Part 6 (1/2)
Roast Capon. Roast Mutton.
Roast Pig. Roast Goose.
Fruits. Melon Seeds.
Preserves. Almonds.
[Footnote 1: The _Holothuria_ of naturalists--a species of sea-slug or sea-cuc.u.mber found on the sh.o.r.es of Borneo and on most of the islands of the Pacific, and which being dried in the sun is considered a dainty by Chinese epicures.]
Cats, too, are entertained as food, though I believe only by the extremely poor, to whom nothing seems to come amiss. One may frequently meet in the streets vendors of poor puss, easily recognisable by their suggestive cry, ”mow (miow?) youk”--cat-meat!
One is struck with astonishment at the vast crowds which always throng the streets, each unit of which seems intent on some most important business, and looks as though its accomplishment absorbed his whole being. Perhaps it is only a few ounces of fish which he carries suspended from his ringer by a cord; but if it were the emperor's diamonds he could not conduct himself with more importance.
The ordinary means of conveyance in China is by the sedan chair, a sort of box of cane-work supported on poles for the convenience of the bearers, of whom there are generally two, but frequently as many as six.
The riding is comfortable enough, and the springy motion imparted by the rider's weight is one of the pleasantest sensations I know of. Of course our tars, immediately they come on sh.o.r.e and see something new, want to find out all about it: hence sedan chairs are all the go, and a bad time the poor coolies have of it, too; for ”Jack” is all motion, especially if he be in that semi-apathetic state known as ”east half south,” as it not unfrequently happens that he is. He compels his bearers to tax their powers of endurance to the utmost, urging them by all the endearing epithets in the nautical vocabulary to unheard-of exertions, regardless of the luckless pedestrians in the way.
Whilst we are on the return voyage through Queen's road, I must just say a word or two about the people's costume, which, as we observe, is nearly the same for both s.e.xes; for if there be any difference, it is but slight in detail. Their dress is the most unbecoming and ungraceful it is possible to conceive, and yet, we are bound to admit, most refined. Had the women the redeeming quality of beauty, or the charm of a pretty face, possibly even this dress might appear to better advantage. A coa.r.s.e-looking black or blue blouse, of that material known to us as ”nankeen,” a tiny ap.r.o.n confined to the waist by a slender scarlet cord--their only bit of bright color--short wide trousers, almost as broad at the bottoms as they are long, bare legs and feet--such is a vision of the Chinese woman of the working cla.s.ses. The dress of a lady differs from this only in the nature of the material of which the garments are made--in their case, silk as a rule--stockinged feet, and silk shoes with thick while, though extremely light, soles.
Nations, like individuals, have their fopperies; the celestials display this quality, particularly in the coverings for the feet. The shoe, especially of the females, is, beyond question, the most tasteful article in their costume. It is, as I have said before, made of silk, generally of a lavender, salmon, or rose color, embroidered in beautiful and artistic patterns of leaves, flowers, and insects. The soles are of the whitest doeskin; and so particular are they that they shall retain their unsullied appearance, that, like the cats, they seldom walk through a wet or muddy street.
The system of binding the feet of the women is by no means so universal as we have been led to believe, and we must confess to having been deceived in this matter; we all thought, probably, to have seen _all_ the women with that useful member reduced to the dimensions of a baby's foot--instead of which, what do we really see? scarce one deformed woman in all our walks. Yet this nation considers this cramped, tortured lump (it has lost all semblance to a foot) an index of beauty.
Their hair is by far their finest possession, which, with their large almond-shaped eyes, is invariably of a black color. I once saw a Chinaman with _red_ hair, and you cannot think how ludicrous his queue looked beside the sable tails of his brethren. The manner in which the women dress their hair is most wonderful, and materially helps to give them their uninviting appearance. They have a fas.h.i.+on of sticking it out around the head in the shape of a teapot, stiffened with grease and slips of bamboo. That this style of head-dress enhances their ugliness very few Europeans I think will deny; for some women whom we have seen, with their hair combed neatly back over their heads and coiled up in a trace behind, looked not altogether uncomely.
The head is dressed but once in ten days; and as the people sleep in their day clothes, the possibility is they entertain about their persons a private menagerie of those interesting creatures whose name looks so vulgar in print. It is one of the commonest scenes in the streets to see a Chinaman squat on the kerb-stone and turn up a fold or two of his trousers to manipulate these little pests; and even the high officials and well-to-do people look upon it as no outrage to the proprieties, to be seen removing one of ”_China's millions_” from the garment of a friend or guest.
CHAPTER VIII.
----”All the deep Is restless change.” * * *
PREPARATIONS FOR THE NORTH.--AMOY.--WUSUNG, AND WHAT BEFELL US THERE.
Whatever pretensions to beauty our s.h.i.+p may have possessed on leaving England--and that she possessed some it is but fair to add--have been greatly marred by the late voyage, and especially by the was.h.i.+ng down we encountered on the trip from Manilla. The effect has been to reduce our once fairy and glistening hull to a jaundiced ma.s.s of rust and stains.
Therefore are we to go into ”weeds.” Black certainly gives an iron-clad a more man-of-war look, and a more war-like effect, to say nothing of the superior ease with which it can be kept clean.
January 22nd.--The Chinese new-year's day.--I should consider even such a poor account of the Chinese as this professes to be very incomplete, did it not contain something as to the manner the people observe the festival of the new year. And just a word before I start. It must not be supposed that I gained the information, if it be worthy to be cla.s.sed as such, on a first visit to Hong Kong. This part of my ”journal,”
including the previous chapter, has received the corrections and additions of nearly four years' experience.
The Chinese new year--a movable feast--depending, like all their chronological measurements, on the motions of the moon, may occur as early as it does this year, or it may fall as late as the middle of February. It is to the celestials what Christmas day is to us, and is observed by every true Chinaman most religiously: not, be it understood, religiously in our and the common acceptation of the term--for China has no religion--it possesses a gigantic superst.i.tion; but between a superst.i.tion and a religion, I need scarcely add, a vast difference exists. To the practical mind of John Chinaman, religious observances are made to subordinate themselves to worldly interests.
During the time we have been on the station the Shanghai district was once suffering from extreme drought. The rain-G.o.d was appealed to--still no rain came. Well, what was to be done? This. The G.o.d was admonished, that if rain came not within a certain period something terrible would happen to him. Still no rain. The exasperated priests and people then took measures to execute their threat. Putting a rope around the idol, the people, with their united efforts, pulled him to the ground to suffer further outrages at the hands of an ungrateful mob. Thus much for their _religion_. But to continue.
The last month in the old year is spent in elaborate preparation for the coming one. All arrears of business are made up, all accounts closed and punctually discharged, whilst everyone works his hardest to increase his stock of money.
At midnight on the last of the old year a bell is heard to toll, at which signal everybody rushes into the streets, armed with squibs, crackers, Catherine wheels, and other blatant pyrotechnical compositions; and as each tries to outdo his neighbour in the din he creates, the noise accompanying their discharge is the most satisfactory possible. The temples and paG.o.das are brilliantly lighted with colored lamps and colored candles, whilst similar candles and ”joss-sticks,” and gold and silver paper, illumine the interiors of their, at other times, grimy and dingy abodes. When morning arrives, the streets present a curious spectacle--everybody seems to be shaking hands with _himself_. A Chinaman, on meeting and saluting a friend, instead of seizing his hand, as we should, clasps his own hands together, the right hand grasping the left, which he sways up and down in front of his body.
Each person, too, is dressed in the newest and costliest dress he can afford; and as there is but one universal fas.h.i.+on of garment in China, everybody tries to surpa.s.s everybody else in the richness of the material of which his clothes are made. The children, in particular, come out well, the girls especially, with highly-rouged and powdered cheeks and necks, gaudily decorated ”queue” (for that appendix is not confined to the one s.e.x), and silk dresses of the most beautiful colors.