CHINA. 



307 



Trade?. 



Pishfrs. 



and subsistence for themselves and their families. They 

 are often, therefore, engaged in begging as well as in 

 working ; but the alms, which they receive, is miserably 

 small, being frequently nothing more than aft much rice, 

 as will cover the finger nail. There are, however, mu- 

 tual associations among those, who follow the same trade, 

 resembling the friendly societies in Great Britain, by 

 means of which, funds are provided for the relief of those 

 who fall into sickness and indigent circumstances. 



Among the numerous employments of the Chinese, 

 that of the fishers requires to be particularly noticed ; 

 both on account of the multitudes, who are engaged in 

 that profession, and on account of the various modes, in 

 which they practise their art. . They use worms and 

 erabs as baits to catch eels and small fish ; or drag with 

 great nets, fa tened to bamboo poles; or sail up and 

 down with a swimming net, fastened between two boats ; 

 or place in the shallows large bamboo and willow baskets, 

 or nets of strong twine attached to stakes. But the 

 most remarkable of their methods are the two following : 

 They have long narrow boats, on one side of which is a 

 large plank painted white, turning upon hinges ; and on 

 the other side a net extended the whole length of the 

 boat. When these planks are let down on a level with 

 the water in moon-light nights, or with a fire lighted in 

 the boat, the fish, especially a kind of mullet, deceived by . 

 the light and whiteness of the board, leap from the wa- 

 ter into the boat. In the other method, they employ a 

 specif s of corvotant, i-upposed to be the pclicanus aqiii- 

 lus, or man of war, which they take out upon the lak'.s 

 and rivers in boats or rafts. On the neck of the bird is 

 a small iron ring, which prevents it from swallowing the 

 fish, and to this ring is fastened a light cord for pulling . 

 h toward the boat. As soon as a fish is seen near the 

 surface of the water, the bird dives towards the spot, and 

 .generally brings it up in his bill, from which it is taken 

 by the fisherman ; and after labouring a certain time for 

 his master in this way, the ring is taken from his neck, 

 and he is allowed to fish for himself. Though the fishers 

 are permitted to follow their trade without being sub- 

 ject to any exaction or duty, yet they are the poorest 

 and most miserable looking part of the community, per- 

 haps owing in seme measure to the bad effects of their 

 fish diet, which, however, they endeavour to correct by 

 the use of onions, garlic, and the flesh of ducks. They 

 raise these vegetables on the waters, on large rafts of 

 bamboo covered with earth, and towed along wiih their 

 boats; while the ducks are so trained as to leave the 

 boats in quest of food, and return thither, at the signal 

 of a whistle. 



CIAIAC- Respecting the general attainments of the Chinese in 

 M** RMS tllC m 9t im P ortant arts and virtues of civilized life, the 

 most extravagant and contradictory sentiments have 

 been advanced by contending authors. By some, they 

 have been extolled as the oldest, wisest, most learned, 

 most ingenious, and most virtuous of nations, superior to 

 all the other inhabitants of Asia, and capable -of stand- 

 ing a comparison with the most enlightened people of 

 Europe. Others again have, in equally unqualified 

 terms, derided all their pretensions to antiquity, science 

 or virtue, condemned their government as utterly abomi- 

 nable, and reprobated their manners as absolutely bar- 

 Fiafjerat- barous. The exalted representation of the empire and 

 mate inhabitants of China, communicated tc Europeans by the 

 ir at- writings of the early Jesuit missionaries, are universally 

 acknowledged to have been too highly coloured in tola, 

 and to have beeji altogether unfounded in various instan- 

 C . These erroneous views no doubt proceeded partly 



from partial feelings in the minds of the writers, from a Character 

 wish to ingratiate themselves with a people, among whom 

 they were in a manner obliged to spend the remainder of 

 their lives, and from too implicit a reliance upon the 

 statements of the Chinese themselves ; but it may very 

 safely be allowed, without incurring the charge of ex- 

 cessive credulity, that these descriptions of the relatively 

 improved state of China, were by no means so devoid of 

 foundation, at the time when they were made, as they 

 must appear at the present day. Most of them were 

 written, from about the middle of the l6th to the begin- 

 ning of the 17th century ; a period when the countries of 

 Europe were far from possessing that superiority to the 

 Chinese, in a variety of respects, which they have now 

 attained. At that time, there prevailed in China, at least 

 the appearance of an universal toleration of religious opi- 

 nions ; while the nations of the West were distracted by 

 the most irreconcilable schisms, and disgraced by the 

 most inhuman persecutions. While the use of silk was 

 introduced, as a curiosity, by the sovereigns of France 

 and England, the peasantry of China were entirely clothed 

 with that elegant manufacture. When the nobility of 

 England were sleeping upon beds of straw ; those of 

 China were reposing on silken mattresses. While the 

 European ladies had skewers instead of pins, and had not 

 even a conception of the present ornaments and utensils 

 of their toilet ; the Chinese fair had their needle-work, 

 paint boxes, and trinkets of ivory, silver, mother of-pearl, 

 &c. When the art of improving vegetables by culture 

 was scarcely known in this quarter of the globe, the em- 

 pire of China was comparatively a garden. It was 

 scarcely therefore to be expected, that the first Euro- 

 pean missionaries could have been suddenly introduced 

 to the sight of all these arts and luxuries, without being 

 powerfully impressed with the view, and led to express 

 themselves in the most glowing language. Later mis- 

 sionaries continued to speak in the same exalted terms of 

 the pre-eminence of the Chinese, without duly adverting 

 to the rapid progress of the European nations, and the 

 stationary habits of their favourite China men, who, in 

 those very points, in which they then excelled, are now as 

 far below, as they ever were above the inhabitants of 

 Europe. The discovery of this fact has driven many to 

 the very opposite extreme in judging of the Chinese peo- 

 ple ; and there is at least candour in the remark, that a 

 fair and sober estimate, founded upon actual observation, 

 would present " little to censure, and less to praise." 

 It is unquestionable, however, that the more that Euro- 

 peans have had an opportunity of personal observation, 

 and the more they have been made acquainted with the 

 state of things in China, the more have proofs accu- 

 mulated of the inferiority of this boasted and boasting 

 people in these very respects, in which they were most 

 ejctolled. Enough, at least, is now ascertained, respect- 

 ing their state and habits, to warrant the conclusion, 

 that they are but a little advanced, in civilization, be- tion. 

 yond the infancy of what is called agricultural society. 

 It may be readily admitted, that they have been among 

 the first of existing nations, who arrived at a certain 

 degree of excellence ; but it is not less evident, that 

 they have long remained stationary, or have even in many 

 things become retrograde ; and that, when compared 

 with the nations of Europe at this moment, " they can 

 only be said (in the words of Mr Barrow) to be great in 

 trifles, whilst they are really trifling in every thing that 

 is great." The following assertion of Sir William Jones, 

 (if with any, at least with a very 'little, qualification,) 

 may safely be adopted, and is gradually more generally 

 adopted on the subject. " Their letters, if we may o 



