Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Ii Part 21

Vegetable tallow (_Schulah_, or _Schu-kau_, tree fat) is obtained from the _Stillingia sebifera_, the so-called tallow tree, and, judging by the experiments made with it, promises under an extended system of cultivation to become a tolerably profitable article of export. The tallow tree flourishes throughout the southern provinces, but is chiefly found in the island of Chusan and the coasts adjacent. The tallowy substance procured from the seeds, which externally resemble nuts, is sold in cakes of from 90 to 130 lbs. at from 7 to 12 dollars.

Vegetable or tree wax (_peh-lah_) is a waxy substance, which the _coccus pela_ or _flata limitata_ deposits, apparently as a protection to its eggs, on a sort of ash tree, on whose twigs and boughs it is deposited like snow-flakes. It is gathered after the first frost, and purified by melting it in a cloth held over hot water. Apparently the process is varied by dipping what has been collected in a silken sack into hot water.

It melts at 81 Fahr., and in consequence of its unusual stiffness is much used for admixture with bees-wax and other descriptions of fats used in the manufacture of tapers. The candles. .h.i.therto made in England of this substance have commanded a large sale, and only the circ.u.mstance that as yet but a small quant.i.ty has found its way into commerce, prevents its being much more extensively cultivated. The price of _Peh-lah_ is rather high, as it fetches about 11 10_s._ per 133 lbs.

Pa.s.sing from the various natural products furnished for export by China to a consideration of those articles[176] of European industry, for which the Chinese market supplies an ample demand, we find that their number is considerable, while they represent a value of upwards of 5,000,000. In these pages, however, we propose to notice only that article which is the most profitable, and undoubtedly forms the chief staple of import in all the harbours opened to foreign commerce, viz. opium. Opium (_a-pien_), the solidified sap of _Papaver somniferum_, was, as every one knows, up to quite a recent period, a monopoly of the Anglo-Indian Government, by whom it was cultivated under the superintendence of agents in the various provinces of Hindostan, and sold to the trade by public auction in large quant.i.ties at a time in the markets of Calcutta and Bombay. It seems to fulfil among the Chinese the function of the various spirituous liquors of Europe; at least every attempt to introduce among the Chinese a taste for ale, whisky, sherry, port, champagne, and claret, has. .h.i.therto entirely failed. Indeed there is probably no country of the globe where, in proportion to population, there is so little spirituous liquor introduced as into China, what is imported being almost exclusively for the consumption of foreigners. The Chinese is emphatically a born "tea-totaller," or friend of abstemiousness, for the native drinks, subst.i.tutes for wine, which are obtained chiefly from rice and millet, are only used on special occasions, and then only in small quant.i.ties. During our entire stay in Chinese waters, we never saw one single Chinese drunk, and heard in every quarter that any such cases are rare and quite exceptional. On the other hand, the consumption of opium is continually increasing, and the quant.i.ty of solidified poppy-juice annually imported amounts to from 75,000 to 80,000 chests, which at current rates represent a value of from 7,500,000 to 10,000,000. There are four descriptions of opium that come to the Chinese market, viz. Benares (_Ku-ni_), Patna (_Kung-ni_), Malwa (_Peh-pi_), and Turkish (_Kiu-ni_ or golden dung). Of these the Patna and Benares are reckoned of finer quality, and consequently are more sought after, than that imported from Malwa, but both descriptions are preferred by the Chinese to the Turkish, and even to that produced at home.[177]

The custom of opium-smoking is of comparatively modern introduction among the Chinese. It was about the commencement of the 18th century,[178] that the practice of mingling opium with tobacco as an antidote against toothache, headache, and pains in the body first began to prevail. Chinese sailors and merchantmen, returning from the islands of the Bornese Archipelago, had learned from the natives to inhale it as an anaesthetic, which, depriving them of all activity, brought the most delightful visions before their eyes. It is unquestionably the prohibition of wine to the believers in the Koran which first directed their attention to this narcotic substance, which the Western Asiatics swallow in pills, the Hindoos chew, and the Chinese smoke. In 1750, there were imported into China from Turkey, Persia, and Bengal, chiefly by Portuguese merchants, some 200 to 250 chests according to official return (of 140 lbs. each), ostensibly for medical use. Nothing could be more welcome to the entire Empire than a means of pa.s.sing the intervals of relaxation from the hurry of business, in a state of absolute exemption from all anxiety, rocked in the most delightful slumbers! In 1773 the East India Company sent a small portion of opium to China by way of speculation. Seven years later they founded an Opium Depot in Larke's Bay. In 1781 the Company sent 2800 chests (of 140 lbs. each) at one single s.h.i.+pment to Canton, where it was purchased by a "Hong," or a.s.sociation,[179] for trading purposes. The Company found itself compelled, however, to re-export a quant.i.ty, as at that period there was not in China a sufficient demand for such a supply.

The first regular s.h.i.+pments began in 1798, when 4170 chests were sent to the account of the a.s.sociation in China, and then sold at Rs. 415 (about 41 10_s._) per chest.[180] Since that period the import and consumption have been steadily increasing at a geometric ratio, and a table now before us, drawn up with great labour and industry by Dr. Medhurst, informs us that between 1798 and 1855 there were imported altogether 1,197,041 chests of opium from Bengal, which, after deducting all expenses of cultivation and s.h.i.+pment, represented a net gain to the East India Company of 67,851,853.[181]

Relying on the splendid profits secured to the East India Company, and its colleagues settled in China, by the opium traffic, no one troubled himself in the slightest with the many protests of the Chinese Government, any more than the anathemas launched at opium dealers and opium-smokers by English missionaries and philanthropists. The dealers, growing richer day by day, contented themselves with laconic replies to the more virulent of their antagonists, to the effect that they were but supplying a want originating in a national custom, and that it was as futile to attempt to prevent the Chinese from smoking as to restrain Europeans from the use of spirituous liquors. Both when abused are productive of much evil, and even then opium was productive of far less destructive ravages on the human organism, and was never followed by such appalling catastrophes as those resulting from alcohol. The dark side of the opium traffic has since been so fully exposed, that but little more remains to be said, and although even the most sanguine persons have ceased to hope that the trade can ever be entirely suppressed, yet it is at least consolatory to know that, according to the best calculations, the number of opium smokers throughout China, in a population that is to say of 420,000,000, is not above 4,000,000 to 5,000,000, and that an ordinary smoker does not on an average consume more than one mace or about one drachm[182] of opium, worth about 90 cash, or 3-1/2_d._ The provisions of the new tariff, by which opium may be imported unrestrictedly on payment of a fixed duty of 30 taels (about 10) per chest when water-borne, and 20 taels (about 6 10_s._) when imported by land, must materially effect the opium trade as. .h.i.therto carried on, and may very possibly alter the views at present entertained by the Chinese Government with reference to this important article of commerce, in proportion as its treasury begins to be replenished by such a high rate of duty.

Although for European readers the chief interest of China is to be found in its relations with foreign countries, we yet cannot take leave of it without a few remarks on the momentous political movement which has been on foot since 1849 in several provinces of China, and claims, in consequence of its peculiar religious nature, universal interest.

Hung-sin-Tsuen, the originator and head of this rebellion, was born in 1813, in a village near Canton, and while yet in his early youth was, in consequence of his precocity, removed from tending his father's flocks to be a scholar in the village, where he pursued his studies with such zeal, that a year later he took several degrees as a teacher. On one of his visits to Canton, he made the acquaintance of a Protestant missionary, with whom he long corresponded, and from whom he received a variety of tracts translated into Chinese, and books, by way of presents. In the course of a serious illness with which he was a.s.sailed about this period, he had numerous visions, and is said in his delirium to have insisted on being hailed Emperor of China. Gradually Hung and his friend and zealous adherent Fung-Yun-San became, through erroneous or wilful misinterpretation of the works of various missionary societies, the founders of a new creed, a sort of free, semi-Christian sect, which, as it could not long subsist without coming into collision with the reigning Government, very speedily a.s.sumed a political character. It is an indubitable fact that at first the religious movement was supported by the Protestant missionaries, and the views of its founders forwarded by every means in their power, with the object of using it to prepare the soil for the promulgation of Christianity. When about entering his forty-first year, Hung formed an alliance with American missionaries stationed at Canton, studied their books, after which he returned to the province of Kuang-si, where he published writings descriptive of the alleged manifestations of the Deity, gave himself forth as a poet,[183] and at the same time issued proclamations under the designation of the "Heavenly King." The severity with which the regular Government treated the insurgents, and all who consorted with them, only served to augment their ranks, to which the mysticism of their doctrine contributed in no small degree; for the credulous ma.s.ses have in all lands the same love of the marvellous and unintelligible. Such a result only increased the courage, the energy, the arrogance of Hung. He no longer was content to announce himself as "the mouth through which G.o.d the Father, and Jesus the Elder Brother, declared their will;" he now proclaimed boldly the intention of himself and his followers to overthrow the unworthy Mantchoo dynasty, and raise to the throne a new native dynasty, that of the Tai-ping, or universal peace. Although stigmatized by the official _Pekin Gazette_ as "local banditti," they were nevertheless strong enough in March, 1852, to storm even such a populous city as Nankin, where they set up a provisional government, and have since fortified it as their head-quarters. At the time the Tai-ping rebellion first broke out, Yeh, the then Governor of Canton, thought he would readily be able to suppress it by the summary process of chopping off the heads of all who were supposed to be in correspondence with them, and thus had as many as 800 executed daily.[184] It was no longer quite safe for a native to show himself in the streets of Canton, unless provided with a paper of identification. For this purpose, four-cornered pieces of a sort of white cotton fabric were worn, on which was printed a sign in red. These cotton strips served as countersigns for those friendly to the reigning dynasty, and were worn concealed from view, but so as to admit of being at once shown in case of need. Dr. Pfitzmaier, who has examined this sign, is of opinion that it is simply a union of the three signs [Chinese character(s)] which, so far as the two last are concerned, seem to have been compressed together and abbreviated, so that only the initiated could understand its significance. The learned sinologue is of opinion that this hieroglyphic, signifying "to offer hand and heart," or "to offer the original (own) heart," has nevertheless no meaning apart from the centre figure, which, however, is unusually distorted, so that the whole may also mean [Chinese character(s)] Kia-hoei, "to yield grace and benevolence," or may be applicable to him who wears it, "one who enjoys the all-embracing Imperial clemency."

The religious direction of the Tai-ping movement, coupled with its apparent Christian tendencies, its results, and, above all, the last hostile proclamation of the Pekin Government against foreigners, roused the sympathies of both Europeans and Americans in favour of the insurgents; and in the English papers of Hong-kong and Shanghai, the policy was vigorously and repeatedly advocated of turning the insurrection to their own advantage; while in a religious point of view it was recommended to avail themselves of the favour shown to the Scriptures by the Christian sect of the Tai-ping, which was also so amicably disposed to foreigners, who at all events were more likely to prove a bulwark and support to English Protestantism than the deceitful, promise-breaking, idol-wors.h.i.+pping Mantchoos. Letters and communications, which from time to time were published on the visit of Protestant missionaries in the insurgent camp, were apt to propound the most favourable ideas about the insurgents and their strivings after religious truth, and to attach to their victories and successes the most glorious hopes with respect to the spreading of Christianity in China. Fortunately the English Government did not suffer its policy to be affected thereby, but continued to observe the strictest neutrality. Only in those cases where, owing to the advance of the rebels, the interests of British subjects or of universal commerce seemed to be endangered, communications were held with the "Heavenly King"

or his ministers, or to protest against the injury and limitation of trade with the earnestness and depth of impression which Armstrong guns are apt to impart to diplomatic dispatches. Thus the insurgents were prohibited from approaching within 10 Li of the city of Hang-kow, by this measure protecting not alone their own property, but the entire city from pillage and destruction. During the last war the interests of the insurgents were kept entirely in the background, and during the stay of the _Novara_ at Shanghai, which had likewise been repeatedly threatened by the insurgents, we could gain but little enlightenment as to the nature and direction of the movement.

However, since the Treaty of Pekin has thrown open the navigation of the most important rivers, and thus facilitated communication with the interior, there has been a better opportunity than hitherto for intercourse with the Tai-ping, as also for obtaining a clearer insight into its present condition, as well as the object and inevitable consequences of their tenets. People are beginning to consider it more calmly, and even the missionaries seem gradually abandoning the expectations they had formed, of finding in it a means of helping the cause of Christianity, albeit a former missionary, Rev. J. C. Roberts, who in 1847 had spent several months with Hung, is at the present moment a sort of minister of foreign affairs in the insurgents' camp at Nankin. The latest information respecting the Tai-ping enters so fully into the character of the whole movement, and so clearly develops its tendency, that no apology is needed for laying before the readers of every cla.s.s a brief sketch of the more important and significant dogmas.

The Tai-ping translations of the Old and New Testament, though in the whole tolerably correct, yet are in certain parts so imperfect that they implanted the most erroneous ideas in the head of the "Celestial King." He conceived his own visions and revelations as far more important, and of far higher authority, than those of Holy Writ. His mission, as he himself states it, is to be followed by a new revelation, accompanied by numerous miracles, and a third book will be given to the world, which is to supersede the Old and New Testaments, and be called the "_True_ Testament." According to Hung, both G.o.d and Christ have appeared in the human form. Christ is not equal to the Father, that is solely G.o.d; he is also brought into connection with other redeemers, and has a wife and children in heaven.

The Celestial King and his son form with G.o.d and Christ a Quaternity in Unity. The corporeal presence of the Celestial King is that of the G.o.dhead, and in the distempered imagination of the Tai-ping the government now existing in Nankin is a.s.suredly that of heaven itself!

The Tai-ping suffer no one to preach against their creed, because that would be to diminish the authority of their chief, and damp the ardour of their hopes. In their various proclamations it is expressly declared that Hung-sin-Tsuen is the brother of the Saviour, the Son of G.o.d, without any other distinction than such as must exist between an elder and a younger brother. They maintain that there is a celestial mother as well as Father, a heavenly sister as well as a heavenly Brother, and that the recently defunct King of the West, Fung-yun-san, one of Hung's oldest adherents, is now married to the heavenly sister. They hold to the opinion that not one of such of their revelations as clash with the Old and New Testaments, can be decided by such ancient books of religion. Their revelations being the newest, are on that account the most ent.i.tled to belief.

In a letter of greeting addressed by Hung to Roberts[185] the missionary, on the occasion of the arrival of the latter at Nankin, in October, 1860, Hung narrates his heavenly journey in 1837, the repeated miraculous interference of the Father and the Son in his favour, as also the revelations made to the Eastern King. He professes to have seen the Father and Christ, the heavenly mother and the heavenly sister. He is himself "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," just as Christ is. He warns Roberts repeatedly, that implicit belief in this is of the highest importance, as otherwise he can neither be useful in this world nor blest in the next.

After such an exposition, Christian missionaries will scarcely be suffered in the insurgent's camp if they dare to preach against such errors, not to say blasphemies.

There are but few religious ceremonies. The Tai-ping, indeed, call one day of the week the day of prayer, and it happens more through oversight than intention to be fixed upon the Sat.u.r.day, but so far as external sanct.i.ty goes there seems to be no special attention paid to it. They buy, and sell, and delve just as on other days. On the previous night about ten o'clock two or three cannon-shot are fired to announce the approach of the hour of prayer, and that the day of wors.h.i.+p is at hand. Every family is engaged for an hour in devotion and praise. All strangers who have been in communication with the Tai-ping in Nankin state that, even in the capital where he has been resident for seven years past, that dignitary does not observe the Sabbath in any way, either by preaching, prayer, or expounding of the Scripture; there are no exhortations or pious admonitions; they have neither church nor temple; their sole divine service consists in each one reciting in his own house English hymns, and repeating a few prayers, while divers offerings are made, such as tea, rice, and the flesh of slain animals. They offer their prayers kneeling, after which they close the proceedings by singing a hymn standing. An English missionary, who arrived at Nankin with the conviction that the insurgents were genuine sincere Christians, made, after a short stay, the following severe but just remark concerning them: "I found to my regret no trace of Christianity, but a system of the grossest idolatry subst.i.tuted for it, and arrogating its name. Their notion of G.o.d is so distorted, that it is, if possible, still more erroneous than that entertained of the Supreme Being by other idol-wors.h.i.+pping Chinese. Their conception of the Redeemer, to whom they pay equal honours, is crude, and thoroughly material. Their prayers, far from giving the impression of a true reverence of G.o.d, have much more the appearance of an idolatrous mockery of sacred things!"

An English merchant, who accompanied Sir Hope Grant on his reconnoitring excursion up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and spent a week in what used to be called Nankin, now the celestial capital of the Tai-ping, gives the following characteristic sketch of them: "The insurgents take no interest in and do not encourage trade, except in muskets and ammunition. To our representations how unwise it was to lay waste towns and villages, and shut out commerce, they promised, after peace was concluded, to erect schools and other similar inst.i.tutions, and professed their willingness to promote trade, but 'for the present,' they went on, 'we must, before anything else, make the hills and the rivers subject to our power.' On the whole I found the condition of the rebels far better than I had expected.

They are comfortably clothed and well fed. The population of Nankin consists exclusively of officials. No one not connected with the administration of the army is admitted within the gates of the city. The majority of the inhabitants, who number about 20,000, are prisoners and slaves from every part of the empire. Although employed in most arduous work, they get no pay, but are simply clothed and fed. I remarked an extraordinary number of beautiful young women in elegant silken stuffs from Sutschan. There were also prisoners of war from Sutschan and other places, who, however, were by no means inclined to lead a very Christian and moral life in the celestial capital. The city of Nankin, as well as its suburb, the beautiful ancient cemetery of the Ning dynasty, and the far-famed porcelain PaG.o.da, are all utterly destroyed; instead of the broad well-paved streets of former times the stranger has now to pick his steps through heaps of bricks and rubbish. The palaces of the kings of the Tai-ping dynasty are glaringly conspicuous among all these ruins. They must have been entirely rebuilt, for the old Yamuns and temples, like the whole of the Tau-Tai City, have been demolished utterly.

"The rebel chief inhabits a large palace. His household consists of 300 female attendants. He also, in virtue of his rank, has 68 wives supported for him. No one but the kings (of whom there are 11 or 12, but only two are resident in Nankin) is permitted to approach his sacred person.

Probably Hung is little more than a mere puppet in the hands of his ministers. It is he who mainly keeps the rebellion on foot. Discipline is far better maintained among the long-haired insurgents than the imperial troops, and many of the younger soldiers have pleasing manners.

"The kings or w.a.n.gs, on the other hand, seem exceedingly lazy and vicious, and when they make their appearance, with a theatrical attempt at a.s.suming a dignified deportment, clad in the yellow costume of a mountebank, and with a tinsel crown upon their heads, they present a most ludicrous aspect. Not one of these so-called kings understands the Mandarin dialect, so widely diffused among the educated cla.s.ses;--not one, except Hung himself and Kan-w.a.n.g, has a better education than one of his coolies.[186] They have linguists at their elbow, who do their reading and writing for them.

"The arms of the Tai-ping are very wretched, and the bare fact that they are able to make head against the Imperial troops, speak volumes for the utter helplessness and incapacity of the Imperial Government. I have not the slightest expectation that any advantage will accrue to civilization or Christianity from the religio-political movement of the Tai-ping. No Chinese will have anything to do with them. Their whole activity consists in burning, murdering, and devastating. They are universally detested by the people; even those inhabitants of the city who do not belong to the 'Brotherhood' detest them. For eight years their head-quarters have been at Nankin, which they destroyed, nor have they as yet made the slightest attempt to rebuild it. Trade and industry are forbidden. Their taxes are three times higher than those of the regular Government. They take no measures to staunch the wounds which they have inflicted on the people, nor do they occupy it as though they had any permanent interest in the land. They take no pains to tap those slow but sure springs of revenue, or to increase the resources of the state. They lay themselves out to maintain themselves by plunder. Nothing in their organization gives hope for any amelioration of the present or consolidation of power in the future; there is nothing in the entire history of the Tai-ping to enlist sympathy or compel confidence in a movement which, under the mask of religious reform, conceals the most hateful self-interest and terrorism, and under the pretext of spreading peace amongst men, brandishes the scourge of destruction and desolation among the provinces through which it has pa.s.sed."[187]

On the 11th of August the _Novara_ quitted her anchorage off Shanghai, and with the steam-tug _Meteor_[188] fastened to her side availed herself of a spring-tide to make her way into the Yang-tse-Kiang. Off Wusung we awaited the arrival of the post, after receiving which we were on 14th August towed as far as Gutzlaff's Island. Here we had once more to lay to, owing to calms and currents, till at last on the 15th August a fresh breeze sprang up from the S.E., and enabled us to make an offing.

The temperature had materially altered during the last few days. After a cycle of oppressive heat the weather had suddenly changed to severe squalls, with a marked fall in the barometric column. The thermometer, which while we were lying off Shanghai marked from 86 to 93.2 Fahr., now indicated in the morning only 68 Fahr., and during the day never rose above 77 Fahr. The number of fever cases, which had reached the number of seventy, began gradually to fall off. Several cases of dysentery forthwith began to show symptoms of amendment.

Considering the lat.i.tude we were in, and the season of the year, the barometer stood unusually high (30.100), and although this might be attributable to the constant prevalence of easterly winds, we nevertheless knew we were approaching the period when the monsoon changes, and little reliance was to be placed on the steadiness of that from the S.E.

Accordingly on the 17th the wind s.h.i.+fted round to N.E. by E., while our course was due S.E. This however rendered it necessary to tack, if we wished to pa.s.s to the northward of the Loo-Choo group, whereas we could run free and with a fair wind through the southern channel. The sun set behind a bank of dense clouds on the horizon. The western sky was tinged a deep red, and the stars shone out with uncommon brilliancy, but with a sort of trembling ray. The barometer fell slowly but steadily; the sea began to heave perceptibly. Our course was now changed to S.E. by S.

The following morning the breeze freshened, and drew somewhat further aft; the sky was covered with clouds ma.s.sed together, those to the N.E. of a very dark, almost black, colour. Wind and sea were now rising, the sky became more and more obscure, the barometer kept falling--there was every indication of the approach of heavy weather.

The 18th August, the birthday of our Emperor, was duly celebrated far on the open ocean, in the middle of the China Sea. All was prepared for Divine wors.h.i.+p, which was to be celebrated at 10 A.M. on the gun-deck, in presence of the staff and the entire crew. The Commodore had invited several gentlemen of the staff to dinner. On land no one thinks of consulting the elements, when such a festival is to be observed, nor do the guests waste many thoughts on wind, rain, and heavy seas, as they a.s.semble in their comfortable chambers. At sea, on the other hand, the conditions are altered. Wind and weather are the masters here, whose behests the sea-farer must attend to. This was our case on this 18th of August.

First, Divine service had to be dispensed with, because the sea became too heavy, rendering it necessary to close the port-holes in the gun-deck, where, as already mentioned, the service was to be performed. As the hour for the festival drew nigh, the elements gave unmistakeable evidence of their determined hostility; there was no room any longer to doubt that we were about to do battle with a regular Typhoon.[189] This species of storm, which is very customary at the change of the monsoons in August, September, and October, when the N.E. trade suddenly veers round and becomes the S.W. monsoon, is, like the tornado of the West Indies, the Pampero of the eastern coast of South America, and the hurricane of the Mauritius, a whirlwind of the most colossal proportions and most tremendous fury, by which the atmosphere is swept in a circle at an astonis.h.i.+ng velocity around a central point more or less calm, which does not, however, remain stationary, but is continually progressing, and hence they are usually termed _cyclones_, or circular storms, to distinguish them from those other storms in which the wind moves in a straight line.

It has been reserved for scientific investigation to explain the extraordinary regularity of the laws in obedience to which the ma.s.ses of air, in the case of such storms occurring in the Southern hemisphere, move in the direction of the hands of a clock, whereas in the Northern hemisphere they are rotated in an opposite direction. In like manner, the direction of the centre round which the _cyclone_ is raging has been definitely ascertained, so that, provided with these data, it is not merely possible for the navigator to hold aloof from the dangerous central point of these circular storms, where the best and stoutest s.h.i.+p that ever floated must almost to a certainty be swallowed up, but even to avail himself of the wind to reach the edge of the _cyclone_ (the breadth of whose path is from 300 to 1000 miles), and thus make a rapid and prosperous pa.s.sage. By mid-day the wind had increased to such an extent that we had to take in most of our sails, and reef the rest. The sea now rose, and many of its waves came thundering upon our decks. The vessel was tossed to and fro with such violence that everything which had not been made fast, or was attached to the vessel, began to lurch from side to side. Nevertheless, the invited guests sat down to table, made the seats and the table fast, and, such at least whom the violent rocking did not make sea-sick, partook of a pleasant and joyous meal. But even these precautions did not prevent numerous unpleasant accidents. One tremendous lurch of the s.h.i.+p, which took us unawares, suddenly set adrift a number of our mess, who rolled over and over each other upon that unstable floor, amid a hideous chaos of tumblers, bottles, plates, and crockery. Chairs and _fauteuils_ had their legs broken, everything breakable went into irretrievable smash, the convives escaping serious injury only by a marvel. Once more they took their seats at table, where only the bare cloth gave promise of security, and endeavoured to anchor themselves more firmly. When, at the conclusion of the meal, our Commodore gave the usual toast, and his guests emptied their gla.s.ses to the health of the reigning monarch, the band attempted to strike up the National Anthem, and a hearty cheer resounded above the groaning of the s.h.i.+p, the howling of the wind, and the sullen roar of the ever-increasing waves, as they lashed against the s.h.i.+p's sides.

The sun went down behind clouds, as we went careering along under close-reefed main sail and storm stay-sail over a confused sea, running mountains high, and with huge heavy grey ma.s.ses of cloud and mist close overhead; the barometer was still falling, and as night closed in the wind sung mournfully, yet with almost deafening noise, through the masts and rigging. The wind now s.h.i.+fted and sprung up from N.E. by N., which being an additional sign that the centre of the _cyclone_ was receding, we felt a.s.sured that we were on the right side to keep clear of it. By midnight the wind came still further round, till it stood steadily at N.E., when it acquired fresh strength, and blew a most violent hurricane. The centre of the _cyclone_ had once more altered its course, and begun to move in our direction.

Our position at noon (27 25' N. and 125 23' E.) was the most unfavourable possible. We had a N.E. wind, and were in the N.E. section of the typhoon, whose centre, as is customary in these storms, was moving in a N.W. or W. direction, and therefore threatened the more readily to overtake us, that our course lay S.E. through the wide channel, which leads from the Chinese Sea into the open ocean between the Loo-Choo Islands and the Meiaco-sima group. There was now no other egress possible than by steering W. by S. to get away from the advancing centre of the whirlwind, on which course we would have to steer for the N. extremity of the Island of Formosa.

The night of 18th and 19th of August was, in the fullest sense of the word, a night of storms. Towards midnight we once more set double-reefed foresail in order to lie our course of west by south. Had we calculated aright the course of the centre of the _cyclone_, the wind as we advanced should have drawn ahead, as we were now keeping it on our larboard beam.

Daybreak of the 19th found us beneath a gloomy, angry-looking, cloudy grey canopy on every side, the clouds hanging quite low, till they seemed to brood upon the surface of the sea, now lashed into fury by the violence of the storm. The look-out could scarcely see a cable's length clear of the s.h.i.+p. Deluges of rain, lashes of spray, driven on board by the tremendous violence of the wind, enveloped us in a strange, half-mysterious obscurity. Towards the N.E. a compact bank of bluish grey clouds indicated the centre of the _cyclone_. The motion of the s.h.i.+p was so violent that one of her quarter-boats got filled with water, which at every lurch was washed upon the frigate's quarter-deck like a small cascade. Sometimes they became so full that they threatened to wrench the davits from their fastenings. The gun-deck was afloat with spray lashed on board with each pitch of the s.h.i.+p, while the foam flew high up upon the mast. The waves crossed each other in every direction, huge conical ma.s.ses rising suddenly to a height of 25 or 30 feet, as far as one might guess, and then as suddenly subsiding. It was the genuine pyramidal sea of the true _cyclone_, of which vessels caught in these furious circular storms are even more apprehensive than the fury and strength of the hurricane.

The wind, which now began to draw to the westward, indicated that thus far we had shaped a proper course, and that the course of the _cyclone_ lay towards the N.W. Under these circ.u.mstances it was deemed most prudent to make the Marianne Islands, and to avail ourselves even of the hurricane in order to perform a rapid voyage. We accordingly now laid our course to steer S.E. by S., through the centre of the channel south of the Loo-Choo Islands. Considering the width, 120 nautical miles, of this channel, there was reason to hope that, despite the errors in reckoning which were to be expected amid so many man[oe]uvres, and considering the impossibility of getting astronomical observations, and the influence of the sort of currents which those hurricanes usually set in motion for a short period, we might make our way through it in safety.

The wind remained steadily in the N.W., and at first was on our port quarter. Towards noon, however, it came round to N.W. by W., so that we were now running dead before it. We now set double-reefed foresail so as to make quicker progress. Towards 6 P.M. the hurricane woke up to its full strength; squall followed squall, the universal covering of cloud in which the heavens seemed wrapped looked as though it reached to the very waters, and the air was quite filled with spray, till when standing at the s.h.i.+p's stern it was barely possible to distinguish the forecastle. The storm, sweeping along above the seething water, had a singular piercing, almost metallic, note, quite unlike the singing and whistling made among the sails and cordage. Staggering along under close-reefed fore and main sail, and double-reefed top-sail, the frigate pressed on through the thick night, going 14 miles an hour, through the strait between Loo-Choo and Meiaco-sima, out of the China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, whither she was being hurried along with such impetuous, irresistible violence by the wind, that not even the most experienced seaman could make head against it, but had, when pa.s.sing from one part of the s.h.i.+p to the other, to warp himself along by means of a rope made fast fore and aft.[190] At 4 P.M.

the barometer stood at its lowest (29.302, the temperature at the same period being 66.02 Fahr.), where it remained without sensible alteration for several hours. At last, towards 9 P.M., it began slowly to rise, the surest indication, and therefore most welcome one, that we were increasing our distance from the central point of the storm. About 11 P.M. the clouds suddenly lifted on S.S.E., the horizon began to widen; there was no longer a doubt that the worst was over.

At dawn on the 20th the masts and cordage showed a thick incrustation of salt, thus giving unmistakable evidence of the great height to which the spray had been driven. The wind was now W.S.W., and the barometer had risen to 29.5, so that we had now merely an ordinary gale to deal with, and might look upon the _cyclone_ as expended. Science had indicated the method of evading the centre of the circular storm, and even of making the very hurricane subservient to our ends in driving us along our destined course!

At 8 A.M. the sun began to be visible by fits and starts, long enough, however, to permit us to make an occasional observation. According to this we were only one mile out of our position by dead-reckoning. During the 24 hours, inclusive of the period during which we lay to, we had run 218 miles in a general direction of S.E. by E. During the afternoon the sky cleared. The sea was still high, but the atmosphere gradually became clearer and more transparent, till by sundown even the large banks of clouds on the N.E. which continued to mark the centre of the _cyclone_ had entirely disappeared. The _Novara_ during this tremendous storm had proved herself a thorough sea-boat, nor was there any particular damage noticeable on the occasion of the careful inspection to which her sails, masts, and rigging were subjected, immediately that the weather became more favourable. Her masts and sails, which in such a warfare of the elements she might so readily have had carried away, were all found to be uninjured, and only a few plates of her copper sheeting had been loosened by the fury of the waves, while those still clinging to the s.h.i.+p had been rolled up like so much paper, by the tremendous pitching of the good s.h.i.+p.

The quarter gallery too, which when the frigate was running before the wind was exposed to considerable danger, had sustained but little damage.

Such unfortunately was not the case with a small menagerie of rare birds and monkeys, which had been placed in cages carefully covered with linen in this, ordinarily the most sheltered, part of the vessel. The covering had been torn away by the hurricane, and the wind had so tossed the poor things about, that all their feathers were knocked off, and they presented a most pitiable appearance. The quadrupeds too, whose cries and lowings during the storm had already testified to their misery, were found to have suffered severely. Two oxen and several sheep died on the 19th. All the surviving animals lost flesh terribly during 48 hours, while those that had been the wildest and most untameable were now quite tame and docile.

An a.n.a.lysis of the phenomena observed during the continuation of the _cyclone_, shows that on the 18th it formed its vortex, being then about opposite the rather lofty and tolerable-sized island of Dkinawasmia of the Loo-Choo group, which must have occasioned an alteration in the direction of the wind. Owing in part to the influence of the N.E. trade, which enters the northern part of the China Sea, and at this season is gradually veering round till it completely displaces the S.W. monsoon, as also during the S.W. monsoon itself, which blows from Formosa on the south, there appears to exist to the northward of the latter-named island, favoured probably by its natural configuration and physical features, a well-defined s.p.a.ce within which the barometer is always depressed, and in which the atmosphere in immediate contact with these N.E. and S.W. winds is compelled to a.s.sume a sort of whirling motion, like that of the hands of a clock, thus forming the germ as it were of a _cyclone_.

So long as the S.W. wind was blowing strongly, the centre of the _cyclone_ moved in an easterly direction, or in other words, in the direction of least resistance. But arrested in its advance by the various island groups, as also by the gradually increasing pressure of the S.E. and E.

winds, the _cyclone_ must, in consequence of the obstacles opposed to its path, have swung round with a sort of whirl, which once more impressed upon it a N.W. direction to the coasts of China, there to expend itself, apparently in consequence of the ever-increasing pressure of the surrounding atmosphere. During forty-eight hours, namely from 6 P.M. of the 18th to the same hour on the 20th, we were within the range of the typhoon itself, and on the 19th were at the nearest point to its vortex; nevertheless, judging by our lowest barometrical reading, we must have been at least 100 miles distant from the centre. It was the first typhoon that visited Chinese waters in 1858, and had been predicted weeks before in the "North China Herald," while the Thousand Years Almanac of the Chinese calendar a.s.signed its date for the 10th of August.

Our course was now shaped for the Marianne Archipelago. For several days after the typhoon, the weather remained unsettled, and the swell was both heavy and broken, when on 26th August we came in sight of the island of Guam or Guaham, the most southerly of the Marianne group. In twelve days we had run 1860 miles, with the aid of the typhoon it is true, but there was the fact, the distance had been accomplished, and as to the How? Jack gives himself little concern, so long as he reaches his goal swiftly and in safety.

On the morning of the 27th we stood into the Bay of Umata, although it was very doubtful whether we should find a secure anchorage here, considering the S.W. wind that was blowing full into the roadstead, which is quite un-sheltered in that point of the compa.s.s. In fact, as we came nearer the land, we speedily became aware of the impracticability of anchoring here even in the best weather; while, on the other hand, it did not seem very advisable, owing to the difficulty of getting in, to make for the excellent harbour of San Louis de Apra, it being by no means easy, during the prevalence of the S.W. monsoons, for a large s.h.i.+p to beat out, so that they are occasionally detained there for several weeks. The order was accordingly given to luff up, so as to make tacks against the freshening west wind, out of this bay, studded as it is with numerous coral reefs.

This proved to be a work of much time and trouble, ere we succeeded, after many hours of anxious care, in weathering the reef.

The island of Guam, with its lofty green mountain-ridges, numberless valleys, and thickly-wooded glades, had a cheerful and friendly aspect, but seems but little cultivated. At Umata, where we perceived a few houses, the Spanish flag was waving from a small fort adjoining the settlement, which had been hoisted on the approach of the frigate.

On 30th August, in 149 53' E., we reached the eastern limit of the S.W.

monsoon, and--although not more than four days' sail from the object of our next visit, the island of Puynipet, had we met with favourable winds to waft us a little further--it was 15th September ere we came in sight of that lovely island, for, stormy and boisterous as the beginning of this section of our cruise had proved, not less annoying were the fickle calms, which kept us lying for weeks motionless, our sails idly flapping with the roll of the s.h.i.+p. It is a wretched depressing state of inactivity and discomfort, of which only those can form an idea who have been caught in a calm on the open ocean, on board of a sailing s.h.i.+p,--

"Wenn Welle ruht und jedes Luftgefl.u.s.ter; Wenn Meer und Himmel schweigend sich umschlingen, Und fromm, fast wie zwei betende Geschwister."

Which may be freely translated as follows:

"When ocean smooths his wrinkled face, And sea and sky in pray'rful silence bend, As when, in mutual fond embrace, Two loving sisters' vows on high ascend!"

The original is by Nicolas Lenau.

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