4N 



CHINA. 



CHINA. 



471 



many iimet during the day ; and Uutt abort 100 million' of poundi 

 are annually exported : Mr. Travers indeed estimates (' A few 

 Word* oo the Tea Duties,' 1858) the total amount of the dried leaf 

 produced annually in China at no leu than 8240 million* of pound* 

 m :. 



No good land is reserved for pasture in China. Cattle and horse* 

 are turned out on wart* or unprofitable land. The railing food for 

 cattle U no part of a Chine** farmer'* occupation. Agricultural* are 

 exclusively employed in railing food for man. Few cattle are kept 

 The cow* are amall and of inferior value. The Chine** generally 

 hare an inveterate prejudice against the UMI of butter and cheese ; 

 dairy farming i consequently unknown. The *heep are of the large- 

 tailed kind, but much smaller than English sheep. The goata are all 

 straight-homed. Pig* are perhaps the most valuable of the animal* 

 bred for food. The greatest care U taken with them ; the breed is 

 small but very excellent, and the flesh is pronounced by Europeans 

 to be of unusual delicacy of flavour : the breed has been freely intro- 

 duced into our farmyards. Puppie* and several other animals 

 unknown to the European kitchen are, a* is well known, among the 

 highly prized of the animals specially reared for the Chinese 



The Chinese horses are not numerous, and of a poor and stunted 

 breed, being very ill fed and kept. Few things excited more the 

 surprise and admiration of the Chinese, in their visits to Hong Kong 

 after it had become an established English settlement, than the size 

 and strength of the English horses. Asses and mules are employed 

 in carrying loads, buffaloes in drawing the plough, but of neither 

 is the race good or the numbers large. The mules are however 

 better than the horses, and are said to bear a higher price, as being 

 capable of more labour on less food. The demand for beasts of 

 draught or burden is greatly lessened by the circumstance that 

 throughout the empire loads are carried by the very skilful porters 

 called ' coolies,' and the canal boats dragged along by men who are 

 trained to the work, while the price of their labour is so low as to 

 render the competition of animals generally unprofitable. 



The wild animals, like the vegetables of China, belong principally 

 to the temperate zone ; since the low average of the thermometer 

 (which as far south as Canton U little above 70) and the cold 

 winters are unfriendly to the existence of numerous tropical tribes 

 which are found in corresponding latitudes of India. The larger and 

 more ferocious descriptions of carnivorous quadrupeds are not com- 

 mon in a country so well peopled and cultivated. In the forests of 

 Yuu-n&n, to the south-west, the Bengal tiger is said to exist, and the 

 animal is well known to the Chinese ; but at Canton, so nearly in the 

 latitude of Calcutta, it is quite a stranger. Lions are almost a fabu- 

 lous animal with them. The woods of the south abound in a small 

 but fierce description of wild cat, which is fattened in cages for the 

 table. The domestic dog of China is uniformly one variety, about 

 the size of a moderate spaniel, of a pale yellow and occasionally a 

 black colour, and a coarse bristly hair on the back ; sharp upright 

 ears, and peaked head, not unlike a fox's, with a tail curled over the 

 rump. Bears are common in the hilly wooded parts of Shan-si, west 

 of Peking. Of the common ruminant animals, the Chinese possess 

 several varieties of deer, particularly a spotted kind kept about their 

 residences. Oerbillon describes a species of antelope abounding on 

 the borders of Mongol Tartar}- , but called by the Chinese hu&ng-yang, 

 ' yellow goat' The buffalo used in ploughing is very small, with a 

 skin of slate-colour, thinly covered with hairs. Dromedaries are 

 much used as beasts of burden between Peking and Tartary ; but in 

 China Proper the reasons which cause human labour to supplant 

 every other have prevented their being adopted. The wild boar 

 may be found in the half-reclaimed countries on the western borders, 

 but not in Central China, nor on the east coast, where tillage and 

 population have reached their present height Of the other wild 

 pachydermatous tribes, the elephant U not at present an inhabitant 

 of China, unless it be in Yun-n&n, nor is he usud for purpose* of 

 either peace or war. The one-horned rhinoceros is found in the 

 forest* of the extreme west and south. Of rodent animals, the com- 

 mon rat attains to an unusual size, and is well known to be eaten by 

 the lowest orders of the Chinese. Dr. Gray has described a glirine 

 animal discovered by Mr. Reeves, being nearly allied to the bamboo 

 rat of Sumatra, as a new genus. 



The ornithology of China is distinguished by some splendid 

 varieties of gallinaceous birds, a* the gold and silver pheasants and 

 Reeves'* pheasant, the longest tail-feathers of which approach the 

 extraordinary dimension* of six feet Another description is called 

 the medallion pheasant, from a beautiful membrane of resplendent 

 feathers which i displayed or contracted according as the animal is 

 affected. China abound* in wild fowl of all kinds, and particularly 

 in immense flocks of geese, observable during winter near Canton. 

 The yuen-yang, a teal of splendid plumage, has been called the ' man- 

 darin-duck,' and U remarkable for the attachment between the male 

 and female : it may now be considered a* naturalised in England. 

 The fishing corvorant, employed on the shallow lake* of the country 

 in capturing fish, ha* been described a* a brown pelican with white 

 throat; body whitish beneath, spotted with brown; tail round-d 

 irides blue, and bill yellow. Among the miscellaneous birds of China 

 may be enumerated quail* which an often trained to fight; the 



common ringdove, of which great numbers breed in the wood* about 

 Canton ; and the peculiar crow of the country, marked with white 

 about the neck. 



Of reptile*, it is remarkable that the largest kinds of saurian*, a* 

 the crocodile and alligator, are unknown even as far south a* Canton, 

 wobably in consequence of the vast population and traffic that exist 

 on the rivers. Qreat number* of the small lizard tribes are visible 

 during the hot months, some of them infesting tree* and shrub*, 

 while others inhabit hole* in rock* or old wall*. Several fresh-water 

 tortoises have been sent home, and some new genera of batrachians, 

 or the frog kind, have been described. Notwithstanding its situation 

 under the tropic, Canton is little infested by the venomous kinds of 

 serpents ; the species most dreaded is a smallish slender snake, 

 between two and three feet in length, called by the Chinese ' the black 

 and white,' from being surrounded from head to tail with alternate 

 rings of those colours. 



Of fishes, a large collection of Chinese specimens has been lodged by 

 Ur. Reeves in the British Museum. The golden carp is one of the most 

 distinguished kinds, and has long been bred in Europe from the origi- 

 nal specimens which were carried by the Dutch first to Java and thence 

 to Holland. Of edible sea-fish the best kinds near Canton are a sort 

 of rock-cod and a flat-fish called tsang-yu by the Chinese, and pom- 

 ret by Europeans. Soles are good and plentiful, but the fish most 

 valued by native epicures is the sturgeon. 



Fishing both by sea and on the rivers is most diligently practised. 

 It is the opinion of Sir J. F. Davis that " in no other country beside* 

 is so much food derived from the waters." The fish are mostly salted, 

 and consumed with rice. 



Among insects, the locust commits great ravages occasionally in 

 particular districts, and rewards are given for its destruction. Some 

 if the most poisonous tribes, as scorpions, are not met with at Canton ; 

 out the centipede, which the Chinese call by exactly the same name 

 of pe-tso (hundred feet) is common. A monstrous spider has been 

 seen inhabiting trees, and attaining to a size and strength that enable 

 it to devour small birds entangled in iU webs. Dr. Abel notices the 

 Scarabtfui molottut, the Ceratnbyjr farinona, and the mole-cricket of 

 a large size. On a mountain lying eastward of Canton, called Lo-fow- 

 shan, there are butterflies of a gigantic size and very brilliant colours, 

 a selection of which is sent annually to Peking. The pc-la-hoo, or 

 wax-tree, affords nourishment to an insect which is supposed to belong 

 to the Cocoa tribe. 



Political Diritiont. China is now politically divided into eighteen 

 provinces, of which seven extend entirely or partly over the great 

 plain, two comprehend the hilly districts, two others the moun- 

 tainous country along the sea, and the others the mountainous 

 country in the interior. 



1. Pe-tcho-li extends over the most northern and less fertile portion 

 of the plain, but is well cultivated, and produces, besides vegetable* 

 for the supply of the capital, large quantities of millet and wheat 

 In it U situated PEKING, the capital of the whole empire ; the capital 

 of the province is Pao-ting-foo, a very large and populous town, in 

 which the governor resides. 



2. Chang tung comprehends a part of the plain and the peninsula 

 of Chang tung, on which au isolated mountain range rises to a mode- 

 rate height It produces wheat, millet, and cotton. Its capital is 

 Tii-nan-foo, a Urge and populous town. Lin-tchin-tchtou, at the con- 

 fluence of the canal with the river Eu-ho, is the depository of the 

 goods which are carried from the southern provinces to Peking, and 

 a very large place. 



3. Kiang-su, which with the following province once formed that 

 of Kmng-uan, comprehends the low and swampy country on both 

 sides of the Great Canal It chiefly produces rice and pulse, and 

 has extensive fisheries. Besides the capital, NAXKINO, it contains 

 many large towns on the banks of the canal, among which the most 

 remarkable are Yang-lcheou-foo, which is at a short distance from the 

 Yang-tse-kiang, and carries on an active trade; and Su-lcheoufoo, 

 which to an extensive commerce unites great industry in manufac- 

 turing silk and cotton goods. Its principal port is SHANGHAI, a 

 town apparently destined to rival Canton as an entrepot of commerce. 



4. Ngan-hoei, or An-hoi, on both sides of the Yang-tse-kiang, pro- 

 duces, besides grain and rice, some silk. In its south-eastern districts 

 are extensive plantations of tea, and also some mines of gold, silver, 

 and copper. The capital is Nyan-kiny-foo, on the Yang-tse-kiang. 



6. llo-uan U chiefly in the plain, but its western districts are 

 traversed by the Pe-ling mountain range and its branches. It is rich 

 in grain and cotton, and is supposed to contain some mines. In it* 

 south-eastern district* tea is cultivated. The capital, Khaifony-foo, 

 is not far from the banks of the Hoang-ho ; but the most populous 

 town appear* to be llo-nan-foo, on a river which falls into the Hoang- 

 ho, in a richly-cultivated valley. 



6. Hoo-pi comprehends part of the undulating portion of the 

 plain, and the wide valleys of the Han-kiang and Yang-tse-kiang, with 

 some mountainous districts. It lies in the centre of China, and 

 formerly constituted with the more southern province of Hoo-nan one 

 province called Hou quang. Its fertility is very great : it* products 

 are grain, cotton, silk, and tea, which are cultivated on its north- 

 eastern border. Its capital, Wtt-lchangfao, situated on the Yang-tse- 

 kiang, opposite its junction with the Han-kiang, is one of the largest 



