376 



CHINA. 



stones of mi e jual length, which repose on the 

 columns or piles, and afford a flat convenient pas- 

 sage from one side to the other. Tin- piles rising 

 out of the water are shaped like a boat or burge with 

 a sharp bow, the acute angle being directed against 

 the current, that they may suffer the less from the 

 violence and lashing of the waves. The horizontal 

 stones are twenty-two paces long by two oroad, 

 and there are 1400 of these mighty stone beams 

 all alike. To prevent passengers falling off, bal- 

 ustrades with lions cut in stone, and other orna- 

 ments, are placed on both sides of the bridge. 

 The whole of the bridge is built of one sort of 

 black hewn stone. Where this bridge stands 

 there was formerly a ferry, which was rendered 

 extremely dangerous by the rapidity and violence 

 of the stream. Iti the province of Fokien there 

 is another majestic bridge over an arm of the 

 sea, built of yellow and white stone. It is 2475 

 feet long, and 8J feet broad ; has a hundred very 

 lofty arches, and is adorned with sculptures of lions 

 and other animals, in the prevailing taste of the 

 country. The Chinese described to the mission- 

 aries a similar bridge, but of nearly twice the length, 

 as existing near the city of Focing. The Chinese 

 have, besides, numberless bridges of boats, which 

 correspond with those in use in Europe ; and they 

 have, and had long before we adopted them, sus- 

 pension bridges. In addition to their bridges, sim- 

 ply for the passage over waters, they have an im- 

 mense number of others to level their roads, 

 thrown from mountain to mountain, over deep 

 ravines; and these are frequently approached by 

 excavations and by roads hewn out on the moun- 

 tains' sides of extraordinary dimensions and diffi- 

 culty. In the Alpine regions of the province of 

 Xensi, there is a succession of these bridges and 

 works for about ten miles. 



The public roads in China are represented by the 

 Jesuit missionaries as being so pleasant and so 

 nicely paved, that a traveller might fancy he was 

 walking over the streets of a city. Whenever an 

 irregularity of surface occurs, if an elevation, the 

 industry of the people has either levelled it or cut 

 through it; and, if a hollow, they have filled it up. 

 The roads are often paved with stones neatly laid 

 in and fitted to each other ; and, in regular succes- 

 sion, stone columns, not unlike our mile-stones, 

 mark the distances. At each eighth of these pil- 

 lars, which is computed a day's journey, there is 

 an inn erected by government, and under the direc- 

 tion of the local magistrate, where every person 

 travelling on the business of the state is enter- 

 tained according to his rank. The common inns 

 on the road are pretty numerous, but narrow and 

 mean, and badly provided. In these imperial high- 

 ways, as in their canals, the Chinese delight in 

 straight lines ; and, like the bridges, the roads are 

 often ornamented with triumphal arches, and with 

 temples and pagodas in which travellers may repose 

 by day, but not stay all night, except indeed they 

 be mandarins, when they may make very free with 

 the houses of their gods, and with the idols them- 

 selves if they stand in their way. In some pro- 

 vinces, the public roads are flanked by a row of 

 trees on each side, when they look like a pleasant 

 mall or promenade, or by walls, eight feet high, to 

 prevent the passengers damaging the well-culti- 

 vated fields and gardens. At proper distances 

 there are seats erected in a neat style for the repose 

 of the weaYy traveller, which are well guarded both 

 a^r.inst the winter cold and the summer heat. 



There are also occasionally found along these road* 

 men employed by rieh and charitable individual:- to 

 distribute to the poor travellers tea, and, when tin: 

 weather is severe, a sort of decoction of ginger, for 

 which no return is required save that the way! 

 forget not the name of their bcni-lactors. 



From the vast population ot the Chinese empire, 

 and the very restricted nature of their commerce, 

 it be'comes necessary that the greatest aite..tion h<, 

 paid to the pursuits of agriculture The govern- 

 ment has, from very remote times, had the merit 

 of respecting and honouring the tillers of the noil, 

 and of rewarding those who improved agriculture 

 with the highest distinctions. In the ranks of 

 society the husbandman, taking precedence of sol- 

 diers, merchants, artisans, and others, stands next 

 to the man of letters, or state officer. Both the 

 soldiery and priesthood, whenever the service of 

 the former permits, and whenever the establish- 

 ments of the latter are endowed with lands, are 

 practical agriculturists. Every soldier stationed 

 on the different guards by the great wall and else- 

 where, has his portion of land assigned to him, 

 which he cultivates, and pays his quota of the 

 produce to the state. Even the emperor himself, 

 at the vernal equinox, after a solemn offering to 

 the God of heaven and earth, repairs to the fields, 

 ploughs a few ridges of land, and casts in the fruc- 

 tifying seed. Rice, and not corn, is the staff ot' 

 life in China. It is cultivated wherever the water 

 necessary to its growth can be commanded, and 

 most of what is really admirable in the industry 

 and ingenuity of the Chinese farmers is to be found 

 in their system of irrigation and their economy of 

 the precious fluid. The Chinese eat an immense 

 quantity of garlic and onions, and these the fisher- 

 men cultivate even on the bosom of the waters 

 over which they are constantly sailing. Having 

 positively no houses on shore, nor fixed abode, and 

 consequently no inducement to cultivate patches 

 of land, which their more important pursuits of 

 fishing might require them to leave, they have in- 

 vented a system of culture which may move with 

 them, and they thus transport their gardens where- 

 ever they may go. This they do by constructing 

 rafts of the ever-useful bamboo, which are well 

 interwoven with weeds and strong grass, and then 

 launched on the water and covered with earth. 

 These floating gardens are made fast to the stern 

 of their junks and boats, and towed after them. 

 Thousands are born, brought up, and die in these 

 boats, having no more communication with the 

 shore than necessity com pels. The boats are covered 

 over in the after-part with a kind of bamboo mat- 

 ting, sufficiently strong and waterproof to keep out 

 the rain, and of length sufficient to allow the in- 

 mates to lie down unexposed to sight. These poor 

 creatures, from being confined in so small a place, 

 accustomed to squat upon their hams, and crawl 

 about their boat, are generally very awkward in 

 their motions when on their feet. Their male 

 children are taught the art of swimming as soon as 

 they know the use of their legs, until which time 

 they wear a calabash suspended round their necks, 

 to buoy them up in case of their falling over- 

 board. 



The constitution of the Chinese empire is patri- 

 archal. The fundamental principle of the admin- 

 istration is to preserve the peace of the empire at 

 all events. Its constitution is less the work of 

 political wisdom than the production of time and 

 circumstances. Revolutions have occurred: the 



