Part 3 (2/2)

The unfortunates had evidently been pursued down to where the junk lay, and slaughtered before they could get it off. It struck me that what we were looking for, a boat, might in all probability be found on board the fatal vessel. It lay heeled over broadside to the beach, and I waded out to it through the shallow water. I gained the upper deck with some difficulty and stood amidst the ma.s.s of carnage. Rifle-b.a.l.l.s had done the work of death. Many of the bodies were in army uniforms.

I could find only two boats. One, a mere c.o.c.kle-sh.e.l.l, had been perforated by bullets and rendered useless. Another lay inboard on the quarter-deck, but it was so filled and covered with corpses that at first I did not notice it. It seemed in fair condition, but the task of ridding it of its horrible freight was so repugnant that I returned on sh.o.r.e to resume the search for one elsewhere. It was in vain, however; all we could find in the vicinity was an old sampan, which besides being very leaky, was more than three men could manage, only one of them, moreover, having any knowledge of sailoring. There was nothing for it but to return to the death-s.h.i.+p. We all went on board this time, and applied ourselves to the work. The pile of dead were dragged away, and with considerable labour, and aided by the careened condition of the junk, we managed to launch the boat, which had been secured inside the bulwark. It was in a horrid state with blood, but we were not in a situation to be particular. We found a quant.i.ty of provisions and fresh water--or rather water which had once been fresh--in the cook-house of the junk.

It must have been after midnight when we shoved off and got afloat.

Neither of my companions were experts with an oar, and could render me very little aid; moreover, Chinese oars, like Chinese belongings altogether, are very unlike anything else in the world and need some practice to use. We were, however, close to the entrance of the port, which being defended by torpedoes and mines, we ran little risk of encountering j.a.panese vessels, although the submarine dangers threatened us as well, if we strayed from the deep-water channel in the dark. We got on in safety, though very slowly, and another two hours had been consumed before we were through.

What to do next I had no fixed idea. One thing, however, was a.s.sured, that it was certain death to stay in Port Arthur, and that our only chance, slender as it seemed at best, consisted in getting as far away as possible. I resolved, after some consideration, to hold on south round the extremity of the Peninsula.

In the seaward forts above us we could discern no signs of activity, and only a light here and there, far out on the misty expanse of waters, showed the position of the j.a.panese war-vessels, which had an easy job of it as far as Port Arthur was concerned. The weather, though so bitterly cold, was far from stormy, yet the difficulty of rowing was increased naturally when we got out into the heavier waters of the sea. So unpromising in fact did our situation look, that I began to reflect whether it would not be better to stay about the mouth of the harbour, and allow ourselves to be taken by some j.a.panese s.h.i.+p, than wander off I knew not where, probably in the end to perish of starvation. Luck decided the point. We had painfully made a couple of miles from the estuary of the harbour, when we came upon a large junk stranded on a sand-bank. There were no lights showing on board her; in the obscurity we could see n.o.body; yet she did not look like a wreck, and at first we did not know what to make of it. After a consultation, it was decided to fire a shot from the rifle and see what it would lead to. No sooner had the report rung out, than there was a bustle and stir on the vessel's decks, which appeared suddenly to swarm with men, and became illuminated by lanterns. I told Chung to hail. He did so, and a voice replied in Chinese. We drew close abreast, and my companions held a parley with those on board. Our situation explained we were permitted to ascend. The junk was full of men. She had got into her present predicament in escaping, and they were waiting for the morning flood tide to float her off. Two or three junks, we were told, had struck torpedoes in leaving the harbour and been blown in pieces, and many others had fallen into the clutches of the enemy. Those on board, besides her usual crew, were chiefly soldiers. With the profound deference paid to rank by the Orientals, the chief cabin was at once given up to the mandarin, who insisted on my sharing it with him. He and Chung gave a most glowing account of me to those on board, to whom, in my remarkable accoutrement, I was an object of legitimate curiosity.

Exhausted by exertion and anxiety, I was fast asleep within half-an-hour after stepping up the junk's side. I slept far into the day, and when I emerged found that she had been successfully floated off the bank, and got out to sea without so far attracting the notice of the j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps.

CHAPTER VII

A very queer craft is a Chinese junk. Few Europeans have any defined idea what they are like. They are of different sizes, most of them suited to the numerous rivers and ca.n.a.ls which intersect the country in every part. The largest are of about one thousand tons burden. The whole mode of building is most peculiar. Instead of the timbers being first raised as with us, they are the last in their places, and the vessel is put together with immense spiked nails. The next process is doubling and clamping above and below decks. Two immense beams or string pieces are then ranged below, fore and aft, and keep the other beams in their places. The deck-frames are an arch, and a platform erected on it protects it from the sun, and from other injuries otherwise inevitable. The seams are caulked either with old fis.h.i.+ng-net or bamboo shavings, and then paid with a cement called chinam, consisting of oyster-sh.e.l.ls burnt to lime, with a mixture of fine bamboo shavings, pounded together with a vegetable oil extracted from a ground nut. When dried it becomes excessively hard; it never starts, and the seams thus secured are perfectly safe and water-tight.

All the work about her is of the roughest kind. The trees when found of a suitable size are cut down, stripped of their bark, and sawn into convenient lengths; the sides are not squared, but left just as they grew. No artificial means are resorted to for any bends; a tree or branch of a tree is found with the requisite natural curvature. There is not in the building, rigging, or fitting-up of a Chinese junk one single thing which is similar to what we see on board a European vessel. Everything is different; the mode of construction; the absence of keel, bowsprit, and shrouds; the materials employed; the mast, the sails, the yard, the rudder, the compa.s.s, the anchor--all are dissimilar.

The vessel in which I now found myself, the _King-s.h.i.+ng_, was of about seven hundred tons. She was built entirely of teak, and her skipper, or Ty Kong, as he is called, alleged that she was more than a hundred years old, and said that one of her crew who had recently died, had served in her for fifty years. Her extreme length was one hundred and sixty feet; breadth of beam, twenty-five feet and a half; depth of hold, twelve feet; height of p.o.o.p from the water, thirty-eight feet; height of bow, thirty feet. Her most attractive portion was the saloon, or state cabin, the beauty of whose furniture and decorations formed a curious contrast to the rude and rough workmans.h.i.+p of the cabin itself. Its carved and gilded entrance was protected by a sort of skylight, the sides of which were formed of the prepared oyster-sh.e.l.ls so commonly used in China instead of gla.s.s, the latter being too expensive for general purposes. The enclosure was thirty feet long, twenty-five broad, and eleven in height. From the beams overhead were suspended numbers of the different kinds of lanterns used in China. They were of every imaginable form, size, and variety of material. The sides and deck-roof were of a yellow ground, and covered with paintings of flowers, leaves, fruit, insects, birds, monkeys, dogs, and cats; some of those latter animals were what in heraldic language would be called _queue-fourchee_. The place was filled with a vast a.s.sortment of curious and beautiful articles, gathered together during the long existence of the vessel. To give a list of them would require pages; brought to Europe they would have made the reputations of a dozen museums.

At the end of the saloon was the Joss-house, or idol-house, containing the idol Chin-Tee, having eighteen arms, with her attendants, Tung-Sam and Tung-See. The richly-gilt idol was made of one solid piece of camphor-wood, and had a red scarf thrown round it. An altar-table, also of camphor-wood, and painted red, stood in front of the Joss-house, with an incense burner placed upon it. The red ground of the table had gilt carvings of flowers and insects, and the imperial dragons with the ball of flame between them. On each side of the front was a square place painted green, with words in Chinese inviting wors.h.i.+ppers to bring gold and agate stones as offerings.

The sleeping berths of the crew were all _aft_, on a lower deck.

Close by these was the most astonis.h.i.+ng part of the vessel, the colossal rudder, not hung with pintles and gudgeons, the vessel having no stern-post, but suspended to two windla.s.ses by three large ropes made of cane and hemp; one round a windla.s.s on the next deck, and two round a windla.s.s on the upper deck of all, so that it could be raised or lowered according to the depth of water. When lowered to its full extent it drew about twenty-four feet, being twelve feet more than the draught of the vessel. It was steered on this berth-deck when fully lowered. It was also drawn close into the stern, into a kind of socket, by means of two immense bamboo ropes attached to the bottom of the rudder, pa.s.sing beneath the bottom of the vessel, and coming over the bow on the upper deck, and there hove in taut and fastened. When let down to its greatest depth it required occasionally the strength of fifteen men to move the large tiller.

On ascending to the next deck, one pa.s.sed under a covering made of oyster-sh.e.l.ls, similar to that over the entrance to the saloon; under this hung a flag which had been borne before the Emperor on one of the most solemn religious processions. On a piece of wood near one of the windla.s.ses was inscribed--”May the sea never wash over this junk.”

Close by was the sailors' Joss-house, containing the deity of the sea with her two attendants, each with a red scarf. Near the princ.i.p.al G.o.ddess was a piece of the wood from the first timber of the junk that was laid; this was taken to one of their princ.i.p.al temples, there consecrated, and then brought on board, and placed as symbolic of the whole vessel's being under the protection of the deity. A small earthen pot, containing sacred earth and rice, stood in front, in which Joss-sticks and other incense was burnt. A lighted lamp, too, was here always kept burning; if it had gone out during a voyage it would have been considered an omen of bad luck. On the right and left, before coming to this Joss-house, were paintings. One panel represented the Mandarin Ducks; another, a Chinese lady at her toilette; a third, a globe of gold-fish. On this deck were cabins for pa.s.sengers and supercargoes, the doors painted with different devices.

Above was the lofty p.o.o.p-deck, with one of the rudder-windla.s.ses on it, and the mizzen-mast, fifty feet long, and placed on one side, in order to allow the tiller to work when in shallow water. The main-mast was ninety-five feet in length, and ten feet in circ.u.mference at the bottom. It was one spar of teak, and just as the tree grew with merely the bark taken off. It was not perfectly straight--a defect with us, but not so considered by the Chinese, who prefer a mast with a bend in it to one without, thinking it adds to the strength, and is conclusive evidence of the goodness of the spar. This mast was hooped round, in consequence of being cracked while undergoing the process of hardening. The mode adopted for this purpose by the Chinese is to bury the timber for a considerable time in marshy ground; thus treated, they say teak becomes hard as iron. The mast did not go within four feet of the bottom--the s.h.i.+p having no kelson--but, to use the technical term, was ”toggled” to two large pieces of wood which answered as partners. To these were added two other heavy pieces as chocks, which were intended to keep the huge spars in their places.

Neither stays nor shrouds were used. The main yards were made of teak quite rough; the upper one was seventy-five feet long, and the lower sixty.

The sails were made of closely-woven matting, a substance much lighter than canvas. It holds the wind better, and rarely splits, because it never shakes in the wind. So large and heavy was the mainsail of the _King-s.h.i.+ng_, that it required forty men with the aid of the capstan to raise it. Without the capstan eighty men would have been needed. It had eighteen reefs. The sails were reefed by being lowered, which precluded any necessity for going aloft.

The vane was in the shape of a fish, the body formed of rattan work, the head and gills of painted matting, with two projections like the antennae of a b.u.t.terfly. The tail was furnished with long streamers, and little flags were stuck in the body for additional ornament. There were also Chinese characters painted on the body signifying ”Good luck to the Junk.” Between the main-mast and fore-mast were two large rough windla.s.ses stretching across the deck, and used for getting up the anchor. By the entrance to the forecastle were two water-tanks, capable of holding one thousand five hundred gallons each. The fore-mast was seventy-five feet from the deck. It raked forward, and was supported by a large piece of wood on the after part, and secured similarly to the main-mast. The anchors were of wood, the flukes shod with iron, and attached to the shank by strong las.h.i.+ngs of bamboo. The stock was composed of three separate pieces of wood lashed together by rattan ropes, and was fixed to the crown. As the Chinese drag their anchors on board instead of catting and fis.h.i.+ng as other seamen do, this position of the stock offers no impediment. The flukes were of the same dimensions as those of similar sized anchors with us; they were straight and not rounded, and there were no palms. There was also a kedge, with only one fluke. The cables were of rattan. The junk had no bitts, but to supply their place the strong beams across the deck had large holes for stoppers. The ”wales” formed another singular feature of the vessel--airtight boxes, projecting three feet from the side; their object was to make the vessel more buoyant, to enable her to carry more cargo, and prevent her rolling, but this last, in my opinion, was chiefly prevented by the size and position of the rudder.

The cook-house was placed differently from the galleys of European vessels, being aft of the main-mast. The lower part was built of brick, with two square holes in front for the fires. Troughs of water were placed in front of these holes, so that any ignited fuel that might drop out would be at once extinguished. Wood was the fuel used.

For cooking they used iron pans surrounded by red tiles. One was covered by a kind of half cask; this was used for boiling the rice, the cover being to preserve the steam after the water was boiled away, which causes the rice to be beautifully done and not soddened, as is often the case in our cooking. It also prevents it from being thrown out when the vessel rolls. The quant.i.ty of rice for each man was about three pounds daily. All was.h.i.+ng of dishes, etc., was performed on a stage outside the galley so that it might be kept perfectly clean. The proper allowance for each mess was delivered in front. Close to the cook-house was a water-tank of wood, painted in imitation of bricks, and capable of holding three thousand gallons.

Such was the _King-s.h.i.+ng_ junk, and such are most of the craft of the Celestials. They would appear to be gradually coming round to Western ideas in the matter of s.h.i.+ps, and in fact have done so entirely for war purposes, but the fas.h.i.+ons of their ancestors are still good enough for most of them, and the junk is to be seen everywhere. Not a mere thing of yesterday is the junk. Vessels essentially similar to the one I have described were navigating the Chinese seas and rivers when the fleets of Rome and Carthage were contesting the supremacy of the Mediterranean, and long before. Rome and Carthage, and many another mighty maritime power, have risen and pa.s.sed away utterly, like bubbles, or dreams, but the Chinaman and his everlasting junk are still here.

The vessel belonged to some mandarins at Shanghai, who used it for trading to Cochin-China. It had recently, however, been despatched with a cargo to Cheefoo, had been blown away north by a gale, and forced to run into the harbour at Port Arthur to escape the j.a.panese.

There it had lain until the place fell. The crew numbered fifty-four, all told.

After floating off the sand-bank, and getting an offing, we were within the Gulf of Pechili, and determined to make for one or other of its ports, but on the first day we encountered a very heavy nor'-wester, which blew us far out of the Gulf. When, after lasting a day and a night, the gale abated, we were well down the Yellow Sea, and the skipper, or Ty Kong, whose name was Sam-Sing, determined to hold on for the port where the junk's owners dwelt. I had no objection to make to this, nor had the mandarin, who possessed friends and relatives in the south. The soldiers on board, however, were very discontented and mutinous, and as they considerably outnumbered the crew I began to fear trouble. They were all from northern provinces and had no desire to go south. Their language was scarcely intelligible even to their nominal countrymen. The immense diversity of dialects in China is, in fact, a great hindrance to progress by preventing the unification of the people. After some excited discussion they were prevailed upon to acquiesce by the solemn promise of the mandarin to make arrangements with the authorities for their return to their own parts, or failing that to send them back at his own expense; besides, the representation that to turn north again would most likely end in capture by the j.a.panese vessels, through whose present cruising-ground the gale had luckily blown us, had great weight.

I was vastly amused, during my voyage in the _King-s.h.i.+ng_, by the superst.i.tions of her crew. Their devotion to their idols was indeed truly edifying. A religious man, according to his lights, was Sam-Sing, and rigidly punctual in the daily observance of incense-burning, gong-banging, and other rites supposed to be propitiatory of the deity. He was also, however, greatly addicted to opium-smoking, and when under the influence of the drug, of which, as an old stager, he could consume great quant.i.ties without being stupefied, the idea of the occult power of the G.o.ddess, never absent from his mind, was turned completely upside down. When free from the fumes of opium n.o.body could have been more respectful to the Josses, but when intoxicated, and with the weather threatening, he openly poured upon them abuse, reviling, and suspicion. He usually started a pipe of opium about noon, and the change in his demeanour came round gradually during the afternoon. In the morning he was sober and pious, in the evening intoxicated and blasphemous, particularly, as I have said, when the weather was bad. ”As for that infernal Chin-Tee,” he would say in effect, shaking his fist in the direction of the idol, ”it's all her fault we're in this mess. What's the use of her--lazy harridan! Much she cares what becomes of us”--and so on till overpowered by excess. When by the next morning he had slept off his debauch, and came round to recollection of his enormities, his penitence knew no bounds; he would prostrate himself in the Joss-house, and in the most abject terms implore forgiveness for his intemperate language over-night. Then he would generally abstain for two or three days, but at the first sign of bad weather, he took to his pipe, and Chin-Tee came in for another blast of abuse. The rest of the crew were always horrified by the shocking impiety of the Ty Kong, and on more than one occasion I really feared that they were about to proceed to Jonahize him. They were by no means all opium-smokers; some of them smoked tobacco, of a vile quality, in metal pipes, with an under-hanging curved portion containing water, through which the smoke pa.s.sed. The opium-pipe is a quite different thing. It is a reed of about an inch in diameter, and the aperture in the bowl for the admission of the opium is not larger than a pin's head. The drug is prepared by boiling and evaporation to the consistence of treacle.

Very few whiffs can be taken from a single pipe, but one is enough to have an effect on a beginner, as I have already described in my own case, but an old hand, like the Ty Kong, can smoke for hours.

The incense burned before the idols consisted mostly of pieces of aromatic wood, called Joss-sticks, silvered paper, and tin-foil. One of their most revered objects was the mariner's compa.s.s, and before it they would place tea, sweet cake, and pork, in order to keep it faithful and true! It is well known that the Chinese were acquainted with the phenomenon of the magnetized needle centuries before it was known in Europe, and their compa.s.s differs materially from ours; instead of consisting of a movable card attached to the needle, theirs is simply a needle of little more than an inch in length balanced in a glazed hole in the centre of a solid wooden dish, finely varnished. It has only twenty-four points, and with its use they combine some of their most ancient astrological ideas. The broad circ.u.mference of the dish is marked off into concentric circles, inscribed with mystical figures. We say the needle points to the north; they hold that the attraction is to the south, and therefore colour that end of the needle red, a hue that appears to have a mysterious efficacy in their eyes. I have already told how the Josses were wrapped in red scarves, and bits of red cloth were tied on the rudder, cable, mast, and other princ.i.p.al parts of the vessel, as safeguards against danger. There was also a large painted eye on either side of the bow, to enable the junk to see her way! At first I could not understand the meaning of this, and told Chung to ask the Ty Kong for an explanation. ”Have eye,”

translated Chung, ”can see; no have eye, no can see.” On occasions of special religious demonstration these optics were decorated with strips of red cloth. On one occasion when a steamer suspiciously like a j.a.panese cruiser hove in sight, they tied red rags to their antique guns, or gin-galls, and with this consecration on their defensive arrangements, seemed to feel perfectly secure. I suppose the English-trained crews of their navy must have been persuaded out of these amazing notions, and taught the European compa.s.s, but the ideas of Sam-Sing and his merry men were as old as their vessel.

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