Chapter 4 ToC No.4

Fire-Departure for China-The "Arcturus"-An Invalid on Board-Chinese Sorcerers-Death-The Chinese Seas-A Watery Journey-Arrival at Hong-Kong-Visit to the Consul-Journey to Canton-Chinese Insurrection.

After eighteen months of Californian life, a circumstance occurred, which changed, not only my position, but my prospects. I became acquainted with one Madame Nelson, a French lady who, like myself, was engaged in commercial speculations. It was, at this time, her intention to leave California for Batavia, in the Island of Java, whence she had already received many letters of invitation, and where she believed herself certain of success. Being desirous that I should accompany her in this expedition, she proposed that we should travel together, and share the profits, as well as the fatigues of the enterprise. This matter was of too serious a nature to be hastily decided; but, while I was yet hesitating, an event took place which summarily decided it for me. One of those destructive fires so common in San Francisco broke out next door to us, in the dead calm of a lovely summer's night, and made such rapid progress that we with difficulty escaped. Startled from sleep, we had but time to collect a few valuables which we flung into a portmanteau, and threw out of the window. Scarcely had we gone twenty paces from the house, when staircases and flooring fell in with a tremendous crash. Three hours later, fifty-two houses were entirely destroyed. This fire cost us more than four thousand piastres, since we rescued nothing from our stock.

My sister, being utterly out of heart, made up her mind to return to Eureka, where commercial affairs were said to be unusually prosperous. As for me, I decided to accompany Madame Nelson; for, notwithstanding the pecuniary advantages which I hoped to derive from the journey, my love of novelty was in nowise abated.

We then drew up the following programme of our route:-Directing our course through the Chinese seas, we proposed touching at Canton, Macao, Hong-Kong, and Batavia, where we hoped to remain about two months. These matters settled, we had but to prepare for our departure.

On the 14th of June, 1854, we embarked on board the "Arcturus," bound for China. Our fellow-passengers consisted of four French artistes, going to Calcutta on a musical speculation. In addition to these, we carried thirty-five Chinese in the steerage.

On the fifteenth day of our voyage, we came in sight of the Sandwich Islands. My companion, who up to this time had proved herself an excellent sailor, became all at once languid and melancholy. Two of our Chinese passengers were professed fortune-tellers. Finding that they could both speak a little English, and hoping thereby to amuse Madame Nelson, I summoned them to an exhibition of their talent. Half laughing, half incredulous, my friend offered her hand to their scrutiny. Silently and sadly they looked at it, hesitated, and consulted together. Becoming impatient of this delay, Madame Nelson pressed them for an explanation. "We pause," said they, "because we fear to afflict you." "You are wrong," said she, "for I have no belief in your art." Annoyed, perhaps, by this observation, they framed an evil prophecy. "You have been wealthy," said they (and this was true), "but you seek in vain to accumulate fresh riches. Your days are numbered." Speaking thus, they gazed earnestly upon her, and seemed to read the future in the lines upon her brow.

Painfully impressed by this prediction, my friend yielded to a despondency which I tried in vain to dispel. I then regretted what I had done, and strove to conceal my uneasiness by consulting the necromancers on my own account. The second prophecy made up in a measure for the dreariness of the first. The markings of my hand, said they, were especially favourable. I was destined to prosperity, and should one day become rich. One of them then pointed to a line upon my forehead. "A great misfortune awaits you," said he; "but it will not affect your future prosperity." I only laughed at these predictions, and endeavoured to cheer my poor friend by every means in my power.

The next day she was more dispirited than ever. She contrived, however, to sketch the portraits of our Chinese soothsayers, with which they were much delighted.

Within eight days from this time the state of Madame Nelson's health had become truly alarming. We had no medical man on board, and my anxiety grew daily more and more insupportable. At length one of the Chinese offered to prescribe. In his own country he was a physician, and he proposed administering some pills, which, hitherto, he had never known to fail. These pills were red, and about the size of a pin's head. The French passengers agreed with me that it was better to trust the Chinese than leave Madame Nelson to die without help. We offered her six of the pills. She enquired whence they came, and we were so imprudent as to tell the truth, which immediately prejudiced her against them. Her resistance drove us almost to despair; and when she at length yielded, it was not from conviction, but in compliance with my entreaties. More than six, however, she would not take. Whether their number were too few, or administered too late, I know not; but henceforth she grew rapidly worse. A violent delirium seized her, during which she raved of the Chinese and their prophecies. The delirium was succeeded by spasmodic paroxysms. I bent sorrowfully over her; I drew her head to my bosom; and, seeing that death was close at hand, imprinted a farewell kiss upon her lips. She looked up, smiled languidly, as if to thank me for my love, and gently breathed her last.

That same night the sailors bore her body upon deck, and the captain read aloud the funeral service. This done, they wrapt her in a sheet, slung a cannon-ball to her feet, and consigned her to her grave in the deep sea. That sullen plash found an echo in the hearts of all present.

The death of Madame Nelson left me almost broken-hearted. Far from my friends and my country, I felt more than ever desolate, and lamented the fatal day which bore me from my native land. What was now to become of me, friendless and alone, in a strange and savage country? Alas! what would I not now have given to turn back; but I could not change the course of the ship, or turn the currents of the winds. Go on I must, and submit to my destiny.

The navigation of the Chinese seas is rendered more than commonly hazardous by reason of the sunken rocks which there abound. Threading these securely, we came, one glorious day, upon the Bashee Islands. In three days, said the captain, we should probably arrive at the end of our journey. Just, however, as we were congratulating ourselves on this pleasant intelligence, we were overtaken by a frightful storm of wind and rain. Huge black clouds traversed the sky, and we saw more than one water-spout in the distance. When the tempest at length abated, it was succeeded by a dreary calm, which lasted for nine days. A faint breeze occasionally sprang up, only to die away again, and leave us more impatient than ever. At length, after beating about the Chinese shores for more than twenty days, the captain informed us that our sea-stores were almost exhausted. Hereupon the sailors refused to work, unless some of their number were allowed to take a boat, and venture in search of Hong-Kong, which, we calculated, could not be distant more than thirty miles. The captain despatched eight men. We then cast anchor amid a group of islands, and there awaited the return of these brave fellows who had undertaken to risk their lives for our safety. Twenty-four hours after, they returned with a steamer, which towed us into the Hong-Kong roads, on the 29th of August, after a sea-voyage of seventy-six days. Summoned to the French Consulate to attest the death of my unhappy friend, I made the acquaintance of our vice-consul, M. Haskell, and explained to him all the discomfort of my present position. He advised me to relinquish an enterprise so unfortunately begun. I replied that my only desire was to get back to California. "Suffer me," said the vice-consul, "to make all the arrangements for your return; and I trust that my influence may be sufficient to ensure you every attention during the voyage." I thanked him for his kindness, and from this time became better reconciled to my Chinese expedition.

The island of Hong-Kong contains twenty thousand Chinese, and one thousand European inhabitants. It is situated at the foot of an immense mountain, and is built in the form of an amphitheatre. On entering the principal street, the traveller is surprised to find himself in the midst of elegant European buildings. The houses are very large, surrounded by verandahs, and fitted up with jalousies-a very necessary luxury in all tropical climates. On a height to the left of the harbour stands the town-hall, and, a little farther on, an immense line of barracks, for the accommodation of the English soldiery. In the midst of the parade, which is a kind of fortified esplanade, stand several pieces of cannon, so placed as to command the principal street of the town-an arrangement admirably calculated to ensure the respect and good conduct of the Chinese population. Here also is an English Protestant church. The climate of Hong-Kong is unhealthy. The summer heats are oppressive, and fevers are prevalent.

Life at Hong-Kong is monotonous to the last degree. Public amusements are unknown; society there is none to speak of; and it offers no resources beyond those of the domestic circle. The women never walk out. In the first place, it is not the fashion; and, in the second, it is scarcely possible, on account of the heat. Though it be to go no farther than the next house, you are always carried in a palanquin. The English gentlemen at Hong-Kong wear white suits, as in India.

Every kind of European trade is carried on at Hong-Kong for the benefit of the English residents. Few Chinese women perform any kind of manual labour; and, except in shops of the very poorest description, they are not even to be seen behind a counter. Costermongers and provision-vendors, peripatetic cake, fruit, and sweet-stuff sellers, and enterprising speculators in grilled fish, roast fowls, and other smoking delicacies, here abound. Of beggars, old and young, there is no scarcity; and the blind go about the streets ringing a little bell to attract public attention. Besides these, there are plenty of wandering singers and musicians, who recite quaint and monotonous legends "for a consideration."

Not the least curious members of the population are the barbers and hair-dressers, who twenty times a-day make the tour of the city, carrying their shaving apparatus on their backs. Should a shopkeeper or pedestrian wish to have his head shaved, his pig-tail dressed, or his eyebrows trimmed, he beckons to the first artiste who passes by, and the operation is forthwith performed, either in the shelter of a doorway, or in a shady angle of the open street.

There are but two hotels in Hong-Kong, and both lodging and provisions are quite as expensive as in California. As might be expected, the accommodation is far inferior; and even the cleanest and best regulated houses are infested with frightful insects. Everywhere, on the furniture, in the presses, hidden in your shoes, clinging to your curtains, and ensconced in your portmanteaus, you find spiders, beetles, and mosquitoes. If you take out a garment for use, two or three of these disgusting creatures are sure to be lying in the folds of it. The beetles, however, are the most annoying of all; and at night, when the candles are lighted, become almost unendurable. One falls on your head; another alights upon your nose; and in the morning, when you wake, you are sure to find half-a-dozen lying drowned in your wash-hand basin, or served up, struggling, in your tea. At table you meet with them constantly in the gravy, or the vegetables; but this is a matter of course, and cannot be avoided.

The vegetation of Hong-Kong is the most luxuriant in the world, and the flowers are redolent with a perfume more sweet and more penetrating than those of Europe. Admitted to visit the garden of a mandarin, I scarcely knew which was the greater, my delight or my astonishment. It was an artificial world in little, interspersed with grottoes, rocks, rivulets, and miniature mountains. There was not a straight path in the place, and at each turn I came upon some fresh point of view. Here were fantastic kiosks with windows of coloured glass; rustic suspension bridges; and tranquil shrubberies, musical with birds. It is only in balmy solitudes such as these that the Chinese ladies can, with their pinched and mutilated feet, enjoy any kind of out-door recreation.

Taking advantage of the time that still remained to me, I agreed to join my fellow-travellers in a visit to Canton. Just at this period the insurrection of 1854 was at its height, and, although the city itself was tolerably tranquil, the neighbourhood all around was up in arms. Under these circumstances, we could hardly hope to make any lengthened stay.

In this enormous city (only two streets of which were then accessible to Europeans), factories, English counting-houses, and extensive warehouses abound. There is not a single hotel in the place. At the houses where you wish to transact business, you send in your card. The retail dealers are classed as a separate body of tradesmen. One quarter of the city is wholly occupied by the porcelain-sellers, another by the tea-dealers, a third by the silk-merchants. I was never weary of admiring these magnificent warehouses, where are displayed specimens of the most exquisite handiwork imaginable. Lacquered furniture, ivory fans, carved jewel-cases, silken tapestries, and resplendent stuffs, distract the attention of the stranger at every step. The thoroughfare called New China Street is bordered by these superb stores, each of which has its flat roof decorated with parti-coloured balls, and its upright sign, where golden letters on a scarlet ground proclaim the name and trade of the merchant. The streets are filled by a busy, noisy crowd: strolling vendors, with their strange guttural cries; grave and solemn citizens, with their flowing robes and perpetual parasols; and, now and then, one or two women of the poorer class, hurrying along with children in their arms.

If a traveller desire to visit a Chinese interior, he will not be refused admittance to the houses of those merchants who are in the habit of trading with the English. Having sought and obtained the necessary invitation, I went one day to a house celebrated for its luxury, and belonging to one of the wealthiest mandarins of the city. I scarcely know how to describe what I there beheld. There were flowers, musical instruments, opium-pipes, and cigarettes. From the ceiling hung lanterns of every shape, colour, and material-lanterns in glass, gauze, and paper-lanterns fringed, tufted, hung with bells, and decorated in every possible manner. From the walls were suspended pictures representative of the very infancy of art, and varnished tablets inscribed with philosophical and poetical sentences. Above all, however, I was curious to visit the apartments of the women; but this was forbidden.

During the three days that I stayed at Canton, I witnessed a fra?as amongst the Emperor's soldiers. A Chinese army is the most ludicrous affair imaginable. How shall I describe these absurd warriors, dignified by the titles of "War-tigers," and "Mountain-splitters?" Standing on a lofty terrace, I was quite near enough to distinguish all their proceedings. Armed with lances and cumbrous matchlocks, they crowded along in the greatest disorder, and almost every soldier carried an umbrella, a fan, and a lantern; all of which forcibly reminded me of the Chinese burlesques that I had seen in the theatres at San Francisco.

The perpetual thundering of cannon, the brawling and skirmishing of the insurgents, the frequent encounters which took place beyond the walls, and the false alarms by which we were continually harassed, all combined to hasten my return to Hong-Kong.

After I had been resident about a month in China, our vice-consul informed me that a ship was about to sail for California. He was so extremely kind as to interest the captain in my favour, and this officer, whose name was Rooney, promised to pay me every attention in his power. Having thanked M. Haskell for all the interest which he had taken in my affairs, I hastened to my hotel with a light heart, and prepared forthwith for my journey.

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