"What made her fall overboard, Captain?" asked the lady—meaning Mrs. Belgrave this time, and not the siamang.



"The fore topgallant halliard was not made fast to the cleat, and when it ran out, it jerked her from it," replied the commander. "It ought not to have been loose, and there is a bit of discipline for some jack-tar."

The ship went along as before; and when the passengers turned out the next morning Manila was in sight, and not five miles distant.



CHAPTER XXIX

GOING ON SHORE IN MANILA

The ship had slowed down in the afternoon, and reached the entrance of Manila Bay about eight bells, or four o'clock in the morning. At the Boca Grande she had taken a pilot; but she still had twenty-five miles to run. She had come in by the larger of the two passages, formed by a group of islands, both of which are called "mouths" (bocas); and the smaller of them is the Boca Chica. The Blanche had followed the example of the Guardian-Mother in slowing down, and had taken a pilot at about the same time.

The passengers had asked the steward on watch in the cabin to call them at half-past five, and they were all on deck as soon as it was light enough for them to see the shore clearly. But the bay is so large that they could make out the shores only ahead of the ship. They could see the mountains in the distance, with a lower stretch of land between them and the low ground of the shore. All that they could observe was tropical verdure, with lofty palms on every hand. The low ground, covered with water in the rainy season, was planted with rice-fields.

The ladies declared that the view was lovely; and certainly it presented variety enough, with the high lands in the background, and the rich and luxuriant growth near the bay. The pilot was a Spaniard who could speak a little English; and the commander ordered him to bring the ship to anchor at a safe place, as near as convenient off the end of the two piers at the mouth of Pasig. The Blanche took a position abreast of her, off the fort, while the first was off the lighthouse.

The health-officer came on board, and by this time it was after sunrise. He was blandly received by the commander, as every official or visitor was, and the conversation was carried on in English. All the ship's company and the passengers were mustered on the upper deck. The papers, including lists of all the persons on board, were examined, and compared with the number presented, which made it clear that no one was sick in his stateroom or in the forecastle.

The custom-house officers were not far behind, and the character of the steamer was explained. There was no manifest, for there was no cargo to be invoiced. The principal officer was very minute in his inquiry, and not particularly courteous. He was evidently impressed by his authority; and the captain did not invite him to breakfast, as he would have done if he had been somewhat less conscious of the magnitude of his office.

The duties on merchandise brought into the islands were formerly discriminating in favor of Spanish vessels, which caused other merchantmen to avoid the port to its commercial injury; but about twenty years before a uniform tariff was established, without regard to the flag under which the ship sailed, and all export duties were abolished. The official went over the ship, and the arrangement of her accommodations ought to have been enough to convince the man that the vessel was a pleasure yacht. The self-sufficient officer retreated in good order when he had completed his examination, leaving a subordinate on board to see that no merchandise was landed. The latter was a gentlemanly person, spoke English, and was disposed to make himself agreeable. He was invited to breakfast in the cabin.

The passengers had seated themselves on the promenade during the official examination, observing all the proceedings, and watching the boats in sight, some of which were different from anything they had seen before. They were near enough to the piers to see some distance up the river. Of course the Blanche was subjected to the same examination; but a different set of officials had boarded her, and completed their work in a much shorter time. It could be seen that her crew were putting the steam-launch into the water.

"The Blanchita will be exceedingly serviceable here," said the commander, who had taken a stand near the steps of the promenade. "We can go on shore, and land anywhere we please; for there are quays all along the river."

"Boat coming down the river with the American flag at the stern, Captain Ringgold," said Mr. Scott, saluting the commander.

"Our consul probably," added the captain. "Would you like to go to a hotel in Manila, ladies?" asked he.

No one answered the question, but three of them glanced at Mrs. Belgrave, as though they expected her to reply; but she made no sign.

"You don't answer, ladies," added the captain.

"We are waiting for Mrs. Belgrave to speak," said Mrs. Woolridge.

"I beg you will excuse me," said that lady, laughing. "I do not know why I am expected to voice the sentiments of the party."

"Because, like the wife of the President of the United States at home, you are the first lady on board," returned the wife of the magnate of the Fifth Avenue. "Your son is the owner of the Guardian-Mother, and you are the mother for whom the ship is named."

"I most respectfully decline to be so regarded; and if I have ever put on any airs, I will repent and reform," replied Mrs. Belgrave, laughing all the while.

"You have never put on airs, or assumed anything at all," protested Mrs. Woolridge.

"I consider my son a very good boy, and an earnest advocate of fair play with others," continued the "first lady" more seriously; and all the party heartily approved the remark. "Louis found that the other members of the 'Big Four' were disposed to rely upon him, and wished to do as he desired. On the Borneo question he took a secret ballot, and would not express his own opinion till the vote was declared, though he voted himself. Every one voted for himself, and could not have been influenced by his desire. I propose to follow my son's example. I wish the commander to be guided by the views of all rather than mine."

All the passengers, gentlemen included, applauded her unselfish stand. The lady tore off a blank leaf from a letter she took from her pocket, and made it into twelve pieces, which she proceeded to distribute among the passengers.

"I think the gentlemen are just as much interested in the question as the ladies; and I invite them to vote, Mr. Scott included. The question is, Shall we go to a hotel in Manila, or live on board of the ship," said the lady. "You will vote yes or no; yes for the hotel, and no for the ship."

"Perhaps I ought to inform you before you vote that there are at least three hotels in Manila,—the Catalana, the Universo, and the Madrid. Of the merits of each I cannot speak; but we can obtain correct information before we go to any one of them, and probably there are more than I have mentioned," interposed the commander, very much amused at the proceedings.

"Please to separate now; and I put you on your honor to be secret, and not consult any person in regard to your vote," Mrs. Belgrave added. "I appoint Mr. Gaskette to collect, sort, and count the ballots. After voting, please return to the promenade."

The passengers went individually to various corners, and wrote their votes. The second officer collected them in his cap, and then went into the pilot-house to make out his return. It required but three minutes to do this, as there was no scattering votes; and he returned to the promenade.

"Whole number of votes, 12; necessary to a choice, 7; Yes, 2, No, 10, and the No's have carried it," read Mr. Gaskette, handing the paper to Mrs. Belgrave, and retiring with a graceful bow.

"Yes means hotel, and no means ship," said the lady. "Mr. Commander, the party have voted to live on board of the ship. I am willing to acknowledge that I cast one of the two yes ballots. But I am infinitely better satisfied than I should have been if I had influenced you the other way. I hope you all consider that the thing has been fairly done."

"Boat coming alongside, sir," reported Mr. Scott to the captain. "Another boat near, flying the English flag, headed for the Blanche."

Captain Ringgold hastened to the gangway to receive the occupant of the boat, whoever he might prove to be. One of the men on the platform brought him a card, on which he found the name of the American consul, who mounted at once to the deck just as the gong sounded for breakfast.

"I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Webb, and to welcome you to my ship, which is the steam-yacht Guardian-Mother, on a voyage around the world," said the captain, as he grasped the hand of the official. "Captain Ringgold, at your service."

"I am very happy to meet you, Captain, for I have heard of you; and I tender my services for any assistance I may be able to render to you and your party," replied the consul.

"Now I will introduce you to the ladies and gentlemen on board, and you will do us the honor to breakfast with us," added the commander, as he took the arm of his guest, and conducted him to the promenade, where he was duly presented to all the passengers individually.

Louis Belgrave was presented as the owner of the steamer, for the captain never omitted to give him a prominent position. The breakfast was the usual one; but it was always very nice, and Mr. Sage had hailed a boat, and obtained some very fine fish for the meal. Mr. Webb was placed on the right of the commander, Louis's usual place; but he was glad enough always to get the seat next to Miss Blanche. The consul was next to Mrs. Belgrave; and he found her very agreeable, as she never failed to be.

"Now, what are we going to do here, Mr. Commander?" asked the "first lady," as some had actually begun to call her already.

"We are going to see the city, of course," he replied.

"I feel for one as though we had already seen it, and I can see it all in my mind's eye now," added the lady. "You and the professor have given us such a minute account of the place and its surroundings that it seems to me that I have taken it all in."

"I think most of us have," said Mrs. Woolridge; and several of the company expressed themselves to the same effect.

"We have several books in the library about the city and the islands, and some of us have read them all," suggested Louis.

"What books have you on board, Mr. Belgrave?" asked the consul.

"We have 'Twenty Years in the Philippines' by Monsieur de la Gironiere, which some say was written by Alexandre Dumas, but I don't know about that; 'Travels in the Philippines,' by F. Jagor, with an epitome of the work in Harper's Magazine; and we have Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Lippincott's Gazetteer of the present year, and some other works."

"You seem to be well provided with information, and with the best extant, unless you consult the archives of Spain at Madrid," returned the consul.

"The Blanchita is coming alongside, Captain," said Mr. Scott, to whom a message to this effect had been sent down by the officer of the deck.

The breakfast was nearly finished when the word came; and the party soon went on deck, where they found all the passengers of the Blanche and the British consul. The usual hugging and kissing on the part of the ladies and handshaking by the gentlemen followed, and the two consuls were duly presented to all.

"It is time for us to go on shore," said General Noury, looking at his watch. "The Blanchita is at the gangway, and I have engaged a pilot for her. Of course you are all invited to go on shore in her."

The two consuls volunteered to act as guides; and the company took their places in the launch, which was large enough to accommodate double the number. The pilot took her into the river; and if the ears of the tourists had been filled full of Manila, there was plenty for the eyes to take in, and it was not five minutes after they passed the lighthouse before most of the passengers were laughing at some of the queer costumes worn by the people.

They passed a craft which Mr. Webb called a passage-boat. It was a sort of canoe, manned by three men, two of them rowing, and one working a paddle to steer her. Over the after part was an awning, made of the big leaves of the nipa palm; and under it were two men and two women, bound up the river. But a freight-boat interested the young men most. The hull of it looked more like a canal-boat than any other craft they could think of. The planking of the sides extended a little higher up forward and aft than amidships; and the whole was covered with an arched roof woven on hoops, like those of a baggage-wagon, with palm leaves. The portion at the bow and stern could be removed, as the whole could. The man at the helm was under the stern section of the cover, and it was lifted about a foot to enable him to look ahead.

A wide plank was secured on iron brackets fastened to each side of the craft, on which were two men poling the boat up the stream. It was so far like the mud-scows formerly in use on some of the waters of New England, except that the men who worked her with poles walked on the gunwale of the scow. The boys watched it till it passed out of view astern. The Blanchita made a landing near the bridge, on the Binondo side; and all the passengers went on shore.



CHAPTER XXX.

EXCURSIONS ON SHORE AND UP THE PASIG

The Pasig flowed from east to west in the city; and landing on the north side of the stream, the tourists soon came to the Escolto, which extended both ways parallel to the river. It was the principal street for shoppers and promenaders, and was exactly what they wished to find, as they had informed Mr. Webb and Mr. Gollan, the two consuls who had brought them there.

The avenue was filled at this hour with a motley variety of people of all the races known in the islands, from the Tagal Indian up to the native-born of Spain. Some of them were disposed to laugh at the strangeness, not to say the absurdity, of some of the costumes which confronted them; but all of them were too well bred to indulge their mirth, or to stare offensively at the subjects of their suppressed merriment. One young man excited their attention especially; and Louis at the side of Miss Blanche, and the rest of the quartet of young Americans, were also interested.

"He is one of the swells of the city," said Scott, looking industriously at the clear blue sky.

"He looks like it," replied Louis, as he and his female companion each gazed with one eye into a shop window while they fixed the other upon the native, who was sporting a cane in fantastic twirls, and evidently believing he was worth looking at.

The subject of their mirth, variously concealed, was what would be called a colored man at home, though not a negro; but he was not many removes in complexion from the original Negrito. He was toying with a cigar, and wore a monocle and a "stovepipe" hat. His trousers were a sort of plaid; and his upper works were covered with what looked like a blouse, though it was really his shirt, with a linen bosom, secured with studs. At the base of his figure was a pair of patent-leather shoes, though he did not affect the luxury of stockings.

The party observed his magnificent movements till he was out of sight; but their attention was immediately attracted by a feminine water-carrier, who was standing on the opposite side of the street. On her head was a good-sized earthen jar, which she poised on the summit of her cranium without support from either hand, one of which she employed in coquetting with a banana leaf instead of the national abanico, or fan, of the Spanish ladies.

"That girl has a very fine form," said Dr. Hawkes, who was standing near the boys. "She is not a Spanish maiden, but her complexion is quite as fair as any of them."

"She has an abundant crop of dark hair, and she puts it to a good use; for it is braided and rolled up so that it makes a cushion for the water-jar," said Scott.

"She is much taller than the natives we have been in the habit of seeing," added Louis.

By this time the entire party had halted, and, taking their cue from the surgeon, were looking at the water-bearer. The girl had been observing the strangers before any of them saw her; but as soon as she realized that she was the object of their scrutiny, she smiled, and her pretty face lighted up as though she did not object to being stared at. Her under garment, with long sleeves, was all the covering she wore above the belt; and below it her skirt of uneven length reached just below the knees. She wore neither shoes nor stockings, and her feet looked as though they had been "Trilbied."

"I suppose that man over there is carrying that rooster to market," said Mrs. Belgrave, who was walking between the commander and Mr. Webb.

"Not at all, madam; that is a game-bird. The national amusements of Spain are bull-fighting and cock-fighting," returned Mr. Webb. "I was in Madrid one Sunday, and the programme for the day was a cock-fight at one, a bull-fight at three, and the Italian opera at six; and I went to all of them."

"On Sunday?" queried the lady.

"I was there to see the sights, and learn the customs of the people; and a bull-fight could be seen only on Sunday, and the cock-fight was patronized on that day by the high admiral of the navy. In Madrid, as in other cities of Continental Europe, Sunday is not regarded as it is in England and the United States; and their failure to observe it as we do is not an evidence that they are irreligious. The next day was All Saints' or All Souls' Day, I forget which; and every shop was closed. The noise and confusion of Sunday and all ordinary days were silenced. The churches were all open and well filled, and the people went to the cemeteries to deposit flowers on the graves of their dead. In Stockholm, which is a Protestant city, people went to church in the forenoon; but at one o'clock the band struck up, and the rest of the day was given up to frolicking."

"I prefer to live in Von Blonk Park," added Mrs. Belgrave, with a smile.

"But cock-fighting is vastly more prevalent here than in Spain, or any other country I have visited. Wealthy people have their games, and all the poor people also," continued the consul. "About every man who can raise money enough to buy one owns a game-cock, and many take them with them when they go out.

"Observe that man and woman approaching us; they are Spanish metis. Both of them wear rather gay colors. On the other side of the street is a pair of Chinese metis; and one couple is not much different from the other, except, if you are an expert, you can see something of the high cheek-bones of the Chinese. Both of the men wear stovepipe hats, which seems to be the fashion among that class. Some of them are quite wealthy."

"Do all these different grades fraternize, Mr. Webb?" asked the commander.

"In business they do, but not socially. The pure Spaniards look down upon all the native and half-caste people; and in turn all the other classes do considerable looking down upon some other grades, till you get to the Tagals, who are so unfortunate as to have no other class to look down upon."

The tourists walked along this Broadway of the city till they were tired, and then turned into a side street to observe some of the dwelling-houses. The first thing that they noticed was that most of the houses were covered on the roof with red tiles, as in Spain and in other countries. They all had very small windows, with sliding sashes; and the panes, of oyster-shells instead of glass, were smaller in proportion than the windows. Most of them had a balcony of some sort, which was an out-door sitting-room, used during leisure hours by the people.

The consuls then conducted the party to a stand for carriages, and enough of them were engaged to accommodate all. They were taken for two hours, with the proviso that the passengers were to be set down at the landing by the bridge.



"You must pay in advance," said Mr. Webb. "That is the custom here. The drivers were cheated so often in some former time, that it became 'no pay, no ride.' I bargained at five pesetas an hour for each vehicle."

The captain, Mrs. Belgrave, and Mr. Webb occupied the first carriage; and the consul directed the driver where to go.

"Five pesetas," said the lady when they were seated. "How much is that?"

"About one dollar. A peseta is the legal unit of the currency, and is of the same value as the French franc and the Italian lira, or nineteen cents, three mills of our money, as estimated by the director of the United States Mint. The real is a quarter of a peseta, but the escudo of ten reales has been suppressed. The Spanish dollar, the same as ours, though not on a gold standard, is the usual medium of trade here."

The tourists were driven to the cathedral, the palaces of the governor and the archbishop, and to several of the public squares; but they found little occasion to describe them in their note-books, though they were all worth looking at. They were taken through some of the streets occupied by the poorer classes and to the great cigar factories. Then they went a little way into one of these, where thousands of women of all the lower grades of the city were employed, so that they obtained a good idea of the establishment.

They were taken to the landing-place as agreed, and embarked immediately in the Blanchita for the ship, where all were to lunch, feeling that they had seen all of the city that they wished to visit. The consuls went with them, but all were tired enough to rest during the hour given them for the luncheon. At the expiration of the hour, the commander remorselessly drove them on board of the steam-yacht for an excursion up the Pasig to Lago de Bahia, which is Spanish for Lake of the Bay.

Some of the party were tired; but the captain declared that they could rest in the little steamer, and remain seated all the afternoon if they chose. A skilful pilot for the river and lake had been obtained by Mr. Gollan, who devoted himself especially to the pacha and the princess, for they were the passengers of the English steamer, though he was very kind and polite to all the company. Above the bridge the passengers began to open their eyes, for they had explored the river below this point.

The captain and Mrs. Belgrave (of course), with Miss Blanche, Mr. Webb, and the "Big Four," were all in what had been called the fore cabin in the Borneo cruises. It was as handsomely and comfortably fitted up as the after cabin, with an awning overhead, and curtains at the side, which were regulated by the relative positions of the boat to the sun. Two of the English sailors, dressed in their white uniforms, were on board to adjust these curtains, and do any other work required of them.

"There's a dead man on a raft!" exclaimed Mrs. Belgrave, pointing ahead.

"The man is not so dead as he might be," replied the consul, laughing. "But the raft is something worth looking at for you. The affair is simply a native going to market with his cocoanuts. Ask the engineer to whistle sharply," he added to one of the sailors; and it was done.

Suddenly the man on the raft sprang to his feet, and looked around him. The launch was stopped to enable the party to see his craft.

"You can see that his boat is a lot of cocoanuts, a hundred or more, strung together with lines. The raft easily floats the man, with the current, down to the city, where he sells his fruit, and then walks back, or rows in a passage-boat for his fare," Mr. Webb explained forward, and Mr. Gollan aft.

Presently they came to a little village where half a dozen dark-colored girls, with their long hair dragging in the water, were swimming in a small bay at the side of the stream like so many nymphs. It was an aquatic frolic, and the Naiads were enjoying themselves to their hearts' content. By the riverside was a house on stilts, with an open door, from which the tourists saw two girls dive into the stream, and swim away as though the water were their natural element. They cut up all sorts of capers, to the great amusement of the party; and then two of them swam to the launch, and held out their hands. They received a couple of pesetas each from the captain and the pacha. Then all the rest of them followed their example, and were rewarded in like manner.

The Blanchita resumed her course up the river at her usual speed; and the voyagers found enough to interest them, and enough in the explanations of the consuls to instruct them. The boat rushed by the barges and passage-boats as though they were at anchor. The villages and the houses reminded them of those they had seen on the Menam in the vicinity of Bangkok.

"Do you notice the horned cattle?" asked Mr. Webb. "They call them buffaloes here."

"They are what we should call broad-horns at home," replied the captain. "I never saw any such wide-spreading and long horns as I see here."

"I am told that you have a quartet of Nimrods in your company; and I am sure they would find plenty of sport in the country beyond the lake, where the wild buffalo is to be found in herds as on our Western prairies formerly. But they are a dangerous beast to hunt; for they will fight like tigers, and not a few hunters have been killed by them."

"We should like to try them; and with rifles good for nine shots, I think we could take care of ourselves," replied Louis.

They found plenty of buffaloes on the shores of the river, but they were as tame as doves. At one place on the bank they saw a naked boy of ten fooling with one of them, jumping over him, and being dragged by his tail. It was but a short trip to the lake for the Blanchita, and the party sailed all around it. They were all delighted with the excursion; and the launch was hurried down the river, and reached the Blanche, where they were to dine at seven o'clock.



CHAPTER XXXI

HALF A LECTURE ON CHINESE SUBJECTS

The dinner on board of the Blanche was fully up to the standard of the epicureans on board of both steamers; for the cooks of both had been busy all day, and the consuls declared that it was fully equal to the best of which they had partaken in London or Paris. As it was to be the last time the tourists were to meet these excellent and accomplished officials, the occasion was a very jolly affair. Speeches were made by both of them, in which they were lavish in praise of both the dinner and the elegant accommodations of both the steamers.

Captain Ringgold replied, returning the most hearty thanks to both of the official gentlemen for their kindness in acting as the guides of the travellers, and for the interesting and valuable information they had given them. Both of them had declared that the company ought to remain in Manila at least a week; but the commander pleaded the long voyage still before the ships, and repeated what he had so often said before, that, in such a long cruise as they were taking, it was quite impossible to do anything more than obtain a specimen of each country or island they visited.

When they left the table the consuls took leave individually of each of the passengers, and were sent on shore in the barge of the Blanche, for the steam-launch had already been taken upon the deck of the ship. During the day both steamers had taken in a supply of coal, and the chief stewards had procured stores of provisions, ice, and especially fruit. As the party were taking leave of the two agreeable gentlemen, they heard the hissing of steam on the Blanche, which they did not quite understand, as the commander or Captain Sharp "had made no sign." The Guardian-Mother's people were taken on board, after another leave-taking, and conveyed to their ship in their own boats.

"What is going on, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, when she heard the hissing steam on board of the Guardian-Mother.

"Going on to Hong-Kong," replied the commander.

"To-night?"

"To-night."

"But we have been here only one day," suggested the "first lady."

"The anchor is hove short; but if you think of anything more that you wish to see in Manila or its vicinity, I will remain," added the captain.

"I don't know that there is anything more to be seen. I seemed to know the city before I had seen it."

"Very well, then we will go to sea to-night."

By ten o'clock the ships were under way; and in a couple of hours more they were in the China Sea, headed north-west-by-north, for Hong-Kong. The sea was as smooth as glass, for the east monsoon seemed to be interrupted under the lee of the islands. The passengers retired at an early hour, and there was no excuse for not going to sleep at once.

In the morning the ship was a long way out of sight of land. Breakfast had been ordered for an hour later than usual, in order to let the party sleep off the fatigue of the day before. But some of them were on deck at sunrise, and saw the beautiful phenomenon of that orb coming out of the eastern sea. There was not an island or anything else in sight but the broad expanse of water. The air was delightful; and it was not hot in the early morning, and under the awnings it would not be during the day. A gentle sea gave the ship a little motion, but it was a quiet time.

Breakfast was served at the appointed hour; and at this time Mr. Gaskette was busy with his assistants, arranging the frame for a new map, considerably larger than any used before, at the head of Conference Hall. He had been at work upon it for several days, and he intended that it should surpass anything he had done before. The orang-outang, the monkey, and the pheasant had been removed to the library, where there was plenty of room for them.

China was a great country, and the professor thought it would require a long talk to dispose of it; and the conference was called for ten o'clock, and so announced at breakfast time. When the passengers went on deck, the first thing that attracted their attention was the new map; and considering that it was made on board of the ship, it was a beautiful piece of work, for the second officer was an artist. At the appointed hour they were all in their seats.

This map, though correct at the time it was made, did not, of course, include the changes which resulted from the war between Japan and China, and which have not even yet been incorporated in modern history. The pacha had been invited to give the lecture on China; but he declared that it was too difficult a subject for him to undertake, and he begged to be excused, and Professor Giroud had willingly undertaken it. It had required all his time on the voyage from Saigon, and all his spare time at Manila, to prepare himself for the difficult task. With the three siamangs in their usual places, he mounted the platform.

A signal from the Blanche caused him to resume his seat, and the screw was stopped. The barge from the consort dropped into the water; and the general, his wife, the rajah, Mrs. Sharp, and Dr. Henderson came on board, and chairs were provided for them. Miss Blanche gave up the baby to Mrs. Noury, who was very fond of the little creature. The professor then took his place again on the rostrum, with the pointer in his hand.

"Mr. Commander, ladies and gentlemen," he began. "Before I say a word, I desire to acknowledge my very great obligations to Mr. Gaskette for the elegant map he has prepared and placed before us. You observe that it extends from the Amur River,—which is spelled in older books Amoor; but the latest fashion is to make it Amur, as Hindu and similar words have been changed from oo to u, for both have the same sound in most European and Oriental names,—from the Amur River to Tonquin, about thirty degrees of latitude, with the nineteen provinces of China, with Korea, properly spelled with initial K, with the islands of Formosa and Hainan. It has given the artist a great deal of labor, and he has done his work in a manner to call for your highest commendation."

The audience vigorously applauded this statement; and the siamangs added their "Ra! Ra! Ra!" with a volley of squeaks. Mr. Gaskette bowed his acknowledgments; and the professor handed him the pointer, which looked like a new arrangement.

"The artist is as well or better acquainted with the map than I am, and I have invited him to assist on the platform. Manchuria, and I adopt the most modern spelling of the name," continued the professor, as the artist pointed to the province.

"I thought the subject for to-day was China," interposed Mrs. Belgrave.

"So it is, madam; but the modern history of China begins with Manchuria. On the west of it is Mongolia, which any of the old-fashioned gentlemen may call Chinese Tartary if they prefer, though that designation is not in use now. Manchuria is a province of China; though the latter was a province of the former three hundred and fifty years ago, for then it conquered China, whose present emperor is the descendant of the conquering Manchu monarch. Manchuria has an area of 280,000, and a population of 21,000,000; but not more than one million of the people are Manchus, who wear the costume and speak the language of the Chinese. The rest of the people are emigrants from China or other countries, and are as industrious and prosperous as any other in the vast empire.

"The Manchus are the aristocracy of the country; and ever since they gave China its ruler, their country has been the principal territory for recruiting the Celestial armies; and there are said to be 80,000 of their soldiers in service. And they also furnish China with its magistrates and police. But I will leave their country to take its place with the other provinces of the empire. China is believed by its own chronologists to have been in existence 2637 years before the Christian era, and perhaps from a date still farther back; but these dates are doubtful.

"The people of China do not know their country by the name so familiar to us, or they know it only so far as they have learned it from merchants and travellers. In the matter of names they all seem barbarous to us; I do not attempt to pronounce them; and I don't think you will succeed in doing so any better than I have. I may add that I have never been in China; and what I tell you I did not pick up myself, but must derive it from others who have travelled and lived in the country.

"I have obtained nearly all my information from the very learned and valuable article of Dr. Legge, in Chambers's. He is familiar with the language of the Chinese, has travelled and lived in the country, and is fully acquainted with the manners and customs of the people. In the oldest literature of the empire, it is called Hwa Hsia, the first word meaning 'flowery,' and the second is the proper name of the country. Chung Kwo is the Middle Kingdom, which came into being in the feudal period, in the midst of the several states and tribes; and if you wish to know more of China, there is an American edition of Dr. Williams in four volumes, which will tell you all about it. But the name did not mean the middle of the earth, as sometimes claimed, nor is it the foundation of the derisive term applied to China, 'The Central Flowery Nation.'

"Other names have been given to China, though seldom seen or heard; but Cathay, perhaps coming from the Russian name Kitai, is not at all uncommon, especially in poetry. The name we use comes to us from India, when two Buddhist missionaries, who came from 'the land of Chin,' called it China and Chintan.

"As stated before, the native Chinese line of rulers, the Ming dynasty, conquered China in 1644, and placed the first of the Tsing monarchs on the throne. I will not tangle up your intellects by following out the individuals of the succession any farther than to say that the present emperor, or Hwangti, of China is Tsait'ien, who was proclaimed as such in January, 1875. The ruler may name his successor, for the descent is not hereditary to his eldest son; and if he fails to do so, the default is made good by his family. He is the ninth emperor of the Manchu or Tartar dynasty.

"As I said, China has nineteen provinces, including the island of Formosa, all of which are represented on the map before you. The divisions of the country are immensely populous; though the average of the whole to the square mile is less than that of Belgium by nearly one-half, several of whose provinces are more densely peopled than any in China. It is also less than the State of Rhode Island, and but a little above that of Massachusetts,—the two States the most densely inhabited in our own country.

"Many say that the population of China has been exaggerated; and it is variously given at from 282,000,000 to 413,000,000, a very great difference, and you suit yourselves with the figures if you can. Dr. Legge thinks that 400,000,000 is not an over-estimate. The area of the eighteen provinces is 1,336,841 square miles, to which about 15,000 may be added for Formosa; but the area of the whole Chinese empire is 4,218,401, while that of the United States, including Alaska, is 3,501,409.

"If you look at the map, you will see that there are numerous chains of mountains in the countries lying west of China, especially in Tibet, while China proper has but few of them. The land generally slopes from the several ranges to the sea, but I will not perplex you with the names of them. The rivers, of course, flow from the mountains, and you can see that they have space for a long course. They are generally called ho in the north, and chiang or kiang in the south. The Ho, Hoang-ho, or Yellow River, and the Chiang, known to us as the Yang-tsze-Chiang, must be over three thousand miles long. I will not follow them from source to mouth. Canton, or Choo-Chiang River, which means Pearl River, is also a very large stream. All these waterways, you notice on the map, have a general course from west to east. All of them are navigable, though the Hoang-ho is less so than the Yang-tsze-Chiang, the 'most beloved' of the Chinese; for its counterpart in the north is a turbid stream, so tricky that it changed its course in 1853 so that its mouth is now about two hundred and fifty miles north of where it was before that date."

Mr. Gaskette pointed out the former course, which he had indicated by double dotted lines, and that of the present course to the Gulf of Pe-chi-li.

"Chinese history begins twenty-four hundred years before our era, when the first human kings of Egypt were on the throne, with the narrative of a tremendous inundation, which some have identified as that of the Flood in the Old Testament. But the floods did not cease with that event, for several others have followed. As late as 1887, only half a dozen years ago, the treacherous Hoang-ho broke loose, and poured its waters into the populous province of Honan, tearing everything to pieces and destroying millions of lives. There have been so many of these floods that they have given the great river the name of 'China's Sorrow.' But the Manchu rulers are repairing damages, and providing against such disasters in the future.

"I have to speak next about the Grand Canal and the Great Wall; but I will defer it for half an hour for a recess, for I think you must be tired of the dry details I have been giving you," said the professor, as he stepped down from the rostrum.

The company then promenaded the deck for the time indicated.



CHAPTER XXXII

THE CONTINUATION OF THE LECTURE

A walk of half an hour had freshened up the minds and bodies of the passengers, and they took their places on the promenade for the continuation of the lecture. The professor had been to his stateroom, and returned with additional notes.

"Dr. Legge quotes Marco Polo, the greatest traveller of the Middle Ages, who visited China in the thirteenth century," the speaker began, taking a paper from the table, and reading as follows in regard to the Grand Canal: "'Kublai caused a water communication to be made in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply.' Kublai was the first sovereign of one of the old dynasties.

"The canal extended from Peking, the capital, in the north, to the south of the empire, a distance of six hundred miles; and it was in use all the way in former times. The Chinese were not distinguished as navigators; but in modern times steamers ply between Canton and the ports of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, so that the canal is less necessary, and much of it is in bad condition.

"The Great Wall is better known to all the world than the Grand Canal as a peculiarly Chinese wonder, and every school boy and girl has heard of it. It was built as a defence against the raids of the northern tribes, though for this purpose it was a failure; but it still stands, though some of the English newspapers only a few years ago treated it as a myth; yet there is no doubt whatever of its existence, for it has been visited by many reliable English and American travellers. It was begun two hundred and fourteen years before the Christian era.

"Our artist has indicated the wall on the map;" and Mr. Gaskette pointed it out on the west shore of the Gulf of Liau-tung, properly a part of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and traced it some distance to the west. "Its length, following its numerous twists and bends, through valleys and over mountains, is fifteen hundred miles. It is twenty-five feet wide at the base, and fifteen at the top. It is formed by two walls of brick, different from those we use, weighing from forty to sixty pounds; and the space between them is filled with earth and stones. It varies in height from fifteen to thirty feet.

"The top of the wall is paved with brick, but is now overgrown with grass. Along the wall, and not on it, are towers of brick at intervals. You observe that at Peking the wall makes a sweep to the north, perhaps thirty miles or more, enclosing a square of land of this extent outside of the general course of the structure. I met an American gentleman who had been to the capital of China, and he told me he had been to the Great Wall. Dr. Legge may take the conceit out of some travellers when he says: 'What foreigners go to visit from Peking is merely a loop-wall of later formation, enclosing portions of Chih-li and Shan-hsi.'

"Leaving the Grand Canal and the Great Wall, we will pass on to the lakes of China. They are not on a large scale, like the rivers; and they are insignificant compared with those of our own country. The Tung-ting Hu appears to be the largest, mostly in the province of Hunan, which is sixty-five or seventy miles long. The others are Po-yang Hu, in Chiang-hsi, and the Tai Hu, which is noted for its romantic scenery and numerous islets.

"The temperature of the various provinces is on the average lower than any other country in the same latitude. There is every variety of climate in the vast territory of China. The natives consider the three southern provinces, including the island of Hainan, less healthy than the other portions of the country; but foreigners find no difficulty in residing in them. In a region taking in over twenty degrees of latitude, the productions vary from those of the tropics to those in the latitude of central New York, from bananas and pineapples in the south to wheat and Indian corn in the north.

"About all the common grains are raised in the north, and rice is the staple product of the south. All sorts of vegetables and herbs, ginger, and various condiments, are produced and largely used; though I believe the people are not so hot, gastronomically, in their taste as we found them in Batavia and some other places in the islands. They raise the cane and make sugar in Formosa and the southern provinces. All the fruits of our own country, including Florida and Louisiana, are grown in different parts of China. Opium, which formerly came into the country only from India, is now produced even in Manchuria.

"The Chinese are pre-eminently agriculturists, and farming is their occupation above anything else. In the spring the emperor turns over a few furrows in a sacred field, introducing the work of the season; and the chief official in every province does the same, keeping the importance of farming pursuits always before the people. The tools they use are very primitive; the hoe being the principal hand-tool, and the plough of ancient use for animal power. There is an extensive application of irrigation, which is found to be so necessary in some of our extreme Western States. In the north wells are used; and various simple machinery is employed to raise water when the canal or river is below the level of the field where it is needed, which you may have an opportunity to see.

"No kind of fertilizer is wasted, and some are used which are often neglected in other countries. A great deal of fun and sarcasm is applied to the food of the Chinese, but most of us rather approved the dishes set before us by our host of the Flowery Nation in Singapore. In some articles used for culinary purposes, Parisians go beyond the Chinese, as in the use of horse-beef. I have been in a provision store in Paris where nothing else was sold; and every part of the animal was economized, including the liver, kidneys, and tongue, and sausages of this meat were on view and for sale to epicures in this flesh. But I believe the Chinese do not eat the horse, unless it be in a season of famine; and they had to eat cats in Paris during the siege of 1870.

"When you go into the markets you may see whole dogs dressed for food, or cut up into pieces ready for cooking. These are not common yellow dogs, such as you saw in the capital of the Turkish empire; but they are the peculiar Chinese breed, sleek and hairless, which are carefully fatted, and prepared for market. I have no doubt that your stomachs revolt at the very idea of eating dog; but I cannot see that it is any worse than eating pork and fowls, which feed more or less on animal food. However, I do not hanker after dog-meat.

"The Buddhist religion prevails to a great extent here, which diminishes the quantity of beef used, though not so much as the kindly feeling towards the creature that is so useful in tilling the soil. Pork is the most common in use for meat, and the number of pigs raised is enormous. Geese and ducks are abundant, artificially hatched as in ancient Egypt, and to a considerable extent in America, and are largely used for food.

"The sea, rivers, and lakes supply fish in all needed quantities. They are taken in nets, and also by a novel method of fishing with which you cannot be familiar. A boat goes out with a number of cormorants trained for the purpose, which are fishers by nature. The birds dive and bring up the fish, which they deposit in the hand-nets of the boatman.

"Dr. Legge says the Chinese are not gross feeders, as generally represented, except the very poor, and that a Chinese dinner of twenty-seven courses 'may hold its own with the most luxurious tables.' He adds that the famous bird's-nest soup is a misnomer; but he admits that nests from the Indian Archipelago are sliced into other soups, in his opinion without improving the flavor.

"For a drink, tea has superseded every other beverage, and is taken without sugar or milk. It was not used at all in ancient times, but its use is universal at the present time. The plant is not grown in the north. Black tea comes from the central provinces, and green from two eastern mainly. Next to silk, if not equal to it, tea is the principal article of export. The doctor says that tea-drinking promotes the temperance of the people more than any other influence. Alcoholic liquors are distilled from rice and millet.

"From the twelfth century B.C. the literature of the nation abounds in temperance lectures, warning the people against the injury of strong drinks; but tea has done vastly more to prevent their use than anything else. As a people at home the Chinese make little use of liquors, though that is not always the case with those who live in New York. They do not sit down to tea as we do, but keep it at hand at all times, and treat their visitors with it. Tea is written in the vernacular of the natives ch'a. When it was first imported into England it was called t'ay; but those who gave it the name were doubtless Irishmen, and they still stick to it.

"There is no doubt that silk was first produced in China; and silk, linen, and cotton form the clothing of the people. A ceremony like that with the plough is performed by the emperor over the silkworms and mulberry-trees, whose leaves are the food of the worm. From before the twenty-third century B.C., the care of the silkworm, and the spinning and weaving of the thread from the cocoon, has been the particular labor of the women. The mulberry-tree grows everywhere in the country, and silk is manufactured in greater or less quantities in every province.

"The cotton-plant has been propagated in China; and the cloth is largely used there, though not equal in finish to the imported article, but is heavier and more lasting in wear. Nankeen comes from Nanking. There are no fireplaces in the houses; and the people keep warm, if they can, by increasing their clothing. Woollen goods are not manufactured to any great extent.

"I will not describe the pagodas, pavilions, bridges, and palaces; for you will see them for yourselves. The streets of the cities in the south and some in the north are no better than mere lanes; and the crowds of people hustling through them fill them about full, and make you think the place is vastly more populous than it really is. As a set-off to this idea, you will wonder what has become of the women, for you rarely meet any of them.

"The streets are paved with stone slabs, badly drained, and abounding in bad odors, and you are not likely to enjoy your walks through them; but they have magnificent names, which you will not read at the corners, such as the street of Benevolence, Righteousness, etc. When you go into the house of a tolerably well-to-do family, you will find the quantity of furniture rather scanty, and not luxurious. The floor may be covered with matting, but you will find no carpets or rugs. A table and some straight-backed chairs are the principal pieces. On the walls you may find Chinese pictures, which will not challenge your admiration, though they may be artistic in China. Some jars and specimens of fine porcelain may adorn the room, with writings on the walls expressing moral sentiments. There may be a couch, or more of them, of bamboo and rattan.

"The bamboo is quite as important a production in China as we have found it in India and the islands; and it is used for all the purposes here, and more in addition than have been mentioned to you before. The bastinado of the magistrate and the schoolmaster's instrument of torture are both bamboos.

"Our Nimrods would not find much sport here; for the country is too densely populated to afford hiding-places for wild animals, though a bear or a tiger may sometimes appear, and is quickly killed. There are elephants, rhinoceroses, and tapirs in the forests of Yun-nan; and the emperor has tame elephants at Peking for state purposes. The brown and the black bear are found in certain localities, as well as varieties of deer.

"The domestic four-footed animals are small horses and small cattle, which have not been improved. The donkey is a livelier beast than in England or America. About the capital there are very fine mules, which are fashionable there as they are in some parts of Spain. Birds of prey are common, and magpies are sacred birds which the Nimrods must not shoot. The people are very fond of song-birds and flowers, which proves their good taste.

"There are vast quantities of minerals beneath the soil of the country, yet little had been done in mining; though, since the government has steamers of its own, they are doing more to develop the mines. The currency of the country is nowhere; for the only coin that is legally current is the copper cash, of which it takes ten to make our cent. Large payments are made in silver by weight, and the housekeeper has to keep a pair of scales handy to ascertain the value of the silver she receives or expends.

"But I know, my friends, that I have wearied you; and though I have something more to say about this very interesting country, I shall defer it till such time as the commander shall appoint."

The professor bowed and retired; but, as an offset to his last remark, the applause was more prolonged and vigorous than usual.



CHAPTER XXXIII

THE CONCLUSION OF THE LECTURE

At lunch the passengers talked about the lecture that was not yet finished; and all of them who said anything declared that they were very much pleased with it, and they hoped the remainder of it would be given in the afternoon. Of course all of them had read more or less about China; and while there was much that was new to them, they were glad to have their knowledge of the country revived.

"I have been in Hong-Kong, Canton, and Shang-hai, and I have heard no lecture on board that pleased me more than that to which we listened this forenoon; and I appoint this afternoon at three o'clock for the conclusion of it," said the commander.

At this hour all the company, including the passengers from the Blanche, were in their places; and the speaker mounted the rostrum, apparently as fresh as ever. He was received with as much and as earnest applause as had been given at the end of the second part of his lecture; and with this pleasant approval of his work, he continued his discourse.

"According to the accounts of all recent travellers, the roads of China are in a villanously bad condition, and there are no railroads worth mentioning," he began. "And yet the necessity of good common roads was apparent to the ruler, even before the building of the Great Wall, and twenty thousand of them have been constructed; but the Chinese, having finished a great work, do not meddle with it again. The roads have never been repaired thoroughly, and that accounts for their present condition. The rivers and canals furnish the principal means of communication, though the roads are still used.

"The dress of the poorer classes is very much the same for both sexes. It is regulated by sumptuary laws for all classes; but it is varied by the wealthy in the use of costly material, and the ornaments they add to it. You have all seen Chinamen enough in the streets of New York and other cities, and the dress they wear is about the same as that worn in their native land. The queue is the most notable thing about them. This was not the ancient custom of wearing the hair, but was introduced and enforced by the Manchu rulers over three hundred years ago, when it was considered a degrading edict; though now the Chinaman sticks to his queue with as much tenacity as he does to his very life.

"The small feet of the women, even of the highest class, is quite as notable as the queues. This species of deformity was not required by the Manchus, for they wore their feet as God gave them; and it is not an ancient custom, for it has prevailed only from the sixth century of our era. Nature's growth is checked by tightly bandaging the feet in early childhood, subjecting the victim to severe pain and discomfort. But you will see the women for yourselves, and can judge of the effect upon them. The very poor and those in menial conditions are not necessarily subjected to the torture, but fashion carries even many of this class into the custom. Small but natural feet are the pride of our young ladies, and some of them complain that when the feet were given out they got more than their share.

"The sexes are kept apart until marriage; and this has been a social feature from the earliest time. Girls and boys in the family did not occupy the same mat or eat together from the age of seven, and when the former were ten they ceased to appear outside of the women's apartments. Girls were taught manners therein, to handle the cocoons, to do all the work appertaining to the manufacture of silk and the details of Chinese housekeeping. This was in the feudal time; and the females were not instructed in book-learning, and are not now, though they pick up something of an education, and learned women are not unknown, even those who have written books.

"In regard to marriage, the parents have entire control, and professional match-makers are an institution. It is to a great extent a matter of horoscopes. Usually the bride and groom have not seen each other till the marriage ceremony, and of course they lose all that delightful period which precedes the event. But they appear to take to each other when brought together, and to be happy as man and wife. Though the man has one legal wife, there is no law or custom to prevent him from taking half a dozen more secondary wives.

"There are seven lawful grounds for divorcing a wife from her husband,—disobedience to her husband's parents; failure to give birth to a son; dissolute conduct; jealousy of her man, especially in regard to the other wives; talkativeness; thieving; and leprosy. I will leave the ladies to make their own comments. There are three considerations which may set aside these reasons for divorce,—that her parents are no longer living; that she has passed with her spouse through the years of mourning for his parents; and that he has become rich after being poor. The children are often affianced in childhood, and probably this fact furnishes many of the grounds for proceedings in the divorce court.

"Infanticide is not an uncommon crime in China, female children being almost always the victims. Probably its prevalence is somewhat exaggerated. It is among the poorest class that this atrocity prevails, the universal desire for male children, in connection with the ancestral worship of the people, being the root of the evil. Public opinion is against the practice, though not as decidedly as might be wished.

"The complexion of the Chinese is yellowish, as you have seen in our streets; and from the extreme north to the Island of Hainan, they all have long black hair, almond or oblique eyes, high cheek-bones, and round faces. They are greatly addicted to opium and gambling wherever you find them. Dr. Legge says that the longer one lives among them the better he likes them, and the better he thinks of them; but we are not likely to be able to test the correctness of this remark.

"The Chinese bury their dead in graves in the form of a horseshoe, and with an almost infinite variety of ceremonies and sacrifices. Where the friends are able to pay the expense, the last rites are ostentatious and very costly. You may chance to see something of them before you leave the country. When a very rich Chinaman travels, he takes his coffin with him.

"They have no day in the week corresponding to our Sunday, but they have an annual universal holiday at New Year's. It is a season of rejoicing and festivity all over the country. Stores are closed for several days, and the government offices are shut up for a month. The people 'dress up,' and the temples are visited, the gambling resorts are in full blast, and crackers and other fireworks make Fourth of July of the season.

"There is some sort of a festival every month, such as the 'Feast of Lanterns,' on the full moon, of the tombs, 'Dragon Boats,' and 'All Souls,' in honor of departed relatives, when the supposed hungry spirits from the other side of the Styx are fed at the cemeteries. The people are extravagantly fond of theatricals; and a kind of bamboo tent is erected for the performance, which is usually of inordinate length. Females, as in India, do not appear on the stage.

"It would be quite impossible for me to follow the consecutive history of China from 2637 B.C. down to the present time; it would be an infliction upon you, and I shall only mention some of the principal events. Our authority in these remarks numbers the Chinese army at three hundred and fifty thousand; the Year Book makes it double this number. Judged by a European standard, it does not amount to much outside of mere numbers; though in addition to it there is a sort of militia, camped in the several provinces, more in the nature of police than soldiers, of twice as many men as the imperial army.

"The first great war in China was the Tai-Ping rebellion, which the older of you can remember. It began in 1851, and was continued for nearly twenty years. Its leader was Hung, a poor student, who studied up a new religion, which was certainly an improvement upon those of the people, for it recognized the Great God, and Christ as the Elder Brother. A strict morality and the keeping of the Sabbath were required of its adherents, and idolatry and the use of opium were forbidden.

"Hung incited the rebellion; and its object was to overturn the ruling dynasty of the Manchus, and place himself on the throne. It was at first very successful in its progress, and it looked as though the imperial cause was doomed. In 1855 the rebels, for the want of sufficient re-enforcements in an attempt to capture Pekin, were compelled to retreat to Nanking, and then the decline of the insurrection began. A body of foreigners under an American by the name of Ward joined the imperialists, and rendered important service; but he was killed in battle in 1862. He was succeeded by one of the subordinates, who became General Burgevine; and he was quite as successful as General Ward had been. The new general fell out with the government, and retired. By the influence of British residents at Shang-hai, who had organized an effective army, General Charles George Gordon, of whom you heard in Egypt, was placed in command. He captured Nanking, and the rebellion was suppressed in 1865.

"You have been informed of the movements of the Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, and Spaniards to obtain territory in the East from 1497, when Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope. All of them established colonies; and in 1516 they began to send their ships to China, whose people did not receive them kindly. This was in the early days of the Manchu rulers, who claimed to be superior to all other monarchs on the face of the earth; they would not acknowledge the visitors as their equals, and regarded them as vassals.

"When the Chinese ruler learned of the conquests of those from the West he tried to prevent their approach to his dominions. But trade had been established; and the opium traffic had its birth, and the people were crazy to procure and smoke it. This was the cause of the wars between China and England and France, with the vassal question. In 1800 an edict of the emperor prohibited the importation of opium into his dominions.

"England before this had entered upon the task of making a treaty to settle the relations between the two countries; but no treaty was made, and the smuggling of opium continued for many years. In 1816 another embassy went to Pekin; but it was summarily and contemptuously dismissed because the ambassador refused to go through the ceremony of repeatedly prostrating himself before the emperor, and acknowledging his own sovereign as a vassal of the emperor.

"The trade went on after India passed to the government of England. China was still obstinate, insisted upon the vassalship of the Western nation, and was confident in her power to repress the opium trade. The merchants pressed vigorously for the enlargement of their trade with China, which did not seem to be aware of its weakness before a European power. A famous mandarin was appointed governor-general of the Kwang provinces to bring the barbarians to their senses. He proceeded in earnest, and England declared war against the country in 1840. The result was evident from the first, and the war ended with the peace of Nanking in 1842. The items were the ceding of Hong-Kong to the victor, the opening of five ports to the trade and residence of the British. Correspondence was established between the officials of the two nations; but not a word was said about opium, and the smuggling went on as before.

"In 1857, after some troubles in Canton in which the English were at fault, and the refusal of the governor-general to meet an agent of the British government, the latter declared war again, with France as an ally. Canton was captured the same year; and Yeh, the governor, was taken prisoner, and sent to Calcutta. There was little fighting in this war; and Canton being in possession of the allies, a joint commission, attended by representatives of the United States and Russia, proceeded to Pekin to make their demands upon the emperor. A treaty was made at Tien-tsin, confirming the former, and with many important articles. One provided for the appointment of ambassadors by each nation, another for the protection of Christian missionaries, and several others of less moment.

"It looked as though the Chinese emperor had been sufficiently humiliated; but the treaty 'slipped up,' for its last clause provided that the treaty should be ratified at Pekin within one year. The emperor could not abide the idea of permitting the ambassadors to enter the sacred capital, and he looked about him for the means of escaping the issue. The forts between the capital and the Gulf of Pe-chi-li had been rebuilt and were well armed. The Chinese officials urged the signing at Tien-tsin, and this was done by several of the embassy; but France and England insisted that it must be signed in Pekin, as provided in the instrument itself.

"They started for the sacred city with several men-of-war, but they found the mouth of the river closed to them by the forts. A severe engagement followed, in which the allies were beaten, the only battle gained by the Chinese. At the end of a year another expedition with twenty thousand men went with the ambassadors, the forts were all taken, and the officials went to Tien-tsin. The force marched on Pekin; and the emperor fled, leaving his brother Prince Kung to meet the embassy. The north-east gate of the city was surrendered, and the treaty was duly signed at Pekin.

"In 1861 the emperor died, having named his son, six years old, as his successor. A dozen years later he took possession of the throne, the regency expiring then. He died two years later, and a nephew of Prince Kung was appointed to the succession by the imperial family. He was a child of four years of age then, and reigned under a regency till 1887, when he took possession of the government at the age of sixteen.

"I should have said before that a change of the tariff in 1842 made the importation of opium legal in the empire. The country has in recent years employed foreign officers in its army and navy, and foreign mechanics in its workshops. China is represented at five of the principal nations of the world by ambassadors. It has built up a very respectable navy, mostly at the shipyards of Great Britain; and foreign officers have greatly improved the condition of the army.

"Telegraphic communication has been extensively established, and a railroad eighty-one miles long has been built. Educational institutions have been founded, and schools opened for the instruction of young men in several foreign languages. The increasing consumption of opium, which seems to have been placed in the way of the people by the action on the part of England, is a cause for great regret among the friends of China. I have said too much already, and I know you must be very tired. I thank you for bearing with me so long; and I will promise not to do so again, at least so far as China is concerned. China is at peace with all the world, and I leave her so."

The professor retired with even greater applause than in the forenoon. Since he spoke, China has been engaged in a great war with Japan; and possibly his account of the country will assist those who are yet to read the history of the conflict.



CHAPTER XXXIV

SIGHT-SEEING IN HONG-KONG AND CANTON

After the conclusion of the lecture in the afternoon, the passengers of the two ships had another frolic, as Captain Ringgold called it, and then dined in the cabin; after which those from the Blanche "went home," as the ladies termed it.

Towards the close of the following day, while the passengers of the Guardian-Mother were seated on the promenade, the lookout forward shouted, "Land, ho!" The announcement caused a sensation, as usual, though it was an old story. It was reported off the port bow; and the captain said it was Lema Island, a considerable distance from Hong-Kong.

"The Chinese name of Hong-Kong is Hiang-Kiang, which means 'sweet waters,'" said the commander. "It is a ridge of rocks, the highest point of which is over eighteen hundred feet above the water. It is ninety miles south by east of Canton. The island has an area of twenty-nine square miles, and is not more than half a mile from the main shore. It is a barren rock, and you will hardly see a speck of vegetation on the whole of it. In the south-west corner of the island is the city of Victoria, with a population of two hundred and twenty-one thousand; and it is one of the great centres of trade with Western nations. The principal import is opium, and the principal exports are tea and silk. We shall anchor soon in its splendid harbor."

An English pilot was taken; and at sunset the ship was at anchor, and the party had abundant occupation in observing the rugged shores, the shipping that filled the harbor, and especially the Chinese boats, in charge of boat-women generally. A few junks were in sight; and they had seen several of them among the islands which form an archipelago at the mouth of Canton River, extending some distance up the stream.

"There are a number of hotels here with English names," said the captain at dinner; "but I shall not trouble you to take a vote on the question of going to one of them, for we shall not remain here long, not more than one day. Our steamers can go up to Canton; but I think we had better go up in one of the regular steamers, not Chinese."

After breakfast the next morning, the first thing in order was to ascend the promontory for the view it would afford. But they could not walk up, it was so difficult and tiresome. Before they left the ship the American consul visited her, and proffered his assistance to the tourists; for he had read about the ships in the papers of some of the ports they had visited.

This gentleman was very kind and very polite, and while he was on board the party from the Blanche came to the ship in the steam-launch. He was introduced to everybody, and advised the travellers to take Chinese sampans for their visit to the shore, for the novelty of the thing. The water around the ship was covered with them, and a sufficient number of them were taken to accommodate the party. "The colonel," as the consul was generally called, talked "pidgin" English, which is practically a dialect in itself, to the boat-women.

The captain, Mrs. Belgrave, the colonel, and a few others went in the first sampan, and the lady was pleased with the women in charge of the craft; and several children were in a coop at the stern. The price of the craft was ten cents for half an hour. In a few minutes they were landed at the town; and then a crowd of coolies, as the laborers are called here, surrounded the party with sedans and rickshaws, and all were anxious for a job. The passengers waited till all the company had landed, and then took sedans or rickshaws for the Hong-Kong Hotel.

It required twenty of them to accommodate the party. The commander and the consul went into the hotel; and a lunch, or tiffin as it is called here as in India, was ordered for the tourists at one o'clock. Then the colonel instructed the coolies where to go, and the procession started for a round in the city. The buildings are constructed of granite, which is the material of the surrounding heights, the dwellings with verandas.

"How is the weather here, Colonel?" asked the captain, when they stopped to examine a locality.

"The average temperature is seventy-five; and that, of course, gives us some hot days in summer, which is a rainy season. Thunder-storms come often; and once in a while a typhoon breaks in upon us, sometimes doing an immense amount of damage," replied the consul. "But the climate is not unhealthy. If the town had been built around the corner of the island, it would have been cooler, though we could not have had this magnificent harbor."

The company had all descended when a stop was made; and most of them insisted upon walking along Queen's Road in order to have a better opportunity to look into the stores, and see the street traders, for most of the Chinese pursue their business in the open air. The stores were filled with the curious goods peculiar to the East, such as China crapes, porcelain vases, and other wares, and camphor-wood boxes, proof against moths. The shop people were well dressed and extremely polite. Several stores were visited, those indicated by the colonel.

One man, who appeared to be the "boss," sat at a desk with a little brush, or camel's-hair pencil, for the natives do not write with pens, and made a tea-chest character in a kind of book for every article sold. The salesmen were very skilful in handling the goods, and showing them in the most tempting manner. Mrs. Belgrave bought some things that she fancied; and then came up the question as to how to pay for them, for they had no Chinese money. The colonel helped them out by giving cards, like bank-checks, payable by the steward of the Hong merchants.

Continuing the walk, they came to a money-changer. The commander put down two English sovereigns, for which he received a bag full of the current coins, which were not the native cash, but the pieces made for Hong-Kong, as they are made for the island of Jamaica, where an English penny will not pass. The smallest was of the value of a cash, or one mill. A cent was about the size of our old copper one, and a ten-cent piece was a little larger than our dime. The value was given in Chinese as well as English for the benefit of the natives; and the cash piece had a square hole in the centre, for the natives keep them on strings or wires.

The captain gave about a half a dollar's worth of this money to each person, so that none need be bothered about paying for small articles. The boys invested a portion of their wealth for a quantity of Swatow oranges, about the size of heavy bullets. They could not understand the native seller, and permitted him to take his pay out of a handful of coins; but he took next to nothing, and they were confident they were not cheated, for he took the same coins from the hands of all.

Among the pedlers all sorts of vegetables were for sale, and the groper-fish, shark-fin soup, meats minced with herbs and onions, poultry cut up and sold in pieces, stewed goose, bird's-nest soup, rose-leaf soup with garlic—heaven with the other place, Scott called it—and scores of other eatables for native palates, and some of them would suit the taste of Americans.

Taking their places in the vehicles, the tourists were borne through the principal streets. There are only five or six thousand English in the city, and Hong-Kong is substantially Chinese. At about eleven, the coolies toted the sedans to the top of the peak, where an observatory is located, following a zigzag path. The approach of every vessel of any consequence is signalled from this elevation by flags. The ascent is difficult, it is so steep; and the bearers of the sedans had to stop and rest occasionally. The view is magnificent, and the consul pointed out the objects of interest.

It was easier to get down the steep than to get up, and the party reached the hotel at the appointed time. The lunch was ready, though it was hardly first-class. When the captain asked about the expense of living for Europeans in China, the colonel said that the price per day at the best hotels was from four to six dollars, and that one could not keep house for less than four thousand dollars a year. In summer the people live in bungalows on the peaks, where quite a town has grown up. The captain paid the bill in English gold. In the afternoon the company made an excursion by a regular steamer to Macao, on the other side of the river, forty miles distant. It has been a Portuguese settlement since 1557; but it had little interest for the tourists, and they returned by the same steamer, and went on board of the ship.

The colonel dined on board, and the captain announced his intention to go to Canton the following day. The next morning the tourists were on board of the steamer for that city. The colonel could not go with them; but he procured a couple of English guides to attend them, one of whom was Mr. Inch and the other Mr. Larch.

"Kwang-tung is the native name of the city to which we are going, and from this the English had made Canton," said Mr. Larch, as the boat left the shore; and he proceeded to name the islands in sight, and point out all objects of interest, as he did all the way up the river.

The city is on the north side of the Choo-Chiang, or Pearl River, ninety miles from Hong-Kong. They saw nothing of especial interest except a temple on the shore, and a fort with a three-story pagoda rising from the centre of it. On the arrival of the steamer off the city, she was surrounded by boats as at Hong-Kong. The captain of the boat recommended one he called Tommy, though it was a woman; and her craft was engaged, with as many more as were needed, indicated by her.

At the landing-place Mr. Seymour, the American consul, to whom the colonel had telegraphed, was waiting for them. He introduced himself, and was soon on the best of terms with all the tourists. He advised them to go to the International Hotel, and they went there. A score of sedans and rickshaws were at once engaged; and Tommy and the other women carried the valises and bags for them, each attended by the owner. They were to remain three days in Canton. Dinner was the first ceremony they performed after they went to the hotel, and the consul joined the party by invitation.

"Canton is a city with a population estimated at a million and a half, including the people that live in boats from one year's end to the other, and doubtless you noticed their aquatic dwellings as you came up the river," said the consul, who had been invited to tell the company something about the place. "It is surrounded by a wall nine miles in length, built of brick and sandstone, twenty-five to forty feet high, and twenty feet thick, and divided by a partition wall into two unequal parts. There are twelve outer gates, and also gates in the partition wall. The names of these are curious, as Great Peace Gate, Eternal Rest Gate, and others like them. There are more than six hundred streets, lanes you will call them; for they are not often more than eight feet wide, very crooked, and very dirty. This is the general idea of the city, and the details you will see for yourselves."



After breakfast the next morning the party was organized for sight-seeing, and the sedans they had used the day before were ready for them. The two guides insisted upon going on foot, the better to discharge their duties. They rode through some of the principal streets, looked into the shops, and observed the pedlers; but all was about the same as in Hong-Kong, except that the streets were wider in the latter. The same goods were for sale. They looked into a tea saloon; and the gentlemen entered an opium den, which nearly made some of them sick.

"This is called the Plain pagoda," said Mr. Inch, when they came to it. "It was built a thousand years ago, and is one hundred and sixty feet high."

They were taken to a couple of Joss-houses, or temples. A sort of tower attracted their attention; and they were told that the one before them, and hundreds of others, were occupied each by a watchman at night to call out the hours of the night, and give the alarm in case of fire. They halted before the nine-story pagoda, the most interesting structure they had seen, and the most peculiarly Chinese.

"It is one hundred and seventy feet high, and was built thirteen hundred years ago," Mr. Larch explained. "Brick, covered with marble or glazed tile, is the material used. Each story is smaller than the one below it, and each has a balcony around it."

"Now we come to the Temple of Honam, which is one of the largest in China," said Mr. Inch, as they halted before its gates, after the party got out of the sedans. "With its grounds it covers seven acres, and one hundred and seventy-five priests are employed in it."

"What is the religion of these people?" asked Mrs. Woolridge.

"The priests and nuns of Canton number more than two thousand, and nine-tenths of them are Buddhists. The Temple of Five Hundred Genii contains that number of statues, various in size, and was erected in honor of Buddha and his disciples."

At the usual hour the party went to lunch, and were tired, though they had done but little walking. The sedans were dismissed till the next morning; the afternoon was devoted to an excursion on the river, and Tommy had been directed to provide the boats. They moved through the wilderness of floating dwelling-places, and looked them over with wonder and surprise. Many of the sampans were made of three planks; and the people on board of them, mostly women, were exceedingly amusing.

Large junks, some of them from five hundred to sixteen hundred tons burden, were to be seen, and long, broad, flat Chinese men-of-war, with twenty to forty guns; but the latter are out of fashion now, and modern-built vessels take their places. They have two great painted eyes on the bow to enable them, as the Chinese say, to find their way over the sea. But the most beautiful sight was the flower-boats, having galleries decorated with flowers, and arranged in most fantastic designs. Each of these floating gardens contains one large apartment and a number of cabinets. The walls are hung with mirrors and graceful draperies of silk, and glass chandeliers and colored lanterns are suspended from the ceiling. Elegant little baskets of flowers are hung in various places. It seems very like fairy-land on these boats. They are stationary, and dinners are given on board to the Chinese who can afford them. They are also places of amusement by day and night, and plays, ballets, and conjuring take place at them; but no respectable females frequent them.

During the next two days the tourists continued to wander on foot and in sedans over the city with the guides. One day they went to the great examination hall, 1330 feet long by 583 wide, covering sixteen acres, and containing 8653 cells, in which students are placed so that there shall be no stealing others' work.

When a member of the party asked the meaning of certain tall buildings, he was told that they were pawnbrokers' offices; for the Chinese have a mania for pawning their clothes, or whatever they have, even if not in need of the money, to save the trouble of taking care of the articles. Before the third day of the stay in Canton was over, some of the party had seen enough, and preferred to remain at the hotel while others were out with the guides. The next day they returned to Hong-Kong, and were glad to be once more on board the ships, for sight-seeing is the most tiresome work in the world.



CHAPTER XXXV

SHANG-HAI AND THE YANG-TSZE-CHIANG

The passengers of the Guardian-Mother were on deck at an early hour the next morning, and the smoke was rising from the funnel as though it was the intention of the commander that she should sail soon; and some of them began to wonder if they were to see anything more of China than could be seen from the deck of the ship.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, have you seen all you wish of China?" said Captain Ringgold, as he seated himself at the head of the table at breakfast.

"We can put it to vote," suggested Mrs. Belgrave.

"I don't think it is necessary," replied the commander, laughing. "We shall sail this forenoon for Shang-hai, for I suppose that some of you who keep hens wish to see the home of the famous rooster that bears that name."

"I thought yesterday afternoon that I had seen enough of China to last me the rest of my lifetime; but I feel a little different this morning since I got rested," said Mrs. Woolridge.

"It is said that travellers enjoy their visits to foreign countries more after they get home, and think over what they have seen, than they do while going from place to place," added Mrs. Belgrave. "I think of a hundred things I saw in Canton, and did not understand, that I shall recall when I read about China, as I intend to do when I get home."

"That is just my idea!" exclaimed Mrs. Woolridge. "It will take me three years, at least, after I get home to read up what I have seen on this voyage."

Much more in the same general direction was said by others. When they went on deck they found the pilot who had brought the ship into port walking back and forth. He had brought off the China Mail, and three other newspapers in English, and a pile of others in Chinese to be kept as curiosities by the party. The captain had obtained his clearance and other papers the day before, as soon as he arrived from Canton, with the assistance of the colonel, who had come off with the pilot to make his adieux. In less than half an hour the ship was under way again, with the Blanche following her.

"How far is it to Shang-hai?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, as she met the captain in front of the pilot-house.

"It is eight hundred and seventy miles, and the voyage will require two days and fourteen hours," he replied. "I shall keep well to the eastward, and if you are up by six to-morrow morning you will see the island of Formosa. Then we shall be about on the Tropic of Cancer, when we shall pass out of the Torrid Zone—out of the tropics."

This information was circulated by the lady among all the passengers. Before noon the ship was out of sight of land, and the voyage was just about the same as it had been in smooth seas and pleasant weather. All the party were seated on the promenade at six o'clock the next morning.

"But there is land on both sides of us, Captain Ringgold," said Mrs. Belgrave. "Which is Formosa?"

"That on your right. We are going through the Formosa Channel; and the islands on the port side are the Pescadores, about twenty miles from Formosa."

After breakfast, when the ship had passed the smaller islands, and the passengers were seated on the promenade, the commander opened upon them with a talk about Formosa: "The name of the island in Chinese is Taiwan; and it is off the province of Fu-chien, and from ninety to two hundred and twenty miles from it. It has an area of 14,978 square miles, or about the size of the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut put together. It has a chain of mountains through it, the highest peak of which"—and the speaker looked at his memoranda—"is 12,847 feet high.

"The number of inhabitants is estimated at about 2,000,000, mostly immigrants from China, with the original natives. The island is exceedingly rich in its vegetation, and the plants are about the same as those of the main land. Rice paper is made of the pith of a tree found only in Formosa. In the south sugar and turmeric are the staples. The latter is a plant whose root is bright yellow, used in dyeing silk. Formosa tea has become well known at home as of excellent quality. Other productions are about the same as in southern China.

"There are plenty of birds there, but no wild animals of any consequence that are game for the Nimrods. A great deal more might be said about the island, but you have more now than you are likely to remember. You can see many junks now, and the trade with China is mostly carried on in them; and some of them are pirates in these seas, even to the south of Hainan, for a trading-junk turns into a pirate when her captain can make some money by it."

After lunch the Blanche's people came on board, and all hands had the usual frolic during the afternoon and evening. The next morning the captain told his passengers that they had passed out of the China Sea the day before, and that they were on the Tung-hai, or Eastern Sea, outside of which was the broad Pacific Ocean. On the third morning from Hong-Kong, when the company came on deck, they found the Guardian-Mother at anchor, but just getting under way with an English pilot on board, who had been taken late the evening before.

"Where are we now, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mr. Woolridge, when the party had seated themselves on the promenade to see what was to be seen.

"We are at the mouth of the great river Yang-tsze-Chiang; but we shall soon pass into a branch of it called the Woo-Sung, and find Shang-hai, for it is correctly written with a hyphen between the syllables," replied the commander. "But the tide is right; and we can go over the bar without any delay, the pilot says. It is about twelve miles up the river to the town; and, as you can see, the country is low and flat. The city has 250,000 inhabitants, and is the principal central port of China for foreign trade."

The channel of the river was crowded with junks, and there are sometimes as many as three thousand of them between the town and the sea; but they were careful to keep out of the track of steamers, even though they had the right of way. The two steamers picked their way through the native boats, and they were at anchor off the city in season for the late breakfast ordered.

"Shang-hai stands on low ground; and cholera, dysentery, and fevers prevail here in summer," said the commander when they were all seated at the table. "The English, French, and American quarters are in the suburb north of the native city, and they have broad and clean streets; but in the city proper, they are narrow and filthy, not unlike those of Canton. It is enclosed by a wall five miles in extent. What else there is here you can see for yourselves."

The captain decided, after the pacha came on board in his barge with the rest of his party, to lunch and dine at the Astor House, perhaps because the name sounded like home; but he found that the hotel "was a horse of another color." They went on shore in some of the native boats that crowded around the ship; and their first care was to secure six guides, all that offered their services on the quay. The next was to procure a supply of the money current in the city, which was accomplished with the aid of the principal guide, all of whom were English, who could speak Chinese and pidgin.

The company were then divided into six parties, who had suggested this plan when they found that this number of guides could be obtained. The "Big Four" went together, and the rest of the company were in parties of three. The conveyances were found to be small, low broughams, pony gigs, palanquins, jinrickishas, and wheelbarrows, the last such as the party had seen in Cholan. The boys decided to walk first, and try the vehicles later. They went into a shop where Louis saw something in a window he wanted, and the guide asked the price for him. The dealer refused to show the article, or to name a price, unless Louis would agree to buy if he did so.

They were not like the Hong-Kong salesmen; for there were several of them, and they were impolite enough to make fun of the tourists. Scott doubled his fists, and was inclined to pitch into the one who refused to show any goods till they were practically sold; but Louis begged him to desist. They next went into a tea saloon in the middle of a dirty pond of water, which would have just suited the taste of a Dutchman at home.

The tea was given to them in the cups, and they poured in hot water. The keeper swindled them in asking about five times the price, and the guide remonstrated; but the fellow was saucy, and the charge was paid to avoid trouble. The guide said the other fellow would have cheated them in the same ratio, if Louis had agreed, as he required, to buy. Then they looked into an opium joint, where the smokers were reclining on broad benches. The pipe was a tube with the bowl on the top. The drug is boiled till it is of the consistency of honey. Something like a knitting-needle is then taken by the smoker, the end of which is dipped in the jar; the needle is then turned till the opium becomes a ball as big as a pea. It is then held in a flame till it is partially lighted, when it is dropped into the bowl of a pipe. The amount used is counted in pipes, some being satiated with two or three of them, while the hard cases require twenty. In either case he goes to sleep, and has pleasant dreams. The habit is very deleterious to those who practise it, and death results from excessive use of the drug.

"There is a sedan with a Chinese magnate in it, with four bearers," said the guide; "but it is not so common here as in Hong-Kong and Canton."

The barrow excited the attention of the boys more than the other vehicles. At the door of the shop they saw a native reading a paper, wearing a pair of spectacles whose eyes were almost as big as saucers. After walking through the streets of Hong-Kong and Canton, the boys saw very little that was new to them.

"Is there a cemetery in the town?" asked Louis, after they had become somewhat tired, not to say disgusted, with the dirty streets, and the crowd in them.

"Nothing that you Americans would call by that name," replied the guide. "There are some small burial-grounds; but the Chinese generally bury their dead in private grounds, outside of the cities. They have a reverence for their dead which is not equalled by any people on the face of the earth. The graves of the rich and noted are very carefully selected, and are decorated with great care and taste. Some of the finest gardens in the country are those enclosed in a private burial-place.

"A rich Chinaman thinks more of his coffin than he does of his house. He often buys it years before he has occasion to use it, and keeps it, taking better care of it than he does of his female children. Wherever a Chinaman dies, he must be sent home to be buried; and many of them come here from America, taken up from the earth even a year or more after death."

At this point the party came to an open place where there were all the different vehicles used in the city waiting to be employed; and as it was nearly time for the lunch, they decided to ride to the hotel. Louis took a rickshaw, as it is called here; Scott and Morris preferred a wheelbarrow, and Felix took another, balanced by the guide. They were novel conveyances to the boys, and they enjoyed the ride very much. The rest of the parties returned to the hotel about the same time. There were Chinese dishes on the table; and those who had tried some of them before ordered them, especially the bird's-nest soups. The hams were very nice, and the captain hoped that Mr. Sage had procured some of them for the ship.

The afternoon was spent as the forenoon had been, but the party found little to interest them. The next day the tourists made an excursion up the Yang-tsze-Chiang, and enjoyed it very much. They saw a little of the farming operations, as a man ploughing with a buffalo, which looked more like a deer than a bovine; others carrying bundles of grain, one at each end of a pole on their shoulders; another threshing by beating a bunch of the stalks on a frame like a ladder or clothes-horse; but what pleased them most were the fishermen. One had a net several feet square, suspended at the end of a pole. It was sunk in the water, and then hauled up. Any fish that happened to be over it then was brought up with it; but Scott declared that this device was an old story, and they were used in the United States, though an iron hoop was the frame of the net.

They were more interested in the fishing with cormorants. A man with a dip-net in his hand stood on a bamboo raft, on which was a basket like those the snake-charmers use in India, to receive his fish. The birds were about the size of geese. They dived into the water, and brought up a fish every time. They have a ring or cord on their necks so that they cannot swallow their prizes, and they drop them into the dip-net.

They went up as far as Taiping, where they took a returning steamer, and that night slept on board the ships. On the following morning the steamers went down the river; and then the question where they were to go next came up, and the commander soon settled it by announcing that the ship was bound to Tien-tsin, on the way to Pekin.



CHAPTER XXXVI

THE WALLS AND TEMPLES OF PEKIN

The company had hardly expected that Captain Ringgold would go to the capital, for it was off the course to Japan, which was the next country to be visited; but their curiosity had been greatly excited, and he was disposed to gratify it.

"Pekin is not on navigable water, and we cannot go there in the ship," said he. "We go to Tien-tsin, which is the seaport of Pekin, about eighty miles distant from it. It is a treaty port, and is said to have a population of six hundred thousand; the number can doubtless be considerably discounted. The next thing is to get to Pekin; though we can go most of the way by boat to Tung-chow, thirteen miles from the capital. Some go all the way on horseback or by cart. We will decide that question when we get to Tien-tsin."