Travels in China, Sir John Barrow [phonics readers txt] 📗

and so shallow and flat-bottomed, that they required little depth of water; yet we found them sufficiently commodious. Of the necessity of such a change in the accommodation yachts, on account of the low state of the river, we were speedily convinced, which, previous to our embarkation, had been by some attributed to a different cause. It was supposed that the men in office throughout the country, piqued at the refusal of the Embassador to submit to their degrading ceremony, would not fail to retaliate the affront by depriving us of every little comfort and convenience, and by otherwise rendering the long journey before us extremely unpleasant. The character of the people at large justified such a conclusion; and, I believe, every individual had laid his account of meeting with difficulties and disagreeable occurrences on the journey to Canton. In justice, however, to those who had the superintendence of the embassy, and particularly to the two most worthy characters Van and Chou, who were more immediately connected with its concerns, it is but fair to observe that no attention was wanting, nor expense spared, to render our situation as easy and comfortable as possible. Supplies of every kind were sent on board in the greatest profusion and with the most scrupulous punctuality. And as a singular proof of attention shewn to us in the commencement of this journey, our conductors, having observed that we used milk with our tea, had purchased two fine cows in full milk, which were put on board a yacht prepared for their reception, for a supply of that article. And, it was observed, that whenever the chief officers of the provinces, through which the embassy was to pass, prepared an entertainment in honour of the occasion, they had given themselves all possible trouble to render it more acceptable, by endeavouring to serve it up, as they thought, in the English style. In some of those feasts we had hogs roasted whole, that could not have weighed less than fifty pounds; quarters of mutton, geese, ducks, and fowls roasted or boiled whole, a mode of cookery altogether different to the practice of the country, which is chiefly confined to that of stewing small morsels of meat with greens or rice. The awkward manner in which they were prepared, being generally burnt and glazed over with oil, was entitled to and found an ample excuse in the desire thus testified of pleasing.

From the time that we first embarked in August at the mouth of the Pey-ho, or White River, until our return, we experienced only a single shower of rain. It is observed, indeed, that during the autumnal months the northern provinces enjoy a cloudless sky; an advantage of which they avail themselves in thrashing out the different kinds of grain in the field, thus saving the labour of bearing it into barns or piling it into stacks. It is either thrashed out on clay floors with flails, similar to our own, beat out of the ear against the edge of a plank, or trodden by oxen or buffalos. The grain that we had noticed just striking into the ear, on ascending the river, was now generally reaped. It consisted principally of the different species of millet, as before observed, and a small proportion of polygonum fagopyrum or buck-wheat. A species of Dolichos or bean, that had been sown between the drills of the Holcus, or tall millet, was now in flower.

The range of Fahrenheit's thermometer in the province of Pe-tche-lee, during the month of August, was from 80° to 88° in the middle of the day, and during the night it remained generally about 60° to 64°. In September, the medium temperature at two o'clock was about 76°; and in October about 68°; but in the latter month, it decreased in the night sometimes to 44°.

In the neighbourhood of the Pei-ho a light sandy soil chiefly prevails, with a mixture of argillaceous earth and slimy matter, interspersed with shining particles of mica: but not a stone of any magnitude, nor pebbles, nor even gravel occur in the whole extent of country through which this river is navigable. The surface, indeed, is so flat and uniform, that the tide, which rises only nine or ten feet in the gulph of Pe-tche-lee, flows to the distance of thirty miles beyond Tien-sing, or one hundred and ten miles from the mouth of the river; and it frequently submerges the whole country, notwithstanding the great pains bestowed by the inhabitants in raising and keeping in order artificial banks. Such inundations, although frequently the causes of great fertility, are sometimes productive of general calamity, especially if they happen at a season when the crop is too far advanced. These plains exhibit the appearance of a more than ordinary incroachment of the land upon the sea. The general level of the face of the country, at high water, is not more elevated than two feet above the surface of the river, of which not only the bed, but also the substratum of the enclosing banks, are composed entirely of fine sand similar to that on the shore of the sea. The deepest part of the wide gulph of Pe-tche-lee exceeds not twelve fathoms, and the prodigious number of small sandy islands, just appearing above the surface, are said to have been created within the records of history. A great portion of the enormous mass of mud that is perpetually wafted down the Yellow River, and which was found by experiment to exceed two million solid feet in an hour, is borne by a strong current from the Yellow Sea into the gulph of Pe-tche-lee, where the stillness of the water allows it to subside. In the map of Marco Polo, which was most probably copied by him from one in the possession of Gengis-khan, or some of the learned men about his court, Tien-sing is placed upon the sea coast; and a branch of the Yellow River, after traversing the provinces Kiang-nan, Shan-tung, and part of Pe-tche-lee, in the direction nearly of the present canal, discharges itself into the gulph near the Pei-ho. Were this branch of the river actually turned, the rapidity with which the gulph of Pe-tche-lee is filling up is the less surprising, as the only stream to keep its waters in motion at present is the Pei-ho. It has been calculated that, by the simple turning of the great river that falls from Winandermere-lake, the estuary of Morecombe Bay, which it now crosses, would, in the natural course of events, be converted in a few years into a green meadow. If the abovementioned chart be correct, it would prove also that the Mongul Tartars did actually first bring the grand navigation of China to the state in which it now appears.

This uniform plain of China afforded little interest to the traveller. Few trees appeared, except now and then a clump of firs surrounding a temple, or the plantations contiguous to the dwelling of some officer of government. In such situations were also large elms, willows, and a species of ash unknown in Europe. There were no hedge-rows. Property here is divided only by narrow ditches, serving at the same time for drains, or by ridges of unploughed ground, as in the common fields of England, which answer the purpose of foot-paths. These ridges were generally well covered with that family of running trefoil, known by the name of Melilotos, intermixed with a species of Poa or meadow grass, Avena or wild oats, and Briza or quaking grass. In the ditches, beside the common reed the Arundo phragmites, were growing two species of Cyperus, and a Scirpus or club-rush. None of the artificial grasses, usually so called, are cultivated by the Chinese. It is not an object with them to fodder their cows for the sake of obtaining a greater quantity of milk, this nutritive article of food being very sparingly used either in its raw state or in any preparation; and they are either ignorant of the processes of converting it into butter and cheese, or, for certain reasons, prefer to employ the little they make use of in its original state. Horses are rarely kept for luxury or for labour; and the few animals employed in agriculture, which are mostly asses, mules, or buffalos, subsist in the winter season on chaff and straw; and their chief support in the summer is derived from the strong grasses that grow in the ditches and the common reed, with which, in this part of the country, large tracts of swampy ground are covered.

On approaching Tien-sing, we observed several large fields cultivated with a vegetable called by the Chinese the Pe-tsai, or white herb, apparently a species of Brassica or cole; though insipid in its taste, being not unlike that of the cos-lettuce, it is held in preference to all other vegetables; and the capital is most abundantly supplied with it in the summer season fresh from the gardens in its vicinity and, in the winter, salted and prepared somewhat in the same manner as the Sour-Krout of the Germans. We observed also in the gardens, carrots, turnips, black radishes, a species of asparagus, the Solanum Melongena, a species of physalis or winter-cherry, water-melons and musk-melons, pumpkins and cucumbers. Onions and garlic were common vegetables planted near every peasant's house. The Trapa or water-caltrops grew in the ditches, the nuts of which, with the seeds and the roots of the Nelumbium, generally furnished out our desert; to which, indeed, sometimes were added tolerably good peaches, dry spongy apples not unlike quinces in appearance, and pears of an immense size but of a harsh and austere taste.

However unfavourable the country might be for an extended cultivation, which did not appear to be the case, the proximity to the capital would have led one to expect a corresponding population. Nothing of the kind appeared; the vast numbers we had observed in ascending the river were drawn from the distance of many miles out of mere curiosity; the inhabitants only of the vicinity now shewed themselves; and we were rather surprized at the fewness of these, as well as at the very ruinous and miserable condition of almost all the cottages. These mean huts were built, some of half-burnt bricks and others of clay, and they were thatched with the straw of grain or with reeds. Some were enclosed within walls of mud, or with a kind of course matting made of reeds, or the stalks of the holcus sorghum, which enclosure generally contained the families of two or three generations, the cattle, pigs, poultry, and all the living creatures belonging to the establishment. The Chinese have a common saying, that "although there be poverty without Pekin, there is plenty within its walls." The appearance, indeed, of all the peasantry in this province was marked with every indication of poverty; nor was the condition much better of those who were employed about the vessels which carried the Embassador and his train. With the greatest thankfulness they received the offals of our allowance; and the tea-leaves, which we had used, were sought after by them with avidity and boiled up for their beverage. A little boiled rice, or millet, with a few vegetables, commonly the Pe-tsai, and onions fried in oil, constituted their principal meals, of which they made only two regular ones in the day, one about ten o'clock in the morning, and the other at four or five in the afternoon. They generally however had the frying-pan on the fire at three or four o'clock in the morning. The wine or liquor, which we received in large jars, and which was so miserably bad as not to be used, afforded a great treat to the poor people, whose circumstances seldom allowed them to taste it. This liquor is brewed from a mixture