OH I N A. 



205 



Army, stock of wood, with a very small but-end ; and have ge- 

 "V""''' nerally a kind of fork attached to them, upon which 

 they rest ihe piece wh<?n firing. Each soldier has a 

 black cloth pcruch, painted with oil, for containing the 

 balls, a large horn for the powder, a smaller one full of 

 a finer sort for priming, and a small leather bag, or sack, 

 at his arm filled with matches. 



The bow is their favourite weapon, and they use it 

 u-ith considerable dexterity, though in a very ungrace- 

 ful position. The calculate the power of the bow, by 

 the weight which would be required to stretch it. Thus 

 they speak of a bow of GO or 70 pounds ; and the weak- 

 est, employed in the army, are of 50 pounds, while the 

 ordinary power is 80 pounds, or sometimes even 100. 

 The archers wear a ring of horn on their thumb, with 

 which they hold the string, while adjusting the bow ; 

 and the officers have this ring made of agate, which they 

 keep in a round box attiched to their girdle. 



Their arrows, of which they have several rows in 

 their quivers, are of different forms. The most singular 

 are those, which have the iron head formed with small 

 hooks ; and those, which have it pierced with holes, by 

 means of which they shoot letters into the ranks of the 

 enemy, and thus carry on a correspondence with those 

 whom they may have secured in their interest. 



Their tents are made of coarse white linen, lined with 

 blue cloth of the same stuff. They rest upon a wooden 

 frame about 14 feet in length and 5.^ in height ; are fast- 

 ened d'.wn all around with cords and stakes; and open 

 at each extremity like the folds of a door. Each con- 

 tains five soldiers, with two men, whose business it is to 

 erect and pack them up. Some of them are round and 

 covered with thick grey felt, but these, though much 

 used by the Tartars, are too hot and dusty. 



The Tartars are chiefly armed with bows and long 

 swords ; and their cavalry seldom carry more than a sa- 

 bre. Their saddles are very soft, covered with cloth, 

 and raised very high both behind and before ; and their 

 stirrups are so very short, as to make the knees of the 

 rider almost touch his breast, which gives them a very 

 ungraceful appearance on horseback. Their horses arc 

 small, and of a poor figure ; but are tolerably active, 

 and charge with considerable speed. 



The troops are assembled for exercise and inspection 

 at every new moon. They are said to march in a very 

 tumultuous manner, but to perform their evolutions, and 

 to handle their arms, with considerable dexterity. They 

 are drawn up in lines, with the interval of a man's breadth 

 between one soldier and another ; and when those in the 

 first line have discharged their pieces, they pass to the 

 rear to reload, which is in like manner done by all the 

 other lines in succession. They are distributed into 

 companies of 15 men, each of which has a triangular 

 stai dard about six feet in height ; and every fifth and 

 tenth man has a small flag, which is fixed upon a short 

 staff at the back of his jacket. The flags and standards 

 of the Chinese troops are generally green ; but those of 

 the Tartars are i.f various colours, white, yeJlowr, red, 

 and blue, or yellow with red fringes, white with red 

 fringes, red with while fringes, and blue with red fringes. 

 Every officer and soldir alfo, has a small stripe of silk 

 fixed to the back of his coat, of the same colour as the 

 flag of his company, witli his name and rank written upon 

 it, 



Besides all these accoutrements, which are far from 



giving them a martial air, every soldier is furnished with 



a fai., c r i;mbr< lla ; and they are said to have altogether 



r clumsy and effeminate appearance. The children 



VOL. VI. I'ART I. 



of the emperor, and'every Tartar of distinction, even to Army. 



the lowest officer, are required to accustom themselves to **~~Y~~*' 



the management of a horse, the use of the bow, and the 



practice of the elementary manoeuvres. These Tartar ca- 



valry display a good degree of military spirit ; and, toge- 



ther with the troops of the northern provinces, form the 



bravest part of the Chinese army. The greater part, 



however, of the soldiery of both nations are represented 



as extremely deficient in the most essential military qua- 



lities, and as indebted, for their conquests over their 



neighbour's, to their own superior numbers, and the un- 



warlike character of their adversaries. The Chinese 



troops, particularly, were so despised by the Tartars, 



when they took possession of the empire, that it became 



a common saying, " the neighing of a Tartar horse puts 



the whole Chinese cavalry to flight." Great honours 



and rewards are lavished upon the troops in time of war. 



An exact journal is kept of every military transaction ; 



and those, who have displayed superior courage or skill, 



are particularly mentioned. Those, who signalize them- 



selves in battle, are sure of promotion if they survive ; 



and, if they fall, the rewards, to which they would have 



been entitled, are conferred upon their families and rela- 



tions. Even the common soldier, who dies in defence 



of his country, is mentioned by name in the Gazette ; and 



his hair, bow, and sabre, are transmitted to his family to 



be interred in the sepulchre of his ancestors. 



It has been supposed, that the Chinese were acquainted Gunpoww 

 with the use of gunpowder long before the Christian der. 

 sera; and it is not improbable, that this invention was 

 known in China, before it was employed in Europe. 

 It has been considered as highly probable, that the defla- 

 gration of nitre may have first been observed in those 

 countries, where it is "spontaneously and abundantly pro- 

 duced, as in the elevated dcsarts of Tartary and Thi- 

 bet, and in the low extended plains of India and China ; 

 and it seems to be admitted as a fact, that fire arms, at 

 least, were used by the Asiatics in war, at an earlier pe- 

 riod than they were known by the Europeans. All this, 

 however, is not founded upon very sufficient grounds ; 

 and there are many circumstances, which render it very- 

 questionable, whether the Chinese were acquainted with 

 the use of gunpowder and artillery, at a period so very 

 remote. If they have been in the habit of making; 

 gunpowder since the Christian xra, it must be allowed, 

 at leant, that their improvement in such processes is ex- 

 tremely slow, as that which they produce is miserably 

 bad, and is prepared by every individual for himself. 

 There is no public manufacture of the article, and there 

 does not seem to be any uniform proportion observed in 

 the different ingredients. Mr Barrow states the usual 

 proportion as consisting of one pound of sulphur, and 

 one pound of charcoal, with two pounds of nitre. Ac- 

 cording to receipts received from the Chinese by the 

 missionaries, there are three pounds of sulphur, and three 

 pounds of charcoal added to eight pounds of nitre ; and, 

 according to another, there is only one pound of sulphur 

 and one pound of charcoal put to five pounds of nitre. 

 They use the nitre also in a very impure state, which, 

 makes the powder attract moisture very readily, so as 

 to become unfit for use ; and they have no mode of 

 granulating the paste, in consequence of which the pow- 

 der often cakes ii.to a solid mass. 



As far as their own annals bear, there is no appearance 

 of their having madf early or very frequent use of gunpow- 

 der in war. The ir.issiu:iarirs admit, that, until the 16th 

 century, few of the Chinese warriors understood the use of 

 fire arms, and that Kong-ming is almost the only one, who 





