Jos ceremonies--Chinese New Year's day--New Testament--Epsom
salts--Grief of our jailer--Kites--Procession--Leave
Ningpo--Chinhae--Huge idols--Chinese camp--Mandarin's message.
A night or two after our visit to the mandarin, we heard the priests
chaunting, two or three silvery toned bells were struck at the
same time, and now and then a drum. We could see nothing of their
proceedings, but from the glare of light the temple must have been
brilliantly illuminated. The priests were not exactly sober all the
next day; so they must have taken strong stimulants during the night.
A few days after was the Chinese New Year's Day; when an immense
number of worshippers visited the joshouse with offerings of various
kinds; mostly ornaments of filigree paper. All the visitors were
extremely well dressed; silks, satins, and furs of all descriptions,
and very handsome dresses they were.
One of them, a man, arrayed in a splendid silk garment, had some words
with our jailer, and I believe struck him, at least I saw his hand up:
he was seized by the soldiers, and dragged by his tail to an inner
court, from whence he was shortly led by a soldier with a long heavy
chain round his neck, and handcuffed. What became of him afterwards
I did not learn; but it seemed to me summary justice, and very hard
usage, for apparently so slight an offence. The old officer, who lived
behind our prison, wore a magnificent dress, something similar to a
tartan, but the colours more varied, and brilliant. On his breast was a
piece of beautiful embroidery; representing some extraordinary animal,
only existing, I should suppose, in the imaginations of the Chinese.
At his appearance, all the soldiers, and our old jailer, went to him,
and made their obeisance; salaaming down to the ground; he returned
it most graciously, and they then retired. In the evening rockets and
other fireworks were going off in every direction. This festival was a
great nuisance to us, as the generality of the shops were shut up for a
fortnight, and we could only procure plain cakes.
It was about this time that Mrs. Noble sent us a New Testament, and
Flavel on Providence, which were very acceptable indeed; and they
enabled us to pass our time in somewhat more respectable a manner than
heretofore.
We were sometimes very much amused by seeing our jailer's head shaved,
and him in a manner shampooed, the operations altogether occupying
a considerable space of time. The shampooing consisted merely of
having the back well drubbed (for I can call it by no other name) by
the barber, using one hand open and the other clenched; this was a
finishing touch, after shaving him, and washing his head and face; the
razors were excessively clumsy in appearance, but were very keen, and
did their duty well.
Soon after the New Year's Festival, Wombwell and I were again sent for
by the mandarins, and found letters to the same purport as before; but
in one of the letters was a Latin quotation, which led me to suppose
that peace was not quite so close at hand as the English part of the
letter gave us to understand; however, this I did not translate, nor
did I say anything about it to the other prisoners, thinking it was
intended for the officers' private information. With the letters
came some packets of medicine; and amongst them several doses of
Epsom salts, which the Chinese mistook for saltpetre, and were quite
astonished that it did not take fire when they applied a candle to
it. Seeing them so inquisitive, I tried very hard to persuade them to
take some blue pills which had been sent, telling them that they were
sweatmeats of some sort, and very good for the stomach; but to no
purpose, they were not to be taken in. This was a thoughtless action,
I must own, as the consequences of the experiment, had I succeeded in
persuading them to take some, might have made them imagine that we
wished to poison them. We then returned to our sedans, and were taken
home.
Just outside the gates of the mandarin's house, I observed a number
of people collected, and amongst them, several children fancifully
dressed, and crowned with artificial flowers; I could not imagine
why they were arrayed in this style, unless they formed part of some
procession in honour of the New Year.
During our absence, the jailer had been to the window, making signs
that we were all going away; he appeared very much grieved, and putting
his hand to his breast, with tears in his eyes, seemed to express
his great regret at having to part with us. At last, his feelings
completely got the better of him, and he was obliged to run into his
room; where he shut himself up for the remainder of the day; sending
us, however, some substantial marks of his regard, in the shape of
stewed beef, bird's-nest soup, and samshu.
During the winter months, the Chinese amused themselves with
kite-flying; their kites had a hole in the centre, across which were
placed several strings; and when they were up in the air, the wind
passing through the hole produced a loud humming noise. I suppose this
was on the same principle as the ├ćolian harp. Some of them were very
pretty and ingenious, being in the shape of birds and butterflies, the
wings of which were made of loose thin paper, which fluttered about as
they rose into the air.
Time passed, and we two paid several more visits to the mandarins,
when we always heard the same reports of liberty. I rather liked these
visits, as they gave me opportunities, which I should not otherwise
have had, of seeing a little of the Chinese; besides the great
advantage of getting fresh air, and being able to stretch my limbs.
On my last visit to the mandarin's, I saw another coming in state
to see him; and as his attendants made rather a curious group, I
shall give a description of them. In front walked two men, with high
felt caps, to which were appended two goose-quills, having very much
the appearance of a large ink-bottle, with two pens in it; they
dragged chains after them; then came two more, with the same curious
head-dresses, beating gongs; then a soldier, with a red silk chatty,
which he carried as if about to charge; after him were two more
soldiers, and then the mandarin's sedan made its appearance, carried
by four men, and surrounded by soldiers and other attendants; the
whole party were shouting, and making a great noise. When they had
passed through the great gate, the train filed off to the right and
left, and the mandarin walked out of his sedan, and went in; attended
only by his pipe-bearer, and one or two more officers. All, with the
exception of his immediate attendants, were very raggedly clothed, and
the sedan-bearers were almost naked, notwithstanding the inclemency
of the weather; indeed, the _quantity_, and not the _quality_, of the
attendants, seemed the order of the day.
I was rather struck with the manner of visiting amongst the Chinese,
as showing a greater degree of refinement existing amongst them than
I had any idea of. The person calling sent in his card, (a piece of
red paper, with a few characters upon it,) and if the master of the
house were in, or chose to see him, he went to the door, and took the
visitor into the sitting-room, where tea was immediately served up. On
the visitor's departure, the master generally accompanies him a certain
distance, according to his rank; if a superior, to the gate; if an
equal, or inferior, not so far: at the same time there being always
a lengthened _combat de politesse_ about taking precedence, although
regular rules are laid down for their guidance on the subject, and
they well know that after a certain number of bows, the superior must
always go first.
During the month of February the soldiers were constantly making signs,
intimating that we were on the point of departure; and some of them
went away, carrying all their few worldly goods with them, so that we
began to think our liberation was really close at hand.
One morning very early, before we had risen, a little boy, one of
our attendants, came to the window, and shoving back the shutters,
desired us to get up, for we were all going away; but as we did not
believe him, the only answer he received was a volley of shoes from
all parts of the room, which quickly drove him away; but soon after
our old jailer came, and made signs to the same effect, and that our
rice was coming in directly; we therefore arose, still hardly daring
to believe him. When breakfast was finished, the old man came in and
told us to pack up our rugs; that we were going away, and were to take
them with us. We then imagined Lieut. Douglas's remonstrances had had
some effect, and that, instead of being released, we were only going
to a more commodious prison; however, even this was good news, and we
proceeded very joyfully to pack up our little all. Outside, the place
was all in confusion; a number of fresh soldiers made their appearance,
whilst our own guards were taking their departure, with their beds
and other traps. The jailer was distributing his goods amongst the
servants, giving a pipe to one, a gown to another, and so on. A number
of coolies now came in, and carried away our rugs. Our New Testament we
gave to the old jailer, who, though cross at times, had on the whole
treated us very kindly, and with great consideration. Flavel we gave to
an officer who had often done us various good offices.
In a short time we ourselves walked out, and found in the passage a
number of sedans, in which we took our seats, one in each, and they
started with us. Thus, on the 21st of February, 1841, we left the place
where we had been confined about five months.