CHINA. 



325 



K-iturat guidance of an old duck, who leads them out to seek 

 History. trie ir food upon the beech and rice fields ; and, upon re- 



V< ^'Y~" 1 " ' ceivino 1 a signal, generally a whistle from the owner, 

 brings" them back to their proper sampane, which is then 

 moved to another place in quest of more food. 

 Fish. 'fhe greater part of the best fish of Europe, the stur- 



geon, salmon, trout, herring, soal, pike, carp, &c. are 

 affirmed by the French missionaries to abound in the 

 lakes and rivers of China. The more remarkable, and 

 the most esteemed as food, are the Tcho-kia-yu, that is 

 thejish in armour, so named from its body being cover- 

 ed with sharp scales, the flesh of which resembles veal, 

 and some of which are affirmed to weigh 40 Ibs. The 

 Jlotir fish, "so called from its white colour, great quanti- 

 ties o'f which are taken on the coasts of Kiangnan. The 

 pimon-yu, one of tha most singular of the Chinese fish- 

 es, if their accounts could be credited, flat like the sole 

 of a shoe, of a blackish colour, with only one eye, and 

 without fin or scales on one of its sides ; so as to have 

 all the appearance of being only half a fish ; and affirmed 

 to be unable to swim, unless when united with a compa- 

 tiion, when the two move on together as if forming only 

 one individual. The Ming-foo-yoo, that is thtjisk with 

 the bright belly, has a round head, a mouth like a falcon's 

 beak, eight legs round its head, and two tufts of a beard, 

 like two bunches of cord, by which it lays hold of the 

 rocks, or bottom of the sea, when the water is strongly 

 agitated, whence it it called by the Tartars Niomcre, or 

 moored bark. The Kin-yu, or gold Jish, which is kept 

 far ornament in vases or small ponds, and which requires 

 little other nourishment than the small worms and earthy 

 particles found in the water, but which the Chinese 

 sometimes feed by paste, snails, or lean pork dried and 

 powdered. They are said to be so remarkably weak, as 

 to b.- killed by a loud noise, a violent shaking of the ves- 

 sel, or even by any very strong smell. Their spawn 

 floats on the surface of the water, which they instantly 

 devour ; but if collected and exposed to the sun in a se- 

 parate vessel, it is said that the young fry are thus pro- 

 duced. A fish resembling the Newfoundland cod is ta- 

 ken in great quantities on thecoatts of Tche-ki-ang, and 

 Fu-kien, salted, and sold throughout the empire at a 

 low rate. A fish called Hai-song, or rather a shapeless, 

 fishy mass, covered with excrescences like warts, is said 

 to form a very Common dish in China. It is killed by a 

 very slight pressure, and, after being salted, is transported 

 to every corner of the empire as a great delicacy, but was 

 not much relished by the French missionaries. It 13 

 probably to this animal that Mr Barrow refers in these 

 words : " Our old fisherman lookout of the sea (among 

 thousands which had floated round our vessel) one of 

 those animal substances, which I believe are vulgarly 

 called sea blubbers (mollusca medusa porpita.) It was 

 at least a foot in diameter. Having dressed it for hii 

 supper, and st'eing it wear the inviting appearance of a 

 transparent colourk-ss jelly, I was tempted to taste it ; 

 but the effect produced by this, or the fruit, or both, 

 was a severe sickness, which continued for several days." 



1ni?cf. Among the insect tribes, a variety of beautiful moths 



and butterflies abound in China, especially in the pro- 

 vince of Quan-tong, where some of the latter are found 

 of an extraordinary size, beginning to flutter about in 

 the evening, but remaining motionless on the trees du- 

 ring the day, so .as to be easily caught. SM iit.ircts, 

 resembling caterpillar-*, and somewhat different from the 

 common silk-worm, are found in great numbers in the 

 fields of Shang-tong. They propagate without culture, 



* Quint. Curt. lib. is. c. 1. 



and feed upon the leaves of other trees, as well as those Natural 

 of the mulberry. They spin their silk, not in balls like History. 

 the silk-vs-orm, but in long filaments, which are caught 

 by the trees and bushes as they are carried about by the 

 wind. These are carefully collected and maMe into a 

 kind of silk, which is very inferior in point of lustre, and 

 resembles, at first view, coarse woollen or drugget, but 

 which is often sold in China at a higher price than the 

 finest satin, as it washes easily, lasts long, and is not so 

 susceptible as other silks of being stained with oil. ' Upon 

 a particular tree is found a kind of nests, called Oo-poey- 

 tse, which are employed both as a medicine, and as dyeing 

 materials. They appeared to European naturalists to 

 resemble the excrescences upon the elm tree, usually cal- 

 led elm bladders, and were found to be much more as- 

 tringent, than any other species of galls or vegetable 

 substance yet known. The Chinese, however, consider 

 them, not as excrescences, but as composed of a sub- 

 stance like wax, by certain insects, as a retreat for depo- 

 siting their eggs, which have the appearance of fine dust, 

 and with which these tubercles are filled. The largest 

 of these tubercles are said to equal in size a man's fist, 

 and the smallest to be as big as a chesnut. The Chinest- 

 collect them before the hoar frosts commence, destroy 

 the worm within them by exposing them to the steam of 

 boiling water, and then employ them as a black dye for 

 paper or satin, or for their beards when they become , 



grey. They are used also in medicine as remedies for 

 hemorrhages, &c. and as antidotes to poisons. The '/,' 

 tvorm of China has nothing peculiar. The houses, ii* 

 which these insects are reared, arc placed in the centre 

 of the mulberry plantations, in order to be removed as 

 far as possible from noise, as the bark of a dog, or a sud- 

 den shout, is often injurious to the young worms. They 

 are watched with great attention night and day ; and the 

 young worms particularly are exposed to the sun in fine 

 weather, upon thin gauze, stretched on wood or frames, 

 and are replaced at night in the plantation houses. 



China appears to have been totally unknown to the ViewoftUe 

 ancient Greeks, and is mentioned neither by Hoqjer nor progressive 

 Herodotus. It has been conjectured, from a passage in intercourse 

 Quintus Curtius, that Alexander the Great attained i fother .J' 

 some knowledge of the Chinese during his conquests in chi" 

 India, about 327 years before Christ ; and that it is to 

 them the historian refers, in these words, hinc in reg- 

 num Sop/tilts pervenliim est. Gens, rtt barbari, iapientia 

 cxcellit, bunisque moribus rrgitur.* In confirmation of 

 this conjecture, it is added, that Strabo calls this king- 

 dom of Sophitcs, Cathea, a word which is supposed to 

 bear a resemblance to Cathay, the name given by the 

 Tartars to China. The account, however, given by 

 Quintus Curtius of the nation in question, does not ap- 

 ply so remarkably to the state and manners of the Chi- 

 nese at that period, at least as described in their own 

 histories j and his description, particularly, of the excel- 

 lent dogs which they employed in hunting the lions, ia 

 utterly inapplicable to China, where we are assured that 

 lions are not found ; and where the figures of that ani- 

 rnrl upon their bridges, and other edifices, afford suffi- 

 cient proof, that it has never ever been accurately de- 

 scribed among them. Besides, it is to be observed, that, 

 while Strabo gives the name of Cathea to the kingdom 

 o'f Sophitc3, he fixes its situation between the rivers 

 Kydaipes and Acesines.f It is the general opinion of 

 the learned, that the Chinese are the same people with 

 the Seres, mentioned by Horace, Virgil, Mela, Ammia- 



f Strabo, lib xv. 



