CHAPTER VII.

The dead Sister’s Plate and Chopsticks--Tremendous Feat--A Chinese Theatre--Poor Stuff--The Mail--Excitement--The Rush for Jondy--Do your Duty, come what may--One Piecey English Thief--Nigpoo Tom--Brawling Boatmen--Baby Boatmen--Buoys for Baby-boys--Pastimes--A Cruise for Health--Lucong--Picturesque Scenery--Forget-me-not--Hospitable Cottagers--Their Dinner--Libations of Samshu--Seamen’s Distraction--Lucong Farmers--Thrashing Machine--The Joss-house--A Surprise--More Hospitality--A Dinner in Public--Number One Piecey--A Party for the _Inflexible_--Help for _Laplace_--Ingenious Steering Contrivance--Towing a Cripple.

Another observance relative to the dead I also had the fortune to witness. I had eaten a dinner in a Chinaman’s house, and afterwards sat on one side and witnessed the proceedings of my host, whose chief fare was rice. While watching, I remarked a plate of food, with chopsticks, set apart from the rest by a vacant seat. I asked for an explanation, and was informed that their dead sister would come and eat her chow-chow by-and-by; but if, as it generally happens, the spirit didn’t come, perhaps having something better on its own table, the untouched food would be thrown reverently away.

In this same July we heard from Canton that the city is very unsettled, threatened with a night attack from the Braves: I fancied they would find out their mistake if they attempted it. With this weather in view for another three months, and the thermometer from 125° to 130°, one need be made of marble, or live in “marble halls,” for even when writing, or doing nothing, the perspiration pours from one copiously: so that even a slight exertion in a fervid climate is attended with discomfort. The song says, “A sailor was made for all weathers,” but I think he as little relishes melting as any one. I used in England to think 80° very hot; but I am quite submissive now at 100°.

About this time, being on shore, I went to a Chinese theatre. There were no scenes, and the acting, which was very indifferent, consisted of a series of contortions, accompanied by much volubility; the actors, who had painted their faces, and wore gaudy dresses and hats, represented very magnificent characters. In their comic pieces their gestures are very amusing, and sometimes they like to talk big; making use of such expressions as they fancy will suit the mood of the audience. For instance, an actor bounces on the stage with, “My brother, who is noble, has the name of Lintsienchesfou, and he sometimes resides in Tchingkiangfoo, that great trading city, where are the great and magnificent junks which struck terror into the barbarians.” Their singing is execrable; they haven’t the slightest regard for tune, but pour out one unbroken monotonous squall. Most of their instruments are stringed, but whether their players are skilful or not, who can tell? The audience behave pretty decently, but chatter incessantly. The men of our ship used to take great delight in these exhibitions, and they laughed as if they were never going to cease; whistling shrilly; clapping and applauding, declaring “if it wasn’t enough to make a cat laugh.”

With what great anxiety do we look forward out here to the arrival of the mail. Every one is asking when is it due? Is it come in yet? And it is amusing to watch the changes of countenance, as one lucky fellow who always has letters, is talking to a comrade who seldom gets one. The first is all animation, the other gloomy and desponding. The steamer that brings the mail from Hong-Kong has to perform quarantine at Woosung, at the mouth of the river, the land portion is brought up on horseback; and we could always see the postman go by at a headlong pace along the land, pitching the bags of letters down at the gates of the respective houses without any stopping. Then it was that heads were thrust out of ports with cries of “There go the runners; the mail’s in,” and the buzz of anticipation and excitement was heard along the decks. The naval mail travels by water in a fast-sailing junk, in charge of an officer of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, which is easily known by its carrying the Company’s flag--a small square, with one corner white, another yellow, the third blue, and the fourth red. A boat was then sent from the senior officer for the boxes of letters; soon they were aboard and in the captain’s cabin to be sorted. Then up went two or three little coloured rolls of bunting to the mast-head, where they broke and displayed to other ships of war in harbour the welcome signal of _Send for letters_. As soon as the letters were sorted out came Jondy, master-at-arms, with the mail box; every one had been on the look-out for him; and such a tremendous rush was made aft to his table, where, with the box before him, and his hands full, he sung out loudly the names of the owners of the much-coveted letters. “Hillo, Bill, what’s up? You look down on yer luck; didn’t she write again this time?” “Write be bothered, no; she’s run away with a soger.” “Well, if people won’t write to me, I won’t to them; s’pose they’re getting too good.” “John,” they used to shout to me, “here’s a bushel basket-full for you; by Jove! you always has one.”

None but an exile can tell the pleasure of getting news from his far-away home. My friends never forgot me, and to my letters from home I was indebted for something that cheered weary waiting hours, and reminded me always to “do my duty, come what may.”

Here in Shanghai are a set of native boatmen who ply to and from the shipping and the shore; but I advise you to fight shy of them, for they are the veriest scoundrels in existence: not content with their proper fare, fifty cash, or half a mace, they demand three times that sum; and if the stranger be not sufficiently learned in their ways, he will give them what they demand, which, of course, only serves to increase their exorbitant demands. If you refuse them they abuse you shamefully, and no doubt are not very choice in their epithets, especially if they be acquainted with a little English of the low stamp, which they generally soon acquire from seamen. Then it will be, “You one piecey English thief; you one big foolo--you no goodee,” and other less elegant expressions. If a party of seamen happen to be so served, it is something as follows: “Knock him down!” “Heave the Chinee lubber overboard!” “Choke his luff!” and so on.

These same fellows are very proud of keeping their boats clean and neat, and have generally one or more ships’ names tacked to the stern--for instance, as follows: _Jack Leg, No. 1, Arcadia_; _Nigpoo Tom, No. 1, boatman, Hibernia_; _Canton Jack, first No. 1, Sovereign of the Seas_; and many others in the same style. They lie alongside the pier, and, when they see a seaman coming, accost him in a volley with “Sanpan, sanpan, mine very goote; go ship, Jack--my boat.” Others not so far advanced in their knowledge of languages, resort to practical measures, and pull you forcibly along, uttering quickly, “Ugh, ugh,” and shove you into their boat, and scull away vigorously amid the growling of their mates.

Once, on going ashore, I paid the fellow his usual fare, with which he appeared quite content, but upon my stepping out of the boat, he ran after me, crying out, “Piecey more, piecey more.” As I knew I had given him enough, I walked on, but he beginning to be troublesome, I turned suddenly round, took him by the collar and shook him vigorously, telling him I’d call a policeman if he didn’t “wylo” (go away); whereupon he sheered off in double-quick time, while I watched his retreating figure, laughing heartily.

The Chinese mothers swathe their infants up till they somewhat resemble mummies, and a stranger might easily take them as preparations for the Pyramids, were it not for the little yells occasionally emitted from them. I have often seen mothers with their infants strapped across their backs in the general manner, sculling their boat along, and unconsciously smoking their opium pipe, the little infant partaking of all its mother’s movements. Common rumour says that carrying the children thus is the reason why they have flat noses, which is a marked feature among the Chinese. The little ones are generally very agile, and seem very intelligent when quite young. A mere child may be seen often managing a sanpan with the greatest ease, or, as seamen say, “as if he’d been born with an oar in his fist.” The younger children are always kept near the mother in the stern of the boat; she seems very attentive and kind to them. The youngsters have a gourd attached to their waists, so that in case of tumbling overboard the gourd would buoy them up and afford a chance for rescue. But it is only the boys who are thus protected; if a girl falls it is a good riddance of so much live lumber. Most of the Celestial children are as joyous and gay as urchins in our own land, and many games common to little English youngsters are not unknown to the Chinese juveniles: kite flying, playing shuttlecock with the soles of the feet and palms of the hand, choosing one of their own number as Kwang or Emperor, besides pitch and toss and bounce halfpenny--all these they play very adroitly, entering into them with hearty spirit. Even grown-up people take great delight in shuttlecock; and will fly kites for half a day at a stretch with as much solemn enjoyment as is shown by the spectators on an English cricket-ground.

On the 29th of September our anchor was lifted for the first time for more than eight months, and we went on a cruise to recruit the health of our numerous sick. We got as far as Woosung that night, and lay there to await the arrival of the mail, before making a final start. In the afternoon of the next day, the mail having come in, we left Woosung, and in the evening were off Lucong, a hilly island--one of the Chusans. The landing is rather difficult, on account of the sharpness of the rocks, and a long low swell which sometimes sets in.

The town, situate a few miles up a small creek, is very thriving and populous, as, indeed, are many Chinese towns; and it does a great trade with other islands in fish and vegetables.

The country is very picturesque, and seemed the more so to us after our long spell of flat landscapes. The heights are bold towards the sea, but more inland there are fine broad fields, cool valleys, and nice well-clothed hills dotted with little farms and villages, watered by small streams, margined and overhung by willows, and the banks prettily strewed with flowers. How we enjoyed our liberty on shore! and how glad was I to find among the flowers the sweet little forget-me-not! What a host of pleasant recollections did that little flower recal! and I sat on the bank of that pleasant stream all the afternoon, trying to deceive myself with the notion that I was at home, and my friends were about me in the shape of the sweet forget-me-nots.

I had several opportunities of going ashore. I hope I used my eyes to my own improvement; I am sure I did to my enjoyment. It was gratifying, after a long confinement to shipboard, to step ashore amid the freshness of nature and the novelties of a strange country. The men, too, seemed to enjoy it, and many of them were for a “feed of grass;” and some said “they felt glad they were alive.”

The peasantry were very hospitable and simple, inviting us by signs into their cottages, which were built mostly of stones and mud, and thatched with paddy. Bare earth formed the floor; in one corner stood the copper for cooking; in another lay a heap of what appeared to be rubbish; the remainder of the walls was occupied by shelves, containing crockery; and the floor was occupied by a bed, a round table, and three bamboo stools. The inmates set before us such as they themselves ate: rice, callaloo, a kind of cabbage and fish, with their favourite drink, samshu--a spirit that seemed to me disgusting in taste and smell. Our men did not seem to like the look of the fare at all. “I say, Bob, there’s swamp-seed and turmit-tops--that’s a fine feed for a Christian. Why, I wouldn’t give a dog of mine that stuff--no, strike me lucky, I wouldn’t.” However, a good many of the men made no difficulty with the samshu; and did nothing upon first getting ashore but smoke and drink “sam,” as they called it. Of course, Sam often proved a powerful fellow, and made his votaries either beastly or ridiculous; and some would find a surprising resemblance to brother Tom in a sober messmate, or display very amiable feelings towards some tree-stump. Others were just the opposite, and nothing would prevent them from quarrelling and making a noise; in fact, they only appeared to have acted up to what they said before going on shore, “Anything to distract the brain.”

The people of Lucong appear to be good husbandmen, and their land is farmed well; and it might surprise some of our grumbling farmers to see the product of their abundant harvests. They grind their corn by means of a large hammer on the lever principle: it is worked in a bearing or groove, supported by two uprights; a man treads on one end of it, and causes it to rise; steps off again, and it descends into a large jar or mortar sunk in the earth. The concussion of the hammer as it descends causes the grain to shake up, so that it all comes under the face of the hammer, and is crushed. The work is laborious, for the hammer is heavy. I visited the Joss-house, and found it like others at Canton and Hong-Kong, a gloomy, dingy building, smelling strongly of disagreeable incense, and in the centre the ponderous god, with the fire burning before him. The people of Lucong were decidedly the most candid and open of the Chinese race I had yet seen. I was walking with two shipmates, and we were remarking one to another what such and such a patch of unknown vegetables might be, when we suddenly came upon a small village, which a woody height had before hidden from our view. On our appearance, a group of youngsters, who had been playing merrily, scattered in the greatest alarm; but upon being coaxed and shown there was no harm intended, and the present of a brass button, they ceased to skulk, and we became good friends; the people, as usual, were extremely hospitable, making us come into their houses and seat ourselves. Having some fish with us which we had purchased, I asked one of the household to get them cooked; and these, with tea and bread, which we had also brought, made a refreshing meal after our long ramble.

It was quite amusing to see the Celestials during our meal; they formed a circle round the doorway, gaping at us with the greatest astonishment, evidently at a great loss to understand how it was we moved our lower jaws. They examined our flesh, also turning up our sleeves; they appeared greatly amazed at the whiteness of the skin, tracing with childish delight our blue veins through their courses. I was strictly overhauled; but stood the test. A mace--fourpence--and a piece of _Illustrated News_, in payment for our accommodation, highly delighted the old man of the house; they appeared mightily pleased with the pictures, repeatedly exclaiming, “Number one piecey, number one piecey; English piecey very goot;” and we parted with good feelings on both sides.

We returned to Shanghai in time to celebrate the 5th of November; and we burnt another guy with proper formalities.

On the 3rd of December, which was my birthday, I was sent with a party to the _Inflexible_, she being under orders to proceed to the assistance of the French war-steamer _Laplace_, which had unfortunately run aground at Takshan, near the Chusans. The weather was bitterly cold, or we felt it so; and as we steamed along head to wind it seemed to cut right through us, who had been accustomed so long to the warmth and heat of the sun. We found the Frenchman afloat, but with a much-damaged rudder. It being Sunday when we arrived, of course we did no work; but early next morning we paid out hawsers for towing, got up anchor, and steamed along at a good speed, considering how wildly the _Laplace_ steered. Her steering apparatus was very ingenious, and worth observing. It consisted of two large vulcanised india-rubber buckets, having a stout lanyard amidships and two smaller ones on each side; the latter were used to flatten the bucket, and it would float on the surface of the water, on one side or the other, and direct the vessel’s head accordingly. But, on the second day of our towing, finding there was not sufficient to keep her steady, the Frenchman rigged a gun-carriage on a topsail-yard, which being launched over the taffrail till deep enough in the water, the ship was steered by means of tackles from the yard-arm to the side, and we soon found the benefit of it by the lessened strain upon the hawsers.

We anchored the second evening under the lee of the rugged rocks, not far from Takshan, and as it was blowing freshly, made ourselves snug for the night by sending down top-gallant-masts and letting go another anchor.