723 
DR MEDHURST’S CHINESE MlSCEfXANV. 
correctly described. The remainder is a reflection of the fables 
and superstitions of the Javanese and Malays. The whole picture 
is exceedingly interesting as a guage of the Chinese mind—a 
measure of the knowledge and faculty of observation which they 
possess. The Chinese names of places would have been invaluable 
to Mr Landresse and Mr Laidlay in their recent editions of Fa¬ 
bian’s travels. The following are from Mr Ong-Tae-Hae’s remarks 
on the Dutch :— 
With respect to the Dutch, they are very much like the man who stopped his 
ears while stealing a bell.* Measuring them by the rules of reason, they scarcely 
possess one of the five cardinal virtues ;$ the great oppress the small, being overbearing 
and covetous, thus they have no benevolence; husbands and wives separate, with 
permission to marry again, and before a man is dead a month his widow is allowed 
to go to another, thus they have no rectitude; there is no distinction between 
superiors and interiors, men and women are mingled together, thus they are with¬ 
out propriety: they are extravagant and self-indulgent in the extreme, and thus 
bring themselves to the grave, without speculating on leaving; something to tran¬ 
quillize and aid their posterity, thus they have no wisdom. Of the single quality 
of sincerity, however, they possess a little. As it respects the manners of the 
natives, with their uncouth forms, their singular appearances, dwelling in hollow 
trees, and residing in caverns, with their woolly hair and tatooed bodies, their 
naked persons and uncooked food, and all such monstrous and unheard of matters, 
it is scarcely worth while wasting one’s breath upon them. 
The situation of Batavia is low, and the dwelling-houses are very close together; 
but when you get out into the campongs or villages, you meet with the gardens 
and parks of the Hollanders, adjoining one another, for miles together. There you 
have high galleries and summer pavilions, bridges and terraces, so elegant and 
beautiful, as almost to exceed the compass of human art; the extreme skill and 
cleverness displayed in erecting them no pen can describe. Every seven days 
there is a ceremony-day or sabbath, when from nine to eleven m the morning, 
they go to the place of worship, to recite prayers and mumble charms ; the hearers 
hanging down tlieir heads and weeping, as if there was something very affecting 
in it all: but after an hour’s jabber they are allowed to disperse, and away they 
go to feast in their garden-houses, and spend the whole day m delight, without 
attending to any business. Then you may see the dust of the carnages and the 
footsteps of the horses all along the road, in one unbroken succession, presenting a 
Ve 7should S say e that these lands of the western ocean have something agreable in 
them, and something to be lamented. The climate is not cold, and the whole year 
is like a continual summer; all the flowers are in bloom during the four seasons, 
in the time of our winter and spring the nights are rainy and the days fine, truly 
this is an enchanting state of things and very agreeable. In their manners Euro¬ 
peans aim to be polite, and affect an elegant air; they seem delighted at meeting 
with their friends, and are lavish in their compliments to one another; if a man m 
his poverty make application to them, they do not reject him, whether he be of the 
same clan or only distantly connected, they do not look strangely upon him. When 
young people see a stranger, they compliment him with a bow, and when menials 
meet their masters, they honour them by kneeling; this 19 according to the liberality 
of human feeling displayed in ancient times, and is truly praiseworthy. J he soil 
is rich and fertile, and necessaries are cheap and easily procured; a peck of rice can 
be bought for a few cash, fowls and ducks aye cheaper even than vegetables, -and 
for a mere trifle you can obtain an attendant; this is a cheap state of things,, and \u y 
agreeable. But there are no writings of philosophers aud poets, wherewith to beguile 
the time ; nor any friends of like mind, to soothe one’s feeling's ; no deep caverns 
or lofty (covers, to which one could resort for an excusion; all which is very much to 
be lamented. 
* Intimating that they try to hide their vices from themselves, and f£ n l;that 
they are as much concealed from others. They have a story in China, that while 
a man was stealing a bell, he stopped his own ears, to prevent his hearing the noise, 
mid then thought that others were also deaf to the sound. 
* The five cardinal virtues among the Chinese are benevolence, righteousness, 
propriety, wisdom, and truth. 
