Part 26

Temples and Joss Houses, where are placed the figures of their gods, are seen frequently along the river bank, and the great Temple of Honan on the opposite side of the river is extensive and very curious. On entering the gate from the river side you pass under a line of shade trees, and enter three temples in succession, with colossal figures of Joss, seven in number, of giant form, in sitting postures, and in size reminding me of the figures Gog and Magog, in London. The architecture of the buildings is strikingly Chinese, with figures of lions and dragons at the angles. The priests have their heads clean shaved, and the beating of the kettle-drums of huge size, and the sound of their instruments at hours of worship, are almost deafening. The contents of some of the temples remind one of a museum, from the great variety of armor and figures. The grounds attached to the temple of Honan contain a pond for the cultivation of the sacred lotus, or water lily, and granite monuments wherein repose the ashes of the priests, who are buried in a small stone structure, which is inclosed on three sides, within shady bamboo trees; the blackened and smoky chimney betokened recent use. Eight noble fat hogs are within the inclosure of the temple, and are represented to the faithful as immortal; in the event of accident, however, others are in reserve.

Opium is freely used by the people, and the trade in it has increased to a frightful extent, although contraband, the officials being engaged in the traffic, so that the consumption has increased to twenty-five millions of dollars per annum. This, in a population of three hundred millions, is considered not to be a great excess, but it tells a sad story on the constitution of an habitual smoker. The use of tea is of course general, and spirit is distilled from rice. The Houqua gardens belonging to the great merchant deceased, some few miles above the city, are in good taste, with fish-ponds, artificial cascades and grottoes, and a vast number of fruit trees, plants, and flowers, peculiar to the climate.

LXIII.

HONG KONG, CHINA, _Aug. 20, 1851_.

This island, the name of which translated is Fragrant Springs (it is certainly supplied with running water, though barren and hilly), is twenty-one miles in circumference, and is situated on the north side of the bay which communicates with the Canton river, to which it is the key. It was ceded in treaty to the English, and is a great acquisition, but has cost them five or six millions in erecting buildings for troops, fortifications, and general improvements, in addition to the large expenditures of English capitalists. It is decidedly an English town, although their numbers are not great therein, though it contains a regiment of one thousand troops. Its being a free port facilitates contraband trade; it has a large Chinese population, and in all contains probably twenty thousand inhabitants. Macao, on the opposite side of the bay, about thirty miles distant, occupied for centuries by the Portuguese, is an agreeable place of residence, but it has, through bad management, lost its trade, and its harbor is quite deserted. It is now used as a place of summer resort, but rents have declined, and the people are poor. The heat of Hong Kong and Canton is very oppressive at this season of the year; we had the thermometer in the latter city from ninety-eight to one hundred for several days in succession, with but little difference in the night. Humboldt says that La Guayra, in South America, is the hottest place in the world, but I suffered more from the heat in Canton than there.

Before leaving Hong Kong, I made an excursion to the Whampoa Pagoda, which is nine stories high, of an octagonal form, and has in the distance a most imposing effect. The duck boats by the river bank attracted my attention; the ducks are driven ashore in large numbers to feed, and at the sound of a bell they rush back to their quarters, from the circumstance that the last one who enters gets whipped for being dilatory. The Chinese have a temple here, also, well fitted up; and last evening it was magnificently lighted by their fanciful lanterns, and a festival called Sing Song came off, with the beating of gongs, kettle drums, and other instruments, and a supply of confectionery and other eatables, inside and outside the building, upon stands, for sale.

There were immense figures of men and animals, made of painted pasteboard strengthened by wires, which were taken out and burned as offerings to their gods. We could expose ourselves with perfect safety among the people, and examine minutely the idols of the altars, feeling a sense of security on British soil which I could not feel in and about Canton, under like circumstances.

I was quartered in Canton in the most desirable part for sights, and some of a most amusing character were constantly seen. One day I counted from my window eighteen stout barbers, who carried on their backs a three-legged stool with straps attached, and in the bottom a chest of lances; they were engaged on, or waiting for, customers in the open court. The operation of dressing the long tail and scraping the pate, in addition to the practice of cleaning the eye and ear, occupies some time, for all of which they get about six cash, or half a cent each. Mandarins occasionally passed in sedan chairs, with suites of attendants, and the hurry of the crowd was observed to allow their mandarinships a free passage. A large wedding procession attracted my attention from the great quantity of presents therein. I counted fifty coolies with loaded hand-barrows, filled with fruit, flowers, confectioneries, cakes, nuts, robes, &c., in rich profusion, preceding the bride, who was conducted to the house of the groom veiled, in a sedan chair, as the tiny feet of the ladies are seldom seen in the streets. They are affianced early by their parents without ever having seen their lovers; and when their intended husbands gaze upon them, if acceptable, they are supported by women across a pan of coals into the house.

They are sometimes rejected, but damages are expected. This leads to unhappy marriages and polygamy, which is recognised by the law, the children having legitimate rights. The river-women all go bare-footed in warm weather, and their feet are of natural size.

The upper classes still continue the bandaging of the feet as a mark of rank, which is eulogized in Chinese poetry. This barbarous practice consists in turning under the small toes of the infant and bandaging them, leaving only the great toe exposed, which system in course of time raises the instep and throws the heel backwards, giving them more equilibrium; the iron shoe is not used, but the wrappers are changed daily. Among the poorest classes, female children are much neglected, and frequent instances of infanticide occur, woman being considered born to drudgery, and not meriting an education.

I came down by steamer, the only passenger, and in the evening found fire-arms brought up and laid on the companion-way; I naturally asked the cause, and was informed there was nearly a million of bullion on board for shipment, and that an attempt had recently been made by a Chinese crew who had concerted a plan with some fifteen forward deck passengers, by previous understanding, for the taking of the shipment of specie, and to cut off the officers while at table, and run the boat outside of Boca Tigris. The plot, however, was discovered in time to prevent it.

Not unfrequently the piratical Chinese attack the junks, notwithstanding all their crews go armed with spears and lances. Now they employ all Englishmen on board of the river boats which contain treasure. We have had news of the loss of the steamer Pasha, which was run down by the steamer Erie, in the Straits of Malacca, with the loss of several lives, and a large quantity of opium. It was from carelessness, as the steamers had exchanged signals about midnight, but notwithstanding, the Erie at full speed struck the Pasha with her port bow, a little slanting, a few feet abaft the mainmast, and she sank in five minutes, without having time to lower her boats.

This has produced great excitement here, both steamers belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Co. I think now I can embark with safety to-morrow on board the steamer Malta for Singapore, as more care is always exercised after an accident.

LXIV.

SINGAPORE, _Sept. 1, 1851_.

Having arrived at Singapore, I will resume my narrative. We had rather a rough passage down, in the face of a south-west monsoon in the China Sea, for a distance of about one thousand four hundred miles. The Malta is an iron steamer of thirteen hundred tons burden, well disciplined and manned by Lascars, or Indians, from Bombay, Chinese as deck hands, and Seedes, or blacks from the African coast as stokers, or firemen, the heat being too great for Europeans.

It was curious to see the variety of costume of the deck hands as they left port; it was Sunday at the time, and they did not doff the costume of the holiday until we left the harbor. I noticed more particularly the gay-colored turbans, white frocks and fancy belts of the Lascars, and the long tails of the Chinese, while many of their female friends were in boats around the ship, keeping up a constant discharge from bunches of firecrackers. We were only seven passengers, English gentlemen and officers of the army, myself the only American. The system adopted throughout by the steam navigation company is to charge enormous prices, more than double the rates of fare of our Atlantic steamers; for instance, from Hong Kong to this place, the passage, including exchange, costs one hundred and seventy dollars, the passage to Calcutta being upwards of four hundred dollars. They furnish a profusion of everything available in the way of supplies, rendering the consumption of liquors, wines, and soda, greater than in the West India line, where each individual signs a card for the steward as he gives his order, and settles weekly, or at the expiration of the voyage.

The English officers and gentlemen are particular in dressing for dinner; considerable etiquette is observed, and they generally occupy much time at table. I am frequently called upon to combat error and prejudice against my country in a variety of ways. The minds of some have been poisoned by such works as those of Mrs. Trollope, and others.

I was told that I was the first overland California traveller. I could answer the interrogations about lynch law, rapid eating or bolting of food at hotels and on board of steamers; and in the latter charges, I could only admit, American-like, that we were a young but fast people, and that we could not enjoy the luxurious ease of old countries, as time did not permit; that pioneer life on the borders cautioned the sovereign people where laws did not exist, to rid themselves of robbers and assassins.

Throughout the East the Punkah is made use of while the guests are at meals; it is a long frame from three and a half to four feet in depth, covered with white cloth, with a fringe running the whole length of the table, and suspended on hinges from the ceiling, to which is attached a cord passing over a pulley, and put in motion by an invisible hand behind a screen, or passing through the wall into the adjoining room. We have three Lascar boys in costume, who are seated on the opposite side of the dining saloon, keeping up a constant circulation of air during meals.

I have been under the surgeon’s hands since I embarked, with a slight attack of Hong Kong fever; consequently I could not enjoy my passage, and was disgusted with the sight of eatables and drinkables. I am now quite recovered, and a drive about the environs of this city in a palanquin has had a good effect. These palanquins are small carriages with forward and back seats, adapted for two persons, and on low wheels, drawn by small Sumatra ponies full of spirit. The drivers, or rather runners, are Malabars from Madras, of a dark ebony color. The costume of my man is a white scarf bound round the head, loose white pants coming to his knees, and a red sash about his loins, so that his limbs are perfectly free, and he runs beside the horse at the top of his speed, holding one rein and the trace at the same time for safety and support. These men will run to the end of the island, sixteen miles, if occasion requires. You not unfrequently see persons galloping on horseback, and the man running along to take the reins when the rider dismounts.

Singapore, near the Straits of Malacca, is a small city on a small island, well built by the English. It is a free port, and large numbers of vessels from all parts visit it for purposes of traffic.

Great numbers of Chinese, say as many as thirty thousand, have migrated to this point, and can be seen in every kind of pursuit; they monopolize almost every species of labor, and being more vigorous than the others, can work cheaper at the various mechanical branches. The greatest variety of costume and language is found here, congregating from all the East and all the islands, Singapore being in the high-road from east to west.

I shall proceed to Penang upon Prince of Wales Island, by steamer, and thence to the island of Ceylon, on the other side of the bay of Bengal, where I shall wait for the steamer from Suez, on her way up to Calcutta, and as Ceylon is represented as being a beautiful island, and I shall be there some two weeks, you may expect to hear from me.

LXV.

KANDY, ISLAND OF CEYLON, _Sept. 16, 1851_.

I find myself now one hundred and forty-four miles from Point de Galle, the place where I left the steamer on my route from Penang to Singapore. Galle is a small fortified town which was first occupied by the Portuguese, taken afterwards by the Dutch, and finally acquired by the English, who are now in full and complete possession of this large island, extending from 6° to 10° N. Lat., from the Tropic of Cancer, at the west entrance of the Bay of Bengal opposite the Coromandel coast. It is about two-thirds the size of Ireland, and once contained a large population, but at present only one and a half million. From Point de Galle I proceeded to Colombo, the chief commercial mart, distant by land seventy-two miles, winding along through almost uninterrupted cocoa-nut groves, for some sixty miles, with long lines of thatched cabins, villages at intervals, and the most peculiar and primitive population in many respects I have ever met with. The natives along the coast are copper-colored, with fine features and slender forms; they wear long hair, falling half down their backs when loose and male and female wear two shell combs, one over the crown, and the other of great height to make the coiffure behind; it is difficult at first to distinguish the sexes among the young. The cocoa-nut tree is the chief support; they pay some attention to fishing, however, in the oddest vessels that ever floated, consisting in many instances of simple “dug-outs,” with an outrigger of bent boughs, which are lashed to the side of the vessel, and to the end is attached a pointed log, floating on the surface, and if the canvas is carrying the bark over, they balance it by sitting on the outrigger, sailing with great rapidity.

The harvest of the cocoa is now at hand. The milk is refreshing, and quenches thirst; the fruit is not only eaten, but large quantities of oil are made from it for use and exportation. The bark is rotted in pits of water, and bruised, then the fibres are pulled and made into cordage and rope of different kinds. The trees stand from six to fifteen feet apart, and are from fifty to eighty feet in height; large use is made of the liquid that exudes from the off-shoots near the top of the tree, which is distilled into arrack, and the natives may be seen like ourang-outangs, moving from the tops of the trees on the cordage made from the fibre to aid in climbing, while lower down are the earthen vessels in which the juice is collected. After passing through the cocoa-nut forests the cinnamon plantations present themselves, within a range of eight to ten miles of Colombo, and are mostly owned by foreigners.

One of the vices to which the natives are mostly addicted is the excessive use of the betel, which is a composition of the betel-leaf, the areka-nut, and chanam or luire, made from the muscle-shell, to which is sometimes added tobacco; it not only has a stimulating effect, but causes the lips, teeth, and inside of the mouth to appear blood-red, and tends in time to blacken the teeth, which is considered by some a mark of beauty. The stranger, when he first finds himself among a group of dark, ebony Kandians, and copper-colored Cingalese, with a sprinkling of Malabars in the primitive state, and in the costume of our first parents, with their mouths full of betel, imagines he has fallen among demons; at least I did, though I soon became accustomed to the sight.

The old kingdom of Kandy successfully resisted the Dutch and Portuguese, and for a long time the English, as from their fastnesses in the mountains, without roads to facilitate the enemy, the natives were long enabled to keep possession of the interior, after their sea-ports were occupied, and until they finally succumbed to the English. It lies seventy-two miles from Colombo, and fourteen hundred and sixty-seven feet above the level of the sea, and is characterized by the grandeur of the mountain scenery, and its wooded hills and luxuriant vegetation. The climate is very pleasant, its average temperature being 74°. The approach to this place is full of interest and novelty.

You find the paddy or rice fields in the valleys cultivated by the natives, who subsist mostly upon rice, made into curry, adding a sauce composed of cocoa, pepper, ginger, and coriander seed. Most of them are Boodhists, and touch no animal food, it being contrary to their religion to take life. They are often seen with almost naked skins, and hatless heads, their hair tied up in a bunch behind or falling over their shoulders, following black, uncouth, and sluggish buffaloes, which drag a rude wooden plough through the muddy field, inundated from the mountain streams.

Since the English have occupied the country, the colonial government has opened good roads, and much attention has been given to the planting of coffee, which is the chief source of profit, and enables it to place its troops in different parts of the island. An attempt at rebellion in this the most warlike province, two years since, after a considerable massacre, was soon suppressed. The road to Colombo is now much travelled by two-wheeled carts with high covered tops of cocoa-nut plaited branches, drawn by diminutive black cattle, about three or four feet high, with short horns, looking not unlike large calves, but tough and strong. Travelling Bandys are frequently seen; they are about the size of a good dog cart, with a small bullock in the shafts, and a cord running through his nose and over his head, to the sides of which a pair of lines are attached; two or three persons sit inside with their knees drawn up to the chin. The cabins by the road-side are in low and sheltered positions; they are furnished with two or three stools, a few plaited mats, earthen water-jars, a rice mortar, and some few culinary articles. Such of the women as are not engaged in weeding and reaping in the fields busy themselves in preparing betel, cooking curry, or in attending to their children. In approaching Colombo, as also this place, appearances change, the difference of caste, of which they were very particular under the old regime, being still seen.

The Kandians, despising the effeminate combs of the low-country people, wear a gay-colored handkerchief tied around the head, leaving the top exposed; they wear a white or fancy colored cloth of double breadth wrapped around the loins, while Mormons or Mussulmans with turbans, and Hindoos with painted faces, and also Malabars and other races, make up the picturesque masquerade. The Rhodias, or outcasts, a sort of Gipsies, are not permitted to wear any garment other than a sense of propriety suggests. The better caste of women appear here with heads uncovered, a long cloth of single breadth wrapped around the loins and falling to the ankles, and a portion thrown over the left shoulder. They wear silver, crystal, and brass bangles or bracelets, and flat ear-rings about the size of a quarter dollar, and the thickness of a child’s tin whistle; the holes of the ears are cut and distended by weights while young, to receive their flat rings; they also wear gold clasps in the top of the ear, which gives them a strange appearance, particularly with the addition of rings in the nose and on the toes. Umbrellas and dried branches of the tallipot tree are much in use to prevent the action of the sun’s rays. This is the residence of Governor Anderson, whose houses and grounds are quite pretty. There are some fifty foreigners, inclusive of ladies, as civilians, in addition to a regiment of troops, partly Europeans and partly Malays.

From Singapore we passed up the Straits of Malacca to Penang, on Prince of Wales Island, where we coaled and remained one day, which gave an opportunity for a ride to see the town, and then proceeded to Ceylon, making the distance of some fourteen hundred miles within eight days to Point de Galle, where I left the steamer on my way north to Calcutta, while she proceeded to Suez.

LXVI.

KANDY, ISLAND OF CEYLON, _Sept. 20, 1851_.

I am surprised to find such remains of civilization among a people who once had a dense population, and were somewhat advanced in the arts, as their relics testify, but who had fallen to the darkest period of the middle ages. The palace of the king, the hall of audience, with its elaborately-carved wooden columns, the hexagonal tower two stories high, and the chief Boodhist temple of the island, formerly under royal patronage, present a front of some six hundred feet of ground, with a wall and moat with drawbridge, supplied with water from a beautiful artificial lake, with a long line of parapet with triangular centres whereon to place lamps during the illuminations, and when the king addressed the people from the balcony overhanging the canal, and witnessed the religious processions with elephants which are annually continued.

These buildings are now all occupied for government purposes, except the temple of Boodh. On its archways and walls are sculptured hideous figures of dragons, and images of gods and devils; the paintings are rude, and bear a mixed resemblance to those of China and Egypt. The present powder-house is in a small building in the centre of the lake, which was a great resort for the king, while the harem-building on its banks is the hospital for sick soldiers.

We have just had a festival day, and I have occupied some time among the Boodhists. Their daily hours of worship are from six to eight in the morning, and the same time in the evening, and on this occasion the noise of the silver tom-toms, or kettle-drums, and the harsh sound of as many instruments resembling the Scotch bagpipe, with their discordant sounds, were almost deafening. One of the sanctums of the temple, which is ascended by a small flight of steps, has two immense pairs of elephant tusks, also the carved and painted figures of devils, to guard the entrance, and the room is about twelve feet square, hung with gold brocade, somewhat rusty. Upon a raised platform, inclosed by railings, and hourly unlocked, is seen a figure not unlike a huge bell, thirty-four and a half feet high, and nine and a half feet in circumference. It is in three pieces, which are joined, and which contain within each other seven smaller caskets; the smallest is supposed by the people to contain the tooth of their god Boodh.