a few seconds more, he ex
claimed, "It is the end ! " And so it was.
In half an hour we were on deck again. The sky was bright,
and the sea, though yet rolling, had lost its violence. But the
vessels which had been moored in such dangerous proximity were
no longer there. The lee-shore was so near that we wondered at
our presumption in having anchored there. At five o'clock, a full
boat's crew manned a prize-gig, and with bright and merry oars
rowed us around the forts to the wharf of the consulate at Yeddo.
On the way we passed a crowded steamer, broken directly in the
middle, and hanging across the rampart of the upper fort ; while a
dozen vessels were seen half out of water in the shallow and treach
erous bay. When we saw the broken walls, overturned trees and
fallen buildings on the shore, we were convinced that our anchorage
in the bay was the safer refuge, notwithstanding all its terrors.
The Monocacy had neither parted a rope nor started a nail, while
the consulate had been beaten and shattered on all sides and in
every part.
Sunset came on ; while there was no rainbow, all the prismatic

52 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
colors and hues were painted on the broken and rolling clouds, as
brilliantly and as distinctly as they are ever seen in the " arch of
promise " itself.
With what grateful emotions did we reflect that the tempest
which so often breaks and destroys the stanchest of ships in the
Eastern seas, had been in this instance withheld, not only until we
had crossed the great ocean, but even until we had found an anchor
age from which we had beheld the terrific phenomenon without
disaster !
Monday, October 3d. — The Monocacy having done her best to
rouse the sleepers of the capital by a salute to Mr. Seward, returned
down the bay to Yokohama. Thanks to her brave officers and no
ble crew, with earnest wishes for their health and promotion.
The damages of the consulate have been repaired sufficiently
for our comfortable accommodation. We are guests of the minister
and the consul. At an early hour an officer came from the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, to learn when Mr. Seward would make his
promised visit. He appointed ten o'clock, to-morrow.
Before we go to the foreign office, it may be well to recall
some points of history, in order to make our observations on Yeddo
intelligible. The people of Japan, whether indigenous here or derived from
Siberia, assumed political organization, according to their own
records, about twenty-four hundred years ago, in the two islands
of Niphon and Kiusiu. They were governed by an emperor, who,
being descended from the gods, was divine and absolute on earth,
and when he died was worshipped. Not only was his person too
sacred to be looked upon by a stranger, but even the sun must not
shine on his head. It was sacrilegious to touch the dishes from
which he ate. At his death, his twelve wives and all their attend
ants committed hari-kari. These attributes are still popularly con
ceded to him. As vicegerent of Heaven, he wears the title of
Tenno; as sovereign in temporal affairs, he is the Mikado or
Emperor. Miako, some thirty miles inland, was his ancient capital, and

AMERICAN LEGATION AT YEDDO.

THE TYCOON AND MIKADO. 53
Osaka its seaport. The Emperor by divine right owned the lands
in the empire, and in time graciously divided them into provinces ;
retaining five or more of these for himself, he parcelled out the
others among great lords or princes, called daimios. In the thir
teenth century, a rebellion arose in the empire, and the Mikado,
remaining at Miako, committed the defence of the state to the
richest and strongest one of these daimios, who wore the title of
" Tycoon." This military commander, after a short time, absorbed
the temporal sovereignty and reigned absolutely. Yeddo thus be
came a third capital of the empire.
The Tycoon, nevertheless, paid homage to the Mikado, who re
tained his titular rank, and unquestioned spiritual authority and
preeminence. Besides the proper revenues of his own five prov
inces, the Mikado enjoyed, for the support of his dignity, an annual
allowance made by the Tycoon, out of the general revenues of the
empire. As he cultivated religion and such science as the age
allowed, Miako became the centre of intelligence and learning. It
still retains this distinction. Osaka being an alternate residence of
the Mikado, it partook of the sanctity of the capital.
By degrees the Mikado, free from all responsibility for admin
istration, grew in the affections of the people, while the Tycoon,
exercising his power despotically, and held responsible for all na
tional disasters and misfortunes, became an object of public jealousy
and hatred. It was at this juncture that the United States, through
Commodore Perry, and the European powers afterward, made their
treaties with the Tycoon, in ignorance of any pretensions on the
part of the Mikado to temporal power. It was the Tycoon who
sent two successive embassies to the United States, one in 1860 and
the other in 1868. In 1865, the ministers of the Western powers,
residing at Yeddo, wrote alarming accounts of popular discontents
with the Tycoon's administration, and of frantic appeals made to
the Mikado to resume the sovereign power, annul the treaties, and
expel foreigners from the empire. For this object, a party was
formed by powerful daimios and fanatical ecclesiastics.
While matters were in this situation, a young daimio, son of
the powerful Prince Satsuma, was improving an academic vacation

54 JxlPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
in England, to visit the United States. He went to Mr. Seward,
in the Department of State. He inquired of the prince to which
of the local parties in Japan he belonged. To Mr. Seward's sur
prise, he answered, "to the Mikado's." "What," said Mr. Seward,
" is the cause of the civil war, and what question does it involve ? "
He replied : " The Tycoon, who has no title to the throne, but is only
a general in the imperial service, some time ago usurped the gov
ernment, and claims to transmit it to his heirs. This usurpation is
intolerable." " How long," said Mr. Seward, " since this usurpa
tion was committed ? " " Oh, it is very recent— it is only six hun
dred years since it occurred."
The revolution was successful, the dynasty of the Tycoon was
abolished, and the heaven-descended Mikado in the year 1868,
leaving his spiritual seat at Miako, repaired to Yeddo, and fully
resumed the throne of his ancestors. He promptly confirmed
the treaties, and of course was duly recognized by the Western
powers. October 4th. — At nine this morning a cavalry-escort was placed
at Mr. Seward's command. It is attentive and orderly, although,
according to our Western ideas, not particularly well mounted or
disciplined. After a diligent exploration of the two or three European livery-
stables in the city, the consul succeeded in procuring three well-
worn English carriages, drawn by native ponies, like those of our
escort. Taking no heed of the suggestion that women are forbidden
in Japanese society, and unknown at court, Mr. Seward proceeded
to the foreign office with the ladies, the minister, Mr. Kandall
and the consul. (Mr. George F. Seward and Mrs. Seward have
gone forward to Shanghai.) As we drove through the streets, we
found them filled with gayly-dressed and merry crowds, and thus
learned that Mr. Seward's appointment had fallen on one of the
numerous national holidays.
The foreign office is in the. centre of a paved court, which is
enclosed by a stone-wall twelve feet high. The gates were wide
open ; Mr. Seward and his friends were received by hundreds of

JAPANESE PRIME-MINISTER.

55

official persons, with profound demonstrations of homage. The
inner building is of wood, one story high, surrounded by a broad
corridor. The corridor itself is separated from the court by sliding
sash-doors, with oiled-paper and silk instead of gkss. On the inner
side the corridor opens into a succession of chambers constructed
like those of the monastery we have before described; the apart
ments small, the ceilings low and the partitions movable panels.
The floors are covered with matting.
We were conducted through the corridor to a room a little
larger than the others, perhaps eighteen feet square. Some furni
ture had been extemporized here. There was a European centre-

VH
1'iis

JAPANESE OFFIOER OF BTATE.

56 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
table covered with an ornamental cloth, a small Brussels rug spread
under the table, and upon it a lacquered box filled with cheroots,
and a rich bronze brazier containing live charcoal. We sat on
stools in the order indicated by the Japanese usher, Mr. Sew
ard being next the seat reserved for the host. Presently, with
great rustling of silks, Sawa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, entered.
He bowed many times very low. He then gave his hand to Mr.
Seward in the American fashion, and afterward to the other visitors,
as they were formally presented, manifesting, however, some slight
embarrassment in exchanging this form of courtesy with the ladies.
Well he might, for " be it known ivnto all to whom these presents
shall come" that they are the only women, of whatever nation or
race, who, within the memory of man, have been received in an
official circle in Japan. The Japanese Government is not behind
the ancient court of Haroun-al-Kaschid, in the opinion that " women
have little sense and no religion." The porch of a temple in the
interior has this inscription : " Neither horses, cattle, nor women,
admitted here."
Sawa is five feet ten, and stout. He has the features of the
Mongolian, with its complexion a little relieved, clear, mild eyes,
and an expression at once intelligent and amiable ; his hands and
feet very small and delicate, his hair gathered up from all sides,
elaborately oiled, and brushed and fastened in a knot. On the top
of his head rested a curiously-carved jet-black lacquered cap, which
by its shape reminded us of a toy-boat. This ornament was fast
ened under the chin and behind the head, by heavy purple silken
cords with tassels large, enough for modest window-curtains. His
dress was double — an under-tunic and trousers of dark silk reps ;
the upper garments, of the same cut, though more full and flowing,
were of gold and white brocade. He wore spotless white shoes
and stockings — the shoe and stocking of each foot being of one
piece ; at his side a single sword, highly wrought, with hilt and
scabbard of ivory and gold. Some show of awkwardness gave us
an impression that he found his magnificent toilet, on this occasion,
inconvenient and uncomfortable. Looking at Mr. Seivard, Sawa,
in a very low voice, pronounced, in the Japanese language, what

THE JAPANESE INTERPRETER.

57

sounded like not one speech, but a succession of distinct sen
tences. The interpreter Ishtabashi, kneeling at his side, at the
close of each sentence signified his understanding of it by the
aspirate " Hi ! hi ! hi 1 " Sawa having finished, Ishtabashi gathered

JAPANESE INTERPRETER, IN COURT DRES3.

up the sense of these fragmentary speeches, and rendered the whole
into English, as follows :
"Mr. Seward, all the ministers of Japan proposed to receive
you on your arrival at Yeddo, at such a time as you would appoint.
But this is a holiday in our country. It is our custom that at this
hour, on every holiday, all the ministers repair to the castle,
and pay their homages to his Majesty the Tenno. The other
ministers have gone there for that purpose. I have obtained from

58 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
his Majesty the indulgence to remain here, and receive you in
behalf of my associates."
Mr. Seward thanked the minister, and expressed regret that he
had unwittingly chosen so unsuitable a day for his visit.
Sawa resumed : " I have heard of you much, and I know you
by character. I see your face now for the first time, and I am
happy to see it."
Mr. Seward answered, that it afforded him great pleasure to see
Japan, and become acquainted with its government.
The Minister : " I am happy that you have arrived safely after
so long a journey. I see that you are very old and very hand
some. You show high resolution in making so great a voyage.
All of us will be glad to avail ourselves of your large experience as
a statesman." We are not a practical reporter, and therefore cannot detail the
long and interesting conversation which followed. It was highly
deferential on both sides. Some parts of it showed that the pro
fession of politics is the same in Japan as in other countries. Sawa
was asking Mr. Seward's good offices to obtain a mediation by the
United States Government, to effect an adjustment with Kussia of
the boundary-question which involves the title to the island of
Saghalien. Mr. Seward, hardly willing to assume so grave a
responsibility, tried to divert Sawa.'s attention from it, saying that
the United States and Russia were once near neighbors on the
other side of the Pacific Ocean, and that a dispute arose between
them concerning the right of American seamen to take fish in
Russian waters. The controversy, just at the moment when it was
becoming serious, was happily brought to an end by the United
States purchasing the entire Russian possessions on the American
Continent. " What would you think," he added, playfully, " of a
suggestion that Japan shall, in the same way, purchase Saghalien % "
The minister hesitated, cast his eyes on the floor, and medi
tated ; then, looking up with a smile of conscious satisfaction, he
answered : " All our histories agree that the entire island of Sagha
lien belongs to Japan now. We could not buy from Russia terri
tory which we own ourselves ! "

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THE TOMBS OF THE TYCOONS. 59
" That is so," replied Mr. Seward, " and, if the people of Japan
are like the people of the United States, you will very soon find
out that you can no more sell your own territory to others than
you can buy it from them."
During the conversation, tea and cigars, and afterward cham
pagne and cakes, were served by attendants who crouched on the
floor whenever they received or executed a command. After an
hour and a half passed, Sawa mentioned the places of special inter
est in Yeddo which he thought Mr. Seward ought to see, and ex
plained the arrangements which had been made for that purpose ;
then, stipulating a private interview with Mr. De Long for the
afternoon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs . rose and took a graceful
leave by bowing and shaking hands cordially with the whole party.
Yeddo is a singular combination of compactly-built and densely-
inhabited districts, with intervening gardens and groves, appropri
ated to civil and religious uses. When in one of those populous
districts, it is difficult to conceive that the whole vast city is not
built in the same way ; and when in one of the deeply-shaded parks,
it is impossible to realize that you are in the heart of a great city.
As Sawa had suggested, we proceeded first to Sheba, the spa
cious grounds which' contain the colossal tombs of the Tycoons who
ruled in Japan so many centuries. Some of the tombs are of
granite, others of bronze. They surpass, not only in costliness,
but in impressive effect, any imperial or royal modern cemetery
in the West. The sarcophagus, the obelisk, and the shaft, forms
familiar in Western monumental architecture, equally prevail here.
The monuments bear no epitaphs, but each is surrounded with
many lantern-bearing votive shrines, covered with inscriptions
commemorative of the virtues and achievements of the dead, and
expressing the affection and gratitude of the princes by whom the
tributary structures were erected. The domain is planted with
great taste. Each particular tree and shrub has been formed and
trained into a shape suggestive of religious sentiment.
By the side of the cemetery stands the Temple of Sheba. What
with hideous devices of the great red dragon of Japan, with his
forked wings, flaming mane, and powerful claws, the monstrous

60

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

TOMBS OF THE TYCOONS.

transformations of Buddha into lions rampant and roaring, pea
cocks proud and strutting, and sagacious storks stalking and
prophesying, the interior of the temple is a 'weird combination
of the mythic and the terrific.
Though we have experienced neither menace nor insult, our
guard is nevertheless indispensable to protect us against intrusive
curiosity. The crowds gather around, and follow us wherever we
alight and wherever we go. Perhaps the escort might be needed
in case of sudden excitement or tumult, such as is liable to happen
in every great city.
That was not only a seasonable but a pretty and pleasant break
fast which Sir Harry and Lady Parkes gave us at the British lega
tion. It did not need the after divertissement of native legerdemain.
The zeal and efficiency of Sir Harry Parkes, as minister, are well
known. Lady Parkes is not less distinguished for the spirited man
ner in which she sustains him in his diplomatic studies and labors.
We left the British legation in compact procession, as we had
entered it, Mr. Seward and Mr. De Long leading in a pony-carriage,

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61

Mr. De Long driving. Three other carriages followed, attended by
the consul, and the whole surrounded by the escort. For a time the
carriages in the rear had the forward one in full view, while its occu
pants, frequently looking back, exchanged greetings. Mr. Seward
and Mr. De Long at length reached the high stone bridge, built

BRITISH LEGATION, TEDDO.

across one of the canals, and famous in Japanese history as the
Nippon-Bas. There they became aware that the other carriages
had fallen out of sight. The street which intervened was filled
with holiday crowds, drawing huge, painted idols, mounted on low

62 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
trucks. These crowds were rapidly moving in the direction of the
missing carriages. The guards who surrounded the forward car
riage gesticulated, in a manner betokening alarm. Mr. De Long, a
Western gentleman, becoming excited, said to Mr. Seward, " There
is a fight ; the ladies are attacked ! " With this exclamation, he
sprang from the carriage and rushed back at the top of his speed,
his long whip in his left hand and a Colt's revolver in his right,
determined to effect a rescue. Mr. Seward remained sitting in the
little pony-carriage on the Nippon-Bas, attracting a constantly in
creasing native crowd. Mr. De Long, scattering the natives right
and left, found the carriages in the clear, open street, a hundred
rods distant from the bridge and vacant, while, upon the matted
floor of a silk-merchant's " go-down," he found the ladies with the
consul, sipping tea, a ceremony always introductory here to the
cheapening of Japanese crapes and gauzes. Without saying a word,
the minister pocketed his revolver, and, lowering his whip in the
most pacific manner, walked quickly back to Mr. Seward, whom he
found safe on the bridge. Even at this hour of writing, it remains
uncertain what was the sentiment which overpowered Mr. De Long
at this discovery, whether it was one of satisfaction at finding his
protegees in safety, or of mortification at having so impulsively
yielded to groundless alarm. Neither the advance-guard, nor the
main body of the procession, has been able to discover what was
the occasion of the Japanese excitement which produced so much
trouble. October 5th.— A busy day, but less eventful. We have visited
the Hamagoten and its palace, where Mr. Seward was to have been
feasted. The palace, built and ornamented in Japanese style, is
luxuriously furnished in the European. One of the saloons is ap
propriately called the Cool -room, its walls and ceilings being deco
rated exclusively with huge pictured fans, in many different posi
tions, and so well executed that you might fancy that you feel the
air stirred by their motion. The grounds are as extensive as those
of Central Park in New York, and not less elaborately embellished.
There are quaint bamboo summer-houses, with pretty scroll roofs,

HAMAGOTEN.

THE JAPANESE DELMONIOO'S. 63
covered with hundreds of creepers, known to us only in our green
houses, standing in the midst of lakes well stocked with gold-fish.
There are groves of mulberries, chestnuts, persimmons, and oranges.
Stately shade-trees, cut and twisted into the shapes of animals,
castles, and ships, crown hundreds of high knolls which overlook
the smooth bay of Yeddo.
From the Hamagoten, we drove to old Osakasa, where we
wonderingly examined a temple which surpasses all the others we
have seen. Superstition, though abating in Japan, is nevertheless
far from being extinct. They show at Sheba, in the court of the
temple, a bowlder, in the top of which a deep, smooth, circular basin
has been made, which is filled with water, and kept carefully cov
ered with a stone lid. It is an accepted belief that this water rises
and falls with the ocean-tide. At Osakasa we were required to
look with reverence upon two native ponies (one cream-colored,
the other brown), both nicely trimmed and groomed, and superbly
caparisoned, occupying apartments neat as a parlor. They remain
in perpetual readiness for the equestrian exercises of the gods. The
beasts are maintained by pious contributions of pilgrims. Ecclesias
tics in Japan, as sometimes they do elsewhere, resort to questionable
expedients for raising money. The highly-ornamented grounds of
Osakasa are rented for tea-houses, theatrical exhibitions, jugglers'
entertainments, and other popular amusements.
A dinner was ordered for us at a tea-house— the " Delmonico's "
of Yeddo. Leaving our carriages with the escort in the streets,
and our boots at the door, we were ushered up a very steep, but
highly-polished wooden staircase into a chamber, or rather a
dozen chambers divided by slid'ing-doors. Here we sat down on
the clean matted floor. A lacquered table was set before each
person. It was eight or ten inches high, and large enough for two
small covers. Tea in little cups without saucers was served, clear,
and piping hot. After the tea, saki, a liquor distilled from rice,
fiery and distasteful, was poured from a porcelain vase into such
small, shallow, red, lacquered vessels as we sometimes mistake for
tea-saucers. Our hostess, a middle-aged matron, was assisted by
eleven pretty girls, their ages varying from twelve to sixteen.

64

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

These attendants, by the elegance of their costume and abundance
of white cosmetics, had enhanced their beauty to the degree that,
in Oriental speech, it would be said that " every one of them was a
temptation to the servants of God." One of them went down on
her knees beside each guest, and remained there until it was time
to bring on, with the tiniest of delicate hands, a new course. Their
actions were graceful and modest, their voices bird-like. They
manifested childish delight at every compliment we gave them, and
their pleasure seemed to rise to ecstasy when permitted to examine
our watches, fans, parasols and other articles of dress or ornament.

JAPANESE MUSICIAN.

A SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. 65
The dinner, however, was rather a self-denying ordinance.
There was a vegetable soup flavored with soy, raw fish in thin
slices with horse-radish, petty bits of game, various preparations of
rice, and many dishes whose composition was unascertainable.
These courses were intermingled with sweetened fruits and confec
tionery. Saki was offered with every course, and always with great
ceremony. All the dishes had one common flavor, which we could
not analyze. Even the sugar had this raw, indescribable taste. After
the entertainment, the girls, sitting on the floor, each with a rude
instrument, in form a compromise between the banjo and the guitar,
played and sang, and at intervals rose and danced. Though the
airs were not without melody and harmony, they were so crude
and monotonous that the highest expert in the " heavenly art "
could find no musical meaning in them. The posturing and ges
ticulation were artistic, though the dancing was conducted on no
rules of the ballet. Great skill was displayed in the dance, the
long and heavy dresses of the performers always covering the feet,
and most of the time even the hands. Night overtook us before
we left this " haunt of dehght," and the performers accompanied
us from the banqueting-floor to our carriages in the dark street.
Their grateful gestures and speaking smiles were intelligible, though
their soft and gentle words were not.
We needed to drive with much care through the crowded,
streets, now dimly lighted with an occasional paper lantern. But
our dragoons were men "dressed in brief authority ; " they dashed
furiously forward, and, with shrieking shouts and screams, startling
myriads of bats from the thatched roofs, they drove the people,
returning from their daily occupations, or listening to theatrical
amusements, into the open doors or alleys.
October 6th.— The day began at Yeddo with an audience given
by Mr. Seward, at the consulate. The visitors were Japanese who
have acquired some knowledge of foreign nations. Mr. Seward
inquired for the Tycoon's ambassadors, Ono Tomogoro and Mats-
moto Judaiyu, with whom he had negotiated in Washington. But
there has been a revolution. The Mikado, then only a nominal

66 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
sovereign, is now absolute at the castle. The Tycoon is a prisoner
of state ; Ono Tomogoro is also a prisoner, nobody knows where,
and Matsmoto Judaiyu is a fugitive — some say at Shanghai, others
at San Francisco. It seems to surpass Japanese comprehension
that a new administration of the Government of the United States
has come in, and that Mr. Seward has gone out of place without
losing his head or public consideration.
While Mr. Seward was holding his audience, the ladies shopped.
The Japanese artisans contrive to produce exquisite articles of
taste and vertu from cheap materials, and with an infinitesimal
proportion of the precious metals. Their modern porcelain is
inferior to the Chinese, but they excel in ornamental lacquer-work
and fans of all sorts. Their designs in bronze are exceedingly
curious, but their execution inferior to that of Europeans. In
painting they are unsurpassed in the imitation of all forms of animal
life. With a keen sense of the ludicrous, they may yet come to be
employed as caricaturists in our presidential elections !
There is no special manufacture at Yeddo. It is an emporium
for the whole empire. We have found it impossible to ascertain
the districts in which particular classes of articles are made. The
shops are small and closely packed with wares. The indifference
assumed by the merchants would be provoking, if it were not for
their extreme- politeness. If the buyer means to obtain a fair bar
gain, he must affect equal reserve and indifference. The entire
family look on, half a dozen men and three or four women busying
themselves in every sale. Indeed, the house and the shop are one.
Four feet square of matting in the centre of the shop is the common
dining-room and bedroom. Must they not eat and sleep by turns ?
The United States minister was recalled to Yokohama last
night. Captain Bachelor put the reins of two fine American horses
into our hands, to drive in a light New-England phaeton down the
Tokaido to Yokohama. Mr. Randall conveyed the other ladies in a
carriage drawn by Mr. De Long's mottled native ponies. Each car
riage was attended by two bettos, quick-footed boys, whose service is
to run like coach-dogs by the side of horse or carriage, warning
everybody out of the way, and they are ready to seize and hold

A BOOK-STORE AT YEDDO.

ON THE ROAD TO YOKOHAMA. 67
the horses at every stopping-place, or in any case of alarm. The
road was literally crowded, and hilarity and merriment displayed
themselves on all sides. The crowds were labyrinthian. The
activity and songs of the bettos, and the ejaculations and impreca
tions of our mounted guard, with the clangor of their arms, made
our rapid drive a very exciting one, while a bracing air with genial
sunshine was exhilarating. But all pleasures have their draw
backs. Neither the bettos nor the dragoons were capable of under
standing our requests or remonstrances. They wanted rest at
every tea-house, or, what was the same thing, they sought favor at
the tea-houses by bringing us up at the doors. The guard dis
mounted, and, with the bettos, took the refreshments profusely of
fered them, while we, though declining any, were obliged to wait.
When we had made twelve miles, half the distance to Yokohama,
we brought up at a hostelry, with a stable. Our horses were taken
out to be fed and groomed. From open windows in an upper
chamber we saw in the court a huge brass caldron sunk in the
ground over an oven. The horses were brought to it. Four
grooms took possession of each horse, and rubbed him thoroughly
from head to hoof with wisps of straw dripping with hot water, and
afterward dried him with as much care as the human patient re
ceives when he comes out of a Turkish bath. We improved the
time by a Japanese dinner, which, when we were completely sur
feited, we left unfinished, very much to the disappointment of the
music-girls. Once more on the road, we indulged a faint hope
of reaching Yokohama before midnight. We came, after three or
four miles, to the bank of a river twenty rods wide. There was one
rough flat-boat on the other side, worked by an endless chain. We
awaited its tedious arrival and delivery of passengers multitudinous
and various. Then our beasts were led separately into the boat
and crossed. It returned to our shore, and, as in the riddle of the
fox, goose and peck of corn, took the dragoons and the carriages.
" Last came joy's ecstatic trial." We hurried on board, and, reach
ing the opposite bank, found the vehicles there, but not the horses.
We were obliged to walk forward a quarter of a mile, to a place
where the bettos and cavalry were taking tea and smoking, as if they

68 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
had fasted the whole day. Then they went back and brought up
the impedimenta. A brilliant, full-orbed moon expanded into
majestic size every object that we passed, and lit up the waters of
the bay as we approached Kanagawa. Mr. De Long's native ponies,
after frequently giving out on the way, fell in climbing the sharp,
high hill, and it taxed our own horsemanship to get over this dif
ficult part of the road. The other carriage was drawn over the
hill by the bettos and dragoons, and the ponies were then re
attached. Meantime bettos and dragoons lighted each his varie
gated paper lantern. They made the suburban streets of Yoko
hama resound with vociferous shouts, thus exciting the astonish
ment and perhaps the fears of this inoffensive people. We arrived
at Mr. Walsh's hospitable gate, much to the satisfaction of our
friends within, who, owing to the lateness of the hour, had become
apprehensive for our safety.
Steamship New York, off the Coast of Japan, October 8th. — We
have embarked, without having had time on shore to record the
latest and most striking incidents of our visit at Yokohama. Mr.
Seward was not allowed to leave Japan without a marked dem
onstration from the government, as well as an expression of
respect from the foreign residents. On our return from Yeddo, on
the 6th, he received an invitation to an audience of the Mikado.
This ceremony is usually distinguished by procrastinations and
formalities even more tedious than in European courts. The time
being shortened, however, in this case, the invitation was accepted.
Yesterday morning, we were awakened from sleep, which was quite
too short after our drive on the previous day, by an infinite
clatter of mechanics, upholsterers, and decorators, who were engaged
in constructing with canvas, all around Mr. Walsh's very large
house, a broad suite of saloons, dancing-halls, waiting-rooms and
supper-rooms. The whole was completed during the day, decorated
with flags and tropical shrubbery, and flowers, and softly lighted by
fanciful lanterns. The band of the German naval squadron played
"Hail Columbia," and the ball was opened at ten o'clock. All
the diplomatic and consular corps were present, as well as the naval

DA.IMIOS1 QUARTER, YEDDO.

INTERVIEW WITH THE MIKADO. 60
officers of the United States and other nations, and foreign resi
dents. Of course, not one Japanese of either sex was there, for, as
we have before intimated, there is no social intermingling of the two
populations. Caste and race are unrelenting antagonists to univer
sal civilization. This beautiful ball crowned most gracefully the
generous hospitalities of which we were recipients during our so
journ with Mr. and Mrs. Walsh.
At two o'clock yesterday morning, while the merry dance was
yet going on, Captain Bachelor brought to the wharf, in front of
Mr. Walsh's compound, then so highly illuminated, a little steam-
yacht and received Mr. Seward on board, who, against all remon
strance, persisted in keeping his engagement, although in the midst
of a driving wind and rain. He was accompanied by Mr. De Long,
Mr. Shepherd, and Mr. Walsh, and at six o'clock, after ground
ing three or four times on the way, they were safely landed at
Yeddo. At eight o'clock, Mr. Ishtabashi appeared in rich official
Japanese costume, and, profoundly bowing, said, with measured
words : " I am waiting for the honor of conducting Mr. Seward to
the great castle, where he will be received by his Majesty the Tenno ;
not in the customary official manner, but in a private audience, as
an expression of personal respect and friendship. I am particularly
commanded to make this explanation of the character of the pro
posed audience."
At nine o'clock the party proceeded in two carriages, with
an enlarged mounted escort. They were conducted, whether by
design or not, through streets bordered by immense walled en
closures, which are the strongholds and barracks of the several
daimios who, under the Tycoon's administration, were required to
reside during alternate periods, with their armed retainers, at the
capital. The discontinuance of this usage, since the restoration of
the Mikado, is a singular illustration of the same advance toward
a more popular system of government which was made by the
kings' of Europe when they reduced the feudal barons to subjection.
The barracks vacated by the daimios' soldiers are now occupied by
imperial battalions. The feudal soldiers of the Tycoon must have
been a ferocious crew, if they were more savage than these rough

70 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
and ill-looking guards of the Tenno. The citadel, called " The Great
Castle," crowns an eminence in the centre of the city. It is a triple
fortification, nine miles in circumference, consisting of three con
centric forts, each by itself complete, with rampart, inner embank
ment, ditch, bastion and glacis, parapet and double gates. The
outer fort stands on a level with the plain, the next higher, and the
central one higher still, overlooking the country and the sea. The
walls of each are fifty feet high, built of granite blocks, more mas
sive than those of the Rip-Raps, off Old Point Comfort. The impe
rial palace is in the centre of the inner fort. It is a low structure,
differing from the temples and monasteries which we have before
described, not in material or style of architecture, but in the ar
rangement of its apartments. The area which surrounds it is
tastefully planted and adorned with lawns, winding gravelled
walks, small lakes, and what we would call summer-houses, and
tenements for attendants and servants. The areas of the other two
fortifications are similarly embellished. In any past stage of mili
tary science, the citadel must have been impregnable. We cannot
learn its history.
When Mr. Seward and his friends had reached the gates of the
outer fort, they were received with a salute at each of the double
portals, and were permitted to pass through in carriages to the
gates of the second. They were received here with similar hon
ors, and passed to the gates of the third. Entering these with
salutes as before, they were received by one of the eight Ministers
of Foreign Affairs, who, having requested them to dismiss their
carriages, conducted them, with much obeisance, across the lawns
to a sheltered place, where they rested on lacquer stools. Here a
second Minister of Foreign Affairs joined the party, and, making
new compliments, led them to seats on the shore of a small lake.
Here the minister informed Mr. Seward that Mr. Walsh, being an
unofficial gentleman, could proceed no farther, and that the same
rule excluded Freeman. They stopped. At this juncture Sawa,
chief Minister of Foreign Affairs, met Mr. Seward, and conducted
him to a summer-house more spacious than the others, which over
looks a larger and deeper lake. On the way thither, he obtained a

INTERVIEW WITH THE MIKADO. 71
view of a part of the imperial stud. A rail twelve or fifteen feet
long is fixed three feet above the ground, on supports. Several
iron-gray Japanese ponies, unattended by grooms, stood at this rail,
in readiness for his Majesty's use at the close of the proposed audi
ence. When the party had arrived at the summer-house, the prime-
minister, the Chief Minister of Finance and the heads of the other
departments, were found waiting, and they were severally presented
by Sawa to Mr. Seward. The whole party then sat down at an
oblong table, the prime-minister presiding, and Mr. Seward and the
other visitors on his left hand, the Japanese ministers on his right.
The prime-minister first, and after him each of his associates, ad
dressed Mr. Seward in words of courteous welcome, to which he
briefly replied. A pleasant conversation now ensued, during which
tea, cakes, confectionery, cigars and champagne, were successively
brought in by attendants, who prostrated themselves on the ground
at every offer of their service. The prime-minister then, in a very
direct but most courteous way, said to Mr. Seward : " It is thf
custom of his Majesty the Tenno to receive official visits upon busi
ness affairs in an edifice which is built for that express public pur
pose, and called among us a court ; but his Majesty on this occasion
recognizes you as a special friend of Japan, and a man devoted to
the welfare of all nations, and he therefore proposes, by way of
showing his high respect for you, to receive you, not at a public
court, but in a private lodge of his own, to which he will come
down from his palace to meet you."
Mr. Seward answered that he appreciated his Majesty's conde
scension and kindness. While this conversation was going on,
Mr. Seward, looking through an open window, saw at a long dis
tance his friend Mr. Walsh, and Freeman, walking within the pre
cinct which had been appointed them. Presently, an officer came
hurriedly into the presence of the grave international council at the
summer-house, and announced an intrusion. The prime-minister,
upon Mr. Seward's explanation, directed that the supposed eaves
droppers should not be interfered with, but they must come no
farther. When half an hour had passed, a chamberlain announced his

72 JAPAN, . CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Majesty's arrival at the summer-house. Sawa and Ishtabashi re
mained with Mr. Seward ; all the other ministers took leave to join
the Mikado. A final summons came to Sawa ; he rose and con
ducted the party some distance along a smooth, narrow walk, till
they came to a high, shaded knoll, conversing by the way. The
minister and Ishtabashi now .stopped, and, making low genu
flections, announced, in subdued and almost whispering tones, that
his Majesty was to be in a summer-house directly behind this hill.
After this, there was no word spoken. When they had gone round
the knoll, the lodge which now contained the heaven-derived Maj
esty of Japan came to view. It stands five feet above the ground, is
one story high, and consists of four square rooms of equal size, with
sliding partitions, the ceilings six feet high, and the whole building
surrounded by a veranda. All the rooms were thrown open, and
were without furniture. The visitors entered the apartment, which
was at their left, and, looking directly forward, saw only Ishtabashi
surrounded by a crowd of official persons, all crouched on the floor.
Having reached the exact centre of the room, Mr. Seward was
requested to turn to the right. He did this without changing his
place." The United States minister and the consul stood at his right
hand. In this position he directly confronted the Mikado, who was
sitting on a throne raised on a dais two feet above the floor. The
throne is a large arm-chair, apparently of burnished gold, not differ
ent in form or ornament from the thrones which are used on cere
monial occasions in European courts. All the cabinet ministers
and many other officials had arranged themselves below the dais,
and behind and around the throne. The Mikado was dressed in a
voluminous robe of reddish-brown brocade, which covered his whole
person. His head-dress differed in fashion from that which was
worn by Sawa in our audience with him, only in this, that a kind
of curved projecting prong was attached to the boat-shaped cap,
and bent upward, the corresponding appurtenance of the minister's
cap being shorter, and bent downward. What with the elevation
of the dais, and the height of his elongated cap, the emperor's per
son, though in a sitting posture, seemed to stretch from the floor
to the ceiling. His appearance in that flowing costume, surrounded

INTERVIEW WITH THE MIKADO. 73
by a mass of ministers and courtiers, enveloped in variegated and
equally redundant silken folds, resting on the floor, reminded Mr.
Seward of some of the efforts in mythology to represent a deity
sitting in the clouds. His dark countenance is neither unintelligent
nor particularly expressive. He was motionless as a statue. He
held a sceptre in his right hand, and at his left side wore one richly-
ornamented, straight sword. What the Mikado and his court
thought of the costumes of his visitors, with their uncovered heads,
square, swallow-tailed dress-coats, tight white cravats, tighter panta
loons, and stiff, black boots, we shall never know. Who shall pro
nounce between nations in matters of costume ? The Mikado raised
his sceptre, and the prime-minister, kneeling, then announced to
the United States minister, by the aid of Ishtabashi, also kneeling,
that he might speak. Mr. De Long advanced a step or two, and,
bowing three several times, said : " I hope I find your Majesty in
good health."
The prime-minister, kneeling again, presented to the Mikado a
written paper, open, and as large as a sheet of foolscap. The Em
peror, after looking at its contents, touched it with his sceptre.
The prime-minister read it aloud in Japanese. Ishtabashi, again
kneeling, brought his head to the floor, and, then raising it, read,
from a translation which lay before him on the floor, his Majesty's
gracious answer : " I am very well ; I am glad to see you here."
Thereupon Mr. De Long, thus reassured, said in a distinct voice,
worthy of a Western orator as he is :
" I have the honor to present to your Majesty, William H. Sew
ard, a citizen of the United States. Your Majesty having been
pleased to invite him to this audience, it is unnecessary for me to
speak of the achievements or of the character of this eminent Ameri
can statesman."
The interpreter, having rendered this speech into Japanese,
Mr. De Long resumed his place. In accordance with an intima
tion from the prime-minister, Mr. Seward now advanced, and
said : " I am deeply impressed by this gracious reception by the
sovereign, at the capital of this great, populous, and emulous em
pire. I desire to express earnest wishes for your Majesty's per-

74 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
sonal health and happiness, and for the peace, welfare, and pros
perity of Japan."
The prime-minister held before his Majesty another paper,
which, being read by him, was then rendered by the interpreter as
follows :
" I am glad to see you now for the first time. I congratulate
you on your safe arrival here, after the very long journey you have
made. The great experience which you have had must enable you
to give me important information and advice how to promote the
friendship that happily exists between your country and my own.
If you would please to communicate any thing in that way, you are
requested to make it known to my prime-minister, and I invite you
to express yourself frankly and without reserve."
Mr. Seward replied : " I thank your Majesty for this gracious
permission to confer with the prime-minister on international
affairs. A citizen of the United States, I am visiting Japan and
the adjacent countries on the Pacific coast, as a traveller and ob
server. I wear no official character, and I bring no message. The
President, however, and all my countrymen, will expect me not to
leave any thing undone which I can do, to promote a happy under
standing between those countries and the United States, as well as
also the advancement of civilization in both hemispheres. With
this view, I shall, with great pleasure, avail myself of the privileges
which your Majesty has granted me."
The Emperor, with his entire court, remained in place until the
visitors had retired, after an exchange of salutations. They were
conducted back to the summer-house. All the Japanese ministers
soon entered and resumed their places around the table. Refresh
ments were served, and Mr. Seward was informed that his audience
was the first occasion on which the Mikado has completely unveiled
himself to a visitor. Not only the prime-minister, but all his asso
ciates, discussed with Mr. Seward at much length the political re
lations of Japan with foreign powers. The minister desired him
to take notice that the government, in dealing with the vanquished
Tycoon's party in Japan, at the close of the late revolution, had
copied the example of toleration given them by the United States.

INTERVIEW WITH THE MIKADO. 75
They carefully inquired concerning the machinery employed in the
United States in taking the decennial census, and also the details
of the system of collecting and disbursing public revenues.
They wrote a letter on the spot, addressed to their ambassador at
Peking, and, delivering it to Mr. Seward, solicited his aid of their
interest at that court. Mr. Seward was deeply impressed on two
points : First, that although the administration of justice in Japan
is conducted in a manner widely different from that of the Western
nations, yet that the public mind entertains not the least distrust
of its impartiality. Second, that the administration of the Mikado
is sincerely emulous and progressive. Again, if there is any danger
in the near future, it will arise, not from a retarding, but from a
'more rapid acceptance by the government of Western ideas and
sentiments, than a people so rude can at once understand.
The ministers had assigned the whole day for the high consulta
tion. They expressed much regret when Mr. Seward announced
that he was obliged to depart at the earliest moment for Yokohama,
where the steamer was waiting. Waiving invitations to examine
the citadel and the imperial palace and grounds, Mr. Seward re
turned to the Consulate, and thence proceeded down the bay,
directly to this steamer, bound for Hiogo.
A box followed him which contained all the cake, fruit, and con
fectionery, which remained from the entertainment at the Castle.
The ladies noticed that the varieties of cakes were not merely col
ored externally, but through and through — -crimson, yellow, purple,
and indigo. The supply sufficient for the voyage to Shanghai.
It ought not to mar the effect of the Mikado's courtesy, if we
state that the audience, in its minutest details, was projected and
perfected in the Japanese cabinet, with the concurrence of Mr. De
Long. All European governments, and even that of the United
States, adopt a similar precaution in regard to official executive
audiences. Japan has especial reasons for prudence. The empire is a soli
tary planet, that has remained stationary for centuries, until now it
is suddenly brought into contact with constellations which, while
they shed a dazzling light, continually threaten destructive collisions.

CHAPTER III.
FROM YEDDO TO SHANGHAI.
Hiogo. — The Place of Massacre. — A Japanese Steamer. — The Gulf of Osaka. — A Harem
on a Pic-nic. — The City of Osaka. — The Tycoon's Castle. — Japanese Troops. —
Nagasaki. — Beautiful Scenery. — Christians of Nagasaki. — Japanese Character. —
Departure for China. — Concluding Reflections on Japan.
Hiogo (Kobe), Monday, October 10th. — A voyage of thirty-six
hours, in which night and rain have prevented all observation, has
brought us to this southeastern port on the island of Niphon. The
United States Consul, Mr. Stewart, and the agent of the Pacific
Mail Line, came on board in the early morning. They were sur
prised when Mr. Seward pointed out to them with minuteness and
accuracy the several places of interest in the port. " This," he said
" is the European settlement, that place behind it the native town
of Hiogo : the road which divides them is the one on which the
Mikado's army was moving northward at the time when it fired
upon and massacred the foreigners in 1864 : this is the field through
which the foreigners were pursued by the Japanese soldiers on that
occasion : it was in the bay here on our right that the natives
massacred the French naval surveying party in their boats : was
it not in the building which I see on that hill that the Mikado's
officers, who were condemned to death for those atrocious outrages,
committed hari-kari, and that the foreign ministers interposed
after seventeen such self-executions, and said, ' It is enough ? ' On
this knoll is the place where the offenders were buried."
The official reports of those painful transactions which Mr. Van

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UNITED STATES CONSULATE, HIOGO.

OSAKA AND HIOGO. 77
Yalkenburgh, the United States Minister, made to the Department
of State, had left this distinct and ineffaceable impression on Mr.
Seward's mind. It is five years since those massacres occurred.
We now find that the people, obeying the instinct of nationality,
have erected a monument over the grave of each of those victims,
and on that monument have recorded his voluntary death as an act
of civil and religious martyrdom. So true to country and to God
are the impulses of our common nature everywhere.
Hiogo is twenty miles distant from Osaka, and bears the same
relation to that great southern metropolis of Japan that Yokohama
bears to the central one of Yeddo. Hiogo, opened quite recently
to foreign commerce, is not especially successful. Since the opening
of Japan, the population of Yeddo has been reduced from three
millions to one million, chiefly by removals to Yokohama. On the
contrary, Osaka has not materially declined, nor has Hiogo consid
erably increased. The foreign population of Hiogo is at most two
hundred. The importance of its harbor is due to its double advan
tages as a port of Osaka and a gateway to the Inland Sea of Japan.
October 11th. — -We dined yesterday with Mr. Senter's amiable
family, and slept in the Japanese bungalow, now occupied as the
Consulate, by the side of its pretty lotus-garden. Although the
lotus has been held sacred from time immemorial as a divine
symbol throughout the whole East, it is nevertheless indigenous
only in tropical and semi-tropical climates. We now for the first
time see in perfection on its native soil this magnificent flower, of
which, " whosoever eateth wishes never again to depart, nor to see
his native country, if it groweth not there."
Here the intelligent Japanese governor passed two hours with
Mr. Seward, explaining the system of provincial administration,
which seems very effective. He learns also that education of all
classes is compulsory, and that the schools are maintained by taxa
tion, which is remitted in behalf of the poor.
We went, this morning, on board a small coasting steamer,
which was built in the United States for Japanese owners, and is
managed exclusively by natives. The gulf of Osaka has pictu-

78

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

resque shores, thickly studded with villages, clustering at the water's
edge. The sloping hills are terraced and irrigated, and their sum
mits are planted with forests. The Temple of the Moon, standing
on the highest peak of the mountain, reflected the morning sunlight

wmrmm

nwatia/m

»JSB

^Pn|

TEMPLE AT OSAKA.

from gilded roofs, resting on snow-white columns. The moon in
Japan is a masculine deity. Is this exceptional idea due to the
native jealousy of the gentle sex ? Or is it owing to the fact that

A HAREM ON A PICNIC. 79
it is a man's face and not a woman's that is seen in that benignant
orb ? Quien sabe ?
It is the bar at Osaka which forces the ocean-trade to a harbor
so distant as Hiogo. Our countryman, Admiral Bell, lost his life
two years ago, in sounding it. Our steamer could not cross, though
drawing only four feet.
Osaka, as early as the sixteenth century, became a great com
mercial city. Its temples, surpassing those of Yeddo in number,
vie with those of spiritual Miako. As we approached the bar, we
saw a gay Japanese yacht, of perhaps two hundred and fifty tons,
moving slowly out to sea under a light wind. The sails were
quaint, like the form of the vessel they impelled, which was brilliant
with scarlet and blue paint and gilding. A daimio sat at the stern
on the upper deck, gorgeously arrayed in silks and lacquer, sur
rounded by numerous retainers and a bevy of highly-painted and
elegantly-dressed young women, who were entertaining him with
a concert of guitars, flutes, and drums. Manifestly the daimio was
giving his harem a picnic.
We were transferred here to a small, neat, flat-bottomed bamboo
barge, with a canopy overhead and a deck covered with mats, in
which we floated over the bar, and up to the great sea-wall of the
city. The confluence of two rivers with the sea makes the harbor of
Osaka, like that of Charleston. The rivers are formed into canals,
and connected at convenient intervals by cross-canals. Yenice is
not more noticeable for its gondolas and barges, nor Amsterdam
for its pleasure-boats, than Osaka for its picturesque shallops cov
ered with bright awnings of various colors. It is perhaps from
the amusements of the regatta that the women in Osaka have ac
quired the fame of being the prettiest in the empire. Time served
us to traverse only three or four of the thirty or forty canals, but
sufficient to enable us to reach the more important monuments and
institutions of the metropolis, to notice the regularity of the streets,
the grace and lightness of the hundred cedar bridges, and to wonder
at the immense traffic carried on by families who dwell in the
vessels they navigate. The wealth and enterprise of Japan being

80

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

in the southern part of the empire, Osaka is the domestic main
emporium. While, for centuries, state policy required the daimios to reside
a part of each year with their armed retainers at Yeddo, the po
litical capital, the same daimios made .their metropolitan homes in
commercial Osaka. Here, on the banks of the canals, they erected
palaces, with storehouses and wharves and offices. Here they re
ceived their rents in kind, and exchanged them in trade.
Between these palaces the canals are lined with cheaply -built
dwellings, two stories high, with a veranda around the first story.

STREET IN OSAKA.

The lower story is a mercantile convenience, being washed with
the tides and floods. The people seen in the streets here, as well
as elsewhere in Japan, wear wooden shoes and dress coarsely.
The nudity, so frequent at the north, becomes here more common
and offensive. Crowds followed us with a curiosity which shows
that few foreigners visit Osaka. Notwithstanding the mean appear
ance of dwellings and people, the city contrasts favorably with

THE CASTLE OF OSAKA. 81
Yeddo, in show of prosperity and affluence. Some of the temples
are built within the areas of the princely palaces. More commonly,
however, they are independent and spacious, and, like the palaces,
accessible through canals and basins. They are on the same model
with those at Yeddo, but more lavishly ornamented with allegorical
carving, and statuary in granite and bronze. Men are seldom seen
in or about the temples in Japan, but woman, poor, meek and rag
ged, though forbidden, steals in there, reverently paying her devo
tion to the gods and pitifully asking alms. How could woman en
dure existence anywhere on earth without the solaces of religion %
" From all ancienty to the present time," as a stump-orator, we
once heard, expressed it, the Japanese have made their irregular
and grotesque coins with the use only of the hammer. The govern
ment has just now established a mint at Osaka, with machinery of
the latest invention, and equal, it is claimed, to the Philadelphia
Mint. Here they are making new coins similar in form and de
vice to those of the Western nations, the value being based on sub
divisions of the Mexican dollar.
Livy has given us what he says was the speech of Romulus
when he had founded Rome : " If all the strength of cities lay in
the height of their ramparts or the depths of their ditches, we should
have great reason to be in fear for that which we have now built."
The Japanese might be excused if they should reverse this senti
ment, and speak with great 'confidence of the security of the empire
derived from ramparts and ditches. As with Yeddo, so with Osaka.
Its boast is its castle, an imperial residence and fortress of mikados
and tycoons. We tried ineffectually to obtain a measurement of
some of the granite blocks of this structure. We think it safe, how
ever, to say, that one of them is thirty feet long, fifteen feet high
and five feet thick. No one knows where, when or how, such im
mense stones were riven at the quarry, and brought to the summit
of the lofty hill, which overlooks the city of Osaka. The Tycoon in
the late civil war, however, took possession of the castle with his
forces, only to find it a prison, and insecure at that. He was dis
lodged by the Mikado's army, and made his escape on a United
States steamer. Before leaving the citadel, he destroyed its defensive

82 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
works, so as to render it unavailable to the conqueror. Now used
as a camp of instruction, it is as jealously closed against visitors as
the castle at Yeddo. Instructions having come down from the
capital to the Governor here, as well as to the one at Hiogo, to
show consideration to Mr. Seward, we were conducted through the
castle, and allowed to witness the drill, and at the same time were
honored with a serenade from the trumpeters, which consisted of
European artillery and cavalry calls jumbled together on French
horns. The din and discord may be imagined. The bronze-faced
native Japanese troops, lower than European in stature, and bow-
legged, but dressed in French uniforms, recalled our recollections
of the first organization of negro troops in the late civil war. The
Japanese are not less docile and orderly, and they went through
evolutions and drill, according to French tactics, commendably.
The Japanese umbrellas are the best as they are the cheapest in
the world, but they could give us no protection from the rain-storm
which overtook us in the dilapidated castle. Captain Kinder's
family being the only European one in Osaka, took us in and dried
our clothes, and gave us all we had time to take, " a hasty plate of
soup." When we reached our yacht, black night with high winds
shut out from us the beautiful gulf-shores, and so passed away
Osaka, to be seen no more by us, for we have taken care not to eat
of the " fruit of destiny," the lotus. The heaving of the steamer
on the now roughened sea was uncomfortable, but the tossing and
pitching of the small baat which conveyed us from the yacht to the
side-ladder of the New York was dangerous and frightful.
Nagasaki, October 13th. — As Hiogo commands the southeast,
so Nagasaki commands the northwest entrance of the Inland Sea.
That sea is a tortuous passage, flowing between the North Pacific
Ocean on the east and the Yellow Sea or Straits of Corea on the
west coast of Japan, separating the northern island of Niphon from
the southern islands of Toksima and Kiusiu. How and when was
this channel made? Were the three mountain-islands which it
separates once compact land, and did the ocean force its passage
through? Was all Japan once submerged, and were the islands

ENTRANCE TO NAGASAKI.

83

thrown up in their present form ? Who can say ? Not we. Per
haps Agassiz might. We must content ourselves with writing that,

affi fife

ENTRANCE TO NAGASAKI.

like most inland seas, this of Japan is marvellously beautiful.
Four hundred miles long, of varying width, everywhere deep, it
washes the shores of the main islands in some places, while in
others it is broken into twenty narrower channels which break on
the shores of uncounted lesser islands. In this the Inland Sea re
sembles our own Lake of the Woods, which takes its strange name
from the fact that the island-surface enclosed within its shores
exceeds in area the water-surface of the lake. These islands of the
Inland Sea are said to be three thousand, but we are inclined to
think that islands in groups like these are never accurately counted.
Everybody speaks of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence,
without remembering that they are reckoned at eighteen hundred.

84

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

The channel twists around and among the islands in all direc
tions, so that the headlands which we pass seem as fleeting as the
clouds, producing ever-varying scenery. During one hour, we are
making our gloomy way under the deep shadow of a naked preci
pice four thousand feet high. In the next, we are passing terraced
hill-sides, covered with sunlit orchards, flowery plains and fields, and
forests in which the bamboo, the tulip and the cypress commingle.
It seems as if the busy population of the whole empire has clustered
on these romantic shores. Manufacturing towns alternate with

--:.¦*

3 &%*&&& '

NAGASAKI' HAEBOB.

fishing-villages, and every nook is filled with quaint and miniature
shipping. Night set in, and the bell summoned us to dinner as we were
beginning to round a jutting promontory of the western shore.
Shall we ever forgive Mr. Randall for beguiling us with his humor
ous stories until we were brought suddenly to our feet, by the

THE HARBOR OF NAGASAKI.

85

dropping of the anchor, and the firing of a gun, which announced
to us that we had arrived in port ?
A moonlight view of Nagasaki ; fitting sequel of a two-days'
voyage through the Inland Sea. We forgive Mr. Randall; the
first view of Nagasaki ought to be by moonlight. The bay is small ;
we almost know, without being told, every object around us. These
vessels on the larboard are Japanese ships-of-war. This steamer
directly before us is a German man-of-war ; this ship on our star
board quarter, with its black funnels and its stubbed masts, is the
British admiral's flag-ship ; and this long, narrow steamer is a Rus
sian corvette. Beyond the area thus occupied by armed vessels
are two American merchant-ships and forty awkward but sea
worthy Chinese junks. On encircling hills, which rise two thou-

TE5IPLB OF BTTDDHA AT NAGASAKI.

86 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
sand feet out of the sea, are the temples and groves of Buddha.
Those dark shades below them are hanging gardens in which the
consulates and the merchants' residences are embowered. This
ravine which stretches from the shore upward on the hill-side is
the ancient native town ; this quay on our right is the seat of active
trade ; this island just before us, hardly broader than a flat-boat, is
the famous Decima, for two hundred years the mart and the prison,
the boast and the shame of the Dutch traders in Japan ; those ter
raced hill-sides opposite the town are the city of the dead ; and this

"VIEW OF DEOLMA.

high, conical rock, which seems to close the passage to the sea, is
Papenburg, memorable as the scene of the martyrdom of the early
Jesuit teachers and converts in Japan.
What does this scene want to perfect its magic ? Only music !
Instant with the thought, the band on the German frigate de
livers its national hymn, " Des Deutsche Yaterland ; " then come
swelling forth from the British flag-ship the inspiring notes of
" God save the Queen ; " and these only die away, when the solemn

THE JESUITS IN JAPAN. 87
national anthem of Russia, " Thou pious and gentle leader, shield
of the church of believers, God be the protector and defender of
our great Czar," grander than all, rolls over the sea.
Is not this glorious concert, under the flags of these great Chris
tian nations, in these distant and lonely waters, suggestive ? Mr.
Seward answered, "Yes, but deceptive." The German is here
lying in wait for his French enemy ; the British admiral is here to
intimidate the semi-barbarous races; and the Russian admiral is
guarding the eastern gate of his master's empire, which towers be
hind and above Asiatic and European states on both continents.
So it is that jealousy and ambition breathe in the notes of this ma
jestic serenade.
October 14th. — It is because we cannot swim that we fear the
deep. It is because we delight in climbing that we admire the high.
While the flat is dull, the circle is our chosen form for the beautiful.
Thus the amphitheatre, with its circular and lofty walls, was adopted
for the Pantheon as well as for the Coliseum ; though it has since
been sometimes discarded from the temple, it remains nevertheless
universally associated with the stage and the hippodrome. If we
must live in a town, give us one which, like Nagasaki, is an amphi
theatre, whose base is the sea, and whose towering walls are green
and terraced mountains. It was under an inspiration like this that
Peter on the mount said : " Master, it is good for us to be here.
Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one
for Elias." The preaching of Christianity here by St. Francis
Xavier, in 1549, was followed by such success that, within fifty
years afterward, Nagasaki was surrendered by its native prince to
the Portuguese, and became at once the see of an episcopate, and
an emporium of Portuguese trade. But Xavier little apprehended
that the Order of Jesus, which he was introducing, would become
so arrogant and ambitious as to contest with the native sovereign
absolute dominion within the empire. The Portuguese Chris
tians thus becoming obnoxious to the government, all foreigners
were within the first hundred years excluded from Japan, under
pain of death, while persecutions more cruel than those of Nero

88 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
were visited on the teachers and converts alike. A few Protestant
merchants from Amsterdam, renouncing their religion, joined the
government in the persecution of the Christians, and were per
mitted, under humiliating surveillance, to replace the Portuguese
at Nagasaki. This truly pitiable colony was found here on the
arrival of the United States squadron in 1853. It was understood,
at that time, that the Christian faith had been effectually extirpated
by the massacres at Papenburg. The world was astonished, how
ever, in 1867, by a discovery that the Christian religion was still
living in the province of Nagasaki, and that a large number of
natives were condemned to death or servitude for their clandestine
adherence to that faith. The Western nations interposed in their
behalf. The government contented itself with forcibly deporting
twenty-seven hundred of the offending Christians from their homes,
and distributing them through the more distant provinces of the
empire. This new persecution being thus arrested, it is manifestly
the intention of the government now to adopt the principle of uni
versal toleration.
It would be pleasant to dwell on the hospitalities of Mr. and
Mrs. Mangum, and on the courtesies of the foreign fleets.
Yellow Sea, October 15th. — Leaving Nagasaki yesterday morn
ing, we carefully examined Coal Island and the other islands which
close the magnificent harbor. Nor did we omit to notice that
marvellous rock, which, having been dropped nobody knows how
or from where, is lodged like a wedge between two naked natural
abutments. Our parting view of Japan was a sunset glimpse of
the Goto Group, the western outpost of the Island Empire.
It is hardly more satisfactory to quit Japan after a residence
of only twenty days, than it would have been to leave it altogether
unvisited ; nevertheless, there is Peking before us, " a bourn from
which no traveller" can "return" later than November, and so
we must onward. Let us set down our memories, such as they
are, while they are fresh.
Although society in Japan is divided, as it is in every other coun
try, into high classes and low classes, classes wearing two swords,

JAPANESE CIVILIZATION. 89
classes wearing one sword, and classes wearing no swords at all, yet
the people are universally docile and amiable. We saw not one act
of rudeness, and heard not one word of ill-temper, in the country.
Heaven knows that, in the arrogant assumption by foreigners of
superiority among them, the people have provocations enough for
both ! One of the Japanese ambassadors to the United States in
1867 was robbed at Baltimore of a richly-mounted sword. Neither
he nor his government made any complaint. Mr. Seward for
tunately recovered and restored it, with a national apology. Foreign
residents in Japanese cities are often timid, jealous, and suspicious.
Some are prone to exaggerate inconveniences into offences. Others
are dogmatic and contemptuous. Even one of the most generous
of American citizens, when driving Mr. Seward through the streets
of Yeddo, could not forbear from cracking his whip over the bare
heads of the native crowd. Mr. Seward endured this flourish
silently, but he vehemently and earnestly implored his impetuous
friend to spare a litter of sleeping puppies which lay in the way.
Women and children shrieked as they caught up the mangled
brutes behind the carriage-wheels, but the relentless charioteer
only said : " It will never do to stop for such things ; let them learn
to keep their streets clear." Intimidation and menace naturally
provoke anger and resentment. European and American fleets are
always hovering over the coasts of Japan. Though the eye of the
Japanese is long and curved, it sees as clearly as the foreign eye,
which is round and straight. Human nature is the same in all
races. Who could wonder if the Asiatics fail to love, where they
are taught only to fear ?
It would be manifestly unfair to judge the Japanese by the
standard of Western civilization. Measured by the Oriental one, it
cannot be denied that it excels the Asiatic states to whose system it
belongs. The affections of family and kindred seem as strong here
as elsewhere." There is no neglect of children ; there is no want of
connubial care ; no lack of parental love or filial devotion. Nor is it
to be forgotten that, in regard to domestic morals, we are giving
the Japanese some strange instructions. On this very ship on
which we have embarked, there is a German merchant who, after a

90 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
short but successful career in Yokohama, is returning rich to his
native land ; with him his child, a pretty brunette boy, two years
old. The father brings him to us to be caressed. We ask, " Where
is the Japanese mother ? " "I have left her behind ; she would
not be fit to bring up the boy, or to be seen herself in a European
country." No one denies that the Japanese have both the courage and
the politeness which belong to an heroic people. They are ac
cused of practising fraud, cunning, and cruelty in war. Are
they more vicious in this respect than other pagan or even Chris
tian nations ? Do not the records of war on our own soil contain
a melancholy catalogue of similar crimes % Are not the pages
which record Napoleon's great campaigns sullied by deeds alike
unworthy of our race? The Japanese are sanguinary in civil
war. Are they more so than the French were in their first
great Revolution ?
The painstaking culture which extends from the water's edge to
the mountain-verge ; the tedious manipulation practised in mech
anism ; and the patient drudgery of the coolies in the cities, in labor
elsewhere performed by domestic animals, show that the Japanese
are industrious. Though the empire has, from its earliest period,
been isolated from the civilized world, yet the silks of that country
were found among the richest freights of Yenice. A Japanese
bazaar is seen in every modern European city; and there is no
drawing-room, museum, or palace in the world, which is completely
furnished without Japanese fabrics.
They have no legislature, yet they have uniform laws, and these
laws are legibly inscribed on tablets at every cross-road and market
place. Although science and literature in the West have borrowed
little or nothing from these islands, the Japanese are nevertheless
a reading and writing people. We hardly know whether Boston,
Philadelphia, or New York shop-windows display greater number
or variety of maps, books, charts and pictures, than the stalls of
Yeddo, Osaka, or Miako.
Japan is populous, whether we allow it twenty millions, as
some of our missionaries do, or fifty millions, as the prime-minister

A RELIGIOUS PEOPLE. 91
claimed in his conversation with Mr. Seward. Nevertheless, men
dicity, though unrestrained by law, is less offensive than in Naples,
or even in New York.
It would be a curious study to inquire how and when the se
vere feudal model of the middle ages of Europe obtained a place
in Japan, or how it has continued so long among a people so mer
curial, and yet so thoughtful. While in theory the Mikado is sov
ereign proprietor, the whole domain practically belongs to the
daimios, who are rich. The revenues of many of them are not less
than the public revenues of some of the States of our Federal Union.
Though the peasantry are poor, we nowhere heard a complaint
against rents or taxes, or the price of labor. Moreover, the Japan
ese, while they encourage immigration, never emigrate. We infer
from, these facts that, if not a happy people, they are at least a
contented one.
They were a religious people when they accepted the Mikado,
and gave him their reverence. They must have been a religious
people, when they accepted from the Mikado the teachings of the
Sintu sect ; they must have been a religious people, when the doc
trines of Buddha supplanted so generally the dreamy mysticisms of
the earlier faith. Xavier found them a religious people, willing
to accept the teachings of Christianity. But the religious age in
Japan has passed. Confucian philosophy has undermined all myth
ological creeds, and left the Japanese a nation of doubters. Gov
ernment now makes no provision for the support of religious orders.
Their revenues, derived from ancient foundations, are diminishing.
The priesthood is as inoffensive as it is poor. It may be expected
that under this toleration the Christian faith will now, for the first
time, come into public consideration in Japan in the way it ought
to come, that is to say, in connection with the science, literature,
and art, and the political, moral, and social institutions of the
Western nations.
The Japanese are less an imitative people than an inquiring one.
They are not, however, excitable concerning the events of the day,
but rather diligent in studying what is useful. All their dramatic
representations are didactic ; and, though they have a fondness for

92 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
legerdemain, they enjoy it not because it is amusing, but because it
makes them think from power to product, from cause to effect.
The most unpropitious feature of Japanese society is the gross-
ness of the popular sense in regard to woman. Among the com
mon people neither sex maintains decency in dress, and they use
the public bathing-houses promiscuously. In Japan, as elsewhere
throughout the East, there indeed is marriage, but it is marriage
without the rights and responsibilities of that relation. This de
basement of woman has tainted and corrupted the whole state.
We are obliged to conclude that domestic virtue has not a promi
nent place in the morals of Japan, although some glimpses which
we have had of life in the upper classes have inclined us to believe
that among them vice is not altogether free from restraint.
Japanese history derives many of the institutions and much of
the science, literature and morals of the country, not from China,
but from ancient Corea, which seems to have taken precedence of
China in civilization, as the Pelasgian civilization took precedence
of the Grecian. The Japanese may, however, be considered as a
distinct and independent Mongolian race, which has matured its
own civilization, without having been deeply affected by intrusion
from any quarter. In this respect the Japanese seem to have en
joyed a fortune like that of the Aztecs of Mexico. That people
had developed a unique civilization, and were maturing it, when
they came into conflict with European nations. The Mexican
nation went down under the violence of the shock, and altogether
disappeared. The Japanese had in like manner effected and
were maturing a civilization of their own when they were
reached by the Western nations. More advanced than the Aztecs,
they more clearly apprehended the danger of the contact, and with
great promptness and decision they effectually resisted and defeated
European intervention. Having thus isolated themselves, they
remained so nearly three hundred years. If they did not advance
during that time, they did not fall back. That isolation, however,
has at last come to an end ; steam, the printing-press, and the
electric telegraph, have brought the Western nations on all the
shores of Japan. It is manifest that the two distinct and widely-

PROSPECTS OF JAPAN. 93
different civilizations cannot continue in such near contact. The
great problem now is, whether the European civilization can be
extended over Japan, without the destruction, not merely of the
political institutions of the country, but of the Japanese nation
itself. The Japanese are practically defenceless against the West
ern States. If they are to be brought completely into the society
of those nations, it must either be by the application of force, or by
that of persuasion and encouragement. The interests of both re
quire that the latter mode should be adopted, but it yet remains
to be seen whether Western civilization has reached such a moral
plane as to secure its voluntary and peaceful adoption.
There is much of discouragement in the prospect. Few station
ary or declining nations have been regenerated by the intervention
of states more highly civilized. Most such have perished under the
shock. On the other hand, there are some reasons for hope. Man
kind seem at last to have risen equally above the theory that uni
versal conquest is beneficent, and above the theory that it is pos
sible. Commerce has largely taken the place of war, and it is now
universally felt that interest and humanity go hand in hand. It is
the distinction of the United States, and we may hope fortunate for
Japan, that they have come to the front of the Western states as
tutors of the decaying Asiatic nations.
If the tutorship of the United States in Japan is to be made
successful, it must be based on deeper and broader principles of
philanthropy than have heretofore been practised in the intercourse
of nations — a philanthropy which shall recognize not merely the
distinction of strength and power between nations, but the duties
of magnanimity, moderation and humanity — a philanthropy which
shall not be content with sending armies or navies to compel, but
which shall send teachers to instruct, and establish schools on the
American system, in which philosophy, politics and morals, as well
as religious faith, are taught, with just regard to their influences in
social and domestic life.

CHAPTER IY.
THE C0AS1 OF CHINA.
Woosung. — U. S. Ship Colorado. — Shanghai. — European " Concessions." — A Mandarin
Procession. — Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen. — European and Chinese Civilization. — For-
eitjn Prejudices against the Chinese. — The Shan Tung. — The Yellow Sea. — The News
from France. — Chee-Foo, the Newport of China. — A Rough Voyage.
Woosung, October 17th. — A respite from politics, philanthropy
and morals. Why should we not allow ourselves to see things in
the natural way, not to say that there is little more to be learned
of the nature of the millstone, by looking into it, than there is by
studying its surface ?
A great ocean-sight was reserved for us on the Yellow Sea.
Just at sunrise this morning, unnumbered whales appeared off the
larboard bow, first throwing up glittering fountains of spray, then
rolling their great, glossy, black backs upward, then with their huge
forked tails waving adieu as they plunged under the waves. The
shoal waters of the Chinese coast have the hue of the Missouri, and
give the Yellow Sea its name.
We have crossed the great estuary of the Yang-tse-kiang, and
arrived at Woosung, the outer haven of Shanghai, fourteen miles
below that city. The country is on all sides a low plain, without
landmark. Only three days ago, we left Japan, green as if it were
June ; here the fields are dry and brown. We have October with
out its mellowness, and yet Shanghai is only one degree south of
Nagasaki. Are islands always warmer and more genial than con
tinental shores? Did Sancho Panza understand this when he

0
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9

THE "CONCESSION" AT SHANGHAI. 95
stipulated for an island instead of a government on the main
land? Many American and European merchant-ships are riding at
anchor around us, while the river near its banks is crowded with
native junks and fishing-smacks, not to speak of a fleet of thirty or
more high and awkward, lazy-looking, small Chinese sloops-of-war,
in all carrying two hundred guns. They display at their mast
heads figured and ornamental yellow bunting enough to cover their
decks. How pleasant it is to us to recognize the United States
flag-ship Colorado, sitting gracefully in the midst, as if calmly sur
veying the naval array ! We have counted her guns, though we
have no need to count her stars and stripes — we know that they
are all there. Our glasses have failed to discover our old friend
Admiral John Rodgers, but we know that he must be there. Who
else could have ordered that double line of seamen in dark blue to
cheer Mr. Seward as we are passing, and that band to strike up the
inspiring strains of " Hail Columbia 1 "
Shanghai, October 18th.— Consul-Gen eral Seward and a dozen
other Americans, with kind consideration, took us from our anchor
age, and brought us by steam-yacht to the " Bund."
Let no one, however, infer from this date that we have arrived
in China. Shanghai, as we have thus far seen it, seems to us less
like an outpost of the Central Flowery Kingdom, than a town on
our native shores. This hospitable mansion of Russell & Company,
all the other houses, this quay, this street, all the streets, this
bridge, these churches, these banking-houses, warehouses, and
steamers, these carriages and horses, these men and women, all
that we have seen on the river or on shore, are European ; for so
they call here whatever is foreign, whether it has come from one
side of the Atlantic or from the other. This is, in short, the
" Concession." We have enjoyed our first drive in the country, that is to say,
an excursion of six miles through the " Concession." Is the air of
constraint which the natives here wear in presence of foreigners
, due more to fear than to hate ? These contracted concessions, made

96

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

by the government to foreigners, remind one of " the liberties," so
called, which were drawn round jails in Europe and the United
States before the abolition of imprisonment for debt. " You are safe
within them ; we guarantee nothing outside of them." Neither
party looks with pleasure on "the Concession." The foreigner
wants it enlarged; the native dislikes it. altogether.
While writing these not very profound reflections, we were
summoned to the great gate of " the Compound," to see for the
first time a mandarin procession.

MANDARIN PEOCE8SION.

It is the custom of a mandarin, when he moves abroad on social
or official visits, to be attended by as many retainers as he has, or
can hire. He proceeds, dressed in silken robes, in a sedan-chair,

CHI-TAJEN AND SUN-TAJEN. 97
with a square, glaring, scarlet canopy, borne by coolies, over his
head. Fantastic groups go before and behind the chair, dressed in
faded finery, carrying umbrellas of all forms and colors, huge
gilded maces and staves, banners, flags, and pennons, incomprehen
sible, but fiery red and ragged. A straggling company of musi
cians leads the procession, while others mingle with it promiscu
ously, all beating and banging on noisy gongs, clattering sticks,
and deafening drums. The procession in the present case was of
double dignity and importance : it conveyed two mandarins instead
of one. Falstaff's " tattered prodigals," although he had "misused
the king's press," were less grotesque. We thought that as the man
darins approached they appeared unbecomingly eager to show them
selves. We did them injustice. Leaning from their chair- windows
they bowed low and gesticulated reverentially as they passed us.
To our surprise, we recognized in their persons Chi-Tajen and Sun-
Tajen, survivors of the late lamented Burlingame in the great Chi
nese embassy which visited the United States in 1868, and which
took final leave of Mr. Seward at his residence in Auburn.
" Wot I look at," said Samuel Weller, " is the hextraordinary
and wonderful coincidence." Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen, since
they parted with us, have spent two years in accomplishing their
eastern voyage around the world, and they have reached Shang
hai on the very day we have arrived here in our western circum
navigation !
The pageant passed quickly by, and we returned to our cham
ber. How absurd this exhibition had seemed ; how differently it
made the ambassadors appear here, from the show they made
abroad ! " Yes," said Mr. Seward, " it is even so ; it is an evi
dence of the decay of the empire. States, like individual men, re
tain their pride long after they have lost the means to support it."
Somehow it happens that, wherever we go, the resting-places
of the dead attract our attention before the homes of the living.
The peculiarity of burial here is, that the tombs rise in great hil
locks, everywhere in the cultivated fields, and even in the gardens.
So far as we have observed, the monuments are few, cheap, and
inelegant.

98 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Shanghai, October 19th. — Shanghai is immensely agitated con
cerning the recent massacre at Tien-Tsin. We find European vol
unteers, a hundred strong, drilling for defence against an appre
hended Chinese invasion of " the Concession." Mrs. Seward, the
consul-general's wife, has just presented those volunteers with a
standard of colors. Everybody is astonished at Mr. Seward's rash
ness in going to Peking at the very moment they understand that
all the foreign legations there are coming to this port for protec
tion, under the guns of their respective nations. Admiral Rodgers,
with his staff, called upon Mr. Seward to-day. Although it is im
possible for the Colorado to ascend the Pei-ho to Tung-Chow, he
considers it his duty to visit the capital personally. He has ar
ranged to accompany Mr. Seward there next week.
Mrs. Warden, our hostess, last night had the entire foreign
society of Shanghai at a ball, which, although given in honor of,
Mrs. Seward, the bride, had been postponed until our arrival.
Gentlemen largely predominate in European Shanghai. The
recent arrival of so many American ladies was deemed a social
event. Our lady-friends at home will be interested in knowing
that all China furnishes not one mantua-maker or milliner. The
dresses for the ladies come on orders from Paris, London, or New
York. Native women have no need of European costumes. The
work here of the seamstress and tailor is done exclusively by men.
They come to your house and execute your commands quickly,
patiently, and cheaply, and in doing so they faithfully copy every
pattern you give them, and omit nothing. We are inclined to
think that the story of the American merchant who ordered a
dozen pairs of yellow nankeen pantaloons, and, sending as a pat
tern a pair which had been torn and patched, received twelve pairs
similarly patched in execution of his order, is not altogether an
invention. The contrast between European and Chinese civilization was
presented sharply to us this morning in our passage from open
European Shanghai, with its population of three thousand, to the
native town of Shanghai, with its one hundred thousand inhabit
ants, shut up within a circular wall twenty-five feet high, and two

CUSTOM-HOUSE. SHANGHAI.

NATIVE SHANGHAI. 99
and one-third miles in circumference. We do not think that any
youth of our own day, however vigorous his arm, however strong
the sling or heavy the pebble he might use, could reduce that wall,
which was built doubtless in the time of Kublai Khan, but we
would not answer for its standing against such an arm or weapon
as that which brought down the giant of the Philistines. The town
was easily captured by the English in 1843. When we had passed
within the gates, and saw the narrow streets, and the crowded
structures, built of the most combustible materials, we wondered
what can be the Chinese idea in keeping up the wall, which, in case
of conflagration, must render escape impossible. Native Shanghai,
like the foreign settlement, is built on an alluvial soil, and is insa
lubrious, though reclaimed many centuries ago. This city is the
seat of an immense inland trade, in which the tropical products of
Southern China, with the hardier ones of Central China, are ex
changed over the Yang-tse-kiang and the Imperial Canal for the tim
ber, cattle, cereals, wool, and other products of Northern China, Mon
golia, Mantchooria, and Russia. The annual exports of the town
exceed in value the whole mineral production of the United States.
It need not be said, therefore, that its merchants are shrewd, in
dustrious and prosperous. It is marvellous how they have crowded
so small an area with warehouses, manufactories, shops, gardens,
theatres, dwellings'and temples. All these are built on a scale so
small and mean, that, though each structure proves adequate to its
purpose, it is only a miniature model or a toy. Nevertheless, the
people of the town manifested much pride in showing us their con
tracted dwellings built or exquisitely ornamented with cedar and
other fragrant woods, their miniature lakes filled with dwarf moun
tains which sometimes rise to the enormous height of thirty feet,
and which the Chinese imagination magnifies into a range of Him
alayas. We found there, besides tea-houses vastly finer than any
in Japan, numerous guildhalls elaborately ornamented, in which
boards and other associations of merchants and manufacturers daily
congregate to discuss matters of trade, and such politics as they
have. With all this, there is not one street accessible by car
riage of any kind. ' The visitor is even obliged to leave his sedan-

100 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
chair at the gate, and make his way through crowded lanes at most
six or eight feet wide. Surface drainage is used, and the streets
are so offensive and disgusting that every European in the " con
cession " warns the stranger against going there.
Contrary to what we saw in Japan, the native Chinaman shows
not the least emulation or imitation of Western customs and man
ners. All his ways manifest a spirit of self-assertion and indepen
dence, if not a contemptuous one. We now comprehend the puzzle
of the Chinaman in San Francisco. The scenes which the European
avoids here by taking refuge within the "concession" are con
tinually present with him wherever he moves in San Francisco. , It
is probable that the contact will work an improvement in Chinese
morals and manners there, sooner than the separation will bring
out that result here.
But we eschewed philosophy for to-day, and here we have fallen
into it again.
Shanghai, October 20th. — A renewal to-day of yesterday's
Chinese procession, but with a sequel. Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen
visited Mr. Seward, and announced to him the success of their
diplomatic labors in Europe, condoled with him on the death of
Mr. Burlingame, thanked Mr. Seward over and over again for the
aid they had received from him in their mission, and dwelt long
and gratefully on the hospitalities which they had enjoyed in the
United States. Mr. Seward inquired their lodgings, and expressed
his intention of returning their visit. They thanked him, but
insisted that he should not do so. They said, " We are living in a
Chinese inn, in the old city. Neither the tavern nor the city is
worthy or fit to receive you." When he persisted, they replied :
" No, no, we will come to you here, but we are unable to entertain.
Even when we were with you at Auburn, and you promised to
come to China, we thought how unworthy we were to receive such
a visit. Now, since we have compared so much that we have seen
abroad with what we are at home, we know this better."
It is a disappointment to us. What we want to do is to study
China and Chinese ways. This study is the last one that can be

FOREIGN PREJUDICES. 101
made among the foreign population of Shanghai. In that circle,
Chinese affairs are generally ignored. With the exception of an
occasional philanthropic observer, they talk in that society chiefly
of French defeats and German victories, of London fashions, Oxford
boat-races, and American inferiority to Europeans in diplomatic
and consular etiquette. If they talk at all of China, it is against the
Burlingame Treaty, with asseverations that it is an utter absurdity
to expect any good thing to come out of China, except through
blockade and bombardment. Possibly, this is an exaggeration
resulting from the massacre at Tien-Tsin, and represents the tran
sient rather than the settled opinion of the foreign population.
Happily this distrust of the Chinese does not affect or disturb
trade. A large part of the coasting-trade of China is in foreign
hands, and is conducted chiefly by the Shanghai Steam-Navigation
Company. That company has built wharves one thousand feet
long, which are covered with warehouses, here called " go-downs."
From these wharves the company dispatches eighteen coastwise
steamers, an average of one per day. These are chiefly American-
built, and they enter all the treaty ports of the empire. How
miserable the prejudices to which we have adverted seem to us, in
view of the fact that this immense development of foreign naviga
tion and commerce is not only permitted by the Chinese Govern
ment, but is encouraged by it ! It seems the more unreasonable
when we reflect that now, after more than twenty years of
international intercourse, the United States have not one griev
ance against the Chinese Government unredressed, or one demand
unsatisfied. It is pleasing to meet, here, " John Brown's soul marching on."
At Mrs. Warden's ball, a colored man named Butler was received
on a footing with the other guests. This Mr. Butler, who is
equally modest and intelligent, is a native of Washington, and was
born a slave of Commodore Rodgers, the father of the present
admiral. He is here superintendent of the "go-downs," and
charged with the entire freighting business of the Shanghai Steam-
Navigation Company, receiving for his services a salary of four
thousand dollars.

102 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Steamship Shan Tung, October 22d.- — " Situated as we are and
circumstanced as we are," it seems to us that we are out on a picnic,
which, though it threatens to be long, promises much of interest.
We have left Mr. and Mrs. Randall at Shanghai. At eleven o'clock
last night, Mr. Warden, whom we have found as wise as he is kind,
drove us to the " Bund," where we were received by the aforesaid
superintendent Butler, who had set ship and shore ablaze with an
illumination of Chinese lanterns in honor of Mr. Seward. With
this magnificent display, we were brought on board this pretty
steamer which remains still attached to the wharf. It is one hun
dred and fifty feet long and twenty-four feet across the beam ; its
state-rooms and cabins are more spacious than those usually found
on our rivers and lakes at home, and we enjoyed in them a sounder
sleop last night than the excitement and hilarity at Shanghai had
before allowed us.
At six this morning — " The ship was cheered,
The harbor cleared,
Merrily did we drop — "
down the river to Woosung, where a friendly summons from the
Colorado brought us to, and Mr. Seward received her salute of
fifteen guns. Under this friendly fire, Admiral Rodgers came on
board the Shan Tung with an attendance of seven officers, a guard
of twenty-seven marines, and the brass band of his flag-ship. With
this gallant accession, we have crossed the bar at the mouth of the
Yang-tse-kiang, here thirty miles wide, and are once more afloat
on the Yellow Sea, bound for the now much-dreaded colder regions
of the north.
Taking up the Shanghai newspaper, we read the news of the
overthrow of the Second Empire of France, and the establishment
of a provisional government at Paris.
Everybody asks Mr. Seward, "Will France now restore the
Orleans dynasty, or will it be the elder branch of the Bourbons ? "
He answers, " I think France will henceforth be a republic, not
because the country is prepared for it, but because it has at last

ON THE YELLOW SEA.

103

both sufficiently tried and exploded monarchy and imperialism."
" This," said one of our friends, " is a bold prophecy to make under
the shadow of an empire which is five thousand years old, while the

^^tti^Sim^^S^k,

MOUTH OF THE YANG-TSE-KIANG,

republic is only an experiment of one hundred years in America
and in Switzerland." He replied : " The first NapoTeon predicted
that, within fifty years, Europe would either be Cossack or repub
lican. Monarchies and empires are of the past. The republic is
the institution of the present and future."
" By the deep, twenty -four fathoms." Deep water this, though
the waves still glisten with the yellow sands of the great river.
The ship rocks, and we rest.

Yellow Sea, Latitude 34° 30', Sunday, October 23d. — Although
we certainly did lose one whole day on shipboard on the Pacific,
and although it seems to us that we waste much time on shore, we
find nevertheless, on counting the weeks, and measuring the dis
tances, that we are moving rapidly. Only last Sunday, we entered
the Yellow Sea from Japan. To-day, after a week of observation
and festivity at Shanghai, we have made one-third of our long

104 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
projected voyage to Tien-Tsin. Who can reckon on the seasons ?
We came on board, prepared with furs and blankets, and shrinking
with fear of tempests. Nevertheless, the heavens are smiling, and
the Yellow Sea is smooth as Owasco Lake. The band, perhaps
because we are travelling in the hemisphere of the heathen, has
brought no sacred music. Happily, it has not forgotten its lessons
from the opera. So we were awakened and brought to the deck
this morning by the " Dies Irse " chorus from " Faust." For even
ing we have stipulated for the prayer in " Der Freischutz." Al
though we have no missionaries on board, we have come to regard
Sunday at sea as a day of rest, even more privileged and happy
than at home. We have offered from the deck thanks for our own
preservation as grateful, and prayers for friends at home, we trust,
as fervent, as those which may be made there to-day, "for per
sons going to sea." We have just passed the mouth of the
Hoang-ho — the Yellow River — the second of the two great rivers
of China. Steamer Shan Tung, October 24th. — We rounded this morning
the noble granite promontory Shan Tung, which is the most eastern
landmark of China proper, and gives its name to one of the most
extensive of the eighteen provinces which constitute the empire. It
is the water-shed between the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee and the basin of
the Yellow River. It is across the western end of this promontory
that the Imperial Canal bears the exchanges of Southern and
Central China with those of the metropolis and the outlying prov
inces of Mantchooria and Mongolia. Besides some fishermen's
huts on the beach, we saw only one structure on the promontory,
a Buddhist temple. The whole coast of the promontory is held
sacred in China as pertaining to the birthplace of Confucius.
The appearance of a troop of soldiers winding down the moun
tain-side reminded us that the Tien-Tsin massacre has been followed
by profound apprehensions of foreign war. A lonely, basaltic rock
towers above the sea at the foot of the promontory — a monument
that the land once came there, and that the wasting ocean has cut
it off. But this monument, like all those erected by human hands,

mm

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5- *mm£M. -^.n^~im^mmmm ¦-.-¦-. s*?.^

THHF

PROMONTORY OF SHAN-TUNG.

CHINESE JUNKS.

105

is not destined to endure. It is already broken, and the sea is
flowing through it. Fishing-smacks flock like gulls around the
base of the promontory.
The junk is an odd-looking affair. It lies low in the water.
All its timbers are quaintly carved, and it is painted as gayly as if
designed for a regatta. Practically speaking, it is a double-ender,
and its awkwardly-rigged and ill-shapen rudder distinguishes it

CHINESE FI8HING-6MAOK.

from all other sea-craft which have been built since Noah's ark.
On either side of the bow there is never wanting a huge eye. We
asked a Chinese seaman the significance of that ornament. He
promptly replied, " Junk no have eye, no can see ! " It is a re
markable coincidence that not only the boats but the houses of the
Alaska Indians are furnished with eyes. Although China has
never been a maritime power, and is not likely soon to become

106 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
one, it has an internal navigation which has never been and never
can be equalled elsewhere.
Personal coincidences thicken. This morning, one of the
marines communicated to Admiral Rodgers, through the offices of
William Freeman, that he was not unknown to Mr. Seward. The
admiral promptly instituted an inquiry, which resulted in the
marine's coming to the quarter- deck, and being recognized there
by Mr. Seward as a soldier who served on the escort which attended
him through Alaska last year, and that his knowledge of Mr.
Seward had begun in his having been put on guard at his house in
Washington, on the night of the President's assassination. Need
we say that he was glad to renew his acquaintance with one who
had been a defender on two such memorable occasions ?
Steamer Shan Tung, October 26th. — Bearing westward from
Shan Tung, we after some hours entered the harbor of Chee-foo,
nearly surrounded by hills^ Thus far we have seen -nothing sub
lime, nor even any thing picturesque in China. The northern
shores are only more pleasing than those about Shanghai, because
they are slightly elevated and slightly undulating. Naked and
barren at this season, one might well mistake the region about
Chee-foo for the California coast.
The United States war-steamer Bcnicia saluted us as we entered
the harbor, and her officers came on board. Chee-foo is one of the
last-opened ports of China. The foreign settlement numbers only
one hundred. The native population is variously estimated at
twenty-five thousand to eighty thousand. The agent of the Steam-
Navigation Company received us on a well-constructed stone wharf,
and has entertained us in the kindest manner. We have made
an excursion in chairs to an eminence that overlooks the town
and harbor, and found there a ruin, but were unable to deter
mine whether the structure was a temple, an observatory, or a
watch-tower. From its dilapidated walls we counted two hundred
vessels of all sorts and sizes anchored in the bay, although Chee-foo
confines itself exclusively to the coast-trade. In this trade, pressed
tea prepared for the Russian market in the form of bricks, and

A STORM AT SEA. 107
scarcely more nutritious, is the chief article. A large and delicious
native grape cultivated here is highly esteemed in all the cities of
China, but no wine is made.
Descending the hill, we enjoyed the walk on the smooth sand-
beach. Chee-foo is a summer resort of foreigners — the Newport
of China. The bungalows, however, are now vacant. One of them,
which was built by a missionary, cost ten thousand dollars.
The gentlemen of our party, having recovered their land-legs,
and been furnished with stout native ponies, made a scrub-race on
the beach. The admiral, " who carries weight for age," was dis
tanced by the consul-general. Our friends at home will be pleased
to learn that the whole party furnished themselves here with pon
gees, suitable for wear in the tropics, at twenty-five cents a yard.
We left Chee-foo at eight in the evening, and at eleven o'clock
we " caught it." As we kept near the coast, the sea was shoal and
sand-colored. A strong land-wind arose and blew the water into
ridges thirty or forty feet high, and our course obliged us to travel
continually in the trough. The wind increased to a gale, and the
steamer rocked. How she did rock! Those two of our naval
friends who were left in a condition to do any thing, declare that
they counted twenty-four rollings of the steamer from one side to
another in sixty seconds. It must be confessed, however, that
Lieutenant Wheeler and Mr. Pillsbury are somewhat suspected of
waggery. But it must also be remembered that, at the time they
made this solemn declaration, they supposed themselves to be very
nearly in articulo mortis. Only the admiral kept his feet, Mr.
Seward, with feet braced, being lashed in his chair to strong iron
stanchions at the centre of the middle deck. The ladies were
packed, wedged, and wadded in their berths. " Admiral," asked
Mr. Seward, " is this rolling and tumbling a customary experience
of yours % " " No," answered the admiral with not less than his
usual gravity, " this vessel has a motion entirely unknown to me."
" Captain," said Mr. Seward to the master of the Shan Tung," is
this rolling a chronic habit of your ship ? " " No," replied the
captain, " she only practises it in the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee." Most
of the Colorado's marines, and all the musicians except two, were

108 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
helpless. Nothing that was loose remained in place; furniture,
trunks, bags, and boxes, bundles of pongee and baskets of Chee-foo
grapes, went sliding and jamming and punching, backward and
forward, and every way, until our pretty dancing-room gave a
heterogeneous clattering worse than a seance of the Davenport
brothers. In all this noise, confusion, and danger, it may well be
imagined there was no sleep at night, no breakfast in the morning,
and no lunch at noon. The storm abated and the sea began to
subside at three o'clock. At four, the good admiral required such
of the musicians as were sound or convalescent, to play selections
of Offenbach, by way of enticing sea-sick passengers from their
state-rooms. But even "La Belle Helene" and "La Grande Du
chesse " alike failed in this sad and trying emergency. There was
neither talking, nor dining, nor wining, until we dropped anchor
at nine o'clock in the open roadstead of Taku. Here in that road
stead we are now, waiting for the tide to carry us over the bar at
the mouth of the Pei-ho River.
There is little show of commerce about us. As yet we see no
land, and only a dozen vessels, like our own, riding at anchor. We
are having a first experience of cold. The mercury has fallen to
50°. Ten o'clock, — We have dined. The pilot has come on board.
The musicians are playing their notes, and we are writing up
ours. We hope that the dance which we have left for that purpose
will keep on till the tide changes.

CHAPTER Y.
UP THE PEI-HO RIVER.
Mouth of the Pei-ho. — Chinese Forts. — American Guns. — The Most Crooked and Mean
of Rivers. — Chinese Dogs. — A Misunderstanding. — Captain Wang. — Our Flotilla. —
The City of Tien-Tsin. — Aspect of the Country. — Our Boat Life. — Absence of Ani
mals. — A Messenger from Peking. — A Chinese Trader. — Tung-Chow.
Pei-ho Rimer, October 27th. — We passed the bar at three this
morning, having only twelve feet water, while the Shan Tung
draws twelve feet four inches. Thanks to the sandy bottom, we
have come safely over. With the exception of our peeps into the
native cities of Shanghai and Chee-foo, we have so far only seen
Europe in China. Now China and the Chinese have opened them
selves to us. Taku is the outer port of Tien-Tsin, and is forti
fied. Though the works are not remarkable for construction, they
have proved very effective defences by reason of the marshes
which prevent the near approach of an enemy. We counted one
hundred and fifty guns in position, some of which are of Amer
ican make. The forts seem not strongly garrisoned. It was im
possible for us to ascertain whether the wide-spread settlements
through which we passed after crossing the bar, and which contain
a population of half a million, are one great city, or a hundred or
more busy villages. But we learn that, statistically regarded, Taku
consists of three villages, Taku, Siku, and Sangku. A leading
business is the trade in salt, which is made on the sea-shore, and
deposited in large quantities on the banks of the rivers. The
channel is crowded with junks, while only one, two, or three for-

110 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
eign vessels ascend or descend it daily. We might well know that
we have attained a higher latitude. The dwelling-houses here are
built, not of wood, but of adobe walls, with chimneys ; the streets
as narrow as those of old Shanghai. As we advance up the river,
we can distinguish farms, with spacious and comfortable dwellings
and out-buildings. The Pei-ho seems the most crooked and mean
of all rivers. Only such a people as the Chinese could have made
such a stream a channel of continental commerce. It is about as
wide in most places as our steamer is long. It flows over alluvial
sands ; the water is used for irrigating the flat plain. To us, who
are novices here, the cultivation seems successful, and even marvel
lous ; nevertheless, we are informed that this is the most barren
region of the empire. The cereals and vegetables are not different
from those of New York and Pennsylvania, though more various.
They have white, tulip-shaped cabbages, turnips of many kinds and
sizes, peas, lentils, wheat, Indian-corn, oats, millet, beans, lettuce,
and onions ; occasionally rice, potatoes, and sweet-potatoes.
Approaching Tien-Tsin, we find the old familiar obstruction of
the " overslaugh " near Albany. The boat goes around every five
minutes, and sometimes, at a bend in the river, suddenly converts
itself into a bridge. It is doubtful whether we shall reach Tien-
Tsin until another flood. To increase our discomfort, it began to
rain at one o'clock at night, and it still pours, and the mercury in
both thermometer and barometer is falling.
Tien-Tsin, October 28th. — Persevering all night, through all
obstacles, we reached and grappled "the Bund" of the foreign set
tlement at noon. Here steam-navigation ends. We must stop and
see what next. Tien-Tsin seems worthy to be the entrepot of
foreign commerce, as it is at the head of inland navigation. To
estimate its trade, one has but to look at the flags of all nations on
the merchantmen and men-of-war, in the crowded and contracted
harbor. These flags were successively dipped and our own na
tional steamsBip, the Ashuelot, saluted us as we worked our way
to the wharf. The French naval commander and the British and
Russian consuls have already come on board with friendly greet-

A MELANCHOLY NIGHT.

Ill

ings. The foreign settlement is small, but, contrasted with the
native suburbs, makes a very respectable appearance.
October 29th. — We have had a jar in our party. With dismal,
cold weather, and with muddy streets on the land, we necessarily
remain on board.
A Strauss waltz, suggestive of a dance, was struck up by the
band after dinner, probably at the request of the younger officers
at the foot of the table. Reflecting on the excitement produced at
this moment, not only in China, but throughout the world, by the
recent massacre of Christians in this very place, Mr. Seward remon
strated against the festivity. The young people reluctantly acqui
esced, but they are consoled this morning by his admission that we
had a noche triste.
We have had a busy day. The gentlemen have secured a fleet
of flat-bottomed sail-boats with crews, in all numbering one hun
dred men. All the party have been engaged in preparing stores
and packing, intending to embark this evening. Meanwhile, Mr.
Seward, with the admiral, has been entertained with an inspection
of the Ashuelot.

Km

CHINESE DOGS.

112 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
The foreigners in China have not forgotten, among the humani
ties, their interest in the canine race. Dogs of every kind have
come on board, as if appreciating the sympathies of civilization —
the Newfoundland dog, the Australian hound, the Russian blood
hound, and the universal black-and-tan terrier; but, far prettier
than all those very famihar friends, are a pair of spaniels, purely
bred from Chinese stock, which have come in the staff of the Rus
sian consul-general. They are small, and of a pinkish-brown,
without a black hair. There is a tradition that Charles I. received
the progenitor of this race, in England, as a present from the Em
peror of China. It is that identical dog lying on the hearth-rug
that Horace Walpole describes as a " plumy wreath."
Ten o'clock at night. —
" The hest-laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft aglee."
The boats did not come to time. This afternoon a chair was
provided for Mr. Seward, and a Mongolian pony for each one of
the suite who chose. This animal, like our Canadian pony, has
great strength and endurance. Supposing that the plan for the ex
cursion was fully understood by all, Mr. Seward went ashore and
sat down in his chair, on " the Bund." At this moment, some one
asked Mr. George F. Seward if he were going to ride. He an
swered, " No." On this, the inquirer informed Admiral Rodgers
that Mr. Seward was engaged, and would not ride. The whole
party at this moment galloped off, leaving Mr. Seward sitting in
his chair, surrounded by his eight coolie bearers, not one of whom
spake or understood a word of English. They waited for orders in
Chinese, which, although Mr. Seward could give in English, there
was no person to interpret.
At the first turn in the road, the equestrians looked back for
their chief. He was not there. , Inquiry being made, the admiral
answered that Mr. ¦ Seward was not coming out. This satisfied
them for the time, but on further reflection a doubt arose whether
he had so capriciously changed his purpose. So the whole party,

THE PEI-HO SQUADRON. 113
under apprehensions for his safety, returned on their track for a
rescue. They found him at a distance of half a mile from the Bund,
pressing on with his eight coolies and a mounted guide. After
this faux pas, we passed over a broad plain covered with crumbling
tombs and neglected graves, and then came to a high outer wall,
which stretches across from the Chinese city to the bank of the
river. The wall was erected during the last combined British and
French invasion. It is an earthwork with a narrow, shallow moat,
a glacis twenty feet wide, and a frail parapet with frequent embra
sures, which impart to it au ornamental effect. The admiral says
that the work would be of no use as a defence, but he has not a
high estimate of Chinese military science. However that may
be, the glacis furnished us a delightful ride, with beautiful vistas,
through the parapets, across the bastions and under the crowning
martello towers.
The Chinese know as well how to utilize their temples as we
know how to improve our churches for hospitals in time of war.
Attracted by massive portals and high outer walls, we crossed the
plain to examine a Buddhist temple, standing on a slight elevation
and overlooking the river. We found it had been long ago con
verted into a powder-magazine. Certainly the place is a fitting
one. Miles around it is one vast suburb of the dead.
Adieu, Shan Tung, with your morning martial promenades,
your recherche dinners, your quiet card-parties, your evening con
certs and balls, your rollings, your pitchings, and your groundings
and your tumblings ! When shall we see another seaman like
Captain Hawes?
Hail to thee, flat-bottomed boat number four of the Pei-ho
squadron, with thy single main-sail, thy four poles, and thy one
tow-rope ! Hail, Captain Wang, and your meek and patient four !
Whatever perils await us under your conduct, we are insured at
least against a watery grave.
Shall we describe the flotilla ? The admiral has numbered and
registered the vessels, one, two, three, up to fifteen. They vary in
dimensions, and, though coarsely, are all strongly built. Each has
one cabin, less than five feet wide at the floor, and one raised bunk

114

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

behind it for sleeping-room. It has cost some care to distribute
among the boats a party so large and so very much mixed. Num
ber one leads. It bears the Stars and Stripes, and carries the
United States consul-general, Mrs. Seward, and their Chinese ser
vants. Number two, without colors, bears the two other ladies ;
and number three is the flag-ship of Admiral Rodgers, his secretary,
and servants, and floats the national ensign taken from the Colorado.
Number four, under a broader flag, carries Mr. Seward and the

BOATS ON THE PEI-HO RIVEE.

faithful Freeman. It is the largest ship in the fleet, thirty feet long,
and twelve feet beam. Of the whole fleet, only number four has
a stove, and this is borrowed from the Ashuelot. Its cabin, there
fore, is our writing-room. Wang tells us this boat is an inheritance
from his father, and has been in constant use fifty-four years.
Number five carries Mr. Middleton and Mr. Rodman ; numbers
seven and eight, officers of the admiral's staff; number nine is the
dining-room of the party ; numbers ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,

THE CITY OF TIEN-TSIN. 115
fourteen, and fifteen, have on board, the band, the marines, stores,
and baggage.
Each boat has its sunken cabin with a dark hold under the
forward deck, which is occupied by the crew. The cabins are en
closed with upright slabs, removable at pleasure. They are old
and full of crevices, and exclude neither the rain nor the cold.
The boat has a single mast forward of the cabin and before the
cabin-door, on which a small cotton sail is rigged with a single reef,
upon a bamboo-spar. When the wind does not serve, the boatmen
resort to poles. When they grow tired of this, they betake them
selves to the banks, which are neither paved nor graded. Attach
ing the towing-line to the top of the mast, they make a loose knot
on the other end, and throw it over their shoulders. Thus har
nessed, they draw the boat up the stream. Each boat has four
coolies, and we pay for the whole voyage, including all the costs
and charges, six dollars a day for each boat, if we travel only by
daylight, and nine dollars if we travel day and night.
Our naval friends have a mess-boat of their own ; the rest of
the party use the dining-room. Of course, these parties entertain
each other. The musicians and the marines are supplied with their
navy-rations, and the coolies take care of themselves.
We started with a fair wind this morning, and, as we passed
the shipping, our band made the acknowledgments we owed to
the foreign vessels, by playing first " Hail Columbia," then " God
save the Queen," the " Marseillaise," and all the other national
anthems. The friendly ships and the consulates on shore lowered
their flags, and gave us cheers and encouraging salutations. It
was not doubtful that the gallant officers regarded our ascent to
Peking, at this painful juncture, as an adventure not altogether
free from danger.
The serpentine voyage of three miles brought us to the Chinese
city of Tien-Tsin, enclosed within a stone-wall forty feet high, sur
mounted with watch-towers, and four miles in circuit. Suburbs,
densely inhabited, crowd the river on both sides. The population
is stated to us here at a million and a half. Travellers generally
estimate it at half a million. We may well accept the higher figure,

116 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
for such a scene of crowded though silent activity we never saw."
Except the charred walls, broken towers, and shattered battlements
of the Roman Catholic cathedral and convent lately destroyed,
there is not one massive or pretentious structure. Narrow streets
divide monotonous blocks of one story and two story buildings.
Every small space is filled with countless, moving multitudes.
There is no ferry, but the bridge of boats is crowded with a mass
of men and boys such as " Fulton *Ferry " presents on a holiday.
Chinese boats choke the channel. We thought we never should
get through the town, but we did. We saw an army of ten thou
sand men, infantry and cavalry, enter the city as we passed the
western gate. At a distance the array was imposing, but, as we
neared it, we discovered a woful lack of uniformity, as well in dress
as in arms and equipments. The infantry arm varied from a wooden
club of three feet long, to a matchlock with a seven-foot barrel ;
the music thoroughly discordant, but the yellow banners were fre
quent, gay, and gorgeous. The march was as straggling and dis
orderly as the return of the troops from Bull Run to Washington.
It • is notorious that, since the massacre, the Chinese have been
gathering a large army at Tien-Tsin. Foreigners say it is a prep
aration for war ; Chinese official persons, on the contrary, assure
us that it is a precaution against further outbreaks here. It is too
early, however, for us to speak on this exciting topic. On the west
side of Tien-Tsin, as on the east, the plain presents a vast and
cheerless field of sepulture. Leaving this behind us, we come
through cultivated fields, with vegetable-gardens hanging over the
water's edge. Here we are planting our stakes and tying up for
the night, in such order as the admiral directs. He has posted a
guard around us. No one passes without giving the countersign,
and each passing hour is called as the hushed night rolls on. It is
cold, and we shrink into our cabins to meditate as we may on the
strange scenes and men around us.
On the Pei-ho, October 30th. — Thanks to our commissary who
procured, and thanks to the generous friends at Tien-Tsin who
lent us the blankets and furs, we have enjoyed a comfortable sleep

AN ANCIENT PAVEMENT. 117
in our most uncomfortable of boats. We waked in a drizzling
rain, the thermometer at 38°. In such an atmosphere, comfort is
impossible without exercise, which can only be obtained by walk
ing on the slippery clay banks of the river, for, although it is a
canal, it has no towing-path. The Imperial Canal, the greatest
work of that kind in the world, leaves the Pei-ho at Tien-Tsin,
crosses the Yellow River, and debouches into the Yang-tse-kiang,
but it has lesser slack water and other contrivances, which extend
the navigation to Canton. The Pei-ho River at Tien-Tsin is navi
gated eighty miles to Tung-Chow, the appointed terminus of our
present voyage, which is fifteen miles distant from Peking.
The country is level and monotonous, but more sterile as we
advance. Although the inhabitants are poor, they seem hardy,
busy, and contented. There is no forest as far as the eye can reach,
only a few poplars and willows, the natural products of an alluvial
soil, kept as shade-trees. It is not easy to discover how the im
mense population procure the fuel necessary in so cold a climate.
We bought coal, of an inferior quality, at a large price, at Tien-
Tsin. Our coolies, in cooking, burn only dry stalks of Indian-corn.
While puzzling ourselves over that problem, we discovered
great rafts of timber which choke navigation. Where could this
timber have come from ? Could it have come down the stream ?
K up the stream, where was it shipped ? On inquiry, we learn
that it is brought across the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee, from the Corean
Peninsula. Forbidding as the way and the weather are, we have
walked this afternoon many miles. Our promenade was arrested
by a marsh which compelled us to make a short detour, and, at a
distance of twenty rods from the bank of the river, we found, in the
bed of the morass, a pavement forty feet wide ajid one hundred
feet long, of square hewn granite blocks — the first ruin we have
thus far seen in our journey. Who laid that pavement ? When
and for what purpose ? Was it the bottom of an ancient canal ?
There were no other traces of such a structure. Losing the pave
ment as it disappeared under the surface, we climbed a knoll fifty
rods beyond, and found there a perfectly artistic granite wall,
enclosing a large area within which no edifice remains. At one

118 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
corner of the wall is an arched gateway half in ruins. Stumbling
through this passage over broken bricks and stones, we entered the
desolate court. Here we confronted a solid marble shaft, five feet
wide and twenty feet high, standing upon the back of a huge
tortoise of the same material, having the exact form and proportions
of Nature, every line of the shell, body, and claws being executed
with precision and skill. The middle of the shaft, on both sides, is
covered with legends, while each border from top to bottom is
crowded with mythical birds, serpents, and dragons, exquisitely
chiselled. We concluded that a temple had once stood here, and
that the pavement below had served as the grand approach. Why
had it been suffered to fall into ruin ? Perhaps we may learn more
as we go on.
October 31st, Thermometer 48° Fahrenheit. — We have made
half our voyage. A range of mountains looms up before us in the
west. What mountains? They must be the Altai range. We
have described Mr. Seward's boat. Would not our friends at home
like to know how nicely the ladies have fitted up theirs ? It is not,
indeed, as magnificent as Cleopatra's barge, but there is no Antony
on the shores. They have a carpet of gray goat-skins, and with
superfluous scarlet blankets have extemporized a tapestry, which
effectually covers the chinks, and excludes the wind. The dais,
two feet high, which serves for a bed, has a drapery of purple and
gray rugs. Their dressing-table, which is a portmanteau on end,
is covered with a gay shawl, and a mirror four inches square, with
a gilt-frame, borrowed from the Ashuelot, hangs above it. For
sofas, they use trunks spread with a white Thibetian fur great
coat, which Mr. Seward has kindly contributed. The access to this
elegant saloon, which is eight feet square, is not particularly con
venient — an aperture in the front, two feet square, with a descent
of three feet, without steps or ladder. In going in one stoops and
steps backward ; in coming out, one stoops, and is pulled upward.
Our habit of travel is settled. The fleet moves, or is supposed to
move, at dawn. We are served with hot tea and a biscuit, with the
thermometer somewhere between freezing and 40°. We draw

CHINESE AGRICULTURE.

119

water from the river, for the toilet, in preference to that which was
frozen during the night in our pitchers. We make ourselves warm
by a walk of two or three miles. In these walks, we stare and
wonder at the uncouth ploughs, the awkward fanning-mills, and

CHINESE AGEICULTUEE.

other rude farming implements, and the equally strange farm-houses
and dwellings which we pass.
What seems stranger than any thing else is the absence of
domestic animals. Horses, cows, and oxen, are indeed sometimes
seen at the plough, but generally the ground is worked with spade
and hoe. No wheeled vehicle, except rarely a cart, with a mean

120 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
calash, drawn by a horse, a mule, or oxen, is seen. Forty sheep here
are a fortune. Mr. Bergh's sensibilities would be sorely tried if he
could see the burdens and labors imposed on the ass. The hogs are
" black as the ace of spades," about as thin, and more scarce than
pheasants. Sometimes we take one side of the river, and then
cross to the other. Not unfrequently, by the intervention of head
land and promontory, we lose sight of our little fleet, or, finding it
in disorder, mistake number two for number four, or the admiral's
flag for the consul-general's. Coming in from these walks, we
gather round Mr. Seward's little stove, read or write, and talk over
the alarms of the night and the incidents of the morning. We
breakfast at eleven, and dine at five. Our stores are chiefly foreign.
As we neither know how to procure nor how to prepare the Chinese
food, the commissariat gives us coffee from Mocha, sausages from
Bologna, biscuit and porter from England, peas from France, sar
dines from Italy, cheese from Chautauqua, butter from Goshen, and
oysters from Baltimore, with wines from all countries in the world,
except China. Our boatmen, "heathen Chinee" though they are,
have become devoted to us, and, when they see our long waiting
for breakfast, they kindly offer to share with us their little menu
of Indian-corn bread, wheaten fritters, and cabbage-soup. After
dinner, we are weary enough to. sink into our hard bunks, and cold
enough to draw over us our furs. The boats tie up very^punctually
at ten o'clock, and it is by no means safe or pleasant to clamber
over the decks from one to the other.
November 1st. — The November which we have dreaded has
met us here in China, just as it would probably have come down
on us if we had remained at home. Its breath, often cold and
clammy there, is no warmer or drier here. In four days we have
had not dne gleam of sunshine. We might well imagijie ourselves
on the St. Lawrence, so similar is the vegetation of this sandy plain.
One beautiful feature, however, of the St. Lawrence is missing
here. Instead of the gorgeous autumnal forest, we have only a few
scattered leaves, and those pale-yellow or colorless. We have to
day added fifteen coolies to our marine.

AT TUNG-CHOW. 121
Mr. Seward's cabin has just taken fire, but Captain Wang and
his crew quickly dropped their buckets into the river, and ex
tinguished the flame. Travellers who come after us may take
notice that stoves on the Pei-ho are not only an expensive but a
dangerous luxury.
Tung-Chow, November 2d. — At a distance of six miles, that is
to say, a period of four hours, before the end of our voyage, a
mounted messenger, coming from the United States minister and
the Russian minister at Peking, met us on the river with con
gratulations. In the middle of the dark, rainy night we became
aware of our arrival at Tung-Chow by the noise of our tackle
taking hold upon the bank. We saw nothing of this long-desired
haven during the night, though the unintelligible jargon of a crowd
which the great arrival attracted rendered sleep impossible. The
sun at last relents. The scene this morning, though grotesque, is
cheerful. The nocturnal crowd has swollen to a dense mass of
men and boys, all wearing large, broad-brimmed straw hats clat
tering wooden-soled shoes, and thickly-padded and quilted blue
blouses — all parts of the costume showing the effects of wear, and
suggesting many changes in past ownership. They manifest in
tense curiosity to learn the secret of our large and imposing flotilla.
As they peep and peer through every aperture and crevice of our
boats, staring with narrow, wondering eyes at our strange costume
and complexion, our toilet has not been made without difficulty.
They are nevertheless quiet and respectful, and, whatever may be
the motive, they seem desirous to please, to serve, and to oblige.
Every manner of small traffic is going on among them. Bread,
cabbages, and cakes, were sold or gambled for according to the taste
of the customer. A " vagrom "-looking fellow flourishes a painted
pasteboard quiver, and turns it upside down, and chopsticks fall
from it instead of arrows. Combative sparrows and canaries chal
lenge each other through their cages, and a boy carries a pretty
brown bird, smaller than the oriole or the mocking-bird, and which,
seeming a reconciled captive, sings sweetly out a merry invitation
to a gentle purchaser. 11

122 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
The Pei-ho forms a basin thirty or forty yards wide, which is
here crowded with little junks or boats, most of which are used for
dwellings. The town stands on a terrace which rises gently from
the river. There is no dock, wharf, or storehouse, on the bank be
tween the river and the terrace. The uncovered sewage of the city
has worn the sloping bank into channels, and between these chan
nels are promiscuous deposits of merchandise and heaps of compost,
all alike prepared for shipping. The houses on the terrace are low,
but many of them have quite large courts. Their fronts are covered
with fanciful sign-boards. At a bend of the river before us rises
a lofty pagoda of seven stories ; the first structure of this form
which we have seen. We wonder that it is not more extensively.
copied in the West, and especially why it is not adopted in place
of our unshapely and cheerless light-house. The name pagoda is
in common use, but dagoba is in use also. A distinction is made,
however. When the structure is small, and is enclosed in an area
with a temple, it is called dagoba. On the other hand, when it
stands by itself, its design is for ornament more than use ; it is
then called pagoda. A learned Chinese authority tells us that
every structure of the kind, whether pagoda or , dagoba, contains
relics of some saint or martyr.
Say what men may, there is a power in gilded epaulets and
buttons. Our naval friends, strong in that power, opened an easy
way for us through the inquisitive multitude ; but, in climbing the
slimy bank of the terrace, we encountered an obstacle which neither
gold lace nor buttons could displace. This was a caravan of thirty
laden camels, in single file, as they always move, just beginning
their long journey over the steppes of Russia to Moscow. The
imperturbable beasts, thickly covered with long, scraggy hair, trod
firmly but slowly with their spreading, padded feet. Reaching a
terrace, we were as yet only in a suburb. After many efforts, we
were obliged to give up the exploration. Every street is a deep,
broad gutter, now rendered impassable by mud and rain. We re
turned to the front, and contented ourselves with looking into the
dwellings and shops. The occupants were neatly dressed, seemed
intelligent, came out of their doors, and saluted us, tendering

A POLITE CHINESE. 123
their hands and inviting us to enter. One, quite distingue, bowed
us, with a politeness that was irresistible, into a wide court, bor
dered by dwellings and shops. He indicated a knowledge that
we are from the West by pointing to a Russian chart of Europe,
hanging on the wall. On this we made a rough Mercator sketch
of the globe. He at once marked on it the sites Tung-Chow,
Moscow, and New York. He served delicious tea, quickly prepared,
with sugar crystallized into rock-candy to sweeten it, and Russian
cigarettes. Then he showed us his money-scales, strings of cash,
numerating balls, bills of exchange, receipts, and books of account,
all neatly and carefully arranged. He called in his tidy and re
spectable assistants and clerks, and with special pride introduced to
us his pretty son and heir of six years. We were bowed and
" chin-chinned " by our host with his whole family and retinue, and
then read on his sign-board inscriptions which told that the place
is at once one of entertainment for travellers, and an agency for
the sale of teas in the Russian trade. We breakfasted in our naval
dining-room on the river at eight. It is now eleven o'clock.
Every thing has been brought ashore, and has been packed in carts
and sedan-chairs. Ponies, mules, and donkeys, stand in formal
array on the bank, for the whole party, which numbers forty-seven
Americans, besides Chinese servants, drivers, waiters, and attend
ants. Captain Tilden, on horseback, and his tall marines mounted
on low donkeys, make, it must be confessed, a rather ludicrous
cavalry display, but perhaps not ineffective for China. We take
our chairs for Peking.

CHAPTER VI.
ARRIVAL AT PEKING.
Passing through Tung-Chow. — Good Behavior of the People. — The Road to Peking. —
A Dangerous Highway. — Daniel Webster and John Adams. — A Review of Our
Party. — A Grotesque Procession. — The Eastern Gate of Peking. — The Separation
of the Party. — Anxiety for Mr. Seward. — In Woful Plight. — An Explanation. —
Arrival at the U. S. Legation.
Peking, November 3d. — The Government at Peking, apprised
of Mr. Seward's coming, had sent forward two intelligent mandarins
to attend him to the capital. These officers at Tung-Chow sent up
a messenger to report the array and progress of the party, in order
that arrangements might be made for its safe and proper entrance
into the city.
What could be more gratifying to our national and personal
pride than the prospect, thus opened to us, of a kind and dis
tinguished reception ? We took our way up the shelving levee, but
without a road or path. We went a long distance down and across
the ditches, which teemed with noxious vapors arising from the
vegetable merchandise and offal of the city. At length our man
darins brought us up from the river's edge into bustling lanes,
varying from five to twelve feet wide. The population gathered
to see a procession so unique, and probably to them imposing.
After a full half-mile, we descended into a broad ditch, filled with
water reekingly offensive — a treacherous path for pedestrians, but
Chinese chair-bearers, like Chinese beasts, are sure footed. We
passed through an arch, under a high wall, which stands on the

ADAMS AND WEBSTER. 125
bank of a moat. We should have thought that we were now leav
ing the city instead of entering it, if the ditch had been on the
inner side of the wall. The city contains within the walls not less
than eighty thousand inhabitants. Hours must have been spent in
getting through it, had not a military or municipal force met us at
the gates and cleared the way. The streets were lanes, the houses
low, cheap, and closely crowded together, as at Tien-Tsin. Our
experience, however, in passing, was particularly pleasing. The
people betrayed nothing of the hate and jealousy which are ascribed
to the Chinese by the Europeans in the open ports. Whether they
understood Mr. Seward's public character, or were impressed by
his white hair, white Thibetian great-coat, and black Thibetian cap,
we do not know, but the entire population, young and old, saluted
him, as he passed, with unmistakable signs of veneration. Emerg
ing from the farther gate, we came on the direct road to Peking,
distant, some say, twenty-five miles, others say twelve miles. This
road, built three hundred years ago, is an embankment forty feet
wide, and twenty feet above the plain, which is always subject to
inundation. The whole width has been paved with hewn granite
blocks four or five feet long, two feet wide, and eight inches thick.
These blocks were originally jointed closely and fastened with iron
clamps, so as to leave no crevice or unevenness of surface, but the
elements have long since deranged and dislocated the pavement, so
that it cannot be travelled now either by wheeled vehicles or animals
with comfort and safety. The horsemen and carts prefer to flounder
through the sands and mud of the plains below, rather than to try
this dangerous highway.
"Admiral Rodgers," said Mr. Seward, as they kept their chairs
side by side on this road, " did you ever hear of the interview of
Mr. Webster with John Adams, the day before his death % " " No."
" Mr. Webster said to the old statesman, ' How do you do, this morn
ing, Mr. Adams ? ' ' Not very well,' he replied ; ' I am living in
a very old house, Mr. Webster, and, from all that I can learn, the
landlord does not intend to repair.' " So," continued Mr. Seward,
" this road gives me a more painful impression than any thing else
I have seen in China — it shows that the Government has no inten-

126 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
tion to repair." The road might be restored as perfectly as before,
simply by reversing the blocks, and bringing them together face
downward. A clear field now allowed us to take a review and cen
sus of our party. The advance-guard consisted of twelve Chinese
infantry. They wore metallic caps in the shape of Mambrino's
helmet, torn by the hand of Don Quixote from the head of the
caitiff barber ; the caps fastened by long, yellow tassels. Their
uniform consisted of blue nankeen trousers and tunics, on the back
of which was a white circular ground, bearing the inscription in
large, black Chinese characters, " Valor." Next came, or, rather,
tried to come, a guard of twelve United States marines on foot, but
the nimble-footed chair-bearers crowded so closely on them that the
entire body took refuge in the rear. Next followed the four chairs
of Mr. Seward, the admiral, and the ladies, with a mounted escort
composed of the gentlemen of the party, civil and military. Then
the musicians and seamen mounted promiscuously on horses, mules,
and donkeys.- The sailors found it equally difficult to keep their
seats on the ponies, and their feet above-ground, when riding the
donkeys. We could not count the baggage-carts, which, under the
care of William Freeman, and the protection of a guard of marines,
brought up the rear. Having prudently determined not to shock
the sensibility of the Chinese by any display of banners or musical
instruments, we came along quietly without accident or incident,
until, at a distance of a few miles from Peking, we rose upon
the fine arched bridge of Palikao, where the battle memorable in
the war of the allies against China was fought, and in which the
lately-dismissed War Minister of France gained his title. Here
the native guard halted and ranged themselves at the side of our
cortege, presented arms, and, taking respectful leave of Mr. Seward,
returned to Tung-Chow.
When we had passed the bridge, the sedan-chair occupants, as
well as the horsemen, were seized with a mutual desire for change.
The success of either party was not brilliant. The chair-riders,
victims of misplaced confidence, tumbled over the heads of the
donkeys, and the cruppers of the mules ; the mounted party spilled
out of the chairs. The country through which we passed shows

A CHINESE FUNERAL. 127
less a neglect of cultivation than a dilapidation of estates. Half
way on the road, we met a grotesque procession. First, came a
band of thirty or forty boys, dressed in scarlet and yellow, whom
we might have mistaken for clowns, bearing staves with fantastic
badges of authority. Next, a band of musicians, displaying equal
luxury of color, banged and drummed on instruments unlike any
thing we had ever seen. Then came an enormous catafalque,
pagoda-shaped, mounted on wheels whose axles just escaped the
ground, the exterior covered with scarlst cloth, richly trimmed with
gold lace. Within was an elaborately-carved coffin. The vehicle
was rolled forward on the rough road by eighty bare-legged coolies.
The rank of the dead determines the number of such bearers.
Preceding the car was a mournfully-dressed, sad-looking little
woman, holding up before her a large, painted wooden doll. This
figure represents the wife of the deceased, and is to be buried in the
grave with him, as her proxy. The procession showed to us more
courtesy than funeral-processions ever show at home — it opened
and halted to allow the chairs to pass.
At last, after five hours' tedious and painful travel from Tung-
Chow, we obtained a full view of the great Eastern Gate of Peking,
rising above monotonous suburbs, not unlike those of Tung-Chow.
Here the pathway on the plain below the embankment was a
smooth, dry sand. How could Miss Seward resist the temptation
to exchange her chair for a fine Arabian horse, which Mr. Low, the
United States minister, had sent down,- and so make the entry into
the Chinese capital in a suitable manner? The ride was exhila
rating, and perhaps excited the envy of the less fortunate members
of the party. She was attended by two friends, one gentleman
on horseback and another on a donkey. The procession reached
the suburbs in tolerable order, but here the amusement of the
journey ended, and its difficulties and sorrows began. The worn-
out paved road, instead of keeping high and dry on the embank
ment; sank fifteen feet below the level of the streets. It had been
raining continuously in Peking for three weeks, and the sunken
road-bed was covered with mud knee-deep. Villanous Chinese
carts, going both ways, cro wded the entire path, obliging not only

128 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
the chairs, but the equestrians and pedestrians of the party, horses,
mules, donkeys, and all, to pick and find their way on the, broken,
shelving, furrowed, crowded and every way obstructed bank, be
tween the houses and the road-bed.
We do not know how nor where the little mounted party last
mentioned fell under the guidance of a mute Chinaman on a strong,
fast horse. Pointing, however, to his red cap, either as a mark
for them to follow, or as a badge of his authority, he hastened them
forward and onward. Only for a short time they saw their friends
in the chairs coming on, but falling more and more behind. They
passed under the great Eastern Gate, too much terrified to study
its architecture. They turned into a narrow lane, then by a zigzag
movement into another, at times crossing broader streets which
were obstructed with carts, booths, merchandise, and theatres;
then again into lanes, dark, deserted, and ruinous. If any one can
conceive an obstruction not described, it may be brought into this
picture. Now they climbed steep, slippery embankments, dashing
and splashing against stone posts, sign-boards, and booths, scatter
ing angry passengers, then pitching into nauseous, muddy pits.
They not only lost all idea of courses and distances, but also lost
sight of our whole column, and were effectually lost by them. It
required intense and watchful effort to keep the saddle. What
could all this mean ? Was the mute Chinese guide a decoy, lead
ing into an ambush? What could be the motive in bringing a
¦ stranger and a woman there ? If not a decoy, why were they led by
a course so blind and tortuous ? Why were they separated from Mr.
Seward and our gallant defenders? Perplexed with anxiety for
themselves, and even greater anxiety for Mr. Seward and his friends,
they halted and beckoned to the red-capped conductor for a parley.
Mr. Middleton rode back as nearly as he could over the way he had
come, in search of "our absent friends." He rejoined them after a
period which seemed an age, and reported that Mr. Seward, nor
the admiral, nor man nor woman, nor beast nor baggage, nor any
other thing belonging to the party, could be found. Meantime
crowds, which their imagination swelled to the entire population of
the city, gathered around them in that woful plight. Well might

A DISAGREEABLE RIDE. 129
they be " in wonder at their case, and be perplexed at their condi
tion," for, as the Arab historian says, " their state was wonderful,
and their case was extraordinary." Among all these crowds there
was not one woman, nor was there a man or boy, who gave one
cheering or encouraging or sympathizing word, glance, or sign.
The mute signed to move on. Manifestly, any place was safer
than this. Only two subsequent incidents of that distracted ride
are remembered : the first, that in a narrow street they encountered
a train of loaded camels as long as that we had seen in the morn
ing at Tung-Chow. These would move neither forward nor back
ward, nor give room on the right or on the left to let them pass.
They grazed alternately the walls and the beasts, and it is even now
a wonder how they escaped being dismounted and trodden under
foot. The other incident was a momentary glimpse of a stately
temple, which, with blue porcelain roof and gilded dome, towered
high above an unbroken expanse of low, mean, and vulgar dwell
ings, only varied by intervening heaps of ruins. They then plunged,
as it seemed, deeper than before into miry pits and squalid masses,
now only anxious not to lose sight of the red cap of the mysterious
cicerone, far in advance, and at the same time listening to catch
the notes of the tinkling bells for reassurance that their donkey-
mounted companion was not lost. At last, and all at once, they
turned a high wall, and entered through a substantial gate-way a
spacious open court, over which was waving the constellation of
thirty-seven stars and its thirteen red-and-white stripes. Their grati
tude was even greater than their surprise at finding Mr. Seward and
Miss Risley already at the legation. His adventurous journey, as
he described it, had been even more perplexing than theirs. Sepa
rated from them and from the rest of the party, he, like them, had
at once lost all knowledge of both, not knowing that he had any
guide except the two mandarins who had accompanied us from
Tien-Tsin, and who now trod along side of his chair, as he was con
veyed by a route entirely different from those which had been taken
by the other portions of the party, and equally narrow, obstructed,
and dangerous. At times, he jostled against camel-caravans ; at
other times, against motley, hurrying crowds ; now crossing a

130 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
muddy moat, then scaling the slippery glacis of a frowning bastion,
he occasionally had a glimpse of the admiral's chair, or Miss Ris-
ley's, or of a mounted marine or musician, but these invariably
crossed his track, or were going in an opposite direction. He had
his thoughts and his anxieties. He now said he could never for
give the admiral, or the naval officers, or the consul-general, who
had suffered our carefully-organized and well-armed procession to
be broken into fragments, and scattered through the lanes, alleys,
and ditches of the semi-barbarian city. While we were exchanging
these explanations, the remaining fragments of the party, civilians,
officers, marines, and baggage, not forgetting trusty Freeman, more
frightened than all, came so rapidly with their chairs, horses, mules,
and donkeys, into the court-yard, that the arrival seemed almost
simultaneous, as it certainly was of one accord.
We soon found out, but not without much inquiry, how it had
come to pass that our entrance into the capital, contrary to our ex
pectation, was so irregular and disorderly. The Chinese Govern
ment is at this moment profoundly anxious to prevent a renewal
of the popular commotions which have recently culminated in the
tragedy of Tien-Tsin. They had been informed, by the messenger
whom the mandarins dispatched from Tung-Chow, of the construc
tion and organization of our party. They had stipulated with Mr.
Low that our band should not play along the road, or in the streets
of Peking. They had, moreover, cautiously sent forward a compe
tent number of mounted guides, wearing red caps, with instruc
tions to break up our formidable procession at the Eastern Gate,
and to conduct each portion by a different route through the most
quiet and obscure parts of the city, to meet only at the legation.
Mr. Seward now declined, with many thanks, the invitation of
the Russian minister, received before he left home, and we became
guests of Mr. Low, who, with true Californian hospitality, would
allow no member of the -party to find a home outside of the lega
tion. Wearied by the tedious boat-journey from Tien-Tsin, and
the fatigues and anxieties of our grand entry into the Chinese capi
tal, we unanimously waived the wassail, wine, and music, offered
us at the legation, and retired to an early rest.

CHAPTER VII.
RESIDENCE IN PEKING.
Aspect of Peking. — Walk on the Wall. — The Foreign Population of Peking. — Two Amer
ican Chinese. — Native Wares. — The Foreign Ministers. — The Russian Minister. —
The British Legation. — Influence of the United States. — The Hall of Science. — Mr.
Seward's Audience with the Imperial Cabinet. — A Ladies' Day. — Chinese Ladies. —
A Chinese Mansion.
Peking, November 4th. — The legation is the spacious and com
fortable dwelling which was built by the eminent Dr. Williams, so
long secretary and interpreter, and not unfrequently charge. It
was occupied by Mr. Burlingame, and Mr. Seward now agrees that
it would have been wise, when it was practicable, to have purchased
it for the United States Government. There neither is in Peking,
nor any other place, a building so suitable, nor could one be more
economically built.
After the relation of our experience in entering the city, we
need say little of the general aspect of Peking. The population
is about one million. ' Differing from other Chinese cities, its
streets are broad enough, but dilapidation and ruin mar the scenes
of highest activity, while the roadways are everywhere full of ob
structions, always ill-looking, and sometimes nauseous and dis
gusting. There are no sidewalks — seldom a pavement. With the
exception of an occasional private lantern, there are no lights.
Many of the narrow streets are rendered impassable by upright
stone posts, set irregularly in the street for the very purpose of
preventing intrusion or passage. Except in the imperial grounds,

132 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
there are no gardens and no fountains, statues, or other monuments
— only compact masses of dwellings and shops, low, old, and mean.
The weather is cold, damp, and dark. A visit from General
Vlangally has been the incident of the day. The prevailing agita
tion resulting from the Tien-Tsin massacre is the chief subject of
conversation. Mr. Warden, at Shanghai, and Mr. Low and Dr.
Williams, here, appear to be almost the only persons in China who
take a rational and statesmanlike view of the political situation.
" We must take a walk to see the city," says Mr. Seward. " There
is no walk in the city," answers General Vlangally, "except on
the city wall." " Very well," replies Mr. Seward, " then let us
walk on the city wall."
Peking, November 4, 1870. — So here we are — on the city wall —
not the outer wall, nor yet the innermost wall, but on an interior
wall which divides the city of the Tartar conquerors from the Chi
nese city, and at the same time looks over the innermost wall which
encloses the city where the emperor resides, which is therefore called
the "sacred" city. We have reached this commanding eminence
just at the hour when the morning sun is lighting up the snow-
clad mountains which bound the valley of the Pei-ho in the west.
It is cold, but, with furs elsewhere superfluous, and exercise quite
unusual, we can bear it% The legation, where we reside, opens on
the bank of the now dry moat, which lies at the foot of the wall.
The wall is thirty feet high. We have walked several miles on
this elevation, looking down from the parapets on the scene around
us, and have wondered at the numerous gates, all lofty, massive,
and grand ; have counted the thousand towers, bastions, and ram
parts ; surveyed the walls of the outer and inner cities ; have con
templated their watch-towers, garrisons, and arsenals ; and have
shrunk back from an estimate of the number of the gilded palaces
and temples. If we remember, we recorded yesterday, before
coming up hither, that Peking is a most unsightly and wretched
city. It seems to us now, although walled cities are unfamiliar to
our experience, that Peking is the only city, we have ever seen,
sufficiently majestic to be a seat of empire.

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ARTISTIC IMPOSTURE. 133
True, these walls, built six hundred years ago, have failed to
protect Peking against the allied forces of Great Britain and
France, and they are confessedly useless for a defence in the mod
ern system of warfare. But, like all the castellated and ecclesiasti
cal structures of the middle ages, they are sublime and impressive.
True, even outer walls cramp the growth of cities, while interior
partitions and subdivisions must have an unwholesome effect and
be otherwise intolerable. But the castellated walls of the middle
ages are none the less imposing for all this. The walls of Peking
address themselves no longer to the reason, but to the imagina
tion. No Chinaman, unless in military or civil employ, and no
Chinese woman under any circumstances, is allowed to go upon the
walls. Why do a people so jealous allow foreigners this privilege ?
It is allowed because they insist upon it. Could there be a
stronger evidence that China wearies and gives way before the
ever-increasing importunity and exaction of the Western nations ?
We now recall the fact that it was stated by Mr. Burlingame, at
Auburn, that this concession was first made to himself and Sir
Frederick Bruce.
Unhappily, a closer inspection of the wall and its accessories
enables us to see that much of its impressive effect is derived from
artistic imposture. Arsenals, capacious enough for the ordnance
of the Washington Navy- Yard, contain only a few awkwardly-
mounted guns. Painted cannons in the embrasures are substituted
for real guns.
In China the national flag is never seen singly. There are
always double flag-staffs. Each gate-way has a rampart to pre
vent the direct approach of an enemy. The wall is an earthen
embankment twenty-five feet thick at the base, the outer face
covered with large, hard, gray bricks, easily mistaken for hewn
stone. During the day the gates are wide open, and there is an
indiscriminate commingling of the populations of the Tartar and
the Chinese cities, undistinguishable at least by strangers. Yet
such is the power of habitual jealousy that the gates are peremp
torily and absolutely closed from sunset until sunrise. A denizen
of one city left in the other at the closing must remain until morn-

134 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
ing. We look down easily into the interior city, the residence of
the emperor, and therefore "the Prohibited." Its gates, like the
others, are open during the day, but they are carefully guarded,
and none but the privileged residents are allowed to enter, except
by special order. The palaces bear no resemblance in form or
structure to the royal dwellings of the West. They are spacious,
and, being covered with yellow tiled roofs, and elsewhere showing
a commingling of light yellow and green, they have an appearance
of newness or recent repair which is in strong contrast with the
outer city. The " Prohibited City " is divided by a wall into two
areas. In one of these the emperor resides with his family, while
the other is open to the ministers of state. We may have an
opportunity to look more closely into this latter area.
The brick facing of all these walls is giving way. The culverts
under them, besides many parts of the fortifications, are dilapi
dated, and the moat is either altogether dry or only partially filled
with stagnant pools.
We have come down from the walls. What is the foreign
population of Peking ? Did you say five thousand ? Two thou
sand ? One thousand ? It is only two hundred — diplomatic min
isters, clerks, attaches and retainers, and missionary ministers, all
told. Mr. Seward has held an audience of the whole to-day. Each
legation occupies a closed area, a "compound" assigned by the
Government for that purpose. Only a narrow lane divides the
legation of the United States from that of Russia.
Two Chinese were announced this morning. They came in
very costly native attire, shaven, wearing the pig-tail, and their
feet cased in white-soled mandarin boots. To our surprise, they
accosted Mr. Seward in English, calling his recollection to an
acquaintance with him in the State Department at Washington.
Surprised at this, he excitedly asked, how and where they had
learned the English language so well. "Is it possible," they
answered, " that you mistake us for Chinese ? We are your own
countrymen, and you saw us in service when you visited Fort
Corcoran on Arlington Heights." These two officers have with
great adroitness been engaged by an American mercantile house in

NATIVE TRADERS.' 135
China to acquire the mandarin language, to enable them to act as
agents in trade. On arriving at Peking for that purpose, they
assumed the Chinese habit, and, abandoning for the time all foreign
society, they confined themselves exclusively to Chinese inns and
Chinese society. They say they have done this with so much
success that they have never been detected by the natives, except
when surprised in making their toilet. The natives they meet
with often say that their Chinese is imperfect, but they suppose
it to be a dialect of Thibet or some distant province of the empire.
Of course, we must not disclose their names.
Our band of music, having been released from its durance, has
played for every foreign minister, who came to visit us, the na
tional air of his own country. It has cheered us at lunch, and
awakened the echoes at the elegant dinner given us at the Russian
legation, and it ended by giving the spirited dancing-music for the
soiree with which the day has closed. It is the first foreign band
of music that has ever come in time of peace to Peking. The nov
elty attracts native crowds, but excites no ill temper.
Peking, November 5th. — Deep concern this morning at finding
the earth covered with snow, seeming to demand an early depart
ure southward. The morning was spent in studying and cheapen
ing the wares brought by native mer
chants, and spread over all the floors
of the legation — bronzes, porcelain,
jasper, jade, amethysts, and emeralds,
wrought into the most curious shapes
— sea-otter, sable, Thibetian goat, As-
, , , „ , , I LAPI8-LAZDLI CAT.
traknan, wolf, white fox, red fox, bear,
panther, and tiger skins. We shall not report our bargains,
further than that we bought a lapis-lazuli cat for two dollars, for
which the merchant's first price was twenty-five dollars, and that
Mr. Seward retired in disgust from the trade when his offer of five
dollars was taken up for a lignum-vitse box, for which the vender
had all day demanded fifty dollars. As far as the furs are con
cerned, our friends at home, to whom we send the purchases, will

136 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
judge. Let this detail serve as an instruction that, as tea is the
staple vegetable production in China, so furs are the great import
of Peking. It is the central market for the northern regions of
the continent.
It is remarkable that, while the ancient civilization of China
favored perfection in the use of the loom and the needle in the
manufacture of silk, cotton, and embroidery, it seems not to have
brought into use either the loom or the needle in the manufacture
of woollen fabrics. The want of woollen clothes in the winter,
among the poorer classes, is supplied by cotton and silk, wadded
and quilted. Such garments admit of no washing and little change.
The class a little higher clothe themselves in dried sheep-skins
with the wool on ; but every person, who can afford the luxury,
dresses in fur — the richer the person, the more elegant and costly
his robes of sable. Siberia sends her furs to Peking, and so does
Alaska. The Tartars and Russians, after the Chinese, are the
largest purchasers.
November 5th. — Peking wears everywhere the aspect of a
political rather than a commercial capital. Revolution has not
worked out here any such political, social, or military changes as
at Yeddo. It is tho residence of idle, profitless, perhaps often
profligate retainers of the Government.
November 6th. — A correspondence much more intimate than
is generally understood exists between the several cabinets of
the world. By international usage, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs at any capital is the head, or, as our Hibernian friends
would express it, the "head centre" of the diplomatic body there.
Mr. Seward having occupied that position at Washington, the
magic ring readily opens to him, wherever we go. The circle at
Peking is rather a contracted one just now. The Russian minister
is doyen. Distinguished by military service in the Crimea, he is
a discreet, modest, and intelligent gentleman, and is understood to
exercise very considerable influence over the Chinese cabinet,
while he enjoys the respect and confidence of his colleagues. The

THE FOREIGN MINISTERS. 137
Russian legation has a spacious, costly, and elegant residence, and
an imposing personnel. Besides four secretaries and a surgeon, it
maintains a Greek chapel, open to native converts, and a Cossack
guard, with extensive stables. The German legation has more
moderate appointments. The minister, Baron Rehfues, is respected
for his large experience. The British representative, Sir Ruther
ford Alcock, is absent. His place is filled by Mr. Wade, against
whom there is a universal outcry, among the foreigners in China,
for his supposed tameness in regard to the matter of the Tien-
Tsin catastrophe. He is, nevertheless, a wise, learned, prudent,
and practical minister. Mrs. Wade, a daughter of Sir John Her-
schel, is very intellectual, liberal in her opinions, and earnest
in her admiration of American institutions. During the social
banishment she has endured here,, she has successfully acquired
the difficult . mandarin dialect. The British Government is lavish
toward its legation. The residence was purchased at large expense
from one of the imperial princes, and repaired last year at a cost
of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The legation
maintains a chapel, four secretaries, six diplomatic pupils, and a
strong military guard. The French legation has Count Rochefort
acting as sharge d'affaires. Far less discreet than our excellent
friend Berthemy, or his predecessor, De Montholon, who were so
acceptable in the United States, Rochefort has proved himself
vehement, impetuous, impracticable, and inconstant in his reclama
tions on the occasion of the massacre of the French consul and
nuns at Tien-Tsin, while the military disasters, which have just
overtaken France at home have rendered her representative here
powerless. The Danish and Belgian missions are only occasional,
and little more than nominal. Their incumbents are accredited to
Japan as well as to China. The Dane took leave of us at Yeddo,
to repair to Peking before us, but has not yet arrived. Mr. Low,
the United States minister, is a very able man, of much equa
nimity, enjoying equally the confidence of the Chinese Govern
ment and that of the diplomatic corps. The appointments of this
legation, like those of the United States elsewhere, are moderate.
Frederick the Great hardly practised greater parsimony in foreign

138 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
diplomacy than our Government does. Mr. Low has neither
chapel, nor surgeon, nor official dwelling-house. He has one
secretary, who is also his interpreter, and no guards. Here, as
in Japan, we hear our countrymen lament an alleged inferiority
of our national importance and. influence. They complain con
tinually of Russian ascendency at Peking, as they do of British
ascendency at Yeddo. The grievance in each case is exagger
ated. The archives at Washington show that Mr. Burlingame,
during his residence here, exerted a greater influence in China
than any or all of his colleagues. Nor has Mr. Low lost any
of this prestige. So also Mr. Townsend Harris, Mr. Pruyn, and
Mr. Van Valkenburgh, as well as Mr. De Long, have not been
surpassed in consideration and usefulness by foreign representa
tives in Japan. Nevertheless, the influence of the United States
in either country is far less distinguishable in the shaping of meas
ures of local administration than that of Russia or that of Great
Britain. There is sufficient reason for this, without derogating
from the prestige of the United States. They are a distinct nation.
They appear in China, as they do in Japan, in the character of a
just and magnanimous power. They offer little but equality and
fairness in political, commercial, and social intercourse, and they
demand no advantages that are not equally conceded to all other
powers. Russia, on the contrary, is not only a near neighbor of
China, but a colossal one. The commercial and political relations
existing between them are various and intimate. The populations
of the border provinces of the two empires have a close assimila
tion. Moreover, Russia advances nearer to China every day with
her railroads, diligence-lines, and telegraph. The Chinese know
that, while the friendship of Russia is invaluable, she may never
theless prove a powerful, if not fatal enemy.
The prestige of Great Britain throughout the world, even on
the European Continent, is derived chiefly from the dominion and
the influence she wields in the East, and the commerce which re
sults. This commerce, again, is the essential support of the manu
factures which are the basis of the prosperity of the English people.
Great Britain, therefore, wisely spares no care and no cost in main-

THE HALL OF SCIENCE.

139

taining not only a diplomatic force, but a naval predominance, in
the East. India, China, and Japan, are her proper theatre. In
this great national policy she necessarily encounters rivalry and
resistance. She has appeared in China more than once as an
enemy, and proved her power, as well to destroy as to protect
and save. It suits her interest to be here now as a magnanimous
friend, like the United States. Long may the two nations remain
in that accord !
November 7th. — We have just come from a visit to the for
lorn " Hall of Science." The Church of Rome has been perse-

ANOIENT OBSERVATORY, Oil HALL OF SCIENCE,

vering in its attempts to Christianize China, but has left there,
thus far, only monuments of its failure. One of them is the Ob
servatory, otherwise called the "Hall of Science." The great
Protestant Reformation in Europe was, as every one knows, fol
lowed by a hardly less remarkable reaction and revival of the
Roman Catholic Church originating in the inspiration of Ignatius

140 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Loyola, and conducted chiefly by the Society of Jesus which he
founded. In 1680, the Emperor Kang-Hi erected on the wall
of the Tartar city an observatory, committing its construction and
superintendence to Jesuit professors, with a munificent endowment.
They procured in Paris, Venice, Genoa, and London, bronze astro
nomical instruments, the most perfect that science had at that time
suggested, and of stupendous magnitude and magnificent execution.
These instruments, set up in the open air, and thus exposed with
out any protection against the weather one hundred and ninety
years, are still in perfect condition, and as available as at first.
One of them is a celestial globe, seven feet in diameter, with
the constellations raised upon it, showing the exact condition of
astronomy as it stood two centuries ago. Besides this, there are an
astrolabe, an armillary sphere, trigonometers, transit instruments,
and quadrants. Although the institution remains, the circumstances
which attended its foundation have entirely passed away. When
the Jesuits, here as in Japan, betrayed the ambition of the Church,
they were dismissed and banished. The institution fell under the
care of native professors, by whom it has been neglected. At the
base of the Observatory is a shabby suite of apartments, in which
the two or three native professors dwell, whose business it is to cor
rect the calendar of the seasons astronomically, while they designate
for the almanac the days which are lucky and unlucky for births,
marriages, bargains, journeys, combats, festivals, and funerals.
November 8th. — The event of the day has been an audience
given to Mr. Seward, with Admiral Rodgers, by the Imperial
Cabinet (Yamen). It required great skill and much care to organ
ize, arrange and mount the party. If, among the Western nations,
" none but the brave deserve the fair," so, in China, none but great
mandarins deserve to ride in chairs, and only princes and ministers
are allowed to ride in green chairs ; and this, not because green
suits their complexion the best, but because green in China is the
color indicative of preeminent rank. So Mr. Seward, Admiral
Rodgers, the United States minister, and the consul-general, took
their scats in green chairs, while the staff and others were mounted

INTERVIEW WITH THE CHINESE CABINET. 141
on ponies, so far as the capital furnished a supply. The " balance,"
as our campaign-speakers say, went in carts. The progress was
on the avenue — not Pennsylvania Avenue by any means, but the
avenue without show of pavement, which leads from the Imperial
city, through the Tartar city to its outer wall. It was obstructed
with auctions, theatrical entertainments, gambling-rings, and every
thing else. The head of the procession, consisting of the green
chairs, winding its way among these obstructions by the vigor and
adroitness of the bearers, reached its destination, and alighted at
the porch of the foreign office. It is a low Chinese structure ; the
doors, wide open, revealed the Yamen arranged in a row within
to receive the guests. But the head of the procession, discovering
that the tail had fallen off, decided to wait outside, until the lost
member should reconnect. This made a delay of twenty minutes,
which, as we suppose, was imperfectly explained to the ministers
within, who made an unmistakable demonstration of impatience.
Perceiving this, the head entered, leaving the caudal part to come
up to time as it could. In the middle of the room stood a table of
the common European height, eight feet long and three feet wide.
Broad and comfortable stools were placed around it ; there was no
carpet or other furniture, but a kind of divan or sofa against two
sides of the wall. Mr. Seward and his chief associates of the green
chairs were graciously received by five chief ministers of state, all
of grave aspect, and two of them of advanced age. They were
richly dressed in silks, over which were spread ermine and other
furs. They saluted their guests at first in the Chinese fashion, by
bowing with hands brought palm to palm on their breasts ; after
this they shook hands in the American way. All the ministers
then busied themselves in a somewhat demonstrative way in seat
ing their guests. Two of the Chinese ministers took their seats at
the upper end of the table, in the order, not of their rank, but of
seniority. They placed Mr. Seward at the side of the table on the
left, then Mr. Low, then the admiral, and then the consul-general ;
next two interpreters. The remaining members of the cabinet
completed the circle. The table was thickly spread with china
dishes filled with bon-bons and dried fruits. The presiding min-

142

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

ister then rose and announced that his Imperial Highness Prince
Kung, regent of the empire during the minority of the emperor,
had been suddenly attacked this morning by a violent illness, on
his return from the imperial palace. He lamented his failure to

meet Mr. Seward, as he had appointed, and had charged the cabi
net to receive him with this apology, or to postpone the audience
to a future occasion, as Mr. Seward himself might prefer. The
minister said he was charged by Prince Kung to say that he re
garded it as a great distinction that he was to become acquainted
with Mr. Seward, and that the prince intended in any case, as
soon as he should recover his health, to visit Mr. Seward at his
residence. Although Mr. Seward accepted the apology without
distrust or hesitation, yet all the members of the cabinet earnestly
reenforced it.
Mr. Seward then inquired about the health of Wan-Siang, who
was absent. The presiding minister replied that Wan-Siang was
ill, and had just obtained leave of absence from his post in the
ministry for a year, to mourn the death of his mother. But they
instantly dispatched a courier to him, communicating Mr. Seward's
inquiries. The courier, in less than half an hour, brought a mes-

ANSON BURLINGAME. 143
sage of thanks and friendship from Wan-Siang. Later Mr. Seward
spoke of the ability which Wan-Siang had displayed in his negotia
tions with the United States, and of the friendship he had always
manifested toward our country. These words, like Mr. Seward's
previous inquiries, were taken down and reported to Wan-Siang by
a courier, and elicited a similar reply. The ministers spoke with
much feeling of the death of Mr. Burlingame, Mr. Seward said
that Mr. Burlingame's diplomatic career was an illustration of the
highest possible success. A minister lives always under two dis
tinct and sometimes irreconcilable obligations : First, he must
retain the confidence of his own country ; secondly, he must not
fail to win the confidence of the country to which he is accredited.
Mr. Burlingame filled both obligations, and thus was enabled to
unite the two nations in a new bond of peace, and in a common
effort to advance civilization. The ministers thought themselves
under obligations to Mr. Seward ; in the first instance, for the ap
pointment of Mr. Burlingame as United States minister to China,
and then for receiving him as minister of China to the United
States and Europe.
Mr. Seward inquired the number and functions of the " Banner-
men." The ministers replied : " They are four distinct legions, con
taining many thousand men. They all reside at Peking. They
are sworn to maintain and defend the emperor in all conflicts,
whether at home or abroad, and in compensation for this service
they all receive stipends from the Government. But the organiza
tion of the legions is worn out. The service is a sinecure, costly,
and useless."
Manifestly the ministers feared that the apologies for the absence
of Prince Kung from the reception might be thought by Mr. Sew
ard insincere and evasive, for they returned to the subject contin
ually. He assured them that, although he had during eight years
conducted the diplomatic relations of the United States with China,
yet in all that time not one case of procrastination or subterfuge,
on the part of the regent, had occurred. Mr. Seward hoped for
the prince's speedy recovery, and begged the ministers to be at
their ease about the present disappointment.

144 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
The senior minister then, in a most reverential manner, ad
dressed Mr. Seward, " What is your venerable age ? " Just at this
solemn stage of the audience, when all were silently waiting for
Mr. Seward's reply, what should appear but the tail of our great
national procession ! Slowly eliminating itself from the street, it
entered the gate, crossed the court, and appeared at the door. All
at once the queued sub-officials of the foreign office, who had
gathered there to be witnesses of the interesting ceremony, rushed
upon the porch to discover the cause of the interruption. Proc
lamations were then made in Chinese by the ministers within,
which our friends outside, not waiting for an interpretation, under
stood to be, " Make way for the tail ! " Way was made, and quickly
too, but where the amazed native lookers-on went to, our friends
could not discover. The Chinese ministers all five, the American
guests all four, and the interpreters twain, rose to their feet to re
ceive the tail, and remained in that respectful attitude until that
important extremity had extended itself with its gilt epaulets and
buttons, its blue and black coats, and white gloves, on the row of
benches around the room. Order being restored, the presiding
minister renewed the suspended inquiry. Mr. Seward, looking
around him, said : " I think I am neither the oldest nor the youngest
statesman here. I am sixty-nine. I hope that the youngest may
live to reach your own honorable age, which I understand to be
seventy-five, and that all may be blessed with years beyond that
age." This answer of Mr. Seward was received with great hilarity by
the Chinese cabinet, and unanimously pronounced to be so exqui
sitely courteous as to deserve a bumper. Thereupon glasses were
brought in, filled with a hot, strong drink, which they called wine.
Then followed a slow and measured succession of delicate viands,
birds' -nest soup, pigeons' -eggs, cabbages minced, and tender shoots
of bamboo boiled, pheasants, grouse, and stewed wild-ducks of
many kinds, fishes, sharks' -fins and other luxuries with names un
known. These dishes, in the whole numbering not less than one
hundred and fifty, were severally served to each guest in the smallest
bits on tiny plates, which at last crowded and encumbered the table.

POETICAL STATESMEN. 145
These plates were filled by the ministers from tureens, which con
tinually replaced each other. Each visitor was provided with knife
and fork, as well as chop-sticks. It is etiquette here for each person
to help every other person at the table to every course that comes
on. Occasionally, Mr. Seward raised a political question of some
sort, but the ministers adroitly passed it by. Whether they were
unwilling to speak freely in the absence of the regent, or whether
they feared to expose themselves before the crowded Chinese audi
ence, which had again gathered in the apartment, Mr. Seward could
not determine. We learn that all the offices of the Government
are filled or suspected of being filled with spies. It was soon
manifest that little was to be learned of Chinese affairs at this
magnificent entertainment. The ministers, with evident self-satis
faction, entertained their guests with familiar Chinese proverbs,
epigrams, and riddles, and they resolutely persisted in accepting as
clever every thing said by Mr. Seward, or either of the other guests,
however commonplace it might be. Two of the ministers are
poets ; they rehearsed their own verses and other Chinese poetry,
with marked emphasis and at great length. Neither of the inter
preters, however, could render these verses into intelligible English.
But the guests received the rehearsal as fine, nevertheless.
One of the ministers said : " Mr. Seward, your complexion is very
fresh and your step vigorous. You must have a secret, which en
ables you to preserve them through such great labors and travels."
" You are complimentary," answered Mr. Seward ; " what
health and strength I have are due to activity and exercise."
To this one of the poetical ministers responded: "Yes, every
thing in the universe is constantly active ; only the Creator of all
is at rest."
Mr. Seward now began to understand that this reception was
intended less as an audience than as a feast, and that drinking deep,
or at least often, is here a requirement of such an entertainment.
The ministers descanted both in prose and poetry, with proverbs
and epigrams, on the virtue of hospitality, and the excellence of
i conviviality. They drank deep and filled up often.
Addressing Admiral Rodgers, one of the two Anacreons insisted

146 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
that the best proof of friendship that one can give at an entertain-,
ment is, to get drunk. All his associates facetiously concurred.
Admiral Rodgers answered : " I accept the generous sentiment,
and I invite all the members of the cabinet to get as drunk as
possible, and as quickly as they can."
The cabinet showed its appreciation of the admiral's repartee
by vehement laughter and much gesticulation. At least, one of
them took the gallant admiral at his word, and drank much deeper
than before.
The hospitality of the ministers was not monopolized by the
head of the procession. Dainty dishes and strong drinks were
served to the tail as it lay stretched along the benches. They were
discussed with entire satisfaction, but in respectful though wonder
ing silence.
After a sitting of four hours, Mr. Seward, to whom the right
belonged, brought the entertainment to an end by proposing to
his august entertainers : " Perpetual peace, prosperity, arid welfare
to China." The ministers deliberated, consulted, and then asked leave to
amend by adding the words, " and the United States."
Mr. Seward accepted the amendment with a further amend
ment, which brought the sentiment into this form, satisfactory to
all the party :
"Perpetual peace, prosperity and welfare to China and the
United States, the oldest and the youngest of empires.
The visitors rose, and, after the most respectful and cordial bow
ing and hand-shaking, were dismissed. The procession reached the
legation at a very late hour. We have not heard whether it stood
any more firmly on the order of its coming than it did on the
" order of its going," as the gentlemen had no time to report be
fore sitting down to Mr. Low's dinner, the great diplomatic enter
tainment of the season.
November 9th. — Three months to-day from Auburn. Not a
word yet from home. Mr. Seward has sent a telegram by courier '
one hundred and eighty miles to Kiakhta, on the Russian frontier,

A LADIES' DAY.

147

there to be put on the Russian wires. How much more have we
seen and learned, in these three months of foreign travel, than we
could have seen and learned within the same period of travel at
home ! A messenger has come to the legation with compliments
to Mr. Seward, and a polite inquiry whether his reception yester
day was agreeable to him. They desired him to know that they
never unbent themselves so much to a stranger as they did to him
on that occasion.
This has been especially a ladies' day. Yang-Fang, pawnbroker

by profession, mandarin by rank, one of the three richest men in
Peking, was educated at Shanghai, where he had some opportuni
ties of seeing the Western mode of life. He is desirous of culti
vating the acquaintance of foreigners here so far as he can do so
without exciting Chinese suspicion of his loyalty. He tendered an
invitation to the three ladies to visit his family. The invitation
was communicated confidentially, and with the condition that they
should be attended by only two gentlemen, neither of whom should
be an official person. The ladies went at one o'clock to-day, in

148 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
closely-covered chairs, through familiar streets, until they turned
into a narrow and uninviting one. There they stopped at the gate
of an outside wall, one of many gates of the same kind. Through
this gate they were ushered into a paved court. Ascending three
or four steps, they entered a second gate. The mandarin received
them there with his wife and five handmaidens who were waiting,
and led them through a corridor. This ceremony over, the wife led
the party to her boudoir. This room is furnished with a curious
combination of European and Chinese styles. A Brussels carpet,

WIFE OF TANG-FANG. (FEOM A PHOTOGRAPH BT HIMSELF.)
half a dozen mirrors of different sizes, with gilt frames, pictures of
the Yosemite valley, a French clock, a barometer, a small Ameri
can sewing-machine with a crank, two chairs covered with red
cloth, Chinese divans, a French bedstead with curtains, French
knick-knacks, but no Chinese ones, rows of porcelain vases, and
pots filled with chrysanthemums, an aquarium with gold-fish, a
black cat, six finely-bred spaniels, and a monkey, made the comple
ment of this singular apartment. The visitors, taking seats on the
European sofas, and the Chinese ladies on the divans, exchanged
compliments as well as they could, the American ladies trying to

A CHINESE LADY. 149
recall the instructions they had received from Chi-Tajen at Auburn.
Next the Chinese ladies took the watches, gold chains, bracelets,
and foreign rings, and inspected them carefully. At the same time
they put into the hands of their visitors their own ornaments,
pearls, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and amethysts. After this the
ladies of the house examined the American ladies' dresses, hats,
and gloves, marking well the fashion and material, and in a gentle
and unaffected way offered to inspection their own richer and more
elegant costumes of silk and embroidery. The wife is a delicate-
looking woman of forty. She wore a lavender-colored, embroid
ered crepe petticoat, over this a double tunic of two pretty shades
of blue silk, trimmed with a variegated chintz border, scarlet satin
embroidered under-sleeves, so long as nearly to conceal the slender
hands — the nails, as long as the fingers, polished and stained to re
semble tortoise-shell, each nail having for its protection a wrought
gold case. Her coarse, black Mongolian hair, carefully dressed
and fastened with gold pins, was partly covered with a black-satin

LONG NAILS.

cap, tied at the back. This cap, not unlike in shape to the " Mary
Stuart," was entirely seeded with pearls, rubies, emeralds, and
sapphires, many of them, especially the pearls, large, and of rare
value. Her feet, of which only occasional glimpses could be had,
were not more than three inches long, and were tightly encased
in scarlet-satin shoes ; her face and neck, literally plastered with
pearl-white, in shocking contrast with eyelids and cheeks painted
pink, and hps red; her manners and speech are unmistakably

150 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
refined ; she is reputed intellectual, and fond of books. The five
handmaidens were dressed in a manner which, though not inele
gant, showed the inferiority of their position — one of them very
handsome, dressed in scarlet satin, but none of the five wore jewels,
or had small feet. The wife has no children ; two of the waiting-
women have. While, by the custom of China, these children are
accredited to the wife as her own, and deemed legitimate, their
mothers rather lose than acquire respect by the parentage. The
mutual inspection of dresses in the boudoir having ended, the visit
ors were next conducted to what they supposed to be the mandarin's
apartment, the great room of the house. Here they found a sofa,
a covered table, and two chairs, all European, a broad but very low
carved Chinese bedstead, with heavy blue-silk curtains, and cases
of chemical, photographic, electric, and other scientific apparatus
of European manufacture. Tea was served in French china cups,
first the English breakfast-tea, afterward the real Chinese beverage,
which has the exquisite aroma of neroli ; with it nice cakes of end
less variety and shapes, made of flour, sugar, and oil. The wife
and one of the women sat at the table with the guests, while the
others busied themselves in sending in the different courses of the
entertainment, which were served by young girls. The Chinese
ladies, with their own hands, favored their guests with cigarettes
made of Turkish tobacco, while they themselves used long, massive,
silver pipes. The smoke was inhaled through water, and invariably
blown out of the nose. Being well provided with interpreters, the
visitors tried to induce conversation. The Chinese ladies answered
nothing, but laughed at every thing the guests said. They then
endeavored to accommodate themselves to their entertainers, and
spoke to them as to children, but with little more success. The
mandarin improved the opportunity to express his admiration for
European customs. He thanked the ladies for the honor of their
visit, and then showed them all the other apartments of the house.
These have only stone floors, and the rooms are without furniture.
He even conducted them to his opium-smoking room for guests,
with its carefully prepared kang and pillows for reclining upon
when the delicious intoxication comes on. The ladies, of course,

A CHINESE INTERIOR.

151

did not indulge. The mandarin informed them that he does not
practise it, and on this occasion the use of the room was lost. The
mandarin, being a proficient in photography, displays pictures of

IBB

YANG-FANG S SMOKING-ROOM.

his wife and handmaidens throughout the house. In one room
there is a disorderly collection of Chinese books.
In going through the maze of apartments, the ladies, hearing the
loud chirping of a cricket, stopped. Thereupon one of the women
brought out a white-silk bag from her pocket, and took from it a
small, exquisitely-carved bamboo-box, and, opening it, showed us her
pet cricket, which closely resembles the American grasshopper. The
fighting of crickets is a favorite amusement of the Chinese ladies.
A rather rough cast-iron English pump, standing against the
wall, attracted the attention of the visitors, and they inquired its
use. The mandarin said, " It is set up to extinguish accidental fire,
and I put the women under it when they quarrel." The women
evidently looked upon it with disgust.
The house consists of no less than twenty distinct buildings,

is

152

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

with red-and-yellow verandas, all connected by two very irregular
corridors, one above the other, which turn and twist up and down
through crooked little staircases, under arches, around square pil
lars, in and out of all sorts of dark holes and corners. There are
two narrow areas, which pretend to be gardens, with a grotesque
combination of shrubbery and rock-work.
Having finished the exploration of this quaint, inconvenient,
and dingy mansion, the visitors took their leave, and reached the
legation at six in the evening.

CHINESE GATEWAY.

CHAPTER VHI.
RESIDENCE IN PEKING {Continued).
The Decay of China.— The Temple of Heaven.— The Temple of the Earth.— The Tem
ple of Buddha.— The Chinese Bonzes.— The Temple of Confucius.— The Religion
of China.— A Pleasant Reunion.— The Birds of Peking.— An Official Dilemma.—
Interview with Wan-Siang. — Influence of Burlingame.
November 10th. — We are inclined to think that, while every
other nation in the world is advancing toward a higher plane of
civilization, China is not merely stationary, but is actually going
backward and downward. Is this decline of China a result of the
imperfect development of religious truth ? The Chinese remain
now as they were five thousand years ago, materialists. They
worship the heavens, they worship the earth, the sun, and the
moon, the planets, and the ocean, besides a multitude of other
natural objects and forces. They worship, more than any other
creature, their ancestors, who are created beings even if they have
an existence after death. Even the philosophy and morals of Con
fucius have left the Chinese sentiment of his teachings not less
material than before. The Chinese have expressed this materialism
in erecting great temples — the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of
the Earth, and the Temple of the Moon. To the material heaven
they ascribe all power, and from it they claim that the emperor, as
vicegerent, derives all authority. As Heaven made not only China,
but the whole world, so the emperor as vicegerent not only governs
the empire, but is rightful ruler of the whole earth. The Temple

154 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
of Heaven, in Peking, is therefore, preeminently, the imperial one ;
or, if there is such a thing as a sense of nationality in China, the
national one — more national than Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's
is a national church of England, or Notre-Dame a national church
of France, or St. Peter's of Italy. The Temple of Heaven is to
China what Solomon's Temple was to the people of Judea. It
stands in an enclosed area of six hundred acres. Its lofty porcelain
dome, typical of heaven, has the azure tint of the sky. Its cir
cular altar consists of three stages or stories, the lower one hundred
and twenty feet, the second ninety feet, and the third sixty feet in
diameter. In this Temple of Heaven the emperor is crowned, and
by that ceremony assumes, as vicegerent of Heaven, the govern
ment of the whole earth. He is dressed in blue, imitating the
drapery of the skies, and faces the south, because China chiefly lies
south of Peking, and the rest of the wTorld is supposed to be lying
in dependence beyond it. Here he makes annual sacrifices to
Heaven, invoking its protection of the empire in war, and its bless
ings in peace. Dressed in yellow, the color of the earth, he offers
similar though less frequent sacrifices at the Temple of the Earth.
Dressed in red robes, he makes similar homage in the Temple of
the Sun, and in pale white in the Temple of the Moon.
A high, embanked road, once grandly paved, leads from the
imperial palace, in the " Forbidden City," to the Temple of Heaven.
When the emperor visits this temple, he is seated in a yellow-and-
blue car, which is drawn over that road by six white elephants.
The temple is held as sacred by the Chinese as the Caaba at Mecca
by the Mohammedans. Mr. Seward was desirous to visit it. All
the foreign' ministers assured him that the popular prejudice against
profaning the temple, even by the intrusion of the Chinese them
selves, is so great that no ministry could dare open it to a foreigner.
Not long ago, however, there was a place broken in the outer wall,
over which some adventurous travellers have entered. We set out
to explore, thinking it possible we might effect an entrance through
that breach. On the way we took notice that the present regency
has sold all the imperial elephants, and that the stables are falling
into decay. We found the imperial avenue in ruins, so that no

THE TEMPLE OF AGRICULTURE.

155

elephant-car or other vehicle could be driven over it. We made
our way on foot and in chairs. Arriving opposite the temple area,
we discovered that, although the breach in the wall had been closed,
a gate at the front was open, a janitor standing by it. This seem
ing a propitious sign, we left the avenue, and directed our steps
thither. The janitor, seeing us approach, closed the gate, and re
tired, certainly out of sight, but we thought not out of hearing.
We had interpreters ready of speech and skilful to negotiate, but
no inducement that we offered, either moral or pecuniary, could
avail to bring back the lost custodian. This was only one more
renewal of the experience which other members of the party had

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN.

for several days. More disappointed than chagrined, we crossed
the avenue, to a gate opposite the Temple of Heaven, which opens
upon the same area with the Temple of Agriculture. A long

156 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
argument ensued between our interpreter, Dr. Williams and the
custodian. It ended by his taking half a dollar in Chinese " cash."
On inquiry, however, we found that the difficulty was not one that
involved the privilege of entering the temple, but only a question
©f prepayment of the fee.
The enclosure of the Temple of Agriculture contains four hun
dred acres. Custom requires that the emperor shall come once a
year to this temple, with the same magnificent demonstration as on
the occasion of his visits to the Temple of Heaven, and, as vice
gerent of Heaven, shall break the earth with a plough, sow it with
seed, and implore propitious rain and sunshine, and plentiful harvest.
These functions being celestial, the right to perform them cannot
be delegated, and so they are for the present suspended during the
minority of the emperor. The present emperor is yet only thirteen
years of age. Several years having elapsed since the death of the
last monarch, the temple and its appurtenances exhibit neglect and
ruin, such as are not likely to occur on the show-grounds of our
agricultural fairs.
A large portion of the grounds is covered with cypress-groves,
a growth of more than five hundred years. The grounds and even
the roads are overrun with coarse, rank grass and weeds. The wild-
thorn made fearful havoc with our clothes, and we required to be
continually on our guard against nettles. In an open square of
half an acre is a circular platform of stone, With a marble balus
trade and a staircase, which is guarded by the figure of a dragon.
On ceremonial occasions, a throne is placed in the centre of this
platform under a gorgeous blue canopy. Here the emperor alights
from his palanquin, and takes his seat in solitary pomp. Directly
opposite, at a distance of thirty feet, is a similar platform which is
occupied by the imperial family. Proclamation being made, the
emperor leaves the throne, and makes a solemn progress, followed
by his family and ministers, to a temple some two hundred feet
distant, which may be eighty feet square and fifty feet high ; against
the inner wall of this temple a dais is raised twenty feet, and upon
it is a throne, the same which the late emperor occupied at the last
celebration. Over the throne, in large characters, is this legend :

THE EMPEROR PLOUGHING.

157

" We praise the God who taught men to sow, and who gives them
the harvest."
Altars with vases surround the throne. When the emperor has
been seated for a time, he rises, and, standing erect, lifts his hands
in adoration, and amid the clouds of incense invokes the blessings
needful for his people. This part of the ceremony concluded, the
emperor then walks to a distant enclosure of perhaps eight acres.
Here, upon another throne, he is attended by the imperial family
and the whole court. New proclamation being made, the emperor
advances into the field, and with his own hand on the plough drives
it until one acre of soil is upturned. This clone, he scatters the
seed. Princes of the imperial family and distinguished members
of the court follow, and in like manner plough and sow the remain
der of the field. After this, the emperor, with his family, court,
and ministers, repairs to a platform on the opposite side of the field,

TABLET IT ALI,,

158 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
on which is erected a large altar. Here, in the presence of all, he
makes a burnt-offering of oxen, sheep, goats, and other animals to
the God of Agriculture.
Having surveyed these more prominent places in the area
of the Temple of Agriculture, we next visited a great central
edifice, on the walls of which are tablets dedicated to the God
of the Winds, the God of Thunder, the God of the Green
Grass, and the God of the Green Stalks of Grain. We were after
ward conducted to a -sunken place, paved and walled with stone,
in which place the sacrificial animals are kept. We saw here the
arched passage through which they are driven, the yard in which
they are butchered, the immense platform on which they are pre
pared for the altar, the huge furnaces and kettles in which the
offerings are burned, and finally the oven, as large as a city bakery,
in which, after the sacrifice is completed, all the refuse of the ani
mals, and all the garments and vestments of the priests and attend
ants engaged in the sacrifice, are reduced to ashes.
On our way out of the temple, we stopped before a curious ivy-
canopied oratory, within which stand the shrines of three gods, one
a dwarf, the others larger, the three differing in complexion as in
stature. The right figure, the God of the Sea, bears a trident, and
is copper-colored. The left figure is the God of Rain, and is pure
white. The central figure is the God of Benevolence, and is Afri
can black. The Chinese divinities are always attended by guar
dians. This singular group rejoices in the protection of a huge,
fierce, wooden soldier, armed with a veritable musket, lock, stock,
and barrel, complete.
Three thousand three hundred and sixty years ago, the Al
mighty spake directly to a portion of the human race then residing
on the western shore of Asia, " these words, saying, I am the
Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow thyself
down to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God."

THE TEMPLE OF BUDDHA. 159
The nations which have established themselves between the
Mediterranean shore, on which these words were spoken, and the
eastern side of the Pacific Ocean, have accepted and obeyed these
awful commands, and have built a common system of civilization
upon them. But the dwellers here on the eastern coast of China
have not accepted either the idea that God is the Creator and
Supreme Director of the Universe, or that he is One God, or that
he is a jealous God.
It is not to be understood, however, that the national mind of
China has made no struggles to lift itself above the dead level of
materialism. We proceeded from the Temple of Agriculture to
visit one which is a monument of such a struggle. This is the
Temple of Buddha. The founder of the Buddhist faith did in
deed reach the sublime truths expounded by Moses, that God
is spiritual, One, and jealous. But he could not hold fast to
that exalted truth pure and simple. That faith, therefore, while
it accepts Buddha as the Supreme Creator of the Universe,
teaches at the same time that, by various processes, occupying
long spaces of time, he becomes and remains incarnate on the
earth. This impersonation, bearing the name of the Grand Lama,
resides in Thibet, veiled from all mortal eyes but a purified and
sacred priesthood, which priesthood has its societies and orders
throughout China and all the East. It is a subject of curious re
flection that, as, in Europe and America, the nations uniformly
derive their revelations and systems of faith from the East, so, on
the eastern shores and islands of Asia, they with equal confidence
claim to have received their religious revelations from the West.
The Buddhists have two great temples at Peking — one in the
Tartar city, the other in the Chinese. It was the former which we
visited. It consists of several immense edifices, which in the seven
teenth century were the residence of an emperor, who becoming an
adherent to that religion surrendered his palace to the community
of Buddhist bonzes, and dedicated it to that form of worship. The
principal structure, built of brick and stone, is capable of holding
three thousand persons ; the roof is supported with columns of cedar
brought from Birmah, eighty feet high. A gigantic wooden statue

160 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
of Buddha towers from the floor to the roof. Its carved drapery,
while it leaves the form distinct, conceals the entire person except
the huge, jet-black face, fingers and toes. According to the tradi
tion of the sect, the living Buddha in Thibet had, at the time of his
incarnation, eighteen most saintly apostles who endured all manner
of trials and worked all manner of miracles. These eighteen
apostles, carved in wood, sit cross-legged in a circle around the
great idol, gazing at the soles of their feet, supposed to be an atti
tude of divine contemplation. Vases of incense stand before the
god and each of the saints. The images are so far from having any
spiritual expression, that the faces of all, including that of Buddha,
are simply inane. All around the temple are shrines, each of
which supports a diminutive female figure carved in bronze. Each
of these figures represents the virgin mother of the incarnate
Buddha. It is not without probability that theologians suppose
that this idea, now universally held by the Buddhists, analogous. to
that of the Madonna, is a modern innovation derived from, some
early inculcations of the Christian Church. Certainly the1 similarity
is remarkable. One of our fellow-travellers at Shanghai bought a
bronze image of the mother of Buddha, with an infant 'in its arms,
which, on examination, we concluded to be an antique figure of
the Virgin Mary. These statuettes to-day are carefully draped in
bright yellow silk, the thermometer having fallen last night to 32°.
Admiral Rodgers will verify another curious ornament which
arrested our attention in this temple. It is a picture which hangs
against the inner wall, and presents a view of the Last Judgment
— a celestial figure pronouncing sentence, the doomed descending
into a fiery abyss, the blessed rising into regions of felicity. It is
so like the conceptions of the middle ages, that the picture might
have been a study for Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel.
There are a thousand bonzes in the monastery attached to this
temple. They surrounded us on our way through it. Though
they wear a -yellow uniform, they are ragged and unclean, and
appear in the last stage of mendicity. We shrank from too close a
contact with them. They are ignorant, idle, and lazy. They seem
to have no efficient ecclesiastical superior, and to be amenable to

THE TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS.

161

no public opinion. In these respects they contrast very disadvan-
tageously with the cleanly, neat, and courteous bonzes whom we
saw in Japan. Although a daily ritual service is read in the temple,
it everywhere exhibits the saddest evidences of neglect and dilapi
dation. After so broad a study of the practices of idolatry, we were now
prepared for the more pleasing ones of rationalistic institutions.
Escaping from the mendicant throng, who followed us to the outer

THE TEMPLE OF OONFUOTUS.

gate of the Buddhist monastery, we proceeded to the Temple of
Confucius. It is about as spacious as the Senate-hall in Washing
ton. After having been so long bedazzled and bewildered by the
Buddhist and other pagan temples in China, it was not without
pleasant surprise that we found the great hall, which we now en
tered, unique in design and simple in decoration. There is here

162 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
neither idol nor image, the likeness of any thing in the heaven
above, or the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, noth
ing to bow down to or worship. Thereris neither altar, nor vase,
nor candelabra. Instead of all these, there is, in a large niche in
the rear wall, a plain pedestal, which bears a modest red tablet, on
which is engraved, in letters of gold, the name " Confucius." The
architrave of the niche bears seven legends, the homages of the sev
eral emperors, of the present dynasty, who have reigned since the
temple was built. These legends are as follows :
By Kia-King.
" The holy one combined the great perfections."
By Kang-Hi.
" The leader and patron of all nations."
By Yung-Ching.
" Mankind has seen none like him."
By Keen-Ling.
" The equal of Heaven and Earth."
By Tai-Kwang.
" The holy one who assists in harmonizing the seasons."
By Hien-Fung.
" His virtue is all the virtue which can exist between the cano
py of Heaven above and the Earth below."
Fung-Chi, the present boy-emperor, contributes this :
" His holiness is divine ; Heaven cannot circumscribe it."
Around the sides of the room are arranged tablets- dedicated to
eminent disciples of Confucius. Near the temple is the great
Palace Hall, where the annual competitive examination of pupils,
from all parts of the empire, is held. The construction of the Ex
amination Chamber is at once convenient and elegant. We are

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GATE OF THE TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS, PEKING.

THE ACADEMY.

163

not sure that it would be thought exceptional for Lyceum or Ex
amination Hall at Yale or Harvard. It has a raised platform, with
a plain throne, for the emperor, who annually attends here for
the purpose of conferring the degrees, and has chairs for the exam
iners, with benches, raised in semicircular rows, for the candidates.
The studies are confined to the writings of Confucius, which are
regarded as the classics of China, and every word of which is labo-

IMAGE OF CONFUCIUS.

riously committed to memory. A long, covered corridor connects
this hall with the temple last described. This corridor has a row
of massive granite columns. We could not stop to count them.
The square monoliths are completely covered with the writings of
Confucius, the text being the prescribed standard for all republica
tions within the empire. The grounds contain twelve thousand
apartments for professors and scholars. The entire institution
bears, in government language, the name of "academy." We

164 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
were sorry to find all parts of the academy covered with dust and
sand, and exhibiting evidence of much neglect, though not dilapi
dated like the temples.
Open any Chinese book, ask any Chinese statesman or scholar,
and you will learn that Confucius is worshipped. Push the inquiry
further, and you will learn that he is worshipped not as a deity,
but as a person of divine perfection. The absence of the custom
ary symbols of worship in the Temple of Confucius confirms this
view. The Chinese ambassadors at Washington refused to recognize
one of their young countrymen who had been educated at Fairfax
Theological Seminary for the Christian ministry. He pleaded, as
an excuse for his conversion, the divinity of Christ. They replied :
" Why do we want another Christ ? We have a Christ of our own,
Confucius." A Chinaman, whom we met here, when pressed by
one of our missionaries to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as the
gift of God to man, replied : " Why is not a Christ born in China
as good as a Christ born in the United States ? "
This national habit of comparing Confucius with the Saviour
undoubtedly results from the similarity, in many respects, between
the teachings of Confucius and the Christian morals. The Chinese
reformer teaches no dogmatic theology, either of materialism or
mysticism. He tolerates all such, however, while his code of mor
als and manners is adapted to all classes and conditions of society,
and to all forms of religious faith. The worshippers of heaven and
earth, the sun, moon, and stars, can accept the system of Confu
cius, because it does not interfere with any principles of their own.
The Buddhists entertain no jealousy of it. It fails, however, to
regenerate the empire; it is "of the earth, earthy." "As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly,
such are they also that are heavenly." The motive of duty to our
fellow-men must have its most effective spring in the sense of duty
to God. No human being can have that sense, unless he has
accepted the truth that God is one, and that he is a Spirit to he
worshipped in spirit and in truth.
The day closed with an excursion through the imperial city,
and under the walls of the " prohibited " city. The grounds at-

THE PARADISE OF BIRDS. 165
tached to the imperial palaces have an exquisite arrangement of
lawn and grove, of hill and lake. These grounds are cultivated with
due care, and gave us the only scene we have found in Peking, or
indeed in China, exempt from the ravages of decay and desolation.
November 11th. — We met, last evening, the diplomatic society,
and all the foreigners residing in Peking, in a pleasant reunion
at the British legation.
The imperial parks and gardens, the groves around the temples,
the waste places made by sieges and fires, not to speak of the mul
titude of canals, fit Peking to be a paradise of birds, and the taste
of the Chinese people favors their preservation. We are awakened
every morning by the cawing of the foraging army of crows going
out on their march to the cornfields outside the city. The sky
is blackened at sunset with the regiments returning to bivouac.
The crow is not here, however, as among us, regarded with dislike.
He is taught solemn exercises, cunning acts, and winning ways.
Thrushes, as large as our robins, and sparrows especially beautiful,
abound, and game is more plentiful than poultry at home. The
pigeon, everywhere a favorite of man, is especially so here. Flocks,
whirling through the air at all hours of the day, arrest notice by
shrill and varied notes, which they never utter elsewhere. We
were a long time perplexed as to what particular species these birds
belonged, and in what way they produced these not unmusical
sounds. They are reared in dovecotes, and a light reed-whistle is
delicately fastened on the back of the bird, at the root of the tail-
feathers. Many reasons are assigned for this invention. The
most common one is, that it frightens the crows in their depreda
tions. Another, that they protect the flocks against the birds of
prey. However this may be, the music produced on these iEolian
harps is sufficient to account for the practice, without looking for
any economical reason.
We have frequently recognized the pigeon in his office of letter-
carrier. He is the only postman employed in China, except the
swift-footed Government courier, whose toil is so great while his
reward is so small. What a change must come over the empire,
14

166 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
when this postman gives place to the railroad, the express, and the
electric telegraph! We have not seen the magpie domesticated,
but he keeps perpetual ward in the palaces, castles, and gates.
While we have been studying the birds of Peking, some mem
bers of our party were making a new advance upon the Temple of
Heaven. What they saw must be recorded, less for the forbidden
knowledge which was gained than for the moral reflections which
it suggests. Mr. Coles, a pupil in the American legation, conduct
ed a party of four, two of whom were ladies, along the high, paved
road in the direction of the temple. At a distance from the gate
he left them and threw himself into a mean, closely-covered mule-
cart, in which he made his way unsuspected along the base of the
wall, until he reached the central gate, from which we had before
been repulsed. Emerging from the cart, he rushed into the open
gate-way, and planted himself by the side of the stern janitor, who
requested the unwelcome visitor to retire, and attempted to close
the gate. But the visitor stood firm, all the while beckoning to the
distant party to come up. The custodian now betrayed a con
sciousness that he did "perceive here a divided duty." In any case
it was a duty to save the great altar from profanation by native or
foreigner, especially the latter. Secondly, since the Tien-Tsin mas
sacre the Government has strenuously commanded that in no case
shall offence be given to Christians. The custodian made the best he
could of the dilemma, and yielding to the resistance which he could
not overcome without violence, he piteously implored from the in
truder a douceur, by way of indemnity for the bastinado which
the Government was sure to inflict as a punishment for infidelity at
his post. Terms were liberally adjusted, and the party went suc
cessfully through the temple, penetrating even the holiest of its
holies. The janitor hurried them forward, his fears of the bas
tinado increasing with every minute of delay. His terror became
so great that, when they had completed the examination and
returned to the gate, he demanded a larger sum for letting them
out than he had before received for letting them in.
To what a humiliating condition has the empire of Kublai-Khan
fallen, when its sovereign dare not suffer the foreigner to enter the

WAN-SIANG'S LETTER. 167
great national temple, through fear of domestic insurrection, nor to
forbid him from entering, through fear of foreign war !
While the visitors confirm the descriptions of the magnificence
of the temple which we have before mentioned, they assure us also
that even in the Temple of Heaven, as in all the other edifices and
places we have visited, neglect and decay are indescribable.
Wan-Siang is president of the Board of Rites, and principal
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Acting in concert with the regent
Prince Kung, Wan-Siang was the master-spirit who led the Chinese
Government up to the resolution of entering into diplomatic rela
tions with the Western powers. It was he who solicited and
procured from Mr. Seward at Washington a copy of Whea ton's
" Law of Nations," and caused it to be translated and adopted by
the imperial Government. He, more than any other, was efficient
in instituting the Burlingame mission. As has been before in
timated, when we arrived he was under a leave of absence from
official duties for one year, on the double ground of his ill-health
and the duty of mourning for that period the death of his mother.
Under these circumstances Mr. Seward, the day after his audience
with the cabinet, addressed a note to Wan-Siang, sympathizing with
him in his illness, and proposing to visit the minister at his own
house. This note brought an autograph letter, beautifully written
on rose-colored Chinese official paper, as follows :
" I have long heard of your excellency's great fame, which for
many years has been cherished by all nations, and I myself have
exceedingly respected you and longed for a better acquaintance.
Since you have come to our country, its high authorities will be
still more desirous of seeing and conversing with you. But, as for
myself, an old malady having returned, I have been obliged to ask
a leave of absence, and it was an occasion of regret and disappoint
ment that I was unable to meet you on the 7th instant, when
you visited the foreign office. I have had the honor to receive
your note of yesterday, in which you propose to yourself the great
trouble of coming to see me, an honor which I shall engrave in my
heart, and write on my bones. But my dwelling is mean and
small, and its condition would, I fear, be offensive to you, which

168 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
would be a matter of deep regret to me. I have, therefore, set
apart the 11th instant to go and call on you at one o'clock in
the afternoon, if my health will in anywise enable me to do so.
We can then converse at length. I shall be pleased to receive a
reply, and I avail myself of this occasion to wish that happiness
may every day be yours."
The letter bore no signature, but enclosed within was the writ
ten card of Wan-Siang.
At twelve another autograph card of Wan-Siang was delivered
to Mr. Seward, as an announcement of the minister's approach.
He arrived at the moment, in a green sedan-chair, with two
mounted attendants and four footmen. He is a dignified and
grave person, and he went through the ceremony of introduction
to Mr. Seward with ease and politeness. He wore a rich dress
of silks and furs, and a mandarin's hat with a peacock's feather
and a coral ball on the top. Mr. Seward and Mr. Low sat down
with Wan-Siang, Dr. Williams acting as interpreter. Wan-Siang
said: "I have been detained at my home one whole year by ill-
health. I should not have come out from it now, and perhaps I
should never have come out from it again, but for my desire
to make your acquaintance. I have always known you as a firm
and constant friend of a just and liberal policy, on the part of
the Western nations toward China. I am surprised to see you so
vigorous after so laborious a public service. What may be your
honorable age ? "
Me. Sewaed answered : " Sixty-nine."
Wan-Siang exclaimed : " Sixteen years older than I, and yet so
much stronger and more elastic ! You are going from your own
country around the world, while I, alas ! am unable to keep about
my own proper business at home."
Me. Sewaed said: "Mr. Burlingame's letters and conversa
tions made me well acquainted with your character and your saga
cious and effective statesmanship."
Wan-Siang : " We deplore the death of Mr. Burlingame. It is
a loss to China that he died before accomplishing his mission.

INTERVIEW WITH WAN-SIANG. 169
Mr. Burlingame wrote to us from the United States how much the
embassy was indebted to you for its great success."
Me. Sewaed : " Before the treaty was signed at Washington,
its provisions were confidentially submitted to the European
courts. They gave us assurances that they would accept them. I
met Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen at Shanghai. They told me that
the treaty had been virtually accepted by the European states.
Mr. Burlingame's mission was therefore a success. He has brought
China and the West into relations of mutual friendship and accord.
In this view his death was not premature. He has raised an
honorable fame on a firm foundation."
Wan-Siang : " Does any subject occur to you which is of com
mon interest to China and the United States, on which you would
be free to speak ? "
Me. Sewaed : "I think China ought to reciprocate with the
Western nations by sending to them permanent resident, ministers
and consuls, who should be of equal rank with those which the for
eign nations accredit here. They ought, moreover, in all cases, to
be not foreigners, but native Chinese."
Wan-Siang : " We shall send such agents so soon as they can
be educated here in the Western sciences and languages, so as to be
qualified for their trusts."
Me. Sewaed : " Better that they go unqualified than wait too
long. Chinese experts will learn Western sciences, languages, laws,
and customs, in the United States or in Europe, much faster than
they can acquire them here. Moreover, Chinese immigration is
already largely flowing into the United States. The rights and
interests of Chinese immigrants are likely to suffer neglect there
for want of Chinese diplomatic and consular agents, who, accord
ing to the customs of nations, are expected to invoke the atten
tion and protection of the Government, in cases of injustice or
oppression. Again, there is no accord nor friendship where
there is no reciprocity. China is now regarded, by all the West
ern nations, as not merely unsocial, but hostile, because she neg
lects the exchange of international courtesies abroad as well as
at home."

170 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Wan-Siang : " These are my own opinions. I have always en
deavored to bring them into practice."
Me. Sewaed : " There is another point upon which I would
like to speak freely, if I should not be thought speaking in an un
friendly way. I think I know the temper of the European states.
Chinese ministers are accorded a personal reception by the sover
eigns of those nations. The Chinese emperor refuses a personal
reception to the foreign ministers here. Thus, the Chinese minis
ter is admitted to a direct acquaintance with the President of the
United States, with the Queen of England, and with the Emperor
of Russia. A minister from either of those countries, on arriving
here, learns that the Emperor of China is too sacred a person to be
looked upon. This, to be sure, is only a question of ceremony and
etiquette ; but, my dear sir, questions of ceremony and etiquette
between nations often become the most serious and dangerous of
all international complications."
Wan-Siang bowed courteously, but made no reply.
Mr. Low, interposing, said : " The subject is a delicate one just
now, but we are sure that Wan-Siang is the last statesman in China
to overlook it."
Me. Sewaed : " Are the students, such as I saw yesterday at
the Temple of Confucius, and who are the only allowed candidates
for official employments in China, instructed in modern Chinese
sciences, or are they taught the ancient classics only ? "
Wan-Siang : " Only the latter. I have attempted to procure
the establishment of an imperial college, in which modern sciences
and languages shall be taught by foreign professors. For a while
I thought that I should succeed. But the effort has failed, and has
brought me under deep reproach and general suspicion."
Me. Sewaed : " This ought not to discourage you. Every wise
minister at some time falls under temporary reproach and unjust
suspicion. Public opinion, in every country, is a capricious sea.
Whoever attempts to navigate it is liable to be tossed about by
storms." Wan-Siang : " It is, as you say, indeed unavoidable. A states
man stands on a hill. He looks farther in all directions than the

A DEPRESSED STATESMAN. 171
people, who are standing at the base, can see. When he points out
the course they ought to take for safety, they are suspicious that he
is misdirecting them. When they have at last gained the summit
from which he pointed the way, they then correct their misjudg-
ment. But this, although it may be sufficient for them, comes too
late for the statesman."
Wan-Siang seemed to avoid contested questions, like a sick man
who is warned against excitement. He turned the conversation
upon Prince Kung's admiration for Mr. Seward, and disappoint
ment in failing to meet him at the foreign office, and his purpose
still to do so when recovered from his illness. Wan-Siang then
fell into lamentations over his own prostrate health, and expressed
himself despondingly concerning the future of China. After an
exchange of courtesies he withdrew, leaving on' Mr. Seward's mind
the painful impression that Wan-Siang would die, before many
years, of a broken heart.
On inquiring the cause of Wan-Siang's mental depression, Mr.
Seward learned that it is due to the defeat of his plans for the col
lege which he had mentioned. It is only just, however, to say
that a more hopeful view of that great and beneficent project is
entertained, not only by intelligent foreigners residing here, but by
Wan-Siang's associates in the Government.
If we have exhausted the sights and wonders of Peking during
our stay, certainly the city seems unconscious of it. The wretched
streets have become a little less muddy, and the general aspect
more cheerful, than when we came here ten days ago.

CHAPTER IX.
VISIT TO THE GREAT WALL.
Preparations for the Trip. — Our Vehicles. — The Summer Palace. — Pagodas. — First Night
under a Chinese Roof. — A Chinese Tavern. — Approach to the Great Wall. — The
Mongolians. — The Cost of the Wall. — Inquisitive Chinese. — The Second Wall. — The
Ming Tombs. — A Misguided Mule.
Hyden, November 12th. — Peking is on the parallel of 39° 54'.
The point of the Great Wall which we propose to visit is in a direct
north line about forty miles distant, on an elevation of two thou
sand feet above the city. This altitude has a climatic effect of nearly
seven, degrees of latitude. The climate there may therefore be un
derstood to be about the same in relation to Peking as the climate
of Lake Superior is to that of New York. We provided against in
clemency by a supply of furs and braziers. What with our strange
catskin caps, long foxskin coats, and high white felt boots, we
scarcely claimed to know each other. The obstacles to the excur
sion have not been over-estimated. They were not, however, of a
political nature, like those which opposed our journey to Peking.
They are chiefly material and local. Our arrangements were made
several days in advance, with Chinese common carriers, for the
necessary litters, carts, mules, donkeys, drivers, and attendants. On
the afternoon of the tenth, we saw with our own eyes a combined
force of men and beasts enter the court ready to be caparisoned
and packed during the night to start on the next day, just as soon
as Wan-Siang's expected visit should be over. It was not, how-

A CHINESE CART.

173

ever, until eight o'clock last night that it was announced to us, not
only that the necessary complement of litters had not been ob
tained, but also that they could not be procured in the city that
day. We acquiesced with such grace as we could, and appointed a
new hour for departure, namely, six o'clock this morning.
We determined to retire early, Mrs. Low's ball to the contrary
notwithstanding. In vain was that " net spread in sight of these
birds." We rose at five o'clock. All the mules that had been
gathered the day before had been taken away during the night to
their customary stables. There was not one animal in the court
yard. At eight o'clock two mules were lacking, but they had been

CHINESE CAET.

sent for. At nine, one of the mules which remained was taken
sick and was sent away to the hospital. At ten, it was replaced.
At half-past ten, the driver fell suddenly ill, and was sent home

174

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

unfit for duty. At noon, after we had been sitting three hours
closely packed in our litters, the great gate opened, and the long
procession, which, though a motley one, was completely organized,
moved out. The roads we are to travel do not allow the use of
sedan-chairs. Only mandarins are allowed the privilege of travel
ling in mule-litters. Inferior persons are by the Board of Rites

S3*?' :K|
iff '

i 1111 filR

;-JP

B

^^S^li

THE LITTEE.

confined to the use of the heavy, two-wheeled, close-covered mule-
cart, indulgently called by Mr. Pumpelly " a carriage." The cara
van consists of eight covered litters for the less vigorous members
of the party. Each litter is borne by two mules harnessed between
the shafts, one before and one behind the litter. Each litter has an
extra mule for occasional service. It has also a driver on foot and
a muleteer on a donkey. Then there are six carts, each drawn by
one mule, and attended by a driver who walks. All the animals

THE TEMPLE OF THE GREAT BELL. 175
wear tinkling bells, which give warning to all camel-drivers and
whomsoever else it may concern, that a wide berth is required by
the ostentatious occupants of the litters. Our way out of the city
was through the North Gate. It brought in review, as we passed,
the wayside traffic and street amusements of this singular people.
Every thing to eat, to drink, and to wear, is prepared and sold in
booths, and every thing needful in daily life and death, including
coffins, is made and mended there. These booths are interspersed
at short distances with theatres, show-rooms, and gambling-dens.
You see an hourly performance of Punch with a pigtail, and Judy
with cramped feet, thimblerig, harlequin, cards, dice, and magic.
Occasionally we meet a lady " of the better sort," closely cushioned
in a sedan-chair, more frequently " other women," with or without
children, heaped and packed in horrible carts. Only virtuous and
respectable people are allowed this indulgence. These women are
gayly dressed, painted white and red, and wear large chrysanthe
mums, or rosettes, in their hair. The very few women whom we
pass in the streets are accounted both vulgar and vicious. The
booths and theatre were not the only obstacles in our line of
march. We jostled against long camel-caravans ; funeral-proces
sions, which, by the affectation of solemnity, made a mockery of
death ; and wedding-processions, which, without a pretence to re
finement or delicacy, make the marriage ceremony a vulgar spec
tacle. At Ta-tsoon-tsa, a dull and cheerless suburb, two mile3 be
yond the gate, we halted for refreshments, at the Buddhist temple
of the Great Bell.
In China, temples and Buddhist monasteries are freely opened
for the entertainment of travellers. Two monks assisted our ser
vants in preparing lunch. The Temple of the Great Bell is humble
compared with those in the city, but, although much dilapidated, is
in a more cleanly condition than any we have seen in China. It
rejoices in one of eight immense bronze bells which were cast
at Peking in the year 1400 of our era, by the Emperor Yung-Lo.
It is of the ordinary bell-shape, eighteen feet high, with a mouth
thirty-six feet in circumference. It has a small, circular aperture
at the top, adapted to the apparatus for suspending the bell. It is

176 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
literally covered inside and out with raised texts in very small
Chinese characters, in all numbering, it is claimed, eighty-four

BUSTMEE PALACE.

thousand. The bell is made to sound by being beaten with a heavy
wooden club.
A further drive of six miles brought us to the Yuen-Min-Yuen,
familiarly called the Emperor's Summer Palace. Since the time
of the Ming dynasty, Yuen-Min-Yuen was the Versailles of China
until 1860, when it was sacked, plundered, and destroyed, by the
British and French allied armies in their advance on Peking. It
is not in our way now to describe its former glory, or to relate the
story of its catastrophe. We must be content in writing what we
see and how we see it. The grounds of Yuen-Min-Yuen are an
area of twelve square miles. It once contained thirty extensive
and costly palaces used by the emperor and court. The invaders
related that the architecture, furniture, and embellishments of

CANALS OF THE SUMMER PALACE.

177

Yuen-Min-Yuen, as they found it, were a happy and effective com
bination of Oriental and Western luxury and elegance. Many
streams, gathered on adjacent
mountain-slopes, are brought
into large artificial lakes, and
thence distributed by deep
and clear canals through the
grounds, and then used equal
ly for pleasure, navigation,

and

irrigation.

The canals,

S&>'

after performing these serv
ices, unite and flow through
a broad and deep canal into
Peking, where they constitute
the great and picturesque lake
which we have ¦ before men
tioned as the finest ornament
of the imperial city. While
the canals have been built
with excellent masonry, they
are crossed with graceful mar
ble bridges in various direc
tions. The fields, meadows,
and lawns, are fertile, but
now in a condition of com
plete neglect and waste. At
the centre of the plain a cir
cular rocky islet rises abrupt
ly to a height of two hun
dred and fifty feet. This arti
ficial hill is traced with spiral
terraces which fascinate the
visitor by continually bring
ing into view palaces, pavil
ions, pagodas, temples, all
half concealed by hanging

178 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
gardens and groves, which are embellished with fountains, statuary,
and shrines. The summit is crowned with an imperial summer-
house in the Italian style, its wall richly frescoed, and its roof
glistening with blue and yellow porcelain. One of the delights of
Yuen-Min-Yuen was a unique temple, wrought of polished bronze,
standing on the acclivity of this islet. We shall never weary of
the Chinese pagoda. One of those at Yuen-Min-Yuen, which, with
the temple last mentioned, preserves much of its form and beauty, is
a gem of that sort of structures. It is of slender proportions, and
built entirely of porcelain of variegated colors. There must have
been a time when the sculptor of China, while he disdained to copy
foreign models, had learned how to bring Greek and Roman taste
and art to give effect to national designs. Although the lions, the
sphinxes, and the dragons, which are profusely displayed here, are
imaginative conceptions, any one of them would, by its exquisite
execution, excite admiration in Europe.
The destruction of this magnificent palace by the allies presents
one of those painful subjects concerning which agreement can never
be expected between the generous and the unsympathetic portions
of mankind. The allies say that the demolition was a just and even
necessary retaliation against the emperor for the cruelty practised
by the Chinese Government toward Sir Harry Parkes. The friends
of art throughout the world will agree with the Chinese scholars
and statesmen, who complain that the destruction of these ancient
and ornamental palaces, with the plunder of their stores of art, was
useless to the invaders, and therefore indefensible. For our own
part, we have always thought that the British army might have
spared the Capitol and the presidential mansion in 1814 ; and we
now think that the allies might have spared Yuen-Min-Yuen.
However this may be, the fact remains that the Emperor of China,
ruler of the oldest monarchy in the world, is the only sovereign
who is confined to a single residence, and that in the heart of a
crowded and walled city. The ruins are now without tenants, as
the temples are without priests or worshippers. Speculators and
adventurers boldly barter for the disfigured statuary and for the
polished capitals, shafts, and pedestals, of the bronze temple. The

THE DECAY OF CHINA. 179
roads are impassable, the marble bridges broken down, the canals
choked, the gardens, groves, and walks, have become devastated, and
the plain itself is fast becoming a stagnant marsh. Washington,
Berlin, Vienna, and Moscow, have repaired the disasters they have
respectively suffered, but the Chinese Government has no resources
or spirit for renovation. The decay of Yuen-Min-Yuen must,
therefore, continue until these " round and splendid " gardens shall
become a maze as unintelligible to the traveller as the palace of the
Caesars at Rome.
It remains to be said that these imperial pleasure-resorts were
surrounded by populous cities and villages, whose inhabitants
derived their living from ministering to the needs and pleasures
of the court. These cities and villages are now abandoned to bats
and vermin.
Arriving here after dark, we brought our long and bizarre pro
cession to a halt in the open streets, because the court-yard of the
inn would not hold litters and carts with the teams attached. It
is hard to say how either Mr. Seward or the ladies could have been
able to alight and thread their way among the busy, curious crowd
which thronged the narrow, crooked streets, but for the assistance
of Admiral Rodgers and the consul-general. We came in safely,
however, to have our first experience of lodging under a Chinese
roof. Nan-Kow, November 13th.— The mule litter is comfortable,
and its movement easy, but it makes only two miles an hour.
The "cribbed, cabined, and confined," solitary occupant finds
the- travel tedious. We have learned, however, to relieve the
weariness by occasional changes with the muleteer and the donkey-
driver. The first part of our journey to-day was over a level table-land.
The road has been only a narrow, uneven, stony path, impassable
with any vehicle other than those we have chosen. During the
last two hours, we have climbed six hundred feet of the mountain
slope, and have reached the foot of the Nan-Kow Pass, up which
we must go to reach the Great Wall. With the usual ruggedness

180

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

of mountain scenery, no part of the country affords any relief to
the general aspect of desolation. Fahrenheit 32°.

NAN-KOW PASS.

With few exceptions, the houses here are built of adobe, with
thatched roofs, and only one story high. Our inn is of this sort,
and consists of a low range of very small apartments, built against
the wall on the four inner sides of a large, unpaved square. We
have to-night, as last night, secured the entire inn. Entering from
the street, we have on that side of the square a row of apartments
which are divided by the gate. On the right of the gate are the
rooms, or offices, occupied by the manager or keeper of the inn,
where orders are received. On the left, a kitchen, or a series of
immense cooking-houses, where victuals are cooked after the Chinese

A CHINESE INN. 181
fashion, sufficient, we should think, to supply the whole town. It is
marvellous what economy of fuel, labor, and provisions, this kitchen
exhibits. The guest at the inn may supply himself from it or not,
as he pleases. Perhaps, it is needless to say that foreigners never
do. Proceeding through the square, we have on one side a row
of apartments just like the others, which are promiscuously used,
according to the exigencies of the occasion, for stables or lodging-
rooms. At the farther side of tiie square are four rooms of the
same sort, which we have appropriated for parlor, dining-room, and
sleeping-apartments. On the other side of the square, a similar
series of accommodations for man and beast. The animals, drivers,
and attendants are disposed of in their lodgings and stables, accord
ing to their tastes. The litters and carts with their clumsy, ragged
harness block up the court-yard, so that there is no getting across
it or through it, without a guide and a lantern. Our own apart
ments, though we have called them by names which designate the
uses to which we have appropriated them, are all alike. There is
no corridor or veranda within or without, and so no communica
tion between them except through the open court-yard. The rooms
are about ten feet square and seven feet high ; the floors of uneven,
disjointed flat stones, and they seem to have been never washed or
swept. The doors are rude, full of crevices, and without fastenings.
One small window in each room has a sash, covered, or meant to
be covered, with dingy, torn, oiled paper. We do not know how
nor where the manager of the inn procured the one table and chair
with which he has furnished our chosen dining-room. Our servants
have hired utensils in the kitchen to prepare our supper. Our bags
and cloaks supply the deficiency of chairs. Across one entire end
of each apartment is a brick platform, raised eighteen inches above
the stone floor. Under this platform is a sunken furnace with
reverberatory flues, so placed as to heat every part of the surface.
The platform thus heated, and called the kang, is the common bed
stead of the apartment, and the bamboo-mat spread over it is the
common bed. A good fire being built in the kang in the evening,
it retains its heat generally during the night. You may, however,
replenish it at your pleasure. The bedstead accommodates, if neces-
15 '

182 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
sary, ten persons, who stretch themselves out upon it side by side,
without making any change of clothing, wrapping themselves in
their sheep-skin jackets.
We, of course, have a separate room for each of our party. Our
servants have brought in the cushions, blankets, and furs, from our
litters, and with these, by the aid of our dressing-cases, we are able
to make a pretence of toilets. We have even extemporized cur
tains, which are close, though not of damask. The kang is throw
ing out a genial heat through the room. We lie down upon it,
with the stars twinkling brightly through the broken paper panes
of the only window.
November 14th, Morning. — Our mules are not reliable for the
part of our journey which remains. We have ordered mountain-
chairs and coolies, and while they are coming we have made a
complete tour of the inn. In the East, the travellers are generally
merchants or government agents. As there are no carriage-roads,
every one uses one, two, three, or more beasts. Forage is cum
brous, and therefore becomes the most serious care of the inn
keeper. Dwellers in the East invariably live in close intimacy
with their beasts ; hence cleanliness is a virtue scarcely known.
The inn, which last night seemed to us not absolutely destitute of
comfort, this morning is offensive and disgusting.
Nan-Kow, November 14th, Evening. — We have done it ! We
have seen the Great Wall, We have scaled its rampart, walked
through its gates, examined its bastions, trodden its parapet, looked
off from its battlements, and rested under its shade. Regarding
this as the greatest achievement of our journey thus far, we shoidd
desire to set down minutely and deliberately each one of its inci
dents ; but, hurried as we are by threatening winter, we have only
time to describe the prominent features, and record an occasional
thought. China might be designated as a country of fortifications and
walls. Without being aware of this, we have already mentioned
the walls of Shanghai, Tien-Tsin, Tung-Chow, and the triple walls

'"'Jl

5 wBf '

I1 \'*j
i n

THE CITY OF NAN-KOW.

183

of the city of Peking. This little city of Nan-Kow has fortifications
adequate to the largest garrison. Inscriptions on the gate-ways and
arches in four different dialects, Mongolian, Mantchoorian, Chinese,
and Thibetian, besides another dialect which is no longer extant,
prove the great antiquity of these structures. Besides these fortifi
cations, Nan-Kow is encircled by a wall which stretches over hill
and valley in such a way that, while it is no longer useful for any
purpose of defence, one cannot but hope that it may be preserved

GATE AT NAN-KOW.

for picturesque effect. Thus we seem here not to be seeing the
present China, but the China of the past.
From the very gate of Nan-Kow, we found neither regular
road, nor marked nor beaten track, but a ravine, which, in the

184 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
lapse of ages, a torrent has excavated down the mountain, falling a
thousand feet in a distance of twelve miles. Our upward way lay
in the rugged furrow of this torrent. Each passenger was lashed
tightly in his "mountain" chair, which is simply an arm-chair
mounted on two shafts, and borne by four coolies, his safety de
pending on the tenacity with which his feet press against a swing
ing board suspended before him from the shafts. The coolies pick
their way by crossing from one side to the other over uneven,
broken bowlders and rocks, and through deep gullies. The passen
ger at one moment is in danger of slipping out backward from his
chair, at another of being thrown out one side or the other, and
again of being dashed headlong on the rocks before him. In some
places the torrent is dry, in others the coolies are slipping over
treacherous ice, or splashing through pools of water among rounded
pebbles and sharp rocks ; in short, over every thing but dry earth.
Steep mountains exclude the sun's light and heat at nearly all hours
of the day. Those mountains are timberless, tenantless, dry, and
brown. The geological formation of the pass is an alternation of
granite, gneiss, red and yellow sandstone, porphyry, and marble.
Having said that' our road has none of the qualities and condi
tions of a thoroughfare, it will seem strange when we now say that
at intervals we encounter, through the whole pass, blocks of hewn
and polished marble, with other debris of pavements, culverts,
bridges, arches, and gates, indicating that it was once a military
road superior to the Appian Way of Rome.
Only Love, that "laughs at locksmiths," could maintain his
sway in this dreary region. We met, in one of the most fearful
gorges, a magnificent crimson wedding-car, which was coming
down from Kiakhta, to receive a bride at Peking. We encounter
on the way a class of travellers that we have not before met. They
come not in sedan-chairs, mule-litters, or carts, but on horses, cam
els, and donkeys ; and of these there is an endless procession. The
beasts are loaded with wheat, barley, hemp, flax, and wool. Thirty
camels make up a single train. One man leads each six of the
beasts by means of a cord to which the halter of each is attached.
Rocking from side to side, and unceasingly chewing their cuds

THE MONGOLIANS. 185
as they move slowly along, they excite interest by their patience,
docility, and perseverance. Rough and vehement as the camel-
driver seems, we have not seen him inflict a blow, or utter a word
of impatience toward the gentle beasts.
Another class of travellers are herdsmen. Mongolia and
Mantchooria, beyond the Great AYall, are pasturages, and the
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle which are raised there are
brought chiefly through this pass, to be spread over the great
plain of North China.
The Mongolians dress altogether in furs and skins. They have
an air of independence and intelligence not observable in China
proper. The women are particularly strong, and, as we judge
from their manner, entirely free. Their furs are richer than those
of the men, and they wear a profusion of silver ornaments on the
forehead, wrist, and ankle, as well as suspended from their ears
and nose. They travel with their husbands, who divide with them
the care of the children. If it is discouraging to some at home to
wait for the restoration of woman's rights, it is pleasant to find her
in the full enjoyment of them here, in spite of Oriental prejudices
and superstitions. The mountain-cliffs are ornamented at conven
ient and prominent points with pretty temples and unique shrines,
and pious devices and legends are carved on what seem to be in
accessible basaltic rocks. But the temples and shrines, no longer
attended by votaries, are falling into ruin.
Reaching at length the source of the mountain-torrent which
has made such fearful devastation, we found ourselves in a dell
surrounded by mountains, and from their crests the Great Wall
encircling and frowning down upon us. Our chairmen at once,
with renewed vigor and elasticity, carried us up a rugged declivity
of a quarter of a mile, clambering over shivered and shattered
rocks, and set us down within a redoubt at the very base of the
wall, three hundred feet above the dell which we had left. The
wall varies in height from twenty-five to fifty feet. The base here,
twenty feet high, is built of solid, hewn granite.
We were not long in ascending the well-preserved flight of
stone steps which led to the parapet. The top of the wall is

186 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
wide enough for two carriages to pass. From the parapet we con
templated the conquered China of the past, which was below us,
and the conquering Tartary of the past, which was above us, both
now under one regime, and constituting one vast, but crumbling
empire. In the embrasures of the parapet we found, here and
there, a cast-iron grooved cannon of four-pound calibre. It passed
our comprehension to conceive when it was put there, or for what
purpose. We entered a watch-tower on our left, and saw, at a dis
tance of forty miles, murky Peking.
The Great Wall crosses twenty-one degrees of longitude from
the Pacific coast to the desert border of Thibet, and with its wind
ings has a length of from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred miles.
It seems almost incredible that this gigantic structure, the greatest
fortification that has been built by human hands, could have been
raised in the short space of about twenty years. Yet history
assures us that Chin-Wangti began the work in the year 240 b. c,
and finished it in 220 b. c. Nor is the perfection of the work less
wonderful than the dispatch with which it was built. Although it
here and there exhibits crumbling arches and falling ramparts, it
nevertheless stands more firmly and in better preservation than
any ancient structure, except perhaps the Pyramids. Very slight
repairs would restore it to its original state.
" Admiral Rodgers," said Mr. Seward, as we leaned against the
immovable parapet, " will you take your pencil and make an esti
mate of the comparative cost of constructing a mile of this wall, at
the present day, with that of a mile of the Pacific Railroad 2 "
The two gentlemen went through the process together, and
agreed in the result that the cost of building such a wall as this, in
the United States to-day, would exceed the entire cost of all the
railroads in that country.
"I never before," said Mr. Seward, "found myself in a position
so suggestive of reflection. This great monument tells, in brief, the
history of China. Aboriginal tribes of the Mongolian race, forty
or fifty centuries ago, left cold and sterile homes in the north,
spread themselves over the southeastern portion of the continent
of Asia, established there a kingdom, and built up a prosperous and

REFLECTIONS ON THE GREAT WALL. 187
highly-refined state. They were annoyed by incursions and dep
redations from the same northern steppes which they had left
behind them, just as England was so long annoyed by incursions
and depredations of the Picts and Scots, Danes and Saxons. Chin-
Wangti, king of civilized China, built this great wall to protect the
country against those nomadic tribes. The completion of so great
a work justified him in laying aside the modest title of king, and
assuming the more ambitious one of emperor — the first emperor
of China. It is not an unimportant consideration that the culmina
tion of the Chinese Empire, marked by the construction of the Great
Wall, was coincident with the decline of Grecian arts and arms and
with the establishment of Roman empire on the western shores of
Asia. The Great Wall served its purpose through the period of
fourteen hundred years. But, during this time, wealth and luxury
increased in China, while moral vigor declined. An enervated state
provoked the rapacity of its neighbors. Kublai-Khan effected a
combination of all the Tartar and Mongolian hordes of the north.
They forced the wall, conquered and enslaved China. Chinese
morals and manners, however, subdued and modified the character
of their conquerors. The wall ceased to be needful, because the
Chinese and Tartars became reconciled, assimilated, and contented,
under the sway of the Mantchoorian dynasty. How little can
human foresight ever penetrate the remote future ! How little
Chin-Wangti understood of the fate of the Great Wall. Is it not
well that human power cannot bind or control for an indefinite
future the destinies of any nation ? "
Occupied with such reflections as these, we took no note of the
hours until the shadows began to fall, and the wind became cold
and bleak. We descended and sat at the base of the rampart,
where we found a dinner spread upon an uneven table of broken
granite blocks.
"Admiral," said Mr. Seward, "our Government informed me,
when I was coming abroad, that you were instructed to show me
courteous attentions, if I should be so fortunate as to meet you in
Asiatic waters. You have executed these instructions in a manner
equally considerate and kind. You not only received me at

188 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Shanghai with the usual naval demonstrations of respect, but, with
your official staff, you have accompanied me, in the character of a
protector as well as a friend, through the stormy Yellow Sea, the
agitated political scenes of Tien-Tsin, up the tedious Pei-ho, over
the desolate plains of Tung-Chow to Peking, and from there to the
Great Wall, where we can look back together on the declining
power of China, and forward to the coming of Western civilization
from the shores of our own country to the Asiatic coast."
The admiral replied: "I have esteemed myself fortunate, as
well as happy, in having had an opportunity of attending you to
Peking and the Great Wall — fortunate in having your ripe and
varied experience to assist me in forming opinions, and in drawing
deductions from what I have seen ; happy in the continual familiar
intercourse with me whom it is not only a duty, but a pleasure, to
honor. Truly do I hope that your health may continue no less
robust, and your endurance no less marked, than in our rough ex
perience together, and that your personal observations in other
climes, of other peoples, may not be of less interest and benefit to
mankind than those you make here."
Our party broke into detachments and all communications be
tween its members ceased. What a lonely tramp did we now have !
At length we reached the half-way coolie station. There the
bearers set us down outside, while they went into the huts to re
fresh. Half a dozen men and boys came around the ladies' chairs,
and proceeded to examine their dresses, unable to determine
whether the habiliments were those of man or woman. Well they
might be perplexed. The Astrakhan cap might be worn by either.
The long, heavy fox-skin coat and white mandarin boots were
equally perplexing. They drew the gloves from off the fingers.
These rudenesses were disturbing enough, but at last became unen
durable when they thrust their fingers into the hair, and offered
their filthy pipes, inviting a general smoke. Just then, when the
ladies seemed to have passed completely beyond the society of their
own race, they heard the shrill voice of a baby within the hut, crying
not especially in the Chinese language, but in the universal dialect
of infancy, with the response of the soothing lullaby of the mother,

THE MING TOMBS.

189

equally natural. These incidents reassured the ladies, and showed
them that the Chinese are yet human, and they gave over all
thoughts of fear and torment.
After a march of three more tedious hours, we have reached the
same wretched inn which we left this morning. We conclude the
notes of our journey by mentioning that, a thousand years, more or
less, after the wall was built by Chin-Wangti, a second one was
built for greater security, at the eastern end, forty miles south of
the original one, both of which remain standing. It is this second
wall last built, but similar to and constituting a part of the original
system of defence, that we have visited.
Ming Tombs, November 15th. — Resuming our litter, and mov
ing early this morning, we came down from the mountain terrace,
and entered a smooth, level, circular plain, seeming more like a
bay which indents a high, rocky coast, than the amphitheatre of
landscape and mountain which it is. The terrace which surrounds
the plain was chosen by the emperors of the Ming dynasty for an

GATEWAY AT MING TOMBS.

190 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
imperial cemetery. It is divided into thirteen areas, seemingly of
equal extent. Each of these areas is covered with luxuriant gar
dens, out of the midst of which rises a magnificent mausoleum,
called here a temple, but which is in fact a tomb. Dr. Williams
tells us that "Ming" means "bright." The "Bright" dynasty
flourished from the close of the fourteenth to the middle of the seven
teenth century. Nanking, for a time the capital, has a cemetery
of the earlier rulers of that dynasty. But we understand that it is
not so well preserved as this.
All the tombs are of one type. We visited that of Yung Lo,
one of the most distinguished of the emperors of China. His
decrees of laws and manners, grounded on the writings of Con
fucius, with some alteration, constitute even now the code of the
Chinese Empire. We sat down here to rest in an ancient grove of
persimmons, live-oaks, acacias, and cypresses.
"It seems," said Mr. Seward, "that it is not until society
reaches a high state of civilization in any country that it learns the
absurdity of sepulchral monuments. Great achievements and rare
virtues leave an impression upon mankind so deep, that they need
no monumental reminder, while the attempt to supply the want of
that impression by extravagant art is a mockery." But let us see
how the Chinese of the past ages honored their illustrious dead. It
is manifest that the device of a series of concentric structures, rising
one above the other, is a favorite form of Chinese architecture.
This vast monument contains five courts, one within the other.
The structures are two temples, disconnected and distant from
each other, but essentially alike in design and construction — the
outer one serving as a vestibule to the inner or principal one.
This inner temple, with its red walls and its plain balustrades and
railings, is in form and style quite like the great Temple of Con
fucius at Peking. Its proportions are equally grand, tasteful, and
simple. Its massive yellow-porcelain roof, with its bright green-
and-gold ceiling, rests upon two rows of wooden columns, of which
there are thirty in each — the columns fifty feet high, with a
diameter of four feet at the base. Behind the temple and in the
fourth court stands an uncovered altar, the top of which is a mono-

THE TOMB OF YUNG LO. 191
lith measuring twenty-two feet by five feet. Directly behind the
altar is a pagoda of three stories. Entering this pagoda through
an arched door, you confront a large tablet of red and gold, which
covers the remains of Yung Lo. You then ascend not a staircase,
but a long and winding inclined plane, some sixty feet, to the sec
ond story. This second story rises seventy feet; in the centre
of this is a smaller tablet, like the one in the first story. The third
story, reached in the same way, is an open space under the roof.
Although we observe, in these buildings and grounds, marks of
care and attention not elsewhere seen in China, there is neverthe
less painful evidence that the work of dilapidation has begun even
here. The path by which we reached the cemetery was an indirect
one. Contrary to usage, therefore, we made our exit instead of our
entrance by the avenue designed for approach from Peking. This
avenue is twenty-two miles long, well graded, and originally was
paved in the most substantial manner. This road descends from
the tomb-covered terrace upon the level plain, at a distance of one
mile from the tomb of Yung Lo. Here it crosses a stream or
canal by a noble marble bridge, not wholly ruined. This bridge is
graced with what is here called the honorary arch, a majestic gate
way, built not for use but for effect, like the triumphal arches of
Rome or Paris. A mile farther the road leaves the level plain
under a similar arch. Having passed these gates, we found the
avenue adorned, for the length of a whole mile, by a row, on either
side, of gigantic granite figures. Whoever may read these notes
will remember that the proper order of these colossal figures is
the reverse of that in which we passed them. First, we came be
tween two rows of statues representing philosophers and moralists,
four on each side of the way. Then four generals, arranged in like
manner on each side, then four priests, then four ministers or
statesmen. These figures are about twelve feet high, their costume
Chinese. By their attitude and expression they seem to point with
silent homage to the tombs of the great beyond. Next we pass in
review a double row of equally colossal horses, four on each side,
two of them resting on their haunches, and two erect ; next ele-

192

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

phants erect, and elephants in a sitting posture ; then camels
standing and camels couchant ; then lions rampant and lions
asleep ; then bufialoes standing and at rest ; then asses, and at
the end rhinoceroses. Here two arches of honor, like those at the
other end of the avenue, open on unconsecrated ground. Though
the sculpture must have been executed three hundred years ago, it
excels much of the statuary found in the public grounds at Wash
ington, and is very effective. Of this we have evidence so strong
that we should be afraid to produce it, if there were not a cloud of

AVENUE TO THE MING TOMBS.

witnesses to verify it. We give their names — the Admiral, the
Consul-General, John Middleton, Esq., Alfred Rodman, Esq., and
William Freeman. Here is the evidence : The lean lead mule
of Mr. Seward's litter is a large, strong, spirited beast. Although
he had given proofs of this many times by stentorian braying, ex
pressive of discontent and obstinacy, yet he made the journey
from Peking to Nan-Kow, and through the sacred groves of the
Ming tombs, without any especial fractiousness. But he was only
reserving himself for a display on the grand avenue. Even here

PRANKS OF A MULE. 193
he made no demonstration at the magnificent marble bridge. He
passed meekly under the double arches of honor. He turned
neither to the right nor to the left, to pay homages to either colos
sal philosophers, generals, priests, or statesmen. He even passed
the recumbent horses on both sides of him without turning his head
or pricking up his ears. But the first great stone horse standing
erect, on the left, proved too much for the equanimity of the mule.
Perceiving that statue at a distance of three or four rods, he broke
all of a sudden from his lazy walk into a sharp trot, discarding his
driver and dragging the rear mule behind him ; regardless that,
in the fitter which he bore, was seated the venerated chief of our
party, he dashed furiously forward to the granite horse, and, throw
ing his head upward, presented his broad, graceless mouth to the
more stubborn jaw of the statue. The muleteers,, alarmed by this
strange performance, cried out with dismay, and the gentlemen
hastened to rescue Mr. Seward from being dashed against the figure.
Happily, at this moment, the muleteers seized the brute by the
head, in the act of saluting his ancient and unappreciative distant
relation, and buffeted him away. He yielded, but not without a
shaking of the ears, and an unearthly complaint from the lungs,
which left no one in doubt that the animal thought he was unrea
sonably deprived of a just and rational pleasure.
Though not yet qualified for comparing the Imperial Cemetery
of China with the sepulchral architecture of other countries, we
may nevertheless venture to say that the impressive and suggestive
avenue of approach, the spaciousness of the grounds, the severe
exclusion of all foreign or incongruous objects, the drawing into
contrast mountain and plain with ancient groves, and natural
rivulets with arched bridges, the magnificence and elegance of the
temples, and the simplicity and durability of the memorial tablets,
constitute an extraordinary and masterly combination. Whatever
may be the historical merit of the Ming emperors whose ashes are
deposited in those tombs, no one can leave the place doubting that
the honors they have received here are such as are due to bene
factors of mankind.

CHAPTER X.
LAST DAYS IN PEKING.
Cham-Ping-Chow. — A Chinese Inn. — The Roman Catholics in China. — The Cathedral. —
The Tien-Tsin Massacre. — Christian Policy. — Interview with Robert Hart. — A Letter
from Sun-Tajen and Chi-Tajen. — Letter from Prince Kung. — Interview with the
Prince. — The Prince's Present. — Departure from Peking.
Peking, November 16th. — We passed the night at Cham-Ping-
Chow, a town of considerable activity. Our inn was such a one as
we could procure exclusively without giving previous notice. Our
guides say there are some that are better. We are quite sure there
are none which can be worse. But, if we fare badly in Chinese inns,
we have the consolation of knowing that we fare cheaply. We do
not know what were the bills of our coolies for man and beast.
They could not have been extravagant, for the entire compensation
which we have paid to them for the journey to Peking to the
wall and back again is only ten dollars for each litter and cart.
The expenses of our party of ten at the inn was three Mexican
dollars for all, of which seventy-five cents was paid for extra fuel
for the kang. The impression made on us, by the conduct of the
people who came under our observation, does not go to confirm the
belief that they are either hostile or prejudiced against foreigners,
while it does satisfy us that they are punctual and exact in the
fulfilment of their contracts. The mercury has fallen to 26°.
November 17th. — By the laws of China, the Roman Catholic
religion is tolerated here. That Church has on paper divided the

THE TIEN-TSIN MASSACRE. 195
empire into bishoprics and vicarates. It counts eight bishoprics or
more, sixty foreign priests, one hundred and twenty native priests,
and four hundred thousand native converts.
We visited, to-day, the Cathedral at Peking. It is a fine, large,
stone edifice, with an adjoining nunnery. The sisters are French
and Irish. There is a large number of native servants. It seems
quite apparent that converts are obtained as fast as the missionaries
are able to furnish them employment and support, which is an
indispensable condition. Native jealousy feeds on a tradition that
the spacious grounds occupied by those institutions were obtained
without equivalent. Nor does the same jealousy fail to take notice
that the Church arrogates a right denied even to foreign embassies,
of using the imperial yellow color in the ornamentation of its
portals and walls. Sister Louise, lamented as the noblest and best
beloved of the martyrs at Tien-Tsin, had arrived there just before
the massacre. The sisters gave us relics of her. What shall we
say concerning that terrible transaction %
It is right, just, and wise, that all the Christian nations shall
mourn together over the victims, sympathize with the survivors,
and unite in demanding such satisfaction from the Chinese Govern
ment as would afford security against a recurrence of persecution.
But this has been already done as fully, it seems to us, as is possible.
The Chinese Government has beheaded eighteen of the murderers,
has provided for repairing and restoring the demolished buildings,
and paid an indemnity of six hundred thousand taels for distribu
tion to the families of the victims. It has, moreover sent one of the
most eminent statesmen of China, who is fully conversant with the
details of the tragedy, to make such further explanations and give
such further guarantees as the French Government may reasonably
demand. The French minister here, under high excitement and
with threats of war, demanded, besides those concessions, the heads
of the two chief mandarins who were in authority at the time the
massacre occurred. The Chinese Government brought those man
darins to trial. The charge of complicity was not sustained.
Nevertheless the Government banished them for life, as a punish
ment for their imbecility.

196 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
We know that here, as well as throughout Europe and the
United States, it is alleged that these proceedings of the Chinese
Government are fraudulent and evasive ; but we fail to find evi
dence of fraud, nor can we divine a motive for it. It is not to be
forgotten that persecution of Christian missionaries, and especially
persecution of Roman Catholic, is not exclusively confined to the
Chinese. The Roman Catholic Church, with its high ecclesiastical
pretensions, its monastical institutions, and its denial of the right
of judgment by individual conscience, has come into conflict not
onlv with the pagan systems of Asia, but with the enlightened
civilization of the age. Here, as in Europe and the United States,
it has fallen, however undeservedly, under popular suspicion in
two forms : first, a suspicion of political usurpation, that is to say,
of an attempt to establish imperium in imperio ; second, the sus
picion of impurity of morals in celibate life.
In which of the Western nations has the conflict between that
Church and those who dissent from it been carried on without
occasional riot, massacre, and martyrdom — not to speak of the
religious wars which attended the Protestant Reformation? In
what Western nation did a government ever offer more effective
or liberal reparation than that which the Chinese Government has
given in this case ? It is not to be expected that the Protestant
countries in the West, which have suppressed monastic institutions,
and sequestered ecclesiastical estates, will sympathize with demands
of France that shall go beyond a guarantee of rights and privileges
for all Christians in China. Missionaries of all sects ought to re
member that, where the Gospel comes, there " it must needs be that
offences come," nor should they forget that the command, " Go ye,
therefore, and teach all nations," was accompanied by the warning
injunction, not less sublime than the command itself, " Behold, I
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore
wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
November 18th. — One of the most important incidents of our
sojourn here was reserved for this morning. This was an interview
with Mr. Robert Hart. Can any thing be more capricious than

MR. ROBERT HART. 197
international politics ? The British and French allies, after having
pressed the empire to the verge, found it necessary all of a sudden
to strike hands with the Government in its war with the rebels, in
order to prevent a complete dissolution of society. With their aid,
the Government effectually suppressed the rebellion. Then came
the question of reimbursements and indemnities to be paid to the
allies. The revenue system of China had become corrupt and
effete. The Imperial Government could guarantee nothing. In
this difficult conjuncture, a happy expedient was hit upon. The
Government, with assurances of protection by Great Britain and
France, consented to reorganize its customs revenue upon a Euro
pean basis, and confide it to the management of a European skilled
in finance, who, with a staff of his appointment, half Chinese and
half European, should fix a uniform rate of duties on foreign im
ports, collect them, pay the stipulated indemnities to the allies, and
the surplus into the imperial treasury. That functionary, under the
official title of inspector-general, is Mr. Robert Hart. While the
internal revenue system of China remains in a distracted and dilap
idated state, he has brought the customs department into a flourish
ing condition. He returned only to-day from a journey of inspec
tion of the open ports in distant parts of the empire. We found
him a far-seeing and able statesman, having in finance, at least,
something of the scope and capacity of Alexander Hamilton. But
we reserve further remark on this system until we shall have
studied its workings in the central and southern ports of the
empire. A letter from our old friends Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen. If
there is a discrepancy between their names as known to us and
their autograph cards, it will be understood that the word " Tajen,"
which is affixed to their names, is a designation of rank, and not a
proper name. Mr. Seward is here addressed, not by that name, but
as Sew-Tajen.
" To William H. Sewaed —
" Sm : We arrived in Peking yesterday, from Tien-Tsin, and
had earnestly desired to hasten to you, in order to express to you

198 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
our great pleasure. But the trip up from Shanghai has been ex
ceedingly boisterous, making us very sick and giddy, so that we
are altogether exhausted. Furthermore, we have not yet been able
to submit a note requesting that we may be permitted to prostrate
ourselves before the throne, and inquire for his Majesty's health,
and procure a short leave of absence from the foreign office, which
must be done through Prince Kung. It would be contrary to
court usage to make a visit to you before having complied with that
ceremony, even if we were not so completely prostrated that we
could hardly do so, in a proper manner.
" We sincerely wish to repair to your residence to thank you
for all your generous and loving acts, which were so great and
troublesome to you. But they are indelibly graven on our hearts,
where they will remain forever. And how can we forget them ?
" We wish that your happiness may never cease.
(Cards) " Chth-Kang,
" Sun-Chia-Kuh."
November 19th. — On the 17th, international dinner and ball at
the legation ; on the 18th, received visits from the foreign ladies
residing in Peking, and, our time here growing short, we took
sedan-chairs and returned the visits on the same day. This even
ing a letter was received from Prince Kung.
" To William H. Sewaed, etc.
" Sib : I have just heard that you and your party have returned
from your trip to the country, and I have, with the officers of the
foreign office, arranged to visit you to-morrow, at one o'clock, at
the United States legation.
" I hope this hour will be agreeable to you all.
" I beg to wish you daily peace."
Autograph cards enclosed :
" Pelnce Kung, " Pasyttn,
" Yung-Stun, " Chtn-Kiosifaw,
" WaS-ChANG-HI, " YsTJNG-LTTN."

PRINCE KUNG. 199
November 20th.— At one o'clock, Prince Kung, with the minis
ters of the foreign office, came, having previously sent in their
cards according to the book of rites. They came in chairs, and
were received by the band at the entrance of the court, with a
Chinese national air which they had learned for the occasion. The
music, although by no means inspiring to us, seemed to please
them. Mrs. Low, having first provided a table, half American, half
Chinese, retired with the other ladies to an inner room, where they
could observe, unobserved. The prince is the brother of the last
emperor, and uncle of the present emperor, who is yet in his
minority. The government of the empire is in the hands of the
reo-ency, consisting of the young emperor's mother and aunt, and
Prince Kung. The two ladies take charge of the boy's person and
education, while the prince exercises the sovereign political author
ity. All edicts, however, run in the name of the emperor, without
any notice of the regency except the form of attestation. The
female regents maintain strictly the reserve required of their sex,
being never seen even by any minister of the government. When
a decree is to be made, Prince Kung proceeds with the draught to
the palace, and announces his presence before a curtain. The
ladies then come behind the curtain, and receive and read the
decree. They impress it with their seals. A eunuch delivers it
to the prince, who, affixing his own seal, hands it to the " state-
printer" in an outer chamber. Before he reaches his department,
the decree is published and in circulation.
The prince is tall and well-made, but does not impress one as
especially intellectual. His manner is self-possessed and brusque,
and he seems, even when practising the highest courtesy, like a
person who is not accustomed to contradiction or dissent. He
saluted Mr. Seward first in the Tartar fashion, by taking that
gentleman's arms and hands into his own, with a friendly embrace.
Our learned countryman, Dr. Martin, who acted as interpreter,
mentioned to Mr. Seward that this treatment was in striking con
trast with the customary Chinese " touch-me-not " form of salutation
of foreigners. The prince then earnestly expressed his satisfaction
in the accomplishment of a wish he had long entertained, to see the

200 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
face of his distinguished visitor. Mr. Seward requested him to sit,
but he immediately rose, and apologized for his failure in keeping
his previous appointment at the foreign office. He said that he
had been, on that occasion, seized with a sudden illness, which had
entirely disabled him from business for many days.
Me. Sewaed : " The anxiety I felt about you is happily relieved
by seeing and knowing that you are well again."
Pelnce Kung : " My acquaintance with your Excellency began
with our embassy to the United States and Europe, and I have
many acknowledgments to make for the kindness and assistance
our ministers received at your hands."
Me. Sewaed : " Not at all, your Highness. Our Government
welcomed that embassy as a harbinger of closer and more friendly
relations between the United States and China."
Pelnce Kung : " The relations of the two countries have always
been amicable. I trust they will become still more intimate in
future. As to our ministers on that occasion, their instructions
were, to put themselves very much under the directions of your
Excellency." Me. Sewaed : " On the arrival of the embassy, I conferred with
them concerning the objects of their mission and their powers. I
then prepared a draught of a treaty, which they amended. When
the draught, as amended, had been approved by. the President, I
submitted it by telegraph to Great Britain, France, and Germany.
When those nations had signified that such a treaty would be ac
ceptable to them, it was then signed by your ambassadors and by
myself. This is the story of the ' Burlingame Treaty.' "
Prince Kung made a profound bow, and exclaimed :
" What a pity that Mr. Burlingame was cut off by so untimely
a fate, leaving his work unfinished ! "
Me. Sewaed : " Mr. Burlingame's work was so far accomplished
that he exerted an influence which will never cease to be felt in the
mutual intercourse of China and the Western nations. The termi
nation at any time of a life which had already become so successful
and so useful, cannot be called premature."
Pelnce Kung : " Ah ! if others would adopt the principles

CONVERSATION WITH PRINCE KUNG. 201
which are practised by your Government, it would be a great ad
vantage to us."
Here, at Mr. Low's invitation, the party took seats at the table —
the prince at the left, with Mr. Seward next his Highness ; Ysung-
Lun, senior Minister of the Board of Foreign Affairs, on his right ;
next to him, Admiral Rodgers. Not much attention, however, was
paid to the elegant repast. The conversation was immediately re
sumed, and continued an hour :
Pelnce Kung : " How many are your venerable years ? "
Me. Sewaed : " Sixty-nine. May I ask your Highness' s age % "
Pelnce Kung : " Thirty-five. Are you now in the exercise of
public functions ? or have you laid down the cares of office, while
you continue to wear its honors ? "
Me. Sewaed : " I was in active public life thirty years. I have
now given up official duties, and am studying in the way of foreign
travel — "
The prince did not wait for the end of Mr. Seward's remark,
but, misapprehending his gesticulations, said :
" I know, without an interpreter, what you are speaking about.
It is your painful experience in your conflict with the Southern re
bellion." At Mr. Seward's request, the interpreter told the prince that his
guess was wide of the mark, and then gave Mr. Seward's answer.
"Nevertheless," said the prince, "I desire to hear from you
about the rebellion, and especially about your escape from assassi
nation, and about the honorable wounds you have received, the
marks of which you still wear."
Mr. Seward, after a few words to satisfy the prince's curiosity
on that subject, brought the question back to Chinese politics :
Me. Sewaed : " Your Highness, is it the intention of your
Government to establish permanent missions in foreign capitals ? "
Pelnce Kung: "By all means. We expect to have perma
nent embassies, and we expect to derive great benefit from them."
Me. Seward : " The Japanese Government gave me a letter,
which they addressed to the minister whom they have recently sent
to China. I would like to deliver it."

202 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Pelnce Kung : " He has not yet come."
Me. Sewaed : " Is the Anamite Empire still tributary to China ? "
Pelnce Kung : "It still continues to send tribute."
Me. Sewaed : " And does Siam, also ? "
Pelnce Kung : " The Siamese Government sends us tribute
once in five years."
Me. Sewaed: "What is the diplomatic rank of envoys who
come to you from Corea % "
Pelnce Kung : " That question is not easily answered. The
Coreans have grades of rank, and honors, altogether different from
our own."
Me. Sewaed : " Are the tributes which you receive from those
countries merely ceremonial, or do they enter into the revenues of
the empire ? "
Pelnce Kung : " We act on the maxim that the envoys of de
pendent states shall come to us lean, and go out from us fat. They
always receive greater presents than they bring."
Me. Sewaed : " The King of Siam once sent us a present in
regard to which we could not act on that maxim. It was a white
elephant." The prince took out his watch to compare his time with that of
the legation, and explained that there is no standard chronometer
in Peking. Admiral Rodgers inquired whether the instruments at the
observatory are no longer serviceable.
Pblnce Kung : " Observations are still made there, but the
instruments are somewhat neglected, and they have become obso
lete." Me. Sewaed : " It seems so desirable that the sciences of the
West should be introduced into China that I regret to learn of the
difficulties which the university projected by Wan-Siang encoun
ters. I trust that that institution will revive under its new presi
dent, Dr. Martin."
Pelnce Kung : " It was with that hope that we appointed him,
and we have now the utmost confidence in its success. It is bound
to succeed."

INSCRIPTIONS IN THE ALBUMS. 203
Dr. Martin, in Mr. Seward's name, asked the prince and his
associates to write their names in the ladies' albums.
The prince took up the book, and, seeming to assume that it
was Mr. Seward's own, wrote these words :
"Having already attained so much of wealth and honor, may you also
attain to great longevity ! "
He signed this in the Mantchoo character — " Kung-Chien-
Wang."
The aged Minister Chin-Lun, president of the Board of Con
trol for the Colonies, wrote :
" May mankind enjoy universal peace ! "
He signed this both in the Chinese and Mantchoo characters.
Tung-Tajen, president of the Board of Revenue, before re
ferred to in these notes as a poet, wrote, in ancient ornamental
characters : "May mild winds and quiet waves,
Tranquil seas and pleasant rivers,
Speed you on your voyage."
Shen-Tajen, member of the Grand Council of State, next took
up the pencil, and wrote :
"May the clouds give you lucky omens,
The stars assure you happiness and long life
The opening flowers presage wealth and honors,
And the bamboo tube [the mail-bag] only
And always bring you tidings of peace 1 "
Repeating and rehearsing these several kindly sentiments, they
rose, took the hands of Mr. Seward and the admiral into their own,
bade them farewell, and retired.
November 21st.— General Ylangally again entertained us with a
breakfast at his pleasant legation.

204 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
This morning four mandarin chairs and six carts, with an un
usual retinue of coolies, appeared at the legation. A messenger
delivered to Mr. Seward the cards of the several Ministers of State,
including one of Wan-Siang, together with a present, of which they
left the following inventory :
One pair of vases.
One pair of enamelled eagles.
One pair of double-enamelled vases.
One pair of carved scarlet lacquer boxes.
One pair of enamelled fish-jars.
Eight pieces of silk, of various colors.
Mr. Seward inquired of Mr. Low what would be a proper form
of acknowledgment. He replied : " You cannot decline the present.
You can only send your card in return, and pay a Mexican dollar
to each coolie. Less than this you would be unwilling to do. It
would be thought disrespectful to do more."
The American and British missionaries, residing at Peking,
passed the afternoon with Mr. Seward. They leave on the minds
of our whole party an impression that they are earnest, true, and
good men and women. The labor which they are performing in
this benighted land fully justifies the Christian charity which has
sent them hither.
Ever since we came here, Mr. Seward and Admiral Rodgers
have been diligently laboring to ascertain the feasibility of a return
of our party by way of the Imperial Canal. The Government has
caused a report to be made to them on that subject. This paper
describes many breaches of the canal, but represents them as under
going repair. The Government would provide for our security in
the journey, but no shorter period than three weeks would suffice
to make it in boats, while there would be many and long land port
ages. It is almost certain that, within that time, it will be rendered
impassable by ice. The canal-voyage is therefore given up, though
not without much reluctance.

CHAPTER XI.
THE RETURN TO SHANGHAI.
Once more on the Pei-ho. — The Ladies at Tien-Tsin.— The Shan Tung. — Pigeon English.
— Tempestuous Weather. — Visit to the Flag-ship Colorado. — Departure of Mr. and
Mrs. Randall. — On board the Plymouth Rock.
Tung-Chow, November 22d. — How could we describe in writing
the parting at the legation, which allowed of no utterance !
Time, it seems, is not money in junk-navigation. We find at
Tung-Chow that our flotilla of little vessels, without a word of
engagement or promise on our part, had waited nineteen days. It
has been speedily manned and victualled. Its sails are already
spread, our flags are unfurled, and we are once more afloat on the
Pei-ho. The weather is very cold, but the downward voyage to
Tien-Tsin requires only forty hours.
Tien-Tsin, November 23d. — Could anybody ask a safer convoy
on a river-voyage than a rear admiral ? Could anybody, needing
protection on such a voyage, do a wiser thing than trust such a
convoy ?
" All's well that ends well ; " but, could there be a better joke
than that which has occurred to us, under the practice of these prin
ciples ? Boat No. 2, bearing the two ladies, accidentally separating
from the fleet during the night, came up to the draw-bridge at
Tien-Tsin this morning, not only two hours before No. 4 and the
other boats, but even three hours before the flag-ship of our gallant

206 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
convoy. There is not only a time for every thing in this world,
but there is also a place for it ; but, for those timid adventurers,
those two hours were not the time ; and Tien-Tsin, with its murky
atmosphere, stolid crowds, and horrible associations of massacre,
was certainly not the place. Fortunately, the officers of the Ashue-
lot found them, opened the way through the draw-bridge, took them
on board their ship, and seated them, shivering as they were, before
a fire in their comfortable cabin.
The deck is completely enclosed with bunting — the flags of all
nations — and is prepared for a ball in honor of our arrival. The
same considerations, which counselled us to self-denial on our up
ward way, determined us to forego the pleasing compliment.
Thanks to Mr. Beebe, of the house of Russell & Company, for
the welcome and comfortable quarters, which we so much needed,
after the cold river-voyage. Thanks for his pleasant dinner, and
thanks to Mr. Seward and good Admiral Rodgers for lowering their
voices after the ladies had left the table, and to the whole party for
treading so lightly as they retired for the night. Thanks, more
fervent than all others, to the lucky star which has brought our
nice, little, rolling Shan Tung, and her spirited Yankee Captain
Hawes, back from Shanghai, just in time to meet us here and con
vey us to that destination. Our last voyage on the Yellow Sea, and
her last voyage for the season.
Taku, November 24th. — On board the Shan Tung, waiting to
cross the bar. Would anybody care to have an explanation of
what is called "pigeon-English?" To the visitor, on his arrival
here, it seems an unnecessary and puerile affectation. But this is a
mistake. Native agents, servants, and factors, must be employed.
They do not understand any foreign language, and foreign residents
cannot learn Chinese. A dialect is needed for mutual communica
tion, but it may be limited to the wants of commerce and service.
As " charity shall cover a multitude of sins," so in this dialect,
one English word is made to cover a variety of things. " Pigeon,"
to the Chinese' ear, means, not the dove, but " business." " Pigeon-
English," therefore, means "business-English." A few generic

ON THE YELLOW SEA. 207
names, without number, gender, or case, and a very few active and
auxiliary verbs, without variation of mood or tense, constitute the
whole vocabulary. "Will this horse kick?" In pigeon-English,
" Horse make kick ? " " Ask the consul to come here." In pigeon-
English it is, " Catchee consul, bring come this side." Report, in
pigeon-English, " No can "catchee consul." " Bring the breakfast,
quickly," — " Catchee chow-chow, chop-chop."
A similar invention, though not so well perfected, is adapted to
facilitate intercourse between foreigners and natives in all newly-
discovered regions. The Indian tribes, on the North-American
Pacific coast, have a common jargon made up of only two hundred
words, a mixture of English, French, Spanish, Indian, etc. The
lingua franca of the Mediterranean, a jumble of French, Arabic,
Turkish, and Italian, is another such dialect. " Pigeon-English " is
now regularly taught in Chinese schools. Since it is capable of in
definite expansion, who shall say that, in the progress of time, a
complete language may not be built upon that narrow foundation ?
Yellow Sea, off Shan Tung Promontory, November 28th. — The
Gulf Pe-chee-lee is a vixen, and the Shan Tung, in a gale, is a nui
sance. Although the morning was soft and genial when we left
Taku, the sky darkened at ten, and • in two hours we were rolling
and pitching under a severe nor'easter. Unable to land at Che-
Foo, we anchored for the night at Hope Sound. Resuming our
voyage, we arrived, at six the next morning, in the harbor of Che-
Foo. But a high sea would not allow us to disembark. The
weather has been intensely cold as well as tempestuous for two
days and nights, and there has been no rest or comfort. At two
o'clock yesterday afternoon, finding a smooth nook on the lee
shore, we came to anchor again, to afford, not passengers, but the
exhausted seamen, a night of rest. The storm has abated, and we
are now making rapid headway.
Shanghai, November 30th. — Why take pains to say what every
body may imagine — that we have come back to Shanghai weary,
or that Mr. and Mrs. Warden seem even kinder than before, or that

208 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
William Freeman has laid in a stock of " pigeon-English " which
he thinks will enable us to dismiss our Chinese servants, or that
Admiral Rodgers has determined that the Colorado shall no longer
be denied the pleasure of entertaining us, or that Mr. Seward has
pacified impatient friends and countrymen by contradicting rumors
which came before us — that the Chinese Government has organized
an army for immediate war, and that Prince Kung refused to re
ceive or meet Mr. Seward in any way ?
December 5th. — Yesterday, Mr. Seward, attended by many
friends, visited the admiral's flag-ship. Arriving in the harbor
of Woo-Sung, we proposed to go directly from our little yacht
on board the Colorado. No such hasty proceeding as this, how
ever, could be allowed. The whole ship made gorgeous display
of national colors. The staff-officers, in brilliant uniforms, were
afloat in her steam-launch, and other boats awaiting us. Seamen
and marines were ranged on the deck. Six hundred officers and
men, in regulation attire, were drawn . up in line. Our now
familiar acquaintances, the band, with their brass instruments
blazing in the burning sun, stood on the quarter-deck; and in
front of them all was the admiral, tall, erect, and commanding,
He waved us a cordial and graceful welcome. The staff came
alongside, and informed us of the admiral's request that Mr. Sew
ard would remain on the yacht until the party should have been
conveyed by the launches to the Colorado.
And so it was done. When the party had been assigned proper
places, Mr. Seward, coming over the bulwarks, was received by the
admiral ; the marines presented arms, the seamen saluted, the guns
poured forth a salvo, and the band played " Hail to the Chief! "
The officers were then severally presented to Mr. Seward. Then
followed an inspection of the ship, which displayed the usual good
order of an American man-of-war. A feast was spread in the
cabins, to which we all sat down. The band continued playing
until the last guest retired from the table.
In taste for articles of virtu, the admiral rivals his professional
confrere, the Duke of Edinburgh. Here we note, by way of

THE PLYMOUTH ROCK. 209
parenthesis, in China, which is the country of porcelain, that his
Wedgwood ware is the finest in the world.
A voyage under the soft moonlight brought us to the compound
at two o'clock.
Mr. and Mrs. Randall, greatly to our regret, being recalled
home, we part with them here.1
Shanghai, December 7th. — We are preparing for an excursion
on the Yang-tse-kiang. The admiral and officers took final leave of
us to-day. After a pleasant dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, we
repaired, at eleven o'clock, on board the steamer Plymouth Rock.
On board the Plymouth Rock, December 8th. — After all, there
is something in a name. Plymouth Rock, a name identified with
the civilization of America, now employed to signalize an American
regeneration of China !
Laboulaye has written an ingenious book describing Paris in
America. Why shall we not, in ours, illustrate the United States
in China \ The Plymouth Rock was built in our own country, and
' is owned, managed, and sailed, by our countrymen. Such a prom
enade-deck can be found on the great rivers and lakes at home ;
but such a cabin, such a table, such baths, and such beds, can be
found nowhere. We knew, when we looked about this morning,
that no Chinese steward, nor maid-servant, if there be any such,
nor any American or European steward or stewardess, had ar
ranged these homelike comforts. Though we saw no woman, we
knew, not only that a woman had been here, but that she lives here.
The captain's wife, Mrs. Simmons, is absent for only a day or two.
The Hudson and the Mississippi are the only rivers in the world
where steamers carry as heavy freights as on the Yang-tse-kiang.
If the monopoly of this navigation by our countrymen serves to ex
tend our national influence in China, it at the same time illustrates
the absurdity of the fear that the Chinese interest will become an
intrusive or dangerous element in the United States.
1 Auburn, July 26, 1872.— We record with deep sorrow the death of Mr. Randall.
He closed a life of eminent public service and private virtue, at his residence in Elmira,
yesterday, after his return to that place from a visit to Mr. Seward, here.

CHAPTER XH.
UP THE YANG-TSEEIANG.
The Mississippi of China. — Ching-Kiang. — Large Freights. — Nanking. — The Porcelain
Tower. — A Specimen Brick. — Abundance of Game. — Scenery on the River. — Ku-
Kiang. — Conversation with Mr. Drew. — Policy of the United States. — Han-Eow. —
Ascent of the Promontory. — Magnificent View. — Cheerful Aspect of Han-Eow. —
Excursion to Woo-Chang. — A Disagreeable Adventure.
December 9th. — The Yang-tse-kiang has its sources in the moun
tains of Thibet, side by side with those of rivers which flow through
Siam, Burmah, and Hindostan, into the Bay of Bengal. In reach
ing the Pacific, it traverses the central region of China, a distance
of nineteen hundred miles, which the sinuosities of its course
lengthen to three thousand miles. Though this navigation may
not be longer than that of the Mississippi River, extended by the
Missouri River," the Yang-tse-kiang greatly surpasses the great
American river in depth, breadth, and volume. Often, in its
course, it spreads into broad bays or lakes, and, losing its own
name, takes on local ones, just as the mighty St. Lawrence does.
In a distance of eighty miles from the sea, the river gradually
shrinks from a breadth of some thirty miles to that of one mile —
the banks level, densely inhabited, and perfectly cultivated.
At midnight we fastened at the wharf of Ching-Kiang, the
southern terminus of the Imperial Canal. This populous and
important town was nearly destroyed during the Ta-ping rebel
lion. The mercury had gone down to twenty-eight degrees. A
heavy dew was falling. It was no time to go ashore. Our captain

THE CITY OF NANKING.

211

left on the wharf three thousand boxes and bales of merchandise,
consisting of sugars from Southern China, and British manufac
tured goods and opium from India — a large freight, considering
that the steamer is one of a daily line, and that the river is at
every point crowded with junks. It looks quite like home to see
the numerous and immense timber-rafts floating down from native
forests in Thibet.
What product does China need to make herself self-sustaining ?
The banks above Ching-Kiang rise to a height of one thousand
feet. Nanking, on the south side of the river, is in an amphitheatre
formed by those hills. This city has historical interest as the capital

BEIDGE AT NANKING, AND PORCELAIN TOWEE BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION.

of the empire before the conquest of Kubiai-Khan ; afterward it
was occasionally the residence of the Ming emperors. Nanking
became famous,. still later, as a commercial centre, and remained so
11

212 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
until the period of steam-navigation. Last of all, it became mem
orable as the vantage-ground from which the Ta-ping insurgents
carried the civil war to the walls of Peking. The pagoda called
the Porcelain Tower, which, with its nine successive roofs of seem
ing emerald, and the golden apple on its summit, at that time
looked upon Nanking, was justly admired, not only as a chief em
bellishment of the great city, but as one of the wonders of the
world. But all this glory has passed away. The Ta-ping rebel
lion, which ended only in 1864, proved destructive to Nanking.
It seems almost enough to excuse the dread which all nations
feel for civil war, when we contemplate the devastation which it
invariably produces. Nanking, within its fifteen miles of dilapi
dated wall, is little else than a desolation. The Porcelain Tower is
only recognized by its debris. The port is not open to foreign
commerce, but the Government permits steamers to receive and
land passengers. A friend who came on board presented us with
a large brick which he has taken from the ruined pagoda. Mr.
Seward, thanking him for it, said :
" One of the minor Greek poets ridicules as a simpleton a man
who, having a house to sell, went about showing one of its bricks
as a sample ; but, insomuch as the Porcelain Tower is gone, I am
thankful for a relic of it."
Game is one of the marvels of the country. On the river it is
over your head and under your feet — everywhere. You may buy
a dozen pheasants, ducks, or snipe, for less than the price of a pair
of fowls in Washington Market. You pay less for wild-boar, veni
son, or hare, than for veal or mutton at home. Do these wild ani
mals affect the society of semi-barbarian man, or is the abundance
here due to the great productiveness of the soil %
December 10th. — Two hundred and fifty miles above Nanking,
the river flows swiftly through a narrow gorge between two moun;
tains, one called the Eastern, the other the Western Pillar. Above
this strait the river winds, and is flanked on the right bank by
bluffs like those of the Mississippi and Missouri ; a hundred miles
higher, another gorge ; near the left bank, a conical islet, four hun-

ilfft

THE UPPER YANG-TSE-KIANG.

LITTLE ORPHAN ISLAND.

213

dred feet high, rocky at the base, but smiling with vegetation at
the top, the sides indented with winding terraces bordered with
Buddhist cloisters, on the summit a picturesque pagoda. The rock
is named, in the chart, " Little Orphan." Opposite it is the pretty
little town of Tung-Lu, with a picturesque wall winding over the
undulating mountain-crest. Here the river receives the water of

LITTLE ORPHAN ISLAND.

the Po-yang, a lake with a circuit of one hundred and eighty milos,
which, in some seasons, is enlarged to an area of two hundred and
fifty miles by the overflow of the river.
Four hundred miles from the sea, the river has narrowed to half
a mile. The banks on either side are crowded with villages ; the
depth, at this season of low water, twenty-five feet ; swollen by the

214: JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
winter floods, it is sixty. Farther upward, villages are less con
spicuous; but temples and pagodas, at picturesque points, break
the monotony. One of these pagodas is a hundred feet high ; all
are dedicated to the gods of the Winds and the Waves.
At sunset we came to Ku-Kiang, a port open to commerce, on
the south side of the river. The foreign settlement, though small,
is well arranged and conducted; the Chinese city is contracted
and meanly built, but busy. Mr. Rose, of the house of Russell
& Co., and Mr. Drew, deputy Chinese revenue commissioner,
received us.
Each of the treaty powers nominates to the Chinese Govern
ment a certain number of persons to serve as such deputies, under
the superintendence of the inspector-general, Mr. Hart. These
deputies are expected to learn the Chinese language, laws, and cus
toms. Mr. Drew is an American. While walking in the Bund,
he lamented to Mr. Seward that British prestige in China prevails
over that of the United States :
Me. Sewaed : " To what do you attribute this advantage ? "
Me. Deew : " To the superior policy pursued by Great Britain.
That nation, as well as France, maintains a habit of demonstration
and menace ; the United States a policy of forbearance and con
ciliation." Me. Sewaed : " These sentiments of yours harmonize with
those of most of our countrymen whom I have met in China,
How many foreigners of all nations have you in Ku-Kiang ? "
Me. Deew : " Twenty-five."
Me. Sewaed : " How many of these are Americans ? "
Me. Deew : " Two or three."
Me. Sewaed : " The others, I suppose, are British and French,
with perhaps a German or two ? "
Me. Deew : " Yes."
Me. Sewaed : " I understand that, while the foreign popula
tion at Shanghai is two thousand five hundred, only fifty or sixty
of these are Americans \ "
Me. Deew : " Yes."
Me. Sewtaed : " Have you observed that Great Britain, France,

POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES. 215
and Russia, maintain in China diplomatic, consular, military, and
naval agents, in numbers as far exceeding those of the United
States as their national population resident here exceeds that of
citizens from the United States ? In short, most of the Americans
residing in China are missionaries, are they not ? "
Me. Deew: "Yes."
Me. Sewaed : " Is it your opinion that there would have been
in China, to-day, any more American citizens than there are now,
if the United States had heretofore either waged war against China
or menaced her in any way ? "
Me. Deew: "No."
Me. Sewaed: "You have been here many years. Do you
know of any outrage, or injury, or wrong, that the United States
have ever complained of, that the Chinese Government has left un
redressed ? "
Me. Deew : " I know of none."
Me. Sewaed : " Has Great Britain or France secured to her
self in China any political or commercial benefit or advantage
which the Chinese Government has not equally extended, by
treaty, to the United States ? "
Me. Deew : " No."
Me. Sewaed : " The complaints of the superiority of British
and French prestige over that of the United States in China are
of recent growth. They arose chiefly in the period of our late
civil war. You know little of the herculean difficulties of the
Government in that conflict. Do you think that the United States
Government, under the administration of Abraham Lincoln or of
Andrew Johnson, could have wisely made war, or demonstration
of war, against China ? "
Me. Deew: "No."
Me. Sewaed: "Do you think that the United States ought to
provoke China by any act of injustice or wrong? Do you think
that it would be wise for the United States, without provocation, to
resort to any policy of menace or intimidation ? Do you think
that the American people would support an administration in such
a policy of provocation or menace, now while they are submitting

216 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
to such high taxation to discharge the national debt incurred in a
civil war?"
Me. Deew : " I think they would not."
Me. Sewaed : " One question more. IT the United States, dur
ing the last twenty years, had pursued a policy of intimidation
toward China, do you think that they would have been able, at the
same time, to draw from this empire an emigration of seventy-five
thousand laborers to build the Pacific Railroad, and open the mines
in the Rocky Mountains ? "
Me. Deew : " I have not thought of that before."
Me. Sewaed : " Well, Mr. Drew, I think we are obliged to con
clude from all these premises that a policy of justice, moderation,
and friendship, is the only one that we have had a choice to pursue,
and that it has been as wise as it has been unavoidable."
It is due to Mr. Drew to say that he had received his appoint
ment to his present place from Mr. Seward as Secretary of State,
and that he presented the subject to that gentleman chiefly for the
purpose of ascertaining how far he had found cause to sympathize,
during his sojourn here, with the complaints of our countrymen.
Mr. Seward closed the conversation by saying : " The United
States are a republic, an aggregation of thirty-seven republics. Of
the thirty-nine millions, which constitute the American people, less
than ten thousand dwell in foreign countries, and a smaller propor
tion in China than in many other countries. The United States
cannot be an aggressive nation — least of all can they be aggressive
against China."
We reached the steamer and the end of the discussion at the
same moment. This was our visit at Ku-Kiang.
Han-Kow, Sunday, December 11th. — At nine o'clock in the
morning of this blessed Sunday, our steamer forces her way to the
wharf through a fleet of a thousand Chinese vessels. These vessels
are coastwise junks, river-trading junks, market-junks, fishing-junks,
passage-junks, stationary storehouse-junks, dwelling-junks, and tav
ern-junks. So, after a travel of four months and two days, we
have reached the centre of China. The Han, a large tributary, is

CITY OF HAN-KOW. 217
to the Yang-tse what the Missouri is to the Mississippi. The con
fluence of the two rivers makes the site for three large cities. Two
of these, Han-Kow and Han-Yan, are on the opposite banks of the
Han. Wu-Chang is on the Yang-tse, opposite the confluence of the
two rivers. Practically, the three constitute one city. The foreign
settlement, however, is established at Han-Kow.
Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, found, in Central China,
a city on the Yang-tse, which he reported by the name of Kiu-sai.
He estimated its circuit at a hundred Chinese miles. This is the
city in which we now are. The good Abbe Hue, who sojourned
here before the dark days of European invasion and domestic rebel
lion, estimated the population of the city at eight millions. While
the European residents say that the abbe exaggerates, they insist
that the present population exceeds one million. The site of Han-
Kow may be compared to that of St. Louis. Through the attenu
ated tributaries of the Yang-tse, Han-Kow gathers up agricultural,
mineral, forest, and manufactured products, from the western re
gions of the empire, and distributes them by domestic and foreign
exchange through the ports of Tien-Tsin, Shanghai, and Canton.
When one has reached this commanding point, it is easily con
ceived why it is that Shanghai, at the mouth, is so rapidly en
grossing the commerce of the empire.
The port of Han-Kow was opened in 1861. The Concession is
beautifully laid out, and built up in a rich and costly style. It is
spacious enough for ten thousand inhabitants, while the present
number of foreigners is only fifty. There are six foreign houses,
one of which is American. The high expectations of increase have
been disappointed, not because the trade was misestimated, nor yet
because it has failed, but, strange to say, only for the reason that
the native merchants have learned the respective wants of foreign
markets, and the ways of supplying them. They are now, them
selves, enjoying the advantages which the European merchants have
aimed to secure.
Noon. — We live on shipboard, but we, nevertheless, are enjoy
ing the hospitalities of Mr. Fitz, at the house of Russell & Company.

218 JAPAN, CHINA AND COCHIN CHINA.
We attended service, this morning, at the Chapel of St. John the
Evangelist. It was built for the Church of England, but, having lost
its Government stipend, the congregation is unable to support a
pastor. Prayers were read by a Wesleyan missionary, an amateur
choir singing the beautiful chants and hymns in an admirable
manner. December 12th. — In our exploration, yesterday afternoon, we
found that, although " some things can be done as well as others,"
there is, nevertheless, a "right way and wrong way" of doing
them. Mr. Fitz inquired whether we would have chairs sent forward
for our ascent of the promontory, at the junction of the two rivers.
The arguments against it were, that most persons prefer walking to
the hazard of being carried up the steep hill by coolies. Mr. Sew
ard advised that chairs should be sent, to be used as we should find
need. The younger people promptly decided for themselves to dis
pense with the luxury. We went up the river to the base of the
promontory in a row-boat {sam-pan). Thence we made our way,
through a dirty and crowded suburb, up a flight of five hundred
stone steps. At this elevation, we found neither platform, bench,
nor stone, to rest on, but only another flight of two thousand stone
steps before us, with an inclination of forty-five degrees. Mr. Sew
ard took the chair which he had so thoughtfully provided for him
self, and, though his ascent seemed frightful to us, he was borne
quickly and safely to the top by two coolies, who neither stumbled
nor stopped to rest. The other members of the party followed
slowly, and reached the summit completely exhausted. Here, we
availed ourselves of the restoratives of tea and rest, in a dingy
Buddhist temple. We might confess now that the view which
presented itself amply rewarded the painful efforts by which it was
obtained, if we could be quite sure that we should recover, in many
months, the muscular strength expended. On our right hand, the
Yang-tse, a mile wide, flowed with rapid current ; on our left was
the Han, scarcely eighty feet broad, though its springs are a thou
sand miles distant. The city of Han-Kow covers the banks of both

ASPECT OF HAN-KOW. 219
rivers at their junction ; behind it spreads a vast, low, green marsh,
every year inundated, and often forcing the inhabitants to take
refuge in boats. At the base of the promontory on which we stand,
looking down the river, is the fresh-looking little city of Han-Yan,
enclosed in a neat though not formidable stone-wall ; and, on the
opposite bank of the Yang-tse, crowded with pagodas, palaces, tem
ples, universities, dwellings, barracks, and camps, is Wu-chang,
capital of the province of Hu-peh. A thin, blue haze limits the
prospect to an horizon in which a small and lovely lake flows at the
base of gently-undulating hills.
In contrast with other Chinese cities, Han-Kow, including the
three towns, wears a cheerful aspect. The streets are regular, and
the dwellings, of stone or adobe, are whitened with paint or lime.
From our commanding position we made an effort to secure a care
ful estimate of the population. Our conclusion was, that the num
ber of the inhabitants on land within the three cities is one million.
But this estimate left us all afloat as to the mass of the dwellers on
the water. It would be as easy to look from the high-road on the
Owasco Hills into the beech and maple forests, that border it .on
either side, and count the trees, as it would be here to number the
vessels of all sizes which throw a dark shade across the narrow
channel of the Han, and over the left bank of the Yang-tse. We
venture to set down the population afloat at a hundred thousand.
Who will correct our estimate %
We were to dine with Mr. Fitz at seven o'clock, but his house
in the Bund is sixty feet above the river. The young people who
had so bravely stormed the promontory were only able on their
return to climb from the sam-pan to the steamer. Mr. Seward
carried with him their reluctant apologies.
December 12th, evening.— An excursion to Wu-chang. Sittino-
in our sam-pan, we fortunately became spectators of a theatrical
en tertainment on the bank of the river in Han-Kow. We estimated
the audience at four thousand, without seats. Standing in rows,
one rising above another on the steep declivity, they presented
unbroken lines of blue nankeen, yellow faces, and shaven heads.

220

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

The stage was without change of scene, or scenery of any kind.
There was no orchestra, but frequent rattling of gongs and drums
on the stage. The performers were brilliantly dressed in yellow
and red. So far as we could see, there was no breaking up of the
performance for time or place. The whole ran on without pause.
The actors gesticulated much and grotesquely, but they drew out

CHINESE THEATRICALS.

from the patient and delighted audience not one sign of applause.
We distinguished frequent battles and dances in the play, but the
dialogue was lost in the distance. After looking on for half an
hour, we continued our excursion. When we returned three hours
afterward, we found the performance still going on, with no per
ceptible change in either the actors or the audience.

CHINESE BEGGARS. 221
Landing at Wu-chang, we ascended a promontory which divides
the city into two equal parts. A bright and variegated pagoda,
called the " Little Stork," graces the hill above the landing-place.
Its story, though modern, is characteristic : a little golden god took
it into his head one night to ride a snow-white stork into the cham
ber of the dreaming Taou-tai of the province, and demanded of
him the erection of a pagoda in this place. The Taou-tai said, " I
hear and obey," and, when he wakened, "he went and did it."
We climbed the winding staircase of this pagoda. Cakes, tea, and
confectionery are served, fortunes told, and " curios" sold in every
story. In the upper one is a statue of a little god, about five feet
high, with long, slender eyes, smooth black queue, black, waxed
mustache, and tunic of blue and gold. He smiles complacently as
he sits on the back of a stork, carved in wood and painted white.
To speak the truth, he is a merry little god — the only one of that
aspect we have met. Leaving the pagoda, we passed through the
court of a Confucian temple, thickly crowded with sellers of fruit
and provisions, trinket-dealers, vagabonds and idlers, and lame,
blind, maimed and loathsome beggars. We looked into the temple,
and found its walls covered with texts of the classic books. As we
came out, the crowd around us had formidably increased. There
is no coin in China but an iron one, of which a thousand pieces go
to the dollar. Of course, we had none of these. The beggars,
unaccustomed to being refused the pitiful alms they expected,
became importunate and impertinent. One of our servants, who
had a few English sixpences, emptied his pockets, without other
effect than increasing the number of mendicants and their vehe
mence. Our view from the summit behind the temple renewed the
impressions which we had received on the opposite promontory,
the previous day. Resuming our chairs, we were on our return to
the landing-place on the river, when a painful adventure occurred,
the first of that kind in our travels. Foreigners seldom cross the
river to Wu-chang. Our visit was a novelty, there, and excited
much curiosity. The town contains a university in which ten
thousand students are gathered from the provinces, and it also has

222 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
a military school with a large garrison. These provincial schools
are distinguished for their bigotry and prejudice against foreigners.
Our friends, however, had not apprised us of these facts, nor had
they taken into consideration that our party contained two ladies,
who would be objects of special curiosity here, as they were on our
way to the Great Wall. A section of the crowd, which had been
following us, stopped on the brink of the hill, from which they
could look down on the winding path we were descending. One
of the ladies had left her chair, and was walking in advance. Mr.
Seward was in an elegant green chair with glass windows ; the
other lady in a covered bamboo-chair behind. A stone six inches
thick struck the back window of Mr. Seward's chair and shivered it
to pieces. A second, as large, entered the same window, and fell
within the chair. A third stone struck the top of the last chair,
and crushed the frail top. The coolie bearers of the two chairs
stopped in a fright, and raised an outcry, directed toward persons
on the top of the cliff. Well they might, for, if either of those
missiles had fallen on one of their naked heads, it would have
proved fatal. Happily the silken curtains of Mr. Seward's chair
saved him from injury. He instantly alighted and turned to find
the assailant. The enemy had, however, fled in consternation from
the hill, and it remained to us only to exchange congratulations
upon our escape from a common danger. Though the people sur
rounded us in masses, which rendered our passage through the
narrow streets tedious and difficult, they made no expression or
sign of unkindness or disrespect. Mr. Seward regards the assault
not as one of design or deliberation, but as the unpremeditated and
wanton act of rude and mischievous idlers. Nevertheless, the
gentlemen at Han-Kow have addressed the Taou-tai on the subject.

CHAPTER XIII.
RETURN TO SHANGHAI.
Departure from Han-Kow.— Chinese Military Art.— A Marvellous Echo. — The Imperial
Canal.— Approach to Chin-Kiang. — The United States Steamer Alaska. — Running
down a Junk. — An Apology from the Viceroy. — The Comprador. — Chinese Ladies.
— Embark on an English Steamer.
Steamer Plymouth Rock, Yang-tse-kiang, December 13th. — We
left the wharf at Han-Kow at daylight this morning, and in return
ing to Shanghai we are expecting to enjoy, by daylight, the scenes
lost to us by night in ascending the river. The banks below Han-
Kow are low and flat, with a city at almost every bend, but the
mountains crowd closely on the plain.
December 14th. — Night and rain came down upon us as we
approached Ku-Kiang, but with only this pleasant consequence,
that we gathered at the dinner-table in our cabin the merry party
which we were to have met on the Bund. When they had retired,
certain tall natives of the country, of course olive-colored, with
glazed crowns and smoothly-braided queues, brought two garden-
vases and two baskets, each of the latter containing what our gentle
friends at home would pronounce " a love " of a tea-set — one ver
milion, the other blue. Thanks to Mr. Rose.
At Zuaking is a gleaming white pagoda, one hundred feet high,
with a cupola of burnished brass. It has seven verandas, the roof
of each ornamented with bright, tinkling bells. At its base is a
military school.

224 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Certainly military art, the world over, delights in fine colors,
loud noises, and much demonstration. In the West, however, we
are abating color and noise, while we study to increase force. In
China, they reverse this. They do not improve their engines and
weapons ; they make greater noise with their gongs and a more
dazzling display of yellow and red in their uniforms and flags than
ever. Naval junks meet us everywhere on the river. Though
diminutive in size, and carrying ordnance of the smallest calibre,
their bunting surpasses that of a Hudson River steamer going to
celebrate the Schiitzenfest.
We have just passed a mountain-gorge which has a marvellous
echo. When we entered the pass, the reverberations were single.
Passing on, the shrill notes of the steam-whistle came back to us
prolonged and louder. Farther on, the mountains gave us back
two distinct sounds for each one they received ; afterward three,
four, five for one. It was the perfection of ventriloquism. The
sounds were articulate ; they seemed to come through the earth ;
sometimes sonorous, at others soft and plaintive, always impres
sive and mournful.
Chin-Kiang, December 15th. — Anchoring off the left bank of
the river in very deep water, and taking the ship's boats, we made
an entrance, not without difficulty, into the Imperial Canal.
Take its story briefly, to understand better what httle we saw:
Built in the thirteenth century, it is a monument equally of the
greatness and of the wisdom of Kublai-Khan. Its length is six
hundred and fifty miles, nearly twice that of the Erie Canal. De
signed for irrigation as well as navigation, it varies in width from
two hundred feet to two thousand feet. It is not, like our canals,
built by excavation, but with artificial dikes raised on an alluvial
soil, its banks and bottom paved and cemented. Instead of locks,
there are inclined planes. Every abutment, flood-gate, and bridge,
is of solid granite masonry. The Imperial Canal, hke the Erie
Canal, is not an isolated channel, but only the main artery of a
system of artificial navigation, the aggregate length of whose
parts is four thousand miles, while they penetrate every one

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THE IMPERIAL CANAL. 225
of the eighteen provinces of the empire. The canal is compactly
crowded with junks. We could not make our way into it a
yard's length, without waiting for a movement of the vessels
for our accommodation. Our appeals to the boatmen for this
courtesy were not unkindly received, though the result was a
scene of wild and noisy disturbance. We soon became con
vinced that, in our small boats, we were in danger of being
crushed between junks, even, though nothing should occur to pro
duce misunderstanding or disturbance. We returned, therefore,
to the ship's deck, as cautiously as possible. In that position we
traced the course of the canal " high," though not " dry," above
ground four miles. The shipping through that distance was as
dense as at the mouth. The offices of the managers and toll-col
lectors cover the banks, while an armed fleet rides at the mouth pf
the canal to prevent piracy and smuggling. We learn here that
obstructions render the canal impassable for the aggregate extent
of one hundred and fifty miles. Even the navigable portions are
so much injured as to float only small vessels. The largest we saw
are of one hundred and fifty tons burden.
Three months ago, when a foreign war was apprehended, an
engineer submitted to the Government a project for restoring the
navigation, but elicited no reply. There is little doubt that the
canals of China, the most successful and magnificent system of in
land navigation the world has ever seen, are falling into decay and
ruin. The approach to Chin-Kiang is very picturesque. It stands on
a semicircular bay — the western entrance guarded by Golden Isl
and, on which stand a Buddhist temple and a pagoda— the eastern
entrance by Silver Island, its undulating surface embellished with
tea-houses and villas.
December 16th, 4 o'clock.— We are passing from the broad
estuary into the Woosung. Farewell, Yang-tse, worthy, from thy
length and breadth, to be called " Son of the Sea," though the
critics learned in the Chinese language deny thee that significant
appellation, and mention that Yang-tse means something else.

226 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
Shanghai, December 16th, night. — Quite to our surprise, we
passed the Colorado, still at her anchorage. As we approached
Shanghai, the Plymouth Rock took a berth far out in the stream
among the foreign shipping, busy junks and sam-pans darting
around her in all directions. While standing on the steamer's deck
awaiting a launch to convey us to the bank, the United States
steamship-of-war Alaska came rapidly down the river. As we
were in the act of exchanging compliments with the officers on her
deck, she rode over a Chinese junk which was madly attempting to
cross her bow. An instant afterward the two parts of the junk
appeared on either side of the iron-clad. With how many Hves the
junk was freighted we could not know, but we saw living men
clinging to the sundered parts of the wreck, and other living men
struggling in the water. The Alaska promptly reversed her en
gines, threw out life-preservers and lowered her boats. Fortu
nately, at that moment, a steam-launch from the Colorado, reen-
forced by Chinese sam-pans, went to the rescue, but we were
unable to discover with what success. The painful incident has
saddened our return to Shanghai.
December 17th. — We learn from the consul-general that the
survivors of the wrecked junk hastened to the consulate with com
plaints against the Alaska, and that he, as well as Admiral Rodgers,
is engaged in examining the circumstances of the collision. The
captain of the Alaska represents that he was hastening to get over
the bar before ebb-tide ; that the junk was crossing his bows, and
had time to clear herself, but that, as her crew advanced on their
track, they espied the Plymouth Rock coming up, and, taking
alarm lest they should come under her wheels, they stopped in
their course and fell under the keel of the Alaska.
We have arranged to sail for Hong-Kong on the 22d.
Shanghai, December 19th. — Le-ming-Che, Taou-tai of Han-Kow,
to H. E. Hobson, assistant in charge Han-Kow customs :
" I am in receipt of your note informing me of your having
visited Wu-Chang, with a party among whom was his Excellency

THE CHINESE COMPRADOR. 227
William H. Seward, on which occasion you were assailed by a
disorderly mob of boys, and your sedan-chairs broken. The pro
ceeding was most indecorous. I am intensely grieved that his
Excellency, the American Secretary, should have met with such an
insult on the occasion of his visit. I respectfully request you to
convey to his Excellency my profound regret for what has taken
place. I have duly instructed the Wu -Chang magistrate to issue
proclamations to prosecute the offenders.
" Intercalang, tenth moon, twenty-first day."
Shanghai, December 20th. — The comprador, in China, is a char
acter as incomprehensible as important. He is a native trained in
accounts and trade. Employed by the foreign hongs (mercantile
houses) as book-keeper and accountant, he adds to these functions
that of the broker, who buys for the firm, and makes all its sales.
In these transactions, he receives commissions from both parties.
What is more singular is, that he maintains this duplicity of rela
tions without suspicion of dishonesty. The comprador does not
confine himself to mere trade, he is indispensable in all domestic
and social transactions. He negotiates marriages between parties
who never know nor see each other until the contract is completed.
Russell & Company's comprador, to-day, paid his annual visit to
Mr. Warden at the Compound. He brought his wife and her two
handmaidens, presenting the latter, however, as his wives, numbers
three and four; apologizing for number two, who remained at
home. Also, two daughters-in-law, one child, and six attendants.
The women, of course, came to pay their respects to Mrs. Warden.
The comprador desired to make his homage to Mr. Seward, and the
women requested an introduction to the ladies of his party. There
was difficulty, at first, about the women coming into Mr. Seward's
presence, but it was overcome. The wives and the boy shook
hands with us quite in the American way, but evidently not with
out concern for their finger-nails, some of which were quite as long
as the fingers that bore them. They were elegantly dressed, wear
ing a profusion of jewels, and were very timid. As they spoke no
English, and we no Chinese, nothing remained for them but to

228 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
study our dresses and ornaments, as well as the furniture and arti
cles of vertu in the drawing-room. When they had exhausted
those on the first-floor, they desired to explore the second story.
The grand stairway is broad and easy, but, as all these women have
tiny feet, each required a strong arm in making the ascent, but that
must not be a man's arm. The ladies, therefore, offered theirs, and
" such a getting up-stairs, you never did see ! " It would have
been amusing, if it had not been really dangerous. After a
thorough and minute inspection of the upper part of the house,
they descended the staircase with much nervous apprehension.
They then listened wonderingly to our music on the piano-forte.
Calling, then, for their gorgeous sedan-chairs, they retired, doubt
less to describe, to their small-footed and long-fingered friends, the
mysteries and absurdities of Western fashions. During their entire
visit, the comprador had directed the movements of his wives and
children with all the vigilance and conscious superiority of a tur
key-cock. As we assisted the women, or rather carried them in
our arms, up and down the staircase, bright-eyed, gentle, and sweet-
voiced indeed, but dwarfed, distorted, and enslaved, their de
pendence was touching. We had not before realized the depth of
the abasement of women in China.
Steamer Travancore, China Sea, December 22d. — Many friends
attended us to the steamer, and kindly signals were made to us from
balconies, the consulate, and the shipping in the harbor.
For the first time in our travels, we are on a foreign deck. The
Travancore, named from a province in British India, on the coast
of Malabar, belongs to the "Peninsular and Oriental" line of
steamers, usually abbreviated the " P. and O."
The familiar berth of the Colorado, at Wusung, was vacant.
She had sailed, an hour before, for Nagasaki. We were still ex
pressing our regret that we were to see her no more, when we
passed the bar. Standing southerly, however, we saw the majestic
flag-ship before us, at rest in the open sea, with all her flags and
streamers flying, the admiral and officers on the quarter-deck, and
every yard fully manned. Three hearty cheers greeted us from her

A SCENE ON THE IMPERIAL CANAL.

229

six hundred seamen, her colors dropped, officers and men saluted
us, and the faithful band gave us for farewell the same old national
air with which it had greeted us on coming into Chinese waters.
The Travancore lowered her flags, and every officer and passenger
joined us in acknowledging the kind and loyal demonstration of the
Colorado.

SCENE ON THE IJIPEEIAL CANAL.

CHAPTER XIY.
FROM SHANGHAI 10 HONG-KONG.
Bad Weather. — Cold Weather. — Variety of Seamen. — The Ship's Accommodations.—
Hong-Kong. — Beautiful Scenery. — Old Acquaintances renewed. — Native and For
eign Population.
On board the Travancore, Christmas-Day, 1870. — Give us no
more of the China Sea ; give us, instead, the Pacific Ocean, the
Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea ; give us any water, if it be not the
Bay of Yeddo, and any Gulf, but the Gulf of Pe-chee-lee.
A bleak northeaster, with rain, wind, and darkness, drove us
to the cabin as soon as we had parted with the Colorado. When,
during the day, the decks dried, the winds grew higher and the
seas rougher, and we have remained prisoners below, until the morn
ing. This cold weather, on the verge of the tropics, is a surprise;
the high winds compel the native shipping to hug the coast, and
equally oblige foreign vessels to keep away from it. Thus, it has
happened that we have seen neither ship nor coast, although a
narrow sea divides the great island of Formosa on our left from the
continent. Now that we are approaching Hong-Kong, we are
surrounded with native craft.
We mark a new phase in this navigation. We found the sea
men, on the Pacific mail-steamer China, chiefly Chinese; so they
are in the coastwise trade of the Yellow Sea. This Chinese monop
oly is broken here. At the ship's muster this morning, the ranks
showed many variations of physiognomy, with all shades of dark

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ARRIVAL AT HONG-KONG. 231
complexion. Of Europeans there are none ; besides the light-
yellow Chinese, there are the darker Malays ; small but active
Hindoos, almost black, with perfect Caucasian features and curling
hair ; and strongly-built, heavy-featured, coal-black negroes from
South Africa. The languages and religions of the crew are not
less diverse. There are Bramins, Buddhists, Confucians, and
Mohammedans. While uniform discipline is enforced, difference
of faith, as well as of diet and costume, is tolerated. The Chinese
dress as on shore. The Hindoos wear a gay cotton blouse, on
week-days, which they exchange on holidays for tightly-fitting cot
ton trousers and blouses of the same material, scarlet or crimson
sashes, and turbans. The Hindoo boatswain adds to this a gilt-
embroidered, scarlet vest. The Malays wear calico pantaloons, with
white shirts, and the negroes, here as everywhere else, indulge in
the gayest of colors.
The ship's accommodations do not compare favorably with those
of the Pacific Mail Line, but here disparaging criticism must end.
Though the table is frugal, the wines and provisions are of the best,
and the linen is unimpeachable. The service is punctual, and the
officers and seamen are courteous and watchful.
Hong-Kong, December 26th.— Hong-Kong is an island, which
Great Britain has conquered, and commands the entrance of Canton.
It rises more abruptly from the water than the island of St. Thomas
in the West Indies.
We anchored at three o'clock yesterday. There is far less
shipping here than at Shanghai. The terraces which wind around
the hill-sides show distinctly in bold outline every dwelling and
structure of the European town, which, as well as the foreign ships
in the harbor, was yesterday gayly decorated with flags and Christ
mas-greens. We were received by Mr. Murray Forbes, representa
tive here of Russell & Company, at Kee-Chung, the name of their
princely house. We found fire on the hearth, the first which has
been kindled this season, and the people here are rejoicing in hav
ing escaped at last the intense heat of summer. We make these
memoranda, sitting in a deep window of this great, old-fashioned

232

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

dwelling, shadowed by the mountain-summit, while an unclouded
morning sun brings the town below into broad relief, and- beyond
it the deep, blue bay dotted with diverse shipping. A high, red,
rocky coast bounds the prospect. Imagine such a picture as we
have tried to present, seen as we are seeing it through a frame
work of palmetto, banyan, camphor, and acacia trees, and you have
Hong-Kong. December 27th. — Resting, Mr. Seward has exchanged visits with
the Governor of Hong-Kong, and the United States consul, Mr.
Bailey. We are renewing old acquaintances with countrymen
and countrywomen. Our departure for Singapore is fixed for the
3d of January. We need, therefore to improve our few remain
ing days in China.
The British found five thousand natives on the north end
of the island. Under the rule of Great Britain, they are now a
busy and prosperous community, numbering forty thousand engaged
in trade and the fisheries. The foreign population is perhaps one
thousand.

TRADING-JUNK.

CHAPTER XV.
FROM HONG-KONG TO CANTON.
The Chinese Coasting-Trade.— Chinese Smugglers.— Canton River-Banks.— Aspect of
Canton.— The British Concession.— The American Hongs.— The Consul and the
Taou-tai.— The Diet of the Cantonese. — Manufactures of Canton.— The Temples of
Canton. Canton, December 28th; Steamer Kin-San.— American side-
wheel steamers carry the foreign coasting-trade between Hong-
Kong and Macao westward, Hong-Kong and Canton northward,
and Hong-Kong, Swatow, Amoy, Ning-po, and Foo-Choo, on the
eastern coast.
We occupied, with two friends, the saloon and upper cabins of
the Kin-San, while the lower deck bore four hundred Chinese,
chiefly traders, who pay a fare of a Mexican dollar for a voyage of
ninety miles. The purser brought us the box which contained the
collection of dollars for this voyage. Many were rejected. The
coins were genuine, but almost every piece had been clipped. The
deficiency was made up in " cash." From the. deck, we noticed a
native trader, who at intervals advanced to the bulwark, and threw
into the water small bunches of hay and straw. We observed that,
in every case, natives rowed from the shore in small boats, and
picked up this refuse. Our friends, who knew the trick, informed
us that the bundles of hay and straw contained packages of opium.
Another trader dropped a sealed bottle into the river. A partner,
who was waiting on the bank, took it up and found in it the prices

234 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
current of opium at London. Smuggling wears only this thin
covering in China.
Our course for forty-five miles — half our voyage — lay among sea-
islands, giving us only occasional glimpses of the main-land. We
then entered the narrow channel of the deep river, promiscuously
called the North and the Canton. The banks are lined with the
"Bogue" forts, before the "Opium War" regarded by the Chinese
as a reliable defence. The victors stipulated that these forts shall
not again be garrisoned. They are now falling into ruin. Thus
Canton, the southern capital of China, is absolutely defenceless, with
a British naval and military station at its very door. Might not
Christian merchants in the East be content with this ? Whampoa,
some fifteen miles down the river, is the outpost of the foreign trade
carried on at Canton. The river-banks below Whampoa are dull
and monotonous. Above that place they present scenes of tropical
luxuriance and beauty. The valley expands, and is covered with
sugar-plantations, banana and orange groves, and the surrounding
hills are crowned with pagodas. Canton stands on the right bank
of the river, but projects in long suburbs over the opposite shore.
Neither Nagasaki, nor Yokohama, nor Osaka, nor Han-Kow, nor
Tien-Tsin, nor Shanghai, nor Hong-Kong, nor Peking, gives the
stranger so effective an impression of a great city.
We moored at the wharf in the midst of a floating city of three
hundred thousand souls. Canton, like' the surrounding provinces,
is traversed by canals, which bring to its wharves passengers in
immense numbers from all parts of the empire. The inventive
talent, as well as the frugality of the Chinese, is in nothing more
conspicuous than in the provision which is made for these wayside
travellers. There are blocks and streets of^ayly-painted and deco
rated floating inns or taverns, shops for supplying all wants with
out the delay and cost of going ashore. Our passage through these
winding streets and alleys gave us some odd revelations of marine
life. All manner of domestic occupations are carried on without
fear of annoyance, or affectation of privacy. Chins are shaven,
queues are plaited, dinners are cooked and served, clothes are made,
washed, and mended, children are dressed, whipped, and put to

THE TOU-TATS NOTE. 235
bed, that is to say, laid on a mat and fastened with a cord around
their waists, and tied to a mast to keep them from falling overboard.
Even "field-sports" are not wanting. A favorite exercise of this
kind is the chase of the wharf-rat. We saw one caught, skinned,
spitted, and put on charcoal. This amusement is pursued chiefly
by women and children. The fishing with cormorants is a vocation
of a large class.
Our party had no sooner reached shore, than it broke into fac
tions. The younger members extemporized a guide and boat,
crossed the river, and were soon lost in studying carved ivory,
shell, and sandal-wood boxes, pagodas and toilet-cases, and orna
ments of gold, silver, jasper, and jade. Mr. Seward, more politic,
visited the British Concession. If they found the fabrics of Canton
more exquisite than they had imagined, he found the foreign settle
ment more spacious and elegant than the people of Shanghai and
Hong-Kong allow it to be. There are thirty or forty spacious
foreign hongs, an Episcopal church, built of white marble, and a
club-house with a good library and billiard-room ; on the bank, a
promenade, handsomely-ornamented with gardens, which rejoices
in the name of Cha-min (Sand-face).
The American houses, Russell & Company and Smith, Archer
& Company, finding that the acquisition of title by Americans
within the British Concession was attended with some uncertainty,
have rebuilt their old factories in the Chinese city outside the Con
cession, and we are here the guests of those well-known hongs.
December 29th.— Archdeacon Grey is a philo-Chinese. He has
resided here nineteen years, and he kindly offers us his invaluable
assistance in the exploration of Canton.
Meantime, the United States consul, anticipating that Mr. Sew
ard would esteem it an act of becoming courtesy to call on the
Taou-tai of the province, addressed a note to that functionary. He
remitted to the consul the following well-argued and most conclu
sive answer :
" In answer to your note stating that the Honorable William
H. Seward, formerly Secretary of State, having visited Peking, and

236 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
called at the foreign office there, had arrived in Canton, and pro
posed to appoint a time to call, etc., I have to say that, considering
his Honor Seward has laid aside his office, and therefore there can
be no consulting upon public business, and as the foreign office has
sent no notice of his coming, it is not convenient for us to see and
look each other in the face.
" Please inform his Honor Seward, the great officer, that it will
be of no use to come to my office. This reply with my best compli
ments, my name and my card."
The consul, we know not how justly, attributes this decision of
the Taou-tai to a public misunderstanding between himself and that
officer, which had arisen before our arrival — the Taou-tai fearing
that an interview with Mr. Seward might produce some popular
jealousy. Canton is a sphinx, serenely indulging in calm recollections, and
seeming to smile with equal contentment on time and change. We
have interrogated it. How shall we be able to record its responses.
The city covers a very large plain. Some of the streets are ten
feet wide, they average seven ; all irregular and without a plan.
They are travelled chiefly on foot, but almost everywhere sedan-
chairs can be used. Paved with flat granite blocks, the sewerage
is concealed, and in this one Chinese city there is no want of public
cleanliness. An untidy person is as rarely seen in the streets here,
as a tidy one in the streets of Peking or Han-Kow. Occasionally,
we passed a dwelling, palatial in its dimensions and embellishment,
but, generally speaking, the city presents merely a mass of shops.
The floors are on a level with the streets, the houses without veran
das or porches, and entirely open in front. The buildings are
narrow, usually of one story, often twenty feet high, and each
has an attic. It is a Chinese proverb that " ill-luck follows ridge-
beams which connect with each other in a continuous fine.'
Hence the roofs are of unequal height, and the boards, which pro
ject from them over the streets, to protect travellers from the sun
and rain, are irregularly placed. The material of the fragile walls
is dark-brown brick. Every one knows that the Chinese write from
right to left, and in downward columns. The sign-boards, painted

DIET OF THE CANTONESE. 237
in rich vermilion or gilded on dark blue, instead of being horizontal,
hang perpendicularly, everywhere obstructing the passenger. The
shops are gorgeously ornamented. Helmbold's patent-medicine
shop on Broadway would not be out of place here. There are no
street monuments. The streets are often short and curved, they
branch at all angles, and sometimes are continued through very
narrow gates or mere door-ways. It thus happens that there is no
long vista, and Canton is a labyrinth, which only one who is prac
tised therein can thread. It is divided into quarters for the accom
modation of divers kinds of business more completely than any
European city. Bankers have their exclusive Wall Streets ; the
mercantile shops are in districts removed from manufactories ; em
broiderers, silk-weavers, cotton-weavers, lapidaries, jewellers, and
carvers, have separately their own quarters. Only vegetables,
fruits, fish, meat, poultry, and game, are displayed everywhere.
The dwellers in Canton are epicureans. They have fish from
the rivers and fish from the sea — veal, mutton, venison, pigs, kids,
ducks, geese, grouse, pheasants, quails, and ortolans. Whatever
they can serve you at the Astor-House, you can command here —
ay, more than can be found on the Astor-House carte ; for, in the
midst of the tempting display in the provision-shops, are seen the
carefully-dressed carcasses of infinite rats and unmistakable saddles
of dogs, while here and there you notice in the shop-windows a
placard which announces that "black cat is served hot, at all
hours." A decoction of snakes is sold as a medicine. As we were
passing a small lake, a boy in our train waded waist-deep and
brought out a water-snake. We urged him to throw the un
fortunate reptile back, but he declined, and, bruising its head, he
put his finger to his mouth by way of informing us that it was to
be his supper.
Rope is made here by the same process as among us, but a
greater variety of materials is used. Besides hemp, they work
bamboo, ratan, and tanned and untanned hides.
A primitive process is resorted to in bleaching. The operator
takes clean water by the mouthful and spurts it over the fabric.
Calendering is done as it was in Europe before the invention of

238 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
modern machinery. The cloth is passed under a stone roller which
the operative rocks with his feet. The gloss produced is unequalled.
We entered a fiouring-mill — a blinded cow, at the end of a shaft,
moves each of the seven pairs of stones. The operation is perfect,
and the animals seem sound and healthy. The human foot moves
the winnowing and bolting processes.
No stranger could conceive the excellence or the cheapness of
artistic production. Mr. Seward, fancying a carving of sandal-wood
suitable for a door-way, valued it at three hundred dollars. It was
offered him at sixteen !
It can hardly be believed that the extensive manufacture of
silks in China is carried on without the use of the " Jacquard "
loom. The workshop is without a floor. The primitive hand-
loom, with the operator's bench, is placed in an excavation. They
insist here that the moisture of the ground imparts a porcelain gloss
to the silk. Silk-embroidery is the most important manufacture.
This toilsome and exhausting labor is performed exclusively by
men, instead of being devolved on delicate women, as in European
countries. We bought, at nominal prices, articles which would
have a fabulous value at home.
Lacquer-ware is made, though less extensively than in Japan.
This is the process : A frame of the required article is made of thin
wood or veneering perfectly seasoned. This frame is covered inside
and out with soft silk-paper, made to adhere smoothly by use of a
glutinous solution. When the paper has perfectly dried, a coating
of pulverized granite, mixed in a fine oil, is spread over the surface.
This granite paste hardens in its turn, and now the process of
lacquering begins. The lacquer is a vegetable juice imported from
India in earthen jars, and, when fresh, is milk-white ; when exposed
to the air, it thickens and becomes black. It is applied with a
brush and left to dry. No less than eight successive coats are put
on, sometimes more. The Chinese, in speaking of a fool, use the
proverb that " he wants the ninth coating of lacquer." After the
lacquering is completed, the ornamentation, usually in vermilion
and gold, takes place. Professional artists make the designs in
perforated paper.

THE TEMPLE OF THE DRAGON. 239
A large district in the city is devoted to the manufacture and
sale of ornaments in jade. A Chinese gallant, speaking of a lady,
says she is " as beautiful as jade." We failed to understand the
secret of its value until informed of the firmness of its texture. A
piece of this stone, weighing five pounds, has the dull appearance
of a common pebble. It is sawed into plates of the required thick
ness by the use of a fine wire moved by hand. After this, turning-
lathes and lapidaries' instruments are employed. With these it is
shaped into finger-rings, ear-rings, bracelets, bangles, buckles, cups,
vases, and the like. The best jade is that which shades from milky
white to clear green.
We notice that women of the higher class wear a kind of orna
ment pecuhar to Canton. It consists of a head-dress or cap, brace
lets or finger-rings, made of filagree gold, delicately enamelled with
the blue kingfisher's feathers, and heavily studded with pearls and
gems. Among temples, we visited first that of Pak-tai (the Dragon), a
Taouktic deity. The dragon is one of the sacred emblems of China.
Before that emblem stands a shrine, and below this a living rep
resentative of the monster in the shape of a pretty little bright-
green snake, which coils in the branches of a dwarfed tree, cultivated
in a small garden-vase. Incense is offered equally on the shrine
of the carved dragon, and before the living representation in the
tree.- The offerings are such as the snake does not disdain, but
such as the fabled dragon perhaps might not thank his votaries for.
They consist of tea and eggs. When merchants contract partner
ships, or masters and apprentices execute indentures, they bring
engrossed copies of the covenants, and burn them with incense
under the tree. In this way they bring the contents of the articles
to the notice of the god for his approval and blessing. When the
contracts have been fully performed, the parties come again to the
presence of the sacred snake, and with solemn religious ceremony
declare mutual acquittal and satisfaction. "Holy water" is con
stantly kept in vases, from which it is carried away in phials for the
curing of diseases. When a second affliction falls on a bereaved
family, it indicates that the grave of the deceased relation is an

240

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

unlucky one. In that case the bones are exhumed and washed in
this water, and then removed to a more hospitable sepulchre. From
this temple we passed into a long street in which every shop-win
dow is filled with bars of bullion, fans, hats, shoes, and garments
of every pattern cut from fancy-colored paper, and put up in pack
ages with a prayer impressed on each packet. These parcels are
sold to mourners, who burn them in incense before the shrine, be
lieving that in this way they convey to the departed friends the
material substances of which the paper articles are the imitation.
Of the Buddhist temples, the most celebrated is the Honan.
It is, with its extensive monastery, called also the Temple of the
" Ocean Banner ; " but why the " Ocean Banner," we cannot con
jecture. Spacious areas here are occupied by " sacred " pigs, goats,

ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF HONAN.

THE TEMPLE OF THE FLOWERY FOREST. 241
sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese. Notwithstanding the reverential
devotion which the monks show to these animals, the idle boys who
followed us into the temple took a wicked delight in " stirring up "
the fat, holy swine with pike-staves, and making them grunt for
our entertainment. The monks have separate cloisters, and, besides
these, one spacious and common hall, which, having undergone
some special form of consecration, is regarded as an auspicious
chamber for the departure of the soul in death. When a brother's
last hour is supposed to be near, he is brought to this chamber,
possibly with the unintentional effect of hastening his entrance to
anticipated bliss. Not far from this happy death-chamber is a
sanctified and auspicious charnel-house. The body deposited in
this lucky vault remains here in waiting until Buddha, being con
sulted, indicates a lucky day for the ceremony of cremation. Be
yond the charnel-house is a furnace in which the process is con
ducted. The ashes are gathered in a vase, and are deposited with
others in a temporary mausoleum. When the fulness of time has
arrived, and an auspicious day has come, the vase is emptied into
a common sarcophagus, and so the funeral-rites are at last ended.
Leaving the " Ocean Banner," we visited the Temple of the
"Flowery Forest." Its pantheon contains images not only of gods
of whom the Greeks or Romans never dreamed, but of more gods
than they ever worshipped. Think of five hundred colossal wooden
figures, of all complexions, black, white, and red, with distorted
features and limbs, and dressed in purple, crimson, and gold, sitting
in close order around the walls of a saloon, equal to the largest in
the British Museum. These are the guardian genii of China.
Each is a deified apostle or saint of the religion. These figures
were presented to the monastery by one of the emperors, and per
haps all were carved by one artist. If he failed to impart a natural
human expression to any among them, it must be admitted in his
favor that, in their hideous distortions, no two are alike. We were
kindly received by the monks. The abbot, a man of reverend
mien, wears purple, a cap which might be mistaken for a mitre, and
a staff in the shape of a crozier. As we came in advance of the
evening service, they entertained us in the spacious court with

242 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
delicious tea and dried fruits. The brethren showed by their con
versation a vague knowledge of foreign countries. They -feared
that the disasters which have befallen France may encourage Rus
sian aggression against China. They understand something of the
great civil war in the United States, and rejoice in its results.
While we were thus engaged, a group of ladies exquisitely dressed,
and having the least of all feet, came into the court accompanied by
many children. This party was followed by a retinue of well-
dressed servants, bearing large ornamented paper boxes, filled with
votive offerings, paper- shoes, fans, and hats, as before described.
They were waiting until the midnight hour, to burn these offerings
in incense for the repose and cheer of deceased ancestors. Although
the women made no mirthful demonstration, they were animated
and cheerful, seeming to regard the ceremony in which they were
engaged rather as a festal than a funereal one. They made no
advances to us, but showed much delight with the caresses we
bestowed on their pretty children.
At the service, the monks kindly seated Mr. Seward on a wooden
bench, the only thing of the kind in the temple, in a good position
to see the ceremony. The hall of worship is sixty feet square, with
a lofty ceiling. In its centre, a gigantic, triple- carved statue, in a
sitting posture, representing Buddha in his three " states " — the face
looking to the left, symbolic of oblivion, or the past; that looking
forward, expressive of activity, the present ; the third, looking to the
right, contemplation, or the future. The " Flowery Forest," then,
is a temple dedicated to a religion, older than our own, which pre
sents, in a vague, misty way, two of the principles of the Christian
Church : one, the incarnation of the Supreme ; the other, His pres
entation in three persons, one and indivisible. Are these analo
gies merely accidental coincidences, or are they different outgrowths
of the same innate ideas, or are they shadowy forms of a common
revelation ? The service consisted in a solemn, measured, and de
votional intonation of a long and varied liturgy. Occasionally, a
bell tinkled, to indicate a change in the order of the prayers. At
this sound, the monks prostrated themselves, and brought their
foreheads to the ground. At other times, they changed their pos-

THE TEMPLE OF LONGEVITY. 243
tures toward the triune image, or* walked in solemn procession
around it, keeping time to a muffled drum and gong. Offerings
are made of wheat, rice, and millet. These being deemed now
consecrated, they were, at the conclusion of the ceremony, conveyed
in a tripod, and scattered over the paved court of the temple, that
they might be gathered by the fowls of the air, and so be saved
from human profanation. The temple contains a very fine dagoba
of white marble, built over a relic of a former incarnate Buddha.
Its pedestal, a lower story, is ornamented with various allegorical
tablets, on which Buddha is represented riding here on a dragon,
there on a lion, and elsewhere on other animals. Heathen deities,
as we come among them, seem to us to be rather impersonations
of ideal conditions of human existence, than spiritual conceptions
of a superior order of beings.
There is a temple dedicated to " Longevity." The idol, a colos
sal figure, badly carved in wood, and painted very red and very
brown, represents an obese, contented, and lazy old man. This
temple has a monastery of extraordinary character. Instead of
cloisters of masonry, the cells are trees ; and, instead of shaven
monks, the brotherhood is a family of storks, which, daily fed by the
attendants, live out their long-appointed days, objects of reverence
and affection. The stork which has the luck to be dedicated to
" Longevity " is a happy bird. What a contrast is his to the case
of the gold-fish, only bred and fattened, in the ponds of the temple
of the same god, to become the food of the " holy " stork !
Whatever doubts there may be about the justice of the Chinese
claim to the invention of printing, it is pleasant to record that they
have done honor to the art of arts by dedicating to it shrines,
tablets, and vases of incense.
Our survey of the religious institutions closed with a visit to a
convent of Buddhist nuns, devoted to the care of the sick. The
superior and the sisterhood received us kindly. Although illiterate,
they are industrious, tidy, gentle, and prepossessing. They showed
us not only the meagre hospital wards, but their own very humble
cells. After all, charity is an essential element of every religion,
and woman is its truest minister throughout the world.

CHAPTER XVI.
CANTON {Continued).
A Chinese Villa. — The Hall of Ancestors. — A Chinese School-Room. — Another Villa.—
An Opium-Den. — Extent of Opium-Smoking. — The Chinese Chronometer. — The
Street of Malefactors. — The Place of Execution. — A City of the Dead. — Canton
at Night.
Canton, December 30th. — This morning, without previous invi
tation or notice, our reverend guide ushered us into the villa of a
Chinese gentleman, Poon-ting-gua. It covers several acres, en
closed with a solid granite wall. Chinese ladies with their children
received us graciously. The mansion has a spacious theatre, taste
fully arranged, for private entertainments, many pretty boudoirs,
and a spacious banqueting-hall. After this, we visited the still
more ambitious dwelling of the mandarin Lee, now exercising the
office of Taou-tai in the province of Chin-Kiang. This residence
contains a noble Hall of Ancestors, which, although it opens on
one side to the sky, resembles very much the old Representative
Hall in the Capitol at Washington. The Ancestral Hall is the
chapel used for daily family worship of the gods, as well as of the
ancestors. The hall is purely Confucian in idea. A shrine in the
centre supports a tablet on which the names of the ancestors are
inscribed. Large crimson banners are suspended from the walls,
which contain, in embroidery, their likenesses, as well as those of
the family, with heraldic insignia or emblems. The Ancestral
Hall, moreover, is the judgment-chamber or tribunal in which
family courts are held. At these courts all births are recorded,

A GARDEN IN CANTON.

245

marriage-contracts celebrated, and all disputes are adjusted. In
anticipation of his last hour, the head of the house is brought to the
Ancestral Hall to die, expecting an unobstructed passage thence

POON-TING-GUA'S VILLA.

to the realms above. After his death, his will is published in the
same chamber. This hall is brilliantly furnished with European
lamps, clocks, and mirrors. On the present occasion, the altar or
tablet was graced with a porcelain salver, on which rested a cold
roast-pig, weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. The dish was flanked
with conserves, cakes, and flowers. A daughter of the house, mar
ried three days ago, comes in procession to-day, to pay her parting
visit to her family, and these were the offerings to ancestors pro
vided for the celebration of this important domestic event. At the
conclusion of the ceremony, in such cases, the oblations are distrib
uted among the servants of the family.

246 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
We were particularly interested in the school-room, where the
boys are educated ; the girls are not educated at all. With its
arrangement of tables, desks, black-board, books, and slates, the
apartment might be mistaken for a school-room at home. All the
pupils read the lessons of every sort aloud, and all at once, and
commit them to memory. The pedagogue differs but little, except
in dress, from the school-master the world over. The master in this
present school is an ingenuous as well as a spirited man. The
instrument of his discipline laid on his desk, and he did not hesi
tate to admit that he frequently employs it, believing probably in
Solomon's instruction, " he that spareth his rod, hateth his son."
The Chinese boys have all the natural manner and modesty of well-
bred children. One bright-eyed little lad of eight years, with great
reverence, asked Mr. Seward's " honorable age."
We were received by another family, in a very spacious villa
near the Honan. We noticed, with some surprise, here, the im-
pluvium, rendered so famous by the descriptions of Pompeii. Is it
likely that the Chinese have preserved a feature of villa architecture
which the Western nations have lost ? The proprietor and the ladies
of his family conducted us through their sumptuous abode, with
perfect refinement of manner, betraying not the least shyness or
curiosity. The tea-house in Canton holds the place of the ale-house, cafe,
or restaurant, in European cities. Rich and poor promiscuously
gather there, and are served without respect of persons.
In returning from the villa, we opened a narrow door and made
our way through a dark passage to a suite of small rooms, faintly
lighted from the roof. The seclusion, darkness, and silence of the
place, indicated that something furtive was going on there. On
either side of a long chamber was a dais divided into sections, in
each section two men reclining vis-d-vis — between them a minia
ture table six inches high. We were in an opium-den, and these
persons were the victims. Before each of the smokers, on the
table, rested a pipe, a tiny opium-pot, and a burning lamp. Here,
as in the tea-house, there is no respect of rank or wealth. The
poor and the rich lie down together. Each assists the other in the

OPIUM-SMOKERS.

247

delicate task of igniting the opium, and filling the bowl of the pipe.
We spoke to two or three of the smokers, who were only at the
beginning of the siesta, and received from them respectful and
o-entle answers. We tried in vain to rouse others to consciousness,
who were in the stage of blissful revery, although their eyes were

OPIUM-SM0KEE8.

open, and they were sadly smiling. When the smoker recovers
from the inebriation, if he has sufficient strength he repairs home ;
otherwise, he is removed to another apartment, and remains there
perhaps twenty-four hours, recovering strength to depart. Was it

248 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
an imagination of ours that the keeper of this hell wore a base and
sinister look as he stood behind his counter in a dark closet, sur
rounded by packages of the pernicious drug, which he weighed out
to his customers a pennyweight of opium against a pennyweight
of silver ?
The books we have read at home, and the discussions we have
heard here as well as there, have prepared us to see the disastrous
effect of opium-smoking on every side in China. The denunciation
of the practice is justified by all-sufficient proof that it is destructive
of physical and intellectual energy. Statistics show a vast increase
of the consumption of the drug, since its free importation has been
allowed. The Chinese Government has given its sanction to the
wide-spread denunciation by its persistent and earnest opposition
to the opium-trade. We are agreeably disappointed, however, by
the absence of evidence of the evil fruits of the practice which we
had anticipated. Except in this den where we purposely went to
seek the vice and its victims, we have not met, in any part of the
country, a person of either sex, or of any age, whose appearance,
conversation or conduct, indicated an excessive indulgence. Euro
peans and Americans here agree in representing the practice as
wide-spread and pernicious, but, when interrogated concerning
their observation, they assure you that they know of a coolie, a
house-servant, a mechanic, a clerk, perhaps a trader, who has
become inefficient or unreliable by the indulgence. But the best-
informed persons agree that cases of this kind are neither more
frequent nor more extensive than those of habitual alcoholic intem
perance in the United States. Moreover, we are inclined to think
that the cost of the drug, when balanced against the low wages of
labor, lifts the abuse beyond the reach of the working-classes.
In the matter of the regulation of time, the Chinese do not keep
up with Western science. There is a tower here devoted to that
purpose. Each hour is announced in a printed placard posted on
the outer wall. The chronometer, however, which is used in the
tower, is a water-clock, the clumsy clepsydra of ancient Greece.
A branch staircase from the Time-Tower brought us to the
government printing-office, which publishes all official documents,

A CHINESE ACELDAMA. 249
including a copy of the Peking Gazette. None of our modern
improvements are used. The carving of the wooden type, the
spreading of the India-ink over them, the taking of the impression,
all are done by hand.
The Chinese Government is based on two fictions : first, that
the emperor is the Son of Heaven ; second, that he is the parent of
the Chinese people. In harmony with these principles, loyalty to
the state is inculcated not only as a religious but as a filial duty.
But all sentimental fictions are liable to abuse, equally in politics
and religion. The code of Draco was not more cruel than the
parental discipline of the Chinese empire. Passing by the palace
of the Taou-tai, with its ostentatious imperial banners, we turned a
sharp corner, and entered a long, narrow, cheerless street. Here,
no gay sign-boards or banners relieved the night. The shops are
sombre, and there are few travellers. It is the malefactor road —
the street through which the condemned convicts pass, from the
palace to the place of execution. It was almost night when we
were admitted, under a strong but low gateway, to a close area a
hundred feet long, scarcely more than twenty feet wide ; on one
side low stone-buildings ; on the other a high blind wall ; a walk
paved with large flat stones in the middle of the~ court. A potter
was noiselessly at work shaping vessels, some to be used for re
ceiving the blood, others the hands and feet, and others the heads
of the victims. Sometimes only a single execution takes place, but
usually short delays are made for the convenience of bringing sev
eral executions together. They vary in number from two to fifty,
and, in times of political disturbance or flagrant piracy, fifty and
even a hundred executions take place at once. Dr. Grey, who
has studied Chinese history carefully, is of opinion that no field of
battle ancient or modern has witnessed so much violent destruction
of human life as this Aceldama. The customary form is decapita
tion. When the condemned come within the gate, they march up
the paved walk and take their places, kneeling inward on either
side. An imperial officer at the upper end of the court reads, in a
distinct voice, a rescript of their names, crimes, and sentences. A
practised executioner, with a long sword which he wields with both

250 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
hands, proceeds down the line. The culprits stretching their necks
forward, the executioner, swinging the instrument in continued
circles, completely severs a head at every blow. The heads fall
into vases filled with lime ; nevertheless the pavement is besmeared
with blood, and the effluvia rising from this horrible place taint
the atmosphere of the most distant parts of the city. We saw
crosses leaning against the wall, prepared for inflicting punishment
in that form, and many baskets, each of which contained a head
ready to be transported to the city gates, and to distant parts of the
empire. The scene we next visited is one which, although sad and
solemn, is touching and beautiful. This is an extensive plain,
ornamented with gardens and lakes, fragrant with flowers, and
musical with the songs of birds. It is the temporary resting-place
of the dead while awaiting — a day or many days, a month or many
months, a year or many years — an auspicious time and place for
final interment. This city of the dead is divided into blocks, and
traversed by rectilinear paved streets. Instead of dwellings, the
squares are covered with charnel-houses, and these are already
numbered by thousands. They are built of stone, and kept with
perfect cleanliness and order. The charnel-houses, one story high,
are divided into two apartments — the front, a reception-hall with
tablets and an altar, before which a lamp continually burns, and on
which offerings of tea, fruit, and flowers are daily renewed. This
room is occupied by the relations of the deceased, generally sons or
daughters, who console the dead not only by day, but through the
long watches of the night. A couch or divan along the wall serves
for their repose. In the inner chamber rest the unburied, or the
exhumed remains enclosed in a costly carved coffin, covered with
a magnificent purple or scarlet pall. Around the coffin are figures
or statues, either carved, or of porcelain, which, gayly dressed and
bearings fans or cups, are ministering to the wants of the sleeping
dead. When a stranger dies in Canton, information is conveyed
to his friends, however distant. His remains rest here until prep
arations for his interment have been made, in the part of the em
pire where he lived. The " city of the dead," like our cemeteries,

NIGHT ASPECT OF CANTON. 251
is under the care of an association, and its expenses are defrayed
by charges regulated by tariff.
It was quite nine o'clock, a star-lit night, when we emerged
from this silent, mysterious place— the only one we have ever seen
in which, though it is devoted to the dead, cheerfulness and hope
prevail over gloom and despondency. We passed through a series
of graves which surround it, starting a thousand storks, which kept
watch and ward over the cemetery. These birds have a peculiar
adaptation to sacred places. They rest always on one leg, the head
turned backward under the wing. Their utterances are made by
clapping their mandibles together like a pair of castanets. Our
coolies bore burning lamps. They carried us very quickly across a
rude, iminhabited plain, which, by reason of its vicinity to the city,
we expected to find a scene of disorder and peril. Our experience
is that neither assassin nor robber of any kind, by night or by day,
awaits the sojourner in Canton. We occasionally stopped to inquire
- the significance of a candle burning in the grass near the roadside,
and before which lay offerings of tea, wheat, fruit, or millet. The
explanation was, that some person, passing the place, had stumbled
or met with other accident, the mischievous work of some discon
tented spirit or demon. The light and the offerings are designed
to propitiate him.
The night aspect of Canton is one of quiet and peace. All
shops, stores, and manufactories, are closely shut ; only here and
there a paper lantern dangles from the eaves, before the house of a
mandarin or a Avealthy denizen. The tread of the foot-passenger is
only occasionally heard, and there are no processions, groups, or
crowds. Light streams through the crevices of the dwellings, and
often the clink of the anvil' and the sound of the hammer indicate
that the inhabitants have only withdrawn from the operations of
sale in which they were engaged during the day, to manufacture
new articles to sell to-morrow, Rarely, very rarely, one may hear
the mellow tones of a flute, but never in any part of the city does
there arise the sound of debauch or revelry. A gentle rap by our
conductor brought to the postern the keeper of each of the numer- •
ous gates through which we had to pass. A kind word assured us
20

252

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

that he was prepared for our coming, and was interested for our
safety. Moving on so . quietly in our chairs, we had fallen into
the dreamy state of contemplation ascribed to Buddha, when the
last of the city-gates, the gate of "Everlasting Peace," lifted its
head and allowed us to pass under the door of hospitable "Kee-
Chung."

CHINESE TOMBS.

CHAPTER XVII.
AT HONG-KONG AGAIN.
Chinese Emigration to the United States.— The Canton Fisheries.— American Houses in
China.— A Combination of Gamblers.— A Dinner at the United States Consulate.—
Mr. Seward's Speech.— Oriental and Eastern Civilization.— Policy of China. — Pros
pects of China.
Hong-Kong, January 1, 1871.— The Kin-San, on her return-
voyage, besides ourselves, had three cabin-passengers, all merchants
of Macao. She had four hundred in the steerage : one hundred
and fifty of them Chinese traders between Canton and Hong-Kong ;
the others, voluntary Chinese emigrants going to ship at Hong-
Kong for San Francisco. The Chinese emigration to the United
States goes exclusively from the province of Quan-Tong (Canton)
through the port of Canton. The Chinese emigration to other
American countries, the West Indies, and South America, goes
from the same province, but through the Portuguese port of Macao.
The laws of the United States, which require consular examination
and a certificate in each case that the emigration is voluntary,
and made on sufficient guarantee, have proved entirely effective in
preventing abduction, fraud, and violence. The emigrant to the
United States is contented and cheerful. It is not so, however,
with the emigrant who embarks at Macao. The system of abduc
tion prevailing there is an abomination scarcely less execrable than
the African slave-trade. The emigrants are promiscuously taken
by fraud and force ; ignorant of their destination, and without secu-

254 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
rity for their labor or their freedom, they are hurried on board sail
ing-craft. These vessels are built in the United States, and they
appear at Macao under the United States flag, promising to convey
the emigrants to our country. So soon as they have cleared the
port, they hoist the colors of Peru, San Salvador, or some other
Spanish- American state. It is when this fraud is discovered that
scenes of mutiny and murder occur, of which we have such frequent
and frightful accounts. It shall not be our fault if, in the cause of
humanity, the United States Government is not informed of this
great outrage against our national honor.
Chinese versatility has a fine illustration in the Canton fisheries.
On either side of our steamer, as we came down the river, was a
tub or cistern holding five hundred gallons of water. The water
contained great quantities of living fish produced in ponds in
the vicinity of Canton. Arriving at the wharf here, a sluice was
opened at the bottom of each cistern, and the fish, rushing out with
the rapid current, dropped into smaller tubs, and were conveyed
either to market, or to ships going to sea. v
January 2d. — We are pleased with the reassurance we receive
here from home, that a semi-monthly line of steamers is to be
established by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. This line
is a development of enterprise which, though noiseless, is extend
ing the American name and influence in the East.
The American houses in China are as follows :
Russell & Company, with establishments at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton,
Foo-Choo, Kiu-Kiang, Han-Kow, and Tien-Tsin.
Augustine Heard & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, and Foo-Choo.
Oliphant & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, and Foo-Choo.
Bull, Pardon & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Canton, and Foo-Choo.
Smith, Archer, & Company, at Shanghai, Hong-Kong, and Canton.
Silas E. Burrows & Company, at Hong-Kong.
E. J. Sage & Company, at Hong-Kong.
H. Fogg & Company, at Shanghai.
A. C. Farnham & Company, at Shanghai.
To all these houses our grateful acknowlegments — to Russell

A SPEECH BY MR. SEWARD. 255
& Company, the most full, because they have claimed us as their
guests, in their several agencies throughout the empire.
Hong-Kong has a social grievance unknown in the United
States, except in the new States and Territories— a villanous combi
nation of gamblers, like the pests of the same kind whose atrocities
stain the history of Vicksburg and San Francisco. The judicial
officers confess themselves powerless to suppress these criminals.
To-day the United States consul, Mr. Bailey, entertained Mr.
Seward, with the large party gathered to meet him, at the consulate.
To Mr. Bailey's speech of welcome, Mr. Seward replied as follows :
"The questions which engaged the American people, in the
period to which you have so kindly referred, were, the elimination
of slavery from the United States, and the saving of the republic
from dissolution. Both these questions were at last decided for the
right, in a fearful civil war. I think there is not now living, on
this round earth, a man who, even though he was then a sympa
thizer with the rebellion, now regrets that beneficent adjustment.
"Our distinguished statesman, Daniel Webster, foresaw only
the struggle. His utmost confidence in the happy end was in the
expression of his earnest hope that his dying eyes might not close
on a dismembered, a disunited, a belligerent republic. On us, how
ever, who have survived both him and the convulsion, there opens
a bright and glorious prospect — it is the spread of republican insti
tutions over the whole American Continent, involving by absolute
necessity a regeneration of civilization in the East. The United
States have assumed the lead in this great work, happily with the
free consent and approbation of all the European nations.
" The first Emperor of the French, copying from -Julius Ceesar,
introduced, in our time, the military empire, as an agency for con
quest. The second emperor dedicated it to peace and progress.
Fortunately for mankind, the innovation has failed for both pur
poses. The world is coming to realize, on the contrary, that ' the
republic] that is to say, not the republic of former ages, but the'
modern republic of our own experience, is always favorable to pros
perity and progress, and is everywhere ' on earth peace, good-will
toward men.'

256 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
" I have been long engaged studying the great problem of mod
ern civilization. In doing so, I have travelled largely on the North
American Continent, and, with the same object, I am now observing
Asiatic countries. In this connection, I may make two or three
observations, without disloyalty to my own country, or to China,
and without offence to any foreign nation represented here. I do
not undervalue missionary labors in the East, but .the Christian
religion, for its acceptance, involves some intellectual and social ad
vancement which can only be effected through international com
merce. I look, therefore, chiefly to commerce for the regeneration
of China — that commerce to come across the American Continent
and the Pacific Ocean. I lament to find, in every part of China
that I visit, despondency concerning that commerce, which, I am
sure, is not entertained in the United States, or in any other of the
Western nations. I think that despondency without foundation.
On the other hand, a foreign commerce, which penetrates the
northern, the central, and the southern regions of China, is firmly
established and secured. Not one of the footholds which have been
gained can ever be lost. The continuance and increase of that
commerce are guaranteed by the material, moral, social, and politi
cal necessities of both continents.
" Say what men may, human progress is compelled by the laws
of Providence. Obstacles, indeed, must occur, and will multiply
resistance here, and discussions and jealousies in the West ; but
there is a subtle moral opinion which pervades mankind, before
which, sooner or later, all such obstacles disappear. There is no
assignable measure to the future expansions of this intercontinental
and regenerating commerce. Although its movements seem to us
very slow, yet there are abundant evidences that it is neither dying
out nor retrograding. The daily increasing emigration from south
ern China to America, and to the Malay Peninsula, and the Oriental
Archipelago, is a guarantee of its continuance. That emigration
works beneficially in three ways : the navigation employed in it
sustains commerce ; it relieves an overcrowded population of sur
plus labor ; returning emigrants bring back not only wealth, but
arts, knowledge, and morals, to renovate their native country. Let

SPEECH CONTINUED. 257
it be our task, therefore, to stimulate this emigration. It is essen
tial to the growth of international commerce, that the Western
states practise equal justice toward China. True commerce involves
reciprocity, not exclusive gain on either side, and it flourishes
just in proportion to the good faith and equality with which it is
conducted. "Six or seven years ago, the Western nations, relinquishing
individual designs of aggrandizement or advantage in China, were
represented by enlightened men, among whom were the late Mr.
Burlingame, Sir Frederick Bruce, and M. Berthemy. They agreed
in recommending to their several states the policy of bringing China
into equal political relations with all the Western states. The
' Burlingame ' treaty was the fruit of these counsels. They have
only to be pursued in good faith, to work the best results. No one
now doubts of the renovation of Japan ; but China, with its four
hundred millions, exhibits more signs of progress to-day than Japan,
with its thirty or forty millions, did twenty years ago. I am often
asked : ' But what of this ancient Chinese Imperial Government, its
extortions, its timidity, its effeteness, and of this national prejudice,
the fruit of thousands of years of isolation ? ' I answer : ' I do not
know — no one knows. I only know that imbecility and effeteness
always give way before vigor and energy, and that dotage and
prejudice must give way to truth, justice, and reason. I know not
what political changes may occur here, but, on the other hand, I
know it is an error to suppose that revolutions, with whatever de
sign they are inaugurated, retard human progress.' I used all the
influence I had to prevent the late revolution in Japan, because I
thought it was a retrograde movement ; I little dreamed that the
restored Mikado would excel the dethroned Tycoon in emulating
Western civilization.
"But* I must not enlarge. Gentlemen, you have dedicated
your fortunes and your lives to the regeneration of China. I
pray God that you may individually enjoy the rich rewards of
that devotion !
" This day, with its pleasing incidents, will be forever fresh in
my memory."

258 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
January 4th. — The Chinese, though not of the Caucasian
race, have all its political, moral, and social capabilities. Long
ago, they reached a higher plane of civilization than most of
the European states attained until a much later period. The
Western nations have since risen above that plane. The whole
world is anxiously inquiring whether China is to retrieve the ad
vantages she has lost, and if she is to come within the family of
modern civilized states. Mr. Burlingame's sanguine temperament
and charitable disposition led him to form too favorable an opinion
of the present condition of China. In his anxiety to secure a more
liberal policy on the part of the Western nations toward the ancient
empire, he gave us to understand, especially in his speeches, that,
while China has much to learn from the Western nations, she is not
without some peculiar institutions which they may advantageously
adopt. This is not quite true. Although China is far from being
a barbarous state, yet every system and institution there is inferior
to its corresponding one in the West- Whether it be the abstract
sciences, such as philosophy and psychology, or whether it be the
practical forms of natural science, astronomy, geology, geography,
natural history, and chemistry, or the concrete ideas of govern
ment and laws, morals and manners ; whether it be in the aesthetic
arts or mechanics, every thing in China is effete. Chinese educa
tion rejects science ; Chinese industry proscribes invention ; Chi- ¦
nese morals appeal not to conscience, but to convenience ; Chinese
architecture and navigation eschew all improvements; Chinese
government maintains itself by extortion and terror ; Chinese reh
gion is materialistic — not even mystic, much less spiritual. If we
ask how this inferiority has come about, among a people who have
achieved so much in the past, and have capacities for greater achieve
ment in the future, we must conclude that, owing to some error in
their ancient social system, the faculty of invention has been ar
rested in its exercise and impaired.
China first became known to the Western world by the discov
eries of Marco Polo in the thirteenth century. At that period and
until after the explorations of Vasco de Gama, China appears to
have been not comparatively great, prosperous, and enlightened,

CONDITION OF CHINA. 259
but absolutely so. An empire extending from too snows of Siberia
to the tropics, and from the Pacific to the mountain sources of the
great rivers of Continental Asia, its population constituted one-
fourth of the human race. Diversified climate and soil afforded all
the resources of public and private wealth. Science and art devel
oped those resources. Thus, when European nations came upon
the shores of China, in the sixteenth century, they found the
empire independent and self-sustaining. The Mantchoos on the
north had invaded the empire and substituted a Tartar dynasty
at Peking for a native dynasty at Nanking, but the conquerors
and the conquered were still Chinese, and the change was a revolu
tion and not a subjugation. China having thus attained all the
objects of national life, came to indulge a sentiment of supercilious
pride, under the influence of which she isolated herself from all
other nations. Her government from its earliest period was in the
hands of a scholastic and pedantic class, a class which elsewhere
has been found incapable of practical rule. Since the isolation
took place, that class has effectively exercised all the powers of the
state, in repressing inquiry and stifling invention, through fear
that change in any direction would result in their own overthrow.
The long isolation of the empire, and the extirpation of native in
vention, have ended in reversing the position of China. From
being self-sustaining and independent, as she was when found by
the European states, she has become imbecile, dependent, and help
less. Without military science and art, she is at the mercy of
Western nations. ' Without the science of political economy, the
Government is incapable of maintaining an adequate system of
revenue ; and, without the science of Western laws and morals, it
is equally incapable of maintaining an impartial and effective ad
ministration of justice. Having refused to adopt Western arts and
sciences, the Government is incapable of establishing and maintain
ing a beneficial domestic administration. Insurrections and revo
lutions are therefore unavoidable, nor can the Government repress'
them without the aid of the Western powers. She pays the Euro
pean nations for making the clothing for her people, and the arms
with which they must defend themselves. She imports not only

260 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
the precious metals, but coal and iron, instead of allowing her own
mines to be opened. She forbids the employment of steam and
animal power in mechanics, and so largely excludes her fabrics
from foreign markets.
Though China would now willingly leave all the world alone,
other nations cannot afford to leave her alone. Great Britain must
send her cotton fabrics and iron manufactures. The United States
must send her steam-engines and agricultural implements, and
bring away her coolies. Italy, France, and Belgium, must have
her silks, and all the world must have her teas, and send her their
religions. All these operations cannot go on without steam-en
gines, stationary as well as marine, Hoe's printing-press, and the
electric telegraph.
Now for the question of the prospects of China. Before attempt
ing to answer this, it will be best to define intelligently the pres
ent political condition of China. Certainly it is no longer an abso
lutely sovereign and independent empire, nor has it yet become a
protectorate of any other empire. It is, in short, a state under the
constant and active surveillance of the Western maritime nations.
This surveillance is exercised by their diplomatic representatives,
and by their naval forces backed by the menace of military in
tervention. In determining whether this precarious condition of
China is likely to continue, and whether its endurance is desirable,
it would be well to consider what are the possible alternatives.
There are only three : First, absolute subjugation by some foreign
state ; second, the establishment of a protectorate by some foreign
state ; third, a complete popular revolution, overthrowing not only
the present dynasty, but the present form of government, and
establishing one which shall be in harmony with the interests of
China and the spirit of the age. The Chinese people, inflated with
national pride, and contempt for Western sciences, arts, religions,
morals, and manners, are not prepared to accept the latter alterna
tive. The rivalry of the Western nations, with the fluctuations of
the balance of their political powers, render it dangerous for any
foreign state to assume a protectorate. The second alternative is,
therefore, out of the question. We have already expressed the

POLICY OF THE WESTERN POWERS. 261
opinion that mankind have outlived the theory of universal empire,
and certainly the absolute subjugation of China by any Western
state would be a nearer approach to universal empire tlian Greek,
or Roman, or Corsican, or Cossack, ever dreamed of. The exercise
of sovereignty in China by a national dynasty, under the surveil
lance and protection of the maritime powers, is the condition most
favorable to the country and most desirable. The maintenance of it
seems practicable so far as it depends upon the consent of the mari
time surveillant powers. But how long the four hundred millions
of people within the empire will submit to its continuance is a
question which baffles all penetration. The present Government
favors and does all it can to maintain it. Prince Kung and Wan-
Siang are progressive and renovating statesmen, but a year or two
hence a new emperor will come to the throne. The literati, no less
bigoted now than heretofore, have an unshaken prestige among
the people, and, for aught any one can judge, the first decree of the
new emperor may be the appointment of a reactionary ministry,
with the decapitation of the present advisers of the throne. Let it,
then, be the policy of the Western nations to encourage and sustain
the sagacious reformers of China, and in dealing with that extraor
dinary people to practise in all things justice, moderation, kind
ness, and sympathy. Of course, it is not to be expected or desired
that the foreign surveillance which is now practised will retain its
present obnoxious and oppressive character. The habit of interven
tion, and the habit of acquiescence in it once fixed, surveillance
will assume the forms of protective tutorship. .The interests of
both parties will require that this tutorship be exercised with leni
ency ; gradual amelioration of the political and social condition of
China will produce mutual sympathy and respect between the pro
tectors and the protected, the instructors and the pupil. Some
thing of this kind has already happened in the relations between
the Western states and the Ottoman powers:
It has been no easy task to set down these hurried reflections
in the midst of festivities, only brought to an end by the parting
with so many kind friends. The signal is hoisted, and we go on
board the Provence.

CHAPTER XVIII.
A GLANCE AT COCHIN CHINA.
The Steamer Provence. — Island of Hainan. — Our Fellow-Passengers. — The Mouth of the
Saigon River. — The City of Saigon. — French Aptitude for Colonization. — French
Photographs. — The Queen of Cambodia.
Steamer Provence, South China Sea, January 6th. — Wearied
with our long wanderings over China, which, though interesting,
were attended with much fatigue, and with the hospitahties which,
however delightful, were nevertheless exhausting, we resumed our
onward voyage with a feeling of relief.
We are now running down the coast of the large and prosper
ous island of Hainan, which is separated from the main-land of
China by the Gulf of Tonquin. They speak of aborigines on the
island, but, from what we learn of its subdivision into Chinese
provinces, and its confessedly great trade, we are inclined to
believe that its civilization does not differ materially from that of
the province of Quan-Tong.
Our steamer, recently L'Imperatrice, of the " Messageries Im-
periales," is now La Provence, of the " Messageries Nationales,'
changes of name which illustrate the political versatility of the
French people. The tout ensemble of passengers and crew is
scarcely less indicative of social movements in the East.
There are eleven young men, sons of Japanese daimios, travel
ling under the care of a Prussian, who has been their tutor for five
years. They are now going to finish their studies ; some in Eng
land, some in France, some in Germany — the larger number in the

THE SAIGON RIVER. 263
United States. It was only when they embarked that they changed
their native flowing silken dresses, two swords, and wooden shoes,
for the Western costume. The tawny lads seem to enjoy the
change prodigiously, for they make during the day as many changes
of toilet as a Saratoga belle.
There is, next, an intelligent American merchant of Shanghai,
on his way to London, as agent of the Chinese Government, to pur
chase two "American" merchant-steamers, to be built in England,
and steam-engines for two " American " ships-of-war, which are
now on the stocks at Shanghai. Also a Spanish tobacco-merchant
with his family, going from Manila to visit his early home in Cata
lonia. Two young Americans, just out of Harvard, are making the
tour around the world. They are now going to Bangkok, a jour
ney which we had purposed making, but were obliged to forego.
On reaching Saigon, they intend crossing the mountains of Cam
bodia to Siam by elephant-train.
January 7th. — When you are travelling in a foreign country by
road or river, how provoking it is to pass a capital, historic battle
field, ancient university, cathedral, or ruined castle, on the right
and on the left, without stopping to examine them ! It is just so
in going around the world. We are now passing the empire of
Anam, and entering the Saigon River, only eight degrees north of
the equator. Fahrenheit 83°. The river-water is clear and pure.
A white light-house, built by the French, rises above the forest on
the high northern promontory ; the southern bank is a plain cov
ered with cocoa-nut groves. The luxuriant beauty of the scene is
bewildering. While we write, the ocean is left behind us, and the
broad, dark river shrinks within the width of forty rods. The
banks are covered with impenetrable jungle of mangoes, bananas,
bamboos, and a thousand creepers twisting their shrubbery into all
manner of entanglement, and covering it with flowers. We are
told that the wild-boar takes refuge here from the tiger on the
uplands, and we see parrots rearing their chattering broods, while
the monkeys hold perpetual revel.

264 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
The river below Saigon has a serpentine course, and is navi
gated chiefly by small native vessels, moving gracefully under light
bamboo sails. The banks rise to greater height as we ascend the
river, and various kinds of palm grace the different elevations, until
all give place to the eagle-wood and the cinnamon on the blue
mountains which overlook the lovely valley.
Saigon, January 8th. — We closed our eyes last night wishing
that we might remain forever afloat on the dark water of the Saigon.
Long before morning, however, swarms of mosquitoes and gnats
made us impatient for the shore, where we felt sure that flowers,
birds, and butterflies, were awaiting us. The Blue-book bears no
name of United States consul at Saigon. From the deck, never
theless, we espied the United States flag, and learned, on inquiry,
that the German who raised it there had left it to the care of
some friendly native keeper. We inquired no further, and in this
lonely place, the only one thus far in our voyage, no one inquired
for us.
The commandant of La Provence put us ashore in his gig. We
bargained for the first two carriages we found there, at the rate of
one dollar an hour for each, and in these vehicles, called " games,"
each drawn by a rough Chinese pony, and having seats for four
passengers (a very close fit), a guide, and a servant, we set out on
our travels in Cochin China.
Saigon is a native city of from sixty thousand to a hundred
thousand inhabitants. The European settlement adjoining it differs
from those we have seen in Japan and China, only in being French.
This is a matter of no special moment, because all foreigners assim
ilate in the East. The population is perhaps two hundred and fifty,
exclusive of the garrison. There is a public garden filled with
plants, but it wears an air of neglect, in consequence, we think, not
of declining trade, but of political insecurity growing out of the war
in Europe. All Eastern potentates and nobles maintain menage
ries. The garden at Saigon proclaims itself an appendage to the
French republic, by a meagre collection of leopards, tigers, bears,
monkeys, birds, and reptiles. The French Government is building

A NATIVE OF SAIGON.

265

a large palace for the residence of the admiral commanding the
forces in Eastern waters.
The native city consists of two towns, standing on two rivers,
distant two miles from each other, and connected by a firm road.

NATIVE OP SAIGON.

The population is by no means homogeneous. The merchants and
traders are not Cochin Chinese, but chiefly Chinese, and all classes
speak, to some extent, the French language. A happy accord
seems to exist between them and the French. All show the pleas
ing impress of French manners. We alighted from our vehicles
whenever we found any thing noticeable, and invariably were
waited upon by polite and assiduous attendants. We entered and
inspected a Buddhist temple. The bonzes, with great courtesy,
showed us every thing it contained. Whenever we stopped, tea,
fruit, and sherbet, were offered us. The smallest payment was
thankfully received, and, when we declined, the refreshments were
urged upon us without cost. In short, Saigon is the only place we
have found thus far, in the wide world, where everybody seemed

266 JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.
pleased with us, with themselves, and we had reason to be pleased
with everybody.
The French have a peculiar facility in effecting colonial assim
ilation to their national ways and manners. One experiences the
same gentle and kind welcome on the banks of the lower St. Law
rence that he finds here on the banks of the Saigon. It is almost
enough to make us wish that the French nation might be more suc
cessful in extending their foreign dominion. The whole field of
French empire in Cochin China, which figures so largely in the
ambitious manifestoes of the Government in Paris, is hardly more
than forty miles square. But France, by means of that possession,
has acquired a protectorate over the province of Cambodia, which
is adjacent, and nominally belongs to the empire of Anam. The
sovereign of that empire concedes to France this protectorate over
Cambodia, in consideration of the French guarantee of the integrity
of his empire. This great potentate, like the ostentatious fiddler,
has two strings to his bow ; for, while he thus enjoys this alliance
with France, he at the same time, as titular vassal, claims protec
tion frcVm the Emperor of China. It would be long to tell how,
after European discoveries in the East Indies, France energeti
cally attempted to secure positions advantageous for trade and con
quest in Madagascar, Ceylon, and Bengal; how unsuccessful and
vain those attempts were, until the great Colbert found in the
ambitious Louis XIV. a monarch wise enough to accept the
project of a French East India Company; how successfully that
company established factories at Mauritius, at Surat, and Pondi-
chery, and other places in India. It would be sad to tell how, in
the great war in which France lost nearly all her American posses
sions, she also lost nearly all her acquisitions in the East; how
the French Jesuit missionaries in Cochin China cunningly secured
from the native emperor the concession of Saigon to Louis XYI.;
how the French nation exulted in a gain of this position in the
rear of Hindostan, from which they might hope to assail and over
throw British dominion on the Asiatic Continent ; how this ambi
tion of France died, with all ambition of colonial aggrandizement,
in the great Revolution of ninety-three ; how that ambition, in

AN ARTISAN'S HOUSE.

26T

regard to the East, revived in 1861, in the period of the Second
Empire, and Admiral Charner enforced the concession which had
so long before been made to Louis XVI.
Saigon is by no means valueless as a seat of commerce. The
earth has no more fertile fields than those of Cochin China. Among
its products are luxuries the most desired by civilized nations.
While rice is an abundant staple, Saigon exports the gum of lac
quer, cinnamon, and many useful and precious woods. It is not,

ARTISAN'S HOUSE AT SAIGON.

however, chiefly for local trade that France values Saigon. It is a
convenient station for commercial and postal steam-lines, by which
she has expected to maintain her prestige as a maritime power of
the first rank. Her experience has demonstrated the truth of two
political axioms : First, that the possession of extensive foreign col
onies adds immeasurably to the credit and prestige of a nation ;
secondly, that a nation which cannot maintain peace at home, can
not permanently hold foreign possessions.
As our habit is, we take away from Saigon many photographic

268

JAPAN, CHINA, AND COCHIN CHINA.

illustrations of manners, dress, and scenery. They are French
and admirably executed. We are puzzled, however, in our efforts
to determine the truthfulness of one of them, notwithstanding its
official verification. It represents the Queen of Cambodia, protegee
of the French Empire, with naked feet and ankles, encircled by
costly gold bangles and jewels, while her head is covered with a
Parisian bonnet of the year 1862, presented to- her, with other
articles of European fashion, by the French emperor.

w/f/fim1

QUEEN OF CAMBODIA.

PART III.
THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, STRAITS OF
MALACCA, AND CEYLON.

CHAPTER I.
THE CHINA SEA, SINGAPORE, AND THE STRAITS OF SUNDA.
Our Distance from Home. — Calm Seas and Temperate Breezes. — Singapore. — A Dispatch
from Boston. — The People of Singapore. — Their Habitations. — Life in the Tropics.
— A Dutch Steamer. — Our Crew. — A Question of Paces. — Rather Hot. — Banca and
Sumatra. — The Straits of Sunda.
China Sea, January 9th. — In the five months since we left
home, we reckon in distances made, eighteen thousand miles, an
average of one hundred and twenty miles a day, although it seems
as if we had been at rest half the time. While we are passing on
our right the extreme promontory of Cochin China, we are leaving
on our left, at a distance of one hundred 'miles, the Philippine Isl
ands, the relic of Spanish empire in the East Indies. We continue
enjoying calm seas and temperate breezes.
Singapore, January 11th. — Anchored at midnight, and what a
night! Stifling cabins and myriads of mosquitoes. Is this our
penance for invading the equator ?
At sunrise, the United States consul, Mr. Jewell, came on
board, with Mr. Young, of the house of Busteed & Company.
They drove us, in a well-hung English carriage, behind two fine
Australian bays, first to the consulate, where a breakfast awaited
us, then to Mr. Young's pretty villa, on the hill, where he is kindly
taking- care of us. Three months having elapsed since we heard
from home, our first inquiry was, whether the telegraph-cable

272 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
has been laid from Point de Galles to this place. " Yes," said Mr.
Young, " I received to-day a dispatch which came from Boston in
twenty-four hours." It is reassuring to come again into instan
taneous communication with home and "the rest of mankind."
The new wire brings European intelligence of six weeks' later date
than we read at Hong-Kong. This intelligence, however, which
we so eagerly sought, was contained in a meagre statement.
" Nothing important happened since republic proclaimed at Paris.
Much speculation. Probably Orleans family. Papers promise ex
pulsion German armies. Perhaps anarchy."
We enter British India from the east at Singapore. It is the
chief commercial town of the colony, acquired by purchase and or
ganized by the British Government in 1824, as the Eastern Straits
Settlement ; the name derived from the straits of Malacca. This
jurisdiction extends north by west to the island of Penang, off the
Malay Peninsula. Penang is officially regarded as the capital,
although the business of the government is carried on here. Sin
gapore is a free port. It has an aggregate population of one hun
dred and fifty thousand, which is rapidly increasing. There are
, five hundred Europeans. British subjects, together with less than
a dozen citizens of the United States, monopolize Western naviga
tion and commerce. More than half of the population are Chinese,
chiefly merchants and bankers engaged in the domestic trade, and
that which is carried on with adjacent Asiatic countries — China,
Siam, Burmah, Java, and the Eastern Archipelago — others are me
chanics and gardeners. It would be an effectual antidote to the
California croaking against the pagan Chinese, to see the protection
and encouragement which the British authorities extend to the
Chinese immigration here. The Jew has not failed to make good
his position. He is, as everywhere else, a broker in small and sec
ond-hand wares. The residue of the population are chiefly native,
perhaps aboriginal Malays, with an accession of indolent and thrift
less immigrants from Hindostan. The seamen are of many Orien
tal races, natives of Goa, Javanese, Hindoos, Malays, Burmese, Siam
ese, Cingalese, Abyssinians, and negroes. With this conglomerate
population, it is not singular that Singapore is a harbor for vagrants

1 1 ! 3.

SINGAPORE AND ITS PEOPLE. 273
and waifs from all parts of the East. It is almost unnecessary to
say that Singapore is a central station of commerce between Eu
rope and the far East, Burmah, China, Japan, the Archipelago, and
Australia. India opium, camphor, and lacquer, Java coffee, China
silks and teas, Manila tobacco, spices of Sumatra and Borneo, the
tin of Banda, etc., are exchanged for British and French manufac
tures. Ladies will be interested in knowing that Singapore is the
mart for articles of jewelry and vertu of all sorts, such as civilized
people no less than barbarians delight in. Parisian and London
imitations of Oriental articles of those sorts are sold by the natives
here to curiosity-seeking Europeans, who would reject them at
home. But there is also an abundance of native productions, ex
quisitely beautiful; sea-shell, coral, precious stones, tigers' claws
mounted with gold, tigers' skins, and birds-of-paradise, tempt us
on every side, while the most delicate Chinese porcelain, and carv
ings in sandal-wood and eagle-wood for incense, are staples of a
large trade.
The European dwellings do not differ from those in the Chinese
concessions, while those of the Asiatic immigrants, by greater spa
ciousness, cleanliness, and comfort, manifest an advance toward
Western ideas. This improvement, however, is slow among the
Malays. When this race became known to the Europeans, they
were found living in buildings raised on stakes four or five feet
above the ground, for the desirable purpose of drainage and secu
rity against reptiles and wild beasts. The Malays at Singapore
retain the architectural habits of their ancestors.
Here, as at Saigon, the foreigners maintain a public garden, but
this one exhibits the indescribable luxuriance of tropical vegetation,
under the painstaking hand of the Chinese cultivator, directed by
European skill.
The jumble of diverse races has produced a strange medley of
religions here. There are several Chinese temples, which foreign
ers contemptuously call, here as in China, "joss-houses;" one
Bramin temple, with its sacred cows and goats; half a dozen
severe-looking Mohammedan mosques ; a Roman Catholic church ;
and a cathedral of the Church of England. The British Govern-

274 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
ment tolerates all these religions, from the same political motive
with which the emperors tolerated the various modes of worship
which prevailed in the Roman world. Although these various re
ligions in India are not considered by the people as equally true, or
by the philosophers as equally false, the magistrate regards them as
equally useful. This toleration produces mutual indulgence, with
out religious discord.
A secretary waited upon Mr. Seward, with an invitation from
the governor, who is now at Penang.
Mr. Young, with a very hurried invitation, gathered around us
a large and distinguished company of the official people, merchants
and bankers of Singapore, with whom we have passed the evening
pleasantly. January 12th. — It has been a new experience to sleep in cham
bers, with doors and windows opening on a broad veranda, with
out the protection of panels or glass. It was an experience equally
novel, when, stepping on the veranda, at six o'clock, we found
tables spread with tea, delicate tropical fruits, and ices, while the
entire family, including ladies and beautiful children, joined us
there, having already returned from their customary exhilarating
walks and rides. So it seems that life in the tropics is not with
out pleasant and invigorating excitements and exercise.
Stoomschepen Koningin der Nederlanden, January 12th, Everir
*n<7.— Having again changed our nationality, we are afloat, this
time, under the tricolor flag of the Netherlands, carefully regis
tered, and bound for the island of Java. Our side-wheel steamer
is rated at only four hundred and fifty tons, and we think is over
rated at that. She is the first steamer which was built on that
island, and is thirty-four years old. Though not improved by age,
it must be admitted that she has held her own against time and
typhoon. Though the smallest craft we have yet sailed in, she
flourishes a long if not a great name. Heaven save all persons hut
penal convicts from being cramped into such contracted berths, with
the mercury standing at 99° ! We indulge this objurgation by

THE ISLAND OF SUMATRA. 275
virtue of the traveller's license to find fault. Although the cabins
are small, they are "as neat as a Birmingham pin;" and, while the
hatchways are open, the ventilation is perfect. A table stands in
the centre of the upper ' deck, protected by a permanent hurricane
awning, and remains covered throughout the whole day with equa
torial luxuries. But the peculiar institution of the Dutch Steam
Navigation Company is, another table standing across the beam,
midships, on which decanters are always kept full of "Kaneel
Liker," maraschino, absinthe, curacoa, Schiedam schnapps, brandy,
rum, and we know not what other "appetizers," to which the
Dutch passengers resort continually, without a suspicion of singu
larity, and without expense. The platform of the deck is covered
with flowers enough to constitute a conservatory, and with baskets
of various and exquisite fruits, thoughtfully brought on board, and
arranged for us, by our consul. When we came on board this
morning, with many friends, they congratulated us on having " a
good cloudy day." It was the first time we ever knew " cloudy
weather " at sea the subject of felicitation.
We are already reminded that we have entered on a new
geographical and political study — that of the Oriental Archipelago.
We are running down the northeastern coast of the rich island of
Sumatra, which is of itself almost large enough to be a continent,
and which the equator divides, as it divides the whole world, into
equal parts. Only one-fourth of it, with a population of a million,
has been subjected to Western rule, and this is a Dutch colony.
The other three-fourths, with three millions of people, are states
ruled by native princes, some of whom are independent, others
under Dutch protection. Sumatra has a commercial importance
only inferior in the Archipelago to that of Java.
Small islands cluster together so closely on our left hand as to
give us for a channel almost an inland sea, a continuation of the
straits of Malacca. It is in few places more than ten miles wide,
and smooth like a river. Its shores are low and wear a rich green
verdure. We noticed a profuse shower of rain, at a distance of two
miles, while the sky beyond it, as well as over our heads, was
bright and cloudless. Our captain, whose professional career dates

276 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
from the building of the stoomschepen Koningin der Nederlanden,
assures us that, 'while rain is frequent in all parts of this equatorial
voyage, it is always raining at the place where that particular
shower was falling.
Our crew, drawn from Singapore, is a mixture of the Asiatic sea
men of that place of which we have spoken. Those of them who
come from Western or Southern Asia, wear a light, graceful, and
picturesque costume, strongly contrasting with the plain and coarse
dress of the Chinese. They evidently make faithful use of the bath.
Varying in complexion from tawny to black, they have regular and
delicate features. They exhibit nothing of that stolid reserve
which causes the Chinese to be regarded as sullen and contemptu
ous. Their different languages are based on the ancient Sanscrit.
Each has an alphabet. Perhaps it is for this reason that they ac
quire any European language easily, and speak it with much cor
rectness. It will be a curious study for us to inquire how much
this greater adaptability of the southern and western Asiatic races
to European intercourse is due to their earlier and more intimate
acquaintance with foreigners. We are now inclined to think that
a closer ethnological affinity exists between the European and the
Hindoo and Malay nations than between the Europeans and the
Mongolians ; and, again, that there is a closer affinity between the
Hindoo and the Malay nations than between the Mongolian and
the Malay. However it may have happened, there is a contrast
quite as perceptible between the rude and vigorous population of
Northern China and the gentle and docile natives of Sumatra and
Malacca, as there was at the time of the discovery of America be
tween the fierce tribes of New England and New York and the
harmless natives of San Salvador and Hispaniola.
Off the Island of Banca, January 13th. Fahrenheit 90°.—
Rather hot for January, according to our way of thinking. They
say that latitude affects climate, but we do not see it or feel it.
Yesterday we left Singapore on the parallel of latitude one degree
seventeen minutes north. At one o'clock this morning we cross
the equator, and now we are two degrees south of it. Yet, for any

A BOA AFLOAT. 277
consciousness we have, the weather at the three points admits of
no degrees of comparison. It is hot at Singapore — it is hot under
the equator— it is just as hot here. Perhaps the maxim " Ne curat
minimis " applies to the laws of Nature as well as human laws.
We have, always read that life on a Dutch sailing-craft is easy
and lazy. The Koningin der Nederlanden does not disprove it.
While our captain insists that he makes seven and a half knots, our
measurement on the chart shows that we are really going only six.
Our passengers, however, are the most active people in the world.
They show their vigor in two ways — one in changing their dress
every hour to get cool, the other in taking schnapps every half-hour
to get hot again.
Crossing the line, after all, especially at night, is no great affair.
We felt no concussion, and, as the passengers were all in their
berths, the customary nautical ceremonies were omitted.
Charts show us high mountains in the interior on either side.
Banca seems covered with forests, interrupted here and there by
cultivation. Sumatra presents a low, sedgy shore, large pieces of
which, covered with jungle, are continually breaking loose, and
float about in the forms of pretty green islets on the dark sea. Of
course, every one desires to haul up to them and see what are the
plants and flowers which cover them. A Dutch skipper yielded to
this impulse a short time ago. The captain, alighting on the float
ing mass, had just set his foot on a cactus-stump, when a huge boa-
constrictor reared his glossy head and proclaimed his proprietor
ship of the island by violent hisses. The invader retreated, leav
ing the " lord of the isle " to navigate his crazy craft as best he
might. Here we are with the Malay Peninsula just behind us, the Spice
Islands, Sumatra, Banca, Borneo, Java, Celebes, Floris, Timor,
Booro, Ceram, New Guinea, and a thousand lesser ones all
around us. We read and " hear tell " of elephants that break
down telegraph-poles in rubbing their hard hides ; of tigers, lions,
and leopards, always prowling through the jungle ; of shiny serpents
in coils like cables ; of monkeys playing their antics in palm-tree
groves ; of parrots, paroquets, peacocks, and birds-of-paradise, that

278 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
excel the floral vegetation in brilliancy of colors ; and yet all that
we can see of them is occasionally a captive beast in a menagerie, or
a stuffed bird in a curiosity-shop at Singapore — a new illustration
of a discovery heretofore announced, that going round the world is
not the way to see it. Nevertheless, it is something to learn in the
near vicinity the topography of these islands, which are the native
homes of the various tribes of the Malay race ; to learn something
of the character and condition of that gentle race, whose languid
energies are now excited to activity and directed by their Dutch
conquerors. They possess a wealth peculiarly their own — the
metals, invaluable teakwood, and coffee, with spices, dyes, and
gums, aromatics, and roots used in art and medicine, brilliant
feathers and glossy skins of beasts of prey, which taste and luxury
require in every condition. Even this little island on our left reg
ulates, by its production, the market of tin as effectually as the old
Almaden mines in Spain and the New Almaden mines in Califor
nia regulate that of quicksilver throughout the world. Moreover,
there are, in various parts of these islands, ruins of cities and tem
ples, which seem to indicate a primeval civilization, which has
passed away without leaving either record or tradition. By-and-by,
commercial intercourse will render research among these antiqui
ties practicable, perhaps profitable. Meanwhile, we must be satis
fied with an inspection of Java, a design which we shall be able to
execute if the Koningin der Nederlanden shall live to complete
this, the ten hundred and twentieth of her voyages.
Despite our resolution, this equatorial travel is working a
change in our habits. The heat becomes insupportable at ten
o'clock, and drives us to a siesta. At sunset, a breeze springs up,
clouds gather, a brilliant display of electricity begins, which is con
tinued until midnight, and brings refreshing rains. So the hot day
having become our night, the cool night becomes our day for exer
cise, writing, and conversation.
January 15th.— We crossed, last night, the entrance of the
straits of Sunda, the great channel of trade between Europe, China,
and Japan. Can any one doubt the unity of the human family,

A MONSOON.

279

when he recalls the fact that the civil war which convulsed the
United States, five years ago, had its painful episodes in this dis
tant sea ? We encountered in the passage one of those monsoons
which render it uifficult and dangerous. The storm caused the
Koningin aforesaid to dance in a manner most undignified and
unbecoming this grave and " ancient mariner." The ports were
closed, the cabins grew unendurable, and the deck became the
common sleeping-room of the passengers.

22

CHAPTER II.
THE CAPITAL OF JA VA.
The City of Batavia. — The Hotel des Indes. — A>New-England Sabbath. — Malay Servants.
— The King's Plain. — Population of Java. — The Queen of the East. — Departure for
Buitenzorg. — Manner of Travelling. — The Vice-Regal Residence. — The Climate of
Java. — The Baths of Buitenzorg.
Batavia, January 16th. — At sunrise we were tossing in the
open roadstead, four miles from the shore. The monsoon was past,
though the sea had not subsided. The skies cleared at eight o'clock,
giving us a view of a long, level, green coast, swelling upward into
lofty 'blue mountains. There is much less shipping here than at
Singapore, but the diversity of flags indicates a not less various
commerce. The smallest of all steam-tugs was seen bounding/over
the waves and distributing passengers and freights, among steamers
which are going out to neighboring Dutch ports throughout the
Archipelago. When she had done this, she rounded up to our
steamer, and received us on board. On the way, we passed a
steamship-of-war, freighted with troops, going to repress a native
rebellion in Borneo.
A pretty stream, which once stagnated in the jungle, has been
converted into a broad canal, that now affords navigation from the
roadstead to the heart of the city of Batavia. The custom-house
officers took our own statement for our number, ages, occupations,
luggage, and intentions. Malay drivers, the smallest men we ever
saw, with the heaviest sort of European barouches, drawn by mini-

THE STREETS OF BATAVIA.

281

ature ponies, whirled on a gallop over streets smooth as a race
course, bordered by substantial white cottage, dwellings, embow
ered in groves of pine, palmetto, palm, bamboo, India-rubber, and
mimosa. These cottages, which might be mistaken for villas, have
deep marble porticoes or broad verandas, set off with vases of tropi
cal flowers, and make an effective display of small but tasteful gar
den statuary. This colonial town, like the cities of the mother-

STEEET IN BATAVIA.

country, is traversed by well-built canals. Horse-cars are moving
swiftly on smooth street-railways. This enterprise, so novel in the
East, belongs to Mr. Pells, who, though a native of the Netherlands,
has long been United States banker, trader, and vice-consul. So
closely does the city assimilate to Holland, that it seems to us we
have gone quite through the East, and are already in Europe.
We drove to the Hotel des Indes, the first tavern we have had

2S2

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

occasion to seek since we left Salt Lake City, if we except the Chi
nese inns on the way from Peking to the Great Wall. This hotel
is a building of one story, surrounding a circular court, with a
higher central edifice, which contains the proper offices, drawing-
rooms, and saloons, a veranda surrounding the whole. The outer
buildings, occupied as private apartments, are connected by corri
dors with the centre building. In a scrupulously neat bathing-
house attached to our apartment, we enjoyed, for the first time, the
full luxury of an Oriental bath, for the bath has not yet been suc
cessfully introduced into the European settlements in Japan and
China. This bath consists of a marble basin fifteen feet in diame
ter, the water exactly the temperature of the air, clear, and deep
enough for swimming.
It being Sunday, we composed ourselves early for the enjoy-

NARK1ED WO.UAN OF JAVA.

ment of a New-England Sabbath, a day of absolute rest. But this
was not to be. A host of native street-pedlers had followed us to

MALAY SERVANTS. 283
the hotel. They sat down and chattered on the veranda, they
crowded into our parlor, " singly, by pairs, and by the dozen," and,
in spite of repulse and remonstrance, forced upon us a display of
their cheap but ostentatious wares. For the first time, we have
maintained a resolution against the itinerant merchant, yielding
only in the case of a blind trader. Even he left us, at last, weary
with our delay in finding the guilders required for the purchase.
But we called him back and bought a pair of green-velvet gold-
embroidered slippers. Breakfast at twelve. Its excellence, con
trasting with that of breakfasts at home, was that nothing on the
table was hot. On what principle is it that Europeans in the East
smother the delicate flavor of rice in thirty or forty piquant con
diments ? All the servants are Malays. They are meek and un
obtrusive, but not servile; willing and diligent, but not quick.
Tidy and even tasteful in dress, they make an attractive costume
with a guilder's worth of printed muslin.
The Malay is, on an average, two inches shorter than the Euro
peans or Mongolian, with scarcely any beard, and the sexes are un-
distinguishable by their dress.
Mr. Pells, advised, from Singapore, of our coming, came at one
o'clock and immediately removed us to his pleasant villa on the
" King's Plain," which is the Hyde Park of Batavia, a shaded lawn,
four miles long, and half a mile wide. Primitive national habits,
however, are not relinquished here. The " King's Plain" is the
common pasturage of the milch-cows of the city. An artist would
find a pretty study in this quiet scene, in which the animals, crop
ping the rich grass, seem scarcely more at leisure than their Malay
attendants, sitting under the trees, in picturesque attitude and cos
tume. In going to our new residence, we stopped to hear the " King's
Band," and lingered there until sunset witnessing the evening
promenade of the whole European population, which, including
military and naval officers, numbers six thousand. There was a
grotesque display of carriages and liveries of fashions now obso
lete m Europe. Gentlemen as well as. ladies and children disdain
to cover their heads after sunset, while all " sorts and conditions of

284 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
men " wear white gloves, and all have the staid and gentle Dutch
manner. Will our friends consult the tables of population? We
think the island of Java is the most densely-populated country in

A JAVANESE GIBL.

the world. There are fourteen millions of people within an area
of forty-five thousand square miles. The city of Batavia, with a
diameter of eight miles, contains one hundred and fifty thousand
inhabitants — more than half of these are Chinese. The residue,
with the exception of the few Europeans, is divided nearly equally
between the two native Malay races, Javanese and Sundese. All
the Malays are Mohammedans. The Chinese retain their native,
heathenism. The Europeans, of course, are Christians, but free
from religious zeal or fervor.
Batavia challenges the title of " Queen of the East." Certainly
it presents a delightful contrast to the towns of Japan and China,
while its profusion of equatorial shade-trees and flowers makes it
far more pleasing than any place we have at home. The settlement
of New York, by the Dutch, and that of Java were contempora-

VISIT TO BUITENZORG. 285
neous. Each was surrounded by aboriginal tribes — those around
New York sparse, those around Batavia populous. The aboriginal
races around New York have virtually disappeared, and are re
placed by millions of European derivation ; the aboriginal races
around Batavia, on the other hand, remain ' in even greater force
than at the time of the conquest, while the European population is
only twenty-seven thousand. Again, neither the Netherlands nor
any European state has kept a foothold within the vast territory
now covered by the United States ; while the Dutch not only re
tain their first dominion in Java, but have extended it over the
whole island and a large portion of the Archipelago. What a con
trast there has been in the processes of civilization which have pro
duced results so widely different in the two hemispheres !
The Governor, or, as he is called, the "Residente" of Batavia,
visited Mr. Seward to-day, and tendered us the hospitalities of the
province. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies resides
at Buitenzorg, thirty-six miles distant, and has invited us to be his
guests there. The intense heat to-day has not only overpowered
us, but seems to have overpowered the whole population of Batavia.
Our morning rest was protracted until evening, and' then deluging
rains made us prisoners.
Buitenzorg, January 18th.. — We yesterday appointed six for
our hour of departure. It was our own fault, or rather that of our
luggage, and not the fault of the post-office, that we were delayed
until half-past seven. The admiration of Batavia, which we ex
pressed yesterday, was somewhat modified as we came through
the city and suburbs this morning. We were, at first, unable to
decide by what name we should call the dwellings of Europeans,
"whether bungalows, cottages, or villas. We now found them, each
with its beautiful grove, so exactly like to every other, that, un
aided, we shall be quite unable, on our return to the city, to find
Mr. Pell's residence, or the street on which it stands. To tell
the truth, moreover, the right line in geometry is not the line of
beauty, nor is the parallelogram, although a very convenient figure
for many uses, especially adapted to landscape-gardening. Nor

286

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

was it altogether gratifying to find the " King's Plain " soaking
and miry, much more suitable for a dairy-meadow than a park.
These strictures, however, we now think hypercritical; we must
still pronounce Batavia the most attractive city we have ever seen.
The road to Buitenzorg is well graded, perfectly macadamized,
and, what is better, completely bordered and shaded on either side

mm

mmmmmKmmWW^ WMmmm

tmmmWmsm

;*n*s§!$p*

Warn

'^^^f ll^n "«"r M1 W '

SCENE IN JAVA.

by high, thick hedges of heliotrope, cactus, and creepers, all in
bloom. Over these hedges, the light bamboo lines the avenue,
opening only to reveal the native cottages, peeping from under
palm-groves. All the people we see, whether about their humble
dwellings, or moving on the high-road, seem busy, contented, and
happy. Only two beggars approached us on the way, and
timidly ; both were blind.

A FASCINATING RESIDENCE. 287
The manner of travel here is on the postal system, which was
never known in America, and is now superseded by railroads in
Europe. We have Mr. Pell's stately old coach, which has seats for
six passengers inside, and ample room for four servants outside.
We carry no trunks, our wardrobes being stored in the capacious
boxes under the seats. Four horses draw us over the level plain ;
more are added in climbing hills. The driver has two assistants or
runners (topers), who, by constantly applying their lashes, keep the
ponies up to running-speed. They are whisked off and replaced at
stages of seven miles. We made the journey in three hours. At
each stage, the traveller pays four cents to each loper, and ten or
twenty cents to the driver.
If Batavia is fascinating, this suburban viceregal residence is
supremely so. The palace stands at the south side of the native
city. The approach is through a park, covered with a greener and
smoother sward, we imagine, than even England or Holland can
exhibit. Five hundred deer are seen reclining or feeding under the
lofty shade-trees. The palace is said, to be on the model of Blen
heim — however this may be, we recognize the plan of our own Cap
itol at Washington. Like every thing else in this favorite Dutch
colony, it happily combines good taste with elegance and comfort.
The governor-general has received us very kindly, although not
without something of the stiffness of official ceremony. The ladies
seem to regard us as an accession, not unwelcome, to a society cir
cumscribed and somewhat monotonous.
The Dutch East Indies are ruled absolutely by directions from
the Hague, Practically, the governor-general is viceroy. At the
time of the conquest, two native sovereigns, with the pompous
titles of sultan and emperor, divided the island between them, one
of the territories being known as Java, the other as Sunda. The
descendants of each of these sovereigns being subsidized, though
really divested of power, retain certain contracted domains, with
titular rank, in subordination to the authority of the Dutch Govern
ment. Several other native kings, subsidized in the same way,
have a somewhat similar domain and tenure. With these qualifica
tions, the executive government is administered by the governor-

288

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

general, with the aid of an executive council appointed by the
Home government.
The Dutch, not without severe and frequent contests with the
natives, have held sway here since the year 1610, with only an
interval of from 1811 to 1816, when among the events of the
Napoleonic war in Europe, Holland having passed under the con
trol of France, Java was seized and held for five years by Great
Britain. January 19th. — Shall we note the climatic features of Java?
It has no spring and no autumn — only summer and winter. It

mSt

tmm- ¦¦--

mm&&

Wi

* ;&mymwgm mWmm

LILY POND, PALACE GROUNDS, JAYA.

THE BOTANICAL GARDENS. 289
rains all summer, and is comparatively dry during the harvest-
time in winter. The present season is the summer. It rained so
constantly yesterday that we could not enter a carriage, or step
on the ground. This morning, Governor-General Myer, with the
ladies, gave us a drive in the botanical gardens attached to the
palace. All the world knows that they are scientifically planted,
but why give them "& technical name ? They are of princely di
mensions, and are inconceivably magnificent, for they contain, or
are understood to contain, every attainable tropical tree, plant, or
flower. Of the palm alone there are a hundred species. Dense
groves of tree-ferns are interlaced with myriads of orchids, cov
ered with what one might well imagine to be the very flowers of
paradise, and we were at a loss to say which form of life in the
tropics, the vegetable or the animal, excels in color. Man's hand
has planted and trained the trees and flowers, but the gorgeous
troops of birds which inhabit them are voluntary residents there,
making the shade "vocal with their music." These groves are
interspersed with lakes, whose waters murmur under the per
fumed pressure of the crimson lily and the sacred lotus. These
lakes are the homes of some varieties of tropical birds ; swans,
black and white, are domesticated in them ; and the cockatoo,
with his creamy plumage, seems unconscious of imprisonment in
his spacious gilded cage, so constructed as to afford him ample
sunshine and cool bath.
Alighting from our carriages, we took a path which leads
through a bamboo-grove so dense that the down which its delicate
leaves cast on the smooth gravel takes the form of a tender moss.
This moss, taking root; interweaves so closely that it is not de
ranged by the footstep. The very air of this fairy grove seemed
to us to hold a soothing verdure. But it is not alone in the lakes,
groves, and lawns, that the feathered race contents itself at Buiten
zorg: " This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet does approve
By his loved masonry, that heaven's breath
Smiles sweet and wooingly here."

290

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

At sunset, thousands of martins gather for the night under the
eaves of the palace. Sitting closely to each other, they are mistaken
by a careless observer for a blackened bead, which extends without
break around the cornice of the entire edifice. Perhaps we dilate

TROPICAL FOLIAGE, JAVA.

too much on tropical Nature, but its first effect upon all minds is
to excite a wish never to leave it. We almost contracted for at
least, an occasional home at Nagasaki. We left Hong-Kong and
Singapore reluctantly ; but Batavia, and more than all Buitenzorg,
wins our thoughts irresistibly away from all that is practical in life,
to delight in repose and serene contemplation.
The truth, however, is, that the admiration of tropical scenery,
though universal, wears off as suddenly as it comes. We have not

JAVANESE FRUIT.

291

thus far found an American or European content with a genial
clime. The merchant, mariner, or missionary, even the women
and children, stay here against their wills, and wait impatiently for
their release this month or the next, or, at farthest, this year or the
next. If we should forget every thing else at Buitenzorg, we are not
likely to forget its baths. Leaving the palace-door, and driving
through a winding, palm-shaded lane, we came to the bamboo-
grove. Dismissing carriage and attendants there, we penetrated

JAVANESE FRUIT.

to its dark centre, by a tangled foot-path. There we found a
marble basin, eighty feet across, filled with flowing water. The
depth is regulated at will, and a slight bamboo rail is stretched

292

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

across the basin for security against accident. Tall palm-trees pro
tect the bather from the sun, while the surrounding grove is an
impenetrable screen. Coming out of the bath, we picked up what
we thought to be a green walnut. On removing the hard, acrid
shell, pungent scarlet mace betrayed itself; breaking through this,
and. the inner shell, which it covered, a fragrant, white, milky pulp
disclosed the incipient nutmeg.

iflsiii' ^Mill

I I

SCENE IN JAVA.
CHAPTER III.
EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR.
A Balking Horse.— Cultivation of Rice.— Tropical Flowers.— Surabaya. — The Regent Pra-
wiro.— Dutch Colonization. — How Java is governed. — Bandong. — The Regent and
the Interpreter. — A Gouty Monarch. — The Regent's Income. — How he spends it.
Surabaya, January 2\st. — The governor-general and his esti
mable family dismissed us, after a very early breakfast, on an ex
cursion which is affording us an opportunity to see something of the
mountains, and more of the simple people of this beautiful island.
Still travelling in Mr. Pell's spacious coach, with government
orders for relays, we drove rapidly through the quaint and quiet
streets of the pretty little city of Buitenzorg. So long as we kept
the plain, we had only one annoyance — a balking horse — one of
eight. Peasantry, at every halt, assisted the lopers in rolling the
heavy carriage against the refactory animal's heels, and so, whether
he willed to go. or not, we got on. Crossing a small stream, we
climbed irregular volcanic mountains, and came through a gorge
between two of them ; the one seven thousand feet high, the other
four thousand. The mountain-sides are terraced with rice-fields,
one above the other. These fields were covered with standing
water. The successive terraces show the crop at every stage of its
growth. On the upper terrace, the young plant is seen, resembling
grass just sprouted from the seed ; on the level just below, single
stalks of rice just transplanted ; below this, fields of the grain at
successive periods of its growth ; until, at the foot of the mountain,
33

294 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
it is already ripened, and ready for the knife. We say the hnife,
for neither cradle, nor scythe, nor sickle, is used in the rice-fields
in m Java. The Koran commands the husbandman to cut off each
individual stalk singly. This injunction the pious Moslem never
disobeys. Rice-cultivation is a very laborious process. A prairie farmer,
we think, would despair, if he were obliged to transplant his wheat-
crop from its first bed, plant by plant ; he would die, if it were
necessary to water it, even once during its growth. It would be
left to rot in the field if he were denied a " reaper," or at least a
cradle or sickle ; it would waste in the barn or stack if he could not
procure a threshing-machine or a fanning-mill. On the other hand,
here each blade of rice is removed to a new bed, and from its plant
ing until its ripening it is irrigated once every day. When it is
gathered, the kernels are separated from the husk by hand. Not
withstanding this vast labor, rice is the chief production, as it is the
chief food of all the Asiatic races, constituting half the population
of the globe. The cause of the productiveness of Java (greater
than that of any portion of the earth) readily discloses itself to the
most careless observer as he passes through the country. It is a
combination of equatorial heat, volcanic soil, and perennial moun
tain-streams. These rivulets are subdivided at their springs, and
conducted around and down the winding terraces to the base of the
mountain, where they are in like manner gathered and poured in
sparkling cascades down the steep declivity ; then to be again sub
divided, and made to perform the same gentle service as before to
successive terraces below.
We know well enough the slow progress of science and art at
home, but who taught this Malay peasantry this skill in hydraulics,
which surpasses that of any civilized people ?
We are now seeing that we might have spared ourselves the
trouble of threading the walks 'of the botanical gardens at Bui
tenzorg. All around us, every way we turn, whichever way we
look, are innumerable species of palm, the great banyan, exquisite
tree-ferns thirty or forty feet high, sparkling with parasitic flowers;
fragrant hedges of heliotrope fifteen feet high, now in full bloom—

AN EQUATORIAL PHENOMENON. 295
not monotonous blue as with us, but of every color and hue — alter
nating with other hedges of the grotesque cactus of a hundred
shapes and equally splendid in bloom. Every one is familiar with
the lily of the valley, but we find here the lily of the mountain, a
stately flower giving out even a sweeter odor than its little name
sake. Mountains shine with white lilies, and lakes with the incom
parable lotus. Although coffee-plantations spread a broad, dark
shadow behind flowery hedges, yet the bright green rice-fields are
never out of the landscape. Where these allow space, there aie
meadows gay with azaleas of infinite variety, set in borders of pink
and white and crimson oleanders, which attain here the stature of
the magnolia.
We have found rest and refreshment at the village of Surabaya,
a pleasant resort in a mountain amphitheatre, for the dwellers on
the sea-coast. The clearing up of a rain-storm has just given us,
instead of the rainbow, an equatorial phenomenon— a broad, pris
matic column, stretching from the centre of the heavens, quite
down the mountain-side, resting on the plain below and flooding
the valley with a gorgeous light.
The table d'hote does not differ, either in pretension, costliness,
or meagreness, from like service at Catskill or other mountain
resorts in our own country.
Sjiandjioer, January 21st. — We left our balky horse at Sura
baya. A brake, with an iron shoe, was fixed on a hind- wheel. Not
withstanding these checks, we were rolling rapidly down into the
next valley, when the alarm sounded that a wheel was on fire. It
was extinguished, and we were thundering forward with greater
velocity than before, when we had another fright — the chain of the
shoe broke. A rope of buffalo hide was substituted for it, and we
had scarcely taken the road again, when the shoe itself gave way.
But, with careful driving, and our lopers holding us back, we
escaped harm. So at six o'clock we entered this very pretty vil
lage, which, although a native one, is laid out in streets and squares,
with that degree of geometrieal precision, and ornamented with
that peculiar taste, which is everywhere so observable in the Neth-

296

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

erlands. The governor-general having dispatched notice of our
coming, and also sent with us his young kinsman Mr. Lowe, we
were met outside of the town by a native subaltern officer, in Dutch
uniform, and conducted to the palace in the centre of a park larger
than the Capitol-grounds at Washington. Here, under a tasteful
porte-cochere, we were received by the Regent Prawiro da Kedya.
He is a lineal descendant of the long-since dethroned Kings of Pad-
jadjura in the western empire of Java, and bears the titular hon-

THE REGENT PRAWIttO DA KEDYA.

ors of Radhe Sonnengoniz. The regent is thirty years old, digni
fied and handsome, and has pleasing manners. A Mohammedan,
he wears a turban of orange and black muslin, a tight black-cloth
jacket, with large gold buttons, and a standing collar, on which
sparkle three enormous diamonds, and with the whitest of linen
at neck and wrist. A sarong of gay-colored muslin, painted with
figures emblematic of his rank, hangs from his waist over black
trousers. White stockings and gold-embroidered velvet shoes com-

DUTCH COLONIZATION. 297
plete his dress. He wears at his side a short sword, with scabbard
of gold, and hilt profusely covered with diamonds.
Owing to the humidity of the climate, a customary law of land
scape gardening is so far reversed that the area which immediately
surrounds the palace, although ornamented with trees, is paved
with gravel instead of being a green lawn. The palace, one story
in height, is equal in its dimensions to the White House. The
model and style of the buildings are perfect, but the materials are
fragile, and the construction unsubstantial and cheap. There is a
ludicrous contrast between the vaulted ceiling resting on a double
row of graceful columns, and the rough, uneven bamboo floor so
light that the whole house trembles under every footstep. The fur
niture, entirely European, plain and ill selected, must have been
supplied by some second-hand dealer in Amsterdam. Our princely
host showed us our several apartments. The dinner at which he
presided had the substantial character of a European feast with
the addition of the curry, fruits, and sweets, of the island. After
leaving the table we were serenaded by a band of native musicians.
Their music is derived from Hindostan. The instruments are
reeds, bells, and a sort of violin. The tones are soft and monoto
nous, and free from discord, with a barely perceptible melody. Too
weary to sit through the protracted entertainment, we retired to
rest, with the strains still falling on our ears like the rustling of a
gentle wind through the tree-tops.
Sjiandjioer, January 22d. — Dutch colonization has a story as
simple as its results are wonderful. The Netherlands Government
seventy or eighty years ago acquired the Dutch East India Com
pany's titles to its possessions in the East, and substituted itself
in the place of that great mercantile establishment. Using the
national force as occasion required to perfect and maintain acqui
sitions, they brought the whole of Java under their political rule.
Having done this, the Government appropriated absolutely to the
crown whatever lands were unoccupied. They compounded with
the two native sovereigns before mentioned and their vassal kings
for the management of the estates which were under cultivation,

298 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
and the disposal of their products. After this, they gradually
extinguished by purchase the rights of the native proprietors, and
so have been continually enlarging the royal domain. By way of
commending their rule to the natives, they have left to the fam
ilies of the dispossessed rulers not only a titular rank, but they
have employed their chiefs in the management of their several
estates, allowing to each the official honor of regent, and actually
associating him with the Dutch residente or governor. The resi-
dente exercises the real power, but ostensibly in the name and
under the authority of the native prince. The latter receives an
ample stipend, which enables him to maintain a show of his
hereditary dignity, and in consideration of which he entertains
all the Government agents and their visitors at his palace. The
Dutch residente directs through the native regent what seed shall
be sown on every plantation, how and when the harvest shall be
gathered, what wages shall be paid to the cultivators, and disposes
of the products at prices fixed in every -case, by the Governor-
General and Council of the Indies. The results of this system
are, that, while the people seem to be comfortable and contented,
it defrays all the expenses of local administration in peace and
war, and pays an annual revenue of five million dollars into the
national treasury at the Hague. Java, thus governed, remains
what the discoverers found it, " the garden of the world."
Bandong, January 23d. — Our host at Sjiandjioer gave us at an
early hour a cup of the native coffee, with native sugar, and put
us on the way in good time this morning — first, to survey more
leisurely than yesterday the little provincial capital ; and then to
continue our upward way to the centre of the island. The moun
tain-sides which we climbed are more abrupt than those we trav
elled on the previous day, while the teeming population seems, if
possible, more simple and gentle. Many sorts of palm and cactus
disappear, but the heliotrope is richer than ever, the tree-ferns
taller and more beautiful. We had the various experiences of
mountain-travel — travel with six horses, with oxen, and with mixed
teams of horses and oxen ; sometimes we were pushed up

THE REGENT OF BANDONG. 299
sometimes held back with human hands alone ; sometimes moved
by the working of the endless chain. We completed the journey
at five o'clock this afternoon.
This town is built on the same model as the one last visited.
Hardly had we entered it before we encountered demonstrative
evidence that the native prince, Wiranarta Kalsoema Radhe Ade-
pathe, Regent of Bandong, is every inch a king. His despotic
authority is reflected in the despondent countenances and de
meanor of his subjects. Within his dominion we were recognized
as his guests. No traveller on the road, whether young or old,
whether a man staggering under a heavy burden, or a woman with
a child in her arms, passed us without first receiving our permission,
no matter how slowly we might be moving, or how long we might
be stopping. All whom we met went down on their knees as
we approached, nor did they venture to leave that posture or
even lift their eyes from the ground until we had passed by.
This was a strange sight among a people who are more sen
sitive than any other on points of personal dignity. Every official
or educated Javanese wears a sword, not so much to protect him
self against the beasts of the jungle, as to use it in vindication
of wounded self-esteem. He is a duellist. So excitable is the na
tional sense of honor, that no words of insult or opprobrium are
ever heard among them without provoking instant chastisement.
Killing in the duel is not accounted murder.
Radhe Adepathe, attended by a half-caste interpreter, stood
waiting to receive us before the palace-door, under a 'gilded um
brella, of form and dimensions not unlike the " sounding-board "
of old-fashioned New-England churches. The interpreter inquired
in French whether the guests were Mr. Seward and family. Being
answered, he presented each of us to the regent, who, with a step
of conscious majesty, conducted Mr. Seward and the ladies individ
ually under the gorgeous umbrella, through the portico and into
the grand reception-hall of the palace. He seemed seventy years
old, and was carelessly dressed. His countenance indicated great
shrewdness, his voice and manner were studiously deferential. He
displayed, however, a disagreeable impatience and even petulance.

300 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
He devolved on the interpreter the duty of showing us our apart
ments. We thought his expressions of politeness sinister, and con
ceived at once a strong dislike for him, The overawed interpreter
blundered, and conducted each guest to an apartment designed for
the other. The regent, discovering the mistake, rose to the frenzy
of a "Blue Beard." He hobbled after us and corrected the blun
der with vehement objurgations. We did not understand a word
of the reproof, but we all take notice that the unlucky Malay who
thus combined the offices of interpreter and chamberlain^ in the
" royal " household, has not appeared since.
At seven o'clock we were summoned to the great hall, where the
regent received us. What, a transformation ! He was now attired
in royal Javanese costume, far more elaborate than that of the Pra-
wiro da Kedya. His countenance was serene, his manner gentle,
his discourse easy and courteous. He seemed twenty years younger.
He banished our dislike at once, by telling us, with a humorous
grimace, which none, but those who have actually known whatithe
twinges of the gout are, can affect, that he is a chronic sufferer ?froiii
that malady. When our host was seated in the centre of the rooi%
three male dwarfs, neatly dressed in native scarlet livery, with tur-
baned heads and naked feet, timidly entered and crouched on the
floor behind their master. .One held a sword and folded umbrella,
another, a box filled with smoking-tobacco, pipes, and cigars'; the
third, a brazier of charcoal. The three mutely and unceasi
studied the varying expressions of the regent's face. A
served first schnapps, then port-wine and madeira. Dwarf num
ber two now offered pipes, cigars, and cigarettes ; thereupon the
regent ejaculated " Appee," when the brazier-bearing pigmy sprang
quickly forward. In obeying a command, each dwarf, as he (ap
proached master or guest, dropped on his knees and bowed, his fore
head to the floor, then assuming a natural position, made the ser
vice required. When it was completed he performed a " salart^
and crept backward to his place behind the. regent. Not only
these dwarfs, but each servant in the palace, the regent's.' own son
and heir, a youth of twenty-one, and every native admitted to the
presence, practises the same servile obeisance. The chief, on his

THE REGENT OF BANDONG, WITH HIS OFFICERS.

THE REGENT'S INCOME.

301

part, does not deign to incline his head toward the servant, child,
or subject, to whom he speaks, but, on the contrary, affectedly
looks away from or beyond him.
The palace, the grounds, and the town dependent on it, are
much more spacious than those at Sjiandjioer, and abound with
evidences of the regent's wealth. His annual stipend is one hun
dred and sixty thousand guilders, about eighty thousand dollars.
At first it puzzled us to know how a barbarian can use such an in
come, but we were not long in finding a solution. In part, it is
laid out in gems and jewels for personal ostentation, in part for the
support of his family, in part for maintaining his corps of " baya
deres " (ballet and singing girls), and a band of musicians, in part
in keeping up the most costly stud on the island, and the residue
in support of a large number of relations and dependants. The
crescent dominates everywhere in Java, and doubtless the mosque
draws heavily on the princely revenues.
After an elaborate dinner, the day has ended, as at Sjiandjioer,
with a native serenade.

A HOSTELRY IN JAVA.

CHAPTER IV.
MR. SEWARD AT BANDONG.
Excursion to the Cascade. — A Perilous Road. — The Water-Fall. — An Evening at the
Palace. — The Bayaderes. — Two Dwarfs. — A Chorus of Peasants. — The Little Prin
cesses. — An Excursion to Tankoeban. — Peruvian Bark. — The Top of the Volcano. :
— An Enchanting Scene. — The Javanese Prince.
Bandong, January 23d. — It rained all night. Bad as we knew
the roads must be, the regent nevertheless ordered out his immense
European carriage, with six horses, for an excursion to the " Cas
cade," which is one of the wonders of the island. We were attended
by a detachment of heavy dragoons in Dutch uniforms, barefooted
postilions, and turbaned footmen. At the foot of- every hill, and
at every slough, a crowd of peasants appeared, as if summoned by
previous command, to drag or push our unwilling wheels. It was
like a royal progress, such as Queen Elizabeth used to make in the
sixteenth century.
Twelve miles from the town, we found twenty-five saddle-
horses, a complement of sedan-chairs, and fifty peasants, awaiting
us. Taking so many of these animals, vehicles, and men, as we had
need of, we descended successive hills terraced with pale-green rice-
fields, and glossy dark coffee-groves. The mounted members of
the party agree that, in all their experience, they never had so per
ilous an exercise ; but the horses, as well as the bearers of the
chairs, were well trained and sure of foot. Although an animal
occasionally stumbled, and a chair-bearer lost his balance, we never-

A WATER-FALL. 303
theless accomplished the journey down the slippery precipices with
out serious accident.
The river Groote forms the canal which we have described at
Batavia. That river here bears the euphonious name of Tjoerock
Tjikapoendoeng. The torrents by which it is formed meet in the
gorges above this place, and it makes a perpendicular leap of sev
enty feet into a dell, the sides of which are studded with lofty tree-
ferns festooned with orchids. The cascade in form and movement
has a parallel in some of the many leaps of the West Canada Creek
at Trenton, but its forest surroundings can have their like nowhere
but within the tropics. After the first pleasing impression of the
scene was over, we compared notes together, saying how absurd it
must seem that we, who live almost in sound of Niagara, should
have come this long distance to see a petty water-fall under the
equator. Soon, however, we were made to understand that, for
those to whom our cataract of thunder is unknown, this shining
cascade is worthy of all admiration. The imagination of the na
tives has peopled the dell with gentle fairies of the air, and loving
water-sprites. The Dutch gentleman who accompanied us had
never seen any water-falls but the waste-weirs of the canals in
Holland. He was awe-stricken in the presence of Tjoerock Tjika
poendoeng. While to us the combination of sparkling water,
dainty ferns, and breathing flowers was simply beautiful, it was
for him sublime. So it is that accident or circumstance often
determines our tastes and sentiments.
This evening the regent conducted us to the private palace in
which his family reside. Apologizing for his wife's absence by
reason of indisposition, he placed us in the centre of a spacious and
lofty hall, softly lighted with tinted globe lamps, and graced with a
curious medley of portraits of European celebrities — among them
the Prince of Wales, the Queen of the Netherlands, Jenny Bind,
and Lola Montez. We were the only guests. A band of twenty-
five native musicians was stationed on the porch. Hundreds of
the peasantry of Bandong crowded the guard in front. The musi
cians played, in a low tone, a recitative accompaniment. Soon after
this began, four " bayaderes," one after the other, glided into the

304

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

room, with a movement in harmony with the music. They were
apparently eighteen years of age, and had that " golden " complex
ion which in the East is the highest type of beauty. The regent
explained that the " bayadere " amusement was derived from the
ancient Hindoos. The costume of the performers has the same
origin. It consists of a long, scant scarlet skirt, fastened above the
waist, and falling in folds quite over the bare feet. A stiffened
band of scarlet and gold, ten inches wide, is drawn tightly about
the w-aist, fitting just under the shoulder-blades, leaving the arms
and shoulders entirely bare. The monture was a burnished helmet.
Wondering at this barbaric magnificence, Mr. Seward asked the

DANCING-COSTUME.

regent whether the helmet was gilded. He quickly answered in
Javanese, that not only the helmet, but also the heavy girdle, the
bracelets, and anklets, were of solid gold, and added in English,
" California." Three ballets were performed ; it was not difficult

A JAVANESE TOM THUMB.

305

to understand the spirit of each. The first, gay and joyous, repre
sented a nuptial ceremony ; the second, energetic and vigorous, a
battle, with ambuscade, surprise, struggle, and victory ; the third,

DANOING-GIRL.

deep-toned and measured, a funeral pageant. The dancing con
sisted of slow and varied posturing and extravagant gesticulation,
to the broken and imperfect time of the wild music. The " baya
deres " were not the only performers of the evening. There were
two dwarfs, the eldest thirty years old, well proportioned and agile,
and a counterpart of Tom Thumb. In the other, the .peculiar
Malay figure and features were exaggerated to absolute deformity.
The regent took especial delight in this lusus naturae, and laughed
immoderately at the little creature's big head and bandy legs. We,
who at home are more pained than pleased by the exhibitions of
General Tom Thumb and his Liliputian wife, could not sympathize
here with the barbarian prince. It was with difficulty that we sup
pressed our disgust when the pitiable dwarfs were put forward as

306 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
harlequins in the historical pantomimes which the "bayaderes"
were executing.
Dwarfs here remain the same important personages they were
in European courts three hundred years ago. We ought to
have mentioned that the Radhe Adepathe maintains seven of
them. The performance of the night had a very pleasing interlude.
While the artistes were resting in the intervals, the guard at the
door opened the way to a chorus of peasants. They executed a
grotesque dance, which gave unbounded delight, not only to our
selves, but to the unbidden native spectators outside. In the midst
of this diversion, two children of the regent, girls of four and five,
and very small, came in with their attendants, dressed in queenly
satin robes and jewels. He presented them to us with manifest
pride, and, although they trembled during the ceremony, they per
formed their little parts with all the formality of women.
We saw the " bayadere " in Japan, and have now seen her in
Java. She is, as we understand, a universal character in the East.
Before the innovations of Buddha, the Bramins were an exclu
sive religious class in India. They constituted a priesthood, like
the family of Aaron among the Jews. Descended from the gods,
their persons were sacred. By a cunning artifice, they reconciled
their followers to the consecration of women to their service.
These women were selected at an early age from the highest fami
lies, reared and educated in the temples in the feminine arts and
accomplishments, as well as in mysteries of religion. Such were
originally the "bayaderes." If Madame Roland, in view of the
agonies of the state of France, exclaimed, " O Liberty, what
crimes are committed in thy name ! " how much more might we
exclaim, in view of this wicked imposture, what crime has not
superstition perpetrated against the virtue of the human race!
While, as we are told, the institution among the Hindoos retains
its religious character, it has been copied without that character
throughout the East, whatever forms of religion may prevail. A
troupe of bayaderes is considered a necessary ornament in the
court of every prince, and in all rich families. They are allowed

THE VOLCANO OF TANKOEBAN. 307
the education and accomplishments which are denied the sex gen
erally, without being held to the practice of virtue.
January 24th. — An excursion to-day with the same cortege
and retinue as yesterday, to the smouldering volcano of Tankoe-
ban. What a transformation in the person of the young prince !
Hitherto we had seen him barefooted, and in a mean sarong, kneel
ing and lying at his father's feet like a slave. To-day he has donned
a manly and even princely costume. Booted and spurred, he
mounted a spirited horse, and led our expedition.
Leaving our carriages in a pretty village, at the foot of the
mountain, and taking saddle-horses and chairs, we made the ascent
in five hours, by an excavated zigzag path, the construction of
which would have been impossible for any engineer other than a
Javanese practised in the science of mountain-irrigation. At the
beginning of the ascent, we were at the elevation which the coffee-
tree most affects. The orchards are very luxuriant ; rising a hun
dred feet higher, we came to a plain covered with the Cinchona
calisaya, as the tree is called, which furnishes the medicine known
world-wide as the Peruvian bark, in its various forms. The culture
has been introduced here, quite recently, from Bolivia. The trees
are yet young, and we are unable to determine their ultimate size.
The Resident informs us that the enterprise has already proved a
success. He has shipped more than seven tons of the bark to Hol
land, taken from only the smaller branches or twigs of the trees.
The next plateau gave us a view of the sugar cultivation ; a still
higher one yields cabbages, potatoes, and other esculents for the
supply of the markets on the sea-shore. Native timber grows
upon the mountain-sides to the very summit, five thousand feet
above the sea. The forests are chiefly of teak ; the. undergrowth,
tree-ferns, with a great variety of flowering and fruit-bearing
vines. We recognize the raspberry, although not belonging to
any species cultivated with us. Troops of peasantry went before
us and prepared the way by cutting steps on the most rugged
declivities. We reached, at last, a plain covered with fire-blasted trees; sul-
24

30'8 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
phurous fumes impregnated the atmosphere, and a clammy moist
ure chilled us through and through. Following a circuitous path
through this desolate scene, we reached the brink of the double cra
ter, four or five miles in circumference and one thousand feet deep.
There have been two eruptions in such close proximity that only a
low ridge or promontory separates the craters. At the bottom of
either crater, there is a dark, yellow lake — or, rather, there is one
lake extending over the bottoms of both — divided by a natural
bridge. On the north shore or beach of this double lake, open
chasms send up, from fiery springs, through dense clouds of smoke,
a perpetual column of blazing sulphur. Another spring, somewhat
higher, seethes like a vast furnace, as it pours forth column after
column of mingled mud and gaseous fluid, with reverberating
sounds like thunder. The banks of solid rock are almost perpen
dicular. Gathering clouds, driven by strong winds from the west
ward, when they reach the precipice, roll in broad volumes down
its sides into the abyss ; absorbing, then, the sulphurous fumes,
they rise on the opposite side of the crater, charged with their min
eral burden, which they distribute, on their return to the upper air,
While contemplating these gigantic efforts of Nature, continued
through ages, to resume her lost tranquillity and silence, we were
shivering with cold and hunger. The plain surrounding the vol
cano, and indeed the entire surface of the mountain-summit, though
covered with such vegetation as the mineral blasts allow to flourish,
is incrusted with volcanic ashes, like those which buried Pompeii
and other cities on the slopes of Vesuvius. In descending, we
peered constantly through the forest, to get sight of the tiger,
which is the terror of the island. Our guides, though armed
against him, informed us that the beast has become wary, and no
longer attacks men in bands.
Earth can have no scene more enchanting than the dark, tower
ing mountains, shading off into verdant plains, which spread before
our eyes as we made our way back to the village we had left in
the morning. We overtook, as we thought, the very clouds which
we had seen rolling through the sulphurous crater, and, driving
through them, were drenched with rain. Then, again, when the

DUTCH RULE IN JAVA. 309
sun shone out, we trod the silver lining of other clouds, which
were pouring their floods upon illuminated plains below.
A dinner, with good wine, and plenty of it, which our young
chief had 'ordered, awaited us at the foot of the mountain, and he
now presided right royally over the welcome entertainment. A
second dinner at the palace closed the. day.
We have come to like our host vastly. He is genial and joyous
in his intervals of gout, and, by a certain sympathy, has come to
understand much of our English, and to make us comprehend his
vernacular. America is a subject of inexhaustible interest to him.
He understands it so well, that when Mr. Seward asked him to
what country he thought William Freeman, the colored servant,
who speaks English, and wears a European costume, belonged, he
replied, " He was born in America, the son of a slave." He was
entertaining us to-day with accounts, of his great ancestry, when
our young Dutch companion asked him what evidence he had of
this lineage. He answered, with spirit, "What evidence have we
that we all descended from Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden ? "
The Dutch seem constantly on the watch for treachery on his part.
But suspicion is the punishment of usurpation. It apprehends dis
loyalty and treachery on every side. Would it be treason, indeed,
in this humiliated and pensioned wearer of twelve diamond-hilted
ancestral swords, to strike with them a blow for the lost sceptre of
his tribe ?
For ourselves, we cannot but think that the Dutch rule in this
island, after two hundred years of trial, with their successive wars,
is at last safely established. It can only be shaken now by tyranny
so extreme and violent as to arouse to resistance a simple race who
as yet have never acquired the first idea either of personal freedom
or of national independence.

CHAPTER Y.
AT RATA VIA AGAIN.— THE MALAYS.
Farewell to Bandong. — A Tropical Breakfast. — A Breakfast in the Botanical Gardens,—
A Princely Native Artist. — Dutch Colonization. — Character of the Malay Race-
Chinese Immigration.
Batavia, January 25th. — We bade farewell to the magnificent
chief of Bandong, at sunrise yesterday, and we breakfasted with him
at Sjiandjioer, enjoying in both cases the honors of music and the
golden umbrella. We bathed and slept last night in the rose-gar
dens of Sindanlaya. At noon to-day, we reentered the palace of
Buitenzorg, which name, we now learn, was borrowed from the
palace of Frederick the Great at Potsdam — Sans-souci. ¦
A pretty illustration of tropical life greeted us here. The goy-
ernor-general was absent ; the ladies were just assembled at break
fast in the coolest of marble halls, dressed in the degagee habit
which the Europeans have adopted from the natives here : hair fall
ing naturally over the shoulders, the white " short-gown " of our
grandmothers, made fanciful with ruffles and bright buttons ; a gay-
colored muslin skirt {sarong), not fastened by a belt, but softly fold
ed around the figure; naked feet thrust into gold-embroidered
slippers. After sharing their breakfast with us, they loaded our
carriages with roses and passion-flowers, and lotuses, each flower in
itself a bouquet. It was with sincere and unaffected regret that we
parted with our newly-made friends, and so we are here once mo

A SOCIAL -BREAKFAST.

311

at our Batavia home, after a week in the country, filled with the
kindest of hospitalities and most valuable of instructions.

Tllfe ¦

BATH AT 8INDANLATA.

January 26th.— The Resident of the province of Batavia, with
the ladies of his family, gave us, this morning, a social breakfast in
the Botanical Gardens, under arching banyan-trees, in the presence
of a larger and gayer assembly than ever before has graced a feast
in our experience. These spectators were inquisitive monkeys,
graceful giraffes, noble lions, magnificent tigers, loquacious parrots,
and splendid peacocks, not to speak of birds-of-paradise. In short,

312 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
the Zoological Museum was the scene of our festivity. When the
repast was over, we visited the museum, which is very rich in
Malay antiquities and curiosities, chiefly war and official costumes
ornaments, and weapons, from all parts of the Eastern Archipelago.
The Hall of the Council of the Indies, in the government pal
ace, ia a spacious one, and adorned appropriately with a full collec
tion of life-size portraits of the successive governors-general.
Java is proud of the native prince Rahden Saleh, who in Europe
acquired great proficiency in the ar.ts of painting and architecture.
His most celebrated artistic achievements are, the Botanical Gar
dens, in which we breakfasted ; a fine portrait of the governor-gen
eral (Myer) ; and his own Italian villa, in the suburbs of Batavia.
Mr. Pell gathered at his table, in the evening, a pleasant party
of Americans. This island is visited more by Americans than by
any other class of travellers.
Batavia- Roads, Steamer Singapore, January 26th, Evening —
To avoid an early and precipitate embarkation to-morrow, we pro
cured a steam-tender, and came on board a packet still smaller than
the Koningin der Nederlanden.
What we have seen in Java, and learned there of other islands,
justifies us in pronouncing the Dutch colonization in the East
Indies a great and beneficent success. Less than twenty thou
sand Dutch colonists have established over a native population
of seventeen millions the sway of the mother-country, which num
bers only four millions. Notwithstanding occasional insurrections,
that sway may be regarded as firmly established. It ought to
enhance our admiration of the enterprise, that, during two hun
dred years of its history, the Netherlands had to overcome not
alone the natives of the islands, but also to maintain an almost
constant conflict with European competitors in these distant seas
— Portugal, Spain, France, and Great Britain. Its administra
tion is severely criticised in British circles, on the ground of its
wearing too prominently the features of narrow mercantile monop
oly. Although these features must be admitted to be tyrannical, it
cannot be denied, on the other hand, that the Dutch Government

THE MALAY RACE. 313
has practised far less severity and cruelty toward the natives of the
Archipelago than Spain, and Great Britain, and their successors
the United States, have practised in America. Holland has neither
exterminated native populations in the Archipelago, nor imposed
slavery on them, nor introduced African slavery among them.
The Dutch development of the resources of Java has been effective.
The island has an agriculture surpassing that of any other country,
and has also a valuable and increasing foreign commerce. So far
as we can perceive, it is free alike from political and social dis
content, and certainly it is free from pauperism. Nor is it to be
overlooked that the Malays have been raised to the partial exer
cise of political functions. The government, while it tolerates all
religions, encourages missionary instruction, and maintains schools
so generally that a Javanese who is unable to read and write in
his own language is exceptional. At the same time it must be
admitted that no such vivifying social sentiments as those of per
sonal liberty and national independence have been conceived by
the Malays ; and, while we can no longer doubt that the ultimate
civilization of the whole human race is within the design of Provi
dence, we must reconcile ourselves to laws which render the prog
ress of civilization slow, and seemingly uncertain.
The Malay race is not homogeneous; it has many distinct
branches. The branches which were found by the European dis
coverers on the peninsula, and on the islands of Sumatra and
Java, were compact and organized states, which had long before
emerged from the tribal condition. Nevertheless, the Malays are
intellectually as well as physically feeble. The European discov
erers alleged that they could not count ten. But in one art they
excelled all mankind — this was the art of irrigation. So incon
gruous does this skill seem to be, that we might almost deem it
an instinct father than an acquirement of the Malays. Although
the same European explorers describe the Malays as subtle and
treacherous, we are obliged to conclude that they are a docile and
tractable people. They .received their earliest religion from the
Bramins of India, as is proved by the ruins of Hindoo temples of
vast proportions and great magnificence. They exchanged that re-

314

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.

ligion, with entire docility, for the faith of the crescent, which was
brought to them from Arabia by the apostles of Mohammed. There
was one occasion, indeed, in their history when they proved intrac
table and hostile. At the time of the arrival of the Europeans, not
only the Malayan Peninsula, but Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, were
found the field of active Chinese colonization. The European his
torians represent that the natives sought to exterminate the Chinese
immigrants here, on exactly the same grounds that Chinese immi
gration is opposed in the United States, namely, a fear that it
would establish a system of heathen barbarism. In this native re
sistance to Chinese colonization, the European adventurers con
curred and cooperated for a long time. But it has, at last, happily
ceased. The Dutch East India Government, as well as the British
Government at Singapore, are now effectively engaged in promot
ing that immigration in their respective colonies.

CHAPTER YI.
FROM BATAVIA TO MADRAS.
An Uncomfortable Steamer.— An Accident.— At Singapore. — British Hospitality.— The
Port of Penang.— A Loyal Englishman.— Bay of Bengal— Half-Way Round the
World. — Arrival at Ceylon. — Point de Galle. — A Short Visit to the Shore. — A
Hindoo Crew. — Off Pondicherry.
Steamer Singapore, January 31st. — If one wishes to learn how
skilfully common-carriers, demanding the highest rates for freight
and passage, can inflict the greatest discomfort, we recommend to
him a lesson on the Singapore. She was appointed to leave Batavia
on the 25th, while the British steamer to Ceylon was to leave Sin
gapore on February 1st. But the Singapore, which is the slowest
vessel of the line, did not sail until the 27th. Notwithstanding
this change of time, we hoped for two days of rest at Singapore.
The cabin is a dove-cote — the holes are reached from the deck by a
perpendicular ladder. We had the whole dove-cote to ourselves
the night we lay in the roads at Batavia. The next night, and all
other nights, we escaped from its stifling imprisonment by having
our mattresses spread on the deck and protected by awnings. Our
new lodging was made intolerably noisy by the incessant tramp of
passengers, officers, seamen, and servants. A dozen milch-cows
were hauled by their horns on deck, before we left port. Fifty
miles at sea, one of them mutinied, and leaped overboard ; the
ship gave her stern-chase, bow-chase, and cross-chase, for five hours ;

316 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
it was an unequal chase, but steam-power, baffled so long, prevailed
at last. During the night, when we were crossing the mouth of the
straits of Sunda, a northwest monsoon put the steamer to another
trial. The condenser gave way at midnight, and the vessel be
came a log. We, who were wakeful and alarmed, saw the officers
hurrying backward and forward, whispering rather than proclaim
ing their commands. We overheard them discoursing how to make
up the ship's deficiency in life-boats in case she should be driven
on the beach. It was a new experience to go down, in that tem
pestuous night, into the seething ship's hold, and take our money
from our trunks and prepare for the apprehended disaster. What
might not be our fate, if, escaping from the perils of the sea, we
should reach the savage shore of Sumatra ? Should we encounter
there serpents, wild-beasts, cannibals? The storm, however, re
lented a little ; after working the pumps, and hammering on the
condenser, the engineer repaired the broken machinery, and the
vessel resumed her course.
We were demoralized by travel in this intemperate climate.
The coarse food was not at all to our liking ; we fell back on the
fruits. The first day, lemons, limes, even bottled lemonade, were
exhausted; the next day, the oranges, bananas, and pineapples;
the third day, and afterward, we had stale bread and bad coffee.
We have arrived here at midnight, on the fifth day of our voyage.
No signal has been given of the steamer, and we therefore sleep
on board, although we are to embark on the Behar for Ceylon, to
morrow. Steamer Behar, Straits of Malacca, February lst.^-The unin-
structed telegraph, at dawn, signalled the Singapore as a Dutch
man-of-war. Nobody expected Mr. Seward in a belligerent char
acter, especially under a Dutch flag. Governor Ord and Consul
Jewell, however, discovered the mistake, and took us ashore after
long delay. The true English hospitality of Sir George and Lady
Ord, at Government House, soon, banished the remembrance of the
perils and privations of our recent voyage.

THE STRAITS OF SUNDA. 3 IT
Strength commands respect, and success, at last, overpowers
envy. The same European populace of Singapore, which, only
a very few years ago, cheered the American rebel Semmes, when
he went out and came in there from his traitorous depredations on
unprotected national commerce, now followed our little American
party to the wharf, and, as the Behar cast off her lines at four
o'clock, they shouted, with evident good-will : " Three cheers for
Governor Seward, three cheers for the ladies ! " " Well," said Mr.
Seward, " let it be so ; it is not an unwholesome instruction that the
nation which would enjoy the respect of other nations must retain
its claim to it by union and courage."
Penang, February 3d. — As the straits of Sunda are the cus
tomary channel of vessels which round Cape Horn for Java, China,
and Japan, so the straits of Malacca are the proper passage for ves
sels of like destination, which come by the way of the Cape of Good
Hope. The British Government has, with its usual sagacity,
secured the ancient town of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula. The
straits are four hundred miles long. We have made the passage
hither in forty- two hours, seeing often the high hills of Sumatra on
our left, and the flat Malay Peninsula always in view on our right.
The straits here are seven miles wide, and deep enough for vessels
of the largest size. The mountainous, wooded island of Penang
rises abruptly out of the sea, and lesser islands lend a picturesque
aspect to the harbor.
The port of Penang, sometimes called Georgetown, with a pop
ulation of four thousand, may, some time ago, have flourished, but
it is now in a condition of neglect and decline. The population of
the island of Penang is forty thousand. Governor Ord, like every
one else in this region, represents the Malays as improvident and
idle. He bases his hope of the prosperity of the settlement upon
Chinese immigration. Among the twenty or thirty boats, which
came off here for passengers and freight, only one was Malay ; all
the others were Chinese built, and manned by Chinese.
We have improved, as best we could, the six hours' stay with
which the Behar has indulged us here. In carriages, with Hindoo

318 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
drivers, we made great speed, over a smooth road, to see a i
on the West Mountain, two thousand feet above the sea. The
people whom we passed, on the road- side, were often standing or
reelining in careless and picturesque attitudes, under the cocoa-nut
and arika palms. They seem effeminate and languid. Manifestly,
however, they bestow careful attention on their costumes, grace
fully made up of pure white or bright-colored turbans, flowing
sashes, and gay sarongs.
There is an approximation to similarity in the dwellings of the
Malays and Chinese here, while the foreign bungalows exhibit a
sad corruption of European architecture, without gain, from the
Oriental. On all sides, and at every turn, there are swinging
sign-boards, which announce " Licensed to sell ardent spirits." If
alcohol is not admitted to be a civilizer, it cannot be denied that
it is a leveller.
After making a considerable descent, we reached a brawling
torrent. We followed its bank under the shade of native forests.
A small plain near the foot of the cascade furnishes the site for a
little, rude, adobe Hindoo temple ; it has a rustic veranda, sup-,
ported by palm-saplings. Here we were welcomed by Bramins,
who were assiduously engaged in plaiting bamboo curtains, and-
weaving garlands of mountain-flowers, for a festival to-morrow.
We rested awhile under this simple but beautiful upholstery, and
then foraged the adjoining woods for nutmegs and cloves. As
cending from this plain two or three hundred feet, over rough
stone steps, we came to the basin into which the torrent plunges
for a hundred feet or more, breaking into sparkling jets as it
dashes against glistening granite rocks. Even we, prosaic as we
are, could easily fancy that the caverns in these romantic rocks are
inhabited by naiads and genii, such as are supposed to hold com
mune with the imaginative disciples of the oldest and most myste
rious of the religions of the East.
Sitting on benches hewn from the rock, and refreshing ourselves
with cool water drawn from the basin, we looked off upon the
ocean, a dozen miles distant, calm and quiet, through a vista of tree-
ferns, rooted high above the tops of the palms and spice-trees ^

HALF-WAY ROUND THE WORLD. 319
grow on the plain below. Descending to the plain where we had
left our carriages, we were served, at a rustic inn, with a lunch of
broiled chickens and salad, and with wine from Xeres, which need
ed no "bush." The proprietor, a loyal Englishman, did not think
it superfluous to tell us that the fountain in which we had bathed,
the table on which we dined, and the cask from which the wine
was drawn, had all been honored with the patronage of his Royal
Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. How long will " her Majesty's
command," and " his Royal Highness's protection," serve to adver
tise merchandise and inns in the East Indies %
On coming on board, we learned with regret that our hurried
shore ramble had deprived us of a visit from the United States con
sul. Steamer Behar, Bay of Bengal, February 4th. — Penang city
and roadstead passed from our sight with the setting sun. We
have given- the Southern Islands a wide berth.
Now at noon, while the captain is taking his daily observations,
Mr. Seward, pencil in hand, is making up his reckoning. " Cap
tain, I think we must be near the 98th meridian of east longitude,
which will be half my voyage around the world." The captain
answered, " That light-ship, sir, which you see on our right, marks
the line you are inquiring for."
Little do our friends at home, in their midnight slumber, dream
that we are sitting, wide awake, directly over their heads. But we
have a faint idea that this reflection has been made under similar
' circumstances before.
The calm sea-surface is broken by a vast shoal of fish, violently
throwing themselves into the air. "What has caused this great
commotion ? " It is those two black-headed sharks peering over
the water — vanguard, doubtless, of a ferocious army.
February 7th.— The Indian Ocean justifies its renown. We
have not had a wave too high, a cloud too dark, or a breeze too
strong. We are actually regretting that this dreamy voyage, must
be broken at Ceylon to-morrow. A mattress on the deck of a Pen-

320 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
insular and Oriental steamer, on this ocean in February, is a luxury
of rest. The glaring, blazing sun has scarcely set, before the moon
and stars come out in full brilliancy. The sparkling Southern
Cross traverses a short journey across the southern horizon, visibly
changing its position every hour, and the tranquil night, without
twilight, breaks suddenly into another cloudless and joyous day.
Off Point de Galle, February 8th. — A letter from Lord Napier
comes on board, protesting against our lingering at Ceylon, so as
to fall into India in the hot season. We are obliged to be content,
therefore, with an outside view of that famous island. We have
been running nearly all day along its beautiful coast. A yellow
beach, with dazzling breakers, fringes the forest verdure of the
island. That verdure extends to a height of five thousand feet,
when it gives place to a blue rocky ridge, from which rises Adam's
Peak, nine thousand feet, and Haycock Hill, fourteen thousand.
The fishing-craft here is as ingenious as its construction is peculiar.
Being a canoe, scooped out of the trunk of a tree, it is too narrow
for safety. It is, therefore, provided with a float attached to out
riggers at the right side. Fleets of these boats are moving around
us, but, whatever pearls the fishermen may have taken from these
rich waters, are too minute for our vision. So, also, if elephants
are as numerous on the shores as they are represented to be, it
must be remembered that an impenetrable jungle intervenes to
conceal them from our sight.
Steamship Columbia, 10 p.m., February 8th.— While we were
writing our latest notes, a summons came for our transshipment
from the Behar to this steamer.
Point de Galle, or, as it is otherwise called, Galle, although
described in some of the geographies as having a good harbor, has
just no harbor at all. It has neither bay nor roadstead, but a piti
ful cove, into which the sea forces its way between two short ledges
of rock projecting from the shore. These ledges, which are scarcely
a quarter of a mile apart, seem to break the surf, and thus in tair
weather afford something like a tranquil anchorage. This anchor-

A FEW MINUTES IN CEYLON. 321
age, however, can accommodate only five or six sea-going vessels,
and every one of this number is exposed to great danger if it loses
control of its ground-tackle, from hidden coral-rocks. Our fellow-
passenger, Colonel Garden, of the British Army of India, tells us
that one of these rocks wrecked and broke into pieces the steamer
in which he was entering the harbor two years ago.
This afternoon three steamers met here — the Behar bound for
Suez, the Columbia for Madras, and a third for the Archipelago.
With these came also a Portuguese man-of-war. The Behar, just
before we left here, collided with a large iron ship, inflicting the
loss of a boom, and suffering the loss of a life-boat and stanchions.
We asked whether this is the best of the island ports, and were
answered that Columbo, the only one available to the present trade,
is worse. Nevertheless, the cove is beautiful to look upon. The
shore is ten or twelve feet above the sea, and shaded with palms.
Here and there a fanciful bungalow may be seen peeping from
behind the dense groves. On a gentle elevation is a pretty Chris
tian church and spire, confronting a mosque and minarets not less
conspicuous. At the water's edge is a line of white fortifications
and barracks, with a lofty gateway leading to the town, built by
the Portuguese. These buildings, substantial and old, are shel
tered by immense trees, of what sort we are unable to learn.
Ten o'clock. — Until the moment of writing the last notes, we
had entertained no hope of treading the soil of fragrant Ceylon.
The captain of the Columbia tendered us his service to go ashore
in his launch. We made our way, not without great difficulty,
through the crowded shipping to the stone steps under the mediae
val gateway. Ten minutes sufficed us to walk through the princi
pal street. We rested under the veranda of a comfortable, mod
ern hotel, making a hundred inquiries concerning the island and
its wonders, continually interrupted by tempting offers of carved
ebony elephants, coffee-wood sticks, cinnamon paper-cutters, Cin
galese lace, not to speak of diamonds, pearls, rubies, and sapphires.
Having so- soon "done" the town and island, we rowed among the
shipping, dodging a rudder here, a propeller there, and native raft-

322 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO, ETC.
boats on every side, until a flash from the ship's gun summoned all
on board. The most inspiring incident of this day's experience
was the last. The moon had not risen, and the night was dark
and cloudy when our propeller was put in motion. A blue light
on the Columbia's bow signalled that her movement was to begin,
Instantly a brilliant torch, fed by impish natives, blazed on each
one of the hundred beacons which rose on the sharp ledges of the
channel, and soon we wei'e moving through a maze of bonfires to
the open sea. At this moment, a full moon, breaking through the
clouds, poured her silver light over land and sea, adding a new
and inconceivable brilliancy to the scene.
Bay of Bengal, February 9th. — The route to Madras requires
that we retrace to the end of the island the course by which we
reached Point de Galle. We are now steering northward, along
the eastern coast of Ceylon.
The island constitutes a distinct British province, and its gov
ernment is under the direct supervision of the Secretary of State
for India. Its people, all Cingalese, are doubtless of Hindoo
extraction. The prevailing religion, that of Buddha, we are in
clined to think, flourishes more vigorously there than on the con
tinent. British and American missionaries labor harmoniously
together, and report that they have one pupil in their schools, for
every ninety of the native population.
We have at last left the Chinese, as well as the American and
European seamen, behind us. All our crew are Hindoos, Except
ourselves, all the passengers are British. They are all civil or mili
tary officers of the Government. Within the memories of many of
them, journeys in India were made with elephant-trains. After
this came the Peninsular and Oriental steamers, and now railways.
Business-men go directly by rail from Bombay to Calcutta, while
families prefer the slower and easier journey by sea around the
peninsula, touching at Ceylon. The steamers also transport the
troops and stores for the Indian army.
We already feel that the continental empire is the one absorb
ing British interest, to which Ceylon and the Straits Settlement are

PONDICHERRY. 323
subordinate. What we hear discussed are the political and social
questions of the capital, Calcutta. Our fellow-passengers condole
with us that our arrival will be too late for the court season.
Off Pondicherry. — It will be remembered that we found the
French in Cochin China fortifying Saigon against German invasion.
We heard yesterday at Point de Galle that one of the conditions of
peace made by King William is the surrender of Pondicherry, the
only other remaining relic of French conquest in the East. Mr.
Seward does not believe the report. While he thinks that France
may withdraw before long from the East, he thinks it quite too late
for even united Germany to come here as a civilizer. It would
involve nothing else than an attempt at universal empire, that
dream which began with Alexander, and which lies buried in the
tomb at the Hotel des Invalides.
Pondicherry, without a harbor, is a dismantled city of forty
thousand people, lying within the limits of the province of South
Arcot, and is distant only eighty-seven miles from Madras. The
British have heretofore seized it four times, in as many successive
wars with France, and, although they have as often restored it, it
lies nevertheless completely at their mercy.

PART IV.
BRITISH INDIA.

CHAPTER I.
MADRAS.
Madras from the Sea. — Governor Napier. — The Government House. — A Hindoo Girls'
School. — Bishop Heber. — British Dominion in India. — Rear-Admiral Cockburn. —
Machinery of Government. — A Meeting of the Executive Council. — Lord Cornwallis.
— The Legislative Council. — Hindoo Music.
Madras, February 11th. — This voyage of ours, westward
around the world, subjects us to singular impressions. Since we
left San Francisco, we have seen at every stage a more imposing
demonstration of European power. Thus, we are reaching Europe
by a flank movement.
We first saw Madras from the sea, at a long distance, through a
blue haze. It seemed commanding and beautiful, a city of Euro
pean aspect, stretching eight or ten miles along the Coromandel
coast. It contains five hundred thousand people. Here, as at
Yeddo, large gardens intervene between the different districts of
the city. On coming near, its lofty buildings present a dingy
appearance, an indication, we think, of commercial decline, result
ing from the opening of the railway from Bombay to Calcutta.
Captain Napier took us off the steamer, and brought us directly
to the Government House, the official residence' of Francis, Lord
Napier, Governor of the Presidency of Madras. It is a palace half
European, half Oriental, with its proportions and appointments not
unworthy of a magistrate who presides over a country which is as
large as France, and contains almost as many million inhabitants.

328 BRITISH INDIA.
During Lord Napier's residence, as minister of Great Britain in
the United States, a close friendship grew up between him and Mr.
Seward, and between their families. That friendship has continued!
through political and domestic vicissitudes. We therefore expecteif
here, as we desired, not so much a distinguished reception, as a sin
cere welcome, with much-needed rest. These we are having, but
not without such official demonstrations as we have met elsewhere.
The appointments of Government House are magnificent. We
notice a major-general's staff, with a guard of horse and foot,
blazing in scarlet and gold ; civil secretaries, we know not ho-wi
many ; servants counted by the score, at the head of whom aro
seven native butlers, and at the foot a hundred wallahs (cooliesa
who do nothing but keep the punkahs (swinging fans) in motions
in every part of the house, by day and by night. In the stablesj
two hundred horses ; and here we may say, that they have six races
of the animal in India: the "Waler" from Australia, the "Cape"._
from Good Hope, the " Arabian," the " Persian," and the country- ••<
bred horse, a cross between the " Arabian " and "Waler," and a
small horse from Burmah, which we like better than any pony we
have seen in Asia.
Madras, February 11th. — We accompanied Lady Napier to^|
day, at three o'clock, to an examination of a Hindoo girls' -school.' \
Prizes were distributed to one hundred pupils, all under twelve
years. This is the age of marriage in India. Jealous and ambi- i
tious parents anticipate it, by marrying their daughters to their
appointed husbands at every stage of infancy and childhood. We
were surprised, although we ought not to have been so, in seeing!
the children in this school quite black. They have, however^
straight hair and regular features. They are slender in form and
diminutive in stature, with extremely delicate hands and feet.
They have a sad,- pensive manner, entirely free from the contentjj
ment and abandon which are noticeable among the colored children!
of the United States. Though of many different castes, all were
dressed in either bright-colored muslins or gauzes interwoven with
gold. Their fine black hair, their ears, their noses, their necks,

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MADRAS.

A HINDOO GIRLS'-SOHOOL. 329
their arms, their wrists, their ankles, and their toes, were loaded
with ornaments of silver, gold, pearls, and precious stones. A val
uation made at our request, of a set of ornaments worn by a child
of six years, gave the figure of three hundred pounds sterling !
The prettiest costume of all was worn by a daughter of the con
verted Hindoo matron of the institution — a green satin vest, low
at the neck, small short sleeves trimmed with gold lace ; white
skirt over which was wound a long, full, rose-colored scarf; the
necklace, ear-rings, and nose-rings, of gold coins. From the osten
tatious display of jewels, we inferred that the children had rich
parents. But we soon learned that these ornaments constitute the
entire fortune and estate of the wearer. Banks, stocks, and other
institutions for the investment of capital, are little known or under
stood by the Hindoos.
The children answered, some in the Tamil dialect, others in
the Telugu, others in the Hindostanee, Bible questions of history
and geography about as well as our own Sunday-school children of
the same age. They were also examined in the most simple pro
cesses of arithmetic. A Tamil lyric was prettily sung by one class.
Its plaintive strain recalled our negro melodies. The native air,
to which Tamil verses in honor of Lady Napier were sung by the
whole school, unmistakably breathed the refrain of " Dearest Mae."
A Telugu lyric was less musical. Five thousand children are edu
cated in schools of this sort in Madras. Yery few, however, be
come Christians.
Hindoo names always are significant. We record the names
of three pupils who received the first prizes : Ammaui, Matron ;
Amurdum, Nectar; Sivaratura, Gem of Life. The best prizes
were French dolls, and were received with subdued but immense
delight. A drive on the surf-beaten shore, where foreigners " most do
congregate," closed our first day at Madras.
Madras, February 12th.— We attended morning service at the
cathedral, a spacious though unostentatious edifice. It was difficult
at first to compose ourselves under the constant vibration of the

330 BRITISH INDIA.
punkahs, which swing without ceasing over the heads of the
congregation. The beautiful hymn which was sung recalled the
memory of Heber, and a fine marble statue in the chancel gave us
the classic lineaments of the great Bishop of Calcutta. He it was
who was " zealous for his Church, and not forgetful of his station,
but remembering it more for the duties than for the honors that
were attached to it, and infinitely more zealous for the religious im
provement, and for the happiness and spiritual and worldly good
of his fellow-creatures of every tongue, faith, and complexion."
February 14th.— How strange it seems that this dominion of
India, with its two hundred millions of people, , should be a de
pendency on the two small islands of distant Great Britain, which
contain only thirty millions ! And yet there is a reason for it,
Weak and ignorant tribes and nations are generally found depend
ent on stronger and more enlightened ones, if not absorbed by
them. The dominions of Portugal, which never numbered more
than four millions, were once nearly as extensive as those of Eng- ,
land. We have already seen the rich Eastern dominion of the
little kingdom of the Netherlands, whose area is about that of
Vermont or Maryland. Indeed, it" seems as if dependence is, at
some time, the normal condition of every nation. All prosperous
nations must expand. That expansion will be made on adjacent
regions if practicable ; if not practicable, it will then be made in
those regions, however distant, which offer the least resistance,
There is, however, a thought, connected with this subject, which
is worth dwelling upon. Why have Portugal, Spain, and France,
failed to retain the foreign dominions they founded, while the
United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, continually
acquire new territories, instead of losing those already secured?
The reasons must be found in a difference in the characters and
genius of the nations. Portugal colonized only with merchants
and priests, and sought to monopolize the products of. her colo
nies. Spain colonized only with soldiers and priests, and prac
tised restriction, monopoly, and extortion ; while Great Britain,
Holland, and the United States, send out, for colonists, agricul-

ADMIRAL COCKBURN. 331
turists, mechanics, miners, and laborers; and, when they cannot
do this, they introduce cultivation, mining, and the mechanical
arts, among the conquered people. France conquers, not for the
development and improvement of the country subdued, or to
increase her own wealth and power, but chiefly for the glory of
the conquest. To compare great things with small, France con
quers, as the sportsman kills, only to show his skill as a marks
man. February 15th. — Rear-Admiral Cockburn, her Britannic Majes
ty's naval commander on the East India station, arrived here in
his flag-ship, the Forte, on the 14th instant. The official and
fashionable circles (by-the-way, both are very much one) all shower
hospitalities upon him and his officers. They were entertained
yesterday at dinner at Government House, and participated in the
ball which was given to our party. The ball was in the great
banqueting-hall, which is over the porte-cochere of the palace. Its
roof is supported by a double row of lofty Corinthian columns.
Instead of walls, the sides of this tropical ballroom are of movable
lattice-work, admitting the sea-breeze on either side. Though we
have chronicled many balls, this one was too splendid to be omit
ted. Like Mr. Seward's, however, the admiral's thoughts are not
much diverted by the amusements of society. He is sixty years of
age, a loyal and veteran British sailor, a good observer, and a zeal
ous philanthropist. The chief object, at present, of the naval police
which he maintains over these waters, is to suppress the petty trade
in slaves which is still carried on between the eastern coast of
Africa and the shores of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and
the Fersian Gulf. Although the two gentlemen were entirely un
known to each other, Mr. Seward had the pleasant experience of
finding the admiral an intelligent admirer of our country, and a
. sympathizer in Mr. Seward's political principles and sentiments.
The admiral has tendered us a cruise in the Forte from Bombay
, to Muscat, with an excursion thence to the sites of Nineveh and
.Babylon. This voyage, if it be practicable, will be the complement
, of our Eastern travels. But it will require an early departure

332 BRITISH INDIA.
from Bombay, to avoid intolerable heat on the Euphrates as well as
dangerous monsoons in the Persian Gulf.
February 16th. — The British conquests in India are so recent,
that the civil government can hardly yet be said to be consolidated.
Within the vast territories there are three great presidencies— Ben
gal, with Calcutta its capital ; Madras, its capital the city of Ma
dras ; and Bombay, its capital Bombay. The northern and eastern
portions of the territory are divided into other provinces— the
Northwest, the Central, and the Punjaub. A viceroy, appointed
by the crown for four years, resides at Calcutta, and administers a
form of federal government, while each presidency and province
has its own local administration. There is associated with the vice
roy an Executive Council, whose members may be regarded as sec
retaries or ministers charged with portfolios of foreign affairs,
finance, war, judiciary, post-office, improvements, and education,
This Executive Council, like a cabinet council elsewhere, attends
the viceroy semi-weekly or daily, as he requires. Its members arc
residents in India, and they are appointed by the viceroy, with the
consent of the crown. With the consent of this Executive Council,
the viceroy appoints all magisterial and ministerial officers. There
is also a Legislative Council, which consists of the same executive
councillors, with the addition of a few residents of India, selected
by the viceroy with the approval of the crown, to . represent com
mercial and popular interests. This Legislative Council has also a
member of the British bar, appointed by the Home Government, to
be a legal adviser. In each of the councils the viceroy presides.
He can veto, but not without rendering his reasons immediately to
the crown. This Legislative Council, subject to approval from the
Home Government, makes general laws and levies taxes. A major
ity in each council are British, but four, five, or six prominent na
tives of India, distinguished for rank, property, or merit, are added
to each. The Executive Council sits with closed doors ; the Legis
lative Council debates in public. Its proceedings are reported as
fully as those of the British Parliament, or of our own Congress,
The governments of the several presidencies and provinces are con-

INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 333
structed entirely on the same model with that of the federal or im
perial government just described. Thus it will be seen that the
government of British India differs from that of the United States
chiefly in its denial of the elective principle. All its appointments
are derived directly or indirectly from the crown.
The greatest social difficulty of the Government consists in con
tending against the ancient laws and customs of caste. A touching
incident, which may be regarded as showing the protest of human
nature against the laws of caste, has just occurred : A young native
woman was indicted for the murder of her child, whose father was
of a lower caste than her own, and with which intermarriage was
forbidden. She confessed that she strangled the infant rather than
lose her caste. The jury, half native, half foreign, pronounced her
not guilty, notwithstanding her confession.
But the government of India, as we have described it, is not
established in all parts of the conquered territory. There are
many districts, some very large ones, which still remain under the
government, more or less absolute and exclusive, of native heredi
tary princes, not unlike the Indian " nations " in the United States.
All these provinces acknowledge the supremacy of the British Gov
ernment, and admit of its intervention in the local administration
by way of advice or protest. Some of them, more independent
than others, retain the simple relation of allies, offensive and de
fensive, with the Government at Calcutta. Other native princes
submit to have their revenues collected by the Calcutta Govern
ment, and even applied by it for the welfare and improvement of
the districts. Some admit judicial interference, others exclude it.
Some maintain armies, others have surrendered that power. All
India, doubtless, is in a transition state. Of such native districts or
provinces, there are encircled within the limits of the Presidency
of Madras, Travancore at the north end of the peninsula, Cape
Comorin, Mysore in the centre of the peninsula, and Hyderabad
in the northern part of the peninsula. The Prince of Mysore is
divested of all authority, and, while allowed his titular rank, is a
pensioned vassal, living under surveillance. The other two princes
are allies offensive and defensive of the British crown, and are

334 BRITISH INDIA.
practically independent. Mr. Seward is attentively studying the
working of this complex governmental machinery. He confesses
that he thinks it would hardly go on smoothly in the United
States. If a person, native or foreign, desires an audience of the gov
ernor, whether on business or not, he registers his name in the
visitors' book in the adjutant's office. After two weeks, more or
less, the governor gives notice that he will hold a public breakfast
at the palace, at which those who have registered their names will
be received. At this entertainment each person submits his appli
cation in turn.
Mr. Lincoln used to receive promptly all who came to the
White House before four o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Seward
has known many people sleep in the hall of the White House all
night to receive an early audience in the morning.
On the 14th, Mr. Seward drove with the governor to
Fort St. George, where his lordship was to hold an Executive
Council. Even this simple affair was made the occasion of a
pageant greater than is ever seen at Washington except at inau
guration. The governor was escorted by fifty sepoys, huge white
umbrellas were held over him and over the heads of the ministers
as they respectively arrived at the gate of the fortress. A corps of
retainers attended each up the staircase and to the door of the
council-chamber. The opening of the session was announced by
the firing of a gun. Mr. Seward was received by the members, and,
after a pleasant -interview, withdrew to amuse himself with a sur
vey of this celebrated fortification. With its foundation, in 1639,
the story of British conquest in India began. It is identified with
the memorable wars, particularly those of Lord Clive, by which
that conquest has been perfected. Besides an arsenal, it contains a
double line of bomb-proofs to accommodate one thousand men,
The esplanade in front of the fort is protected against the sea by a
massive stone- wall.
A statue of Lord Cornwallis is a principal embellishment. B
was a surprise to us Americans to see so honorable a monument
raised in these colonies to the general who surrendered the last oi

A REVOLUTIONARY ANECDOTE. 335
the British armies at Yorktown, and so yielded the last resistance
to the independence of 'the American colonies. The British gen
eral, however, retrieved that misfortune by a successful and brill
iant career as Governor-General of India. Happily for his fame,
his American disaster is as little remembered by the British nation,
as his successes in India are remembered in the United States.
Mr. Seward recalls a curious anecdote connected with the Corn-
wallis surrender at Yorktown. Henry Laurens, of South Carolina,
had been president of the Continental Congress, and had been
appointed minister to the Netherlands. He was captured on his
passage and imprisoned in the Tower of London, and held for trial
as a traitor to the crown. General Washington showed his con
sideration for the father by delegating Captain Laurens, the son of
the imprisoned minister, to receive the sword of Cornwallis at York-
town. When news of the surrender reached London, Henry Lau
rens was brought before the Court of King's Bench, and discharged
from imprisonment on his own recognizance. They say that he
persisted in amending the recognizance by interpolating the word
not. "I, Henry Laurens, acknowledge myself to be held and firmly
bound unto " not " my sovereign lord, King George the Third,"
and that Lord Mansfield, finding him obstinate, said, " Let him
take the recognizance in his own way."
February 18th. — Mr. Seward attended to-day a session of the
Legislative Council. The morning papers describe the council and
audience as follows : " At the meeting of the Legislative Council
held at the council-chambers of Fort St. George to-day, there were
present the Right Honorable Lord Napier, President, the Honora
ble A. J. Arbuthnot, J. B. Norton, J. D. Surin, P. Macfadyen, A.
F. Brown, Mir Humayoon, Jah Bahadur, Gu Gujapatti Row, and
V. Ranueugae. " The Honorable William H. Seward, Mr. J. Sutherland, and a
European pensioner were present."
We learn that the Mr. Sutherland mentioned is himself the
reporter, but all inquiries have failed to ascertain why the third
auditor was described by the vague term of " European pensioner."

336 BRITISH INDIA.
As the names of the councillors would imply, five are British
and four are natives. ' The subject was a project of a law to raise
revenue for education, police, and irrigation, within the presidency,
The debates disclosed the fact that there is no recognized line of
separation between the powers of the " Imperial " Government at
Calcutta, and those of the provinces, in regard to the rights of taxa?
'tion and the sources of revenue. The debates on this occasion
revealed what in the United States would be distinguished as a
strong jealousy of State rights — a jealousy, indeed, so great as to
endanger the entire fabric of government if appeal could be allowed
to popular suffrage. Practically, however, these demonstrations
are of little value. The " Imperial " Government may do what it
lists ; provincial authority is rather ornamental than effective. All
the members spoke, or, rather, read written speeches. Those of the
natives were not less able and instructive than those of the British.
It is a curious illustration of the inevitable presence of faction in
every form of government, that, although this Legislative Council
consists of only eleven members, all of whom derive their appoint
ments from the crown and are responsible to*it alone, it is never
theless divided into two parties, and we strangers, who have been
less than a week here, already understand them.
Virgil sang " arms and the man," who, driven to exile, left his
native land to build a state on a foreign shore. Our theme seems
to be, arts and the men who voluntarily go into exile to build a
state in distant lands.
Three bands were summoned this morning, to give us an idea
of native music. All their instruments, with the exception of two
violins, were Indian reeds, lutes, and drums. The performances
were elaborate, but unmusical and unintelligible. We asked their
meaning. The performers explained with manifest alacrity. We
regret to say that even after this explanation we were unable to dis
tinguish the dirge for a lost soul from the epithalamium. When
the first had been performed, Lord Napier asked the leader, a slen
der Hindoo with large, flashing eyes and graceful bearing, to recite
and interpret the words of the melody. He rose, made profound
salams, and then, standing erect, in solemn and measured manner

THE "LANCERS" QUADRILLE.

337

chanted his answer : " The words, my lord, are an appeal to the
gods, to allow the poor soul to be consumed immediately with fire,
that it may no longer be tormented with remorse." We had
already become weary of the performance, when the third band
broke into a discordant imitation of the old "Lancers" quadrille.
The musicians were dismissed forthwith, not much to their satisfac
tion, although largely rewarded, for they had reckoned on a full
day's performance. Hindoo music must have declined here, or it
must have been very much improved in Java since its introduction
there.

CHAPTER II.
MADRAS {Continued).
An Excursion to Arcot. — Railroads in Hindostan. — Appearance of the Country.— The
Homage of Flowers. — Cauverypak. — The Native System of Cultivation.— Visit to
a Bramin. — Schools. — A Car of Juggernaut. — The Dutch Reformed Mission.— Back
to Madras. — The Portuguese Settlement. — Gindy Park. — A Diamond Merchant-
Lord and Lady Napier. — The Normal School.
February 20th. — We left Madras on the 18th, with Lord Na
pier, in a special train. Arcot, the capital of the famous province
of that name, is seventy miles distant from Madras. A renewal of
railroad travel, after an interval of six months, in which we had
come half-way around the globe, was exhilarating. The road, the
engine, and the cars, are of European construction, and even the
coal is imported from Wales. The gauge, five feet eight, is uniform
in India ; but the Government, on considerations of economy, has
concluded to contract it to the very narrow one recently proposed in
Europe. There are three classes of passengers, the third the cheap
est and most numerous. The soil of the region through which we
passed is light ; the rocks, granite. The landscape wears a dull,
yellowish color, although there is no want of palm and cactus. We
seemed to be travelling alternately through sandy fields or meadows
covered with stagnant water. We soon learned, however, that
these pools are artificial reservoirs for irrigation. In some places,
the prevailing sterile aspect is relieved by fields of growing rice.
The peasantry dress chiefly in white. The herds of very small cat
tle are more numerous than we expected to find in a country where

THE CITY OF RANEPET. 339
the people abstain from animal food. The country seemed entirely
level, but we gained in the journey an ascent of one thousand feet
on the base of the Neilgherry Mountains, one of the three great
ranges which traverse the Indian peninsula. At this point, we
might have supposed that we were entering the Rocky Mountains
at Cheyenne. As we rolled over the plain into the shaded streets of the an
cient city of Ranepet, Mr. Seward said to Lord Napier, " Now I
kuow, for the first time, that British authority is firmly established
in India." We seem, on this excursion, to be reviewing the history of the
conquest. The mountain-passes, the plains, and the monuments,
continually recall to our thoughts the first seizure of Madras ; the
subsequent contentions, conflicts, surprises, stratagems, fears, con
spiracies, extortions, rapacities, and massacres, which, continuing
through a period of two hundred and fifty years, have ended at
last with the suppression of the mutiny of 1857.
In 1745, there was a native war for the succession of the king
dom of the Carnatic, which included the province of Arcot. The
French, at Pondicherry, maintained the cause of one claimant ; the
British, at Trinchinopoly and Madras, maintained the other. Ma
dras was closely besieged by the French and allies. Clive, then
merely a clerk in the British East India Company's office at Ma
dras, proposed to force a raising of the siege by making a move
on Arcot. His brilliant success in surprising and capturing and
holding it four months, with less than four hundred men, against
ten thousand French and native troops, was the beginning of the
matchless career of that leader whom the elder Pitt pronounced a
" heaven-born general."
Notice of the governor's coming to Arcot had been sent forward.
The native collector of revenue met us at Ranepet, the railway-
station for that district. He is thirty years old, speaks English
fluently, and was elaborately dressed in native costume. He was
surrounded by some dozen Hindoos. He proceeded at once to
place in Lord Napier's hands flowers and fresh limes, at the same
time covering him with garlands of flowers. When the agent had

340 BRITISH INDIA. f
been presented to us, we were severally honored with the same
compliment. We inquired whether this was a voluntary and popu
lar expression of welcome, or a prescribed one, and learned that the
ceremony is the Hindoo form of homage to a ruler. At the gate
of the station we encountered a crowd, obsequious rather than
respectful, who threw flowers in our path, and invested us with
new wreaths. Thus splendidly adorned, we passed under a floral
arch to the carriages. At the instant of stepping in, a Hindoo band
broke into a musical jargon, which frightened the horses, threaten
ing us with serious danger. A sepoy body of infantry had loaded,
intending to honor his excellency with a fusillade, but at our re
quest that ceremony was dispensed with. We drove over a good
turnpike causeway to the village of Ranepet, a suburb of Arcot.
The road is bordered with mangoes, tamarinds, yellow flowering
acacia, and the Acacia vera, whose juice when coagulated is gum-
Arabic. Honorary green arches decorated the way, and innumera-'
ble flambeaux illuminated it. The approach to the town showed us
the never-failing Hindoo temple, which, however small, is always
graceful in form, and elegant in construction ; opposite to it, is a
Mohammedan mosque, and, farther on, a chapel of the Church of
England, and an American mission meeting-house. Here also are
the offices of the collector of the revenue. These buildings, together
with the barracks and many weather-worn monuments of British
heroes who fell here, are the only relics of the city of Arcot, so dis
tinguished in the history of the conquest. For aught we can see,
the natives have forgotten, if they ever had the idea of, political
independence. We were the guests of the British superior officer
of the district. Yesterday morning our party divided ; Lord Napier
and Mr. Seward went to see the fountain and agricultural village
of Cauverypak, distant thirty miles. Artificial conduits intercept
mountain-torrents, and convey their waters to this reservoir, which
is enclosed by a granite wall supported by broad embankments. A
dam, forty feet high, is raised across the natural outlet. The em
bankments are strengthened, on the outer declivity, by mango and
palm trees. Thus the reservoir forms a lake of pure water, high
above the surrounding country, which is five miles wide and seven

HINDOO AGRICULTURE. 341
miles long — and, at high water, thirteen feet deep. We have taken
pains to describe this pretty lake of Cauverypak, because it is a
good specimen of ancient reservoirs, constructed for irrigation, in
the country — which are innumerable — and aU of which alike bear
the ugly name of " tank."
The system of culture will be easily understood when we have
mentioned that a broad plain stretches away from the base of the
fountain farther than the eye can reach. Out of this plain arise
thirty-two gentle knolls, on each of which stands an agricultural
village, and these villages contain an aggregate population of a
hundred and fifty thousand. Cauverypak is one of these. These
people cultivate the entire plain in fields varying from an acre
to fifteen acres. The staple production is rice. Grounds which,
owing to a drought, fail to receive a full supply of water from the
reservoir, are called " dry fields," and these are tilled with cereals
and vegetables, or serve as pasturage for sheep and cattle. Cau
verypak was found exactly in its present condition by the first
British adventurers, but it stands without record or tradition.
It was a principle of the system of native government in India,
that not only all the lands, but also all the waters in a province,
belong to the reigning prince, whatever title he might wear, king,
maharajah, rajah, or nawab. He leased them to zemindars (large
landlords), or to ryots (lesser farmers), who paid for their use
according to a tariff graduated with just relation to the productive
ness of the estates.
The British Government has come into the places of the princes,
and the Madras presidency maintains -the "tanks," and receives
the rents. The average rent is four dollars per acre.
Drought is a normal incident in India, and is the cause of the
famines of which we so often read. In such cases the Government
remits the rents, but the zemindars and ryots are nevertheless left
without means for the support of their families. The extortion
practised upon them by usurers is frightful. Cauverypak village
contains ten thousand people, three hundred of whom are ryots ;
the others chiefly mechanics and laborers. Many of the ryots
belong to the privileged castes of Bramins, who were not only

312 BRITISH INDIA.
exempt from labor, but forbidden it. Lord Napier and Mr. Sew
ard were received by the chief Bramin ryot at his house. It is a
stone structure of one low story, with reception-room, dining-room,
kitchen, and stable, built around on all sides of an open square.
In the centre of the square, was a reservoir, an open cistern for
gathering and holding rain. Again we ask, Did the Romans bor
row their impluvium from the East ? In rear of this quadrangular
building is another of exactly the same form and dimensions. The
one opening on the street is the dwelling of the ryot and his family;
the other is appropriated to the use of visitors. In the stable are
six small oxen, which are used in cultivation, the whole six valued
at seventy-five dollars. The manure, like the animals themselves,
being sacred, is carefully preserved for burning in the temples.
Hindoo architecture has a peculiar feature. The veranda, indis
pensable in this climate, is supported by delicate, palm-shaped
columns, each of which is ornamented with a broad brass bandat
the top. There are no bedrooms, but each corridor or passage
way has at each end a dais eighteen inches high, covered with a
mat, which serves for a bed. The small garden-plat attached to
the house is filled with cocoa-nut trees, bananas, and benns. The
Bramin's furniture is simple enough. He has two plain tables,
two bamboo chairs, and several fine silken rugs. Refreshments are
not usually offered, but on this occasion fresh milk was served in
brazen jugs. The village has two Hindoo temples and one
mosque. The school, maintained by the Madras government, has
a hundred and fifty native pupils. Besides this, there are twenty
native schools, some Hindoo, some Mohammedan, where pupils are
received and taught separately, with careful regard to their social
castes. Mr. Seward asked the ryot, who is a spiritual authority,
whether education is approved by the Bramins. " Yes," answered
the Hindoo. " Why ? " " Because it is pleasing to the gods."
" Why does it please the gods \ " " Because it improves the mind,
aud makes it appreciative of heaven."
The poor villagers gathered around the visitors, and some of
the older ones seemed desirous of conversation. They gave Mr.
Seward an account of the number of pupils in each of the several

A OAR OF JUGGERNAUT. 343
schools. They seemed confounded when he asked if these num
bers included the girls ; they replied, " Only the boys." When
asked how the girls are educated, they said, " No girls are educated
except Nautch girls."
Passing through an open paved square, Mr. Seward's attention
was caught by a rough, uncouth, and unwieldy vehicle. It consists
of a platform ten feet long and eight feet wide, laid upon axles, on
which turned four wooden wheels, all of one size, not more than
ten or twelve inches in diameter. In front of the platform stands
a carved and unpainted idol, ten feet high, with hideous allegorical
emblems and devices. This is a car of Juggernaut. It is drawn
through the streets by the people, during sacred ceremonies. Im
molation of devotees is now forbidden by British law. There would
seem, however, to be little need for that prohibition. It would
require great skill and effort on the part of a votary to get his neck
under the wheels of the awkward machine. If we did not know
that superstition is as blind as it is overpowering, we could not
believe that any human mind could conceive such a deformed and
misshapen statue to be a god. Mr. Seward's survey of the interest
ing little village closed with an exploration of the suburb which is
allotted to the pariahs, the lepers, the outcasts of India. Their
habitations are mean and wretched beyond description, but their
condition is not without a compensation. While all other castes
are obliged by their laws to abstain from animal food, and forbid
den to take animal life, the pariahs are allowed to use the car
casses of the animals found dead. In this way, they have become
the tanners of the country. It is no wonder that they are care
fully watched, to prevent their slaying domestic animals under the
pretext of finding them dead.
During their long drive, Lord Napier and Mr. Seward saw only
one beggar, and he was blind— a Bramin. Having been led up
to their carriage by neighbors, he declined to receive alms, because
he had left behind him his brazen basin through which he alone
could accept coin from any one not of his own caste, without per
sonal contamination. When, however, he felt the weight of a
rupee carefully dropped into his sleeve, he turned his eyeballs

344 BRITISH INDIA.
in the direction from which the party had come, and sung a plain
tive native melody. Lord Napier asked how old he was ; he
answered, " Seventy." " What is the song you have sung so
sweetly ? " " It is a hymn of praise to the gods whom your lord
ship passed on the road as you came here." " How is it you sing
to the gods, when they have made you blind ? " " The gods have
indeed willed that I shall be blind," the mendicant Hindoo replied,
"but they protect me still."
During Mr. Seward's absence the ladies remained at Ranepet.
They had appointed to attend early worship at the missionary-
chapel. The matin summons was sounded, not by bells, but by a
noisy chattering of birds. Springing up and going quickly to the
veranda, they saw that the deciduous trees around the bungalow
(which had dropped nearly all their leaves) were as green as ever,
for they were filled with parrots and paroquets.
The Arcot mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of America
(now the Reformed Church) was established in 1855, by three
brothers Scudder, sons of the eminent missionary who labored here
thirty years ago. Beyond a doubt, the success of this mission is
due to the persevering energy and winning address of these
preachers, but it was more to their happy combination of medical
practice with their religious teachings. Medical science and skill
are at a low ebb on the Asiatic Continent, while they have attained
a high development in the West. This superiority is known and
felt even by the very lowest classes in the East. The Christian
physician, who comes to heal the body, naturally finds his patient
in a proper temper for the healing of the soul.
The municipal district in which the Arcot mission is established
is about one hundred and sixty miles square.. The missionaries
found within it only thirty-five native Christians, and these were
without a church or a school. The missionaries (six in number)
have now fifty native helpers, who teach day-school in seventeen
villages. They have their boarding-schools, two for boys, one for
girls, all voluntary pupils. The converts intermarry. The chil
dren thus educated, although belonging to all the various castes of
the country, are placed upon a footing of complete equality. J-ne

THE MISSIONARY HOSPITAL. 345
boarding-school at Ranepet, which is the most successful one, oc
cupies large government barracks. Dr. Scudder has introduced
some trades into this school, the principal one that of weaving on
native looms. But even a more beneficent institution than these
schools is a medical hospital. The Madras government appropri
ates to it, in addition to the requisite buildings, one hundred and
seventy-two rupees (about eighty-five dollars) monthly. The in
stitution was founded in 1866, and, during the past yew, fifty-three
thousand nine hundred and sixty-three patients were gratuitously
treated from its dispensary. Seven hundred and fifty-three of
these were in-door patients, who were provided with beds, food,
and clothing. Lord Napier has added to this useful charity a
spacious house in which persons of different castes may prepare
their own food and live separately, according to their native cus
toms. This noble mission draws from its patrons in the United
States only twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The simple
homes, frugal habits, and patient labors, of these missionaries and
their families, are worthy of all praise and admiration. The mis
sionaries are full of hope, though they confess the work of conver
sion is very slow. They gain only one hundred a year within the
district. Nevertheless a manifest improvement in the condition of
the people is visible. With this improvement, if it shall go on, we
must be content, for we trust that —
"Whatever creed be taught or land be trod,
Man's conscience is the oracle of God."
February 23d. — We visited yesterday the suburb called the
" Portuguese Settlement ; " so called, not because it is under Por
tuguese jurisdiction, but because it was the site of the Portuguese
factory, before the British conquest. Its inhabitants, of native and
mixed Portuguese, are Christians, and speak the Portuguese lan
guage. They have a cathedral, with an exemplary bishop from
Lisbon. The cathedral bears the name of St. Thomas, to whom
tradition attributes the first teaching of the gospel here. However
this particular fact may be, the opinion that that apostle preached
the gospel on the Coromandel coast is well supported by historical

346' • BRITISH INDIA.
arguments. Marco Polo found native Christians here, who claimed
that their church was planted by the doubting disciple. Vasco de
Gama found native Christians on the coast during his second voyage
of discovery. Guides show us the hill and cave at Malapoo, where
it is alleged that St. Thomas sought refuge and suffered martyrdom.
They say that even the threshold of the cave still bears the impress
of his foot.
Gindy Park, February 24th. — We have come to pass a day at
this summer palace. On the way we inspected a " model farm,"
which is maintained by the Madras government. Three hundred
acres are divided into two equal parts, of which one is used for the
cultivation of exotic grains, plants, and seeds; the other is culti
vated with European implements only — the design being to com
mend Western agriculture to the natives. We learn that the
institution gains favor. We were much interested in a small ham
let through which we passed. The inhabitants are wanderers from
Northern India. It is maintained, not without plausibility, that
the Gypsies of Europe are descended from the same class. Their
pretty habitations are in mango-orchards, and are built of branches
of palm, exactly in the shape of a beehive. They gather the fruit,
and pay to the Madras government an annual rent of two rupees
(a dollar) a year for each tree. We imagine they are the only rent-
paying tenants of their outcast race. We have seen a specimen of
Hindoo village-schools. Thirty boys, most of them naked, were
sitting in the sand, under the shade of a wide-spreading mango-
tree, in a circle. The master stood in the centre, rod in hand, and
gave out successive lessons, in the Tamil language, in spelling and
arithmetic. The whole school, simultaneously, took the words from
his mouth, giving them back with their own ; and at the same time
wrote the words with their fingers in the sand. These children
showed great agility, as well as quickness of apprehension, no
sooner had they written the text in the ground, than they sprang to
their feet, raised their right hands to their foreheads and made a
salam, indicating that they were ready to receive the next lesson.
We crossed a stone bridge which has stood a hundred and fifty

GINDY PARK. 347
years with only the repair of a parapet. A small tenement beneath
the bridge was pointed out to us as the dwelling of the descendants
of the Armenian merchant who brought himself to poverty in build
ing the magnificent structure.
Gindy House is even more extensive and elegant than Govern
ment House at Madras. The park contains fifteen hundred acres.
Native deer, of the four kinds known in India, sport on the lawns.
Instead of alighting at a gate or porte-cochere, we were driven to
a shade in the beautiful gardens. They exhibit a luxuriance
unknown in colder climates. Every wall, every thatched roof,
every gateway and column, seems to have been especially designed
to support a flowering creeper, which nearly conceals the structure,
and these plants are as various in hue as in the form of tendril or
leaf. Efforts are made to produce northern exotics, as studied as
those which we at home make to cultivate tropical plants. The
success in each case is about the same.
We doubt which was most effective, the gorgeous display of
flowers around us, or the dew-drops which glistened on grass, and
flowers, and trees, under the rays of the morning sun. The heat
increasing rapidly, we took shelter under a noble mango, where
the morning libation of tea was made. We talked and laughed at
translations of the highly-imaginative native poetry. We dined
en famille at the palace, and, as the evening shades came on,
adjourned to a fete-champet/re in the gardens. The society of
Madras was there. If any thing was needed to heighten the brill
iant scene, it was found in the exquisite music of the military
bands, which played airs in echo across the broad park and on its
beautiful lakes.
Madras, February 26th. — New acquaintances and new studies.
The diamond merchant is an important personage in every Asiatic
country, for diamonds are the favorite investment of wealth. An
eminent Armenian of that class breakfasted at Government House
this morning. His organ of perception is strongly developed, and
he has a shrewd, almost furtive expression. He was entertained
in the most acceptable manner by being allowed to exhibit for

348 BRITISH INDIA.
our instruction the contents of his waistcoat-pockets, consisting of
diamonds of every size and of every water, jewels quite sufficient
for a coronation, and even enough to satisfy the ambition of a Fifth
Avenue belle. He gave us a relation of what he considered the
greatest transaction of his life : Having acquired in the course of
trade an extraordinary diamond, he sent his son to Europe to sell
it. The son was admitted to the Tuileries, and the empress bought
it; it is one of the "pear-shaped" diamond ear-rings which figured
so conspicuously in the inventory of her jewels. The empress
called for "the regent," and showed it to the young Armenian.
" My son," said the merchant, " was permitted to take that cele
brated gem in his hand; he looked into it through tears of joy,
and did not give it back until he had pressed it to his lips."
Evening. — It will be a mournful day for Madras when Lord and
Lady Napier take their leave. While he builds and endows uni
versities and hospitals, there is no charity which she neglects; We
visited an orphan asylum with her to-day, and afterward an asylum
for the children of the Sepoys. Although the studies for the day
were ended, and the children were at play in the grounds, they
came cheerfully up and took their places in the examination-room.
They inquired what they should sing for us. Mr. Seward proposed
" From Greenland's icy mountains." They sang it in full chorus,
and insisted upon our naming another. They sang this too; then,
following us to the gate, gave us " God save the Queen."
Perhaps the best, certainly the most interesting, of these noble
charities, is the normal school for the instruction of native women.
It has fifteen pupils, all of high caste. They are educated free of
charge, and even paid for their attendance. They are driven to
and from the school-house in close carriages, so that they may not
be " seen of men." We fear that the importance of this noble step
toward the civilization of the East is scarcely realized at home.
We noticed among the pupils a girl of seventeen,
from her dark-eyed companions by a sad demeanor and
voice. In a single year she had lost her husband whom she loved,
and her only child. The laws of her caste doomed her to seclusion

THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 349
and celibacy for Hfe, to give up her jewels, friends, and hopes The
normal school allows her activity, cheerfulness, and usefulness
We learn that the Duke of Argyll, Secretary for India, takes a
deep interest m the institution, and has just sent out from England
a young lady to take charge of it, who was educated for that^m-
pose in the United States.

THE SUKF AT MADE AS.

CHAPTER III.
FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. i
The Surf at Madras.— On the Bay of Bengal.— The Lion-Whelps.— The Hoogly.-The
Viceroy's Invitation. — Earl and Countess Mayo. — Glimpses of Calcutta. — The Baboo,
— The Baboo's House and Harem. — The Government House.
Steamer Australia, Bay of Bengal, February 27th. — The surf
never ceases to beat and break against the shore at Madras. A
dozen years ago an attempt was made to overcome the difficulty by
extending a pier into the sea. But there was found neither capi
tal nor engineering skill anywhere sufficient to make the work
effective. We insisted on leaving the shore in the primitive way. A
native surf-boat, eighteen feet long, five feet wide, and six feet deep,
was hauled high and dry on the beach. The boat is constructed
with bamboo-withes instead of spikes and nails, to prevent leakage,
and of material so light, and proportions so exact, that no weight of
water will cause it to sink. It is presumed always that, notwith
standing the boat is so deep, it will fill in going through the break
ers. For this reason, the passengers, as well as the oarsmen, sit on ?
benches which are stretched across the boat's brim, and each bench
serves as a brace for the feet of the occupants of the bench behind it.
We were lifted in chairs by Hindoos and spilled on the benches in
the stern, under the awning of British flags. A secretary and an
aide-de-camp of the governor were with us, and we enjoyed o

THE LION-WHELPS. 351
new excitement as our score of boatmen, with merry shouts and
cheerful song, laboriously forced the boat through the foaming
surf. We sailed at four o'clock. If the thought gave us sadness that
we were never to see Madras again, we consoled ourselves with the
reflection that, even if a return were possible, we should not find
there the same friends ; and what could we see, or know, or enjoy,
there without them ?

Bay of Bengal, February 28th. — Once again on the same calm
sea, with the same southern breezes, protected by the broad awning
from the same burning sun. Our two weeks of rest and recreation
at Madras already seem not so much an episode of our voyage, as
a refreshing and inspiring dream. At daylight we had reached
shoal water, and a channel marked by lighted buoys. Birds sur
rounded the ship in great numbers. Sailing-ships and steamers
continually shot by us. Consulting the chart, we found that, al
though no land was visible, we had entered between the capes
which guard the entrance of the Hoogly into the bay of Bengal.
We took a native pilot.
The Hoogly is one of the rivers which, dividing into a thou
sand creeks, and through as many lagoons, discharge the mighty
flood of the Ganges. Ever-moving sand-bars render the navigation
here uncertain and perilous. We slackened our speed from forty-
nine to fourteen revolutions until the flood-tide set in. Low, sandy
shores at length appeared. Subject at all seasons to terrible inun
dations, they have never been reclaimed for tillage, and are often
strewn with the bodies of animals, and sometimes with human
bodies. Our ship ought to receive a demonstrative welcome at Calcutta,
for she bears two African lion-whelps to grace the menagerie of
some potentate there ; whether native prince or European viceroy,
we have not learned. Although but three months old, these
" babes " have attained a large size. They stare at us boldly with
their big green eyes, and switch their tails with a savage inde
pendence.

352 BRITISH INDIA.
March 1st. — The Hoogly has shrunk to the width of the Hud
son at Poughkeepsie. The vegetation here is as luxuriant as at the
equator. Yery soon, however, these palm-shaded fields, though so
freshly overflowed, will become dry and brown.
Although we are entering Calcutta before the vernal equinox
the heat is already intense. If we distrust our strength to explore
the continent before us, we have nevertheless the inspiring thought
that we are floating on the Ganges we have so long desired to see
the Ganges, notwithstanding it is called here by the less eupho
nious name of the Hoogly.
Calcutta, March 2d. — As we approached the wharf yesterday,
the viceroy's barge — manned by thirty Bengalese boatmen in scarlet
livery — rounded up to the Australia's side. Major Burne (private
secretary of the viceroy) came on board, accompanied by the
United States consul-general, Mr. Jacobs, and Mr. McAllister, an
American residing here. Major Burne delivered a letter from the
viceroy, inviting us to be guests at Government House during our
stay here. Mr. Seward had before accepted the invitation of the
consul-general and Mr. McAllister. The matter was quickly com:
promised, with the understanding that, after passing some days
with our countrymen, we should accept the hospitalities of the
viceroy. Last night happened to be a " state " one at the opera ; that is
to say, the performance then was to be honored by the presence of
the viceroy. The representation of " Lucia di Lammermoor " by an
Italian troupe, before a fashionable assemblage, made us aware that
we had at last reached the Eastern verge of Western society.
Earl Mayo and the Countess of Mayo, in the central box, were sur
rounded by their suite,- and a group of native princes, or rajahs,
whose gold and jewels far outshone those worn by the ladies of the
viceregal court. Between the acts Mr. Seward was presented to
the viceroy, and afterward to the brilliant circle. .His lordship in
sisted that Mr. Seward, without taking upon himself the trouble of
making a preliminary visit, should with his family lunch at Govern
ment ILouse to-day, and then, or as soon after as convenient,

THE CITY OF PALACES. 353

inmates of that household. He was further informed that carriages
and barges would be at his orders during his stay here.
The Earl of Mayo is purely Irish. He is tall, handsome, and
has a commanding presence, with manners which, though dignified,
are frank and genial. As Lord Naas, he was many years a conser
vative member of Parliament, and was Secretary for Ireland during
the Disraeli administration.
March 2d, Evening. — We have enjoyed a pleasant morning at
Government House. This evening, the few Americans residing
here dined with us at Mr. McAllister's. The fact that they all
hail from Boston is creditable to the enterprise of that intellectual
city. During the day we had some glimpses of Calcutta. If it were
in the West, its aspect, would hardly justify the distinction it bears
— "the City of Palaces." The government buildings are indeed
Extensive, numerous, and substantial ; but, in -point of architecture,
they are respectable rather than imposing. Private dwellings of
foreigners combine European solidity with the graceful Oriental
verandas and columns ; but they have no pretentious magnificence.
The native city contains many stately residences of pleasant aspect,
but generally the dwellings are low and common. The appearance
of the whole city (the foreign as well as the native part) is spoiled
by a wretched stucco which, by exposure to the weather, becomes
dingy and discolored. The suburbs on the river-banks are disfig
ured with brick-yards, counted not by hundreds, but by thousands.
The array would seem to indicate that the city is enjoying a vigor
ous growth ; inquiry, however, brings out the fact that no sand fit
for building is found in the vicinity, and bricks are therefore burned
and pulverized as a substitute for that necessary article.
March 4th. — A northeaster set in on the 1st, and we have
since had cold rains. The " oldest inhabitant " says that this is a
new freak of the climate. Hard as it has rained, we have never
theless been obliged to go abroad, for — after seven months' travel,
as may be easily imagined — we have pretty much come* to the

354 BRITISH INDIA.
unhappy condition of our celebrated countrywoman, " Miss Flora
McFlimsey." Our troubles are aggravated at the state of the
market, which, they say, is just experiencing the calamitous effects
of the war between Germany and France. Gloves are not to be
had in Calcutta.
The " baboo," called by Burke, in his invective against Warren
Hastings, the " banyan," is a native trained to trade, and speaks
English. Like the comprador in China and Japan, he attaches
himself to a mercantile house, to an official contractor, or some
other business concern (either native or foreign), and negotiates
commercial matters ; receiving commissions from one party or the
other, according to circumstances. He often rises to wealth and
influence. One of this class solicited a visit from Mr. Seward, add
ing that, while the baboo and his sons would receive him, the ladies
would be welcomed by the zenana. Such a courtesy is rarely, if
ever, extended to foreigners.
The foundation of this baboo's fortune was laid by his father
long ago, in connection with an American house ; and the present
incumbent, who is seventy years old, has added to his wealth and
importance. He has now his fifth wife. We visited him to-day.
The house, though more cheaply built than those of the wealthy
class which we saw at Canton, is of the same model. It is three
stories high, and covers the sides of a square as large as one of the
blocks of Philadelphia. The area within is used for fountains and
baths. A group, consisting of the baboo's three sons and their
sons, received us at the gate, very obsequiously. They showed us
the way to a grand hall, having a vaulted roof and double colon
nade. A few elegant chairs, with yellow-satin cushions, placed on
a scarlet-velvet rug in the centre of the room, constituted the fur
niture. Here the eldest son welcomed Mr. Seward in a eulogistic.
English oration, and then presented his several brothers and each
of the lads in attendance. Brightly-dressed servants meanwhile
stirred the air with large peacock-fans, mounted on massive silver
handles five feet long ; others, to the great prejudice of the ladies
dresses, sprinkled us from head to foot with rose-water from silver
vases ; others, again, covered us with garlands and bouquets ; an

THE BABOO'S HAREM. 355
yet others held before us silver vases containing the attar of roses for
perfuming the hands. These ceremonies over, we ascended to the
baboo's room, in the third story. Quite infirm, he was dressed as a
valetudinarian, though richly. He welcomed Mr. Seward as the
"great father of the greatest of the nations." The baboo con
ducted us then to an adjacent drawing-room, and ordered that all
the children of the house, not excepting the youngest, girls as well
as boys, should be brought in by their ayahs (nurses). Twenty
infants were brought in, gaudily dressed. The little ones acted
their proper parts with entire truth to nature: some shrank
backward; many screamed; one or two shrieked; while others
extended their small hands, and bashfully performed salams.
After this came an order, from the baboo, as unexpected as it was
unprecedented in that family. It was that all the women of the
family, except the widows, should now enter the apartment. Re
ceiving this command, in their different rooms, the women inquired
through a messenger whether they were to be seen by the ladies
only. The baboo imperiously replied : " They must all be pre
sented to Mr. Seward, and receive him as a friend. He is a friend
of mankind ; he shall see us just as we are, and see all that we do
—we will have no secrets from him." This was intended as a
great compliment to Mr. Seward.
There was a sound of pattering feet, and a gentle rustling was
heard. It was followed by the entrance of eight little women, all
of whom were dressed in gauze of gold and various colors — only
gleaming jewels could be seen through their veils. They trembled
like so many aspens as they approached gracefully, lifted their slen
der arms — almost covered with gold — and extended to us their little
nervous hands. The baboo was not yet content. He requested us
to raise their veils. We did so gently, and looked upon gazelle
eyes and pretty features, but the wearers were so abashed that, in
tenderness for them, we soon let the veils drop. In answer to our
compliments, they spoke not a word. The gentlemen now with
drew. Mr. Seward was then shown through seventy-five rooms, in
cluding a family chapel — the furniture of all very meagre and

356 BRITISH INDIA.
plain, the stairs steep and narrow, and the corridors dark and
perplexing. The women, being left alone with their visitors, now volun
tarily communicated, through a lady interpreter, all the family
secrets : the number of wives each of the baboo's sons had married
and lost ; the number of children of each wife ; and the number
and value of the jewels each possessed. The wife of the eldest son
presented her daughter — a bright and laughing maiden bedecked
with jewels — who, having attained the advanced age of eighteen
months, has already been married to a little gentleman who also
was present, and who claims the experience of ten years. He has
been elected to the honor of this marriage because he is the pre
sumptive head of the caste to which this family belongs. Accord
ing to the custom of the country, he has been brought into the
family of his bride to be educated. There are eight pairs of such
prematurely-married people in this family, which consists of sev-
enty-fiye persons.
The windows of all the chambers of the zenana, or harem, are
darkened, and made secure with iron bars, as in a prison. The.
widows, even more secluded than the wives, inhabit the meanest
and dingiest of the chambers. The women showed, with perfect
freedom, their sleeping-rooms, baths, and the contents of their
wardrobes. Each woman has three garments. These being woven
in the shape required, there is no need of mantua-maker or milli
ner ; the only care bestowed on this property is to hang them up
and take them down. The care of the children is devolved on the
ayahs. As the 'wife neither sews, nor reads, nor writes, she has
absolutely no occupation but to talk with her companions of the
zenana ; and, as might perhaps be expected, domestic discords are
frequent. The guests (in the zenana) were then served with cakes,
comfits, and betel-nuts, the latter broken in small bits and folded
in silver-foil. The interview closed with the same ceremonies with
which we had been received, newly fanning the guests with pea
cocks' plumes, sprinkling them with rose-water, and perfuming the
hands with the attar.
The baboo, in his conversation with Mr. Seward, represented

SWINGING ROUND THE CIRCLE. 357
that a general discontent with British authority is felt by his coun
trymen, but he left it quite clear that they have not the faintest idea
of uprising or of resistance. Helpless and listless, they follow the
conflicts of the Western nations, only for the purpose of obtaining
a hope — most unreasonable — that, amid the chances of war, India
will receive a new conqueror, either the United States or Russia.
Mr. Seward left the baboo without lending any encouragement to
these political expectations. He joined the party in the grand hall
below, when we were honored with the ceremonies twice before
described ; besides, a treat of champagne, ice, coffee, and the hookah.
The younger boys of the family now fell upon the floor and kissed
our feet; with their fathers, they attended us to the gates, and
then dismissed us with such a shower of compliments and thanks
as convinced us that even the Spanish language of courtesy is
stinted and cold compared with Oriental flattery. If we are to
believe them, "they still weep for our return." Eight bearers
came after us bringing a tray filled with confectionery. Y
Government House, March 7th. — We took up our residence
here to-day. Although the distance from Mr. McAllister's house
is short, the journey was long, and not made without some diffi
culty. We had appointed to be here at five o'clock, and, under
viceregal leave, had directed the Bengalese coachman to come for
us a little before that hour. He had, however, become accustomed
to our daily habit of driving about the city, and did not understand
our command to bring us here. He drove us up and down the
strand, around the gardens, and through the city. Aware of his
mistake, we, from time to time, enjoined upon him our commands —
at last our entreaties — to drive directly to Government House. He
changed his course every time, but only to drive in some new circle
around the palace. We appealed in vain from the coachman to the
footman and to the postilions. But, all being Bengalese, they un
derstood not a word, and so we went on, " swinging " faster and
faster " around the circle." By a fortunate circumstance, we met
Mr. Jacobs, who, addressing the coachman in his own vernacular,
made him understand that it was the centre of the great circle that

358 BRITISH INDIA.
we desired to penetrate. An hour and a half having been spent
in these gyrations, we found at the door of Government House,
not Major Burne (who was to receive us), but a servant, charged to
conduct us to our apartments, and to explain that the secretary,
having waited until six o'clock, had gone to fulfil another engage
ment. Government House, which was built during the administration
of the Marquis of Wellesley, has dimensions perhaps one-fourth
less than the Capitol at Washington. It is enclosed, with its gar
dens, by a high iron balustrade. Its walls are brick, covered with
stucco ; the style, Italian. The arrangements and embellishments
are English, and display that peculiar patriotic pride which seems
to be of the same nature as the family pride of a distant or poor
relation in social life. We almost imagine ourselves British colo
nists, living in the days of our ancestors, before the American
Revolution. The noble, arched gateway is ornamented with no
such modern and republican symbol as the " bird of freedom,"
with arrows and olive-branch in its claws. Nor does cornice or
architrave present any such mysterious legend as "E phtfibus
unum" Nor does tower or turret show any stars or stripes, or
any modern tricolored ensign. Instead of all these, there are a lion
and a unicorn over the gateway, and they are as usual " a-fighting
for the crown," bearing on their necks the scroll with the daring
words " Dieu et mon droit." The stately cross of St. George
flaunts from the palace-walls. Marquees and tents cover the plain,
surmounted with the same flag ; and officers, soldiers, and ser
vants, all are clothed in the gorgeous scarlet-and-gold uniform
which betokens British royal authority. A great gilded chair and
canopy, at the upper end of a great hall, give it the ambitious
name of " Throne-Room." The walls are covered with, British
portraits — prominent among them those of the obstinate George
III. and Charlotte his faithful queen ; the Earl of Chatham and
General Wolfe, Lord North, Lord Cornwallis, General Burgoyne,
Lord Clive, and Warren Hastings. The ceremonies and etiquette
of this palace are copied from those of Buckingham Palace. The
person, stranger or otherwise, who desires or claims notice at court,

TROPICAL BIRDS. 359
instead of presenting letters or leaving cards, registers his name in
the adjutant's book. If recognized, he is honored with audience ;
if not, nothing is said. In the morning a list of the invited guests
is submitted to each member of the family, and each guest residing
in the family, and he answers whether he dines with the party or
in private, or dines out. When the dinner-hour arrives, and the
guests are assembled in the throne-room standing, the viceroy and
the Countess of Mayo enter, each attended by an aide-de-camp, and
salute their guests individually. The band plays during the din
ner; conversation at the table is subdued. Before the end, the
viceroy rises — and with him the whole party — and he proposes, in
a loud voice, the only sentiment of the evening : " The Queen."
Then follows conversation, with amateur music, in the drawing-
room ; at the end of which the viceregal hosts take leave of the
party individually and retire.
We are never able to forget, in-doors or out, that we are in the
tropics. The adjutant-bird, formal and pensive, stands sentinel
over the great gate. Resting on one leg, with his knowing head
under his wing, he often sleeps on his post. Immense ravens, with
drab collars and caps, are walking before and behind you on the
piazzas. Parrots, in variegated costumes of green, gold, and scar
let, fill the trees ; martins, in jet-black coats ; and swallows, plain
and brown ; twittering wrens, and thousands of slender minos, in
habit the cornices and capitals. Not unfrequently the birds per
sist, against all housewifely care and resistance, in building their
nests in " coignes of vantage " found within the walls ; sometimes
in the curtain-tenters ; sometimes on the tops of or behind picture-
frames. In the evening, we find the veranda-floor in front of our
apartments strewed with dry branches and twigs, which the bird-
builders have deposited there in mass for further use. The next
day the unwearied architects take up the material and bear it to
its appointed place on shelf or cornice. The rav en is especially a
thief: flying in at the windows, he carries away any minute, bright
article or ornament left exposed. The steward assured us that the
birds have borrowed this naughty practice from the native servants,
who, he alleges, are universally addicted to petty larceny.

CHAPTER IT.
CALCUTTA {Continued).
The Maharajah of Putteeala. — Oriental Magnificence. — Kali Ghaut. — The Temple.— Hin.
doo Idols. — Kali. — Siva. — A Mohammedan Mosque. — The Reading of the Budget-
Indian Finances. — The King of Oude. — The Prince of Oude.
March 9th. — The fashionable promenade of Calcutta is the pub
lic garden, which is named Eden. The name, however, is not bor
rowed from paradise, as might be supposed, but was bestowed in
compliment to the Hon. Miss Eden, the accomplished sister of Earl
Godolphin Osborne, a former governor-general. We visited this
garden yesterday with Lady Mayo, at sunset, for evening begins at
sunset here. Brilliant gas-lights sparkling through the dark foliage
of mango, palm, and cypress trees, with music from a central
stand beneath them, lent their strong attractions. It was a gay
scene. We walked on the green lawns, and for an hour listened to
the music, surrounded by beautiful English ladies dressed from
boxes just out from London and Paris ; happy children glad of
release from confinement of nurses and school-room, chasing each
other over the lawns ; army-officers in full-dress for dinner or the
opera ; stately babbos in white cambric ; dusky Sepoy guards
in white-and-red uniforms; rajahs in jewelled turbans and gold-
embroidered robes; and, in the back-ground, parsees, in their fun
nel hats, were seen in earnest converse. Mohammedans on their
knees, with faces toward Mecca, were repeating their prayers. tus
highness the Maharajah of Putteeala, of Northern India, was one

THE MAHARAJAH OF PUTTEEALA,
Grand Commander of the Star of India.

THE MAHARAJAH'S CONCERT. 3G1
of the immediate circle around Lady Mayo. His family is distin
guished for loyalty to the British Government. His father rendered
good service during the mutiny. For these considerations, he has
recently been invested in great pomp with the order of the Star of
India. In acknowledgment of that high distinction, he gives to
night a concert to Lord and Lady Mayo. He is a very athletic
man, appearing to be thirty years old, but is, in fact, only twenty
years. He speaks English imperfectly, and seems to have but a
limited education. Mr. Seward asked him what were the produc
tions of his estates ? The maharajah answered : " I am not like
the people you see here in Calcutta. I am a prince. I have many
zemmda/rs. I have power. I can hang the man if I like, and I
can send anybody to jail for all his life."
The " Star of India " is an order of knighthood which was pro
jected by Prince Albert, into which British subjects and natives
of India are alike elected, on the ground of distinguished service to
the British nation in India. They say that Prince Albert was
perplexed to find a motto which should be equally inoffensive to
Christians and heathens. He happily chose this : " Heaven's light
our guide."
March 10th. — The maharajah's concert was given in a style of
Oriental magnificence at the town-hall, before an audience of twelve
hundred, all of whom the prince had invited. An illuminated
arch was raised above the porch of the building, and above it
blazed the " Star of India," with all the effect which gas-jets and
reflectors of burnished silver could produce. The vaulted roof of
the building is supported by double rows of white Corinthian col
umns with corresponding pilasters. The ceiling and walls were
painted in delicate green ; groups of rose-colored lamps were sus
pended between the columns and pilasters, and the nave was light
ed with transparencies designed to illustrate the greatness and
glory of Britain. The splendid combination of light and color
brought out in full relief the garlands and festoons of flowers which
burdened the air with perfume. Sofas were arranged so as to
afford the guests full freedom of promenade and conversation in

362 BRITISH INDIA.
the intervals of the music. The maharajah, . with royal munifi
cence, brought the entire operatic troupe upon the stage, while
independent bands of music were stationed at all the approaches
of the edifice. The turbaned and decorated prince appeared in his
own proper regalia of gold and jewels, realizing the highest descrip
tions we have ever read of Eastern gorgeousness. He wore not
only rings without number on his fingers, a golden girdle at his
waist, necklaces of jewels, and " ropes of pearls " on his breast, but
also a blue-and-gold satin robe, which was broidered to the depth
of six inches with a solid mass of glittering precious stones. It is
needless to say that the musical performance was very good, yet it
was the ostentatious display which attended it that was the wonder
of Calcutta that night.
We went to-day in search of Kali Ghaut. It is the most famous
of the Hindoo temples here, and from it the city derives its name.
We found it in a base suburb. It has three disconnected struct
ures, which, although they are built after the customary models,
and of solid materials, seem nevertheless mean, when seen with
their vulgar surroundings. The floors of all are on one level, eight
feet above the ground, and are reached by stone steps. The build
ing on the right hand is a circular one about fifteen feet high
above the floor, open all around, with a roof supported by Hindoo
columns. The central building is an oblong one. The third and
principal edifice is a square surmounted by a dome, which ex
tends beyond the walls, and is supported by outside columns. It
has no windows ; light is admitted through small doors on three
sides. The building first described is the hall of sacrifice, into
which only Bramin priests are admitted. The building last de
scribed contains the shrine of the goddess Kali, to whose service the
Thugs especially devoted themselves. Not even its threshold must
be profaned by the footstep of the vulgar. The central edifice is
the worshippers', from which they pay their adoration to the divin
ity on the right hand, and on the other witness the sacrifices. A
Bramin crowd dressed in clean white, many of them speaking un
commonly good English, were assiduous, though not obtrusive, hi
explaining the mysteries to us. As we went through the grounds,'

HINDOO TEMPLES. 363
a native police sprang forth at every turn to protect us against any
injury or offence. We waited an horn- for the priest who had the
keys. He came at last, arrayed in pure white — a tall man and dig
nified, in every way seeming worthy to serve at the altar. With
much labor, he unfastened a massive padlock, and, turning its
heavy bolts backward, threw open a door on either side of the sanc
tuary, and disclosed to us through the dim Hght a wrought-iron or
stone figure, of human proportions but scarcely of human shape.
The idol is black, has three glaring red eyes, a broad golden tongue
tipped with black, which projects from a distended mouth down to
the waist, and is dripping with blood. The arms are large. The
left hand holds a giant's head ; the right hand, a sword with which
it has been severed — both crimsoned with blood. A necklace of
infants' skulls graces the demon. Devout worshippers prostrated
themselves around us, and something like mumbled prayers were
heard as they beat their heads upon the pavement. We placed
some rupees in a vessel before us ; these were thrown at the feet
of Kali, and the doors were quickly closed. This savage deity
called Kali is the wife of Siva, and is the author of all the evils
which beset the human race. Bullocks and goats are sacrificed.
Fire purifies the latter, and the offering is eaten by the priests ;
the former, incapable of purification, are charitably given to pari
ahs. The ground around the hall of sacrifice is rank with the odor
of putrefaction. One hundred and fifty Bramins and their famihes
live in and about this temple. They seem to be supported by con
tributions of pilgrims, and by deprecatory offerings of merchants
who are engaging in business enterprises.
We went from the Kali Ghaut to a temple which is dedicated
to Siva. The divinity here is a black spherical stone, ten inches
in diameter, set on a concave stone of lighter color, in the centre
of the pavement. The temple was too sacred to be desecrated
by our feet. We were allowed only to look upon it through the
open door. The attending priest threw the rupees upon the stone
god. Walking from one temple to the other, we passed numerous
idols. Some represent Juggernaut with a human face elongated

364: BRITISH INDIA.
into an elephant's trunk. Others represent Vishnu; others, of
grotesque shape, represent the children of Siva and Kali. If we
were asked which one of the Oriental superstitions- seems to us the
most absurd, we should say it is that of the hideous Kali, the un
meaning Siva, and their misshapen offspring.
We noticed that the Bramin attendants here value a god, not so
much for his character, as for the costiiness of the material of which
he is made. They represented to us that it was not worth our
while to visit Siva at all, because temple and idol are cheap and
mean ; nor did they conceal their disrespect for the dingy elephan
tine children of Kali and Siva, but they expressed the profoundest
awe and reverence for golden Kali.
Beturning to the city, we paused to admire a beautiful white
marble memorial-mosque, which has minarets at the angles, but no
central dome. The muezzin was solemnly calling the faithful to
evening-prayer. The porch was covered with the sandals of the
worshippers, who had already entered the courts, which we were
forbidden to profane. Is it strange that this Mohammedan struct
ure and worship, simple and severe, impressed us with sentiments
of respect and even devotion, when thus seen in immediate contrast
with the temples of the base Hindoo idols ?
The memory which lingers here of the " Black Hole," the sub-
limest horror in the history of India, is very faint. With the aid
of an antiquarian, we found the site enclosed within the area of the
Post-office. March 10th. — The reading of the " Budget " is here, as it is in
England, the great political transaction of the year. It took place
to-day, in the marble hall of Government House, in the presence
of a considerable assemblage. Mr. Seward was honored with a
privileged seat. The arrangement of the council-chamber was not
unlike that of the cabinet council at the White House, except that
the viceroy's seat is raised on the dais. The exposition of the
finances, by Sir Eichard Temple, was a lucid and elaborate perform
ance, but it wanted the tone of calm dignity which distinguishes
the speeches of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, or the

INDIAN FINANCES. 365
report of the United States Secretary of the Treasury. The defer
ence toward home rule, which was manifested in every paragraph,
was in strong contrast with the independent spirit of legislation on
financial questions in the American colonies before our Kevolution.
In India, no councillor, nor any subject, questions the omnipotence
of the Parliament of Great Britain. The debt of British India (in
round numbers) is one hundred million pounds sterling — five times
greater than the national debt of the United States before our civil
war, and about one-fourth as large as the debt is at the present time.
The revenue is about fifty million pounds sterling. Only an in
significant part is derived from customs, it being the policy of the
Home Government to encourage the consumption of British manu
factures in the colonies. Eight million pounds sterling (net) is
obtained from the culture and sale of opium, on which drug the
Government makes an actual profit of one hundred per cent. Salt
monopoly brings in five million pounds; a land-tax imposes the
severe exaction of one and a quarter per cent, on valuation. None
of these revenues excite as much discontent as the tax of two and a
half per cent, on incomes, which is equally obnoxious to British
residents and native zemindars. That tax must be abandoned,
even at the cost of reduction of the military expenses. Railroad
enterprise in India is worthy of all admiration ; although it was
begun only twenty years ago, there are now five thousand miles of
completed roads, and two hundred and fifty miles are added an
nually. The Government guarantees an income of five per cent.
on the capital invested in railroads. They make a return thus far
of only two and one-half per cent. When we consider the vast
population and resources of India, there seems no reason to sup
pose that railroads will be less productive than in Europe and the
United States.
After the council, the members asked Mr. Seward whether his
financial experience enabled him to make any suggestion for the
removal of the difficulties arising out of the income-tax and the
railroad subsidies. He answered : " Your railroads will increase
the demand for foreign manufactures, an increase of customs will
enable you to dispense with the income-tax ; the railroads, more-
28

366 BRITISH INDIA. .
over, will enable you to reduce your army of one hundred and fifty
thousand Sepoys, and your seventy-five thousand European troops,
to much smaller figures. Having made these economies, you will
then be ready to admit the natives to a limited representation in
the provincial councils."
All the members of the Government, natives as well as foreign
ers, are fitly-chosen, intelligent, able men. Mr. Seward pronounces
Earl Mayo the " hardest worker " as well as the mostsagacious of
them all.

March 11th. — The majestic declamations of Burke, in the trial
of Warren Hastings, have made the civilized world familiar with
the tragic story of the kingdom of Oude. We may, hereafter, have
occasion to speak, not of the kingdom, but of the king. The last
descendant of the native king, who reigned at Lucknow under the
British protectorate, joined the mutiny in 1857. On its suppres
sion, he was deprived of the kingdom, but was allowed to retanfcjhis
sovereign rank with a munificent pension, though obliged to reside
in Calcutta, under government surveillance. Yesterday, we re
paired to his palace on the bank of the Hoogly, in compliance with
his invitation. The royal residence consists of twelve statelyiedi-
fices with colonnades, which accommodate retainers, servants, and
soldiery, numbering in all ten thousand. A regiment of nativej
troops gave Mr. Seward a salute at the grand gate, and we were
received at the palace by the king's eldest son, the heir-appa!pent;j
who announced that his father, being very ill, had deputed him llij
be his representative on the occasion of our visit. We have never jj
seen a handsomer youth, although he is swarthy. Dressed fully .uj>a
to his character, he wore flowing robes of blue velvet, embroidered
with gold, and his princely jewelled coronet. The titular King of
Oude is probably the only monarch in the world who wears such
antiquated head-gear as this. Doubtless, however, it is a pleasing
reminder of the palmy state from which he has "fallen, fallen,
fallen." The prince, in a most amiable and communicative temper, con
ducted us through the extensive flower-gardens, immense mena-

KING OF OUDE'S MENAGERIE. 367
geries, as well as aviaries and aquariums, neither of which, we ima
gine, have their equal in any part of the world. An account of the
animals exhibited would be little less than a " catalogue." We saw
huge boa-constrictors sleeping in their cages. The snake-charmer
skilfully drew the cobra de capello from its prison, stretched it on
the ground, and then with great dexterity seized it by the throat,
and at pleasure made it open its mouth and show the strong, sharp,
white fang, whose stroke is instant death, and beneath it the small
sac in which the fatal venom is secreted. The ostrich, the bird-
of-paradise, the pelican, the flamingo, the eagle, and the swan, are
as domesticated as if they had known no other home. We counted
one hundred species of the pigeon, nor can we recall the name of
any tenant of the air which is not represented there. The aqua
riums are lakes, each covering an acre, and ten feet deep. Their
inhabitants of all kinds came to be fed from our hands. An im
mense green tortoise was tempted to the shore by a bunch of
bananas, and walked back seeming not at all oppressed by the bur
den of an attendant, who stood on his back, and who weighs nearly
two hundred pounds. The English people here tell us that the
munificent King of Oude is treacherous, and that his handsome son
is graceless. But when has conqueror confided in his prisoner ?
The viceroy has gone into the country for his customary weekly
relaxation of boar-hunting. We drive with Lady Mayo and a com
pany of ladies and gentlemen, this evening, to Barrackpore.

CHAPTER V.
BARRACKPORE AND SERAMPORE.
Barrackpore Park and its Beauties. — Magnificent Trees. — The Menagerie. — The Lion-
Whelps. — Serampore. — Its Missionaries and Mission-Schools. — Return from Bar
rackpore. — Port William. — The Woman's Union Missionary Society and its Schools.
Barrackpore Park, March 12th. — This viceregal country resi
dence stands on a curve of the Hoogly, sixteen miles north of Cal
cutta. Besides the palace, there is also a large military station.
On the opposite bank of the river is Serampore, originally a Danish
possession, but now British, and incorporated with Barrackpore.
It is a relief to escape for a day from the sights and excitements
of the capital. Yegetation is so luxuriant in India that wild beasts
maintain their natural liberty in the midst of the densest human
population. Just as the morning dawned the shrieks of these
vicious beasts ceased, and the notes of the whippoorwill came in
their place, as distinct and as piteous as when heard on the banks
of the Potomac. But we are before our story. The hall in which
we were received last night was far more magnificent than any we
had ever before entered. Its circumference one thousand feet, its
floor a green lawn, its roof the dense, dark fern-like foliage of the
banyan-tree, its brown columns and arches, the trunks which have
grown from the tendrils that dropped from the parent tree, and
took root in the ground. Only Yirgil could celebrate so magnifi
cent a shade : " Tityre tu patuls recubans sub tegmine fagi."

SERAMPORE MISSIONS. 369
Of course, there is a menagerie, though it is a small one, at
tached to the palace. The Bengal tiger, the noblest of the feline
race, is shown here with special pride. We saw a superb fellow,
which, now fully grown and quite savage, was one year ago a pet
kitten in the nursery. We have renewed here the pleasant ac
quaintances which we formed with the lion-whelps who were our
fellow-passengers on the Australian. They are very restless in
their new quarters. We find a novelty far more interesting than
the menagerie. It is a troop of wild jackals, which make the
" night hideous " with their howlings. For hours, we thought that
the noise they made was that of an insurrection or a riot.
On the invitation of the editor of The Friend of India, we
crossed the river this morning and visited Serampore. It is well
known in the United States as the place where the three devoted
missionaries, Marshman, Carey, and Ward, founded the first Ameri
can mission in India. They chose the site because it was then
under the friendly flag of Denmark, while the regulations of the
British East India Company forbade Christian missions within its
jurisdiction. Serampore is also the scene of the first labors of the
pious and indefatigable Judson. The scientific institutions as well
as the press and libraries which the earnest men, whom we have
mentioned, established, are still flourishing, while the very air of
the quaint place seems redolent of their memories. After a pleas
ant collation, we examined these institutions. The missionaries
educate one hundred and fifty children here in reading, writing,
and arithmetic ; and fifty more up to the qualifications for admis
sion into the University of Calcutta. Mr. Seward asked what
became of the youths who are thus educated ? The missionaries
answered that "the highest ambition of a Hindoo youth is a
place in which he can wear a ' pen behind his ear.' " The young
men secure the small places under the Government which are open
to natives. Yery few of them become or remain Christians.
March 13th. — We returned from Barrackpore this morning,
with Lady Mayo and a party of twelve, in the " drag," drawn by
six horses, directed by their postilions, and attended by a mounted

370 BRITISH INDIA.
escort. The roads were fine, the morning exhilarating. We
passed an elephant bearing a load of hay, the first of those animals
we have seen in service. Mr. Seward passed the morning in a
survey of Fort William. Built as a defence for the first British
factory in Calcutta, and identified with all the great events in the
history of the conquest, it still gives the official name to the seat of
the government. " But Fort William, and all that Mr. Seward saw
in it, belongs to the past. In his absence the ladies enjoyed the
pleasure of studying a more modern and useful institution.
It is the proud distinction of the United States that our coun
trywomen have designed and brought into execution a practical
plan for the amelioration of society in India. Caste, in that coun
try, has its moral and civil as well as its theological code. Its laws
are paramount to all laws and all institutions of government. It
may be said of caste, just as truly as it was said of the laws of
Moses, that " the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life." Caste hin
dered and defeated two attempted reformations in India before the
country became known to Europeans — Buddhism and Mohamme
danism. It is caste, the "letter" of the Hindoo law, that hinders
Christianity, and seems to render the introduction of all Western
civilization impossible. Caste has effected all these evils and per
petuates them through the degradation of women. Christianity
and Western civilization can only be established through the res
toration of woman here as elsewhere to her just and lawful sphere.
This restoration is just what "the Woman's Union Missionary
Society of America for Heathen Lands " is doing through the insti
tution they have established at Calcutta and its branches in the
provinces, called the " Zenana Mission." We accompanied Miss
Brittan, the superintendent of this institution, in her visitation of
many of the zenanas, to which, by her unremitting zeal, assiduity,
and gentleness, she has gained access. These families were gen
erally rich, like that of the baboo, which we have described. Some
of them, however, are wretched and squalid. Even in these, the
women, like those in the rich zenanas, are timid, gentle, loving
creatures, and all alike are painfully desirous of instruction. The
institution employs in Calcutta twelve American women as teach-

BARRACKPORE.

371

ers. They have already instructed sixty native women, who have
become assistant teachers. They have during the same time estab
lished an asylum where they support and train twenty additional
girls for teachers. Miss Brittan counts seven hundred and fifty
native women, who have been taught and qualified to become the
wives of Hindoo youths who are prepared for official employment
in the universities and schools established by the Government. It
is pleasant to record that this noblest of charities enjoys the entire
confidence and favor of Earl Mayo.1
1 We found on our return to the United States that the " Woman's Union Missionary
Society of America " had fully adopted the idea of the importance of connecting the
knowledge of medicine with the qualification of teacher.

BAKEAOKPOEE.

CHAPTER YI.
FROM CALCUTTA TO BENARES.

Courtesy of the East India Railway Company. — Unattractive Scenery. — The Scenery
improves. — Aspect of the Country and the People. — A stop at Patna. — A Tiger
Hunter. — The Cultivation of the Poppy. — The Maharajah of Benares. — A Night
on the Ganges. — A Brilliant Display. — Glory Hallelujah. — A Compliment to Mr.
Seward.

Benares, March 15th. — We left Government House, Calcutta,
on the 13th, in the evening, and, with the aid of friends, made
our way through a mixed and garrulous crowd which gathered at
the wharf. We crossed the Hoogly in a capacious steam ferry
boat, and took possession of a car which had been furnished us,
by the East India Railway Company, for our exclusive use while
in the country. We attach it to, or detach it from, the train at
our pleasure. It consists of two apartments, with a bath-room,
Our Calcutta friends furnished us with a full supply of Boston ice.
The night was dark. When we awoke in the morning, we
looked out upon an unattractive plain, broken by ledges of rocks.
The road was bordered with shallow tanks, filled with muddy water
collected during the last rainy season, and frequent brick-kilns built
to supply the material for the railway structures. An occasional
herd of small lean cattle, sheep, and goats, with a tattered or naked
attendant, was seen upon the scanty soil nearly covered with
stunted trees and shrubs. A few mean farm-houses and wretched
villages were visible. We thought India a sorry contrast to Japan

BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY. 373
and Java, and even less cheerful than the sandy plain of the dismal
Pei-ho. Referring to the map, we found that we were a hundred
miles south of the Ganges, and that the dreary region we were
traversing is a spur of the mountain-border of the great river-basin.
Scarcely had we time to express our surprise at the uninviting
aspect of the country before the rocky ledges and stunted vegeta
tion gave way to scenes of fertility and beauty — which continued
without interruption during the day. Endless fields, some yellow
with ripening- rice, some white with the strewed leaves of the
poppy, and some green with growing wheat, millet, and other
cereals, alternate with orchards of bananas, tamarinds, and man
goes — the latter trees just now blooming and filling the air with
a perfume sweet as that of the acacia. The plantations are divided
by hedges of richly-flowering cactus. In other fields are large
herds of cattle, and goats, and flocks of sheep, all fat and sleek, and
ranging under cocoa-nut trees, scattered through the landscape
like the oaks in Kentucky and California. The palma-Christi, a
hardy, graceful shrub, needing Httle irrigation, grows luxuriantly.
The flower-stalk of the " century-plant " has already reached the
height of ten feet, and is preparing to spread its gorgeous petals in
May. As we approached, we saw, in the midst of this luxuriance,
which surpasses that of the prairies of Java, winding rows of wil
lows, and occasionally a mast towering over them. Another curve
revealed to us the Ganges.
The groups of slender men and children whom we passed by
the roadside and in the fields were gayly and gracefully attired.
So also were the few women whom we saw. They had a great
profusion of silver ornaments, ear-rings, nose-rings, bracelets and
bangles. All Nature seemed to feel new animation and display
fresh beauty in the presence of the Ganges. Green parrots with
yellow-and-red heads perch on the telegraph-wire?, as swallows and
martins do in our own country ; flocks of flamingoes make a rose
ate cloud as they fly over our heads ; the solemn stork and the
stately adjutant march in regiments through the copses and pre
serves around us.
We made one stop, during the day, at Patna. It is a large and

374 BRITISH INDIA.
an old "Hindoo city, memorable in the history of British conquest
as the scene of the perfidious covenant of the "Three Seals;" that
infamous transaction which aroused the people of England from
their criminal lethargy to a contemplation of the atrocities practised
by the East India Company. While there, we made a survey of
the eighteen cars which constituted our rail way -train. Only one
of these was devoted to Europeans, the others were fully freighted
with natives ; never less than thirty, sometimes fifty, crowded into
a car. We met there our countryman Mr. Eldridge, who was just
returning to Calcutta from a famous tiger-hunt in the north, in
which he shot a tiger which had already laid hold of the haunch of
the elephant he was riding. Patna, like all the towns and villages
on our road, shows a division of the population between the faith
of the Bramins and that of the Arabian prophet. The Hindoo
temple, although it has a greater number of worshippers, is always
eclipsed in magnificence by the mosque.
The government officer, charged with the superintendence of
the opium-production, called upon us at Patna. The opium-poppy
bears a small white flower instead of the large bright petals known
in our gardens. The manufacture is simple : early in the morning,
an attendant (usually a woman) goes through the poppy-field, strik
ing each capsule with an instrument of many blades like a cupping-
knife — the milky-juice exudes, dries, and blackens, under the burn
ing heat of the sun ; it is gathered in the evening by scraping the
plant with a knife. It is already opium. The narcotic strength
of the juice varies in different plants — owing to a difference in
the vigor of the plant, or to the circumstances favorable or
unfavorable to the extraction of the juice. Some plants yield
only fifty per cent, of the drug ; others, eighty or ninety per cent.
The weak and the strong products are mixed so as to obtain a uni
form strength of seventy-five per cent. The liquid which remains
after the mixture is made is again exposed to the sun. When the
mass, thus mixed, has obtained a consistency for manipulation, it is
divided into small portions, each of which is enclosed in a single
mango-leaf. It is then rolled by hand until the leaf is entirely in
corporated into the mass, and the opium comes out dry in the

MAHARAJAH OF BENARES.

375

shape of a round ball. One acre of poppy yields five pounds of the
opium of commerce.
We saw indigo-fields on every side, but the season for the culti
vation of that plant is past.
Arriving at the station, Mogul Serai, on the south bank of the
Ganges, we were met by the government commissioner of the dis
trict of Benares. He was charged by the Maharajah of Benares to

MAHARAJAH OF BESTABE8.

invite us to an entertainment on the river in honor of the festival
called "the Holy," which, after having been continued for several
days, was to come to a close that night. A continuous railroad-
journey of twenty-two hours, fatiguing everywhere, is doubly
severe here ; but how could we decline a compliment from so high
a native source, or how forego an occasion so novel and interesting
as a night on the Ganges ? Two officers of the prince's household,
bearing silver maces six feet long, with twenty servants in scarlet
and white, met us on the river-bank and placed us in cushioned

376 BRITISH INDIA.
chairs, under a gay canopy, on the deck of a graceful yacht. We
floated leisurely downward with the current. The first part of the
voyage had no special interest. The night was dark, and the dim
lights around us gave us only spectral glimpses of the terraced
banks. When, however, we had advanced a mile, we saw, on our
right, at the river's edge, the blazing, crackling flames of seeming
bonfires. The portion of the banks thus illuminated seemed to
rise to the height of a hundred feet, and were thickly crowded with
massive structures ; and, over all these, the gleaming dome and
minarets of Aurengzebe, the great mosque of the city. What was
our surprise to find that the fires, which we had supposed kindled
for a temporary illumination, were funeral-fires ! Ghauts are built
on the banks for the sole purpose of cremation. The spectacle
turned our thoughts, for the moment, upon the strange process of
disposing of the remains of the dead. "What," we inquired, "is
done with the ashes which remain from the fires ? " " They scatter
them on the bosom of the sacred river."
At this point we entered a crowd of brilliantly-illuminated and
gayly-decorated barges, so dense that it was not without difficulty
that we made our way through it to the station assigned us, near
the maharajah's barge, from which a calcium-light flashed an in
tense and dazzling splendor over the entire city. On either side of
this magnificent barge was another one, equally gorgeous ; the one
containing the Maharajah of Yisianagram, the other, the Maharajah
of , Putteeala. These dignitaries were guests. The barges of the
three princes were lashed- together, and a grand Oriental pavilion
extended over them. All the optical effect that can be obtained
by fanciful naval designs, brilliant light, and variegated drapery,
by moving crowds and splendid costumes, reflected by mirrors,
crystals, and gold, was produced here ; while the senses were rav
ished by the perfume of burning incense and tropical flowers,
Though dazzled by cross-lights, and bewildered by the indescriba
ble glitter, we passed, under safe guidance, from our own barge to
that of the Maharajah of Benares. Under the same conduct we
passed through successive chambers, each varying in enchantment
from the others, until we reached the curtained and festooned cen-

TTffl

GLORY HALLELUJAH.

377

tral saloon, appropriated to guests. Here rose-water and neroli
gushed over us from silver and crystal fountains ; champagne and
sherbets sparkled in golden vases ; buffets groaned with the weight
of fruits, confectionery, and ices ; while beautiful nautch girls in
gauzy attire performed their most sacred and celebrated songs and
dances to their strange music.
It may be imagined we were filled with emotion, when, in an
interval of this elaborate Asiatic exhibition, the solemn measure of
" Glory Hallelujah " from a full European orchestra burst upon
our ears. The performance of this great marching-anthem of the
Union army in the late war was a thoughtful recognition, on the
part of the maharajah, of Mr. Seward's presence. We took leave
of our princely entertainers at twelve o'clock, leaving the pageant
of the Ganges to go on during the whole night for the enjoyment
of those who, unlike ourselves, had strength enough to endure it.

NAUTCH GIELS.

CHAPTER YII.
BENARES.
The Sacred City of the Hindoos. — The Cradle of Buddhism. — Sarnath. — Remarkable* "
Towers. — The Holy River. — The Ghauts. — Singular Architecture. — The Mosques
and their Minarets. — A Picturesque Scene on the River-Bank. — Siva and Doorga.—
Manufacture of Idols. — Kincob. — Magnificence of Benares.
March 16th. — Our experience here in the sacred city of the
Hindoos is Hke that of the visitor at Jerusalem. There he expects
to find most prominent the monuments of the Jews. Here we
expect to find most prominent the monuments of the Hindoos. At
Jerusalem, the monument which first attracts attention is not the
Temple of Solomon, but the Mosque of Omar ; and here, the object '
which first attracts our attention is not a temple of Yishnu, but,
Sarnath, a suburb of the city, the cradle of Buddhism. Buddha, '
according to the traditions, was a prince. He renounced royal
state, wealth, family, friends, every thing, and repaired to Sarnath.
Here in seclusion, and in the practice of severest asceticism, he con
tinued through five years ; and it resulted in his conviction that he
had become perfectly incarnate of the Supreme God ; perfectly puri
fied ; the delegated savior of his nation and of mankind. Here,
his teachings began nearly twenty-four hundred years ago; hence, :¦
according to the faith of his disciples, the light of divine truth,
which he dispenses, has radiated through the East, until it has ex
erted its saving influence over one-fourth of the human race, and it
is to continue to radiate until it shall pervade the earth. But the
fortunes of Buddhism in the region where it originated have- not

THE BUDDHIST TOWER.

379

been unlike those of Christianity. While the Christian religion
is extended to the ends of the earth, a foreign and hated worship
prevails in Palestine. So, while Buddha remains incarnate, not in
Sarnath, but in Thibet, and thence dispenses the divine truth
throughout the vast regions of Tartary, China and Japan, Ceylon
and the Oriental Archipelago, his system has scarcely a foothold in
the province where it originated. Sarnath is eight miles distant
from Benares. The large plain, strewed with ruins, is the resort

¦

GEEAT BUDDHIST TOWEB AT SARNATH.

of innumerable bands of pilgrims, who cover its broken shrines-
with garlands, and bedew its sands with tears. We tried, quite
ineffectually, to learn the history of the only two monuments which
retain something of their ancient shape and original proportions.
One of these is a conical tower, which rises in the centre of a well-
defined area, two-thirds of a mile in circuit. The tower has a
circumference of ninety-two feet at the base, and rises to a height
of one hundred and ten feet. What is extraordinary is, that this

380 BRITISH INDIA.
vast tower is solid, without chambers or internal passages, except a
low, subterranean one. It has a basement-story, twenty feet high
of solid brick, ten feet of which is below the level of the plain.
Upon this basement is a story, forty feet high, of chiselled Chunar
stone. With the exception of the five upper layers, this story is a
solid mass, each individual block being fastened to the one adjoin
ing it by iron clamps. The part of the tower which is above the
stone story, last mentioned, is built entirely of large bricks. Origi
nally, it had a veneering or outer covering, but it is difficult to
ascertain whether it was of stone, stucco, or cement. The apex of
the structure, ten feet in diameter, bears some traces of a statue
surmounted by an umbrella. The large stone story has eight pro
jecting faces, divided from each other by a panel fifteen feet wide.
Each projecting face has a large, deep niche, from which some life-

mm

CARVING ON BUDDHIST TOWER AT SARNATU.

size statue has long since disappeared. Imagination replaces these
with the figure of Buddha and his disciples, as we saw them so
often in China and Japan, with hands raised before their breasts,

BENARES BY DAYLIGHT. 381
heads bent forward, and gazing at the soles of their feet. Several
of these projecting faces are finely ornamented with wreaths of
lotus — sometimes the plant winds as a vine with birds and dimin
utive human figures resting on its tendrils. In some places, it
shows the tender leaf and bud ; in others, the open flower of the
lotus. The carving of some of these wreaths is unfinished — an in
dication that the great structure was never completed. We con
cluded that this curious tower was projected and raised as a monu
ment of Buddha's reform, but abandoned before completion, when
the religion was expelled from the country. We have alluded to
another ruin — this is a solid, circular brick mound, seventy-four
feet high, with an octagonal cupola twenty-four feet high. The
cupola has its history, but not the mound. The former bears an
inscription which recites that the sovereign of the country as
cended the mound in the year 51.
March 17th. — We have to-day viewed Benares, not, as on our
first night, under an artificial illumination, but under the light of
an equinoctial sun. We passed down the river in the same yacht
which. floated us at the grand festival.
Long before John baptized in the Jordan, the Asiatics had con
ceived the beautiful idea that certain rivers are holy, and that their
waters have the power of " cleansing from all sin." The Ganges
is, as it always has been, that river of the Hindoos. They must
come hither as pilgrims from the most distant regions, at least once
in a lifetime, and even once a year, if they can. They come
here, moreover, if they can, to die ; because, to die in the holy city,
secures a direct entrance into paradise. Native princes, successful
baboos, and rich zemindars, please the Bramin priests and the peo
ple, and think also that they please the gods, by erecting majestic
temples and buildings, costly marble ghauts for the use of the pil
grims as well as burning ghauts. To reach these ghauts, the high,
steep banks of the river, for miles in length, are terraced with per
fect stone steps. The temples rise to the height of five, six, seven,
eight, nine stories. They are built of marble and freestone,
pierced with windows of every conceivable graceful shape, and are

382 BRITISH INDIA.
extravagantly ornamented with colonnades, corridors, balconies,
niches, large and small domes, towers, pavilions, and pinnacles,
which are set off with gilding and bright colors. The mosque,
with its tapering minarets, occasionally interjected among the tem
ples, lends a pleasing relief to the Hindoo architecture, while its
severe form and outlines seem to reprove the prolific imagination
of the Hindoos. A highly-picturesque scene presented itself on the
river-bank. Citizens, pilgrims, men, women, and children — singly,
in groups, and in throngs — are ascending and descending the stair
cases, bearing on their heads bronze urns and vases, large and
small, of forms as graceful as the Etruscan. Even the stately ele
phant seems to have adopted the mystic faith, for we saw him many
times walk down the staircase, which had been nicely adapted to
the human footstep, fill his trunk, and solemnly return. Pilgrims
were plunging into the water from platforms and boats and barges
of fanciful construction, some in the shape of peacocks, swans, and
fishes. All the devotees dress in snow-white robes as they leave
the water, to give effect to the idea that immersion purifies. The
funeral-fires of the previous night are still blazing. How can they
be extinguished? All that are in the city must die, and all that
die are brought here. Having passed the entire river-front in the
yacht, we dismissed it and returned through the streets of the city.
They are close and narrow, but well paved, and, compared with the
Chinese cities, excepting Canton, they are clean. The chief temple
is that of Siva, the representative of the principle of destruction
and reproduction. The dome and the towers are of burnished
gold. Siva is the same round, black stone set in the floor as at
Calcutta. Far greater reverence is paid to him here. Access and
egress are made almost impossible by the multitude of pilgrims and
votaries, who come into, the temples laden with perfumes, fruits,
flowers, and urns of holy water. Priests receive these oblations
and appropriate them as perquisites, nor did the holy men disdain
to receive some bright silver rupees from our unworthy and pro
fane hands. Three small, gentle, and very pretty sacred white
cows, with wreaths of orange-flowers and roses around their necks,
wander at pleasure in the holiest recesses of the temple, among

GHAUTS AT BENARES.

KINCOB BROCADE. 383
the worshippers, who feed them with rose-leaves and lotus-
flowers. But what a poor apology for human devotion is that of Siva
compared with the exhibition of that sentiment which is presented
to Doorga ! At the temple of the former it is a black stone that is
honored ; at that of the Doorga it is the living, moving animal crea
tion, the monkey. Moreover, these monkeys seem to appreciate
their celestial privileges and honors. They are of all sorts and
sizes. We saw them by the thousand gambolling in the courts,
"racing and chasing" through the corridors, and mischievously
laughing upon the worshippers below from columns and cornices,
from balustrades and balconies.
Edifices of all sorts, even the dwelling-houses, are stupendous
and massive. The basements are used for mechanics and other
tenants of low degree. The upper stories, guarded by bars and
screens, are the gorgeous zenanas-; fit family dwellings for a people
who, unanimously thinking that the virtue of woman can only be
secured by her imprisonment, magnanimously try to relieve that
durance by extravagant indulgences of luxury and ostentation.
The shops are seldom more than eight feet square. The articles
made are chiefly ornaments and religious tokens. As, in ancient
Ephesus, the people principally supported themselves by making
images of Diana, so the people of Benares largely support them
selves by the manufacture of idols — idols great, idols small, idols
white, idols black, idols red, idols yellow, idols of bronze, iron,
wood, stone, porcelain, and glass.
We visited the warehouse of the kincdb — a brocade, the most
exquisite of fibrous fabrics ; its materials, the richest of silk and
the purest of gol4, worn by the native princes, baboos, and zemin
dars, woven in patterns five yards long and one yard wide. A
pattern never costs less than three hundred dollars. The merchant
displays in a book the names of a few English ladies as customers,
but their purchases were very small. Is it not strange that the na
tive rulers of India, after disasters which have deprived them of
their independence and universally impoverished if not ruined them,
continue to dress in costumes which no Western state of wealth

384

BRITISH INDIA.

can command ? The merchant in the East, everywhere, is amiab
and polite. The vendor of kincob received us, who merely came
to look at his wares, with bouquets and garlands when we came, and
showered us with rose-water when we departed.
Superstition counts the population of Benares by the million"
and its sacred edifices by the thousand. The real population is one
hundred and fifty thousand, and it contains between three and four
hundred temples. So much of the history of Benares as we have
not related was sublimely spoken by Burke in his account of the,!
cruelty of Warren Hastings to the Maharajah Cheyte Sing, ances^i
tor of our host; What we have left unsaid of the incomparable
magnificence of the city is told by Macaulay in his essay on War- J
ren Hastings. . _ •

TEMPLES AT BENARES.

QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BENARES.

CHAPTER VIII.
ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW, AND AGRA.
Allahabad, the City of God. — Cawnpore. — Lucknow, the Capital of Oude. — Extent of the
Country. — Arrival at Agra. — A Marvellous Monument of Arms, Arts, and Empire. — '¦
Akbar the Great. — His Vast Architectural Works. — The Pearl Mosque, — Futtehpore
Sikra.— Its Great Wall.— The Tomb of Sheik Selim Chishti. — The Panch Mahal.— Ak
bar's Tomb. — His Wealth. — His Horses and his Elephants. — Weighing his Presents.
March 18th. — Allahabad (the city of God), once a Mohamme.
dan town, has now relapsed to the religion of Bramah. It stands
on the Jumna, just above its confluence with the Ganges. It de
rives its present importance from its being the place of junction for
the railroads of Northern India with the main eastern and western
line, which connects Bombay and Calcutta. The railroad bridge
across the Jumna is celebrated throughout the world. Allahabad
is a large military station, and the capital of the northwestern
provinces. It has a public garden, which receives a picturesque
effect from two massive Mohammedan tombs or imambarras.
We were met at the station, at ten o'clock last night, by
an officer, and conducted to Government House, the residence
of the governor, Sir William Muir. This spacious and elegant
structure was illuminated for a concert. Hospitality attended
with less ostentation, or a more sympathetic kindness, we have
never known. Sir William and Lady Muir not only believe in
works of education, but they are patrons of the " Woman's Hnion
Society of America." A sudden indisposition prevented Mr.
Seward's attendance at a dinner made for him by the United

386

BRITISH INDIA.

Military and Civil Service Club of the Northwestern Provinces
and the zealous American missionaries residing here.
Cawnpore, March 20th. — Lady Muir accompanied us to our
car at one o'clock this morning. We rode through ripening wheat-
fields, and reached the town on the south side of the Ganges at
sunrise. We write these notes while crossing that river on a pon
toon bridge, a form especially adapted to rivers like this, which are
subject to immense freshets and floods.
Lucknow, March 21st. — We came forty miles to this city, the
capital of the once independent but now nominal kingdom of,
Oude, over a branch of the East India Railway, and through the
valley of the Goomty, a tributary of the Ganges. The soil, often
and severely swept by deluges, is poor. We are guests here of
General Barrow, now Commissioner (that is to say, Lieutenant-
Governor) of Oude. With an area half as large as that of the State
of New York, Oude has a population of three millions. ' Its ancient

RESIDENCY AT LUCKNOW.

LUCKNOW AND AGRA. £,S7
Moonl capital, which in our maps bears the name of Oude, is now
called Fyzabad. Lucknow has enjoyed that distinction one hun
dred and twenty years, and now contains half a million of inhab
itants. It is doubtless true that Great Britain owes her empire in
India more to the dissension of its native rulers than to the force
of arms. We have already seen enough of the country to know
that the causes of those dissensions were, like the divisions among
our aboriginal tribes, deep and dasting. The Bramin religion,
where it was universal, had no effect to produce unity among the
fribal communities dispersed over vast territory, and rendered
irreconcilable by diversity of climate, race, and language. The
Tartars or Scythians, border nations on the North, continually in
truded, producing alienation between the Hindoo communities,
while the conquering Mohammedans, by an arrogant rule, op
pressed and crushed the natives.
Agra, March 22d. — Leaving the Ganges at-Cawnpore, we came,
by the East India Railway, to Toondla junction, and thence, over a
branch, to Agra, on the Jumna, one hundred and thirty miles north
west from Allahabad. Some hills, which we crossed, are wluiout
irrigation and barren, but the country generally wears the same as
pect as the plain of the Ganges. The irrigated wheat-fields yield
sixteen bushels to the acre. The population is four hundred to a
square mile. They have no modern agricultural implements or
machinery. Deficient in industry as in energy, they sit on the
ground when they use the sickle. That they are humane is seen in
the large privileges they yield to the gleaners.
When we came to Benares, the gentleman who met us there
said, "We are glad that you came here before going to Agra."
"You do well," said General Barrow, "to see Lucknow before
going to Agra." Both' were right.
Benares, although unique and grand, now seems to us as
merely an embodiment of an inactive sentiment of mystic devo
tion. Lucknow is the fanciful capital of an ephemeral kingdom.
Agra, though ruined, is a marvellous monument of arms, arts,
and empire. During a period of one hundred and fifty years, and

388 BRITISH INDIA.
until the reign of Akbar, the successors of Tamerlane made little
progress in consolidating their empire in India. That monarch,
the greatest, wisest, and best of them all, enlarged it from three
provinces to fifteen, and founded the capital at Agra, which soon
grew into a magnificent city of half a million. His successors, per
haps wisely, perhaps necessarily, removed the Mogul throne to
Delhi ; and Agra, experiencing no subsequent renovation in the
casualties of war and conquest, has shrunk into a provincial town
of a quarter of its former population. There are three monuments
here and in the vicinity which are the work of Akbar : the fort of
Agra, Futtehpore Sikra, and Secundra. These, together with the
famous Taj-Mahal, constitute the travellers study here. The fort,
which has an ample moat and drawbridge, is- a mile and a half in
circuit, built entirely of red sandstone, and measures, from the foun
dation to the embrasured battlements, seventy-two feet. It seems
to have been designed quite as much for civil use as for defence.
It now contains a British arsenal. Its area was filled with palatial
structures, of which two remain in a state of imperfect preservation ,-
the Imperial Palace and the Pearl Mosque. The substructions of
the palace are red sandstone, but nearly all of its porticos, courts,
corridors, chambers, and pavilions, are of polished white marble.
The walls of the balcony, which overhangs the Jumna, are finely
inlaid inside and outside with mosaics, which combine jasper, agate,
carnelian, bloodstone, lapis-lazuli, and malachite. The balcony is
guarded with balustrades of delicate marble fretwork. The apart
ments of the zenana are extensive and of exquisite finish. They
look down upon what was once a garden. The fountains, which
threw fanciful jets into bathing-rooms, are broken up, but the
vaulted roofs of marble tracery still remain filled with the thou
sands of miniature prismatic mirrors. The Divan, in Oriental
speech called the "Judgment-seat of Akbar," is a grand open por
tico, with Saracenic roof and arches, resting on three rows of col
umns. In its centre is a marble throne, inlaid, like the pavilion
which covers it, with mosaic wreaths and texts from the Koran,
composed of jasper and carnelian. A tablet, in the wall behind
the throne, bears the inscription "Ain Akbaree" (the Laws of

bO

EXTERIOR OF THE FORT.

THE PEARL MOSQUE.

389

Akbar). A Persian poet has written beneath it, in his own lan

guage

"The Ruler of the World

The Motee Musjid, poetically Pearl Mosque, and the pearl of
all mosques, consists of a single corridor of polished white marble,
with three rows of Saracenic pillars and arches, which support a
marble dome, encircled with gilded minarets. The dimensions are

INLAID SCREEN, TOMB OF MINA BEGUM, AGBA-

small, but the symmetry is perfect, while a severe simplicity ex
cludes equally blemish, fault, or excess. Less fortunate in official
acquaintance here than elsewhere, we were unable to gain admit
tance to the storehouse in the arsenal, in which are preserved the
famous sandal-wood gates which Sultan Mahmoud of Ghuznee
carried away from the ancient ecclesiastical city of Somnath to

390 BRITISH INDIA.
Afghanistan, eight hundred years ago, and which the British
brought back in 1842, to please their Hindoo subjects.
March 23d. — Futtehpore Sikra is twenty-two miles west of
Agra. Desirous to avoid travel under a mid-day heat, wo con
tracted yesterday, with the landlord, for a carriage and two horses,
to leave the hotel at five o'clock this morning, with relays on the
road. By dint of labor, we awakened the landlord, servants, and
drivers, and got off at half-past six, with only one horse, and no
provision for a relay. The smooth road over a level plain exhibits
on all sides the ruins of mosques and palaces of the once great
capital. As this was practically our first private excursion in the
country, we greatly enjoyed the novel rural scenes it presented.
Here was the primitive Hindoo well or fountain by the roadside,
from which veiled maidens were filling their polished brazen urns.
We saw even the youthful Jacob, helping a bashful Rachel to poise
a pitcher on her head. The dress of the people is more striking,
both in fashion and color, than we have before seen. The crow is
here in force as everywhere, but is outnumbered by the ring-dove. ,(
Adjutants and flamingos marshalled us through avenues of flower- i
ing acacias and mangos. Oxen, asses, and camels, in trains and
loaded with cotton, obstructed the way.
Futtehpore Sikra was an imperial suburb built by Akbar, and
was six miles in circumference. He enclosed the whole by. a high
embrasured wall of red sandstone. This fortification, with its lofty
Saracenic gate, remains as if in mockery, protecting the now deso
lated theatre of imperial pomp and recreation. Our one jaded
beast gave out when we reached this gate. A native guide met us
there, and we found his strong arm useful in climbing the rocky
ledge under a burning sun. He led us, by a circuitous path over
broken columns and fallen arches, into a court covered with masses
of debris. Before us rose a terrace, which we were to ascend by
one hundred stone steps. This staircase was crowned by a Sara
cenic gate-way one hundred and twenty feet high. Ascending the
easy and yet unbroken stairway, we passed under the lofty arch,
which invites the pilgrim of every land to the tomb of Sheik

A SARACENIC GATE.

391

Selim Chishti, the religious monitor of Akbar. Here we rested a
moment to examine the stupendous open doors, which, though fur
rowed by the storms of three hundred years, are still almost literally

SARACENIC GATE.

covered with gilded horseshoes. The soubahdwrs of the empire in
their pride took them from the hoofs of favorite steeds, and affixed
them on the gates in token of fealty to Akbar. Passing from the
gate, we stood in a court four hundred feet square, closely paved
with dark-red hewn sandstone. On the several sides of the court
is a corridor fifty feet wide, with a roof resting on pillars of red
sandstone fifty feet high. A central fountain lends a peculiar grace
to the court. The tomb of the sheik is beyond the fountain, op
posite to the great portal, and is surmounted by a lofty, triple-

392 BRITISH INDIA.
domed mosque of white marble. The pedestal or platform is of
jasper. The sarcophagus resting on it has a canopy six feet high,
and both are of unmixed mother-of-pearl. The whole structure is
protected on all sides by a white marble screen, composed of panels,
eight feet square, of open filagree work, inlaid with carnelian. It
detracts somewhat from the character of Sheik Selim Chishti for
ascetic virtue, as well as from the character of Akbar for munifi
cence, that this gorgeous tomb was built with the private assets of
the saint himself, at a cost of nearly two millio'n dollars. We
climbed the roof of the corridor and looked down on a mass and
medley of ruins, bounded only by the outer wall. The desolation
seemed complete, except that here and there we distinguished a
pavilion not entirely dilapidated, a pointed arch, a monument or a
pinnacle, which maintains its solitary position in defiance of time.
We now repaired to the palace in which Akbar resided. It might
with no great expense be restored. It is not one compact structure,
but consists of many edifices, some quite distant from the others.
Moved by a tradition which prevails here that Akbar had a
Christian wife, brought from Constantinople, we explored a suite
of apartments which she is said to have occupied, expecting to find
relics of her piety and devotion. But we had no more success here
than in our inquiries for " Jessie Brown " at Lucknow. There
still remain in these sumptuous apartments some fine frescos, the
work evidently of Persian artists — while the walls and ceilings ex
hibit a wonderful elaboration of sculpture.
It is impossible now to obtain a correct idea of the uses of the
different corridors, courts, pavilions, and gate-ways which intervene
between the principal structures of the palace. One of these is
very curious, the Panch Mahal. It consists of five pavilions, each
of which is supported by carved pillars. The several pavilions are
in stories or stages, one above another, making the form of a
pyramid. Another pavilion has a large suite of apartments ar
ranged in a labyrinth. Tradition says that the ladies of the harem
used this part of the building for the diversion of hide-and-seek.
There is a square edifice, standing quite by itself, and covered by a,
dome : on the outside, it appears to be of two stories ; within, how-

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THE PAN OH MAHAL.

393

ever, it is open from the floor to the ceiling of the dome. A
massive carved pillar rises in the centre from the floor to the
ceipng. Fifteen feet from the floor is a gallery with a balustrade
encircling the chamber. From each corner of this gallery a plat
form, with a like balustrade, connects horizontally with a circula?'
gallery built around the central column.

PANCH MAHAL.

Akbar was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. They assure us
that he sat on the central platform and leaned against the column,
which supports it, while he listened to the instructions in science,
morals, and religion, of sages and saints whom he had summoned
from all the schools and cloisters of the East, and who were arranged
on the outer platform around him. The broad disk of the dial by
which the Mogul monarch measured the hours remains. There is
still in good preservation the place where Akbar stood while re-

394 BRITISH INDIA.
ceiving the homage of his subjects at his levees or durbars. Nor
is there wanting unequivocal evidence that the great man delighted
in games of chance. An open square of sixty feet has a pavement,
arranged as a chess-board, in blocks of black and white marble,,
Instead of ivory, bronze, or wooden chess-men, the contending
kings, queens, knights, bishops, castles, and pawns, were beautiful
slave-women, who moved as directed by the monarch or his oppo
nent. They add further that the performers themselves were the
stake for which the game was played. A building known as the
palace of Beerbal was assigned by Akbar to his favorite prime-
minister. It remains in fine preservation, and our architects and
artists -might study to advantage its classic design and elaborate"
sculpture. If the ghost of the favorite is allowed to revisit, the
scene of his power, he might well exclaim, " To what base uses"
has my palace " come at last ! " when he saw us, infidel republicans
of the West, loitering, lunching, and lounging in his elegant cham-y
bers. We pass without particular mention the so-called "Antelope
Tower," one hundred feet high, studded with imitation elephanj™
tusks, as well as the triumphal arch, guarded by colored elephants./
But we must not omit to record that, excepting the tomb, mosque,
and other merely ornamental structures, the entire town of Fut
tehpore Sikra was built wholly of fine freestone; no baser
material entered into the construction for the purpose of either
foundation, column, wall, roof, or dome.
We historically know that this palace was built in 1571, »
that Akbar resided in it twelve years. We have no account of it
period when its decay began, or how rapid has been its falling:
neglect and ruin. "J
March 24th. — If a man desires that there shall be a monument
to perpetuate his memory, he does wisely, in a worldly sense, if ^
he builds it himself. Akbar's tomb at Secundra shows tnat,W
had this wisdom. He extended the Mogul Empire from the Ind|§
to the Bay of Bengal. Historians rather indicate his wealth by
anecdote than describe his habits of life. They tell us that his
private hunting-stud, used also for war-purposes, consisted of hve

CARVED PILLARS IN THE RUINS OF FUTTEHPORE SIKRA.

WEIGHING PRESENTS.

395

thousand elephants and ten thousand horses. We do not know
whether he was the first to set the example which is said still to
prevail among the princes of the East, of weighing his gratuities in
gold against his own weight on festive occasions ; it is, however,
certain, that this monarch on one such occasion weighed a gratuity
in gold against his own person, a second gratuity in silver, and a
third in perfumes.

AKBAR 8 TOMB AT SECUNDEA.

CHAPTEE IX.
SECUNDRA AND THE TAJ-MAHAL.
The Tomb of Akbar. — Derivation of the Name of Secundra. — The Taj-Mahal, the Tomb
of the Banoo Begum. — Description of the Taj. — The Tomb of King Cotton.— The
Inferiority of Indian Cotton. — Mode of Packing it.
The plain over which we drove, five miles to Secundra, shows
some imambarras and other less pretentious Moorish tombs, all
dilapidated or in ruins. The great imambarra, here called simply
the tomb of Akbar, stands on a terrace of moderate elevation, in
the centre of au immense garden, which overlooks the Jumna.
The entrance to the garden is through a Saracenic gate-way, with a
white marble minaret rising on either side, and towering high
above the apex of the lofty arch. Besides a profusion of roses and
other flowering shrubs, the garden makes a rich display of mango,
orange, date, palm, perpul, and banyan trees. The perpul, with
its branches bending in the wind and trailing on the ground, is
emblematic of mourning in the East, as the willow is in the West.
A series of oblong marble fountains, stretching down a terraced
slope, filled with the lotus and other aquatic plants, divides into two
parts the grand avenue which leads through the gate from the gar
den to the tomb. The imambarra covers a space of three hundred
feet, upon a platform of white marble four hundred feet square. It
has five stories, each upper story being of smaller dimensions than
the one beneath it. The four lower stories are built of red sand
stone — the upper one, including floor, dome, and cupola, is of

DERIVATION OF SECUNDRA. 397
polished white marble. The exterior of the several stories, instead
of having balustrades, is ornamented with pavilions, which, resting
on graceful columns, terminate in gilded spires. Having reached
the paved floor of the first story, we descended an inclined plane,
into a spacious, oblong, arched vault, directly under the centre of
the edifice. Its roof rests on polished marble columns, the spaces
between which are filled with chiselled marble screens. A marble
sarcophagus within this vault contains the ashes of Akbar. The
covering of the sarcophagus is ornamented with flowering-vines,
and on its lid is an Arabic inscription. It is a favorite principle
in Oriental architecture, that each distinct part must have a rela
tive or corresponding part, called an answer. The principle is car
ried here to absurdity : there is a mock sarcophagus on the marble
floor of the uppermost story, directly over the sarcophagus, wrought
in precisely the same form as the one below. Its lid is covered
with inscriptions, in raised letters, of the ninety names of God.
This imambarra is, we doubt not, the most magnificent monument
which ever was raised to the memory of a conqueror. In 1803, it
served as a barrack for a regiment of dragoons, but the Government
of British India has since that time taken special care to protect it
equally from decay and desecration. Not a stone of the noble
structure has been removed or displaced.
We leave the tomb of the great Akbar with the single re
mark that the name of the place which contains it, Secundra, is
an Indian derivation from that of the first European invader of
India, Alexander the Great. The name of that conqueror seems
to have secured the same admiration in the East which in the
West has been so long accorded to that of Caesar.
Although Akbar is distinguished for having built for the de
fence of his capital the unequalled fort of Agra, with its splendid
palace and its beautiful Pearl Mosque, and although he converted
the stony ledge of Futtehpore Sikra into an architectural vision for
an illustration of his reign, and although he built for himself at
Secundra a monument more admirable than that of Cheops, never
theless, it remained for a descendant to raise a monument more
exquisite than any of these— a monument, indeed, which is admit-
3l'

398

BRITISH INDIA.

ted by the whole world to be the most beautiful that the earth has
ever beheld.
An opinion prevails to some extent in the West that the Taj-
Mahal is the tomb of Nourmahal, " the Light of the Harem," in
Moore's " LaUa Kookh." But that is an error. " The Light of the
Harem," the young Nourmahal, was buried at Lahore. Shah
Jehan, the son of Jehangeer, and grandson of Akbar, who built
the Taj-Mahal, to be the tomb of his sultana, Banoo Begum, was
a prince of magnificent tastes. He was also called to endure
many trials and much suffering. History does not attempt to tell
how the Banoo Begum, more than others of her sex, deserved the

TAJ-MAHAL.

great distinction which she attained. Poets in the East, in their
imaginative dreamings, have tried to supply this shortcoming of his
tory. They describe her as beautiful, graceful, gentle, loving, and

THE TAJ-MAHAL. 399
faithful, but hundreds, thousands, and millions, who have been as
lovable as she is thus described, have passed away without monu
ment, though they may have been neither " unwept, unhonored, nor
unsung." Let the natural suggestion of our own hearts furnish
the solution. Whatever else Banoo Begum may have been, or
may have done, she was beautiful, she loved Shah Jehan devotedly,
and he loved her more than all the world beside. Tradition says
that she called her husband to her side in her last hours, and re
quired him to promise her two things : First, that he would not
marry again ; and, second, that he would build her a beautiful tomb.
We reject the tradition, for we are unwilling to believe that a
woman who could inspire such love as his could have doubted his
fidelity, or have been concerned about her own interment.
The Taj stands upon the centre of a terrace, within a walled
garden of twenty-five acres, on the banks of the Jumna. At either
end of the -terrace is an edifice of massive sandstone, with a dome
of the same material. Midway between these is the incomparable
Taj. As you approach, through an outer paved and walled pre
cinct, the grand gate-way comes into view. It is a majestic Sara
cenic arch, eighty feet high, springing from two abutments of red
sandstone, having white marble panels, which are completely
covered with texts from the Koran, inlaid in black marble, and
each being surmounted by a white-marble minaret. Coming under
the arch, and looking through a long vista formed by rows of Ital
ian cypress-trees planted on either side of a series of crystal foun
tains, you see the Taj rising from an elevation of thirty feet above
the terrace. The platform, in the middle of the terrace, is a square
of four hundred feet, paved with white marble, and each corner
bears an exquisite white-marble minaret, two hundred feet high.
The Taj is a square structure of one hundred and fifty feet, reduced
to an octagonal figure, with four principal faces, by having the cor
ners cut down. The four smaller faces are lower than the larger
ones. The entire edifice is built of polished white marble. Its
Oriental dome, first swelling into a globe, tapers upward into a
spire which is surmounted by a golden crescent. Four lesser
domes of the same matchless form crown the truncated facades.

400 BRITISH INDIA.
At the centre of each of the four wide sides or fronts is a porch,
consisting of a single Saracenic arch, which rises from the pave
ment two-thirds of the height of the building. Between these
gi-eat arches the wall is relieved - by two lesser arches of the same
form, one above the other, producing, at a distance, the appearance
of windows. The whole Koran is written, by chapters, in flowing
letters of delicately-inlaid black marble, over the carved pilasters,
architraves, and arches. Entering the porch, opposite the great
gate-way, you descend a gently-inclined plane, as in the tomb of
Akbar, and reach a vaulted white-marble chamber directly under
the centre of the edifice. The light, admitted through the door by
which you have entered, is collected and concentrated on the mar
ble sarcophagus of Banoo Begum. A similar though smaller sar
cophagus is placed in the shadow — it holds the dust of her lover-
husband, Shah Jehan. Each of these tombs is of marble as pure as
the purest of Carrara, the sultana's most elaborately inlaid with
vines, interwoven with texts from the Koran, traced in blood
stone, agate, carnelian, lapis-lazuli, malachite, jasper, garnets, em
eralds, rubies, topaz, and sapphires. Ascending to the main floor
of the edifice, over the vaulted chamber, you are in the centre of
an octagonal temple, and look up into a dome of snowy marble,
two hundred and sixty-two feet high. This interior, though of vast
dimensions, has such delicate proportions, and such harmony of
light, that you are not at all oppressed with a sense of grandeur or
immensity, but only of a consciousness of exquisite, indescribable
beauty. Although we stepped regularly, timidly, and lightly, yet
our footsteps brought down deafening reverberations from the
dome. Our conversation came back to us in a confusion of thun
ders, and a gentle whisper was repeated over and over again, like
tones of music dying in the distance. On the rich mosaic floor, di
rectly above the real tomb, are the duplicate sarcophagi, and a flood
of mellowed light, brought through a single aperture in the dome,
streams over the answering memorial of the beautiful Begum.
These simulated cenotaphs are ornamented in the same manner as
the real ones below, but more elaborately and more exquisitely.
They are protected by an octagonal screen, eight feet high, of mar-

THE TOMB OF KING COTTON. 401
ble lace-work, marvellously interwoven with stems, leaves, and
flowers of the lotus and of the rose, all encircled with a waving
wreath of graceful, tender, twining passion-flower, in mosaic of
precious stones and gems.
Man's chief subject of contemplation is his Creator, his Redeem
er, his Saviour. In action he balances between desire for power and
love of freedom. He has attempted to express all these emotions
in architecture. The Parthenon is his highest expression, in that
form, of awe of the gods. St. Peter's speaks, with not less distinct
ness, his sentiment of religious devotion. The Pyramids tell his
reverence for human grandeur. The Capitol, at Washington, mani
fests his love of freedom. The Taj-Mahal pretends to utter no
such lofty sentiments as these, but it speaks out, more naturally
than all, the gentlest, sweetest sentiment of human nature — pure,
spiritual love. A tale of love is written, an idyl is sung, a melody
of the tender passion breathes through this pure marble and these
precious jewels. The tomb of Banoo Begum, in architecture, like
the apotheosis of Beatrice, in poetry, is without an original and
without a copy.
The Taj is a modern structure. It is a sad reflection that the
name of the architect is already lost. Connoisseurs differ in opin
ion concerning the style. Some call it Italian ; others insist that it
is Saracenic ; others pronounce it Persian. We incline to think it
eclectic, a blending of the beautiful in each.
March 25th. — From the tomb of the Mogul monarch of India,
Akbar, we passed to the tomb of the pretended monarch of Ameri
ca, King Cotton. The failure, during our civil war, of the cotton-
supply, which had before been derived from the United States,
obliged the European nations to seek it elsewhere. Notable
attempts to cultivate the staple were made in Italy, but without
success. An effort of the Yiceroy of Egypt was hardly more effect
ual. India promised better. Cotton was indigenous, and success
fully cultivated in the plains which divide the Indus from the
Ganges. The importunate demand of the European markets
stimulated the production there. Fortunes were made by specu-

402

BRITISH INDIA.

lation in cotton almost as rapidly in Bombay as they were lost m
New Orleans. Agra was the centre of the producing districts.
At the end of the war, it became a grave question whether the

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OOTTON MERCHANTS, AGRA.

advantage which had thus been gained by India could be retained,
or whether the great monopoly could be recovered by the United
States. The change of the system there, from one of slave labor to
free labor, worked to our prejudice, and doubts still remained^ when
we left home, concerning the solution of the problem. We have
found that solution here. The producers now universally confess
that the cotton is greatly inferior to the American fibre; they con
fess, moreover, that the plant degenerates under the burning sun of
India, although they use the seed imported from the United States.
Again, the efforts to introduce improved machinery have failed.
We examined one of the establishments in which cotton is prepared
for the market. The process is very rude. The cotton is passed
between a pair of wooden rollers which are moved by hand. This
simple mechanism is found in every house, and is an exclusive

PACKING COTTON.

403

occupation of women. The operation of packing is quite as rude :
five men, with their feet, trample the cotton into a succession of
square boxes, one above the other ; five other men hold the boxes
in their places until the stack thus raised contains the complement
of a bale. An iron screw is then let down through an upper floor
upon the centre of the cotton-stack. This screw is worked by
eighty other men. Each laborer ejaculates or groans with every
push that he gives the lever, and this groaning, combined with the
noise of their tread upon the floor, produces an indescribable and
ludicrous confusion. This examination convinced us that Sir Rich
ard Temple did not misstate in the annual budget the decline of
cotton-production.

Tim TAJ, FKOM THE FOUNTAIN.

CHAPTER X.
DELHI, THE MOGUL CAPITAL.
A Vivid Contrast to Agra. — Ludlow Castle. — Brief Sketch of Hindoo History. — The Per
sians. — The Greeks. — The Arabs. — Sultan Mahmoud. — The Mongols or Moguls.—
Foundation of Delhi. — Successive Changes of Site. — The Kootub Minar. — A Singu
lar Iron Shaft. — The Mogul Tombs. — The Tomb of Jehanara. — The Jumna Musjid,—
The Imperial Palace. — Farewell to Delhi.
Ludlow Castle, Delhi, March 26th. — In crossing the Jumna,
the citadel of Delhi seems to be directly over the terminus of the
railroad-bridge, and gives a fine effect to the approach. As first
seen, Delhi is a vivid contrast to Agra. Akbar wedded Agra, and
died — like the Hindoo widow, she has faithfully mourned him in
decline and poverty ever since. Delhi, until recently the capital
of the Mogul dynasty, and since an important seat of British rule,
is a fickle jade, who easily transferred her allegiance. We entered
by the Cashmere gate, and, driving over a broad plain, in which fine
European buildings alternate with highly-cultivated gardens, we
reached Ludlow Castle, where we are the guests of the civil com
missioner of the district, Colonel Young.
The outside world derived its earliest knowledge of India from
its neighbors, the Persians, who maintained a vigorous commerce
with Greece in the time of Darius. They gave to the country its
name of Hindostan, the land of the black men. There still remain
in the Andaman Islands, and some other parts of India, tribes of
savages, who are supposed to be derived from an aboriginal race
which possessed the country before the Hindoos. However that

INTERIOR OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE, DELHI.

HINDOO HISTORY. 405
fact may be, the earliest history of Hindostan represents the entire
country from the Indus to the border of Burmah, and from the
Himalayas to Cape Comorin, as inhabited by one people, pro
fessing the Bramin faith, although they must have been then
divided into distinct tribes, having different dialects. It was,
however, an isolated and unsocial nation, such as Japan and
China since have been.
Three hundred years before the Christian era, Alexander ex
tended his conquest across the Indus and to the banks of the Hy-
daspes (the Sutlej) with the purpose of bringing isolated India into
the family of Mediterranean nations. This great enterprise might
doubtless have been achieved at that time, had it not been defeated
by the refusal of the Macedonian army to go farther. His suc
cessors quickly lost the ground he had gained. The history of
nindostan, since that period, is the story only of repetitions of
attempts, like that of Alexander, for the conquest of the country,
favored, like his, by a slow process of internal disintegration. The
propagandism of Buddha, which occurred soon after the failure of
the Greek conquest, convulsed the country, and, arraying its tribes
and religious sects against each other, opened the way to a new
invader. Mohammed was a religious reformer of a very different
order from Buddha. The latter propagated by preaching, the
former by the sword. In the reign of the Caliph Walid, about
715 a. d., the Arabs invaded Hindostan from the sea, and con
quered Scinde and part of the Punjab, which they held for some
years. But the Hindoos, rallying under the banner of their an
cient faith, expelled the Mussulman, though only with the conse
quence of provoking new invasions. Sultan Mahmoud advanced
mto the Punjab, in the eleventh century ; and his successors, con
quering the whole of Northern India, and establishing their capital
at Delhi, extended their sway across the Jumna and the Ganges.
These partial Mohammedan conquerors in the north encouraged
a bolder leader of the same faith. In 1398, Tamerlane invaded
the country, seized Delhi, and, with a war of terrific barbarity,
established that great Mongol or Mogul Empire which Great Brit
ain in fact suppressed in 1803, but of which she permitted a

406 BRITISH INDIA.
shadow to stand until 1857. With the exception of Akbar's resi
dence at Agra, Delhi was the capital of the Mogul Empire antil its
dissolution. With successive changes of dynasty, the city has from
time to time changed its place from one part of the plain to another.
So it has happened that the Delhi of to-day is the last one of a
dozen cities which have successively borne the same name, and
enjoyed the honors of a capital. This modern Delhi dates from the
time of Humayoon, the father of Akbar.
Delhi, March 28th. — We drove yesterday eleven miles across
the plain, seeing on all sides the palaces, mosques, and tombs, some
still erect though abandoned, others in dilapidation, others mere
debris, which mark the sites of the several capitals which have
passed away. Among these relics, stands the Kootub Minar. It
may, as claimed here, or may not be, the highest pillar in the world.
We first saw it at a distance of seven miles, under a dim twilight,
which, like moonlight, may have had the effect of increasing its
apparent elevation. Approaching nearer, we found the column a
circular fluted one of red sandstone, two hundred and thirty-eight
feet high, forty-seven feet in diameter at the base, and divided into
five stages or stories, the base of each story ornamented with a
projecting gallery and balustrade. The heights of the successive
stories are graduated in exact proportion to the contracting diam
eter of the column, the height of the lower story being ninety-
four feet, while that of the upper is only twenty-two feet. As we
looked up beneath this towering monument, standing so erect and
alone in the broad field of desolation, it seemed to us that, like
Memnon on the Nile, it might have a voice, and so might tell us
a long history of heroic achievements, magnificent designs, and
bitter disappointments, of which it has been a witness.
The Dak is a government institution for the transportation of
passengers and property. It consists of carts drawn either by
horses or oxen, with changes every four miles. At each station is
the " dak bungalow," in which the traveller, who carries his own
provisions and bed, may take rest and refreshment. A pretty
Hindoo temple, which stands under the shadow of the Kootub, has

THE KOOTUB MINAR.

407

been restored from a state of dilapidation, and appropriated to that
use. It served us pleasantly for our evening repast, and gave us
airy lodgings for the night. This morning, we looked from its
veranda upon the great, dark column, as it received and reflected

THE KOOTUB MINAE.

the rays of the rising sun. In this illumination, which left the base
in deep shadow, the monument seemed even more perfect and
loftier than it did on the night before. A closer observation, while
it showed some new points of beauty, revealed also some defects.
The fluting of the column differs at the several stories. In the
first story the fluting is circular, in the second angular, in the third
the circle and the angle alternate ; the fourth story is of white
marble, encircled at the middle with a belt of brown sandstone ; the

408 BRITISH INDIA.
fifth story is of unmixed white marble. Underneath the magnifi
cent sculptured cornice which supports the gallery of each story,
the column is boldly carved in Arabic, in texts from the Koran, and
in part recitals of repairs and improvements made by different
monarchs. A circular iron staircase conducts to the summit, where
the visitor takes in at one view the Jumna, the Delhi of our time,
and all the ruined Delhis for miles and miles around. How large
must be the number of those who have trodden that lofty, spiral
staircase, and how diverse must have been their reading of the
lessons which that giddy height affords ! The recitals mentioned,
as translated by General Cunningham, give us only this informa
tion : that the erection of the column was the work of several cen
turies ; that it was finished in 1236, one hundred and sixty years
before Tamerlane, and in the reign of Shumsh-oodeen-Altumsh.
We are profoundly grateful for this information, but it would have
saved a world of conjecture and research if the writers of those in
scriptions had told us who designed and began the structure, and
for what object. Was it built as it now stands alone, or was it an
appurtenance to some temple, or palace, or mosque which has long
since mingled with the earth ? Was it, like the Tower of Babel, de
signed as a stairway to the heavens, or was it to be an observatory
from which to measure the magnitude and the movements of the
stars ? Is it a triumphal column, or is it a tomb % Parts of it have
been blackened by the storm, and even deranged by the lightning
and the earthquake. Nevertheless, it stands firmly, and may en
dure for many thousand years. Distant one or two hundred feet
from the column are the dilapidated gates and walls of a spacious
mosque. Some imagine the Kootub Minar an adjunct of that
mosque ; others controvert this position, while they maintain that
the structure for which the Kootub was designed to be an orna
ment, though projected, was never built.
There is a relic, not far from the Kootub Minar, of even greater
antiquity, and more mysterious. It is a cylindrical iron shaft, six
teen inches thick, estimated by General Cunningham to be sixty
feet long, and to weigh seventeen tons. Excavations, to the depth
of twenty-six feet, have failed to find its lower end, while its top is

THE TOMB OF HUMAYOON. 409
twenty-two feet above the surface. Tourists cannot safely assume
to be archaeologists. The accomplished traveller Bayard Taylor
says he learned at Delhi that an inscription on the shaft assigns
it a date one century before the Christian era. If our guides
translated correctly the same inscription for us, it was erected a. d.
319. The surroundings of this monument are perplexing; it
stands in the very centre of an immense dilapidated but not demol
ished Mohammedan caravanserai, palace, or mosque. The Sara
cenic arches of this ruin indicate, beyond all mistake, its Moham
medan character ; but, here comes the difficulty : all these fine
Moorish arcbes rest on rudely-wrought, monolith granite columns,
which are covered with carvings, and vines, and images of idols,
and saints. Beyond a doubt these rough columns were raised in
honor of the thirty-three thousand gods of the Hindoos. We rec
ognized, as we thought, not only those of the Braminical faith, but
also some belonging to the reformed creed of Buddha. But we could
not be certain of this, for the Mussulman iconoclast has treated
them all as equally offending against the second command of Moses.
He has battered and defaced them so effectually that they are no
longer like unto " any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Take
into consideration, now, that the cross of St. George waves over
these ruins, and we have a grouping, in a circumscribed area, of the
monuments of Braminical worship, Buddhist worship, Mohamme
dan worship, and Christian worship ; the several religions succeed
ing each other as conquerors, and all within the period of two
thousand years. We drove, next, to a cemetery, which is compar
atively modern ; alighting here, we walked through several narrow
aisles bordered by so many costly and beautiful marble cenotaphs
that even the graveyard of Mogul monarchs became as monotonous,
and the eulogistic Arabic inscriptions on them as tedious, as the
" Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions, with Occasional
Notes, by the Rev. Timothy Alden, A. M., in two vols., New York,
1814. The tomb of Humayoon, however, deserves " special men
tion, ' not more on account of the great merit of that monarch than
the magnificence of the monument. The factious rivalry of Hu-

410 BRITISH INDIA.
mayoon's brothers invited an invasion from Afghanistan, in which,
the Mogul emperor was completely overthrown and Humayoon driv
en into exile. Finding an asylum in Persia, he formed an alliance
with the king of that country, who furnished Humayoon an army,
with which he returned to Hindostan, resumed the throne of his
ancestors, and transmitted it to his son, the great Akbar. If there
were no Taj, nor tomb of Akbar, the mausoleum of Humayoon
might perhaps be as much admired as those monuments are. It sur
passes each of them as well in vastness as in massiveness. Its white
marble dome, resting on arcades of red sandstone, making a marked
feature in the plain, is peculiarly beautiful. We turned our steps
from the proud mausoleum to a tomb more rare, and of a very
different design. Aurungzebe, whose name is rendered infamous
by his cruelty, was a son of Shah Jehan. He seized his father's
throne, usurped his kingdom, imprisoned him, and, as some histori
ans write, deprived him of his eyes. His sister, Jehanara, refusing
to enter the imperial court of the usurper, remained with her unfor
tunate father until his death. A monument, simple and beautiful
as her own character, covers her remains. The inscription which
it bears is said to have been written by herself. We brushed
away freshly-cut flowers to look upon it, all the time wondering
who placed them there. These are the words which we read in
Arabic : " Let no rich canopy rise over my grave ; the grass is the
best covering for the poor in spirit, the humble, the ephemeral
Jehasara, the disciple of the holy men of Cheest, the daughter of
the Emperor Shah Jehan." We derived from this touching memo
rial an assurance that ages of superstition, bigotry, and fanaticism,
cannot altogether extinguish womanly virtue, or the admiration of
mankind for it.
March 28th. — Our sight-seeing, in India, is necessarily done in
the early morning or in the evening; when the sun is very low in
the horizon. Our record of it is made in the time which can be
snatched from society or necessary rest.
The Jumna Musjid derives imposing effect from its situation in
the centre of an oblong area, on a rocky terrace, which extends

THE IMPERIAL PALACE. 411
from the Cashmere gate to the Delhi gate, and is approached by
magnificent stone staircases on three sides — a site not unlike that
of the Capitol at Washington. The Jumna Musjid is a mosque,
two hundred feet by one hundred and twenty feet, surmounted by
three elegant marble cupolas with gilded spires. At each end is a
superb minaret, built in alternate lines of black and white marble.
The pavement of the mosque is of white-marble slabs, each forty-
two inches by eighteen inches, finished with an inlaid black-marble
border. Each slab is a kneeling-place for a worshipper. Like the
mosque in the citadel of Agra, the edifice is called the "Pearl of
Mosques." We do not attempt to compare the two. Either is
more beautiful than any religious edifice we have ever seen. The
Jumna Musjid is, however, the more highly revered of the two.
Its venerable custodian showed us relics of the greatest possible
sanctity. Among them are a pair of shoes which were worn by the
prophet, and one hair saved from his beard ! Both of these inesti
mable treasures are carefully preserved in antique glass cases. We
cannot undertake to vouch for the genuineness of that hair, but we
must confess that the shrivelled and rotten leather makes out a
strong claim for the genuineness of the shoes.
There is, however, a relic, the authenticity of which can hardly
be disputed. It is a devotional autograph manuscript of Fatima,
the faithful and favorite daughter of Mohammed.
The first accounts of the mutiny of '57 that went abroad attrib
uted it to a discontent on the part of the Hindoos. From inquiries
here, we have no doubt that it was an insurrectionary attempt of
the Mohammedans. Ever since its suppression, Government has
forbidden public worship in the Jumna Musjid.
Here, as at Agra, the Imperial Palace is within the walls of the
citadel. It is in complete preservation, and is an additional monu
ment of the exquisite taste and munificence of Shah Jehan, the
builder of the Taj. Its prominent parts are one greater and one
lesser " audience-hall." Each of these is of polished white mar
ble, entirely open in front, and placed at such a height as to
afford the emperor, sitting on the throne, not merely a view of
the surrounding audience, but also a view of the procession of his
32

412 BRITISH INDIA.
vassals as they entered the great palace-gates, with all their gorge
ous displays of music, soldiers, camels, and elephants. A polished
white-marble throne, in each audience-chamber, is raised on a dais,
six or seven feet high, of the same material. A pure white-marble
canopy, supported by delicate Saracenic pillars, lends this structure
a peculiar grace. Both of these halls have been despoiled of the
decorations which first aroused the attention of Europe to the mar
vellous splendor of the Mogul Empire. The solid silver plates of
the great audience-chamber have been stripped from the ceiling,
and sold in the market in London for one hundred and seventy
thousand pounds sterling. The lesser chamber has been robbed of
the famous " peacock-throne," in the construction of which Shah
Jehan expended six million pounds sterling. The frescos of birds
and flowers on the polished marble walls are now dim — certainly
they must always have been a blemish. If, however, white marble
and fresco are incongruous, it must be admitted that white marble
and yellow gold, arranged in just proportions, form the most effec
tive of all ornamental combinations. Such is the fretwork which
adorns the capitals, cornices, and flutings of the columns and pilas
ters. The architect of the palace seems to have been enamoured
of his own creation, for he wrote, on each angle of the lesser audi
ence-chamber, the words which Moore has made familiar to all the
world in " Lalla Eookh : "
" If there be an Elysium on earth,
It is this, it is this."
Let us drop mathematical lines and arithmetical measure
ments, and try to convey .in another way an idea of the palace of
Shah Jehan. Can any one conceive a nobler spectacle than an
inauguration of a President of the United States, under the eastern
portico of the Capitol ? Does any one know any thing in the
world more shabby than the broad staging of plank and scantling
on which the august ceremony is performed ? The silver ceiling
and the "peacock-throne" have been removed from the throne-
room at Delhi. We would rub off now the gilding and the fres
cos on the walls. Having thus reduced the magnificent room to

ENGLISH KINDNESS. 413
its original simplicity, we would commend it to the Congress of the
United States as a model stage for the inauguration-ceremony.
Bayard Taylor, more fortunate than we, saw the Mogul palace
while it yet was the residence of the last of the successors of Akbar.
The mutineers of '57, inflated with their first success, proclaimed
the restoration of the empire. That stipendiary yielded to ambi
tious persuasion. He was quickly overthrown, stripped of allow
ances, state, and possessions ; and we find that his heirs, loyal to
the British Government, are now content with the honor of show
ing us, as guides, the splendor of the halls and tombs of their
ancestors. Delhi shares with Lahore the commerce of the western and
northern provinces, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and Persia. It seems
likely therefore to remain, as it is, a great and populous city. The
streets are often rendered impassable by heterogeneous caravans.
The shops contain fabrics, tissues, and jewelry, of exquisite richness,
and adapted to every variety of Oriental taste.
Our study of Delhi closed, to-day, with a visit to the heights to
which the British army retired, when driven out of the palace of
Shah Jehan, on the breaking out of the mutiny. They remained
here six months, successfully resisting the surprises and sorties of
the insurgents in the city — twenty tinles their number. At last,
being reenforced, they became assailants, stormed the citadel, and
recovered the capital.
Here we leave our host, and the learned companion of our ex
plorations, Colonel Young. American travellers are apt to ima
gine that Englishmen whom they meet are cold, if not churlish.
Nothing could be farther from this than our experience in India,
and, in looking back through all that experience, we find no more
agreeable remembrance than that of "Ludlow Castle," and of the
hearty welcome and courteous hospitality we received there.

CHAPTER XI.
UMBALLA AND PUTTEEALA.
Meerut, the Scene of the Outbreak of the Great Mutiny. — Hindoo Pilgrima.— First View
of the Himalayas. — Invitations to Putteeala. — Journey thither. — The City of Put
teeala. — Coaches or Elephants ? — Entrance into Putteeala. — A Magnificent Proces
sion. — Our Palace.
Umballa, March 30th. — Leaving Delhi, yesterday morning, we
recrossed the Jumna and its valley by a bridge and long causeway
to the station of Gazeabad. Thence we made our way through a
sea of golden wheat-fields, dotted with islands of blooming mango-
trees — one hundred and fifty miles — to this place. We stopped at
Meerut, a garrison-town, made memorable by being the scene of the
outbreak of the mutiny. That great disaster left at Meerut no such
painful traces or touching monuments as are seen at Cawnpore,
Lucknow, and Delhi.
The common roads parallel with the railroad, for a distance of
twenty miles above Meerut, were thronged with travellers, chiefly
men and children, of all castes and classes — save only the poor pari
ahs, each troop attended by musicians, their costumes diverse in
form and color. The greater number were pedestrians, but others
rode the native ponies, donkeys, camels, and elephants. A few
showed a special pride as they came along in gayly-decorated carts
drawn by clean white oxen decked with ribbons and garlands.
The long processions which Dublin sent out to Donnybrook on
the days of its fair ; the multitude which throngs the road from

INVITATIONS TO PUTTEEALA. 415
London to Epsom on the "Derby-day;" the processions which
come with music and banners from New-England villages to a
"mass-meeting;" or the 4th of July in Boston, never exhibited
more eager excitement, or half so much method, or a tithe of the
good-nature, which these Hindoos showed as they trudged along,
coming from all parts of Hindostan, to attend a Braminical festival
at Hurdwar, which is to be improved by being used also as a great
horse-fair. At four o'clock in the afternoon, we obtained a first view of the
Himalaya Mountains, stretching in a long, blue, hazy outline in the
horizon, sixty miles distant. Major Tigh. commissioner- for the
district, met us at the station, and brought us to his fine old bun
galow, situated in a beautiful park. An Irishman, he retains
equally the warm-heartedness and the ndimete of his countrymen.
Putteeala, March 31st. — Immediately after our arrival at
Umballa, a native gentleman presented himself to Major Tigh, and,
announcing himself as "canal agent" for the Maharajah of Put
teeala, asked to be presented to Mr. Seward. Before the latter had
time to answer, a second native appeared, and, declaring himself to
be the maharajah's "Minister of Justice," asked to be introduced.
They were admitted, and each presented a letter of invitation from
the Maharajah of Putteeala tendering us the hospitalities of- his
state, elegantly written in Arabic on gilt paper, the envelop being
a bag of the finest kincob. The bag, as well as the notes, was per
fumed with attar of roses. The bag was tied with a silken cord, on
which was suspended the great waxen seal (weighing four ounces)
of the kingdom, principality, or state, of Putteeala. Yesterday, at
five o'clock p. m., we proceeded in four carriages, each drawn by
four horses, which the prince had sent to convey us to his capital.
We were attended by his two messengers, the musteed (canal-
agent) and the minister of justice, a large military escort, and many
servants. Captain Horsford, of the British civil service, accom
panied us. At stages of one mile each, mounted sentinels first
saluted us, and then joined our escort. The maharajah's high civil
officers wore the finest of white India muslin turbans and robes,

416 BRITISH INDIA.
and his soldiers were arrayed in green, gold, and scarlet, as brightly
as the birds of India.
The Emperor Akbar and his successors made excellent roads,
and at convenient stages built caravanserais for the security and
rest of travellers. These hostelries, each of which is a fortification,
are still well preserved. We stopped at the half-way caravanserai,
and were met there by a large deputation of the maharajah's house
hold, in dainty costumes, similar to those worn by his messengers.
These deputies, surrounded by sixty or seventy servants, tendered
us congratulations, in the name of his highness, on our safe arrival
thus far on our journey. Each individual member of these delega
tions presented to each one of us, on a massive silver salver, cov
ered with a white napkin, a half-dozen silver coins, and a fresh
bouquet. As instructed, we touched these coins as acknowledg
ment of mutual friendship, and retained the flowers. This cere
mony was followed by a profuse supply of delicate refreshments.
In the midst of these attentions, a telegram from Putteeala an
nounced that the British Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs
for the district of Punjab were just leaving the town, and would
desire to pay their respects to Mr. Seward when they should meet
him. When we had gone a few miles on our way, those distin
guished personages, with their families, came rolling along in four
four-horse carriages, and an escort — both the equipages and guard
having been furnished by the maharajah, and being exactly on the
same magnificent scale as those by which we were conducted.
Greetings were exchanged, and a cordial invitation was given to
Mr. Seward to extend his journey to Lahore, the capital of the
Punjab. Putteeala, the capital of the province or native principality of
the same name, is protected by a citadel as spacious, though not so
substantially or scientifically constructed, as Fort Hamilton. Forti
fications in India seem to have been built as retreats or places of
safety for the sovereign or his family. The mother of the present
prince resides in the citadel of Putteeala.. Arriving at its gate, we
came to a halt, and we saw through a cloud of dust the maharajah
coming toward us in a magnificent state coach drawn by six white

ELEPHANT-RIDING. 417
horses ; the highway, on either side, was lined with outriders and
a squadron of cavalry. The prince, driving by the side of our
carriage, saluted Mr. Seward with stately cordiality. When the
compliments were ended, the maharajah asked Mr. Seward in
which manner he would prefer to make his entrance into the capi
tal ; whether he would go with him in his coach, or whether he
would be pleased to make his entrance on the back of an elephant.
Mr. Seward, diffident perhaps of his skill in the latter mode of
travel, or acting under a conviction that modesty best becomes a
visitor, accepted the offer of a seat in the coach. The maharajah,
taking his seat at Mr. Seward's left, made a rapid advance toward
the city. The ladies, like Mr. Seward, being complimented with
the same choice of manner of entering the city, decided Hke Mr.
Seward in favor of a comfortable coach-and-six. Hereupon a halt
and parley ensued between Captain Horsford and the prince's
master of ceremonies. In the course of this debate, it appeared
that, while the prince excused Mr. Seward's declination of the
honor of the elephant on the ground of his years, the ladies, who
could offer no .such plea, would give offence by claiming the same
indulgence. Sixty elephants stood by the road-side, richly capari
soned in cloth of gold and scarlet, all ornamented with gilt ear
rings and necklaces. There was no more to be said on that ques
tion. The elephants kneeled, silver ladders were placed against
their sides, and, in less time than it takes to describe the action,
the two ladies, not venturing to ride alone, were seated together
with Captain Horsford, in the spacious gilded and velvet howdah.
The elephant arose with a motion like that of the surge on the
coast of Madras, and the ladies found themselves in the upper air.
The Hindoo driver sits on the elephant's head, and directs his
motions by the use of an iron spike, which he thrusts against the
skin on either side of the forehead. A procession was then
formed. First, the maharajah with Mr. Seward ; then the ladies ;
next, our three servants, Jeanie, Price, and Freeman ; next, the
musteed; next, the Minister of Justice, mounted in the same"
manner, and behind them the long train of elephants without
any riders, and the five hundred richly-caparisoned horses, led

418 BRITISH INDIA.
by as many grooms no less gayly dressed. As a signal for the
progress to begin, the air was rent by a salvo of nineteen guns;
the salute was repeated by a fusillade from what seemed endless
ranks of infantry, bugles sounded a march, and the cavahy
moved to the front. Four bands of music wheeled into column,
playing, more or less together, " God save the Queen ! " Behind
them a company of fifty bagpipers, playing not altogether, as
they fell into line, "Bonnie Dundee." At the moment of the
cannonade the led horses kicked, pranced, and reared; the ele
phants uttered piteous, deep, indescribable cries, and tried to
prick up their enormous jewelled ears, remaining otherwise quiet ;
crowds on the wayside shouted applause, and children screamed
with delight. As for Mr. Seward, he, fortunate gentleman, snugly
seated by the maharajah on velvet cushions, in the coach drawn
by six well-trained animals, was unconscious of the disturbance
which had arisen behind him. His inexperienced and more ven-1
turesome companions clung to each other in fright — but order
was restored, and aU were reassured. On the way to his capi
tal, the maharajah addressed to Mr. Seward a studied speech
of welcome. Taking care to express his regret that his guest had
not accepted the elephant, the prince said that the troops we had
passed in review were ten thousand in number. He also explained .
to Mr. Seward that, when he came to the throne, he found no
streets in Putteeala wide enough for such a pageant as he had occa
sion to make, and that he had, therefore, enlarged the streets, but
not without making due compensation to the owners of adjacent
property. Night came on as we reached the gates. We looked
from our howdahs upon the flat roofs of the dwellings and shops be
low us. Their inmates were gathered at the doors in gay dresses,
and seemed as diminutive as the burghers of Liliput. Thus we
passed through the entire city, and reached, beyond the farther
gate, an esplanade used as a Campus Martius. Winding around
a tall flag-staff, under the folds of what is called the sacred banner,
•we stopped before a lofty Saracenic gate. Here, the maharajah,
with Mr. Seward, alighted, and the elephant-riders dismounted.
The prince led the way on a gravelled walk, by the side of 6uc-

ELEPHANTS ON THE MARCH AT PUTTEEALA.

A COSY PALAOE. 419
eessive fountains, in an orange and lemon garden, as it seemed, of
boundless extent. Each fountain poured over a cascade into the
next. These cascades were illumined by torch-lights from behind,
which imparted to the jets all the hues of the rainbow. We
stopped at the porch of a small Saracenic palace. The prince,
taking Mr. Seward by the hand, led him up a gentle flight of steps,
across a veranda, into a salon which may be eighty by forty feet,
and thirty feet high, the ceiling supported by a double row of col
umns, and the walls draped with orange and scarlet silks. " This
palace," said the maharajah, " is yours ; this is the hall in which
you will sit, these apartments on either side of it are the rooms in
which you will sleep. You must be weary with your journey. I
beg to take my leave for the night. I shall have the honor to visit
you to-morrow morning."
The. ladies were not slow in exploring the cosy little palace.
Its lights, furniture, and ornamentation, are an Oriental exaggera
tion of the European style. The welcome dinner, though prepared
' by a French hand, and graced with the best wines of France, Ger
many, and Portugal, was served by Hindoos, who, dressed in flow
ing white gowns, glided noiselessly in bare feet over the velvet
carpet. It was evident, as he himself said, that the Prince of Put
teeala is not like those "people" whom we see in Calcutta. As
for the ladies, they expressed a doubt whether the story of Aladdin
is indeed a fiction.

CHAPTEE XII.
PUTTEEALA {Continued).

Oriental Displays and Diversions. — The Menagerie. — The Prisons. — The Heir-Apparent.—
An Elephant Fight. — Jesters and Jugglers. — The Royal Palace. — Magnificence of the
Maharajah. — The Durbar. — The Young Prince. — Superb Presents. — A Magnificent
Salon. — The Maharajah's Conversation with Mr. Seward. — An Exhibition of Fire
works.

April 1st. — This has been a day of bewildering succession
of Oriental displays and diversions. The Minister of Pubhc
Works came before breakfast, and attended us to the inevi
table menagerie. The aviaries, though full, are inferior to those of
the King of Oude. We saw, for the first time, the long-legged,
awkward, brown cassowary, whose name rhymes to "missionary"
in the witty verse where " Timbuctoo " finds its answer in " hymn-
book too." The tiger collection is very fine, many of the animals
of huge size and quite untamed. From the cages of wild beasts
we passed to the cages of wild men, the state-prison of Putteeala. It
covers an area of four acres, enclosed by a low adobe wall. There
are eight hundred and twenty-five prisoners, chiefly convicted of
the crimes of arson and burglary; of these, only one hundred
and fifty can read and write. Two hundred convicts are impris
oned in other parts of the province. Imprisonment is generally
for a term of one, two, three, or seven years, occasionally for life-
Capital punishment is inflicted only for murder. The population
of the city of Putteeala is eighty thousand, and that of the ancient

A LITTLE PRINCE. 421
kingdom or principality is two millions, and yet there has been no
capital execution in two years. The prisoners are neither confined
in separate cells, nor do they live together. Those of each caste
work, sleep, and eat, in different divisions of the building ; the
odious distinction of caste is preserved nowhere more absolutely
than here. The pariahs, outcasts everywhere in common life, are
equally segregated in prison, and subjected if possible to a lower
humiliation. All are heavily ironed, and are guarded by an armed
police of three hundred men. Their labor is either hard or light,
according to the grade of their offence. Hard labor consists of
grinding grain with a hand-mill; light labor is weaving carpet,
making shoes, pottery-ware, and the like. Our labor-reformers in
the United States may find a new argument for their claims in the
fact that, by the laws of Putteeala, five hours Are a full day's work.
The prisoners have native medical attendance, but no religious or
secular instruction. The products of the prison are sold in the
markets, and nearly defray its expenses, which average fourteen
cents a day for each convict. We found at the prison-gate, as we
came out, a train of elephants kneeling for our service, but we
respectfully declined the honor. On the way homeward, we met a
small boy in a gilded coach, with postilions and outriders. He
was so richly arrayed and superbly attended, that we at once con
jectured him to be the heir-apparent. It was fortunate that we
saluted him as such ; for the minister who attended us afterward
informed us that the little lad had been sent out to meet Mr.
Seward, and was attended by the entire ministry. We breakfasted
alone in our little palace, at ten o'clock. The maharajah came at
eleven. He invited Mr. Seward and the ladies to a grand durbar.
The English ladies whom we have met in India have declared to
us that they decline to receive native princes, on the ground that
the ladies of India decline to receive gentlemen in the zenanas.
The reason given for this seclusion of women is, that a general
intercourse with society would be immoral and unbecoming the
dignity of the sex. But we are inclined to think that Christian .
women who thus refuse to recognize the native gentlemen are
m fact adopting the bad customs and manners of India, instead

422 BRITISH JNDIA.
of commending our own better morals and manners to the people
of that country. The prince's invitation was accepted. He
seemed to have only just taken his leave, when we were summoned
to meet him at the pavilion at the centre gate. Here he con
ducted us up a winding staircase, and gave us seats in a balcony,
which overlooks the esplanade. He performed this courtesy in a
manner which showed that he fully understands the Western
sentiment of respect for women. He afterward took care to
explain to us, through the prime-minister, his regret that the pre
vailing and uncompromising religious sentiment of the country
prevented him from introducing the Western social customs into
his own family. He has two wives, neither of whom has ever seen
a foreigner, man or woman, nor has ever met even a countryman
of her own, other than the nearest blood relations. The prince
added that, before the Mohammedan conquest, the women of his
own royal house were more distinguished for political ability and
energy than the men. A strange remark for an Oriental.
The entertainment to which we had come was an elephant-
fight. Two enormous combatants were brought on the field.
They came with manifest reluctance. Their tusks had been cut
away half their length, and the stumps were bound with brass.
They fought by pushing their broad foreheads against each other,
and by crowding with the shortened tusks. It was seen, after
one short encounter, that one animal was more powerful than the
other. The weaker retreated. No effort his keeper made could
encourage him to renew the contest, nor could any urging by the
driver of the victorious beast induce him to pursue his advantage.
The prince dismissed these combatants, or rather non-combatants,
with disgust, and caused them to be immediately replaced by two
other animals of equally gigantic size. They fought in the same
way as the first, and with about the same result, except that the
vanquished animal in this case retreated quite out of the arena,
while the conqueror was with much difficulty held back from pur
suit. These latter contestants gave place in their turn to two others,
and the form of the combat varied. With their trunks, they clasped
each other by the head, and, thus embraced, they continued a battle

JESTERS AND JUGGLERS.

423

until one became so worried and exhausted that he gave up the
contest. The maharajah said, " These elephants are good fight
ers, but the heat overpowers them." We agreed with him about
the temperature, while we thought the performance of 'the poor
beasts needed no apology. The prince now took his leave, and we
returned to our palace, and took our seats on the veranda under a
canopy of Cashmere shawls, supported by silver staffs, the fountains
gurgling at our feet. Two court-jesters appeared before us, and in
the Hindoo language went through a rehearsal of drolleries and
pantomimes, which seemed to us not unworthy of Dan Pice or
G. L. Fox. They gave place to an acrobat, who, although eighty

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A CONJUBOE AT PUTTEEALA.

years old, displayed prodigious strength and agility. With a long
sword in hand, he turned a double somersault, cutting a betel-nut
m two parts. Although these performances were ordered for our

424 BRITISH INDIA.
own party, they soon attracted a crowd of native spectators, who
manifested a higher appreciation for. them than we did. We en
joyed much more highly their rapt attention ; but the prime
minister would have no such vulgar intrusion. The admiring
crowd was dispersed. Then came on another sport, a company
of jugglers, one, a young man who performed feats with a goat
and. a monkey ; another, a very old and eccentric Sikh, with
long, white hair, and eyes as large and sunken as those of
Daniel Webster. He seemed a man to whom we should pay our
homage, rather than one who should be required to cater to our
amusement. His achievement was to make a pigeon fire a mimic
cannon. The ordnance was duly loaded and primed. It went off,
but, in the act, the gentle gunner rose into the air, and went off too.
The string of his captivity had fallen from his feet. He perched on
the palace-roof. The poor old man tried in vain to entice him
down. He appealed to the new audience which had gathered
round, but no assistance could be given. The juggler became
inconsolable ; when he saw his loss, he assumed an attitude as
piteous as that of " Eip Van Winkle " when he discovers the
absence of his faithful " Schneider."
Next came a musical band, which gave us a concert on native
instruments, playing their pensive airs, which we thought at first
so unintelligible, but which we now find pleasing, sometimes quite
touching. The gamut is like our own, of eight tones, but in play
ing or singing a melody, called rang, they use all the semi-tones,
so that the performance is a chromatic succession of notes, and you
have to guess which of the accentuated tones speak the air. Sud
denly, at the prime minister's command, this series of diversions
came to an end, and all the performers, musicians, jesters, jugglers,
acrobats, and fools, disappeared. Thereupon sixty thorough-bred
Arabian, Persian, Australian, and African horses, came before us
for inspection. They were gorgeously caparisoned, with silken
bridles, golden trimmings, kincob and velvet robes, and housings
of India cashmere. They wore also gold ear-rings and necklaces
and bangles. One of them, which is claimed to be the fastest horse
in India, borrows the name "Hermit" from the great English

THE MAHARAJAH'S PALACE. 425
courser. The fantastical grooms manifested scarcely less pride
than the horses themselves in showing their fine points.
What wonder that we now thought the princely exhibition was
ended? It was not, though. We were summoned again to our
seats in the pavilion at the gate. Two elephants came into the
area with their calves — one of these born since the captivity of the
cow, the other made a captive with its mother in the jungle. Few
persons, perhaps, can imagine how skilfully the little animal throws
back its trunk, while taking its nutriment. The calf that was
"native here, and to the manner born," was bold and indifferent,
the other timid and frightened. Its cries were almost human, and
the mother's manner of soothing it not less so.
At five o'clock, Mr. Seward, the ladies, Captain Horsford, and
servants, were duly mounted in gorgeous howdahs on elephants,
Mr. Seward being raised to his howdah in a gilded palanquin.
Notwithstanding our previous experience, we all felt insecure in
our exaltation. While the elephants rose to their feet, we held fast
to the arms of our howdahs, very much as the landsman grasps the
bulwark of a ship in a high seas Our animals marched three
abreast, covering the entire pavement of the widened streets.
With the careful help of numberless supple grooms, the party came
safely to the foot of the broad staircase within the court of the
palace, except that, on our calling the roll, .Freeman did not answer.
He, like the rest, was mounted on an elephant, but was left behind.
The palace is built on the sides of a quadrangle, is four stories
high, and is quite imposing. A battalion of infantry presented
arms, and a ringing blast from the bugles of a squadron of cavalry
greeted us as we entered the court. While we were dismounting,
a brass band played the ever-favorite national anthem in honor of
Mr. Seward, and the bagpipers followed with " Annie Laurie " in
honor of the ladies. We have heretofore described the magnifi
cence of the attire of the Maflarajah of Putteeala, when he appeared
at the opera and at the concert in Calcutta. We wondered at the
strings of emeralds and pearls which drooped from his neck and
turban, when he met us yesterday at the citadel. When he paid
his visit of ceremony this morning at the pavilion, we thought he

426 BRITISH INDIA.
could have nothing in reserve so fine as the diamonds and emeralds
he then wore. One chain, suspended from his turban, contained
twenty-six brilliants, each as large as a hazel-nuty. But those dec
orations were simplicity itself when compared with the pearls,
rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, which flashed upon us
as he stood resplendent on the portico above, waiting to receive us.
The music, until now hushed, burst forth from twelve unseen bands
at once. With majestic courtesy, he took Mr. Seward by the hand
and conducted him up the steps, and across the terraced portico,
and seated him in a silver arm-chair, which was placed on a dais
within a recess, in a great hall of audience, which was filled to its
utmost capacity. Then excusing himself, his highness returned to
the portico, and conducted one of the ladies to an equally magnifi
cent seat ; then returned, and brought the other lady in the same
courtly manner. He then seated himself between the two ladies.
Mr. Seward had become anxious, and now asked Captain Horsford
for Freeman. Inquiry was made, and he was found sitting meekly,
if not quite patiently, in his gilded howdah, forgotten in the bustle;
equally unable to descend without assistance, or to make his wants
known. At command, a silver ladder was raised against the kneel
ing beast, and Freeman entered, having had to wait his audience at
Putteeala, as he had before to wait for the fifteenth amendment to
bring him to the citizenship of the United States.
The music ceased. The prince, now turning to Mr. Seward,
defivered an elaborate speech, in which he explained, in a strain
perhaps not altogether free from Eastern hyperbole, the pride and
satisfaction which he derived from Mr. Seward's visit to his capital,
and to the palace of his ancestors. This discourse was followed by
an address equally complimentary to each of the ladies. Mr-
Seward replied that it was particularly gratifying to him to he
received with so much consideration in one of the most important
of the native states of India. These compliments finished, the
infant son and heir of the prince was brought in, accompanied by
twenty or more tutors, and attendants, and was formally presented
to each of the visitors. The little boy, only four years old, is very
pretty. He has large dark eyes and curling black hair. His sma

THE INFANT PRINCE.

427

rich scarlet-and-blue silk dress was loaded with jewels. An enor
mous turban, embroidered with gold, seemed enough to weigh him
down. He stood erect and made profound salams ; then one of
his tutors, speaking in the child's name, said : " I had the honor of
meeting your excellencies, in your morning drive, and I hope you
have had a pleasant day. I shall always remember that I have
seen you here." Having gone through his part with perfect pro
priety, the young prince, like any less distinguished child, laid his
curly head on the arm of his great silver chair, and was soon sound

THE PEINCE OF rTTTTEEALA

asleep. The maharajah now spoke of his domestic state, saying,
however, nothing of wife or wives. He dwelt, as a proud father
might, on his two children, the one who was now with us, and the
other a girl, still younger, in the zenana. He then gave us a brief
account of his father, who was distinguished for his heroism, and
of his two sisters, one of whom is dead, the other a widow. This
easy and pleasant conversation over, a troop of nautch-girls came
upon the floor, more richly dressed and more graceful even than

428 BRITISH INDIA.
those we saw at the regatta on the Ganges. The hall was now
cleared. Fifty Sikh bagpipers, in British uniform, marched through
the hall, discoursing familiar airs under the leadership of a Scottish
piper, in tartan and kilts.
After these amusements, the business of the durbar was re
sumed. The maharajah's ministers of state were announced,
appeared and made salams in a manner which elsewhere might be
thought affected or obsequious, but here is graceful and dignified.
Mr. Seward detained each, with questions in regard to the affairs
of his department, and the form in which it is conducted. Next
came the general and commanders of the army, not forgetting the
Highland leader of the pipers. Putteeala has no navy. Last, a
great number of persons, presented as "relatives of the prince,"
employed in judicial, political, and municipal trusts. No present
able man in the city was omitted. The presentations being over, a
multitude of servants, " that no man in haste could number," came
bearing silver trays on their heads filled with India fabrics of mus
lins, cambrics, cashmeres, silks, and jewels, and laid the whole at
Mr. Seward's feet, the trays covering twenty feet square on the
floor. The prince, with infinite gravity, invited Mr. Seward to
accept this " small and unworthy collection " as a token of his
highness's respect and affection. Mr. Seward, having been previ
ously instructed, touched with his finger the simplest article, a
turban scarf of purple interwoven with gold thread. The trays
and their bearers immediately disappeared, but only to be replaced
by a similar display, no less costly and elegant. These treasures
were laid at the feet of one of the ladies, who was asked to accept
this " poor trash." In accordance with an intimation through an
officer, she touched a cashmere shawl. The train and merchandise
disappeared, and the third and equal presentation was made to the
second lady, who in like manner touched a shawl. The prince,
who had looked on with an air of supreme indifference to the
whole proceeding, then said to Mr. Seward, " I have a great many
other things in the palace, which I should like to present to you,
but I will not take up your time to look at them." Then, thanking
Mr. Seward and the ladies for having accepted these " unworthy

A MAGNIFICENT SALON. 429
trifles," he in a loud voice, and with an imperious manner, directed
that all the articles which had been thus displayed and offered to
us, should be conveyed to Mr. Seward's palace and delivered to his
servants. For our part, we are quite sure that " these unworthy
trifles" would have been sufficient to stock an Indian bazaar in
New York. Price, Freeman, and Jeanie, who had been filled
with admiration in witnessing the august ceremony, became sud
denly perplexed to know how they should convey so large a quan
tity of precious baggage in our small special railway car.
The Prince of Putteeala now spoke with pride of the salon in
which the durbar was held, and not without reason. It is one
hundred and thirty feet long, sixty feet wide, and thirty feet high.
The roof is supported by double rows of columns, between which
are suspended crystal chandeliers, with variegated-glass shades for
two thousand lights. The walls, on all sides, are hung with mir
rors. Mr. Seward rose to take leave. The betel-nut was offered to
our palates, the attar of roses to our hands, and we were dismissed
with a suggestion that we should drive through those of the city
parks and gardens which we had not yet seen, and then return for
a final visit in the evening.. The maharajah conducted us down
the staircase and placed us in carriages. We drove an hour
through the public grounds, being stopped every few rods by gar
deners, who covered us with flowers, and filled our carriages with
fruit. A band of music, on the way, gave us " God save the
Queen," which tune these good people seem to think to be a
national hymn of our own. On the way to our pavilion, we met
the maharajah, driving his favorite " Hermit " before a dog-cart, at
a furious rate, followed by a flying escort.
"We returned to the palace at eight o'clock. All the two thou
sand candles were ablaze, and were reflected to infinitude by the
broad, bright mirrors. Not only the salon, but the court, the
grand stairway, the portico, the entire palace, with its thousand
windows and balconies, were illuminated. So the ancestral hall of
Putteeala was as brilliant as the mountain-palace in which Cupid
visited the enchanted Psyche. We had an hour of conversation,
which was the more interesting because informal. It turned chiefly

430 BRITISH INDIA.
on the prince's intended journey the next year to England, and
his desire to extend it to the United States. He presented his
photograph to Mr. Seward, and requested him to write from
different points on his travels in India. He then asked for a
minute account of the painful event at Washington, in which
Mr. Seward was a sufferer. He showed a deep interest in that
subject, although his knowledge of it was imperfect. The mahara
jah now informed us that he had made all needful arrangements
for our comfortable journey to the Himalayas. His thoughts then
turned once more upon himself. He ordered in, and exhibited
with much pride, his state-robes, among them the one in which we
had seen him at the concert in Calcutta. All of them were stiffened
with jewels. Estimated together, with his paternal shield and sword,
their value is half a million dollars.
Taking a final leave, we returned to our pavilion, expecting
that our late dinner would be a quiet one. We were mistaken.
At the moment when the dessert came upon the table, the Minister
of Public Affairs announced an exhibition of fire-works in the gar
den. We walked through a section of it which we had not previ
ously had time to explore, and, amid the murmuring of cascades,
took our seats in the balcony of a little palace or pavilion, the coun
terpart of the one in which we reside. The pyrotechnic exhibition
had all the variety of our similar displays at home, but in excess.
A party of a hundred artists on each side of the oblong lake were to
alternate with a corresponding corps on the opposite side. These
performers were, however, so emulous that, instead of making such
a measured display as they intended, the whole exhibition went off
simultaneously. There were lanterns, transparencies, rockets, ser
pents, trees, wheels, stars, ribbons, candles, balloons, naval fights,
and bombardments ; all these illuminations being reflected from the
surface of the clear, smooth lake and surrounding cascades and foun
tains. The unexpected activity of the performers, while it produced
much perplexity and confusion, had, nevertheless, one compensation
for us ; within twenty minutes from the time the display began,
sun, moon, stars, dragons, serpents, and balloons, were expiring all
around us, leaving only blackened frame-works on the ground.

CHAPTER XIII.
A GLANCE AT THE HIMALAYAS.
Departure from Putteeala. — Along the Banks of the Jumna. — Protection from the Sun.
— Reception at Pindarrie. — An Illumination. — Kalka and Kussovvlee. — The British
Commissioner. — A View of the Himalayas. — An Irish Home.
April 3d. — We left Putteeala, on the morning of the 1st in
stant, by a train of four-horse post-coaches, which the maharajah
had placed at our service, and, under a farewell salute, began the
last stage of our excursion to the Himalayas. After stopping here
to lunch, we continued the journey thirty-five miles along the banks
of the Jumna, making in all sixty-nine miles. Though the coun
try over which we passed seemed sandy and barren, yet the firm
metallic roads were crowded with bullock and dak mule-trains car
rying freights to the troops, dwellers, and sojourners, in the moun
tains. All classes here regard the sun as their chief enemy, and the
head as his point of attack. The natives, not content with covering
it with a thick turban, draw all their garments over it, and even
wear their pallet beds upon it. For ourselves, we have divided on
this subject. The ladies wear the solar topees (pith hats) of the
country, while Mr. Seward adheres tenaciously to his light, broad-
brimmed "Panama." As the night came on, the dak animals,
arriving at their frequent stations, were unharnessed, and, as they
would say on the Plains, were "corralled." Their drivers sat down
to enjoy their frugal meals under the trees. The breeze, however,
on that day awakened a driving, blinding sand-storm, bringing on

432 BRITISH INDIA.
thick darkness. Our road, sometimes crossing river-channels, now
dry, and then winding across orchards of mango, tamarind, and
date-palm trees, on the plain, became uncertain and unsafe. The
only lights which appeared in the lonely journey were by no means
inspiriting. They were Hindoo obsequies, and
"All around
Glared evermore the frequent funeral-piles."
The fearful sand-storm was laid by a pouring rain, which only
made the darkness more intense. We were about sinking with fa
tigue and apprehension, when our spirits were roused by innumer
able torch-lights. The people of Pindarrie, a town belonging to
the Maharajah of Putteeala, looking for our arrival, had come out
to meet us on the plain. Under this cheering illumination, they
presented to us their " submission," and tendered the hospitalities
of the place. They conducted us through crowded streets, and we
alighted' under a broad, high gate. Received here, we passed, by
the light of the torches, a series of fountains with intervening cas
cades, Hke those of Putteeala — our guides at the same time in
forming us that the walks had been illuminated, but, much to their
disappointment and grief, the storm had extinguished the lights.
A pavilion in the spacious garden received us for the night. It
differed from our house at Putteeala, being of purer Hindoo archi
tecture, instead of being Moorish with European accessories. The
dinner provided for us, though elaborate, did not detain us long.
Clambering high, steep stairways, and passing through narrow
corridors, we reached a suite of apartments, with balconies over
looking the fountains. * We were most reluctantly awakened two
hours later by an announcement that the storm was over, and that
the garden was illuminated for our special entertainment. It is
not in human nature to resist persevering kindness timidly offered.
We dressed and performed with all alacrity the duty expected of
us as admiring spectators. The light, refracted and streaming
through the cascades, gathered into brightness over them, and glis
tening on the dripping foliage up through the orange-trees, lost it
self in the pale, glimmering rays of the half-clouded moon. Unlike

RIDE TO KDSSOWLEE. 433
our experience at " the metropolis," our sleep that night in provin
cial Pindarrie was not a complete success. Our house was indeed
Oriental in its appointments as well as in construction. The atmos
phere, cooled by the storm, was refreshing, and the music of rus
tling leaves and falling waters was soothing, but the princely pavil
ion, inhabited only on occasions like the present, has become the
abode of owls, bats, rats, lizards, and centipedes. We had hardly
fallen into a second slumber, when we were aroused this time to
wage war with those malignant disturbers of human repose. The
allied army was more than once put to flight, but it came back with
a strong reenforcement of well-disciplined and practical mosquitoes.
The trial was attended by only one equivalent : it enabled us to see,
as the storm cleared away, and the full moon resumed her splendor,
a range of the Himalayas stretching across the northern horizon.
The next morning, at an early hour, we drove four miles to
Kalka, at the base of the mountains, the end of the carriage-road.
In reaching Kalka, we had come twelve hundred miles from Cal
cutta, and gained an elevation of two thousand feet, without other
evidence of it than a somewhat lower temperature, and a slightly
perceptible difference of vegetation. We were now to climb five
thousand feet higher, to the summit of the lowest range of the
Himalayas, at Kussowlee, and to do this in a journey of nine miles.
Mountain-travel here is done in three ways ; by the jhampau, a
rude sedan-chair ; the pallcee, a covered litter, in which the passenger
is obliged to lie down ; or in the saddle with mules and ponies. We
took jhampaus and ponies. At the moment of departure, our guide,
raising his arm almost perpendicularly, pointed to a white object,
high up the mountain-acclivity, and said, " Behold Kussowlee ! "
Like all mountain-roads, these are engineered by torrents winding
down deep, irregular, and dark ravines or canons. At one moment
we had the sun on our right, then quickly on our left, sometimes
m front, and sometimes at our back, and as often directly over
head. Often we descended, by a long road hewn from the moun-
tam-side, into shaded dells, and crossed noisy brooks, only to rise by
a similar acclivity to higher hill-tops. Sometimes we looked for
an indefinite distance over the smiling plain of the Jumna, almost

434 BRITISH INDIA.
fancying that we saw its junction with the Ganges, and then sud
denly found ourselves imprisoned within lowering, frowning walls
of mountain-rocks. We passed a fortification, which, before the
British occupation, protected the peaceful lowlanders against incur
sions from the wild and more vigorous invaders from Afghanistan.
It hung so long over our heads that we thought this castle must
mark the end of our journey. With much surprise, we afterward
found ourselves looking down upon the same fortification, and as
yet we were more than five miles from Kussowlee. The date-palm
maintains its foothold for only a short distance on the mountain
side. Wheat-fields are seen at the height of three thousand feet.
Those below are quite ready for the sickle, while the uppermost
fields show the bluish-green blade, as we see it at home, when just
unveiled from the snow. Wheat will be gathered on the banks of
the Potomac long before that which is growing on these mountain-
terraces. The palm and the mango gave place chiefly to the low
candelabra cactus, which seems to require neither depth of soil nor
constant moisture. This showy plant intermingles with elders and
alders, white, blue, yellow, purple, and crimson mountain-flowers,
here and there a dwarf rhododendron, and profuse " Virginia creep
ers." At the height of four thousand feet, the cactus gives up the
struggle, and the small plateaus are covered with low spreading
pines, with trunks of not more than eight inches in diameter. The
road now becomes more steep, the precipices more abrupt. It is
the season of drought. The mountain-sides are brown. There is,
nevertheless, in every dell, a village or hamlet, the houses mainly
built of sand-stone, with thatched-roofs, and surrounded by stacks of
hay and small herds of small cattle, much more sleek and fat than
those which are raised on the plains. Travellers who have visited the
eastern part of the Himalayas tell us that, on heights greater than
those which we reached, they found forests of oak and laurel. We
did not see the eagle which those travellers describe as soaring over
the mountain-peaks, nor the monkey which they say pelts the
passer-by in the valley of Cashmere. Before we reached Kussowlee,
thick clouds arose, as is their wont, leaving no towering peak, pin
nacle, or distant range of mountains visible. Kussowlee, a not in-

A GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAS. 435
considerable native town, is now occupied with army hospitals and
a small garrison. Major Parsons, commissioner at Simla, had pro
vided for us a pleasant lodge in the village. A lassitude came
over us in consequence of our travelling in the upper air, and this
commingled with feelings of disappointment that, although we had
come so far to see the Himalayas, we were to see only their base.
The British officers, considerate and hospitable, as we have univer
sally found them, allowed us two hours for rest, before the entertain
ment at which we were to receive their families. Here, as at Pin
darrie, we were awakened prematurely, but more to our satisfaction ;
the sky had brightened, and the snow-clad range was visible. We
hastened to the veranda, and the Himalayas confronted us, stretch
ing east and west as far as the eye could reach, looming half-way
up to the centre of the heavens. The crest was an undulating field
of dazzling snow ; but presto, change ! Even at the moment when
we were aiming the telescope, black spots descended on that white
mantle. The clouds came back again. Thenceforth, neither rocks
nor snow-fields were to be seen. The distant Himalayas had dis
appeared as suddenly as they had come before us. Nevertheless,
we were content. We stood on the giant's foot, and for one mo
ment had looked him fully in the face.
At mid-day the horizon cleared, and we saw, eastward, the
valley in which the mighty Ganges has his cradle ; and, westward,
the plain in which not only the Indus has its fountains, but also
that from which the Jhylum and SutLsj spring. It was something
to study, from this stand-point, the geography of the continent.
From our eminence we distinctly traced the mountain-passes
through which the northern invaders of India came — the Tartar,
the Afghan, the Persian, and even the great Macedonian. We
left with regret the interesting society which gathered around us at
Kussowlee. As we descended the mountain, we remarked that we
found this portion of the Himalayas as sterile and dull during a
large part of the year as the Rocky Mountains. Neither the one
nor the other can be cultivated without partial irrigation, but with
it the now desolate valleys and table-lands may be made as luxuri
ant and beautiful as the peaks which rise above them are sublime.

436

BRITISH INDIA.

It was nightfall when we reached our Hindoo resting-place at
Pindarrie. All the way down, the guides were on the lookout
for panthers, which infest this fine Government road, but we saw
no wild-beast of any kind, though we heard all around us the
mournful and distracting howls of the jackal. Cakes, tea, and
wine, awaited us at Kalka — a generous supper, with renewed and
successful illumination of the fountains, at Pindarrie.
Simple, gentle mountaineers ! Pleased above all other pleas
ures when pleasing the stranger. When shall we see again hos
pitalities like those of town and country in Putteeala ?
Taking our leave as soon as possible, we resumed our carriages
at eleven o'clock, and by the light of the now unclouded moon we
made our way down the bank of the Jumna, and found the gates
and door of Major Tigh's Irish home wide open at three o'clock
in the morning. What a happy realm Great Britain would be, if
the English and the Gaelic elements were combined as 'harmoni
ously in the entire population of the islands as they are in that
genial dwelling !

^S^fe1

THE HIMALAYAS.

CHAPTER XIY.
ALLAHABAD AND JUBBULPOOR.
An Interesting Debate. — Earl Mayo, the Viceroy of India. — His Murder. — The Vmdhya
Mountains. — Industrial Activity of Jubbulpoor. — An Elephant Ride. — A Night Voy
age on the Nerbudda. — Romantic and Beautiful Scenery. — Hindoo • Tenderness for
Animals. Government House, Allahabad, April 6th. — We arrived at a
late hour last night. The rest which was so needful was broken
at dawn by martial music. A detachment was escorting the vice
roy from the railway-station to Government House.
We have had the good fortune to hear a very interesting debate
in the Legislative Council, over which he presides, and also of
dining with him and the members of that distinguished body.
The viceroy is on his way with his court to the summer capital
of Simla, in the same lower range of the Himalayas from which we
have just descended. He rests here to-night, and the day after
to-morrow he will hold the great durbar at Lucknow. The in
vitations to us to witness it are earnest, but the entire press of
India is warning us to leave the country before the intense heat
comes on.
Earl Mayo1 has won our grateful regard by the studious care he
1 On the 8th of May, 1872, this wise and benevolent statesman, able magistrate,
and genial friend, received his death at the hands of a Mohammedan political prisoner,
while on a tour of inspection of the penitentiary at Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands.
Our excellent friend Lord Napier, aa Governor of Madras, succeeded him as Viceroy of
India, ad interim.

438 BRITISH INDIA.
has practised for our safety, comfort, and instruction, duringour
travels in the country. Mr. Seward is highly gratified in having
had this opportunity to renew his acknowledgments, and to
assure the viceroy of the evidences he finds everywhere of the
success of his administration.
We take our departure to-night, and with it our regrets that we
have not language to express to Sir William Muir and his family
our appreciation and gratitude for all their kindness.
Jubbulpoor, April 8th. — We left Allahabad at midnight and
opened our eyes this morning on a broad table-land of the Vin-
dhya Mountains, the range which, traversing Hindostan from east
to west, parts the tributaries of the Ganges from those of the
Nerbudda and the Indus. These mountains, better known in early
geography as the north border of the Deccan, intersect the lofty
Ghauts which stretch from Cape Comorin quite up to the Himala
yas. This region is less densely inhabited and more sparingly cul
tivated than the plain of the Ganges. Aboriginal tribes are still
existing here, which have survived all the political changes of
two thousand years, and still retain their primitive languages, re
ligions, and customs.
Jubbulpoor exhibits much industrial activity. It is for West
ern India what Ogden is for the western region of the United
States. The railways from Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, meet
here. Mr. Grant, commissioner for the province, has received
us with the same British hospitality and courtesies that have
made our sojourn in India so agreeable. In this inclement sea
son few Europeans travel even on the railways during the day,
and none go abroad in any other way except at night. Nothing
remains for us, therefore, on our arrival, but to enjoy a most wel
come sleep.
AprU 9th. — Carriages were in waiting at our door last evening,
and we drove through the pretty suburb of the town, and into the
open country. Night had fully set in when we reached a wooded
glen. As we descended from the carriages, two grim elephants

A NIGHT VOYAGE. 439
kneeled before us. These animals are used instead of ambulances
in the army. A rough board or pannier is swung on either side
of the elephant, with a swinging stirrup below it. The rider is
secured to his seat, if he need, by a rope round his waist, which is
fastened to the animal's head. Our elephants, though docile
enough, were young and impatient. They tramped four miles in
half an hour, in the dark, along a narrow path through the jungle,
fording a broad and deep stream on the way, greatly to our terror.
At the end of the march, we stood at the door of a dak bungalow,
hanging half-way down a rocky precipice, with the Nerbudda
meandering at its base. We rested an hour in the bungalow, and
then with the aid of guides made our way cautiously three hundred
and fifty feet down, and took our seats in a flat-bottomed boat.
Patient Hindoos applied themselves noiselessly to the oars, and the
voyage which we began, though dull at first, soon became one of
absorbing interest. The Nerbudda here forces its passage through
a mountain of white marble, and is twisted right and left by
ledges projecting from either bank. The deep, dark river moves in
its serpentine channel without perceptible current. The summits
of the banks, changing position with every stroke of the oars, are
covered with forest-trees, over the tops of which are seen the pin
nacles of innumerable Hindoo temples, raised here by a sentiment
of superstitious reverence for scenery so romantic and beautiful.
The river has the breadth of the Delaware at the famous Gap.
The waning moon now rose over our heads. First, the one white
rocky bank received the silvery light, while the other was in dark
shadow, then the other, and then, for only an instant, both shores.
Now the temples and tree-tops intercepted the rays, then the
luminary was reflected entire by the clear, still waters. The glis
tening, winding precipices, now in Hght, and now in shade, took
on the shapes of castles, palaces, cathedrals, and temples. It
seemed as if we were passing beneath the ruins of some vast capital
hke Benares. A dead silence prevailed, except that the owl, dis
turbed by our coming, poured forth his sad complaints from the
overhanging rocks, and the jackal shrieked his despairing cry of
hunger. All the while the river was smooth, and alternately black
34

440 BRITISH INDIA.
or shimmering in the moonlight. Suddenly our barge trembled
the stream beneath it broke into rapids, and we heard coming up
before us the rumbling sound of a cataract. The voyage was
finished. Returning by the same gentle beating of the oars, we
studied under a more constant light all these enchantments in
detail. The moon withdrew her light as we climbed the rugged
bank and reached the bungalow. Then, laying aside our ambition
for elephantine pomp, we contentedly took our seats in a jaunting-
car, before which were harnessed two little white bullocks, leaving
the elephants to follow with the servants. Our driver had an odd
way of inciting the animals. Whenever they stopped, he had only
to pull their tails, and away they went over hill and dale, down the
crooked ravine, and through the perilous ford, with such speed that
they reached the station half an hour before the stately elephants,
who came up at their appointed time. Here we resumed our car
riages. During the livelong night, wild beasts held high carnival
around us on our homeward way. Jackals filled the air with their
howls, and wild-boars dashed across the road, scarcely taking care
to avoid the hoofs of our horses.
It is almost enough to raise a doubt of the unity of the hu
man race, when one is called to contrast the perverse tenderness
of the Hindoos toward animals, with the vigorous war which all
other races make to subjugate or exterminate them. This tender
ness is a fruit of the national Pythagorean philosophy, whose
element is transmigration, and teaches that the souls of men, after
death, enter the bodies of animals. To what height of absurdity has
this idea been carried ! The Thugs, now happily suppressed, found
in it a religious warrant for plundering and strangling men, divid
ing the spoils with their altar of Kali. No Hindoo can be induced
to pursue the tiger, the lion, or even the cobra de capello. It must
have been in Hindostan that Mr. Darwin found his theory, which
derives man from the monkey. The Hindoo "farmer not only
allows the simian race to feed on his growing crops and fruits, but
also to glean in the harvest field. We felicitated the gardener at
Putteeala on his fine crop of oranges. He responded that the
monkeys would carry off the largest portion of the fruit. "e

THIEVING MONKEYS.

441

asked him why he did not drive them off. " We do frighten them
away, but they come back again."
"Why do you not kill them ? "
" Oh ! " he replied, " if a man should kill one of those filching
fellows, a hundred of them would come together, and they would
never leave that man alive."

- " " 'w§ Wmt

THE NT5EBUDDA.

CHAPTER XV.
BOMBAY.
The Ghaut Mountains. — A Cosmopolitan City. — The Natives of Bombay. — A Mixed Pop
ulation. — Chinese, Siamese, Javanese, Cingalese, Sikh, Afghan, and Cashmerian.—
The Races of the South and the North, of the East and the West. — Parsee Customs,
— Parsee Religion. — Hindoo, Mohammedan, and Parsee Disposal of the Dead.— Ad
miral Cookbum. — The Great Heat. — An Excursion to Elephanta.
United States Consulate, Bombay, April 13th. — We arrived here
on the 11th. The two mountain-ranges of the west coast of In
dia, called the Eastern and Western Ghauts, resemble our own
Alleghanies. Their loftiest peaks are several thousand feet high,
Although our journey from Jubbulpoor lay across both ranges, the
highest plateau we crossed was two thousand feet. The largest
cotton-fields of India are found in the valleys of the Nerbudda and
the Taptee. Marvellous engineering has been practised in bring
ing the railway down from the plain of Nerbudda to the valley of
the Taptee, which carries the ocean-tide up to the once great and
now not unimportant port of Surat, one hundred and sixty miles
north of Bombay.
Our first impression -on arriving here was that Bombay is more
cosmopolitan than any other city in India. We experienced a feel
ing almost of regret when we left the cosy railway-car, which, for
nearly a month, had been our rolling home. The stars and stripes
were floating over the consulate not far from the railway station,
and Mr. Farnham, the consul here, was awaiting our arrival. The
Governor of Bombay, Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, sent a secretary to

POPULATION OF BOMBAY. 443
tender us the hospitalities of Government House, and we found,
also awaiting us, that eminent native gentleman, Sir Jamsetjee
Jejeebhoy, with his three sons. Although the city of Bombay
stands on an island, the railway-traveller is not made aware of its
separation from the main-land. The terraced shore of the island
looks across a bay, studded with lesser islands, and capacious
enough for the commerce of the world. Lofty promontories,
stretching out from the coast, divide the harbor into three not
unequal basins. The native population here, more than in Madras
and Calcutta, have engaged in European commerce, and they have
also in a considerable degree come to adopt Western usages and
customs. Indeed, it needs a close examination to distinguish be
tween the streets and dwellings occupied by the natives and those
inhabited by Europeans. The cocoa-nut palm seems a universal
favorite for purposes of shade and ornament. It embowers and
almost conceals the homes of the million inhabitants of Bombay.
The railroad system, recently completed, which connects the city
with Calcutta, as well as with the peninsula and the Punjab, has
enabled Bombay to supplant Calcutta as the gate of India. The
people of Calcutta are sharply divided between the native Hindoo
population and the resident Europeans. Bombay, on the contrary,
has a mixed population. You see this the moment you enter the
Bazaar, for so is called the part of the city devoted to native trade.
There the inevitable and versatile Chinaman — who is seaman, mer
chant, and banker — the effeminate Siamese, Javanese, and Cinga-
lese-of the south, mingle with the sturdy Sikh, Afghan, and Cash
merian of the north. The native Mahratta stalks with haughty
bearing through the streets, followed by the Portuguese half-castes
of Goa. The black native of Madagascar is here, with the Persian,
the Arab, the Abyssinian, the Syrian, the Turk, and the Greek
from the Levant. Here in Bombay, moreover, Asiatics aspire to
and gain high commercial rank, and social and political positions,
under the liberal patronage of the government. The Parsee mer
chant vies with the educated Hindoo in establishing charity-schools
and hospitals, and both alike obtain seats in the Legislative Coun
cil. We have come even thus early under equal obligations to emu-

444 BRITISH INDIA.
lous members of the two emulous classes. We were entertained at
dinner on the 10th at Government House by Sir Seymour Fitzger
ald and his mother. Some fifty ladies and gentlemen, all English,
including the Bishop of Bombay, the members of the Legislative
Council, and many officers of the army, were present. Though the
dining-hall is furnished after the English fashion, the house is a
spacious bungalow of one story, like most such structures in the
tropics, with an encircling veranda as wide as the house. Our
entertainment yesterday was equally hospitable, but of a very dif
ferent character. Manockjee Cursetjee, our Parsee host, with his
two sons, stood at the basement-door of a square house of four lofty
stories. Every apartment of the house looks out upon either the
sea or the city. Although it was not yet dark, every chamber was
brilliantly illuminated. We thought, at first, that this style of
dwelling belonged exclusively to the Parsee, but we have found
out since that the Hindoo emulates the Parsee in the height of the
house and the brilliancy of its lights. The Parsee's palace affords
every convenience and comfort except the necessary easy staircase.
We declined the offer of being carried up by chairs, and ascended
instead the corkscrew which leads to the fourth story, where we
were received in a grand salon by the accomplished daughters of
our host. They were dressed exquisitely in. the native costume,
except that they were guilty of offence against the national sense of
propriety by covering their feet with shoes, and their hands with
gloves. Manockjee Cursetjee, Esquire, is a Parsee of good family,
native here, who acquired an English education, and studied law in
the English university. Having obtained a judicial appointment
from the government, and discharged its functions for some years
with ability and success, he visited England and travelled exten
sively throughout Europe, being everywhere received in high
circles. His daughters, who have been instructed by English gov
ernesses, have also travelled in Europe, and they are understood to
be the first Hindoo ladies who have done so. His two sons were
educated at Oxford and Cambridge. The ladies assured us that.
when travelling in Europe they adopted the Western costume, but
they conform here to the Oriental habits and the dress of their

PARSEE CHILDREN.

445

people. The gentlemen make a compromise on the clothes ques
tion. They were dressed at dinner faultlessly m European fashion,
but had on scarlet-velvet caps ; while the father, throughout the
entire evening, wore that strange, uncomfortable, ill-looking, fun
nel-shaped hat, by which the disciple of Zoroaster is known, and
has been known a thousand years, wherever he has been seen
throughout the whole world. Probably asceticism is inseparable
from devotion ; certainly it has revealed itself at some time in the
progress of every religion. Moreover, asceticism has always seized

^aft>

'- mmw 

P"'H|

— zl /c^y.

PAEBEE CHILDREN.

upon the head to make it bear witness to the principle of humilia
tion. In Christian countries, the Friends and Shakers prescribe
certain rules for wearing the hair and for the shape of the hat.
The Boman Catholic orders, regular and voluntary, do the same
thing, though not precisely in the same way. The Buddhist no
less than the Dominican requires the, bare and shaven head. At
the very foundation of the Christian Church, Paul made it a point
of discipline that man ought not to " cover his head," nor women

446 BRITISH INDIA.
to wear " broidered hair." So rigid are the Parsees on the same
subject that it is not lawful for one of the sect, man, woman, or
child, to have an uncovered head within-doors or out-of-doors, by
day or by night, awake or asleep. Perhaps this observation may
not be thought entirely worthless, since it shows how inseparably
manners are allied to morals. The intelligent Parsee insists that
he worships not the sun nor fire, but that he adores one Supreme
Spiritual God, though he admits that he reveres fire and the sun
as an identical manifestation of the Deity. He does not claim, how
ever, that the unenlightened members of the sect make, or are capa
ble of making, this distinction. It is certain that every evening,
wherever we may be, whether on the strand or on the terrace, we
see the Parsee stop, stand still, and stretch forth his hands to the
retiring god of day, in a posture of devout adoration. The Parsee
temples, are singularly plain. They contain nothing which is es
teemed sacred except the fires which burn on the altars, and which,
according to their belief, have never been extinguished. Their reli
gion does not forbid animal food, nor are they divided into castes,
but the sect has unconsciously taken upon itself the Asiatic idea of
excluding women from society, and the Hindoo practice of prema
ture marriage. Notwithstanding their accommodation in this
respect to the customs of those around them, Parsees are more
intelligent, inquiring, and enterprising, than any other class of
society in the East. In all foreign countries, they bear the charac
ter of honorable and liberal merchants. Here, where they are at
home, their honor is sometimes questioned, but their enterprise is
universally conceded. Their light complexion and regular features
prove them to be of a higher Caucasian type than the Hindoos.
In our drive yesterday, we passed a gate which disclosed an
open area filled with the blaze of Hindoo pyres. We stopped to
inquire into the form of the ceremony. Religion as well as custom
requires that the nearest of kin shall apply the torch and watch
the flames. The devout Bramin does not doubt that this act of
piety performed by a son secures an instant opening of the gates
of paradise to the departed parent. They tell us that until lately
these burning ghauts were open on all sides, that they were found

MODES OF BURIAL. 447
offensive, and that the British Government made strenuous efiorts
to induce the Bramins to discontinue the practice of cremation, or
at least to remove the scene to a more secluded place. The only
change, however, which could be secured, was the consent that a
wall might be erected around the ghaut.
A large enclosure adjoins the ghauts. It is a Mohammedan
cemetery.- Their monuments and graves are not unlike our own.
Last of all, we came to the Parsee's home of the dead. It is a hill,
enclosed with a very high wall. On the summit there is a dense
grove of lofty palms ; in the centre of this grove, and high above its
foliage, rises the " Tower of Silence." The tower encloses and pro
tects a dark, deep, open well, and across the top of the tower is a
firmly-fixed grating of iron bars. The dead body is laid upon this
iron grate, the flesh to be the food of the birds of the air ; the bones,
as they fall asunder from exposure and decay, to drop into the pro
miscuous pit below. The Parsee who was our guide protests that
this giving up the remains of friends and kindred to the vulture,
the eagle, and the raven, seems horrible to him ; wherefore, when he
was not long ago called upon to deposit the remains first of a wife,
then of a daughter, he protected them with a strong metallic screen,
so that the remains were left to natural decomposition from the
sacred heat of the sun, and were absorbed in the pure atmosphere
which he enlightens. We, of course, commended this refinement
of his, although, to our minds, the truest mode of disposing of the
body from which the spirit has departed is " earth to earth, ashes
to ashes, dust to dust."
April 14th. — When in Northern India, we hastened our journey
as much as possible to meet Admiral Cockburn, who had tele
graphed us that he was waiting with the Forte, to convey Mr.
Seward and his party up the Persian Gulf. On our arrival here,
all classes of Europeans, Americans, and natives alike, protested
that the season is too far advanced. As it so often happens at such
times, travellers and letters have come down from Muscat, describ
ing the heat there as absolutely frightful. They add that the small
pox is raging throughout the country, that a famine is extensively

.448 BRITISH INDIA,
prevailing, and finally that insurrection and civil war have broken
out. Admiral Cockburn, prudent as he is generous, has been de
terred by these representations. Under his advice, therefore, we
have relinquished the cherished purpose of visiting Muscat, Bagdad,
and the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon.
We must pass by the many recherche entertainments given us
by British residents in their beautiful villas on Malabar Hill, a
place worth a graphic description.
But if we neglect contemporaries, we cannot afford to be thought
less of the ancients. Yesterday we made a steam-yacht excursion
in the harbor, with several ladies and gentlemen, among them the
eminent Mahratta physician and scholar, Dr. Bhau Daji. The sail
disclosed to us the beautiful environs of Bombay, especially the
harbor and islands. The landing at Elephanta Island is represented
by travellers as very difficult, but the Duke of Edinburgh was here,
and, of course, the caves of Elephanta must be shown, at whatever
cost, to the scion of England's royal line. In this emergency, the
municipality of Bombay issued bonds and erected a convenient pier.
We, alien republicans, now landed on that very wharf, not unmind
ful of our obligations to the Council of Bombay, or of our good
fortune in coming after, and not before, Victoria's sailor son. We
ascended an easy flight of stone steps to a plateau one hundred and
fifty feet above the sea. This esplanade as well as the entire island
is deeply shaded with the beautiful, round-topped Palmyra palm.
A decrepit Irish soldier, with his family, in a bamboo shanty,
thatched with banana and palm leaves, keeps watch and ward over,
the place. Passing to the centre of the plateau and turning to the
right, we confronted a work of human art, gigantic and marvelous.
It is a subterranean temple. The builders, beginning half-way up
the mountain declivity, and cutting down perpendicularly, have
removed the mountain-face to the depth of thirty feet, and to the
width of three hundred feet. The perpendicular wall thus disclosed
is of basalt. This rock, they have hewn and chiselled away to the
very centre of the mountain, and wrought it into a temple with
perfect architectural forms and just proportions. The excavation
consists of four chambers, the central one is majestic with gateways,

CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. 449
abutments, porches, columns, pilasters, cornices, and vaulted ceil
ings, as complete and perfect as if, instead of having been carved in
the rock, they had been detached from it, framed and erected on
the ground. While no architectural element is omitted, all are per
fectly finished. The broad pavement is as level and smooth as that
of the rotunda at Washington. The ceiling needs no preparation to
receive either fresco or gilding. The dome is spherical, while the
columns upon which it rests, or seems to rest, have regular bases,
bands, flutings, and capitals, though all alike are shaped from the
undisturbed rock. We even thought it necessary to examine the
lintels of the doors to see if they were not detached pieces of the
rock itself. Standing in the porch or within the temple, and look
ing inward, you confront the farther wall. In its centre, a deep
recess twenty feet square, reaching from floor to roof, is surmounted
by -a bold arch. Within this recess is a colossal figure, or combina
tion of figures, the triune god : Brahma representing the creative
power, Vishnu the preserving power, and Siva the destroying
power. Each of the figures is twice the human size. Brahma is
looking forward in an attitude of calmness and contemplation ; at
his feet is a crouching Hon. Vishnu rests on a bed of lotus-flowers.
Siva in one hand wields a drawn sword, and in the other holds a
cobra ready to strike. The gigantic group is completed by the
accessories of dwarfs and inferior gods. The ceiling of the recess is
decorated with a crowd of not less than fifty or sixty figures, such
as, if found in a Christian temple, would be taken as representing
angels. Every figure within the niche has a distinctive character,
and is not deficient in force. But this group within the recess is
only one group, the entire temple being a gallery full of Hke
statuary. On either side of the principal hall or temple are lesser
chambers or chapels, and the walls of these are covered with alle
gorical works, illustrating the transformations, incantations, battles,
triumphs, marriages, and miracles of the several members of the
Braminical trinity. It is the opinion of Dr. Bhau Daji that this
temple was excavated about twelve hundred years ago. No won
der that it remains complete in its forms and proportions ! No
storm can penetrate it, and no flood can invade it. Even the earth-

450 BRITISH INDIA.
quake has spared it. Not so the demon of religious zeal. The im
tolerant followers of the false prophet mutilated these heathen faces
and forms in the fourteenth century, and the no less fanatical Por
tuguese, who came in the wake of the Mohammedans, finding the
task of defacing with the hammer too slow, brought a battery
of cannon to the temple-door, and battered the stone gods. What
human sentiment is so strong as that of devotion % The passions
of love, hate, and pride, have covered the surface of the earth with
their monuments. But here, in this cave of Elephanta, devotion
has written its sublimest faith in the very centre of the earth it
self ! The chamber which is at the right of the temple, as you
look inward, contains a spring of pure, ever-flowing water. The
Bramins think it possesses a healing virtue, and it is among their
fond conceits that the purifying water comes through a subterrane
ous passage from the Ganges. However this -may be, the Irish
custodian of the temple assured us that it is the " swatest wather
for dhrinking in all India." When we looked at his suspicious
blackened eye and damaged nose, we regretted for his sake that he
does not confine himself to " that same."
The cave-temple of Elephanta is by no means a solitary monu
ment. There are two others scarcely less spacious and elaborate
on the same small island. In other parts of this coast, as well as
in Ceylon, there are not only excavated temples of Brahma, but
also of Buddha, of dimensions so vast and execution so marvellous
as to throw these of Elephanta into the shade.

CHAPTER XVI.
,AN EXCURSION TO GOA.
A Voyage on the Coast of Malabar. — A Perilous Predicament. — Dubious Navigation. —
Situation of Goa.— Official Courtesies.— History of Goa. — The Old City. — St. Francis
Xavier. — Miraculous Cures. — Character of Xavier. — Public Institutions. — The Gov
ernor's Villa. — Historical Reminiscences. — A Goa Poet. — A Cordial Farewell.
Of the Coast of Malabar, April 19, 1871. — We were in a strait
on Friday last. An excursion down this coast to ancient Goa, the
first effective European settlement in India, and always the capital
of the Portuguese Indian possessions, promised a pleasure not to be
lost, and seemed a study not to be omitted. But Mr. Seward had
engaged to dine with the Byculla Club of Bombay to-morrow, and
the semi-weekly packet to Goa could not be relied upon. With
twenty-four hours' knowledge of this dilemma, the Government
fitted out a revenue-cutter lying in commission. The captain was
unacquainted with the route, and an extra one was appointed ;
crew, furniture, and provisions, were extemporized, and, to make
assurance of an exact return doubly sure, we sailed on Saturday at
sunset. The Camel, besides her proper British colors, was courte
ously invested with the stars and stripes, and we were accom
panied by Mr. Farnham, the United States consul. Proceeding
merrily, with a speed of eight knots, we began to inquire about
dinner and sleeping arrangements. Sea-sickness came earlier than
dinner. The cabins were spacious enough, but unavailable. The

452 BRITISH INDIA.
vessel sat low in the water, and the ports were necessarily closed,
the thermometer standing at ninety degrees. Cabins were impro
vised on deck by means of flapping sails. These privations gave
the voyage something of the zest of a picnic, and we endured
them with the resolution to enjoy discomforts, usually practised on
such occasions.
Our double captaincy unanimously decided, the night being
dark, that we should push directly out to sea. We pushed so far
that it was not until noon on Sunday that we came back in sight
of land. We proceeded until nightfall in full view of the Western
Ghauts. Notwithstanding the loss of time during the previous
night, we found ourselves on Sunday noon so far advanced that
our Siamese captain determined to " slow down," that is to say,
" slacken up," so as to avoid reaching Goa before daylight the next
morning. With the pleasing intimation that we should leave
the ship at sunrise, we retired to our mattresses at nine o'clock, the
crumbling Portuguese forts on the Goa shore looming up on the
coast, and the disdained Bombay packet just before us, leading the
way. Our sleep was " murdered " by a mutiny among the crew,
which was only quelled when the leader was tied up at the fore
castle. Monday's dawn, instead of the summons to go ashore,
brought blank consternation ! We were not at anchor in the har
bor, but once more afloat on the sea, no land in sight, neither of
our navigators knew where, and, stranger still, neither knew how
we came there. Sunrise gave not only light but an unmistakable
object to steer by. Joy radiated from the faces of the captains ; and,
for ourselves, nothing but our early training in the first of the
ten commandments which came down from Sinai, prevented us
from becoming Parsees and worshipping the fiery orb on the spot.
We steered due east, and the first land-mark showed that we had
left Goa twenty miles behind. We made it, however, though not
without peril from hidden rocks, at eleven o'clock in the morning.
If the gallant officers who had been wraiting for us twelve long
hours, in their tight, uncomfortable uniforms, were surprised to see
us coming through a dangerous southern channel, as if from Mau
ritius, instead of the safe northern one from Bombay, their aston-

ARRIVAL AT GOA. 453
ishment did not exceed that of our two commanders, who until this
very time are unable to account for their error of navigation. The
native pilot, they say, disobeyed their directions ; " there was sud
denly a strong outward current unknown in this sea before ; " more
over, " there is indicated in the chart just there an iron mountain,
which deflected the needle ; " moreover and furthermore, " the
ship's compass, useless in harbor movements, had not been ad
justed for this outside navigation."
Two rivers, the Narwar and the Mormugoa, form a deep
estuary, and the island of Goa, upon which the town is built, rises
out of this estuary very much Hke Manhattan Island at the conflu
ence of the Hudson and East Rivers in the bay of New York. The
green banks of both rivers are crowned with fortifications, which
are well preserved, and with churches and convents, none of which
are dilapidated, but of which some have been converted to secular
uses. On reaching the bar we were boarded by the officer of the port,
and delayed until the fort on shore delivered a salute in honor of
Mr. Seward. Our flags dipped in acknowledgment, and an hour
later we came to anchor before a quaint and picturesque little city.
An extensive fortification standing immediately on the wharf is now
the palace of the governor-general. The buildings, unique though
plain, seem to speak from their open windows and graceful bal
conies a hospitable welcome. An infantry battalion was drawn up
on the esplanade, and the river-shores were crowded with a swarthy
but well-dressed and gentle-looking people. Mr. Seward was con
veyed by the governor-general's staff in a well-manned barge to
the other shore, where he was welcomed by the Secretary of State,
and received with military honors. The band employed on this
occasion, although it consists exclusively of natives, Excels any we
have heard in India. Western arts and customs seem capricious
in taking root in these strange countries. On our journey to
Peking, we noticed that the band of Admiral Rodgers's flag-ship
was composed chiefly of dark natives of Goa. They executed
better than any other performers the " Charta," as they called the
beautiful national air of Portugal. Associated as it is in our rec-

454 BRITISH INDIA.
ollections of those cold and tedious travels, it was peculiarly pleas
ing when that noble hymn burst upon us from the instruments of a
full band of the same sympathetic race, in their own tropical home.
Captain Major's family, the only American one residing here,
divided the care of our entertainment with the governor-general,
the Viscount de Sao Januario.
The Goa where we were received so kindly is only by deriva
tion the Goa of history. Ancient Goa stood eight miles higher, on
the same left bank of the Narwar. Founded by Albuquerque, the
most renowned of all the Portuguese admirals, after Vasco de Gama,
it was laid out on an imperial scale, and surrounded by a wall and
fortifications, which rendered it for more than a century impregna
ble. An immense population gathered there. It contained the mag
nificent palace of the viceroy, the college, the hospital, the archiepis
copal see and the halls of the Inquisition, while on every attractive
height was built a church, monastery, convent, or chateau. Armies
two hundred thousand strong were repelled from its walls, and
imposing embassies from the barbaric kings and princes of the East
trod its spacious and shaded streets. One hundred and fifty years
ago, it was found to be unhealthful and was abandoned. Although
life has since disappeared from that once-busy stage, some remnants
of its activity and glory remain. We proceeded in carriages over a
firm and well-preserved causeway, which once resounded with the
tramp of pageants and of armies, to the ruined city. By the road
side and in the neighboring jungle, moss-covered monumental
crosses, decorated daily by pious hands with fresh flowers, indicate
scenes of violence and suffering, perhaps of miracles or martyrdom,
enacted here. Cocoa-nut groves and mango-orchards now shade
grounds once covered by bazaars and hostelries. Here and there
a deserted palace, closed but not yet in ruins, testifies of wealth and
luxury passed away, and the curious tourist is warned not to pene
trate its mouldering courts and tangled gardens, lest he come un
aware upon the most venomous serpents of India. Of a hundred
religious houses, only one convent remains, and that has a lone
sisterhood of three nuns. A high, arched gate, overgrown with
creepers, k all that exists of the viceregal palace. While the col-

TOMB OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 455
lege and hospital have been renewed in the new town, happily no
trace of the Inquisition remains in either city. The Government
has kept the cathedral and churches in repair. They are built in
the style of the sixteenth century, and, though fine structures, they
are less imposing and costly than the churches built by the Spaniards
of the same period in Mexico and South America. They are, never
theless, far superior to religious edifices in the United States.
The Church of Bom Jesus contains the tomb of St. Francis
Xavier. It will be remembered that he was associated with Igna
tius Loyola in establishing the Society of Jesus, and that he came
out on his apostolate to India, even before the papal allowance of
the new order was granted. Perhaps this church was the first of
the many thousands which have arisen in all parts of the world,
under the labors of that mysterious community which has been so
indomitable and indefatigable while encountering so many vicissi
tudes. The mausoleum is an oblong pedestal of Carrara marble,
ten feet high, panelled with bronze bas-reliefs, representing the
miracles of the saint. Upon this pedestal is a sarcophagus of gilded
copper, which contains the embalmed remains, and is enclosed in
an elaborately- wrought case of silver. The Grand-duke of Tus
cany only expressed the reverence of Catholic Europe for Xavier,
in presenting this exquisite monument to the Church of the Jesuits,
which is so closely identified with his labors. The tomb stands in
a vaulted chamber, the walls of which are graced with admirable
devotional paintings, but unfortunately it is so small and dark that
not only the pictures but the monument itself is deprived of its
just effect. The sarcophagus is opened at long intervals by per
mission of the King of Portugal, and on these occasions deserted
Goa is reanimated by hundreds of thousands of natives, assembled
from all parts of Asia. It may well be believed, as we are told,
that not only the faithful Catholics, but even the unconverted Hin
doos, confidently expect supernatural effects to follow from the
contact then allowed with the sacred remains. India is filled with
traditions of the saint, and the Jesuit writers have carefully
collected, collated, and pubhshed them. According to these tradi
tions, St. Francis Xavier not only relieved the poor with money

456 BRITISH INDIA. '
brought out from the depths of the sea, healed the sick, made
the dumb to speak, cured the lame and blind, cast out devils,
and raised the dead, by simple invocation of the mercy of God,
but he performed more of those miracles than the Gospels record
of the Saviour, and his chosen twelve apostles. A resident of
Goa, reliable for intelligence and candor, told us that, when the
sarcophagus was last opened, a lady well-known to him became the
subject of a supposed miracle. Having been hopelessly lame from
birth, she solicited parental leave to attend the ceremony and
touch the venerated dead. Her skeptical parents refused; she
persisted, and in the moment of contact she became whole, and so
remains. Our informant of course ascribes this extraordinary cure
to the influence of her excited imagination.
But the homage paid to the memory of Xavier may well be
regarded without cavil or regret even by those whose education
obliges them to reject his alleged miracles. He surpassed his spir
itual contemporaries in faith, hope, charity, patience, courage, zeal,
and perseverance. He committed no crime, indulged no vices, and
though he tolerated African slavery and the Inquisition in the East,
it must be remembered they were the errors of his time, and he was
less severe against the recusants of the Church than in self-condem
nation. It was his noble maxim that the Gospel is advanced more
by the blood of martyrs than by the sweat of missionaries. He
found India wholly a pagan and Mohammedan land, and by his
teaching and example, using neither force nor fraud, he made more
Christian converts than can be found on Indian soil at the present
day. It was not, however, for St. Francis Xavier, nor the Jesuits,
nor the Catholic Church of the sixteenth century, to bring India
and the East into Christian civilization. It must be sadly admitted
that this remains yet to be done. It is to be hoped, however, that
the great work has begun in the humble schools for native men and
women which have been opened under missionary auspices m
various parts of the country.
A dinner at the palace closed the day. Although it was at
tended by the provincial court, and supported by a military band,
it was animated and cordial. The governor was eloquent in his

THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 457
admiration of the United States. A throne, which stands in the
grand salon, although it has no occupant — the viceregal dignity
having been abolished — is still respected on state occasions. What
interested us more were the queer old portraits of viceroys, gov
ernors, generals, admirals, and missionaries. Need I say that we
carefully studied the lineaments of Vasco de Gama, Dias, Cabral,
Alureyda, Albuquerque, of Xavier and Loyola ? An artistic per
formance of Chopin by a young secretary enchained us until a late
hour. On the 18th we visited the public institutions. The military
force consists of two battalions of artillery and two of infantry,
maintained at an annual cost of two hundred thousand dollars.
These seem quite enough for a territory of only a thousand
square miles, with a population of four hundred thousand. The
military academy trains one hundred and fifty cadets, through
a seven years' course. The garrison barracks and hospital are
excellent. We looked into the finance department. The reve
nue is six hundred thousand dollars. The salaries are low, and
there is no complaint of taxes. The college of science and medi
cine is conducted by eleven professors, several of whom are natives
of Goa, and is well attended. There are four newspapers, three of
which are conducted by natives, and all in the Portuguese language.
One-third of the population is Roman Catholic, the rest are Hin
doos, Mahrattas, and Mohammedans. The good order and perfect
cleanliness which pervade the little city explain the curious fact
that it supplies the foreign residents of all India with their best
household servants.
We drove with the governor to his suburban villa on the sum
mit of the cape which divides the two rivers. The palace was
formerly a monastery. Its chapels are now reception-rooms and
banqueting-halls. Its cloisters are card and billiard rooms. The
garden supplying vegetables, fruits, and flowers, is still retained.
lhe site was chosen with the customary sagacity of religious com
munities, who seldom fail to find material comforts while they se
cure the solitude needful for meditation, and natural associations
which sustain enthusiasm. The place is not less adapted to its

458 BRITISH INDIA.
present use. There could be no more refreshing retreat from the
stagnant air and burning heat of the city than this breezy, rocky
cliff, which breaks the ocean-tides, while it looks down upon the
old town and the new, half buried in palms, mangos, and cypresses,
and far up the primeval river-channels to their sources in the moun
tains, which are lost in the horizon. Our minds were croVded, in
the hours we passed on the turreted veranda, with the thoughts of
the events which had happened beneath it : of Camoens and his
romantic career ; how, crossed in love at home, he came to this far-
off and misty East to make by adventure a name with which to
return and wed the maiden with the " sweetest eyes were ever
seen ; " how, after shipwreck and amid privations and persecutions,
he wrote here his " Lusiad," and then returned to his native land,
only to find his mistress dead, and to die himself, of a broken heart,
in an almshouse. We thought of the arrival of armed fleets from
Lisbon, in the now quiet bay ; of the building and fortification of a
great city ; of native armies gathered in siege around it — of the
brave and chivalrous defenders who defeated and dispersed them ;
of the expedition of squadrons for the conquest of Aden and Ormus,
in the Arabian Sea ; of Malacca, the key of the Sea of China, and
of the Moluccas in the Archipelago, and of their triumphant return
laden with spoils ; of the homeward dispatch of argosies loaded with
spices, pearls of Ceylon, and diamonds of Golconda ; of the coming
in of the humble Jesuit missionaries, their fortunes and their fate,
sometimes received with affection and gratitude, and often meeting
the martyr's crown ; of the baptism of whole tribes, provinces, and
nations ; of their subsequent relapse into their primitive idol-wor
ship ; of the enterprise of the colonists on land and sea, extending
the fame and sway of Portugal, always brilliant, but ending in de
feat and overthrow at last, when they came into collision with
European rivals equally ambitious and stronger than themselves.
This, which is the story of Goa, is also the history of Portuguese
colonization. Of the vast empire which Portugal established in
both hemispheres on the track of the great discoverers, there re
main now only this little province of Goa, in India ; the already
decaying city of Macao, in China ; and the yet barbarian colonies

DEPARTURE FROM GOA. 459
of St. Paul de Loando, and Mozambique, in Africa. Portugal won
that empire bravely, she improved it as she could with the light
she enjoyed, and she lost it chivalrously. The nations which
have profited by her discoveries and conquests will not deny her
honor and sympathy.
An early dinner at Captain Major's was attended by the gov
ernor-general and other officers of the state, including M. Riberio,
a poet of whom it is said we are likely to hear more, through some
translations by Longfellow.
The hour of five, the first in which tide would serve, had been
appointed for our departure. Mr. Seward, as usual, was proceeding
promptly to the wharf, but was detained for a parting demonstra
tion. The governor addressed him with emotion ; Mr. Seward re
plied with equal feeHng. The military saluted him, and then the
barge conveyed us to our familiar deck. Even when the last of the
forts had dipped its flag and fired its farewell guns, and the setting
sun had left us only the hazy twilight of the tropics, signals were
still seen waving adieux from the palace balconies and from the
wharf. Whatever else of the ancient Portuguese character may
have passed away with the decline of imperial power, the element
of chivalrous courtesy certainly remains.
The crew of the Camel is now obedient. The Hindoo helms
man steers faithfully, the ocean-currents flow smoothly, the iron
mountain no longer diverts the needle, while the compass has
been satisfactorily adjusted. Our captaincy is pleased with itself
and with us. We are equally satisfied, and go to our rest with the
Bombay light shining brightly before us. Goa has been gained,
and the Byculla Club is not " going to be disappointed."

CHAPTER XVII.
LAST DAYS IN BOMBAY.
The Byculla Club. — Mr. Seward's Speech. — His Grateful Acknowledgments to his Enter.
tainers. — The Indies of the East and the Indies of the West. — Growing Civilization
of the East. — A Progress Irresistible. — The New Concord. — Policy of the Anglo-
Saxon Race. — Miss Wessner. — Departure from Bombay.
Bombay, April 21st. — The Byculla Club is less a local society
of Bombay than an association of the gentlemen who are engaged in
the military and civil service throughout India. Not only Ameri
cans, but foreigners of aU the Western nations, fraternize cordially
in its circle.
Its spacious and elegant rooms, highly illuminated, were filled
last night, and the entertainment was attended by all the members
in the city and many ladies.
The Honorable Sir M. R. Westropp, Chief-Justice of Bombay,
presided, and spoke of Mr. Seward's public life. Mr. Seward re
plied as follows :
" I have been more than once heretofore kindly invited to meet
societies in Asia, but those privileges were lost by reason either of
fatigue, or some other exigency of travel. I have, therefore,
accepted this courtesy of yours, as a social welcome tendered me by
the Europeans residing in India, while at the same time my prepa
rations for an early departure oblige me to take my final leave of
the East here. Having learned much and enjoyed more, I am
oppressed with many grateful thoughts, though the time scarcely

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 461
serves for a full utterance of one. When the spring fills up, how
ever, we must choose the vent through which the stream shall flow.
First, I must thank you sincerely, profoundly, for bringing me to
an acquaintance with your enlightened and spirited association,
for bestowing upon me the honor of its membership, and for
giving me this felicitous expression of its elegant and generous
hospitality. I have been frequently asked, " What do you think
of Bombay?" I answer now: "The Byculla Club is a just expo
nent of a great and growing Oriental metropolis." Two hundred
years ago this magnificent bay came to a King of England as the
dowry of a Portuguese princess. Who could then have foreseen
that, under British rule, it would become the gate of the East, the
Constantinople of a new historical era % Yet, this high destiny is
one of the assured and immediate results of the Suez Canal. I
shall, indeed, continue my past endeavors to hasten on a ship-canal
across the Isthmus of Darien — a work which can hardly fail to give
new importance to queenly Calcutta. But India is a vast coun
try, and can maintain two great commercial cities, as the world
already has need of two interoceanic channels of commerce.
"Gentlemen, I owe manifold acknowledgments outside the
Byculla Club. Please suffer me to make them here ; to his excel
lency the viceroy, and many members of the Council of India — to
the authorities of Madras, Bengal, the Northwest Provinces, the
Central Provinces, the Punjab and Bombay — to the Maharajahs of
Benares and Putteeala, and to many other native statesmen and
scholars — for attentions which have made my travels in India
equally a tour of pleasure and an interesting study. If I could
think it possible that what I may now say could pass the confines
of British India, I would add not less grateful acknowledgments to
the Portuguese authorities of ancient Goa, the authorities of the
vigorous Straits Settlement, and the government of the marvellously
fruitful Netherlands Indies, as well as the native governments of
just awakening China and Japan. Thus far in a journey round
the world, I have had the pleasant part of St. Paul's experience on
his voyage from Joppa to Rome : ' So when this was done, others
also came, who also honored us with many honors.'

462 BRITISH INDIA.
" Gentlemen, immediately after the Western discoveries of Co
lumbus, and the Eastern discoveries of Vasco de Gama, a new and
significant, though inaccurate nomenclature obtained in geography.
The world was at once divided into two parts : one, the old and well
known, the other, the newly-discovered or explored Indies, which
embraced nearly all of Asia, and the whole of America.
" The old and well-known Western nations came suddenly under
a new and vast responsibility. This responsibility included noth
ing less than a regeneration of an effete civilization in the so-called
Indies of Asia, and the establishment of an original civilization in
the so-called Indies of America. A profound sense of this respon
sibility sustained the labors and shaped the characters of Columbus
and De Gama, of Chatham and Burke, of Washington and Jeffer
son, of Xavier and Heber. Tell "me not, therefore, that this re
sponsibility is merely a conceit of an ardent imagination.
" It is, I trust, gentlemen, to a sympathy which exists between
the. now ruling classes of the East and my countrymen, in this
elevated and humane sentiment, that I am indebted for this consid
eration which it has given ine so much pleasure to acknowledge.
We may well, gentlemen, cherish and cultivate it. It need not make
us one whit the less British, American, French, Portuguese, Italian,
Danish, German, Dutch, or whatever else we may have been, or
love to be, to accept the simple and sublime truth that comes down
to us as an instruction from the throne above, that whatever govern
ments we may establish or maintain amid the debris of Asiatic
empires or in the chaos of America, those governments must be
established and maintained not alone nor chiefly for the advantage
of the foreign founders, but for the welfare and happiness of the
native races among whom they are founded.
" Despite skepticism, avarice, and reactionary resistance, civiliza
tion in America, the Indies of the West, is a manifest success. I
am happy to declare, as the result of my observation, the conviction
that regeneration in Asia is equally proving itself to be a success.
There are, indeed, parts of Asia where Western ideas, principles,
and inventions, are only tolerated with undissembled reluctance.
These are the regions which were last reached by Europeans. But

THE NEW CONCORD. 463
I know, on the other hand, those ideas, principles, and inventions,
are accepted and embraced cordially in other portions of the East,
which have been more early and conveniently accessible. Witness
Japan, the coast and rivers of China, Java, Burmah, Madras, Ben
gal, Goa, and Bombay. There modern civilization is triumphant.
Progress is irresistible. The inventions of steam, railroads, tele
graphs, and missionary colleges and schools, have come in good
time to enable us to carry on that work of regeneration peacefully
and humanely, which has so often been prosecuted blunderingly as
well as cruelly, with the aid of gunpowder. It cannot be long
before the British Government will be relieved of the necessity of
maintaining an Indian army to protect their possessions, and a
European army to watch the Indian one.
"You must have noticed, "gentlemen, as I have, a new and
pleasing trait in the temper of our age. Europe does, indeed, still
remain a theatre of international jealousies and ambitions, but I
think all the nations of the West have come at last to an harmoni
ous agreement that European conflicts shall no longer be extended
into Asia, Polynesia, or America." (" Hear ! hear ! ")
" You hke this new concord, gentlemen — I know the reason :
because it is the harbinger of peace and progress in the East. I
like it for the same reason, and also for another : it is the saving
' Monroe doctrine ' of America. I am, of course, aware that the
assembly before whom I stand, and to whom I am so much indebt
ed, consists largely of Britons. I am an American. Our nations
are severed — our extraction largely the same. The very work of
extending modern civilization in the two hemispheres, of which so
large a share of responsibility has devolved upon each nation, has a
tendency, perhaps, to make us rivals. There are passionate and
prejudiced men in both countries who would aggravate this rivalry
into hatred, but such a temper is in any case insular and provin
cial, and unworthy the matured genius of either nation. I am not
sentimental enough to rely on a distant consanguinity, which is
daily becoming more remote, as an enduring bond of friendship
between our two countries, but I have always seen that, situated as
they are, on opposite sides of a great ocean, equally dependent on a

464 BRITISH INDIA.
peaceful commerce with the whole world, speaking the same lan
guage, and holding the same religious faith, equally educated above
the powers and blandishments of despotism, and conscious of their
common responsibility in regard to universal progress, the welfare
and happiness of each demand that they shall be friends, and man
kind cannot consent to their alienation. Far from thinking that
the Anglo-Saxon race, so proudly and happily advanced, will fall
into internecine conflict now or hereafter, I, on the contrary,
steadfastly beheve that neither of its two great branches will
lose any thing of power or prestige while their colonies are
increasing, multiplying, and replenishing the waste places of the
globe. "My parting words to you, gentlemen, therefore, are : Let mu
tual respect and cordial friendship prevail between Great Britain
and the United States of America, until British scorn of arbitrary
government and American love of educated Hberty shall encircle
the earth ! "
April 22d. — It is a day of leave-taking, and a busy one. A
large representation of the intellectual society of Bombay, not only
British, Americans, and Continental Europeans, have been with us,
but also Parsees, Mohammedans, and Hindoos. All aHke express
their sympathies with Mr. Seward, and their appreciation of the
sentiments he uttered the day before yesterday.
While we were at Shanghai, Miss Wessner, a Bavarian lady,
then travelling in that country, gave an interesting account of her
journey to Peking. When we returned to' that capital, she had
gone to Java. All the way hither she has been flitting away just
before us, but we have failed to overtake her. To-day the'bird was
caught, and a pleasing acquaintance established. She exhibits
great force of character in making alone an exploration of the
world, which is universally thought to require masculine energy.
Just at the moment of making this friendship, which promises so
much, we are grieved with the intelligence of the death of a friend,
and our countrywoman, Alice Cary; not less gifted than true,
brave, and womanly.

CHAPTER XVJJL
FROM BOMBA Y TO ADEN.
Once more at Sea. — The Steamer Deccan. — Mr. Seward's Remarks on India. — Natural
Religion. — The Characteristics of the Hindoo Mind. — England's Hold on India. —
The Regeneration of India. — The Island of Socotra. — Arrival at Aden. — An Extinct
Volcano. — Wise Old England ! — A New Stage of the Voyage. — Red-Haired Negroes.
Steamer Deccan, April 25th. — Once more at sea ! But where ?
The waters which roll between the Indian Peninsula and the Ara
bian Promontory are the Arabian Sea. The waters south of them
are the Indian Ocean. We left the Indian Peninsula behind us on
the 22d, and are now making a bee-line from the Malabar coast to
Aden, on the southwest coast of Arabia. On which of the two
seas are we? Our steamer is the largest one of the Peninsular and
Oriental line. Having three keels, she rides the sea as squarely
and as smoothly as an American side- wheeler. Our fellow-passen
gers being English, and many of them acquaintances made in India,
we are not suffered to feel that we are strangers.
While watching the flying-fish skipping over the unruffled sea
this morning, which of all the reflections that occurred to us dur
ing our sojourn in India shall we record ? Mr. Seward said :
" India has a very imperfect and unsatisfactory civilization, but it
never had a better one. The native population could never
achieve a better one if left to themselves. Their whole hope of a
higher civilization depends on the instruction and aid of the West
ern nations, and, taking circumstances as they are, that hope de-

466 BRITISH INDIA.
pends chiefly on the guidance and aid of Great Britain. It is a sub
ject for profound study how it has happened that thus far India has
had an experience so different from that of the nations of the West.
Although the Western nations have not at all times been progres
sive, they have, nevertheless, as a whole family, been continually
advancing. How is this to be accounted for ? The first intellect
ual want of which man is conscious is, not that of a guidance in
obtaining a supply of the necessaries of life, but a desire to know
who and what is the power that created him, and on whom he is
entirely dependent. Man feels himself capable of seeing and en
joying good, and also of doing and suffering evil. He asks, What
is good, what is evil? When do good and evil come, and how?
Where does the Supreme Power reside, and what is it ? Is it one,
or is it many? Is it altogether good, or altogether evil? How
can the Supreme Power be both good and evil ? Has the Supreme
Power created only good and been baffled by an equal or superior
power that has interjected evil ? How could a power that is
supremely good create evil ? Does the Supreme Power delight in
virtue and the happiness of mankind, or does it derive pleasure
from their crimes and suffering ? The Supreme Power has so far
revealed itself in Nature that man can attain to the knowledge that
it is a single power, that there is one God, not many gods, and that
this one God requires from man the practice of virtue, and desires
his happiness. This truth must be seized upon and become a
spiritual conviction. Until a national mind grasps and cherishes
this spiritual conviction, it must ever continue to revolve in a con
dition of uncertainty and doubt about the providential appoint
ments of good and evil, which render it incapable of a firm ad
vance in knowledge and civilization. This is only saying, in other
words, that such a nation becomes bewildered in the subtleties of
metaphysics. This bewilderment has hitherto been, and yet
remains, a condition of the people of Hindostan. All studious
observers have agreed that the Hindoos are not intellectually in
ferior to the Western nations. They early framed a language, the
Sanscrit, which the learned of every nation unite in asserting is
superior to every other vehicle of human thought ; they have ethics

THE HINDOO MIND. 467
equal to those of Confucius, and his are equal to the morals of
Plato. They have many municipal laws as just as the common
law. They have skill in productive art and manufacture, which
has made their fabrics objects of cupidity and envy among all
nations. Their literature of fiction furnished a model for the
'Arabian Nights Entertainments' as well as the poems of Ari-
osto and Chaucer. They gave to Greece the science of notation,
and they have always excelled in mathematics generally, and prac
tical hydraulics. Nevertheless, the Hindoos have never known
how to constitute a civil government, or to organize a beneficial
ecclesiastical system. They have never even written a history of
themselves, unless we accept, as such, fables which cover a chrono
logical period of many milhons of years, with four successive ages :
first, one of perfect human strength, purity, and happiness ; second,
one of a slight admixture of weakness, rendering human govern
ment necessary ; third, an equal admixture of vice and virtue ; and,
fourth, the predominance of evil, which has only endured five
thousand years of its appointed term of four hundred and thirty-
three thousand ! Unable to establish a plausible mythology, they
require us, in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, to accept
a pantheon of thirty-three millions of gods ! It is not for us to
determine whether the pertinacious metaphysical bias of the Hin
doos is natural to the Hindoo mind, or is accidental. Its fruits are
palpable enough. They are, a persistent adhesion to the Pytha
gorean theory of transmigration — a theory which equally subverts
the relation of man to brute, and the relation of both man and
brute to the common Creator ; a degradation and debasement of
woman, which not only exclude her from society, but render her
incapable of it ; caste, which extirpates cooperation, emulation, and
charity, annihilates the inherent conviction of the equal rights of
manhood, and delivers all governments over to the caprices of
ambition and the chances of anarchy. The remedy for India is
and can be nothing less than a regeneration of the Hindoo mind.
The Mogul conquerors attempted this by teaching the Mohamme
dan faith, and enforcing their instructions by the sword of the
prophet. They failed even to establish a severe despotism. The

468 BRITISH INDIA.
superior political science and greater toleration of the British
nation enable them at least to rule India in peace, but not without
a constant exhibition of military power. It is but too apparent
that the native population of India have not yet, under British
rule, established any firm advance. If the British Government
should withdraw itself from Hindostan to-day, the country must
inevitably relapse into the wretched condition in which it was
found by the Europeans. But Great Britain has a difficult task.
India cannot be colonized by British subjects, or European races,
as North America and Australia were. Climate forbids this, even
if caste does not. On the other hand, Great Britain, now con
stantly present in India, and in all parts of it, with her arts and
her arms, protects and cooperates with the philanthropists who
come as missionaries and educators. These can hardly fail under
such circumstances to produce a change in the practices, habits, and
languages, of the people of India. The work of regeneration must
indeed be slow, for it requires nothing less than the destruction of
caste, the restoration of woman, and the conversion of the natives,
if not to Christianity, at least to a religion more rational and prac
tical than the Braminical faith. Through this slow process, the
idea of the dignity and rights of man may be expected to develop.
It may seem sanguine to expect that, among the vicissitudes inher
ent in all, political affairs, British control in India will last long
enough to secure this great consummation. But, even if this
should not be so, the Western powers which should relieve Great
Britain in India must necessarily assume her responsibilities.
I do not think her situation in India precarious ; certainly no Euro
pean power has now the ability to displace her from the position
she has attained through long perseverance and at great cost. The
perils of British authority in India, if there are any, are those
which threaten the stability and peace of the Tealm. So long as
Great Britain shall be content to employ Sepoys, and subsidize
native princes, she will be quite safe in India, and during all that
time the habit of submission to British law may be expected to
increase, and so reduce gradually the difficulties of the situation.
We have not found the British residents in India one-half so hope-

ISLAND OF SOCOTRA. 469
fid of the regeneration of the country as this, but all great and
benevolent enterprises, however slow in progress, are sure to be
successful at last. The regeneration of India is an old talk of the
Western nations. It dates from the invasion of Alexander. It
was the task of the Mohammedans. Caste and superstition are far
less omnipotent in India now than they were two thousand years
ago, four hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago, nor is the con
dition of the people as low now as it was at any of those periods."
Indian Ocean, April 26th. — We are just passing the island of
Socotra, which belongs to the Sultan of Muscat. It is commer
cially known for its exports of aloes and the gum of the dragon's-
blood tree. Admiral Cockburn recently visited the island with a
view of suppressing a small slave-traffic which is carried on there
with traders from the opposite African coast. So we see that,
although the African slave-trade has been abolished among the civ
ilized nations, it still lingers among those which have not been re
claimed from barbarism. The admiral found the inhabitants of the
capital, Tamarinda, little better than aborigines, though they speak
the Arabic and profess Mohammedanism. Before Mohammed,
however, they were not pagans, for St. Francis Xavier, in relating
his voyage to India, states that his vessel entered the harbor of
Socotra, and was detained there many weeks for provisions and re
pairs. He found the inhabitants hospitable and docile Christians,
using a ritual-service which they claimed to have been left them by
the Apostle St. Thomas, to whom they attributed their conversion.
They had never heard of the Pope, nor even of the division of the
Church between the Greek Patriarch, whom they acknowledged,
and the Bishop of Rome.
April 27th. — After eight months' travel in the incomprehen
sible East, with its stagnant civilization, we are now passing into
another region still more incomprehensible and hopeless.
On our right hand is Yemen, once " Arabia the happy," and
still known in poetry as a land of light and beauty, but now the
dwelling of Arab hordes, who are sinking every day deeper into
36

470 BRITISH INDIA.
barbarism. On the left, we are passing Soumala, that part of
Africa which stretches from Mozambique to Abyssinia. It is
inhabited by aboriginal negro tribes, which, from the beginning of
time, have defied civilization. Thus we have the same experience,
in our approach to Europe, as when we listen to a vague and con
fused prelude which precedes the full harmony of the symphony.
Aden, AprU 28th. — Elevated plains on the Arabian coast, too
distant for minute observation, were our landmarks as we neared
Aden. Many centuries ago — we must consult geology to know how
many — a great fire was pent up in the lowest depths of the prom
ontory that now bears the name of Aden. That subterranean fire,
Decoming at last uncontrollable, burned the whole promontory out,
and left it upside-down. The top of the hill was gone, and nothing
remained but a huge cylindrical bowl, six miles in diameter at the
bottom, with a rim fifteen hundred feet high. No one knows what
that convulsion of Nature was for, any more than " Caspar " knew
what the battle of Blenheim was about. Everybody, however, said
that Blenheim was a " famous victory," and everybody agrees that
Aden was a great volcano. Aden, thus hollowed into basin-shape,
is joined to the Arabian coast by a low and very narrow isthmus—
a place so entirely desolate it has never before been our fortune to
see. On it, or in it (which will you have ?), there is not a tree nor
a plant, except where, here and there, is a patch which man's hand
has planted, scarcely bigger than that hand, and which he continues
to water daily. The Portuguese discoverers stopped here on their
voyages of exploration. They found here, as at Socotra, a colony
of Syrian Christians. The Mohammedans from Mecca invaded
them with fire and sword. They invoked relief and protection
from the Portuguese Indian capital at Goa. The Portuguese in
tervention proved ineffectual, and the promontory remained under
native Arabian sway, and ultimately came to be a province of Mus
cat. The kings of Muscat lost it, as they lost every thing, and the
promontory remained under the control of native chiefs. The
British Government early saw its importance to their Indian do-

ADEN.

471

minions, but awaited an opportunity. In 1839, under the pretext
of redressing an insult, Great Britain, with sword in one hand, and
a liberal purse in the other, seized the promontory and fortified it.

It is now used as a coaling-station in the European voyages to
India, whether they are made around the Cape of Good Hope, or
through the Red Sea. Aden commands the latter navigation, and
m this sense is the key to India and the whole East, as Singa
pore is the key to China, Japan, the Archipelago, and Australia.
Aden is politically dependent, not directly on the Home Govern
ment, but on the presidency of Bonfbay, and is held and main
tained at the cost of the government of British India.
Wise old England ! How she fortifies her Island Realm, and
yet all the while develops and improves the energies of her people,
while she does not hesitate to undertake the police regulation of the

472 BRITISH INDIA.
world ! She knows, moreover, when and where and how to estab
lish the necessary police-stations. If jealous of the United States
what could she desire more than that they shall be content with
complaining of the Alabama grievances, hesitate at taking a police-
station in Alaska, and utterly refuse to take one, even though
offered, in the West Indies ? That hesitation and refusal recall
President Lincoln's story of the intrusion of the Universalists into
the town of Springfield. The several orthodox churches agreed
that their pastors should preach down the heresy. One of them
began his discourse with these emphatic words : " My brethren,
there is a dangerous doctrine creeping in among us. There are
those who are teaching that all men will be saved ; but, my dear
brethren, we hope for better things ! "
Aden is a fortification and harbor, and nothing more. The
fortification is without a model, and there is no duplicate of it, for
the simple reason that the volcano shaped it. All that science had
to do was, to perfect what the volcano left unfinished. The Gov
ernment has simply hewn the concave rocky surface of the crater
into bastions, palisades, covered ways, parapets, martello-towers,
and castellated batteries, so as to repel approach from the sea, on
every side, and a"t the same time to command every foot of the
interior area. The base of the interior area has two depressions,
doubtless produced by two distinct eruptions, separated by a bar
rier of rock, indicating that there must have been two volcanoes.
The larger area of these excavations contains the town of Aden,
the other the arsenal. A passage which has been hewn through
this volcanic rock connects the arsenal with the barracks in the
town. This passage has a ditch along its side, parallel massive
walls on both sides, and a battery at each end, commanding the
plain in either direction. The outer sides of the circular mountain
are so steep and so indented that they furnish deep and convenient
bays for safe anchorage at their base. The rocky precipices which
enclose the crater leave no sufficient space for barracks or dwell
ings. The population of Aden, including all classes, is contracted,
therefore, within the basin, and so under control of the fortifica
tions. You reach this basin, not by driving under the encircling

A NEW DEPARTURE. 473
rim and rising within, nor by climbing over it, but by a road hewn
through the rim itself. Some military critics among our British
acquaintance tell us that these defences are not impregnable.
Mr. Seward asks, "But can they not easily be made so?" They
assent. " That," he says, " is all that is required of any fortifica
tion," The force at present stationed here is only one regiment.
The latitude of Aden is 12° north. The heat is so constant, as
well as so intense, as to suggest the apprehension of new subter
ranean fires. Sometimes three years pass without the blessing of
rain. It is, therefore, a severe study of the government to pro
vide fresh water for town, garrison, and shipping. The earlier
owners of Aden had a considerable city within the basin, which
they supplied with water by collecting the rain which occasionally
fell on the crests and interior declivities, and conducting it to a
dozen tanks or reservoirs. The water thus gathered and hoarded
from tropical tempests would be sufficient, if left to its natural flow,
to deluge the bottom of the basin. These reservoirs remain in per
fect preservation, and are admired for their "masonry. The walls of
each bear a tablet on which is stated its capacity in gallons. The
supply furnished by these ancient reservoirs is quite inadequate
to the present demand of the town, which is provided for by the
use of steam-condensers of sea-water. It is a curious thing to see
English artisans here using coal from Cornwall, to extract water
from the ocean to slake the thirst of the savages of Asia and Africa.
Who shall question that the British people are a commercial one,
when he learns that the government at Aden sells the water, which
it thus manufactures, at a penny a gallon ?
We realize here that we have reached a new stage of our round-
the-world voyage. We are leaving, rather, let us say, we have left ¦
the far East and the South behind us. Though not yet arrived at
the West and the North, we are on their confines. Not one Mon
golian or Malay do we see, only a few Hindoos and an individual
Parsee, who applies to Mr. Seward to be appointed consul of the
United States. The people are Arabs, Turks, swarthy Jews, and
Abyssinians ; the dominating races, Abyssinians and Soumalans.
The Hindoos are servants ; the Jews, bankers and pawnbrokers ;

474 BRITISH INDIA.
the Arabs and Abyssinians, traders in coffee, frankincense, myrrh,
amber, and ostrich-feathers. The Arabs also supply the people
with fruit, mostly dates, and with the mutton of the Berber sheep.
This small animal is invariably white, with a black head. The
Soumalans are not prepossessing in appearance. We happened to
be in our state-rooms when the Deccan came to anchor. These
natives swarmed thickly around the steamer, in the smallest and
most rickety of all boats and rafts, to see if happily some passenger
might want them, either to carry baggage ashore for a penny, or to
dive into the sea for the same price. Before we were aware, they-
were climbing over the ports, naked, except at the waists, peering
with their large, yellow-black eyes into the ship — black as Milton's
darkness, strong and lithe, with great white teeth, flat noses, low
foreheads, and thick hair, curly, and varying in color from carrot-
red to tow- white — Scandinavian hair on African heads! At the
instant they appeared at the vessel's side, the command rang
through the ship, " Close the ports ! " and a guard was stationed on
deck to prevent their apprehended larcenies. Failing to find em
ployment as porters, they passed the whole day diving into the sea.
On shore we found invariably the same light hair on the heads of the
same race. " Verily," we said, " though in the times of Jeremiah
' the leopard could not change his spots, nor the Ethiopian his
skin,' the latter has since that time learned to change the color of
his hair." The Soumalans are laborers, that is to say, the women
are. Blessed are the customs of these aboriginal Africans, far
more blessed than those of semi-civilized Asia. These Soumalan
women, with their glistening white teeth, red lips, and yellow eyes,
are the only women we have seen in the enjoyment of personal
¦freedom since we left the United States, except the Mongolians in
the Nan-Kow Pass. This enjoyment is not perhaps too dearly pur
chased, even at the cost of performing the servile labor by which
their black lords live.
The buildings here are constructed of lava-rock, without any
pretension to elegance or even convenience. The governor is a
gentleman of long experience, extensive information, and great
candor. The fortunate coincidence of finding Admiral Cockburn

RED-HAIRED MEN. 475
here with the Forte is especially gratifying. We have passed
the day on shore, and concerted a plan for a future and hopeful
correspondence.' It is not always safe to trust to fellow-passengers, or hastily-
made acquaintances, for an explanation of what you find curious in
foreign travel. We inquired of every one how it happens that these
black men of Soumala have red or tow hair. The first answer we
received was, that they are the " beaux " of Africa, that they dye
their hair to make themselves attractive. Others answered that
the race are red-haired men. The true explanation was given by the
governor, but it requires some caution in setting it down. Water
is scarce in this burning climate ; the Soumalans use lime as a sub
stitute, and this effects two important savings : one, the expense of
soap ; the other, the cost of a fine-tooth comb.
"Oh, tell me, where is fancy hred —
In the heart or in the head ? "
It has often been a study of ours, Where are fashions bred ?
We think we have found out that the fashion of long-pointed finger
nails, now so much the vogue in Europe, is borrowed from the
elite of China. Prince Kung's nails are so long and so. exquisitely
cultivated as to discourage emulation in European diplomatic cir
cles; and all the gold-dust, diamond-dust, or dyes of Paris, are inef
fectual, compared with the lime-wash of Soumala, for bleaching
hair. 1 March 21, 1872.— It is with deep sorrow that we record the death of this chivalrous
and pious gentleman. He fell a victim to the Indian climate.

PART V.
EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

CHAPTER I.
THE RED SEA AND SUEZ CANAL.
The Gate of Tears. — The Rock of Perim. — The Port of Mecca.-plmaginary Terrors —
Pleasant Weather. — The Coasts of the Red Sea. — The Division of the Races. — A
Refreshing Atmosphere. — The Track of the Israelites. — Suez. — The Ancient Canal.
— The New Canal. — Its Inauguration. — Its Prospects.
Steamer Deccan, Red Sea, April 30th. — Last night we came
through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb (the Gate of Tears). Though
we had a growing moon, we were unable to discern either shore, or
the Eock of Perim, long famous for its supply of tortoise-shell, and
rendered notorious, in our own time, by the abortive attempt of the
French to secure it as a counter-salient to Aden. We are quite
sure that, with the aid of a strong glass, reenforced by a more pow
erful faith, we discerned this morning the Arabian shore, and even
the minarets of some town. We are now sailing past a series of
low, sandy, uninhabited islands which lie off the Abyssinian shore.
May 3d. — We have just passed Jiddah, the port of Mecca.
Although some of the European powers manage, in spite of the
fanatical ferocity of the natives, to maintain consulates there, the
port is visited only by Egyptian craft. On the western shore, we
have taken leave of Abyssinia, and now we make the towering
peak, Eas-Elba, which tells us that we have come far upward along
the desert shores of Nubia. From the day we formed our first ac
quaintance with European sojourners in the East, at Yokohama,

480 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the one peril of our Western voyage, which was represented as the
most fearful, has been the scorching climate of the Red Sea. We
have been told that the steamer, driving before the wind, often re
verses its course to procure relief, and that passengers die in their
cabins, merely from the oppression of the atmosphere. We as con
stantly opposed these fears, because we knew that latitude would be
in our favor, and we thought we might expect to meet reviving
breezes from the Mediterranean. We were right ; not the Pacific
Ocean, nor even the Indian Ocean, furnished us a more pleasant
voyage than the Red Sea. The surface ruffled by the gentlest
of zephyrs, its waves, this morning, reflect rainbows broken with
myriads of prisms, as brilliant and as distinct as those which, on a
summer day, dance in the spray below the cataract at Niagara. It
is not easy, perhaps, to ascertain on what grounds this great gulf,
twelve hundred miles long and two hundred miles wide, acquired,
so early as the time of Herodotus, the name of Red Sea. Probably
it was so named from the banks of coral which underlie its waters,
and which render its navigation dangerous. Certainly the water is
not red ; this morning it assumes a hue of emerald-green.
Pleasant as the voyage is, however, no one expresses a desire to
explore either coast of the Red Sea. The reason is, that such an
attempt would be dangerous. On the Arabian shore, the inhabi
tants are relapsing into barbarism ; while, on the African shore,
the people have never been reclaimed from the savage state. This,
therefore, is the most forlorn region through which we pass on our
voyage. Nevertheless, not only history, but even revelation, is at
fault, if we are not just now nearing the cradle of civilization.
How melancholy a thought it seems, that while we find prosperity,
improvement, and progress, or at least philanthropic effort, attend
ed with hope in all parts of Asia through which we have passed, as
well as on the steppes of Northern Europe, and in the^most desert
parts of America- — and indeed civilization reclaiming the islands of
the sea near the North and South Poles — yet darkness continually
gathers in this, the oldest and most favored, region of the earth!
This must have happened because the two great divisions of the
human family, the white races and the dark races, meet here on the

DIVERGENCE OF THE RACES. 481
opposite shores of the Red Sea, and the opposite banks of the Nile.
They did not commingle, and they could not remain together.
They parted, perhaps by consent, more probably by instinct, the
dark races retaining Africa, and, moving southward and eastward,
peopling India, Burmah, Thibet, China, Japan, the Archipelago,
Oceanica, and Western America ; the Caucasian race, on the con
trary, leaving Asia as well as Africa to their dark competitors,
spread themselves continually northward and westward on the
European Continent, the islands of the Atlantic, and the eastern
American shores. The shores of the Red Sea have been practically
abandoned by both races. How strangely this divergence of the
white and the dark races perplexes the problem of the ultimate civ
ilization and unity of mankind ! The darker races, following the
light of Nature, and rejecting or extinguishing that of revelation,
have stumbled, and are scarcely making any progress since the sep
aration. The white races, more willingly accepting the greater
light, though they also have stumbled, have reached a higher plane.
Man can go no further in unravelling that perplexity. The designs
of Providence are not unintelligible, but they are not man's

May 5th. — How refreshing and invigorating is this cool atmos
phere, after the intemperate heat we endured so long in India !
We are now bearing westwardly into the Gulf of Suez — the west
ern of the two gulfs which divide the Red Sea at its upper termina
tion. The eastern one is Akabah. The Gulf of Suez contracts
gradually from forty miles to ten in width. The African coast of
the Gulf of Suez is a desert table-land, rising into equally sterile
mountains. These plains and mountains divide the Red Sea from
the fertile valley of the Nile. We suppose that we have already
crossed the path the Israelites took in their miraculous passage.
We need not, however, have come here to learn that the track can
not now be precisely ascertained. The topography of the region
so far supports the Scripture account as to indicate that the exiles
from Goshen might most naturally have come down the western
bank of the Gulf of Suez, and thence across the gulf to the end of

482 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the Sinaitic promontory ; thence they would have passed through
Edom and Moab, now Arabia Petrsea, along the eastern shore of the
Dead Sea to the mouth of the Jordan. If we suppose, on the con
trary, that they travelled around the head of the Gulf of Suez, their
journey would have been much longer and more exposed to pur
suit by Pharaoh, but in that case it would lose altogether its mar
vellous character. If we assume that they crossed through the wa
ters, it is purely absurd to suppose that any landmarks or traces of
the miraculous passage could now be found. It is not so with
their march northward from the head of the Red Sea. Sinai and
LToreb are two of a cluster of yellow mountain-peaks, which crown
the peninsula and divide the Gulf of Akabah from the Gulf of
Suez. While it is certain that we are at this moment looking from
the deck of our steamer upon both of these celebrated mountains,
it is nevertheless impossible to identify them. On the western
shore of the Gulf of Akabah is the port bearing that name. It is
not doubtful, however, that this same Akabah is the Ezion-geber
of sacred history. It is no unimportant part that this place, now so
obscure, has held in the progress of human society.
" And when we passed by from our brethren the children of
Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from
Elath, and from Ezion-geber, we turned and passed by the way
of the wilderness of Moab."
"And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber,
which is beside Elath, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of
Edom." " Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold:
but they went not ; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber."
By-the-way, there has been a great revolution in exchanges
since Jehoshaphat's time. The Western nations, instead of bring
ing gold from India, now carry the precious metals into that coun
try. Suez, May 6th. — It is difficult to say which of the two places is
the most forbidding and gloomy, Aden or Suez. Aden is scooped
out of black volcanic rock, Suez is built on a monotonous gray

ISMAlLIA. 483
sand-beach. It never rains here, naturally there js not moisture
enough to sustain a germ of vegetable life, or slake a camel's thirst.
Neither flood nor desert, however, can perpetually defy the
improving hand of man. A stream of fresh water has been
brought through the desert from the Nile, Avhich suppHes the most
pressing wants of the town, and even a tiny garden occasionally
smiles on the desert-shore. The Suez Canal Company has made a
safe harbor here, with convenient wharves, upon which are con
structed the railway-station and engine-houses.
Suez, like Omaha, is a great place in the future. At present it
contains the taverns, storehouses, and machine-shops, which are
required by a trade which is only recently opened. Some trav
ellers assign to it a population of twenty-five thousand. We think
there may be ten thousand. All the buildings are of stone, except
occasionally a small frame structure used as a boarding-house, and,
because of its frail, fanciful construction, called an " American "
house. Telegrams from Cairo were received on our coming to anchor
here, and soon afterward Betts Bey, a confidential officer of the
Khedive, came on board, with the United States consul-general for
Egypt, and our esteemed American friend from Washington, Mr.
Charles Knapp, of " great-gun " notoriety. Betts Bey tendered us,
in behalf of the Khedive, a special train for travel at our own con
venience. IsmdiUa, May 6th. — We shall not now undertake to say
whether it was Sesostris, or some other Rameses or Necho, who,
seven hundred years before the Christian era, built a ship-canal
across the desert from Suez to Bubastis on the Nile. Nor do we
think it necessary to say that at the period of the first invasion of
•^gypt by the Turkish Mohammedans, fourteen hundred years later,
that ancient and important navigation was so effectually lost that
even its route across the desert had entirely disappeared, and its
channel has never even been ascertained. Some good always
comes out of the greatest evils. Napoleon's invasion in '98 was a
severe scourge to Egypt. But the Suez Canal is the fruit of the

484

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

suggestions and surveys he then instituted with a view to restore
that invaluable highway. Seventy years were occupied with
explorations to remove speculative difficulties. These were — first,
that the elevation of the Mediterranean and of the Red Sea were
unequal, rendering necessary a lockage, dangerous if not impracti
cable ; second, that no safe harbor could be built on the Mediter
ranean coast ; third, that the deposits of the Nile on the Mediter
ranean shore have made an oozy bed, incapable of holding water ;
fourth, that the sands of the desert, near the Red Sea, are incapa

ble of retaining water ; fifth, that the siroccos of the desert would
fill any channel with sand as fast as it could be excavated. There
were difficulties also of a political nature. The British Govern
ment was unwilling that the canal should be built under French
auspices. The Divan at Constantinople distrusted the loyalty of
the Khedive, and was subservient to British influence. All these
objections, however, gave way at last, and in 1859 M. Ferdinand
Lesseps, with the effective support of the then Khedive, Said Pacha,

THE SUEZ CANAL. 485
organized a company and commenced the work. Now, in 1871,
although not fully completed, the canal is in practical operation.
Before leaving Suez, we examined the wharves and docks. We
arrested the train at Serapeum, twenty miles, and at Ismailia, flfty
miles from Suez, and mspected one of the deepest cuttings of the
canal. We saw how easily ships of three thousand tons can pass.
We left the northern end of the canal to be examined when we
shall have completed our trip in Southern Egypt. We mention
now a few only of the more remarkable matters belonging to the
great enterprise.
The canal is a hundred miles in length. It is carried on em
bankments raised in four successive natural lakes, Bitter Lake, the
Timsah, the Ballah, and the Menzaleh. The depth of the water is
twenty-six feet, its width at the bottom two hundred and forty-six
feet, its minimum width at the top is three hundred and forty-six
feet. It is without locks. Steam-vessels — as yet none others use
the canal — make the transit in twenty-four hours. The harbor at
Port Said, on the Mediterranean, is formed by two projecting piers,
constructed of artificial stone made on the spot. In prosecuting the
work, a diminutive fresh-water canal was first constructed by using
the waters of the Nile. On the auxiliary canal, the barges convey
ing men, machinery, and supplies, were transported. The water of
the Suez Canal, where we examined it, is of the same delicate blue
that we had observed in the Gulf of Suez. The canal seemed like
a narrow glossy ribbon, stretched across the yellow desert. Lake
Timsah is a large basin of salt-water which supplies what is neces
sary to keep the canal at its proper level between the two seaB.
The canal-water is unpalatable to man and beast.
M. Lesseps built a house near this lake, when he commenced
the work. He brought the Nile water then through the lesser
canal, and planted a garden. Contractors came there to reside, a
town grew up in the Arabian Desert, equal in magnitude and rapid
ity of growth to Cheyenne. But the Frenchman made his town
very beautiful. A population of fifteen thousand gathered there in
seven years. Broad avenues and streets were marked over the
sand, and soon were well paved, although stone is rarely found,
87

486 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
even at the bottom of the canal. Catholic churches, foreign con
sulates, villas, banks, shops, and all other elements of the city, were
there. The town was justly named Ismailia in honor of Ismail
Pacha, the Khedive, and became at once a provincial capital. All
this was while the canal was in process of construction. What did
Ismailia want more? It wanted only the formal opening of the
canal to assert itself a commercial and political centre. The day
which the new city so impatiently desired came at last. Ismailia
determined to introduce herself to the world by a grand festival.
The season was propitious. The American civil war, which had
filled the world with gloom, was ended. The French emperor had
withdrawn his invading armies from Mexico. The " sharp, short,
and decisive " war between Prussia and Austria was over. Not
even a signal-note was then heard of the Germanic-French War,
which last year broke upon Europe. The Temple of Janus was
closed. All the world knows how the Khedive appointed a day for
a celebration of the great enterprise, the greatest of the age. Of
course, he invited Napoleon, the imperial patron of the work, the
empress, in the fashionable sense " the light of the world," and
with them all the kings and all the queens, and all the princes, and
all the presidents, statesmen, warriors, and savants of the earth, to
come to Ismailia. Nearly all who were invited came, personally or
by representative. They were received on the sea-shore, and at
Port Said. Splendid steam-yachts conveyed them up the Nile,
showing them the Pyramids, the ruins of Memphis and Thebes,
while waiting for the appointed day. Meantime the Khedive, with
the energy and the profusion of Haroun-al-Raschid, built a palace
at Ismailia, and gave it all the spaciousness and embellishments
suitable for the entertainment of the majesties of the world. They
came, they passed in barges, brilliant as Cleopatra's, through the
canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. They spoke, they
drank, they danced, and they made the dreary desert for the first
time a field of chivalry and merriment. Ismailia was happy in the
lofty discourses it heard, the superb pageants it saw, and the magic
entertainments it enjoyed, as she was proud in the prestige which
this magnificent celebration confirmed. All Egypt was happy.

PROSPECTS OF THE CANAL. 487
Only a year and a half has elapsed since that magnificent
demonstration, and how sadly has Ismailia changed ! We found
the population of the town reduced to less than two thousand.
The beautiful palace, now knowing neither master nor guest, has
already become monumental. The siroccos blow the sands of the
desert on the paved streets of Ismailia, and there is neither man nor
money to sweep them out. Contractors and workmen, their work
being completed, have disappeared, and no merchants, mechanics,
or laborers, have come in their place. The Suez Canal, however,
remains, a commercial success. European and American steam
ships- of-war, as well as mercantile vessels of the largest size, pass
and repass, but as yet bring no trade either to Ismailia or to
Egypt. They pay very large tolls, but the company not only makes
no dividends, but demands a new subscription of ten million
pounds sterling to its stock, to secure the work against accident or
waste. The Egyptian Government, owning half the stock, is em
barrassed, if not unable to make the subscription, and reports come
in from Europe (how credible we do not know) that M. Lesseps
and the company are offering to sell the canal to British purchasers,
German bankers, American speculators, or whoever will buy. But,
notwithstanding all this, the Suez Canal is safe. The permanent
interests of Egypt, France, Great Britain, Germany, the United
States, of civilization itself, will not allow it to be closed. The
tolls, already ample to compensate its superintendence, will increase
with the steady increase of steam navigation, and that increase is
inevitable. The steam-voyage from Europe to India, whatever
rate of toll the Suez Canal may demand, will be cheaper than the
voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. Heavy freights can al
ways be carried more cheaply by steam on the sea than on the land.
All that can happen or will happen of misfortune will be that new
stockholders will obtain the stock at reduced prices, and the original
and meritorious projectors and prosecutors of the enterprise will
lose the whole or part of their investment. This, although a sad
result, will only be a renewal of an old experience of public bene
factors.

CHAPTER II.
FROM SUEZ TO CAIRO.
The Bedouin Arabs. — A Wady. — Goshen. — Nubian Troops. — A Splendid Sunset. — The
Palace of Repose. — The Khedive. — The Population of Egypt. — The KhSdiye's Im
provements. — A Visit to the Harem. — The Female Slaves. — Egypt and Utah.
Cairo, May 6th. — From Suez to Cairo is one hundred and
thirty miles. Leaving Ismailia at flve o'clock, we continued our
monotonous way for two hours. The desert has no inhabitants,
except a small force of Arab laborers employed in keeping the
canal and railroad free from the whirHng sands.
On this journey we have made our first acquaintance with the
Bedouin Arabs. They were encamped with their camels and horses
on an oasis of hardly thirty rods in circumference, its vegetation
being due to a leakage of the small " Sweet-water " Canal. The
Bedouin tents indicate vagrancy. The encampment had no wom
en ; the men are stalwart and handsome. How long will it be
before these travellers of the sands, dispensing with their cara
vans, will be buying " excursion-tickets " on railroads and steam
boats ?
It is a singular contrast of man's enterprise against Nature's
impassibility that our path through the desert is marked out, not
only by the interoceanic canal, but also by an interoceanic railroad,
and by several telegraph-lines. Of these, the first is the Egyptian
line; the second, the European and Indian line; the third, the
Suez-Canal line. The whole of Egypt, Upper and Lower included,

THE LAND OF GOSHEN. 489
does not furnish sufficient timber for telegraph-poles. These are
brought from the forests of the Danube.
At the end of our two hours' ride, we crossed a broad piece of
interval land, here called a wady, which is partially irrigated by one
of the innumerable canals taken from the Nile. This wady is gen
erally understood to be within the district of Goshen. The ruins
of a large town on its borders are said to bear evidences of Jewish
architecture. We, however, can state nothing, for we found, on
arriving here, a traveller who, having inspected the site, pro
nounces the claim apocryphal. We came soon ujDon the plain of
the great river, where land and water are always changing, and
found it covered with tropical vegetation, luxuriant and abundant.
We had scarcely entered the plain before we observed troops of
lank, half-famished dogs, resembling the jackal. No one claims
them, and they know no master — they are not unjustly described
as pariah-dogs. We rested in Goshen for half an hour, enjoying
the sumptuous lunch which we found awaiting us there. Resum
ing our way, we passed a large encampment of Egyptian troops,
all black, athletic Nubians, in clean white uniforms. Next in
splendor to the sunset at Yeddo, which we have recorded, was the
sunset which welcomed us to the banks of the Nile. Beyond fields
of ripened wheat, alternating with the springing Indian-corn, and
vegetable gardens, everywhere shaded by the date-palm, the Pyra
mids towered clear against the horizon. Colorless as the rocks and
sands on which they stand, they scarcely attained a darker shade as
the sun went down behind them. For a moment, the monotonous
coloring of sand, pyramids, and sky, gave place to the soft, hazy,
commingling of crimson, violet, and gold, through which the god
of day delights here to enter his dark chamber in the west. All of
this came quickly to an end, and the desert and the horizon, resum
ing their dark, leaden hues, left it uncertain which had absorbed
the other.
Kasr Nudjn, Cairo, May 7th. — Our reception at Suez, and our
journey hither, under the conduct of the viceroy's commissioner,
had not at all prepared us, as they might have done, for the gentle

490 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
hospitalities we are receiving. This palace, "the Palace of Re
pose," is embosomed in gardens.
The outside world seems never to have come to an agreement
with the Egyptians as to the title of their sovereigns. In Hebrew
literature, we read of Pharaoh, as if that were a proper name, where
as it is simply the Egyptian word for king. Khedive is, in modern
Egypt, the title for which the Europeans use the word viceroy.
Ismail Pacha, the present Khedive, is a son of the eminent Ibrahim
Pacha, and grandson of the illustrious Mehemet Ali, the restorer
of Egypt, after its ruin under the sway of the Mamelukes. He
succeeded his uncle, Said Pacha, in 1863, and is fifty-five years
old. By a treaty, which he made last year with the Sultan, the
succession is confirmed to his family in a direct line. His deriva
tion is from Macedonia, and his appearance is decidedly European.
He was educated, in part, in France. He speaks the French lan
guage, and inclines to French tastes and affinities. Arriving this
morning, at six o'clock, from an excursion on the Nile, he appointed
eleven o'clock to receive Mr. Seward at the Palace of Ghezireh.
Sentinels were placed, at convenient distances, along the outer wall
of the palace, and a small guard at the gate. The chief-of-staff and
other officers met Mr. Seward at the door, and conducted him to
an audience-chamber where the Khedive was standing dressed in
the Egyptian military uniform with the tarboosh or fez. Receiving
Mr. Seward kindly, he conducted him through several antecham
bers to an inner audience-room, and invited him to a seat at his
side on a divan. Coffee and chibouques were immediately offered.
Although the Khedive's countenance is dull and heavy, he con
verses in French with ease, sagacity, and intelligence. He ex
pressed a high appreciation of the United States, and especially of
the justice they practise, in international relations. He desired to
do all that might be in his power to make Mr. Seward's travels in
Egypt safe and agreeable. Conversation of half an hour ensued,
in which the Khedive appeared equally free from pretension, affec
tation, or reserve. It took a broad range, embracing politics,
agriculture, internal improvement, and popular education. Mr.
Seward says, if he had met the Khedive in a social circle incog

THE EGYPTIAN PEOPLE. 491
he should have thought him an accomplished country gentleman
interested in education and social reforms, or a railroad contractor,
a speculator in lands, or a planter, just as the subject of conversa
tion might happen to turn. He has two traits most admirable in
administrator or prince — perfect good-nature and equanimity.
Hardly had Mr. Seward returned from his audience when the
Khedive, attended by his prime-minister, Cherif Pacha, arrived at
the Kasr Nudjii, to return the visit. When Mr. Seward presented
the ladies to him, he at once engaged in agreeable converse with
them, and cordially expressed a hope that they would visit the
ladies of his family. The well-trained stewards of Kasr Nudjii
needed no instructions to serve the guests with the purest of Mocha
coffee in the tiniest of golden cups, and the most fragrant Latakieh
tobacco in jewelled chibouques with amber mouth-pieces. The
Khedive remained with us an hour, conversing freely on political
affairs, and the subjects of interest in our travels.
The population of Egypt is eight millions, consisting of two
classes. The paramount class consists of immigrants or sojourners
from Christian countries, European or American. They lead in
commerce, banking, and manufactures. These foreigners, what
ever be their distinct nationalities, are called Franks, and they re
tain, by virtue of treaties called " concessions " between the Sultan
and Christian states, their respective nationalities and allegiance.
They are not only exempt from the judicial authority of the Egyp
tian Government, but also from taxation. Thus, they constitute a
governing class, independent of the Government itself. In short,
they replace the Mamelukes. The Khedive's great difficulty con
sists in conducting his administration so as to satisfy this class with
out arousing the jealousy of the natives, and thus avoiding interven
tion by foreign powers. The native class are of mixed races. A
small portion of it are Copts, descendants of the original Egyptians,
now Christians. A large population, principally near the Mediter
ranean coast, are chiefly of Arabian extraction, and are Mohamme
dans. Both these classes are illiterate and poor, and are called
fellahs; besides these, there are Nubians, Abyssinians, and other
Africans. Over all these native classes, the Khedive exercises

492 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
absolute power. He taxes, conscribes, and even confiscates, at
pleasure. But this despotic authority has one practical, though not
constitutional limitation. The majority of his subjects, being
sincere and bigoted Mohammedans, never cease to regard the
Sultan of Turkey as their sovereign. The Mohammedan natives
of Egypt are not troubled with metaphysical distinctions between
matters temporal and matters spiritual. They make it a condition
of loyalty to their Khedive that he shall in all cases be loyal and
submissive to the Sultan. The Khedive's administration is a per
sonal one, even more so than that of his friend and late ally, Napo
leon III. Every transaction of the Government is conducted with
his personal knowledge, and by his direction. Without his direc
tion, nothing can be done. It is due to the Khedive, to say that
his administration is successful, and even popular. No nation has
a bolder projector, or more liberal patron, of internal improve
ments. He is reconstructing the city of Cairo. Five years hence,
it will no more resemble the Grand Cairo of the Saracenic age
than modern Paris resembles the Paris of Louis Quatorze. He
has already extended the Alexandria and Cairo Railroad one
hundred and fifty miles toward Upper Egypt, and is intent upon
carrying it to the Soudan, the extreme southern province in his
dominions. We have already spoken of his munificence to the
Suez Canal, but these improvements are prosecuted by him in his
political character. Individually, he is the largest land-proprietor
and greatest agriculturist in Egypt. They tell us that he owns
one-fifth of the tillable land of the country. In this distinct private
character he has a private treasury, and credit in the financial cir
cles of Europe. His wealth is estimated in billions. The claim
that is made for him, that he is the richest man in the world, is not
incredible. What is more marvellous is, that he superintends his
personal estate as well as public affairs.
May 8th. — Soon after the Khedive left us last evening, Betts
Bey communicated the invitation of the Khedive to the ladies of
our party, to visit the harem at the palace of the Khedive's mother,
the Princess Yalide, at the Kasr Ali, at eleven o'clock to-day.

n m

THE KHEDIVE'S HAREM. 493
There was a difficulty, for the ladies, after so many months' travel,
were reduced to black or white morning costumes. Although no
color or form of dress was prescribed in the invitation, we learned
that on no account would black be allowed. A prejudice, either
national or religious, prevails in the harem, that, if any misfortune
occurs in the palace within a period of six months after a black
dress or trimming has been worn there by any Christian woman,
the visitor is responsible for it. Through the help of our country
woman Mrs. Stone, the necessary dresses of blue and lavender
were procured, and the ladies repaired to Kasr Ali attended by a
governess of the young princess, and by Betts Bey. Two compa
nies of Nubian troops, which guarded the high arched gate of the
outer walls, presented arms as the party entered. Crossing a
broad paved court, they received similar honors at the second gate,
and again at the third gate. Here Betts Bey stopped, and the
ladies, as they alighted from the carriage, were met by eight jet-
black eunuchs in Egyptian uniform, and conducted through a beau
tiful garden to the vestibule of the palace. As they approached
the vestibule, they saw that it was filled with young Circassian
slave-girls, dressed in gay-colored gauzes and muslins, some with
little turban-hats. Two of these, wearing richer dresses than the
others, and displaying many diamonds, took each of the visitors by
the hand, and conducted them through endless corridors and salons,
the slaves following. These corridors and chambers were fur
nished with carpets of velvet, curtains of damask and lace, satin
sofas and divans, great mirrors and crystal chandeliers, but were
destitute of such works of art and articles of vertu as are deemed
indispensable in a palace of the West. With this attendance, they
were at last ushered into a salon not inferior in dimensions or con
struction to the East Room of the White House. The Princess
Valide is the first lady of the state, taking precedence of the vice
roy's wives and daughters, all of whom are called princesses.
When the ladies entered, she was reclining on a divan at the far
ther end of the hall, one of the " princess-wives " sitting near her,
and sixty slave-girls formed in a crescent-shaped group at her left
hand. The women who followed the guests arranged themselves

494 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
in a corresponding half-circle on the opposite side. The visitors
advanced between the two groups toward the divan, and were
received by her Highness standing. Her dark eyes are sharp, her
face expressive of great cleverness, her voice clear and pleasant.
She received the ladies with perfect courtesy, and presented them
to the princess at her side, and then invited them to seats on her
left. The princess was dressed in a long white satin skirt which
covered her feet, and a black-velvet jacket with long pointed
Turkish sleeves. A fold of violet satin, with variegated border,
was fastened around her head with a band of diamonds, the whole
surmounted with a solitaire diamond of immense size. A large
medallion likeness of the Khedive, set in diamonds, was fastened
like a " decoration " on the left lapel of her jacket ; an enormous
diamond graced the first finger of her left hand.
The princess-wife wore a green-sflk dress with lace, hat, gloves,
boots, and fan, which must have been lately imported from Paris
or London, and her light-brown hair was dressed in the latest Pa
risian fashion. The harem-ladies confess being very partial to the
European modes. They have already ordered outfits from London,
with the request that they may be counterparts of the trousseau of
the Princess Louise. The conversation was in Arabic, the English
lady-governess acting as interpreter. After an exchange of com
pliments, which were perhaps no more commonplace than is usual
on such occasions in other countries, the slave-girls brought on a
golden salver iced water, Turkish and Egyptian conserves, among
which were sugared rose-leaves in enamelled cups, with golden
spoons that might serve a fairy, then chibouques, one of which was
offered to each lady. The bowl of the chibouque is of the red clay
of Egypt, the stem, five feet long, of the fragrant Danubian willow,
with an amber mouth-piece eight inches long. The Princess Vali-
de's chibouque had a jasmin-stem and mouth-piece of black amber
profusely set with diamonds. Etiquette forbids a guest to decline
the chibouque, which is smoked by allowing the bowl to rest in a
small silver tray on the floor. With the chibouque came delicious
coffee, black, and flavored with the attar of roses. The princess-
mother explained the condition of the slave-women. She says they

FRIVOLOUS QUESTIONS. 495
are brought from their native land when quite young, and are pro
vided with husbands and dowries. " They are very lucky," she
said, with a laugh. Two hundred were seen on this occasion.
They are neither pretty nor graceful, and appeared, as they went
through their ceremonial attendance, like the chorus-singers of a
German opera-troupe. The princess-wife said that she was from
Circassia, without mentioning that she had been a slave. " We
can get no more slaves from my beautiful country " she added,
with a sigh, " since the Russians have taken it." It is quite usual
for the viceroy to choose a wife among the slaves. When married,
they become princesses, their former state being forgotten. Be
yond these details, voluntarily given, the conversation was little
more than a catechism of the guests on frivolous subjects, such as :
"How old are you? How many brothers and how many sisters
have you ? What are their ages ? Are you married ? Why not ?
Are you going to be ? How old is Mr. Seward ? What does he
travel for ? How many sons has he ? How old are they ? How
many of them are married ? Has he any grandchildren ? How old
are they? How many are boys, how many are girls?" — and the
like. The conversation betrayed a provincial deference for the
Sultan's harem, and for Stamboul. Ten girls now entered with
violins, citherns, and other instruments, and, arranging them
selves in a crescent, gave some very sweet music. When this was
ended, ten other Circassian girls came forward, in short pink-and-
white satin dresses, covered with silver lace and spangles, long
white-satin Turkish trousers and French boots, and began a dance
that, with short intervals in which they rested and the guests
drank coffee, lasted three hours. These artistes were somewhat
prettier than the slave-girls in direct attendance on the princesses,
and they made a marked display of their luxuriant blond hair.
The Princess Valide told us that, since the ladies of the harem
were allowed to see the European opera and ballet at the theatre
m Alexandria, they have become quite disgusted with the native
performances of their own country. In our judgment, however,
the " shawl-dance," rendered by the Circassian slaves, is as grace
ful as any European ballet, and is entirely unobjectionable. In

496 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
taking leave, the Princess Yalide cordially invited the ladies to
_renew their visit. In passing through the antechamber, deliriously
delicate iced sherbets were served in golden goblets, then a large,
gold-embroidered and fringed muslin napkin was tendered to each
guest, with which she touched her Hps, and passed on. The slave-
trains, in crescent platoons, followed through the corridors to the
vestibule, bringing to the visitors their cloaks, smoothly folded, in
perfumed satin bags. The eunuch guards made the same homage
to the guests as when they entered, and the inseparable and invalu
able Betts Bey was at the gate.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's incomparable letters were, we
think, the first revelation of harem-life to Western society. They
made that life seem innocent and attractive. It wears the same as
pect in the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments." It is not strange that
it should make that impression on occasional visitors, who see only
its elegance and repose, while the jealousies, vice, and crime, which
it so often develops, are concealed. We have been content to speak
of what we saw, and as we saw it. The princess-mother seemed a
matron who would be held in respect in any court or in any social
circle. Notwithstanding the assurance she gave us, concerning the
education of the Circassian slaves, they seemed, without exception,
illiterate and dull. While the harem betrayed nothing of im
morality or impropriety, all the inmates except the Princess Valide
seemed simply idle and frivolous. There is, however, much reason
to believe that, if the life is capable of elevation and refinement, it
will assume that character under the direction of the present emu
lous and enlightened Khedive, who is having his daughters trained
by English governesses, and his sons by French and English pro
fessors. From our stand-point, the harem is the last school to be
chosen for the education of wives and mothers, of rulers and states
men. We see nothing here to shake our conviction that the
system of early Jewish polygamy is rendered more completely
degrading to woman as well as to man by its combination with
Mohammedan sensuality and jealousy.
We cannot leave this subject without instituting a comparison
between polygamy in Egypt and polygamy at Salt Lake. Happily*

AN EGYPTIAN GIRL.

497

the institution as established in Utah is free from the odious slave-
trade in women, by which the harems in the East, for a thousand
years, have been supplied by Circassia. Happily woman, on the
American Continent, has never been cursed with that odious and
disgusting class of police which the eastern harems have had from
the dawn of human history ; happily still, the forced attempt to
reestablish the institution in Utah is attended by the necessity of
educating the children, if not the inmates of the harem, up to the
standard of civilized Christian countries. From this contrast, we
think we may infer : first, that the wretched institution of polyg
amy is essentially and favorably modified at Salt Lake ; and second,
that, even with such modifications, it cannot long be maintained
there or elsewhere.

m&

A GIEI, OF OAIBO.

CHAPTER III.
CAIRO AND THE PYRAMIDS.
The Road to the Pyramids. — The Style of the Viceroy. — Interior of the Great Pyramid.
— The Sphinx. — Mariette Bey. — Use of the Pyramids. — Rapacious Arabs.— The
Phoenix. — The Site of On. — Ruins of Heliopolis. — The Tree of the Holy Family.—
Mohammed Tauphik. — The Americans in Egypt. — The Citadel of Cairo. — A Museum
of Antiquities. — Modern Cairo. — The Copts. — The Nilometer. — The Tombs of the
Caliphs. — The Cemeteries of Cairo. — The Mosques. — The Dancing Dervishes.— Ghe-
zireh. — Polygamy. — The Cairo of To-day.
Kasr Mudjii, May 9th.^-We have given the day to the Pyra
mids. They deserved it, as they have exhausted it. From the
time, twenty-five hundred years ago, when the Greek first ex
plored Egypt, until just now, a visit to the Pyramids was a labo
rious undertaking. Whether the traveller advanced toward them
from Alexandria, or only from Cairo, an infinite preparation, of
boats, and guides, and camels, of donkeys led and donkeys driven,
of tents and provisions, for a tedious and circuitous journey among
the dikes and. canals of the Nile, was requisite. Now, all this
is changed, or at least it has been changed for us. The Khe
dive, in preparing for the Suez-Canal celebration, built a high, em
banked road, across the valley of the Nile, to the very foot of the
Pyramids, planting it with full-grown shade-trees. He constructed
also a fine kiosk, at the base of the Pyramids, in the desert. These
improvements are popularly said to have been made as an especial
courtesy to the Empress Eugenie. We, however, have participated
in their benefits, just as we did in the use of the pier which was

THE PYRAMIDS.

499

built for the Duke of Edinburgh, at Elephanta, in India. We
made the journey, from our house to the Pyramids, in open ba
rouches, with four horses and postilions. We notice here a prac
tical difference in the style maintained by the British Viceroy of
India and that of the native Viceroy of Egypt. The former dresses
his postilions in the brilliant colors and graceful costumes of the
East, and caparisons his horses in leopard and tiger skins. The
Khedive copies the awkward liveries and trappings of the West :
his postilions are French jockeys.

THE PYEAMIDS OF GfZEIl.

The Pyramids have not disappointed us, as they do most travel
lers. Even at the greatest distance they do not seem diminutive.
We had reason to regret, however, that the Khedive's highway
did not continue into the interior of the great Pyramid of Cheops.
The only entrance is by an aperture which the Greeks found
hermetically sealed, and which is now partially opened. This
aperture is now forty feet above the ground, and is reached only
by climbing the outer wall. By the dim light admitted through
the aperture, we descended to the interior of the pyramid by
an inclined plane perhaps forty feet, and then, turning at right
38

500 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
angles, by another inclined plane a hundred feet, covered ankle-
deep with the sands accumulated for ages. Here the guides lighted
torches, and, making a zigzag way right and left, we walked half
bent along other planes, until we entered, through a very nar
row door, the lowest explored apartment in the pyramid, called the
" Queen's Chamber." It is perhaps twelve feet square. The walls
are of highly-polished red granite. The chamber is dark, silent,
and vacant. From it, by upward ways not less perplexing than
dangerous, we ascended to the greater apartment, called the
" King's Chamber," thirty feet by twenty, the walls like those of
the " Queen's Chamber." Near one end of the room is an immense
open sarcophagus, also of red granite. It was doubtless prepared
to receive the remains of the builder of the pyramid. But history
tells of no relics contained in it. It is exactly in the condition now
in which the first explorers described it two thousand years ago.
The feeblest utterance in either chamber produces stunning echoes
from the stupendous walls. The architects evidently had no idea
of ventilation. Instead of coming back as strong as when they
entered the " King's Chamber," the ladies, quite unconscious, were
literally borne out by the sturdy Arab guides.
The Sphinx, howeyer, is the most attractive of all the monu
ments. It is more than sixty feet high, its human head more than
twelve feet long, the nose four feet long, the mouth two feet wide.
Archaeology bears little testimony concerning the conception of
the Sphinx. It was built after the Pyramid of Cheops. Most of
the innumerable pictures of the Sphinx are in profile. A front
view shows that the face, especially the nose, has been mutilated.
Nevertheless the expression is one of supreme benignity. The
Sphinx does not seem to wonder while it excites the wonder of the
beholder. The effect cannot be conceived unless, together with the
colossal figure itself, we bring up its associations. Taken with
these, the grim gigantic Pyramids, the indefinable debris, and the
cloudless, treeless, limitless sterility of the scene, and they awaken
in the beholder imaginations of events and of men of whom
memory, history, and tradition, alike fail to impart any knowledge.
Mariette Bey, an indefatigable antiquary in the Khedive's service,

MARIETTE BEY.

501

has within the last six years excavated an area between Cheops
and the Sphinx, in which he found a subterranean temple. We
explored it. It is one story high, built entirely of red granite,

THE BPHIMX.

without arches, inscriptions, ornaments, painting, or sculpture of
any kind. It contains ten spacious chambers, all opening into
each other. Mariette Bey has been unable to form an opinion
whether this temple was designed as a place of worship of the
remains of the kings interred in the Pyramids, or whether it is a
temple erected for the worship of the god Anaraches, who is sup
posed by some antiquaries to be represented by the Sphinx.
No unsophisticated person, who for the first time sees the Pyra
mids, the sarcophagus of Cheops, the newly-disclosed temple, and

502 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the Sphinx, can for a moment doubt that they are simply sepulchres
of the dead, safe depositories, where the embalmed bodies of the
kings might rest in secure concealment during their appointed term.
We know from history that the ancient Egyptians believed, after a
manner, in the resurrection of the dead. They believed that the
departed spirit would pass through a series of migrations in inferior
animal forms, more or less happy or miserable according to their
deeds, when living as men ; that this period of migration would
continue three thousand years, and at the expiration of that term
they would return and resume the bodies they had originally in
habited, and enter into a new existence on the earth. In accord
ance with this beHef arose the ancient Egyptian custom of embalm
ing the bodies of the dead, and of preserving them in cases which
excluded the air and other elements, and depositing them thus pro
tected in dry, rocky caverns, hermetically sealed so as to defy the
prying search of man and beast.
Our exploration of the Pyramids was not altogether free from
the experience of which travellers always complain. A crowd of
rapacious Arabs gathered from the dismal hovels of the villages
around, who continually demand a backsheesh for services which
were officious and unsolicited. Half a dozen of these at every point
obstructed our way, under the pretence of showing it. One planted
himself at the foot of the Sphinx to serve as a standard by which to
measure its height. If you refuse their offer to carry you to the top
of the Pyramids, they run up the steep acclivity themselves like so
many lizards. You decline their support in walking through the
sands ; they compensate themselves for the denial by telling you
how the Pyramids and the Sphinx were raised in a single night.
Notwithstanding these annoyances, our excursion was successful,
and ended with a pleasant entertainment in the luxurious kiosk.
Cairo, May 10th. — Herodotus says, in his account of the Egyp
tians : " They have also another sacred bird, which, except in a pic
ture, I have never seen, and which is called the phoenix. . . . Accord
ing to the Heliopolitans, it comes there but once in five hundred
years, and then at the decease of the parent-bird. If it have any

THE SITE OF ON. 503
resemblance to its pictures, the wings are partly of a gold-color and
partly of a ruby-color, and in form and size it is perfectly like the
eagle. . . . They say that it comes from Arabia to the Temple of
the Sun, bearing the dead body of its parent enclosed in myrrh,
which it buries. It makes a ball of myrrh shaped like an egg, as
large as it is able to carry, which it proves by experiment ; this
done, it excavates the mass, and introduces the body of the dead
bird. It closes the aperture with myrrh., and the whole becomes
of the same weight as when composed only of myrrh. It then pro
ceeds to Egypt to the Temple of the Sun."
We drove this morning to the site of ancient On, otherwise
called Beth-shemesh (Heliopolis), ten miles northeast from Cairo,
twenty miles from ancient Memphis. Of course we found there no
"images," "no house of the sun," no city of Heliopolis, no phoe
nix, nor the grave of any
" lonely bird
Who sings at the last his own death-lay,
And in music and perfume dies away."
What we did find is a plain, with here and there a iow mound
of pulverized bricks. There is a dispute whether these debris are
the ruins of the Temple of the Sun or of the walls of the city. A
monolith obelisk of red granite rises between two of the mounds.
It is sixty-eight feet high, and bears an hieroglyphic inscription
which recites a date two thousand and eighty years before our era.
An Arabian historian of the middle ages describes another one,
which stood near the present obelisk, as an embellishment of the
Temple of the Sun. The ground at the base of the existing obelisk
has been excavated, and the pedestal is found buried to the depth
of six feet. It is inferred from this fact that the plain of the Nile
here has been raised by its inundations six feet in four thousand
years. On the west and south sides of the monument the bees
have made honey-comb dwellings, which completely cover the
inscriptions. The plain north of Heliopolis is strewed with rocks,
easily detected as having been formed by petrifaction, of fallen and
broken trees. It bears the euphonious name of the " Petrified

504 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
Forest." This is all that remains of On, where Joseph found his
wife — of that Beth-shemesh against which Jeremiah pronounced
the curse — all that remains of that Temple of the Sun, which was
the chosen cemetery of the Arabian phoenix, and later was the
school where Solon, Eudoxis, and Plato studied.
On our return to Cairo we stopped at Mataria ; here are the
remains of a garden, in which, according to Coptic tradition,
accepted by the Roman Church, was the home of the Virgin, the
Holy Child, and Joseph, in their flight from the dreadful decree
of Herod. They showed us here, not only the very sycamore-tree
which afforded shade to the Holy Family, but a natural spring in
which the linen of the Divine Infant was washed. * We are told
that the Khedive presented the tree to the Empress Eugenie. We
are thankful that she did not remove it, so as to deprive us of the
physical and moral virtue, if any, which its foliage imparts.
This morning visits were exchanged between Mr. Seward and
Mohammed Tauphik, eldest son and heir-apparent of the Khedive.
He is about twenty, handsome, intelligent, and carefully educated
by European masters. We learn that his sagacious father, not
withstanding religious prejudices, insists upon Tauphik's mingling
freely with European society. Mr. Seward is also visited by the
Khedive's ministers, some one among them dining at Kasr Mudjii
every day. Ch^rif Pacha, president of the Council of State, and
prime-minister, is a very able and sagacious statesman. Noubar
Pacha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is an Armenian Christian, spir
ited and well informed, but somewhat restless under the restraint
imposed on the Khedive's government by the Christian powers, as
well as by the Ottoman Porte.
The Americans in Egypt are a mixed though interesting
family. The Khedive is reorganizing his army on the Western
system of evolutions and tactics. For this purpose he has taken
the loyal General Stone as chief-of-staff, and the loyal General
Mott as aide-de-camp, and with these some eight or ten military
men who distinguished themselves in the Confederate army. All
of these Americans visited Mr. Seward to-day. While he expressed
pride and satisfaction in finding his countrymen thus honorably

THE CITADEL OF CAIRO. 505
trusted and employed in a foreign service, he nevertheless
remarked, with characteristic tenacity, that he disapproved and
lamented a proscriptive policy at home, which exiled even former
rebels to foreign lands ; but it was due to the American people to
confess that, in no other civil war, had the victorious party prac
tised so great magnanimity as the party of the Union has done.
May 11th. — Although the citadel of Cairo has been lendered
unreliable as a fortress, it very justly excites admiration. Like
those of India which we saw, it is a combination of fortifications,
palaces, and mosques. It stands on a rocky bluff of the desert,
three hundred feet above the Nile, and, while it overlooks the
entire city, it commands a view not only of the Pyramids of Gizeh,
but also those of Lucena, and a view of the Nile, from ancient
Memphis, far down the Delta. A well which supplies water to the
citadel is an object of much curiosity and interest. It was exca
vated by Salah-ed-dyn (Saladin), otherwise known as Yussef-ebn-
Ayoub, and from him called Joseph's well. It is two hundred and
seventy feet deep, and consists of two stories or chambers. The
water is raised from the bottom one hundred and twenty feet into
the chamber, worked by men stationed at the bottom. Thence
it is brought to the top of the well by another mechanical process.
A winding staircase leads from top to bottom. Popular supersti
tion, seizing on the legendary history of the patriarch Joseph, long
regarded him, and not Saladin, as the Yussef who made the well ;
and at last, by an exercise of still greater credulity, it has come to
be regarded, irrespective of topographical evidence to the contrary,
as the veritable "pit" into which Jacob's pious son was thrown by
his naughty brethren, in revenge for his having received a pretty
coat. We see also in the citadel the court in which the Mamelukes
were treacherously massacred by order of Mehemet Ali in 1811.
The magnificent palace of Saladin, its audience-chamber graced with
thirty-two majestic monolith columns, was injured thirty years
ago by an explosion which necessitated its removal. In its stead
was built the last elegant palace of Mehemet Ali, which is now

506 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the residence of the young prince Mohammed Tauphik. But a
more imposing modern structure, however, in the citadel, is the
mosque of Mehemet AH, and the tomb of that great chief and
ruler. The mosque, which, by reason of its advantageous site, its
grand dimensions, and its lofty dome and minarets, is the most
conspicuous and admired object in Cairo, is of purely Saracenic
construction. Within and without, including walls, pavements,
columns, and dome, the material is Oriental alabaster. The
mosques we saw in India, though many of them have a more ex
quisite beauty, pretend to no such grandeur as this mosque of Me
hemet Ali. An order from the Khedive opened it to us, not as
tourists, but as guests. The remains of Mehemet Ali rest in an
immense alabaster sarcophagus, always covered with rich tapestry.
The cover was removed, and disclosed an elaborateness of work
manship and inscriptions worthy of the restorer of Egypt.
The Jews, in the time of the patriarchs, found Egypt a store
house of wheat ; the Greeks, at a later period, found it a store
house of monuments and relics. With the loss of its ancient policy
of government, and with the exhaustion, if not extirpation, of the
early races, the country has, since that time, been unable to defend
itself, much less to preserve those invaluable treasures. The West
ern nations have been violent and rapacious in carrying them away.
Monolith granite obelisks and monolith sarcophagi of porphyry,
not to speak of marble statuary, the spoils of Egyptj are found in
Constantinople, Rome, Naples, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Lon
don. The ornaments of its queens, the domestic utensils of its
people, their provisions and medicines, and even its exhumed dead
in their grave-clothes and coffins, are exhibited in the same capitals,
or hawked as spectacles over the civilized world for " a shilling a
sight, children half price." Those who have no better opportunity
to examine the antiquities of that wonderful country, may with
advantage study it in those stolen monuments and refics. They
are, however, inadequate to convey an exact idea of the ancient
civilization of Egypt. In regard to that study, they are what
zoological gardens are to the knowledge of foreign animal races, or
what exotic plants in a greenhouse are to tropical vegetation.

THE CITY OF CAIRO.

507

Ismail Pacha has kept Mariette Bey well employed since 1863 in
the task of saving such of these invaluable relics as yet remain in
the country. The collection which has been made is not so vast
as the stores which are scattered in foreign countries, but is of
vastly greater worth than any one of the foreign museums. The
monuments, tablets, hieroglyphs, images, ornaments, pictures, and
relics, which it contains, are seen here in the very region where
they were first produced, and in just relation to the different re
gions of the country, and of the different eras of its history.
May 12th. — We must drop the antiquities of Egypt for a day or
two, and confine ourselves to modern times and the city of Cairo.

HhbuS

A STREET IN CAIRO.

It is a Mohammedan creation, and was founded about a. d. 970 by
Moez, an Arab caliph from Western Africa, who called it El Kahi-
reh, or "The Victorious." Its first site was at Fostatt eight miles

508 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
up the river. The original site is now called Old Cairo. The gov
ernment, transferred its seat from Old Cairo to the present city in
the twelfth century. Our visit to the old city was full of interest.
There is the " House of Light " (Kasr-ech-chama), which, like the
citadel at New Cairo, was at once a citadel and a palace of the first
Mussulman rulers. From some unknown cause, this great Mussul
man ruin has become the retreat and home of the Copts. Though
they have partially mixed their blood with their Nubian and Ara
bian neighbors on either side, they are universally recognized as
the only true descendants of the ancient Egyptian race. They ac
cepted Christianity in the first century, and, adopting the asceti
cism which was affected by the disciples of our faith in that early
period, they incorporated a church with a powerful hierarchy and
monastic institutions, the models perhaps of those institutions that
have so long existed throughout Christendom. They established a
litany. Although now reduced in number to one hundred and
fifty thousand in Egypt, they still preserve their hierarchy, those
monastic institutions, and that litany. In the great theological
dispute which distracted Christendom from the fourth century to
the tenth, they rejected equally the supremacy of the Patriarch at
Constantinople and that of the Bishop of Rome. In the main
they go with the Roman Church in requiring celibacy for the clergy,
while they adhere with the Greek Church to the abstruse meta
physical doctrines that, after the incarnation of the Saviour, His
nature was one, and not a double nature, and that the Holy Ghost
"proceeds," not "from the Father and the Son," but from the Fa
ther alone.
The Copts have at least two convents, perhaps more, in the old
" House of Light." We visited that of St. George ; a part of it is,
beyond all doubt, much older than modern Cairo. This part is a
cave, in which there is a Christian church, which contains carvings,
pictures, and inscriptions, illustrating the Nativity and the sojourn
of the Holy Family in Egypt. The Copts universally hold to the
tradition that Joseph, Mary, and the child, dwelt in this cave, and
that the church was built on the consecrated place to preserve it.
The cave, or, as it is here called, the grotto, is divided into three

STREET IN CAIRO.

THE TOMBS OF CALIPHS. 509
chambers, an outer, an interior, and a middle one. In the first is a
Coptic baptismal font ; in the second, within a niche, a stone bear
ing the impress of the Saviour's foot ; in the third, a similar track.
The so-called Tombs of the Caliphs constitute a feature of Cairo
which no traveller neglects. They are situated just outside of the
Bab-el-Nini (Gate of Victory). They are the tombs, however, not
of the Mohammedan conquerors, but of their Mameluke successors.
These structures, like the imambarras of the Moguls, are mosques.
They are fine specimens of the Saracenic style, but have no pre
tension to grandeur. Surrounded by the sands of the Desert, they
are falling to decay and dilapidation. Many of them contain fine
Arabesque wood- carvings. A visit to the sepulchres of the count
less sovereigns of Egypt may well make one doubt whether the
ambition to be remembered after death is even wise. At least it is
possible to be remembered too long. Who cares now for Cheops,
even if his ashes still remain secure within his majestic tomb?
Who is there living now to honor or delight in the memory of
Sesostris or Barneses? Who can envy the Mameluke Sultans,
whose tombs are resolving themselves into the sands of the desert,
while their hated race has been extirpated from the country over
which they tyrannized ?
It was a relief, after an inspection of the tombs of the Mame
lukes, to visit the modern cemeteries of Cairo. The ruling
family, and perhaps others, occasionally build mosques over their
tombs, but smaller and less imposing even than those of the Mame
lukes. The Khedive has erected a mosque which covers the re
mains of Said Pacha and other members of his family. Here, as in
most of the monumental mosques, prayers are hourly chanted, year
after year, by lay readers employed for that purpose. The tombs
are invariably of white marble, gaudily painted in oil. A carved
tarboosh at the head of the monument indicates that the sleeper is
a man; a veil, that it is a woman.
Cairo has three hundred mosques. This is only saying in an
other way that Cairo is one of the most beautiful of all cities, inso
much as the gentle slope of its site, from the desert to the river-
bank, allows every imposing structure its full effect ; and, of all

510

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

architectural forms, the mosque, with its always graceful domes and
slender minarets, is the most pleasing. The Mosque of Amrou,
lieutenant of the Caliph Omar, in the old city, built in 642, is not
only the oldest mosque of Cairo, but the oldest in the world. In a
state of dilapidation, enough only of the structure remains to give
an idea of its original grandeur and simplicity. The columns of

MOSQUE AND HOUSES IN CAIRO.

granite and porphyry, which it borrowed from the temples of a
more ancient worship at Memphis, have disappeared, and the mar
ble tablets, on which the full text of the Koran was written, have
gone with them.
Next after the Mosque of Mehemet Ali, already described, the
most important is that of Ahmed-ebn-Souloun, built in 877, in the

THE MOSQUES OF CAIRO. 511
earliest Saracenic style. It is two hundred feet by one hundred.
Another very grand mosque of Azhar, though built nine hundred
years ago, was repaired in 1672, and is in admirable preservation.
Its principal use, however, is not that of religious worship. It is
the most popular university in Egypt. The scientific course pur
sued here embraces the Koran, versification, grammar, civil law,
commercial law, and ecclesiastical law. Two thousand students, of
different ages and sizes, sit on the floor in circles, whose circum
ference is as regular as if they had been described by the com
pass. They sit cross-legged, facing inward, while the professors
stand at convenient distances so as to hear and instruct several
circles. Each student has a book before him, and commits its text
to memory by rehearsal, constantly swinging backward and for
ward during the exercise, not only the students in one circle, but
all the students in all the circles rehearsing in chorus. We inquired
in which of the schools of philosophy of ancient Egypt this form of
instruction was instituted, but received no satisfactory answer. We
think it must have originated at the Tower of Babel !
Mosques in Mohammedan cities, Hke temples in pagan coun
tries and churches in a Christian land, are so much alike, that wan
dering through them becomes monotonous. We finished our tour
with a visit to a mosque of dancing dervishes. The mosque is a
rude, unfurnished structure, containing one square room for men,
with a circular gallery for women. It is open to spectators, though
few were present on this occasion. The brethren came into the
chamber and took seats on the floor within the railing. They wore
a uniform habit, consisting of brown serge, extending from neck to
feet, with full skirt, and fastened with a girdle, and a round, high
hat made of gray felt. It was easy to see that they arrayed them
selves according to fixed order. The sheik entered and took his
seat on the floor, directly opposite to the lay members. His cos
tume differed from theirs only in being of a purple color. When
he had taken his seat, a brother rose, walked slowly around the
chamber, and made a salutation to the superior. Each other broth
er followed performing the same ceremony. A strain of solemn
music, on the flute, was heard from an upper recess, whereupon

512

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

the brothers rose, one after another, and began a whirling motion,
at first slow, but gradually increasing in rapidity, the right arm
stretched upward and the left correspondingly depressed, as a bal-

1NTEEIOK OF A MOSQUE. CAIRO.

ance. Their full, heavy skirts had weights at the bottom which
held them down while they expanded like round sails with the
movement. This dizzy exercise continued until the entire body of
the brotherhood were spinning around like so many tops, their
dresses spreading out over their feet. The performance had lasted,
as we thought, about an hour, when the music suddenly ceased, as
if the musicians instead of the dancers had given out, and, on the
instant of the music ceasing, they came to a rest. Then they
walked in solemn procession around the room, each making a

GHEZIREH. 513
salam to the superior. All the dervishes were men of full age.
save one, a boy of twelve, who for some reason seemed to be held
in great respect as a leader. He whirled with greater gravity, if
possible, than his companions. We supposed him to be designated
by birth or some other cause for preferment. The dervishes
withdrew from the mosque without any manifestations of sancti
mony, and, when we met them after the exercises, they seemed to
us as cheerful and business-like as mechanics and artisans. They
made no show of mendicity. It would be a curious study to trace
to their source, in a common principle of human nature, the wor
ship of the Shakers in our own country and that of the dancing
dervishes of the East.
Having been received by the Khedive and his family, and domi
ciled in one of the state palaces, it would have seemed to us a mani
festation of unbecoming curiosity to visit the other viceroyal
residences. But the palaces of princes are objects of pride to them,
as villas, mansions, and cottages, are to humbler proprietors. The
Khedive intimated to us that the ladies of his family would have
notice of our coming, and so our visits to the other palaces would
not take them by surprise. Most of these palaces are simpler and
plainer, and more after the European style, than we had supposed.
Shobia is the most pleasant one. It is a palace built and arranged
in a quadrangular -form, exclusively for social entertainments, and
encloses a lake of two or three acres, which is filled with curious
fishes, and rare aquatic birds. All its halls, corridors, reception-
rooms, banqueting-halls, billiard-rooms, and baths, connect with
each other. The Khedive has been especially lavish in enlarging
and embellishing Ghezireh, which is the most favored home of the
princesses, although they always attend him wherever he resides or
sojourns. It was manifest, on arriving there, that the Khedive's
instruction for an admission had not yet reached the palace. The
Nubian eunuchs drew swords upon us. We sauntered in the gar
dens while waiting for the necessary explanations to be made.
These gardens are laid out on the European plan, and exhibit a
blaze of scarlet geraniums, and yellow flowering plants, without a
trace of white, blue, or purple. Chinese gardening has been adopted
39

514 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
to produce a rocky mound on an island, in a pretty artificial lake,
and in the mound is a picturesque labyrinthian grotto, divided into
Moorish chambers, refreshment-rooms, drawing-rooms, and pavil
ions ; while Hght is flashed upon you at every turn by innumerable
stalactites, mirrors, fountains, and cascades. Coming upon earth
again, from this fairy subterranean maze, we wandered through
the extensive menagerie, meeting, on the way, the princess-wife,
whom the ladies had seen at Kasr AH. She was enjoying a sunset
promenade, attended by a long train of ladies, slave-girls, and
inevitable eunuchs. The princess was arrayed in a dress of orange-
and-white shot silk, which completely enveloped her tall, graceful
figure, and covered the lower part of her face. Her eyes were par
tially veiled with the customary, very becoming, single fold of white
illusion. She interposed her little green parasol between her eyes
and our party as dexterously as a Broadway coquette. The women
of the seraglio were looking down upon us through latticed win
dows, when the captain of the eunuch-guard opened the doors, with
an apology for the previous delay, and proceeded to execute his
instructions by showing us a long range of luxurious apartments.
Gilded ceilings, marble floors, Persian carpets, damask divans, and
French mirrors, alone justify the preference of the inmates for
Ghezireh. A cultivated Western taste would have introduced
here books, paintings, statuary, and a thousand works of art and
beauty, but we found nothing of the sort, except one table of Flor
entine mosaic, which was presented to the Khedive by Victor
Emmanuel. Is this a place and time to renew our speculations concerning
the harem as a domestic institution ? The Mohammedan provision
for woman is a prison in which her sufferings from jealousy are
consoled by the indulgence of her vanity. She is allowed the so
ciety of her own sex with far less restraint than is ordinarily sup
posed, and she displays before her visiting friends with pride the
wealth and ornaments which lighten her chains. She goes abroad
in Cairo, but always in her carriage, and looks upon the busy world
in the streets with veiled eyes and under surveillance. She attends
her lord in his state progresses from palace to palace in Egypt)

CHARACTERISTICS OF CAIRO. 515
from Cairo to Alexandria, and from Alexandria to Stamboul. But
she goes no farther, and never alone. She never reads, and, so far
as possible, is required never to think. The Mohammedan law de
clares that the supreme object of her existence is to be married,
and to have children for the benefit of the state ; to be unmar
ried, even to be widowed, is a reproach, and to die in either of
those conditions is to forfeit happiness in a future state. It is
true, indeed, that, though she fulfils her appointed duties and
destiny in obedience to the law as well as she may, she has not
even in that case the promise of association with the faithful in
paradise. For them houris are appointed, an especial creation,
more beautiful, more fascinating than woman.' For the faithful
Mohammedan wife there is reserved, however, in paradise, a condi
tion which, while it is a seclusion from the other sex, is gay, glo
rious, and perfectly happy.
The Cairo of to-day is not entirely the same Cairo which " Eo-
then" and the "Howadji" have so well described. This active,
restless, innovating Khedive, Ismail Pacha, lays out and paves broad
and direct avenues, plants spacious parks and gardens, and builds
or buys European hotels, banking-houses, warehouses, and what not,
to such an extent that a sojourner here, who confines himself with
in the improved district, might fancy himself in Vienna or- Milan.
Nevertheless, the Grand Cairo of history and of romance, the Cairo
of the "Arabian Nights," of Saladin, and the Mamelukes, remains a
great city, a maze of majestic mosques, latticed palaces, and brilliant
bazaars, variously built of stone, unburnt brick, and of wood, all
streaked fantastically with red and yeHow paint, and quaintly orna
mented in Moorish arabesque. The narrow streets, sometimes too
narrow for any travelling beast but the donkey, often end in a cul-
de-sac, while other streets, winding, turning, and twisting, lose them
selves in close, dark, mysterious courts, or come out upon acacia
avenues leading to steaming baths and sparkling fountains. The
people of all'sorts, conditions, occupations, and races, known among
men, seem contented with themselves, and equally gentle toward all
comers. The Italian, the French, the English, the American, and
the German, jostle alike the children of Ishmael and the children

516

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

of Israel, the Greek, the Copt, the Berber, the Abyssinian, the
Nubian, and the Soumalan.
The merchandise carried on here is as various as the races, sup
plying equally all the luxuries of courts and the lowest wants of
the nomadic tribes of the Arabian and Libyan Deserts, not to
speak of the supply of the traveUer with antiques and articles of
vertu. We noticed the sign of an ingenuous as well as ingenious
Italian that he fabricates and sells "Egyptian relics."

CAIRO, FEOM TUE EAST.

CHAPTER IV.
UP THE NILE.
Embarkation at Ghizeh. — The Pyramids of Saccara. — The Two Deserts. — Siout. — The
American Vice-Consul. — Sultan Pacha. — Character of the Nile. — Slave Boats — Arab
Villagers. — The Birds of the Nile. — The Population on the Banks. — Domestic Ani
mals.— Personal Arrangements. — A Tippling Monkey.
Rhodah, on the Nile, May 12th. — We shall never cease to felici
tate ourselves that we had sufficient resolution to go to the Great
Wall of China, though it was November ; and through India,
though so late as March. We are not particularly satisfied with
ourselves for having yielded to remonstrance, and given up our
projected visit to the Euphrates. An excursion on the Nile in
May is equally contraband. Though the Khedive has provided for
it like a prince, yet, like a judicious merchant, he warns us that he
does not insure our lives.
We took our seats in a special railway -train at Ghizeh, on the
west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, at one this afternoon ;' and
now, after a journey of two hundred and ninety miles, we are em
barked in the steam-yacht Crocodile. Our journey at the very be
ginning afforded us one of the most beautiful views which the val
ley of the Nile presents. On our right, the Libyan Desert, with
its eternal sentinels, the Pyramids. The river winds almost at
right angles toward the east, and is covered with lateen-sail-boats
freighted with the grains and fruits of Southern Africa. Before us
the undulating bank beneath the cliffs of the Arabian Desert

518 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
stretches out widely, and displays endless groves of mimosa-trees
and date-palms. Below these, and on our left, is the great city of
Cairo, crowning the acclivity from the water's edge to its towering
citadel. The rainless clouds are pierced by the slender, gleaming
minarets of the great historical mosque, whose walls are lost in the
distance. We had not lost sight of Cheops and Cephren, when we came
directly under the^ shadow of the Pyramids of Saccara, hke the
former sepulchral monuments of departed kings, but of inferior
magnitude. We passed, as we were assured, over the site of an
cient Memphis, without seeing one stone resting on another there.
More of this, however, when we shall come down the Nile.
Rhodah has three distinctions : it is the southern terminus of
the great Railroad of the Nile, which begins at Alexandria ; it has
a palace of the Khedive ; and extensive sugar-manufactories, which
are his private property. The people received us kindly here, and
conducted us to the yacht, with the courtesies of a pleasant sere
nade, torch-lights and bonfires.
Siout, May 13th. — The mountains of the two deserts, between
which the Nile makes its way, are much nearer than we had sup
posed. Alternately the Arabian Desert and the Libyan one crowds
the river, and gives it a serpentine direction. These promontories
oftea rise abruptly to the height of a thousand feet, leaving scarcely
a ribbon-width of green plain at their feet. We passed such a
one yesterday, which was terraced from the river's surface far up
toward its summit with galleries of vaulted tombs excavated in the
rock*, and long since rifled of their deposits. Many of these tombs
have now living Arab tenants.
This afternoon we planted our mooring-stake for the first time,
in the high shelving bank of the river near this town, the name of
which we write from a French map Siout, but which English
travellers call Assiout. Now the flourishing capital of Upper
Egypt, it is in history Lycoptera, the "Town of the Wolf," or, as
the ancient Egyptians named their towns from their temples, the
" Town of the Temple of the Wolf." Whatever else its present in-

SIOUT.

519

habitants may do now, they do not worship the most ferocious and
cowardly of wild beasts. Siout is the terminus of a caravan-trade
which penetrates through the Libyan Desert to the great Oasis.
The population is thirty thousand. One-third are Copts. The
streets are narrow, the thronged bazaars fiUed with cheap articles
of trade, the buildings either of stone or adobe. One or two
mosques redeem the city from a general aspect of vulgarity and
meanness. The town is built on the edge of the Libyan Desert.
The plain, somewhat more than a mile wide between it and the
river, is annually inundated, but the traveller passes safely over it
on a broad embankment, which must have been built as long ago
as when the dwellers of the place confessed the wolf for their god.
Our chief interest at Siout consists in the insight it gives of the
ancient Egyptian form of burial. The abrupt rocky desert face,
which looks down over the place, is pierced with sepulchral caves.
These caves are of vast extent and are divided into numerous cham
bers ; all are dark, but, with the aid of torch-Hght, we found them
hewn and chiselled with elaborate architectural shapes, with por
tals, columns, roof, and architraves. While we were pushing our
exploration, Freeman feU from the floor on which we stood, into
another chamber four or five feet below. He was unhurt, but
after it we concluded to leave the million bats and owls within to
the quiet enjoyment of their at least possessory right.
The Governor of Upper Egypt, Sultan Pacha, has a palace here,
and with his staff has kindly accompanied us in our excursion.
The United States vice-consul here is a native, though an
Armenian Christian. He has entertained us at his house, and
brought around us his sons and many of his neighbors. Being a
man of wealth, he prides himself on his dwelling, which he fondly
thinks he has built on European plans. It is at least an improve
ment on the Egyptian style. We entered it from the street, by
crossing a barrier two feet high at the door, and descending without
steps to what seemed a basement, but proved to be a broad vesti
bule, paved with solid stone, and covered with sand three inches
deep. We made our way through a dark gallery, without pave
ment or floor, to the lofty consular saloon, with a divan stretching

520 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
across one end, a row of attendants on either side, and a table in
the centre. The room has -no external ventilation of door or win
dow, and is lighted day and night by lamps burning American
petroleum. The reception was extremely kind, but, for want of
acquaintance with Western manners, was excessively ceremonious
and tedious. Coffee, champagne, sherbets, bonbons, and chibouques,
were served, and many African curiosities presented to us. The
consul insisted that we should stop on our return, and enjoy an
entertainment of native music and dancing. We returned to our
yacht, where Mr. Seward entertained Sultan Pacha and the vice-
consul at dinner. The governor, a dignified and courteous man,
was only once beyond the borders of Egypt ; this was when he
went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The vice-consul has never been
beyond the summit of the deserts between which he was born.
Both expressed great wonder at Mr. Seward making such long
travels, and plied him with questions concerning the United States,
of which they have only the one idea, that it is a land of universal
freedom and unmixed happiness. The governor is making an offi
cial voyage, through Upper Egypt, in his own steam-yacht. We shall
see more of him. We sleep to-night, as last night, under strains of
music, and with an illumination blazing on the shore.
On the Crocodile, May 14th. — So far as circumstances and in
cidents are concerned, the experience of one day on the Nile is
that of every day ; even the scenery, though unique and pictu
resque, is monotonous. The river swells in the middle of June, and
attains its greatest height about the first of October, after which it
falls continually lower until the next annual flood. It is now near
its lowest stage. The soil of the valley is not different from that
of the Mississippi. The river is of very unequal width ; in some
places ten rods wide, at others it spreads into shallow lakes, which
leave scarcely any tillable land on either bank. Like the great
American river, it is always changing its channel, wearing away a
high and fertile bank on one side, and transferring the soil to posi
tions lower down and on the opposite side. At every point of the
voyage, the entire width of the valley is seen. Its average is six

THE CANALS OF EGYPT. 521
miles. Irrigation fertilizes every acre; the water, at whatever
stage, is raised for that purpose by all the contrivances known
to Prof. Ewbank, from the primitive well-sweep and bucket, and
the endless chain and pitcher worked by mules and oxen, to the
steam-engine, which is employed on the great sugar-plantations.
So many channels are made for distributing water over the sur
face, that Egypt truly boasts of more miles of canal than Java, China,
India, Holland, or the United States. The mountains on either side
are of solid rock, varying from sandstone to limestone and granite.
Huge bowlders of aU these rocks are seen on either declivity, or
resting in the valley ; but the river-bed itself is free from stone.
We are now five hundred miles from its mouths, and yet, through
out all that distance, there is not a rock which hinders navigation.
Sand-bars formed by shifting currents render navigation, at low
water, impossible for vessels drawing more than three feet, and
even those venture to move only by daylight. The downward cur
rent is everywhere strong. Our yacht makes only five miles an
hour against it, although our motor is an engine of forty horse
power. The only relief we have from the intense heat comes
with frequent changes of the wind from south to north. At every
turn we see, on the one bank or on the other, clumps of dwarf
cypress, and of palmetto, or of date-palms. With these exceptions,
there is nothing of forest, and, of course, little of shade. We can
well imagine that tourists, more fortunate in their choice of season,
sailing on a full river, level with its banks, find the country
exceedingly beautiful, the broad plains being then covered with
wheat, Indian-corn, rice, lentils, sunflowers, cotton, sugar, and
tobacco — a magnificent display of verdure under the frowns of two
gigantic deserts. Such enjoyment, however, is not for us. The
cultivated banks are higher than the chimneys of our steamboat ;
we catch only an occasional glimpse of the fields, now in their
brownest and most exhausted condition. No rain has fallen for
a year. Not a cloud passes, between the sun and the soil, by
day or by night. The earth is parched and cracked ; the winds,
which in other climates amuse themselves by driving storms of rain
and snow over the earth, here make their wild sport only with the

522 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
black dust of the valley and the yellow sands of the desert. For all
this, the voyage is, none the less, one of deep interest. The valley,
more than a thousand miles long, is densely inhabited. Like the
great river of China, the Nile is animated by travel and traffic.
Three classes of boats are employed : the steamer, of course small,
and only recently introduced, is, as yet, monopolized by the Gov
ernment ; second, the dahabeeh, a boat using the lateen-sail, grace
fully constructed and gayly painted ; third, the vastly more numer
ous and effective class of small boats, also using the lateen-sails,
and managed by the natives. These bring down to Cairo the
surplus produce of Upper Egypt, and carry back merchandise,
chiefly of the cheapest and coarsest clothing, and indispensable
utensils and articles of furniture. Occasionally, too, one of these
boats is seen, in spite of all foreign protests, and of the Khedive's
interdiction, bearing a group of jet-black men, women, and chil
dren, whom some native African chief, beyond the Egyptian bor
der, has sold as prisoners of war, or exchanged for the trinkets so
highly valued in savage life. They do not seem unhappy. Moham
medan slavery, in fact, wears rather the character of domestic ser
vice than of exhausting labor and hard bondage.
The people cluster in towns on the banks, in small, low, oven-
shaped dwellings of sunburnt brick, without windows. A house
of two stories indicates the residence of a successful merchant or
speculator. It is sure to be ornamented with Venetian blinds,
painted brown. Its double-latticed, narrow windows are designed
to indicate that its proprietor is a Mohammedan, blessed with a
harem. The Mohammedan church maintains, through all ad
ministrations, its rich foundations of mortmain. The mosque,
therefore, dominates everywhere. Aquatic birds swarm on the
beach and the sand-bars — cranes, ducks, geese, bright flamingoes,
and stately vultures. Not the splashing of our propeller, nor even
the shrill steam-whistle, startles one of these birds. The crocodile
was a native of the Nile, and in the ancient mythology a god. All
books of travel written twenty or thirty years ago are filled with
accounts of that hideous monster. Champollion relates that he
saw fourteen at one time. It has entirely disappeared since the in-

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. 523
traduction of the steamboat, and the traveller who should speak of
seeing a crocodile below the cataracts would be thought as extrava
gant as Sinbad.
The inhabitants are nearly all fellahs. A large portion of them
are of Arabian descent, often intermixed with the more swarthy
Abyssinian and black Nubian. They are strong, slender, and pa
tient. A very small class, consisting of official persons, merchants,
or " middle-men," wear a white Moorish turban or red tarboosh,
and dress quite tastefully in black-cloth coats and white panta
loons, imported by wholesale from England. But the common
people uniformly wear the heavy turban and blue-cotton blouse,
with bare feet and legs. No one of any class, however, neglects
to carry a camel's-wool cloak, butternut colored, for his bed at
night. The children, as in other tropical countries, wear nothing.
Ophthalmia is universally prevalent. Women,-either Mohammedans
or Copts, are never seen with men in either town, country, or vil
lage. They are seen only occasionally, and then in small groups,
but, on being approached, they timidly hide themselves in their
wide blue mantles, and retire to the road-side or into some dark
corner. It is painful to notice how much toil and time are ex
pended for domestic wants ; but for the people it seems only a pleas
ant exercise. The Nile is the one indispensable supply of the com
fort of life. Men are seen everywhere driving their small herds into
the river for drinking and bathing, and, on their return, bringing
home a domestic supply of the water in skin-bottles. At sunset
and sunrise women are seen coming in long, dark processions from
distant towns, by winding paths, to the water-side, and, as in
patriarchal times, bearing the family supply in large earthen urns
poised gracefully on their heads.
There is no lack of domestic animals among this people. The
horse is small, but strong and well shaped. The ugly water-ox is
the beast of the plough ; the donkey is the common carrier of the
country ; while the camel not only shares that labor with him, but
also labors in the field. There are immense flocks of sheep and
goats, the latter all black. It is difficult to decide which party
manifests the greater affection, the fellah for his mute beast, or

524

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

the donkey for his kind and gentle master. They are insepara
ble. The Arab is violent in altercation with his fellow-man, and
often deals a passionate blow, but he never strikes or reproaches

A WOMAN ON THE NILE.

his beast. The people, isolated from all other races, show a great
fondness for birds. We have heard the report of neither rifle nor
fowling-piece, and every house in every town has a fanciful dove
cote with alluring twigs at its windows. Although the Arabs have
no prejudice against animal food, the domestic pigeon is held as sa
cred here as robin red-breast is in Massachusetts. Pigeons have
multiplied so much that political economists compute their consump
tion of the products of the valley at one-twentieth part. When we
reason with a native on the subject of this extravagance, he replies
that the bird compensates for it by supplying guano for the pro
duction of water-melons.

OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 525
A word now of our personal experience in the voyage. The
weather is intensely hot, and of course grows hotter as we go south.
Our party, including Betts Bey, consists of four and our three ser
vants. Each passenger has a large state-room opening into a
comfortable after-cabin. The forward-cabin was arranged as a
dining-room, but Mr. Seward overrules the arrangement, and causes
the table to be spread always under an awning on the after-deck,
and he persists also in using the same airy apartment for his own
sleeping-room. It is impossible for us to be on shore in the day
time, on account of the insufferable heat. We make our calcula
tions, therefore, to move up the river in the middle of the day, rest
ing, sleeping, trying to keep cool, and writing our notes. We go
ashore at as early an hour as possible before sunrise, and at as early
an hour as possible after sunset. At every landing-place the au
thorities, having been apprised of our coming, are found awaiting
us with the chairs, horses, camels, mules, and donkeys, needed.
Whether we dine on board or in a ruined temple on the shore,
the servants who attend us spread the table with the same abun
dant and delicate supplies as at Cairo. Our captain and crew
belong to the naval service, and are skilful and polite. The cap
tain never fails personally to provide our Mocha coffee, flavored
with attar of roses, as in the Turkish harem. Chibouques, exqui
sitely wrought and loaded with gems, are served at every meal by
a personage whose sole duty in this life is to keep them safe and
sweet. Instead of iced water, we have water cooled in porous
earthen jars, which are hung over the stern of the boat. The wine
is cooled by laying the bottles well corked in the troughs of the
boat, and pouring a stream of river-water over them. A small
Abyssinian monkey affords us infinite amusement by stealing these
bottles, extracting the corks, pouring the wine into the gutter, and
drinking it thence until he attains the height of human intoxica
tion. We attempted to correct this habit by chastising him, but he
dropped from our hands into the river, and instantly disappeared.
After searching river and bank three hours for him, we gave him
up for lost, when, to our surprise, he appeared squatted on the seat
of the life-boat which was swinging at the stern.

CHAPTER V.
FROM ABYDOS TO THEBES.
The Rains of Abydos. — The Sheik of Bellianeh. — A Misunderstanding. — A Dinner in the
Ruins. — A Night in the Temple. — Exploring the Ruins. — By whom were they built?,
— Germs of Religious Ideas. — The Temple of Dendera. — Mr. Seward's Birthday.
Abydos, May 15th. — Though we were unfortunate in reaching
Bellianeh at a late hour last evening, we found sedan-chairs, fellahs,
donkeys, and camels, awaiting us on the river-bank. The sheik
of the district, and the United States vice-consul, a Copt, met us,
and proceeded with us immediately to the ruins, where we now
write. These ruins stand on the verge of the Libyan Desert, and over
look the level plain of the Nile, here seven miles wide. Mr. Sew
ard came in a chair, the ladies on donkeys, the official persons on
horseback, the servant!, the beds, and the provisions for the night,
on camels. It happened unavoidably that the procession broke
into groups, which left some of its members without guides whom
they could recognize. Night came on before we crossed the plain.
We arrived at an Arab village, passing through very narrow and
crooked streets, and under low Moorish arches. There we alighted
and climbed some stone steps, by the light of torches held out
for our guidance. We entered a court, or chamber, which opens
to the sky. How could we doubt that we were at least in the
vestibule of the Temple of Memnon ? It was a surprise to have
the room quickly though feebly lighted up, and to find the floor ¦

THE TEMPLE OF MEMNON. 527
covered with Persian carpets, on which divans were placed, and to
have Arab servants come in loaded with water-melons, rose-water,
coffee, and chibouques. Impatient to bivouac, we asked for the
rest of the party, but it did not come up. We now noticed that no
part of our own furniture or baggage had come in. Was this the
Temple of Memnon ? If not, Why and by whom were we received
here with so much courtesy ? If it was that temple, it was a very
small one for so great a god, besides being quite modern in archi
tecture, and built of adobe. We demanded an explanation, and
received it — in Arabic. We afterward learned that the Sheik of
Bellianeh had opened his castle for our reception and entertain
ment during the night. This, although an excellent hospitality,
was not the feast to which we had bidden ourselves. That feast
was to be served in the Temple of Memnon, in the excavated city
of Abydos. It was not without much and earnest expostulation,
nor without accidents of overturned chairs, and falls from the
backs of the donkeys, that we reached the temple, two miles farther
onward, and found the residue of the party there awaiting our
arrival with much anxiety. So far as ancient temples are con
cerned, we had hitherto seen at Memphis only the place where
they are supposed to have stood — at Heliopolis, an obelisk which
graced the porch of the Temple of the Sun, and, at Ghizeh, a sub
terranean temple. So we were quite unprepared for the vast, im
posing, and perfect structure that now towered before us. We
passed through the propyloeum — a majestic gate-way flanked by
lofty edifices on either side — into a vestibule, more spacious than
any cathedral or church in the United States. Beyond this vesti
bule, we entered a court enclosed by grand open corridors, of which
only the basement, a double colonnade, and the architraves, remain,
the solid roof having entirely fallen in, the massive slabs remaining,
with the exception of here and there one long since removed.
This court is the inner vestibule of the temple. It was too dark to
see more. Dinner had been laid in a long, dark chamber, which
might be the nave of the temple, and our mattresses had been
spread in high-vaulted chambers at the side. Were not these mag
nificent accommodations for travellers % Perhaps our banqueting-

528 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
hall was the nuptial chamber of Isis and Osiris, perhaps it was the
mausoleum of Memnon. Perhaps our sleeping-rooms were the
sacristies of the priests who assisted at one or both of those ceremo
nies. We had scarcely sat down to the much-needed entertain
ment before we were smothered and sickened by an atmosphere of
heat and mould. We beat a hasty retreat to the open corridor.
Here we had for a table a broad granite slab, which had fallen from
the roof many ages since. We dined with the shadows of the mas
sive columns projected over us by the torch-lights of our bearers.
The ladies retired to their stately rooms, but a trial of half an hour
proved sleep, and even life, impossible there. The pallets were
brought out and spread on the floor of the open dining-hall. All
were wakeful, and contemplated for hours this strange experience
of sleeping in the Libyan Desert under the starlit sky. Our
thoughts wandered through the past and in the infinite, but we were
occasionally brought back by the heavy breathing of our sleep
ing, staff-armed Arabian sentinels, the braying of the donkeys, or the
piteous moaning of the weary camels, at the outer verge of our un
rivalled chamber.
We rose before the sun, and, while the air was yet comparatively
cool, explored the edifice, which consists of seven parallel naves or
complete buildings, each with a vaulted roof, each nave two hun
dred feet long, and terminating in an elaborate and imposing sanc
tuary. This peculiar form of the temple suggests the idea that it
was dedicated to the worship, not of one god, but of seven gods.
Archaeologists, however, are not agreed on that point. Besides the
naves and the sanctuaries, there are other spacious chambers, some
behind the latter, and others behind the propylseum. Of these
chambers some may be supposed to have contained vessels of sacri
fice, some sacred treasures, and others to have been the cells of the
priests who were vowed to chastity, poverty, and penance. No part
of the temple was adapted to the accommodation of a mass or con
gregation of worshippers. On the wall of an interior corridor is a
tablet which contains a chronological record of the names and seals
of seventy-six successive kings of Egypt, beginning with Menes, the
founder of the monarchy and builder of Memphis, and ending with

A QUESTION OF CHRONOLOGY. 529
Setis, whose statue, with that of his son Rameses, stands at the base,
as if reading the interesting genealogical record, a mutilated copy
of which is preserved in the British Museum, and there called the
" Stone of Abydos." Every part of the walls, the interior as well
as the exterior, is covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics. Some
of these pictures represent the birth of Osiris, his marriage with
Isis, his death, and his apotheosis. They present him also in three
beneficent characters, as the god of the Nile, the god of the sun,
and the god of agriculture. And they exhibit Isis in her three at
tractive characters, as goddess of the moon, goddess of wine, and
goddess of love. Other pictures present, allegorically, Osiris, Isis,
and their son Horus, as the benevolent deities receiving sacrifices,
and the treacherous brother Typhon, who dethrones Osiris, as the
god of evil— in other words, the devil. With the benevolent dei
ties are associated animals of a gentle nature, also exalted to tho
divine, as in the Christian pictures of the middle ages the lamb is
associated with the beloved disciple John. The ox is a sacred em
blem of Osiris, and the cow of Isis. The evil deity, likewise, has
his brute representative in the crocodile, the hippopotamus, and
the ass.
The first inquiry that a disciple made, on hearing the fearful
prophecy of the Saviour, was, " Master, when shall these things
be ? " The first inquiry that a traveller makes, when he confronts
the devastated walls of Abydos, is, "When were these things
built ? " History records that Abydos flourished before the Persian
conquest, and that it fell into ruin at the time of the Mohammedan
invasion. Until the reign of the present Khedive, the vast ruins
lay buried under a mean Arab village. The hieroglyphics on tho
tombs at Abydos show that they were built within a period
of nine hundred years, which period began with the year 3700
before our era — of course, flve thousand five hundred and sev
enty years ago. The builders must have had some experience
in architecture before these majestic structures could be produced.
if this account does not agree with Archbishop Usher's chronology,
't is not for us to reconcile the conflict. History also has settled
some other points of interest concerning this temple : First, that
40

530 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
its construction was contemporary with the Egyptian obelisk at
Luxor; second, that it was dedicated to Osiris; and, third, that
it was. called Memnonium. But where is the tomb of Osiris ?
The same veneration which the Christian world bestows on the
sapulchre at Jerusalem was paid by the Egyptians to the tomb of
Osiris. According to Plutarch, it was the destination of their
pilgrimages in life, and the place near which, if circumstances
allowed, they caused themselves to be buried. Adjacent to the
great Temple of Abydos is the Temple of Rameses II. A dilapi
dated wall, now only four feet high, encloses an immense mass of
debris. Mariette Bey confesses his inability to reproduce, from
these ruins, the plan of the original structure. At the side of this
Temple of Rameses there is a high hillock, called the Kom-ses-Sul-
tan. This hillock has been formed by tiers of catacombs one above
the other. Many valuable funereal treasures have already been
removed to the museum at Cairo. Mariette Bey is encouraged, by
discoveries already made, in his hope of finding among them the
valuable tomb of Osiris.
Let us now reflect a moment. We have here, at Abydos,
ascended to a very early age of human civilization. We have
learned from this study that in that age mankind were no less
perplexed than they now are with the problem of the origin of
good and evil; that, incapable of tracing the beneficent and
injurious natural forces to a first and just Creator of both, they
deified and worshipped those natural forces themselves, magnifying
and blessing the good, and deprecating and propitiating the evil.
In ancient times, nations were more isolated than now, but the
perplexity of the human mind concerning good and evil was as
universal then as it is now. Each nation improved and adopted
any supposed discovery of another. The mythologies of Greece
and Rome, supposed to clear up the mysterious origin of good and
evil, were borrowed from Egypt, and it seems probable that those
which still linger in Hindostan and China were brought from the
same primitive source. Finally, we have learned here that the
monastic and ascetic systems, which yet prevail in every part oi
Asia, and which still have a strong foothold among Christian na-

TEMPLE OF DENDERA.,

TEMPLE OF DENDERA. 531
tions, existed here, under a theology which has untimely perished,
leaving neither priest nor votary on the face of the globe. There
are more reflections of a less general character. When the chil
dren of Israel insisted that Moses should set up a golden calf for
their worship, did they do more than adopt the Egyptian dedica
tion of the ox and the cow to Osiris and Isis % Was the Egyptian
apotheosis of the crocodile and the serpent the germ of the idea
of the evil serpent which tempted our first parents to their fall in
Eden ? Was it the germinal idea of the brazen serpent which
Moses "lifted up ? " Has the capacity of man for religious knowl
edge its limit, beyond which it cannot go, and is each of its various
systems, although perverted, based on some intuitive idea or
abused revelation ?
Kenneh, May 17th. — We planted our stake here at four o'clock
yesterday afternoon, and immediately proceeded to explore the
Temple of Dendera. It is more modern and better preserved,
though less interesting, than the Memnonium. Its construction was
begun by one of the Ptolemies, two hundred and fifty years before
the Christian era, and was completed under the Emperor Tiberius,
while our Saviour was yet living in Jerusalem. Some of its decora
tions were added in the reign of Nero. It has thus happened that,
though it does not combine the profane with any thing sacred, it
does combine illustrations of different profane systems. It com
bines the history, mythology, and science, of ancient Egypt. It is
elaborate equally in design and execution. We can hardly count
its halls and chambers. The walls, the ceilings, the columns, the
doors, the windows, the cagjtals, the surbases and pedestals, and
even the staircases, are crowded with texts and bass-reliefs. These
have such a mutual correspondence that the antiquary finds it not
difficult to penetrate their meaning, and even the ceremonies of
worship. The temple was designed as a hall in which to celebrate
the inauguration of the sovereign of Egypt in three characters, as
King of Upper Egypt, King of Lower Egypt, and chief pontiff in
the worship of Isis. The ceremonies consisted in stately proces
sions, sacrifices, prayers, and offerings. There is a well-marked

532 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
division of the chambers into four groups : the first, a vestibule
or open hall, in the place of the propylaeum, which was customary
in Egypt ; a grand gate-way, which was opened to the king alone ;
with lesser ones on either side, which gave access to priests and
others who brought offerings. A bass-relief on the north side shows
the progress of the sovereign as King of Lower Egypt;' a similar
tablet, on the opposite side, his entrance as King of Upper Egypt.
In these ceremonies, two deities, Thoth, who was a brother of Isis
(and whom the Greeks recognize as Mercury), and Horus, her son,
pour on the king's head the water of purification. Two goddesses
invest him with a double crown. Then, two deities, one from
Heliopolis, in Upper Egypt, the other from Thebes, in Lower
Egypt, take the king by the hand, and conduct him into the pres
ence of Isis. The second group of chambers, ten in number, were
all closed and painted black. The procession was formed in one
of these silent halls, and the offerings were prepared for a feast in
another. The walls of one of them are ornamented with four boats,
Hke those now in use on the Nile, the boats being carried in pro
cession. Each of these boats contains, at the middle, a long chest
or box, covered with a thick white veil. This chest corresponds
exactly with the descriptions of the " ark of the covenant " which
was held in such regard by the Jews. One of the chambers was a
laboratory where incense, oils, and essences were prepared for per
fuming the statues of the gods. Others contained rich vestments
for covering their limbs. The offerings to the gods, as painted
on the walls, were all sorts of birds, animals, fine clothing, and
ornaments of silver and gold. Instead of the one sanctuary, as at
the Memnonium, there are two here, one dedicated to Osiris, the
other to Isis. The former is ornamented with a representation of
his death, resurrection, and triumph. We were more interested,
however, in a small interior structure, in the complete form of a
temple, in which was celebrated the feast of the New Year, which
took its date from a transit of Sirius. This hall has twelve columns,
which are respectively dedicated to the several months. There is
also a dark chamber of exquisite architecture which was used for
the preservation of mysterious objects, which none but the king

MR. SEWARD'S BIRTHDAY. 533
and the pontiff were permitted to see. Stranger, however, than
any of these are the labyrinthine subterranean chambers, properly
called crypts. They are without doors or windows and yet their
walls are covered with inscriptions, and these recite the date of
their construction, but not their use. It is supposed that they were
built as .places of deposit and concealment of the treasures and
sacred vessels and vestments, in case of surprise by an enemy.
However this may be, we can never forget the demonstration of
their present use, which we encountered. With the aid of torches,
we crept on our knees through an opening which had been made
in the wall that enclosed one of them. As we rose to our feet,
there was a deafening noise, accompanied with a motion of the air,
like the flapping of the sails of a ship in a storm at sea, and thou
sands of frightened bats came dashing against us, making their
way into the outer light, from which they had taken refuge. Cleo
patra caused the ornamentation of the outer wall to be completed
with an intaglio of herself, and another of her son, the child of
Julius Caesar. This figure is inferior to the Grecian statuary of
that period ; nevertheless, its outlines agree with the accepted rep
resentations of that eccentric and fascinating queen.
Avoiding alike the darkened sanctuaries and the crypts, we
spread our table in the cheerful temple of the New Tear. There,
with Osiris and Isis, and Thoth and Horus, Pascht, and we know
not how many other deities looking down on us from the walls, we
celebrated the anniversary of Mr. Seward's seventieth birthday.
One of the party amused us by quoting from Homer, and applying
to Mr. Seward, the words :
. . . . " whose soul no respite knows,
Though years and honors hid him seek repose."
Mr. Seward answered, repeating the two other lines :
"But now the last despair surrounds our host,
No hour must pass, no moment must be lost."

CHAPTER VI.
THEBES AND ITS RUINS.
What Thebes is now. — A Grand Reception. — A Federal Salute. — The Scenery of the
Nile. — The Temple of Luxor. — The Houses of the Consuls. — History of Luxor. —
Karnak. — The Hall of the Gods. — King Shishak. — Sphinx Avenues. — We dine with
the Vice-Consul. — The Colossi. — The Ancient Tombs. — The Tombs of the Kings.—
Animal Worship. — The Rameseum. — Grandeur of Thebes.
Thebes, May 17th. — From the first hour of our classic reading,
Thebes is the one place which we have most desired, and least of
all hoped, to see. But, we are here, moored under the east bank
of the Nile, which once supported that glorious city of antiquity.
We have come too late, by thousands of years, to verify the descrip
tions given of it by the poets and historians of old. There are
no longer " a hundred gates " here, nor is there one gate, nor a
wall, nor a trace of a wall. There are no monuments by which we
could decide the disputed question whether the Diospolis, situated
on the east bank of the Nile, and including Luxor and Karnak,
was the whole of Thebes, or whether it extended across the river,
and included the Colossi, the Memnonium, and the Necropolis.
We must first note, not what Thebes was, but what it is now.
Our deck is forty feet perpendicularly below the top of the bank.
There was no wharf, no dock, no bund, no ghaut ; there is no
stone stairway, there is no wooden one. In anticipation of our
coming, the sheik (governor), by direction of Sultan Pacha, has ex
cavated steps in the loose, dry earth. They will serve us perhaps
to reach the summit, but they will need to be repaired for our re-

THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR. 535
turn. Moreover, we are having a grand reception. Ali Murad
Effendi, the loyal United States consul, although he is a true Mus
sulman, has not only displayed the broad and bright United States
flao- at his house-top, but also the gorgeous banner of Brazil, and
at this moment he is pouring down upon us, with a single rusty
musket, a Federal salute of eighteen guns, from his balcony. All
the people of Thebes are on the bank to receive us. They consist
of twelve mule-drivers, with their mules ; twelve donkey-drivers,
with their asses; ten or a dozen manufacturers and vendors of
antiquities and relics, and with an outside attendance of as
many fellahs, brought here by the unusual sight of bonfires kin
dled on the bank. We ascend, we reach the summit, we stand
upon the sacred plain, we dismiss the muleteers and donkey-
boys for the night, we thread our way through a musty Arab vil
lage to the consulate. In the upper chambers we pay our acknowl
edgments, take Mocha coffee, and a chibouque.
May 18th. — The bonfires went out late last night, and we rose
early this morning to make a first survey. The scenery of the
Nile is at no other time seen in such delicate hues as in the hour
before sunrise. Above Thebes, the river winds around the foot of
the Arabian Desert, forming a chain of small gray lakes. The head
lands in these lakes are crowned with scattering farms, and not only
the outlines of each tree, but every broad leaf, is distinctly defined
on the clear horizon. A mirage from afar reflects the same desert,
lakes, headlands, and trees, gathered into cool, shady groves — in
distinct and dreamy pictures, like those in mountain agates.
Forty rods from the river-bank, on a terrace of sand, which
seems to be a lower ridge of the dome, there rise before us two rows
of majestic columns, roofless, but held together by architraves not
less massive. Familiar all our lives with pictorial representations,
we recognize the ruined Temple of Luxor. Beyond that ruin, with
the exception of here and there a mud-hut, is only the naked desert ;
at the left of the colonnade, heaps of debris, half buried in the sand.
In the midst of these masses, towers up a red granite obelisk, high
er and newer than the honey-combed one which marks the site of

536

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis. Beyond these debris, looking
through the vista formed by the colonnade and obelisk, are seen tne
dwarfish minarets of a shabby Arab mosque, rising out of a group
or cluster of adobe huts, an Arab village, which may contain fifteen
hundred people. Three tall, modern houses loom up above the

OBELISKS AT KAKNAE.

roofless dwellings of the wretched town. These houses are built on
the wall of the dilapidated temple, and of materials taken from it,
and are the residences of the governor, the British consul, and the
United States vice-consul, who also flourishes under an exequatur

ORIGIN OF LUXOR. 537
as consul of Brazil. We ascended the terrace and stood on the
pavement beneath the double colonnade. At a distance of two
miles northward, among fields which, though now dry and dusty,
still wear the aspect of careful cultivation, we see the stupendous
gate-ways, columns, and obelisks of Karnak. An Arab hamlet nes
tles at the base of these ruins, as at Luxor. Beyond Karnak we see
only the winding river and the converging Libyan and Arabian Des
erts. Turning our back upon the morning sun, we see, across the
river, a plain, stretching along the opposite bank for five miles, and
three miles in width, cultivated though uninhabited, subject to in
undation. Beyond the plain are the lofty and irregular moun
tains of the Libyan Desert. The immediate river-bank is fringed
with palms and sycamores. At the northern extremity of the plain
we distinguish a cluster of stately columns; on the left, a like,
though less prominent one. The former are ruins of the temples
called by the Arabs Qournah-Deir-el-Bahari, and the Rameseum.
The latter are the ruins of the temple called, in Arabic, Medeenet
Haboo. Midway between these widely- separated heaps of ruins,
are two lofty stone piles, each showing a human outline. These
are the Colossi — the one so marvellously vocal to the ancients;
the other, its mute companion. Those ruined temples, with the
Colossi, are all that remain of Thebes, on the west bank of the Nile,
that can be discerned within a single view taken from Luxor.
Those ruins, with Luxor and Karnak, are the disjecta membra of
the great capital.
We turn to Luxor. It was built by Pharaoh Amenophis III.,
fourteen hundred and eighty years before Christ, at the very time
when the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram was going on in the
desert. Eighty years later, Rameses II. raised two monolith granite
obelisks beyond the colonnade. One of these we have already
mentioned ; the other we hope to see in its present site in the Place
de la Concorde at Paris. He raised, at the same time, two mono
lith granite statues, not less than twenty-five feet high, which are
now seen broken off at the middle, and prostrate on the ground.
The colonnade, the almost level walls, the solitary obelisk, and
those broken colossal statues, together with many lesser ones

538 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
dedicated to gods, heroes, and animals, some remaining in place,
and others strewed among the debris, are all that remain of the
original Luxor. After the conquest of the Greeks, other orna
mental statues, paintings, and inscriptions, were added to the
temple, among which latter are found the names of Psammetichus
and Alexander. It is to be hoped that the work of excavation,
long since suspended, will be renewed. In that case it will prob
ably appear that the temple structures extended much farther for
ward. The ruins as now seen, while they command admiration by
their grandeur, leave on the visitor's mind a painful impression of
the na rrow extent of the temple.
Ws encounter no such disappointment at Karnak. It is the
most imposing ruin in the world, devastated sadly, but not in a
heap of debris. The ruins cover an area of nearly two miles in
circumference. Was there one symmetrical structure, dedicated to
one worship, or was there a combination of many temples, dedi
cated to many gods ? The former idea is supported by the fact
that there are still traceable twelve approaches to the ruins, in dif
ferent directions, each avenue broad enough for two chariots. We
explored two of them, of which half a mile has been excavated.
One leads from Luxor ; the other, at right angles with the first, leads
from the river-bank in front. Each is ornamented with a row
of colossal Sphinxes, placed at intervals of six feet, not unlike the
statuary which adorns the approach to the Ming Tombs in China.
The entrances at the terminations of these avenues are surmounted
by gate-ways such as a Titan might construct, and these gate-ways
open into a series of propylsea, or vestibules, which have dimensions
that can only be compared with the bases of the Pyramids. Our
first visit to Karnak was made at the end of the avenue of Luxor.
It is adorned with a winged sun. We passed through four succes
sive propylaea into an open area, which has received so many names
as to be practically nameless. Some writers call it the " Hall of
the Gods," some the " Hall of the Kings," others the " Hall of
Columns." It is three hundred and thirty feet long, and one hun
dred and sixty-four feet wide. On each side of it, near the wall, is
a row of columns, one hundred and thirty-four in number. They

COLUMNS AT KARNAK.

539

are forty-three feet high, and each is a monolith, with a diameter
of twelve feet. In the centre of the hall are two other rows of
columns, seventy-two feet high, also monoliths, and the several
rows have the effect of dividing the hall into a nave with two side-
aisles. All were roofed, the nave, of course, higher than the aisles.
The ceiling of all was of massive hewn flat stone ; it has long since
fallen to the ground. All the columns have highly-wrought and
magnificent capitals, no two of them alike in design. The columns
nearest the walls are chiefly ornamented with the flowering lotus ;

COLUMNS AT KABNAK.

540 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the columns which support the nave combine figures of birds with
the lotus leaves and branches. The surfaces of the pillars are di
vided into circular panels, arranged one above the other. These
panels are covered with shields, on which are elaborately carved
and painted with rich colors innumerable mythological and his
torical devices and emblems. The darkness of this stupendous
chamber was only relieved by the faint light admitted through
small grated windows placed in the wall which divided the ceiling
of the nave and that of the aisles. Some of the columns in the
chamber are now prostrate, others have swerved from their places
and fallen against other columns, or against the walls. The mys
terious gloom which must have originally pervaded the chamber
has passed away, and it now seems merely an endless and confused
forest of columns, which has been swept and desolated by the tem
pest. Though an inscription on one of these noble columns shows
an antiquity of three thousand three hundred and twenty years,
the masonry, as well as the sculpture and painting, has the fresh
ness of yesterday. In no part of the ruin, either on column, archi
trave, or wall, is there ivy or moss, mould or stain. Such is the
climate of the Nile. Bold bass-reliefs sculptured on the outer wall
represent, in regular chronological order, the events of the cam
paigns of Setis against the Bedouin Arabs, the Assyrians, and the
Armenians. In one of those sculptures he is seen seated in his
chariot in the thickest of an engagement. On the forehead of one
of his horses is inscribed his name — " The Might of Thebes."
The enemy flee before him, and take refuge in a fortress. An
other bass-relief presents a different battle-scene. Here the enemy
fall prostrate on the earth before the terrible countenance of ma
jesty. The king sits proudly erect in his chariot in his attitude of
triumph, followed by a train of prisoners in chains, whom he pre
sents to the gods at Thebes. Another represents the victorious
king on his return to Thebes, and welcomed by his ministers and
courtiers on the banks of the Nile, which are crowded with won
dering, awe-stricken crocodiles. One of the bass-reliefs is particu
larly interesting, from its being a contemporaneous confirmation of
Jewish scriptural history :

GATE AT KARNAI

KING SHISHAK. 541
" And it came to pass that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam,
Shishak, King of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because they
had transgressed against the Loud, with twelve hundred chariots,
and threescore thousand horsemen : and the people were without
number that came with him out of Egypt ; the Lubims, the Suk-
kims, and the Ethiopians."
"So Shishak, King of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and
took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures
of the king's house ; he took all : he carried away also the shields
of gold which Solomon had made."
Shishak is represented raising his arm and striking a long group
of prisoners who are crouching at his feet. At the side of the
victor are seen several fortifications which bear the names of towns
in Palestine, which Shishak subdued. Still another tablet on the
walls must be mentioned. It recites the entire text of an Egyptian
poem, composed in commemoration of the victories of Rameses II.
The obelisk of Queen Hatason, which is said to be the highest in
the world, stands near the great hall, on a pedestal of dimensions
scarcely larger than the foot of the obelisk itself. What skill must
it have required to raise it from the ground, and place it securely
on that narrow pedestal ! An inscription, written perpendicularly
on the obelisk, gives its date and dedication to Queen Hatason,
regent, three thousand five hundred and thirty years ago. An
inscription on the base records that the top was covered with gold,
the spoils of battle, and that the obelisk itself was gilded.
The court or area which lies between the temple and the propy
laea on the river-side presents a scene not less unique than melan
choly. It is larger even than the Hall of Columns, which we have
described. It is studded with pedestals even more numerous than,
and equally gigantic with, those in the other hall, each one of which
bore a column equally majestic ; over these must have been stretched
a roof as stupendous and massive. But of this vast structure, not
only the roof, but all the columns have fallen, save only one, yet
erect on its pedestal, as a solitary representative of the departed
grandeur. Making a circuit around the ruins of Karnak, we found
a great reservoir of Nile-water, collected as it oozes through the

542 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
soil underneath the temple, at the flood. It is so deeply impreg
nated with nitre, that the Government uses its deposits for the
manufacture of gunpowder. From the bank of this reservoir we
looked upward through one of the excavated Sphinx avenues. It
now presents a very curious spectacle. The great highway is
fenced in, its pavement has been removed or buried in the earth,
and it is now a vegetable-garden. The Sphinxes, however, still
remain on guard, to prevent Bedouin depredations of water-melon
and sweet-potato beds, as patiently as they guarded of old the
approach of kings and priests to the sanctuary. While we stood
musing on the strange freaks of Time, a hyena, startled by the noise
of our coming, rushed out of a recess underneath one of the fallen
columns, among the debris which we had been unable to penetrate,
and made his escape over the sands to some safer haunt in the
desert. Antiquaries are much exercised with the inquiry, By what
agency has the devastation of Karnak been effected ? They indulge
in various conjectures. One attributes the work to the earthquake ;
but there is no record of earthquakes. A second, that one of the
Ptolemies committed the devastation by siege. But those princes
seem to have been disposed rather to preserve and embellish the
magnificent monuments of Egypt, than to destroy them. A third,
that the nitrous Nile-water has dissolved the earthen foundations.
But, making all allowances for the absence of frost, of snow, and of
rain, in this extraordinary climate, is it not more wonderful that
Karnak resisted so long, than that it is now found so slowly passing
away? With the conquest of Cambyses, the ancient Egyptian church
and state (to the glories of which Karnak was dedicated) began to
decline. They gave way to religions and governments which were
hostile. Other systems, equally alien and hostile, have followed.
It is more than two thousand years since Egypt has had for a ruler
either an adherent of the ancient religion, or a descendant of the
ancient kings or people. We saw Karnak first in broad daylight,
but afterward in the early night illuminated by the evanescent blue
Hght ; but we saw it last under the bright moonlight, which, while

THE COLOSSI.

543

it subdues irregularities, deepening- and lengthening the shadows,
imparts new majesty and beauty to all objects of Nature and art.
Leaving the ruin, we mounted our donkeys, and by the light
of blazing torches made our way through Sphinx avenue back to
Luxor, stopping at times to look whether a fox that we saw steal
through the gate-way, or a hyena, was at our heels. We arrived
safely at the consulate, and there, seated on cushions on the hos
pitable house-top, around a table one foot high, we dined after the
Turkish manner, with the vice-consul, the governor being also a
guest, upon the substantials, dainties, and delicacies of the season.
At this feast, each party, taking care not to interfere with the equal
rights of others, dipped the spoon into a common bowl of soup, and
with his own fingers took off the parts he liked best in a succession
of kids, sheep, and turkeys, roasted whole. These viands gave
place to a long course of sweets and comfits, water-melons, dates,
and apricots. Coffee and chibouques followed with chateau Mar-
gaux, Steinberger cabinet, champagne, and sherry, all brought
from the pantry of the Crocodile. Here we poured out libations
to Ammon, Osiris, Isis, and Horus, such as certainly were unknown
to ancient Thebes, and such as only those good Mohammedans who
attain the dignity of foreign consuls permit their Christian guests
to enjoy. The excellent host and the governor did not disdain to
join in these offerings— a circumstance which we should not men
tion if we supposed these notes would ever be translated into Arabic.
May 19th. — It was yet dark when we took a small boat and
rowed down the Nile. We landed on the low, western, sandy
bank, and proceeded on donkeys directly across the plain. Under
the light of the rising sun, the distant Colossi assumed more and
more their proper and majestic forms and proportions. We halted
between them. Recognized by antiquity as one of the wonders of
the world, they are less wonderful than the dispute which has so
long prevailed in regard to the purpose for which they were built.
Thebes must have been a city of religious, philosophic, and political
ideas. The people dwelt chiefly on the eastern bank of the river,
while the western bank became their cemetery. Neither at Luxor

544 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
nor at Karnak did we find a trace of an ancient tomb or grave.
On the western bank here, we found little else than a universal
cemetery. All modern cemeteries are ornamented with monumen
tal gate-ways, churches, and chapels. What more natural than that
the portals of the cemetery of Thebes should be graced with these
two colossal statues ? Amenophis III. dedicated them to deified
kings. He designed by them to impress the pilgrims to the tombs
with awe, and he was successful. In a superstitious age, not only
the Egyptian, but the Persian, Greek, and Roman, heard or ima
gined that he heard, the statue which bears the traditional name of
Memnon, wail and sigh in the tones of the ^Eolian harp. More
over, Memnon was the son of Aurora. How natural it was that he
should greet his divine mother morning and evening ! Nobody
beHeves this story now, but, two thousand years ago, no one doubted
it. The Colossi are sixty feet high, in a sitting posture, indicating
contemplation. While Thebes remained to its Egyptian founders,
the Colossi, which originally were monoHths, retained their shape,
and Memnon continued his mysterious, oracular utterances. But
an earthquake shattered both. Memnon's voice became feeble;
nay, it began to be questioned whether he spoke at all. The good
Roman emperor, Septimus Severus, reconstructed them, employing
the best architects to restore Memnon's speech. But the imperial
surgery failed. Memnon became actually dumb. Happily, the
repairs then made, although with coarse materials, have preserved
the statue to the present day.
Men's habits are formed from their instincts. Egypt excited
strong interest in Rome in the time of the emperors. The Koman
travellers ambitiously inscribed, on the pedestal of Memnon, the
records of their visits and observations. Woman was woman
eighteen hundred years ago. " I, Salina Augusta, wife of the Em
peror Augustus Caesar, have twice heard Memnon within one
hour." This is one of the inscriptions. There are hundreds of
other inscriptions which, although written so long ago, are more
easily read now than those written twenty years ago in our coun
try church-yards. Under the necessity of improving the cooler part
of the day, for fatiguing observations and explorations, we passed,

THE MUMMY-PITS. 545
without stopping, the ruins of Deir-el-Medineh, Medeenet Haboo,
and the Rameseum. A mountain-spur of white sand-rock projects
here toward the river-bank. Upon the ledge we found the rock
pierced with parallel tiers of catacombs. These catacombs, not
improperly called mummy- pits, are four, eight, or ten feet deep.
"We soon became weary of counting them. Each one has been
robbed of its contents. History, we know not how truly, says that
the depredations began with the Arab conquest. If this be true,
then it would appear that at the very period when the nations of
Western Africa were selling their living children into slavery to
Europeans, the dwellers in Eastern Africa were selling the remains
of the dead as objects of curiosity to the same men. The Arab
invaders of Egypt did not stop at this ; they used the inflammable
mummy-cases for fuel, and the grave-clothes for lights. We may
judge of the extent of this past trade in mummies, from the collec
tions which are found in Europe and America. The Khedive has
put a stop to these barbarous spoliations. Of course, the great
mass of the dead yet remain hidden and undisturbed. Calculations,
based on the estimated population of Thebes, and the average dura
tion of human life, give the number of bodies which are buried in
this necropolis alone at eight or ten millions. Having crossed the
ledge, we entered a dark and rugged mountain-pass, leading to the
desert. Here, the cemetery shows another character; elaborate
and costly tombs have been excavated on either side of the ravine,
in the form of square chambers, and in tiers or terraces, all built so
as to command a view of the plain below. As we looked up from
our path into these excavations, we mistook them for deserted bat
teries. We deviated so as to look into two or three of them.
They consist invariably of an antechamber, like a chapel, which
communicates by a stone staircase with a narrow tomb below. It
is supposed that the relatives and friends of the deceased were
accustomed to assemble in the outer chamber. The walls, as well
as the ceilings of the chamber, are richly ornamented with sculp
tures, intaglios and paintings, the colors of which are as clear and
bright as if laid on yesterday. The subjects of these ornaments are
sometimes religious rites, sometimes events in the life and career

546 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
of the dead. One of them exhibits the deceased as general of the
Soudan, arriving among a motley people, and taking possession of
his government. Some of his subjects are negroes, have olive com
plexions and negro features ; others have Circassian features with
olive complexions. Some are red men, and, strange to say, there is
a mixture of white women. The animals of that region are painted
with considerable effect. There are giraffes, oxen with long horns,
and oxen with their legs terminating in human hands. Presents
are brought to the governor, of gold rings and vases, bronze and
silver horses and lions, silver oars for boats, and ostrich-feathers.
The inscriptions carry us back to the nineteenth Egyptian dynasty.
Farther onward, the same pass branches into two ravines. Here is
the Westminster Abbey, or rather the St.-Denis, of ancient Egypt.
One ravine seems to have been appropriated to the tombs of queens,
the other to the tombs of kings. The paths which lead to both are
indescribably rugged and desolate. The rocks in which these tombs
are excavated, never receiving rain or dew, seem to be heated with
internal fires. Massive door-ways of the tombs are opened into the
face of the mountain ; then a descending, smooth, inchned plane
conducts to the tombs, which are excavated at a lower depth of the
rock. The tombs consist of a succession of vaulted chambers of
various dimensions ; some are only twenty feet square, some forty,
eighty, or a hundred feet long, and proportionately wide. Some
times one chamber opens directly into another in a straight line,
while there are larger chambers on either side. Sometimes a cor
ridor traverses the tomb. The outer chambers have, as in the cata
combs before mentioned, audience-chambers or chapels. Many of
them are obviously built as banqueting-rooms for costly entertain
ments of friends of the dead.
Strabo, in the first century, described the tombs of the kings.
He gave their number at forty. Only twenty-five of these have
been opened. This has been a task of no small difficulty, because
in every case the cave was found not only hermetically sealed, but
the door-way itself was covered with a debris so artificially heaped
as to baffle search for the sacred place. All travellers describe one
of these tombs which was discovered by Belzoni some fifty years

THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 547
ago, and called by him the tomb of Setis. It is the most magnifi
cent of them all. Strange to say, though it was so carefully hidden,
it had already been violated when he opened it. Within this and
the other tombs, the visitor penetrates a world entirely different
from that which we inhabit. The entire life of the deceased is
presented in monumental painting, sculpture, and hieroglyphics, on
the walls of the successive chambers. He is seen at home with his
family. Every thing around him wears a chimerical aspect. He is
holding intercourse with gods in grotesque forms, unknown else
where. Long, slimy serpents glide through the chambers and lie
around the door. Manifestly this is the scene of the trial and judg
ment of the dead. All the arrangements of the chamber and its
embellishments are designed to produce an effect of awe and so
lemnity. Scenes of cruelty and torture are represented by hideous
figures ; culprits and prisoners are undergoing death by decapita
tion or by burning. These, indeed, are very unnatural ; but who
shall say that, considering the early age to which they belong, they
are more absurd than the fantastical torture of the wicked in the
conceptions of Dante and Michael Angelo %
Antiquaries suppose that the scenes of torture and cruelty
painted on the walls were designed to illustrate the trial through
which the deceased is passing in his successive animal transfor
mations preparatory to a happy resurrection on the earth. The
idea finds support in the historical fact that, according to the
Egyptian polity, kings were supposed always to undergo a trial
after death.
These chambers of cruelty and torture are succeeded by others,
which are more cheerful in aspect. Here the ornamentation illus
trates the process of purification through which the soul is passing.
The last chamber, always the lowest, shows its happy reception
into the family of the gods. In these happier chambers the walls
fire covered with hieroglyphics, in which the wandering soul recites
the praises of the gods, and at last, the trial being past, the soul
celebrates its triumph. After examining minutely the tomb of
Setis, we looked into that of Rameses II. Here there is a suite of
chambers on either side of the great reception-hall. These cham-

548 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
bers present numberless simply natural scenes. There are boats,
furniture, utensils, bows, arrows, and other weapons. Musicians
play on the lyre. The chambers in this tomb, moreover, are not
arranged in a straight line, but in the shape of a T, or cross. This
difference from the customary form is found to have been a depart
ure from the original plan of construction. If the excavation had
been carried straight forward, it would have invaded a tomb already
built. In this tomb of Rameses was found a red-granite sarcopha
gus cut in the form of a shield. Sad to say, this beautiful ceno
taph is now on exhibition in the museum of the Louvre at Paris,
and its lid graces the University of Cambridge.
The one feature of Egyptian civilization, which in modern times
seems to be the most absurd, is the importance they assigned to
brute animals. They not only worshipped in idol-forms the ox and
the cow, but they embalmed and buried with religious rites fishes,
crocodiles, cats, and dogs, and one of the pyramids at Saccara is the
receptacle of mummied birds only. So we have found everywhere
similar relics. Doubtless the ancient Egyptian faith regarded the
animal forms which they thus preserved as the tenements of the
souls of monarchs, friends, or enemies.
It was quite eleven o'clock when, on our return from the tombs
of the kings, we came back to the tomb Deir-el-Med6enet. This
temple was a structure built in honor of the Queen-regent Hatason,
whose obelisk at Kamak we have already mentioned. The temple
was raised after her death to commemorate the glory of her admin
istration. A series of courts rise one above another by terraces,
giving the structure the appearance of a fortification or ramparts.
Its embellishments consist of tableaux, which show us Hatason re
ceiving her counsellors at the court of her brother Thoutmosis II. ;
as regent under her brother Thoutmosis III. ; and last as herself, a
sovereign ; of armies marching out to conquest, of battles and con
quests in Arabia, of prisoners taken and tributes received, of vessels
riding the Nile, laden with treasures and spoils ; and, among others,
one of marked mythological intent, presenting the Egyptian goddess
identical with the Grecian Yenus, in the form of a beautiful cow
suckling an infant Egyptian king.

THE RAMESEUM. 549
We have seen no temple resembling the Rameseum, the Temple
of Barneses III. It is a combination of temple and royal palace.
The architecture of the palatial part is perfect. Consoles prepared
for holding awnings over the doors are supported by prostrate pris
oners of war. At great hazard we cHmbed over a high, broken
wall, and reached chambers in a second story. In these chambers
are bass-reliefs, much defaced, which represent the king in his own
house surrounded by his family. One woman presents him with
flowers, he plays chess with another, and receives fruit from an
other with a caress. On the walls of another chamber the great
achievements of the king are presented. Here a picture of the
king is deciphered and explained by Champollion : " He leaves his
palace in a richly-ornamented chariot. He sits covered with ostrich-
feathers on a throne supported by statues of Justice and Truth ; he
is attended by twrelve aides-de-camp, and is followed by relations,
friends, and priests ; his son and heir burns incense before him.
The white bull follows, and the procession is closed by nineteen
priests, bearing sacred ensigns, vases, and vessels of worship. Fi
nally arrived at the place of inauguration, four birds, the offspring
of Osiris, are set loose to announce to the north, the south, the
east, and the west, that Rameses has put on his crown." The
electric telegraph of the ancients ! Ten galleries contain tableaux
illustrative of the military' achievements of the king. We recog
nize the nationalities of prisoners of war, though the pictures were
made three thousand years ago. Among them are Libyans, Ara
bians, and Ethiopians. How curious it is to find among the captives
the. Philistines, who so long maintained war with the Israelites !
A legend over the head of each prisoner gives his name. Ambition
seems to have done Httle else but repeat itself since the time of
Barneses. One picture exhibits a basket filled with the hands of
prisoners, which were cut off on the battle-field, and brought to the
king as trophies. This practice, though it antedates by far the North-
American custom of scalping the deceased enemy, is akin to it.
The Bameseum was for Egypt what the triumphal arch of Adrian
was for Rome, what the Arc de Triomphe is for France. Here is
the speech which one of the Egyptian gods addresses to a victorious

550 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
chief : " I turn my face to the north, and I see Phoenicia lying at
your feet ; it is my will that the natives bring you their silver, their
gold, and their precious stones. I look eastward, and I see Arabia
furnishing you with perfumes, rare woods, and fruits. I turn my
face to the west, and I command the inhabitants of Libya' to render
you their homage."
Wherein does the Trumbull Gallery in the rotunda of the Cap
itol at Washington differ from the ten triumphal galleries of the
Rameseum ?
A gigantic statue of the great Rameses at full length, and
scarcely less majestic than Memnon, has been shaken from its base
and broken into massive fragments, its face upward, and half buried
in the sand. What a prototype is this of the overthrow of the
Colonne Yendome and the gigantic imperial statue which crowned
it in the late revolution in France !
While Memphis was the capital of ancient Egypt, Thebes was
the chosen seat of science and religion. It was an ornamental city,
the pride of the Egyptians. We do not, indeed, find here all that
Homer describes, but we are not at liberty to regard his description
of Thebes as an exaggeration. Certainly the kings and the people
who raised Karnak and Luxor, the Memnonium, the Rameseum and
the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the tombs of the kings and queens,
may well be believed to have had the necessary wealth, strength,
and taste, to surround the city of their pride with a wall which was
pierced with a hundred gates, and to send from each gate two hun
dred knights and two hundred chariots.
Medeenet Haboo teaches an important lesson. This ancient
temple was, until lately, completely buried under a mean and
wretched Arab village. In the process of excavation, not only the
original Egyptian temple was found, but a Christian church, with
pillars, cornices, architraves, chancel, and oratorio, on Greek models.
The penury of Grecian architecture compared with the majesty of
the ancient Egyptian was never so effectually illustrated. The col
umns of Osiris are sixty feet high and thirty-six feet in diameter,
and, with their lotus-leaved capitals, fill an area of an acre. The
Christian church is crowded within a quarter of that area. Its

A SAFE PREDICTION.

551

(luted columns are eighteen feet high, and seven feet in circum
ference. We have finished our survey of Thebes, wc have noticed the
devastation made by the Persian, the Greek, the Roman, the Chris
tian, and the Arab, and how much, after all, remains ? It is safe
to predict that, when every civil and religious edifice now exist-
ino' in Europe or the United States shall have fallen to the earth,
the already dilapidated monuments of Egypt will have undergone
scarcely a perceptible change.

m^

CAPITALS OF COLUMNS AT ESNEH.

CHAPTER YII.
ESNEH, EDFOU, ASSOUAN, AND PHILjE.
The Coptic Convents. — Youssef and his Donkey. — Our Steamer aground. — The Ruins of
Esneh. — The Temple of Edfou. — Assouan. — Its Surprising Activity. — Its African
Population. — The Ancient Quarries. — Philse and the Cataracts of the Nile.— A Mon
ument of the First French Republic.
Esneh, May 21st. — If time would allow, it would be an interest
ing task to visit the Coptic convents which are found in small and
poor villages on the desert verge. Their history is a touching one.
They were founded as a refuge for the Coptic Christians from a
decree of the Emperor Diocletian, and they were again sought as
an asylum by the Copts — who had become Christians, when driven
away by the Mussulman conquerors from their home at Medeenet
Haboo. Their present tenants are represented as being very poor,
and as retaining of Christianity little more than a ritual of the early
Church. The courteous governor and the hospitable consul took leave of
us at a late hour on the night of the 19th, with good wishes for the
voyage we were about to resume. Our favorite English-speaking
donkey-boy, Youssef, petitioned us to take him with us to the
United States, but he depends on his vocation to support his wid
owed mother. We raised steam and cast off from the bank at day
light, passed Edfou without stopping, but either our pilot was at
fault, or sand-bars had suddenly changed. We came to a dead stop.
Sultan Pacha, at that moment, coming down the river with his

RUINS OF ESNEH.

553

steamer of lighter draught, threw us a rope, and drew xit, over the
obstructions. So we fixed our stake on the bank at Esneh. It is a
small village, whose principal occupation it is to coal the govern
ment steamers. There is here an Egyptian temple, which is
approached closely at high water. We, however, were obliged to
traverse a sandy plain, a mile wide, under the noonday sun. The
ruins, like those of Medeenet Haboo, were buried beneath an Arab
village, a part of wdiich still remains. Only the great hall ot" the tem-

TOT76SBF AND HIS DONKEY.

pie has been excavated. Unfortunately, this chamber is discolored by
smoke ; doubtless it was used ignominiously by the Arabs. The
spectator is struck by seeing on the ceiling a perfect table of -the
zodiac, in which all the circumferential emblems are identical with
those of our own tables of the constellations, excepting Cancer, the
Crab, which resembles the scarabaeus or sacred beetle. The ancient
Egyptian ornamentation of the great hall has given place to more
modern embellishments — among them the shields of the Roman
Emperors Claudius, Domitian, Septimus Severus, Commodus, and

554 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
Caracalla. The bass-reliefs and sculptures are in a low style of art,
showing a great decline in sculpture and painting after the Persian
and Greek conquest, but these faults are redeemed by the surpass
ing beauty of the columns. They prove that, for a time at least,
Egyptian architecture improved under the Grecian chisel. There
are twenty-five of these columns, each with an exquisite capital,
but no two alike. The lotus is the principal ornament of all of
them, and is treated at every stage of its development. Doubtless
the religious ideas of the Egyptians underwent a modification, after
the Grecian conquest, not unlike their principles of art.
Edfou, May 22d. — We reached Edfou last night, and were wel
comed by bonfires which extended a mile along the river-bank.
We hastened through the little village, to explore the celebrated
temple. Its excavation has been one of the most successful achieve
ments of the Khedive. A dozen years ago, men dwelt, horses
travelled, bread was baked, and goods were sold, on its roof; and,
if the Arab ever planted trees around his dwelling, their roots
would have effected an entrance into the sacred chambers of the
gods. Like the temple at Dendera, it has an immense propylaeum,
and a vast number of chambers. The whole, happily, is so well
preserved, that an architect finds no difficulty in reproducing the
original plan and arrangement. So Edfou serves as a key to many
ruined temples which, Hke Karnak, have been unintelligible. This
temple bears the signature of the architect, which, in justice to
him, we transcribe : " El-EM-HOTEP OeE-SI-PhTAH."
(Imouthosis, Grandson of Phtah.)
Like the temple at Esneh, this one at Edfou is modern. It was
begun by Ptolemy Philopater 204 b. c, and completed with decora
tions only in 34 b. c. Our discontent, at finding ourselves in a tem
ple only two thousand years old, was relieved when we went into
the sanctum sanctorum, and found a huge vault or chest cut out of
one solid block of granite, and which was the depository of the
mysterious emblems of the temple which, in earlier and happier

ASSOUAN. 555
times, had covered the site of the modern structure. This vault
bears an inscription which cites that it was wrought into its present
shape at the quarry by order of King Nectanebus, who flourished
three hundred and fifty years before this temple was built. The
dimensions of the temple are : width, one hundred and thirty-one
feet ; depth, two hundred and thirty-six feet. The ornamentations
are of the same general character as those at Dendera, consisting
mainly of representations of sacred ceremonies and mythological
devices. The work is not less elaborate, and the coloring, owing
perhaps to the excavation being new, is as fresh and bright as if
put on yesterday. Betts Bey's illumination of this wonderful hall
by blue fights was the most magnificent pyrotechnic exhibition that
can be imagined.
Assouan, May 22d. — The river above Edfou contracts to the
width of one thousand feet. The sedgy deserts become precipitous
banks, and you can step upon the rocks on either side from the
boat. So we notice that we are nearing the cataract. Though the
desert is now so solitary and desolate, the caverns, excavated in
terraces, indicate that, in some way, a vast population once filled
this narrow, forbidding strait. Many of the caves exhibit the
hieroglyphics associated by the ancients with their tombs. Others
seem to have been used as dwellings. One of them has, in a recess,
a poor and coarse sculpture of their gods in one statue, but the
faces are so mutilated that no expression can be detected. And
now, when we have come aboard again, the river has lost its monot
onous and gloomy aspect. The Libyan Desert, rising into loftier
crests, crowds the river as below, but the Arabian Desert sinks and
retreats, and leaves at its base a strip of land covered in succession
with rich fields of water-melons, rice, Indian-corn, and orchards of
date-palms, alternating with groves of flowering acacias. The isl
and of Elephantina, very small, divides the river, and shuts out
both its upper branches from the view. Elephantina is the only
green island which the Nile contains. The river on either side is
hidden by projecting promontories, and we come to rest in a calm
bay, which seems to be the fountain of the Nile. We sweep through
42

556 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
this, and approach, on the eastern shore, the small town of Assouan,
built in the sands, and seeming to be a part of the desert itself.
Assouan is at the foot of the portage around the cataract, and
exhibits an activity as surprising as that at Cheyenne or Omaha.
But there is no resemblance in the articles of commerce or the
merchants, the trade or the traders, in any other country. Instead
of warehouses, there are open bins, filled with dates and other
tropical fruits, elephants' teeth, ostrich-feathers, palm-oil, lion-skins
and tiger-skins, odoriferous and medicinal gums, the barks of trees
for bales, tomahawks with ebony handles, lances, and poisoned
arrows. Stores of rude pottery, and other cheap domestic utensils,
from Alexandria and Cairo, are gathered here in other bins, to
exchange for the southern products mentioned. The stores of
either kind are without locks or bars, or watchmen, and, if protected
at all from the sun, it is only by awnings stretched above them.
All this merchandise is now awaiting the flood, which will allow
small boats to pass over the rocky ledges of the cataract. The little
harbor is filled with pretty vessels of light burden, among which
the gay dahabeah everywhere flaunts its striped lateen-sails. On
the brown mountain-top which overhangs the town are seen the
fortifications of Arabian conquerors, earlier than Saladin. Though
deserted and neglected for so many centuries, they seem capable of
reconstruction with a little time and cost. But Assouan is rendered
even more interesting by the diversity and strangeness of its popula
tion, than by its desert location, the verdant Elephantina, its quaint
shipping, and its barbaric commerce. No sooner do we pass the
Nubian border, than a different race from that of Lower Egypt
presents itself. The inhabitants are black, neither tawny nor olive,
but shiny black. A few Arabs are seen, but they are manifestly
inferior, and servile to the Nubians ; the habitations are African,
built of the palm, the bamboo, and the cane. The sand of the
desert is the floor. Assouan is more African even than Aden.
But here, as elsewhere, superior races hold prominence in commerce.
Many of the merchants are Berbers, Abyssinians, and Libyans,
while the laboring population is gathered from the savage tribes
of interior Africa. These people are quite uncivilized, although

ANCIENT GRANITE QUARRIES. 557
commercial habits have made them peaceful and docile. They
know as little of the world below Elephantina as they know of
their own history. They wonder at the decline of the innocent and
remunerative slave-trade, and still furtively pursue it against all
interdictions and remonstrance. The price of an African hand
maid, in an Arabian family, is sixty dollars. Her children inherit
equally with those of the lawful wife.
We waited until sunset, and then, mounting camels, made our
way through narrow, circuitous, unpaved, sandy lanes, crowded on
either side by bazaars, coffee-houses, mosques, Coptic chapels, and
mud-houses, with barricaded doors and latticed windows. Emerg
ing upon the desert, through the widest city gate ever seen, we
came into a Mohammedan cemetery, five or six miles in circum
ference. It is the only cemetery we have ever seen from which
every cheerful association of Nature is excluded. It has neither
tree, shrub, plant, nor flower — neither sod nor soil — but only the dry
sands of the desert, deposited by winds during thousands of years.
The graves are (or might be) excavated with the human hand, with
out an implement. The excavation consists of removing so much
sand as will leave the dead body on a level with the surface of the
plain, and the sand is heaped upon it. Each grave is marked by a
small, rough stone, usually without inscription. Some famiHes
have more ambitious monuments. They build a tomb above the
sand, open at the sides. Interment is made by removing the sand
beneath, and restoring it when the remains have been thrust in.
Travellers say that the sirocco often uncovers the graves, rendering
the air pestilential. We were spared such hideous experiences.
Leaving the cemetery behind us, we rose some fifty or sixty feet
above a ledge of the desert, and stood in the ancient granite quar
ries of Assouan. The plain is strewed with massive surface stones,
which covered the quarry, and were rolled down the hill-side by
some mechanism of more power than we can now conceive. At a
height of five hundred feet above the river-bed, we found the
smosth bed of the quarry of red granite from which the walls of
the chambers of the Pyramids, and the columns of the Temples of
Memphis, Thebes, and Dendera, were taken. From here, also, were

558 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
quarried the sarcophagi and statues found in every part of Egypt,
and all, or nearly all, of the obelisks which grace European capitals,
as well as Heliopolis, Luxor, and Karnak. It is almost enough to
make one fancy that the Egyptians were a Titanic race, when
standing in this quarry, and contemplating that, three thousand,
four thousand, five thousand years ago, they hewed, without the
aid of steam or gunpowder, the solid mountain into shapes of gran
deur and ornament, with scarcely more time, labor, and cost, than
are now expended in framing smaller forms of wood ! After con
tinuing for four thousand years a scene of active industry, the quar
ries became silent and solitary all at once. We understand there
is no record of the erection of any obelisk in Egypt subsequent to
the period of the Roman conquest. We left our uncomfortable
camels, and climbed up the sides of an obelisk, that had been exca
vated and nearly hewn into shape when the quarry was abandoned,
and which has remained exactly in the same condition since. It
measures seventy feet in length. Except at the apex, detached
from the native rock on three sides, it is completely chiseUed, and
ready for polishing. The holes in the rock, on either side, can be
seen, which received the wedges used in spHtting off the external
masses. We recalled here an inscription found on the great obelisk
at Karnak. It recites that the monument was excavated at these
quarries of Assouan, finished, conveyed to Karnak, and erected on
its base there, all within the period of two hundred and ten days.
What was the intended destination of this obelisk at Assouan?
Why was it left unfinished ? Probably an invasion demanded that
all subjects of the state should rush to its defence. It is always a
sorry and a sad sight to contemplate any great work that has been
abandoned incomplete. We wonder that the people of the United
States can endure the sight of the unfinished monument of Wash
ington at the capital. But it is infinitely more sad to see a ruin,
the construction of which was arrested by a blow that not only
arrested that work, but arrested forever the stream of national life.
It is with thoughts something like these that one looks over the
marble blocks which were just being chiselled to repair the Forum
of Pompeii, when the city itself was buried in a night, by the ashes

PHILiE. 559
from Yesuvius. Historians try to show us how such prodigious
labor was possible in ancient Egypt. They conjecture that the
Pharaohs were despots, and that the quarries of Assouan were a
prison. But these conjectures are unsatisfactory. Despotism and
penal imprisonment have at some time prevailed in nearly every
country on earth, but Egypt is the only country that has built
pyramids and excavated obelisks. Devotional affection was the
strongest in the earliest ages. These Egyptian monuments are the
expressions of reverence to the gods. There will be no occasion
hereafter for mankind to produce such gigantic utterances in stone.
Christian faith and reverence can express a higher and purer devo
tion to the Creator by the use of types of lead and a printing-press.
The savants who accompanied Bonaparte's army into Egypt re
port that there were then two temples on the island of Elephantina
—one facing down the Nile, and called the " Temple of the North ; "
one looking upward, and called the " Temple of the South." These,
together with a nilometer, have been entirely swept away by inun
dations. There is still remaining there a statue of Osiris, with a
date inscribed on it three thousand one hundred years ago.
Philce, May 23d. — We left our boat, with the other shipping at
Assouan, at dawn this morning, and came, as usual, mounted on
donkeys and camels, through the desert, to this place — the upper
verge of the cataract. Our way was over rocky hills and through
equally desolate ravines, whose only shade is the naked, overhang
ing mountain-sides ; nor is there on the whole way a single green
leaf or blade of grass. An Austrian mission has erected a plain
and comfortable edifice here, on the bank of the river, eight miles
above Assouan, and facing Philse. This is the customary terminus
of the voyage of all travellers on the Nile, as it is of ours. We
find here a curious proof that the ancient Egyptians regarded a
voyage up the Nile as gratifying an achievement as it is esteemed
by us. The granite rocks here are covered with inscriptions, re
citing their success in making the great voyage. Some were con
tent with simply registering their names. William Freeman regis
tered his name in the same modest way. One ambitious tourist

560

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

engraved himself, in intaglio, reverentially worshipping the gods
of the cataract ! The same rocks, curiously enough, contain ac
counts inscribed by Egyptians, by generals, princes, and kings, of
their successful expeditions against Ethiopia. The cataract of the
Nile has its parallel in many countries — the volume of a vast river
broken, as it descends to a lower level, by green islands and barren
rocks. Such are Sault Ste. Marie, the falls of St. Anthony, the falls
of the Mohawk, and many falls on the Upper Hudson and the Po

tomac. But the cataract of the Nile has a grandeur surpassing all
these, in the stern setting of the beautiful picture in a framework
of impassable deserts. Out of the midst of the dashing torrent
rises the beautiful island of Philas. The whole island, a quarter of
a mile long, and scarcely more than two hundred feet wide, is
picturesquely crowned with graceful temples and colonnades. The
sites of these structures were chosen by artistic eyes. In this re
spect, Philae stands alone. Every colonnade and every gate-way was
evidently built with a view to excite the traveller's imagination as he

FRENCH TABLET. 561
might approach the sacred island. The firm and lofty bases of the
temple seem like a solid wall encircling its entire area. The base,
at the same time, serves as a quay for the mooring of the boats of
' visitors, and affords them chambers to rest in before entering the
temple. The architecture of Philse is not, like all the ruins we
have seen, purely or chiefly Egyptian. The ancient Egyptians only
began it. It was completed by the Greeks after Alexander, who
were content to improve Egyptian models without destroying them
or substituting their own. Hence there is a delicacy and grace of
execution in the ruins of Philse that is not seen in other Egyptian
temples. The ruins give us some interesting modern historical in
formation. Near the close of the fourth century, as every one
reads, the Emperor Theodosins, of the Eastern Empire, issued an
edict at Constantinople, by which he proscribed and abolished the
ancient Egyptian religion. Among the inscriptions in the temples,
recording the visits of travellers there, are those of priests of that
religion who performed here their rites in honor of Isis and Osiris
sixty years after the promulgation of the decree. There is a tablet
in the propyleeum of the Temple of the East, on which is carefully
engraved :
" L'an 6 de la republique, le 13 Messidor, une armee Francaise,
commandee par Buonaparte, est descendue a Alexandrie ; l'armee
ayant mis vingt jours apres, les Mamelukes en fuite aux pyramides,
Dessaix, commandant la premiere division les a poursuivi au-dela
des cataractes, ou il est arrive le 13 Yentose, de l'an 7." '
How curious that almost the only monument which the French
Republic of '93 has left is this one, which records a great foreign
achievement of a hero who defended it only to subvert it ! How
prone unsophisticated nature is to exaggerate the marvellous !
Mariette Bey quotes a French traveller of the age of Louis XIY.
as saying that the thunders of the cataract of the Nile deafen the

1 Translation. — " On the 13th Messidor of the year 6 of the republic " (July 3, 1Y99),
1 the French army, commanded by Bonaparte, landed at Alexandria. At the Pyr
amids, twenty days later, the Mamelukes having been put to flight by the army, Dessaix
commanding the first division, pursued them above the cataract, where he arrived on the
13th Ventose of the year 1 " (March 5, 1800).

562 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
inhabitants for miles around. Mr. Seward remembers to have seen
on an old English map a picture of Niagara Falls, with a note under
it saying, " These falls are a quarter of a mile high ! " Having
made these profound critical reflections, we descend the Grand
Quay and go on board a dahabeah, to make our way through the
foaming rapids and the roaring eddies and whirlpools to our Croco
dile, which awaits us at Assouan, and at this moment an incident
occurs which is worth recording, if for no other reason than that of
its instructions in economy. We see a native man and woman
emerge from the magnificent classic colonnade at the water's edge
of the island, plunge into the rushing river, and make their way
directly across to the Libyan coast.. They have taken off all their
clothing and heaped it in solid parcels on their heads, while they
walk securely through the wild and dangerous rapids. This is, in
deed, the customary form of ferriage on the Nile. It has often
amused us to see a river-boat, which has come up from Cairo
freighted with natives, stop, and, without boat or plank, deliver its
passengers in the middle of the river. The passenger puts his lug
gage on his head, and leaps into the river, saying, philosophically
and cheerfully : " If it is my kismet " (fate), " I shall perish ; if not,
I shall reach the bank."
If we have turned our backs reluctantly upon the Mountains of
the Moon and the sources of the Nile, we must console ourselves
with the reflection that we have seen regions which neither Alex
ander, nor Julius Caesar, nor Genghis Khan, nor Tamerlane, nor
apostolic prophet, nor Columbus, nor Napoleon, nor Magellan, nor
Vasco de Gama, ever explored.

CHAPTER YIII.
LAST DAYS IN EGYPT.
The Vice-Consul's Harem. — Kenneh and its Pottery. — The Sugar of Egypt. — Memphis. —
Its Ruins. — The Downfall of Idolaters. — Again at Cairo. — Conversation with a
Pacha. — Alexandria. — Aspect of the City. — Interview with the Khedive. — Sir Henry
Bulwer. — Pompey's Pillar. — The Khedive's Yacht. — Concluding Reflections on Egypt.
Thebes, May 24th. — We fastened here at Luxor, this afternoon.
Sultan Pacha, the governor, and the United States vice-consul, were
on the wharf to welcome us back. While Mr. Seward entertained
these former dignified personages on board, the vice-consul con
ducted the ladies to his little harem. His domestic establishment,
coarse and plain, is in striking contrast with this loyal representa
tive's pretentious official residence, at which we were so sumptu
ously dined on our way up the river. On reaching the door, the
ladies ascended, by a very narrow, steep, and not particularly clean
flight of stairs, to the house-top ; where, it being after sunset, they
sat during their visit, without protection. The furniture of the
room consisted of a bed and two chairs. An African handmaid
was in attendance. Presently the wife of the consul, a slender,
middle-aged woman, came up the stairs, veiled, and neatly dressed
in deep black, with heavy silver bracelets and bangles. She re
ceived our salutation timidly, remained standing, and presented
her three pretty, olive-skinned children — one boy and two girls.
The ladies turned to the consul and said, " But you told us you had
but one child ? " He answered, " I have but one boy ; we do not

564 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
count girls." The mother entirely agreed with him, and expressed
her mortification, in Arabic, that two of the children should be so
perverse as to belong to the inferior sex! This woman has no
responsibility except the care of her children. The visit, being one
of ceremony, ended with coffee, chibouques, and sherbets, brought
by the handmaiden from the consul's house. We retire to rest by
the light of the Southern Cross, the last time that soon, if perhaps
ever, it shall spread its light for us, though we have many seas yet
to navigate, and many lands yet to explore, before we reach our
home. Beni-Hassan, May 28th. — We steamed down the river from
Thebes on the morning of the 25th, having for the last sound there
the sharp report of the vice-consul's musket firing a national salute ;
and, for the last sight, the flags of the United States, Brazil, and
Egypt, waving from a staff high above the columns, walls, and
obelisks of Karnak and Luxor. We stopped for coal at Kenneh, a
lively, commercial Arab town, and the seat of the manufacture of
the porous earthen pottery used throughout Egypt for cooling and
clarifying the Nile-water. Roads across the Arabian Desert ex
tend this trade by caravans to Persia, and the banks of the Euphra
tes and Tigris. European governments have consulates here,
which are filled by wealthy Arab merchants. The German consul,
of the same class, entertained us in a residence so stately that it
would not ill become a foreigner, resident in Cairo. We coaled
again at Siout, went ashore at Rodah, and visited the immense su
gar refinery there, the private property of the Khedive. Sugar is
the principal staple of Upper Egypt, while Lower Egypt produces
none. The viceroy is the principal producer and manufacturer
for the whole country. The cane is brought to Rodah in boats
from various plantations, which contain in the aggregate ninety
thousand acres. The machinery is of British manufacture, and
equal to the best in Cuba. When we compare the extensive culti
vation on the banks, and the activity of trade on the river, as we
approach Cairo, with the sterility and desolation of the banks at
the cataract, this return-voyage, down the Nile, seems to us like a

ANCIENT MEMPHIS. 565
return from a sojourn in the " valley of the shadow of death " to
the land of the living. The deserts on either side, with their
mountain-crests, recede gradually from the banks ; and the valley,
largely covered with date-orchards and sugar-cane, wears a green
ness which shows that we have left the tropics behind us to come
again into the temperate zone. Small as the range of manufacture
and local trade is, the inhabitants are intelligent and active, in
striking contrast to the people of the Upper Nile. Sultan Pacha,
with his steamer, has kindly acted as convoy to the Crocodile, and,
whenever we have stopped, we have shared the honors which a
simple and subjugated people show him. At every landing, boats
discharge their freights of delicious watermelons, as presents or for
taxes in kind, on his deck, and the finest of them soon find their
way to ours. Nothing could be more acceptable in this dry, hot
climate. Memphis, Tuesday, May 30th. — Our last day on the Nile ! The
downward voyage has been made without other accident than an
occasional running high and dry on sand-banks, from which we
were hauled off sometimes by our noisy Arab crew, sometimes by
our steady convoy. The Pyramids of Dashur, far distant from the
bank, though in full view from the river, then those of Sakkara
next seen, beckoned to us to stop and take a survey of ancient
Memphis. Our approach to Cairo was made known to us by the
grim towering points of Ghizeh.
A citizen of Chicago would think it labor lost in visiting this
renowned ancient capital. It is so soon done for. As we advance
inward from the valley of the Nile toward the desert, we pass some
irregular black knolls, which are covered with clumps of date-
palms. On the surface of these hillocks we saw, here and there,
not bowlders, but blocks of hewn granite, no one stone lying on
another. Occasionally the knoll, having been partially cut away
for agricultural purposes, reveals a heap of broken bricks. In a
sunken ditch, now dry, but which is filled by the Nile when at
flood, lies prostrate, with face downward, a monolith statue of Ra
meses II., usually identified as the great Sesostris. Its whole

566 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
height was sixty feet. The stone is a flinty limestone. It was
nine in the morning when we arrived off the accepted site. The
bank is a plain six or seven miles wide, crossed by canals of irriga
tion in all directions, and large portions of it are subject to annual
inundation. The current being very strong, we found neither
wharf nor anchorage, nor even a place for mooring. We, there
fore, turned about and passed up the river to a convenient cove used
for a ferry. Crossing the plain, we left behind us the river winding
between fertile plains ; below us Beni-Hassan ; opposite, on the
right bank, a Coptic convent, and an abandoned line of military
signal-stations ; the view bounded on the north by Old Cairo and
the citadel, here only just visible. Two or three miles before us,
on the plain, a modern Egyptian town, with the Arabic name of
Myt-Rahyneh, nestling among dry sand-hills ; in the distance the
Pyramids of Sakkara, seeming to cluster against the horizon with
those of Ghizeh. The efficiency of the Khedive's government was
shown by the promptness with which, in compliance with a dis
patch which Betts Bey sent from Beni-Hassan, twenty or thirty
men appeared, with chairs and donkeys, to meet us. We rested at
Myt-Rahyneh long enough to reorganize our train, and partake of
sherbet and coffee under some acacias, which protect the Only well
in the village, and then resumed our way across the level plain,
over cultivated fields, and crossing the canals on bridges for a dis
tance of four miles, when we reached the squalid hamlet of Sak
kara. It was near sunset when we embarked, leaving behind us for
ever the city of Memphis — Memphis, founded by Menes, the home
of the authors of civilization ; the builders of the Pyramids, the
kings who knew, and the kings who knew not Joseph ! Memphis,
whose sedgy bank was the cradle of Moses, whose council-chambers
heard the warnings of the prophet of Israel, and the denunciations
of the divine plagues ! Memphis, from whose walls issued the
chariots and horsemen which were lost in the pursuit of the Israel
ites through the waters of the Red Sea ! As we reflect upon the
monuments we have seen to-day of the senseless worship of bulls,
birds, crocodiles, and hippopotami, the mockery alike of religion

RETURN TO CAIRO. 567
and of knowledge, we wonder less than ever that the first and
chief instruction which Moses the deliverer conveyed to his people
was, " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The time had
come when the world needed that command. Perhaps the expe
rience of the proneness of mankind to disregard it may be the ex
planation of the severity of the discipline by which it has pleased
the great Lawgiver of the Universe to enforce that command. He
has cut off the nations that have refused it :
" Thus saith the Loud God ; I will destroy the idols, and I will
cause their images to cease out of Noph " (Memphis) ; " and there
shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt : and I will put a
fear in the land of Egypt."
Cairo, May 31st. — We came to the wharf by moonlight, at ten
o'clock last night. Carriages were waiting to convey us through
the streets of Cairo, of which every mosque was illuminated, and
merry crowds of natives were assembled at the fountains and
shrines. It was the birthday of Mohammed — the day on which
the pilgrims returned from Mecca are publicly received by the
Khedive, and honored with religious ceremonies at the mosques.
We passed at the base of the citadel the public square, where, a
few hours before, the sheik of the Great Mosque, mounted on a
heavy charger, had ridden over a long pavement of prostrate devo
tees, without inflicting, as they allege, a fracture, a bruise, or even
a pain. At eleven o'clock we were again at our residence in the
Kasr-Nudzha after an excursion of nineteen days, during which no
danger was experienced, no disappointment incurred, and no want,
either of comfort or luxury, unsupplied.
Mr. Seward's first desire this morning was an audience of the
Khedive, in which he might make his acknowledgments to his
princely host for this rich experience. But they have politics in
Egypt as elsewhere. The Khedive went yesterday morning to
Alexandria. Speculation is rife as to the reason of his journey,
and as to the probable length of his absence — some saying that he
is summoned to Constantinople, where he may be poisoned, and
the, most hopeful agreeing that he will not return to Cairo for

568 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
several weeks. He was attended by his harem and the Princess
Yalide, who, gossip says, always makes his coffee for him on his
journeys, and gives it to him with her own hands, to guard against
possible attempts at poisoning. He has kindly left instructions for
receiving Mr. Seward at Alexandria.
June 4th. — A very free conversation between a distinguished
pacha and Mr. Seward at dinner to-day disclosed a discouraging po
litical situation in Egypt. The pacha thinks that foreign states
ought to discuss directly with the Egyptian Government all ques
tions of mutual interest, instead of treating with the Turkish Gov-
ment at Constantinople. Mr. Seward said : " The Egyptian Gov
ernment must go deeper into the matter of international law than
this. At present, the relations of Egypt, as well as of the whole
Turkish Empire, to the Christian nations are provisional, somewhat
of the nature of those established by an armistice on the battle
field. The Mohammedan states have neglected or refused to ac
cept the laws of nations as matured by the Christian states. The
European states consent to remain at peace with the Mohammedan
states, but only on the condition that the latter shall exercise no
jurisdiction or authority over the persons or property of subjects
of Christian countries. Every foreigner, therefore, residing in
Egypt, whether English, French, German, Greek, or American, in
vokes in his own behalf the intervention of his own government,
and submits himself only to its judgments when complaint is
made against him by the Egyptian Government. Foreigners pay no
taxes, and render no miHtary services ; and yet trade, art, and manu
factures, such as you have, seem almost .exclusively in their hands.
This condition is unsatisfactory to the Khedive and to the states
men of Egypt. I learn this, not only from your own conversation,
but from the fact that the Khedive has organized a legislature, and
has instituted negotiations with the Western powers for the estab
lishment of a mixed foreign and native judiciary, to have charge
of questions in which foreigners are concerned. But I do not
learn that the Ottoman Porte, to which Egypt is a tributary, sym
pathizes at all with the Khedive in his very reasonable aspirations.

THE DELTA. 569
The reason probably is, that the Ottoman Porte finds its best se
curity against foreign dangers in its compliance with the will of the
dominant European powers. On their part, these powers cannot
maintain a policy of protection toward Turkey except by insisting
upon the existing stipulations. It does not become me to speculate
here on questions which affect the relations of Egypt to the Turk
ish Empire. I am here the guest of both, but I may be allowed to
say that what I think Egypt most needs is the opening of the coun
try to Europeans and Christians for cultivation, and a compulsory
system of education of the whole mass of children of both sexes,
native and foreign, by which, in no very long time, Egypt will raise
a class who will be capable of carrying on trade, banking, manufac
tories, internal improvements, and military instruction, as well as
of exercising the other occupations which are now chiefly filled by
foreigners. The system of education thus to be established ought
to be built up as fast and as far as possible on the principles of the
Western nations. Until this is done, I see little hope for the
emancipation of Egypt from its double thraldom ; first, to the Otto
man Forte ; and, second, through the dependency of the Ottoman
Porte, to the Christian nations of Europe. This prospect will
seem to you distant, but rivalries between the European states are
inevitable, and I think that you will find some one or more of them
always willing to favor measures which tend to the advancement
of civilization in Egypt, and her admission into the family of inde
pendent nations."
Alexandria, June 5th. — The Khedive's consideration contin
ues. Leaving the pleasant Kasr-Nudzha, at eight o'clock in the
morning, we crossed the Delta in a special train, attended, as on
our entrance into Cairo, by Betts Bey and the United States con
sul-general. What need is there to say here that just below Heli
opolis, while yet in the traditional land of Goshen, we crossed the
Damietta branch of the Nile ; that the Delta spreads out here to the
width of a hundred miles, so that, for the first time since our arrival
in Egypt, we lose sight both of the Arabian Desert and of the des
ert of Libya ; that we crossed, lower down, the Rosetta branch of
43

570 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the Nile, and that, as we approached the Mediterranean, we had a
view of the Mahmoud Canal, which carries the inland trade of
Alexandria ; and that later we traversed the shore of the now shal
low Lake Mceris, thousands of years ago the bed of the Nile ?
This vast and fertile plain, while it exhibits the usual assiduous
industry of the fellahs, at the same time shows some approximation
toward European customs and manners.
The site of Alexandria is naturally dry, stern, and sterile, as
forbidding as the deserts which form on either side of the Upper
Nile. But with the growth of commerce, in the course of two
thousand years, this forbidding African coast has assumed a cheer
ful aspect. Irrigation has produced here rich gardens, groves, and
orchards. All the eminences, within the range of vision, are sur
mounted by windmills, and the approaches to the city in every
direction are adorned with villas, in which Italian taste is pleas
antly combined with the Oriental. On our right, towers the tall,
dark shaft of Pompey's pillar.
The Khedive's military staff received Mr. Seward at the station,
and attended him to the Hdtel oV Angleterre, placed at his disposal
by direction of the Government. On our way, Mr. Seward re
marked the great improvements which have taken place since he
was here in 1859, and pointed out the catacombs of the ancient
Egyptians in the high embankment, which have been exposed by
the cutting of streets directly through and over them. Our hotel
fronts the great public square, which on either side is lined with
palatial residences in the European style. It seems as if we had
already entered Europe, and left Egypt behind us. A throng of
fashionably-dressed Europeans are promenading, and French and
EngHsh equipages are frequent in the streets. The Italian opera
demands our immediate attendance on the opposite square, and
every thing shows us that at last, after ten months' travel among
the semi-barbarous nations of the East, we have at last reached a
gay though exotic European city.
June 6th. — A political day. Mr. Seward, this morning, had a
parting audience of the Khedive in his palace, on the island of Pba-

INTERVIEW WITH THE KHEDIVE. 571
ros, facing the sea. His highness evidently regards Alexandria as
a provincial residence, and gratifies the people with a greater dis
play of state pomp and ceremony than he customarily indulges in
at Cairo. The palace-gates were guarded, and its courts graced
with battalions of fine troops. The Khedive received Mr. Seward
with warm congratulations on his return, and made many kind
inquiries about his voyage up the Nile, which, at so late a season,
he had regarded with grave apprehensions. He hoped that, while
impressed by the wonderful antiquities of the country, Mr. Seward
would carry away from it a conviction that it is advancing in the
path of Western civilization as fast as under the circumstances
could be expected. He desired to know whether any thing remained
that he could do to render Mr. Seward's stay at Alexandria agree
able. Mr. Seward told him there was nothing, but that he would
ask one parting favor, in addition to all the kindnesses he had re
ceived. The Khedive promised to grant it before it was asked.
Mr. Seward said, " Betts Bey has been indefatigable in the care and
attention which he has bestowed upon us, but his service to your
highness is so diligent and constant that he never finds an oppor
tunity for recreation. I learn from him that he has never seen Pal
estine, whither I am going. He is a Christian, as I am, and a
pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, once in his life, would make him
no more incapable of official service in a Mohammedan court. He
has not suggested a desire to accompany me, nor have I apprised
him of my intention to make this request, but I shall esteem it a
last and great favor, if you will direct that he may accompany me
to Jerusalem." " Granted at once," said the Khedive. " Betts Bey deserves it,
and pilgrimage to holy places cannot but make us all better men,
whatever may be our religious belief."
Engaging Mr. Seward to advise him of his health and safety in
the further progress of his journey, and expressing an earnest de-
Bire to visit him some time in the United States, the Khedive shook
hands with Mr. Seward, and the latter took his leave. Arms were
presented as he retired and joined his party at the palace-gates.
Thence Mr. Seward proceeded to pay a visit to Lord Dalling, late

572

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

Sir Henry Bulwer, who is now on a visit to Egypt, and, like Mr.
Seward, a guest of the Khedive. He has his residence in a villa
on the canal, outside of the city-gates. This interview was a very
pleasant one. Sir Henry Bulwer was the British minister at
Washington during the administration of President Taylor, when
Mr. Seward was first entering upon his senatorial term. A cordial
friendship then grew up between them, in consequence of their
mutual efforts to secure the so-called " Clayton-Bulwer Treaty,"
which, with a view to transcontinental communication across the
Isthmus, stipulated the independence of the Central- American re
publics. The two statesmen compared notes very fully on the
attitudes of their respective Governments toward each other dur-

POMPEY'S PILLAR.

POMPEY'S PILLAR. 573
ing the late civil war in the United States, and the late British
ambassador expressed his satisfaction at the result of the conflict,
as Mr. Seward did his hope for tho firm establishment of the cor
dial friendship between the two nations. Lord Dalling seems so
confirmed an invalid, that Mr. Seward asked, after leaving his
lordship, which of the two seemed most shattered with age and
infirmity. Pompey's pillar, though at a distance it seems perfect, is gradu
ally succumbing to the ravages of time. Why does not the British
Government remove the fallen "Cleopatra's Needle," which Me
hemet AH presented to it ? London would be none the worse for
such an embellishment. If they shrink from the task of removing
it, why not restore the great ruler's gift to his successor ? We are
sure that Ismail Pacha would make no delay in raising it on its
ancient pedestal in Alexandria, or even restoring it to its earlier
place at Heliopolis. Egyptian obelisks, thirty-three hundred years
old, are certainly too valuable, in modern times, to be buried in
the sand. They tell an amusing tale concerning this obelisk here.
An ambitious Alexandrian bought the' land on which it lies, to
build upon. He cannot build without removing the obelisk. He
has three difficulties about removing it : first, it belongs to the
British Government ; second, it would cost more than the land is
worth to remove it ; third, he has no right to place it anywhere
else. They say he walks up to look at it every Sunday, and study
the problem, which still remains unsolved.
June 7th. — The American military officers of the Khedive's ser
vice, in the magnificent gold-laced uniform of the Egyptian army,
called on Mr. Seward en masse, and it was a great satisfaction to
him to find one place, in going round the world, where the Ameri
can agent, political or religious, expresses his entire content with
the government of the country he resides in.
We have looked up and down the Mahmoud Canal, as well as
through the harbor of Alexandria, without finding the famous barge
of Cleopatra. The most ancient vessel we have found is the
Ariadne, Captain Marryat's vessel, on which he wrote " Jacob

574 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
Faithful," and which is lying in the harbor, dismantled, and used
as a store-ship. Another historical naval reHc in Alexandria Bay
is the ship Resolution, in which Captain Cook made his last voyage.
This hulk, of four hundred tons, now black and brown, is used as a
coaling-ship by the Peninsular and Oriental steamers.
We have just returned from a visit to the Khedive's yacht — a
sea-palace, moving with steam-engines and side-wheels ; its bur
den, three thousand tons ; it's speed, seventeen miles an hour ; its
armament, eight guns ; its naval crew, four hundred and fifty men ;
its staircases, of silver ; its floors, covered with Persian and Turkish
carpets ; its windows and beds, draped with satin brocade ; its im
mense saloons, hung with mirrors, pictures, and chandeliers, the
finest that Paris could produce, and furnished with modern, lavish,
dazzling splendor. What would not Plutarch have said to this?
With this ship Cleopatra could not only have brought Mark Antony
safely away from Actium, but she could have won the battle for
him, which would have been better, and could have entertained
him more sumptuously even than in her famous barge.
Alexandria, founded by the Great Conqueror, whose name it
bears, after his death supplanting Memphis under the sway of the
Ptolemies, after its conquest by Julius Caesar emulating Rome
itself, and later becoming the school of Christianity in the East,
then eclipsed by Constantinople, and still later subjugated by the
Mussulman caliphs, broken down by their successors and restored
by Mehemet Ali, still remains a great commercial city. It is the
entrepot of European commerce for Egypt and India. We are now
to see it undergo a still further trial. Will it be superseded by
Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez Canal ?
Port Said, June 9th. — Leaving Alexandria yesterday at four
o'clock, we resumed our voyage, always in sight of the Egyptian
coast. The bright light of Pharos reminded us that it was here
that the humane institution of this form of beacon for navigators
had its origin, in a structure on the same spot, deemed so remark
able for its majesty and beauty by the ancients, as to be accepted
by them as one of the " seven wonders of the world."

PORT SAID. 575
A customary expression of regret that the Alexandrian Library
was lost to the world, led Mr. Seward to say that, perhaps, it is not
a total loss after all. Nine-tenths of all the books which are written
in the world are, more or less, transcripts of others that have been
written before. A great library is generally only a store-house of
material for new books. It would be strange, indeed, if, one way
or another, any of the ideas which were recorded in the million
volumes of the Alexandrian Library are not now extant in other
books. So a library lost is like the light of Pharos which was lost
—but not so utterly lost that it cannot be replaced.
In the course of the night we passed Rosetta, after Alexandria,
the chief port of entry of the Delta. A few hours later, rounding
easily and quietly into the smooth but capacious artificial harbor of
Port Said, we threw over an anchor, an experience which seemed
new to us, after our three weeks of tying to stakes on the banks of
the Nile.
The superintendent of the Suez Canal, desirous that Mr. Seward
should examine the work at this terminus, as he had at the other,
kindly put a small steamer at our service, and, embarking on this
vessel with Mr. Page, United States consul, we made an excursion
of ten miles through this part of the canal, which flows in a deep
channel, between high embankments faced with artificial stone,
and is built through the middle of the shallow salt-lake Menzaleh.
It seemed to us that human patience and energy have never been
so severely tasked as in raising these firm and solid embankments
upon the oozy bed which had been saturated and soaked with the
slimy flood of the Nile, from a period, perhaps, earlier than the
beginning of the human race.
Port Said seems quite American. The site of the little town,
so recently recovered from the sea, is already divided and sub
divided into streets and squares, and the universal topic of con
versation is the eligibility of and price of city-lots. There is as
yet little indication of internal trade, but the repairing of shipping,
transshipment of passengers, and coaling of vessels, afford profitable
occupation to a population of ten thousand, among whom are found
some Germans, some Italians, but chiefly immigrants from the is-

576 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
lands of the Levant. We dined with the consul, and walked through
the sandy streets, under a burning sun.
Whence came the Egyptian people? How was it that they
erected and maintained so great and flourishing a state, construct
ing vaster and more enduring monuments than any other portion
of the human race, and why after these marvellous achievements
did they entirely cease to have a national existence ? These are
as great mysteries to the dwellers in Egypt now as they are to us.
We have already mentioned that an Arab told us that the Pyramids
and the Sphinx were the creation of genii in a single night. A
Copt, attending us at Dendera, asked us, as he surveyed the ruins,
" Who were the people who raised these wonderful temples and
excavated these tombs? Whence did they come, and whither
have they gone ? " We are not inclined to accept the idea that
the old Egyptians were like the Copts. The Copts of the pres
ent day are men of dark skin, while all the statuary and paint
ings which so much excite our interest invariably represent and
describe the Egyptians as " red men." Certainly they were neither
negroes, nor Hindoos, nor Europeans — neither blacks nor whites,
like the blacks and whites of to-day. Doubtless, in the patriarchal
period, some tribes from the west of Asia, Arabia, perhaps Meso
potamia and Syria, made their way into the valley of the Nile, and
instituted society there some centuries before the visit of Joseph
and his brethren. Isolated there, and yet exposed to invasion from
Libya and Ethiopia, as well as from Arabia, these tribes would
naturally consolidate themselves into a nation. Thus consolidated,
possessing a soil of unequalled fertility, they perfected and main
tained Egypt as the great state of its time, for a period of several
thousand years. During this period they first conquered and then
mingled their blood with the African tribes of Ethiopia, now Nubia
and Libya. From this mixture probably descended the Copts, an
inferior race during the glory of Egypt, but who nevertheless
adhered longer to its religion and arts than any other part of the
population. It is much easier to see how the Egyptian nation perished than
how it originated. They perfected their work ; they produced a

FOSSIL EGYPT. 577
religion which in all ages seems to have been the first need of man
kind, a state which was the second, science the third, and had com
merce, literature, and arts, adequate to their own wants, if they
had remained isolated. But, by the time this was done, Assyria,
"Persia, Syria, including Phoenicia, and especially Greece, had
pushed inquiry further, and had reached much higher results.
They established religions, states, commerce, and arts, which, al
though in modern times they have all been found imperfect, were
nevertheless more solid and effective than those of the Egyptians.
The Egyptian system came into conflict successively with those new
and better ones. The work of destruction which the Assyrians
and Persians began was not stayed by their Greek and Roman suc
cessors, and the Mohammedan invaders in the seventh and eighth
centuries, with their policy of conquest and propagandism by the
sword, completed the ruin of Egypt by a work of unsparing deso
lation. If there is any one fact in natural science that seems to us more
mysterious than another, it is that on some mountain-top, or in some
remote valley far away from and far above the everlasting ocean,
we pick up a slate-stone in our path, and, breaking it, we find
within the distinct fossil imprint of a shell-fish of a species un
known, or perhaps extinct. It is just so with ancient Egypt ; it
had a civilization which seems to have had no prototype, and can
have no reproduction.

CHAPTER IX.
JERUSALEM.
A Levantine Coasting-Steamer. — The Green Fields of Sharon. — Jaffa. — Ramleh. — Lydda.
— Rural Population. — First View of Jerusalem. — Mr. Seward's Reception. — The
Sultan's Firman. — Church of the Holy Sepulchre. — Religious Intolerance, — Mount
Calvary. — The Via Dolorosa. — The -Mosque of Omar. — The Mosque El-Aksa.
Jaffa, June 8th. — The eleventh month of our voyage of circum
navigation opens upon us in Palestine. A Levantine coasting-
steamer presents us with another peculiar phase of travel. Except
our party, there are neither Americans, nor English, nor Europeans.
All are natives of the towns of Syria, Palestine, the Greek islands,
and Asia Minor. They are, in fact, a reproduction of the hetero
geneous multitude whom Peter addressed at Jerusalem on the day
of Pentecost, as far as the classifications of modern geography will
allow :
" Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Meso
potamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phry
gia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Gy
rene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Ara
bians." After being dazzled almost to blindness by the reflection of a
tropical sunlight from the glaring sand of the desert, it is gratefully
refreshing to look out upon the green fields of Sharon. Mr. Sew
ard, who sojourned here a week under quarantine in 1859, indicated
from the deck the convent made forever historical by Bonaparte's

5«

JAFFA AND RAMLEH. 579
alleged poisoning of his sick and disabled soldiers to prevent their
falling into the hands of the Turks. He pointed out also the house
and grounds which are shown to travellers as the house of Simon
the tanner, and a rock into which has been inserted a large ring,
asserted to have been used for two very different purposes : the
one for chaining Andromeda, and the other for holding Noah's
Ark in its place until he was ready to embark on his extraordinary
cruise. Jaffa, though not after the European taste, is, nevertheless, a
handsome town, covering a rocky cliff, and overhanging the sea.
1 We cast anchor half a mile from shore, for there is no harbor, and
our eyes were immediately greeted with a sight of the " stars and
stripes " floating over a beautiful green suburb, two miles outside
the walls of Jaffa, and our ears with the intelligence that it was the
" American colony." A boat came promptly off the shore and put
on deck Mr. Benjamin Finkelstein, an attache of the consulate at
Jerusalem, who delivered to Mr. Seward a congratulatory letter
from Mr. Beardsley, the consul there. Mr. Finkelstein was accom
panied by his own cavass, and also by an aide of the Turkish gov
ernor of Jaffa. Although the breakers were running high, we
were transferred without danger or inconvenience on board a na
tive surf-boat, and with much skill buoyantly earned over a rolling
sea near the shelving beach of the American colony. Here the
boatmen carried us severally on their shoulders, and our feet were
safely planted on the Syrian shore. Detachments of Turkish cav
alry and infantry received Mr. Seward, as a guest of the Turkish
Government, with martial music and military honors. Forming
an escort, they conducted us, through orange-orchards hedged with
cactus, to the centre of the so-called American settlement.
Ramleh, June 9th. — Our progress, in ascending to Jerusalem,
was in manner very like to that in which we ascended from Peking
to the Great Wall of China. It was conducted by Betts Bey, of the
civil service of the Khedive of Egypt, assisted by Mr. Finkelstein,
and their authority was supported by the cavass of the United
States consulate at Jerusalem, dressed in the most elaborate and

580 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
extravagant Turkish uniform, armed with a silver staff, like that of
a drum-major, three cimeters, and pistols innumerable, of various
sizes, in belt and saddle-bow. Each beast was attended by a driver
and a leader. The governor, with a large mounted escort, which
he called a " guard of honor," attended us through the streets, out
of the gates, and through the orange-groves of the suburbs to the
wells of Yasur, on the open plain of Sharon. At this place, the
governor and his troops took their leave, a smaller mounted guard
taking its place, and we proceeded to Ramleh.
Toward the end of the ride, our guides pointed out on our left
Lydda, which, although the Greeks tried to christen it Diospolis,
has retained its name and identity through all revolutionary changes,
from the time when " Peter came down also to the saints which
dwelt in Lydda, forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa," and
" found a certain man named JEneas, which had kept his bed eight
years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, iEneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole : arise and make thy bed. And
he arose immediately."
Arriving at Ramleh at eight o'clock, or just at dark, Mr. Seward
was received by the governor of that town, with a guard of honor,
and, having designated a Latin convent as the lodging he preferred,
was graciously introduced by the governor to the Franciscan
superior of the house. We were very weary. One of the brothers
with much alacrity showed us to clean, comfortable rooms, and
spread a generous supper. The superior, a handsome, educated
Spaniard, manifestly uninformed of the political occurrences' of the
day, conversed with us at table, and expressed a hope that the
luxuries which were prepared for us were satisfactory, but declined
to participate, because they are forbidden to him. Such monasteries
as this are found dispersed throughout the Holy Land. They were
founded at an early date by Christian charities in Europe, to
afford shelter and comfort to the pilgrims of the West. Being
endowed with lands, and conducted with great frugality, the com
munities are now self-sustaining. There being no good public
inns in the country, these monasteries entertain travellers in a
simple and comfortable manner, and receive, when the traveller

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JERUSALEM. 581
leaves, such gratuity as he pleases to give, although they make no
demand. Travellers generally pay very cheerfully to the superior,
for the use of the convent, a sum not less than similar entertain
ment would cost at a hotel.
Jerusalem, June 10th. — We rose with the dawn this morning,
and, having received coffee and a blessing from our kind entertain
ers at the monastery, we walked, with the aid of guides, through
the few quiet streets of Ramleh. It seems that it is an achieve
ment of more than five thousand years for the human race to
attain a state of society in which those who cultivate the land can
dwell in safety and comfort, in rural localities. It is really only in
England and in the United States that this stage of society has
been reached, and much less perfectly in England than in the
United States. In whatever country we have been, we have seen
solitude in the rural districts, the farm-house unknown, the proprie
tor residing for security in some neighboring hamlet, village, or
city, and the laborers clustering around him there. Mr. Seward
says he found the case the same in Mexico, with six millions of In
dians in that country, cultivating the richest soil and enjoying the
most benign skies in the world, but dwelling in mean, shabby
towns. And, even among the Indian tribes of the Northwest,
families who Hve by the chase and by the fisheries shrink from
living alone. It is strikingly so in Palestine. It seems to have
known no peace and no rest, at least since the time of Solomon.
No view is more unique than that of Jerusalem as you approach
it from the west. You look not so much at it as into it and over
it. Though situated on a mountain-top, it is surrounded by loftier
mountains : on your right, the mountains of Judea, on which you
stand ; on your left, the Mount of Olives ; and, far beyond, the
mountain-desert, at the foot of which the Jordan makes its hurried
way to the Dead Sea. Our first surprise was that so famous a city
should be so small. But this diminutiveness is itself a charm. You
see in its entire circuit the lofty wall, with its beautiful parapets.
Within the wall, clustering, but not crowded, you see, without
shade or variation, the white roofs, balustrades, domes, and minarets
44

582 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
of lofty palaces, and majestic churches and mosques. Though not
especially conversant with the modern history and geography of
the city, we had no difficulty in distinguishing the recently-renewed
and magnificent dome which protects the Holy Sepulchre. We
also recognized, by its situation and its gorgeous though faded
dome, the Mosque of Omar, which now crowns Mount Moriah,
and stands upon the site of the ancient Temple of Solomon. If
one knew no more of the Gospel than what he recalls of childhood's
lessons, he could not mistake either the Plain of Bethlehem or the
Mount of Olives. Nor would he mistake the significance of that
soHtary clump of olive and cypress trees, which, at the foot of the
Mount of Olives, overhangs a long, low ravine which divides Mount
Zion from the Mount of Olives. That ravine is the Valley of
Jehoshaphat, and that cloister of solemn shade is Gethsemane. For
getting for the moment the devastations of the Turks, the Cru
saders, the Saracens, the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, the
Babylonians, and the Egyptians, you accept this little Turkish town
as the city which was built and adorned by Solomon, and as a perfect
embodiment of the devotional idea of our faith, and do not wonder
that, completed so long ago, it has been left to stand unchanged,
unshaken, and alone, for the admiration and reverence of ages.
Indulging in this reverie, we were roused, as we descended the
now gentle and easy road toward the city, by the piercing strains
of the shrill, exciting, Turkish martial music, which announced
that military honors of no common significance awaited Mr. Sew
ard's coming. On the last of the mountain-plains was extended a
marquee, over which floated the blood-red banner of the Crescent.
The avenue leading to it was guarded by a battalion of infantry
and a cavalry squadron. Mr. Seward alighted here, and, the droop
ing animals being dismissed, he was conducted up the avenue under
a salute of the troops and the stirring music of the band to the
marquee, where the Pacha of Jerusalem, attended by the muni
cipal and other public officers, received him as a distinguished
stranger and a guest of the Turkish Empire. Here again was an
entertainment just as profuse as if we had not partaken of refresh
ments on the other side of the mountain an hour before. Never-

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MOUNT ZION. 583
theless, Mdcha coffee, as prepared by Arab hands, is always ac
ceptable. And now occurred the first secession which our party
has undergone in its long and interesting journey. The ladies
could endure no more of receptions or of fatigue. Taking Betts
Bey for their guide, they set out on foot to make their way into the
city in advance of the procession, which they saw was inevitable.
Jerusalem has seen many striking pageants, but certainly, in
modern times, none so singular as this reception of a private Ameri
can citizen with the military pomp and imperial parade accorded
before only to conquerors and kings. As we descended the hiU
tve passed before the Roman church, monastery, school, and con
sulate, and then, from the noble bridge which spans the ravine,
looked up at the fine colonnade of the Jewish Asylum lately built
by the Rothschilds, and at last stood on the sacred Mountain of
Zion. The Jaffa Gate is not the widest in the world, nor is Chris
tian Street the broadest and best-paved avenue, although it leads
directly over Mount Zion. Happily, in view of this ceremony, the
Government had caused the street to be cleared of its customary
groups of camels, horses, and donkeys. In a word, the Jerusalem
which was so beautiful seen in the softening light of the setting
6umfrom the summit of the mountains of Judea, shrunk to a vulgar
Turkish town the moment we entered it. With the best speed the
ladies could make, the strange and wild procession overtook them,
obliging them to take shelter in such door-ways or booths as
opened to them. The people of Jerusalem, more accustomed to
seeing sad pilgrim bands and caravans from the desert than official
pageants, were in the narrow street on this occasion, a heteroge
neous mass — Turks and Christians, Scribes and Pharisees, men,
women, and children, monks and Sisters of Charity, publicans and
6inners. Somehow we shall never be able to recall how we made our way
through this motley crowd to a gate by the way-side, on which a
modest sign-board advertised " Mediterranean Hotel." Our party,
reunited, was conducted up two flights of narrow, steep stairs to
the house-top, where we sat down, having in full view, on our left,
the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; on our right the

584

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

Mosque of Omar ; and, at our feet, the crystal pool of Hezekiah,
which is supplied from the " Wells of Solomon." Here the pacha
and his suite, the consul and cavass, and " all others in authority,"
after renewed assurances of kindness and hospitality, took their
leave, and we repaired to adjoining chambers, which, though neither
spacious nor pretentious, were spotlessly clean, and in every way
comfortable. To explain this brilliant reception by the authorities of Jerusa
lem, we may as weU insert here the firman issued by the Turkish
Government, announcing Mr. Seward as the national guest, and
instructing all public officers to extend to him their courtesy and
protection. The document is beautifully engrossed in Turkish

characters, on a great sheet of parchment, surmounted by the Sul
tan's toogra or monogram. Mr. Brown, our charge d'affaires at
Constantinople, made a translation of it for us as follows :
" His Imperial Majesty, Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz Khan, son of Sul
tan Mahmoud Khan, may his victories be perpetuated !
" To my noble vizier — my glorious councillor, who administers
the affairs of the people confided to his care, with great justice and
equity — who strengthens and consolidates the edifice of the empire
and public weal, with much zeal and ability — who is one of the
faithful ministers of my Government, and who by his convictions
has merited the favor of the Most High, possessor of aU things :
the bailee or governor-general of my province of Soria (Syria) the

POOL OF HEZEKIAH.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 585
possessor of my noble decoration of tho majidieh of the first class,
Rechid Pacha, may his glory be increased ! be it known :
" That the bearer of the present royal and sovereign document
is the Honorable William H. Seward, formerly the chief minister
of the Government of the Republic of the United States of North
America, who, with his companions, is visiting, for the purposes of
travel, my province of Soria — and that it is my sovereign will that
you, who are the balee of the same, consider him as my honored
and distinguished guest.
"That you treat him with every demonstration of honor and
respect, and see that, wherever he may be pleased to go, he be
shown hospitality. It is my royal pleasure that he be everywhere
known as the guest of my Government, and treated accordingly.
Let all measures be taken for his comfort and protection, and per
mit nothing to occur contrary to the present commands.
" This know, and hasten to carry my sovereign will into exe
cution. " Written, the loth day of the Moon of Rejeb the Unique, of
the year of the Hedjera, 1287 " (20th September, 1870).
Sunday, June 11th. — Worship at the Church of the Holy Sep
ulchre — the only Sunday that we are to enjoy in Jerusalem — could
not be neglected. But the hours of worship in the East are early.
At six o'clock, with such strength as our night's rest had given us,
we repaired there by rough, steep, and winding streets. A small,
open, paved square lies in front of the church, into which we de- .
scended by a flight of worn stone steps. The area was thronged
with a varied crowd from many countries. There were Syrians,
Greeks, Armenians, Copts, Abyssinians, and Turks, as well as Eng
lish, French, Germans, Russians, Americans, and Italians — men of
all nationalities, indeed, except Jews. Christians from Bethlehem
and Hebron were busy in selling small, cheap relics and amulets
among the mass, many of whom seemed very poor, and no small
portion mendicants. How unreasoning is religious intolerance!
The Christian nations of Europe have succeeded in exacting and
obtaining from the Turkish Government at Constantinople the full

586

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

exercise of religious worship of every form in the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre. All nations are invited to it, save only the Jews,
whom Turks and Christians unite in excluding from even its vesti
bule. Mr. Seward could not believe this until he found that one of
the bearers of his chair had to be replaced because he was a Jew.
The Greek, Latin, Armenian, and Coptic sects celebrate public
worship in the church at different hours of the day. It will not
seem strange that we passed the great mass, to go directly to the
Holy Sepulchre. There is no doubt that the " new tomb " of Jo
seph of Arimathea, in which the Saviour reposed for three days
after his crucifixion, is somewhere in this mountain. It is unrea-

DOME OF THE OHPKOH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

sonable to suppose, in view of the circumstances which attended
the early Church, that it can now be identified. The pious Chris
tians of the fourth century, however, thought they found it here,

"CHAPEL OF THE ANGEL." 587
and Christians of every age till this have accepted it. Why should
we not be content to do so, since there is no reason to suppose
that any other place more authentic can now be found \ We,
therefore, shut out from our minds all distrust. The Holy Sepul
chre is under the centre of the great dome, or, to speak more ac
curately, the great dome of the church has been erected directly
over the sepulchre indicated to the Empress Helena. The Holy
Sepulchre is a white-marble sarcophagus. It is not, of course, pre
tended or supposed that the holy grave was found in this shape,
but, with the decency which religious worship always requires, the
marble case was built over the rock-hewn tomb. A small orna
mental structure of marble, with pillars and pilasters, and sur
mounted by a crown-shaped dome and cross, stands over the sep
ulchre, and constitutes a kind of chapel or temple. This diminutive
structure is divided into two compartments. The outer chamber is
called the " Chapel of the Angel," it being the pleasure of the devo
tees to believe that on the spot enclosed within it, and at the head
of the grave, the angel stood when he said to Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary, "Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He is not here : for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
In the centre of this tiny chapel, raised on a pedestal, is a stone,
which is claimed to be a fragment of the identical one upon which
the angel sat. The chapel is capable of receiving only one or two
visitors at any one time. At the eastern side is a small door, made
low, so as to require the visitor to stoop as he enters. This harmo
nizes with St. John's account : " And as she wept, she stooped
down, and looked into the sepulchre." Unhappily, however, for
the indulgence of self-delusion, the churches have suspended, from
the low ceiling in this narrow chamber, forty-three lamps of gold
and silver, which are kept always burning by day and by night.
Their dazzling glare, together with the strong perfume of spices
and frankincense and attar of roses, is so incongruous with the
natural condition of the sepulchre, that they bewilder instead of
aiding the pilgrim in his pious desire to realize the " place where
the Lord lay." As we reached the door, two poor Russian women

588 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
came out, and this made way for us. We stooped and entered.
The marble slab, which covers the Holy Sepulchre, was bedewed
with tears — probably it is always so, although it is continually puri
fied with rose-water. A placid-faced monk stood near to perform
this grateful office, and to offer flowers and other sacred mementos
to the pilgrims. Notwithstanding the many provocations to doubt,
it may well be believed that no one ever stands over that broken
and worn marble slab unmoved. We gave place, in our turn, to
devout and meek Armenians.
We could now study what remains of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre with free and inquiring minds. We entered the choir
of the church when the Greek bishop and priests were concluding a
solemn mass. We need hardly say that services differing so en
tirely from our form of worship seemed cold, formal, and theatrical.
When the services ended, the bishop and his numerous assistant
priests withdrew in solemn procession, leaving the congregation to
retire at pleasure. We need not perhaps raise a question here on
this subject. Mysterious dogmas and ecclesiastical forms were
effective, perhaps they were necessary, for the conversion of the
pagan nations. And they are not useless in supporting and
keeping alive docile and patient faith. But their day has culmi
nated ; henceforth, more spiritual teaching will be employed, and
we shall be called on to try whether the requisite standard of faith
can be maintained under a system of free, unregulated, and unbri
dled religious inquiry for religious truth. It suits us better as trav
ellers to study past ideas, as they are embodied in architecture and
in art. This Greek choir is spacious, lofty, and elaborately adorned
with painting, statuary, and gilding. Our guides now proposed to
show us, not only the Mount of Calvary, but the very place of the
crucifixion, which is also under the dome of the Holy Sepulchre.
To say sooth, our imaginations required a more ample space for the
different parts of the most stupendous and awful drama ever
enacted. It is not strange, therefore, that our faith in traditions
grew weaker as we climbed the steep flight of eighteen stone steps
to reach the summit of Calvary, under this dome, and at less than
a stone's throw from the Holy Sepulchre.

CALVARY. 589
Calvary, if this is that mountain of terror and sadness, is a light
and cheerful, well-paved chapel, twenty feet square, raised fifteen
feet above the church floor. Here an attending priest lifts a cor
ner of the marble pavement, and discloses three sockets, drilled in
the rock, at a distance of six feet from each other ; and all who can
may believe what he says, that the central one received the foot of
the Saviour's cross, and the other two the crosses of the malefac
tors who were crucified with him. Over this slab is erected an
altar garnished with a profusion of jewelled ornaments and tapestry.
All skepticism is expected to be put to flight when, underneath the
altar, the marble veneering is removed and a naked rock is shown,
with a large, irregular fissure in its face, which, we are told, was
effected at that fearful moment when " the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom ; and the earth did quake,
and the rocks rent ; and the graves were opened ; and many bodies
of the saints which slept arose."
The trial of faith steadily increases as we continue the appointed
exploration. It has a locality, not merely for each grand part of
the mighty transaction which it commemorates, but even for every
incident connected with it, though too minute for memory or his
tory. A tablet at the foot of the Chapel of Calvary records that
here " the mother of Jesus stood," a witness of his agony. An
other advises you of the spot where the body lay when taken down
from the cross. Another, where it was washed and swathed for
interment. Another, a place where the three Marys gathered for
mutual condolence. After completing this survey, we descended
to the dark cavern underneath the pavement of the church, and at
the base of Calvary, in which St. Helena, in the fifth century, dis
covered the three crosses, still in a state of preservation.
We returned to our hotel through several streets, which, from
their continuity, have acquired the name of the " Via Dolorosa,"
being the path the Saviour trod on the way from the palace of
Pilate to the place of crucifixion. Tradition has been no less busy
here. At the foot of this staircase, the Saviour, sinking under the
weight of his cross, impressed his Divine face upon the handkerchief
of St. Yeronica, now seen in St. Peter's at Rome. Here in this bal-

590 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
cony, built over the street, the remorse-struck governor exhibited
Jesus to the maddened mob, with the memorable words " Ecce
Homo," and this lofty structure, certainly not unworthy to be the
residence of a Roman proconsul, was the palace of Pontius Pilate,
where the Saviour was arraigned and condemned. Here, a repaired
breach in the wall indicates the staircase by which the Saviour
ascended to the palace on that day. The staircase itself has been
removed to Rome for many centuries, and is there exhibited in the
Church of St. John Lateran, and is familiarly known to all travel
lers as the Scala Santa. It is impossible to accept the authenticity
of the " Yia Dolorosa." Constantinople, Rome, London, Paris,
and every other capital of Europe, have undergone fewer sackings,
sieges, and burnings, than Jerusalem. It would be difficult to
identify any street in any city after the changes and accidents
which time has wrought in a thousand years. It is a striking com
mentary upon the whole legend, that the house of Dives, as well as
the house of Lazarus, is pointed out in the "Way of Sorrow,"
with the same confidence as the Judgment-Hall of Pilate.
Yussef Effendi, with the brother and secretary of the pacha,
attended us to the Mosque of Omar. It is only within the last five
years that this mosque, scarcely less sacred in the eyes of Mussul
mans than the Church of the Holy Sepulchure is in ours, has been
opened to Christian travellers. Even now a careful, though some
what disguised surveillance, is practised over them. The mosque
stands in an area enclosed with a high, parapeted wall, overlooking
the valley of Jehoshaphat, and confronting the Mount of Olives.
This occupies one-sixth of the land of the entire city. On the east
ern side of this wall is a gate-way, built of marble, called by the
Mussulmans the " Golden Gate," which they are fond of represent
ing as the " gate of the temple called Beautiful," but its modern
architecture does not support that claim. It is only interesting
from the tradition that it was closed with the Roman conquest, and
has never been reopened. The so-called Mosque of Omar is not
single. It consists of two distinct mosques, placed at some distance
from each other — the one here named Kubbet-es-Suhkrah, or "the
Dome of the Rock," commonly called the Mosque of Omar, and

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THE MOSQUE OF OMAR.

591

the Mosque-el-Aksa. Though differing entirely from the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the Mosque of Omar is not less unique and
peculiar in its consecrated antiquities. Twelve hundred years ago,

MOSQUE OF O.MAK.

on the surrender of the Greek Patriarch, the Caliph Omar de
manded to be shown the site of the Jewish Temple. He was taken
to the sacred rock, he knelt and prayed over it, and he built over it
a mosque, which, with subsequent repairs, is the present " Dome of
the Kock," or Mosque of Omar. In architectural design and execu
tion it rivals the finest in Cairo and Constantinople. Antedating
the conquest of the Mussulmans in India, it has an elaborateness of
embellishment, perhaps resulting from the influence of Greek and
Eoman art, which distinguishes this and the other religious struct
ures of modern Asia from the more severe, simple, and effective
style of the mosques of Agra and Delhi. One would say, in compar
ing the two styles, that the Mosque of Omar has borrowed from the
superstitions of the West, while those of India indicate a puritanical
reformation. It is now sadly out of repair. Its magnificent gilded
dome is blackened, and its stained glass windows are broken ; the
45

592 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
exquisite Arabic tracery marred, and the elaborately-inscribed texts
from the Koran faded. Like the Holy Sepulchre, it is replete in
all parts with relics and memorials held sacred by the Mussulman
faith. The sheik of the mosque reverently removed for Mr.
Seward the crimson-silk canopy which covers an irregular, flat fime-
stone rock, sixty feet wide and five feet high, in the centre of the
building, and encircled by a high iron railing. It is said this is the
threshing-floor which King David bought of Araunah, the Jebusite,
as a site for an altar of burnt-offerings. Modern writers accept it
as the altar of burnt-offerings in the Temple of Solomon. Under
neath one side of the rock is a vault, which connects with a well
under the centre of the rock, now covered with a marble slab.
This vaulted cavern is by Christian writers believed to have been
the cesspool of the altar of burnt-offerings, but the Mohammedans
revere it as the place of prayer of Abraham, David, Solomon, and
Jesus Christ. On either side of the door of the vault are small
altars, which the sheik calls the shrines of David and Solomon, but
they bear carvings unmistakably Greek. On another side the sheik
showed us an indentation which was made by the foot of Mohammed
when he sprang from this rock into heaven, and also the imprint
of the hand of the angel who threw the rock back to its resting-
place when it was rising from its bed with the foot of the prophet !
Unfortunately, the prophet's footprint here differs in measurement
from the footprints which he left, and which we personally saw, in
Egypt and in India. We passed over the neglected court to the
Mosque-el- Aksa. It is said to occupy the place and to retain the
form of a Christian church or basilica which the Emperor Justinian
built in the sixth century, in honor of the Virgin, and which was
temporarily restored by the Crusaders. A part of it was assigned
as an encampment for the military order then recently created by
Saint-Louis, which from that circumstance took the name of
Knights Templars, and which was so active and powerful through
many centuries.
El- Aksa is indeed a structure built in the customary design of
the basilica. Its dimensions are two hundred and seventy-two
feet long, by one hundred and eighty-four feet wide. It has seven

A RECENT DISCOVERY. 593
s, supported by forty-five columns, of which thirty-three are
marble, and are chiefly of the Corinthian order. But, what inter
ested us more is, a recent excavation under the pavement of this
mosque, which proves to be an ancient gate. It has been closed
and walled up, while the city has been built around it on the out
side. The massive though broken floor, the solid columns,, and
the heavy transverse stones which rest upon them, are wrought in
a style neither Saracenic nor Greek, but shaped and ornamented
in a manner which we remarked in the Egyptian temples. This
newly-discovered gate-way is believed, by the distinguished ex
plorer, Captain Wilson, to have been one of the original entrances
to the Temple of Solomon. Not only El- Aksa, but the whole area
enclosed within the outer walls, now wears the appearance of neglect,
dilapidation, and decay. Is this an evidence of the decline of the
Mohammedan religion, or only of the increasing isolation of Jeru
salem ? We must go farther into the Turkish Empire to decide.
Meantime, it is suggestive of much thought that not only the
Mayor of Jerusalem, but the obliging sheik of the mosque, plain
tively and earnestly invoked Mr. Seward to use what they thought
would be an influence of some weight with the Sultan at Constan
tinople, for the repair of the Mosque of Omar. The various points
we have described in the Mosque of Omar are held to fix beyond
all dispute the site of the ancient Temple of Solomon. History,
tradition, and a pride of the Jews, greater than was ever exhibited
by any other nation, made that temple an object of admiration to
the whole world. Though its base was Mount Moriah, the hill
which bore that name must have been levelled when or before the
temple was built. It was easily accessible by a gentle descent from
all parts of the city, while the high wall built on the outer preci
pice rendered it impregnable on that side.

CHAPTER X.
JERUSALEM AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD.
Bethlehem.— The Grave of Rachel.— The City of Jerusalem.— The Mount of Olives.— The
Tomb of Zachariah. — The Tomb of Absalom. — An American Jew. — Bethany. —
Pilate's Palace. — The Greek Church in Palestine. — The Jews of Jerusalem. — Their
Wailing-Place. — The Jewish Sabbath. — Attendance at the Synagogue. — Bishop
Gobat. — Departure from Jerusalem. — Jaffa and Beirut.
June 12th. — "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see
this thing."
Bethlehem is the one place in all the wide world which, by its
memories and associations, elevates the soul with emotions un
mixed with sorrow, fear, or terror. The Christian mind, that is
not unreasonably exacting, finds in the surroundings of Bethlehem,
the " city of David," all the confirmation it needs or expects of the
Gospel history — the broad, fertile mountain-plain, easily watered,
and which, even now, amid the general desolation of the country,
largely retains its verdure, and seems a natural field of the develop
ment of the patriarchal system. " In the way to Ephrath, which is
Bethlehem," we rested under the shade of a graceful monument,
recently erected by the believing Rothschilds, in full and unques
tioning faith that it covers the spot where Rachel was buried, and
upon which " Jacob set a pillar upon her grave : that is the pillar
of Rachel's grave unto this day."
Bethlehem is built on the side of a gorge, on whose declivity run
zigzag paths which are the streets of the village. The rocky steep
has been cut perpendicularly down, and pierced with caves, which,

BETHLEHEM.

595

with the addition, where it is practicable, of a second story con
structed of rude masonry, constitute the dwellings, storehouses,
workshops, and inns of the village. If indeed " there went out a
decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed,"
and if indeed it was needful that the poor Nazarene, Joseph, must
go, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David,
to be taxed, with Mary his espoused wife," and if " the days were
accomplished that she should be delivered," then the incidents of

BETHLEHEM.

the transaction, as they are related by the Evangelists, were not
only natural, but inevitable. Bethlehem, neither more then than
now, could have contained an inn in which there could have been
found "room for them." The inn, in all countries and down even
to our own time, is historically known by its equal provision for
the entertainment of man and beast. The stable and the manger,
throughout all Asiatic countries, no less in Palestine than in China,
are adjuncts in the entertainment of an inn, quite equal in import-

596 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
ance to the apartments in which the traveller of the better sort
rests, while the plebeian or publican, declining that costly expense,
shares the stable and the manger with his faithful and cherished
mule, ox, or camel. So it could not have otherwise happened than
that, when Mary should have " brought forth her first-born son,"
she should have " wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him
in a manger ; because there was no room for them in the inn."
The inhabitants of Bethlehem are native Christians, who sup
port themselves by the fruits which they sell at Jerusalem, and by
the manufacture of cheap tokens, ornaments, and amulets, which
pilgrims take home as mementos of the Holy Land. Mr. Seward
remarks a visible improvement in the aspect, not only of Bethle
hem, but of the country about Jerusalem, which has been made
since his visit of 1859. Something of this is due to the expendi
ture of the Greek Christians of Russia upon a new and beautiful
church outside of the city, but more is due to a small colony of
Germans, who have become proprietors and cultivators here.
June 13th. — " Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell
the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her
palaces ; that ye may tell it to the generation following."
We have done so, and we have found it neither a short nor
an easy promenade. The city occupies two ridges of a mountain
promontory, with the depression or valley between them. The
walls of the modern Turkish city have been so contracted with
the decrease of the population, as to exclude large portions of the
ancient city. Jerusalem is now divided according to its different
classes of population. The Mohammedans are four thousand,
and occupy the northeast quarter, including the whole area of the
Mosque of Omar. The Jews are eight thousand, and have the
southeast quarter. These two quarters overhang the Valley of
Jehoshaphat and the brook Kedron. The Armenians number
eighteen hundred, and have the southwest quarter ; and the other
Christians, amounting to twenty-two hundred, have the northwest
quarter, which overlooks the Valley of Hinnom. We issued from
the city through St. Stephen's gate, which stands some two hundred

THE TOMB OF ABSALOM. 597
feet north of the Haram, the area of the Mosque of Omar. This
gate is identified, by tradition only, with the martyrdom of St.
Stephen. Our sure-footed animals carried us safely down the
rocky, precipitous road, a hundred feet to the brook Kedron. Re
freshing ourselves with the limpid water from its pebbly bed, we
climbed the eastern bank which is the base of the Mount of Olives.
This entire base is covered north and south, as far as the eye can
reach, with the tombs and slabs of the Jewish dwellers of the Holy
City. It has been always sacred to the Jews, and it is the only
place where the past and present of that extraordinary people meet.
Here is a graceful monolith structure in the form of a temple, with
a pyramidal top, hewn in shape without being detached from the
native rock. You may have your choice of tradition in regard to
it. The modern dwellers in Jerusalem tell you that it was built in
honor of Zachariah, concerning whom the Saviour accused the
Pharisees : " That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed
upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of
Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and
the altar." Historical evidence of an inscription in the fourth cen
tury assigns this tomb to the prophet Josiah, while in the twelfth
century it was described as the tomb of King Huzziah. To whom
soever it may belong, it" is held in high veneration by the Jews
throughout the world, and prayers offered up in it are believed to
be always answered. The tomb of Absalom, a monolith cut out of
the rock, in the same manner as the tomb just described, with an
upper story of masonry, is attractive as well as curious. We tried
to enter it, but found the main structure half filled up with a heap
of loose stones. On making complaint of this, we found that we
were very unreasonable, for these detached stones are the evidence
of the genuineness of the tomb.
"Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for him
self a pillar, which is in the king's dale : for he said, I have no son
to keep my name in remembrance : and he called the pillar after
his own name ; and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place."
The Jews have been in the habit, as they passed through this
burying-ground, of taking up a stone, and pelting with it the monu-

598

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

ment of the rebellious son of David, and so, in the lapse of cen
turies, the heap has accumulated which obstructed our entrance.
Notwithstanding all this, however, there is a growing distrust of
the authenticity, though no one denies the antiquity, of the monu
ment. The Jews throughout the world, not merely as pilgrims, but in
anticipation of death, come here to be buried, by the side of the
graves of their ancestors. As we sat on the deck of our steamer,
coming from Alexandria to Jaffa, we remarked a family whom we
supposed to be Germans. It consisted of a plainly-dressed man,
with a wife who was ill, and two children — one of them an infant
in its cradle. The sufferings of the sick woman, and her effort to
maintain a cheerful hope, interested us. The husband, seeing this,
addressed us in English. Mr. Seward asked if he were an English-

MOSQUE ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

man. He answered that he was an American Jew, that he had
come from New Orleans, and was going to Jerusalem. We parted
with them on the steamer. The day after we reached the Holy

BETHANY. 599
City we learned that the poor woman had climbed the mountain
with her husband and children, and arrived the day after us. She
died immediately, and so achieved the design of her pilgrimage.
She was buried in this cemetery. She was a Jewess, and, according
to the Jewish interpretation of the prophecies, the Jew that dies in
Jerusalem will certainly rise in paradise.
The Mount of Olives, with the customary proclivity of the faith
ful, has been divided into three: the central and loftiest one is
called the Mount of Olives; the northern one, Mount Scopus ; the
southern, the Mount of Evil Counsel. Three paths lead over the
Mount of Olives : one, on the north, in the sunken line which
marks the junction of Mount Scopus; the central one, directly
across the Mount of Olives, at its highest point; and a third,
winding at the foot of the slope which separates Olivet from the
Mount of Evil Counsel. A rough ride of three miles over the lat
ter brought us at noon quite around the mountain-summit to Beth
any. Little, however, were we disposed to complain of the hard
ships of the dreary ride, when we remembered that we were on
the very same road that David travelled, fleeing from Absalom,
" toward the way of the wilderness and wept as he went up."
Bethany, on the opposite side of Olivet, overlooks the Dead
Sea, and beyond it the long, stupendous range of the mountains
of Moab. With a previous instruction, we were able to discern the
Valley of the Jordan, and to detect a silver thread of its waters,
lying, far away to the northeast, beyond the desert which covers
the eastern slope of the mountains of Judea. Bethany, as it pre
sents itself in the simple narrative of the Gospels, is a delight and
a charm. The friendship which existed between Jesus and Mary
and Martha, their implicit trust in him, and his benevolent conde
scension in raising their brother from the dead, come up vividly
before one at the very mention of the name of the humble village
in which they lived. It was from Bethany also, then embowered
in olive, palm, sycamore, and fig trees, that the Lord commenced
that memorable, triumphal progress across the mountain to Jerusa
lem, in which " much people, that were come to the feast, when
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of

600 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
palm-trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna!
Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the
Lord." The hospitalities of the Greek and Latin monasteries here have
been kindly extended to Mr. Seward by their superiors.
Mr. Seward received, to-day, visits from all the foreign consuls
residing at the Holy City. After this, attended by a guard of honor,
he returned the visit of the Pacha of Jerusalem, and was surprised
to find that, although the Scala Santa was removed so long ago to
Rome, he found no difficulty in ascending to the upper story, where
he was hospitably entertained by the present Turkish governor in
the palace which we have all along been assured was the identical
gubernatorial residence of Pontius Pilate. Mr. Seward says that,
if the tradition is true, the vacillating Roman governor had a won
derfully fine modern house. We spent the evening " on the house
tops " of the palace of Bishop Gobat and his family.
The Greek Church in Russia has lately manifested a new and
extraordinary interest in regard to the Holy Land. The number
of pilgrims from that country has become immense. They come
down the Black Sea, and through the Levant. The Greeks of
Russia have lately built, in a beautiful suburb, an extensive church,
with a home or asylum for pilgrims of each sex. These structures
are much more costly and elegant than any other Christian estab
lishments built here. The enterprise enjoys the protection, and
doubtless the aid, of the Russian Government. It is an indication
that Russia adheres, notwithstanding the disaster at Sevastopol, to
the cardinal policy of Peter the Great and of the late Emperor
Nicholas. Under whatever auspices it may happen, and with
whatever political design, it is gratifying to see this renewal of
Christian interest in Jerusalem.
June 15th. — "And the name of the city from that day shall be,
the Loed is there." Our last day at Jerusalem has been spent, as
it ought to have been, among and with the Jews, who were the
builders and founders of the city, and who cling the closer to it for
its disasters and desolation. We have mentioned that the Jewish

THE WAILING-PLAOE.

601

quarter adjoins, on the southeast, the high wail of the Haram.
This wall is a close one, while the upper part, Hke all the Turkish
walls of the city, is built of small stone. The base of this portion
of the wall, enclosing the Mosque of Omar, and the site of the
ancient temple, consists of five tiers of massive, accurately-bevelled
blocks. It is impossible to resist the impression at first view, not
withstanding the prophecy, that this is a portion of the wall of
the Temple of Solomon, which was hewn in the quarries and set
up in its place without the noise of the hammer and the axe. So

JEWS WAILING-PLACE.

at least the Jews believe. For centuries (we do not know how
many) the Turkish rulers have allowed the oppressed and exiled
Jews the privilege of gathering at the foot of this wall one day in
every week, and pouring out their lamentations over the fall of
their beloved city, and praying for its restoration to the Lord, who
promised, in giving its name, that he would " be there."
The Jewish sabbath being on Saturday, and beginning at sun
set on Friday, the weekly wail of the Jews under the wall takes
place on Friday, and is a preparation for the rest and worship of

602 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
the day which they are commanded to " keep holy." The small
rectangular oblong area, without roof or canopy, serves for the
gathering of the whole remnant of the Jewish nation in Jerusalem.
Here, whether it rains or shines, they come together at an early
hour, old and young, men, women, and little children — the poor
and the rich, in their best costumes, discordant as the diverse na
tions from which they come. They are attended by their rabbis,
each bringing the carefully-preserved and elaborately-bound text of
the book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, either in their respec
tive languages, or in the original Hebrew. For many hours they
pour forth their complaints, reading and reciting the poetic lan
guage of the prophet, beating their hands against the wall, and
bathing the stones with their kisses and tears. It is no mere for
mal ceremony. During the several hours while we were spectators
of it, there was not one act of irreverence or indifference. Only
those who have seen the solemn prayer-meeting of a religious re
vival, held by some evangelical denomination at home, can have a
true idea of the solemnity and depth of the profound grief and pious
feeling exhibited by this strange assembly on so strange an occa
sion, although no ritual in the Catholic, Greek, or Episcopal Church
is conducted with more solemnity and propriety.
Though we supposed our party unobserved, we had scarcely
left the place, when a meek, gentle Jew, in a long, plain brown
dress, his light, glossy hair falling in ringlets on either side of his
face, came to us, and, respectfully accosting Mr. Seward, expressed
a desire that he would visit the new synagogue, where the sabbath-
service was about to open at sunset. Mr. Seward assented. A
crowd of " the peculiar people" attended and showed us the way to
the new house of prayer, which we are informed was recently built
by a rich countryman of our own whose name we did not learn.
It is called the American Synagogue. It is a very lofty edifice, sur
mounted by a circular dome. Just underneath it a circular gallery
is devoted exclusively to the women. Aisles run between the rows
of columns which support the gallery and dome. On the plain
stone pavement, rows of movable, wooden benches with backs are
free to all who come. At the side of the synagogue, opposite the

THE JEWISH SERVICE. 603
door, is an elevated desk on a platform accessible only by movable
steps, and resembling more a pulpit than a chancel. It was
adorned with red-damask curtains, and behind them a Hebrew in
scription. Directly in the centre of the room, between the door
and this platform, is a dais six feet high and ten feet square, sur
rounded by a brass railing, carpeted, and containing cushioned
seats. We assume that this dais, high above the heads of the wor
shippers, and on the same elevation with the platform appropriated
to prayer, is assigned to the rabbis. We took seats on one of the
benches against the '.vail; presently an elderly person, speaking
English imperfectly, invited Mr. Seward to change his seat ; he
hesitated, but, on being informed by Mr. Finkelstein that the per
son who gave the invitation was the president of the synagogue,
Mr. Seward rose, and the whole party, accompanying him, were
conducted up the steps and were comfortably seated on the dais, in
the " chief seat in the synagogue." On this dais was a tall, branch
ing, silver candlestick with seven ar;ns.
The congregation now gathered in, the women filling the gal
lery, and the men, in varied costumes, and wearing hats of all
shapes and colors, sitting or standing as they pleased. The light
ing of many silver lamps, judiciously arranged, gave notice that the
sixth day's sun had set, and that the holy day had begun. In
stantly, the worshippers, all standing, and as many as could turning
to the wall, began the utterance of prayer, bending backward and
forward, repeating the words in a chanting tone, which each read
from a book, in a low voice like the reciting of prayers after the
clergyman in the Episcopal service. It seemed to us a service
without prescribed form or order. When it had continued some
time, thinking that Mr. Seward might be impatient to leave, the
chief men requested that he would remain a few moments, until a
prayer should be offered for the President of the United States, and
another for himself. Now a remarkable rabbi, clad in a long, rich,
flowing sacerdotal dress, walked up the aisle ; a table was lifted
from the floor to the platform, and, by a steep ladder which was
held by two assistant priests, the rabbi ascended the platform. A
large folio Hebrew manuscript was laid on the table before him,

604 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
and he recited with marked intonation, in clear falsetto, a prayer,
in which he was joined by the assistants reading from the same
manuscript. We were at first uncertain whether this was a psalm
or a prayer, but we remembered that all the Hebrew prayers are
expressed in a tone which rises above the recitative and approaches
melody, so that a candidate for the priesthood is always required to
have a musical voice. At the close of the reading, the rabbi came
to Mr. Seward and informed him that it was a prayer for the Presi
dent of the United States, and a thanksgiving for the deliverance
of the Union from its rebellious assailants. Then came a second ;
it was in Hebrew and intoned, but the rabbi informed us that it
was a prayer of gratitude for Mr. Seward's visit to the Jews at
Jerusalem, for his health, for his safe return to his native land, and
a long, happy life. The rabbi now descended, and it was evident
that the service was at an end. Coming down from the dais, we
were met by a band of musicians playing on drums, fifes, and vio
lins. We questioned whether this music was a part of the service
of the synagogue, but our doubt was removed when we found it
accompanying us to the gate of our hotel. The Jews, in their dis
persion, are understood to be forbidden the use of musical instru
ments in worship. Their chants of praise are the traditional songs
of Israel, just as the Christians, who have succeeded them, prefer, to
all other devotional hymns, the Psalms of David.
A pleasant dinner ensued with the United States consul and his
accomplished wife, where we had the honor of meeting the venera
ble Bishop Gobat and Mrs. Gobat. We infer that the Coptic,
Catholic, Greek, and Armenian Churches have given up the design
of proselytism here, and now confine their labors to the enlarge
ment and improvement of their several convents for the entertain
ment of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. On the other hand,
the Protestant missionaries from Germany, Great Britain, and the
United States, are the living, active preachers and teachers of the
Gospel in Syria.
Jaffa, June 18th.— We left Jerusalem at that early hour when
from the " Dome of the Rock," and the Mosque el-Aksa, and from

BEIliUT. 605
every minaret in the city, the shrill Moslem call to prayer was re
sounding. The Pacha of Jerusalem, with his suite and guard,
joined us at the Jaffa gate, and travels with us to Damascus, giv
ing Mr. Seward his protection, and insisting on his taking prece
dence throughout the journey. But our ways are not Turkish
ways, and, as a certainty, the Turkish ways are not our ways ; and,
while we rode together, and have entered villages and towns as one
party, we separated on the road to eat and sleep. The pacha and
his party lunched by the way-side at the foot of the wilderness of
John the Baptist ; we took our lunch and siesta by the side of
the spring under the shade of a great wiHow-oak-tree. We rested
with the good Franciscan monks at Ramleh ; the pacha and his
party were guests of the governor of that place. At Ramleh and
at Jaffa the Turkish bands and cavalry, with the sheiks, digni
taries, and authorities of the mosques on the way, met, saluted, and
joined us in our progress. The gay Turkish cavalry amused and
interested us, on our way across the plain of Sharon, by their feats
of horsemanship and their strategy of battle, charge and retreat,
and in the exercise of el-djerid. We do not wonder that Napoleon
said that, if he could have the Mameluke cavahy with the French
army, he could conquer the world. The journey was an easy one,
and the mountains of Judea seemed much less distant and cheerless
than when we were so wearily climbing them on our way to Jerusa
lem. We are passing our last hour here with Mrs. Hay at the
vice-consulate, preparatory to our embarkation with the Pacha of
Jerusalem in the Apollo, an Austrian Lloyd's steamer, for Beirut.
Beirut, June 19th. — We had the pleasure of a visit from the
eminent Dr. Van Dyck and Dr. Bliss, his worthy associate, and we
found them not less highly esteemed by the natives here than they
deservedly are at home. It was our long-cherished purpose to cross
the range of Lebanon to Damascus, and, on the way, to visit Baal-
bec, the Grecian Heliopolis. Mr. Seward was expected at Damas
cus, and arrangements had been made for his hospitable reception.
But the way is long ; the journey, especially the incidental excur
sion to Baalbec, rough and tedious. The hot season has already

606

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

commenced, and Mr. Seward's strength seems somewhat impaired
by the fatiguing explorations of Palestine. These considerations,
together with the temporary indisposition of another member of
the party, and the hazard of dividing it, obliged us, though with
much reluctance, to give up the journey. Perhaps the impression
made upon us by the unhappy fate of the two daughters of Dr.
Woolsey, who perished from the exhaustion of the journey from
Damascus to Jerusalem, last winter, has had its weight. The gov
ernor's dissuasion from the journey decided us. '
At four o'clock we left our hotel and returned to the Apollo,
whose deck afforded us a better view than can be obtained in the
town itself of the lofty range of Lebanon, with its whole western
declivity bathed in gorgeous light, and its long, castellated snow-
clad crest reflecting the rays of an unclouded setting sun.

TOWEE OP DAVID, JEBUBALEU.

CHAPTER XI.
FROM PALESTINE TO GREECE.
Impressions of Palestine. — The Egyptian Race. — Egyptian Civilization. — Phoenicia and
Palestine. — The Four Religions. — What we owe to the Jews. — Present State of
Palestine. — The Island of Cyprus. — The Cesnola Collection. — Smyrna.— An Excur
sion to Ephesus. — The Seven Sleepers. — Mr. Wood's Researches.— The Temple of
Diana. — The Isles of Greece. — Tinos. — The City of Syra. — An Illumination.
Steamer Apollo, June 20th.— We are to see no more of either
Palestine or Syria. It is time to set down the result of the impres
sions received in them. As we neared the promontory of Sinai,
which divides the head of the Red Sea into the two gulfs of Akaba
and Suez, the thought occurred that we were approaching the site
of the opening scene of the world's civilization. The one half of
that site is. Egypt, the other half Syria, including in ancient times,
as now, the two distinct divisions of Palestine and Phoenicia. We
find no satisfaction in the attempt to trace the nations which in
habited these regions, either to a common origin or to distinct races
—at least we can do nothing of that kind here now. It is certain
that the ancient Egyptians were neither negroes from the west
bank of the Nile nor Arabs from the eastern shore of the Red Sea,
for they fought and conquered tribes and nations of both those re
gions. The negroes and Arabs, like our North American Indian
races, prefer the desert and its habits to civilization. Neither were •
the ancient Egyptians Jews. We distinguished the Jews from the
Egyptians in the paintings on the tombs, especially at Beni-Hassan.
Nor were the ancient Egyptians of any Western type of the Cau-
46

608 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
casian race. The probability is, that some tribes of Northwestern
Asia found their way to the fertile plains of the Delta, and ex
tended their settlements up the narrow valley of the Nile, conquer
ing aboriginal peoples in the desert on either bank to the borders
of Nubia. Here the adventurers crowded into close contact, and,
threatened with invasions from either desert, as well as from the
savage African tribes of ancient Ethiopia, organized an indepen
dent and isolated state. Its history shows that Egypt never had a
foreign ally, and that it was rarely ambitious of foreign conquest
or influence. The system of government was a theocracy, not
of one god, but of several or many gods. Its rulers were either
priests or chiefs, whom the priests confessed and reverenced as the
sons of gods. It is probable that no part of the human race was
ever without a spoken language, but the ancient Egyptians im
proved this possession, which is common to all nations, by adding
to it the inventions of architecture, writing, painting, and sculp
ture, inventions by which men not only could communicate their
ideas to those present with them, but could record them for the in
struction and guidance of succeeding generations. They acquired
a sufficient astronomical science to mark the divisions of the year
and the seasons, and they acquired high practical skill in the irriga
tion and cultivation of the earth. They developed a rude military
art, and naturally and easily acquired the little skill in navigation
which their inland situation required. An experience of the acci
dents of the Nile taught them how, in the seasons of plenty, to
make provision against occasional famine. The Egyptian nation
went no further. Their religion, the first known among men, ac
cepted the intuitive suggestion of the human mind, that it cannot
altogether perish in death, but must at some time, and somewhere,
return to activity again. So the Egyptians contented themselves
with building temples worthy of the gods by whom they were pro
tected, and monuments to commemorate the greatness of their
heroes, and with recording, in the most effective and enduring
manner possible, their national achievements, depositing the rec
ords in those imperishable temples and monuments ; burying their
dead with such precautions as would preserve the body in safety,

THE PHCENIOIANS. 609
for the return of the wandering spirit which had left it, for three
thousand years.
Men and nations have many wants for which this unique system
of isolated Egyptian civilization made either no provision at all, or
no adequate one. The first of those wants, among a maritime-
tribe or people, is commerce by navigation. Next, more effective
means of defence and aggression. It is not possible for the human
race anywhere to remain long in the belief that they must con
tinue passive subjects of a direct government of the gods. Men
can never be content with any one system of religion, or its ex
planations of their origin, their duties, and their destinies. They
continually demand and strive for a higher, purer, nobler one. The
human mind is never content with any system of education or
learning in the arts. It is constantly striving for a better and
more perfect one. Man is a social being, and needs society and
laws regulating social intercourse between states, tribes, and na
tions, as much as between individuals.
These natural wants of human society found embodiment and
activity among that great people which is first known to us as a
civilized nation on the Mediterranean coast, under the name of
Phoenicians. It is certain that the Phoenicians were not Egyp
tians. It is equally clear that they were not Jews ; for, from the
earliest mention of them by Jewish historians, they were aliens and
strangers, and sometimes enemies. But it is certain that, while
they occasionally derived knowledge and learning from Egypt, they
invented and perfected commerce and navigation, laws for society
at home, and laws for social intercourse with foreign nations.
They extended and diffused all their acquired information, knowl
edge, and arts, to the inhabitants of Asia Minor, and of the Greek
islands. Phoenicia, therefore, was the cradle of a new civilization,
differing and distinct from that of Egypt. This civilization, im
proved by Greece and Rome, is doubtless the basis of our own
modern Western civilization. Midway between those two great
original states, Egypt and Phoenicia, with their very different civil
ization, arose a third state, distinct, different, and antagonistic to
both. This state was the Jewish nation, the people of Israel, who,

610 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
as a single tribe, in a season of famine, entered Egypt for bread.
After a long struggle they obtained their deliverance, and, effecting
the conquest of that portion of the Mediterranean coast which lay
between Phoenicia on the one hand, and Egypt on the other,
founded the state known in ancient times, not less than in our
own, as Palestine. While they brought away from Egypt arts and
knowledge, they also readily adopted many of the improvements
and arts of the Phoenicians. Whether by Divine illumination or
otherwise, they reached the sublime truth of the unity of God, and,
arraying themselves in hostility against the Phoenicians and the
Egyptians, who both denied it, and adhered to their polytheistic
system, they became a distinct and independent people. They
have held ever since to that simple and sublime faith.
What, then, does modern civilization owe to the Jewish na
tion? Not letters, nor architecture, nor painting, nor sculpture,
nor philosophy, nor science, nor civil government. All these,
modern society has derived from the Phoenicians or the Egyptians,
or from both. But modern civilization derives its knowledge of
the relations of man toward his Maker, and the system of faith,
morals, and manners, built upon that knowledge, from the Jewish
nation. The religious systems now existing in the world are only
four : First, pagan, that of ancient Egypt ; second, Jewish, that
of the Hebrews ; third, Christian ; fourth, Mohammedan. Jews,
Christians, and Mohammedans, all agree that the Jewish faith is
an advance above paganism. All equally agree that Christianity
is an advance above paganism. All equally agree that Mohamme
danism, with all its errors, is an advance above paganism. But
the Jewish religion was established by the Jews alone — Christian
ity comes to us as a gift from the Jewish nation — and even Mo
hammedanism is only a perversion of Christianity, derived from
the Jews. Thus the world owes these three forms of religion di
rectly or indirectly to the Jewish nation.
Now, it is to be noticed that all these three systems of religion
are favorable and effective in advancing human progress; that
however nations, which embrace either of these faiths, may decline,
yet the progress which they introduce is taken up and continued

POPULATION OF PALESTINE. 611
by other nations ; whereas the civilization which is built upon a
system of pagan faith has been corrupted, and is becoming effete
everywhere. Continental Asia needs regeneration, and can obtain
it only through the agency of Western civilization derived from' the
Jewish nation. Western civilization is living and effective, and,
while it is progressing in the West, it is actively regenerating the
effete civilization of the East.
We have said that we owe neither science, nor government, nor
arts, nor arms, to the Jews ; but all considerate men will agree
that we have derived poetry from that people — if not the art of
poetry itself, at least that part of the art which is most sublime and
beneficent in its influences. Moreover, to whom, but to the Jewish
nation, are we indebted for the civilization of domestic life and its
relations % Certainly not to Egypt. Ancient Egypt, indeed, occa
sionally had queens, but no women. Neither her monuments, her
sculpture, nor her painting, present us with the idea of woman as
that idea has developed and culminated in a civilized age. Wher
ever the pagan system prevails, throughout all Asia, woman is
unknown as a force or power in society. Nor can we trace the
domestic relation in its present form to Greece or Phoenicia, while
it was perfectly developed in the Jews as early as the time of our
Saviour. Heroic men have their discords in profane history, but it
is only in the sacred history of the Jews and of the Christians in
Jerusalem that we find Mary, Martha, Esther, Ruth, Naomi,
Rachel, and the daughter of Jephthah. There are two other obliga
tions of modern society to the Jewish nation. While we do not
suppose that society has existed in any country without laws, yet it
was through the Jewish nation that we have received the deca
logue, paramount in authority to all merely conventional laws, as
well as superior in the comprehensiveness of its commands. Again,
while all nations have felt the necessity of occasional days of rest
and devotion as indispensable to society, it was the Jews who first
had the idea of resting on the seventh day and hallowing it.
The population of Palestine is estimated at only two hundred
thousand. It is scattered over mountains, which seem only min
gled masses of rocks and ruins, with here and there a smiling val-

612 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
ley or dell, which in vain solicits society and cultivation. Jeru
salem, without trade, without any organized society, without even
rich landed proprietors, is a congregation of ecclesiastics and me
chanics or artisans, who subsist by supplying the few wants of the
annual crowds of religious pilgrims, generally poor, who come to
pay their vows at the sepulchre. Probably no town of an equal
population in the Alps or Rocky Mountains is so universally poor
as Jerusalem. In looking over the country now, travellers find it
difficult to conceive that it once sustained three millions of vigor
ous, prosperous, and happy people. Travellers have two different
ways of accounting for this : a skeptical class conclude that the an
cient glory and greatness of Palestine were exaggerated ; another
class, pious and credulous, infer that the land has been wasted by a
scourge, a curse for the obduracy of its ancient people. The truth
doubtless is, that Palestine in the day of the Jewish nation was just
as it is described by her poets and prophets : its valleys rejoiced in
corn and wine ; its mountains were covered with olives, figs,
pomegranates, and mulberries, and even its rocky cliffs with flocks
and herds. For two thousand years, Palestine has been a theatre
of civil war, and of foreign wars instigated by ambition, cupidity, re
ligious propagandism, and persecution. Persians, Greeks, Romans,
Christians, Mussulmans, English, French, Turks, and Germans,
have all participated in these conflicts. Its ancient people, ex
hausted, dispersed, impoverished, and desolated, have left the ter
races on its mountains to go to waste, after being denuded of their
woody covering, while they have fled from and abandoned its thou
sand villages for shelter in the rocks. We know not what has
become of the race which once made Palestine the pride and glory
of the world — they have mostly, disappeared in these desolating
wars. The Roman conquerors were content with subjugating the coun
try ; the Crusaders were neither agriculturists, shepherds, nor colo
nists ; and those who remained were merely monks and hermits.
Mussulman propagandism employs only the exterminating sword,
and the Turk has extended into Palestine the barbarism which the
successful armies of the "Prophet" established in every country

SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. 613
where they appeared. The Bedouin Arabs followed the Moham
medan conquerors, and there could be no safe or peaceful cultiva
tion in the neighborhood of their tents. While this devastation
has in every century become more complete, the European nations
have been as constantly moved with a desire for the regeneration
of Palestine. This desire has manifested itself in two schemes very
different, and yet both equally impracticable.
The Jews expect the regeneration of Palestine through a provi
dential restoration of themselves to the ancient city. The Chris
tians look for the same happy consummation through the missionary
instruction of this discordant and wretched people. We would
disturb no benevolent rehgious hope, but it seems to us that the
ways appointed or allowed by Providence do not necessarily re
quire the restoration of Jerusalem or of Palestine to the power and
prestige they enjoyed under the reign of Solomon, any more than
they require the restoration of Memphis and Egypt, of Athens and
Greece, of Rome and Italy. If Solomon could come again upon
the earth, and see the mocking Mosque of Omar on the site of the
glorious temple he built, and see his royal gardens run to brambles
and weeds, and find, instead of the towers and palaces in which
he gloried, a city enclosing within a Turkish wall a mere huddle
of infidels — the Egypt which he feared, a solitude — the Ezion-geber,
whence he dispatched his ships to Ophir, a heap of sand — and
Lebanon covered with mulberries instead of cedars and firs, we
think he would concede that there is at last " something new under
the sun." Nevertheless, it is only in one sense that there is change
from the past. Human nature and the human race are the same.
They change places, circumstances, and conditions, but their destiny
remains the same, and their progress toward it is continuous and
onward. Empires and nations, as well as individuals, are mortal,
but the human race, for aught we know, is continuous on earth. In
modern times, at least, the work of human progress is carried on
chiefly by commerce and immigration ; perhaps it was always so.
Long before the fall of Jerusalem, " the star of empire " had begun
to move westward. It is likely to continue to move in the same
direction until it returns to the point in the heavens whence

614 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
it took its departure. New capitals and new nations have already
come into existence, and more wiH come before Palestine and Jeru
salem will be restored. But this is not discouraging to any just
hopes of the East. A slight improvement is already noticeable in
Palestine. Jaffa, Caipha, and Beirut already exhibit some pleasing
germs of progress planted by the always patient and enterprising
Germans. The more that new capitals and nations are built up in
the West, the more will the renewing, revivifying effect be felt
in the East, and, without waiting for the estabHshment of republics
and Christianity in India and China, or even in Japan, we may see
civilized, enlightened Christian nations come into existence in
Palestine, as well as in Syria and in Egypt.
The Jewish improvement and Christian missions are not to be
rejected or undervalued. They will cooperate in producing these
results, though insufficient in themselves to produce them. The
Jewish endowments and Christian missions are, after all, only for
eign charities. No nation ever was or can be regenerated by mere
charity from abroad. But charity, going hand-in-hand with com
merce and immigration, effects every thing. It has been so in the
Sandwich Islands, and in every part of America. Perhaps we need
to see Constantinople before we decide upon the important question
whether the empire of Turkey is beginning to yield to the renovat
ing influences which reach it from the West. It is certain that
thus far in Palestine and Syria, as well as in Egypt, we find Mussul
man bigotry modified, and Oriental prejudices declining. This is
an auspicious omen of the gradual improvement of Palestine. We
have seen, not only the raiboad, but the ship-canal in Egypt, as
well as the turnpike-road and the telegraph in Palestine. Why
may we not expect to see the railroad as well as the telegraph in
Palestine ? How can there be telegraphs and railroads anywhere
without progress and civilization ?
June 21st, off Cyprus. — The island of Cyprus, the Turkish out
post in the Mediterranean, known to us only by the fervent poetic
descriptions of the ancients, and by the commercial reports of its
fruitfulness in modem times, was for us, as we suppose it is for aU

THE CESNOLA COLLECTION. 615
travellers, a disappointment. Its population, once a million, is now
only eighty thousand. Its first capital Paphos, now a mere village
on the beach — its later capital, Idalium, sunk into the earth, is now
visited only at Larnica, a dull modern Turkish village seaport, an
ugly town at the base of a broken range of sand-hiUs. Small
clusters of date-palms or orchards appear at intervals at the left of
the village, while a small strip of verdure stretches behind the town
at the foot of the parched hills. They tell us here that they have
had no rain for three years, and the island is dried up. Exaggerated
as the description of it may have been by the ancients, it is never
theless an island abounding in the richest and rarest of fruit. Not
only its figs, but its raisins and wine, are recognized as famiHar
articles of commerce throughout the world. The United States
consul, General di Cesnola, entertained us during the morning,
and we had an opportunity to test the island proverb that " so
many days are added to one's allotted term of Hfe, by every draught
of its delicious wine." We did not quaff enough to add much to
our longevity, although "The brown bees of Hymettus
Make their honey not so sweet."
We were especially interested in a rare collection of antiques
which General di Cesnola has fortunately made. Purchasing a
piece of ground, once a farm, which proved to be part of the ancient
city of Idalium, and obtaining leave of the Turkish authorities to
dig, he has gone down through at least three cemeteries in tiers,
one above another, and has unearthed more than fourteen thou
sand articles, from the tombs of successive generations, which flour
ished through a period of probably two thousand years. Each one
of these relics has a great value for its rarity, but the aggregate
collection has a peculiar and even a more curious one, because it
presents works of art and taste, statues, tablets, busts, vases, lamps,
coins, and inscriptions, utensils and ornaments of gold, silver, glass,
and terra-cotta, in a combination that, like a series of chronological
tables, iUustrates the history not only of Cyprus, but of civilization
itself.

616 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
The lowest stratum is a coUection of articles as low and rude as
the attempts at carving and sculpture of the North-American In
dians. These were either made by or copied from the ancient
Egyptians and Assyrians. Then comes the next stratum, compris
ing the improved works of art of the Phoenicians, nearer neighbors
to Cyprus, and historicaHy recognized as its colonizers. Next
come relics of the Persians ; next after them, in the ascending
series, are those of the Greeks, among which are works of statuary
and carving not unworthy of the times of Pericles and Phidias ;
then those of the era of Alexander ; lastly, those of the period of
the Roman emperors.
There is a remarkable unity, however, running through the
whole of these relics. In every layer of them were found mani
fold figures of Venus, the guardian goddess of the Cyprians, in
every attitude and association, from a plate of copper roughly
shapen into a human form to the Goddess of Love rising from the
wave in the conch-shell at Paphos, or attended by her son Cupid in
her triumphal car, drawn by gentle doves, graceful swans, or active
Httle sparrows. We noticed no Christian relics. Paul and Bar
nabas labored here. The latter was a native of Cyprus, but doubt
less their contemporaries and followers had modes of sepulture dif
ferent from those of the pagans. It is sincerely to be hoped that
this valuable collection will be secured by some museum or archaeo
logical society in the United States.1
Smyrna, June 24th. — Smyrna, the ancient queen of Ionia,
which, according to the historical accounts, has sHdden down the
rocky coast to the level beach, presents a scene of life and activity
unusual in the East. The harbor and wharves are filled with light
and graceful shipping. We mistook for a modern Turkish fortifica
tion the ruins of a Venetian fort on a cliff which overhangs the
city with picturesque effect. Near the summit is the cave-tomb
which is consecrated in Christian affections as the tomb of Poly-
carp, native bishop and martyr of Smyrna. The town, stretching
1 Since this was written, the Cesnola collection has been purchased for the Metropoli
tan Museum of Art, and is now (18V3) in New York.

AN EXCURSION TO EPHESUS. 617
a mile along the curving shore, seems nearly embowered in orange-
orchards and cypress-groves. On near approach, an ancient part
of the town wears the dull aspect of age and neglect, but there is a
new quarter which exhibits elegant structures, indicative of com
mercial prosperity and enterprise. This improvement, together
with a railroad just constructed, excites some hope that Greece, so
long dead, may live again. The government estimate of the popu
lation is one hundred and fifty thousand ; we think it one hundred
thousand. Here, as in other Turkish ports, the authorities, with the United
States consul, came on board to receive Mr. Seward, and gave him
on shore a demonstrative welcome. We lose no time in making an
excursion by railroad this afternoon to the ruins of Ephesus.
Smyrna is situated nearly midway on a promontory which pro
jects into the .zEgean. Ephesus is fifty miles southeast, at the head
of the bay, and at the mouth of the Meander, while Samps, at the
opening of the bay, commands both ports.
The country between Smyrna and Ephesus, even under Turkish
rule, is highly cultivated with cereals and fruits. At this season it
is brightly pink and green with wild oleanders and grain-fields,
while it is not without the embellishment of ornamental villas and
many pretty villages.
Guides, horses, and grooms, were in waiting, in pursuance of
telegraphic instructions; at the station. We rode in the rosy Hght
of sunset across the low banks of the Meander, a marsh now, as it
was two thousand years ago. The bay affords a magnificent har
bor, with distant views of Samos and Scio.
Ephesus stood on a plain broken by hills, high but easy of
ascent. The famous Temple of Diana is represented by the an
cients as having been conspicuous in the approach to the city from
the sea. Probably all or most of the public edifices stood on the
summits of the hills, while the lower grounds, not less than the hills
themselves, were occupied with dwellings and shops.
There is no reason to doubt that Ephesus wore a noble as well
as a cheerful aspect. Within the entire area of the ancient city
there is not now found one human habitation. There are ruins,

618 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
but nothing more, nothing else. Entering that area, we found
that experimental excavations had been made, which had left frag
ments of marble columns scattered in all directions. Crossing,
not without some danger, the gaping pits made by these excava
tions, we found, on one of the hill-sides, the cemetery of the Ephe-
sians. Tombs, some single alcoves, others vaulted chambers, had
been cut in the solid rock. The largest of these chambers was as
serted by our Turkish guide to be the tomb of St. Luke. But our
historical researches do not give us any satisfactory account of the
manner of the death of that apostle. Descending from the hill, we
came into a wild, romantic dell, where an angle of the precipice
had been cut away and two large chambers excavated, one of them
having a vaulted Grecian roof. We could not conjecture the de
sign of this grotto, overhung with tangled shrubs and trees. It
seemed too airy and graceful for a tomb, too inconvenient and som
bre for a dwelling, and too smaU for a temple. Our guide solved
the difficulty with ease. He said it was the identical cave of the
" Seven Sleepers." He did not know when the seven sleepers
went to sleep or why. Fortunately, our early reading of romance
suppHed us with the pretty legend.
Seven noble youths, who had embraced Christianity in the third
century at Ephesus, were waUed up in this cave, together with a
faithful dog. After resting there two centuries, the wall was re
moved — and here the legend divides : One version is, that they
showed themselves to the people, and went on their way rejoicing ;
the dog as jubilant as the rest. The Mohammedan version is, that,
though their bodies were found, their spirits ascended to heaven,
and that there they, as well as the good dog, yet live and flourish,
in immortal youth ; the latter having for his society in paradise
several other noble brutes, namely, the ram that Abraham sacri
ficed instead of his son Isaac, Baalam's remonstrating ass, the ass
which the Saviour rode on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and
the mare which Mohammed rode in his ascent to paradise.
The Greek Christians, apparently not less superstitious than
their brethren of Rome, have stuccoed the cave, and converted it
into a chapel in honor .of one of their modern saints. These mau-

ANCIENT RUINS. 619
soleums of Ephesus were remarkable for being less spacious and
more tasteful in architecture and ornament than those of Egypt
and Palestine. No one of them is finished without the use of* the
curved line.
Passing down and around this hill-cemetery, we confronted, on
another eminence, the ruins of a vast and massive circular edifice.
The wall is constructed of stones as large and well hewn as those
in the wall of the wailing-place at Jerusalem, but heaps of small
stones, bricks, and mortar, are mingled with them, which indicate
either the frugal age of architecture, or at least the time when the
Koman conquerors of Ephesus repaired the structure. Broken
marble columns, architraves, and cornices, half covered by rubbish,
prove the dignity of this edifice, and archaeologists have decided
that it was the stadium of the city — a place used for popular and
municipal assemblies.
Winding our way around the base of the same eminence, we
reached another ruin, far more beautiful, and, at the same time,
unmistakable in its design. It is the ruin of an amphitheatre,
small indeed, but constructed entirely of fine white marble. The
basement-story, subdivided into halls, corridors, and chambers, is
still perfect, and the semicircular rows of seats, rising toward the
sides, would be comfortable for an audience even now. All the
other parts of the little theatre, including the walls, columns, roof,
and cornices, have fallen into the area, but the fragments of each
part may easily be distinguished. An architect would find no dif
ficulty in rebuilding the theatre in its original form and propor
tions. But this is not the only place of popular amusement. Sepa
rated from this theatre only by an avenue of well-worn tessellated
pavement, we came to the ruin of another amphitheatre four times
more spacious than the first, the model the same, the material the
same, but more exquisitely wrought. The seats must have been
sufficient to accommodate thirty thousand spectators. The outer
door-ways remain unbroken. On their white-marble jambs, in
pure ancient Greek, in letters perfectly legible, as if engraved yes
terday, are the police rules for the conduct of the theatre, and even
the names of the dramatis personce. The vaulted chambers for the

620 EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
confinement of the wild beasts, with arched passages leading from
them into the arena, remain in perfect preservation. Taking our
places on the upper tier, and looking down upon the space now
covered with the confused mass of broken marble columns, waUs,
and statuary, we said to ourselves, This, if not the adjoining ruin,
must be " the theatre into which the people rushed, with one ac
cord," when Paul alarmed Demetrius, the silversmith " which
made silver shrines for Diana," together with the workmen of like
occupation, by preaching that " they be no gods which are made
with hands." v
And, since we find here the cages of the beasts and the arena,
this surely is the place where Paul " fought with beasts at Ephe
sus." So it was from the beginning, and so it will be to the end.
The proudest work of man's hands must perish and disappear from
the earth, while no thought of God's can ever die. Though we
cannot identify even the grave of one of the thousands to whom
Paul preached the unity and spirituality of God, nor can we trace
his remains to their final resting-place, yet his utterance of that
divine truth already encircles the earth, and, if the soul of man be
immortal, must survive the earth itself.
Thus far we felt that we were treading on tolerably safe ground
in exploring the history of Ephesus. Now, however, on looking
off toward the sea, we saw, on the northern promontory, a cir
cular, castellated tower, which certainly is not as old as the Pyra
mids nor as new as Fortress Monroe. Inquiring what it was, we
were answered that it was " St. Paul's prison." It is more prob
ably the ruin of a Saracenic (possibly a Roman) watch-tower. We
next passed over an elevated plain designated, perhaps not without
reason, as a field of gymnastic exercises similar to the Olympic
games. Ephesus, so completely ruined, is now nearly lost sight of by
traveUers ; but an English gentleman, Mr. Wood, is here conduct
ing researches for the British Museum. He believes he has recently
discovered, by unmistakable signs, the site of the temple dedicated
to the worship " of the great goddess Diana, and of the image
which fell down from Jupiter." Mr. Wood is said to have care-

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THE ISLES OF GREECE. 621
fully covered the columns which he has discovered, a service to his
tory for which he does not receive the thanks of the guides or the
few tourists who penetrate to Ephesus.
We left Ephesus under the beams of a crescent moon (though not
as the Turks paint it, with Venus between its horns), and reached
the hospitable home of our consul, Mr. Smithers, at midnight.
It was the eve of St. John, and, late as the hour was, the en
tire population was in the streets, which were blazing with bon
fires. We are not surprised at this devout reverence paid to his
memory, for we recall the fact that the apostolic missionaries, when
they first came to Ephesus, found there Jews who practised the rite
of baptism, but knew only the baptism of John.
Grecian Archipelago, June 24th. — Pleasant courtesies were ex
changed between Mr. Seward and the Turkish authorities at
Smyrna. We parted here with our exceUent friend Betts Bey,
and reembarked, at four o'clock, on the steamer Apollo.
June 25th. — " The isles of Greece " cannot be studied in their
present sober and commonplace reality. A poetic atmosphere per
vades them, and they rise before you, not in their present real dul-
ness and isolation, but in the Hfe and glowing warmth in which
they have been sung by Homer and Byron.
What a pretty, white village is this of Tinos which we are pass
ing, with the hills behind it terraced to their summits with orange-
orchards and vineyards ! Green little Delos, rising gracefully from
the sea as we are gliding past, tempts us to go ashore and search
among its hills for the remains of the Temple of ApoUo, so famous
for its sanctity. Syra has modern beauty that gives it a charm,
needing nothing from antiquity to make it attractive. Little of
Syra is ever read or heard of in the West, except that it is a mid
way station of exchange of products between the Greek ports. A
town of five thousand dwellings is built on the face of a triple hill,
the streets horizontal and parallel, one above another, so that, from
the deck of our steamer in the harbor, we look into the door of every
house in the city. Belonging to Greece, the island is inhabited ex
clusively by Christians. For the first time since we arrived in Japan,
47

622

EGYPT AND PALESTINE.

nine months ago, pagan temples and Moslem mosques have disap
peared, and Christianity confronts neither dissent nor opposition.
Mr. Seward was received by the Greek governor and United

A GKEEK OFFICIAL.

States consul, and our party enjoyed a delightful promenade con
cert in the smaU pubHc square, where it seemed as if all the inhabi
tants had come out for evening recreation, news, coffee, and ices.
The Greek costumes of both sexes, more artistic than any in the
world, imparted a poetic air to the scene.
We embarked at seven o'clock, the last hour which the regula
tions allow for a stay in port. The steamer lingered unaccountably.
As night came on, fires were seen creeping along the rocky terraces
of the triple hill. These bonfires increasing for a time, at last
gave way to a pillar of fire near the summit. There were rockets
and baUoons, and at length the beautiful Church of St. George,

AN ILLUMINATION.

623

which crowns the highest and central conical hill, flashed forth in
full blaze of red, white, and blue lights. We had been detained for
an illumination in honor of Mr. Seward's visit.
He has met here some of the survivors of the emissaries who
visited the United States to secure aid for the Greek Revolution in
1827. This illumination was a consequence of his sympathy with
the Greek cause. Comparing notes with these revolutionists, they
enjoyed the pleasing reflection that, although their sanguine hopes
for the recovery of all Greece had not been accomplished, yet that
a not inconsiderable part of ancient Greece, main-land as well as
islands, had been restored to independence and Christianity ; and
that the mass of the Greek people are enjoying a measure of
practical civil and religious liberty unknown since the days of
Pericles, and one which could not have been conceived by either
Alcibiades or Demosthenes.

A GUOTTP OF HEADS FROM THE CESNOLA COLLECTION.

PAET YI.
EUROPE.

CHAPTER I.
ATHENS AND CONSTANTINOPLE.
Athens. — The Pirseus. — The Hymettus. — The Hyssus. — Mr. Tuckerman. — Queen Olga.
— Grecian Ruins compared with those of Egypt and Hindostan. — Modern Greece,
the Mexico of Europe. — The Sea of Marmora. — Taking Constantinople by Surprise.
—A Contre-Temps.— All's Well that Ends Well.— The Sultan Abdul- Aziz.— A Busy
Day. — Excursions. — Charms of Constantinople. — The Old Seraglio. — Fourth of July.
— Robert College. — The Bosporus. — Turkish Women. — The New Palace. — Untimely
Visit. — Kiamil Pacha. — Audience with the Sultan. — Departure from Constantinople.
Athens, June 28th. — We have " done " Athens in thirty-six
hours, because we have no more hours to do it in. Although we
feel somewhat the worse for it, there is no sign that Athens has
suffered. Our keen appetite for antiques and eccentricities of hu
man progress has been dulled. It seems to us now that, here in
Greece, instead of continuing our progress down the stream of the
old civilization of the world, we are beginning to ascend the tide
of a new one.
We arrived at six yesterday morning, at the Piraeus, the port
of modern Athens, but no longer walled and fortified as in the
days of Pericles. It was not without a feeling of awe, almost of
reverence, that we recognized, in the mountain-chain which borders
the plain we are entering, the ancient Hymettus, and the whole
glorious though brief history of Athenian greatness rushed upon
us as we looked upon the more distant range which outlines the
Peloponnesus. Deviating from the direct road, we approached the
city through one of those vast cemeteries by which historians tell
ns it was entirely surrounded outside of the ancient walls. Strange
to say, the cemetery has a pleasing rather than a melancholy as-

628

EUROPE.

pect. No gaping vaults, no revolting mummies, no tombs, no sar
cophagi, are here. All excavations have been filled up and lev
elled, while the monuments which covered them have been gath
ered and carefuUy arranged. The monuments, in no case colossal,
consist of marble statuary, and tablets engraved and inscribed in
alto-rilievo. The execution in all cases is exquisite, the design al
ways touching and simple.
Modern Athens is a town of fifty thousand inhabitants. Al
though it retains and preserves most interesting and wonderful
monuments of the past, it is nevertheless purely European, and has
put the ancient world of Africa and Asia out of sight. Its streets
are of comfortable width, well paved ; its buildings, with .few ex-

A GREEK WOMAN.

ceptions, are modern, but crowded too densely. We took lodgings
at the Hotel d'Angleterre, at the foot of the beautiful gardens of

BRIDGE AT ELEUSIS.

629

the Boyal Palace. The fields round Athens are brown from a long
drought, but the monotony is relieved by a wide belt of olive-trees

. . . ¦ ¦¦ . . . ¦¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦.
. . ¦ ¦ ¦. ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ..
. --

^^

BRIDGE AT ELEUSIS.

which stretch behind the city, and in the valley quite to the foot of
Hymettus. The cloudless atmosphere imparts to the mountains
that deep-azure hue which enthusiastic writers call the "violet
crown" of Athens. The Ilyssus, like most of the classic streams
of Europe, is a disappointment to the American traveller.

630 EUROPE.
June 28th. — Mr. Tiickerman, the able and accomplished United
States minister, being absent from Greece, had arranged with the
ministry in regard to Mr. Seward's reception, and had left the
legation in the care of the United States consul, charged with the
duty of announcing Mr. Seward's arrival. The consul met us at
the Piraeus, and has assiduously attended us during our stay in
Athens. On our return last night from an excursion to Eleusis,
we found a note from the chamberlain appointing eleven o'clock
this morning for an audience with Queen Olga in the absence of
the king, who is on a visit to Copenhagen.
The palace is entirely modern and European. The young queen
was gracious ; she is intelligent, pleasing, and beautiful. Speaking
English perfectly, she left nothing unsaid which she could have
said of her consideration for Mr. Seward, or of appreciation of his
visit to Greece. And she expressed herself as having no wish so
near her heart as that of seeing the United States — a nation whom
her father, the Grand-duke Constantine of Russia, had taught her
to respect and admire.
Grecian ruins, seen so soon after our explorations of those of
Egypt and Hindostan, suggest the reflection that in the early age
of Egypt human labor and means of subsistence, as well as materials
for building, were plentiful and cheap, while the edifices fo be con
structed were only temples and tombs. At the same time, the gov
ernment was not merely absolute, but despotic. Art and science
had not been taxed to discover the smallest amount of materials or
labor with which an enduring structure could be built. Under
these circumstances, the Egyptian pyramids, temples, and tombs,
were of great and even gigantic dimensions. The Phoenicians, the
Jews, and the Greeks, coming later, found the necessity for econ
omy of labor and materials, while the greater independence of the
people obliged the governments to practise frugality, and to perfect
science adapted to that frugality. The Greeks, therefore, while
they gathered their models from Egypt, reduced their designs from
the colossal to the practical, and substituted, for massiveness, orna
ment and beauty. Moreover, architecture and the arts of design,
in Egypt, were a priestly monopoly, and subject to 'exact regula-

THE TEMPLE OF VICTORY.

631

tion— the people of Egypt had no share in them. In Greece, the
arts passed over from the government to the people, and became a
study, a pride, and a profit, in which all the citizens could share.
As it is apparent that Egypt never perfected the Grecian work, so
it is equally manifest that Greece could never have produced the
Pyramids, Karnak, or the Tombs of the Kings. Each was the proper

THE TEMPLE OF VICTOEY, ATHENS.

work of a distinct stage of human civilization. Absurd as was the
mythology of ancient Greece, it was, nevertheless, a cheerful and
hopeful rehgious system, while that of Egypt was a gloomy and
fearful superstition. Egyptian architecture and arts produced, and
were designed to produce, the impression of terror and awe ; they
gave, therefore, no scope for pleasing lines of beauty, for delicate

632 EUROPE.
traces of art, or for tints and hues of coloring. Grecian architect
ure, on the contrary, was as joyous as the Greek mythology.
How did it happen that the freedom and the power of ancient
Greece were so transient 2
It was due to the fact that Greece, being subdivided into small
states and islands, mutuaUy jealous of each other, proved incapable
of maintaining one central national authority adequate to pro
tection against dangers from without or security against revolu
tion within. Greece had a free, intellectual, and enlightened peo
ple. Their philosophers, orators, and statesmen, seem to have been
conscious of this, for they studied less the glory and grandeur of
the Greeks themselves than the universal advancement of man
kind. For this they have their reward. Whatever the moderns
have, either of government, science, art, or literature, all confess
that it is traceable to the Greeks. Even when we are extending the
domain of science, and demanding names for newly-discovered sub
stances, powers, forces, and qualities, we turn unhesitatingly to the
fuU and expansive Greek language for. a new technology. How
little the ancient Greeks thought that, when we should have ac
quired the power of compelling the lightning to transmit our
thoughts, we should be obliged to borrow from them the name of
the instrument of communication ! How Httle did they imagine
that, when we should acquire the power to compel the sun to paint
for us, we should resort to them for the name of the newly-invented
instrument and -art !
Modern Greece is the Mexico of Europe — new, experimental,
and unreliable, requiring forbearance, patience, and protection;
but, having all these, its condition is hopeful. It has, at least, got
rid of Turkish despotism and Mohammedan superstition. Greece
will probably become greater, and its present monarchy may be
regarded as what Lafayette proposed the government of Louis
Philippe should be — a monarchy surrounded with republican insti
tutions, and an introduction to the republic itself.
Constantinople, June 29th. — This morning we were in the Sea
of Marmora, surrounded by beautiful islands, and at eleven o'clock

A SINGULAR RECEPTION.

633

we rounded the base of the Seven Towers and beheld St. Sophia's
lofty dome, the old Seraglio, the new Imperial Palace, and, crossing
the mouth of the Golden Horn, anchored in the Bosporus under
the crowded, towering shore of Pera.
We did what no invader could have done in the time of Belisa-
rius, for we took Constantinople by surprise. Although Mr. Sew
ard came as an invited guest of the Sultan, and although the
United States legation had corresponded with him in India and
Egypt about the time of his coming, neither crescent nor stars and
stripes from the shore answered the signal which waved from the
mast-head of the Wien. What could it mean 2 We lingered an
hour on the deck. A mythical person presented himself, speaking
very imperfect English, and informed us that apartments were, to
his certain knowledge, provided for us by the Government at the
Hotel d'Angleterre. This information coincided with the letter
which Mr. Seward had received when in China from Blacque Bey,
written by direction of the grand-vizier. Weary of the sea, and
impatient under a cold shower of the first rain we had experienced
since our arrival at Calcutta in March, we availed ourselves of the
captain's kindness, and went ashore in his gig. Landing, and clam
bering over heaps of stones, we took shelter from the rain in an
open shed which served as a cafe for the market-men who thronged
the beach. T,wo rickety one-horse carriages were all that could be
found in which to make our entrance. We secured both. Leaving
one of them to the servants, we three passengers crowded ourselves
into the other. We had scarcely commenced our ascent, when we
collided with a timber-cart coming down the same steep, narrow
road. Extricating ourselves, we took the sidewalk, and proceeded
safely enough untU the overtaxed horse gave out, and we com
pleted our journey on foot in the drizzling rain.
We reached the Hotel d'Angleterre unexpected guests. The
telegraph had announced that we would come to-morrow. But
the keeper of the hotel would do his best ; he was sure he was to
entertain us on behalf of the Porte, and he would endeavor to do
it as well as possible. It soon turned out that the reception which
had been arranged for Mr. Seward fell to those whom we had left

634 EUROPE.
behind. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, informed of the United
States flag raised on the Wien, dispatched a guard of honor to the
wharf. The guard met the servants in their calash, with the lug
gage on carts, winding their way to the imperial custom-house.
The guard divided to the right and left, and, with due solemnity
and respect, escorted Jenny Corell, Arthur Price, and William
Freeman, to the entrance of the Hotel d'Angleterre. Half an
hour afterward the grand-chamberlain, and the United States
charge d'affaires, John P. Brown, and the United States marshal,
Mr. Thompson, arrived, and explanations were duly made. The
telegraph from Athens, announcing that we had sailed, was without
date, and was not put on the wire until we were passing the Hel
lespont. The apology offered was made the more soothing for us
by the statement of the lord-chamberlain that precisely the same
mistake occurred on the arrival of the Empress Eugenie last year.
The manner of the contre-lemps was different in the two cases. In
that of the empress, the grand-vizier with his war-steamer went
out to meet the French imperial frigate on which she was coming.
But, unfortunately, the two vessels passed each other unobserved,
so that she was already at Constantinople while he was vainly look
ing for her in the Sea of Marmora.
" All's well," however, " that ends well ! " The Turkish Gov
ernment had subsequently designated another, and as< they thought
a finer hotel. But, Mr. Seward being content with the Hotel
d'Angletene, especially after learning that our host was the "Mys-
seri " of Kinglake's " Eothen," we remain here.
The highest effect of Constantinople is produced by its tout en
semble. It has many different and noble aspects from various stand
points, but in every case the whole is seen at once, and it is this
whole that constitutes the marvellous beauty of the city.
June 30th. — Why is it that the strongest curiosity of travellers,
even of republican travellers more than others, is to see princes 2
Whatever the rearon may be, this is not only a secret of the art of
history, but also of the dramatic art. Hamlet and Lear and Richard
are all the more interesting for being princes.

SEEING THE SULTAN.

635

Although we had no reason to suppose that royalty here, more
than elsewhere, would conceal its visage from us, yet an opportunity
to see the Sultan Abdul-Aziz in a pageant to-day, and perhaps on
no other day, was not, at least in the judgment of the younger
portion of our party, to be lost. Successor of the caliphs, the
Sultan is the spiritual as well as temporal head of Islam. In this
character he goes in public procession from his palace at twelve
o'clock every Friday, either on horseback or in a barge, to offer
prayers for the faithful in one of the principal mosques. This cus
tom is one of very ancient standing, and is mentioned by travellers
among the Turks as early as the fifteenth century, though it is prob
ably even much older than that. It affords an opportunity of see
ing the Sultan of which nearly all strangers avail themselves. We
found two imperial carriages awaiting us at the door of our hotel,
and in them, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Brown, we were driven
into the street before the gate of the imperial residence. Our party

ALBANIAN COSTUME.

was not recognized among the many curious strangers whose car
riages thronged the way, to witness the pageant, and we were
nearly an hour in finding a suitable stand. The palace clock had

636 EUROPE.
been set back, and, an hour and a half after high noon struck the
equivalent of twelve in Turkish time, Abdul-Aziz issued from the
gate, dressed in the magnificent costume which is equally the uni
form of the civil and military service of Turkey. He was mounted
on a noble white Arabian steed, caparisoned in gold and velvet.
A squadron of cavalry, with a sonorous flourish of trumpets, opened
the way, and another covered the rear. His majesty was attended
by aU the ministers of the Porte on horseback, and surrounded by
a guard of Albanian officers on foot. These wore jackets, caps, and
gaiters, of maroon-velvet and gold, and fuU, spotless white skirts
reaching the knee — said to be the most exquisite costume in the
world. Their shining, silver cimeters and pistols are worn in a
broad sash. The Sultan is a stout, well-formed man, forty-seven
years old, with a pleasing and amiable though not impressive coun
tenance. His hair is slightly gray, and he is said to dislike the
national fez, which he wears very small. He rides remarkably well,
Hke a soldier accustomed to the saddle. His bland smile when
passing our carriages, which indeed he might have known by the
imperial livery to be his own, indicated to Mr. Brown that he had
the honor of being personally recognized, although he failed in the
attempt to flatter Mr. Seward with the belief that he shared in that
honor. Being assured that the presence of Christians at the official ser
vices of the mosque would be popularly regarded as intrusive by the
Moslems, it only remained for us to leave the ground as soon as
the imperial pageant had passed. We observed that not only the
ministers, but the military officers, and even our excellent friend
Mr. Brown, betrayed sentiments of awe and reverence during the
progress ; while, on the other hand, the people " of the baser sort,"
Turks as they are, manifested neither sympathy with the proces
sion, nor homage for the sovereign, but were as free and indifferent
in their demeanor as a crowd of spectators at a military parade in
the United States.
July 1st. — Mr. Seward has had a busy day. He has exchanged
visits with Server Pacha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and acting

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MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE

CONSTANTINOPLE. Qtf
grand-vizier, in the place of Ali Pacha, who, long resisting, has at
last succumbed under an illness which it is feared will be fatal ; also
with Kiamil Pacha, president of the Council of State ; and the Min
isters of Justice and Commerce, Cabruli Pacha and Mounetaz
Effendi. He was received by these functionaries at their several
offices in the Divan, and entertained there with very agreeable con
versation, and the customary offerings of coffee and chibouque. The
conversation did not go, however, beyond expressions compliment
ary to Mr. Seward, and highly appreciative of the United States.
He thought that Turkish poHtics, so deeply interwoven with those
of European powers, are probably reserved by the ministers for the
treatment of the great statesman, Ali Pacha.
The Divan is a large and spacious European structure, superior
to any public edifice of the same sort here, or to any that we have
seen throughout the East, though very inferior to the department
buildings at Washington.
By the courtesy of the Government, the necessary permits for
free access to the city and all its institutions and amusements were
sent to us this morning. It was amusing to see the care that was
taken in filHng up the dates and inserting the names in these
printed forms ; a banker could hardly practise more care in draw
ing bills of exchange to guard against perversion or counterfeiting.
We understand that permits to view the mosques, palaces, and mu
seums here, are usually charged with a fee as a perquisite.
We have made several excursions around the city. The survey
from without, at whatever point, produces the same impression,
that of unmixed admiration. It has been with us a profound study
to determine what it is that constitutes the peculiar and surpassing
effect of Constantinople as a great and magnificent seat of com
merce and empire. Nature has invested the site with such advan
tages in this respect as no other city enjoys. It is an isthmus, and
a narrow one at that, with lofty and towering but graceful eleva
tions, which divide two great seas, the Mediterranean and the
Euxine, and two great continents, Europe and Asia, The seas
clasp hands between the continents, which smile upon each other
across the narrow strait of the fathomless, blue-rolling Bosporus.

638 EUROPE.
What would otherwise be a topographical monotony is broken by
the broad, deep, and winding channel of the Golden Horn, which
breaks the European coast into two not unequal parts, with banks
on either side as green and gently sloping as those of the Bospo
rus. Constantinople, not diminutive nor contracted, covers plain,
valley, and hill, on either shore, as far as the eye can reach, with a
populous, majestic city. You take no notice of the political, mu
nicipal, or geographical divisions of the city : though the portion
south of the Horn and west of the Bosporus is designated as the
ancient Byzantium, now Stamboul proper ; and the portion of the
city north of it and west of the Bosporus as Pera ; and the por
tion which occupies the eastern bank is known as Scutari, the
ancient Chrysopolis — yet Stamboul, Pera, and Scutari, with what
ever other municipalities or suburbs there may be, are merged
altogether, and make the one, great, noble city of Constantinople.
From whatever new point of view you look at the panorama, you
feel not the distant but the immediate presence of the two oceans
and of the two continents. Boston merely encircles a bay; New
York graces an island between two rivers ; London crowds both level
banks of a tame and turbid river ; Paris merely clusters, like Rome,
upon the banks of a narrow, tideless stream ; Amsterdam shuts out
the sea by dikes, making for itself an artificial site ; even Yenice,
the " Queen of the Adriatic," takes refuge from it in a shallow,
marshy bay ; while Naples is content with occupying an amphithe
atre, nobly beautiful indeed, but still a circular mountain-shore.
But Constantinople has the deep, great sea flowing, not only near
it but through it. The sea, elsewhere, is a thing of dread — the sea,
at Constantinople, is a highway of commerce, and a pleasure-lake.
Although dividing the city, it is not forced out by wharves, docks,
or piers, on either side. You may pass from the steamship to
your dwelling-place on the greensward of your garden ; or you
may enter your frail caique and float in safety on the deep waters,
which at the same time are bearing by the most majestic ships that
man can build. So you may, from the same pleasure-boat, land on
either green shore of the Bosporus at the water's edge, or wind
your way among the fleets riding at anchor in the Golden Horn.

AN ANCIENT PILLAR.

639

It is this peaceful contact of two continents, with the truce be
tween an old and a new civilization in the Bosporus, and at the
same time a control of two seas, both relieved of their terrors,
while retaining always their placid beauty, that makes Constanti
nople the most delightful place in the world. One other element
enters into the picture— the streets of Constantinople are narrow,

ANCIENT PILLAB AT CONSTANTINOl'LE

most of the dwelHngs and shops are cheap and frail, yet these
blemishes are overlooked in the view of the ever-admired Oriental

640

EUROPE.

city, with the gleaming towers, domes, and minarets, of its thou
sand palaces and mosques, and a gorgeous golden sunlight con-

FOUNTAIN OF THE SERAGLIO.

trasting with the sparkling blue sea, the dark cypress-groves of
Scutari, and, in the distance, the bright islands of the Marmora,
and the snowy peak of Olympus. It is the harmony of each part
with the whole which constitutes the nameless beauty of the scene.
It is the presence, not of waters diminutive as rivers, nor of emi
nences diminutive as hUls, but of seas and mountains — not of the
seas and mountains of one country, but of the seas and mountains
<of two vast and diverse continents.
July 3d. — The palace of Solyman the Magnificent, seated so
.gracefully on the promontory which divides the Golden Horn from
the Bosporus, was the chief court residence of the Sultan until
•seventy or eighty years ago. Now, under the name of the "Old
¦ Seraglio," this great pile has been converted into a storehouse, in
which are deposited the regalia, ornaments, plate, and objects of
vertu, gathered by the crown since the time of the caliphs. The

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FOURTH OF JULY. G41
collection is curious. There are crowns, thrones, urns, vases, table
furniture and ornaments, plate, clocks, watches, jewelry, and pre
cious stones, all of costliest material and most elaborate workman
ship, placed in cases, apparently without arrangement or desig
nation of date or history — a treasure which Midas might covet,
although it is practically useless. It was only as an act of special
grace that we were admitted to the alcoves which contained the
rich library and manuscripts belonging to the Government. They
are watched with the utmost care, since the Government thinks it
has had reason to believe that some foreign states have tried by
indirect means to abstract some of them.
July 4th. — Although the celebration of our national indepen
dence has come to be regarded as a commonplace affair at home, it
is an enjoyment which citizens of the United States cannot forego
without reluctance when abroad.
We repaired this morning, in accordance with an invitation, to
Robert College, an American university for the education of Turk
ish youths, founded by the liberality of Christopher R. Robert, of
New York. Twelve years ago the Turkish Government conceded
the site, which is the most commanding one on the Bosporus.
But Mussulman jealousies caused delay in confirming the conces
sion. A long and sometimes unpleasant discussion, which occurred
on the subject between the two Governments, was happily brought
to an end during the closing year of Mr. Seward's official term in
the Department of State.
The firman having been issued, two years sufficed for building
an edifice adequate to the accommodation of one hundred and
fifty students. Dr. Hamlin, who has had sole charge of the enter
prise, is president, with a faculty of eleven professors, and already
there are one hundred and twenty-five students. The Fourth of
July was chosen by President Hamlin to commemorate the com
pletion of this important work with due acknowledgments to the
Government of the United States and the Government of Turkey
for their favor and patronage. Mr. Seward's arrival at this junc
ture and Blacque Bey's presence at Constantinople were regarded

642 EUROPE.
as fortunate coincidences of the celebration. After a long drive by
the side of the Bosporus and over its eminences, we espied the
United States flag waving from the college. The president, faculty,
and students, with the United States citizens residing at Constan
tinople, received Mr. Seward, and, having been severally presented
to him on the veranda, attended him in procession to the recep
tion-hall. A dinner, provided by the American residents, was
served — the first public entertainment of the kind ever known on
the shores of the Bosporus. And so the ivy-crowned, castellated
towers near by, which, in 1453, forty years before the discovery of
America, poured forth the invading army who subverted Chris
tianity in the empire and established Moslem despotism in Stam
boul, now were witnesses of the celebration of an event which is a
sure guarantee of religious as well as political regeneration of so
ciety throughout the world.
Dr. Hamlin presided at one of the two tables, which was deco
rated with the stars and stripes ; while Blacque Bey, by the leave
and with the instruction of the Divan, presided at the other under
a canopy formed by the crescent flag of the Turkish Empire. The
guests were Americans, with their families ; Turks, of course, with
out theirs ; and the body of students, among whom were repre
sentatives from every province in the empire, as well as from Per
sia, Greece, and the islands of the Levant.
Dr. Hamlin closed a spirited oration with congratulations to
Mr. Seward on his arrival in Constantinople, and thanks for the
interest in the college which he had manifested. Mi*. Seward an
swered in a manner which seemed to awaken deep sensibility
among his own countrymen, while the natives of the East listened
with surprise and pleasure to a free exercise of speech for the first
time in their Hves.
Blacque Bey and Mr. Brown followed with speeches which were
pleasing and appropriate in their allusions to Mr. Seward, Robert
College, and the relations between Turkey and the United States.
When the exercises closed, the assemblage attended Mr. Seward
to his carriage, and parted from him with cheers for himself, for
the Union, for the Turkish Empire, and for Robert College.

THE BOSPORUS.

643

July 5th. — The Minister of the Navy, Mahmoud Pacha, sent a
steamer this morning for the excursion on the Bosporus, indispen
sable to a true knowledge of Constantinople. We displayed the
United States flag by the side of the red banner of the Turks.
The Bosporus is a channel, which, taking no note of municipal
divisions, traverses the entire length of the capital ; but such a
channel as no human hands could make. While it is tideless, it

TUEKIBH WOMAN IN STREET DEE9S.

nevertheless has the breadth of the East River at New York, and
a depth practically unfathomable. Its waters, from the Black Sea
to the Sea of Marmora, have a current averaging two or three miles
an hour, but increased at some points to four miles by jutting
promontories or converging shores. The city and suburbs are
spread, though not equally, over the two lofty and gently-rising
banks, and a hostile ship-of-war moving through the Golden Horn

644 EUROPE.
and the Bosporus could shell and destroy not only every warehouse
on the bank, but every palace, mosque, and villa, in the entire city.
The Government has a high appreciation of the Bosporus as an or
nament of the capital. It carefuUy prohibits the use of its shores
for offensive trades, avocations, or manufactories, and they are, con
sequently, embellished with the finest public institutions, palaces, '
and villas. Every man of the wealthier class, besides his winter
dwelling in Stamboul, Pera, or Scutari, has his vUla and wherry on
the verdant bank of the Bosporus, and steps from his porch to his
barge, while his garden hangs on the hill-side. All the foreign
ministers and consuls have their villas here, and, in ascending the
Bosporus, we received the salute of many national flags.
In Japan all the women whom the traveller sees, aside from the
music-girls, are repulsive. In China the women seen are painted
and distorted ; in India, woman seems to have no existence at all ;
in Egypt and Syria, if she appears in public, she is hideously veiled.
Until lately, it was so in Constantinople. We have met to-day
many groups of Circassian women listlessly reclining in their gayly-
cushioned, canopied caiques, on the Bosporus, as we have met
them before in our walks and drives on shore. They seem greatly
to enjoy this freedom, and are often accompanied by musicians
under the surveillance of the inevitable eunuchs. These women
are richly dressed, in habits of brightly-colored silk which approxi
mate to the European costume, and their thin white veils, which
cover their faces, leave exposed, with bewitching effect, eyes and
eyebrows, the latter delicately painted. We have passed a thou
sand harems on our voyage to-day, and if any woman looked upon
us she would only have done so through the close lattice of her
balcony. Yerily, the Mohammedan is a "comfortable doctrine"
for the stronger sex. For, while women are thus carefully secluded,
every piazza and window on either side of the Bosporus is filled
with Turks in groups, in pairs, and single, sitting cross-legged or
lounging on divans, surveying the passers-by through fumes of
chibouque or hookah, and over uncounted glasses of sherbet.
After this excursion we can no longer wonder at the cautious
jealousy with which the Ottoman Porte insists upon holding the

A TURKISH GIRL.

645

Bosporus as a closed sea. Unlike any other strait of the world,
the Bosporus, with its termini in the Sea of Marmora and the
Black Sea, would open to all nations, rivals or enemies as well as

TURKISH GIRL IN A HAEEJI.

friends, a navigation not only through the very heart of the capital,
but through the very heart of the empire.
The Bosporus, therefore, while it is an ornament, is a constant
peril, and a constraint upon the national independence. Nor is it
to be supposed that the Ottoman Government fails to understand
that its political and religious institutions, customs, and manners,
encounter the prejudices of all the Christian nations, and that the
chief security for peace with each lies in the ineradicable ambitions
of the great states of Europe.
The banks of the Bosporus are not without the appearance of
military defences, which, however, seem wellnigh worn to pieces

646 EUROPE.
with age. The shores, as you approach the Black Sea, present a
succession of barracks and encampments well filled with soldiers.
The chief protection of the passage consists of a navy of twenty
iron-clad steam-frigates, all of which are kept constantly in com
mission. Besides these the Government has in its employ a very
intelligent American engineer of the late Confederate Army of the
United States, who is providing the harbor at all points with tor
pedoes. By-the-way, the occasion of our first acquaintance with
this gentleman has afforded us much amusement. While we were
waiting at the navy-yard this morning, for our steamer, and Mr.
Seward was in conversation with the admiral in command, an
officer in Turkish uniform stood near whom we recognized as an
American, despite his fez and laced coat. Approaching, at Mr.
Seward's request, the officer said that he was pleased to have an
introduction to him, but had not ventured to pay his respects' to
him on account of political associations at home. He remarked
that the last time he had had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Seward
was when he himself was attending the Confederate " peace com
missioners," Hunter, Stephens, and Campbell, in the conference at
Hampton Roads, with President Lincoln and his Secretary of State.
Mr. Seward laughingly said that he inferred, from the captain's
present employment, that he might have been engaged in blowing
up the United States commissary storehouse at City Point. The
handsome Southerner owned to the " soft impeachment," but he
protested that he had nothing to do with the shelling, from " How-
lett House Battery," of the River Queen, which was conveying
Mr. Seward, with General Grant and General Butler, to the signal-
tower and Dutch Gap Canal.
July 5th. — Shooting almost directly "across the Bosporus, we en
tered a paved court just above the level of the sea, and from it the
majestic gate of another palace. This edifice has just now been
finished, and has not yet been occupied. It is known as the "New
Palace." The Turkish architect, educated in Europe, attended us,
and furnished us with photographs of every part of the building.
The style is a successful combination of the Greek with the ara-

THE TURKISH CABINET.

647

besque architecture and ornamentation of the Alhambra. We
doubt if there is even in Europe a palatial residence so extensive
and magnificent. Like the marble court of the Great Mogul, with
its " peacock throne " and roof of silver, this new palace cannot
fail to impress the visitor with a sense of the despotic authority and
unrestrained luxury of its possessor. A fine feature of the New
Palace is its immense, central, circular audience-chamber, which is
so arranged that the occupant, looking through corridors at right
angles with each other, has an outer prospect on each of the four
sides of the palace, and yet the arrangement is such that these
corridors neither cut off access to any of the chambers, drawing-
rooms, or other apartments, nor in the least interfere with their
proper use. After here partaking of a sumptuous breakfast, we
resumed our yacht, and returned to the hotel.
July 8th. — Mr. Seward returned to-day the visits of the several
members of the cabinet. They seemed to set a high value on their
iron-clad and torpedo defences, and expressed much desire that Mr.
Seward should see them. In their conversation on foreign topics,
they spoke of France and England as the remotest points in their
political horizon, and of the United States as being inaccessible
beyond it. The United States to them are simply a wonder ; they
wish to know by what process it was that a nation so new had
grown to such a stature. Just beginning, as they are, to think of
building railroads, they are amazed when told that the United
States have already built fifty-five thousand miles of railroad, and
that they add annually five thousand more.
Mr. Seward found here, as throughout the East, a complex e con
viction on the part of the cabinet that, whatever else the United
States can do, they are incapable of practising injustice toward
foreign nations.
July 10th. — Soon after we arrived here, Mr. Seward was in
formed that he would be received by the Sultan on a day to be
appointed, and that, on another day he would be entertained by
Kiamil Pacha, president of the Council of State. On Saturday,

648 EUROPE.
the 8 th, came the invitation to breakfast with Kiamil Pacha at
eleven o'clock to-day at his palace high up the Bosporus. It was
announced that Mr. Seward, with a party of gentlemen, would be
entertained by Kiamil Pacha, and that the ladies would be similarly
entertained in the harem. The invitation was, of course, accepted.
On Sunday, at noon, came Mr. Brown, our charge d'affaires, bearing
a communication from the Sultan, inviting Mr. Seward to an au
dience at his palace, down the Bosporus, at two o'clock to-day. It
was seen at once that the two appointments might conflict, but it is
the usage of courts that a sovereign's request is imperative ; and so
the Sultan's invitation was also accepted, but under the expectation
that Kiamil Pacha's would be withdrawn. This, however, did not
happen ; so there seemed nothing left for us to-day but to endeavor
to fulfil both engagements. The ladies, having learned at Cairo
the customs of the harem, had prepared toilets which they hoped
would make them presentable at the breakfast, Kiamil Pacha being
one of the wealthiest men of the empire, and now, during the re
tirement of Ali Pacha, prime-minister, and his wife being the sister
of the Khedive of Egypt. Taking the well-manned, graceful
caique of the United States legation, accompanied by Blacque Bey
with Mr. and Mrs. Brown, at ten o'clock, and rowing hard against
the current, we arrived at the grand staircase of the villa of Kiamil
Pacha at eleven o'clock. On entering the grand salon, it was a sur
prise that neither Kiamil Pacha, nor any other pacha, nor effendi,
nor any other person, appeared to receive us. Blacque Bey went
to explore, and returned, telling us that Kiamil Pacha was wait
ing in an adjoining apartment to conduct the ladies to the harem.
They foUowed Blacque Bey through a large antechamber, and then
through a long corridor, at the foot of which he presented them to
Kiamil Pacha, a man about sixty, of commanding presence, with
piercing black eyes, white hair, and long, pointed beard and mus
tache. He was dressed in a flowing dressing-gown of rich white
silk, and yellow Turkish slippers. He apologized for being en des
habille, which, indeed, seemed to us rather extraordinary. He now
called a deformed Nubian, and, after some explanations in Turkish,
unintelligible to us, this black custodian hobbled away, and re-

A COOL RECEPTION. 649
turned with two white slave-girls. New explanations having been
given to the slaves, they in their turn disappeared for a time, and
then came back with two more. Kiamil Pacha now retired. The
Nubian led the way, and the ladies, attended by the four slave-
women, were ushered into a large, pleasant room, furnished in the
Oriental manner — that is, with luxurious divans along its sides, and
low, downy cushions of yellow damask ; bright Persian rugs on
the floor, lace curtains at the windows, and a table in the centre of
the room, covered with porcelain and glass vases and other orna
ments, but no books, music, pictures, or statuary, were to be seen.
Fifteen minutes had elapsed when a lady entered, accompanied by
six slave-girls. She was quite petite, perhaps forty-five years old,
and was dressed in a simple white-muslin gown, with a single band
of blue tulle on her head, fastened with an enormous sapphire, the
only ornament she wore. Acknowledging the presence of her
guest3 only by a distant inclination of the head, she seated herself
on a divan, drawing her slippered feet under her, and embracing
her white poodle-dog. She spoke not, and seemed absorbed in
scanning, with no happy expression, the elaborate toilets of her
morning visitors. They, of course, said nothing, for the lady-
princess had not condescended to announce herself, or to be an
nounced by eunuch or slave. Mrs. Brown speaks Turkish fluently,
but her attempts to win the hostess into conversation were fruitless,
and there was " silence " in the harem for half the time that St.
John at Patmos marked the period of " silence in heaven." But it
was an ominous silence. The princess then proceeded to interro
gate her Occidental visitors after the fashion of the Orient : " How
old are you ? " " Have you any brothers or sisters 2 " " How
many ? " " How old are they 2 " " Where do you come from 2 "
Then, with great surprise : " Why do you come so far from home ;
how can you fatigue yourselves so much 2 " " Why do you not
stop and rest?" And, finally, as if giving utterance to the dis
pleasure too long suppressed : " Why did you come here in such a
hurry this morning, and give us no time to dress ? "
This conversation was only interrupted by puffs of smoke from
cigarettes, which were successively served to her from a jewelled
49

650 EUROPE.
case by a Circassian slave-girl. Encouraged by her freedom, the
visitors essayed speech in their turn. They said, "We understood
that we had the honor of being expected here this morning ; " to
which the princess replied, "I know nothing about it." The
ladies expressed their regret, but said the gentlemen must have
made some mistake. She again replied, " I know nothing about
it." Turning this extraordinary conversation, the visitors asked :
" How do you amuse yourself 2 "
" I look at the Bosporus, and smoke."
" What is the name of your pretty dog 2 "
" He has no name."
" How do you call him 2 "
" I say, ' Dog.' "
Chibouques, coffee, and sweetmeats, being now served, conver
sation ended, and the ladies were invited to examine the furniture
and ornaments around them. During this time two other Turkish
ladies entered and joined the princess on the divan, while the
number of slave-girls increased to fifty — many of them very pretty
and interesting, by their gentle ways. The princess commanded
one of the girls to sing. She seated herself on the floor and exe
cuted a plaintive recitative, accompanying herself with a lute, the
strings of which she struck with a tortoise-shell wand. It was
whispered to the visitors that the two Turkish ladies were guests
of the Princess Kiamil ; and when, after what seemed an hour,
Kiamil Pacha was heard approaching the apartment, they hid
themselves behind the curtains with some confusion and precipi
tation. The princess now rose and extended her beautiful little
hands to her guests, to be kissed, and the foreign ladies took their
leave, and, joining Kiamil Pacha, now completely arrayed in his
official dress, returned with him to the salon, where they found Mr.
Seward and the other gentlemen awaiting them.
During the absence of the ladies, Kiamil Pacha had explained
to Mr. Seward the contre-temps which had occurred. Server Pa
cha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on receiving the Sultan's
command that Mr. Seward should be presented to-day, had as
sumed that that gentleman would be unable to keep his engage-

A TURKISH BREAKFAST. 651
ment for the morning with Kiamil Pacha, and had given notice to
Kiamil Pacha to that effect, but had omitted to inform Mr. Seward.
So it turned out that while, with sharpened appetites and pressed
for time, we were wondering why we had no breakfast, Kiamil Pa
cha and his wife were equally wondering that we had come there
for one. A breakfast did come, however. In the acting-premier's
palace, Asiatic forms and customs are confined to the harem. He
vigorously extemporized a party, consisting of three European
ministers and several secretaries. The entertainment was served
in a spacious room gorgeously furnished, the windows of which
open on apparently illimitable gardens, fountains, and grottos.
The conversation was free and spirited, and was chiefly on Euro
pean public questions, always with kind and appreciative allusions
to the United States. Once it took the turn of converting English
and Spanish proverbs into Oriental forms and idioms, which exag
gerate compliments, with a decided loss of terseness of expression.
Kiamil Pacha was vivacious and courteous. He asked Mr.
Seward what salary he received as Secretary of State. Mr. Sew
ard having answered eight thousand dollars, in coin or currency,
as the case might be, the announcement of a sum so small was re
ceived with laughter and surprise. He then ventured to ask Kia
mil Pacha, not what his salary as head of the ministry is, but what
are his official expenses. The minister answered, giving a sum in
piasters which exceeds our power of arithmetical expression, but
which is the equivalent of thirty thousand doUars per month. Mr.
Seward rejoined that old countries are the ones for ministers of
state, bishops, and muftis.
The breakfast was served a la fourchette, and consisted of sev
eral delicious courses of French and native dishes, which were cut
off in the midst by an abrupt call for the pillau, the Turkish native
dish which invariably crowns and ends a feast.
At half-past one, Mr. Seward, attended by Blacque Bey and
Mr. Brown, landed at the wharf of the Imperial Palace. After
waiting, in the office of a secretary, until the appointed hour, they
proceeded, through the garden in front of the palace, to the grand
entrance. Here Blacque Bey turned away, and the secretary eon-

652 EUROPE.
ducted Mr. Seward and Mr. Brown through a long series of ante
chambers until they reached a small apartment plainly furnished.
The Sultan was seen standing near the centre of it. The secretary
obsequiously kneeled, and remained in that position, Mr. Seward
and Mr. Brown standing. Without making or waiting for a salu
tation, the Sultan pointed to chairs and invited the guests to sit ;
then, drawing another chair, he sat down at Mr. Seward's side.
The secretary now rose to assume the office of interpreter. His
Majesty made the usual inquiries concerning Mr. Seward's health,
the time he had been abroad, and the countries in which he had
travelled. He made no allusion to India or Egypt, but asked many
curious questions concerning Japan and China — their condition,
political state, and prospects. Then he expressed much gratifica
tion with Mr. Seward's visit to Turkey, and a hope that his stay in
Constantinople had been made comfortable and agreeable to him.
Mr. Seward thanked him for the marks of consideration with which
he had been honored from the time of his arrival in the Turkish
dominions, and for the hospitality and courtesy of which he had
been the recipient at the capital.
The Sultan replied that these attentions were justly due to him,
as an eminent man of a great nation.
Mr. Seward said that " the late civil and severe war in the Uni
ted States had tried the forbearance and fidelity of foreign friends
and allies ; that Turkey had been first and foremost of all in that
great trial, and that her faithful friendship was appreciated by his
Government and countrymen."
The Sultan said : " It is the desire of Turkey to be at peace with
all the Western nations, and she takes pleasure in acknowledging
the prosperity, greatness, and increasing influence of the United
States, which has always been a just nation." The Sultan con
tinued these remarks, saying that Turkey is behind Western na
tions in social progress, but that he hoped Mr. Seward had discov
ered, since coming here, that he (the Sultan) is making decisive
efforts to advance the country in that direction.
Mr. Seward said : " I need not have come here to see this, but
I am grateful, since I have come, to find my previous information

A SEA-SICK SULTAN. 653
confirmed. You have established law and order, with entire lib
erty of conscience, throughout the empire. I have seen two rail
roads, and travelled on them. I see new roads and improvements
going on everywhere in Constantinople."
Mr. Seward's assurances of Blacque Bey's success in conducting
very difficult and delicate affairs at Washington evidently gave
the Sultan much satisfaction.
His Majesty spoke with so much interest concerning our coun
try, that Mr. Seward asked whether, in case he should again go to
the West, he would not think it worth his while to extend his jour
ney to the United States.
The Sultan, shaking his head, answered with a smile, that the
German Ocean made him so sick, that he determined never to go
to sea again.
Mr. Seward replied, " The Atlantic is certainly not so gentle as
some of the seas, but the German Ocean is the worst of them all."
The Sultan showed an accurate knowledge of Mr. Seward's
occupations in the capital from the moment of his arrival, and drew
from him, by polite interrogatories, the impressions he had received
concerning the iron-clads, arsenals, navy-yards, barracks, hospitals,
and especially the new palace, which we visited yesterday. At
times, when a pause occurred, the Sultan, turning his eyes toward
the Bosporus, would call up some new topic, and so the audience
was protracted for an hour. It closed with expressions of good
wishes for Mr. Seward's health, and the safe and happy prosecution
of his voyage, which is to be resumed to-morrow.
Black Sea, July 11th. — William J. McAlpine, a distinguished
American engineer, and an old friend, with his family, met us at
Constantinople, and is accompanying us on our voyage as far as
Orsova, on the Danube. Our last view of Constantinople was from
the deck of an Australian Lloyd's steamer on the Bosporus.
We might count the number of flags which waved us farewell
from the balconies of Robert College, but not the number of boyish
voices which greeted us with parting cheers.

CHAPTER II.
HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA.
On the Danube. — Varna. — Kustchuk. — Wallachia. — German Travellers. — What shall
we say of Turkey ? — Reflections on the Future of the Turks. — Orsova. — The Iron
Gate. — Hungarian Loyalty. — Buda-Pesth. — Contrast of European and Asiatic Civil
ization. — The People of Pesth. — The Bridge of Buda. — The Buildings of Buda. —
The History of Hungary. — The Danube. — Vienna. — John Jay. — Count Von Beust. —
Politics of Austria.
On the Danube, July 12th. — We awoke this morning in the
harbor of Yarna, one of the seaports of Turkey in Europe, and the
capital of Roumelia. The town acquired great importance from
being the principal scene of Omar Pacha's miHtary and naval
operations in the Crimean War. It has since that time, however,
acquired greater importance of another kind. The Danube, ap
proaching the Black Sea, takes a northeasterly direction, dividmg its
flood into three channels. The mouths of these channels are much
obstructed, while their navigation is long and tortuous. British
capitalists have supplied the means with which 'a railroad has been
constructed from Yarna, one hundred and fifty miles long, which
intercepts the Danube at Rustchuk. This railroad, reducing the
journey from Yienna to Constantinople four hundred miles, already
divides the freight traffic with the circuitous Danubian route, while
it takes the entire passenger-trade.
The United States consul, the British consul, and several Euro
pean and American missionaries, were gathered at the wharf at
Rustchuk to welcome Mr. Seward.
The Danube, now carrying a high flood, spreads here over a

PROSPECTS OF TURKEY. 655
mile in width, with high but not mountainous banks. The town
contains a population of twenty-five thousand, and has the appear
ance of much activity. It presents less an Oriental than a Eu
ropean aspect. Gast-hauser, bier-hailser, not to speak of ships,
manufactories, and shops, indicate a large dominating German
element. Minarets are less frequent, and spires of Christian
churches take their place.
On the opposite bank lies the principality of Wallachia, now,
like Bulgaria, practically independent of the Turkish Empire. Its
capital, Bucharest, forty-four miles distant from the Danube, is
reached by railroad.
How different is the voyage on the Danube from our late ex
periences ! Passengers, master, and crew, are all Europeans, gen
erally with German features and complexions, but all speaking
French and Italian as well as their vernacular. But the econ
omy of the boat is purely German. There are only two state
rooms. We have taken these at ten dollars each per day, extra ;
while all the other passengers, whether first or second class, sleep
as they find places, on the sofas and tables of the forward saloon.
Thursday, July 13th. — Still the Wallachian bank on the north,
but on the south, Servia. So at last we have left the Turkish Em
pire behind us. The only monuments which the Waywode of Ser
via exhibits are the now tenantless fortifications, castles, and
barracks, in which Turkish garrisons were maintained, long after
the severance of Servia, for the security of the empire.
What shall we say of Turkey 2 Let us say that, having seen it,
we find it a greater puzzle than before — more completely hybrid
than any other state that has ever existed — a combination of two
antagonistic and irreconcilable forces — half Asiatic, half European
— half Saracenic, half Crusader — half Christian, half Mussulman —
half civilized, half uncivilized — half hostile and belligerent, half
pacific and enervated. Thus it has a more difficult political posi
tion, than any empire has had, to maintain ; and a geographical
position, the worst that could be conceived, for maintaining. Its
own security requires that it shall not only close the passage be-

656 EUROPE.
tween two seas, but also, dominate on the shores of two continents.
Turkey is thus in everybody's way. The Russians, covering the
entire northern part of Europe, and bordering on the Black Sea
and the Caspian, want free access to the Mediterranean and the
Persian Gulf. The English, French, and Germans, want free ac
cess to the wheat-fields of the Danube ; the Italians have a prescrip
tive right to the Archipelago. All the countries of Continental
Europe, Hke the United States, are becoming manufacturing coun
tries. They need open roads and free markets on the borders of
the Black Sea, and throughout the entire Asiatic Continent.
SteadUy, perseveringly, they go on, opening the roads to such mar
kets. Great Britain and France have already effected railroad and
canal communication through Egypt to the Red Sea. British cor
porations have achieved two or three railways in Turkey. A direct
and continuous railway communication, across Western Asia to
India, looms up already in the near future, while the traditional
policy of Russia demands not only free passage through the Bos
porus by sea, but will soon exact a passage through Persia, and
the Turkish dominions, from the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean.
Even the United States, although they but seldom float a ship in
the Levant, and only occasionally display their flag there, yet, con
scious of a maritime destiny, chafe, like the European states, against
the Turkish restraints on navigation. Thus Turkey is in every
body's way. The empire must maintain the Mohammedan reli
gion, or fall a victim to its fanaticism. That religion, incapable of
reconciling itself to Christian codes of laws, manners, customs, and
sympathies, naturally provokes and stimulates the hatred of the
Western nations.
At the same time, the Turks, while they have not lost their
national pride and valor, have become comparatively too feeble in
numbers, and too poor in wealth, to maintain an equal controversy
with any of the formidable Western states. The Christian part of
the population in the empire and its outposts are continually giving
signs of disloyalty to the Porte, and seeking protection and alHance
with Russia, Great Britain, France, the United States, and every
other foreign power. Meanwhile the distant Mohammedan depend-

TURKISH POLICY. 657
encies in Africa, Arabia, and on the shores of the Persian Gulf, are
factious, and in any emergency are more likely to assert their own
independence than to yield support to the empire against an enemy.
Under these circumstances, Turkey continues to live only by prac
tising conciliation and making concessions ; and these concessions
are measured, not by her own ability to grant, but by the magnanim
ity which extorts. Never without a patron, she seeks the strong
est, but, Hke all dependent powers, she must be content with such
as she can secure. The Turkish Government in Europe has been
prolonged, chiefly by means of her European allies, a hundred years.
While improving in administration, laws, and manners, the empire
is manifestly less formidable to-day than ever before. How much
longer it shall survive depends altogether on the mutations of that
most intricate of all combinations, the balance of power in Europe.
Just now, however, it has a new ground of hope for longer im
munity in the misfortunes which have lately come to the French,
Spanish, and Austrian states, and the fall of the temporal suprem
acy of the Pope, coincidences which seem to render an aggressive
combination of Catholic Europe against Mohammedan Turkey im
possible. On the whole, our conclusions must be that the Turkish
Empire will ultimately disappear from Europe, but when, or how,
cannot be determined, while no such uncertainty hangs over the
political institutions of Western Europe.
This conclusion seems a hard one to a generous mind that wit
nesses not only the sincere attempt on the part of the Sultan and
the ministry to modify the laws and customs of the Empire, but
sees also so many pleasing evidences of active improvement and
progress. It is, however, only too palpable that the closer the approach
which the Turkish Empire may make toward the ideas and prin
ciples of the West, the more its European provinces will be em
boldened to shake off its sway altogether ; while, on the other hand,
the concessions made in effecting that approach tend immeasurably
to disgust and demoralize Mohammedans in Asia and Africa, and
so weaken the cohesion between the Government and its languish
ing or dead Oriental provinces and dependencies.

658 EUROPE.
Orsova, July 14th. — We passed the " Iron Gate " safely this
morning, notwithstanding our itinerary instructions had prepared
us for the passage by the foUowing sensational description : " We
now approach the ' Iron Gate.' At this name we are seized with a
feeling of terror, but the captain and crew assure us there is no dan
ger, for the pilot understands the navigation."
The Hungarians claim that the Iron Gate surpasses the most
picturesque scenery on the Rhine, in point of granduer. We are
obliged to confess that it is not inferior in effect to that of the High
lands of the Hudson, which in mountain scenery it resembles. At
the Iron Gate we enter a defile, a mile and a quarter long, in which
the river, reduced to the width of six hundred feet, has a fall of
sixteen feet — above this is a succession of smaller rapids and whirl
pools. From time immemorial, the improvement of the Iron Gate
has been an anxious study of the nations which control the Dan
ube. While we were examining the ruins of an old canal around
it, our friends, the American engineers McAlpine and Powell, em
ployed by the Danubian Steam Navigation Company, were exhibit
ing to us their plans for substituting some other improvement.
What has surprised us thus far in Hungary is, to find that,
while the Hungarian mind cherishes a sentiment of state pride
hardly less strong than that which urged the people of Yirginia
into the rebellion, yet this sentiment seems everywhere completely
subordinated to the sentiment of loyalty to the Emperor of Aus
tria, as the King of Hungary.
Buda-Pesth, July 17th. — How striking is the contrast of Euro
pean and Asiatic civilization ! Though Buda-Pesth is an inland
provincial town, with a population of two hundred and fifty thou
sand, the tonnage in its port, altogether of steam, is greater than
that of Cairo, Alexandria, or Constantinople. We were not pre
pared for a scene of such activity.
The river divides the port into two parts. On the southern
bank is the royal palace, and a long line of fortifications crowns
the hills, while the shore seems to contain the dwellings of officers
and others in the service of the Government. This Is Buda. On

BUDA-PESTH.

BUDA-PESTH.

65!)

the opposite side is a plain covered with a large metropolis. This
is Pesth. We had determined to remain here one day, although we had
neither acquaintances nor references at Pesth. While we were
wondering what we should do, and where we should go, we saw
the United States flag waving from the roofs of two lofty buildings
on the terrace which overlooks the river. We rounded and deliv
ered passengers on the quay at Buda, then swept across and fast
ened to the wharf at Pesth, where we were met by the United
States vice-consul, and conducted to apartments which, in anticipa
tion of our coming, he had secured in the Grand Hotel, now newly
opened by a proprietor especiaUy desirous of securing the favor of
American travellers. Here we feel, for the first time, that we have
left the East behind, and have only Western civilization around
and before us. It seems strange that in the same conjuncture are
met, for the first time, American interest and influence. An Hun
garian surgeon, exiled with Kossuth, went in the early emigration
to California, where he acquired an independence. Afterward he
was appointed United States consul at Bucharest, where he has
resided for several years. He has made his permanent home at
Pesth, and takes great pride in his native city. But what is more
remarkable is, that to-morrow Pesth gives a trial to two reaping-
machines, which are sent out here by the manufacturers, neighbors
of ours in Auburn.
We have passed a pleasant hour in looking down from our bal
cony upon the people of Pesth, who are enjoying the fashionable
promenade of this street. There is nothing in their appearance or
ways to distinguish them from similar groups on Fifth Avenue.
Pesth, July 17th, Evening. — We made a tour this morning
among the public institutions and monuments. We admired, as it
deserved, the noble suspension-bridge which, crossing the Danube,
connects the two cities of Buda and Pesth, although structures of
that sort have ceased to be a wonder for us since we have crossed
so often the suspension-bridges of the Niagara and the Ohio. This
one is twelve hundred feet long, and twenty-two feet wide, swings

660 EUROPE.
sixty feet above the water, and was built by an English engineer
(Clark) at a cost of seven million doUars. This bridge has an
historical interest. The citizens of Pesth rose in defence of their
national independence in 1848, and met and massacred Count
Lamberg, an imperial messenger from Yienna, who was crossmg
the river to disperse the Hungarian Diet by *force. It may be
deemed an evidence of the advance of civilization that, in the
dreadful civil strife, although the contending armies by turns se
cured the beautiful structure, neither party laid violent hands on it.
On one occasion the Hungarian army, routed and defeated, was pur
sued across it by the Austrian army, sixty thousand strong. Three
months later, the Austrians, retreating in their turn, were pursued
across it by the now victorious Hungarians. Notwithstanding all
this, the bridge remained unimpaired at the close of the struggle.
Buda was the ancient capital of Hungary, while Pesth, on the
opposite side, long remained an important town. At Buda we
visited the palace of the kings of Hungary, with the citadel and
extensive barracks, claimed to be the largest in the world. These
structures, built on a lofty eminence which overlooks Pesth, havo
a commanding view of the Danube and of the great Hungarian
plain on either side of the majestic river. When the union of the
crowns of Hungary and Austria took place, it was distinctly stipu
lated that the Emperor of Austria should be crowned in Hungary ;
that Hungary should preserve its constitutional powers ; and that,
as king, the emperor should alternately reside in Hungary and in
Austria. The palace of the ancient Hungarian line had been de
stroyed in the Turkish wars, and the building of the present one
was begun in the reign of Charles YI., and finished by Maria
Theresa, his daughter. This palace, however it may compare with
the Schonbrunn, is not unworthy to be the imperial residence. But
Hungary being more progressive than Austria, her claims of an
cient rights and privileges became annoying to the imperial throne,
and, in the reactionary administration of Metternich, eveiy effort
wras made to extinguish the Hungarian constitution, and to destroy
Hungarian independence. Joseph II. refused to be crowned in
Hungary, and the palace in which his mother Maria Theresa had

THE HUNGARIAN PEOPLE. 661
found a safe refuge against the pursuit of Frederick the Great be
came from that time untenanted. It is now honored by an occa
sional sojourn of the present emperor and the court. The orna
ments, decorations, and furniture, of the palace are rich, tasteful,
and in harmony with the customs and manners of European so
ciety. There are statues, paintings, books, and music, not to speak
of cosey salons and boudoirs, nurseries, school-rooms, and chambers,
impressing us with their cheerful contrast to the empty, monotonous
grandeur of Oriental imperial harems. Besides portraits of the
present imperial family, there are two of great historic interest.
One represents a battle-scene, with Prince Eugene as its prominent
figure ; the other depicts the heroic Maria Theresa appealing to the
loyalty of the nation.
The hills around Buda are chiefly occupied by pleasant country-
seats. The city of Pesth is nine miles in circumference. Three
hundred streets divide it into nearly regular squares. It is the
Hungarian centre of science, literature, and art, as well as com
merce. It has theatres, colleges, parks, gardens, and every thing
which becomes such a city. Among all these objects of interest,
we paused to look only at two. One was the stone stage on which
the kings of Hungary were crowned, and the other the celebrated
Esterhazy gallery of paintings, which is especially rich in the works
of Claude Lorraine and of the great Spanish masters. Having
been bought by a spirited and patriotic association, it has become
the chief pride of the city.
We have had no desire on this journey so intense as to see
Hungary. When the Hungarian people rose to assert its indepen
dence in 1847, it seemed an unknown country to us. Its three
centuries of strife, trial, and achievement, while the forces of Chris
tianity and Islamism were contending for a boundary on its plains,
had been forgotten. The whole world were taken by surprise
when they saw in the circumstances of the revolution, not only
just cause, but virtue as great, intelligence as commanding, with
energy and valor as marked, as those which won for our own revo
lution the respect and good wishes of nations. At first the sym
pathies of nearly the whole American people were earnestly with

662 EUROPE.
them. When, however, the revolution subsided, and its patriot
leaders were decimated or sent into exile, and Hungary fell more
completely than before under the heels of despotism, a few of her
earliest and most constant friends found that they stood almost
alone, at home and abroad, in their respect and pity for the unfor
tunate nation. Memory brings up once more the scene of Kos
suth's sad pilgrimage to Mount Yernon, and of his standing in
silent contemplation before the tomb of Washington, the only man
who had secured the reverence of all mankind by his successful de
votion to his country and liberty. His friends left him alone with
his thoughts, and, on returning, found him suffused with tears.
" Washington," said he, " succeeded; I have failed."
Having so often wished to come here and renew, on the ground,
the opinions and the course of action then pursued, it is a satisfac
tion and a reward to find the Hungarian people all that the friends
of liberty throughout the world thought them to be — to find that
their quarrel with the Government of Austria was just — that they
had a right to be free — that they had the valor, the energy, the
intelligence which would have gained their freedom, but for such
combinations as no people ever had the ability to overcome.
When they had surmounted factious disputes, growing out of dif
ferences of race, language, and religion in Hungary, their attempt
to achieve their independence, within necessary boundaries^ was
the signal for antagonism, resistance, and civil war, in the sur
rounding provinces of Croatia, Slavonia, Wallachia, and Transyl
vania. The separation of Hungary from the German provinces of
Austria would be a dismemberment which the empire could not
survive. Russia, through the eyes of the Emperor Nicholas, saw
in it the restoration of the independence and sovereignty of Poland.
European nations, intent on commercial enterprise, shrank from
political agitation, which might reproduce the disasters of the
French Revolution of 1793. And now, we are required to decide
on the spot whether the sacrifices, which Hungary then made, were
entirely without avail ; and whether her aspirations were impracti
cable, and have perished with the failure of her revolution, leaving
her no remaining hope. The situation which Hungary occupies

THE DANUBE. 663
now satisfies all these hitherto painful inquiries. The march of
progress in Europe, since 1849, has proved irresistible. Austria
suffered by a fearful blow received from France, costing her practi
cally her Italian dominions. Later, a blow from Germany, which
almost seemed to be fatal, has obliged her to give up the reac
tionary policy to which she so tenaciously adhered, and at the same
time to faU back, as she must always fall back, on the resources,
the valor, and the loyalty of Hungary. The Hungarians have
taken advantage of this emergency to secure from the Austrian
Empire a confirmation of all their cherished political rights and lib
erties, without betraying the empire to its enemies. There is
hardly a political right or privilege, a citizen of the United States
enjoys, that is not now guaranteed to the subjects of Francis Jo
seph in Hungary, except that one which no nation in Europe has
shown the- courage to assume — the right of electing their own chief
magistrate by impartial suffrage. The concession of these rights in
Hungary has necessitated an equally popular reform in the other
parts of the empire ; and although Hungary has failed to achieve
independent national existence, which she has never sincerely
striven for, she is carrying the whole Austrian Empire to a higher
plane of responsible government and popular freedom. It may be
doubtful how the Austrian Government can succeed in the new
political autonomy, which the persistence of Hungary, combined
with the embarrassments of the empire, has forced upon it ; but it
is quite certain that in no case can .Hungary lose the advantages
she has so deservedly gained. Considerations like these have
soothed the regret with which we have seen our revolutionary
friend, Count Pulsky, occupying a place in the councils of the em
peror at Yienna ; and the deeper sorrow with which we have seen,
everywhere here, that the remembrance of the martyrs of 1 848, as
well as the names of the patriots who survived that period, Kos
suth, Asboth, and Ujhazy, seems to be nearly forgotten.
On the Danube, July 18th. — The easiest and the best way to
study political geography is to follow the navigation of great riv
ers. The Danube conveys and distributes among all nations the
50

664 EUROPE.
cereals of Central Europe. It is a pleasure, as you ascend its
strong though not dangerous current, to recall the history of Eu
rope from the beginning of Western civilization. The Danube
was the boundary which Roman conquests did not pass until the
beginning of the decline of the empire. It was the high-road of the
northern barbarians who avenged upon the empire the aggression
and the insults they had received from the republic, and who, set
tling down in their new conquests, submitted themselves to the
laws and religions of the enervated nations whom they had sub
dued, and gave to Europe and the world the basis of a new and
higher civilization. In its whole length, from the Black Sea to
Yienna, the Danube was the battle-ground between Christianity
and Islamism ; the boundary between them, continually shifting,
has scarcely yet been fixed. We had a strong desire to follow the
majestic river to its navigable source, in close neighborhood of the
Rhine, but time does not permit. We, therefore, left it at Pesth,
for the more rapid but less instructive travel by rail, and have
had a ten hours' journey of one hundred and forty miles. The soil
over which we have passed, Hke that of the plain below Pesth, is
fertile; the landscape beautiful; the people universally industri
ous, women sharing the field-labors equally with the men.
Vienna, July 21st. — Since leaving Constantinople, we have
been enjoying glimpses of Western civilization, but only partial
glimpses, as if through long and shaded vistas. Now it seems
that we have rushed into its very centre as we entered the wide
and magnificent streets of Yienna. Those of our party who are
untra veiled in Europe asked, as we rolled from the station, through
broad and shaded avenues, bordered by palatial edifices, and orna
mented with classic fountains and equestrian statues, to our hotel
which overlooks the fine boulevard on the ancient ramparts of the
city, " Does London or Paris surpass this 2 "
Yienna is, indeed, a great city. Its population exceeds three-
quarters of a million ; its accumulated wealth is immense. Its
manufacture of scientific apparatus, musical instruments, and arti
cles of vertu and luxury, is hardly inferior to that of Paris. Banks,

PROGRESS OF AUSTRIA. 665
railroads, and navigation companies, grasp tho commerce, not only
of the Danube, but of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the
Levant. Its churches are built, by lavish contributions of dying
devotees, in perfected Gothic grandeur. Its royal and imperial
palaces are of the oldest of the European dynasties. Its universi
ties, colleges, academies of art, its hospitals, and charities, rival
those of larger capitals. Its school of music is equalled only by
that of Leipsic. Of course, it was little of all this magnificence,
national and metropolitan, that we could see in the short period of
four days.
John Jay, our minister resident at Yienna, was in the moun
tains when we arrived ; but he came promptly down to receive us,
and has extended to us the hospitalities of the legation. Mr. Dela-
plaine, the secretary of the legation, has been equally attentive.
Mr. Seward complimented Mr. Jay on his success in achieving the
negotiation of a naturalization convention with the Imperial Gov
ernment. Perhaps no single event more strikingly illustrates the
rapidity of political progress in Austria than this treaty. In 1850,
Austria was on the verge of a rupture with the United States on
the occasion of the arrest of Martin Kostza on board an American
vessel at Trieste. In 1859, Mr. Seward, when here on a visit, was
coldly and distantly received by the emperor at an audience in the
Imperial Palace. Yesterday, coming here so soon after the Arch
duke Maximilian's unhappy catastrophe in Mexico, Mr. Seward was
invited by the Count von Beust, prime-minister of the empire, to a
public dinner, given by that minister to the American representa
tive and the diplomatic corps, by way of celebrating a naturaliza
tion treaty with the United States, which recognizes the right of
all men, subjects of any government, to change their political alle
giance, and enjoy the protection of the state they prefer. Yet
more remarkable was it that the entertainment was given in the
very hall in which the Congress of Yienna sat in 1815, to establish
peace and give public law to Europe.
The political situation in Austria is more embarrassing than in
any other country of Europe, except France. Unlike France, its
evils are chronic. The Austrian Empire is not in any sense a con-

EUROPE.
solidated nation, but, in the course of five hundred years, has ag
gregated, by royal marriages or by conquest, a large number of
formerly independent kingdoms, principalities, and duchies, in
Central Europe. The present Austrian Empire consists of nine
teen separate states yet remaining of that aggregate, differing from
each other in race, language, habits, religion, customs, and com
merce — a part German, a part Magyar, a part Slave, a part Italian,

COUNT VON BEUST.

a part Turkish, a part Greek. There are Mohammedans, Greeks,
Roman Catholics, Jews, and Protestants. The Protestants are di
vided between Lutherans and Calvinists. These nationalities and
sects, necessarily separated from each other, have been held in com
bination by force only, without social assimilations. Of Austria,
with its thirty-five miUion people, it must be said, as it cannot be said
of any other nation in the world, that there is no Austrian people.

AUSTRIAN POLICY. 667
The world knows its subjects by the names of their respective na
tionalities, or provinces only. Every one recognizes the subject of
France as a Frenchman ; of Sweden, as a Swede ; of Denmark, as
a Dane ; of Italy, as an Italian ; of Russia, as a Russian — but we
know the subjects of Austria only as Bohemians, Hungarians, Ty-
rolese, Germans, Poles, Slavonians, and Wallachians. The empire
has hitherto had no common constitution. In the provinces of
Upper Austria and Lower Austria, the emperor rules as emperor :
while, in Bohemia and Hungary, he rules, not as emperor, but as
king of those countries respectively. There has been no common
legislature. He is despotic in some of the states ; a constitutional
and limited monarch in some others. It may not be doubted that
the emperors of Austria have constantly desired and striven to
effect a consolidated empire. It is because they, on the one hand,
have usually aimed at effecting absolute unity by coercion, that
the several states, on the other, have striven to preserve absolute
independence by resistanoe. The absolute in any thing is unat
tainable by man, although, as a general law, we attain any thing
desirable only by striving for the absolute. The great Maria The
resa was the first who, with sagacity and energy, attempted the
task of unification. Joseph II. persevered with great fidelity in
the work ; but all this policy was shipwrecked in the general con
vulsion of the Napoleonic wars, and Austria, under the administra
tion of Metternich, became a victim of absolutism at home, and a
leader of that hated cause in Europe. His course eventuated in
the Hungarian insurrection of 1848. Upon the successful suppres
sion of that revolution, the young monarch, Francis Joseph, inau
gurated a new policy, comprising liberal reforms and concessions
of constitutional liberty to the respective states. The jealousies of
these states, however, have thus far rendered every attempt at a
common and equal basis of government impracticable. It remains
to be seen whether an harmonious constitution of the empire can
ever be established.
How can it be hoped for after such continued failures 2 It
may, because the Danube is the great river of Europe. Its
branches are the granary and the vineyard of a large portion of

668 EUROPE.
the world, and supply the elements of commerce for half of Eu
rope. The nations or states which occupy these banks must have
the protection and defence that all states require. This protection
must be afforded by distant states on the Atlantic coast or on the
Bosporus. Hitherto the German race on one side, and the Turk
ish race on the other, have contended for dominion on the Danube.
But the Turkish Government has at last become effete, while the
German race has found a permanent line of geographical division.
The time has come when consolidation can be successfully main
tained at the centre of the Danubian plain. It is not easy to fore
see how much or what part of the German race may yet drop off
from Austria, and be incorporated into the German Empire. But,
whether that diminution or abatement of the Austrian Empire be
more or less, enough of its population and resources will remain to
constitute a nation extending from the Bosporus to Germany and
Italy, and embracing enough of the space between the Russian
boundary and the Mediterranean to make a great empire. Nor
can this Austro-Hungarian Empire fail to dominate on the Medi
terranean shore from the Adriatic to the Sea of Marmora. It may
be asked whether, in this view, we do not accept Austria as a perma
nently imperial or despotic government. We think not. For the
transition from despotism to republicanism is due to agencies which
more or less pervade the whole world, or at least the civilized por
tion of it. Nations may change their forms of government with
out at all affecting their domestic policy in their relation to foreign
states. Meantime, it is an occasion of sincere satisfaction to wit
ness the progress of material and social improvement that has been
made on the banks of the Danube. When we look at the vigorous
and varied agriculture, and the stupendous works of material im
provement which they exhibit, we might almost fancy ourselves at
home in the United States.

CHAPTER HI.
ITALY.
Venice. — American Knights Templars. — Florence. — Attractiveness of the City. — Rome.
— The Coliseum. — Cardinal Antonelli and the Pope. — Interview with the Pope. —
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. — The Schools of Art. — Naples. — Vesuvius.
Early Civilization on the Mediterranean Coast. — Naples, the Newport of the Roman
Empire. — Genoa. — Susa. — Prospects of Italy.
Venice, July 25th. — We expected to find Yenice in a dilapi
dated and sinking condition. On the contrary, while a large
number of its palaces and wharves are empty and idle, there is at
present a pervading air of activity and cheerfulness. What can be
the causs of this 2 Yenice has become, in its decline, a resort for
the studious, the contemplative, and the pleasure-seeking classes
throughout all Europe. It is, indeed, a watering-place like New
port, and we happen to be here in the fashionable season. We
were startled this morning by a request of the good keeper of our
hotel; that we would set our dinner-hour for the day at either five
or seven o'clock, because at six he was to furnish a feast to " fifty
Knights Templars in full regalia ! "
We thought we had read history in vain. We had supposed
that ancient and chivalrous order, driven from the East by the
Saracens, had been extirpated five hundred years ago throughout
Europe. We thought —
"The knights' bones are dust,
Their good swords rust,
Their souls are with the saints, we trust."

670 EUROPE.
What was our surprise to learn, not only that fifty of them are
alive and well, but that they were in our lodging in full armor, and
that they are our own countrymen ! They belonged to the Ma
sonic order, and were making the tour of Europe together.
Florence, July 27th. — Gray Apennine Mountains, with dash
ing torrents, bright and cloudless skies, balmy breezes, rich and
highly-cultivated plains, with winding rivers and laughing vine
yards, picturesque rural architecture, storied castles, romantic vil
las, these are the surroundings of Florence. We can now, for the
first time, appreciate the art of Claude Lorraine, and the poetry of
Yirgil, Dante, and Milton.
Leaving the Golden Gate nearly a year ago, we have traversed
the earth's circumference more than sixteen thousand miles before
we obtained our first glimpse of cheerful European society at Pesth.
In brightness, dignity, and repose, the view of it has improved at
every step of our descent of the Alps and the Apennines.
It being midsummer, no one is in town. Mr. Marsh, United
States minister, greets us in a letter from the mountains, where he
is detained by illness in his family. King, ministers, and court,
all are said to have gone to Rome to reorganize the state of Italy
in that ancient capital; but in reality, like the political functiona
ries of Austria, they are enjoying the mountains, the sea-side, and
other pleasure - resorts. We found, without difficulty, pleasant
apartments in the Hdtel de V Europe, near the Piazzi della Santa
Trinita. This morning Mr. Wurtz, the United States secretary
of legation, came with our letters, and has given us kind assist
ance in our hurried explorations of this, the most delightful of Eu
ropean cities. The first impression we receive is, that the edifices
and dwellings of Florence are majestic and solemn, while the
streets are broader, more perfectly paved, and cleanly kept, than
any others in the world. The next impression is, that the people
one meets are more gentle and accomplished than any other peo
ple. How marvellous is the contrast in this respect between Flor
ence and Yeddo, Peking, Calcutta, Cairo, Constantinople, or even
Yienna !

FLORENCE.

ENTRANCE INTO ROME. 671
It has been a subject of curious inquiry for us why Florence,
more than any other Italian city— indeed, more than any city in
Europe — is attractive to Americans as well as to the English. The
reason, we think, is, that the great ideas which the world has de
rived from the philosophy, poetry, and art of Italy, have produced
in the character of the people of Florence a harmony with the
more enlightened social life of those two nations. It was a touch
ing illustration of this truth, that we found, in the foreign cemetery
of Florence, the tombs of Theodore Parker, Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, and Louise Kuhn, daughter of Charles Francis Adams.
Rome, July 29th. — Even if Rome retains a consciousness of her
identity with the City of the Emperors, she could not complain as
the lady of the harem in Constantinople did, that we had rushed
into her presence irreverently.
Leaving Florence this morning, we passed through, what so long
has been the patrimony of St Peter, the States of the Church, but
which has just now been absorbed into the new kingdom of Italy.
The Italian mountain 6cenery contrasts strikingly with that of the
Tyrol — the latter covered with forests, chiefly evergreen, alternating
with fields of corn and wheat — the former gray and rocky, relieved
by the bluish-green olive-orchards, and the deep rich verdure of
the chestnut. Old cities and villas, built not on the plain, but on
mountain -tops, call up memories of mediaeval history. The railroad
winds for many miles around the picturesque Lago di Trasimeno, a
view of which must compensate us for the loss of the sight of the
beautiful Lago Maggiore. The entrance into Rome, nay, the very
approach to it, is accompanied with an unpleasant feeling of the
confusion of the ancient with the modern. That long arcade, which
you see on the left, is the still remaining, though broken aqueduct
of the ancient city. That mediaeval gate through which we enter
is a structure not unlike the Cashmere gate at Delhi, or the Damas
cus gate of Jerusalem. This fine, well-built square is the railroad-
station. And now, as we are rattling through compact, solid, mod
ern streets, a fountain comes into view, in which Neptune is drawn
in his floating car by tritons, while the foaming water breaks over

672 EUROPE.
a broad, rocky basin. We have scarcely time to notice this foun
tain, before we pass Trajan's Column, its base sunk in the deep
plain and its capital towering above the city. And now we enter
the court of the Hotel Costanzi, the whole of which, we are told, is
at our service.
Dinner cannot detain the traveUer, however weary, on the first
day of his stay in the Eternal City. Where do we go, then 2 To
the Coliseum. Where else could a stranger pass his first evening
in Rome, and that, too, a moonlight one ?
When we came under the dark shadow of the stupendous ruin,
a courteous Italian sentinel assisted us to alight, and indicated the
passage. Here was a change ! When in Rome in 1859, a French
soldier repulsed us from this gate at night, because we had not an
order of admission from the commandant of the French army of
occupation. At the same time a French bugler, standing under the
arch of the Temple of Peace, on the opposite side of the street,
made the surrounding ruin echo with the notes of a French martial
air. We then remarked that it was not always so ; the Roman once
would have cut down the Gaul who should have intruded here
with such warlike flourish. It is fortunate for us now that the
modern Gaul has withdrawn from the ancient city, and the more
amiable Roman has resumed the care of its monuments.
After all, the first visit to the Coliseum should be by sunlight,
because the curiosity concerning its real form, proportions, and
uses, is too strong to admit of the indulgence of imagination, which
only enhances beauty at the cost of accuracy of vision. Neverthe
less, the light of the moon, streaming into the great arena, enabled
us to form an idea of the general outline and design of the immense
structure. Those four tiers or stories of stone benches seated a
hundred thousand Romans. These vaulted chambers of the base
ment held the gladiators prepared for their deadly encounters;
these others, the wild beasts, and those beyond, the captive Chris
tians, who were to perish in the unequal combat. This spacious
chamber is where the emperor sat while presiding over the savage
amusement. This arena must have drunk oceans of blood, since,

THE COLISEUM, ROME.

THE COLISEUM. 673
during a single festival, beasts and men were slaughtered by the
thousand ; and the same walls that now give back to us the voices
of monks, performing midnight orisons, then resounded with the
fearful acclamations of the multitude, which unmercifully doomed
the vanquished gladiator.
Our feelings were so intensely absorbed in these reflections,
that we did not care to clamber among the ruined arches, or
through the shrubs entangled with vines which festoon and some
times choke them. How does the Coliseum, the most stupen
dous of Roman monuments compare with Karnak or Luxor in
Egypt 2
The Coliseum is built of brick and stone ; Karnak and Luxor
are built with monoliths of granite. The Coliseum was adapted
to the tastes and habits of men ; Karnak and Luxor were con
structed for the uses of the gods. The Coliseum is great ; Karnak
and Luxor are gigantic. Others may study monuments for their
architectural grandeur or beauty, but we must regard them as mile
stones marking the progress of the world's civilization. The Coli
seum, built to commemorate the consummation of the Roman Em
pire, remains equally a monument of its decline and extinction. It
commemorates the fulness and completeness of the conquest of the
world by the Roman people. It was the place in which they cele
brated their triumph.
August 3d. — Immediately on our arrival here, Dr. Smith, pro
fessor in the College of the Propaganda, Mr. Seward's old friend,
to whom we are indebted for many courtesies, asked : " WiU you
see the Pope and Cardinal Antonelli 2 "
The question had peculiar significance, since it is only within
the last month that the King of Italy made his formal entry into
Rome, and established the national authority within the capital, to
the exclusion of the political supremacy of the Pope. " Mr. Seward
said that he would certainly be happy to receive any consideration
at the hands of the Italian Government, but should on no account
fail to pay his respects to his Holiness and to the cardinal. They
were just and friendly toward the United States during her hour

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EUROPE.

of trial, and had shown him personally kind hospitality when he
was here in 1859. He considers it his duty to cherish enduring
friendship toward all who in the supreme hour of American struggle
were just and faithful to his country or himself.
The Cardinal Antonelli, with whom Mr. Seward has enjoyed
a personal acquaintance for many years, and who is one among
the few statesmen of Europe that have always been just and

CAEDINAL ANTONELIX

liberal toward the United States, received him and the members
of his party with distinguished courtesy in his splendid suite of
apartments at the Yatican. Brought doubtless by sincere convic
tion, as well as by the policy of the Holy See, into conflict with
the progressive spirit of the age, the cardinal-secretary, as all
know, is not a favorite in republican circles at home or abroad,
while all must acknowledge him to be a man of great sagacity, of

INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. 675
political fidelity, of high accomplishments, and refined manners.
The conversation between him and Mr. Seward was cordial and
without reserve. It turned first on the great events which had
recently occurred in the United States ; the suppression of the re
bellion, the overthrow of slavery, the firm establishment of the
Union, and the reconciliation consequent upon the conflict. The
cardinal expressed himself as not surprised that the public justice
of the United States inconsistently allowed the escape of the con
spirator Suratt, whom the Pope had, without previous treaty, and
without conditions, so promptly ordered to be arrested and de
livered on Mr. Seward's demand.
The conversation then turned on the political situation in Rome.
The Roman question is settled ; the Italians have Rome ; there is
no prospect of immediate change, but the Pope will not leave the
Yatican. He has remained there for many months, and he will
not leave it voluntarily for any other residence in Rome or out of
it. He will not compromise ; he will wait. " Non possumus " —
the words produced a smile — is the only maxim which his Holiness
can practise when required by man to betray a trust committed to
him by God.
We were informed, yesterday, that his Holiness would receive
Mr. Seward in a private audience at eleven o'clock to-day, and at
twelve o'clock he would receive the two ladies in the public audi
ence, and Dr. Smith was requested to be present and to act as inter
preter for the party. On the stroke of eleven, Mr. Seward and Div
Smith having reached the Hall of the Throne, Monsignore Ricci,
Maestro di Camera, announced that his Holiness was waiting to
receive Mr. Seward. He followed monsignore through several
spacious and richly-furnished antechambers, passing crowds of prel
ates who were awaiting an audience. Among these dignitaries
were occasionally seen priests, easily distinguishable by the plain
ness of their dress, and an appearance of timidity. Monsignore
Ricci having opened the door of the chamber in which the Pope
was sitting alone, then retired. The Holy Father instantly arose,
and, coming quite to the door, extended both his hands, taking
those of Mr. Seward. On a slightly-raised dais, at the upper end
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of the chamber, were two chairs, by the side of a small writing-
table. The Pope placed Mr. Seward in one of these, and sat down
in the other. We are informed that hitherto this form of reception
has been accorded only to sovereigns and princes.
His Holiness opened the audience by expressing to Mr. Seward
a grateful appreciation of the liberality and sympathy which he
always experiences at the hands of the American people, and his
gratification at receiving Mr. Seward again at Rome.
Mr. Seward said that in a time when many European govern
ments and statesmen were very illiberal and unfriendly to the Uni
ted States, his Holiness had proved himself just, considerate, and
friendly. It was a great satisfaction to him to have an opportu
nity to make this acknowledgment in person, and to congratulate
his Holiness on his good health. The Holy Father then freely
alluded to his present political situation. Referring to the guaran
tees for his safety and support which were proposed to him by Vic
tor Emmanuel, he said : " I have no personal desire to reign, but I
have a trust to keep, and to transmit to my successor. This trust
is the patrimony of the See of St. Peter, which I received in my
election. The guarantees offered by the Italians are a mockery
and a snare. I am a prisoner in chains here, just as my prede
cessor St. Peter was in vinculis. I am aware of my situation.
The kings of this world are all too busy to extend me any help in
this emergency. I can only look to the King of kings for sup
port. My resolution is taken ; come what may, I will make no
compromise. Non possumus ! "
"Holy Father," replied Mr. Seward, "the question of the
change of relations between you and the King of Italy is a new
one, hardly yet ripened into a general discussion. The civilized
world will consider and pass upon it, and their decision will be
right. Christian nations, while they know their duty to 'render
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,' know also that it is their
duty to ' render unto God the things that are God's.' The experi
ence of mankind hitherto has shown that they are quite as careful
to obey the latter precept as they are to fulfil the former injunc
tion."

THE POPE AND THE LADIES. 677
Mr. Seward then referred to the confidential mission which
Archbishop Hughes had executed at Rome during the American
civil war.
The Pope lamented the early death of the archbishop as a great
loss to the Church and to the two countries.
Mr. Seward adverted to the loyalty to the American Union of
the Roman Catholic hierarchy, as well as their people, and said
that, for encouraging this loyalty, the late archbishop was entitled
to the highest place. " Of one thing," said he, " your Holiness
may be sure — the United States can never be unjust to any just
nation, or ungrateful to any friendly state."
The Pope passed his hands over Mr. Seward's face, examining
the fractures and scars remaining, and ' then exclaimed : " Your
escape was a miracle ! " He inquired largely concerning Mr, Sew
ard's family, his son Frederick, his wounds and his recovery, other
children, and their occupations, in a manner most affectionate, and,
alluding to the ladies, said he should soon have the pleasure of
meeting them.
Finally rising, the Pope went to a cabinet, and, taking from it
a silver medal containing his likeness which has just been struck
by the Roman nobility in commemoration of his having attained
the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pontificate, requested Mr. Sew
ard to accept it, and keep it in remembrance of him. The Pope
then conducted Mr. Seward to the door, saying, " I will soon join
you in the Consistory."
Meantime, the ladies had been conducted by Monsignore Ricci
to the " private Consistory." It is one of the historical chambers
of the Vatican. Here the Pope creates cardinals and announces
bishops ; here he pronounces those allocutions which are even
now implicitly received by the faithful, and which once shook the
thrones of the Christian world. During the present pontificate,
the hall has been frescoed and draped for the reception especially
of ladies. It was in this chamber that the Pope received the Arch
duke Maximilian of Austria and the Princess Carlotta, and pro
nounced his blessing on their attempt to establish a throne in
Mexico ; and it was in this chamber that, on her return from that

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ill-starred expedition, the frenzied princess, refusing to leave volun
tarily, was forcibly carried from the papal presence.
During the hour of Mr. Seward's audience with the Pope, some
fifty ladies, many of them with children, entered the Consistory,
and formed into groups on the left side of the chamber below the
dais on which stands the papal throne. The two ladies of our
party were standing on the opposite side of the room, where they
were joined by Mr. Seward and Dr. Smith, the private audience
being ended. All the ladies were dressed, according to the court
requirement, in high, black dresses, with the Spanish veil, and
without gloves. All the children were dressed in white, and car
ried lilies for presentation to his Holiness. Just before twelve
o'clock all the ladies, with the children, arranged themselves along
the opposite side of the room. Precisely at twelve, the Pope en
tered, from a door at the side of the dais, attended by cardinals
and other prelates and officers. Among these dignitaries were the
Cardinal Secretary of State Antonelli ; Monsignore di Merode, late
Minister of War ; Monsignore Pacca, Maggiordomo ; Cardinal
Prince Lucien Bonaparte ; General Barberini, Duke of Castel Vec-
chio, and commander-in-chief of the Guarda Nobile. The Pope wore
a white woollen cassock, with a yellow-satin sash, and gold fringe
hanging under his left arm. On his head was the crimson zuc-
chetto ; on his finger the " Fisherman's Ring," a pietra dura, with
the device emblematic of the Immaculate Conception, but without
jewels. One of the cardinals bore his red hat on a cushion. As
the Pope entered the chamber, all present rose to their feet ; he
then proceeded along and in front of the line of devotees, who
kneeled and remained in that position untU he had passed. He
laid both hands on the head of each woman and child, saying to
each some words in Italian in a low voice. Each child presented a
lily with its little hand, which the Pope received graciously, and
delivered to a cardinal. When he had passed the entire line, he
crossed the room to the place where Mr. Seward and his party were
standing with Dr. Smith. The Pope extended a hand to each of
the ladies, and expressed his satisfaction in meeting the children
of his friend Mr. Seward, and proceeded to make inquiries as to

THE POPE'S BLESSING. 679
their travels and how they had enjoyed themselves. Alluding to
Mr. Seward's infirm hands, he asked which of the ladies was taking
the notes of his travels, thanked her for doing so, and expressed a
hope that she would continue to do it faithfully. He further asked
the ladies if they saw any of the sufferers in the massacre at Tien-
Tsin, and, on being answered that they saw only the bishop, who
had given them some of the relics of the martyr Sister Louise, he
said they were precious tokens. He asked in which country they
enjoyed their travels most, and his benevolent face beamed with a
smile when they told him " Italy." When the ladies presented
some rosaries and crosses brought from Jerusalem, and asked him
to bless them, he replied, smiling : " Oh, yes ; I bless them, but
they are sanctified already." At length, after many minutes of
such gentle conversation, he expressed his regret that they did not
speak ItaHan, as in that case he would desire to talk much longer
with them. Then, taking once more a kindly leave, he returned to
the dais.
Standing there, he pronounced a short exhortation, all the Cath
olics remaining on their knees. He said : " I thank you all for
your kindness in coming to see me. I hope that all my beloved
children will hold steadfast in the faith, and grow in grace and
in good works." Then, extending his arms he added, in a soft,
melodious voice : " To all I will extend the apostolic benediction ;
to yourselves, your children, your parents, and your friends. I
bless you, in the name of the Father who created you, of the Son
who redeemed you, and of the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth you, and
in an especial manner I bless the brave young women from Amer
ica standing with Father Smith at my right hand. They do not yet
belong to me, but I charge Father Smith to take care of them
while they are in Rome, and give them such counsel and instruc
tion as will bring them at last into the fold of Christ's flock. I
shall pray for their safe return to their native land."
At the close of this address his Holiness retired, with his suite.
August 10th.— Since our arrival in Italy, the Italian Govern
ment has been engaged in the act of removing from Florence to

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Rome, henceforth to be the national capital. Yictor Emmanuel has
been received, and, so to speak, reclaimed at Rome. The Palace
of the Quirinal is undergoing repair for his royal residence. The
Legislative Hall and edifices are being reconstructed for the execu
tive departments ; and the ministers of the Government, as well as
the foreign ministers, have ostensibly taken up their residence
here. In this transition stage, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
Yisconti Yenosta, though here only for two days, exchanged visits
to-day with Mr. Seward. He was quite as free in his account of
the embarrassment which the Italian Government suffers from the
obstinacy of the Pope, as his Holiness was in his account of his
duresse in the Vatican. The Yisconti Yenosta represents that the
Italian people, while they have become practicaUy unanimous in
favor of the kingdom and the rule of Yictor Emmanuel, have lost, on
the other hand, Httle or none of their veneration for the Pope, and
their sense of obedience due to him as the head of the Church. It
is difficult, in the present condition of affairs, to find a boundary-
line between the ecclesiastical and civU authority, which will sat
isfy the people. He denied, with much warmth, the allegation
that the Pope is under duresse, and says that it is neither necessary
nor is it intended to deprive him of any of the privileges or proper
ties which, as head of the Church, he enjoys, further than to trans
fer to the Government of the state the military force and the
revenues heretofore . derived by him from taxation. " He will
live and die," said the Yisconti Yenosta, "free to exercise the fuU
offices of the pontificate in the Vatican, and everywhere else in
Italy." We must not leave it to be inferred that we have been inatten
tive to the modern schools of art in Rome. If we have not related
our visits to the studios of our countrymen and women, it is because
they are, with tout le monde, absent at this season from Rome.
We have admired, as every one must, Story's Cleopatra, and the
Sibyl ; and we have visited Benzoni, perhaps now the head of the
Italian school. It is manifestly true, as the world says, that the
chisels of Canova and Thorwaldsen, and other modern sculptors,
have not attained the science and skiU of the Italian school of the

NAPLES. 681
middle ages, or those of ancient Greece; but the reason prob
ably is, that those former schools flourished in an age and under
conditions which concentrated the thoughts of mankind upon
art; while our own age, more practical, gives precedence to en
terprises and achievements of greater political and social pith and
moment. Naples, August 11th. — It is a ten hours' journey from Rome
to Naples. We can say little more of it than that it is a ride,
under the cloudless Italian sky, across the Campagna, and thence a
winding way through native oak-forests, ascending and descending
river-banks, and Apennine valleys covered with vines and corn,
until from the mountain-bound coast you descend to the populous
brink of the unrivalled circular Bay of Naples.
In the afternoon, a small, light, fleecy cloud, which changed its
form with every passing breeze, still tenaciously kept its place near
the top of a dark, lofty, not irregular mountain. This was the
smoke of burning Vesuvius. But no scoria, reached the plain
through which we passed, nor did a glare of flame appear until
nightfall, when, after our arrival, we were contemplating the moun
tain from the balcony of our hotel. Then, what had been a pillar
of smoke by day, became a column of flame. A serpentine river
of fire was seen flowing down the mountain-side.
It would be an unprofitable, if not a vain attempt, to trace the
early civilization on the Italian or even the African coast of the
Mediterranean. We should be lost, with the ancient antiquarians,
Dion Cassius and Dionysius Halicarnassus, in the mazes of inqui
ries concerning the movements of the " Phoenicians," the " Pelas-
gians," the " Autochthones," the " Indigenes," and " Alpine immi
grants." But, long before the Roman state was organized on the
banks of the Tiber, the Greeks had planted towns and attained a
certain stage of civilization on the sea-coast. Brundusium (now
Brindisi), Pompeii, Herculaneum, Neapolis (now Naples), Capua,
Puteoli, Baige, and Marseilles, were among those towns, and were
afterward absorbed in the Roman Empire. The advantages of the
Bay of Naples in regard to Oriental commerce, the conveniences it

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afforded for miUtary and naval expeditions, the beauty and salu
brity of its position, and its mineral springs, attracted there the
wealth, the pomp, the ostentation, the literature, and art, of the
capital. Judging from the relation of Brighton to the British
capital, or Baden-Baden to Germany, or Newport to the United
States, we could hardly estimate the importance which the shores
of the Bay of Naples then enjoyed. Rome was a well-consolidated
empire, two thousand miles long, one thousand miles broad, trav
ersed by a perfect and safe high-road from York in England to
Jerusalem. It embraced all the great cities of the world, it had
two admirable languages, and a greater unity prevailed in all de
partments of civilization than ever before existed, and scarcely less
than that which the world now enjoys. Puteoli was really the sea-
gate of Rome. Nymphs, naiads, sirens, and genu, dwelt in the
grottos and blue-ocean caves around the shore. If Jupiter did not
remove there from Olympus, his swiftest messenger permanently
established himself at Baise, and Venus abandoned, Cyprus for this
fascinating coast. The Sibyls held the book of fate, whose decrees
even Jupiter could not reverse, in their grotto at Cuinse. On the
shores of the Bay of Naples, also, was the hell which in all ages
has filled the imagination with the terrors of a future state, and
the Elysian Fields of the blest, whose name even our religion
adopts as most descriptive of the felicity which awaits the "just
made perfect."
Genoa, August 18th. — The courteous waving of the stars and
stripes from our mast-head soon brought the consul on board, and
we have given twenty-four hours to Genoa. It has shown us its
magnificent harbor and almost impregnable fortifications, its nar
row but neat and busy streets, the palaces and villas of its doges
and noblemen, of many parties and generations ; and its cathedrals
and churches, all of which have justly won for the city its title " la
Superba." We have seen its colleges, schools, and universities ; its
academies of art and science ; its manufactories of delicate fabrics
and jewelry ; its statuary, paintings, monuments, and relics, and
the trophies of which it is so justly proud. These all sustain the

GENOA.

683

noble historic record of the Genoese in commerce, as the successors
of the Venetians ; in arms, as not merely vigorous in self-defence
against the rival states of Pisa and Venice, but in conquests in

Spain, Sardinia, Greece, and Asia Minor ; in wars, not merely for
self-defence or conquest, but of successful battles and sieges for the
Cross — a career full of prosperity and faith, now ended, after many
revolutions, in the peaceful contentment of a united and respected
Italy.

Susa, August 19th. — It has been a matter of much regret that
we were obliged to leave Milan unseen, and to come through
Turin without stopping at the last capital of the kingdom of Sar
dinia, and the first one of restored Italy. But Mr. Seward was
there during his former visits to Europe, and especially enjoyed
an acquaintance with Victor Emmanuel, and the great restorer of

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Italy, Count Cavour, who was then in retirement on account of
the Treaty of Villa Franca. It must, therefore, be enough to set
down the observation that, not only has the restoration of Italian
unity or nationality originated in Piedmont, but that, in these
mountain-regions, the sentiment of the equality of man, which is
conducting all nations toward the republican system of govern
ment, has had, if not its origin, at least early and vigorous de
velopment. The separation of Church and state is essential to the advance
ment of modern Italy. This seems to be in the way of accomplish
ment. It is not to be expected, nor is it perhaps to be desired, that
the people of Italy, trained in the ritual and traditions of the
Church, will all at once renounce the ecclesiastical authority of the
Pope and become Protestant. But ecclesiastics are not different
from other men. They can learn to submit in temporal affairs to
the authority of the state, when they can no longer control it.
Yet the permanent restoration of Italy involves another difficulty,
which is of a different kind, and a much greater one. Italy, in or
der to succeed, must cast off monarchy and become a republic. A
federal republic cannot exist with a large standing army. No state
in Europe is safe against the ambition of monarchical states with
out a large standing army. Moreover, it is yet to be seen whether
these reviving, opulent, prosperous, and intelligent cities, which so
lately and so long made the fair fields of Italy the scene of their
fratricidal conflicts, will be content now to acquiesce in the restora
tion of Rome to its ancient and long-maintained supremacy. — Adieu
to Italy !

CHAPTER IV.
SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE.
Geneva.— The Alps.— The Tunnel of Mont Cenis.— Passports.— American Fondness for
Switzerland. — Berne. — Swiss Statesmen and Politics. — Distress of France.— The
Franco-German War.— Lord Lyons.— Mr. Washburne.— Versailles.— The French
Assembly.— President Thiers. — A Dinner with President Thiers.— Condition of
France.— M. Drouyn de Lhuys.— M. Laboulaye— Dr. Evans and the Empress Eu
genie. — Aspect of Paris. — Prospects of France.
Geneva, August 21st. — We have had two delicious days on the
Alps. From Susa in Piedmont, we went, by a pass six thousand
feet high, around a peak eleven thousand feet above the sea, to
Chambery in Savoy ; thence up the vaUey of the Rhone. The Al
pine region, thus traversed, is colder and more sterile than any we
have passed. Eternal glaciers are suspended from the peaks of
mountains, down their sides, the rapid torrents of which serve as
fountains for the Po on the one side and the Rhone on the other.
Among many interesting antiquities at Susa, one, thoroughly in
structive, is the inscription, over its ancient gate-way, enumerating
the eleven native tribes of the mountain-region, and reciting that
the king surrenders his authority and assumes the title of prefect
under the dominion of the divine Emperor Augustus.
So it seems to have been from the beginning of the world!
States are built by overcoming and extinguishing petty, defenceless,
and contentious tribes. So the United States have extended their
dominion, from Plymouth to San Francisco, from the St. Lawrence
to the Rio Grande.
The Alps, which, from time immemorial, have been the barrier

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and defence of Italy against invasion, are just on the eve of giving
up that important distinction. The wealth and the vigor of West
ern nations have spent two thousand years in reducing that barrier.
King Pepin secured from Pope Stephen III. the honorable title of
" Eldest Son of the Church " by leading an army over it for his relief.
Louis XIV. improved the pass by sending a French army across it
for less spiritual motives. Napoleon I. constructed the military
road used since his time. What the spirit of conquest imperfectly
executed is now to be completed by commercial enterprise, which,
taking advantage of modern improvements, has projected the exca
vation and construction of a tunnel, with railroad-track, twelve
miles through the base of the mountain. This enterprise, suffi
ciently bold to mark the advance of civilization for many centu
ries, has but two equals, both effected simultaneously with it, the
Pacific Railroad and the Suez Canal. We think it fortunate that
we have enjoyed the passage over the mountain instead of coming
through the tunnel, which is to be opened in two weeks.
At the frontier station we encountered our first experience of a
state of war. A French officer demanded our passports, and vised
them with care. This incident recalled a suggestion, made to the
Emperor Napoleon in 1859, that nothing would impress the people
of the United States so favorably as an abolition of the passport
system, to which he answered, giving the usual reasons for that
form of political espionage. When, three years later, the United
States fell into civil war, and established rigorous passport regula
tions, which continued even after its close, M. Berthemy, the
French minister at Washington, expostulated against a system
which France had then given up. Now, we have left the United
States, with the passport system abolished, only to find it restored
in France and Germany.
We entered Switzerland by the valley of the Rhone, and, fol
lowing its winding and highly-cultivated banks, we reached Geneva
this evening.
As the cars stopped, the familiar expression was heard, in plain
English, " There is the governor ; " and in a very few moments we
were conducted by the zealous and esteemed consul, Mr. Upton,

SWITZERLAND. 687
a Virginia loyalist, to delightful apartments in the Metropolitan
Hotel, on the shore of lovely Lake Leman.
August 23d. — We seem here to have come upon the verge of
home. London papers only one day old, New York telegrams
only six hours old. The hotels are full of Americans.
What is it that makes Americans so much frequent, haunt, and
Hnger in Switzerland 2 Is it not for the same reason that people
frequent, haunt, and linger about a looking-glass, especially if it be
a convex one that softens their hard features, by presenting them
in miniature 2 What is Switzerland, with its mountains, glaciers,
forests, cliffs, lakes, cataracts, and rivers — what is it as a political
state, with its twenty-five cantons and half cantons, its Federal
Council and Administration, its cantonal legislatures, universal
suffrage, and eligibility to office, its assignment of war, peace, and
foreign relations to the Federal Government, and its allotment of the
protection of life, liberty, and property to local legislatures and
tribunals, its universal education, voluntary if the people will, com
pulsory if they will not, its practical religious toleration — but vast
North America compressed within an area scarcely two hundred
and fifty miles square— the United States in miniature 2
Berne, August 25th.— The United States minister, Mr. Rublee,
Hke most ministers at this season, is travelling. His secretary,
Captain Aschmann, a Swiss volunteer in the United States Army,
who lost a leg at the battle of Fair Oaks, met us at the railroad-
station, and informed us that the President pro tern, of the Federal
Council, in the absence of the chief, would call upon Mr. Seward
immediately on his arrival at the hotel. The republican character
of the Government could have no better illustration than the ap
pearance of that gentleman, Mr. Welti, and his tender of the hospi
talities of the capital. There was neither coach, nor equipage, nor
guard, nor banner, nor sword, nor mace, nor uniform. Mr. Welti
came, introduced only by Captain Aschmann. He was dressed in
a suit of plain gray clothes, such as a citizen might wear in a rural
town of the United States. Long connected, however, with the

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Government, having in his time more than once presided in the
Council of State of which he is now a member, he is well informed,

and his conversation was as instructive as it was interesting. He
expressed a high personal satisfaction in his recollection of the fact
that, in the treaty for the settlement of the San Juan question
(made between the United States and Great Britain during the
administration of Mr. Johnson, but which failed of ratification by
the Senate, together with the Alabama Claims Treaty, of the same
period), he, being President of the Swiss Council, had been named
as umpire. He explained to Mr. Seward, well and ably, the finan
cial condition of this little republic, and the entire contentment of
its people with their republican institutions. Without an emperor,
without a king, without a duke or count, without a pope, arch
bishop, bishop or prelate, with only a Council of Ministers chosen
by the Legislature annually from the Council of State, with only
an organized voluntary militia, in lieu of a standing army, Swit
zerland has no foreign wars, no controversies, no domestic disturb
ance, and life, liberty, and property, are as safe in the darkest, re
motest mountain-glen, as they are in any city under the protection
of the best police in the world.
Mr. Seward inquired for Mr. Staempfli, late President of the
Federal Council, and long the leading statesman of the republic.
He has retired from the administration to assume the management
of a bank, an illustration how the character of Gallatin was formed,
and how it happened that Necker was called to restore the depleted
treasury of France.
The present Federal Constitution of Switzerland is framed quite
closely on the United States model ; the Legislature is composed of
two Houses — the Council of State consisting of two representatives
from each canton ; the other House consisting of representatives
apportioned according to the population.
Mr. Welti says that there is even in Switzerland a class of poli
tical reformers, agitators, radicals, who demand the abolition of the
Council of State, so that there shall be only one legislative body.
He is opposed to this change.
Mr. Seward hoped that it would not be made. He said that, in

MR. WELTI. 689
the beginning of our republic, there was a division on the subject
of the legislature in the United States. Hamilton, with Washing
ton, gave a decided preference to two Houses. Dr. Franklin, influ
enced by sympathy with the French reformers, advocated a single
one. Hamilton's proposition prevailed in the Federal Government
and in all the States except Pennsylvania, where Franklin's influ
ence secured a single legislative body. But even that was soon
afterward changed. France, whenever she has been republican,
has adhered to a single legislative chamber. Mexico has followed
the example of France. It is a singular fact that the republican
system has failed, or met with only partial success, wherever only
one legislative body is established, and it has not failed anywhere
else. Mr. Welti inquired of Mr. Seward whether the United States
would aid Switzerland in claiming the rights of a maritime power
on the high-seas.
Mr. Seward thought that, in the absence of a seaport, other na
tions were not likely to make such a concession to Switzerland, but
he expressed his belief that as Switzerland, by reason of its repub
lican institutions, has become an asylum and refuge for all political
exiles, the free states of the world ought to agree to guarantee to
Switzerland safety against aggression or threats of arbitrary pow
ers. Will Switzerland remain a republic 2 Yes, it is to be ex
pected as confidently as it is to be earnestly hoped. Her safety
finds a guarantee in the zeal, loyalty, and patriotism of her people,
not less than in the decline of the despotic principle in the once-
aggressive nations by whom she is surrounded. Even Austria is
more likely to become republican than Switzerland is to relapse
from that system.
And now the president has retired, the capital has been ex
plored, the great town-clock of the cathedral, eleven hundred years
old, has struck the hour of twelve, with the pomp and parade of a
royal review ; we have fed the bears of Berne, given a letter of
thanks to the veteran and wounded Swiss attache, and we are en
tering the cars which are to convey us through la belle France, to
her mourning and disconsolate capital.

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Paris, August 26th. — We left Berne rapidly behind us, and,
following the shore of the long and beautiful Lake Neufchatel, left
Switzerland, with its glorious mountains and cascades, its rich
grazing-grounds, and its simple, sparse, and rustic population, and,
coming to the region between the Rhine and the Rhone, entered
Burgundy, admiring the Cote d'Or, with its magnificent vintages
and frequent villages, and reached Dijon at eleven o'clock.
In frontier France, which we had passed on the way through
Chambery to Geneva, and again on the raUway from Berne to
Dijon, we saw only painful manifestations of public and private
sorrow and anxiety. The more rude and simple the peasantry, the
more the men betrayed a consciousness of pressing perplexity, and
every woman was in habiliments of mourning. There was neither
activity, nor curiosity, nor interest of any kind. When the trains,
abated of their magnitude and importance, arrived at an unex
pected hour at the railroad-stations, there were no crowds, nor
equipages, nor display of any kind in the streets of Paris, and we
seemed especially welcome at Meurice's Hotel, of which only a few
apartments are occupied, and those by Americans exclusively.
When we left Auburn last year, a war between France and
Prussia, the causes of which were laid fifty years ago, and which
had been four years in preparation, had just opened. The task of
reorganizing political and ecclesiastical institutions in France had
become inevitable at the close of the last century. The nations of
Europe, taking alarm at the boldness of the innovations, combined
to uphold the ancient Church and state, and to suppress a revolution
which threatened subversion of all existing authority in Europe.
France resisted the intervention with a vigor and a power which,
while it maintained her integrity, had only been acquired by the
sacrifice of accepting the military despotism of Napoleon in place
of the republican institutions she had ardently desired to establish.
Napoleon's ambition urged him to push beyond the bounds of pos
sibility the retaliation which France had inaugurated. His throne
and the sway which he had established from the Atlantic to the
Adriatic, from the Mediterranean to the Znyder-Zee, perished to
gether in 1814, and a compromise ensued, irksome and hateful to

"THE MOTHER OF GERMAN UNITY." 691
both parties. While Austria, Prussia, Italy, and Belgium, had
conceded to France too much for their own contentment, France
had been cramped within boundaries too small for her ambition.
Fifty years of peace, such as Europe had never enjoyed, invigorated
all the parties. The people of France, impatient of tranquillity
and contentment incompatible with the glorious memories of Na
poleon, of Louis XIV., of Henry IV, and Charlemagne, demanded
of the new empire political activity and demonstration. Napoleon
III. complied, and, by a master-stroke of policy, combined with Great
Britain in giving check at Sevastopol to the ambition of the Czar.
Having thus established an alliance with Great Britain, an ancient
enemy and always a powerful rival, Napoleon yielded to the na
tional ambition by lending that effective assistance to Sardinia
which resulted in expeUing Austria, and restoring, after a lapse of
a thousand years, a united and independent Italy. The military
ambition of France thus renewed demanded new achievements,
and looked for them across the Rhine. Napoleon, too wise for
such an expedition, sought to compromise by an expedition to
Mexico, which he apprehended could be safely made by reason of
the distance of the field where battle was to be given, the isolation
and feebleness of that state, resulting from universal discontents,
and the demoralization of the United States, the only probable
aUy of Mexico, by a civil war promising nothing less than a disso
lution of the republic. Each of the two expeditions proved a great
mistake. The national union of Italy proved, in the language of
President Thiers, to be " the mother of German unity." The inva
sion of Mexico gratified neither the ambition nor the pride of the
French people, and its hasty abandonment exposed the empire to
contempt at home and insult abroad. Meantime Prussia, availing
herself of the defeat and humiliation which France and Italy had
already inflicted upon Austria, made successful war against that
rival, and, depriving her of German provinces and allies, consoli
dated all of Western Germany into a broad and majestic empire,
equal, at least in population, resources, energy, and martial spirit,
to France. The French now impetuously demanded war against
Prussia. United Germany saw that the hour for her retaliation
52

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had come ; she accepted the gage of battle. When we left home,
Napoleon on the Prussian border was telegraphing to the empress-
regent his first success. Before we embarked at San Francisco we
heard only of French repulses, reverses, and defeats. Then for
nearly four weeks all intelligence was cut off from us. In Japan,
.we heard that the emperor had become a prisoner at Sedan, and that
the empress with her son had taken refuge in England. Thence
forward, as we advanced westward, the Germans were marching on
Versailles. France could obtain peace only by reorganization with
the German army on her soil, and at the gates of , her capital. Then
came the republic, with Gambetta at its head ; then a National As
sembly at Bordeaux.- Next the organization of the Communists at
Paris to resist the National Assembly at Bordeaux ; then the re
moval of the National Assembly to Versailles in the presence of
the German invaders, and the election of Thiers as provisional
president ; then the frightful anarchy of the Commune at Paris,
only suppressed by the decimation of its leaders by the French
army, now under the direction of President Thiers, and then a col
lapse. What that collapse signified, whether a renewal of anarchy,
or an exhaustion of the forces of anarchy, no one knew. Timid
and peace-loving people avoided France and Paris as one might
avoid Vesuvius when its fires had subsided, but the rumbling, in
ternal commotion still continued. The destinies of France, so far
as they depended upon herself, were in the hands of a popular as
sembly at Versailles, a body of seven hundred, consisting of dis
cordant factions, each of whom thought its hour for complete tri
umph was at hand. These parties had compromised on an admin
istration which was aUowed to preside and mediate for only one
;reason — namely, that it assumed the responsibility of relieving the
French nation, as soon as it should be practicable, of the German
invaders. President Thiers was at the head of the administration,
and Jules Favre Minister of Foreign Affairs.
When we arrived in Paris, this morning, we found that the
30th of this month has been assigned for a debate, in which the
four parties are to decide their mutual contest. The partisans of
the old regime are expected to strike for the ancient monarchy un-

PARIS. 693
der the Count de Chambord. The Orleanists claim the throne for
the Count de Paris. There are rumors and hopes and fears of a
coalition between the two monarchical factions. The republicans
will have neither of these, nor the empire, while the imperialists
think that these divisions will enable them to restore the emperor,
who has been released from his German prison, and is now in
exile in England.
August 27th. — We dined to-day with Lord Lyons, to whom Mr.
Seward is warmly attached by reason of his honorable and upright
conduct as minister of Great Britain to the United States, in the
early years of our civil war.
France is a type, although an exaggeration, of modern political
ideas. Nations will not consent to remain indefinitely under any
dynasty or personal authority. They not only want frequent
changes, but they have found out the secret of making such
changes. In the United States we have fortunately a legal and
orderly means of gratifying this desire for change. Our Consti
tution allows the people to choose their own governmental head,
but requires them to abide by his authority only four years. Every
four years they can turn him out.
August 28th.— In the Bois de Boulogne, instead of the crowd
of equipages round the cortege of the emperor, under the majestic
trees and near the crystal lakes, we now found only one carriage,
which bore Schung Hao, the Chinese ambassador, who came to
Paris to explain and palliate the Tien-Tsin massacre. He is now
returning home, after having failed to receive a word of courtesy
or kindness from President Thiers, who is at the same time con
strained, by the sad condition of France, to make no demonstra
tion or declaration hostile to China.
August 31st.— Mr. Washburne, the United States minister, re
mained in Paris during the entire siege, keeping up, as well as he
could, official communication with the Provisional Government,
first at Bordeaux, then at Versailles. He was enjoying a short res-

694 EUROPE.
pite of absence at the time of our arrival. He came to town on the
29th, and, after giving us a kind welcome, presented a note from M.
Remusat, the newly-appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, inviting
Mr. Seward to Versailles. Yesterday morning, not caring to use
what is called here the "American Railroad," we proceeded by car
riage to VersaiUes, passing through the Bois de Boulogne. Splen
did St. Cloud is a blackened ruin, and, as it seemed, countless forts
on either side have been stormed and demolished. Detachments
of the late contending armies are scattered in the viUages along
the road — now a battalion or brigade of the French army, now of
the Germans. There seems to be no intercourse between them,
and doubtless each is weary of the other's presence. Driving
through Passy, where Franklin resided during his mission to
France, a curious reflection came over us : How much of this
strange, eventful career, which France has endured, was due to
the blandishments of our philosophic, persuasive, and skilful en
voy 2 Certainly he procured the not unwilling consent of Louis
XVI., and the spirited concurrence of Marie Antoinette, to the
treaty between France and the United States, which led to our
national independence, and consequently to the French Revolu
tion, with its awful catastrophe. Could any other than Franklin
have gained that treaty 2 Doubtful. Had it not been gained,
might not the kingdom of Louis have withstood the tempest 2
Versailles is a magnificent town of thirty thousand people, who
enjoy streets broader than those of Vienna, and dwellings not less
superb than those of Genoa. So lately the headquarters of German
occupation, and now the seat of the provisional government, the old
town assumes a tone of activity. The government at Versailles is
not fixed, like the other courts we have visited, but is provisional and
almost military. We stopped at the hotel. Grooms would take the
horses ; as for ourselves, we might sit in the small room adjoining
the Vonciergerie, or we might walk through the restaurant and sit
under the shade-trees in front of the house. More than five hun
dred well-dressed, active gentlemen were being served, in groups of
from two to half a dozen each, with all the clatter and din of a rapid
breakfast. These were the members of the Provisional Assembly of

VERSAILLES.

695

France. Breakfast over, Mr. Seward, with Mr. Washburne, went to
the Department of Foreign Affairs. The minister, M. Remusat, a
grandson of General Lafayette, is an intellectual and accomplished
man, and always a firm, consistent republican. The reception,
though necessarily short, was genial, free, and very friendly. The
Provisional Assembly was to meet at twelve o'clock. The debate
might involve a national crisis. M. Thiers, as. provisional chief of
the state, must attend and be deeply engaged during the day. He
would receive Mr. Seward at his house at eight o'clock in the
evening. Thence we hastened to the Assembly, and the way was
opened, by officials of the Government, through an immense crowd
composed of respectable and intelligent people, to the diplomatic
box. The members, assembling on the floor below, were engaged in
conversational groups. In the diplomatic box were an English lady
and gentleman, who politely left the comfortable front seat for Mr.
Seward and chose the adjoining ones. The box soon filled up with
persons introduced by their legation, as we had been by ours.
Promptly, at the appointed hour, the president, M. Grevy, took
the chair, and called the Assembly to order. There was a numer
ous array of clerks and reporters. With great rapidity, official
reports of the ministry were presented and referred, of course, to
the respective committees, as in our legislative assemblies ; while
the Chamber, like them, presented a scene of confusion which ren
dered any attention to the order of business by the members im
possible. At length, the special order of the day was announced.
The question, in effect, was the vital one whether the Assembly,
which had been convened to organize a government, to make a
treaty of peace with Prussia, and which had now accomplished that
object, ought not to resign its powers. A deputy mounted the
tribune and began to read a speech to the Chamber, hushed in
silence just long enough to allow the speaker to indicate his posi
tion ; then foUowed a wild uproar of voices ; acclamations from the
"right," the moderate republicans, interrupted by the extremists;
and grumblings, challenges, and defiances, from the conservative
members. The discontented rose in their seats with violent objur-

696 EUROPE.
gations and gesticulations ; the supporters of the speaker rose,
vociferously applauding him and denouncing the interruption. By
some arrangement which we did not understand, the representatives
of the several political parties alternated in the tribune. From the
moderate republican who began, to the extreme republican sus
pected of communism who opposed, the sagacious and loyal Orlean-
ist, the obstinate and impracticable legitimist, to the crafty but
non-subdued imperialist — every speaker was received and his utter
ances drowned in the same manner ; except that the more radical
republicans awakened a general burst of defiance and denunciation
throughout the whole Chamber. The president continually rang
his bell, and in some way or other the debate went on intelligibly
to him and to the House, but utterly incomprehensible to the audi
ence. The stormy scene excited our wonder. In our own Congress,
the speaker, rising in his place, utters, in a well-considered and
careful form, an argument which everybody knows wiU be found,
the next morning, in the daily press ; will be seized upon and read
in every city and district ; and have its proper effect in forming the
national opinion, which, reacting on Congress, will decide the meas
ure discussed. The House seldom cares to listen, and the mem
bers are engaged in conversation or correspondence.
This National Assembly of France, on the contrary, seems to
regard the debate as a combat in which the question is to be de
cided by the House itself, at once and according to the balance of
argument in the heat of passion. What is still more remarkable is,
that all this vehemence, violence, and excitement, is displayed only
by members in their places. We heard Jules Favre, Louis Blanc,
Picard, and Gambetta, at the tribune, and their well-constructed
and carefully-guarded speeches, read without the least excitement
or gesticulation, would, but for their remarkable brevity, have
seemed dull and monotonous.
At the expiration of two hours, the difficulty of reaching an har
monious adjustment amid such tumultuous demonstrations excited
an apprehension that the Assembly would break up in disorder, if
not with scenes of violence ; and that, before long, hostUe forces

THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY. 697
might be renewing the civil war, hardly yet completely suppressed.
Some of the European diplomates, in the gallery, declared that
France was unequal to her great destiny ; that law, order, govern
ment, and society, can only be preserved through central and abso
lute power. The violent scene now culminated ; the president using
his last remedy, announced his determination to dissolve the As
sembly if his appeal to order should be disregarded. This brought
the Chamber to a moment of calm reflection. He then demanded,
from the latest disturber of the debate, a retraction and apology for
having indulged in language of insult and threat unbecoming the
majesty of debate. The speaker, one perhaps of a hundred who
had equally offended, thus brought singly before the House, ex
plained, regretted, and apologized. Though the House seemed
willing to forgive, the president was not satisfied ; he demanded
further apology, and it was given. He announced that the debate
might now go on, at the peril, however, of the dissolution of the
Assembly if the bounds of decorum should be passed. The more
judicious speakers seemed to have reserved themselves for such a
crisis. After this every speech, while firm, was conciliatory and
full of concern for the pnbHc peace, and showed due and deliberate
consideration. The danger was over — the National Assembly
would not dissolve until the Provisional Government should have
more effectually provided for the exigencies of the state.
The atmosphere of the hall was hot to suffocation, but all the
members remained in their seats, and nearly all the audience. We
left to obtain fresh air, and to improve the three or four hours of
the day which remained in seeing royal Versailles. An hour later,
we were joined by friends whom we had left in the Chamber, who,
meeting us in the magnificent gardens of the palace, informed us
that the debate had closed ; that the Chamber had adopted, by a de
cisive majority, a declaration that their body is itself a constituent
Assembly, with all the powers adequate to the government and re
organization of the nation.
At nine o'clock, Mr. Seward, accompanied by M. Geoffroy, for
merly charge d 'affaires at Washington, proceeded to the palace of
President Thiers, the same which was occupied by the King of

698 EUROPE.
Prussia during his sojourn at Versailles. The guards, ushers, and
servants, numerous enough and elegant enough in costume for an
imperial residence, were in waiting, and Mr. Seward and M. Geof
froy were shown up the grand staircase and through the suite of
antechambers only less numerous and magnificent than those of
the Yatican, and a series of gorgeous drawing-rooms in which not
a soul was visible. Passing through these to the farthest one, they
found a lady sitting by an open window. This was Madame
Thiers,, the amiable wife of the president. Rising, she gave Mr.
Seward her hand, and invited him to sit down. Congratulating
him on his arrival, she entertained the gentlemen for half an hour
with conversation in perfect English. At the opposite side of the
room, her sister was conversing with the only other visitor. Dur
ing the evening, four or five gentlemen entered the drawing-room,
and were received by Madame Thiers. Half-past ten o'clock came,
and Mr. Seward was about taking his leave, when Madame Thiers
said that M. Thiers had returned utterly exhausted by the day's
debate, and had thrown himself on a sofa for a few minutes' sleep,
after which he would join them in the drawing-room. She would
waken him at once. Mr. Seward, well appreciating the president's
labors during the day, protested that she should not, but Madame
Thiers said she was sure that the president would be grieved and
disappointed. Conducting Mr. Seward across the hall, to an ante
chamber, she brought him to a low, broad sofa, where the weary
statesman was snatching his few moments of repose. Mr. Seward
begged that he might not be aroused, and insisted on taking his
leave. Madame Thiers remained with the president, and, before
Mr. Seward had reached the distant drawing-room door, overtook
him, with the president, now awakened from his slumbers. Mr.
Seward saluted him with a compliment expressing his high respect,
which M. Thiers received courteously, and reciprocated by many
kind expressions of compliment, and regret that his guest, should
have been kept waiting. He then invited Mr. Seward to remain
all night at the palace, and to bring his family next week to remain
.at Versailles. Mr. Seward, declining the proffered hospitality with
many thanks, replied that he was to leave Paris next Tuesday, and

PRESIDENT THIERS.

699

had engagements to dine, which would keep him there on Monday.
" To-morrow, then," said the president ; " come to-morrow." Mr.
Seward promised to do so, returned with M. Geoffroy to his car
riage, and arrived at Meurice's in the early dawn.
September 1st.— The Chamber of Deputies yesterday brought to
a happy solution the political question which had so perplexed and
alarmed France. They declared that the executive power should
remain with M. Thiers ; that his title should be that of President
of the French Republic ; that he should hold his place three years,
and have full power to administer the government, being always
responsible to the people. All Versailles and all Paris are reas
sured, if not content.
We dined last evening with President Thiers, the party consist
ing of M. Remusat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Geoffroy,
and a few of the president's official friends. President Thiers is a
short, stout man, looking about seventy-five, remarkably erect and
firm. He has a large and regularly-developed head ; his thick hair,
perfectly white and stiff, is cut short and brushed scrupulously off
his forehead and over his temples. His eyes are black, but spar
kling and genial, his_ complexion florid, and even youthful. The
heavy folds of his white cravat, and his elegantly-cut, tightly-fitting,
closely-buttoned dress-coat, make him look as if he had just stepped
out of an old Flemish picture ; and, when he speaks, his gentle voice
seems less Hke the commanding utterance of the ruling statesman
of a great and convulsed nation, than an echo from the past. His
conversation is vivacious, and imbued not so much with a sense of
gratified ambition as of sanguine hope and confidence in the resto
ration of his country. Explaining to Mr. Seward the reasons which
had led the Chamber of Deputies to their late important but unex
pected decision, he said : " The Chamber of Deputies and myself in
the present crisis are Siamese twins ; we know that, if we are sep
arated, both must die." At dinner, he proposed the health of Mr.
Seward, in a pretty speech, in which he declared that he regarded
it as a presage of his success that Mr. Seward should be his guest
on the first day of his presidency of the French Republic.

700 EUROPE.
Mr. Seward replied that, though France had before attempted
the republican experiment, he regarded the present as the first real
establishment of that system of government in France. He re
minded M. Thiers that his fortune was peculiar as it was felicitous ;
that he was chosen president not at the command, nor under the
influence of a standing army, but only as a civilian and statesman.
He hoped that M. Thiers might remain president as long as Wash
ington, and have a Hne of successors as long and as virtuous. More
than this no statesman ought to expect, or might dare to desire.
The president spoke of the difficulties of the position, and of the
obstinate distraction of opinion in France, so unlike any thing that
is known in the United States.
Mr. Seward said in reply : " My hopes for France in the present
crisis are founded on two very antagonistic grounds. First, that
the people of France are universally discouraged. I have not heard
one hopeful expression from any man, of any party, in Versailles
or Paris, except yourself. Second, you are sanguine enough to in
spire the public with confidence. It is fortunate that all parties
excepting the republicans have exhausted the public confidence.
The imperialists, having lost the battle-field, on which the integrity
of France is at stake, have forfeited the right to guide public opin
ion. The two royalist parties have not regained the vitality lost
years ago. The repubHcan party, although it smarts now, as it has
done on so many previous occasions, unjustly, under the reponsi-
bility of the fraternization with it of the worst and lowest political
elements of Europe, still has command of the field. France will
now, I think, accept the republic, not because she is yet prepared
to love or trust it, but because she has sufficiently tried and proved
the impracticability of the kingdom and the empire."
Madame Thiers and her sister are highly-accomplished ladies,
with more vivacity than, and quite as practical and energetic as the
most practical of, our countrywomen.
After dinner, there was a general and distinguished reception
of visitors, who had come to congratulate the president. Among
these were the papal nuncio, the Prince de Chigi Albani, Lord
Lyons, Prince Metternich, Mr. Washburne, cardinals, archbishops,

INTERVIEW WITH M. DROUYN DE LHUYS. 701
bishops, generals, admirals, deputies from all sides of the Chamber,
and many ladies.
It was suggestive of thought to see this plain civilian, this in
dependent statesman, who virtually had been proscribed by all
parties for thirty years, now, at the united command of the French
nation, called to its head to redeem it from the dangers and dis
asters into which it had fallen by rejecting his wise, disinterested,
and patriotic advice.
September 4th. — It is a consequence of the extraordinary condi-
tion of France at the present moment that society of all kinds is
broken up at Paris. The timid and prudent citizens, not yet as
sured of peace, have not returned to the city. The imperial court
is dispersed, the Communists are suppressed, and the dominant
party is with the government at Versailles. At the same time
nothing is considered permament there. It is only a provisional
government at best, and the Chamber is already distracted by the
question of the removal of the government to Paris. This condi
tion, however, is perhaps not unfavorable to a study of the political
tendencies of the times. We, of course, meet persons of all par
ties. It has been a pleasure to again see M. Henri Mercier, former
French minister at Washington, and his successor, the Marquis de
Montholon, always cordial and friendly in his good wishes for the
United States. It is a source of much regret that we do not meet
Signor Bertinatti, formerly Italian minister at Washington, always
so true, earnest, and sympathetic. He is now Italian minister at the
Hague, and writes that he has been making preparations to receive
us there. But the time intervening before our embarkation for
home is so short that we shall be unable to visit Holland. An in
terview of especial interest was that with M. Drouyn de Lhuys,
who was the successor of M. Tbouvenel as Minister of Foreign
Affairs at Paris during our civil war, but was replaced later by M.
Lavallette. M. Drouyn de Lhuys is a gentlemen of fortune, now
residing at Paris, unemployed, and the newspapers are disputing
the probabilities of his being called to office by President Thiers.
He is a tall, stout man, not much, if at all, beyond sixty, with a mas-

702

EUROPE.

sive head, an open countenance, a very kindly as well as intellectual
expression, and manners at once courtly, frank, and simple. He
speaks English quite well. The conversation ranged on topics far
and wide, its chief one being the relations between France and the
United States past and present. M. Drouyn de Lhuys, though in
the ministry during the period when he had to treat with the ques
tions growing out of the French expedition to Mexico, was not

DBOUYN DE LHTTYS.

engaged in the inception of that enterprise, and, indeed, had always
been opposed to it. He is the only statesman, excepting President
Thiers, whom we have met here that seems hopeful of France. He
says the worst part of the road is passed. France must give up her
dream of national aggrandizement and military glory, which are
the sources of all her misfortunes. He thinks that she will do so,
and wUl rise to a higher position than ever.

DR. EVANS. 703
It has been an especial pleasure to make the personal acquaint
ance of M. Laboulaye, who is now a prominent republican member
of the National Assembly. He was a warm well-wisher of the
United States during our war, and his " Paris in America " has
been read with interest throughout the United States. He seems
depressed about the present state of France.
Acknowledging the cheering encouragement which M. Labou
laye had given us in our civil conflict, we thought it our turn to in
spire him with courage about the situation of France. The cases
are not entirely different. In the United States, we wanted to
aboHsh slavery, and to save the Union. Either motive was enough
of itself to make a party, but it was difficult to create a party that
would accept both as practicable. It is just so now in France.
The French want a republic, and wish to preserve the integrity and
prestige of France, but are unable to see how both can be done by
the same party at the same time. One may be assured, however,
that, each being right and just in itself, both objects will be se
cured, and the time has come when they must be secured to
gether. September 5th. — One of the effects of the acquisition of absolute
power seems to be an isolation, which can only be relieved by the
adoption of unofficial, perhaps obscure persons, as friends, who by
merit or address become favorites — a relation which, although it is
sometimes a useful, is often an unpopular one. Dr. Evans, an
American dentist, was early accepted in that character by Napoleon
soon after the coup d'etat. Through his long professional service
he received frequent and valuable tokens of the emperor's regard.
If it had been doubted whether he did not exaggerate the measure
of imperial favor he enjoyed, those doubts were entirely removed
during our civil war, when, on two occasions, Dr. Evans came to
the Department of State at Washington, with confidential messages
and inquiries from the Emperor of France. While these messages
were received, they were, of course, fully made known to the presi
dent, and responded to by his authority. At the same time, the
execution of the trust by the doctor was in all respects moderate

704 EUROPE.
and becoming. It is due also to the emperor to say that all his
personal messages, of that kind received, were frank, and no expec
tation raised by them was ever disappointed. Under these circum
stances, our visit to Paris afforded a pleasant renewal of acquaint
ance with Dr. Evans, and it was a satisfaction to find that, in the
disasters which overtook the imperial family, there was no loss of
fidelity on the one side nor of confidence on the other. It was in
teresting to hear Dr. Evans's account of the empress's escape from
France, a transaction in which he took an important part.
After the battle of Sedan left Napoleon III. a prisoner of war,
and the empire prostrate, the imperial ministers and members of
the Corps Legislatif rushed at once to the empress regent, at the
Tuileries, and told her that she must fly, without an instant's de
lay. At seven in the evening, attended by one lady, she left the
palace by a side-door, where they caUed a common fiacre. They
drove in this up the Champs Elysees, a mile or more, stopped in
the street, dismissed the vehicle, walked a square or two, took an
other fiacre and drove to Dr. Evans's door, and rang the beU. Mrs.
Evans was absent. The doctor was entertaining some friends at din
ner, entirely ignorant of the great political transactions of the day.
A servant went to him and whispered to him that a lady, at the
door, said she must see him, and could not be put off. The doctor
returned answer that he was at dinner and could not leave the
table. The empress, not to be repulsed, walked through the open
door into the office. Learning this, the doctor excused himself,
and went to see who the intruder might be : imagine his astonish
ment and dismay at finding the empress, and hearing her exclaim,
" Doctor, you must save me ! "
Few words of explanation were necessary. The Empress Euge
nie, like Marie Antoinette, had made good her escape from the
Tuileries alone, but with his aid only could she now escape from
Paris, and find an asylum in a foreign country. Leaving the em
press and her attendant in a room with closed doors, Dr. Evans, as
soon as possible, dismissed his friends ; and, without even informing
his servants of his purpose, went to his stables, ordered his own
carriage, and engaged a friend to go with him. The two ladies

THE ESCAPE OF THE EMPRESS.

705

remained unseen until two o'clock in the morning, when the car
riage drove to the door. The empress was in the mourning which
the court had worn since the reverses of the French arms. The
black crepe bonnet might excite attention ; she laid it aside, and,
in its place, took a simple round hat of Mrs. Evans's. Then, with
her lady attendant and Dr. Evans, she entered the carriage : the
friend rode on the box. The streets were thronged with excited
crowds, who, however, paid no attention to the unostentatious
equipage of the fugitives. Arrived at the city gate, it was found
in charge of a republican guard, who demanded the names of the
travellers. The doctor gave his own name, address, and profes
sion; and, remarking that great events were occurring in Paris,
handed the guard a morning paper, and drove on.
Travelling all day, they reached at night a village where Mrs.
$ Evans was staying, who supplied the empress with apparel more
suitable for a voyage across the Channel. Arriving finally at the
coast, the doctor procured from an Englishman the loan of his
yacht, and they embarked near Trouville, a short distance south of
Havre, at midnight. After a fearful passage of twenty hours, in
a heavy sea, they finally effected their landing on the hospitable
British shore. Dr. Evans's first duty, on arriving in England, was
to relieve the mother's anxiety for Louis, the prince imperial, who
so soon after Saarbriick was privately sent from the scene of war
by the emperor. He found his way to the prince, in spite of the
guard, who distrusted the visitor. The prince, on seeing him, at
once exclaimed, " Where is my mother 2 " The doctor could
scarcely suppress his emotion when he concluded his narrative by
saying : " I conducted the empress to him, and, when I witnessed
their embrace, and heard their exclamations, ' Louis ! ' ' Mamma ! '
I felt that my mission, not only for this emergency, but for Hfe,
was accomplished."
How unable we are to judge of the reality and magnitude of a
danger when it has been safely escaped ! Many, perhaps, believe
that the empress might have safely remained at the Tuileries ; but
when we remember the violence of the Communists — the murder
of the Archbishop of Paris, and other atrocities during and after

706 EUROPE.
the siege of the city — there is every reason to be thankful that her
escape saved maddened Paris from a cruel and atrocious crime.
September 5th. — It remains for us only to acknowledge the gen
erous and elegant hospitalities which were extended to us by our
friend Mr. Washburne, United States minister, and the United
States consul-general Mr. Read, Mr. Appleton, and many other
Americans. It is with sincere pride that we learn that their calm
courage and fortitude during the political crisis at the capital won
for them universal esteem and confidence.
Paris, as we leave it, wears a sad and despairing aspect. All
parties are humiliated alike in the overthrow of a military prestige
that they trace back with pride to Louis XIV., and even to Charle
magne ; in the payment of indemnities as great as the most rapa
cious of French armies ever extorted from foreign states ; and in
the loss of territories which were at once a resource and an in
valuable line of defence. Moreover, no party indulges any san
guine hope of a renewal of the prestige and power that have been
lost. For all this, however, we leave France with stronger hope
than ever in its future. The people of France are generous, per
haps the most generous in the world. If they have been diverted
from the more prudent path of national development to pursue the
career of military glory, even that is a fault kindred to national
virtue. For seventy years France has been the chief theatre of the
struggles for the establishment of the republic in Europe. If she
has failed hitherto to achieve it, two things are to be considered in
extenuation : First, that only one country in Europe has established
it — namely, Switzerland ; and, second, that Switzerland is embar
rassed by none of the grave difficulties which surround France. It
was the misfortune of France that the Protestant Reformation
failed there, while it succeeded in the northern parts of the Conti
nent and in Great Britain. It was alike the misfortune of France
that she was called to accept the republic while as yet the principle
of despotic power was unbroken and unshaken throughout the
Continent. Still further, it was her misfortune that the sway of
the repubHc has been incompatible with the contest which she has

THE MISFORTUNES OF FRANCE. 707
necessarily been obliged to hold against a despotic combination.
But all these difficulties are passed at last. The French nation no
longer excites the fears or has motives for provoking the hostility
of other nations. Left at liberty to retrieve her national disasters,
all her energies will be applied to that purpose. The promptness
with which her people meet the financial exigencies of their trying
situation proves that her resources are adequate. On the other
hand, such is the influence of France everywhere in Europe that
every new step which she makes in popular government demoralizes
all the nations who have been her rivals and her enemies. Bis
marck and his imperial master have manifested the highest sagacity
and ability in humiliating France from her position as the first
Continental power of Europe, and raising Germany to that proud
place. But not only Bismarck and the Kaiser, but also the King
of Italy, and the Emperor of Austria, and the Czar of Russia, and
even the statesmen of England, will probably find it a much more
difficult task to hold their respective countries back from the disor
ganizing ways of republicanism if France shall persevere wisely in
that direction. The bugbear of Europe to-day is communism, as
it is the fear of France. Communism is, nevertheless, in France a
manageable evil. It is the protest of the laborers of France, now
largely educated, against the conscription and military service which
has been a social calamity ever since her great Revolution. The
agitation of communism will not cease either in France or in any
other European country so long as ten millions of the laboring
population of the Continent are withdrawn from productive occupa
tion to become consumers. On the other hand, the ecclesiastical
institutions and. prejudices of Europe are so much broken down
that the republic has no strong obstacle anywhere but the standing
armies. Let these, by whatever means, be replaced by a voluntary
and moderate militia force, and every European state will slide at
once into the republican system as easily, as gracefully, and as
safely, as Switzerland and the United States have already.
53

CHAPTER V.
GERMANY, ENGLAND, AND HOME.
Belgium. — Berlin. — Mr. Bancroft. — Humboldt. — The German Empire. — Its Rise and
Grandeur. — Its Policy. — Hamburg. — A Free City. — A Handsome City. — On the
Thames. — Activity of its Commerce. — Greatness of London. — Government Machinery
in Great Britain. — Its Slow Working. — Rural Beauty of England. — On Board the
Java. — Her Passengers. — Montrose-on-Hudson. — Return to Auburn. — Mr. Seward's
Speech to his Neighbors.
Cologne, September 6th. — Out of France — across Belgium — and
on the Rhine, all in twelve hours !
Belgium realizes to the traveller' its well-known character for
density of population, and active, inventive industry. It is wonder
ful how arts, and even freedom, flourish within this little state,
which for two thousand years has almost continually been the battle
ground of the ambitions of the great European nations. K we re
member rightly, there are few Belgian immigrants in America. As
we passed through to Liege and its rural districts, so fall of busy
activity, contentment, and even gayety, we wondered that there
should be any.
Berlin, September 8th. — We arrived here last evening. We
have seen of Germany enough to show that its climate is neither so
genial, nor its soil so fertile, nor its resources of forest and mines
so rich as those of Southern Alaska ; nevertheless, it is rich and
prosperous through the perseverance of its people.
It is a political and social vacation at Berlin. The emperor-
king and the empress, the princes and Bismarck, are absent. Baron

ASPECT OF BERLIN. 709
Gerolt, so long the respected and beloved Prussian and German
minister at Washington, is now at Berlin, and it is a pleasure to
meet him here.
Mr. Bancroft met us at the station, and has given ub a delight
ful and quiet home at the legation, on the favorite avenue, " Unter
den Linden." He enjoys the respect and consideration here which
he so eminently deserves. Mr. Bancroft is a distinguished excep
tion to the rule that great scholars fail of being practical statesmen.
As might be expected, the air of Berlin is as triumphant as that
of Paris is sad and despondent. We noticed in Paris that the alle
gorical statue of Strasbourg, in the Place de la Concorde, was cov
ered with mourning weeds. So we must not omit to mention that
an allegorical group has been erected here, representing Germany
receiving with open arms her returning daughters, Alsace and Lor
raine. The streets of Berlin wear the aspect of a newly-built or modern
city. While it has none as fine as Fifth Avenue, there is a uniform
solidity and elegance which we have not yet attained in the United
States. In activity, industry, and trade, Berlin contrasts strongly
with Paris in its present condition, as well as with Naples and
Florence. The parks are well shaded and extensive, but less im
posing than those of Vienna, and it would be difficult to decide be
tween the two cities in regard to the general appearance of activity
and vivacity.
In one of the streets of Mexico there is this inscription on a
marble tablet : " In this house Humboldt dwelt." We are told of a
similar inscription on the house he lived in here. We have scarcely
accustomed ourselves to think of society in Berlin without the ele
vating and genial presence of the greatest philosopher of our age.
We have had the honor of meeting M. Thile, the acting Min
ister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ranke, the venerable historian, and
several of the celebrated savants for whom Berlin is so justly dis
tinguished. In the history of civilization there has been nothing more won
derful than the development of the German Empire. Brandenburg,
the feeblest of perhaps forty inconsiderable states, a state without

710 EUROPE.
numbers, military force, arts, or science, two hnndi'ed years ago had
the courage to challenge a place among the countries of Europe. By
the adoption of a military system, at that time essential to every
power, but more rigorous than any other, ancient or modern, by the
skilful development of resources, and by the practice of parsimony
so great as to provoke ridicule, by constancy in resisting aggression,
and boldness in taking advantage of opportunity, this little king
dom of Brandenburg, in the forty-six years of the reign of Frederick
the Great, doubled its territoiy and population, and rose to the
attitude of one of the great Continental powers. Harassed, sub
jugated, and ravaged in the Napoleonic wars, Prussia only applied
herself all the more devotedly and energetically to the increase of
her strength and resources. With a sagacity which has had no
prototype, she originated a new phUosophy, an original literature,
and schools of music and criticism. With this intellectual progress
Prussia has had the wisdom to combine moral and social culture,
equality of rights, personal freedom, and rigid justice of administra
tion, which have won for her the grateful sympathy and affection
of other German states. At least since 'the time of Frederick,
Prussia has practised an eminently wise and just moderation.
Content with an attitude always of self-defence, and to wait for
provocation, she reserved her strength, until the intolerable preten
sions of Austria required a contest with that power, which resulted
in her bringing under her protecting flag, with their consent, the
North-German states around her, while she neutralized the South-
German states, formerly dependencies of her rival. Nothing in
politics is more calmly sublime than the deportment of Prussia
when that recent great aggrandizement excited the jealous alarm
of France. France secretly proposed to favor the extension of
North-German jurisdiction over the South-German states on condi
tion that Prussia would consent that France should absorb Bel
gium. Prussia refused. France then sought offence in the offer of
the Spanish Cortes of the throne of that country to a prince of the
house of HohenzoUern. The Prussian Government disavowed, and,
when that failed, the prince decHned, but the empire of France
would have an insult when the original cause of complaint had

PRUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES. 711
been removed. So the emperor instructed his minister, who of
fended the dignity of the Prussian sovereign, and was dismissed
for it. Then France declared war. Prussia came into a war, the
only one, perhaps, of modern times in which the advantages, moral
and physical, were combined on the same side — a just cause, a de
fensive position, convenient preparation, and the strongest military
power. There is one circumstance in this great event peculiarly
gratifying to the United States, and which cannot but prove useful
to the world. It seems as if the process of renaissance in any
nation begets a sympathy and friendship for the American Repub
lic. We do not know the secret of the great Frederick's sympathy
with the United States, in their Revolution. He was a capricious
man, and had a proclivity for French philosophy and politics, and
a dislike for England. Whatever may have been the cause, he
was an admirer of our institutions, and in 1786 made with us a
treaty, based on an acknowledgment of the highest rights of man.
Through all her own vicissitudes and ours, Prussia has adhered to
the policy and sentiments of Frederick, in regard to the United
States. Prussia was the first of the European powers to join us in
a policy of justice and liberality toward Mexico. Prussia was the
first of the European states to acknowledge the American principle
of freedom of naturalization and denationalization. With Russia
she has been a faithful friend, and, like Switzerland, she has en
grafted on her own political system the American principle of gov
ernment by confederation of states. It is a proud thing to see that
system established by the most powerful of the states on the Euro
pean Continent. It promises nothing less, though perhaps in a
distant future, than the abolition of military despotism for main
taining the balance of power. Germany, if her magnanimity shall
be equal to her prosperity, will be content hereafter to promote
the welfare of mankind, through the arts of peace, rather than to
seek greater dominion by war and violence.
Hamburg, September 12th.^— Crossing the river Spree, passing
pretty Charlottenburg, and reaching the Havel, we leave behind
us the suburban cultivation and taste of Berlin, and enter on a

712 EUROPE.
plain where sand and marsh intermingle. Only Germans could
utilize a soil so worthless, but they use it in every way. For cen
turies the writing- world has relied upon these plains for their
goose-quills. Of national frontiers, there have been more than
enough on this plain. These boundaries have now become merely
departmental divisions of the German Empire. We came to the
Elbe at Wittenberg, and foUowed its banks to Hamburg.
You realize, on the moment of arrival at Hamburg, that you
are in a free city. No demand of passports, and no custom-house
inspection of luggage, no espionage, no intrusive curiosity. Ham
burg is not so majestic as Vienna, so poetic as Venice, so classic as
Florence, nor so elegant as Paris, and yet it is a rich and beautiful
city, pleasant to look upon. With exquisite art, they have gath
ered the rapid little Alster, no larger than the east branch of the
Potomac at Bladensburg, into pretty crystal lakes, lending a Vene-
etian charm to the beautiful palaces and villas of the merchant-
princes which crown the shores. And Hamburg has one beauty
which even Yenice has not — the beauty of broad and ornamented
lawns and gardens. But the Germans are a practical people, and
the beauty of Hamburg is its smallest boast. A commercial city,
the oldest of Northern Europe, it is the only one that has never
known a decline of prestige. The early commerce of the Elbe
was lost, like that of the Mediterranean ports, as a consequence of
the discoveries of Columbus and Vasco de Gama. But it has been
effectually replaced by a richer and more comprehensive one. The
flags of all nations are here, and vessels from all ports crowd the
channel. Hamburg's most profitable commerce is that which is at
the same time most beneficial to the United States. It is the chief
port of emigration. Our glimpses of Germany, though they have
been hasty, have modified our opinion on the character of this emi
gration. The German emigrants go, not so much to escape from
want, as from a spirit of emulation and improvement.
Here, under the apprehension of inclement weather on land,
and winter-storms at sea, we reluctantly relinquish our projected
journey through Denmark and Sweden to Russia. Our explora
tion of four continents ends to-day. We embark on the steamer

HAMBURG.

ON THE THAMES. 713
Berlin. Her cabins are filled with merchants and their families
who two days hence will be undistinguishable in the streets of
London, and her decks are crowded with sheep which will be
served up to them as real " Southdown mutton."
On the Thames, September 14th. — The broad estuary contracts
so rapidly as to bring into view the coast outline. Before reach
ing Gravesend, the activity of the shipping impresses you with the
conviction that you are approaching the greatest commercial mart
of the world. Steamers, pouring out clouds of black smoke, are
crossing in what seems a maze. Sailing-vessels, with a fair wind,
are passing upward, and vessels with sails furled are towed by tugs
down the river. The undulating shores appear, on which trees,
orchards, gardens, and lawns, relieve the brown of autumn. On
our left is the entrance of the Medway, on our right the harbors
of Lea and Thames Haven. Steam seems to be a despot on land
as well as on the water. Stationary engines at docks, wharves,
manufactories, locomotive-engines hurrying to and from London,
meet your eyes everywhere. We passed the Great Eastern, at an
chor, in dignified retirement. At the beginning of our war it was
suggested to buy this noble vessel. It was a conclusive objection
that, although she could carry ten thousand troops, she could not
reach a landing-place in the insurgent States. Equally impracti
cable for commerce, she proved her adaptation to only one of the
enterprises of the day, but that perhaps the noblest of them all —
the laying of ocean telegraphic cables.
Entering the great marine gate-way of England, every thing
seems in strong and cheerful contrast to the countries where we
have been. No Indian wigwam, no heathen temple, no mosque,
no Catholic or Greek cathedral, no fortification, no grotesque cos
tumes, no half-clad or naked savages, Arabs, serfs, fellahs, or coolies
— only on shore a universal manufacture, and on the water merchant-
vessels, bearing the world's exchanges, and ships-of-war to defend
and protect them — no despotic nor imperial nor feudal power — the
law supreme and equal — London shows, at the first glance, that it
is the great heart of human activity. Every enterprise of war or

714 EUROPE.
peace, every campaign, canal, and railroad, on either continent of
this great globe, derives from London the credit which is its life.
The river contracts. Gravesend, Woolwich, White Bait Tav
ern, the Dreadnaught, Nelson's flag ship at Trafalgar, all crowd
fast upon us.
And now we give up our keys to the polite custom-house
officer, who is content with the pretence of search. And now we
leave the steamer, and study, as we drive on, the scenes of low Lon
don Hfe, not the illustrations of Cruikshank, but the actual charac
ters portrayed by " Boz." Here is Captain Cuttle, and there is the
little wooden midshipman at the door of Solomon Gill's shop. Here
is QuUp's figure-head, and here is Susan Nipper, and even little
Nell. We go on through the city, we turn up Bishopsgate Street,
and pass the Tower and St. Paul's, and so on through crowded
Cheapside, Charing Cross, and Covent Garden, and St. James's,
untU we stop at last at Fenton's Hotel. Who could have expected
to see all London before reaching his lodgings 2
London, September 15th. — As for writing observations upon
London and England so familiarly known by tradition, history,
poetry, romance, and the drama, to say nothing of travellers' books
— as for doing this in the short space of seven days, we are not
going to try.
Mr. Seward spent the morning in Downing Street with Mr.
Hammond, the experienced Under Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, and the no less accomplished Mr. Merivale, Under Secretary
for India. With the former he discussed the policy of the Western
nations in regard to China, and seemed to please the latter by the
testimony he bore to the prudent, wise, and beneficent administra
tion of Earl Mayo, Lord Napier, and Sir William Muir.
The various bureaux seem to show that the machinery of ad
ministration in Great Britain has been contrived to secure caution
and deliberation at the expense of time ; while in the United States
the more simple constitution of the departments gives greater
promptness and dispatch, at the risk, perhaps, of precipitancy. We
no longer wonder at the blunder of the British Government in faU-

ENGLISH RURAL LIFE. 715
ing to stop the Alabama, when we see that no secretary could
move in that question until he had the studied opinion of the "law
advisers of the crown." The Government of the United States has
only one legal adviser, the Attorney-General, who sits in the Cab
inet, and advises, like other heads of departments, without having
questions specially referred to him, except on extraordinary occa
sions. The Council for India, the Council for the Colonies, the Board
of Trade, and the other administrative councils, are each of them
a numerous body, and examine and pronounce upon every ques
tion, before the presiding minister takes action. In this complex
machinery the British Government does not differ from all the
other governments of Europe. Hence the tedious and vexatious
delays which have brought diplomacy under popular suspicion and
reproach. It is only in parts of France, and in England, and the United
States, that rural life has an aspect of contentment and happiness.
While the dweUings of the rich landholders here immeasurably sur
pass, in magnificence as well as numbers, the most ambitious rural
residences in the United States, the villages and cottages of the
peasantry, on the other hand, hold no comparison with the cheerful
rural towns and comfortable dwellings of the American farmers.
But the minute subdivision and high cultivation of the fields, to
gether with the general elegance of plantations and gardens, give
to the landscape of England an air of repose, comfort, health, and
beauty, which, as yet, has not been approached among us. To these
attractions the historical associations, as well as those of poetry and
romance, impart an additional charm.
We think the impression that London makes upon an Amer
ican, who sees more of political, commercial, and social activity
and energy at home, is one of dulness and monotony, leading
him to wish to escape from it as soon as possible. On the con
trary, when he comes to the rural scenes of England, he wishes
that he might remain there always. Such, at least, were the pass
ing sentiments awakened in us by our short excursion from Wind
sor through Eton to Stoke Poges. There is a softness of the

716 EUROPE.
atmosphere which seems not only to harmonize but to blend with
the dark-green shade of the gardens and lawns, and
"All the air a solemn stillness holds."
We close our visit in London with a deep conviction that Eng
lish and American society are approximating to each other — that in
the United States we are assuming more of the constancy and con
sistency of the English habit ; while in England there is a manifest
tendency to adopt the active and vivacious ways of American life.
There are sufficient grounds to explain the jealousies which, rising
into antipathies, have until just now alienated the two nations. It
was unwise to expect that the British nation would forgive the
Revolutionary separation, and would honor her new and rival kin
dred state, so long as the stability and perpetuity of the Federal
Union were deemed experimental. They were necessarily deemed
experimental, all over the world as well as in the United States, so
long as the institution of slavery threatened dissolution. So far
from its having been a matter of just surprise that the Southern
cause received so much of sympathy and encouragement in the
aristocratic circles of England, it is rather to be wondered at that it
received no more, since it promised nothing less than our inferiority,
not only in present prestige but in destiny, to the empire from
which we had so boldly separated. Since slavery has ceased to ex
ist throughout the United States, there can be no new cause of
alienation. The two nations must be rivals, not in arms, for neither
has need for conquest ; but in science, arts, literature, agriculture,
commerce, and navigation, and in the invention which leads to suc
cess in all things. Rivalry of this sort is magnanimous rather than
inimical. Moreover, each nation is inclined, by peculiar character
and habits, to enterprise and exertion, in different fields from those
of the other.
On board the Steamer Java, Queenstown, September 24th. — We
are taking our last look on foreign lands, exactly a year from the
day when we had our first glimpse of them as we approached the
coast of mountain-crowned Japan. How suggestive is barbarous

STEAMER PASSENGERS. 717
Japan, rising buoyantly to grasp civilization, while Ireland, a civil
ized land, endures the agony of a broken heart ! But Ireland is
beautiful in her sadness, and the sympathies of mankind assure her
of a future.
Here, on the Java, we have an equal number of Americans
going home after short visits of business or pleasure in Europe.
All classes are represented — merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors,
engineers, professors, clergymen, college-students, students of mu
sic and the fine arts — more inquisitive, more active, more commu
nicative, and less economical in dress and habits than the English.
They are social and polite ; they talk incessantly, and mostly of
" business " and American politics, of emigration, education, inter
oceanic railroads, intercontinental telegraphs, civilization, and prog
ress generaUy. They assert their opinions confidently, and ask,
"Why not 2" The gentlemen drink champagne as freely as if it
were a native beverage, and smoke large " Habanas," where Euro
peans allow themselves a pipe or a cigarette. The ladies, in unex
ceptionable toilets and full of vivacity, sustain their share in con
versation upon all topics, from the fashions and the opera at Paris to
the glaciers of the Alps, the arts of Italy, the literature of Germany,
and the politics and religion of all nations, showing no special re
gard for the theories and opinions of their husbands — indeed, with
out special inquiry, one would hardly know which of the ladies are
married, and to which of the gentlemen. The children are finished
little people, who have been abroad to study the European lan
guages, and have learned them all, with a great deal more. The
girls read French novels and the latest English poems, and the boys
play at cards and chess.
It is only when we are leaving Europe that we realize the im
mense increase of the foreign travel, intercourse, and trade, of the
United States. Steamers plying between European and American
ports are crossing the Atlantic every day in the year. The Cunard
line, only one of many, employs twenty steamers in this great
trade. The stormy Atlantic navigation has become so common
and so- certain as to have lost all its terrors. It is a sad reflection
that this great navigation is conducted chiefly in foreign instead of

718 EUROPE.
American bottoms. But the loss of our heretofore prominent share
in it is one of the penalties of our civU war — a loss which will be
all the sooner retrieved by the Hquidation of the national debt and
the restoration of the national currency. Meantime, we may be
content with the employment of the energies of our people in
developing resources greater than any other nation possesses. One
of the Cunard proprietors says that the profits of the Hne are not
derived exclusively or mainly from cabin-passengers, or even from
freights, but from the transportation of emigrants. We discovered
a similar fact in regard to the trade of the Pacific. If the annual
accession of three hundred thousand immigrants, who generally
are of the humbler classes of Europe, has already produced a
beneficent modification of society and government, then it cannot
be doubted that this perpetual and always increasing intercourse
between America and Europe must exert a strong and healthful in
fluence upon European nations. Doubtless the United States send
many frivolous and idle pleasure-seekers abroad, and at the cost of
much wealth, but they send at the same time vastly more of enter
prising, inventive, and thoughtful inquirers and observers; and
that cannot be a losing intercourse for us which brings us foreign
labor, industry, invention, and skill, in compensation for the annual
surplus of our material productions.
Montrose-on-Hudson, October 2d. — A dense fog compelled us
to go to anchor just below Quarantine at three o'clock this morn
ing. In apprising our friends of our coming, we had request
ed that they would meet us in the harbor of New York. The
Java had anticipated the expected day of arrival by twenty four
hours, so all things favored our desire to avoid the fatigue and
delay of landing in the city. On a signal, our friends met us with
a steam-yacht at our anchorage. The cu6tom-house inspector
cleared our luggage promptly ; the Quarantine officer made no
hesitation in giving us certificates of health ; the passengers of the
Java gave us three cheers on our disembarking.
We touched at the Battery, and at Jersey City, to take on board
other friends waiting there, and at two o'clock the Henry Smith

RETURN HOME. 719
landed us at Verplanck's Point, near the house of Frederick W.
Seward, to the surprise of the citizens whose obscure port had never
before witnessed a direct arrival from Europe, since the day when
Hendrick Hudson first landed there from the Half Moon.
Auburn, October 9th. — Commodore Vanderbilt's private car, the
finest and most comfortable conveyance we have found in the
whole circuit of the globe, brought us over the New York Central
Railroad to our destination here at nine o'clock this evening, ex
actly one year and two months from the day of our departure. We
entered the station by its eastern door-way. A crowd of kind
friends and neighbors met us at the station, and attended us home,
where, in their behalf, Mr. Myers made an appropriate speech of
welcome. Mr. Seward replied :
" The words which you have spoken to me, and the pressure of
the hand which you have given me, are what I knew I might ex
pect, and yet what I would willingly have avoided. I have taxed
my neighbors and friends so often and so long that I have begun
to feel that, when I go away, I would like to slip away from them,
and to soften the sadness of parting as the nearest of domestic rela
tions do when they part. And, when I come back, I like to go in
upon them by surprise, and meet them in their accustomed walks
and ways, rather than to trouble them to come out to greet me.
" Still it is what has always happened to me in the course of so
many years. Whenever I have had occasion to go out of Auburn,
sometimes nearer and sometimes farther, sometimes upon errands
of duty, sometimes of study, sometimes of labor, sometimes of pub
lic responsibility, and sometimes of private interest, I never was
suffered to part from my friends here without demonstrations of
their affection.
" It has often been my lot to come back among you. Some
times from fields of achievement which have excited, or might ex
cite envy — sometimes defeated and with mortification, sometimes
with domestic sorrow, which cannot be lightly spoken of, and some
times with public anxiety which could not be expressed — yet I

720 EUROPE.
have never come home without being received as a neighbor and
friend. " Such neighbors deserve all the affection and all the gratitude
I can give them. I can only ask you to believe that, in all my
wanderings far and near, there has not been a day or hour when I
have not remembered them, and prayed God that what I might not
be able to do for their welfare and happiness, might be done through
other agencies.
" My friends, we are met together, I trust, not to part again.
I have had a long journey, which, in its inception, seemed to many
to be eccentric, but I trust that all my neighbors and friends are
now satisfied that it was reasonable. I found that, in returning
home to the occupations which were before me, I was expected to
enjoy rest from labors and cares which were thought to have been
oppressive and severe. I found that at my age, and in my condi
tion of health, ' rest was rust ; ' and nothing remained, to prevent
rust, but to keep in motion. I selected the way that would do the
least harm, give the least offence, enable me to acquire the most
knowledge, and increase the power, if any remained, to do good.
" In the course of my wanderings I have seen, not aU the na
tions, but some of the nations, of every race on the earth. I have
looked the whole human family in the face, and taken by the hand
and conversed with my fellow-man in his lowest degradation and
in his highest stage of civilization. I have found no nation so dis
tant, and no race so low, that the character of an American citizen
did not secure to me, not merely safety, but also respect, considera
tion, and affection. You may judge, therefore, whether in return
ing to my own country I have less reason to love and honor it.
"My friends and neighbors, I have trespassed beyond your
patience and my own strength in speaking these words to you. I
give you my sincere and heart-felt thanks, and hope to-morrow, and
on early future days, to learn that happiness has been in all your
dweUings, and that all the enterprises in which you are engaged
have been crowned with success, as I know there wiU be at all
your firesides, during the long winter before us, the same affection
and friendship which have been the great happiness of my life."

MAP SHOWING MR. SEWARD'S ROUTE THROUGH ASIA, AFRICA, AND EUROPE.

INDEX.

PAGE
Absalom, tomb of.  597
Abydos  526-530
A. C. Farnham & Co  254
Aden  470,473
Agra  387
Akbar, Emperor  388-395
Alaska  33
Alaska, steamer  226
Albert, Prince  361
Altauquerque  454
Alcock, Sir Rutherford  137
Alden, Timothy  409
Alexander the Great  397
Alexandria  570-574
Alexandrian Library  575
Ali Murad Effendi  535
Allahabad  385, 437
Alps, the  ."  685
Altai Mountains  118
Amenophis III  544
Americans in Egypt  504, 505
American legation at Yeddo  53
 officer in Turkish service  646
 officers in Egypt  573
Antonelli, Cardinal  ".  674, 675
Apollo, steamer  605, 606
Appleton, Mr  706
Arcot  338,339
Arcot Mission  344
Arabia  469
Arab kindness to animals  624
Ariadne, Marryat's vessel  573
Argyll, Duke of.  349
54

PAGE
Armenian merchant  347
Asceticism  445
Aschmann, Captain  687
Ashuelot, U. S. steamer  110, 111, 206
Assouan.  555, 556
Athens  627-632
Auburn, departure from  3
Auger, General, kind attentions of . . . . 9
Augustine Heard & Co  254
Aurengzebe  410
Austria, remarks on  666, 668
Avery, Mr  27
Azhar, Mosque of  511
Baboo, a Hindoo  ^54
Bachelor, Captain  69
Bailey, Mr  232, 255
Bancroft, Mr  709
Bandong  298, 302
 Regent of.  299
Bannermen, Chinese  143
Banoo Begum  398
Barrackpore  368
Barrow, General  386
Batavia  280, 284
Bayard Taylor  409, 413
Beardsley, Mr., U. S. consul  579
Bedouin Arabs  488
Beebe, Mr  206
Behar, steamer  316
Belgium  708
Bell, Admiral  79
Bellianeh  526

722

INDEX.

Benares  372-384
 Maharajah of  375
Bengal, Bay of  351
Benzoni  680
Bergh, Mr  120
Berlin  708, 709
Beme  687
Berthemy, M  137, 686
Bertinatti, Signor  701
Bethany  599
Betts Bey  483, 525, 566, 571
Bethlehem  594-596
Bettos, Japanese foot-boys  66
Beust, Count  665, 666
Bhan Daji  448, 449
Birds, Calcutta  359
Birthday, Mr. Seward's seventieth  533
Black Hole, Calcutta  ,  364
Blacque Bey  648, 653
Bliss, Dr  605
Bogue Forts  234
Bom Jesus, Church of, at Goa  455
Bombay  442-4
Book-store at Yeddo  67
Bosporus, the  643-646
Boston  353
Botanical Gardens, Batavia  311
Bradley, General  11
Bramin beggar, a  343
Bridges, litigation about  7
British and French in China  176
British hospitality  438
L :ttan, Miss  370, 371
Brown, John P  634-636
Bruce, Sir Frederick  133
Buda-Pesth  '.  658
Buddha  378
 Temple of  159
Buddhist temple and bonzes in Japan . 43
Buddhists in China  159
Buddhism, Chinese  242, 243
Buitenzorg  285
Bull, Pardon & Co  254
Bulwer, Sir Henry  572, 573
Burne, Major  352
Burlingame, Anson. 97, 131, 133, 138,
143, 168, 169, 200
Busteed & Co  271
Butler, Mr., a colored American  101
Byculla Club.. ,  451
 Mr. Seward's speech to  460

PAGE
Cairo  492, 567
 old  508
Calcutta  352, 353
California, caprices of civilization. ... 27
Caliphs, tombs of  509
Calvary  588, 589
Cambodia  266
 Queen of  268
Cambyses  542
Camoens at Goa  458
Campbell, Governor, of Wyoming  11
Canada, remarks on  5
Canals of Egypt  521
Canal, Great Chinese  117, 224
Canton  233, 252
 fisheries  254
Cary, Alice  464
Cascade at Bandong  303
Caste in India  333
Cataracts of the Nile  560
Cauverypak  340
Cavour, Count  683
Cawnpore  386
Cedar Rapids, an inchoate Western
city  7
Cemetery at Assouan  557
Cesnola collection  615, 616
Ceylon  320-322
Cham-Ping-Chow  194
Chee-Foo  106, 107
Cherif Pacha  504
Cheyenne  9, 10
Chicago, a marvel of progress  6
China, agriculture of  119
 its national flag  133
 relations of, with Russia  138
 decay of  153
 materialism in  153
 deities of  158
 diplomacy of  169, 170
 Romanism in  195
 civilization in, Mr. Seward's re
marks on  *  258-261
Chinese Americans  134
 baby  188
 banquet  144
 boudoir  148
 cabinet  140
 carriages  174
 civilization  258-261
 emigration  253, 254

INDEX.

723

Chinese emperor's summer palace  176
 funeral  127
 inns  194
 loug nails  149
 returning home  30
 tablet hall  157
 Temple of Buddha  159
 theatricals  220
 wall  172, 182, 185, 186
Chin-Kiang  210, 225
Chin-Lun  203
Chin-Wangti  189
Chi-Tajen and Sun-Tajen. 97, 100, 169, 197, 198
Citadel of Cairo  505
Civilization of the Mediterranean, 681, 682
Clive, Lord  334, 339
Cockburn, Admiral  331, 447, 475
Cochin China  262-268
Coles, Mr  166
Coliseum, the  672, 673
Cologne  708
Colorado, U. S. steamer, 95, 102, 208,
226, 228
Colored settlement at Chatham  5
Colossi of Thebes  543, 544
Concert at Calcutta  361
Concessions, Foreign, in China  95
Confucius  163, 164
 Temple of  .„  , ... 161
Constantinople, arrival at  633
 charms of.  637-639'
Cook, Captain.  574
Copts, the  508
Columbia, steamer  320
Comprador, Chinese  227
Cornwallis, Lord  334, 335
Council Bluffs  7
Council, Legislative, of Madras  335
Cunningham, General  408
Cyprus  614
Daibutz, statue of Buddha  47
Dak, the  406
Dalling, Lord  571
Dancing-girls, Javanese  304, 305
Danube River  663, 664
Darwin, his theory  440
Dashur, Pyramids of.  565
Day, loss of a day  32
Decima, island of.  86

PAGE
De Long, minister to Japan, 38, 49, 62, 69, 73
Delmonico of Yeddo, the  63
Dutch steamer, a  274-279
Dwarfs, Javanese  300, 3U5, 306
Delaplaine, Mr  665
Delhi  404-413
Delos  621
Delta of Egypt  569
De Montbolon  137
Dendera, Temple of.  531-533
Dervishes, dancing  511-513
Detroit  5
De Trobriand, General  15
Dogs, Chinese  112
Doorga, the monkey-god  383
Drew, Mr  214
Drouyn de Lhuys, M  701, 702
Dutch colonization  297
Eden, Calcutta  360
Echo, a marvellous  224
Edfou  554
 architect of  554
Edinburgh, Duke of  208, 319
Egypt, population of.  491, 492
Egyptians, ancient  576, 577
Egyptian kings, tombs of.  546
 relics  506, 507
E. J. Sage & Co  254
El-Aksa  592, 593
Elcho  22, 23
Eldridge, Mr  374
Elephanta  448^50
Elephantina  655
Elephants at Putteeala  417, 422 .
England, rural life in  715
English and American society  716
Epaulets, influence of  122
Ephesus  617-621
Esneh  551,553
Eugenie, Empress  498, 1 504
 escape of.  703-706
Evans, Dr  703-706
Farnham, Mr., U. S. consul, Bombay.. 442
Fellahs of Egypt  523
Finkelstein, Benjamin  579
Firman, Sultan's, to Mr. Seward  684
Fisheries, Northern treaty for  34
Fitz, Mr  217-219

724

INDEX.

PAGE
Fitzgerald, Sir Seymour  442, 444
Florence  670, 671
Flotilla, Mr. Seward's, on the Pei-ho, 113-115
Flowery Forest Temple, Canton  241
Forbes, Murray  231
Formosa, island of.  230
Forte, H B. M. ship  331
Fort St. George  334
 William  370
France, condition of  690-692
Franco-German War, near approach of, 31
Franklin  694
Fraser, Mr. and Mrs  209
Freeman, William. .9, 70, 71, 126, 130,
192, 208, 425, 426
French affairs  706, 707
 Assembly  695-697
 and British in China  176
 colonization in the East  266
 inscription at Philas  561
Furs at Peking  136
Fusi Yarna  33, 34
Futtehpore Sikra  388, 390
Gallatin  688
Galle, Ceylon  320
Ganges River  373
— — festival on  375
Geneva  685
Genoa  682
Geoffroy, M   697
Gerolt, Baron  709
Ghizeh  517, 566
Gindy House  347
 Park, Madras  346
Goa, excursion to  451-459
 population of  457
Gobat, Bishop  600, 604
Golden Island  225
Goshen, land of  489
Government House, Calcutta  358
Grant, President, at Chicago  6
 Mr  438
Great Britain, Government of  714, 715
Greece, modern  '  632
Greek architecture  550, 631
 costume  622
 church  600
 language  632
Grevy, M  695

PAGE
Grey, Dr  235, 249
Gyascutus, the  33
Hainan Island  262
Hamburg  711, 712
Hamlin, Dr  641
Hammond, Mr  714
Han River  216
Han-Kow  216
Han-Yan  217, 219
Harem of the Khedive  493, 513-515
 of U. S. vice-consul at Thebes. . . 563
Hart, Robert  196, 197
Hastings, Mr., Mr. Seward's old friend, 26
Hatason, Queen  541, 548
Hawes, Captain  113, 206
Hay, Mrs  605
Heber, Bishop  330
Helena, Empress  587, 589
Heliopolis  503
Herodotus  502
H. Fogg & Co  254
Himalayas, first view of  415
 a glance at  431
Hindoo girls' school, Madras  328, 348
 names  329
 tenderness for animals  440
Hiogo  76, 77
Hoang-ho, mouth of  104
Holy Sepulchre, Church of  685-587
Honan Temple  240
Hong-Kong  230-232
 gamblers  255
Hoogly River  351
Horses, Japanese care of  67
Horsford, Captain  415, 417, 425
Hue, Father  217
Hughes, Archbishop  677
Humayoon  406, 409
Humboldt  709
Hungary  658-663
Hurdwar  415
Hyden  172
Idol-worship, folly of  566, 667
India, secret of its dependence  330
 government  382
 caste  333
 discontent with English rule  357
 finances of.  366
 scenery  373

INDEX.

725

PAGE
India, opium  374
 history  405, 406
 Mr. Seward's remarks on leav
ing  465-469
Indians, destiny of.  23
Inland Sea of Japan  83
Interpreter, Japanese  57
Ishtabashi, Mr  69, 73
Island, a floating  277
Isles of Greece, the  621
Ismailia  483-487
Ismail Pacha, Khedive of Egypt. . 486, 515
Israelites' passage of the Red Sea, 481, 482
Italy  669-684
Jacobs, Mr  352
Jade, Chinese  239
Jaffa  578, 579
Japan, coast of.  33
 population of  38
 " concession " to foreigners in . . . 38
 people of.  38, 45
 costumes  39
 barbers  39
 gathering of crops  43
 laws about trees  43
 tea-houses  44
 history of  52-54
 Foreign Office  54
 artisans  66
 especial reasons for prudence. ... 75
 Christianity in  87, 88
 society and civilization  88-93
Japanese ambassadors to the United
States, their fate  65
 travellers  262
Java  280-318
 populousness of  284
 scenery  286
 government  287
 climate  288
 vegetation  289
 birds  289
 fruit  291
 agriculture  294
 Dutch management of. ... . 297,
298, 312, 314
 steamer  716, 717
Jay, John  665
Jehanara, tomb of.  410
Jejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetjee  443

PAGE
Jerusalem  581-604
 population of  596
Jesuits in China  140
Jewell, Mr  271
 Mr., U. S. consul at Penang  316
Jew, an American  598
Jews of Jerusalem  600-604
Jews' wailing-place  601
Jiddah  479
Jubbulpoor  438
Juggernaut, car of  343
Jugglers, Hindoo  423, 424
Jumna, banks of the  431 '
 Musjid, the  410, 411
Junk, Chinese  105
Kali Ghaut  362
Kalka  433, 436
Kamakula, ancient capital of Japan ... 46
Kanagawa, excursion to  44
Kang, Chinese  181
Kang-Hi, Chinese emperor  140
Karnak  534-538
 columns at  539
Kenneh  564
Khedive of Egypt  486, 490-492, 566-568, 570
Khedive's yacht  574
Kiartta  146
KiamU Pacha  637, 648-650
Kiamil, Princess  649, 650
Kincob, manufacture of  383
Kinder, Captain  82
King Cotton  401
King, General  11
Knapp, Charles  483
Kossuth  662, 663
Kootub Minar, the  406, 407
Kublai-Khan  166
Ku-Kiang  214, 223
Kung, Prince  142
 letter from  198
 interview with  199-203
Kussowlee  433-435
Laboulaye, M  209, 703
Larnica  615
Laurens, Henry  335
Lebanon  606
Le-miug-Che, Taou-tai of Han-Kow. . . . 226
Lesseps, M  484, 485, 487

726

INDEX.

PAGE
Levantine steamer  578
Lincoln, Mr  334
Lion-whelps  351
Little Orphan Island  213
Little Stork Pagoda  221
London  714
Louis XIV  688
Louise, Sister  195
Low, Mr., 127, 130, 132, 137, 138, 141,
146, 168, 170, 201, 204
Low, Mrs  199
Lowe, Mr  296
Loyola, Ignatius  140, 455
Lucknow  386
Ludlow Castle  404, 413
Luke, tomb of  618
Luxor  534, 535-537, 563
Lydda  580
Lyons, Lord  693
Madras  327
 surf at  350
Mahmoud of Ghuznee  389
 Canal  570
Major, Captain  454
Malacca, Straits of  275, 317
Malays  276-278, 313
Mamelukes, weapons of  505
Mandarin procession, a  ' 96
Mangum, Mr. and Mrs  88
Manockjee Cursetjee  444
Marco Polo  346
Mariette Bey  501, 507, 561
Marmora, Sea of  622
Marryat's ship Ariadne  573
Marsh, Mr  670
Martin, Dr  199, 202, 203
Mataria  504
Mayo, Countess of  352
 Earl  352, 353, 366
 death of, note  437
McAlister, Mr  352
McAlpine, W. J  653
Medeenet Haboo  : . 545, 550, 553
Mediterranean Hotel  583
Meerut  414
Memnon  544
 Temple of  527
Memphis  565, 566
Mencs  528
Mercier, Henri, M  701

PAGE
Merivale, Mr  714
Middleton, Mr  114, 192
Mikado, the  52-54
 palace of the  70
 Mr. Seward's audience with.. . . 69—74
Ming tombs, China  189
Miracle at Goa  456
Missionaries, American  29
 at Peking  ^04
Mogul Serai  375
Mohammed Tauphik  504
Mongolians, the  185
Monkey, a tippling  525
Monkeys, thieving, their malice  441
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, letters
of.  496
Montholon, M  701
Montrose-on-Hudson  718
Mormons, The  16, 17
Mormon polygamy  20, 21
 Tabernacle  17
Mosque of Mehemet Ali  606
 Pearl  389
Mount of Olives, mosque on  598
Muir, Lady  386
 Sir William  385
Mule, an excited  438
Music, Hindoo  336, 337
Musician, a Japanese  64
Myer, Governor-General of Java . 289, 293
Myt-Rahyneh  566
Nagasaki  82, 85, 87
Names, historical and geographical .... 7
Nanking  211
Nan-Kow, China  179
 Pass  180, 183
Napier, Captain  327
 Lady  328
 Lord  327, 328
Naples  681
Napoleon 1  686
Nautch-girls  343, 377
Necker  688
Nectanebus  555
Nederlanden, Koningin der  274, 275
Neilgherry Mountains  339
Nerbudda, a night-voyage on the  439
New York, arrival at  718
 Western  4
Niagara Falls  4

INDEX.

727

PAGE
Nile, the  520-568
 cataracts of.  560
 native mode of crossing  562
Nippon-bas, the famous bridge  60, 61
Nomenclature of mountain scenery. . . 13
Noubar Pacha  504
Nourmahal, the light of the harem. . . 398
Nubians  556
Obelisk quarry at Assouan  558
Ocean Banner-Temple, Canton  240
Olga, Queen of Greece  632
Oliphant & Co  254
Omaha, characters at  7-9
Omar, Mosque of  590-593
On, city of.  503
Opium in India  374
Opium-smoking in China  247
Ord, Governor of Penang  316
Orsova  6, 58
Osaka  77,79-82
Oude, King of  366
 Prince of.  366, 367
Pacha at Cairo, conversation with.. 568, 569
Pacific mail line steamers  29
Pacific Ocean  29
Page, Mr., U. S. consul at Port Said. .. 575
Pagodas, Chinese  122
Palace, Imperial, at Delhi  411,412
 'New, at Constantinople  646, 647
Palestine, impressions of  607, 614
 population of.  611
 invaders of  612
 religions of  610
 women of.  611
 regeneration of  613
 improvement in  614
 missions in  614
 telegraphs and railroads in  614
Palikao, battle of  126
Panch Mahal, the  392, 393
Pariahs  343
Paris  690
Parker, Theodore, tomb of  671
Parkes, Sir Harry, British minister to
Japan  60, 178
Parsees, the  444-447
Parsons, Major  435
Passengers on steamer Java  717
Passports  686
Patna  373

Pe-chee-lee, Gulf of.  104-107, 207
Pei-ho River  109, 110
Peking, first sight of.  127
 Mr. Seward's entrance into  129
 wall of.  132
 foreign population of.  134, 136
 Legationsat  136-138
 palace in  164
 birds in  165
Pells, Mr  281, 283, 287
Penang, island of  317
Pepin, King  686
Peruvian bark in Java  307
Pesth  659-661
Pharos  574
Pbike  559-561
Philippine Islands  271
Phaanix, the Arabian  503
Photographer, a Chinese  151
Pigeon-English  206
Pilate, palace of  590, 600
Pillsbury, Mr  107
Pindarrie  432-436
Plymouth Rock, steamer  209, 226
Poet, a Portuguese, at Goa  459
Poets, Chinese  145
Point de Galle  320
Politicians at Omaha  8
Polygamy in Egypt and Utah. . . . 496, 497
Pompey's Pillar  572, 573
Pondicherry  323
Poon-ting-gua's villa  244, 245
Pope Pius IX  675-679
Porcelain Tower, the  212
Port Said  574, 575
Portuguese Empire  458
 courtesy  459
 settlement, Madras  3*5
Po-Yang, Lake  213
Prawiro da Kedya  296
Preachers on steamer China  29
Prime-minister, Japanese  71
Provence, steamer  262
Prussia, historical sketch of.  709, 710
Ptolemy Philopater  654
Pulpit Rock  14
Pumpelly, Mr  174
Putteeala  416-430
 Maharajah of.  360, 415, 421-423
 Prince of  427
Pyramids, the  498-502

728

INDEX.

PAGE
Quarries at Assouan  558
Radhe, Adhepathe  298
Rahden, Saleh-, Javanese prince  312
Railway, East India  373, 374
 Madras and Arcot  338
Ralston, Mr., entertainment by  26
Rameses  529
 II  641
 sarcophagus of.  584
 tomb of  547
Ramesis III., temple of  549
Ramleh  579, 580
Randall, A. W  4, 84, 102, 209
Ranepet  339, 340
Ranke, Dr  709
Read, Mr  706
Red Jacket, anecdote of.  32
Red Sea, the  479-482
Rehfues, Baron, German minister at
Peking  137
Remusat, M  695
Reno  24
Rhodah  518, 564
Riberio, a Portuguese poet  459
Rice cultivation in India  341
Risley, Hanson A  4
 Miss  I . . 129, 130
Robert College  641, 642
Rochefort, Count, French minister at
Peking  137
Rocky Mountains, uses of  12
Rodgers, Admiral  95, 98, 102,
106, 107, 113, 140, 145, 186, 192,
201, 202, 208
Rodman, Mr  114, 192
Romanism in China  195, 196
Rome  ,  671-681
 Church of, in China  139
Rose, Mr  214, 223
Rosetta  575
Rublee, Mr  687
Russell & Company  95, 231, 235
Russia, relations with China  138
Russian minister at Peking  136, 137
Ryots  341
Sacramento, society of  25
Said Pacha  484
Saigon city  264, 265
 River, mouth of.  263

PAGE
Saint Thomas, apostle  469
Sakkara, Pyramid of.  518, 556
Saladin  505
Salina, Augusta  544
Salt Lake city  15
San Francisco  26-28
Sao Januario, Viscount de  454
Sarnath, Buddhist ruins at  379
Sawa, Japanese Minister of Foreign Af
fairs  568, 570, 572
Science, Hall of, at Peking  139
Schofield, General  27
Schung Hao, Chinese ambassador  693
Seudder, missionary  344
Secundra  388, 396
Senter, Mr  77
Separation, a settlement on the Rocky
Mountains  12
Septimus Severus  544
Seraglio  640
Serampore  369
Server Pacha  636
Setis  529, 540
Seven Sleepers, the  618
Seward, Mr., declines Japanese invita
tion to a great banquet  49
 his interview with Japanese for
eign minister  56-59
 gives audience at U. S. consulate. 65
 audience with Mikado  69
 opinions on France  102, 103
 meets an acquaintance on the Col
orado  106
 friendly reception at Tung-Chow, 125
 entrance into Peking  129
 audience of imperial cabinet. . . . 140
 age  144
 views on the Great Wall of China, 186, 187
 discussion with Mr. Drew on Chi
nese affairs  214
 assault on, at Han-Kow  222
 speech at Kong-Kong  265, 257
 half-way round the world  319
 remarks on finances of India. . . . 365
 speech at Bombay  460
 remarks on India  465-469
 seventieth birthday.  533
 conversation with a pacha at Cai
ro  .-.  568,569
 remarks on ancient Egyptians, 576, 577

INDEX.

729

PAGE
Seward, Mr., firman from the sultan. . 584
 impressions of Palestine. . . . 607, 614
 reception at Constantinople  633
 interview with the Turkish Sultan, 002, 054
 remarks on Turkey  655-657
 reception at Vienna  665
 dinner with M. Thiers. ..'... 698-701
 in Downing Street  714
 return home  719
 speech at Auburn  719, 720
 G. F., consul  95, 112, 114, 192
 Olive Risley  4
Shah Jehan  398, 400, 401
Shan-Tung, steamer  102, 113, 206, 207
Shanghai  94, 98-100, 207
 Promontory  104, 106
Sharon  578
Sheba, the tombs of the Tycoons  59
Sheik, Selim Chisti  391, 392
Shen-Tajen, a Chinese poet  203
Shepard, Mr., U. S. consul at Yeddo. . 38, 69
Sherman, City of.  12
Shishak, King  541
Shoshones, remnant of  23
Shumsh-oodeeu-Altamsh  408
Sierra Nevada, ascent and descent of, 24, 25
Silas E. Burrows & Co  254
Silver Island  225
Simmons, Mrs  209
Singapore  271-274
 steamer  315
Siout  518
Siva, temple of  363
Sjiandjioer, Java  295
Slavery, conservation of. ... '.  25
Smith, Archer & Co., China merchants, 235, 254
Smith, Dr  673
Smithers, Mr  621
Smuggling in China  234
Smyrna  :  616
Socotra  469
Somnath, gates of  389
Soumalans at Aden  474
Southern cross, the  564
Sphinx, the  500, 501
Staempfli, Mr  688
Star of India, order of  361
States, new, influence of  11
Steamer America, meeting on the  30

PAGE
Steamer China  29
Stewart, U. S. consul at Hiogo  76
Stone, Mrs  493
Story's Cleopatra and Sibyl  680
Strabo  546
Suez  4S2
 Canal  483-487
Sugar of Egypt  564
Sultan, Abdul Aziz  635, 636
 Pacha  516, 563-565
 Turkish, Mr. Seward's interview
with  632-654
Sumatra  275, 276
Sunda, Straits of.  278
Surabaya  293, 295
Susa  683
Swinging round the circle  357
Swiss President  687
Switzerland, politics of  687-689
 a miniature America  687
Syra  621, 622
Synagogue, American  602
Taj-Mahal  398, 399
Taku  108, 109
Tankoeban volcano  307
Templars, Knights  669, 670
Temple of Agriculture  155
 of Heaven  154
 of the Great Bell, China  175
 Sir Richard  364, 403
Tenno, see Mikado.
Thames River  713
Thebes  534-540, 550, 563
Theodosius, edict of  561
Thiers, Madame  698
 President  695, 698, 699
Thile, M  709
Thomas, Saint  345
Thoutmosis II. and III  548
Thousand-mile tree  14
Tien-Tsien, massacre at  98, 101,
110, 111, 115, 117, 132, 195, 196, 205
Tigh, Major  415^36
Tilden, Captain  123
Timber from Corea  117
Tinos  621
Tokaido, the Japanese highway  44
Tombs, Chinese, Mr. Seward's remarks
on  190
 Ming, China  189

730

INDEX.

Townsend House, Ogden  15
Travancore, steamer  228
Tuckerman, Mr., U. S. minister to
Greece  630
Tung-Chow  117, 121, 125, 205
Tung-Lu  213
Tung-Tajen, a Chinese poet  203
Turkey, observations on  655-667
Turkish women  644
Tycoon, the Japanese  53, 81
Tycoons, tombs of, at Sheba. . ."  59
Umballa  414-415
United States, progress of trade  717
Universalists, Lincoln's story of  472
Upton, Mr  686
Utah, a wonderful success  _ 21
Valide, Princess  492, 493, 568
Van Dyck, Dr  605
Van Valkenburgh, V. S. minister to
Japan  77, 138
Varna  654
Vasco de Gama  346
Venice  669
Venosta,Visconti  680
Verplanck's Point  719
Versailles  694
Vesuvius  681
Via Dolorosa  590
Victor Emmanuel  680, 683
Vienna  664
Vindhya Mountains  438
Visigapatam, Maharajah of  376
Vlangally, General  29, 132, 136, 203
Wade, Mr. and Mrs  137
Wady, a  489
Wahsatch Mountains  13, 14
Walsh, Mr  38, 70, 71
 a ball at his house  68
Wang, Captain  113, 114
Wan-Siang  142, 143, 167-169, 170
Warden, Mr  102, 132, 227
 Mrs  98, 101
Washburne, Mr  693, 706
Weber Canon  14
 River  .14
Webster and Adams, anecdote of. ... . 125

PAGE
Welti, Mr  687
Wessner, Miss  464
Westropp, Sir M. R  460
Whampoa  234
Wheaton, Chinese translation of.  167
Wheeler, Lieutenant  407
Williams, Dr  132, 168
Wilson, Captain  593
Winslow, Admiral, hero of the Kear-
sarge  27
Women, Chinese, abasement of.  228
Women, Turkish  644
Wood, Mr  620
Woolsey, Dr., daughters of  606
Woosung  94, 102, 208
Wu-Chang  217-219, 221
Wurtz, Mr  670
Wyoming, Territory of.  11
Xavier, St. Francis  87, 455, 456
Yang-Fang, a Chinese pawnbroker  147
 smoking-room  151
 wife  -.  148
Yang-tse  225
Yang-tse-kiang River  209-21 2
Yang-tse-kiang, mouth of.  102, 103
Yeddo  77
 visit to  49
 how built  59
 artisans, artists, and manufac
turers  66
 bay of, storm in  50, 51
Yellow Sea  94, 102, 103
Yokohama, arrival at  37
 bay of.  37
Young, Brigham  17-20, 22
 Colonel  404, 413
 Mr  271, 274
Youssef and his donkey  553
Yuen-Min-Yuen, China  176-179
Yung-Lo, Chinese emperor. 175, 190, 191
Yussef Effendi  590
Zaehariah, tomb of  89?
Zenana mission  370, 371
Zemindars  341
Zuaking  223

THE END.

International Scientific Series.

No.

3STCTW IRE-A-ID-ST.
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