of _Chu-san_, and to navigate from port to port, we here procured two
new pilots to carry the ships to _Mee-a-taw_. They brought us indeed to
this place, but, instead of a harbour, we found only a narrow strait,
with a rapid tide setting through it, and rocky anchoring ground. On the
shore of the continent was a city of considerable extent, under the
walls of which next the sea was a bason or dock, filled with vessels
whose capacity might be from ten to one hundred tons.
The Governor of this city (the name of which we learned to be
_Ten-tchoo-foo_) paid his respects to the embassador on board the Lion,
and observed in the course of conversation that his orders from court
were to render all the service in his power to the embassy, and to
provide proper means of conveyance, either by land or by sea. He seemed
to be about the age of five and thirty, a man of frank and easy manners,
courteous, intelligent, and inquisitive. He stood higher in the opinion
of all of us than any we had yet seen. The following morning he sent off
what he was pleased to call a trifling refreshment, which consisted of
four bullocks, eight sheep, eight goats, five sacks of fine white rice,
five sacks of red rice, two hundred pounds of flour, and several baskets
of fruit and vegetables.
We have always been taught to believe that the Chinese consider us as
barbarians; but we have hitherto no reason to say that they treated us
as such. At all events it was obvious that the expected arrival of the
British embassy had made no slight impression on the court of Pekin.
Here we once more ventured on another pilot to carry the ships across
the gulph of _Pe-tche-lee_ to _Tien-sing_. He was an old man of 70
years, and seemed to possess a perfect knowledge of all the bays and
harbours in the gulph. He drew on paper the sketch of a port on the
western coast to which he undertook to carry the ships. Fortunately,
however, for us, it was considered more safe to send the small brigs
a-head to sound, than to place any confidence in men who had already so
often deceived us. They had scarcely departed before the signal of
danger was made; a new course was steered for the night, and early the
following morning, the same signal was repeated. No land was now in
sight, yet the water had shallowed to six fathoms; it was therefore
deemed prudent to come to an anchor. It was a very unusual situation for
such large ships to ride thus at anchor in the middle of a strange sea,
and out of sight of land, yet liable, in case of blowing weather, to
strike against the bottom.
The commanders of the ships were exasperated against the pilots, and
these on their part were almost petrified with fear. The poor creatures
had done their best, but they possessed neither skill nor judgment, or,
perhaps, it may be more charitable to suppose that they were confused by
the novelty of their situation. It was in vain to endeavour to make them
comprehend the difference in the draught of water between their own
ships and ours, which, in the latter, was as many fathoms as feet in the
former, although they were palpably shewn, by a piece of rope, the depth
that was required.
As it was evidently impracticable to proceed farther with our own ships
towards the land, which was now from twelve to fifteen miles distant,
and so very low as not to be visible the deck, one of the tenders was
dispatched to the mouth of the _Pei-ho_ or white river to report our
arrival. Here two officers from the court had already embarked to wait
on the Embassador, carrying with them a present of refreshments,
consisting of bullocks, hogs, sheep, poultry, wine, fruit, and
vegetables, in such quantities, as to be more than sufficient for a a
week's consumption of the whole squadron, amounting nearly to six
hundred men. It consisted in twenty small bullocks, one hundred hogs,
one hundred sheep, one thousand fowls, three thousand pumpkins, as many
melons, apples, pears, plumbs, apricots, and other fruits, with an
abundance of culinary vegetables. The wine was contained in large
earthen jars whose covers were closely luted. Numbers of the hogs and
the fowls had been bruised to death on the passage, which were thrown
overboard from the Lion with disdain, but the Chinese eagerly picked
them up, washed them clean and laid them in salt.
The number of vessels they had dispatched to take on shore the presents
and the baggage was between thirty and forty, the capacity of each not
being less, and many of them more, than two hundred tons; so imperfect a
judgment had these people formed of the quantity of articles to be
transhipped. These were the vessels whose holds were divided into
thirteen distinct compartments, separated by partitions of two inch
plank, the seams of which were caulked with a preparation of fine lime
made from shells, and fibres of bamboo, in order to render them
water-tight. Their sails, cables, rigging and cordage were all made of
bamboo; and neither pitch nor tar was used on these or any part of the
wood-work.
We detained about fifteen of these vessels to take on shore the
Embassador's suite, the presents for the Emperor, and the baggage; after
which the British ships returned to _Chu-san_ without the assistance of
the Chinese pilots, whose skill in navigation was held very cheap, by
the lowest seamen on board.
On entering the _Pei-ho_ we observed a number of buildings erected on
the right bank, with roofs of matting, but decorated in the most
fantastical manner, with different coloured ribbands and variegated
silks; and about three hundred soldiers in their uniforms (which
appeared to our eye not much adapted to military purposes) were drawn
out, with a band of music, near a temporary landing-place constructed of
wood; all of which we understood had been hastily prepared for the
reception of the Embassador; but as his Excellency was desirous of
reaching the capital without delay, he declined going on shore,
preferring to step into the accommodation yachts at once, that were
ready to receive him, a little higher up the river, the moment that the
presents should be transhipped into the river-craft. The officers who
were deputed to conduct him to the capital observed, that so much haste
was not at all necessary, as the Emperor's birth-day was yet distant;
these people having no other idea of an embassy, as it seemed, than that
of its being a mere compliment to their Sovereign. The yellow flags
displayed at the mast-heads of the river fleet, laden with the
presents, and consisting of seventeen sail, gave, indeed, a more
extended meaning of such a mission. These flags, in broad black
characters, bore the following inscription; _The English Embassador
carrying Tribute to the Emperor of China._
We found the yachts that were destined to convey us exceedingly
convenient, more so indeed than any I have seen on our canals of
England. They are flat bottomed, and draw only about fifteen inches of
water. Their upper works are high, appearing indeed like a floating
house. They have three apartments for the accommodation of passengers;
the first an antichamber for the servants and baggage; the middle a
commodious sitting and dining room, about fifteen feet square; and the
third divided into two or three sleeping rooms. Behind these is the
kitchen; and still farther aft, small places like dog-kennels, for the
boatmen. Sometimes there is a kind of second story, upon the apartments,
divided into little cells, that are just the length and breadth of a
man. A Chinese sailor requires no room for luggage, his whole wardrobe
being generally on his back. In the different operations employed for
making the yachts proceed, they give no interruption to the passengers.
A projecting gangway on each side of the vessel, made of broad planks,
serves as the passage from one end to the other.
The two officers that were sent from court, to conduct the Embassador to
the capital, paid a visit to every yacht, and shewed the most earnest
desire to please and to make us comfortable. Their names were _Van_ and
_Chou_, to which they annexed the title of _Ta-gin_, or _great man_.
_Van_ had the rank of Lieutenant-General in the army, and _Chou_ was the
Governor of a district in _Pe-tche-lee_. We observed in their manners no
indication of that stiff and ceremonious conduct, which custom obliges
them to put on in public. On the contrary, they sat down to table with
us, endeavouring to learn the use of the knife and fork, and made
themselves extremely agreeable; lamented they were not able to hold
conversation with us in our own language; and on going away, shook hands
with us like Englishmen.
Provisions, fruit, and wines (such as the country affords) were sent on
board in such profusion, that I really believe the Chinese boatmen, in
the course of the passage up this river, were enabled to lay by their
winter's stock from the surplus. In truth, as Sir George Staunton has
observed, the hospitality, attention, and respect we hitherto
experienced, were such as strangers meet with only in the Eastern parts
of the world.
Nothing that could convey the idea of extraordinary wealth or comfort
among the inhabitants, or of extraordinary abundance and fertility in
the country, (unless in the copious supplies of our provisions) had yet
occurred, either at _Chu-san_ or in the first three days' sail up the
_Pei-ho_ towards the capital. The land on both sides was low and flat,
and instead of hedge-rows, trenches were dug to mark the boundaries of
property. A small proportion only was under cultivation. The greater
part appeared to be sour swampy ground, covered with coarse grass, with
bushes, and the common reed. There were few trees, except near the
villages, which were of mean appearance, the houses generally
consisting of mud walls, one story in height, and thatched with straw or
rushes. Here and there a solitary cottage intervened, but nothing that
bore any resemblance to the residence of a gentleman, or that could even
be called a comfortable farm-house. And although villages were numerous,
no assemblage of houses were perceived, that properly could be classed
under the name of a town, except that of _See-koo_, near the mouth of
the river, and _Ta-koo_, a few miles higher, until we proceeded to the
distance of about ninety miles, when we entered the suburbs of the large
city of _Tien-sing_, stretching, like London on the Thames, for several
miles along each bank of the river _Pei-ho_. But neither the buildings
nor the river would bear any comparison, even with those parts about
Redriffe and Wapping. Every thing, in fact, that we had hitherto seen
wore an air of poverty and meanness. After a long confinement on board a
ship, to those at least who are not accustomed to it, almost any country
appears to possess the charms of a Paradise; yet on our first landing in
this celebrated empire to the present place, which is no great distance
from the capital, I am persuaded, that every individual of the embassy
felt himself rather disappointed in the expectations he had formed. If
any thing excited admiration, it was the vast multitudes of people that,
from our first arrival, had daily flocked down to the banks of the
river, of both sexes and of all ages. Their general appearance, however,
was not such as to indicate any extraordinary degree of happiness or
comfort. The best dressed men wore a sort of velvet cap on their heads;
a short jacket, buttoned close round the neck, and folded across the
breast, the sleeves remarkably wide; the materials cotton cloth, black,
blue, or brown silk, or European camblet; they wore quilted petticoats,
and black sattin boots. The common people were dressed in large straw
hats, blue or black cotton frocks, wide cotton trowsers, and thick
clumsy shoes, sometimes made of straw. Some had coarse stockings of
cotton cloth; the legs of others were naked. A single pair of drawers
constituted indeed the whole clothing of a great portion of the crowd.
Never were poor women fitted out in a style so disadvantageous for
setting off their charms as those who made their appearance on the banks
of the _Pei-ho_, and we afterwards found that the dress of these, with
some slight variations, was the common mode of the country. Bunches of
large artificial flowers, generally resembling _asters_, whose colours
were red, blue, or yellow, were stuck in their jet-black hair, which,
without any pretensions to taste or freedom, was screwed up close
behind, and folded into a ridge or knot across the crown of the head,
not very unlike (except in the want of taste) to the present mode in
which the young ladies of England braid their locks. Two bodkins of
silver, brass, or iron, were conspicuously placed behind the head, in
the form of an oblique cross, which is the common mode of Malay women.
Their faces and necks were daubed with white paint, the eye-brows
blackened, and on the center of the lower lip, and at the point of the
chin, were two spots, about the size of a small wafer, of a deep
vermillion colour. A blue cotton frock, like that of the men, reaching
in some to the middle of the thigh, in others to the knee, was almost
universal. A pair of wide trowsers, of different colours, but commonly
either red, green, or yellow, extended a little below the calf of the
leg, where they were drawn close, in order the better to display an
ankle and a foot, which for singularity at least, may challenge the
whole world. This distorted and disproportionate member consists of a
foot that has been cramped in its growth, to the length of four or five
inches, and an ankle that is generally swollen in the same proportion
that the foot is diminished. The little shoe is as fine as tinsel and
tawdry can make it, and the ankle is bandaged round with party-coloured
clothes, ornamented with fringe and tassels; and such a leg and foot,
thus dressed out, are considered in China as superlatively beautiful.
The constant pain and uneasiness that female children must necessarily
suffer, in the act of compressing, by means of bandages, the toes under
the sole of the foot, and retaining them in that position until they
literally grow into and become a part of it; and by forcing the heel
forward, until it is entirely obliterated, make it the more wonderful
how a custom, so unnatural and inhuman, should have continued for so
many ages, at least such is the opinion, that its origin is entirely
unknown, or explained by such fabulous absurdities as are too ridiculous
to assign for its adoption.
Few savage tribes are without the unnatural custom of maiming or lopping
off some part of the human body, as boring the lips and the cartilege of
the nose, drawing or colouring the teeth, cutting off a joint from the
fingers or toes, and otherwise practising, as they must suppose,
improvements on nature. But on this consideration it would scarcely be
fair to conclude, that maiming the feet of the Chinese ladies derived
its origin from a period of time when they were yet in a savage state,
since we are in the daily habit of observing the most civilized and
enlightened societies studying to find out beauties in defects, and
creating them where nature had intended perfection. The Chinese would no
doubt be equally surprized at, and consider as egregiously absurd, the
custom of circumcision, as practiced by a great portion of Asiatic
nations; nor have we any reason to think they would not condemn the
refinement of docks and crops among our horses as an absurd custom, not
less ridiculous in their eyes, than the little feet of their ladies are
in ours. If they could not refrain from bursting into fits of laughter
on examining the grease and powder with which our hair was disfigured;
and if they sometimes lamented that so much oil and flour had
unnecessarily been wasted, we might, perhaps, in the vanity of
self-importance, affect to pity their taste; but setting custom and
prejudice apart, we had certainly no great reason to despise and
ridicule the Chinese, or indeed any other nation, merely because they
differ from us in the little points of dress and manners, seeing how
very nearly we can match them with similar follies and absurdities of
our own.
The silence of the earliest travellers into China on so extraordinary a
custom, would almost warrant a conjecture that, notwithstanding the
pretended ignorance of the Chinese with regard to its origin, both the
fashion and the sentiment of its being vulgar for ladies to be seen
abroad, were only adopted within the period of a few centuries. The
Venetian traveller, although he makes frequent mention of the beauty
and dress of the women, takes no notice of this singular fashion; and he
observes that on the lake of _Hang-tchoo-foo_ the ladies are accustomed
to take their pleasure with their husbands and their families. The
Embassadors also of Shah Rokh, the son of Tamerlane, who in the year
1419, were sent to congratulate the Emperor of China, state in the
narrative of their expedition that, at their public reception, there
stood two young virgins, one on each side of the throne, with their
faces and bosoms uncovered; that they were furnished with paper and
pencils and took down with great attention every word that the Emperor
spoke. These Embassadors saw also numbers of women in open baths near
the Yellow River; and, in one city, they remark that "there were many
taverns, at the doors of which sat a number of young girls of
extraordinary beauty." Nor do the travels of two Mahomedans into China
in the ninth century, published by Mr. Renaudot, make any mention of the
unnatural smallness of the women's feet; and they are not by any means
deficient in their observations of the manners and customs of this
nation, at that time so very little known to the rest of the world.
Almost every thing they have related concerning China at this early
period is found to be true at the present day, and as they particularly
notice the dress and ornaments worn by the women, one would think they
would not have omitted a custom so singular in its kind as that of
maiming the feet, if it had then been as common as it now is.
This monstrous fashion has generally been attributed to the jealousy of
the men. Admitting this to have been the case, the Chinese must be
allowed to be well versed in the management of the sex, to have so far
gained the ascendancy over them, as to prevail upon them to adopt a
fashion, which required a voluntary relinquishment of one of the
greatest pleasures and blessings of life, the faculty of locomotion; and
to contrive to render this fashion so universal that any deviation from
it should be considered as disgraceful. The desire of being thought
superior to the rest of his fellows sometimes, indeed, leads a man into
strange extravagancies. Upon this principle the men of learning, as they
are pleased to style themselves, suffer the nails of their little
fingers to grow sometimes to the enormous length of three inches for the
sole purpose of giving ocular demonstration of the impossibility of
their being employed in any sort of manual labour; and upon the same
principle, perhaps, the ladies of China may be induced to continue the
custom of maiming their female infants, in order that their children may
be distinguished from those of the peasantry, who, in most of the
provinces, are condemned to submit to the drudgery of the field.
The interior wrappers of the ladies' feet are said to be seldom changed,
remaining, sometimes, until they can no longer hold together; a custom
that conveys no very favourable idea of Chinese cleanliness. This,
indeed, forms no part of their character; on the contrary they are what
Swift would call a _frowzy_ people. The comfort of clean linen, or
frequent change of under-garments, is equally unknown to the Sovereign
and to the peasant. A sort of thin coarse silk supplies the place of
cotton or linen next the skin, among the upper ranks; but the common
people wear a coarse kind of open cotton cloth. These vestments are more
rarely removed for the purpose of washing than for that of being
replaced with new ones; and the consequence of such neglect or economy
is, as might naturally be supposed, an abundant increase of those vermin
to whose production filthiness is found to be most favourable. The
highest officers of state made no hesitation of calling their attendants
in public to seek in their necks for those troublesome animals, which,
when caught, they very composedly put between their teeth. They carry no
pocket handkerchiefs, but generally blow their noses into small square
pieces of paper which some of their attendants have ready prepared for
the purpose. Many are not so cleanly, but spit about the rooms, or
against the walls like the French, and they wipe their dirty hands in
the sleeves of their gowns. They sleep at night in the same clothes they
wear by day. Their bodies are as seldom washed as their articles of
dress. They never make use of the bath, neither warm nor cold.
Notwithstanding the vast number of rivers and canals, with which every
part of the country is intersected, I do not remember to have seen a
single groupe of boys bathing. The men, in the hottest day of summer,
make use of warm water for washing the hands and face. They are
unacquainted with the use of soap. We procured, in Pekin, a sort of
Barilla with which and apricot oil we manufactured a sufficient quantity
of this article to wash our linen, which, however, we were under the
necessity of getting done by our own servants.
On approaching the town of _Tien-sing_ we observed a prodigious number
of large stacks of salt, piled up in sacks of matting. The quantity thus
stored was found, on rough calculation, to be sufficient for the
consumption of thirty millions of people, for a whole year. Such a
surprising aggregate of one of the useful and almost necessary, articles
of life, was a preparative, in some measure, for the vast multitudes of
people which appeared on our passing this northern emporium of China.
The gabelle, or duty on salt, which the government here, as well as
elsewhere, had found convenient to impose on one of the indispensable
articles of life, partly accounted for such an extraordinary
accumulation. The collector of the salt duties of _Tien-sing_ held one
of the most lucrative appointments in the gift of the crown.
The crowds of large vessels lying close together along the sides of the
river; the various kinds of craft passing and re-passing; the town and
manufactories and warehouses extending on each bank as far as the eye
could reach, indicated a spirit of commerce far beyond any thing we had
hitherto met with. The large vessels, the small craft, the boats, the
shores, the walls surrounding the houses, the roofs were all covered
with spectators. Our barges, being retarded in the narrow passages among
the shipping, were at least two hours in reaching the head of the town.
During the whole time the populace stood in the water, the front rank up
to the middle, to get a peep at the strangers. Hitherto among the
spectators there had generally appeared full as many of the fair sex as
of the other; and the elderly dames, in particular, had been so curious
as to dip their little stumps into the water in order to have a peep
into the barges as they glided slowly along; but here, among the whole
crowd, not a single female was visible. Although the day was extremely
sultry, the thermometer of Fahrenheit being 88° in the shade, as a
mutual accommodation their heads were all uncovered, and their bald
pates exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. It was an uncommon
spectacle to see so many bronze-like heads stuck as close together, tier
above tier, as Hogarth's groupe, intended to display the difference
between character and caricature, but it lacked the variety of
countenance which this artist has, in an inimitable manner, displayed in
his picture.