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CHINA.*

THE first of the works whose titles are appended, is in two thick volumes of six hundred pages each, and contains the result of the author's personal observations, together with frequent extracts from the best works hitherto written on China; making in the whole by far the fullest compendium of information respecting that great Empire of the East which our Western World has ever yet possessed. Mr. Williams went to China as Printer to the American Board of Foreign Missions, and resided twelve years at Canton and Macao, "in daily and familiar contact with the people, speaking their language and studying their books." He is evidently an able philologist, and a wellinformed, sensible observer. The work is one of the most interesting that has lately appeared, and we cannot do our readers a more acceptable service than to run it over and string together some of the novelties which it adds to the general stock of knowledge.

The narrative of Mr. Smith, who went out in 1844, as agent of the English Church Mission to the cities where there are British Consuls, is quoted by Mr. Williams, so that it does not require a separate notice. It is interesting, but the style is very diffuse.

Chung Kwoh, "the Mid-kingdom," is the most common name for their country among the Chinese. The name China is never used among them, and is supposed to have been taken by foreigners from Tsin or Chin, a famous arch, who flourished B. C. 770. author suggests that it may be the "land of Sinim," referred to in Isaiah xlix. 12. The natives have many other names for their country sometimes it is called Sz'

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Hai, i. e. [all within] the Four Seas. Tang Shan, or the Hills of Tang, also denotes the whole country. For the people, Li Min, or Black-Haired Race, is a common appellation; the expressions Hwa Yen, the Flowery Language, and Chung Hwa Kwoh, the Middle Flowery Kingdom, are also frequently used for the written language and the country-the sense of Hwa being that they are the most polished and civilized of all nations. The term "Celestials," which would be an extremely awkward phrase in their language, comes from Tie Chau, i. e. Heavenly Dynasty, one of the titles of the present dynasty of Tsing.

Our author gives a full account of the topography of the eighteen provinces, and the entire empire-its mountains and rivers, the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the public roads, and the appearances which the landscapes usually present to the eye. The general aspect of the country is as much modified by cultivation as that of England, but there are no fences or hedges. Temples and pagodas, which are used for inns and theatres as well as idols, sometimes occupy commanding situations. The acclivities of hills under terrace cultivation are often very beautiful. But distant views of cities are tame, from the absence of spires and towers to relieve the dead level of tiled roofs.

Along the sea-coast of southern China the tyfoons (from ta-func, i. e. a great wind) are much dreaded. The people have another name for them, which signifies iron whirlwind.

The names given to streets and halls are very curious. Thus the Emperor's Council at Peking is held in the Kien Tsing Tung, or Tranquil Palace of Heaven; the Empress resides in the Palace of the

The Middle Kingdom; a Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, etc., of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants By S. WELLS WILLIAMS, author of "Easy Lessons in Chinese," ""English and Chinese Vocabulary," &c. In two volumes. New York and London: Wiley and Putnam, 1848.

A Narrative of an Exploratory Visit to the Consular Cities of China, and to the Islands of Hong Kong and Chusan. By the Rev. GEORGE SMITH, M. A., of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and late Missionary in China. New-York: Harper and Brothers. 16

VOL. I. NO. III. NEW SERIES.

Earth's Repose; near by is the Hall of Intense Thought, where sacrifices are presented to Confucius and other sages, and also the Hall of the Literary Abyss, or Library. In reading these queer titles, one cannot help fancying, what if we had such buildings here, and who would be the fittest persons to occupy them? whether our transcendental cotemporaries should rather be made to officiate as high priests in a Hall of Intense Thought, or follow their readers into a Literary Abyss? To pursue such suggestions would however interfere with our present purpose, which is merely to give a diminished picture of an entertaining volume.

The celebrated porcelain manufactories are in the department of Jauchau in Faulang hien, and, it is stated, give employment to a million of workmen. They were established A. D. 1004. Near them is the vale of the White Deer, where Chu Hi, the great disciple of Confucius, lived and taught in the 12th century. It is a place of frequent pilgrimage for the Chinese literati, and its beauty and sublimity a constant theme of the poets.

The capital of the province Hupeh, Wuchang fu, on the river Yangtsz' Kiang, is said to be one of the largest assemblages of houses and vessels, inhabitants and sailors, in the world; London and Yedo can alone compete with it. Indeed, in the accounts of several other great cities whose names are alike strange and euphonious, one is constantly astonished at the immensity of the population. Any place in China under a half million would seem to be a mere village.

ton are almost all for foreign trade. The city contains 50,000 persons employed in weaving and embroidering cloth; there are also 7000 barbers, and 4200 shoemakers.

The contempt for the few foreigners residing there, renders their position very irksome and confined. None of them have ever adopted the native costume, the English clerks probably objecting to the shaven poll and indispensable pigtail. The foreign shipping lies at Whampoa, (pronounced Wompoo, i. e. Yellow Anchorage.) In the mountainous parts of Kwangtung, there are many tribes who resist every attempt on the part of the lowlanders, to penetrate into the fastnesses. They occasionally come down to Canton to trade, and the Cantonese firmly believe that they possess tails like monkeys.

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The last census of China, taken in 1812, makes the entire population of the eighteen provinces amount to 362,447,183. The means and intention of the government to estimate the number of the people accurately are not questioned; yet the result is so enormous that our author very sensibly considers the subject still open, until further statistics are obtained. averages of 850, 705 and 671 to the square mile, in the provinces of Kiangsu, Nganhwui, and Chehkiang, are too great to be credited without minute circumstantial evidence. No one can doubt, however, that the population is exceedingly great, and constitutes by far the largest assemblage of human beings using one speech, ever congregated under one monarch. The revenues of the empire are, as might The true name of Canton is Kwangtung be supposed, still more difficult to ascerSang Ching, i. e. the capital of the prov-tain than the population. The government ince of Kwangtung. The names of the city gates remind one of the Pilgrim's Progress: thus we have Great-Peace gate, Eternal-Rest gate, Five-Genii gate, Bamboo-Wicket gate, &c. Among the names of the six hundred streets, are Dragon street, Martial Dragon street, Pearl street, (what city was ever without one?) Golden Flower street, New Green Pea street, Physic street, Spectacle street, &c. These streets are very narrow, being never used for carriages, and for uncleanliness, are probably, if such a state of things can be imagined, much in advance of the dirtiest in New-York. The manufactories of Can

Red Book for 1840, places the total at 58,007,007 taels of $1,33 each, but this is probably only the surplussage sent from each province, for the support of the emperor and his court. The revenue from Canton alone, in 1842, is given in the Red Book at 43,750 taels, whereas it is well known that the collector of customs there was obliged to remit from 800,000 to 1,500,000 taels, and his gross receipts were not far from 3,000,000. The expenditures of the government almost always exceed the receipts, but in what way the deficit is made up does not appear. The salaries of the government officers are not high,

but their exactions are so great, that it is impossible to guess how much they actually receive.

The greatest part of the cultivated soil is employed in raising food for man. Woolen garments and leather are little used, and cotton and mulberry occupy but a small portion of the soil. Grass is never raised. Horses are very little used. The few cattle feed on the waste grounds, and butter, cheese and milk are hardly known. The principal food of the people is pork, ducks, geese, poultry and fish, of which the latter is a great item.

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Wood is scarce in China, and coal is the general fuel. All the common metals are abundant, but the processes used in manufacturing them are little known. A native dealer in iron at Canton, for example, can communicate no information as to how it is smelted or forged; it is enough for him that it sells. Lead is imported from the United States, and the lining of a tea chest may have made the voyage from Galena to Canton, and back to St. Louis. Chinese writers on natural history are almost as curious observers as ours were a few centuries ago. Of the bat, which they style "heavenly rat," "fairy rat," "flying rat," " night swallow," &c., they write, It is shaped like a mouse; its body is of an ashy black color; and it has thin fleshy wings, which join the forelegs and tail into one. It appears in the summer, but becomes torpid in the winter; on which account, as it eats nothing during that season, and because it has the habit of swallowing its breath, it attains a great age. It flies with its head downwards, because the brain is heavy," &c. Cats they call "household foxes." One item in the description of the dog is, that it "can go on three legs." The maltesecolored, hairless buffalo is their beast for farming, and hence the picture of a country lad astride one's back playing the flute, is a favorite pastoral image. The Chinese pig is the clumsiest little lump of fat imaginable. His disposition, however, so much resembles that of his western brethren, that the people do not attempt to drive him through their narrow streets. They place a loosely woven cylindrical basket before an opening in his pen, and pull his tail till he runs into it; then lifting it by a pole passed through the top, his

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legs fall through the meshes, and two men carry him off, squealing somewhat, we may suppose, but unable to do himself any personal injury. The contrivance is equally ingenious and humane. The camel is in use in western China; one species is used to carry light burdens and messages across the deserts of Gobi, and is called fung-kiohto, or wind-footed camel, on account of its swiftness. Singing thrushes are kept as pets by the Chinese gentlemen, parties of whom are not unfrequently seen with their cages seated on the grass, or rambling over the fields for grasshoppers. A favorite song bird is a species of the lark, which is called peh ling, i. e. “hundredspirit bird," from its activity and melody. Sparrows and crows are common about Canton. They have also the cuckoo, which is called kuku, as with us.

So many kinds of fish are brought to the market of Macao, that if one is able to eat all that the Chinese do, he may have a different species every day in the year. Gold fish were introduced into Europe from China about the end of the seventeenth century. "The effects of culture and domestication in changing the natural form of this fish are as great as is sometimes seen in animals: specimens are often seen without any dorsal fin, and the tail and other fins tufted and lobed to such a degree as to resemble artificial appendages or wings rather than natural organs. The eyes are developed till the globes project beyond the socket like goggles, presenting an extraordinary appearance. Some of them are so fantastic, indeed, that they would be regarded as lusus naturæ, were they not so common. Specimens two feet long have been noticed, but usually they are no longer in China than in Europe.' One species of fish has the faculty of darting a drop of water at insects on the bank, and so catching them. Oysters and all sorts of shell fish are abundant. The Chinese manufacture pearls by inserting small mother-of-pearl beads into the shell, which in a year are incrusted.

There is a species of spider so large and strong as to successfully attack small birds on the trees. On the hills eastward of Canton are found immense butterflies and night-moths. One of these insects (Bombyx atlas) measures nine inches across the

wings. Common crickets are caught and sold in the markets for gaming, the practice being to fight them in bowls. The Chinese naturalists describe the nests of bees, ants, &c., very accurately. "The composition of the characters for the bee, ant and musquito, respectively denote the awl insect, the righteous insect, and the lettered insect, referring thereby to the sting of the first, the orderly marching and subordination of the second, and the letter-like markings on the wings of the last. Musquitoes are plenty in all parts of China, and gauze curtains are considered by the people as a more necessary part of bed furniture than a mattress."

The bamboo is cultivated about villages for its pleasant shade and beauty, and a grove furnishes from year to year culms of all sizes. Its appearance is extremely rural, oriental and elegant. It is applied to so many uses that it may be called the Chinese national plant. The tender shoots are used for food. "The roots are carved into fantastic images of men, birds, monkeys, or monstrous perversions of animated nature; cut into lanthorn handles or canes, or turned into oval sticks for worshippers to divine whether the gods will hear or refuse their petitions. The tapering culms are used for all purposes that poles can be applied to in carrying, supporting, propelling and measuring, by the porter, the carpenter and the boatman; for the joists of houses and the ribs of sails; the shafts of spears and the wattles of hurdles; the tubes of aqueducts and the handles and ribs of umbrellas and fans.

"The leaves are sewed upon cords to make rain-cloaks, swept into heaps to form manure, and matted into thatches to cover houses. Cut into splints and slivers of various sizes, the wood is worked into baskets and trays of every form and fancy, twisted into cables, plaited into awnings, and woven into mats for scenery of the theatre, the roofs of houses and the casing of goods. The shavings even are picked into oakum, and mixed with those of rattan to be stuffed into mattresses. The bamboo furnishes the bed for sleeping, and the couch for reclining; the chopsticks for eating, the pipe for smoking, and the flute for entertaining; a curtain to hang before the door, and a broom to sweep around it; together with screens, stools, stands, and

sofas for various uses of convenience and luxury in the house. The mattress to lie upon, the chair to sit upon, the table to dine from, food to eat, and fuel to cook it with, are alike derived from it; the ferule to govern the scholar and the book he studies both originate here. The tapering barrels of the Sang, or organ, and the dreaded instrument of the lictor-one to make harmony and the other to strike awe; the skewer to pin the hair and the hat to screen the head; the paper to write on, the pencil handle to write with, and the cup to hold the pencils; the rule to measure lengths, the cup to guage quantities, and the bucket to draw water; the bellows to blow the fire and the bottle to retain the match; the bird-cage and crabnet, the fish-pole and sumpitan, the waterwheel and eave-duct, wheel-barrow and hand-cart, &c., are all furnished or completed by this magnificent grass, whose graceful beauty when growing is comparable to its varied usefulness when cut down."

The buckwheat is much used in China; it is called by a name which signifies "triangular wheat," a title perhaps quite as appropriate for it as ours. The Chinese consider the rest of the world dependent on them for tea and rhubarb, and foreigners forced to resort to them to relieve themselves of an otherwise irremediable costiveness. Commissioner Lin once actually made use of this as an argument for certain trade restrictions, supposing foreigners would be compelled to purchase of them at any price. Pea-nuts are extensively cultivated, but whether used as an accompaniment to dramatic performances we are left uninformed. Pawpaws are eaten after being cooked. Dried bottle-gourds are tied to children's backs on the boats, to hold them up when they tumble overboard.

The Camella Japonica is as much admired at home as abroad, though the outer barbarians have invented several new varieties. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remark that Chinese gardeners are also acquainted with the China aster. The tree pæony, with its large and variegated flowers, is much admired. But their great favorite is the jasmine, whose clusters of flowers are often wound in their hair by the women. In the north-eastern provinces,

one pound, because it was contrary to Aristotle.

The Chinese government, as is well known, is in theory purely patriarchal. The emperor is the sire, the nation his household. But it owes its stability not so much to its form as to the prevalence of the Confucian philosophy, which has for so many ages directed the minds of its peo

around Ningpo and in Chusan, the hills are covered with gorgeous azaleas. "Few," says Mr. Fortune, "can form any idea of the gorgeous beauty of these azalea-clad hills, where on every side the eye rests on masses of flowers of dazzling brightness and surpassing beauty. Nor is it the azalea alone which claims our admiration; clematises, wild roses, honey-suckles, and a hundred others mingle their flow-ple. This has led to a state of minute orers with them, and make us confess that China is indeed the "central flowery land."

The Chinese materia medica is full of valuable information. For example, there are in one work twenty-four sections on the history and uses of the horse. The first explains the character which stands for its name; the second goes into the varieties of the animal, and gives brief descriptions of them. "The pure white are best for medicine. The age is known by the teeth. The eye reflects the full image of a man. If his teeth be rubbed with dead silk-worms or black plums he will not eat, nor if the skin of a rat or wolf be hung in his manger. If a monkey be kept in his stable he will not fall sick." The third section goes on to speak of the flesh as an article of food. Our author recommends "almonds and a rush broth, if a person feel uncomfortable after a meal of horse flesh. It should be roasted and eaten with ginger and pork; and to eat the flesh of a black horse and not drink wine with it, will surely produce death," &c. "The heart of a white horse, or that of a hog, cow, or hen, when dried and rasped into spirit and so taken, cures forgetfulness; if the patient hears one thing he knows ten." "Above the knees the horse has night eyes (warts) which enable him to go in the night; they are useful in the tooth-ache." One naturalist rather smiles at another, who reported the metamorphosis of an oriole into a mole, and of rice into a carp: "It is a ridiculous story," says he; "there is proof only of the change of rats into quails, which is reported in the Almanac, and which I have also seen myself." Natural science would appear to have advanced in China about as far as physical had in Italy, when Galileo experimented before the philosophers of Pisa, and they refused to believe that a piece of lead, ten pounds in weight, would not fall ten times faster than one of

ders and degrees which pervade all ranks of society, and make each man at once his neighbor's supervisor and dependent. In such a condition no man dares oppose unless he has a majority of strength on his side, and thus all are disposed to quietness. Thus also a form of government which, under a progressive philosophy and aided by the Christian religion, might be warmed into genial life and combine perfect stability with the largest liberty, is under paganism a congealed democracy. The system of allowing all an equal chance to rise in the State, and promoting all in the exact ratio of desert,could not work badly under a true learning and a true religion. Even as it is, the fact of such an immense people going along for so many centuries with so little interruption, shows how much may be accomplished in the world by one true idea against the downward tendency of man's unenlightened, unchristianized nature.

Although the emperor is the father of this great family, he is bound to rule it according to the published laws of the land. This is the Ta Tsing LiuhLi, i. e. Statutes and Rescripts of the Great Pure Dynasty, and contains the laws of the empire arranged under seven heads, viz.: General, Civil, Fiscal, Ritual, Military and Criminal Laws, and those relating to the Public Works; and subdivided into 436 sections, with modern explanatory and limiting clauses. A new edition of these is published by authority every five years. review of a translation of them in the Edinburgh says, "We scarcely know a European code that is at once so copious and consistent, or is nearly so free from intricacy, bigotry and fiction." Its faults are that it is too minute upon social and relative virtues, that in a Christian State would be left to the admonitions of the pulpit.

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The present Emperor is the sixth of the Tsing or Pure Dynasty. He ascended the throne in 1821, and is now in his 67th

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