Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843

Some of the temples at Ningpo are very handsome, and one of them in particular is well worth seeing. They fortunately escaped the plundering of the Chinese thieves. Not so, however, the private houses, particularly in the suburbs, which were less under our control, and were almost as extensive as the town. In these, one whole street was discovered entirely at the mercy of the mob, who had carried off nearly everything that could be moved, in almost every house. Several of these rogues were caught in the act, and were handed over to the tender mercies of the people themselves. Several of them, also, were well flogged, and others had their tails cut off, by the general's orders.

One of the buildings which attracted most interest was the town prison, in which Captain Anstruther and others of our unfortunate countrymen had been so long confined. The identical cages in which they had been shut up were found still there, and others of a similar kind, ready for the reception of any of the barbarians who might fall into their hands. The way in which Captain Anstruther managed to find out his old prison was rather curious. He is said to have had himself blindfolded, and then carefully numbered the steps he had formerly taken, and the different turnings he had made; and by these means contrived, within a few yards, to hit the very spot.

A party arrived there in time to get possession of some Sycee silver which had not yet been removed from the offices; but it is supposed that much more had already been carried away by plunderers. A very large quantity of the base coin called cash, the only coined money of China, was found in another part of the town; and the enormous stores of grain, belonging to government, were also taken possession of, and afterwards sold to the people at a cheap rate. This produced a considerable addition to the prize fund, but the policy of selling it at so low a rate was somewhat questioned. Every man was allowed to go into the stores, at which a strong guard was placed, and fill as large a sack as he could carry out of it for one dollar, its actual value being about four. But only a small portion of this was actually obtained by the poor people; for it was asserted, at least by the Chinese, that the farmers themselves managed to get a considerable share of it by means of their servants, so that they might be able to continue to keep up the price by a species of monopoly. It was also feared that, in case of a failure of the crops, a serious famine might happen to the people, owing to the want of the accustomed stores which are usually laid up by the government, in the paternal spirit of providing the poor with food at a moderate price, in the event of such a contingency. The sum added to the prize-fund by the sale of these stores of grain, of which there was said to be two years' supply, was considerable. There were also large stores of sugar discovered in the town.

Amongst other unexpected prizes, not the least interesting was that of a stud of Chinese horses, or ponies, small, but hardy little things, used exclusively for saddle, and generally employed only by the higher mandarins. Upwards of forty of these ponies were selected, and trained for the artillery, and amusing enough it was to see the commencement of their apprenticeship. One of the great disadvantages the General laboured under, on many occasions, was the want of horses for his staff; the necessity of carrying his orders on foot not only caused delay, but rendered the duty very harassing, particularly during some of the hot, sultry days in the earlier part of this campaign.

The Chinese horses are extremely small, literally ponies, but strong, and of good bone and tolerable figure; but they are not numerous, being considered rather as a valuable indication of rank or wealth than as the common slave of man, either for labour or amusement. The Chinese take no pains to improve the breed, and very little care of them, as to their food, grooming, &c. In reality, a Chinaman is the most awkward-looking horseman imaginable, and the walk or the jog-trot is the only pace that either his inclination, his dignity, or the slippery nature of his causeways, permit him to adopt. Population in China is so dense, and consequently labour so abundant, that they stand in very little need of the help of the lower animals to assist the hand of man, and rather grudge the food which is necessary for their maintenance.

The best way to obtain a good view of Ningpo and the surrounding country is to ascend the pagoda, which forms one of its most striking objects. It is one hundred and fifty-five feet high, of an octagonal form, having windows all the way up, with a lantern in each; so that, if lighted up, the effect would be very striking. The lower part of it is built of stone, but the upper part of brick. In other respects it differs but little from other structures of the same description. It appears to be connected with a public burial-ground, as numerous graves and monuments lie scattered round it. From the top of it you get quite a panoramic view of the city and the river, with its two tributaries or branches, the mountains in the distance, and the fine, rich, alluvial, well-watered, and highly-cultivated plain which extends down towards the sea-coast.

The town itself differs little in appearance from that of Canton and most other towns in China, but it is considerably smaller than the former; it has the same narrow streets, crossed here and there by the heavy stone arches, or rather tablets, which are frequently erected to do honour to some great or popular man, the same curious, long, ornamented sign-boards, on each side of the shops, and the same crowded clusters of houses, of curious shape, and mostly of one story.

Many of the houses of the better class of people, not deserted entirely by their owners, were visited by our officers, who generally met with a very courteous reception. Indeed, the Chinese well know how to make a virtue of necessity, and to conciliate your good graces by the offer of tea, cakes, tobacco, or flowers, rather than run the chance of exciting your ill-will, or your less friendly visits, by an affectation of independence or rude indifference. The Chinese of the respectable classes are capable of being extremely courteous, are well-bred, and even elegant in their manners; and the proper mode of treating them is to insist on this kind of demeanour as if it were due to you, and to accept it as your right. But there are no people who can be more rude, overbearing, and uncourteous than the Chinese, when they think that they can withhold from you with impunity, or without notice, the courtesies which are habitual among themselves.

Considering how much the property of the inhabitants of Ningpo was at our mercy, it is creditable that so little injury was done to it during the many months in which the city was in our possession. But it is also deserving of remark that, during the whole period of the war with the Chinese, no considerable collection of Chinese curiosities or works of art, many of which are extremely interesting and novel to us, was made for public purposes. With the exception of a few specimens of Chinese weapons and clothing, which were sent to different public institutions by private individuals, no attempt was made to form a sort of Chinese Museum.

It is also to be regretted that some one or more scientific gentlemen were not attached to the expedition, who, with the assistance of an interpreter, might have made us acquainted with many interesting subjects of natural history, and of the productions of the country. Where, for instance, is the immense quantity of Sycee silver, which is annually exported from China, obtained? Where are their copper-mines, and how are they worked? Coal mines also exist in several parts of China; at Ningpo, coal was sold in small quantities, and at Nankin immense supplies of excellent coal were found laid up for the coming winter, and our steamers found it answer very well. The mineral productions of China, of which there are probably many, are almost entirely unknown to us.

The taste for European manufactures had reached Ningpo long before we got possession of it. There were one or two shops for the sale of what were called Canton wares, that is, English goods brought up from Canton, and, of course, sold enormously dear. In one of them was a quantity of English glass of various kinds. English gilt buttons were found, and were in demand for the dresses of the higher classes, particularly of the women, who seemed to prefer those which had the East India Company's crest, the lion, upon them. A large quantity of cloth was also found imported from Russia, and called Russian cloth; but, in reality, there is little doubt that the cloth was manufactured in England, for Russian merchants, expressly for their overland trade with China. It is a known fact, that orders of this description, for cloth made expressly of a particular kind, have long been executed in England. This, then, ought now to become a direct trade in our own hands.

The Chinese appear to excel in the art of wood-carving, some very fine specimens of which were found in their houses. One house in particular at Ningpo was distinguished by the tasteful carving of its furniture, particularly of that which belonged to the bed-rooms. Some of their wardrobes and bedsteads were elegantly ornamented with carved work, inlaid with various kinds of wood, and representing landscapes, figures, &c. Some of their specimens of fretwork, with silk at the back, and of embroidered silk furniture, were extremely elegant. Above all things, they excel in the art of varnishing plain or carved wood, and they have also some method of giving a fine gloss to painted work, which very much increases its durability, although it is different from varnish.

One of their greatest deficiencies appears to be in the mode of lighting their houses. Glass is so little used, and the manufacture of it so imperfectly known among them, that almost the only mode which they adopt of letting in the light, and of excluding the air at the same time, is by lattice-work windows, sometimes neatly carved, and lined inside with very thin transparent paper. Occasionally, however, a single pane of glass is found in the centre of the window, while in other instances the whole of it is covered with the thin transparent lining of oyster-shells, which admit a very imperfect light. The artificial lighting of the best houses is often very well effected by coloured lamps, several of which are suspended from the ceiling, and painted with various designs, landscapes, &c. But the painting is on, not in the glass; the latter art appears to be quite unknown to the Chinese.

Generally speaking, it was not safe to wander far from the gates of the town, except when a large party went together upon a shooting excursion. Pheasants, and a sort of pigeon, with woodcocks and teal, were generally found without difficulty; but the Chinese seemed mightily astonished that any one should take the trouble to walk over the country, mile after mile, merely for the trouble of shooting birds. It is curious that, expert and indefatigable as they are in catching fish, they should be so indifferent to the art of catching or killing birds, which are to be found in almost every part of the country in great abundance; but they seem to be deterred by the trouble of seeking for them, and have very little knowledge of the relative value of the different species as articles of diet. The lower class of people will gladly devour any kind of bird you shoot for them. I have seen them glad to get birds of prey even, and yet they take no pains to secure the thousands of wild-fowl which are to be found upon the banks of the same rivers in which they catch their fish.

That it was not safe to go out alone, even well armed, soon became evident, for they made more than one attempt to carry off a sentry on duty, and would have succeeded in their object, had not the guard instantly come up on the alarm being given. On these occasions, as may be supposed, a Chinaman or two stood a chance of being shot. But the boldest of them all were the professed thieves, who continued to commit depredations upon their countrymen in the most barefaced manner, in spite of the severe examples which were sometimes made.

On one occasion, when a small foraging party was out looking for poultry and bullocks, some Chinamen pointed out a spot where they said a quantity of Sycee silver had been concealed. This was too great a temptation for the soldiers to resist; but the moment they had loaded themselves with the silver the Chinese surrounded them, and they were obliged to let fall the Sycee in order to defend themselves, and then beat a retreat. A quarrel then arose of course among the Chinese about the division of the spoil, of which they had not robbed their countrymen, but had only captured it from the barbarians.

So many attempts were made to entrap our soldiers and sailors, and to carry them off, both at Ningpo and Chinhae, that great caution was necessary, and, in spite of the many warnings, some of their attempts were successful. They had less inclination to molest the officers; not that they loved them better, or desired them less as prisoners, but that they had greater respect for the double-barrelled pistols which many of the officers carried in their pockets, and which all were supposed to be provided with.

An attempt was made more than once by the Chinese to rob our commissariat stores, but it was frustrated by our vigilance. But the Chinese are uncommonly expert house-breakers, as many people in Hong-Kong can testify, where houses and stores of the most substantial kind were broken into in a very ingenious manner, generally by removing some of the stones or bricks near the foundation.

The attempt to establish a Chinese police at Ningpo, and also at Chusan, was tolerably successful; at least it was not difficult to find men who were willing enough to receive the pay, and wear the badge of a policeman; but it is not quite so certain that they were equally ready to detect thieves, or to protect the property of individuals. Sometimes, by way of appearing to do something, they gave false information, which served to create a stir for the moment. Upon the whole, they were certainly of some use; but the want of knowledge of the language, and the small number of interpreters, since Mr. Gutzlaff had almost the sole management of them, rendered their services less available than could have been wished. They were occasionally useful as spies, and obtained information of reports among their countrymen, concerning the plans and intentions of the mandarins.

But, besides these, we had also regular spies in our pay, one of whom, a Chinese who spoke English, and came to be known by the name of Blundell, was sent up to Hang-chow-foo, but was afraid to deliver the paper which was entrusted to him, and returned without having accomplished his object. He was supposed to be employed as a spy by both parties, the Chinese as well as ourselves. Generally, pretty correct information was obtained of the proposed movements of the Chinese, the assembling of their troops, and the orders of the imperial cabinet.

At Ningpo, and in its neighbourhood, there were no indications of hostile preparations for some time after the place was in our possession. It was not until quite the end of November that reports, upon which reliance could be placed, reached the general, that troops were collecting in some of the neighbouring towns, particularly at Yuyow, the town which had already been visited, and rumours were afloat of some projected attack, on the part of the Chinese, upon Ningpo itself. Plans now began to be laid for dispersing these different bodies of troops, and for the purpose of instilling a wholesome terror into the minds of the people; but active measures did not take place until two or three weeks afterwards.

In the meantime, the Nemesis was sent over to Chusan, stopping a day or two at Chinhae on the way, to procure fuel, and to overhaul a number of large junks which were at anchor a few miles from the mouth of the river. They were found to be laden principally with peas, rice, oil, walnuts, liquorice-root, &c.; and had they been met with a few months later, they would all have been detained, as were hundreds of a similar kind at Woosung; but at this time they were not molested. Opium was found in them all, in small quantities only, for the use of the people on board, but apparently not for sale.

The weather was now clear and bracing, and the sickness which had partially attacked our troops, on first taking possession of the town, had almost entirely disappeared.

On the occasion of a visit to the opposite side of the river, a singular circumstance occurred. Two Chinamen were seen at some little distance, hastening along with a large round basket carried between them, carefully covered up, but which at first attracted little notice. Some of the party had the curiosity to raise up the covering a little, when, to their great surprise and amusement, a very young and pretty-looking Chinese lady was found stowed in it, hoping, probably, by this device to escape detection. The poor thing was almost frightened to death; but she remained perfectly quiet until she was covered up again, when the men were allowed to trot away with her as fast as they could.

Shortly afterwards, a gay-looking sedan chair was seen passing near a village, probably belonging to some of the mandarins; but no sooner did the party run up to examine it, than its occupier jumped out and ran away for his life.

But the most singular thing of this kind was finding a Chinese lady stowed away in the locker of a boat, as if she were dead. Orders had been issued by the admiral to examine all junks leaving the city, in order to prevent them from carrying away plunder. One of these had just been examined, without finding anything of value on board, when it occurred that something might still be concealed in the after-locker, a sort of cupboard of moderate size. On opening this sanctum, it appeared to contain what looked like the dead body of a female, recently put into it, well dressed, and, judging from her handsome shoes and small feet, a person of some importance. This looked a very strange affair; but as no one could speak a word of the language, it was impossible to inquire into it. However, as it appeared to be a capital opportunity to examine the nature of a Chinese lady's foot, the men were ordered by Capt. Hall to lift the body out; and this appeared likely to be no easy matter, so closely did it seem to be jammed in. But the moment the Jacks laid hold of the shoulders, a tremendous scream issued forth, as if a ghost had suddenly been endowed with some unearthly voice. The poor thing had only shammed being dead, in order, as she thought, to escape detection. She was now very gently lifted out, and not without some difficulty, being literally half dead with the fright and confinement. In the bottom of the locker beneath her was found a bag of money, with which she had evidently attempted to escape. She was, of course, allowed to go away without further molestation, boat and all.

The question of infanticide has been already alluded to in a previous chapter. According to Barrow, it was considered part of the duty of the police at Pekin to collect every morning, in a cart sent round for the purpose, the dead bodies of infants which were thrown into the streets during the night. Sometimes they were found still alive, and these were commonly rescued by the Roman-catholic missionaries, who attended for the purpose, and subsequently brought them up in the Roman-catholic faith. Mr. Gutzlaff also alludes to this horrible practice, as being far from uncommon, and as being perpetrated without any feelings of remorse, but almost exclusively upon females. Among the immense population which live in boats, and upon the rivers of China, it is impossible to calculate how many are disposed of by being drowned. But, in Pekin, Barrow gives the average number destroyed, at twenty-four every day. Some allowance must, however, be made for those which die of disease during the earliest period of life in a country where medical science is at so low an ebb.

With the exception of some of the Tartar towns, such as Chapoo and Chin-keang-foo, where wholesale murder was committed by the men upon their wives and children immediately the places were captured, little evidence was obtained of the existence of the revolting practice of infanticide. We have seen that at Amoy the bodies of several infants were found sewed up in sacks; and it was also said that a cave was found at Chinhae, in which were a number of bodies of female infants, also tied up in bags. But it was an extremely rare thing to find an infant abandoned in the streets alive or dead. An instance, however, occurred at Ningpo one evening, when Captain Hall and a party from the Nemesis were returning towards their boats. They were just passing a joss-house, or temple, when something attracted attention lying upon the steps leading to the entrance. On examination, it proved to be a female infant (always females) recently abandoned, and though extremely cold, still living. The little thing was carried down to the boat by a marine, who was the orderly. Every attempt was made as soon as it was brought on board to revive it, but without success.

Infanticide undoubtedly does exist in China, but it may be suspected that the statements of its prevalence have been exaggerated, and certainly it is confined to the lower classes, among whom the means of subsistence press very heavily. The Chinese are generally remarkably fond of their children. A Chinaman's three great wishes and most cherished hopes are – length of days, plenty of male offspring, and literary honours. To be the patriarch of a long line of descendants is generally the aim of his proudest ambition.

After a delay of two or three days at Chinhae, the Nemesis was sent over to Chusan at the end of November, whither the admiral, and Sir Henry Pottinger, had already preceded her. Great changes and improvements were found to have taken place, even in this short space of time. The shops were now all open, and the streets filled with people, who were pursuing their ordinary avocations without any appearance of alarm or fear of interruption. In fact, they were settling down very quietly under our rule, much more so than on the former occasion when the town was in our occupation.