Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 165 



barks, gums, oils, and resins, used in the arts. Rosewood, ebony, sandalwood, Ironwood, 

 and a great variety of others are sent to Europe for cabinet work. Tlio Chinese aloe has 

 the height and figure of an olive tree. It contains within the bark three sorts of wood ; the 

 first, black, compact, and heavy, is called eagle-wood ; it is scarce ; the second, called 

 calambooc, is light like rotten wood; the third, near the centre, is called calamba wood, 

 and sells in India for its weight in gold ; its smell is exquisite ; it is an excellent cordial 

 in cases of fainting, or of palsy. 



1004. Tlie national agricultural fete of the Chinese deserves to be noticed. Every year 

 on the fifteenth day of the first moon, which generally corresponds to some day in the 

 beginning of our March, the emperor in person goes through the ceremony of opening 

 the ground ; he repairs in great state to the field appointed for this ceremony. The 

 princes of the imperial family, the presidents of the five great tribunals, and an immense 

 number of mandarins attend him. Two sides of the field are lined with the ofliicers of 

 the emperor's house, the third is occupied by different mandarins ; the fourth is reserved 

 for all the laborers of the province, who repair thither to see their art honored, and prac- 

 tised by the head of the empire. The emperor enters the field alone, prostrates himself, 

 and touches the ground nine times witli his head in adoration of Tien^ the God of heaven. 

 He pronounces with a loud voice a prayer prepared by the court of ceremonies, in which 

 be invokes the blessing of the Great Being on his labor, and on that of his whole people. 

 Then, in the capacity of chief priest of the empire, he sacrifices an ox, in homage to 

 heaven as the fountain of all good. While the victim is oiFered on the altar, a plough is 

 brought to the emperor, to which is yoked a pair of oxen, ornamented in a most mag- 

 nificent style. The prince lays aside his imperial robes, lays hold of the handle of the 

 plough with the right hand, and opens several furrows in the direction of north and 

 south ; then gives the plough into tlie hands of the chief mandarins, who, laboring in 

 succession, display their comparative dexterity. The ceremony concludes with a distri- 

 bution of money, and pieces of cloth as presents, among the laborers ; the ablest of whom 

 execute the rest of the work in presence of the emperor. After the field has received all 

 the necessary work and manure, the emperor returns to commence the sowing with simi- 

 lar ceremony, and in presence of the laborers. These ceremonies are performed on the 

 same day by the viceroys of all the provinces. 



SuBSECT. 9. Present State of Agriculture in Chinese Tatari/y Thibet, and Bootan. 



1005. Chinese Talari/ is an extensive region, diversified with all the grand features of 

 nature, and remarkable for its vast elevated plain, supported like a table, by the moun- 

 tains of Thibet in the south, and Allusian chain in the north. This prodigious plain is 

 little known ; its climate is supposed to be colder than that of France ; its deserts to consist 

 chieHy of a black sand ; and its agriculture to be very limited and imperfect. Wheat, 

 however, is said to be grown among the southern Mandshurs. 



1006. Thibet or Tibet is an immense tract of country little known. It consists of two 

 divisions, Thibet and Bootan. The climate of Thibet is extremely cold and bleak to- 

 wards the south, for though on the confines of the torrid zone it vies in this respect with 

 the Alps of Italy. That of Bootan is more temperate j and the seasons of both divisions 

 are severe to those of Bengal. 



1007. With respect to surface, Bootan and Thibet exhibit a very remarkable contrast. 

 Bootan presents to the view nothing but the most misshapen irregularities ; mountains 

 covered with eternal verdure, and rich with abundant forests of large and lofty trees. 

 Almost every favorable aspect of them, coated with the smallest quantity of soil, is cleared 

 and adapted to cultivation, by being shelved into horizontal beds : not a slope or narrow 

 slip of land between the ridges lies unimproved. There is scarcely a mountain whose base 

 is not washed by some rapid torrent, and many of the loftiest bear populous villages, 

 amidst orchards and other plantations, on their summits and on their sides. It combines 

 in its extent the most extravagant traits of rude nature and laborious art. 



10()8. Thibet, on the other hand, strikes a traveller, at first sight, as one of the least favored countries 

 under heaven, and appears to be in a great measure incai)able of culture. It exhibits only low rocky hills, 

 without any visible vegetation, or extensive arid plains, both of the most stern and stubborn aspect, pro- 

 mising full as little as they produce. 



1009. The agriculture of Thibet has many obstacles to contend with. Its common pro- 

 ducts are wheat, pease, and barley. Rice grows only in the southern parts. Turnips, 

 pumpkins, and cucumbers are abundant. The greater part of the plants wliicli travellers 

 have noticed arc such as are met with also in Europe and in Bengal. At the foot of the 

 mountains are forests of bamboos, bananas, aspens, birches, cypresses, and yew-trees. The 

 ash is remarkably large and beautiful, but the firs small and stunted. On the snow-clad 

 mounUiins grows the rheum undulatum, which the natives use for medicinal purposes. 

 The country contains, both in a wild and cultivated state, peaches and apricots, apples, 

 pears, oranges, and pomegranates. The cacalia saracenica serves for the manufacture of 

 chongi a spirituous and slightly acid liquor. 



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