example, carry our babies in our arms; in Japan, however, they are
strapped on the backs of children not much larger than themselves, their
little heads being left to flop about like flowers half-broken from
the stem. Nor is this custom the exception. It is the universal rule,
alike in city streets and country lanes. Whole pages could be filled in
mentioning points of difference between Japanese and European customs.
Thus, we stand erect before distinguished men, in token of respect; the
Japanese, on the contrary, sit down. We take off our hats when we enter
a house, while they remove their shoes. Our books begin at the left;
theirs at the right; and if they have any "foot-notes," they are placed
at the top of the page. We write across a sheet of paper horizontally;
they write vertically down the page, like we make a column of figures.
Our color for mourning is black; theirs is white. The best rooms in
our houses are in front; theirs are in the rear. We mount our horses
from the left; they from the right. We put a horse head foremost into a
stall; they back him in and fasten him in the front. On seeing this, we
laughingly recalled the showman's trick of getting people to "come and
see a horse's head where his tail should be."
[Illustration: MAT-MAKERS.]
But if the Japanese are proficient in the ordinary industries of life,
what shall be said of those finer proofs of their artistic skill which
charm the world? At first, the foreigner hardly comprehends the value of
their work or the amount of time and labor it has cost. Their articles
of _cloisonné_ are unsurpassed. In everything relating to handicraft in
bronze the Japanese are unexcelled. Their flowered lacquer-work, also,
with figures raised in gold, has been perfected for a thousand years;
while in the realm of silk embroidery and gold brocade the Japanese
have been said to paint with the needle as other artists do with the
brush. In brief, they have produced among themselves and for themselves,
for centuries, unnumbered masterpieces of artistic excellence, and
this without a particle of outside help save that which came to them
originally from China. Not, therefore, as uncultured mendicants have they
appeared upon the threshold of the western world; but rather as people
who, while accepting much that we have gained, have also not a little
of value to impart. Hence they are a nation that elicits, not merely
interest and astonishment, but also admiration and respect.
[Illustration: CLOISONNÉ VASES.]
[Illustration: ONE OF JAPAN'S HUGE BELLS.]
[Illustration: "IN THE GLOAMING."]
There is a fascination in watching a Japanese artist engaged in
_cloisonné_ work. Taking a copper vase, he traces on its surface certain
figures, such as flowers, birds, and trees. Then, from a roll of brass,
one-sixteenth of an inch in breadth, he cuts off tiny pieces which, with
consummate skill, and by eye-measurement alone, he twists into a mass of
lines which correspond exactly to the figures he has drawn. Holding these
bits of brass between the points of tweezers, he touches them with glue,
and deftly locates them upon the rounded surface of the vase. At length,
when all the figures are outlined, as it were, in skeleton, the flesh
has to be applied. In other words, the thousands of interstices between
the lines of brass are filled up with enamel of all shades and colors.
When this is done the jar is put into a furnace, then touched with more
enamel, then fired again, and so on, till it has been brought to the
required degree of artistic finish. Then it is polished with great care,
until the shining edges of the brass show through the enamel like the
veins of a leaf. The colors also, by this time, are perfectly distinct
and permanent, and the entire work stands forth,--a marvelous combination
of delicacy, strength, and beauty.
[Illustration: A SERENADE.]
[Illustration: A WAYSIDE MONUMENT.]
The scene, at evening, on the river-bank at Kioto is charming. Along the
water' sedge are numerous little tea-houses, in front of which are many
wooden piers. These are divided off into little squares, like private
boxes in a theatre, and in them groups of Japanese are seated,--smoking,
or taking supper in the open air. Meantime, a thousand colored lanterns
gleam like fireflies on either shore and fleck the river with a dust of
gold.
One cannot, however, praise the music which is here produced. It would
be highly amusing, if one were deaf; but when one's hearing is acute,
a little of such music goes a long way. None of the most enthusiastic
admirers of the Japanese has dared, as yet, to praise their music. To
Occidental ears the twanging of their banjo strings, and, above all,
their caterwaulings, are positive torture. And yet, it must be said that
to the Japanese our music seemed at first no less absurd than theirs to
us. At the first opera given in Tokio by a European company, the Japanese
audience was convulsed with laughter, and when the prima donna sang her
highest notes, some men and women could no longer control themselves,
and were seen stuffing their handkerchiefs into their mouths to avoid
uttering shrieks of merriment.
[Illustration: PRIESTLY MUSICIANS.]
In the immediate vicinity of Kioto is a bamboo grove possessing an extent
and beauty unusual even in Japan, where the plant grows luxuriantly.
The various ways in which the Japanese use the bamboo stalk afforded
us continual amusement and surprise, while it challenged admiration
for their ingenuity. Bridges and scaffolding supports, water-pipes and
fences, furniture, umbrellas, baskets, fans, hats, pipe-stems, sandals,
screens, and walking-sticks,--are all constructed from that jointed,
hollow stem, which looks so light and delicate, yet in reality is strong
and durable. A thing of beauty and utility, the bamboo is certainly one
of the greatest blessings that Nature has bestowed upon her children in
the Land of the Rising Sun.
[Illustration: GROVE NEAR KIOTO.]
A pretty sight in traveling through the province of Uji, near Kioto,
are its tea-plantations, consisting of acres of evergreen bushes, two
or three feet high. Among these move and sparkle in the sun odd bits of
color, which prove to be the scanty robes of women and children crouching
among the plants and picking their leaves. Most of these tea-plants are
left unsheltered from the sun and storm, but the more valuable shrubs,
producing tea worth six or seven dollars a pound, are covered by a
trellis of bamboo, on which straw mats are placed. Sometimes the floor of
an entire valley will be concealed beneath these mattings, which resemble
a gigantic tent.
[Illustration: A TEA-PLANTATION.]
It is a curious fact that, unlike teas from India and China, Japanese
tea must not be made with boiling water, as that gives it a bitter
flavor. Indeed, the finer the quality of the tea the cooler must be
the water. Tea is the national beverage of Japan, and has been largely
used there for nearly a thousand years. The Japanese hotels are known
as "tea-houses," which correspond also to the _cafés_ of Europe. The
_cha-no-yu_, or fashionable ceremony of serving and drinking tea, has
been for seven hundred years a national institution, governed by the
minutest etiquette, each action and each gesture being regulated by
a code of rules. It is said to have originated in a formal style of
tea-drinking among the Buddhist priests, who found the beverage an easy
means of keeping themselves awake during their nocturnal vigils. Japan
may be said, therefore, not only to owe the introduction of the tea-plant
to a celebrated Buddhist saint, who imported it from China, but for her
elaborate ceremony of tea-drinking to be still further indebted to the
priests of Buddhism.
While walking one day in Kioto, we met a fellow-passenger from Vancouver.
[Illustration: TEA-PICKERS.]
"What places have you visited?" he asked.
We told him.
"Have you not been to Haruna, beyond Ikao?" he inquired.
"No," we replied. "We thought of going there, but finally decided to omit
it."
"You made a great mistake!" he cried. "Why not retrace your steps and go
there now? It is not too late."
"That means," we said, "in all, six hundred miles of extra travel."
[Illustration: SACRED ROCKS AND TREES.]
"No matter," he insisted. "You had better do it."
"Are you quite serious?"
"Not only serious, but enthusiastic. You will never regret it. Go!"
[Illustration: IKAO]
We followed his advice, and a few days later, one afternoon in late
October, we found ourselves almost the only guests in a well-kept
tea-house in Ikao. Swift 'rikisha men had brought us hither from the
railway station, sixteen miles away. The air was most exhilarating, for
we were three thousand feet above the sea, which we had left eight hours
before at Yokohama. Around us on all sides were lofty mountains, whose
hidden treasures could not be explored in jinrikishas, for this was
another point where all roads terminate, and only paths lead inward to
the fabled homes of mountain deities.
[Illustration: THE PATH THROUGH THE FOREST.]
It was four o'clock the next morning when we started. It was still dark.
The stars were glorious. We knew the coming day would be superb. It was
as yet too cold for riding, so, followed by our kago-bearers, we set
forth on foot. For some time we walked on in silence, enraptured with the
splendor of the sky. Above us gleamed the Dipper's seven diamond points;
Orion's belt hung radiant amid a galaxy of other suns; while, just above
a lofty mountain range, flashed with unwonted brilliancy the herald of
approaching day. At length the stellar light began to pale. The east
became first white, then golden, as the sun advanced, and then there came
an hour's scenery that can never be effaced from my memory.
[Illustration: LAKE BIWA.]
The colors on the mountains were magnificent. Autumnal foliage mantled
them with glory. Thousands of oaks and maples lined the slopes with every
shade of orange, red, vermilion, green, and purple. In any light these
varied tints would have been beautiful; but to behold them changing
into glory, tree by tree, as the first touch of dawn awakened them from
sleep, was such a vision as we had never hoped to look upon. Some of this
radiant foliage bedecked the ground, and sometimes we walked ankle-deep
through multicolored leaves.
[Illustration: THE STAIRCASE AT HARUNA.]
Moreover, the pathway was all white with frost, and stretched away in
glittering perspective through the trees, like an avenue of silver
between mountains of jewels. Intoxicated with such sights and with the
crisp, aromatic air of that October dawn, we walked for miles without
fatigue, unable to repress at times our exclamations of enthusiasm.
After a time, we found ourselves at the entrance to a deep ravine, shaded
by giant trees, which at that early hour were still unburnished by the
sun. In view of the reverence felt by the Japanese for massive rocks and
time-gnarled trees, it is not strange that this wild gorge of Haruna has
been for ages looked upon as sacred. A feeling of solemnity stole over
us. Instinctively we spoke in softer tones. I felt as once before, when
sailing into a Norwegian fjord. It was a place for Dante to describe and
for Dore to illustrate.
At length we saw, wedged in between two mighty rocks, a flight of stone
steps leading to a lacquered gate. Our Japanese attendant immediately
bowed his head, removed his sandals, and knelt down to pray. Nor was
this strange. Who could resist, in such a place, the impulse to revere
that Power of which these forms of nature were imperfect symbols? At
all events, whatever may have been the difference in our creeds, both
traveler and native worshiped here that day,--one standing in the forest
shade, the other kneeling on the moss-grown steps.
[Illustration: "HUGE CRYPTOMERIAS LIKE THOSE OF NIKKO."]
[Illustration: THE HEART OF OLD JAPAN.]
After some moments' silence, our attendant arose and began the ascent. We
followed him. On passing the first gateway, we perceived another smaller
portal, which seemed to lead directly into the cliff. Above it was a
rock, a hundred and fifty feet in height, and shaped like a gigantic
obelisk. Around it rose huge cryptomerias, like those of Nikko, wrinkled
with age, and solemn in their sanctity and shade. The mountain-side so
overhung the place that it seemed kept from falling only by a caprice
of nature. We almost feared to speak, lest, like some Alpine avalanche,
the monstrous mass might fall and overwhelm us. Finally, however, we
passed beneath the second arch; and, lo! before us, on a shelf of rock,
completely isolated from the outer world, and guarded by these sentinels
of stone, we saw a sacred shrine. Even at that early hour one pilgrim
was already here, and, as the radiance of the rising sun stole through
the twilight of the holy grove and turned the temple steps to gold,
unconscious of the picture he produced, he knelt in prayer.
[Illustration: SACRED PORTAL.]
That scene can never be forgotten. An interval of centuries seemed to
separate us from the Japan of Yokohama. No whisper of approaching change
had yet penetrated these peaceful solitudes. No earthquake-shock of doubt
had sent a tremor through this mountain altar. The faith which chose this
immemorial forest for its temple still reigned here supreme. And as we
stood by this illumined portico, in which a ray of sunlight glittered
like a sacred fire, we felt that we had reached the Heart of Old Japan.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
CHINA
[Illustration: HONG-KONG.]
CHINA
[Illustration: EMPEROR OF CHINA.]
China defies the world to equal her in three important respects: age,
population, and industries. As for the first, she undoubtedly has the
oldest Government on earth. Even the Papacy is young compared with it;
and as for our republic, it is a thing of yesterday. A Chinaman once said
to an American: "Wait till your Government has been tried before you
boast of it. What is a hundred years? Ours has stood the test of forty
centuries. When you did not exist, we were. When you shall have passed
away, we still shall be."
In point of numbers, too, the Chinese empire leads the world. Its area is
nearly twice as large as that of the United States, and it has six times
as many people. The governor of one Chinese province rules over sixty
million souls. Have we a definite conception of what four hundred million
human beings are? Arrange the inhabitants of our globe in one long line,
and every fourth man will be a Chinaman.
As for her industries, Musa, the Saracen conqueror of Spain, once aptly
said that Wisdom, when she came from heaven to earth, was lodged in
the head of the Greeks, the tongue of the Arabs, and the hands of the
Chinese. China was once what the United States is now--the birthplace of
inventions. Paper was manufactured there in the third century of our era.
Tea was produced a century later. If Europe had enjoyed communication
with China, it would have learned the art of printing many centuries
before it did; and who can say what might have been the result? A
thousand years ago the Chinese made designs on wood. Printing from stone
was a still earlier industry among them. In China, also, gunpowder was
first invented--a thought by which, alas! so many thoughts have been
destroyed. This same astonishing race produced the mariner's compass
in the fourth century, porcelain in the third, chess and playing-cards
in the twelfth, and silk embroideries in almost prehistoric times. An
empire, therefore, of such vast antiquity, overwhelming population, and
great achievements must be, despite its faults, a country of absorbing
interest.
[Illustration: A CHINESE TEMPLE.]
The most delightful portion of the voyage from Japan to China lies in
the Japanese Mediterranean, known as the Inland Sea. It is a miniature
ocean, practically land-locked for three hundred miles, with both shores
constantly in sight, yet strewn with islands of all shapes and sizes,
from small and uninhabited rocks to wave-encircled hills, terraced and
cultivated to their very summits. It seems as if volcanic action here
had caused the land to sink, until the ocean rushed in and submerged it,
leaving only the highest peaks above the waves.
[Illustration: THE JAPANESE MEDITERRANEAN.]
We lingered here all day upon the steamer's deck, like passengers on the
Rhine, fearing to lose a single feature of the varied panorama gliding
by on either side. By night it was more glorious even than by day; for
then, from every dangerous cliff flashed forth a beacon light; the
villages along the shore displayed a line of glittering points, like
constellations rising from the sea; and, best of all, at a later hour,
moonlight lent enchantment to the scene, drawing a crystal edge along
each mountain crest, and making every island seem a jewel on a silver
thread.
[Illustration: WAVE-ENCIRCLED HILLS.]
[Illustration: HUGE SAILS LIKE THE WINGS OF BATS.]
When we emerged from these inland waters, we saw between us and the
setting sun the stretch of ocean called the China Sea. At certain
seasons of the year this is the favorite pathway of typhoons; and the
Formosa Channel, in particular, has been a graveyard for countless
vessels. Indeed, only three weeks before, a sister ship of ours--the
"Bokhara,"--had gone down here in a terrific cyclone. Yet when we sailed
its waters nothing could have been more beautiful. Day after day this sea
of evil omen rested motionless, like a sleek tigress gorged with food and
basking in the sun.
[Illustration: THE HARBOR OF HONG-KONG.]
After a three-days' voyage from the Japanese coast, we began to meet, in
constantly increasing numbers, large, pointed boats, propelled by huge
sails ribbed with cross-bars, like the wings of bats. Upon the bow of
each was painted an enormous eye; for of their sailing-craft the mariners
of China, in elementary English, say: "If boat no have eye, how can boat
see go?" We were assured that these were Chinese sailing-craft, and that
our destination was not far away; but it was difficult to realize this,
and I remember looking off beyond those ships and trying to convince
myself that we were actually on the opposite side of the globe from home
and friends, and in a few brief hours were to land in that vast Eastern
empire so full of mystery in its exclusiveness, antiquity, and changeless
calm.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF VICTORIA.]
That night the agitation that precedes one's first arrival in a foreign
land made sleep almost impossible. It seemed to me that I had not
closed my eyes when suddenly the steamer stopped. To my astonishment,
the morning light had already found its way into my state-room. We had
arrived! Hurrying to the deck, therefore, I looked upon the glorious
harbor of Hong-Kong. A hundred ships and steamers lay at anchor here,
displaying flags of every country on the globe. Although the day had
hardly dawned, these waters showed great animation. Steam-launches,
covered with white awnings, were darting to and fro like flying-fish.
Innumerable smaller boats, called sampans, propelled by Chinese men and
women, surrounded each incoming steamer, like porpoises around a whale.
On one side rose some barren-looking mountains, which were a part of the
mainland of China; but for the moment they presented little to attract
us. It was the other shore of this magnificent harbor that awoke our
interest; for there we saw an island twenty-seven miles in circumference,
covered with mountains rising boldly from the sea. Along the base of one
of these elevations, and built in terraces far up on its precipitous
slopes, was a handsome city.
[Illustration: THE PUBLIC GARDENS.]
"What is this?" we inquired eagerly.
"The town itself," was the reply, "is called Victoria, but this imposing
island to whose flank it clings, is, as you may suppose, Hong-Kong."
[Illustration: A STREET IN HONG-KONG.]
The first impression made upon me here was that of mild astonishment
at the architecture. Almost without exception, the prominent buildings
of Victoria have on every story deep porticoes divided by columns into
large, square spaces, which from a distance look like letter-boxes in
a post-office. We soon discovered that such deep, shadowy verandas are
essential here, for as late as November it was imprudent not to carry a
white umbrella, and even before our boat had brought us from the steamer
to the pier, we perceived that the solar rays were not to be trifled with.
As soon as possible after landing, we started to explore this British
settlement. I was delighted with its streets and buildings. The former
are broad, smooth and clean; the latter, three or four stories high,
are built of granite, and even on a curve have sidewalks shielded from
the sun or rain by the projection of the roof above. Truly, the touch
of England has wrought astounding changes in the fifty-five years that
she has held this island as her own. Before she came it was the resort
of poverty-stricken fishermen and pirates. But now the city of Victoria
alone contains two hundred thousand souls, while the grand aqueducts and
roads which cross the mountains of Hong-Kong are worthy to be compared
with some of the monumental works of ancient Rome.
[Illustration: DEEP PORTICOES AND COLONNADES.]
Along the principal thoroughfare in Victoria, the banks, shops, hotels,
and club-houses, which succeed each other rapidly, are built of the fine
gray granite of the adjacent mountains, and show handsome architectural
designs. Everything looks as trim and spotless as the appointments of
a man-of-war. Even the district of the town inhabited by Chinamen is
kept by constant watchfulness immeasurably cleaner than a Chinese city;
although if one desires to see the world-wide difference that exists
between the British and Mongolian races, he merely needs to take a short
walk through the Chinese quarter of Victoria. But such comparisons may
well be deferred until one reaches Canton. There one beholds the genuine
native article.
[Illustration: THE BANK, HONG-KONG.]
The police who guard the lives and property of the residents of
Hong-Kong, are for the most part picked men of English birth, and are
considered as trustworthy as regular troops. But several hundred of
these guardians of the peace are Sikhs--a race imported hither from
India--renowned for bravery, loyal to the British government, and having
no sympathy with the Chinese. These Sikhs have handsome faces, brilliant
eyes, and dark complexions, the effect of which is wonderfully enhanced
by their immense red turbans, conspicuous two or three blocks away,
not only by their startling color, but because their wearers exceed in
stature all other races in Hong-Kong.
[Illustration: POLICEMEN.]
Strolling one morning through the outskirts of the city, I came upon some
troops engaged in military manoeuvres, and attired in white from head to
foot, to shield them from the sun. What traveler in the East can forget
the ever-present soldiers of Great Britain, of whom there are nearly
three thousand in the garrison of Hong-Kong? I know it is frequently the
fashion to sneer at them and to question their efficiency in case of war.
I know, too, that in certain ways the vast extent of England's empire
constitutes her weakness.
[Illustration: SOLDIERS DRILLING.]
But I must say that in a tour around our planet I was impressed as never
before with what the British had accomplished in the way of conquest,
and with the number of strategic points they hold in every quarter of
the globe. We had but recently left the western terminus of England's
North American possessions, yet in a few days we discerned the flag of
England flying at Hong-Kong. Next we beheld the Union Jack at Singapore,
then at Penang, then at Ceylon, and after that throughout the length and
breadth of the vast empire of India, as well as the enormous area of
Burma. Leaving Rangoon, if we sail southward, we are reminded that the
southernmost portion of Africa is entirely in English hands, as well as
the huge continent of Australia.
[Illustration: CHINESE COBBLER.]