TUNG-CHOW. 
119 
through the representation of his favourites, whose falsehood or truth 
he is from all accounts too weak to estimate. 
But whatever be the true explanation, there can, I apprehend, be 
little doubt that mendicity has been common in China, at various 
periods, from the earliest ages of the Christian era. In the reign of the 
Emperor Tay-tsoung, of the dynasty Chong, occupying a part of the 
fourth century, it was formally reported to the Emperor by one of his 
counsellors, that “ men were found in the country and in cities who 
could only obtain the means of existence by begging.” * From Nieu- 
hoff we learn, that at the time of his visit to China, beggars, “ bold and 
troublesome,” “ ill-featured and mis-shapen,” “ covered with sores, 
mangled, and deformed,” frequented the towns and cities of the em- 
pire. f Mr. Bell’s work:): affords similar evidence ; and De Guignes, 
who attended the Dutch Embassy, declares, that in his journey he met 
with them in towns and cities; and Huttner, according to the same 
author, affirms that the city of Pekin is filled with them. § Such are 
the benefits of the boasted patriarchal government of China. 
The reader will readily imagine, that my visits to streets displaying 
no other objects than those which I have just described, were 
not very frequent. I should have been glad to direct them to 
the neighbouring country, but it was forbidden ground ; whenever I 
was tempted to penetrate only a short distance beyond the space 
covered with houses, I was hurried back by the soldiers who attended 
me. It was not till after we left Tung-Chow that our conductors 
thought it proper to bring us into good humour, by giving greater 
latitude to our researches. I therefore restricted myself to forming 
acquaintances with the occupiers of houses which stretched along that 
bank of the river by which our boats were anchored. These people 
being all timber-sellers, with whom I could not deal, had no self- 
* Memoires concernant les Chinois, tom. v. p. 163. 
-J- Nieuhoff, Embassy to China, 2d edition, page 163. 
| Bell’s Journey to Pekin, vol. ii. p. 43. 
|§ De Guignes, Voyage a Peking, tom. iii. p. 135. 
