THE CONTINUATION OF THE LECTURE
A walk of half an hour had freshened up the minds and bodies of the
passengers, and they took their places on the promenade for the
continuation of the lecture. The professor had been to his stateroom,
and returned with additional notes.
"Dr. Legge quotes Marco Polo, the greatest traveller of the Middle Ages,
who visited China in the thirteenth century," the speaker began, taking
a paper from the table, and reading as follows in regard to the Grand
Canal: "'Kublâi caused a water communication to be made in the shape of
a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and
lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply.'
Kublâi was the first sovereign of one of the old dynasties.
"The canal extended from Peking, the capital, in the north, to the south
of the empire, a distance of six hundred miles; and it was in use all
the way in former times. The Chinese were not distinguished as
navigators; but in modern times steamers ply between Canton and the
ports of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, so that the canal is less necessary, and
much of it is in bad condition.
"The Great Wall is better known to all the world than the Grand Canal as
a peculiarly Chinese wonder, and every school boy and girl has heard of
it. It was built as a defence against the raids of the northern tribes,
though for this purpose it was a failure; but it still stands, though
some of the English newspapers only a few years ago treated it as a
myth; yet there is no doubt whatever of its existence, for it has been
visited by many reliable English and American travellers. It was begun
two hundred and fourteen years before the Christian era.
"Our artist has indicated the wall on the map;" and Mr. Gaskette pointed
it out on the west shore of the Gulf of Liau-tung, properly a part of
the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and traced it some distance to the west. "Its
length, following its numerous twists and bends, through valleys and
over mountains, is fifteen hundred miles. It is twenty-five feet wide at
the base, and fifteen at the top. It is formed by two walls of brick,
different from those we use, weighing from forty to sixty pounds; and
the space between them is filled with earth and stones. It varies in
height from fifteen to thirty feet.
"The top of the wall is paved with brick, but is now overgrown with
grass. Along the wall, and not on it, are towers of brick at intervals.
You observe that at Peking the wall makes a sweep to the north, perhaps
thirty miles or more, enclosing a square of land of this extent outside
of the general course of the structure. I met an American gentleman who
had been to the capital of China, and he told me he had been to the
Great Wall. Dr. Legge may take the conceit out of some travellers when
he says: 'What foreigners go to visit from Peking is merely a loop-wall
of later formation, enclosing portions of Chih-li and Shan-hsî.'
"Leaving the Grand Canal and the Great Wall, we will pass on to the
lakes of China. They are not on a large scale, like the rivers; and they
are insignificant compared with those of our own country. The Tung-ting
Hû appears to be the largest, mostly in the province of Hunan, which is
sixty-five or seventy miles long. The others are Po-yang Hû, in
Chiang-hsî, and the Tai Hû, which is noted for its romantic scenery and
numerous islets.
"The temperature of the various provinces is on the average lower than
any other country in the same latitude. There is every variety of
climate in the vast territory of China. The natives consider the three
southern provinces, including the island of Hainan, less healthy than
the other portions of the country; but foreigners find no difficulty in
residing in them. In a region taking in over twenty degrees of latitude,
the productions vary from those of the tropics to those in the latitude
of central New York, from bananas and pineapples in the south to wheat
and Indian corn in the north.
"About all the common grains are raised in the north, and rice is the
staple product of the south. All sorts of vegetables and herbs, ginger,
and various condiments, are produced and largely used; though I believe
the people are not so hot, gastronomically, in their taste as we found
them in Batavia and some other places in the islands. They raise the
cane and make sugar in Formosa and the southern provinces. All the
fruits of our own country, including Florida and Louisiana, are grown in
different parts of China. Opium, which formerly came into the country
only from India, is now produced even in Manchuria.
"The Chinese are pre-eminently agriculturists, and farming is their
occupation above anything else. In the spring the emperor turns over a
few furrows in a sacred field, introducing the work of the season; and
the chief official in every province does the same, keeping the
importance of farming pursuits always before the people. The tools they
use are very primitive; the hoe being the principal hand-tool, and the
plough of ancient use for animal power. There is an extensive
application of irrigation, which is found to be so necessary in some of
our extreme Western States. In the north wells are used; and various
simple machinery is employed to raise water when the canal or river is
below the level of the field where it is needed, which you may have an
opportunity to see.
"No kind of fertilizer is wasted, and some are used which are often
neglected in other countries. A great deal of fun and sarcasm is applied
to the food of the Chinese, but most of us rather approved the dishes
set before us by our host of the Flowery Nation in Singapore. In some
articles used for culinary purposes, Parisians go beyond the Chinese, as
in the use of horse-beef. I have been in a provision store in Paris
where nothing else was sold; and every part of the animal was
economized, including the liver, kidneys, and tongue, and sausages of
this meat were on view and for sale to epicures in this flesh. But I
believe the Chinese do not eat the horse, unless it be in a season of
famine; and they had to eat cats in Paris during the siege of 1870.
"When you go into the markets you may see whole dogs dressed for food,
or cut up into pieces ready for cooking. These are not common yellow
dogs, such as you saw in the capital of the Turkish empire; but they are
the peculiar Chinese breed, sleek and hairless, which are carefully
fatted, and prepared for market. I have no doubt that your stomachs
revolt at the very idea of eating dog; but I cannot see that it is any
worse than eating pork and fowls, which feed more or less on animal
food. However, I do not hanker after dog-meat.
"The Buddhist religion prevails to a great extent here, which diminishes
the quantity of beef used, though not so much as the kindly feeling
towards the creature that is so useful in tilling the soil. Pork is the
most common in use for meat, and the number of pigs raised is enormous.
Geese and ducks are abundant, artificially hatched as in ancient Egypt,
and to a considerable extent in America, and are largely used for food.
"The sea, rivers, and lakes supply fish in all needed quantities. They
are taken in nets, and also by a novel method of fishing with which you
cannot be familiar. A boat goes out with a number of cormorants trained
for the purpose, which are fishers by nature. The birds dive and bring
up the fish, which they deposit in the hand-nets of the boatman.
"Dr. Legge says the Chinese are not gross feeders, as generally
represented, except the very poor, and that a Chinese dinner of
twenty-seven courses 'may hold its own with the most luxurious tables.'
He adds that the famous bird's-nest soup is a misnomer; but he admits
that nests from the Indian Archipelago are sliced into other soups, in
his opinion without improving the flavor.
"For a drink, tea has superseded every other beverage, and is taken
without sugar or milk. It was not used at all in ancient times, but its
use is universal at the present time. The plant is not grown in the
north. Black tea comes from the central provinces, and green from two
eastern mainly. Next to silk, if not equal to it, tea is the principal
article of export. The doctor says that tea-drinking promotes the
temperance of the people more than any other influence. Alcoholic
liquors are distilled from rice and millet.
"From the twelfth century B.C. the literature of the nation abounds in
temperance lectures, warning the people against the injury of strong
drinks; but tea has done vastly more to prevent their use than anything
else. As a people at home the Chinese make little use of liquors, though
that is not always the case with those who live in New York. They do not
sit down to tea as we do, but keep it at hand at all times, and treat
their visitors with it. Tea is written in the vernacular of the natives
_ch'â_. When it was first imported into England it was called _t'ay_;
but those who gave it the name were doubtless Irishmen, and they still
stick to it.
"There is no doubt that silk was first produced in China; and silk,
linen, and cotton form the clothing of the people. A ceremony like that
with the plough is performed by the emperor over the silkworms and
mulberry-trees, whose leaves are the food of the worm. From before the
twenty-third century B.C., the care of the silkworm, and the spinning
and weaving of the thread from the cocoon, has been the particular labor
of the women. The mulberry-tree grows everywhere in the country, and
silk is manufactured in greater or less quantities in every province.
"The cotton-plant has been propagated in China; and the cloth is largely
used there, though not equal in finish to the imported article, but is
heavier and more lasting in wear. Nankeen comes from Nanking. There are
no fireplaces in the houses; and the people keep warm, if they can, by
increasing their clothing. Woollen goods are not manufactured to any
great extent.
"I will not describe the pagodas, pavilions, bridges, and palaces; for
you will see them for yourselves. The streets of the cities in the south
and some in the north are no better than mere lanes; and the crowds of
people hustling through them fill them about full, and make you think
the place is vastly more populous than it really is. As a set-off to
this idea, you will wonder what has become of the women, for you rarely
meet any of them.
"The streets are paved with stone slabs, badly drained, and abounding in
bad odors, and you are not likely to enjoy your walks through them; but
they have magnificent names, which you will not read at the corners,
such as the street of Benevolence, Righteousness, etc. When you go into
the house of a tolerably well-to-do family, you will find the quantity
of furniture rather scanty, and not luxurious. The floor may be covered
with matting, but you will find no carpets or rugs. A table and some
straight-backed chairs are the principal pieces. On the walls you may
find Chinese pictures, which will not challenge your admiration, though
they may be artistic in China. Some jars and specimens of fine porcelain
may adorn the room, with writings on the walls expressing moral
sentiments. There may be a couch, or more of them, of bamboo and rattan.
"The bamboo is quite as important a production in China as we have found
it in India and the islands; and it is used for all the purposes here,
and more in addition than have been mentioned to you before. The
bastinado of the magistrate and the schoolmaster's instrument of torture
are both bamboos.
"Our Nimrods would not find much sport here; for the country is too
densely populated to afford hiding-places for wild animals, though a
bear or a tiger may sometimes appear, and is quickly killed. There are
elephants, rhinoceroses, and tapirs in the forests of Yun-nan; and the
emperor has tame elephants at Peking for state purposes. The brown and
the black bear are found in certain localities, as well as varieties of
deer.
"The domestic four-footed animals are small horses and small cattle,
which have not been improved. The donkey is a livelier beast than in
England or America. About the capital there are very fine mules, which
are fashionable there as they are in some parts of Spain. Birds of prey
are common, and magpies are sacred birds which the Nimrods must not
shoot. The people are very fond of song-birds and flowers, which proves
their good taste.
"There are vast quantities of minerals beneath the soil of the country,
yet little had been done in mining; though, since the government has
steamers of its own, they are doing more to develop the mines. The
currency of the country is nowhere; for the only coin that is legally
current is the copper _cash_, of which it takes ten to make our cent.
Large payments are made in silver by weight, and the housekeeper has to
keep a pair of scales handy to ascertain the value of the silver she
receives or expends.
"But I know, my friends, that I have wearied you; and though I have
something more to say about this very interesting country, I shall defer
it till such time as the commander shall appoint."
The professor bowed and retired; but, as an offset to his last remark,
the applause was more prolonged and vigorous than usual.