Sail for Hong Kong.--Ocean Storms.--Sunset at Sea.--A
Water-Spout.--Arrival in China.--Typhoon Bay.--Manners and
Customs.--In and about Hong Kong.--Public Buildings.--Voyage up the
Pearl River.--City of Canton.--Strangest of Strange Cities.--Opium
Dens.--Temple of Honan.--The Worship of Swine.--Praying with a
Fan.--Local Peculiarities.--Half Round the World.--Singapore.--A
Tiger Hunt.--Burial at Sea.--Penang.--The Wonderful Palm.
We sailed from Nagasaki early on the morning of November 29th, in the
same steamship, the Nugata Maru, which had brought us from Kobe, being
now bound for Hong Kong, through the Yellow and China Seas, a distance
of eleven hundred miles. These are proverbially rough waters, and they
fully sustained their reputation for the first two days of the voyage.
The marvel seemed rather to be that more ships were not lost here, than
that so many were. It is really little better than a vast graveyard for
commerce. Our staunch iron hull was tossed about like a feather in the
wind, causing us to realize that there is something awfully grand in
these ocean storms, uncomfortable as they are.
Our crew was composed of Japanese, and excellent sailors they are,
quiet, obedient, and untiring. Sea life is very similar in nearly all
latitudes, and affords but few incidents worthy of recording. An old
sea-captain told the author, some years since, that the finest sunsets
he had ever seen were in these waters, off the coast of Cochin China,
and that it was a peculiarity of the region; or, to use his own words,
"First, we would have a typhoon that shivered our sails into threads,
and then a sunset that looked like a scene in a theatre." Allowance was
made in this instance for a fancied charm brought about by the great
contrast of a raging storm followed by a serene nightfall. It seemed as
though we had witnessed as fine exhibitions of Nature in this line, both
in Europe and America, as could be enjoyed, but an agreeable surprise
was in store for us.
We had crossed the southern portion of the Yellow Sea, and having run
down the Corean Straits, with the Loo-Choo Islands under our lee, were
sailing southward upon the China Sea. It was the 2d of December, and we
too were now off the coast of Cochin China. Never before had any of our
little party witnessed such a gorgeous array of cloud and color effect;
nor was the display fleeting. The peculiar aspect lasted for half an
hour or more, full of change to be sure, like opal hues, hovering and
evanescent, but not obliterated. The transparent clouds that hung above
the western horizon, as dainty in form and texture as a butterfly's
wings, were tinted with turquoise blue. Immediately over the section
where the sun had so lately disappeared, the gradations of color were
multiform and brilliant, fading into each other's embrace. Close to the
water line, where sky and ocean mingled, there was a mound of quivering
flame that seemed like burning lava pouring from some volcanic source.
This lavish display of iris hues was softly reflected by the vapory
tissue of clouds that hung over the opposite expanse; the shades
changing to ruby and sapphire tints alternately, until the east almost
rivaled the west in the gorgeousness of its robes. In the mean time the
sea, now wonderfully calm, expanding into infinite space, reproduced
upon its shimmering surface, as in a mirror, this magic array of color
permeated by the amber twilight. Gradually the curtain of night dropped
over the scene, but there still lingered a long crimson line on the
distant horizon where the sun had sunk into the sea. The most careless
eye on board the ship watched the constantly changing effects with bated
breath. Nature revels in beauty, and does her work with a lavish hand in
the far East. It has been our lot to see the sun set in many lands and
on many seas, but never before in such gorgeous splendor.
Just at night, December 4th, we arrived below Hong Kong, dropping anchor
in Typhoon Bay, where, among the dark shadows of the cliff-like shore,
we watched the stars overhead and the long bright wake cast by the
light-house, counted the small dancing lights in the native settlements
on the shore, and wondered what Hong Kong was like.
With the early morning light we steamed up to the magnificent harbor,
surrounded by a range of lofty hills, rendering it a shelter and
affording depth of water sufficient for any known tonnage. Its extensive
area was well covered with ships of war and merchantmen, bearing the
flags of all nations, among which the Stars and Stripes gladdened our
eyes. Hong Kong signifies "good harbor" in Chinese, and the name is well
applied. This is the most easterly possession of Great Britain, which
she has taken care to render very strong in a military point of view,
and where a large number of troops are constantly kept. The scarlet
uniforms of the garrison form a striking feature of the busy streets, at
all hours of the day. The houses in the European section of the city
are large and handsome structures, mostly of stone, rising tier upon
tier from the main street to a height of some hundreds of feet on the
face of the hill immediately back of the town. On and about the lofty
Victoria Peak are many charming bungalows, with attractive surroundings,
and a noble prospect of the harbor and country. The streets appropriated
to the occupancy of the Europeans are spacious and clean, but the
Chinese portion of Hong Kong is quite characteristic of the race,--very
crowded and very dirty, seeming to invite all sorts of epidemic
diseases; and consequently the mortality is very great and sweeping at
times, promoted by ignorance and excess among strangers and seamen.
One soon learns to detect an opium-eating people, and here we found
examples all about us in every relation of life. It is a vice nearly
always pursued in secret, but its traces upon the heavy, bleared eye and
sallow features are plain and disfiguring enough. The disgraceful trade
in the fatal drug, forced upon China by the English at the point of the
bayonet, flourishes and increases, forming the heaviest item of import.
It seems almost incredible that a people can long exist and consume such
large quantities of this active poison. Other forms of stimulants are
seldom resorted to by the natives, and an intoxicated person is
scarcely, if ever, met with among the Chinese population. As to
Europeans, it is the same here as it is in India, the habit of drinking
freely of spirituous liquors is universal, and one half the invalidism
which is attributed to climate should be ascribed to indulgence in hard
drinking.
The streets of Hong Kong afford strange local pictures. The shoemaker
industriously plies his trade in the open thoroughfare; cooking goes on
in the gutters beside the sidewalks filling the atmosphere with greasy
odors; the itinerant peddler, with a wooden box hung from his neck,
disposes of food made from mysterious sources; the street barber is seen
actively employed out of doors; the milkman drives his goats to the
customer's door and there milks the required quantity; the Chinese
themselves ignore the article altogether. The universal fan is carried
by men, not by women, and when the owner is not using it, he thrusts it
in the back of his neck with the handle protruding. Sedan chairs are
rushing hither and thither, borne upon men's shoulders, transporting
both natives and Europeans on business errands. Here, as in southern
Italy, one observes a propensity to eat, sleep, live, and die in the
streets, exhibited by the mass of the population.
Imagine a short, slouchy figure, with sloping eyes, a yellow complexion,
features characterized by a sort of low cunning, a shaved head with a
pigtail, clad in a loose cloth blouse, half shirt and half jacket,
continuations not exactly pants nor yet a petticoat, and shoes
thick-soled and shearing upwards like a Madras surf-boat, and you have
John Chinaman as he appears at home. The portrait is universal. One
Chinaman is as like another as two peas,--a uniformity often leading to
ludicrous mistakes. John eats principally rice. It is in fact the basis
of all his dishes, which are varied by the addition of dried fish and
vegetables, adding occasionally such portions of animals as are usually
thrown away by civilized people. Rats, cats, and dogs are not declined
by his omnivorous appetite, and he is charged with craving nearly all
sorts of vermin, such as snakes, slugs, scorpion's eggs, and
caterpillars, which he complacently adds to his stews. Without the
physical strength or size of Europeans, he makes up in industry what he
lacks in muscle; and as his food costs about one fifth the sum which we
generally calculate necessary for a common laborer, he can work much
cheaper, and still lay up money from his wages.
Certain peculiarities challenge our observation. The Chinese mariner's
compass does not point to the north pole, but to the south; that is, the
index is placed on the opposite end of the needle. When Chinamen meet
each other in the street, instead of mutually grasping hands, they shake
their own hands. The men wear skirts and the women wear pants. The men
wear their hair as long as it will grow, the women bind theirs up as
snug as possible. The dressmakers are not women, but men. The spoken
language is never written, and the written language is never spoken. In
reading a book the Chinaman begins at the end and reads backwards; all
notes in the books appear at the top of the page in place of the bottom,
as with us. White is the mourning color, not black; surnames precede the
given names; vessels are launched sideways, not endways; in mounting a
horse the Chinese do so from the off-side. At dinner we commence the
meal with soup and fish, they reverse the order and begin with the
dessert. Grown up men fly kites, and boys look on admiringly; our
bridesmaids are young and dressed in white, theirs are old women clad in
black; and so on.
From its special position in the East, Hong Kong is the resort of all
sorts of people, from all quarters of the globe. England is of course
the most strongly represented. There are comparatively very few
Americans, but plenty of French and Germans, the latter mostly Jews and
money lenders. There are numbers of East Indians, Italians, Portuguese,
and Spaniards, with here and there a Parsee, making altogether a
population which reminds one of Marseilles in its conglomerate
character. These several races, mingling with the Chinese, make up an
incongruous community. An early morning visit to the water front of the
city affords much amusement, especially at the hour when the market
boats arrive from the country, and from along shore, with fish and
vegetables. Here the people swarm like ants or bees more than like human
beings, all eager for business, all crowding and talking at the same
time, and creating a confusion that would seem to defeat its own object,
namely, to buy and to sell. The vegetables are various and good; the
variety of fruit limited and poor in flavor; but the fish are abundant
and various in shape, size, and colors. Nine tenths of the business on
the river front is done by women, and nearly all have an infant strapped
to their backs, while they carry heavy burdens in their hands, or are
engaged in rowing or sculling their boats. They carry on trade, make
change, clean fish, and the like, quite oblivious of the infants at
their backs. Babies thus managed are often shaken about most
unmercifully, and among Europeans would assert themselves by the loudest
screeching; but who ever heard a Chinese or Japanese baby cry?
The environs of Hong Kong are extremely interesting, and the roads are
kept in most admirable condition. The jinrikisha is the common mode of
conveyance, though the palanquin is perhaps nearly as much used. The
introduction of the former vehicle into both China and Japan is of quite
recent date. We enjoyed several expeditious in the suburbs by both means
of transportation, the charges being extremely moderate. The Japanese
jinrikisha men seemed lighter, yet more muscular, than do their Chinese
brethren when between the shafts; and the latter, after a few miles,
exhibited symptoms of fatigue, whereas, on a long thirty-five mile trip,
this was never observed in a Japanese: either he was superior in pluck
or muscles, or both, to John Chinaman.
The English burial-ground, located about three miles from the town, is a
very beautiful cemetery, and is to Hong Kong what Mount Auburn is to
Boston,--not quite so extensive, but superior in its collection of
flowers and trees, which must have been gathered and naturalized here at
a great cost. The varieties of the cactus family are remarkable in
numbers and mode of training. The same may be said of the camphor-tree,
the aloes, tall and graceful cypresses, mingling with which are Cape
jasmines, hydrangeas, magnolias, and the scarlet geranium, tall and
hedge-like, barked by white, variegated, and scarlet camellias.
Everything indicated a semi-tropical climate. These Chinese gardeners
exhibit great skill and genius in the cultivation of all plants, and
landscape gardening is carried far beyond our ideas of the art in
America. Some flowering shrubs, on close examination, proved to be old
friends, but so trained and developed as to be hardly recognizable. We
observed a curious mode of grafting plants so as to cause several
species to blossom on the same branch, thus forming, as it were, a
glowing bouquet. The samples of dwarf trees were also very singular,--a
little orange-tree, for instance, bearing an orange weighing more than
itself, and lemons so arranged as to grow by grafting in and with an
orange. It was an agreeable sight to see choice bouquets for sale on the
public streets, containing a great variety of flowers arranged with
genuine taste, a little too formal and stiff to meet our fancy, but yet
finding ready customers at reasonable prices. In Madrid, Florence, or
Paris, it is sunny-faced girls who offer these fragrant emblems to the
passer-by; but at Hong Kong it is done with less effect by almond-eyed
men and ragged boys. The city is so far Europeanized as to be less
typical of Chinese manners and customs than are cities further inland;
but revelations come upon us with less of a shock when mingled, as they
are here, with more civilized methods.
The policemen of Hong Kong are Sikhs, whom the English government have
imported from India for this special service. These officers are under
excellent discipline. They are tall, dark, and heavily bearded men,
presenting quite a striking appearance in their semi-military uniforms.
Of course they have no sympathy with the Chinese, who cower under the
police batons, which are ruthlessly used when deemed necessary. Society
in the city is entirely English, and, to use an expressive word, is
"fast." Balls, races, regattas, and fetes of all kinds follow each other
with ceaseless energy. The gayety of domestic and social life, and the
luxurious mode of living generally, exceed that of any European colony
we have chanced to meet with. Club life, evening entertainments, and
late hours, are the characteristics of Hong Kong; the serious affairs of
life seem to have been left at home in far-off England,--an inevitable
result where the military element enters so largely into the community.
It was represented to us, and so appeared upon observation, that the
well known practice of compressing the feet of the females from their
birth was a gradually declining custom. Some few middle-aged women were
met with in the streets whose feet had been thus treated in infancy, and
who hobbled about with much difficulty, but no young girls were to be
seen thus hampered. When this hideous deformity has been adopted, the
knee and ankle joints do not bend at all in walking; all movement is
from the thigh joints, a mincing gait is imparted, and the arms swing
from side to side, the whole body being at all times liable to topple
over. A traveler is not competent, however, to speak of the higher
classes of women, as no access is afforded to domestic life in wealthy
families. Only women of the common class appear indiscriminately in
public, Oriental exclusiveness wrapping itself about the sex in China
nearly as rigidly as in Egypt. If women go abroad at all, it is in
curtained palanquins, quite hidden from the public eye, or at most only
partially visible through semi-transparent veils of gauze. Anywhere east
of Italy woman is a toy or a slave.
The European portion of Hong Kong consists almost entirely of one broad
avenue, called Victoria Road, which is the Broadway or Washington Street
of the city, and which runs parallel with the shore front, from which it
is separated by a single block. This thoroughfare is well paved, and is
mostly lined with attractive stores, hotels, and club-houses, with a few
dwellings intermixed. The intersecting streets are in many cases so
steep as to be ascended by broad stone steps, like portions of Naples
and Rome. After leaving the Victoria Road, one plunges immediately into
Chinese life among narrow lanes and crowded, dirty abodes, like China
Town at San Francisco, such dwellings as are only to be found in the
midst of a miserable and degraded condition of humanity. The river or
harbor front is lined with lofty European warehouses, and some good
residences,--half devoted to business, however, the locality being
mostly given up to the requirements of commerce. It will be remembered
that Hong Kong is an island, nearly forty miles in circumference,
consisting of a cluster of hills rising almost to the dignity of
mountains. The gray granite, of which the island is mostly composed,
affords an excellent material for building purposes, and is largely
employed for that object. Nearly all the public buildings are
constructed of this granite, which presents a fine appearance, and
affords good opportunity for architectural display.
The side-wheel steamer Han Kow was taken for a passage up the Pearl
River to Canton, the commercial capital of China, situated a little less
than one hundred miles from Hong Kong. The steamer had some two or three
hundred Chinese passengers, who were partitioned off in a part of the
vessel by themselves, and securely locked, away from the European
passengers. In the cabin, ranged about the foremast, were a dozen loaded
repeating arms, rifles, and pistols for the use of the whites, in case
the Chinese should rise and attempt an act of piracy by taking the ship.
This has more than once been done upon the Pearl River, and the
steamboat company now goes prepared to visit condign punishment upon
such offenders.
In passing up the river, on board the Han Kow, a fine view was afforded
of the farming and vegetation of the country. Banana, orange,
sugar-cane, and tea culture, in their various stages, were in distinct
view, the steamer at times nearly grazing the right or left bank, and
being obliged to move slowly on account of shallow water in the winding
channel. Strange birds, brilliant flowers, and remarkable trees trained
to grow in the shape of men and animals, were seen bordering the
plantations. Great fertility of soil, however it might be induced, was
manifested on all hands, and the vegetation exhibited tropical
luxuriance. The number of small fishing-boats upon the river was quite
marked, showing from whence came a large percentage of the daily food of
the humbler classes. These boats seemed to be almost entirely rowed and
managed by women, always with the inevitable baby at their backs,
sometimes sleeping, sometimes gazing vacantly about, but always quiet
and contented.
The river is nearly two miles broad on an average, sometimes opening
into bays of considerable size, six or eight miles across, and thus
forming a water-way of immense importance in a country where railroads
are unknown. The canals and rivers of China are her great dependence,
her inland highways or roads being unworthy of the name,--exhibiting one
of the most prominent features of the lack of national enterprise. China
looks to the past, not to the future. Some advance has been forced upon
her in the art of war. She no longer fights with fans, gongs, and
fire-crackers, but "shoots bullets every time," as the French found to
their most serious cost very lately. The remoteness of the country from
the centres of civilization, the exclusiveness of the government, the
almost incomprehensible character of the spoken language,--entirely
different from the written tongue,--has always excited curiosity, and
thrown a halo of romance over everything Chinese. This false glamour,
however, disappears, like dew before the sun, by personal observation,
and is superseded by something like a sense of contempt. The
missionaries of science, commerce, and of religion have done much within
the last twenty years to dispel the extravagant ideas entertained of the
Celestial Empire, and have shown us that the race is by no means
celestial, but a people very much like the rest of the Eastern nations,
certainly no more civilized.
Canton is the strangest of all strange cities, and perhaps the most
representative one in China. With a population of a million and a half,
it has not a street within its walls over eight feet wide. Horses and
vehicles are unknown. Even the useful and comfortable jinrikisha could
not be used here, where everything to be moved must be transported on
human shoulders. The city extends to about a distance of four miles on
the banks of the Pearl River, and fully a hundred thousand people live
in boats along the river front. The families occupying these sampans
will average at least four individuals; a man and wife with two
children,--frequently there are half a dozen of the latter. These boats
are about twenty feet long and five wide. But a small portion of the
after part has any covering, and the cooking is done in the bow. Here
the family live,--cook, eat, and sleep, knowing no other home. The
youngest children are often seen tied to the thwarts, and if they tumble
overboard they are easily pulled back again.
There are hundreds of temples distributed over the city, many of which
were visited and found to be crowded with idols and idlers, though we
never saw a Chinaman praying in them. The corner of nearly every street,
as well as numerous stores and dwelling-houses, have each an idol and
small shrine on which incense is kept burning all the time, and every
day of the year. The whole city is permeated with the smell of this
highly scented incense, and though used in such small individual
quantities the consumption in the aggregate must be very large. Of the
numerous temples and pagodas in Canton probably the most famous is that
of the Temple of the Five Hundred Gods, containing that number of gilded
statues of Buddhist sages, apostles, and deified warriors. The
expressions on the features of this large number of statues were
remarkable in the fact that they all differed essentially from each
other; otherwise they were exceedingly commonplace.
Every sort of manufacture or business is performed in the most primitive
manner by hand, machinery of any sort being scarcely known; but personal
service or labor is so cheap that it even competes with machinery. One
is surprised as to how such a crowded community can exist in such an
inconsiderable space; whole families live and sleep in a single small
room. The Chinese, in point of domestic comfort and cleanliness, are a
century behind the Japanese; and this remark will apply as well to
nearly all the relations of life. There is less of nudity here than in
the latter country; but, so far as one can judge by brief observation
and inquiry, morality is at a lower gauge in China than in Japan. It is
doubtless as true here as elsewhere, that "one touch of nature makes the
whole world kin," but you lack the touch of nature. With the Japanese
the traveler feels himself sympathizing. He goes among them freely, he
enters their houses and drinks tea with them, but not so with the
Chinese; here we realize no sense of affiliation, but rather one of
repulsion. The universal amusement is that of gambling, and the means
whereby the people gratify this passion are endless. Dominos, and
several similar games, are most popular in connection with cards, the
latter game, however, differing very materially from our own. The
Chinese cards number a hundred to the pack. Cock fighting is universal,
and is as much of a national game as at Manilla.
Our guide, who was an intelligent and high-caste native, took us into
one of the opium dens, to be found in nearly every street of Canton, and
where we saw the victims of the terrible indulgence in the several
stages of debasement. A number of the smokers appeared to be men of
average health and strength, but all had the dull, vacant eye and
attenuated forms of the victims of this insidious habit. It was curious
to hear the guide stoutly defend the use of the opium pipe. He declared
that it lengthened, not shortened, life; besides which he insisted that
with opium one lived a double life, and therefore he lived twice as long
as he would do without it. "Europeans get drunk," said he, "and have
nasty headache; Chinaman smokes opium, enjoys paradise on earth, but has
no headache." Of course one cannot argue with an opium consumer to any
good effect. The habit once acquired is never successfully abandoned.
There is always some hope of reform for a drunkard, but for an
opium-eater, never. No statistics of a reliable character as to the
quantity of the deadly drug which is consumed in China can be obtained,
but the aggregate amount, large as it is known to be, is yet
increasing. All the opium which can be obtained from India is consumed
here, beside that which is raised in China; the former by the wealthier
classes, the latter by the poor,--the home product being cheaper and
much inferior in quality.
The temples generally seemed to abound with votive offerings; but the
one aim, so far as we could understand, was to appease the wrath of
malignant deities. These gods, it would appear, are largely composed of
departed ancestors, and the power of such spirits for mischief is the
most prominent article of Chinese faith. In one temple was observed the
hermetically sealed coffin of some lately defunct citizen, beside whose
casket an abundant meal of cooked rice and vegetables was conspicuously
placed. This preparation of food for the dead and buried is not,
however, an exclusive Chinese idea. We have also seen food placed by the
side of newly-made Italian graves at Genoa and Pisa, and our Western
Indians bury arms, clothing, and dried meats with the bodies of deceased
warriors. It is known that reverence for parents is the leading moral
precept of Chinese faith, and more than that, it is lived up to upon
earth by all classes, and when these parents die they are addressed
spiritually and reverentially as guardians. At the entrance of the
temples there are always two large, gilded wooden figures or idols,
considered as a sort of presiding guard over the place.
We visited the Temple of Honan, a place of great sanctity to the
natives. The service is conducted by a college of Buddhist priests
resident within its walls. The institution consists of a group of
shrines or demi-temples dedicated to special gods, and standing within
enclosed courts, shaded by trees of great height, size, and age, the
grounds covering many acres. At the main entrance are placed, as usual,
two hideous idols of colossal size, figures half animal and half human
in design, with strangely distorted countenances. Here the shaven-headed
priests were busy performing rites and chanting before burning incense
and lighted candles, after the Roman Catholic style. Within an enclosure
were a number of sacred hogs, wallowing in filth like any other swine.
Some lively Chinese boys mounted the largest of these, and extracting a
few of the "sacred" bristles offered them to us for pennies. Upon our
inquiring as to the final disposition of these animals, our guide,
himself a remarkably dignified native, with "millions" of self-conceit,
admitted that the fattest of the lot would probably be eaten in due
season. We shall often have occasion, in these notes, to see how low
poor humanity in its blindness can descend, groveling after strange
gods. When trying to analyze the frame of mind which probably actuated
these people in making sacred objects of swine, the thought suggested
itself that after all it might be an instinctive groping of ignorance
after light and truth. Crude, and even disgusting as it appears to an
intelligent Christian, it has its palliating features. The Parsee
worships fire, the Japanese bows before foxes and snakes, the Hindu
deifies cows and monkeys. Why should not the Chinese have their swine as
objects of veneration? There are certain forms of what is called
Christian worship which are by no means above comparison with even
Chinese extravagance.
Within the walls of this Temple of Honan was a spacious and curious
garden, where the dwarf trees and flowering shrubs were ingeniously
trimmed to make them grow in the forms of various animals; and here was
a large pond of the sacred lotus in bloom, the thin, soft, white velvety
leaves displaying every line and vein in their formation. The fragrance
was very delicate. In the poetical language of the East the lotus is
called the "goddess" as we call the rose the "queen" of flowers. We were
here shown the cremating ovens in which the bodies of the departed
priests are disposed of, and also the crude cells and the large
refectory of the order. But somehow these priests, who pretend to lead
such lives of self-denial, are wonderfully round and unctuous in
personal appearance. Our visit to the Temple of Honan was a very curious
and not uninteresting experience, made up of a strange conglomerate of
swine, priests, fat idols, flower gardens, human roasting ovens, and
pond lilies.
All over Canton may be seen lofty towers, square in form, which dominate
the town. Our guide called these warehouses, or storehouses for the safe
keeping of goods, they being both fire-proof and thief-proof. But
further inquiry proved them to be a series of pawnbroker's
establishments. In summer the average Chinaman pawns his winter
clothing, and other articles not in actual use, thus enabling him to
employ more capital in his business, whatever it may be. When the cold
weather comes he redeems his needed clothing, and the same with other
articles. So universal is this practice that hundreds of these
tower-like pawning places are required to meet the demands of the
citizens. As these establishments are supposed to be fire-proof, they do
certainly afford a place of safety for valuable articles not in use,
the owner paying storage in the form of interest for the money loaned,
the goods being security.
The dwelling-house and pleasure-grounds of the late Poon-tin-qua, a
distinguished and rich Chinaman, were visited, and proved to be typical
of all Chinese pictures. Here were airy summer-houses, pavilions,
bridges, rockeries, and ornamental sheets of water, as we see these
things represented on lacquered ware, decorated China dishes, and fans.
It was really very curious and amusing, and showed much of luxurious
life,--even a private theatre being contained in the establishment.
Though all seem to be deserted now and somewhat neglected, still the
garden showed us roses, camellias, azaleas, lilies, and green shrubs
trained in the usual grotesque manner, not forgetting the dwarf trees,
which seem to give this people great satisfaction when successfully
cultivated.
As regards the punishment of crime in Canton, one would look in vain for
justice, but there is plenty of cruelty. We visited the execution yard,
a circumscribed space in the very heart of the city. Here, our guide
told us, twenty condemned prisoners were executed weekly, by
decapitation, each Friday being devoted to clearing the docket. The
executioner takes off a head with one stroke of the sword, and the guide
said he had witnessed the decapitation of eleven heads in seven minutes.
Through a grating in the wall of the yard, an open area was seen where a
crowd of manacled prisoners were sitting upon the ground, no shelter
being afforded them night or day. The place was more filthy than a
cattle-pen,--so offensive that we remained but a few moments. It is
doubtful if anywhere else in the world such barbarous carnage and
cruelty exists, under the guise of legal punishment.
Much has been said about the wonderful Water-clock of Canton, but it is
actually a very simple and crude mode of measuring time, which any smart
Yankee school-boy would improve upon. It consists of four tubs of water,
located one above the other on a wooden frame, each dripping slowly into
the one below it, the last being furnished with a float, the rise of
which is measured on a graduated scale, indicating units of time; and
such is the famous Water-clock of Canton. We were not disposed to walk
any more than was necessary in the public streets, where the foulest
odors assailed us at every step, and disgusting sights met the eye in
the form of diseased individuals of the most loathsome type. The
stranger is jostled by staggering coolies, with buckets of the vilest
contents, or importuned for alms by beggars who thrust their deformed
limbs into his very face. It is but natural to fear contagion of some
sort from contact with such creatures, and yet the crowd is so dense
that it is impossible to entirely avoid them. Underfoot the streets are
wet, muddy, tortuous, and slippery, so that one comes from them with a
feeling that a hot bath is an immediate necessity. Why some deadly
pestilence does not at once break out and sweep away the people is a
mystery. We know that the Ghetto at Rome, which forms the most filthy
part of the Eternal City, was entirely spared when the rest of the place
was decimated by cholera; but Canton generally is far dirtier than the
Roman Ghetto.
As we found it almost impossible to traverse the streets of Canton on
foot, we were carried, each person, in a palanquin, upon the shoulders
of four coolies. These vehicles can make their way through the narrow
streets, but cannot turn round in them without going to some open space
where several streets meet. The bearers trudge along, keeping step with
each other, and uttering a loud, peculiar cry to clear the way,
reminding one of the gondoliers on the canals of Venice. People were
obliged to step into shops and doorways, or flatten themselves against
buildings, in order to make room for us to pass in the palanquins, but
they did so with a good grace and took it quite as a matter of course.
Whenever we stopped for a trifling purchase or to visit some point of
interest, a small crowd was sure to collect. The narrow lanes are lined
in many sections by stores containing very attractive goods,
curiosities, silks, fine China ware, ivory, scented woods,
mother-of-pearl and carved tortoise shell, all goods of native
manufacture. The remarkable patience and imitative skill of the Chinese
enables them to produce very choice goods in these lines of art. The
shops being all open in front, the entire contents can be seen by the
passers-by. Many of these passages are covered over at the top by
matting, which effectually excludes the sun, and, indeed, much other
light, so that they often have a sombre and dreary appearance.
It was interesting to watch the operation of the primitive hand-loom in
which is woven the favorite Canton silk. The fabric is beautiful and
expensive, being sold by the pound in place of by the yard, as with us.
Men and boys only engage in silk weaving. Women assume the heavier and
more exposed branches of labor, and of out-door-life, besides lugging
their infants. Some of the lofty and utterly useless pagodas, which are
over twelve hundred years old, are quite unique in architecture and
ornamentation. One was visited which was nine stories high, measuring
in a vertical line about two hundred feet. Observing a woman at one of
the shrines fanning an idol, the guide was asked for an explanation. He
said that the woman would presently take this fan home with which to fan
some sick person, and from this process would hope for miraculous
intervention in behalf of the suffering one. "And do you believe there
is any efficacy in such a proceeding?" we asked. "You would call it the
result of credulity and imagination," was his intelligent reply, "but I
have seen some wonderful cures brought about after this manner. Do not
people, who call themselves Christians, believe in prayer?" "Most
certainly," we replied. "Well," continued the guide, "this is simply
Chinese prayer." After this explanation, the queer proceeding of fanning
an idol seamed less strange. That was certainly a good answer,--calling
it Chinese prayer.
Undoubtedly our type of features is repulsive to the average Chinaman,
certainly his is very much so to us. One looked in vain among the smooth
chins, shaved heads, and almond eyes of the crowd for signs of
intelligence and manliness. There are no tokens of humor or cheerfulness
to be seen, but in its place there is plenty of cunning, slyness, and
deceit, if there is any truth in physiognomy. The men look like women
and the women like children, except that their features are so hard and
forbidding. The better classes wear a supercilious expression of
features that makes the toes of one's boots tingle; and yet in all the
shops there is a cringing assiduity to get all the silver and pennies
from the outside barbarians that is possible. In the streets there was a
most unmistakable surliness exhibited that would have broken into
forcible demonstration as we passed through them only for the
instinctive cowardice of the Asiatics. It is quite impossible to express
what a strange sea of life these narrow Canton streets exhibited, as we
floated through them in palanquins upon the shoulders of the coolies.
Their filth dominated all other characteristics, and forced upon the
memory Charles Lamb's remark to his friend, when he said: "Martin, if
dirt was trumps, what a hand you would hold."
Philanthropic societies are numerous in the cities of China, hardly
exceeded in variety and excellence of design by those of Europe and
America. These embrace well-organized orphan asylums, institutions for
the relief of indigent widows with families, homes for the aged and
infirm, public hospitals, and free schools in nearly every district. As
with ourselves, some of these are purely governmental charities, others
are supported by liberal endowments left by deceased citizens. Depots
for the distribution of medicines to the poor are numerous, and others
exist for distributing clothing to the needy. One organization was
mentioned to us which supplied coffins to the poor, and bore the
expenses of burial. Among the dense population of the country there must
be ample occasion for the exercise of such charities. It must be
remembered that these societies and organizations are not copied from
European or American models; they have existed here from time
immemorial.
Philologists have vainly endeavored to trace any affinity between the
Chinese language and that of other nations, ancient or modern. It is
unique,--an original tongue, and, what is equally remarkable, no other
nation, except the neighboring Japanese, have ever borrowed from it, or
amalgamated any of its elements with their own. It must have risen in
its written form from the untutored efforts of a primitive people. Like
the Egyptian tongue, it was at first probably composed of hieroglyphics,
which, in the course of time, became symbolic as they stand to-day.
The foreign population of Canton, American, English, French, etc., live
upon a spacious and beautiful island by themselves. The island is
connected with the city proper by a stone bridge having iron gates,
through which no native is permitted to pass unless in the domestic
employment of the residents, and then they are obliged to show their
written permits each time to the guard on duty at the gate of the
bridge. All of the foreign consuls with their families reside here in
elegant quarters, surrounding their European style of dwellings with
fine gardens, trees, and pleasant walks, and here they extend to
travelers hospitality only too open-handed and generous. They are
completely isolated from the outer world socially, and intelligent
visitors from abroad are cordially welcomed by them.
An inexhaustible agricultural capacity remains unimproved in China, and
the same may be said of her rich store of mineral wealth, which, under
American enterprise and facilities, would soon revolutionize the country
in its products and exports. Save the districts which are traversed by
the canals, the present means of communication between different parts
of the country are scarcely superior to those of Central Africa. The
so-called national roads are nearly impassable. No other country in the
world would be so surely and rapidly benefited by a thorough system of
railroads as would China. Gold and silver are found in nearly every
province of the Empire, the former being still procured by the most
primitive processes, such as washing the river sands by hand, which are
recharged by the freshets from the mountains,--a mode that would satisfy
only Chinese labor. Coal is the most widespread, most valuable, and most
accessible of all the buried treasures. If the twelve thousand miles of
coal-fields have made Great Britain the workshop of the world, what may
not be anticipated from the four hundred thousand square miles of
Chinese coal-fields, which are capable of supplying the whole world, at
the present rate of consumption, for thousands of years?
The depressing monotony in the customs, habits, and ideas of the
Chinese, as contrasted with their neighbors, the Japanese, forces itself
upon the notice of the traveler. There is no variety among the race,
either in manners, dress, or architecture; one section of the country
seems precisely like another, so far as the people are concerned,
however widely divided, and all follow one model. There is no
individuality. They look to the past not to the future. There is no such
possibility as a nation's standing still; it either retrogrades or
progresses. China, whose people do everything in a left-handed manner,
advances like a crab, backwards. It would seem as if she must eventually
dry up and die of old age; and yet, within the limits of the Chinese
Empire is probably comprised one fourth of the human race. Strive as
much as we may to be fair and liberal, it is yet impossible to disguise
our strong dislike to the people whom we were now about to leave. A
sense of relief on departing from pestilential Canton was inevitable,
and there was little to attract us longer at Hong Kong, to which city we
returned in the steamship Powan.
It is not wise to shut our eyes to facts which have passed into
history, or be too strongly influenced by personal prejudice. The
Chinese have long been a cultured, reading people. Their veritable
records take them back to the days of Abraham. Five hundred years before
the art of printing was known to Europe, books were multiplied by
movable types in China, and her annals thereby preserved. Whatever of
ignorance may attach to the people as it regards matters extraneous to
their empire, the detailed and accurate knowledge of their own country
and its statistics is evident enough from the elaborate printed works in
the native tongue. Every province has its separate history in print,
specifying its productions, a brief record of its eminent men, and of
all matters of local importance. Reliable maps of every section of the
country are extant. The civil code of laws is annually published and
corrected. In the departments of science relating to geography and
astronomy, they have long been well advanced. A certain amount of
education is universal, eight tenths of the people being able to read
and write. The estimate in which letters are held is clear, from the
fact that learning forms the very threshold that leads to fame, honor,
and official position. Competitive examination is the mode by which
office is disposed of, those who hold the highest standard of
scholarship bearing off the palm. The art of printing has been referred
to as having its origin in China. In two other important discoveries
this nation long precedes Europe; namely, in the use of gunpowder and
the magnetic compass, the knowledge of which traveled slowly westward
through the channels of Oriental commerce, by way of Asia Minor or the
Red Sea. It is only just and fair for us to look on both sides of the
subject.
On the night of December 11th, being the day previous to that of our
departure from Hong Kong, a slight shock of earthquake was experienced,
recalling a similar event at Yokohama; but as these are not of uncommon
occurrence in either place, little was thought or said about the matter.
We embarked on the P. and O. steamship, Brindisi, for Singapore, by the
way of the China Sea and the Gulf of Siam. The northeast monsoon favored
us, as we rushed like a race-horse over the turbulent sea, with a
following gale,--the threatening waves appearing as if they would
certainly engulf us if they could catch up with the stern of the ship.
The Philippine Islands were given a wide berth, as we steered southward
towards the equator. The cholera was raging among the group; and in
illustration of the fact that misfortunes never come as single spies,
but in battalions, Manilla, the capital, had just been nearly destroyed
by a typhoon. Leaving Borneo on our port bow as we neared the equatorial
line, the ship was steered due west for the mouth of the Straits lying
between the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Sumatra.
While running off the Gulf of Siam we got our first view of a veritable
water-spout. It was from four to five miles off our starboard bow, but
quite as near as we desired it to be. It seems that both atmospheric and
aquatic currents meet here: from the China Sea northward, from the
Malacca Straits southward, and from the Pacific Ocean eastward, mingling
at the entrance of the Gulf of Siam, causing at times a confusion of the
elements. At least this was the captain's theory, and it seems that he
had more than once met with water-spouts at this point. They are
nothing more or less than a miniature cyclone, an eddying of the wind
rotating with such velocity as to suck up a column of water from the sea
to a height of one or two hundred feet. This column of water appears to
be largest at the top and bottom and visibly contracted at the middle.
If it were to fall foul of a ship and break, it would wreck and submerge
her as surely as though she were run down by an iceberg. Modern science
shows that all storms are cyclonic, that is, are circular eddies of wind
of greater or less diameter.
No two geographers seem to agree as to what constitutes the Malay
Archipelago, but the five islands nearest to the Peninsula should
undoubtedly be thus classified; namely, Singapore, Penang, Borneo,
Sumatra, and Java,--the latter containing more volcanoes, active and
extinct, than any other known district of equal extent. If the reader
will glance at a map of the Eastern Hemisphere, it will be observed that
many islands dot the equatorial region between Asia and Australia. Some
maps include New Guinea in the Malay group, though it is situated far to
the eastward, and forms so independent a region, being larger than Great
Britain. Lying in the very lap of the tropics, the climate is more
uniformly hot and moist than in any other part of the globe, and teems
with productions in the animal and vegetable kingdoms elsewhere unknown.
The most precious spices, the richest fruits, the gaudiest feathered
birds, are here seen at home; while man is represented by a race quite
distinctive and peculiar, whose type will be looked for in vain beyond
the limits of this region. Climate, vegetation, and animated life are
all specially equatorial. The elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, and the
man-like orang-outang are all indigenous. It was quite natural to
reflect upon these well-known facts as we came down the China Sea and
crossed the broad Gulf of Siam.
On the 15th of December, at noon, latitude 9 deg. 1', longitude 108 deg.
57', we found ourselves just half round the world from our starting-point,
Boston. The capital of Massachusetts was exactly beneath us on the
opposite side of the globe, a physical fact somewhat difficult to
realize.
We landed, December 17th, at Singapore, the most southerly point of
Asia, located at the mouth of the Malacca Straits, about eighty miles
north of the equator, being the capital of the Straits Settlements. It
is the stopping-place of nearly all ocean travel to and from the East,
not only for the landing and taking in of other cargo, but as a
necessary coaling station, whether coming round the Cape of Good Hope,
or from Suez and India by the Red Sea route. Singapore is an island
lying just off the peninsula separation from the main-land by a strait
scarcely a quarter of a mile across. It is some thirty miles long and
half as broad, containing over two hundred square miles, and supporting
a population of a hundred thousand, more or less. The entrance to the
harbor was very picturesque as we sailed between the low lying islands
grouped about it, fanned by a soft welcome morning breeze, before the
burning sun had asserted its power. An aspect of tropical luxuriance and
languor reigned everywhere,--the palm and cocoanut-trees looming above
all the rest of the vegetation. About the ship floated tropical seaweed
of brilliant colors, while the long snow-white beach contrasted
strongly with the dark green, glossy foliage behind it. It was easy to
divine the products of the island from the nature of the merchandise
piled upon the wharf for shipment, consisting of tapioca, cocoanut oil,
gambia, tin, indigo, tiger skins, coral, gutta-percha, hides, gums, and
camphor, some of which our ship was destined to take westward. The tin,
in heavy pigs, was especially noticeable as to weight and quantity.
The surface of the island is undulating and densely wooded; in fact
consists of a multitude of small hills not exceeding three or four
hundred feet in height, while the jungle comes down close to the shore.
The great enemy which the natives have to contend against is wild
beasts,--tigers proving very fatal all the year round. There is no
winter, summer, or autumn here, but a perpetual spring, with a
temperature almost unvarying; new leaves always swelling from the buds,
flowers always in bloom, the sun rising and setting within five minutes
of six o'clock during the entire year. Singapore is considered to be a
very healthy place, and gets a soft breeze most of the day from across
the Bay of Bengal, laden with fragrant sweetness from the spice-bearing
fields of Ceylon, while upon its own soil every flower and blossom known
to the Orient affords beauty to the eye and delight to the senses. The
trees here would have seemed enormous had we not so lately come from
California. One observes the great abundance of the rattan-palm, which
forms picturesque groups of green foliage quite distinctive from the
other surroundings. It seemed rather enervating with the thermometer at
90 deg. in the shade, these December days, but the residents did not
complain. There are some drawbacks to be considered, as well as the
floral beauty and spice-laden air. Were this not the case it would be
celestial not terrestial. The number of dangerous snakes, scorpions,
mammoth spiders, lizards, mosquitoes, and all sorts of vermin is legion.
Naturalists come from all parts of Europe to gather and form collections
of butterflies, beetles, birds, reptiles, various insects, and shells.
The great green-winged Ornithoptera, the prince of the butterfly tribe,
abounds here. One enthusiastic naturalist, a German, boasted that he had
obtained within a month over three hundred distinct and remarkable
species of beetles, within a couple of miles of the hotel veranda where
we stood.
The steamboat landing is some three miles from the centre of Singapore,
and we drove thither drawn by a little horse which could hardly have
performed the task had the road not been an excellent one and as level
as a parlor floor. The wayside was bordered by hedges of green and
growing rattans uniformly clipped, and forming a continuous wall, which,
here and there, threw out a graceful feathery bit of foliage. Over the
hedge occasionally bent tall and handsome palm-trees of various species,
often laden with cocoanuts, or other fruit of the palm family, and
occasionally whole groves of bananas were in sight. We passed many
Chinamen, and many Chinese shops, showing them to be the dominating
race, always moving promptly as if bent on some fixed purpose; while the
natives, seen now and then on the road, were listless and objectless in
their appearance,--true children of the equatorial region. The former
were bent on accumulating the means to return to their native land in
independence; the latter were utterly heedless of the morrow.
The local pictures, as usual in each new place, are interesting and
impressive: small hump-backed oxen driven singly to harness and at a
lively trot; little diminutive horses, even smaller than those of Japan,
yet drawing heavy-loaded vehicles; an almost naked population, and those
wearing clothes at all affecting the brightest possible colors. Scarlet
turbans and white skirts, red shawls bound round the head, yellow sashes
confining one thickness of narrow cotton cloth about the body, give bits
of color everywhere. Peddlers roam the streets selling water, soup,
fruit, and a jelly, made from seaweed, called agar-agar. These articles
are cried, each after its own peculiar name, and customers are not
wanting; little groups of Chinese and natives often surround the peddler
and partake of his wares. Houses are built high up in the air upon
stilts, a common practice for various reasons, not the least of which is
protection against the much dreaded tigers, snakes, and other dangerous
creatures. Tigers are said to devour three hundred of the inhabitants
annually; that is nearly one a day out of a population of a hundred
thousand, which is the aggregate of the whole island. The number of
victims is set even higher than this, and is mostly made up from those
working on the plantations.
The jungle is very dense and difficult to penetrate. English sportsmen
come hither, in large numbers, to seek this royal game. It would seem
strange at first thought that an island like Singapore could not be
cleared of this terrible pest, and so we remarked. "Ah," replied a
resident, "you forget that we draw an unlimited supply from the
main-land. Tigers swim across the narrow straits continually, and not
until the land is cleared from jungle will our island be free from
them." The natives dig pits as traps for the tigers, similar to the
manner of catching them in India, except that at Singapore a series of
sharp, upright stakes were introduced, upon which the animals fell and
were fatally wounded. This, however, has been forbidden since an English
hunter fell into a trap and was empaled upon them.
The vegetable and fruit market at Singapore affords an amusing scene in
the early morning. In fact a traveler soon learns that it is a resort
not to be neglected in any new city; affording, as it invariably does,
strongly characteristic local pictures, and for the time drawing
together representatives from nearly all classes of the
community,--master, mistress, and servant. The variety of fruit is here
much greater than in Japan or China; and there are one or two species,
such as the delicious mangosteen,--the seductive apple of the
East,--which are found indigenous in no other country. The vegetables
are abundant, and the native women, who transact the market business,
know how to arrange them with an eye to good effect, just as they show
an artistic fancy in the mingled colors of the few clothes they wear.
The cocoanuts ripening in big clusters on the lofty trees, and many
other fruits produced by the family of the palm, are inviting and
handsome to look upon, especially when hanging in clusters forty or
fifty feet skyward. We had often read of the fan-palm, but they are much
more curious to see than to read about, being here presented in their
most thriving aspect. The California specimens are quite meagre and
unsatisfactory in comparison with those grown so near the equator. Here
the tree springs up in the exact shape of an outspread feather-fan, as
though it were artificially trained, and reaches the height of thirty
or forty feet, making a very distinctive feature of the scenery. Fruit
is always cheap in these regions, and forms a very large portion of the
native subsistence; but it was a surprise to us in paying for a dozen
large, ripe, and luscious pine-apples to find that the price was but
sixpence. It was amusing to watch the itinerant cooks, who wear a yoke
over their necks, with a cooking apparatus on one end and a little table
to balance it on the other, serving meals of rice and fish to coolies
and boatmen for a couple of pennies each. Money has here, as in most
Eastern countries, a larger purchasing power than it has with us of the
West. Laborers at Singapore get twelve and fifteen cents a day for work
on the wharves, and less inland; but the cost of living to these people
is proportionally insignificant. They can go into the jungle and get a
dinner of fruit at any time, and no one will interfere with them.
A visit to the Botanical Garden, located a couple of miles from the
town, afforded us much pleasure, and, as a complete collection of
tropical trees and plants, exceeded, in extent and variety, all previous
experience. Though this entire region is a garden, it has been deemed
well to gather close together all possible representatives of the trees,
fruits, and flowers, and to surround them with all the beauties of
landscape gardening. Here, nourished by abundant heat and moisture,
thrive the bread-fruit-tree, palms, dates, figs, and mangoes,
mangosteens, and creepers of infinite variety. For the first time we saw
specimens of the acacia flamboyante, a large tree with broad leaves of
delicate green, throwing out from its topmost boughs clusters of scarlet
flowers with yellow centres like military plumes. The floral display
was very beautiful, and the plants must have enjoyed the care of the
best trained skill to produce such perfection. One portion of the garden
contained large bushes of stephanotis and alamanda in full bloom, and
close by was a glorious display of the Egyptian lotus in flower. Upon a
small artificial lake was a grand flourishing plant of the Victoria
Regia, with leaves that would support a small child upon the surface of
the water. There was an extensive aviary in the grounds, with beautiful
specimens of the argus pheasant, lyre-bird, parrots of many species, and
doves with strangely gaudy plumage, as though they had barely escaped
being parrots. The little scarlet larie, a native here, chattered like a
magpie. It was certainly an unexpected pleasure to find an excellent
museum, a public library, a Protestant cathedral, a large hospital,
schools, and several benevolent institutions, as well as the fine garden
referred to, in this capital of the Malay coast. It will be remembered
that Singapore belongs to the English, having been purchased by them so
long ago as 1819 from the Sultan of Johore, Malay Peninsula; wise
forethought, showing its importance as a port of call between England
and India. The city is divided into the Chinese, Malay, and European
quarters, with a population of sixty thousand, and is elaborately
fortified. A moment's thought will recall to the reader's mind a fact
which is of interest in this connection. England has established and
maintains a line of outposts from the Mediterranean to the far East,
commencing at Gibraltar, thence to Malta, Aden, Ceylon, Penang,
Singapore, and Hong Kong, thus completely dominating the south of Asia,
and giving her a clear road to India, besides making her power always
realized and respected in the East.
There is no disguising the fact that the Chinese, attracted to Singapore
by its freedom from commercial restrictions, and its advantages of
position, have contributed very largely to make it what it is, the most
prosperous settlement in the East. It literally swarms with pigtails,
the Chinese composing nearly half of the population. We cannot afford to
ignore the commercial value of this race, however much we may dislike
them personally. Opium dens are conspicuous here, over the doors of
which is printed in English, "Licensed Opium Shops." It seems that these
Mongolians cannot or will not do without the subtle drug, while there
are many people who do not use the article, but who contend that it is
not injurious except when taken to excess. An intelligent resident,
however, admitted that opium was in one way or another the cause of most
of the crime among the class who habitually use it. It is the Chinaman's
one luxury, his one extravagance; he will stint himself in food,
clothing, amusements, everything else, to add to his hoard of dollars;
but this fascinating, artificial stimulant and narcotic combined he will
not deny himself.
An Englishman, who joined the ship at Singapore, related a tiger
adventure, which had occurred here not long previous to our visit. There
was ample evidence that one of these much-dreaded creatures had made his
lair not far away from the town. Our informant had come hither with a
friend on a hunting excursion, and resolved, if possible, to secure the
creature's hide. Three or four days before a native woman had
disappeared from the suburbs, and it was resolved to take advantage of
the trail which was made on this occasion to track the beast through
the jungle. The sportsmen, with six native beaters, easily followed the
track, the animal's fore paws evidently sinking heavily into the ground
with the weight of the body he carried. A full mile was passed before
the path became so dense as to cause delay, and the track was quite
clear. Here and there branches showed a lock of the woman's hair, where
her head had come in contact with some thorny bushes in passing. Once
the tiger had evidently laid the body down, and here were finger-marks
in the soil, showing that life still existed in the poor victim.
The slight clothing she wore had been found at the commencement of the
trail, where a disturbance of the ground indicated some sort of
struggle. At the end of the second mile the tracks grew every moment
more distinct, and the party moved with increased caution. An
experienced beater was now sent in advance with only his broad,
unsheathed knife for self-protection. Stillness reigned for some time,
as the party thus advanced. The animal had scented danger, and, contrary
to the usual habits of these creatures on such occasions, instead of
retreating farther into the jungle, he came boldly towards the attacking
party. Had this been anticipated, greater caution would have been
observed. Suddenly there came a crashing sound, and a scream rang
through the jungle. The head beater was borne to the ground by the whole
weight of the tiger, who had sprung upon him. The man had stood at the
moment in a partial opening, so that man and beast were now in full
sight. One of the hunters instantly leveled his rifle, and with
deliberate aim sent a ball through the tiger's brain, causing him to
straighten out at once, quite dead.
The man was stunned and severely wounded, but he was not bitten, and
was able to struggle to his feet, pointing exultingly to the knife,
showing that he had buried the blade to the hilt in the tiger's chest,
notwithstanding the suddenness of the attack. The natives generally are
poor hunters, lacking courage and coolness, both of which qualities this
man clearly evinced. A hundred yards further into the jungle from the
spot where this struggle took place was found the monster's lair. It was
a small open space, surrounded by a thick undergrowth, whither he had
brought his victims, fully three miles from the nearest village. Only
the bones of the poor woman were found; what the tiger had not eaten
other beasts and birds had consumed. Heaps of bones testified to the
havoc the animal had made. A number of bangles, arm-rings, nose and ear
ornaments, were picked up, such as only women wear, showing that a
number of his victims had been of that sex. The beater was well enough
to walk back to the village, after a short time, and became quite a hero
in consequence of the adventure. The carcass was brought to town, and
proved to be that of a very large and old tiger. The fact of his coming
towards the hunters instead of retiring, as is their habit when pursued
by numbers, showed that he was an unusually dangerous animal.
A two days' voyage through what seemed to us like a sea of
phosphorescence, every splash and ripple producing liquid gems, brought
us to Penang, the most northerly sea-port of the Malacca Straits,
situated at the point where they open into the Indian Ocean, and just
one hundred miles from the island of Sumatra across the mouth of the
Straits. The approach to the island by water afforded a fine picture.
Well-wooded hills of vivid greenness rise above the sea all about the
town. These hills grow more or less lofty as they recede inland, until
they culminate in three mountain peaks. Penang, like Singapore, is an
island some thirteen miles long by ten in width, and is separated from
the main-land of the Peninsula by a narrow belt of sea not more than
three miles in width, giving it a position of great commercial
importance. It resembles Singapore in many respects, and is almost
identical with it so far as it relates to its general products and
vegetation; the season, likewise, is one long, unvarying summer. The
arcea palm, known as the Penang-tree, is the source of the betel-nut,
and, as it abounds on the island, has given it the name it bears. The
town and its immediate suburbs cover about a square mile, through which
one broad main street runs, intersected by lesser thoroughfares at right
angles. A drive about the place gave us an idea that it is a thrifty
town, but not nearly so populous or business-like as Singapore. It was
also observable here that the Chinese element predominated. The main
street referred to is lined with open bazars and shops, mostly kept by
Chinamen. The front of the dwellings being all open, gives the passer-by
a full idea of all that is going on in each household. Shrines were
nearly always to be seen in some nook or corner of each dwelling, before
which incense was burning, and generally a couple of candles also, very
much as at Canton. The shrine-room seemed also to be the eating,
sleeping, and living room.
The natives are lithe in figure, with but slight muscular development,
and are yet quite strong, appearing at all times as nearly naked as
would be permitted among white people. They give up nearly all branches
of occupation, trade, and industries to the Chinamen, and content
themselves with lying all day in the sun, eating bananas and other cheap
fruits, and chewing betel-nuts. Some of them make good sailors, taken
away from their home and put under discipline. The P. & O. Steamship
Company, as well as many others, often recruit their crews here. Is it
because surrounding nature is so bountiful, so lovely, so prolific in
spontaneous food, that these, her children, are lazy, dirty, and
heedless? Does it require a cold, unpropitious climate, a sterile soil
and rude surroundings, to awaken human energy and put man at his best?
There is compensation always. With luxury comes enervation, effort is
superfluous; while with frugality and labor we have strength,
accompanied with development of mind and body. The former produces
slaves, the latter heroes.
Humanity and the lower grades of animal life seem here to change places.
While the birds and butterflies are in perfect harmony with the
loveliness of nature about them, while the flowers are glorious in
beauty and in fragrance, man alone seems out of tune and out of place.
Indolent, dirty, unclad, he adds nothing to the beauty or perfection of
the surroundings, does nothing to adapt and improve such wealth of
possibilities as nature spreads broadcast only in these regions. The
home of the Malay is not so clean as that of the ants, or the birds, or
the bees; the burrowing animals are much neater. He does little for
himself, nothing for others, the sensuous life he leads poisoning his
nature. Virtue and vice have no special meaning to him. There is no sear
and yellow leaf at Penang, or anywhere on the coast of the Straits.
Fruits and flowers are perennial: if a leaf falls, another springs into
life on the vacant stem; if fruit is plucked, a blossom follows and
another cluster ripens; nature is inexhaustible. Unlike most tropical
regions, neither Penang nor Singapore are troubled with malarial fevers,
and probably no spot on earth can be found better adapted to the wants
of primitive man.
The native women are graceful and almost pretty, slight in figure, and
very fond of ornament. Indeed both sexes pierce their ears, noses, and
lips, through which to thrust silver, brass, and gold rings, also
covering their ankles and arms with metallic rings, the number only
limited by their means. In the immediate neighborhood of the town are
some English plantations and neat cottages, with inclosures of flowers
and orchards of fruit trees; while still farther back are large gardens
of bread-fruit, nutmegs, cinnamon, pepper, and other spices. Plantations
of sugar-cane, tobacco, and coffee are also numerous, the soil being
pronounced to be extremely fertile. We were told that nothing had to be
wrung from the earth here, but, as Douglas Jerrold said of Australia,
"just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest." Here is the
very paradise of brilliant birds, with feathers "too utterly gaudy,"
while Flora revels in wild luxuriance. The delicate little sensitive
plant here grows in a wild state, equally tremulous and subsiding at
human touch, as with us. Lilies are in wonderful variety, and such
ferns, and such butterflies! These latter almost as big as humming-birds
and as swift of wing.
Penang is the headquarters of the cocoanut-tree, the prolific character
of which is here simply wonderful. How these trees manage to keep an
upright position, with such heavy loads in their tufted tops, is a
never-ending marvel. This tree is always in bearing at Penang, giving
annually several voluntary crops, and receiving no artificial
cultivation. Of the liberal gifts which Providence has bestowed upon the
tropics, the cocoanut-tree is perhaps the most valuable. The Asiatic
poets celebrate in verse the three hundred and sixty uses to which the
trunk, the branches, the leaves, the fruit, and the juice are applied.
In Penang a certain number of these trees are not permitted to bear
fruit; the embryo bud, from which the blossoms and nuts would spring, is
tied up to prevent its expansion, and a small incision then being made
at the end, there oozes in gentle drops a cool, pleasant liquor called
sarce or toddy, which is the palm-wine of the poet. This, when first
drawn, is cooling and wholesome, but when fermented and distilled
produces a strong, intoxicating spirit. In fruits, the banana is perhaps
the next most valuable of the products of this region. We were told that
between twenty and thirty distinct species of the fruit flourished
within a radius of a dozen miles of the town, all wholesome and
palatable. The attention of planters is being diverted from spice
culture to that of fruit raising, the latter requiring so much less
attention, and not being liable to blight of any sort.
In the brief stay which we made at Singapore and Penang, it is hardly to
be supposed that any very reliable judgment could be formed as to the
characteristics of the common people; but with observation, fortified by
intelligent inquiry, certain deductions were natural. The Malay seems to
be a careless, happy-go-lucky race, the merest children of nature, with
no thought of the morrow. The English first, and then the Chinese,
dominate the masses. When they have no money, and lack for food, they
will work; but only empty pockets and gnawing stomachs will induce them
to labor. All life seems more or less torpid and listless in the
tropics. As has been intimated, the morals of these people of the
Straits will not bear writing about; the marriage rite has little force
among them, and domesticity is not understood. They are more nearly
Mohammedan than aught else, and its forms are somewhat preserved, but
the faith of Mecca has only a slight hold upon them. There are
intelligent and cultivated Malays, those of Sumatra, Borneo, and Java
are notably so; but we have been speaking of the masses. Penang
originally belonged to the Malay kingdom, but, about the year 1786, was
given to an English sea-captain as a marriage portion with the King of
Keddah's daughter, and by him transferred to the East India Company.
When Captain Francis Light received it with his dusky bride, it was the
wild home of a few Malay fishermen and their families; to-day it has
about a hundred thousand population.
The constant changes of climate, in so prolonged a journey as that to
which these notes relate, must naturally somewhat try one's physical
endurance, and also demands more than ordinary care in the preservation
of health. Regularity of habits, abstemiousness, and no careless
exposure will, as a rule, insure the same immunity from sickness that
may be reasonably expected at home, though this result cannot always be
counted upon. The sturdiest and most healthy-appearing individual of our
little party was Mr. D----, who was in the prime of life and manly
vigor when he joined us at San Francisco; but while the rest of us
enjoyed good health from the beginning to the end of the journey, he
lost health and strength gradually from the time we left China. Though
receiving the most unremitting attention, both professional and
friendly, he was conscious by the time we reached Singapore that he
could not long survive. He passed away on the night of December 21st,
and was buried next day at sea, with the usual solemn ceremony. It was a
wild, stormy day, when the body was committed to the deep, causing the
scene to be all the more impressive from the attendant rage of the
elements.