A Woman's Journey Round the World Part 12

I resolved to stop only a few days in Victoria, as it was my wish to arrive at Canton as soon as possible.

In addition to the great politeness he had previously shown me, Captain Jurianse conferred another favour, by allowing me, during my stay here, to live and lodge on board his s.h.i.+p, thereby saving me an expense of 16s. or 24s. {91a} a day; and, besides this, the boat which he had hired for his own use was always at my disposal. I must also take this opportunity of mentioning that I never drank, on board any other vessel, such clear and excellent water--a proof that it is not so easily spoilt by the heat of the tropics, or a protracted period, as is generally imagined. It all depends upon care and cleanliness, for which the Dutch are especially celebrated; and I only wish that every captain would, in this respect at least, imitate their example. It is rather too bad for pa.s.sengers to be obliged to quench their thirst with thick and most offensive water-- a disagreeable necessity I was subjected to on board every other sailing vessel in which I made a voyage of any length.

Victoria is not very pleasantly situated, being surrounded by barren rocks. The town itself has a European stamp upon it, so that were it not for the Chinese porters, labourers, and pedlars, a person would hardly believe he was in China. I was much struck at seeing no native women in the streets, from which it might be concluded that it was dangerous for a European female to walk about as freely as I did; but I never experienced the least insult, or heard the slightest word of abuse from the Chinese; even their curiosity was here by no means annoying.

In Victoria I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the well- known Herr Gutzlaff, {91b} and four other German missionaries. They were studying the Chinese language; and wore the Chinese costume, with their heads shaved like the natives, and with large cues hanging down behind. No language is so difficult to read and write as the Chinese; it contains more than four thousand characters, and is wholly composed of monosyllables. Little brushes dipped in Indian ink are used for writing, the writing itself extending down the paper from right to left.

I had not been above a few days in Victoria before I had an opportunity of proceeding to Canton on board a small Chinese junk.

A gentleman of the name of Pustan, who is settled as a merchant here, and whom I found excessively kind, endeavoured very earnestly to dissuade me from trusting myself among the Chinese without any protector, and advised me either to take a boat for myself or a place in the steamer; but both these means were too dear for my small finances, since either would have cost twelve dollars, whereas a pa.s.sage in the junk was only three. I must also add, that the appearance and behaviour of the Chinese did not inspire me with the slightest apprehension. I looked to the priming of my pistols, and embarked very tranquilly on the evening of the 12th of July.

A heavy fall of rain, and the approach of night, soon obliged me to seek the interior of the vessel, where I pa.s.sed my time in observing my Chinese fellow-travellers.

The company were, it is true, not very select, but behaved with great propriety, so that there was nothing which could prevent my remaining among them. Some were playing at dominoes, while others were extracting most horrible sounds from a sort of mandolin with three strings; all, however, were smoking, chatting, and drinking tea, without sugar, from little saucers. I, too, had this celestial drink offered to me on all sides. Every Chinese, rich or poor, drinks neither pure water nor spirituous liquors, but invariably indulges in weak tea with no sugar.

At a late hour in the evening I retired to my cabin, the roof of which, not being completely waterproof, let in certain very unwelcome proofs that it was raining outside. The captain no sooner remarked this than he a.s.signed me another place, where I found myself in the company of two Chinese women, busily engaged in smoking out of pipes with bowls no bigger than thimbles, and in consequence they could not take more than four or five puffs without being obliged to fill their pipes afresh.

They soon remarked that I had no stool for my head. They offered me one of theirs, and would not be satisfied until I accepted it. It is a Chinese custom to use, instead of pillows, little stools of bamboo or strong pasteboard. They are not stuffed, but are rounded at the top, and are about eight inches high, and from one to three feet long. They are far more comfortable than would at first be imagined.

13th July. On hurrying upon deck early in the morning to view the mouth of the Si-Kiang, or Tigris, I found that we had already pa.s.sed it, and were a long way up the river. I saw it, however, subsequently, on my return from Canton to Hong-Kong. The Si-Kiang, which is one of the princ.i.p.al rivers of China, and which, at a short distance before entering the sea, is eight nautical miles broad, is so contracted by hills and rocks at its mouth, that it loses one half of its breadth. The surrounding country is fine, and a few fortifications on the summits of some of the hills, give it rather a romantic appearance.

Near Hoo-man, or Whampoa, the stream divides into several branches; that which flows to Canton being called the Pearl stream. Although Whampoa of itself is an insignificant place, it is worthy of note, as being the spot where, from the shallowness of the water, all deeply laden s.h.i.+ps are obliged to anchor.

Immense plantations of rice, skirted by bananas and other fruit- trees, extend along the banks of the Pearl stream. The trees are sometimes prettily arranged in alleys, but are planted far less for ornament than for use. Rice always requires a great deal of moisture, and the trees are planted in order to impart a greater degree of solidity to the soil, and also to prevent the possibility of its being washed away by the force of the stream. Pretty little country houses of the genuine Chinese pattern, with their sloping, pointed, indented roofs, and their coloured tiles inlaid with different hues, were scattered here and there, under groups of shady trees, while paG.o.das (called Tas) of various styles, and from three to nine stories high, raised their heads on little eminences in the neighbourhood of the villages, and attracted attention at a great distance. A number of fortifications, which, however, look more like roofless houses than anything else, protect the stream.

For miles below Canton, the villages follow one another in quick succession. They are mostly composed of miserable huts, built for the most part on piles driven into the river, and before them lie innumerable boats, which also serve as dwellings.

The nearer we approached Canton, the busier became the scene on the river, and the greater the number of s.h.i.+ps and inhabited boats. I saw some junks of most extraordinary shape, having p.o.o.ps that hung far over the water, and provided with large windows and galleries, and covered in with a roof, like a house. These vessels are often of immense size, and of a thousand tons' burden. I also saw some Chinese men-of-war, flat, broad, and long, and mounting twenty or thirty cannons. {93} Another object of interest was the mandarins'

boats, with their painted sides, doors, and windows, their carved galleries, and pretty little silk flags, giving them the appearance of the most charming houses; but what delighted me most was the flower-boats, with their upper galleries ornamented with flowers, garlands, and arabesques. A large apartment and a few cabinets, into which the interior is divided, are reached through doors and windows which have almost a Gothic appearance. Mirrors and silk hangings adorn the walls, while gla.s.s chandeliers and coloured paper lanterns, between which swing lovely little baskets with fresh flowers, complete the magic scene.

These flower-boats are always stationary, and are frequented by the Chinese as places of amus.e.m.e.nt, both by day and night. Plays are acted here, and ballets and conjuring performed. Women, with the exception of a certain cla.s.s, do not frequent these places; Europeans are not exactly prevented from entering them, but are exposed, especially in the present unfavourable state of public opinion, to insult and even injury.

In addition to these extraordinary vessels, let the reader picture to himself thousands of small boats (schampans), some at anchor, some crossing and pa.s.sing in all directions, with fishermen casting their nets, and men and children amusing themselves by swimming, and he will have some idea of the scene I witnessed. I often could not avoid turning away with terror at seeing the little children playing and rolling about upon the narrow boats, I expected every instant that one or other of them would certainly fall overboard. Some parents are cautious enough to fasten hollow gourds, or bladders filled with air, on their children's backs, until they are six years old, so as to prevent them sinking so quickly, if they should happen to tumble into the water.

All these multifarious occupations--this ceaseless activity, this never-ending bustle, form so peculiar a feature, that it is hardly possible for a person who has not been an eye-witness to obtain a correct idea of it.

It is only during the last few years that we European women have been allowed to visit or remain in the factories at Canton. I left the vessel without any apprehension; but first, I had to consider how I should find my way to the house of a gentleman named Aga.s.siz, for whom I had brought letters of recommendation. I explained to the captain, by signs, that I had no money with me, and that he must act as my guide to the factory, where I would pay him. He soon understood me, and conducted me to the place, and the Europeans there showed me the particular house I wanted.

On seeing me arrive, and hearing the manner in which I had travelled, and the way that I had walked from the vessel to his house, Mr. Aga.s.siz was extremely surprised, and would hardly credit that I had met with no difficulties or injury. From him I learned what risks I, as a woman, had run in traversing the streets of Canton with no escort but a Chinese guide. Such a thing had never occurred before, and Mr. Aga.s.siz a.s.sured me that I might esteem myself as exceedingly fortunate in not having been insulted by the people in the grossest manner, or even stoned. Had this been the case, he told me that my guide would have immediately taken to flight, and abandoned me to my fate.

I had certainly remarked, on my way from the vessel to the factory, that both old and young turned back to look after me, and that they hooted and pointed at me with their fingers; the people ran out of the booths, and gradually formed a crowd at my heels. I had, however, no alternative but to preserve my countenance; I walked, therefore, calmly on, and perhaps it is to the very fact of my manifesting no fear that I escaped unmolested.

I had not intended to stop long in Canton, as, since the last war between the English and Chinese, Europeans are obliged to be more careful than ever how they show themselves in public. This hatred is more especially directed against women, as it is declared in one of the Chinese prophecies that a woman will some day or other conquer the Celestial Empire. On account of this, I entertained but slight hopes of seeing anything here, and thought of proceeding directly to the port of Shanghai, in the north of China, where, as I was informed, it was far easier to obtain access both among the n.o.bility and lower cla.s.ses. Fortunately, however, I made the acquaintance of a German gentleman, Herr von Carlowitz, who had been settled for some time in Canton. He offered, in the kindest manner, to act as my Mentor, on condition that I should arm myself with patience until the mail from Europe, which was expected in a few days, had come in. {95} At such times the merchants are so busy and excited, that they have no leisure to think of anything but their correspondence. I was, therefore, obliged to wait, not only until the steamer had arrived, but until it had left again, which it did not do until a week had elapsed. I have to thank Mr. Aga.s.siz that the time did not hang heavily upon my hands; I was most kindly and hospitably entertained, and enjoyed the opportunity of noting the mode of life of those Europeans who have settled in the country.

Very few take their families with them to China, and least of all to Canton, where both women and children are closely imprisoned in their houses, which they can only leave in a well-closed litter.

Besides this, everything is so dear, that living in London is cheap in comparison. Lodgings of six rooms, with a kitchen, cost about 700 or 800 dollars a-year (140 or 160 pounds). A man-servant receives from four to eight dollars a-month, and female servants nine or ten dollars, as Chinese women will not wait upon a European unless greatly overpaid. In addition to all this, there is a custom prevalent here, of having a separate person for each branch of household duty, which renders a large number of servants indispensable.

A family of only four persons requires at least eleven or twelve domestics, if not more. In the first place, every member of the family must have an attendant especially for his or her use; then there is a man-cook, a number of nursery-maids, and several coolies for the more menial duties, such as cleaning the rooms, carrying the wood and water, and so forth. In spite of this number of servants, the attendance is frequently very bad; for, if one or other of them happens to be out, and his services are required, his master must wait until he returns, as no servant could ever be prevailed upon to do another's duty.

At the head of the whole household is the comprador, who is a kind of major-domo. To his care are confided all the plate, furniture, linen, and other effects; he engages all the servants, provides for their board, and anything else they may require, and answers for their good conduct, deducting, however, two dollars a-month from the wages of each, in return for his services. He makes all the purchases, and settles all the bills, giving in the sum total at the end of the month, without descending into the items.

Besides these domestic duties, the comprador is also entrusted with the money belonging to his master's firm; hundreds of thousands of dollars pa.s.s through his hands, and he is responsible for the genuineness of every one. He has persons in his own employment who pay and receive all monies, and who examine and test every separate coin with the most marvellous rapidity. They take a whole handful of dollars at a time, and toss them up separately with the finger and thumb: this enables them to determine whether each "rings"

properly, and on the coin falling into their hand again, reversed, they examine the second side with a glance. A few hours are sufficient to pa.s.s several thousand dollars in review; and this minute inspection is very necessary, on account of the number of false dollars made by the Chinese. Each piece of money is then stamped with the peculiar mark of the firm, as a guarantee of its genuineness, so that it at last becomes exceedingly thin and broad, and frequently falls to bits; no loss is, however, occasioned by this, as the amount is always reckoned by weight. Besides dollars, little bars of pure unstamped silver are used as a circulating medium; small portions, varying in size, being cut off them, according to the sum required. The counting-house is situated on the ground floor, in the comprador's room. The Europeans have nothing to do with the money, and, in fact, never even carry any for their private use.

The comprador has no fixed salary, but receives a stated per-centage upon all business transactions: his per-centage upon the household expenses is not fixed, but is not on that account less certain. On the whole, these compradors are very trustworthy. They pay down a certain sum, as caution-money, to some mandarin, and the latter answers for them.

The following is a tolerably correct account of the mode of life pursued by the Europeans settled here. As soon as they are up, and have drunk a cup of tea in their bed-room, they take a cold bath. A little after 9 o'clock, they breakfast upon fried fish or cutlets, cold roast meat, boiled eggs, tea, and bread and b.u.t.ter. Every one then proceeds to his business until dinner-time, which is generally 4 o'clock. The dinner is composed of turtle-soup, curry, roast meat, hashes, and pastry. All the dishes, with the exception of the curry, are prepared after the English fas.h.i.+on, although the cooks are Chinese. For dessert there is cheese, with fruit; such as pine- apples, long-yen, mangoes, and lytchi. The Chinese affirm that the latter is the finest fruit in the whole world. It is about the size of a nut, with a brown verrucous outside; the edible part is white and tender, and the kernel black. Long-yen is somewhat smaller, but is also white and tender, though the taste is rather watery.

Neither of these fruits struck me as very good. I do not think the pine-apples are so sweet, or possessed of that aromatic fragrance which distinguishes those raised in our European greenhouses, although they are much larger.

Portuguese wines and English beer are the usual drinks--ice, broken into small pieces, and covered up with a cloth, is offered with each. The ice is rather a costly article, as it has to be brought from North America. In the evening, tea is served up.

During meal-times, a large punkah is employed to diffuse an agreeable degree of coolness through the apartment. The punkah is a large frame, from eight to ten feet long, and three feet high, covered with white Indian cloth, and fastened to the ceiling. A rope communicates, through the wall, like a bell-pull, with the next room, or the ground floor, where a servant is stationed to keep it constantly in motion, and thus maintain a pleasing draught.

As may be seen from what I have said, the living here is very dear for Europeans. The expense of keeping a house may be reckoned at 30,000 francs (6,000 dollars--1,200 pounds) at the lowest; a very considerable sum, when we reflect how little it procures, neither including a carriage nor horses. There is nothing in the way of amus.e.m.e.nt, or places of public recreation; the only pleasure many gentlemen indulge in, is keeping a boat, for which they pay 28s. a- month, or they walk in the evenings in a small garden, which the European inhabitants have laid out at their own cost. This garden faces the factory, surrounded on three sides by a wall, and, on the fourth, washed by the Pearl stream.

The living of the Chinese population, on the contrary, costs very little; 60 cash, 1,200 of which make a dollar (4s.), may be reckoned a very liberal daily allowance for each man. As a natural consequence, wages are extremely low; a boat, for instance, may be hired for half a dollar (2s.) a-day, and on this income, a whole family of from six to eight persons will often exist. It is true, the Chinese are not too particular in their food; they eat dogs, cats, mice, and rats, the intestines of birds, and the blood of every animal, and I was even a.s.sured that caterpillars and worms formed part of their diet. Their princ.i.p.al dish, however, is rice, which is not only employed by them in the composition of their various dishes, but supplies the place of bread. It is exceedingly cheap; the pekul, which is equal to 124 lbs. English avoirdupois, costing from one dollar and three-quarters to two dollars and a half.

The costume of both s.e.xes, among the lower orders, consists of broad trousers and long upper garments, and is remarkable for its excessive filth. The Chinaman is an enemy of baths and was.h.i.+ng; he wears no s.h.i.+rt, and does not discard his trousers until they actually fall off his body. The men's upper garments reach a little below the knee, and the women's somewhat lower. They are made of nankeen, or dark blue, brown, or black silk. During the cold season, both men and women wear one summer-garment over the other, and keep the whole together with a girdle; during the great heat, however, they allow their garments to flutter unconstrained about their body.

All the men have their heads shaved, with the exception of a small patch at the back, the hair on which is carefully cultivated and plaited into a cue. The thicker and longer this cue is, the prouder is its owner; false hair and black ribbon are consequently worked up in it, so that it often reaches down to the ankles. During work, it is twisted round the neck, but, on the owner's entering a room, it is let down again, as it would be against all the laws of etiquette and politeness for a person to make his appearance with his cue twisted up. The women wear all their hair, which they comb entirely back off their forehead, and fasten it in most artistic plaits to the head; they spend a great deal of time in the process, but when their hair is once dressed, it does not require to be touched for a whole week. Both men and women sometimes go about with no covering at all on their head; sometimes they wear hats made of thin bamboo, and very frequently three feet in diameter; these keep off both sun and rain, and are exceedingly durable.

On their feet they wear sewed stockings and shoes, formed of black silk, or some material like worsted; the soles, which are more than an inch thick, are made up of layers of strong pasteboard or felt pasted together. The poor people go barefooted.

The houses of the lower cla.s.ses are miserable hovels, built of wood or brick. The internal arrangements are very wretched: the whole furniture consists of a worthless table, a few chairs, and two or three bamboo-mats, stools for the head, and old counterpanes; yet, with this poverty, there are always sure to be some pots of flowers.

The cheapest mode of living is on board a boat. The husband goes on sh.o.r.e to his work, and leaves his wife to make a trifle by ferrying persons over, or letting out the boat to pleasure parties. One half the boat belongs to the family themselves, and the other half to the persons to whom they let it; and although there is not much room, the whole boat measuring scarcely twenty-five feet in length, the greatest order and cleanliness is everywhere apparent, as each single plank on board is thoroughly scrubbed and washed every morning. Great ingenuity is displayed in turning every inch of s.p.a.ce on board these small craft to advantage, and the dexterity is actually pushed so far as to find room for a tiny domestic altar.

During the day all the cookery and was.h.i.+ng is done, and though at the latter process there is no want of little children, the temporary tenant of the boat does not suffer the least annoyance; nothing offensive meets his eye; and, at the most, he merely hears at rare intervals the whining voice of some poor little wretch. The youngest child is generally tied on its mother's back while she steers; the elder children, too, have sometimes similar burdens, but jump and climb about without the least consideration for them. It has often grieved me to the heart to see the head of an infant scarcely born, thrown from one side to the other with each movement of the child that was carrying it, or the sun darting so fiercely on the poor little creature, who was completely exposed to its rays, that it could hardly open its eyes. For those who have not been themselves witnesses of the fact, it is almost impossible to form an idea of the indigence and poverty of a Chinese boat-family.

The Chinese are accused of killing numbers of their new-born or weakly children. They are said to suffocate them immediately after their birth, and then throw them into the river, or expose them in the streets--by far the most horrible proceeding of the two, on account of the number of swine and houseless dogs, who fall upon, and voraciously devour, their prey. The most frequent victims are the female infants, as parents esteem themselves fortunate in possessing a large number of male children, the latter being bound to support them in their old age; the eldest son, in fact, should the father die, is obliged to take his place, and provide for his brothers and sisters, who, on their part, are bound to yield implicit obedience, and show him the greatest respect. These laws are very strictly observed, and any one infringing them is punished with death.

The Chinese consider it a great honour to be a grandfather, and every man who is fortunate enough to be one wears a moustache, as the distinctive sign of his good luck. These thin grey moustaches are the more conspicuous, as the young men not only wear none, but, as a general rule, grow no beard at all.

With regard to the social manners and customs of the Chinese, I am only able to mention a few, as it is exceedingly difficult, and, in fact, almost impossible, for a foreigner to become acquainted with them. I endeavoured to see as much as I could, and mixed on every possible opportunity among the people, afterwards writing down a true account of what I had seen.

On going out one morning, I met more than fifteen prisoners, all with a wooden yoke (can-gue) about their necks, being led through the streets. This yoke is composed of two large pieces of wood, fitting into one another, and having from one to three holes in them; through these holes the head, and one or both hands, are stuck, in proportion to the importance of the offence. A yoke of this description varies in weight from fifty to a hundred pounds, and presses so heavily upon the neck and shoulders of the poor wretch who bears it, that he is unable to convey his victuals to his mouth himself, and is compelled to wait till some compa.s.sionate soul feeds him. This punishment lasts from a few days to several months; in the latter case the prisoner generally dies.

Another description of punishment is the bastinado with the bamboo, which, when applied to the more tender parts of the body, very often, as early as the fifteenth blow, frees its victim for ever from all his earthly sufferings. Other more severe punishments, which in no way yield the palm to those of the Holy Inquisition, consist in flaying the prisoner alive, crus.h.i.+ng his limbs, cutting the sinews out of his feet, and so on. Their modes of carrying out the sentence of death appear to be mild in comparison, and are generally confined to strangling and decapitation, although, as I was informed, in certain extraordinary cases, the prisoner is executed by being sawed in two, or left to die of starvation. In the first case, the unhappy victim is made fast between two planks, and sawed in two longitudinally, beginning with the head; and, in the second, he is either buried up to his head in the ground, and thus left to perish of want, or else is fastened in one of the wooden yokes I have described, while his food is gradually reduced in quant.i.ty every day, until at last it consists of only a few grains of rice. In spite of the horrible and cruel nature of these punishments, it is said that individuals are found ready, for a sum of money, to undergo them all, death even included, instead of the person condemned.

In the year 1846, 4,000 people were beheaded at Canton. It is true that they were the criminals of two provinces, which together numbered a population of 9,000,000 souls, but the number is still horrible to contemplate. Is it possible that there could really be so many who should be looked upon as criminals--or are persons sentenced to death for a mere nothing--or are both these suppositions true?

I once happened to go near the place of execution, and to my horror beheld a long row of still bleeding heads exposed upon high poles.

The relations enjoy the privilege of carrying away and interring the bodies.

There are several different religions in China, the most prevalent being Buddhism. It is marked by great superst.i.tion and idolatry, and is mostly confined to the lower cla.s.ses. The most natural is that of the wise Confucius, which is said to be the religion of the court, the public functionaries, the scholars, and educated cla.s.ses.

The population of China is composed of a great many very different races: unfortunately, I am unable to describe their several characteristics, as my stay in China was far too short. The people I saw in Canton, Hong-Kong, and Macao, are of middling stature.

Their complexion varies with their occupation: the peasants and labourers are rather sun-burnt; rich people and ladies white. Their faces are flat, broad, and ugly; their eyes are narrow, rather obliquely placed, and far apart; their noses broad, and their mouth large. Their fingers I observed were in many cases extremely long and thin; only the rich (of both s.e.xes) allow their nails to grow to an extraordinary length, as a proof that they are not obliged, like their poorer brethren, to gain their livelihood by manual labour.

These aristocratic nails are generally half an inch long, though I saw one man whose nails were quite an inch in length, but only on his left hand. With this hand it was impossible for him to raise any flat object, except by laying his hand flat upon it, and catching hold of it between his fingers.