take the little ivory sticks in the three first fingers of the right
hand, and, placing the head forward, and opening the mouth wide, dip
them in the saucers, catching up pieces of flesh, which they flavoured
with the vinegar, and dexterously flinging them into their mouths; and
repeating the process so rapidly, that the eye could scarcely follow
their movements. The guests attempted the same manoeuvres; but, as may
easily be imagined, they were not so successful: for one piece that went
into the mouth, a dozen went out; and, rapidly as the different saucers
were handed to them, by the desire of the master of the house, they
found that their appetites were not in any thing like the same degree
becoming satisfied. Pieces of silver paper were frequently placed near
them, with which they as frequently wiped their mouths and fingers, and
not before such an operation was required; for their awkward attempts at
imitating their entertainers occasioned them to deposit on their persons
a considerable portion of the gravy or sauces in which the meat was
dressed. Old Long Chi was indefatigable in endeavouring to make his
visiters taste the contents of every saucer upon the table; in which
effort they would gladly have seconded him, had their ability kept pace
with their inclinations; but, to their exceeding disappointment, they
found that the more they tried the less they swallowed; and, although
they dipped their sticks and bobbed their heads after the savoury viands
as they dropped from their treacherous hold, they had the mortification
of finding, when the saucers were cleared away, that they were left in
the enjoyment of quite as much appetite as they possessed when they
first sat down to dinner.
Several kinds of soups were now brought on table, in curious boat-shaped
vessels of porcelain; and with these, to the great gratification of the
guests, appeared ivory spoons. Every one of the soups was tasted; and
gladly would Oriel have made use of his spoon upon the more substantial
cookeries that had been carried away: but he saw no more of them; and,
the table having been cleared of the soups, fruits, and preserves, with
glasses of a spirit made from rice were handed round. At this time,
Long Chi the elder bent his head reverentially, and said, in a fervent
manner, and with an audible voice,
"Grant, O Fo, that the good things thou hast so bountifully provided for
us do not interfere with our digestion, or trouble us with apoplexy!"
and left the apartment to change his dress; soon after which the guests,
preceded by the younger Long Chi, returned to the saloon, where they
partook of tea and sweetmeats.
"Now that the old boy has gone," said the melancholy poet, as soon as
he had seated himself on the divan, "I will give you the felicitous
gratification of hearing the perusal of my great epic in praise of the
adorable Fee Fo Fum."
"Not for the world!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, with remarkable emphasis;
"I would not trouble you on any account."
"Trouble!" cried the lover, as he commenced searching in his pouch; "by
the inconceivable tail of Confucius, 'tis to me the most superlatively
exquisite of extraordinary gratifications; and, when you come to
entertain a proper consciousness of the inestimable treasures of
intellectual greatness, which I have lavished with so profuse a
liberality for the purpose of giving immortality to the unrivalled
attractions of the adorable Fee Fo Fum, you will acknowledge, with that
profound sagacity which you have already evinced by your commendation of
my incorruptible effusions, that the particular portions of the diurnal
revolution you have passed in obtaining an adequate knowledge of its
innumerable excellences, has appeared to you to proceed with such an
agreeable velocity, that you cannot, with any particular positiveness,
assert that you have, during that period, been in a state which is
vulgarly called existence."
"There is no doubt of it," replied Oriel, with considerable uneasiness,
as he observed his tormentor unfolding a paper for perusal; "but I can
only enjoy such things at certain periods; and at present I am positive
that the merits of your productions would be entirely lost upon me."
"By the great Fo, impossible!" exclaimed the poet. "In what corner of
the world hides the wretch so lost to every noble feeling--so lost to
every sense of excellence--so inhuman, unnatural, and preposterously
ignorant--as to listen to the incorruptible wisdom with which I can
enlighten him, and not become transported into the very heaven of
heavens?"
"You have already enlightened us to an extent as far as our limited
intellects allow us to be enlightened by such productions as those
you have read," observed Zabra, with an earnest attempt to be serious;
"and it would be only throwing away the talents you possess on persons
utterly incompetent to appreciate their merits, if you continue the
perusal of your effusions."
"All imaginary," said the persevering versifier; "and you will forget
it in your sense of the sublime which must be excited by hearing the
perusal of the following passage." Long Chi the younger had opened
his manuscript, had made a preparatory flourish of his hand, and had
commenced some description, with the ordinary exclamation, "Oh!" when,
happening to cast his eye towards the door, he encountered the frowning
visage of his father. His hand dropped from its elevation: he quickly
whipped his papers into his pouch, and jumped off the divan, with a
celerity particularly acceptable to Zabra and his companion.
Old Long Chi appeared in a dress much more splendid than the one he had
previously worn; and, gravely fixing himself in the seat his son had
vacated, he commenced a conversation upon the business and voyage of his
guests. Old Long Chi was a merchant of considerable experience and great
wealth, with whom Master Porphyry had long had commercial dealings. He
was remarkable for a profound gravity, a pair of moustachios the points
of which descended to his chin, and a tail of hair which was the
admiration of all his countrymen. Although he had passed the early part
of his life in India, and had married an Anglo-Indian, on his return,
like all Chinese, he continued the customs of his country, and gloried
in its fancied superiority over the rest of the world. He had always
been distinguished as a severe moralist. He seemed desirous of
acquiring the praise of the Bonzes for the regularity of his attendance
at the temples; and sought to be respected in society for the liberality
of his contributions towards religious objects. Oriel and he were a
considerable time agreeing about some merchandise that both had to
barter; during which the melancholy poet stood at a respectful distance,
looking at his parent, and then at the bamboo, with more dread than
affection; while Zabra amused himself by taking notice of the scene
before him.
"You have not seen much of our incomparable country, I suppose?"
inquired the old man as he sipped a strong infusion of the tea leaf from
a beautiful porcelain cup.
"I have only landed this morning," replied his guest.
"Ah! then you have much to see," added the other. "It is the most
ancient government under the sun; and such a government! such laws, such
institutions, and such a religion! The Emperor is quite a father to his
subjects."
"With the bamboo, father?" asked his son tremblingly.
"Hold you tongue, Long Chi!" bawled out the old man.
"Father, I obey!" murmured the youth submissively.
"Are the laws mild in their operation?" inquired Zabra.
"Remarkably so," replied Long Chi the elder. "When punishment is
inflicted, it is done on the most humane principles: you may get
bastinadoed till you faint with pain; and then you will get bastinadoed
till you recover."
"How very paternal!" exclaimed the young Long Chi emphatically.
"Silence, Long Chi!" shouted the old man.
"Father, I obey!" said his obedient son.
Both Zabra and his patron seemed much amused by this description of the
mildness of the Chinese laws; but, fearing, if he pressed the subject
much farther, the bamboo might come into operation in the domestic
sovereignty with a similar character, Oriel Porphyry said,--
"I was much surprised with the great variety of dishes that appeared at
dinner."
"Our preparations for the table are endless," responded his host. "In
our cookery books we have fifty different ways of dressing dogs' ears."
"I could find a way of dressing dogs' ears in any book," muttered the
melancholy poet at a distance.
"I'll give yours a dressing, you puppy! if you don't hold your tongue,"
bawled his father.
"Dogs' ears!" exclaimed Zabra in surprise: "we had none to-day, had we?"
"We had six different varieties, of each of which you partook," replied
the other.
"Bah!" said Oriel Porphyry, with a countenance expressing any thing but
pleasure.
"But that was not the only delicacy brought on table," continued the old
man. "You seemed particularly to enjoy a fricassee of the rats of Loo
Choo."
"Rats! we haven't been eating rats, surely?" demanded Zabra, as if
horrorstruck at the idea.
"And you swallowed nearly the whole of the soup made from the large
slugs of Japan!" he added.
"Ugh!" exclaimed both his visiters in a breath, looking in the highest
degree disgusted at the idea of such fare.
"It is dangerous," said the melancholy poet, gravely, "to load either
the stomach or your arms with slugs; especially----" He was not allowed
time to finish the sentence; for, seeing his father snatch up the
dreaded bamboo, and spring off the divan towards him, with a look
threatening utter extermination, he dived under a table, leaped over an
ottoman, dodged round several vases, and then rapidly made his exit out
at the door, closely pursued by his parent; and their visiters, fancying
that they had had quite enough of Chinese hospitality, hastened their
departure.
They were proceeding through the narrow streets of Canton, bounded by
the gloomy walls that shut out the houses from public view, experiencing
some very disagreeable sensations, when they heard a violent
altercation, and thought they distinguished voices familiar to them.
They listened.
"Oh! oh! oh! This is not arguing logically. Oh! oh! This is
demonstration without reason. Oh! oh! oh!" was heard amid a shower of
blows.
"Oh! oh! you're breaking my back--don't you see! Ah! murder! help!" was
shouted with similar accompaniments; and a door in the wall opening, out
ran Fortyfolios and Tourniquet, making a desperate outcry, and vainly
striving to save themselves from the thick sticks of half a dozen
infuriated Chinese, who were belabouring them without mercy. Oriel, as
soon as he saw the state of the case, rushed in amongst the attacking
party; quickly deprived one of his weapon, and laid about him with such
dexterity and vigour, that three out of the six were left senseless on
the ground, and the rest had vanished before the philosophers discovered
to whom they were indebted for their rescue.
"I am astonished that I should have found you in such a situation,"
remarked the young merchant to the professor and his companion, who,
with most rueful visages, were busily engaged in rubbing their legs,
shoulders, arms, and backs.
"Why, I will explain it to you as logically as I can," said Fortyfolios,
moving his features and body into an abundance of contortions. "Oh, this
pain! it certainly is a physical evil."
"That I deny!" eagerly exclaimed the other, writhing from the effects
of his beating. "Pain is a perception of the mind, and cannot exist
independently of mental perceptions--don't you see?"
"Impossible!" replied the professor, limping along as if every bone
in his body was broken. "I maintain that it is a sensation purely
corporeal, as there never yet was any pain where there was no body."
"You know nothing about it," sharply rejoined the doctor, cautiously
feeling with his hands to discover his fractures. "There is mental
anguish, in which the physical has no connection--don't you see?"
"But, gentlemen, what has this argument to do with the information I
required?" asked the young merchant.
"I was about to enter into the subject in a proper manner, when Doctor
Tourniquet interrupted me," observed Fortyfolios.
"I deny that!" eagerly exclaimed the surgeon.
"Doctor Tourniquet, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!" said the
professor, assuming all his dignity.
"I deny that!" repeated the pertinacious disputant.
"Doctor, you are more than usually disputative," remarked Zabra.
"I deny that!" continued he: and it now became evident to Oriel Porphyry
and his young friend, that both the professor and the doctor were
exhilarated into a state nearly approaching intoxication.
"Demonstration! demonstration! Give me accurate demonstration: I'll not
be convinced without it--don't you see?" said the surgeon.
"Argument is thrown away upon you: you are unreasonable, illogical, and
inconvincible," muttered the other.
"Prove it! prove it! Give me the proof positive--let me behold the proof
circumstantial," exclaimed his antagonist.
"Doctor Tourniquet, I beg you'll be silent," said the young merchant, in
a tone that admitted of no dispute; and the doctor seemed only anxious
to discover the extent of the hurts he had received. "And now, Professor
Fortyfolios," he continued, "you can proceed."
"To come to a proper understanding of the case, you must be made aware
that we left the Albatross on purpose to see whatever was worthy of
observation in the city," observed the professor; "and, as I possessed
a letter of introduction to a Columbian resident, there we first
proceeded. We were heartily welcomed, and treated with a national
hospitality; and were shown several remarkable things, of which the
world will hear at a fitting opportunity. In returning from a place
we had visited together, our friend suddenly left us to talk to some
acquaintance he saw at the end of the street; and we thought we saw
him go into a house, where we knocked. We were admitted; and I began
explaining to the fellows, by whom we were immediately surrounded,
that I desired to see my friend; but, without the slightest attempt at
argument, the unreasonable brutes commenced beating us with heavy
cudgels, till they were dispersed by your appearance."
"Let us see if I have killed these poor wretches," said Oriel, turning
back to the place where he had left the three prostrate Chinese; but, to
his great astonishment, and to the amazement of his companions, not a
trace of either of them was to be seen. The dead men had taken advantage
of their enemy being at a distance to scamper off from the field of
battle as fast as their legs could carry them; and when the conqueror
came to examine the destruction he had committed, he had the
mortification of discovering that his triumph might take same note of
"the missing," but the number of killed and wounded was not so easily
ascertained.
CHAP. VIII.
THE MONSOON.
After paying short visits to some of the principal ports in the
flourishing kingdoms of Borneo and Sumatra, the Albatross was gallantly
pursuing her voyage through the Strait of Malacca. There had been no
wind for several days, and the sky had continued without a cloud. There
was an oppressive sultriness in the atmosphere; and so great appeared
the heat of the sun's rays, that the pitch oozed out of the seams of the
vessel, and the timber became scorched and blistered. This continued,
with very little variation, till the ship, approaching the coast of
India, entered the Bay of Bengal. A little speck was first observed
upon the horizon, which gradually enlarged; and soon afterwards several
other dark vapours appearing on the heavens, rapidly increased in size,
till vast masses of clouds came from the north-east, thickening, and
darkening, and swallowing up the whole of the bright sky which had but a
short time since been visible. The sea, from a state of calm, suddenly
became stirred in all its depths: its billows rose into hills, the
hills into mountains; and the vast waves, as they acquired additional
magnitude, lashed each other with such a violence, that their tops were
crested with foam. Almost at the same moment came on powerful gusts of
wind, that kept continually increasing in force, till each drove the
mountainous waves before it, as if they were grains of dust, and swept
the Albatross over them with as much ease as if it were but a feather.
Her spars bent--her timbers creaked; and occasionally some part of the
rigging would be stripped off like dead leaves from a tree.
Floods of rain poured down, as if there was a sea in the sky that was
being emptied into the waters of the earth; and the lightning, flashing
in streaks of lurid fire, exhibited the black tempest gathering in the
clouds in all its terrors. Then came the thunder, booming in deafening
peals, that seemed to shake the world to its centre. The desperate wind
rushed on with all its might--then came the deluge--then flashed the
electric light--and then the thunder burst again with renewed fury. This
succession of forces was exerted upon the ship, without intermission,
the whole of the night, as she scudded rapidly along under close-reefed
foresail and maintop-sail; but, although it was evident to the oldest
sailors in the vessel, from the manner in which she behaved during the
tempest, that a more admirable boat had never been built, she suffered
very severely in many places. Several of the ports were stove in, the
gangways torn away, the quarter galleries crushed; ropes were snapped
like threads, and a few of the spars were splintered into fragments. The
water rushed in through the gaping ports, till the lee side of the main
deck was a complete pool, several feet in depth; and the monstrous waves
swept over the ship in such immense masses, that many of the crew every
moment expected that she would be overwhelmed.
Towards morning, the fury of the elements in some degree abated; but the
broken spars, and the torn rigging, had scarcely been repaired, before
the storm recommenced with renewed vigour. Nothing seemed capable of
withstanding its destructive violence. The wind howled, and the thunder
boomed, and the lightning flashed, and the big waves came rushing on
with more fury than ever. Every timber creaked, and the ship was leaking
at every seam. The exertions of the old captain had not ceased since the
commencement of the tempest. In the loudest roar of the storm, his voice
might be heard shouting his orders through a speaking-trumpet. He was
everywhere where he thought his presence was necessary; and, forgetting
his superiority in the necessities of the moment, he bore a hand in
the most laborious and dangerous duties. He was ably seconded by his
officers; and, although the crew had been harassed by constant exertion,
they cheerfully continued their efforts to work the vessel, and save
her from the violence with which she was assailed. To add to their
disquietude, they discovered that she had been forced a considerable
way from her course, and that there was an alarming depth of water in
the hold: the fore-mast bent like a mere twig; and every instant the
fore-topmast threatened to go by the board.
The engine was immediately set to work to reduce the leak; and, a
sufficient power having been applied, the water began to diminish. The
helm was now directed towards Bengal. The men laboured indefatigably to
repair the injuries the ship had sustained; and hopes were entertained
that, if the masts remained secure, the Albatross might ride out the
monsoon, and reach her destination in safety. Towards the afternoon,
there was a lull, and the men got both refreshment and repose. Oriel
Porphyry had not left the deck during the whole of the time the danger
was most imminent; and Zabra, as usual, had continued by his side. Both
seemed to take a sort of fearful interest in watching the progress of
the tempest; and, although the water dashed over them in torrents, and
they were frequently obliged to hold on with all their strength, to
prevent being swept away by the wind, they remained in nearly the same
position, observing the vivid flashes of light that played amid the
rigging, and looking into the black depths of the foaming ocean, as they
descended into the trough of some mighty wave. Neither spoke: at
least, rarely was a word uttered; and, if the friends had attempted to
converse, the uproar that raged around them would have prevented any
other sound from being heard. Several times Captain Hearty approached,
and earnestly advised them to go below, as they exposed themselves to
much unnecessary danger; but Zabra remained, with his head resting upon
the shoulder of his patron, and his hand clasped in Oriel's, as if he
knew of no protection where he was not; and the merchant's son, as
if pleased with the affection of his youthful friend, would not be
persuaded to leave the deck.
"Does any thing ail you, Zabra?" at last asked Master Porphyry, during
an intermission of the storm, noticing that his companion had made two
or three short hysteric sobs.
"No; I am well, I am quite well, Oriel," murmured the youth, as he
raised his head, and looked in the face of his associate.
"Why, your eyes are filled with tears, Zabra! How is this?" exclaimed
the other affectionately.
"I know not. A feeling has come over me, which I could not control,"
replied he in a whisper, as his delicate frame trembled with emotion. "I
was thinking--I was thinking that, if the ship was swallowed up in these
huge waves, that--that I should like--that I should like to die--that
I should like to die with you thus;" and, with many sobs, he flung his
arms round the neck of his patron, and let his head droop upon his
breast.
"And so you shall, Zabra, if such fate be ours," said Oriel Porphyry,
much moved by the devotion of his young friend. "But I see no reason to
despair yet. The gallant Albatross bears it bravely; and, unless we lose
the masts, or ship one of these overwhelming seas, we shall ride into
port by to-morrow, or the next day at latest. But this is childish of
you, Zabra, to give way to such feelings. You behaved not in this way
when we were fighting side by side amid the pirates. Come, come! be more
like yourself; and when the storm is over, which I hope will soon be,
you shall laugh at these apprehensions; and you shall sing me one of
your stirring songs, all about the glory and the freedom to be found
upon the mighty waters of the deep; and I shall be enraptured, and you
will rejoice."
Zabra raised his head, shook back the clustering curls that shadowed his
face, and looked earnestly upon his patron.
"I will do as you wish me," he replied. "I have been wrong in
disturbing your contemplations with my foolish fears: but, however
proud the heart may be,--however great, and brave, and noble be all its
tendencies,--there comes a time when all superiority and all valour are
lost in a sense of overpowering humility and apprehension. But, hark!
The elements are again let loose upon us. Hear how the wind howls, like
a lion roaring for his prey! And look at this mountain of water sweeping
up to ingulf us within its dark devouring jaws. Cling to the mast,
Oriel! cling to the mast! or you will be swept into the sea."
Oriel Porphyry held one arm tightly round the waist of Zabra: with the
other he grasped the mainmast, as the towering billow, forced onward
by a violent gust of wind, broke on the deck, carrying away two of the
sailors, who were inattentive to its advance, and pouring through every
opening into the lower parts of the ship.