_THE MANCHURIAN FRONTIER._
Manchuria and its aboriginal inhabitants.--Their history.--The
Daurians.--The Manchu.--Visit to Sakhalin-Ula-Hotun.--Manchu
dress.--Music.--Conveyances.--Articles of commerce.--Treatment
of dead.--Boats.--Methods of fishing.--Archery.--Town of
Aigun.--Buildings.--Temples.--Difficulties of access.
I have said very little on what we saw in descending the Amur of the
Daurians and Manchu, because I thought it better to reserve a separate
chapter for these extra-Siberian people. Manchuria is bounded on the
north by the Amur, on the east by the Ussuri, on the west by Dauria and
Mongolia, and on the south by Corea and the Yellow Sea. It is, in fact,
the country north of Peking, from which city the territory is governed,
and with which its history is closely connected.[1]
A few words should be said, perhaps, first of the Daurians, whose
territory we passed whilst on the Upper Amur. Of old they were settled
along both banks of the river, and doubtless may here and there be
found still on the northern bank; but for the sake of clearness I have
preferred to treat of them on the southern bank in their proximity to
the Manchu, from whom they can scarcely be distinguished in appearance,
and with whom they have more in common than with the natives of the
north. The Daurians and Manchu, Mr. Howorth says, are of the same
stock in every way. The division is a political one only. The Daurians
probably represent the section who paid tribute to the Chinese Court,
and the Manchu those who were free. Mr. Wahl says that “Daours” is a
name given to the Tunguses of the Amur by the Buriats. The Daurians
are taller and stronger than the Orochons, the countenance is oval
and more intellectual, and the cheeks are less broad. The nose is
rather prominent, and the eyebrows straight. The skin is tawny, the
hair brown. The lower classes do not shave the head, and their hair
resembles an ill-constructed haystack, around which they twist their
pigtail. The higher classes shave the head in front and over the
temples, but wear a tail.
The Daurians carry on agriculture successfully, and cultivate
vegetables and tobacco. They live in houses made of earth, thatched
with reeds or thin bamboos, and have the walls whitewashed inside. The
houses are not divided into compartments, and the fireplace is outside,
near the door, the smoke from it passing through a pipe into the house.
Two iron kettles always form part of the household utensils, one of
them for heating water for tea, the other for cooking the food. The
windows are large and square, of paper soaked in oil. They are hinged
at the top, and are propped open for ventilation. The religion of the
Daurians is Shamanism. We saw their canoes from time to time when
stopping at wood stations on the Upper Amur, but recognized few of the
people themselves.
We saw many Manchu from the Zeya to the Khingan mountains. The southern
shores of the Amur are inhabited by Manchu and Chinese, the latter
being either exiles or their descendants.[2] On the south bank of
the Amur, opposite Blagovestchensk, is a small Manchu town, called
_Sakhalin-Ula-Hotun_ (City of the Black River). The Manchu and Chinese
formerly called the river above the Sungari “Sakhalin-Ula.” The Goldi
called the Amur “Mongo,” and the Gilyaks “Mamoo.” The name Amur was
given by the Russians, and is considered a corruption of the Gilyak
word. I paid a visit to Sakhalin-Ula on the evening our steamer stayed
in the vicinity. It is said to have less than 2,000 inhabitants.
I was accompanied by Mr. Niellsen, from the telegraph office at
Blagovestchensk, who was slightly known to one of the Manchu merchants.
The town stretches a mile along the bank, but extends only a few paces
back from the river. It consists of a single street, and is anything
but picturesque; for the fences, made of log-frames and covered with
board, shut out the view of the gardens, in which are grown millet,
maize, radishes, onions, leeks, garlic, Spanish pepper, and cabbages.
The walls of the houses are of log plastered with mud, and the windows
usually of paper, but occasionally of glass.
The roofs of the buildings are covered with thatch of wheaten straw,
and the town is embowered in elms, birches, maples, poplars, and wild
apple-trees. This contrasts favourably with the Russian town, where
there are few trees except those in the park. Timber, for use of both
Russians and Manchu, is cut in the forests 60 miles up the river, and
rafted down. They keep plenty of fowls and pigs, and a few horned
cattle used for ploughing. Sakhalin-Ula abounds in gardens, which
supply the market of Blagovestchensk. Once a month, during the full
moon, the Manchu cross the river and open a fair, which lasts seven
days. They sell the Russians wheaten and buckwheat flour, barley,
beans, oats, eggs, walnuts, vegetables, Ussuri apples, fowls, pigs,
cows, and horses. Thus the Russians usually lay in a month’s supply;
but should they require anything out of fair-time, the Manchu are not
only ready to supply it, but do so at lower prices than the sums asked
by the Russian merchants.
As we walked along the street we met a solitary woman, who ran quickly
out of the way, as if afraid of us; and having made a long _détour_
from the road, regained it, and continued her journey behind us. The
Manchu women dress like the Chinese, in a blue cotton gown, with short
loose sleeves, above which the well-to-do wear a cape or mantle of
silk, reaching to the waist. The hair is brushed up, fastened on the
top of the head in a bunch, and is secured by a comb ornamented with
beads and hair-needles, and decked with gay ribbons, with real or
artificial flowers. The earrings, finger-rings, and bracelets exhibit
much taste. The women are in the habit of carrying their youngest
children about with them, tied on the back. The girls, on being
released from swaddling-clothes, are dressed like their mothers; but
the boys, up to six or seven years of age, wear only a pair of loose
pantaloons.
The costume of the men is a long blue coat of cotton, loose linen
trousers fastened at the knee or made into leggings, and Chinese boots
of skin. They wear also a kind of vest and a belt, to which is attached
a case containing a knife, Chinese chopsticks, tinder, a small copper
pipe, and tobacco. Both sexes are fond of smoking, and, as in China,
constantly carry a fan.
As we passed one of the houses, we saw a Manchu, sitting out in the
cool of the evening, enjoying his music, which he produced by scraping
a stringed instrument of the violin order, though it is no compliment
to the fiddle to mention the two together. At Khabarofka I saw other
musical instruments, coming nearer to the shape of the banjo. One, with
three strings, had a long handle of rosewood, and a drum about six
inches in diameter. The drum was covered on either side with serpents’
skin, but if its sound was no more pleasing than that of the instrument
at Sakhalin-Ula, I fear it would generally be thought trying to English
ears.
By dint of inquiry, we found the merchant to whom my companion was
known, and, on entering his yard, saw some Mongolian sheep, with their
enormous tails. It was not difficult to understand particularly fat
Thibetan sheep needing a little carriage upon which to support this
appendage. One could wish them better conveyances, however, than the
Manchu carts, which are of a very clumsy description. They have two
wheels fixed to the axletree, all turning together. They are drawn by
oxen, and move slowly, creaking along. The Manchu have besides a rough
kind of travelling carriage for persons of distinction, a two-wheeled
affair, not long enough to allow one to lie at full length, nor with
covering high enough to permit one to sit upright. It has no springs,
the frame resting on the axle. The sides are curtained with cloth,
having little windows or peep-holes. A few cushions and hard pillows
inside serve to diminish the effect of jolting. The shafts are like
those of a common dray, with a sort of shelf to support the driver
sitting sideways about ten inches behind the horse. The wheel tires
are of surprising breadth and thickness, and cogged as if made for use
in a machine. In fact, a “machine” is exactly the word for the whole
concern; and on coming out of the said machine after a long journey,
and its accompanying jolting over execrable roads, it may well be
doubted whether one would not feel bruised “all over alike.”
Our merchant friend gave us a hearty welcome, and bade us be seated in
his house, which closely resembled the house of the merchant with whom
we dined at Maimatchin. Usually, when a guest enters a Manchu dwelling,
one of the women fills and lights a pipe, and having taken a few puffs
herself, and wiped the mouthpiece with her hand or apron, presents it.
The people in the house we visited were perfectly ready to show us
anything and everything we desired to see. One of them was writing,
with Indian ink and pen of split reed, or pencil of squirrel’s hair,
when, upon observing that I watched him closely, he wrote my name in
Chinese on a piece of paper, and gave it me as a souvenir, whilst I did
the same in English, and so returned the compliment. They presented me
also a bundle of joss-sticks for making a perfume, and which they burn
before their idols.
Adjoining the room in which we sat was the shop, where they arrayed
me in silk dressing-gowns of splendid quality. Among the articles
the Manchu sell to the Russians are silk stuffs, peltry, artificial
flowers, felt shoes, matting, etc.; but I saw nothing that so tempted
me as the silk dressing-gowns. I forbore to purchase one only because
my companion told me that I should get them better and find a larger
selection in Japan. We contented ourselves, therefore, with admiring
them, to the amusement, apparently, of the Manchu, for they repeatedly
imitated not only our speaking but our words and exclamations of
surprise, and even our manner of laughing.
I heard in this town of a strange method of treatment of the dead, for
Mr. Niellsen told me they were kept in the house for several days; they
are then half buried in a funereal hut in the garden or field. The
corpse is daily visited by the relatives, who bring all sorts of food
and drink. The food is put to the mouth of the deceased with a spoon,
and the drink is placed in small cups outside the hut. A few weeks pass
in this manner, and then the decomposed corpse is buried deeper.
Steaming away from Sakhalin-Ula, we passed several kinds of Manchu
boats, which present a lively appearance on the river. The junks for
heavy merchandise are about 60 feet long, from 12 to 14 feet wide,
with high bows and sterns, and a large mast, 40 feet high, amidships.
Most of them are built on the Sungari, and have a small hut-like
construction at the stern. They draw from three to four feet of water,
and are manned by a crew of ten,--eight for pushing at the poles, one
to steer, and a pilot on the bows to sound and announce the depth of
water. Smaller than the junks are the merchants’ boats, with an awning
over the state-room, in which the merchant lives, whilst his crew and
cargo are stowed in the forepart of the craft. A good deal of valuable
merchandise is sometimes carried on board. I remember going to one of
them at a stopping-place where the owner showed me a gold watch, said
to be of English make, about which, however, when asked for an opinion,
I was bound to express my doubts. I thought perhaps the man of business
might be disposed to purchase my revolver, for which I had had no use,
and found it somewhat in the way. I offered it, therefore, to him for
what it cost me. He was accustomed only to the prices of the common
Russian revolvers, whereas mine was of good English make. The figure,
therefore, alarmed him, though, perhaps, after an hour’s patience, we
might have come to terms; but the whistle sounded, and I had abruptly
to close our negotiations and make for the steamer.
A Manchu fishing-boat is made of the trunk of a hollowed-out tree, cut
in two pieces, fastened with wooden pegs, and secured from leaking with
pitch. The small ones are propelled by one man, with a double-bladed
paddle. They also make flat-bottomed boats of planks. Most of them
carry flags or streamers, and some have dragons’ heads on their bows.
The traveller sometimes sees a novel method of fishing by the Manchu,
who sit perched on a tripod of tent-poles, ten feet high, placed at the
edge of the river. Here the fisherman waits, like a heron, watching
for fish, which he catches with pole, net, or spear, according to
circumstances. One would suppose the seat must be very uncomfortable,
but these tripods, tied at the top, are seen on many sandbars and
shoals, showing it to be one of the recognized methods of fishing. I
saw also, below Sakhalin, another curious fishing machine, something
like a hand-cart, with two small wheels and long handles. A frame over
the axle sustained a long pole, from which was suspended a net about
the size of a shrimp net. The machine could thus be wheeled into the
water, and the snare lowered, after which the net was lifted again
with its catch. During winter, when the river is covered with ice, the
Daurians practise a third method of fishing, known to the Cossacks as
_chekacheni_, or “malleting.” Where the ice is transparent, the fish
may be seen almost immovable near the surface of the water beneath
it. A few blows on the ice with a mallet stun the fish, a hole is then
made, and they are taken out with the hand or a small net.
The Manchu are excellent archers. At the military stations trials of
skill take place periodically in the presence of the Mandarins and
others.[3] “To know how to shoot an arrow,” writes a Manchu author,
“is the first and most important knowledge for a Tatar to acquire.”
I presume, however, this was written before the introduction of the
clumsy Manchu matchlock.
Fourteen miles below the Zeya, and a few hours after leaving
Blagovestchensk, our steamer arrived at Aigun, the chief town of the
Manchu on the Amur, and once possessing considerable strength. It was
formerly the capital of the Chinese province of the Amur, but the seat
of government was transferred, some five-and-thirty years ago, to
Tsi-tsi-har. It has now a population estimated at 15,000. The town is
built on a bank some 8 or 10 feet above high-water mark. The tableland
behind the town extends to mountains in a serrated chain, which show
themselves as a background to the picture upon the southern horizon.
The Government buildings and several temples are surrounded by a
double row of palisades, in the form of a square; and outside this
are several hundred mud houses. The town has a gloomy appearance. The
houses are nearly all of but one storey, and stand in square yards
surrounded by fences of stakes or wickerwork. The only relief to the
eye is produced by the gaily-painted temples, which are surrounded with
trees, apparently sacred groves, the more noticeable as growing timber
is scarce in this region. The temples are square buildings erected
with rather more care than private houses. The walls are made of thin
poles set up side by side, with the interstices filled with clay, and
smoothened. The sloping roof is thatched with straw. As you enter you
find yourself in an ante-room, separated from the inner compartment by
a curtain running along the width of the temple, and suspended from
slender pillars. The curtain being drawn aside, there is seen a table
against the wall, upon or over which is a picture of a deity; and on
the table lie dried stems and leaves of Artemisia, and some Chinese
coins. There is also a semi-globular vessel of metal, with three holes
on each side, which is struck by the worshipper, after he has made his
obeisance, to attract the notice of the god.[4]
I observed at Aigun, as at Maimatchin, the proximity of the temple
and the theatre, and noticed poles standing in front of the
Government houses and temples. But I am not clear whether they are
merely flag-poles or whether they are for a purpose mentioned by Mr.
Ravenstein, who alludes to poles fixed on the screens facing the doors
of private houses, the upper parts of which poles are ornamented by the
Manchu with the skulls of beasts of prey, small flags, and horsehair,
and during prayer are hoisted whilst the worshippers lie prostrate.
Very few foreigners have succeeded in gaining admittance to Aigun. Mr.
Collins, with Captain Fulyhelm, made a resolute but fruitless endeavour
to do so.[5]
This exclusiveness, however, appears to have abated in after years; for
in 1866 Mr. Knox had no difficulty in visiting the town, even when the
Governor happened to be absent. He speaks of the streets as having some
dry spots, but that otherwise, by reason of the mud, he should describe
the measurement of the “broadway” of Aigun as about two miles long,
50 feet wide, and “two feet deep.” The shops in one of the principal
streets have open fronts. Here the merchandise is exposed, and the
merchant, attired in silks, gravely smokes his pipe till a purchaser
enters. Dragons and other figures, cut in paper, are fixed to poles
surmounting the shops, and paper lanterns hang across the street. The
town has a guard-house and military quarters, and there was pointed out
to me, from the deck of the steamer, the fortress and gateway leading
to the Government quarter. Over the gateway was a small room, like the
drawbridge room in a castle of the middle ages. Twenty men could be
lodged there to shoot arrows or throw hot water on an invading foe.
I was not fortunate in getting into the city--not, however, through
any difficulty with the authorities (as Baron Stackelberg offered to
telegraph to the Chinese Governor to give permission for me to enter),
but, owing to delays, our boat was so behind time that the captain
could not be induced to lose a couple of hours for the purpose. We
stopped, therefore, only a few minutes to take in passengers. Crowds
of Manchu and Chinese came to the bank, some of the women having very
remarkable head-gear. Men with a cloth about the waist were washing
their plump little Manchu horses in the river; and we saw a number
of junks drawn up on the banks. These represent some of the Chinese
naval force on the Amur,--but only _some_, I suppose--because, when
the Russians obtained the river, the Chinese transferred their navy to
the Sungari. Towards this river we proceeded, after leaving Aigun, and
arrived, as I have said, on the following day at Khabarofka, which may
now be called the military capital of the Sea-coast province.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Chinese applied to the eastern Mongols the name of _Dun-Khu_,
whence the name _Tunguses_. And wild they must have been in early
times, if the account be true that during the winter they lived in
subterraneous dwellings, and smeared their bodies with pigs’ fat to
protect themselves from cold. The first amelioration in their condition
is said to have been due to the conquests of the Coreans, who, in
their wars with China, made use of these northern neighbours. When,
however, the Coreans fell under the sway of the Chinese, in 677 A.D.,
the Tungusians, who were subsequently known as the Manchu, retired
northwards to the Shan-alin mountains. With the help of many Coreans,
they founded the empire of the Bokhai, and the country became one of
the most flourishing kingdoms on the eastern sea. The heirs of the
power of the Bokhai were the Jurjis, who founded the empire of Kin,
and were known as Kin, or Golden Tatars. They dominated over Northern
China in the 12th century, and were the ancestors of the Manchu. It is
not necessary to follow the vicissitudes of this kingdom through the
centuries that followed; but in 1618 the power of the Manchu was so
well established, that their king made war with China, and repeatedly
defeated the emperor. Some years later, a revolution broke out in
China, in the midst of which, in 1643, the emperor committed suicide;
whereupon the imperial party called in the aid of the Manchu, who
drove the rebels out of Peking. The Chinese general was then left to
pursue them further south, whilst the Manchu chief, finding the throne
vacant, took it for himself and kept it, and the Manchu dynasty reigns
in China to this day. These events were followed by very remarkable
consequences to the Manchu country and people; for though by conquest
they had gained a neighbouring throne, yet the Chinese managed so to
fuse their conquerors with themselves, and to get possession of their
country, that the Manchu, during the two centuries they have reigned
in China, may be said to have been working out their own annihilation.
Their manners, language, their very country has become Chinese, and
some maintain that the Manchu proper are now extinct.
[2] This part of the Amur was erected into a penal colony by the
Chinese Government soon after the evacuation of Albazin by the
Russians in 1680. Above and below Aigun are 25 or 30 clusters of
Manchu dwellings, some of the villages having from 10 to 50 or even
100 houses. In other cases the houses stand solitary, like the Cossack
picket-posts I afterwards passed on the Ussuri; and I presume they
serve the Chinese for the same purpose in watching the frontier. A
noticeable feature about these pickets is that, if there be only
a single habitation, there is in the corner of the garden a small
building like a sentry-box, which is a temple containing an idol or
picture, and where worship is offered.
[3] Three straw men of life-size are placed in a straight line, at
distances of 20 or 30 paces the one from the other. The mounted archer
is on a line with them about 15 feet from the first figure, his bow
bent, and his shaft upon the string. The signal being given, he puts
his horse to a gallop, and discharges his arrow at the first figure;
without checking his horse’s speed, he then takes a second arrow from
his quiver, places it to the bow, and discharges it at the second
figure, and so with the third; and all this while the horse is going at
full speed. From the first figure to the second the archer has barely
time for drawing his arrow, fixing, and discharging it; so that when
he shoots he has generally to turn somewhat on his saddle, and as to
the third shot he discharges it altogether in the old Parthian fashion.
Yet for a competitor to be deemed a good archer, says M. Huc, it is
essential that he should fire an arrow into every one of the three
figures.
[4] Mr. Knox was shown one of the temples of Aigun, which he describes
as a building 15 feet by 30 feet, with a red curtain at the door,
and a thick carpet of matting over a brick pavement. The altar being
veiled, the covering was lifted to allow him to see the inscription.
Several pictures adorned the walls, and there were lanterns painted in
gaudy colors. Outside also were paintings over the door, representing
Chinese landscapes. The windows were of lattice work, the roof had a
dragon’s head at each end of the ridge, and a Mosaic pavement extended
round the interior of the building. On the exterior of the Buddhist
temple we visited near Kiakhta, I observed a symbol in the form of two
deer standing on either side of a tree, but I did not notice it again
elsewhere.
[5] Their landing caused a great sensation, and the people gathered
in crowds. The Governor received them in a pavilion, and was dressed
in richly-figured silk robes, with the cap surmounted by a crystal
ball and peacocks’ feather. Refreshments were offered, and among them
small cups of samchoo or rice wine, and all they said was taken down by
scribes; but they were not permitted to visit the city. Previously to
this, Admiral Putiatin, of the Russian navy, defied the authorities,
and entered the city, as it were, sword in hand; for, permission having
been denied him on the pretence that he would not be safe against the
insults of the people, the admiral took with him four armed men, and
went through the streets. It was on a similar pretence that Mr. Collins
was diverted from his purpose.