CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE PLUMAGE TRADE IN CHINA. 



To tlic luiiturs of " Knowledge." 



Sirs, — Mr. Bucklaud's scathing attack on the iniquities of 

 the plumage trade, in his address before the Selborne Society, 

 has drawn a reply from the Feather Dealers denying the 

 e.xtinction of the Heron in China. As a nature lover, and one 

 who has lived and travelled much in China, I am impelled by the 

 request in the August number of " Knowledge " to give the 

 benefit of my experience, in the hope that it may be of some 

 interest upon the points at present under discussion. 



In the first place it would be just as well to point out that 

 there are few, if any, districts in China that could be termed 

 inaccessible. The enormous population of the Chinese Empire, 

 and the tremendous struggle for existence that perpetually goes 

 on among its teeming millions of industrious people, makes it 

 a stern necessity to utilise every bit of land possible for food 

 production, no mattc'r how poor and unproductive it may be. 

 One of the most impressive sights in the mountainous districts 

 of West China is the marvellous manner in which the most 

 unlikely places are turned to good account in this way. As 

 you sail through the gorges of the upper Yang-tsze you are 

 amazed to see little homesteads perched away upon seemingly 

 inaccessible heights, surrounded by little patches of growing 

 crops here and there ; in fact, wherever the slope is not too 

 steep to retain the soil, there you will find something useful 

 cultivated. Consequently, wherever you go in China you can 

 never get away from human habitations. There are no great 

 forests or dreary wastes, and, while some districts are more 

 sparsely populated than others, the general rule is that every 

 bit of land is needed for the support of an immense population. 

 The suggestion of the feather traders that the birds had retired 

 to " less accessible " districts, betrays, therefore, the most 

 absolute ignorance of China and the Chinese. In fact, no such 

 places as are implied by the traders exist in the Chinese 

 Empire any nearer than the Central Asian deserts. 



Mr. Buckland is not quite correct in stating that the 

 " molestation did not come from the inhabitants of China." 

 In some parts of China, at least, they are not altogether 

 despised as food. I cannot speak from personal experience 

 upon this point, as I have ne\er myself seen any herons 

 exposed for sale or used for food. Dr. Wells Williams (a 

 most reliable authority), however, in his History of the Middle 

 Kingdom, vol. i, page 339, gives a very horrible account of 

 the cruelty practised upon Egrets exposed for sale in the 

 markets of Canton, to which I would refer those who desire 

 further information upon this point. Only, it is well to 

 i-emember that the tastes of the Cantonese, gastronomically and 

 otherwise, differ widely from the majority of the inhabitants of 

 China. For instance, most people believe that all Chinese eat 

 dogs ; as a matter of fact, however, this habit is almost 

 entirely confined to Canton, so that it is not safe to judge the 

 whole of China by the customs of one city, or even of one 

 province. I am therefore certain that outside of Canton the 

 White Heron is universally discarded as food. The Chinese, 

 too, are not altogether free from blame in the matter of the 

 nefarious plumage trade, and while the l-'uropean exporters in 

 Shanghai are mainly responsible for this horrible business, 

 yet, the actual killing off of the birds has been done by the 

 Chinese themselves. This is hardly to be wondered at, if we 

 consider the extreme poverty of the people, and the — to them — 

 fabulous prices paid for plumes. How the trade is worked is 

 mainly in this way. China, for a considerable number of years 

 past, has been over-run by native agents of European firms, 



buying bristles, feathers, down, hides, and so on, and these 

 buyers have been the principal instruments of destruction in 

 this shameful plumage traffic. While representing highly 

 reputable merchants in the Treaty Ports, who would, of course, 

 disdain to have anything to do with such a trade, they have at 

 the same time been acting on behalf of the plumage exporters, 

 and as there is good money to be made out of it no eft'orts 

 were spared by them, wherever they went, to procure these 

 beautifid adornments of the Osprey. The knowledge that 

 high prices could be obtained for these things was thus 

 disseminated far and wide, and led, of course, to poor people 

 everywhere adding to their meagre income by hunting for the 

 greatly desired and highly valuable plumes. In consequence of 

 this almost universal war upon the heronries these beautiful 

 birds have now been practically exterminated in many parts 

 of China, where hitherto they were fairly plentiful. It is 

 impossible for me to speak definitely about the whole of China, 

 but what I have said certainly applies to the great region of 

 the Yang-tsze Valley, and, from my own observations and 

 from what I have heard first hand from Chinese, I am inclined 

 to believe that Mr. Buckland is not very far wron^ in assert- 

 ing that the Heron has practically disappeared from 

 China. 



During my residence in the West of China I knew 

 intimately many of these roaming representatives of European 

 commerce that I have described, and all of them have many 

 a time complained to me of the increasing difficulty of obtain- 

 ing a supply of plumes, due entirely, of course, to the 

 disappearance of the Heron from former prolific sources of 

 supply. If any further proof was needed upon this point, 

 surely it is supplied by the stringent prohibition which was 

 placed upon the export of plumes by the Chinese Government 

 some ten years ago. That the exportation still goes on is, 

 unfortunately, only too true, and the Chinese Government have 

 the misfortune to be too powerless in the matter of this 

 clandestine and illegal business — as in other things where 

 foreigners are concerned — to deal with it effectually To 

 those who do not know China, it is impossible to 

 conceive how difficult it is for the Chinese Government to 

 enforce anything for the good of their own people or country, 

 if it should happen to conflict with the interests of the 

 foreigners. The law of ex-territoriality, too, makes the 

 European commercial intriguer all supreme, and, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that all intelligent Chinese are against such a 

 wicked despoliation of their country, yet they are practically 

 helpless in their well-meant efforts to suppress it. 



It is perhaps too much to expect any genuine support being 

 given by our own country to the beneficent efforts of the 

 Chinese to save this beautiful bird from extinction. A nation 

 that for the sake of conuiiercial gain can look calmly and 

 serenely upon the awful spectacle of the destruction of the 

 souls and bodies of countless millions of Chinese, by forcing 

 upon them our accursed Indian opium, is not likely to be 

 moved to much sympathy with this most righteous bird- 

 preservation propaganda by any consideration, either aesthetic, 

 moral, or human. In fact our national conscience seems to be 

 dead ; past all hope of resurrection. One thing is certain ; 

 unless we begin by helping ourselves we shall never to able to 

 help anybody else. \Ve could not, therefore, make a better 

 beginning in this direction than by stopping the importation 

 of these plumes into our own country. A sweeping and 

 comprehensive Act of Parliament to enforce this, and to deal 

 effectually with the present critical state of affairs in the world 

 of Nature, is the crying need of the hour. 



W.H. 



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