distinctions among its subjects, except those that learning and office
confer; and although the most rigid sumptuary laws have been imposed to
check that tendency to shew and splendor, which wealth is apt to assume;
and to bring as much as possible on a level, at least in outward
appearance, all conditions of men; yet, with regard to diet, there is a
wider difference perhaps between the rich and the poor of China, than in
any other country. That wealth which, if permitted, would be expended in
flattering the vanity of its possessors, is now applied in the purchase
of dainties to pamper the appetite. Their famous _Gin-sing_, a name
signifying _the life of man_ (the _Panax quinquefolium_ of Linnæus) on
account of its supposed invigorating and aphrodisiac qualities was, for
a length of time, weighed against gold. The sinewy parts of stags and
other animals, with the fins of sharks, as productive of the same
effects, are purchased by the wealthy at enormous prices: and the nests
that are constructed by small swallows on the coasts of Cochin-China,
Cambodia, and other parts of the East, are dearer even than some kinds
of _Gin-sing_. Most of the plants that grow on the sea-shore are
supposed to possess an invigorating quality, and are, therefore, in
constant use as pickles or preserves, or simply dried and cut into soups
in the place of other vegetables. The leaves of one of these, apparently
a species of that genus of sea-weed called by botanists _fucus_, after
being gathered, are steeped in fresh water and hung up to dry. A small
quantity of this weed boiled in water gives to it the consistence of a
jelly, and when mixed with a little sugar, the juice of an orange, or
other fruit, and set by to cool, I know of no jelly more agreeable or
refreshing. The leaf is about six inches long, narrow and pointed,
deeply serrated, and the margins ciliated; the middle part smooth,
semi-transparent, and of a leathery consistence. The Chinese call it
_Chin-chou_.
The great officers of state make use of these and various other
gelatinous viands for the purpose of acquiring, as they suppose, a
proper degree of corpulency[61], which is considered by them as
respectable and imposing upon the multitude; of a great portion of whom
it may be observed, as Falstaff said of his company, "No eye hath seen
such scare-crows." It would be rare to find, among the commonalty of
China, one to compare with a porter-drinking citizen or a jolly-looking
farmer of England. They are indeed naturally of a slender habit of body
and a sickly appearance, few having the blush of health upon their
cheeks. The tables of the great are covered with a vast variety of
dishes, consisting mostly of stews of fish, fowl and meat, separately
and jointly, with proper proportions of vegetables and sauces of
different kinds. Their beverage consists of tea and whiskey. In sipping
this ardent spirit, made almost boiling hot, eating pastry and fruits,
and smoking the pipe, they spend the greatest part of the day, beginning
from the moment they rise and continuing till they go to bed. In hot
weather they sleep in the middle of the day, attended by two servants,
one to fan away the flies and the other to keep them cool.
[61] An old Frenchman (_Cossigny_) but a disciple of the new school, has
found out that the Chinese are in possession of a new science, the
existence of which was not even suspected by the enlightened nations of
Europe. As he has the merit of making this wonderful discovery, it is
but fair to announce it in his own words: "Je pense que nous devrions
prendre chez eux (les Chinois) les premiers elements de la
_spermatologie_, science toute nouvelle pour l'Europe, science qui
intéresse l'humanité en général, en lui procurant des jouissances qui
l'attachent à son existence, en entretenant la santé et la vigeur, en
réparant l'abus des excès, en contribuant à l'augmentation de la
population. Il feroit digne de la sollicitude des gouvernemens de
s'occuper des recherches qui pourroient donner des connoissances sur une
science à peine soupçonnée des peuples éclairés de l'Europe." He then
announces his knowledge in preparing "des petites pastilles qui sont
aphrodisiaques et qui conviennent sur-tout aux veillards, et à ceux qui
ont fait des excès:" and he concludes with the mortifying intelligence
that he is not permitted to reveal the important secret, "qui intéresse
l'humanité en general."
The province of _Pe-tche-lee_ embraces an extent of climate from 38° to
40-1/2° of north latitude. The temperature is very various. In summer
Fahrenheit's thermometer is generally above 80° during the day,
sometimes exceeding 90°; and, in the middle of winter, it remains for
many days together below the freezing point, descending occasionally to
zero or 0. But it generally enjoys a clear pure atmosphere throughout
the whole year.
In the practical part of agriculture, in this province, we observed
little to attract attention or to commend. The farmer gets no more than
one crop off the ground in a season, and this is generally one of the
species of millets already mentioned, or holcus, or wheat; but they
sometimes plant a _Dolichos_ or bean between the rows of wheat, which
ripens after the latter is cut down. They have no winter crops, the hard
frosty weather usually setting in towards the end of November and
continuing till the end of March. The three different modes of sowing
grain, by drilling, dibbling, and broadcast, are all in use but chiefly
the first, as being the most expeditious and the crop most easy to be
kept free from weeds; the last is rarely practised on account of the
great waste of seed; and dibbling is used only in small patches of
ground near the houses when they aim at neatness. The soil, being in
general loose and sandy and free from stones, is worked without much
difficulty, but it seemed to require a good deal of manure; and this
necessary article from the paucity of domestic animals is extremely
scarce. Very few sheep or cattle were observed, yet there was an
abundance of land that did not seem for many years to have felt the
ploughshare.
The draught cattle most generally in use are oxen, mules, and asses.
Horses are scarce and of a small miserable breed, incapable of much
work; a remark, indeed, which will apply to every province of the
empire; though those of Tartary, which composed the Emperor's stud,
according to the Embassador's description, were not wanting in point of
size, beauty, or spirit. No pains, however, are bestowed to effect, nor
do they seem to be sensible of the advantages to be derived from, an
improvement in the breed of cattle. Nor indeed is any care taken of the
bad breed which they already possess. It would be supposed that, where a
regular establishment of cavalry is kept up to an amount that seems
almost incredible, some attention would be paid to the nature and
condition of their horses. This, however, is not the case. A Scotch
poney, wild from the mountains, which has never felt the teeth of a
currycomb and whose tail and mane are clotted together with dirt, is in
fit condition to join a regiment of Tartar cavalry. Those kept by men in
office are equally neglected. The Chinese have no idea that this noble
animal requires any attention beyond that of giving him his food; and of
this, in general, he receives a very scanty portion.
That part of the province of _Shan-tung_ through which we travelled
exhibited a greater variety of culture than _Pe-tche-lee_; but the
surface of the northern parts especially was equally uniform. The soil,
consisting generally of mud and slime brought apparently by the
inundations of rivers, contained not a single pebble. The season was too
late to form any estimate of the crops produced upon the immense plains
of _Shan-tung_; but the young crops of wheat, standing at this time
(the middle of October) a few inches above the ground, looked extremely
well. Little waste ground occurred, except the footpaths and the
channels which served as division marks of property. Some attempts
indeed were here made at the division of grounds by hedge-rows, but with
little success; the plant they had adopted, the _Palma-Christi_, was
ill-suited for such a purpose. As we advanced to the southward, in this
province, the proportion of wheat under cultivation diminished, and its
place was employed by plantations of cotton, whose pods were now ripe
and bursting. The plant was low and poor in growth, but the branches
were laden with pods. Like the wheat it was planted or dibbled in rows.
The cotton produced the second year was said to be considered as equally
good with that of the first, but being found to degenerate the third
year, it was then rooted out and the ground prepared for fresh seed[62].
[62] In the tenth volume of a very extensive agricultural work, is
detailed the whole process of cultivating the cotton from the seed to
the web. The author observes, "The cotton in its raw state affords a
light and pleasant lining for clothes; the seed yields an oil, which,
being expressed from them, the remainder is serviceable as manure; the
capsules or pods, being hard and woody, are used for firing, and the
leaves afford nourishment to cattle, so that every part of the vegetable
may be appropriated to some useful purpose.
"The soil most favourable to this plant is a white sand, with a small
proportion of clay or loam. The plant affects an elevated open
situation, and cannot endure low marshy grounds.
"After all the cotton pods are gathered, the remaining stems and
branches should be cleared away without loss of time, and the ground
carefully ploughed up, to expose a new surface to the air and renew the
vigour of the soil.
"When the plough has passed through the ground three times, the earth
should be raked level, that the wind may not raise or dry up any part of
it.
"----When there is an abundance of manure, it may be laid on previous to
the use of the plough, but if it be scarce, &c. it will be preferable to
apply it to the soil at the time of sowing the seed.
"The manure should be old and well prepared, and among the best
ingredients for the purpose, is the refuse of vegetable substances, from
which an oil has been expressed.
"In the southern provinces the cotton plant will last for two or three
years, but to the northward the seed must be sown annually."
The author then enumerates nine distinct varieties and their comparative
qualities; after which he proceeds to the choice of seed, under which
head he observes, that if the seed be steeped in water, in which _eels_
have been boiled, the plant will resist the attack of insects. He then
describes the three methods of broadcast, drilling, and dibbling, and
gives a decided preference of the last, though it be the most laborious.
"The ground being well prepared, holes are to be made at the distance of
a cubit from each other, and the lines a cubit apart. A little water is
first to be poured in, and then four or five seeds, after which each
hole is to be covered with a mixture of soil and manure, and firmly
trodden down with the foot. In the other methods a roller is to be
used."
The next process is weeding, loosening, and breaking fine the earth.--He
then observes, "After the plants have attained some degree of strength
and size, the most advanced and perfect plant should be selected and all
the rest rooted out, for if two or more be suffered to rise together,
they will increase in height without giving lateral shoots; the leaves
will be large and luxuriant, but the pods will be few." He next proceeds
to the pruning of the plants to make them bear copiously--gathering the
pods--preparing and spinning the wool--weaving the cloth.--This abridged
account I have given to shew, that they are not deficient in writings of
this kind.
The southern parts of _Shan-tung_ are composed of mountains and swamps.
Here, lakes of various magnitudes occur and large tracts of country
similar to those which are known to us by the name of peat-moss. In such
places the population could not be expected to be excessive; and,
accordingly, we met with few inhabitants, except those who subsisted
their families by fishing. So great were the numbers engaged in this
employment, who lived entirely in floating vessels, that we judged the
waters to be fully as populous as the land. No rent is exacted by the
government, nor toll, nor tythe, nor licence-money for permission to
catch fish; nor is there any sort of impediment against the free use of
any lake, river or canal whatsoever. The gifts that nature has bestowed
are cautiously usurped by any power, even in this despotic government,
for individual use or profit; but are suffered to remain the free
property of all who may chuse by their labour to derive advantage from
them. But even this free and unrestrained use is barely sufficient to
procure for them the necessaries, much less any of the comforts, of
life. The condition of the peasantry, in the northern parts of this
province, was much more desirable. Their clothing was decent; their
countenances cheerful, indicating plenty; and their dwellings were built
of bricks or wood, appearing more solid and comfortable than those of
the province in which the capital is situated. But the poor fishermen
carried about with them unequivocal marks of their poverty. Their pale
meagre looks are ascribed to the frequent, and almost exclusive, use of
fish; which is supposed to give them a scrophulous habit of body. Their
endeavours, however, are not wanting to correct any acid or unwholesome
humours that this sort of diet may produce, by the abundant use of
onions and garlic, which they cultivate even upon the waters. Having no
houses on shore, nor stationary abode, but moving about in their vessels
upon the extensive lakes and rivers, they have no inducement to
cultivate patches of ground, which the pursuits of their profession
might require them to leave for the profit of another; they prefer,
therefore, to plant their onions on rafts of bamboo, well interwoven
with reeds and strong grass and covered with earth; and these floating
gardens are towed after their boats.
The women assist in dragging the net and other operations of taking
fish; but the younger part of the family are sometimes employed in
breeding ducks. These stupid birds here acquire an astonishing degree of
docility. In a single vessel are sometimes many hundreds which, like the
cattle of the Kaffers in southern Africa, on the signal of a whistle
leap into the water, or upon the banks to feed, and another whistle
brings them back. Like the ancient Egyptians, they use artificial means
of hatching eggs, by burying them in sand at the bottom of wooden boxes,
and placing them on plates of iron kept moderately warm by small
furnaces underneath. Thus the old birds which, provided they hatched
their eggs themselves, would only produce one brood, or at most two, in
the course of the year, continue to lay eggs almost every month. Hogs
are also kept in many of the fishing craft. In fact, ducks and hogs
affording the most savory meat, most abounding in fat and, it may be
added, best able to subsist themselves, are esteemed above all other
animals. The ducks being split open, salted, and dried in the sun, are
exchanged for rice or other grain. In this state we found them an
excellent relish; and, at our request, they were plentifully supplied
during the whole progress through the country.
The province of _Shan-tung_ extends in latitude from thirty-four and a
half to thirty-eight degrees. The mean temperature, from the 19th of
October to the 29th of the same month, was about fifty-two degrees at
sun-rise, to seventy degrees at noon. A constant clear and cloudless
sky.
The numerous canals and rivers, that in every direction intersect the
province of _Kiang-nan_, and by which it is capable of being flooded to
any extent in the dryest seasons, render it one of the most valuable and
fertile districts in the whole empire. Every part of it, also, having a
free communication with the Yellow Sea by the two great rivers, the
_Whang-ho_ and the _Yang-tse-kiang_, it has always been considered as
the central point for the home trade; and, at one time, its chief city
Nankin was the capital of the empire. That beautiful and durable cotton
of the same name is here produced and sent to the port of Canton; from
whence it is shipped off to the different parts of the world. The
Chinese rarely wear it in its natural colour, except as an article of
mourning; but export it chiefly, taking in return vast quantifies of
unmanufactured white cotton from Bengal and Bombay, finding they can
purchase this foreign wool at a much cheaper rate than that at which the
nankin sells. For mourning dresses and a few other purposes white cotton
is made use of, but in general it is dyed black or blue: among some of
our presents were also pieces of a beautiful scarlet. Near most of the
plantations of cotton we observed patches of indigo; a plant which grows
freely in all the middle and southern provinces. The dye of this shrub
being no article of commerce in China is seldom, if ever, prepared in a
dry state, but is generally employed to communicate its colouring matter
from the leaves, to avoid the labour and the loss that would be required
to reduce it to a solid substance. We observed that, in the cotton
countries, almost every cottage had its garden of indigo. As in ancient
times, in our own country, when every cottager brewed his own beer; kept
his own cow for milk and butter; bred his own sheep, the wool of which
being spun into yarn by his own family was manufactured into cloth by
the parish weaver; and when every peasant raised the materials for his
own web of hempen cloth; so it still appears to be the case in China.
Here there are no great farmers nor monopolists of grain; nor can any
individual nor body of men, by any possibility, either glut the market,
or withhold the produce of the ground, as may best suit their purpose.
Each peasant is supposed, by his industry, to have the means of
subsistence within himself; though it often happens that these means,
from adverse circumstances which hereafter will be noticed, fail of
producing the desired effect.
In the province of _Kiang-nan_ each grows his own cotton; his wife and
children spin it into thread and it is woven into a web in his own
house, sometimes by his own family, but more frequently by others hired
for the purpose. A few bamboos constitute the whole machinery required
for this operation. Money he has none; but his produce he can easily
barter for any little article of necessity or luxury. The superfluities
of life, which those in office may have occasion to purchase, are paid
for in bars of silver without any impression, but bearing value for
weight, like the Roman _as_ or the Hebrew _shekel_. The only coin in
circulation is the _tchen_, a piece of some inferior metal mixed with a
small proportion of copper, of the value of the thousandth part of an
ounce of silver; with this small piece of money the little and
constantly demanded necessaries of life are purchased, such as could not
conveniently be obtained by way of barter. Silver is rarely lent out at
interest, except between mercantile men in large cities. The legal
interest is twelve per cent. but it is commonly extended to eighteen,
sometimes even to thirty-six. To avoid the punishment of usury, what is
given above twelve per cent. is in the shape of a _bonus_. "Usury, in
China," observes Lord Macartney, "like gaming elsewhere, is a
dishonourable mode of getting money; but by a sort of compact between
necessity and avarice, between affluence and distress, the prosecution
of a Jew or a sharper is considered by us as not very honourable even in
the sufferers."
The greater the distance from the capital, the better was the apparent
condition of the people. The Viceroy, when he received his Excellency on
the entry of the embassy into this province, happened to cast his eye
upon the half-starved and half-naked trackers of the boats; and being
either ashamed of their miserable appearance, or feeling compassion for
their situation, he ordered every man immediately a suit of new cloaths.
In the morning, when our force was mustered, we were not a little
surprized to see the great alteration that had taken place in the
appearance of our trackers: every man had a blue cotton jacket edged
with red, a pair of new white trowsers, and a smart hat with a high
crown and feather. The natural fertility of the country, its central
situation commanding a brisk trade, the abundance of its fisheries on
the large rivers and lakes were incentives to industry, for the vast
population that seemed to be equally distributed over every part of the
province.
Rice being the staple of China was abundantly cultivated, in all such
places as afforded the greatest command of water. The usual average
produce of corn-lands is reckoned to be from ten to fifteen for one; and
of rice, from twenty-five to thirty; commonly about thirty. Those
corn-lands that will admit of easy irrigation are usually turned over
with the plough immediately after the grain is cut; which, in the middle
provinces, is ready for the sickle early in June, about the same time
that the young rice fields stand at the height of eight or ten inches.
These being now thinned, the young plants are transplanted into the
prepared wheat lands, which are then immediately flooded. Upon such a
crop they reckon from fifteen to twenty for one. Instead of rice one of
the millets is sometimes sown as an after-crop, this requiring very
little water, or the _Cadjan_, a species of _Dolichos_ or small bean,
for oil, requiring still less. Or, it is a common practice, after taking
off a crop of cotton and indigo, in the month of October, to sow wheat,
in order to have the land again clear in the month of May or June. Such
a succession of crops, without ever suffering the land to lie fallow,
should seem to require a large quantity of manure. In fact, they spare
no pains in procuring composts and manures; but they also accomplish
much without these materials, by working the soil almost incessantly and
mixing it with extraneous matters as, for instance, marle with light and
sandy soils, or if this is not to be had, stiff clay; and on clayey
grounds they carry sand and gravel. They also drag the rivers and canals
and pools of water for slime and mud; and they preserve, with great
care, all kinds of urine, in which it is an universal practice to steep
the seeds previous to their being sown. If turnip-seeds be steeped in
lime and urine, the plant is said not to be attacked by the insect. Near
all the houses are large earthen jars sunk in the ground, for collecting
and preserving these and other materials that are convertible, by
putrefactive fermentation, into manure. Old men and children may be seen
near all the villages with small rakes and baskets, collecting every
kind of dirt, or offals, that come in their way. Their eagerness to pick
up whatever may be used as manure led to some ridiculous scenes.
Whenever our barges halted and the soldiers and servants found it
necessary to step on shore, they were always pursued to their place of
retirement by these collectors of food for vegetables. It may literally
be said in this country, that nothing is suffered to be lost. The
profession of shaving is followed by vast numbers in China. As the whole
head is shaved, except a small lock behind, few, if any, are able to
operate upon themselves. And as hair is considered an excellent manure,
every barber carries with him a small bag to collect the spoils of his
razor.
The common plough of the country is a simple machine and much inferior
to the very worst of ours. We saw one drill plough in _Shan-tung_
different from all the rest. It consisted of two parallel poles of wood,
shod at the lower extremities with iron to open the furrows; these poles
were placed on wheels: a small hopper was attached to each pole to drop
the seed into the furrows, which were covered with earth by a transverse
piece of wood fixed behind, that just swept the surface of the ground.