CHIXA. 



capital in hi* own country Hooin, and commenced a now dynasty. 

 In oon*<ju<-noe of the distraction* which had arisen from women 

 and eunuch* interfering in affair* of government during the period of 

 the 'Three State*,' a kind of alique law was peed tha> "queen* should 

 not reign norauut in public matter*;" and accordingly we meet with 

 no female sovereign* in their hiitory. 



On the oonolu*ion of thi* race of monarch* in 416 China became 

 divided into two principal kingdom*, Nanking being the capital of 

 the touthern one and Honan of the northern. For about 200 yean 

 afterward* fire *uoce**ive raora (Woo-Ue) rapidly followed each other, 

 and the aalutary role of hereditary uooeenon being conatantly violated 

 by the *tronget, the whole hiitory of the interval i* a mere record of 

 oonteata and Crimea. At length in 585 the north and south of modern 

 China were united for the first time in one empire, the capital of which 

 wa* fixed at Honan. The hut of the fire contending race* wa* soon 

 after deposed by Ly-yuen, who in 622 founded the dynasty of Ting. 

 There i* reason to believe that certain Chriitian* of the Nestorian 

 Church first came to China about this time. It is recorded that 

 foreigner* arrived baring fair hair and blue eye*. According to the 

 Jesuits, whom Du Halde has quoted, a stone monument was found 

 by them in Shen-ei with the cross, an abstract of the Christian law, 

 and tha names of sevmty-two preacher* in Syriao characters bearing 

 the date of 640. The dynasty of Ting was put an end to by a power- 

 ful leader in the year 897, and the whole country wa* thrown into a 

 state of war and confusion, with *rveral aspirants to the sovereignty. 

 This period, which lasted about fifty-three years, is principally dis- 

 tinvuiihed by the incursions of the Tartar people at the eastern extre- 

 mity of the Great Wall, who being encouraged by the unsettled and 

 divided state of the country gave great trouble by their inroad*. After 

 a succession of civil wan Tae-Uoo, the first emperor of the Soong 

 dynasty, wa* raised to the throne by the military leaden, 950. The 

 art of printing having been just previously invented (about 500 yean 

 before it was known to us), the multiplication of books became a 

 principal cause of the literary character of the nge of Soong. The 

 Chinese however being much less warlike than learned, the eastern 

 Tartan advanced apace ; they took possession of a part of northern 

 China, and threatened the whole country. They were destined Boon 

 to be checked, not by the Chinese, but by the Mongols, who inhabited 

 the countries which extend from the north-western provinces of China 

 to Tibet and Samarkand. They liad already conquered India, and 

 being now called in against the Kill or Eastern Tartan, they soon 

 subdued both them and the enervated Chinese, whom they had been 

 invited to protect The Mongols might be said to be masters of the 

 northern part of modern China from the middle of the 13th century. 

 Kublai Khan, finding himself possessed of the provinces bordering on 

 the Wall with Peking for his capital, sent his army against the hut 

 sovereign of the Soong dynasty, then a child. Little or no resistance 

 wa* offered to the Mongols, who exercised great cruelty on the van- 

 quished. The remain* of the Chinese court betook themselves to the 

 sea near Canton, and perished with the emperor, 1281. Notwith- 

 standing the great qualities of Kublai Khan, which were calculated 

 to lay the foun lation of a permanent dominion, his succeabon of the 

 Yuen race, a* they are called, by their rapid degeneracy caused the 

 empire to pass out of the hand* of the Mongol race in a little more 

 than eighty yean' time. Enervated by the climate and vices of the 

 south they quickly lost the courage and hardihood which had put 

 the country in possession of their anceston ; and Shun-ty, the ninth 

 emperor in succession, was compelled to resign the empire to a 

 Chinese. The new sovereign who commenced the native dynasty of 

 Ming, 1366, selected Nanking as his capital, erecting Peking into a 

 principality for one of his younger sons, Yoong-lo. When thii prince 

 succeeded a* third emperor of hi* family the capital was finally trans- 

 ferred (1408) to Peking ; a principal reason perhaps being the necessity 

 of keeping in check the Eastern Tartan, who had been joined by some 

 of the refugee* among the expelled Mongols. From this union sprung 

 the Manchows, who were destined at length to expel the Chinese 

 dynasty and establish a permanent Tartar dominion. In the year 

 1618 Wan-li*. the thirteenth emperor of the Chinese dynasty, being 

 on the throne, a war commenced with these Manchows ; and the 

 empire pawed in 1044 to Shunchy, the fint of the Ta-taing race, of 

 whom the ceventb emperor is now reigning. Such i* the brief sum- 

 mary of the principal revolution* in the history of thi* ancient empire, 

 which for nearly two centuries past ha* been governed by a foreign 

 nee, who had the sagacity to adopt the political and social system of 

 a nation which so greatly out-numbered themselves. 



Within the last few yean the long-continued quiet of the empire 

 ha* been twk-e rudely disturbed ; fint by the war with England, ol 

 which we have already spoken, and sinov that by the insurrection 

 which is itill raging, and which threaten* to overturn the reigning 

 dynasty. Of the real nature of this rebellion we are at nresent in 

 ignorance. Early in 1851 rumuun were spread of a revolutionary 

 movement having broken out in the southern province of Qunng si 

 At fint it wa* litUe heeded ; but when month after month pasaed 

 away and it rein lined unrepreawd, iU progress attracted great atten- 

 tion, and the Imperial govemn.ent watched the movement with much 

 anxiety. The insurgent* continued to increase in number nnd daring ; 

 while the Imperial)*** appeared to offer but a feeble resistance. Town 

 after town fell into their hands, and in March 1852 they took the 



important city of Nanking. In May of the following year the port- 

 town of Amoy was taken, which ha* however been since re-taken. In 

 September 1853 Shang-hai, the next commercial city to Canton, wa* 

 captured. The insurgent* have continued to gain ground, meeting 

 in remarkably few instance* with any decided reveres. By the latest 

 intelligence received (in February, 1854) it appean that the main 

 army i* within 60 or 60 mile* of Peking, and a very lar,'e part of China 

 i* more or le* in the hand* of the rebel*. A* we said before, it i* 

 difficult to arrive at any certain knowledge of the real character of 

 the movement beyond that of it* being intended to overthrow the 

 reigning Manchow, and a* it appean to restore the Ming dynasty. 

 By many it is believed to have a religious origin, and to be mainly or 

 equally directed to the overthrow of the existing state worship. 

 There can be no doubt that a decidedly religious seal of some kind 

 pervade* the camp of the insurgent*, and that a good deal of religious 

 mystery is thrown over the proceedings of the leaden. But that it is 

 of a Christian and even Protestant character, a* many affirm, it i* 

 very difficult to believe. The most probable explanation of the great 

 sucoe** of the movement is that it was net a-going by certain secret 

 societies, the existence of which ha* long been known to Europeans, 

 and the branches and ramification* of which have been for many yean 

 past stretching throughout every part of the e-.ipire and gaining over 

 m.-mbors from all grades of Cbin-se society. This will account both 

 for the slight opposition offered by the Chinese authorities and the 

 ready acquiescence of the general population ; while the watchword* 

 and religious solemnities of which so much has been said may be 

 parts of the original system of the secret societies. 



As before the arrival of the Europeans China was frequently 

 divided into two or three states, the northern portion of it waa called 

 by the adjacent nation* of Centnl Asia 'Cathay,' and under this name 

 it became known to the Russians and Mongols, whilst the inhabitants 

 of India called the southern part ' Chin,' under which name the Portu- 

 guese and other Europeans became acquainted with it In the 17th 

 century, and not before, it was ascertained that Cathay was China, 

 and that the great town of Cambald was identical with Peking. 



(Du Halde ; Staunton ; Lindsay ; Hitter ; Davis, China ; Outzlaff, 

 China Opentd; Hall, Narrative of Voyaga and Service* of the 'Nemetii;' 

 Meadows, Desultory JVotet on the U'vrernmtnt and People of China ; 

 Fortune, Tea Dutrictt of China; Gallery and Yvan, Iiuurrection in 

 China; Parliamentary Papcrt, &c.) 



CHINCH AS, a group of three islands in the Bay of Pisco, on the 

 coast of Peru, lie between 13 and 14 S. lat, 76 and 77 W. long. 

 They are naturally bare rocks, without a sign of vegetation of any 

 sort, but they have obtained great celebrity for the vast quantities of 

 guano with which they are covered. The islands lie nearly north and 

 south, and are separated by channels from one mile to two miles 

 broad. In their general formation they are all alike. On the eastern 

 side they present a perpendicular wall of rock, from the edge of which 

 the guano slopes towards the centre of each island, where a pinnacle 

 of rock rises above the surface ; from this point there is a gentle slope 

 to the western shore, the guano continuing to within a few feet of 

 the water. Each of the islands i* about two mile* round ; and each 

 presents the appearance of a flattened cone, the rocky inequalities of 

 the original surface having beeu filled up and covered with the guano, 

 the cutting* of which vary in depth from a hundred feet to a few 

 inches. Round the base of the islands little rocky peninsulas jut out, 

 in which the washing of the sea ha* formed many caverns, the resort 

 of sea-lions. Whales also are frequently seen gamboling about the 

 islands. The middle inland has been moderately worked, but the 

 greatest quantity of guano ha* been taken from the north island : 

 the south island is still untouched. The quantity of guano on the 

 three islands has been estimated at 250 millions of tons. Guano i* 

 also found on the Battista Islands, and upon San Oallen Island, which 

 lie immediately south of the Chincbas, but only in small quantities. 

 It i* also found on the Lobos Islands, off the north-west coast of Peru, 

 and at various point* along the coast of South America ; but what 

 is obtained from the Chincha Islands is prized above all other deposits 

 on account of it* extreme dryneas, a* nin never falls upon these island*. 

 The steepness of the clills that form the shore and the great depth of 

 water (seven fathoms close in) afford great facilities fur loading ship*. 



Uuauo wa* u*ed a* a manure in the time of the Incus, and the 

 Spaniard* learned its use from the Peruvian*. The name is a cor- 

 ruption of the Spanish ' huano,' itself a corruption of the Peruvian 

 ' huanu,' signifying excrement. The substance ha* been deposited in 

 the course of age* by counties* flocks of sea-birds pelicans, gunnels, 

 mews, mutton-birds, diven, gulls, penguin*, and others, which still 

 frequent the islands, but not in such numben as formerly, the great 

 concourre of ships engaged in the guano traffic having driven many of 

 them away. The guano deposit* are regularly stratified, the lower strata 

 are solidified by the weight of the upper, and are of a dark red colour, 

 which becomes gradually lighter towards the surface. Under the 

 sun-baked crust of the surface the hints scratch deep oblique holes, 

 in which they lay their eggs, one or two in each hole, so that the 

 upper layer of guano i* completely honey-combed by the bird*. In 

 addition to the excrement of birds, guano contains decomposed egg- 

 shells, and the bones and remains of fish brought by the old birds to 

 their young. 



A ship having taken in by her boat* enough guano to ballast her 



