Part 62 (1/2)
After the inhabitants of Nagasaki, too, had given us a grand parting feast, at which speeches were spoken in j.a.panese, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Danish, and Swedish, a proof of the mixture of nationalities which prevailed there, the _Vega_ again weighed anchor on the 27th October, in order to continue her voyage. We now left j.a.pan to commence in earnest our return, and on our departure we were saluted by the crews of two English gun-boats anch.o.r.ed in the harbour, the _Hornet_ and the _Sylvia_, manning the yards and bulwarks. It was natural that the hour of departure, after fifteen months' absence from home, should be looked forward to with joy. But our joy was mixed with a regretful feeling that we were so soon compelled to leave--without the hope of ever returning--the magnificent country and n.o.ble people among whom a development is now going on which probably will not only give a new awakening to the old cultured races of Eastern Asia, but will also prepare a new soil for European science, industry, and art. It is difficult to foresee what new undreamed-of blossoms and fruit this soil will yield. But the Europeans are perhaps much mistaken who believe that the question here is only that of clothing an Asiatic feudal state in a modern European dress. Rather the day appears to me to dawn of a time in which the countries round the Mediterranean of eastern Asia will come to play a great part in the further development of the human race.
[Footnote 383: The number of the works which the collection of j.a.panese books contains is somewhat over a thousand. The number of volumes amounts to five or six thousand, most of the volumes, however, are not larger than one of our books of a hundred pages. So far as can be judged by the j.a.panese t.i.tles, which are often little distinctive, the works may be distributed among the various branches of knowledge in the following way:
Number of Works
History 176 On Buddhism and Education 161 On s.h.i.+ntoism 38 On Christianity (printed in 1715) 1 Manners and Customs 33 The Drama 13 Laws 5 Politics, Political argumentative writings, partly new and privately printed against the recent statues 24 Poetry and Prose fiction 137 Heraldry, Antiquities, Ceremonies 27 The Art of War and the Use of Weapons 41 Chess 1 Coining 4 Dictionaries, Grammars 18 Geography, Maps 76 Natural History 68 The Science of Medicine 13 Arithmetic, Astronomy, Astrology 39 Handicrafts, Agriculture 43 Notebooks 73 The art of making bouquets (Horticulture?) 16 Bibliography 9 Various 20 ----- Total 1036 ]
[Footnote 384: Further information on this point is given by Henry Gribble in ”The Preparation of Vegetable Wax” (_Transactions of the Asiatic Society of j.a.pan_, vol. iii. part. i. p. 94. Yokohama, 1875). ]
CHAPTER XIX.
Hong Kong and Canton--Stone-polis.h.i.+ng Establishments at Canton--Political Relations in an English Colony-- Treatment of the Natives--Voyage to Labuan--Coal Mines there --Excursion to the sh.o.r.e of Borneo--Malay Villages--Singapore --Voyage to Ceylon--Point de Galle--The Gem Mines at Ratnapoora --Visit to a Temple--Purchase of Ma.n.u.scripts--The Population of Ceylon--Dr. Almquist's Excursion to the Interior of the Island.
Some days after our arrival at Yokohama the _Vega_ was removed to the dock at Yokosuka, there to be protected by coppering against the boring mussels of the warm seas, so injurious to the vessel's hull; the opportunity being also taken advantage of by me to subject the vessel to some trifling repairs and alterations in the fitting up, which were desirable because during the remainder of our voyage we were to sail not in a cold but in a tropical climate. The work took somewhat longer time than was reckoned on, so that it was not until the 21st September that the _Vega_ could leave the dock and return to Yokohama. It had originally been my intention to remain in j.a.pan only so long as was necessary for the finis.h.i.+ng of this work, during which time opportunity could be given to the officers and crew of the _Vega_ to rest after the labours and sufferings of the long winter, to receive and answer letters from home, and to gather from the newspapers the most important occurrences that had taken place during our fourteen months' absence from the regions which are affected by what takes place in the world. But as appears from the foregoing narrative, the delay was longer than had been intended.
This indeed was caused in some degree by the difficulty of tearing ourselves away after only a few days' stay from a people so remarkable, so lovable, and so hospitable as the j.a.panese, and from a land so magnificently endowed by nature. Besides, when the _Vega_ was again ready for sea, it was so near the time for the change of the monsoon, that it was not advisable, and would not have been attended with any saving of time, to sail immediately. For at that season furious storms are wont to rage in these seas, and the wind then prevailing is so unfavourable for sailing from j.a.pan to the southward, that a vessel with the weak steam-power of the _Vega_ cruising between j.a.pan and Hong Kong in a head-wind might readily have lost the days saved by an earner departure. On the other hand, in the end of October and the beginning of November we could, during our pa.s.sage to Hong Kong, count on a fresh and always favourable breeze. This took place too, so that, leaving Nagasaki on the 27th October, we were able to anchor in the harbour of Hong Kong as early as the 2nd November.
There was of course no prospect of being able to accomplish anything for the benefit of science during a few days' stay in a region which had been examined by naturalists innumerable times before, but I at all events touched at this harbour that I might meet the expressed wish of one of the members of the expedition not to leave eastern Asia without having, during the voyage of the _Vega_, seen something of the so much talked of ”heavenly kingdom” so different from all other lands.
For this purpose, however, Hong Kong is an unsuitable place. This rich and flouris.h.i.+ng commercial town, which has been created by England's Chinese politics and opium trade, is a British colony with a European stamp, which has little to show of the original Chinese folk-life, although the princ.i.p.al part of its population consists of Chinese. But at the distance of a few hours by steamer from Hong Kong lies the large old commercial city of Canton, which, though it has long been open to Europeans, is still purely Chinese, with its peatstack-like architecture, its countless population, its temples, prisons, flower-junks, mandarins, pig-tailed street-boys, &c. Most of the members of the expedition made an excursion thither, and were rewarded with innumerable indescribable impressions from Chinese city life. We were everywhere received by the natives in a friendly way,[385] and short as our visit was, it was yet sufficient to dissipate the erroneous impressions which a number of European authors have been pleased to give of the most populous nation. One soon saw that he has to do with an earnest and industrious people, who, indeed, apprehend much--virtue and vice, joy and sorrow--in quite a different way from us, but towards whom we, on that account, by no means have the right to a.s.sume the position of superiority which the European is so ready to claim towards coloured races.
The greater portion of my short stay in Canton I employed in wandering about, carried in a sedan-chair--horses cannot be used in the city itself--through the streets, which are partly covered and are lined with open shops, forming, undoubtedly, the most remarkable of the many remarkable things that are to be seen here. The recollection I have of these hours forms, as often happens when one sees much that is new at once, a variegated confusion in which I can now only with difficulty distinguish a connected picture or two. But even if the impressions were clearer and sharper it would be out of the question to occupy s.p.a.ce with a statement of my own superficial observations. If any one wishes to acquire a knowledge of Chinese manners and customs, he will not want for books on the country, his studies will rather be impeded by their enormous number, and often enough by the inferior nature of their contents. Here I shall only touch upon a single subject, because it especially interested me as a mineralogist, namely, the stone-polis.h.i.+ng works of Canton.
It is natural that in a country so populous and rich as China, in which home and home life play so great a _role_, much money should be spent on ornaments. We might therefore have expected that precious stones cut and polished would be used here on a great scale, but from what I saw at Canton, the Chinese appear to set much less value on them than either the Hindoo or the European. It appears besides as if the Chinese still set greater value on stones with old ”oriental polis.h.i.+ng,” _i.e._ with polished _rounded_ surfaces, than on stones formed according to the mode of polis.h.i.+ng now common in Europe with plane facets. Instead the Chinese have a great liking for peculiar, often very well executed, carvings in a great number of different kinds of stones, among which they set the greatest value on nephrite, or, as they themselves call it, ”Yii.”
It is made into rings, bracelets, ornaments of all kinds, vases, small vessels for the table, &c. In Canton there are numerous lapidaries and merchants, whose main business is to make and sell ornaments of this species of stone, which is often valued higher than true precious stones. It was long so important an article of commerce that the place where it was found formed the goal of special caravan roads which entered China by the Yii gate. Amber also appears to have a high value put upon it, especially pieces which inclose insects. Amber is not found in China, but is brought from Europe, is often fict.i.tious, and contains large Chinese beetles with marks of the needles on which they have been impaled. Other less valuable minerals, native or foreign, are also used, among others, compact varieties of talc or soap-stone and of pyrophyllite.
But works executed in these minerals do not fetch a price at all comparable to that of nephrite. In the same shop in which I purchased pieces of nephrite carefully placed in separate boxes, I found at the bottom of a dusty chest, along with pieces of quartz and old refuse of various kinds, large crystals, some of which were exceedingly well formed, of translucent topaz. They were sold as quartz for a trifle. I bought besides two pieces of carved topaz, one of which was a large and very fine natural crystal, with a Chinese inscription engraved on its terminal surface, which when translated runs thus: ”Literary studies confer honour and distinction and render a man suitable for the court.” The other was a somewhat bluish inch-long crystal, at one end of which a human figure, perhaps some Buddhist saint, was sculptured. The polis.h.i.+ng of stones is carried on as a home industry, princ.i.p.ally in a special part of the town. The workshop is commonly at the side of a small sale counter, in a room on the ground-floor, open to the street. The cutting and polis.h.i.+ng of the stones is done, as at home, with metal discs and emery or comminuted corundum, which is said to be found in large quant.i.ties in the neighbourhood of Canton.
Large, commodious, well fitted up, but in their exterior very unwieldy river steamers, built after American designs, now run between Hong Kong and Canton. They are commanded by Europeans. The dietary on board is European, and exceedingly good. There are separate saloons for Europeans and Chinese. All over the p.o.o.p and the after-saloon weapons are hung up so as to be at hand, in case the vessel should be attacked by pirates, or, as happened some years ago, a number of them should mix themselves up with the Chinese pa.s.sengers with the intention of plundering the vessel.
Hong Kong was ceded to England in consequence of the war of 1842.
The then inconsiderable fis.h.i.+ng village is now one of the most important commercial cities of the globe. The harbour is s.p.a.cious, affording good anchorage, and is well protected by a number of large and small granite islands. The city is built on the largest of these on slopes which rise from the sh.o.r.e towards the interior of the island. On the highest points the wealthiest foreign residents have built their summer houses which are surrounded by beautiful gardens.
In winter they live in the city. We here met with a very gratifying reception both from the Governor, Mr. POPE HENNESSY, and from the other inhabitants of the town. The former invited Captain Palander and me to live in the beautiful Governor's residence, gave a dinner, arranged a stately official reception in our honour, and presented to the Expedition a fine collection of dried plants from the exceedingly well-kept botanical garden of the city, which is under the charge of Mr. CHARLES FORD, the latter presented me with an address of welcome at a festive meeting in the City Hall, specially arranged for the purpose and numerously attended by the princ.i.p.al men of the town. The meeting was opened by the Chairman, Mr.
KESWICK, with a speech of welcome, after which Mr. J.B. COUGHTRIE read and presented the address, bound in red silk and beautifully illuminated in black; gold, and red, with 414 signatures, among which many were by Chinese. The address ended with a hearty congratulation to us all and a promise of a memorial of our visit to Hong Kong which should indicate the way in which the _Vega_ expedition was appreciated there. Some time after our return home Palander and I received from members of the community of Hong Kong a splendid silver vase each.
I here embraced with great interest the opportunity, which my coming in contact with the princ.i.p.al men of the place afforded, of getting a glance into the political relations which prevailed in this vigorous and promising colony. At first sight they appeared to be by no means satisfactory. Peace and unanimity evidently did not prevail; for dissatisfaction with the Governor was loudly expressed by many of the Europeans settled in Hong Kong. He favoured, they said, the Chinese in an exceedingly partial way, and mitigated their punishments to such a degree that Hong Kong would soon become a place of refuge for all the robbers and thieves of Canton. At the time of our visit an instructive parliamentary debate on a small scale was proceeding in the Legislative Council of the city. The controversy was carried on with a certain bitterness, but with a proper observance of the parliamentary procedure customary in the mother country. The eloquent leader of the opposition had evidently, as is usual in such cases, the general feeling of the Europeans on his side. For they appeared to be pretty well agreed that the only means of protecting themselves against the evil-doers from the great heavenly empire would be to punish them in an inhuman way when they were taken in the act.
To an outsider it appeared, however, that the Governor not only had humanity and justice on his side, but also acted with a true insight into the future. When he came to the colony the corporal punishments to which the Chinese were condemned were exceeding barbarous, although mild in comparison with those common in China--a state of things which the opposition brought forward in defence of the severer punishments. Prisoners were repeatedly flogged with ”the cat,” often with the result that they were attacked by incurable consumption, they were prepared for the punishment by being subjected for some time to a starvation-diet of rice and water; they were branded when they left the prison, &c. Proceeding on the view that the greatest security for a colony such as Hong Kong lies in the affection which is cherished for it by the numerous native population, the Governor had sought to protect it from unjust attacks by Europeans. Considering that too barbarous punishments are likely rather to promote than to deter from the commission of crimes, in consequence of the protection the criminal in such a case may reckon upon from sympathising fellow-creatures, and that mild punishments are the first condition of a good protective police, the Governor had diminished the floggings, forbidden the public infliction of the punishment, given a reprimand in cases where ”by mistake” or by an evasion of the letter of the law extra strokes had been given to criminals, exchanged ”the regulation cat” for the rattan, abolished the preliminary starvation-diet and the branding, improved the prisons, &c. All this was now loudly complained of by the European merchants, but was approved by the Chinese subjects in the colony, who were however dissuaded from making any contrary demonstrations.
When we came afterwards to other English possessions, we found that the inhabitants were often more or less in conflict with the authorities, but nowhere was there anything to prevent the opposition from endeavouring to promote their views by public meetings, by addresses in newspapers and pamphlets. In this way a pretty active political life arises early, and this is probably one of the main conditions of the capacity of the English colonies for self-government, and of their vigour and influence on the surrounding country.
It will in truth be highly interesting to see what influence will be exerted on the great neighbouring empire if Mr. Hennessy's politics with reference to the Chinese settled in Hong Kong be carried out, and they be converted into fellow-citizens conscious that they are protected by law in person and property, that they do not require to crawl in the dust before any authority, and that so long as they keep within the limits of the law they are quite safe from the oppressions of all officials, and in the enjoyment of all the rights and privileges which the English law confers upon the citizen.
Many of the Europeans settled at Hong Kong were convinced that for another thousand years one would be justified in using the expression regarding China: ”Thou art what thou wast, and thou wilt be what thou art.” Others again stated that contact with Europeans at Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and the accounts given by the emigrants returning to China in thousands from California and Australia are by slow degrees changing the aspect of the world in the ”heavenly empire,” and thereby preparing for a revolution less violent, but as thorough as that which has recently taken place in j.a.pan. If this comes about, China will be a state that must enter into the calculation when the affairs of the world are settled, and whose power will weigh very heavy in the scales, at least when the fate of Asia is concerned. At Hong Kong and Canton the report was current that the far-sighted Chancellor of the German Empire had taken this factor into calculation in settling his plans for the future.
Already the Chinese took part in the European life. A number of Chinese names, as I have already said, were attached to the address that was presented to me; at the Governor's reception many stout, smiling heads provided with pigtails were seen; and Chinese had taken part in the meetings at which the Governor's scheme of reform was under discussion. There have also existed in the country from time immemorial secret societies, which are said only to wait for a favourable opportunity to endeavour to link their fates to the new paths.[386] The observations that I made at Hong Kong and Canton are, however, too superficial for me to wish to detain my reader with these matters. I accordingly point to the numerous works on these cities published by authors who have lived there as many months or years as I have days, and proceed to sketch the continuation of the voyage of the _Vega_.
Accompanied by the good wishes of many newly acquired friends, we left the harbour of Hong Kong on the morning of the 9th November. It was my original intention to steer our course to Manilla, but the loss of time during our long stay in j.a.pan compelled me to give up that plan. The course was shaped, however, not directly for Singapore, but for Labuan, a small English possession on the north side of Borneo. Its northern extremity (the coal mine) lies in 5 33' N.L. and 115 12' E.L. England took possession of Labuan on account of the coal-seams which are found there, which are of special importance on account of the situation of the island nearly in the midst of the large, numerous, and fertile islands of south-eastern Asia. It was the coal-seams too that attracted me to the place. For I wished to see whether I could not, in the neighbourhood of the equator itself, collect valuable contributions towards ascertaining the nature of the former equatorial climate.
We at first made rapid progress, thanks to a fresh and favourable monsoon wind. But when we reached the so-called belt of calms, the wind ceased completely, and we had now to avail ourselves of steam, which, in consequence of the low power of the _Vega's_ engine and a strong counter current, carried us forward so slowly that it was not until the 17th November that we could anchor in the harbour of Labuan.