446 Voyage of the No vara. 



As we left the manufactory, and were bending our stops 

 towards the little Eastern gate, our gaze was suddenly 

 attracted by a spacious and elegant mansion, evidently 

 the property of a well-to-do Chinese. This, as we were 

 informed by our companion, proved to be the residence of 

 the Wuong family, which ranks among the five oldest 

 and most distinguished families in Shanghai. There is 

 to be seen in the neighbourhood a small stone memorial 

 shaped like a mausoleum, which, with the Emperor's per- 

 mission, was erected by the inhabitants of the district in 

 which she lived, to commemorate the benevolence and 

 philanthropic exertions of the mother of Wuong. The 

 custom of honouring ladies distinguished by their virtues and 

 benevolence, by the erection of temples, cenotaphs, &c., is by 

 no means unusual in China, and is in marvellous contrast to 

 the almost slavish treatment which the female sex usually 

 meets with. Nevertheless, in the city and environs of Shang- 

 hai alone there are ninety such triumphal arches and me- 



dollars the picul. This custom of collecting and disposing of human excrement for 

 manure is much more extensively observed in the interior of the Empire than in the 

 provinces along the coast. " If," writes M. Hue, the well-known missionary, — " if we 

 were not aware to what perfection the denizens of the Celestial Empire have carried 

 the art of manuring, one would be at a loss how to reconcile the fondness of John 

 Chinaman for making money with the conveniences free of all charge which the 

 proprietors of the soil everywhere erect for the comfort of travellers. There is not a 

 city nor a village in which this is not universally the case. In the most crowded 

 streets, or the most out-of-the-way abandoned spot, one frequently marvels to find 

 these " cabinets " in cane-work, earth, or even masonry. One is almost tempted to 

 believe he is in a country where the care to provide plenty of public latrines is pushed 

 to the extreme. Utilization, however, furnishes a sufficient explanation of all these 

 edifices." 



