364 Voyage of the Novara. 



saw several beautiful works in this style of painting. The 

 common designation of rice-paper has led to the erroneous 

 idea that the substance of which these pictures are made 

 is manufactured from the leaves of the rice-plant, whereas 

 it is prepared from the pith of an entirely different plant 

 {Aralia papyrifera), which grows in Fiman and Tukun. The 

 marrow is steeped for some time in water, after whicli it is 

 split by means of very keen sharp knives into thin leaves, 

 which are then subjected to gentle pressure. The largest 

 are about a foot square, and are reserved almost exclusively 

 for pictures, the shreds and inferior sorts alone being used 

 for the manufacture of artificial flowers. We saw portraits 

 of the Emperor and Empress, of the rebel leader, Tai-ping, 

 of the notorious Yeh, ex-governor of Canton, and other well- 

 known or conspicuous personages. Latterly there has sprung 

 up a strong tendency among the Chinese artists to daguerreo- 

 types and photograj)hs in miniature upon ivory ; and in the 

 ateliers of Hong-kong a number of artists were engaged in this, 

 at present the most profitable branch of Chinese artistic skill. 

 In all these shops the medium of trade is wliat is called 

 Canton English, less a dialect than a confused jargon of 

 English and Chinese words, consisting of concessions made 

 on either side to the grammar and idiom of the other, so as 

 the more readily to comprehend each other. A few Spanish 

 and Portuguese words have also crept in, recalling the former 

 relations of these countries with China. All English words 

 ending in e mute have in this gibberish an i attached to 



