Travels in China, Sir John Barrow [phonics readers txt] 📗
- Author: Sir John Barrow
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[43] The government even grants licences to certain persons, under the abused name of astronomers, who pretend to predict events, and cast out evil spirits by a charm, consisting of some character written by them, according to the supposed prevailing planet. The national almanack, not less minute in its predictions than those of Francis Moore or Vincent Wing, or even Partridge, points out the changes of the weather in every month, with the lucky and unlucky days for undertaking most of the important concerns of life. And that the fallacy of these is not detected, may afford less matter for surprize, on recollection that, in the wise and enlightened countries of Europe, and among very intelligent people, the state of the weather is pretended to be predicted by the phases of the moon, that is to say, they will prognosticate a change of weather to happen at the new moon, or the first quarter, or the full, or the last quarter, or, at all events, three days before, or three days after one or other of these periods; so that the predictor has, at the least, eight and twenty days out of a lunar revolution, in favour of his prediction being right, and the whole lunation is only twenty-nine and a half. He has also another great advantage: the accidental coincidence of one single prophecy with the event, establishes his fame for ever, whilst his blunders are either overlooked, or considered only as those of the person, and not the defect of the science.
[44] And which, together with their pernicious practices and infamous pamphlets, addressed chiefly to youth of both sexes, it may be added, have done more mischief than "plague, pestilence, or famine." Among the numerous societies that have been formed for the amendment of public morals and the suppression of vice, it is surprizing that no plan has been thought of for the suppression of impudent quacks.
[45] Thus among the inscriptions written over the doors of Temples, some are dedicated
To the Holy Mother, Queen of Heaven; the Goddess of peace and power, descended from the island of Moui-tao, who stills the waves of the sea, allays storms, protects the empire.
Another has
The ancient temple of the goddess (Kin-wha) of the golden flower, through whose influence fields are green and fertile like a grove of trees, and benefits are diffused as the frothy wave of the sea, that shines like splendid pearls.
[46] Poo-sa comprehends a class of superintending deities inferior to those of Fo, who are consulted on trivial occasions, and the ordinary affairs of life. Of course the greater number of temples are called by the general name of Poo-sa miau, temple of Poo-sa. The name implies all-helping. The character poo signifies support, and sa has the character of plant for its root or key united to that of preservation; the plant-preserving, or plant-supporting deity; from whence it may perhaps be concluded, that Poo-sa is the offspring of the Holy Mother of whom I am about to speak.
[47] The character shing is compounded of ear, mouth, and ruler or king, intending perhaps to express the faculty of hearing all that ear has heard and mouth uttered.
[48] By Mr. Pauw.
[49] Captain Turner found the name of the Lotos inscribed over most of the temples in Bootan and Thibet, and Colonel Symes, in the account of his embassy to the kingdom of Ava, which with Pegu, Aracan, and Laos, now constitute the Birman empire, describes the people as Budhists or of the sect of Fo; indeed their customs and appearance, as well as their religion, seem to indicate a Chinese or Tartar origin.
[50] No festivals, perhaps, were so universally adopted and so far extended, as those in honour of Isis. They not only found their way into every part of the East, but from Greece they were also received by the Romans, and from these they passed into Gaul. It has even been conjectured, that the modern name of Paris has its derivation from a temple that was dedicated to this goddess, ϖαρα ισιν, not very distant from this ancient capital of Gaul. The city arms are a ship, which Isis was depicted to hold in her hand, as the patroness of navigation. In fact, a statue of Isis[51] is said to have been preserved with great care in the church of Saint Germain until the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the zeal of a bigotted cardinal caused it to be demolished as an unsanctified relick of pagan superstition.
[51] Encyclopédie des Connoissances Humaines.
[52] The present Emperor shewed his gratitude for his prayers having been heard, by granting in a public edict an additional title to the temple in which they were offered.
"The gracious protecting temple of the king of the dragons, on the mountain of Yu-chun, has on every occasion of drought proved favourable to our prayers offered up there for rain, as duly observed on our sacred registers. From the summer solstice of the present year, a great want of rain has been experienced, on which account we were induced, on the 17th of this moon, to offer up our prayers and sacrifices in person at the said temple. During the very same day, a fall of small rain or dew was observed, and, on the day following, the country was relieved by frequent and copious showers. This further proof of efficacy in granting our requests, augments our veneration and, in testimony whereof, we direct that the temple of the propitious divinity shall receive an additional title, and be styled on all future occasions,
"The gracious in protecting, and efficacious in preserving, the temple of the king of the dragons.
"Be our will obeyed."Pekin Gazette, 23rd day of 5th Moon, of 6th year of Kia-King.
[53] From a passage in the manuscript journal of a Chinese who accompanied the Dutch embassy it would appear, that the art of embalming the dead was once known and practiced in this country. He observes, that at Ou tebé there is a temple or pagoda inhabited by a number of priests, who shew the body of a very ancient bonze, prepared in such a manner, and filled with such ingredients, that it does not decay, but remains perfectly entire. He is dressed in his robes of ceremony, and in his hand he holds a machine which was invented by him for cleaning rice.
[54] For the convenience of collecting and distributing the taxes raised in kind, the districts, and cities within them, are divided into three classes, distinguished by the adjuncts foo, tchoo, shien. The shien is answerable to the tchoo; the tchoo to the foo; and the foo to the board of revenue in the capital.
[55] The Far et mica salis were parts of most of the Roman sacrifices, and salt, in particular, was held in such veneration, and in such general use, that when any one obtained a salary or pension, he was said to have got his Salarium, or something to procure his salt, in the same sense, as we say, to get one's bread, and a common expression in India, denoting service, is, I eat the salt of such a one, and the Dutch in speaking of a dependent say, he owes his salt to such a one. These coincidences of opinion, or custom, among remote nations, however difficult they may be to explain, are nevertheless extremely interesting and are on that account here noticed.
[56] I infer that such is not the practice in China, from the manner in which the Dutch Embassadors were conveyed to and from the capital in the middle of winter. The inconveniences they suffered on this occasion are such as can scarcely be conceived to have happened in a civilized country. The perusal of the manuscript journal I have elsewhere noticed conveyed to my mind the idea of a country dreary and desolate, and of a people indigent and distressed; without humanity, and without hospitality. They travelled in little bamboo chairs, carried by four men, who were generally so weak and tottering that they could not go through the day's journey, but were obliged, frequently, in the middle of the night, to halt in an open uninhabited part of the country, where not a hovel of any description was to be met with to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather. And it most commonly happened, that the lodgings appointed for their reception, at the different stages were in such a miserable condition, admitting on every side the wind, rain, or snow, that they generally preferred taking a little rest in their bamboo chairs. They were surprized to find so few cities, towns, or villages in their route, and not less surprized at the ruinous condition in which these few appeared to be. Near the capital a whole city exhibited only a mass of ruins. In many places they found the country under water, and the mud hovels completely melted down. Sometimes they passed extensive wastes, where not a trace was visible of any kind of cultivation, nor a single dwelling occurred in the distance of eight or ten English miles. And it was not before they had crossed the Yellow River that they perceived the marks of wheel-carriages imprinted on the roads, which were so little travelled upon that they could with difficulty be traced. Here they met old men and young women travelling in wheelbarrows; and litters carried by asses, one being fixed between the poles before, and one behind. The rivers had no bridges over them; and such as were too deep to be forded, they were under the necessity of crossing on rafts of bamboo. In short, before they arrived at the capital, the fatigue and hardships they had undergone considerably impaired their health, and the condition of their clothing was such as to excite the compassion of the mandarines, who made them a present of twenty sheep-skin jackets, dressed with the wool upon them; which, like the Hottentots, they wore inwards. One of these gentlemen assured me, that having satisfied his curiosity, no earthly consideration should tempt him to undertake a second journey by land to the capital; for that he believed the whole world could not furnish a like picture of desolation and misery. What a contrast is here exhibited to the ease and convenience with which our journey was made! But the whole treatment of the Dutch embassy seems to have been
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